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A few pictures from the week. We've had a little rain.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

the summer top

I don't know about you, but pretty, affordable, ethically made summer tops proved to be elusive to me this Summer. So, encouraged by my last project (and thank you for all those top pattern suggestions left in the comments), I dusted off another pattern from my collection.

I went through my stash and came up with just enough Anna Maria Horner voile for a simple top. I'd had this McCalls patterns for quite some time. I had planned to make this into a maternity top while I was pregnant, but I just never got around to it. I've often tended towards tunic and empire lines, as I find them incredibly comfortable and, well, they just feel like "me". If you know what I mean.

It took me almost a week of working on it on and off late at night. Though I did have to re-do one little yoke section, the rest was pretty straight forward.

I made the size 8, but found that I had to take the sides in about a centimeter on both sides. The straps also needed shortening which was not really a problem. This pattern was definitely on the generous side as far as sizing went.

Though right at the very end, just when I thought the project was in the bag,  I went to cut off the excess fabric for the hem (and believe me there was quite a lot of excess fabric - I wasn't after the sack look) and of course you can guess what happened. Yes, I chopped too much off. I can only blame the late night hours involved. Not fancying the belly top look, I found a little more of the voile from the same range and attached it to the hem to lengthen it. And surprisingly, I'm quite happy with how that turned out. Sometimes mistakes can lead to better outcomes. Or at least more interesting ones.

And most importantly (becoming increasingly more important the older I get) it is light and comfortable.

More creative spaces to be seen over here.

washing the woolens

It's been a kind of strange Summer around here. Weather-wise at least. We have had highs of 40 and lows of 4 degrees. Which has kind of played havoc in my garden, but that's a story for another day. It has also meant that wool washing has continued on and off this season. 

I have been making my own wool wash for a few months now and thought I'd share it with you today. It's not really so very different from an ordinary washing gel recipe, only in different quantities.

I only made one jar this time around and used just one (140g) bar of Dr Bronner's Lavender soap.  (I love the smell of Dr Bronner soaps )You could easily substitute this for any other pure soap. Depending on how much soap you have on hand you can easily make double or more of this recipe. This recipe makes one large jar.

Woolwash

250ml water, boiled

140g bar of pure soap

1 teaspoon borax

Grate soap into saucepan. (Good job for the kiddies). Add borax.

Pour boiling water over the grated soap and borax.

Bring saucepan to the boil.
Stir with a whisk or spoon until the soap flakes are dissolved. This takes several minutes.

Pour into a glass jar. The mixture will cool into a white jelly.

I use a heaped tablespoon to a large sink (of lukewarm water) or in the (front loading) machine. Yes, I do use the wool cycle on the washing machine for many of my woolens. But I only recommend this if you really trust your machine. When I do handwash, I quite enjoy the slowness of it. The pleasant smell of the warm soapy water and a chance to ponder over each knitted item while carefully cleaning it. Then the process of laying the wool in a towel and gently rolling to squeeze out the water.

Happy wool washing!

loving...

Loving...

1.  the cheery green tones of new old placemats
2. nap times that last more than fifteen minutes
3. op shop vintage toddler knits - appreciating the beautiful work in them
4. figs
5. learning about the quilting process... this year will be the year I start quilt making!

Hoping you all have a pleasant Tuesday.

from the kitchen

1. Mayonnaise (from Nigella's How to Eat),
2. added to a curried potato salad with egg, parsley and chives.
3. Couscous salad with local cucumbers, mizuna and herbs (chives and mint) from the garden. Tossed with an olive oil, lemon juice and garlic dressing. Yoghurt on the side.
4. Pavlova.
5. Leftover chicken and baby spinach on homemade bread with sweet chilli dressing and sea salt.
6. Home-ground coffee.
7. Basil from the verandah.
8.  made into basil and macadamia nut pesto (adapted from this book)
9.  pesto
10. Whipped vanilla cream.
11. Sunday morning half and half white and buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup.
12. Sunday night easy dinner of tinned organic baked beans with grated Nimbin cheese (the one cheese that pleases everyone in this house), local Turkish bread and salad.

What's been cooking in your kitchen? 

around home

1. Playing around with a little Amy Butler and Liberty prints
2. Fabric no-sewing-involved covered books (top is Amy Butler, bottom two op-shopped)
3. Market goods - and now I'm quite keen to try my hand at sweet chilli sauce. The homemade version is incomparable. Sooo good!
4. Market tea and herbs
5. Out of the linen cupboard
6. Picture hijacking...
7. Bread rising
8. New knitting
9. Hijacked again!
10. Finding old things in stored boxes... I really must sort through those boxes some day.

I'm thinking that some of my favourite photos may not be the clearest, in fact some are quite blurry. But it's the ones that capture the spirit of the moment that make me smile.

Do you keep your blurry photos?

Hoping you have a lovely weekend.

the custardy shrug

 Sometimes the heat can be a little easier to deal with when you have a knitting project just waiting for those moments when you need to slow down a little. Preferably near a fan.

This project was from my copy of Debbie Bliss' Ultimate Book of Baby Knits. In a happy, custardy yellow colour in pure new wool.

Yes, another project for Violet. I'm afraid there's a bit of knitting  favourtism going on here.

Please don't look to closely. I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, but I do believe this is more a reflection on myself (and school holiday distractions) than the pattern itself.

 It is a little too big. But not to worry.

And of course right after this picture our shrug was ripped straight off by the little model. Afterall it is hard work modelling knitwear for Mum in Summer.

Do you knit in Summer?

Ravelled here.