Only four days into term and our mornings, like every other family’s, have become alarmingly busy. We have lists to streamline the mobilisation of our family unit to get out the door and off to our various activities and mostly we manage to all pile into the car and be backing out of the driveway on time but occasionally things go under the radar – like making sure shoes go on the right feet. Fortunately we spotted this little oversight before she stumbled into her very first kinder session. Perhaps if we had missed it, and I had also been sporting a wild hairdo with a pencil or a twig sticking out of it, and an inside out cardigan while forgetting my name and which child I was enrolling we would have looked on the outside exactly how I am feeling on the inside. I am guessing I will find the natural rhythm of all of this soon enough, but for now watch out for the wild woman with the fist full of hastily scribbled lists.
Oh hello! Is it really the end of January already?
Summer has been good to us this year. More rain than usual, a good Solstice, Christmas and New Year full of fun and warmth and love and delicious food. We took a week long holiday in Sydney to stay with my brother’s family. It was so humid all week that we swam in the pool every day until we were waterlogged and slept all night soundly under the fans. We visited the beach to feel the warm sand and marvel at the Blue of the Bondi surf and sky. We saw inner-city spiders as big as our hands hanging in intricate webs which we had to duck under (screaming, of course) to continue on our way. We saw the Tom-Tom Crew at the Sydney Opera House and beat-boxed our way all the way home. We celebrated my gorgeous nephew’s 7th birthday in tepanyaki style (see him catch a raw egg in a bowl on his head? See my girls thrill at the spectacle?). I love Sydney. It seems to me that it is a wonderfully physical city and you experience it with your senses.
And there were movies (Fantastic Mr Fox is indeed fantastic, Bright Star made me cry mascara down my cheeks, Avatar made me fall in love with a beautiful blue cgi version of Sam Worthington) and there have been late nights, sleep-ins, heat waves, thunderstorms and experimental pavlova making,
With school starting next week, and Lily starting kindergarten, I feel as though I am about to enter the next phase of my life. I am quite excited about this prospect but am yet to work out what the exact focus of that will be. I have an inkling that there will be lots of writing, and illustration and art. There may also be some cooking and some crafting and some watching of movies. There might also be a little home renovation and a garden overhaul. I haven’t made any resolutions for the first time in forever and instead I have wandered into the new year trying to remember how it felt to be 10 – when life was full of possibilities and excitement and boundless enthusiasm blanketed in a sense of love and security. 10 was good. 38’s going to be better.
This is a bit late today as I have spent the morning searching high and low for the cable to transfer photos from my camera to the computer. I finally found it in amongst all the christmas chaos.
The how:
To play along, it’s as easy as writing up your own hot/not list on your blog and then linking back to me here at loobylu.com and then adding your url to the widget below.
Hot
Solstice is hot: – We had lots of guests last night and our Midsummer feast this year consisted of roast chicken and vegetables, pavlova, Paul’s Christmas pud and chocolates. We drank pimms and lemonade, sparkling champagne and sparkling red. After dinner the children made fairy rings and then Phil took them out way past their bedtime to see the christmas lights in the streets nearby (which apparently was the “most awesome thing ever”) followed by a new Tove Jansson book read by Nan for bedtime stories. Everything was a little bit sparkly last night.
Pavlova cooking: – Something that went just right. My first trial pav was you classic pav laden with cream and berries. It was so good. For Solstice I tried Jamie O’s version with some lime juice and coconut stirred through the mixture. I found it just a little too sweet but still successful.
Paper snowflakes: – I can’t stop making them. There is that wonderful moment of surprise when you unfold the snowflake and discover what the delicate cuts have made. I use this image as inspiration (via @Maggie) and here are some instructions.
Aunty Cookie’s kind loan of her wizz bang badge making machine: – Don’t slow down near me or I might whip you up and turn you into a badge. It’s too much fun.
Christmas carols on my ipod: – Our little music box in the kitchen is blasting out the christmasy tunes – we have Charlie Brown’s Christmas, Sufjan Stephens, Vintage carols with the likes of Bing Cosby and Doris Day, Christmas in Sweden (from Anna’s kind gift over at Dos Family)
Alma: – (above) the beautiful (but creepy) animated short is available to watch online for a short time this Christmas. It is so hot. She is an exquisite character.
Food fail: – Tears and a bashed head while meringue cooking. Failed dips (too much garlic in the beetroot, too much smoke in the baba ghanouj) and a slightly dried out solstice chicken. Argh. never mind. It’s the company & conversation that counts.
Last Monday: – Monday was a bad day. I don’t need to go into it really, but it consisted of tired, tantruming children, tired parents, awkward (awful) social moments and failed culinary plans.
I didn’t take a single photo of our Solstice party! So not hot. I guess we were living in the moment.
We’re in the middle of the busiest fortnight of the year. Sorry this is a day late. Lots of hots this week and only a few nots which is good.
