Hello! School holidays has been a bonus for creativity-I have had some time for creating and am inspired by the fun things my kids are doing. Here's a quick wrap up of my latest pieces...

I was able to finish this doiley and vintage tablecloth skirt for a friend-it's very special to work with fabrics rich in personal history. I have some embroidered hankies, stained with rust, given to me by my nanna...I'd like to try something inspired by these....

I have got this small collection of brooches finished and a big baggy of brooch backs ready to use, so more to create. I have such fun with these!

And, I am loving making crochet fingerless gloves-this wool is super soft and is actually darker and richer too. Such a great thing to work on during the chilly evenings!

Now off to see what others have been doing at my creative space.

xKate

This lovely little package arrived in my mail box last week. Talented NZ blogger and maker Rhiannon of 'remarqauble junque' made this clever rose brooch for me out of a zipper! So cute! I like the contrast between the softness of a flower and the metal of the zipper teeth-thanks again Rhiannon!

We both took part in a brooch swap, organised by Susie of Flowerpress, who matched us up with fellow swappers all over the country and even overseas. We all offered to make and send a brooch and in return be made and sent a brooch. None of us were straight swaps though so my brooch is off on it's way to its new owner in L.A! Can't wait to find out how my brooch is received...

xoKate

Hello, here's some pretty pictures of my latest custom ordered gloves...they were a special order for my very talented artist friend Chrissy Foreman Cranitch.

They were created from the yarn I dyed last week.

I reckon they look pretty awesome with Chrissys' beautiful peacock tattoo.

I am working on a scarf in this shade, its a really uplifting colour to work with so I dyed another batch of yarn up! Yum! I've got the blues ;o)

xoKate

winter nurture

The kids and I a had a nutritious 'flu fixing' mid winter meal tonight; Buckwheat and brown rice with potato, carrot and tofu lightly salted with soy sauce! Organic too...those bugs don't stand a chance! And some lovely music to go with it? My favourite musicians, Swedish lasses Amiina to the rescue with their crazy beautiful song Pusl

I caught the little one but missed the late night big bonfire of the Northey street winter solstice celebration. The fire funs not over for us yet though, we will be having our own beach midwinter bonfire on the foreshore with some driftwood and palm fronds.

And we'll take our beautiful beeswax lantern candle, made by my lovely friends Peter and Anca. (If you want a gorgeous beeswax lantern too, come along to Village life this Sunday or find out about them here)

Do you do anything to mark midwinter? I had a look at the wikipedia entry on winter solstice celebrations and there is so much diversity, some really fascinating rituals and cultures...anyway whatever you do I wish you a happy winter solstice!

xKate

hello all.

I have been caring for sick kiddo + feeling sick myself this week so we stayed home as much as possible. Instead of resting though I have been driving myself nuts doing challenging fine crochet work. Much frogging has been done. Fever+crochet=no good will come of this.

Onto brighter things...like the yarn above I just dyed for my friend Chrissy, who is spectacular! She has quite a thing for a certain shade of blue, sort of turquoise like, and I was trying to capture this for some gloves she custom ordered. She was very sweet and un demanding about colours which makes me want to make them ultra special. I love this colour too and was so happy how it turned out!

xKate

shadow and light

Joining in with the Shadow Shot Sunday linking at Hey Harriets blog...it's definitely not my best photo but I like the curved tips of the rosella seeds shadow...

xkate

love

I get my littlest boy to model my hats and scarves for my shots occasionally.

I think he's beautiful, but this shot just took my breath away. He looks so peaceful and gentle, which he is, I love the image and love him. It's a privilege to have children around you in life. When people seem to misunderstand this, and treat children as lesser humans, or as inconvenient, I believe it's more about the adults- and their own shortcomings, or fears about their own levels of tolerance, generosity, wisdom and patience. All this fear and frustration gets somehow directed onto children who actually wish the adults well....

I cherish my boys, they are my most favourite creations and I marvel sometimes at the unending love they give me and others so unconditionally. They never seem to be thinking of how much love to give or who deserves it or what effort it might involve. They can teach me everyday!

I am off to Chenrezig today to develop more my ability to love and be compassionate; from that most amazing teacher His Holiness the Dalai Lama! Peace and happy creating folks!

xKate

hello! I spent a little time in the sunshine today visiting with friends at parks and at home in the garden photographing some of my recent work.

I am trying to take it easy and shake off a cold. I am turning towards using very bold and bright colours as it gets colder and when the skies are grey-this lovely ultramarine blue is my current favourite but the bright red below is not far behind!

