Baby Boots Parade!

I have written before about how much I love this Baby Bootie pattern, but seeing as I am making so many for the Thorndon Fair, I thought I would do a post showing all the different combinations I have knitted to date.  

If you want this pattern you will need to buy it here. Buying the pattern gives you permission to sell your finished items, provided you credit the pattern designer, Judy Nemish of Double Diamond Knits. The pattern is called "Oh Baby! Baby Boots".

Woven Paper Easter Baskets

The idea from these baskets is from my mum. She was a new entrant teacher (first year of school teacher). Every year for special events or holidays, she would make these baskets for her pupils. Usually at Easter and Christmas time. I would often get roped into making the baskets as they can be a little tricky for 5 year olds to master on their own! I think the original idea came from her Danish friend as I believe they are a common decoration in Denmark. Depending on the type of paper or card you use, they can be very sturdy, so hold lots of Easter eggs or other treats. They would also make great party favour bags-- you could even get guests to make their own. 

How to: Simple Beaded Earrings Part 2

This tutorial will show you how to make another pair of beaded earrings using slightly different materials. Hopefully you had a look at this post on basic technique and materials. If you haven't, click here to review. 

For these earrings I recycled some beads from a green necklace. I didn't like the necklace, it was too short and not really my colour, but the green glass beads individually are really beautiful!

How to: Simple Beaded Earrings

Here's a tutorial on how to make some gorgeous but deceptively simple earrings! The key is having all the materials and tools you need to create them. The other important factor is having some beautiful beads to work with! This will hide any imperfections in the finished result. You don't need to be an expert to create these, and they make really good gifts!
All the supplies can be found at The Warehouse, Spotlight or your local craft store. There are also numerous specialist bead shops around, however I have not found them to be the most cost effective way of getting beads. 

How to: Make a T-Shirt Yarn Necklace

In my last post, I showed you a picture of a giant ball of stripy yarn. Just to refresh your memory, look below:

Would you believe I have TWO of these?? Each skein is approximately 200 metres! It's a stretchy type of fabric known as t-shirt yarn or "tarn". (You can google how to make t-shirt yarn and there are lots of intructionals about how to make it from old t-shirts. I'm more of a ready-made kind of girl!) 

I've been wanting to make SOMETHING with it for ages, but the only patterns and projects I've seen have been for crochet. So I decided to bite the bullet and teach myself to crochet, I didn't think it would be too hard, given I more or less taught myself to knit. I found this pattern for a fabulous chunky knit basket which I thought would be perfect for this type of yarn. Also, it is fairly large so I figured a I would use up most of the yarn. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie

It's really not the right season over here in New Zealand to be making desserts like Pumpkin Pie. Our weather is warming up, and you're more likely to be indulging in strawberries and ice cream! BUT I can assure you, once you've had this pie, you will change your mind! It has a beautiful sweet, velvety texture, and it's hard to stop at one slice!

I got the recipe from an old work colleague who used to make it every time we had a pot luck meal. I actually hadn't had it before then, it always seems a bit confusing to make a sweet dish from a vegetable! So the thought of it might put some people off. If I had the choice of apple pie or pumpkin pie, I might actually choose the pumpkin option! 

This is really a very sweet, decadent dessert that can be eaten warm or cold, alone or with cream, ice cream or yoghurt. 

It's definitely worth a try, and if I have any Northern Hemisphere readers, here's an easy recipe for your Thanksgiving dinner!

DIY: Upcycled Necklace

Here is a SUPER easy project you can do with any jewellery that needs freshening up. It literally took me 15 minutes from start to finish!

Before I had my son, I wore a lot of jewellery and especially necklaces. If you are a mother, you will know necklaces + baby = chaos! So up until fairly recently I haven't been wearing a lot of my stash! I also used to wear a lot of different necklaces at work, but once we switched to a uniform, I couldn't really wear them anymore.