Tiny hat knitting pattern for tiny things

Here's something I posted in 2009 - but I'm about to make some more of these so I thought I would publish this again.

Tiny Pointed Hats

"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.

(please use it for personal use and gifts only! Thanks folks)."

Happy Halloween!

It's a lovely spooky, misty day here on the island - perfect for those spirits to walk amongst us. Here are two horrifying photos for you. 1) Our cheery looking jack-o-lantern and 2) me making a collar for a halloween costume (to order). Which is more terrifying? Let me give you a clue, it's the one that rhymes with "next year I am buying a polyester piece of crap off ebay." My Little House on the Prairie girl looks like she's wearing her great grandma's voluminious night dress... and I have spent the last three days making her look just so. For future reference McCall's 9424 .... forget about it.

Something weird and new (part one) :: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a pretty nice holiday - why didn't anybody tell me? Maybe they did and I was too busy thinking "Gah! Turkey day! I can't possibly cook a turkey... I am too terrified to even think about it!"... but when I decided once and for all that turkey was not going to be on the menu this year, mainly due to aforementioned fear but also due to our oven deciding that it has a habit of turning itself off at any unexpected time, it all started looking rosy. My dad fixed the oven on Sunday morning so we were able to have roast veg and Jamie's awesome and easy bbq chicken, but we also had bbq corn and fresh and crispy salads and delicious pumpkin pie. I think Thanksgiving is almost as good as Christmas - a little less magic but there is also a lot less consumerism and crazy stress. Over the weekend there was popcorn and boardgames, crackling fires, and good coffee (but unfortunately terrible terrible apple cider -- what I did wrong, I am not sure, but it was undrinkable). Everyone had a go at the enormous Edward Gorey jigsaw puzzle - such a good one. The scene we put together was a horrific family gathering full of murder and mayhem. It was a good one for Thanksgiving - It reminded us to be Thankful that we have such a lovely, cheerful, mellow family - as there were no babies being stuffed in vases, or people being pushed out of boats or massive tantrums on the floor (well, not many, thankfully).

I love the work of Blanca Gómez, an illustrator and designer living and working in Madrid. Her work is remeniscent of mid century illustrators but with a sparkly modern take. Makes me want to break out the gocco, and the photoshop textures.

This lovely, moving (moving) post captures the essence of what I love about Soulemama. Perfect. I am having new-home envy just glancing at her site.

Just came across this Flickr set via Ravelry last night - LCW Wool Project --- makes me want to spin (and dye roving with kids + food colouring). What a great project.

One of my TV favourites is back; Bored to Death - Jonathan Ames, the creator and writer has episode footnotes for added enjoyment.

Hello new year! (finally)

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.

What's Hot Christmas week

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.

I made a scrap fabric wreath! Inspired completely by Nan and her easy to follow instructions.

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.

This set of stacking drawers.

Not

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.

So how about you?

Home again, Home again

We've been back from Byron Bay for two days now, and I can hardly even believe we were actually ever there. It was a completely perfect break and hard to drag ourselves away on Friday. I was pleased to find that while Byron has changed a lot in the 12 years since we were last there, it still manages to hang on to its essential Byron-ness. We have loads of photos but most involve me in my bathers so quite obviously not blog-appropriate.

Top to bottom: Australia's Eastern most point, where we stood and peered out at the ocean, hoping to catch a glimpse of a whale.

And glimpse we did. I know it's pretty slight - but it made my day (holiday, even).

Poolside, lying back on my banana lounge looking up into the trees. This is probably my "happy place"... the place I close my eyes and imagine when the girls start shouting at each other, or someone is stamping their three year old foot and shouting at me.

Thank goodness for blogs - all I need to do is visit Megan's blog The Byron Life and I am right back there.

What's Hot + What's Not Wednesday

Hello - There is a phantom publishing this post, as  I am some miles away hopefully lying on a beach or sipping a cocktail. What - no internet for 5 days? CRAZY. But here's my What's Hot + What's Not Wednesday - it was great to hop about the place last week and find out what's hot and what's not elsewhere, so please feel free to post the link to your url below if you take part.

HOT

Fake tan! I got a fake tan - oh so funny. Amelia couldn't look at me without saying "I want the real you back!". I have never, ever had a tan in my whole life so it was really very novel. I was surprised at how good all my clothes looked. Now I get why people like to look brown. The actual spray tan process was not nearly as humiliating as I imagined and I am not even orange. Amazing! It's too bad I discovered this in an era when it is completely dangerous to get out in the sun and get the natural version of this.