The how:
To play along, it’s as easy as writing up your own hot/not list on your blog and then linking back to me here at loobylu.com and then adding your url to the widget below.
Hot
Mum and Dad’s ever expanding no-dig veggie garden and Saturday afternoon in my parent’s garden: – Totally blissful.
Phil’s home from California: – Totally hot. Apart from the jet lag.
Comments from Loobylu ornament fans: – thank you if you did!
My crafty girls 1, 2 and 3: - I had a lovely evening sipping Kirsty’s Caiprioskas and chatting and gossiping last night. I have made three amazingly lovely friends this year and I am looking forward to another year of good catchups.
Tiny knitting: – I love a good quick project that actually works out. My tiny knitted caps seem to work for me, immense satisfaction is gained from very little effort.
Hot glue gun: – I was looking for a life changing experience when I bought my first hot glue gun this week. It was a complete, frustrating disaster. I was so disappointed but then decided that perhaps it was the gun itself and should try another. So I got a slightly bigger model, and some advice from a very kind girl from Art Riot in Camberwell and indeed it is a life changing experinece. How did I ever get along without a hot glue gun before? My little ornaments would have been so frustrating without it.
Amelia finally lost her first tooth: – she’s only been waiting for it for two years and it disappeared into a slice of pizza never to be found again. Luckily the tooth fairy doesn’t mind. (Did you know that the tooth fairy gives some children $10 for their first tooth? Is that called inflation? In our suburb she only leaves a much more meagre $2 coin – Amelia says she wants to move to Surrey Hills where their regional tooth fairy is much more generous).
A good end to the school year: – Apart from tired children from parties and discos and too much gifted chocolate and candy canes, everyone is cheerful and well. The head lice seem to have even taken a break.
Tumblr: – I’ve been following some folks with beautiful images and illustration posts. I’m liking Tumblr again very much.
Grr… I can’t believe it. Well, actually I can. There’s a mistake in my knitting pattern for the small hats. The third line reads “repeat for three more rows to make the ribbing” and I was knitting it one yesterday and realised it’s only two more rows! It probably doesn’t matter too much… regardless, apologies!
Here is the correct pattern:
Tiny Pointed Hats
Cast on 20 stitches
Row 1: Knit 2, purl 2 and repeat until the end of the row
Repeat for two more rows to make the ribbing.
Next row: Knit row
Next row: Purl row
Next row: You will now begin to decrease to make the pointed hat. Knit 2 together and then knit to the end of the row.
Next row: Purl 2 together and then purl to the end of the row.
Repeat until you have one stitch left on your needle. Cast off.
Turn right sides together and sew sides together using row ends, leaving the bottom of the hat open. Turn inside out, using a chop stick or a knitting needle head to push the tip through. Embelish with sequins and beads or with simple embroidered details. Glue it to your little doll’s head.
I have drawn the winners for the ornament giveaway. I picked numbers 68 Laura, 13 ginny and 22 Randi. I will be contacting all three by email for your details. Thank you for entering. xx
I have been making little ornaments for gifts and thought I would share my super simple knitted hat pattern with you. (please use it for personal use and gifts only! Thanks folks).
The little wooden blank dolls are from Winterwood but you can get loads on etsy from sellers such as Goose Greese Undone or Gemmielou. The head diameter of the ones I use is about 2cm.
I use 4 ply sock wool and I like using the variegated stuff (is that what a yarn buff would call it? the Patons stuff is called “Patonyle”) so that I get spontaneous stripes and patterns. My needles are size 2 3/4 (that’s 12 English size and 2 US size apparently!).
So; make a cup of tea, crack out the gingerbread, wield your long skinny needles and…
Cast on 20 stitches
Row 1: Knit 2, purl 2 and repeat until the end of the row
Repeat for two more rows to make the ribbing.
Next row: Knit row
Next row: Purl row
Next row: You will now begin to decrease to make the pointed hat. Knit 2 together and then knit to the end of the row.
Next row: Purl 2 together and then purl to the end of the row.
Repeat until you have one stitch left on your needle. Cast off.
Turn right sides together and sew sides together using row ends, leaving the bottom of the hat open. Turn inside out, using a chop stick or a knitting needle head to push the tip through. Embelish with sequins and beads or with simple embroidered details. Glue it to your little doll’s head.
And now the give away part – I will be making three of these little christmas ornaments to hang on the tree and will give them away to three lucky commenters. All you need to do is leave a (one only) comment (of the creative and eloquent kind – natch!) on this post and I will draw three random numbers out of the hat next week. Comments will be closed on Monday 14th December 2009 7am Australian EST. Thanks! xx
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Edit to say: Comments now closed! Thank you. I will draw three winners later today.
Another Wednesday has sprung on us again. I’m sorry I didn’t get to visit last week if you played along. Solo parenting is to blame! Clearly I need to get more organised.
