dottyspots

Spring has sprung!

And as a result I've been rather busy.

We have a new seasonal table stand on the seasonal table. We have a very nice wooden stand, but I fancied a change.  This painted wooden one is from Erzi and injected a bit more 'spring colour' into the table.  The candle is handmade from Brighter Blessings.  I knitted some eggs, but most went to the Seven Hills Steiner Initiative Parent and Child group, I only made a couple for here, in a little knitted dish with some wooden and a marble one:

I made a purse for Ted.  I don't do very much sewing and on reflection the mouse's tail could be a little longer, but he really likes it:

 

I also made a little knitted and beaded rose for Nin, but she squirrelled it away before I could take a photo and now can't find it *sigh*.  Doubtless it will turn up and some point.

We've done some cooking - Erk making a salad for lunch).  Yes he lives in Clash t-shirts (he's wearing a different Clash one in the photo further down - it's becoming a bit of a standing joke here):

Some digging.  We now have 2 blackcurrant and 2 redcurrant bushes in, plus broccolli, radishes, lettuce, carrots, spring onions and various flowers.  I've been given a rhubarb plant by some friends, so I really need to get that in soon too.  All I'd like now are some raspberries and gooseberries and I'll be set (give me bowlfuls of raspberries over chocolate any day!)

 

We continued making papier mache shields - these aren't happening fast, but one day they will be done.  Erk has been busy making a papier mache model of a geyser (he's been learning quite a bit about volcanoes and geysers I now know more than I was ever really that interested in knowing ;)

Attended the Easter egg hunt and various crafts at Longshaw (my youngest children are now convinced that they could possibly find a chocolate egg *anywhere* if they look hard enough).  Erk peeled one of the eggs before dye-ing it blue, then tried to eat it (yuck) and very quickly spat it out (but not before having dyed his teeth blue).  I think I might suggest a more natural approach to dye-ing next time around!

Below Ted has a peeled dyed egg (just the shell dyed on this one) with complementary bit of egg stuck to his lip. Erk is doing a 'bored teen' pose whilst helping Nin and the other little boy isn't one of mine (hence the back shot).

 

And Ted found out what happens when you go upstairs to play with your sister: she insists you are a princess and must wear a dress (whether you want to or not...)  Note the blue ink stamp on his forehead as well.  He was not impressed and ran downstairs to escape the attention. I've also finished the lace scarf (it needs blocking) and have nearly finished the knitted and crocheted top (was going to be a dress, but will now be a tunic) for Nin - it seems to have taken forever with the various other projects I've done inbetween.  I also felted a few bowls ready for the new kindergarten and have also worked on a shaped knitted head for the little bendy dollshouse dolls I make. I also had a birthday (yesterday), I'm not a big birthday person, so enjoyed a quiet day finishing the aforementioned scarf. When this cold has subsided I will record a few more songs that we have been using in our April story time. One about Spring and one about rabbits.

The other fairly big news I have is that I have now officially applied to do the Foundation Degree in Steiner Early Years Education at Plymouth University.  I should hopefully hear sometime in July whether I have been accepted or not.  So, in two years time I could be a qualified Steiner Kindergarten teacher, with the option of doing a third year and either doing Steiner teacher training or going for Early Years Professional Status.  I am really excited about starting the degree (especially the craft and music side, plus the opportunity to learn something about Eurythmy). With Spring it seems quite a lot of change is in the air and life seems pregnant with possibilities :)

Knitted Waldorf Doll

I finished my first entirely Knitted Waldorf Doll (well, ok, he does need some clothes, I'm working on that).

 

He is predominantly knitted in Riihivilla Aarni (a naturally-dyed Finnish rare-breed yarn) from Ecoknits and his hair is from Spectraspun.

Splurge!

Because it's been a while since I last blogged.  I don't know what's happened recently, but life seems to have gotten a little bonkers on the busy front and by the time I have a minute to blog I'm too tired to actually do it.