Migaloo: (above) An albino humpback whale. He was sighted off Byron Bay on the 28th of September. He's probably well and truly gone by now, but I hope to see some whales (and maybe their calves) on their way home from their migration south. I am also packing binoculars because imagine how many new birds there will be to add to my list! The place we are staying even has a downloadable bird walk brochure. Awesome. (Tag: bird nerd)

Paul's chocolates. Our good friend Paul did a chocolate making class last week and he gave us a box of his beautiful goodies. I am so impressed with how beautiful and interesting they are, and how good they taste. We spent quite a lot of time trying to convince Paul to try out for Master Chef for next season... but then we all wondered if there is anyone who needs that amount of stress in life.

Upgrading iTunes and sharing all Phil's music. So much good listening going on around here.

NOT

Pale people (but not pale whales - ha ha!)

The little barky dog next door, right outside our bedroom window. We had a peek at him over the fence and he's insanely cute but he does have a tendency to need to express himself at all the wrong times.

A small child with post-viral asthma: Phil and I were running on stress for two days. She's getting better but I am no good at sleeping while wondering if we are going to be leaping into an ambulance at any moment.

Survivor Samoa. I dunno. We watched the first episode and there a couple of characters who are so mean I didn't feel compelled to tune in again. I *know* they are probably actors, I *know* they need bad guys... but it left me with such a bad taste in my mouth.

Hot or Not? Alexander McQueen's 10 inch stiletto pod shoes -- I can't stop looking at these. Surely influenced by the Alien films - but amazing and creepy and dangerous! What do you think?

What's Hot + What's Not this week

Two weeks ago I did a personal What's Hot and What's Not. It was fun and I think I might try it every Wednesday or so. Join me if you like. A few folks did last time and it was fun to click around to get a little snapshot-glimpse into lives around the world. Leave me a comment if you do so I can come and visit.

HOT

Sitting by the fire in the evening - whether it's to watch 30Rock, roast marshmallows or to read Harry Potter out loud to a gathered, enthused crowd. I look forward to our nights by the open fire all day.

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz. I finished Chris Tsiolkas' The Slap and went into Yass to find something else to fill the void. I found A Fraction of the Whole and am devouring it. It's great. I also found a nice bookshop - The Little Dog Bookshop - 155 Comur Street, Yass. It's Carbon Neutral! How about that.

Whittaker's coconut chocolate - we have been having two little pieces of this deliciousness every evening after the children go to bed. I had some Rum and Raisin last night but far prefer the coconut. There are 24 different varieties in block form and it seems like one of the nearby supermarkets stocks quite a few of those. Mum is keen to try Kiwifruit just for the bizarreness factor.

The Quilt Project viewing at the Abbotsford Convent - October 23rd! Can't wait to see it. Kirsty's pretty darn cool.

Open Studios Event from Studio Magazine: "Crafters and artists around the world are invited to participate in this global open studios event – deadline for participation is Friday, October 2. Door Prizes available." I can't take part because I am here and a million miles away from my studio but this looks like fun. (thanks Kylie for the tip-off)

NOT Hot

Writing paralysis - I have gotten up a couple of mornings to write while we've been here. I huddle under a smelly old rug covered in dog hair in the sitting room, imagining (and only imagining) that the coals from the last night's fire are warming the room. Unfortunately the writing has been nothing but stilted and silly. I'm not sure why. Usually I find this place is a kind of creative hot-spot. Right before a fierce thunderstorm here in 2004, when the air was crackling with creative electricity and inspiration, I came up with the sketches for my favourite pictures ever which went on to be the body of the work for an exhibition. I know two years ago I was having an awful shower in the awfullest shower in NSW (which is now happily fixed) and as it swung from searing hot to piercingly cold every two minutes as the pump kicked in and out, I had the idea for my novel about the girl moving home to the country and blah blah blah (the one I have been working on but is momentarily on hold). I guess it's a case of taking your brain out of your every day commitments and routines and let it go into a vacuum for a while. But not so this time. You know? I think I blame The Slap. It totally occupied all my mind and imagination while I was reading it.  It was worth it though.

'Tis the season for swooping magpies. Maybe all those owl signs Phil saw the other day were actually the angry eyes of the kamikaze magpies which have started up around here.

A full meat diet. The butcher near here is so good. Great sausages, delicious chops and steaks and roasts... it's an easy way to cook up here, as the kitchen is a little prehistoric and the bbq is often so much easier. Don't get me wrong, it's tasty - but I am starting to feel *ridiculously* full all the time. It's enough to make me turn vegetarian on our return to Melbourne. Hilariously, as I typed this Mum asked "who wants bacon for breakfast? There's a lot here! We can have bacon... with um... bacon!". It's a good thing I forgot to take photos of several of the dinners up here, because it would have been downright embarrassing to record the full-meat diet for all to see.

