Summer Knitting

If you're in Melbourne, Australia you would have experienced winter 5 days into summer today, hail storm and all!  Some people might complain about the weather but not me.  I love winter and don't mind even if it continues through summer.  Not to mention, the cooler it stays the more suitable it is for knitting!

Although I must admit, I haven't done much knitting throughout this year.  Having three children under the age of 5 meant that I hardly had time to myself.  But I'm glad to say I've made it to December and things are getting easier. The older 2 play together nicely for most of the time and they simply love having their baby brother around.  And just when I feel like I finally have gotten the hang of things, it's all going to change again next year as my oldest starts school! But there is still lots of summer fun to be had before that happens.


I've got the heater cranked up and have spent the afternoon adding some delicious new yarns to my store.  I'm very excited to have a few more yarns by Manos del Uruguay in selected colours.

Manos del Uruguay Lace is a wonderful and luxurious blend of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. It is light but warm, and is extremely soft to touch. It would be perfect for a few of my favourite patterns: Rock Island, Gradiente and Color Affection.




If you love Manos del Uruguay's Silk Blend then you will also love Fino.  It has the same merino wool and silk blend but is a sport weight for the more refined and elegant projects. Made with a new dyeing process, they come in subtle and tonal colours which are beautiful and different to the strong colours we have been used to seeing from Manos. I personally love soft, pastel colours and have fallen in love with this range of yarn. I also can't wait to knit up these: Fino Circle Scarf, Eternidad Scarf and Martine Hat.


A yarn that has beautiful drape for summer garments is the Manos del Uruguay Serena. It is made up of baby alpaca and prima cotton and has a very versatile gauge. They are coloured using the new kettle-dyeing process which gives the yarn a heathered, stonewashed look. Some suggestions for this yarn and also some of my favourite patterns are: Chiton Pullover, Serena Shadow Shawl, Rayures, Wharton and Sofia.

We have more colours in Lace and Serena arriving soon so be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Joan xo

A New Life

So I mentioned that there was a baby on the way a couple of posts ago and how I was knitting a few little things for him. I am delighted to introduce to you our beautiful boy, Ryan. He came into this world on the 1st of January. Needless to say, over the last couple of months I have been busier and lacking sleep more than usual. All well worth it though!

Life with a newborn - I am once again reminded of how quickly time goes by and how fast they grow. Those early days with them are so precious, so fleeting. Now I know why so many older women whose children have grown up gush over every newborn they come across. It is such a short and wonderful stage. Yes they are usually seen through tired and blurry eyes but to be able to cradle a small new life in your arms, there's nothing else like it. I do not look forward to the day I have my last child, knowing that he/she will be my last newborn. I guess, although I didn't always know it, I was made to be a mum.

As for knitting, I have not done any since Ryan was born and am proud to say so. Life is so precious and should be cherished. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment with my special boy since he was born. He is growing everyday but my wool and needles will still be there unchanged until the next time I am ready to pick them up again.

Hence my new tag line for my blog "A blog about life with knitting on the side". While knitting is a great hobby to have, the rest of life also needs to be lived so I plan to blog more about the reality of life over this next year but will of course continue to update you on yarn and knitting too. And if you are in need of any knitting supplies, you know where to head! :)

Thanks for reading!

Joan xo

Preparing For A Baby

Apart from opening my wool store this year, I have also been busy growing a baby, probably part of the reason why I was also getting sick so much over winter!  As I haven't been a knitter for very long, I didn't get a chance to knit many things for my first two but my aim this time round is to have a little collection of knitted things for this next bundle of joy so here are a couple of them which I thought I'd share with you.

First, a stripe hat pattern I found in a book I borrowed from the local library called "Easy Baby Knits - Clothes & Accessories for 0-3 year-olds" by Claire Montgomerie.  In the book Claire calls this the cotton hat and uses Debbie Bliss Cotton DK but I already had some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino lying around so I have made a wooly hat instead!  This was an easy pattern which only took me a few evenings to complete.  I made it in size 6-12 months and tried it on my 2 year old.  It fitted her although was stretched so I'm sure it will be fine for a 6-12 month old.  Can't wait to see it on the little bubs!

