Change of Email Address

Just updating the email address for mini mae knitwear to wave94@southernphone.com.au
If you wish to purchase any of my patterns, please contact me via this email.  All patterns can be found on Ravelry & cost $6 AU. Thanks :-)

Check out mini mae knitwear on Ravelry

All my designs can now be found on Ravelry, under minimaeknitwear, original designs.  If you wish to purchase any patterns you can email me -  info@minimaeknitwear.com.au as I have closed down the mini mae knitwear website. There are so many fantastic knitting designs available from all over the world on Ravelry, so I'm sure you'll find something fantastic to get those knitting needles going!

Chest of Drawers Update

This is another project I've been meaning to do for ages, & I have finally completed :)  I wanted to give our old drawers an update because they have always been too high for bedside tables & they were looking a bit past it.  So, with the help of my boys I went like a crazy person a couple of Saturday's ago & sliced them down, sanded & undercoated them, repainted them with a couple of coats of semi gloss enamel in Hogs Bristle (although it appears lighter than I thought it would be), sanded them back a little to reveal the original colour, cut out (using jigsaw) new French style front mouldings to go between the legs, & finished them off with new knobs from local store 'ginger & co'. I didn't get it all done in 1 day.  I went like a crazy person on the monday as well!  Here are some pics;

completed drawer unit







drawers in original condition



Effervescence Cardi & Bag

I've currently got my latest design for mini mae knitwear the Effervescence Cardi & Bag in testing.  This is always a great (though scary sometimes!) process.  It should be ready for release in early August.  I'm also working on a top-down cardi for Ulani at the moment.  I need to get a move on, otherwise winter will have passed before she has had a chance to wear it!  Still, I'm knitting size 6, so it should be right for next year anyway.

Godspell

Me in the opening of Horsham Arts Council's Godspell 

Today marks the beginning of the second weekend of Horsham Arts Council's production of Godspell.  If I haven't already said so somewhere(which I think I have) I'm in it!!  We're having a great time doing this show.  It has a small on-stage cast of 10, a 4 piece band & 5 backing vocalists.  It just has the best vibe!  We recieved a standing ovation on opening night, which I'm pretty sure is rare :)  The band, is just fantastic & I can say that because they're my friends (& one brother-in-law)!!!!  I've put in some pics of the show, taken by our local paper The Wimmera-Mail Times.  If you're local, get your tickets now, so you won't miss out!



Horsham Arts Council Godspell cast lead by Brady King



Us giving Cam the toss!



mini mae website under maintenance

www.minimaeknitwear.com.au is currently unavailable because of a hosting changeover.  This will be corrected shortly, so sorry for any inconvenience.  I've been in the process of working on a pretty lace work cardi which is worked bottom-up & is seamless.  It's a bit more involved than usual, because of the patterning, but I think it will be gorgeous when it's finished.  So keep an eye out for that one!

update:
minimaeknitwear.com.au is up & running smoothly!!

My Baby's @ School

Last Friday saw the beginning of a new chapter in my life, as my last little munchkin headed off to school for her first day.  Well, first half day for our school.  I don't feel sad- maybe I will when the days are full ones next week.  She's with me today because Preps have a full day off on Wednesdays for nearly all of first term.  I'm enjoying having her pottering around without the others harasssing her (this causes a lot of screaming!).  We've painted her nails (natural, but I'm not sure it's good for a school girl but.....it's quality time, and we're about to go & bake a cake for Busy Bees playgroup which starts up tomorrow.  I'm running that with the help of my sister & a friend.  It's going to be fun!!!

New Pattern Released

I've just released the Dejavu Dress, Bag & Headband with Flower knit pattern.  This is a slight variation of the One Knit Wonder Dress with different dart shaping & patch pockets.  The pattern also comes with a bag & matching headband.  I love designing whole outfits & my girl just LOVES bags.  So if you wish to purchase this pattern for the bargain price of $6AUD, hop over to my website http://www.minimaeknitwear.com.au/

Crazy School Hols!!!!