I had a few crafty events last week- I joined the fun of the etsy party held at the very funky Salt venue last Thursday night. It was fun catching up with some lovely Brisstyle members including Teneale of Wicked Child Designs. She bought along delicious home made Anzac biscuits(yum! thanks!) and created a little post about the party here

And Saturday was the last day of the Saviours of the Lost Arts festival and I once again was lucky enough to be invited to teach some lovely women the basics of crochet.

It's been another fun and heart warming SoLA festival to be involved in.

Thanks to everyone who joined in so enthusiastically for lessons during the festival- at the homeless connect event, the King George Square market knit in and at the basics for beginners lessons-it was such a privilege to meet and work with you all!

I'd like to make special mention of lovely Jessica who has a gorgeous blog which might inspire you if you have young ones at home. It's all about her interests in early education and art-good luck with your granny squares Jess!

happy crafting(especially crocheting!)

xKate

hello creative spacers! Been such a while since I have had the opportunity to get on here...I've been studying permaculture, growing a market, making some big changes to my life and of course CREATING!

The brooches above are my latest attempts at using recycled felt to create trees...they are all feeling a little to me like they are at the idea stage rather than finished pieces but I am liking the flow of them...

And this is this weeks main piece-as you can see it features lot and lots and lots of crochet bobbles! It's a hip/kidney wrap, shoulder wrap and cowl scarf all in one! As you can see in the following gloriously bad photos-taken with the aid of the mirror!

(note to self-I really need a photo buddy for portraits)

The wool I used was a scrummy thick 12 ply yarn from Cascade-it's called 'ecological yarn' I don't know the actual finer details and am hoping it really is eco friendly but at the very least it is un-dyed and minimally processed(it smells really lush and lanoliny and was a dream on my hands)

I made it up as I went along, feeling very strongly the need to make my work really stimulating and challenging lately-I have been pushing my boundaries and trying to rely less on patterns and more on my knowledge of stitches...it's good to have a bit of a repertoire of stitches and techniques to play with!

Happy creating sweet folks!

xkate

Today has been such a goody I just have to share!

I met up with a friend for a walk along the beach early this morning. We had a great laugh and got some good exercise(even if we were overtaken by the hard-core walkers.)

At the end of our trail we discovered a beautifully constructed fairy like village made of collected beach treasures. It was entirely made of flowers, little leaves, shells and twigs...and was so detailed with fences and pathways, trees and beach huts...thanks to the unknown maker for bringing some wonder to our day...

After such a lovely start to the day I headed into Northey street to help with the winter solstice preparations-weaving bamboo into big paper lantern baskets for children to carry in the parade to the main bonfire. It was so relaxing and fun weaving them. We dried them by hanging them in a tree-don't they already look so pretty? I can't imagine how beautiful they will be once they are painted and lit on the night! Bring on the 25th June!

After this it was back to my normal routine, but luckilly I always enjoy the regular O.T appointment one of my kids has after school, the therapist is so sweet, it's like catching up with a dear friend.

By the time we arrived home it was getting dark and cold...and look what was in my mail box!

Beautiful hand knitted socks-a completely out of the blue gift! They fit me perfectly and feature beautiful flowers on the toes and heels. They brightened and warmed me up and are the most super wonderful gift ever. I didn't need any extra reasons because she's such a gem but I am reminded of how much I really love and am loved by my sis-in-law Sam tonight-thank you dear one!!

I have got warm fuzzies fizzing all over the place tonight after such a special day, I hope some blow your way!

xKate

crochet power

Hello! I had such a lovely day in the King George Square today teaching crochet and chatting with visitors to the Brisbane Saviours of the lost arts festival and market.

Thanks very much to the organisers, to Sally for inviting me to join, to Penny and Mel who came on board at the last minute and to all lovely women who came and sat with me and gave crochet a go!

For the newies; I hope you find a good crochet/knitting group nearby to continue your good work-here's some links to some groups in Brisbane where you can find out about meet ups and projects...good luck!

Stitch n bitch

brisbane brown owls

Knitting for needy and this site is the ultimate resource for knitting/crochet-ravelry

(I'm dash-robin on ravelry and don't forget you can find me at Village life market, Northey street, Windsor, Sundays 8-12.)

I was really impressed by every ones skills, patience and enthusiasm today and was so happy to see those newly made crochet flowers going home with excited new crocheters...

I forgot to take my camera and as I spent most of my waking hours the past few days making lots of the crochet flowers which decorated the square I am a little annoyed with myself right now!

But the space and indeed us crafters seemed to be the subject of about a billion photos!

(No offence to anyone snapping away, because I love taking pictures too, but my word, it was like crafting paparazzi!), if anyone has any photos of the events please let me know! I'd love to share them...

xKate