The other thing I'm working on is a pinwheel blanket I found on Ravelry.  I am using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in Deep Sea for this one.  It was a little tricky to start at first but once you get going it gets easier.  I'm not sure how big I'm going to make it yet but I want bubs to be nice and snug in it so I'll probably use at least 3 skeins.  This wool is so beautiful and soft, and the silk content just makes it devine to touch.  I'm sure the little one will feel extremely comfortable wrapped in this little number!

So there you have it.  I will definitely be adding a few more little cosy knits over the next couple of months but I'm also giving myself some time to get them done seeing we are just heading into summer now and I still have 7 months till winter!  And in case you were wondering, yes, we are having a boy! :)

A Princess Party

October is a busy month in our household with both daughters having their birthdays just 5 days apart.  We decided to throw a simple party just for our 4 year old and her friends but leaving the planning to my husband meant that it wasn't going to be so simple afterall.  Who would have thought that an engineer would be so good at planning a princess party?!  We called it "Princess Amber's Birthday Party and the Dragon".

 

Upon arrival, the girls, all dressed up in their princess dresses, got to decorate their own tiaras with glitter glue and stickers. They then got dolled up with rings, bracelets and lip gloss before heading outside where they were greeted with a red carpet lined with purple, pink and silver balloons, a princess tent, a castle pinata, afternoon tea and a treasure hunt.

 They each had to find a necklace with a key on it, which they would have to use later on in the party. The princesses got to play pin the tail on the donkey, then had a go at swinging a sword at the pinata.

 After a fairly delicate rush for the fallen lollies, they got to play duck, duck, goose and pass the parcel.  We had planned for them to decorate some mini-cupcakes too but the girls seemed too busy and happy prancing around the yard in their dresses and having their afternoon tea in the tent.

On the menu we had mini quiches, party pies, sausage rolls, chips, carrot and celery sticks, dips, fairy bread, jelly cups, cupcakes and a fruit platter.  To go with that we also had some Fruitalicious tea from T2 which is a lovely child-friendly fruity mix.  This also proved to be a hit with the adults.

Then it was cake time.  Amber had requested a tower castle cake with a princess on the top and a dragon at the bottom.  As usual, daddy dearest managed to deliver.  He used a rosewater cake recipe for the cake, made 2 layers of it, one uncoloured and the other pink. With fresh cream in the middle and purple butter cream icing on the outside, it was a lovely, moist cake.  Did I mention there was also a moat with drawbridge and chocolate rocks at the bottom?  All edible too!

 As the party was drawing to a close, of course the dragon had to make an appearance or the story wouldn't be complete.  I must admit we didn't spend much time at all on a dragon suit but at least we had fire which was made from scrunched up red and yellow streamers.  There was a mini treasure chest for each princess.  The tricky part was that they had to steal it without the dragon waking up and getting them with his fire.  The princesses seemed to have the most fun with this game and actually all managed to successfully retrieve their treasure boxes without getting caught by the dragon's fire.


 And now for the best part, they got to open their treasure boxes with the keys which they had found earlier on in the treasure hunt.  Inside they had a dragon finger puppet, golden chocolate coins, lollipops, lollies, fruity lip gloss and scented nail polish.  This was their "lolly bag" which they all got to bring home with them.

So that was our princess party, and a successful one at that!  If you'd like to hire my husband to plan a party for your child, he comes highly recommended! :)  What kind of parties have you thrown for your child?

Winter is over, Spring is here!

Another month has gone by, another month of sickness and motherhood. I seemed to have caught some kind of nasty virus which stayed with me for a good 4 weeks if not more. Winter colds are never fun, especially not when you can't get a break from being a stay-at-home mum!