There's always so much happening, that I forget just about everything! I forgot last time about our fab (1 night only) anniversary in Melbourne, with a carriage ride @ night - very romantic. But I can't go back over everything that's happened in the past 6 weeks, so I'll just share one of my 'mother experiences'.  I think there were a lot more of them when the children were younger - pre school days. I remember thinking that I was going to have to be locked away somewhere because my very busy toddler boys were driving me nuts & I had a little baby as well.  There were many a day when I would go from trying to fix one disaster that they'd created only to discover that while I had my back turned, they'd created another one. Ah.... it' was soooo very frustrating. Yesterday I had a glimps of that.....

I thought I'd tire them all out by going on a BIG walk/scooter ride on the morning before it got too hot.  After we came home & had morning tea, I thought I'd do a little computer work.  Let it be known I have a man's brain.  I can't concentrate on more than 1 thing at a time. Multitasking is over rated. So I did get just a little agro when I'd been interupted about 20 times (well maybe 10).  So I sentenced them all to quiet time in their rooms for the afternoon.  Good plan, except they share so it wasn't really going to be solitary confinement. 

I was amazed at how little fighting was going on (from the boys, they've been at it all holidays. Another reason they were exiled).  When I finally let them out I discovered why.  For some strange reason, only understandable to a boy of the age of 8-10years old, they decided to put marbles up their behinds.  Thankfully it was only one each & they weren't Tom Bowlers, Jacks or whatever those ones are that are really huge.  By the time I'd discovered their antics, 1 had already been pooed out.  There it was in the bottom of the toilet.  Not wanting to loose a marble, the owner promptly fished it out. Just lovely!

I tried to make the other child get his out (on it's own) on the grass outside, but to no avail. It managed to find its way out later into the toilet of its own accord.  I thought they may have outgrown that stuff, but obviously not. Other than the fact that they fight or 'get the nuffy's'(act like idiots as depicted above), the holidays have been quite good.

We went to Phillip Island -WAY too busy for holidays.  There we saw this sign, where we were staying;

Underneath this is a photo of 3 of my 4 children 'mooning'.  This was before the 'marble' incident, soWayne blames me for encouraging their dodgy behaviour.  Still you've got to have a bit of fun as a parent otherwise you'd go crazy!



No Time To Blog!

Ah, so much is happening all the time, especially this time of year, that I really don't get a chance to write blogs.  Latest bits are, I got my motorbike licence & now own a Vespa scooter, which Wayne bought for me.  I'll be mostly child free next year, so I won't need to drive a people mover everywhere -save on petrol :)Rode it to church today.  I recommend NOT wearing a skirt, even with leggings. 

Yep, that's me with Charlie, the Year 1 class toy.  Liberty was Student of the Week, so Charlie had to have an 'adventure ride' on the Vespa.
Also doing Godspell next year, so will start rehearsals for that soon, am writting a play for Christmas and trying to be a semi useful friend to some of mine who are going through rough patches in life.  Honestly I feel so blessed, when I look around & see great people struggling with what life's thrown @ them.
Still, when we are in a blessed place, it's so we can be a blessing to someone else -that's how life & frienship works.

ACS & Spotlight Knit Your Way to $30,000

I won!!!! I still can't quite believe it, but it's true! I won $10,000 for my mini mae knitwear One Knit Wonder Dress & Hat design. :) :) Check out the Australian Country Spinners website. Here is the winning design......

Of course, I think it helped that I had a stunning little model!!!! The pattern is available from

http://www.minimaeknitwear.com.au/

Hobbs' Outback Adventure

We've just arrived home from our Outback Adventure to Coober Pedy to visit friends.  What a brilliant way to use up those school holiday weeks!!! Usually the kids have 'cabin fever' because thay can't get outside & I'm going nuts (also because they can't get outside & my house is getting waaaay too messy).  It was terrible weather home here in Victoria - wind, rain.......So I was glad we missed it!

The children travelled really well.  I was expecting the worst. You know "are we there yet", "he keeps kicking my seat", "I'm hungry", "I need to go to the toilet", crying, fighting, etc, etc....There wasn't much of that which was a HUGE blessing!  No major disasters to report :) We did have the jockey wheel on the caravan bust off @ Coober Pedy (oops), Wayne did get pulled over by the police for speeding (double oops), and everyone managed to get grease off the tow ball on their clothes (a thousand oops' when you haven't got much clothing anyway).  Other than that everything went well.