The future in a cup

Sadly I have missed a couple of days, so close to the end of my month of posting every day. I also completely forgot to take photos of my last three dinners to upload to Once Daily (have you visited Once Daily? Come join us! - Start a project with a vague theme such as daily dinners, kitchen benches, breakfast, views etc. And take a photo every day, upload it and watch a story of your life slowly unfold). Our weekend was busy with family and lots of laughs. Tonight we are off to a bbq with a country football team so I can only imagine what kind of craziness will insue.

Just now Phil has finished his morning coffee (look, he's uploading them everyday to Once Daily), and this is the formation the coffee grounds made in the bottom of his cup. BIZARRO! I, of course, immediately read it to mean that we will spotting that elusive Barn Owl that lives around here... but perhaps, according to Turkish coffee ground fortune telling, it means something more ominous? Scandal! Oh dear.  Let's hope it has nothing to do with tonight's bbq and all those footballers. I have seen enough of them on facebook to know that there's a strong possibility. I would far prefer to see that Barn Owl.

** Terrifying update! Phil has just got back from his morning run... and look what he saw on a log! What can it mean? **

Bird Brain

I'm afraid to say that I have caught the birding bug. It's pretty hard to avoid around here... today we saw a Black Fronted Dotterel and my day was made.  But now my brother and sister-in-law have just arrived and we've cracked open a block of coconut chocolate, the kettle is on, the fire is crackling and the playful insults are already flying so I better go and join in the fun.

Guess what we're reading

Too exciting - I'm loving doing all the voices. I do a very good Ron, and a passable Hagrid. Off to watch multiple episodes of 30 Rock. Did I mention we are having a great holiday?

An indoors kind of morning

The rain fell all evening and all night and woke us at 6am. It's an indoor kind of morning - with the prospect of wading in mud this afternoon. So I am still in my PJs and my ugg boots and have taken some photos of the floor. There's some very worn out old carpets in this house - my favourite is the one with pink roses.

Sunshine before the rain

Top to bottom: Amelia's bird list, Totoro playing to itself in the sitting room (there's too much else to do to be sitting around watching tv  - nice for a change), a cup of tea and a slice of mum's boiled fruit cake. Wanna know how to cook it? Straight from Mum who is sitting next to me on the couch listening to the rain while my Dad reads the girls their bedtime story:

My Mum's Boiled Fruit Cake

Soak 4 cups of mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants and mixed peel etc) in 1/2 cup of brandy overnight.

Next day put 125g of butter, the soaked mixed fruit, 2 tablespoons of treacle and 1 cup of water in a big saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Let it simmer for a minute or so. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Beat 2 eggs together and add to the mixture with 1 cup of sifted self-raising flour and 1 cup of plain flour. Mix it all around and pour into a square tin lined with baking paper.

Cook at 150°c on the bottom shelf for at least a couple of hours. Test with a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake. When it comes out clean, it's ready. Let it cool in the tin. Eat with cups of tea or glasses of milk in the middle of the night (at least, that's what my Dad recommends).

Daisy daisy

Hello from the NSW South West Slopes

Firstly, I have to tell you that the chicken schnitzel with gravy at the Golf Club on Saturday night was absolutely delicious. Hopefully we will be going back there again sometime this holiday - and maybe this time we'll win a meat tray!

Another thing you will need to know if you ever come visiting this way, is that there are a lot of daisies in the garden  - bring yellow shoes to disguise the pollen stains.

Today we discovered that getting a three year old to walk all the way home from a long hike up the road is easy with a little forward planning. My mum quietly set up a series of little stone cairns every 50 metres or so up the road on the way to Totoro's Forest (as that is where we were going - I bet you didn't know that Totoro's Forest is on the South West Slopes of NSW). On the way home the challenge was to find each cairn and place a big stone on the pile. Lily was intrigued. There was hardly a grizzle.

Fascinatingly, my Dad is becoming a Birder. He has spotted 100 different bird species and entered them into his database. Today he spotted his 101st - the Red Capped Firetail. Amelia has started a list too. She has a new shiny red plastic pair of binoculars for her birthday and her plan is to out-spot Phoebe Snetsinger, the woman who managed to see 8400 birds by the time of her death.

In other news, when not walking, filling a shopping trolley with huge amounts of food to cook for a hungry holiday household, cooking, looking for birds or wrangling children, I am reading The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas... and loving it. I have been wanting to read it for the longest time and have finally caved and bought myself a copy as the waiting list at the library was enormous. I have heard such mixed reviews but his characterisations are brilliant. I know it won't be everybody's cup of tea but he makes me want to write more honestly and not shy away from uncomfortable, human truths.

So that's me for today. How are you?

