I have been making two little boys for two little boys








One is only just turning two






and his big brother is heading for four






Brothers.

Much more relaxed here today.






A quiet time in a cosy corner...







followed by a delicious snooze.


What more could a cat want.



ps if you are still having trouble commenting and you have a google or blogger account try logging in to your account first you might be lucky.

I have been knitting like a woman possessed today, knitting for little dolls, boy dolls and girls dolls.


Mostly the doll knits I design work just the way I imagine them, occasionally they don't but I always learn something from the process.

The thing with knitting small things is they don't take as long as a human sized project but small mistakes on small things can make big problems.


And I posted a couple of orders off without photographing them first, so annoying when I do that but things had to be posted off and it was getting close to dinner time.


Anyway, I can draw a line under today's adventures, relax and get ready for tomorrow's.


Now I hope everyone who wants to comment can now do so.
I thought it was getting a little lonely around here.


I have removed a few widgets although according to Blogger the problem is usually caused by their Followers feature.
So I deleted that widget.
Now if you want to be a follower of this blog you can organise through your Blogger dashboard or just subscribe through Google reader or Bloglines or something similar.



Please let me know if you are still having problems commenting. I don't know if I will be able to do anything but I can try when I have the time.
I do really enjoy reading your comments, otherwise it feels a bit like I'm just shouting into the wind.

Hi everyone, I think ( fingers crossed) that I have fixed the problem with commenting while using Internet Explorer.

If you have had a problem in the past please comment now so I can see if it is fixed.

Thanks


Oh and I'll be back later with a proper blog.

Just popped in to share a couple of dolls with you.
These two headed out last week to their new homes.






Both are curly tops, blondie and brunette.

Cute hair.






This one is Molly who sold on Etsy a couple of weeks ago.

She got a couple of new outfits as well, including this little knitted dress.







I have had a couple of emails about readers being unable to leave comments when viewing this blog using the Internet Explorer browser.


Are many of you having this problem?


Does anyone know why this would be happening?


I'd appreciated any help with this as I really have no idea what has gone wrong or how to fix it.
Thanks so much.
( You can email me at littlejennywren(at) dodo(dot)com(dot)au)



I am really busy at the moment getting a couple of custom orders filled.
Plus of course it is school holidays.
I had a lovely walk to the Post Office and hunt around the op shops with Kate today.
I scored a black wool/cashmere, made in Australia coat and Kate found some just-her-size, hardly-worn jeans plus a couple of nice tops and a cute bag .


Night, night.

THE WASHING MACHINE IS FIXED.

THE CAR IS FIXED.






I never thought I would miss my washing machine so much, it's like a long lost servant has returned to the fold.

I have been playing with it all day.

The wash house is lovely and clean.

The line is full.

All's right with the world, well my little corner of it anyway.








And here is the hero of the day
along with Kate and Andy who never complained once about the inconveniences of not having a car,
(although there were some complaints about the slow laundry service over the past 6 weeks).

When I should have been doing a bazillion other things...






I was fiddling around trying to do some crochet.

I am not very skilled but it was fun.

I have only ever managed long chains, granny squares and simple trims on the edge of knitting.

I made a flower ...

in the middle of a kind of granny square...

using a pattern!!!!


I am very impressed with myself.

The end result of my need to rearrange the other day was minimal.


The old green chair, which has seen many better days, it's lumpy and creaky and mostly avoided if other seats are available, has made its way out to the kitchen swapping places with the "kitchen couch"







So now its companions are the kitchen fire and table.







It will be sat on but not as much.
One day it will either be re-upholstered or found a new home.








When we moved the old couch some treasures were revealed:
the Chinese checkers game, popped under the couch because the box is so easily upset and all the marbles run loose to the four corners of the house ( I knew it was under something but I actually thought it was the piano - who knows what's under there),
Kate's long missing slippers and Louis' old blue thongs ( ? flip flops to non Aussies),
Louis notes from his Physics exam 2 years ago,
some rubber stamps,
non Chinese checker marbles
and all those ooey gooey bits and bobs and fluffy things that like to congregate in dark places.