My husband and I, however, did manage to escape the cold for 4 days without the kids to a beautiful place in Queensland called Heron Island. We snorkeled with the beautiful fish of the Great Barrier Reef, saw a handful of green turtles and reef sharks, and were even lucky enough to witness some Humpback whales go past as the sun was setting one evening!

But alas, winter is over (hopefully the worst of our sicknesses are over along with it!) and spring is here! Spring...my favourite season, flower season. I haven't yet been able to enjoy the beautiful fragrance in the air that you are met with when you are out on a walk on a warm spring day but I'm looking forward to soaking up the balmy spring sun and checking out the beautiful gardens in the neighborhood as the days warm up over the next couple of months. What's your favourite thing about spring?

The Other Side Of Life

So now that the business is up and running, I thought I'd spend some time sharing a bit more about the other side of life. That is, life as a stay at home mum.

Anyone with (young) kids would know that life gets very busy. Nappy changes, food preparation, craft activities, book reading, games of imaginary proportions, etc. And then there's the constant teaching of how to do life in general, how to/not to treat others, how to have self-control, how to behave in certain situations, how to deal with your emotions, how to love. Being a parent is hard work!!! Sometimes it can feel like all the long hours have gone to waste but then suddenly a corner is turned and you see a distinct change, a better choice made voluntarily, an act of love between two sisters....and it's all worth it.

I find myself learning every day, about myself, about my kids, about how to do life as a stay at home mum as efficiently and effectively as I can. Let's face it, no one has EVERYTHING together. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but the key is to remain humble and teachable. And by God's grace we will get through it just fine.

And So It Begins...

At the start of Feb this year I started entertaining the idea of starting my own online wool store. One and a half months later I find myself working on a logo, website and much more. As part of this little venture, I also wanted to have a blog, so here it is!

Before I continue I should probably mention that my online store isn't quite up and running just yet but do watch this space to find out more about that in the next few months!

So, it is here that you will get to find out a little more about me, the owner of Wool & Flax. I hope that this blog will add to your life in more ways than one, that it will entertain you, make you smile, maybe make you cry, give you hope and inspire you to do what you love and be who you were created to be. Needless to say, we will definitely have some knitting fun along the way!

An introduction...
I have been a stay-at-home mum since my first daughter was born back in 2008. Life got busier with the arrival of my second daughter who joined us in 2010. I have a loving and supportive husband who has encouraged me through this whole process and is probably the reason why I now have this little business I can call my own.

My husband and I first attempted knitting about 3 years ago. We went to Spotlight, bought ourselves some wool and needles, and found ourselves sitting up in bed on a Saturday night trying our best to knit. Riveting lives we lead, I know!! Our first project was just a simple knit stitch scarf. I think my husband ended up unpicking his about 5 times before eventually giving up. I managed to get through about 1/3 of mine but soon lost interest too. I tried going back to it a few times but just couldn't get into the groove. A year later, I went over to a friend's place and she was knitting a scarf. I thought to myself, maybe I should pick up that scarf again. I went home, dug out my needles and wool and did just that and...'kaboom!' I was hooked!

I knitted about 20 things in my first year of knitting. Scarves, booties, toys, fingerless gloves, a baby blanket, a baby cocoon, a cushion cover and even a vest! I Google'd anything I didn't understand, looked on YouTube for 'How to' videos and enjoyed learning new techniques and trying new yarns with every project I put my needles to.

I soon realized that it was actually my love for yarn which kept my interest in knitting. I found myself drooling over all the amazing fibers, textures and colours of yarns and wanted to use them so much that I just had to find relevant patterns to do so. This love and passion has led me here...starting my own online store, Wool & Flax. It is an expression of myself, a showcase of yarns and knitting accessories that I love. I am delighted to be able to share this experience with you and I hope that you will fall in love and gain a passion too.

Joan xo