I know what you're thinking re. Wayne speeding, which I must say NEVER happens.  How can a people mover towing a caravan possibly speed? Simple. South Australia has a very logical(not!) speed of 25kmh (believe it) in roadwork zones.  Wayne was going @ a big 36kmh when he was clocked.  Why was he going so fast?  Well he was slowing down, but the caravan was "pushing him". Yeah...whatever!  He told the police officer that.  Anyway he got off the hook when the officer saw he had 4 kids in the car "It's a wonder you weren't doing 100" he said.
Meanwhile in my hurry to get the whole thing on video I jammed my coat in the rear door of the car & couldn't open it. I felt like a bit of a gonzo, but anyway.....Wayne got it out for me :)

In the Outback between Port Augusta & Pimba

Hobb's children stopped for lunch.

We had such a great time catching up with our friends Prudie, Damien & their children.  We didn't even do any really 'touristy' stuff until the last day.  The boys went to 'Lego Club' on Sat morn while we took the girls looking around the shops & the craft market.  We went to Church with them on Sunday morn (underground).  It was such an experience to see local Aboriginal people leading the praise & worship & singing in their own language. Absolutely awesome!  The kids all had a fab time in the afternoon riding motorbikes -guess what's on the Christmas list :P

We went on a mine tour, checked out Prudie's friend's underground 'duggout', went 'noodling' for opal, went to the Art Gallery with pebbles on the floor, had a look @ 'The Big Winch' & just hung out together.

Coober Pedy is soooo unique!  I love the crazy, humorous signs everywhere, the amount of rubbish.......??? Normally I wouldn't find rusty junk everywhere cool, but it kind of suits there.  It's just very quaint in a very Aussie way.

Noodling for Opals

In the underground Catholic Church

In the Caravan park @ Coober Pedy one night, I saw a little girl in the toilets who looked familiar. I watched her walk out & checked the direction she was heading.  I hoped no one saw me because they would have thought I was some kind of weird stalker.  I thought I knew who she was & went back to our van to tell Wayne.  I then decided to go looking for her parents, who are friends of ours living in Ballarat.  Sure enough, I found their van in the dark & was chatting away to all the girls!!! Meanwhile, the dad had worked out who he thought his daughter had seen in the toilets & was looking for us!  When we went back to our van, there he was having a chat to Wayne.  So we all caught up with Dame & Prudie for tea the next night:)

I also saw 2 ladies on my travels who had bought mini mae knitwear patterns! Amazing! One even had her grandaughter with her wearing the Crochet Trim dress.  It looked great!!! No photos, but I have it on video. We were out for tea in Hahndorf for Wayne's birthday when we saw them.  It was a great tea (all you can eat - just perfect for a Hobbs boy!!) & Hahndorf was a lovely place to stay.

In Hahndorf

Other Projects

I've just been putting a coat of varnish on my dining chairs (c.1929) before we go away on our super adventure holiday!  I've left it to the last minute because it stinks out the whole house & last time I had a headache for a week :(

I've already done the table - finished that around the 25th of May, but have had the chairs 1/2 done for a while.  So I'm putting up some before and after photos of the table, which Wayne made & my cousin's husband turned the legs for.  It was originally stained a deep jarrah colour, but looked a bit tired.  Wayne planed the top back to the hardwood & I sanded the table all over.  The top had to be re-puttied and took ages to sand the stain out.

I painted the legs with satin enamel (oil based), but it was still too shiny -looked like plastic.  So I sanded it back harder in spots to allow some of the red stain to show through.  It makes the back not so black & gives it a warmer look. I then varnished the whole table with satin varnish, which is less shiny.  The top had 3 or 4 coats.