The old couch, which also has seen better days but is more comfortable, has been covered in a woollen blanket and various quilts tactically placed to pretend that the poor old thing was not ripped to shreds by a houseful of glorious playful kittens two summers ago.

Kate now adores the couch, has declared it hers and in fact camped there all day yesterday.
I am allowed on there but no boys or fathers, they get the old leather couch.
Flowery couch for girls, old leather Chesterfield for boys,
how's that for gender stereotyping.

School holidays begin this weekend but we had a preview today.
I slept in, so we all slept in. I blame Maggie the cat. She never lets me sleep beyond 6.30 but this morning she was obviously so snuggly on Kate's bed that she couldn't be bothered doing my wake up call.



So, instead of rushing around to be ready in time for the bus we declared it pyjama day.
Kate and Andy slept in until morning tea time.
Stephen went to work but only after a slow breakfast in the sunny from room with the fire going as well to make it extra cosy.



I stayed in my PJs until well after lunch time, we all did ( except Stephen of course who did not wear his PJs to work)
Mum came around late morning to pick up the sheets and towels to take home to wash them ( yes the washing machine is still sick and no I have not been washing the big things by hand) and was appalled that we were all being super sloths.



It was Bliss!!!!
So lazy, everyone needs a lazy day every now and then.
A time to take a deep breath and thumb your nose at everyone else's rules.

Andy is hiding out, devouring a book.


Kate is writing a letter to her German penfriend.


Stephen is just doing up the last bits and pieces on the car - fingers crossed.


Louis won the footy tipping ( with Stephen and Dessie, my dad)


I have a head filled with so many ideas for dolls,
and for re-arranging the furniture in the front room to give an illusion on space !!!!

This is for Eli





One day little Beth was sitting all on her own dreaming about her new home far away in Canada when a little lamb walked up looking for a cuddle and a cosy place to sit.







They said hello.

The lamb climbed up onto Beth's lap.






It was snuggly and safe





The last of the afternoon sunshine warmed them.

Happy together.


You can see more beautiful little sheep at Flutterby Patch.
Generous Eli designed this little one and is sharing the pattern with all of us.
She is hoping to organise a woolly round the globe blog trot so if you make a sheep and you have a blog let Eli know and join in the fun.

Just finished digging over and raking off two beds of the vegetable garden ready to plant some peas, onions and winter lettuce.



Brewster and his girls including Charlie the duck charged up to see what I was doing and as soon as my back was turned they decided to do a bit of cultivating ( and fertilising) for me.
I'll have to rake again before I can plant any seeds.



The pole with the hat is really nothing to do with the garden, it helps to hold the string tight when the badminton string , complete with my pantry lace curtains, is set up for a quick tournament.



The blue poles are from an old swimming pool we had when the boys were small and now the poles are used for the strings for the peas.
I'll have to move them to the newly dug bed.

This is Ava and she is in the shop now,
along with some handknit doll clothes and a couple of tiny babies.


Oops, correction, one tiny baby has already found a home.

Thank you.

Today is National Walk Safely to School Day organised by the Pedestrian Council of Australia.

I had no idea such a thing as the Pedestrian Council existed but I feel I should be an Honorary member.
As a non driver I walk and bus a lot, my biggest transport expense is shoes.
You know most shoes and boots these days are not meant for any decent amount of walking and many of them cannot be resoled.
I tend to wear my bushwalking boots during the cooler months, they don't look very elegant but they do look a little funky especially with handknit socks ( in my opinion) and they are of course great for walking.



Anyway, Kate's school was having a Walk to School event and Kate wanted to join in.
Because her school is not a local school it takes children from everywhere, many from the outlying regions as well as country areas.
So all the children were being taken ( driven) to City Park and then they would all walk from there and enjoy breakfast together once they arrived at school.


Our car is still "resting" and I tend to think it is kind of weird to drive somewhere , in our case past the school , in order to walk back to the school, so Kate walked to school from here with Stephen.
It's about a 40 minute walk but there was breakfast as a reward.
The children all had to take their own cup, bowl and cutlery for breakfast so that the school didn't have to use disposables.







Here is another forgotten project, my bedroom curtains.

