A very different Ta Dah!!!! A knitted uterus!!!!!

I've been asked to knit many different things in my time but nothing quite as bizarre as my latest FO! A knitted uterus...... here it is.

Why would I knit such a thing I hear you ask, well, let me explain..... Here in South Africa we have people called Doulas (pronounced Doolas) who are African midwives. These wonderful women go out into the rural areas and teach women about their bodies and about childbirth. There is still much tribal folklore and superstition wrapped around the miracle of childbirth and it's the Doulas who are trying to educate the rural women so that they have a better understanding of what having babies is really all about.

In order to do this fantastic work they need three dimensional models of the inside of a women's body. They need to show these women (most of whom do not read or write) how the baby grows inside the body and then makes its way out. They could use pictures but these would not clearly show how the whole process takes place whereas a knitted uterus, cervix and vagina are perfect!!! The Doula can use the model with the vagina piece attached to the cervix and then remove it to show how the cervix dilates when the baby begins to emerge.

A friend of mine knows a Doula who is training other women to be Doulas and she asked if I could make a knitted model so she could show her students. I've finished the first one but am sure she'll ask me to make more which I'm only too glad to do. The Doulas of South Africa are doing a fabulous job in educating and helping many hundreds of women who would otherwise remain in the dark about how children are born and I'm proud to be associated to them.

I'll bet many of you have never seen a knitted uterus so I hope you've enjoyed the experience!!!

Till next time.

x

Finally....some FOs!!!

There were times over the last couple of months when I really felt that none of my WIPs would ever be finished! Do you get those feelings too? When you've got a ton of ideas flying around inside your head, various projects on hooks and needles strategically placed around your house and yet nothing ever seems to 'come together' ???? Am I alone in this or is it a common crafters lament?

I have good news tho. At last, things have 'come together' and I seem to have had a finished object to love and cherish every day this week. Let me elaborate.....

Remember these?

I think I called it the Circus Hexagon Blanket. Well, it's finally become this.

What do you think? I wasn't sure how it was going to work whilst I was doing it but I just kept adding more hexies until I got to the size I wanted. Then the question of squaring it off with half hexies cropped up but I decided I really liked the quirkiness of the edge so I just did a quick edging in yellow and there it was!!! I know many of you will hate the lopsided look but I think it's gorgeous! I'm giving it to a very good friend of mine who has just had her second baby and I know she'll love it as she adores all things retro! FO 1 - done.

Seeing as it's Winter here I decided to have a go at making some fingerless gloves. These are really good for me as when I'm on playground duty at school I can still do up buttons and zips on little coats and jackets but my hands stay nice and snug! 

It's a pattern that I've had for ages and I really can't remember where I got it from but I'll post it if anyone is interested in making them.  I made them slightly longer than normal gloves but on the pattern the girl is wearing a pair almost up to her elbows!!!! FO 2 - done.

A few weeks ago my Mum came to stay with us and she bought down one of her spare hot water bottles. I'm not sure why because I have an electric blanket but there must have been a reason which made sense at the time. Anyway, the cover on the bottle was years old - one my Mum had knitted way back when - so I decided to make her a new one. I LOVED this project and it was such fun to do. It used up all my bits and pieces that I simply cannot throw away so if you have lots of scraps then this is the project for you! 

The front

The back

Close up of the stitches (doubles, trebles, treble clusters and bobbles)

Don't you love it??? It's given that old bottle a completely new lease of life and now I really want to use it despite the fact that I have an electric blanket..... FO 3 - done!

Those are my FOs so I hope you like them. I've also got this on my needles at the moment.

No, it's not a giant tutu for a remake of the Black Swan! In fact, it's a shawl that I've made up from scratch and although the colours don't really show up, it's a deep purple base (the colour of a good bruise!) which is self-patterning so it changes shade as you knit. It goes from really dark to two paler shades and then to white with a hint of lilac. It's very pretty, believe me. It's an Elle Escapade yarn called Mulberry Burst (isn't that a great name for a yarn?) and you can see it here.

I took this next pic to show you how sometimes the shading changes are very subtle and other times sudden and dramatic.

The scalloped edge is Fan Fair from Nicky Epstein's book Knitting On The Edge and here's a close up.

If you like knitting and making up your own patterns then this book is a MUST. It's full of inspiration and Nicky does things with yarn that I didn't think was possible!!!

So that's what I've been up to. My favourite is the hot water bottle cover but the shawl is growing on me..... literally!

Til soon.

xxx

A Few Days At The Beach....

Hello!!!! I'm sorry it's been a while but it's winter school hols here at the moment so things have been quite hectic. Last week I completely redecorated our bookshop and last Tuesday we decided to go down to the beach for a few days. We rented a beachside apartment......

It's a stunning apartment block, right on the beach and our apartment had a view that I could look at forever.....

It was too cold to swim but we paddled (how can you go to the beach and NOT paddle???). There was lots of dune sliding (I know it looks like DH is getting the worst of it but he was having fun I can assure you!) Mr 7 makes it look so easy!

There was some kite flying.....

but mostly we just got out on the beach and walked every day. The weather was glorious and both DH and I felt alive for the first time in months......

It was so good to get away, to be with my family and spend some time with each other, and it was particularly good to be near the ocean again........