Sleepless first nights

New holiday routines (or no routine), new bedrooms, strange noises, funny shapes in the dark... two small nocturnal people... one so terrified of the shaggy pine tree silhouted against the night sky outside her window that she was shrieking and shuddering in my bed... anyway... we're tired today. Hopefully all will sleep better tonight and the phantom tree monster and phantom rustling mice will leave us alone so day two of our holiday will be less full of tantrums.

All that being said, there were some nice moments and a good walk up the hill - a blue sky and a light wind.

Here be holidays...

...but I'll still be posting ever day.

(BTW - for those wondering and for those who asked, the prints above our bed in yesterday's photo are from Christina Gordon - and our bedspread is by Nathalie Lete for Anthropologie)

A Long Drive

It's the eve of the school holidays.

Tomorrow Amelia is heading 8 hours north with my parents for two weeks.

Two whole weeks.

When Mum first suggested it, I was totally stoked. The thought that this little restless 6 year old, so used to constant school-style stimulation, was about to land in our laps for a fortnight of boredom and quibbling, had been weighing on my mind. As an alternative, two weeks of running in paddocks, fishing in dams, wading in mud, visiting caves, hot air ballooning (oh yes) and evenings snuggled by a fire is the stuff childhood holiday dreams are made of. I couldn't be more pleased for her. Although I am sure there will be wobbly moments when she misses home, and phones calls will be made, I know that being away from us in a safe place will give her such a sense of independence and pride, and she's going to have so much flat-out fun, that I feel really good about the decision.

But then I feel bad.

For me!

Now that she leaves tomorrow, there's a very big part of me that doesn't want to let her go. Obviously I'll be brave and set her free (etc. etc.) and anyway, it's way too late to change minds and she's so excited and her lists have been written (an extensive packing list and a schedule for holiday activities broken right down to each hour). I share her excitement and we are packing with clothes-flinging enthusiasm, but I also want to hold on to her and step back to before the decision was made and remake it again. She'll be such a long drive away.

Our two weeks without her will be long. I know from experience that the first three days of the usual school holidays are nigh on nightmarish as exhausted kids wind down and get used to the new, slower schedule. But after that we fall into gentle rhythms and quiet joys with no need to rush anywhere. No 9am deadline to be in line at the classroom door, no need to get out of our pajamas until lunchtime. Time expands allowing for imaginary friends and cubby building in the garden, 'chapter books' are written (hers, not mine), friends come in from next door, sisterly affection blossoms. We'll miss all that.

I already know that I will go into her room while she's away and listen to the stillness and look at the neat, unslept in bed and feel completely strange and empty. I am already looking at her and missing her. There are moments when she seems so small and waif-like which, oddly, she was nothing of the sort just a week ago. Now she seems thinner and paler and her eyes bigger and more pool-like and those eyelashes! There are other moments when she is funnier than I ever remember her being, and more interesting and full of startling, grown-up confidence. I look at her soft profile and go quite gooshy - there is no other word for it. I am falling madly head-over-heels-again. Funny that.

Only 16 days until she's home again. Counting down. 

Other words and pictures for "A Long Drive" can be found here. Thanks Pip for hosting again. xx

There's a hole in the fence where the kids get in

Summer holidays just got better. There's a brand new gate in our fence between us and the neighbours. Now the kids next door suddenly appear at my elbow while we are at the dinner table. "Oh hello!" I say, as they survey the food, and "Goodbye!" as they dash off again with shouts of "See you at 10am!". My kids disappear for hours on end (well, an hour on end anyway), snacks are in high demand, there are spontaneous picnics, secret tamagotchi clubs under the bottlebrush trees and elaborate games about getting lost, getting killed (!), running away, joining a war, riding horses and camping out.  There's constant dashing through the gate as the games get more manic and finally it's 6 o'clock and the kids are exhausted and hopefully will sleep ALL NIGHT.

Four kids are a lot noisier than two, and (gawd) you have to remember to close the bathroom door, and there's a lot of mess at the end of the day, and there's the occasional barney, or prickle or hunger-pang which needs seeing to - but this afternoon I got to sit and write at the kitchen table for two hours straight with barely an interruption. Awesome. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off too soon.

Vintage Holidaying

I have an old article from Life Etc. snipped out about dream-green holidays which includes Vintage Vacations in the UK. In a parallel universe where I get to go on dream holidays I would be choosing and booking a vintage American trailer, packing my sketch book and drawing paraphernalia, prepping the children for a holiday sans tv and heading Northwards. While you don't seem to be able to tow the enormous trailers around the countryside you can stay in field on a dairy farm on the Isle of Wight, play vintage board games, enjoy mod cons and snuggle up under a crochet rug every night. I have found all the crochet rug photos because they are very appealing.

This last photos is lovely - it makes me want to find a vintage trailer and park it permanently in the yard. What a fab studio it would make!