So, a short recap of what's been going on: Nin has been back to hospital.  She has been having some blood tests which have shown anaemia, but also high allergy antibodies.  She will be having further allergy tests to try to pinpoint what's causing this.

We've been attending the Steiner Initiative in Sheffield once a week, but things are rather up-in-the-air atm (regarding location, number of children attending, etc.) Myself and a couple of others in the local area are working towards a Woodland Parent and Child Group and Steiner-inspired co-op. We are looking to gather a minimum of 6 6-8 year olds for this, at which point we might be able to bring in a teacher to lead a Class 1. 

At present I'm going to be leading the simple co-op (unless any other parent would also like to be involved, which would be more ideal), but my preference would be for it to be teacher-led to enable me to have more input into a Kindy/Parent & Child thing.

I do have quite a bit more to say on this, but need to have a think about it. I attended an interesting talk by Dot Male about Setting Up a Steiner Initiative last night in Sheffield, although it covered more, the setting up of a Steiner Kindergarten, but it was lovely to finally meet her (I've been trying to get to her "First Three Years" course for around 3 years now ;) and to also meet other people involved in the Steiner Initiative in Sheffield (or just interested in Steiner Ed.)

Erm, aside from that the days have sort've blurred into one and we've been doing the 'usual stuff', including some felting of hearts and Ted finding a tiny, tiny snail in the playhouse (which he went on to carry around the house for the majority of the day - the snail survived and was later released back into the garden ;) ):

 

Time flies...

Such a flurry of activity!  It's almost 10 days into the New Year (so nearly Ted's birthday) and it seems to have gone by so fast! There's been quite a lot of things like this:

 

And finishing off things like this (R, my 14yr old son, made the cake):

 

And I started this (must be mad):

The playmat is 1x1.2m.  I'm chain-stitching the water (as you can see), with embroidered then needle-felted pebbles in the stream (with scrap bits of Noro left from the hobby horse which I'm *still* to get a decent pic of to post).  Once I've finished the base colour of water I will chainstitch or embroider a variegated (blue/green/purple) yarn on top for some added 'movement'.

I plan to crochet the lane (coloured in beeswax crayon as a guide for the time being) and will then knit various fields, latch-hooking verges and bits around the pond for a bit of height (I can't face latch-hooking 'grass' into an entire field).

I'm also knitting a cardi for Rosie (Nin's doll) in matching yarn to the stockings I've recently made for her and am *still* crocheting the blue and purple knitted dress for Nin (which is likely to be a long top at this point).  I've also got the hem to add to the stripy dressing gown I've been making for Nin, but had to wash it (due to a cat wee incident, of which I will probably post more later - had one of those awful, but comical, days yesterday *sigh*)

I'm still here!

Been a bit busy, y'know how it is :D

We've had a lovely quiet festive season with quite a lot of biscuits and some marzipan dipped in chocolate (made by the children - yes they were covered head to toe in chocolate, I couldn't take photos as I was too ;) ).

Here are a couple of bits and pieces I've made, although I still need to take a picture of the hobby horse, coat and hat and scarf set.  I'm not a confident photographer and I just couldn't get half decent photos of them this morning. I have, however, finished Ted's doll's cardigan, some dungarees (couldn't get a decent close photo of them) and socks to match the cardigan.  For Nin's doll I finished a pair of stockings:

 

Aside from that it's been brisk cold walks with the dog (and some extra teens, I seem to collect them in this house...)

 

The last photo is where we do most of our blackberry picking in the autumn, it looks so cold and bare now.  The camera ran out of batteries at this point (which was a shame as we went to the playground and Erk took off his hat and put it on the ground next to the swing and the dog grabbed it and made off with Erk in hot pursuit, much to everyone's amusement - the dog was really, really pleased with himself).  Oh and guess what?  Ted did the whole walk with NO NAPPY!  Yes, my little boy is now wearing pants in the day :)

Anyway, hopefully I'll get some photos of the hobby horse and other bits and pieces I've made soon (I'd also like to also get them posted up on Ravelry).