I hope your week was as good as mine.

Til soon.

xxx

Back In the Land of the Living!

Last week was good. Schools broke up on Thursday and I envisioned three weeks of catching up on all the things I don't get time to do during term time. I wanted to start redecorating D's bedroom (army style), there are cupboards in my house that haven't seen a good sort out for at least .... (ahem) years and I had a plethera of craft ideas bumbling around in my brain just waiting to see the light of day. I was soooooo excited   that the holidays had come........

Then on Thursday afternoon I went down with Bronchitis and I've only just resurfaced!!! I don't remember ever feeling so rough for so long but with help from my Mum (who dropped everything to come and help me) and my fabulous boys and DH, I am (at last) back in the land of the living!

I did venture out very briefly on one of my sick days to get some fresh air with D. We took a stroll down the farm road outside our gate .....

The sun shone......

D went ahead to rekkie out the road for me in case of bandits (I jest of course)......

and even our littlest dog was glad to see me up and about if only for a short while .....

I only lasted about 15 mins before having to head home and back to my bed but it was good to get out and feel the sun on my skin.

So now I'm fully on the mend and I've started some new hooky......yay! I've decided to have a bash at a simple granny style shawl and this is where I am so far.....

What do you think? It's a self-patterning yarn so it should get quite interesting as I progress! I love the simplicity of the clusters and it's so melodic to work on. I'm really enjoying it and am seeing a very 70s style fringe all around it when I'm finished! 

On a final note, I thought I'd leave you with this cartoon that I stumbled across somewhere. It's very apt and if you knit or sew, I think you'll relate.

Til soon.

x

Lovely Blog Award

I'm sooooooooo lucky! I've been given another award. This one is the Lovely Blog Award and I was nominated by Vicky and Maryanne over at Woolhogs.

The rules are:

1. Add the award to your blog.

2. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you.
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. Done

2. I have posted a thank you on Woolhogs' blog but thanks again Vicky and Maryanne!

3. 7 random things about me:

    1) I love chocolate (who doesn't?)

    2) I love all of Tom Hanks' movies

    3) I love my job (preschool teacher)

    4) I love knitting and crochet

    5) I love Saturdays

    6) I love all things English

    7) I love audiobooks

4. Done.

5. Award 15 Bloggers.  I can't make it to 15 but I will give you 5. Here they are:

Fox's Lane

Bunny Mummy

MemeRose

The Sunroom

Little Woollie

6. Done

So that's it. It's so lovely to know that people read these funny words that I throw out into cyberspace and that some people even like them!!!!!!!!!!

Til soon.

x

Things You Might Like....

Sadly I don't have too much knitting or crochet to show you today (or at least anything that looks remotely exciting!) but I've read a lot of really great posts this week on other blogs so I thought I'd share them with you...

First off is Crochetbug who is putting together a cookieghan (an afghan made up of cookie motifs) and you can see her progress here

Then there's this from Susan at Susan's Hippie Crochet

Living in South Africa I LOVE chameleons and these are very sweet appliques. Susan blogs about them here and the pattern is available at her Etsy shop here.

And then there's Kate at Fox's Lane. 

She is absolutely one of my most favourite blogs - she's a farmer's wife and her writings are very witty and just so entertaining. Oh yes, and she has the most gorgeous caravan! At the moment, she's just had the painters in so please pop over and visit her. I'm sure you'll end up following too.........

And then this week I stumbled across this tutorial to make a teepee!!!! Looks like just the thing for summer fun in the garden!!!!

And finally for the gardeners among you Veggiegobbler wrote about a guy in Australia who is trying to grow 80% of the food he and his family need. Self-sufficiency has always fascinated me so I zoomed across to his blog Zucchini Island to have a look. Please pop over if you can cos it's really inspiring and if you like the idea of homegrown fruit and veg, this would be a great place to start!

So, I hope you enjoyed my offerings. Have you found anything truly fab on the web recently? If so, please share......

Til soon.

xxx

One-A-Day

Now I'm not usually a fan of putting myself under too much pressure - in fact, I don't handle pressure at all although as a preschool teacher people are often surprised when I say this. Looking after 15 three year olds every day for 5-7 hours can be stressful but it's not quite the same as setting myself goals that I may or may not reach!

BUT I've decided to take the plunge and join Carole's One-A-Day Project. BTW, Carole is truly delightful and her blog is a treat so do pop over and visit. You can find her at Gingerbread Girl.

So, what is my one-a-day going to be????? Miles of miles of rippling rows? Always tempting but no, not this time. How about gorgeous grannies? No, not this time either. Let me put you out of your misery cos I know you're dying to know....... remember these?

Well, they kind of got dumped laid very carefully in a work basket and forgotten about allowed to rest for a while. Then, when I saw Carole's project post they literally leapt into my brain and I knew what they could look like with a little tweaking. I knew I wanted a blanket ultimately but they weren't looking right but now there's a whole lot of this going on in my house......

and this ....

and this.....

and this .....

and most definitely THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the blanket I want I reckon I need around 66 hexies and I've got about 23 so I've got some way to go. One-a-day and I should get there in about 2015!!!!!!!!!!!!

So if you fancy a challenge and a little pressure, why don't you join us?? Pop over to Carole and sign on the dotted line...........!

Til soon.

xxx