Here’s how:
To play along, it’s as easy as writing up your own hot/not list on your blog and then linking back to me here at loobylu.com and then adding your url to the widget below.
Hot
Klaus Haapaniemi (above) – I’m late to the party but I am loving the work of this Finnish born, London based illustrator. So good. I have been drooling over his dinnerware in a store while I was doing my Christmas shopping and came home to google him and feel my heart explode as I look at all his amazing work. And look, Christina found this gorgeous flash website he illustrated – just in time for Christmas.
Rainy Tuesday. It was only momentarily a hassle to have to go out shopping in the pouring rain yesterday. While I managed to get quite wet around the ankles, it was still such a delicious novelty.
Chance meeting with Christina – she was stepping out of Minimax having been looking for a trifle bowl, I was zooming past to get to the dollhouse shop to look for little miniatures to incorporate into some last minute decoration making. We spent a pleasant half hour attempting to tick off things on our respective shopping lists.
Vanilla Macaron – I still think my friend Paul makes the best macarons in Melbourne, but I tried a vanilla macaron the other day from a cafe and the vanilla flavour was delicious. Like ice-cream in a macaron.
Holiday posts from the Kiddley archives. We were so lucky to have a huge group of talented guest bloggers with amazing tutorials for holiday crafts and activities on our Kiddley site around this time in 2006. Scroll back through the pages for good things from the likes of Amy from Angry Chicken, Amanda from Soulemama, Sarah from the Small Object, Heather Bailey, Christina Gordon, Lyn from Molly Chicken, Carly from Moopy and Me, Kathreen from Whip Up, Alicia from Posy Gets Cozy, Asha from Parent Hacks, Andrea from Hula Seventy, Alison from Six and Half Stitches, Fiona from Hop Skip Jump, Heidi from My Paper Crane, Stephanie from Little Birds Handmade, Amber from Kids Craft Weekly, Myra from My Little Mochi and Blair from Wise Craft. Even as I type up that list I am stunned by the amount of cool people who helped us out with Kiddley in the December of 2006!
10 Years of Loobylu and all the kind comments, tweets and emails I received.
Tiny knitting – for some last minute decoration making.
Not
Phil is away in California. That makes me a bit sad. Things which are usually his domain keep going wrong – batteries going flat in the smoke detector in the middle of the night, the oven going up to full temperature and refusing to turn off, internet connection stops working, heater stops working… and I still can’t make a good coffee. Now I am just waiting for a plague of spiders and cockroaches to attack. On the bright side, I am proving to myself that I really can cope with all these “Phil” things. Apart from missing him, of course.
Sore tippy-toe muscles. “What?!” I hear you say… Changing smoke detector batteries in the middle of the night required standing on a chair with my eyes half closed. And the ceiling seemed suddenly very high up so I had to strain and stand on the tippiest of my tippy-toes. I woke up the next morning with excruciatingly sore feet and calf muscles and realised I had given my rarely used tippy-toe muscles a work out. Agony!
Colds, headlice, pot belly, not enough sleep – all the usual suspects.
Nathalie Lété is one of my favourite artists and here she is painting a beautiful shop window in Harajuku, Tokyo. I am feeling inspired to paint some white on one of my windows in the studio – once I finish tidying and I can actually get to the window.
On this day ten years ago I published my first post under the moniker Loobylu.
Yep – I’ve been doing this for 10 YEARS. I did take a whole year off in 2006 so I have been debating with myself as to whether this is a anniversary of note or not, but I think I have decided that regardless of anything else, I have spent a whole decade, (more than a quarter of my life) online and that’s worth mentioning!
Lots has happened over these last 10 years – online and off. I can’t even begin to tell you how many good things Loobylu and the world of blogging has brought my way – including friends, laughs, confidence, opportunities, and lots and lots of amazing inspiration – some of it life-changing.
So thank you to YOU for reading here and sharing in all the good stuff and putting up with occasional whinge. Thank you for commenting, or emailing, for mentioning me on your blog or in your article, for buying my stuff on the odd occasion and to the kind souls for sending me stuff in the mail. Thank you if you just drop by and check out my stuff from time to time. I hope you stick around. I know it gets a bit shaggy about the edges, but that’s the way life is and that’s how I like it.
So in no particular order, here are my favourites and my bests who have meant something to me and my online life, people who have inspired me, supported me and made my life a whole lot better over the years (over the DECADE!) – I may have forgotten very important people, probably glaringly obvious people… that seems inevitable (sorry!)…
Hello!
I'm Claire Robertson and I live in Melbourne, Australia with my raggle taggle family and a house full of junk. I like to write, draw, sew and grow vegetables. Loobylu is my scrapbook, my side-project, my brain-dump.
You can also find me on Twitter and on Tumblr.
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