Resurfacing, slowly

I'm getting there.  The funeral went well, after rather a comedy of errors getting down to Birmingham on public transport with two small children (dh joined us on the day of the funeral with the two older boys).  Nin became ill and I followed her on Saturday and have been rather bogged down with a bad cough and fever, but steadily I'm coming out of that. It still hurts.  I imagine it will for a while. But there are still everyday things to be done. We've done some crafting.

Erk's done some sewing.

 

Nin and Ted have painted some beads.

And everyone has been making some bobbles.

This required quite some concentration from Ted, he's not quite 3 but really wanted to do what everyone else was doing.  There aren't any photos of the resultant bobbles as they haven't been finished yet :)

So, I'm getting there (and will probably feel a damn sight better when this bloody cough has gone!)

More knitting, crochet and brrrrr

Along with the felted hobby horse and dollshouse cowboy I'm working on, I'm plodding along with a knitted and crocheted dress for Nin.

It's going very slowly because there's just so much of it to *do*!  At this rate it may stay as a long knitted top.  I still need to add a band and tie at the back as it's made loose to easily go over Nin's head.  I'll be adding some sort of purple picot edge to the sleeves, hem and also edging for the band.

A pic of poorly Ted (although he's much better now).  Poor little mite curled up on the living room floor on a small cot mattress.  He was really so ill!

I've also finished a cardi for Nin's doll and am now working on a cabled version for Ted's doll. In addition I've just finished crocheting a cover for an old plastic head band which I'm now going to embroider with a vine, leaves and some flowers. So much to do, so little time if I want to get them finished as presents.

 

We also had a trip to Sandall Beat Woods for the HEDG (Home Education Doncaster Group) meet yesterday.  I met a couple of families from Sheffield at the bus station to show them the way, which was a nice addition to our small group.

 

Again I took the camera, but shortly after arriving it began to rain, then hail, sleet and finally snow, so we all retreated inside the Visitor's Centre for warmth, shelter and ashared meal of home-made cheese scones, jam sandwiches, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, carrot sticks, raspberries, bananas and satsumas, washed down with either water, herbal tea or traditional lemonade). No chance of a circle time in the slight chaos of a change of routine and the craft activities I brought (saws and a drill for the older ones to cut up fallen branches to either make buttons or for later whittling) and weaving on twigs (gods-eyes) went by the wayside as the weather wasn't conducive to collecting what was needed.

Basic bendy body tutorial added

I know I'm really, really late on this - sorry!  But the basic bendy body frame for the knitted dolls is now in the articles (under Knitted Bendy Dollshouse Doll).  They're basic instructions (like Wee Felt Folk, without the finesse of wrapping), so if you're still stuck, do let me know and I'll try and answer any questions.  The dolls aren't difficult to make, just a tad fiddly when sewing into the 'skin' (but hey, if my chunky fingers can do it, chances are yours can too!)

 

Some recent knitting

I have been knitting, honest!  Here are a couple of pics (I've also finished some mittens and felted a horse's head, but I'll get to that later).

 

Martinmas and a surprise birthday present

I'm getting a bit wobbly at how fast time seems to be passing, less than 6 weeks to Yule/Christmas and I'm working away at getting various things made for then.

We made some jam jar lanterns for Martinmas (made at a friend's house):

Nin is still enjoying lighting a candle in the evening and just watching it flickering away in her lantern.  She's continuing to copy Erk's geometry with her own attempts ("Look Mum, I'm doing geometry too!)

Nin also had a surprise package through.  My mother has been in Egypt with my brother and hadn't had time to send a present through to Nin, so when she got back, she sent this:

A Moulin Roty Handcraft Set. It's beautiful, I'd rather like one for myself! It also came with some needles and a sampler pattern for cross-stitch (which doubtless she will also try sometime soon). She's been busy trying to crochet and loves to pull out HER yarn and stroke it (clearly a yarnie in the making). She is making (with quite a bit of help) crocheted squares for a doll's blanket.