Table with top sanded back

Ulani Sanding the table



Finished table

The other project that I have been working on over the past couple of months was the referb of our church hall.  The Hall was in need of a makeover - it had been the same dated colour scheme of pine boards with 2 shades of mushroomish pink :o  OK in 1991, when the Church was built but.....
Last weekend the boys laid the carpet, which isn't in the photo.  Two weeks before we had a working bee to paint & I was on duty with the staple gun & the help of a friend to cover the sound boards on the wall.
It all came together really well!!! The colours we used were Red Box & Braid on the walls & very cheap Polar Fleece for the sound boards.  The Hall is used for functions, cafe', kids ministry & Busy Bees playgroup- so the colour scheme had to be flexible. Really happy with how it turned out :)

Church Hall-looks a bit messy after Kids Church

Olden Days @ School 22nd June

Last week I had the fun, but slightly tiring job of helping out my year 1 &2 children & their teachers with their 'Olden Days' day at school.  Congrats to all those out there who are teachers & do it every day!!!  It was fantastic to see all but a few children dressed in costume.  Fortunately the teachers had spare shawls etc to cover up the odd school uniform.
Here we are on the way to school.  Photo by eldest son.

New Book

I was given this beautiful & very helpful looking book from a dear older friend of mine, just because she thought I might like it.  What an amazing blessing people can be! I'm really looking forward to having a go at designing garments with some of the stitch techniques pictured in the book.  Just thought I had to share it :)

Contempo Rib Feature Dress, Infinity Brooch & Beret

Well I haven't posted anything for a while....too busy I think!  I'm in the final stages of getting together my latest pattern for release - Contempo.  I can't wait to have that done & out there for others to do.  This week has been a bit crazy.  I think it gets like that as the school term comes to a close.  Yesterday I was dressed up to help out at school for the yr 1 & 2's "olden days".  Today I've been to a Council meeting to discuss the planned Town Hall/Performing Arts Centre/Art Gallery project.  I'm a community rep for that & hopefully can have some input into that decision :)
Tonight we're watching the DVD of He Chose The Nails.  Darn, I still have to do supper!!! better go & get onto that!  Tomorrow arvo I'm heading off with Friends to Camperdown to see their production of Godspell.  Getting ideas to maybe perform it here in Horsham.  We'll see.
My other knitting projects are going a bit slow.....I have a short striped cardi done for Miss Liberty, but I'm re-doing the beret for it.  It turned out big enough for my head!

He Chose The Nails

Well I'm currently gearing up for our performance of "He Chose The Nails" in Horsham in just under 2 week's time.  This is an Easter musical that I'm a vocalist in - both chior & soloist.  This is one of my other passtimes (the singing thing) which is taking nights away from my knitting:(.  Actually I was a singer, before I was a slightly obsessed knitter & I do enjoy it, although performing is always a bit scary.  I have finished a couple of knitting projects, but need to do others to test the patterns.  I'm working on a little dress 'Contempo' that I think will be a really classic design.  It will be teamed with a hat, scarf and large red flower broch.  This was designed specifically to go with a gorgeous pair of red shoes I bought Ulani.  Anyway, I'd better get moving.... too many things to do!

Wimmera Machinery Field Days

Well I've just completed my last of three days @ the Field Days!  Had a lot of interest in mini mae knitwear & really good sales, particularly on Wedensday.  I haven't done so much talking in quite a while, hence my very tired voice.  I've added the colours of the Bendigo Woollen Mills yarns that I've used onto Ravelry & my website, because a lot of customers would have to mail order them & it's hard to tell exactly what colours are in photographs on the net.  I hope that this will be helpful.

mini mae knitwear @ the Wimmera Machinery Field Days

Well I'm busy getting organised for my site @ the Wimmera Machinery Field Days, which is a HUGE event run over 3 days - March 1,2 & 3.  If you want to find me there I'll be in the Country Lifestyle Marquee.  I'll have hard copy patterns for sale, as well as my design samples.  If you're about, pop in for a chat! 
I'm a little behind in my organisation for this event - we had a 'Princess Party' here last night with 10 little invited guests, 2 cousins, my 4 children, the grandparents & 1 Aunty.  Very noisy house!  So this past week I've been making & decorating the b'day cake, organising games, decorating the front of the house (pink ribbon bows & flags), getting the costumes fixed.....the list goes on!  Busy but fun! No knitting & no Field Days prep got done.  So I'll be into creating props for it this arvo.

mini mae website is up & running

Ah....my website has been fixed, so it's up & running :)