Remember, my part of the bedroom fix up.

I bet you thought I didn't get them done.

They are up and looking pretty darn good, although I haven't hemmed them.

I have been known to put off finishing a skirt for weeks because I can't make myself do the hem!!!


I didn't want to buy and sew on all that header tape business.

I also wanted the curtains to be light and breezy.

So I made my own header tape, in a way.

I have made tab top curtains before but they seem to lack the right amount of puffiness that I wanted.
So I made a separate tab top out of the green spotted fabric and then joined the main body of the curtain on, pleating it as I went.
I didn't measure anything with a tape I juts halved and quartered and so on, pinning the pleats ready for sewing.

The tabs slide nicely so the curtains are easy to open and close.

I didn't line them because I wanted them to be soft and translucent (ish).

I am making a separate set of plain white curtains to hang inside these ones and that should insulate more against the cold and when we want to keep out more light.







I just love them.

The fabric is actually sheeting fabric, all cotton and nice and wide so not too much sewing.

Miss Maggie here had to pop into the photo, loves a photo opportunity does Maggie, sorry she is a bit blurry but she kept turning her head to watch the curtains blowing in the breeze.


I have also made the top of my quilt cover but I have stalled with that because it needs a little something else to give it some oomph but I'm not sure what.


Thanks so much for all your encouraging comments about my current knitting projects.
I have been able to buy Vintage Knits so I can now return the library book. ( Sorry whoever is waiting for it)
There are at least three other things I would love to make in the book so I think it was a worthwhile buy.
Most of the projects have very classic lines so who knows Kate may even use it when she is all grown up, or I may one day get knitting daughters-in-law, who knows.


I have about four or five "vintage" books out from the library at the moment:
Vintage Knits of course plus two books by Christina Strutt of Cabbages and Roses fame - Vintage Crafts and Home Made Vintage - both lovely books, I haven't really looked closely at the projects yet,
then I also have Found Style by Amy and David Butler which look really interesting
and lastly Vintage Crochet by Susan Cropper which has some gorgeous projects and gorgeous pictures, wonderful styling.
I read about the crochet book on Jane's blog.
She is another wonderful crochet lady and has a very pretty home.



So I had better be off and get these dollies finished, to be put in the shop this afternoon.
The light today is hopeless for good photos, very overcast and dull but who knows it might brighten up this afternoon.


Happy Friday to you.

I am busy working on custom order dolls and clothes and getting them packaged up and posted off.


I am also in the process of finishing off a couple of dolls and some clothes to go into my shop tomorrow.







I have spent each afternoon this week" playing" with my dolls, in between putting the washing out, bringing the washing in, lighting the fire, and so on.


I realised there are a couple of little dolls that I forgot to share with you.

Sometimes I am so busy getting the dolls packed up and posted off I forget to take any photos but these two were snapped but not shown.









This little one is on her way to Sweden to help a little girl celebrate her first birthday.

You know one of the best parts of working with someone on a doll for their child is when I am sent a picture of the little one who will be receiving the doll.

So many sweet little faces.


The lady who commissioned this doll was very taken with my little doll Sally and also these two Belle and Boo illustrations.
Don't you just love the Belle and Boo pictures, so sweet.

Because her daughter is just a baby I made stitched down hair with the two braids attached to the edge of the hair cap rather than stylable hair.







This doll was commissioned by a lady as a gift for herself and is a little jenny wren version of the lady.
Once again I was treated to some beautiful photos , and saw her beautiful long curly auburn hair.
I happened upon these little shoes at a doll show and they were a perfect fit.
Unsuitable for a young child's doll but just right for a grown up lady.



You can go to my Flickr album and see some more pictures of these two little dolls ( in amongst all the others).

I have been trying to spend at least 30 minutes each day working on my current pride and joy...

Joy by Kim Hargreaves , that is.

I saw this cardigan somewhere yonks ago and could never find the pattern.

Borrowed a Rowan book from the library and what do you know, there it was.


I'm using some yarn that I found at the op shop.
Three cones of it in fact plus , by co-incidence, a cone from my sister who no longer knits and was looking for a good home for her yarn.
Much more wool than I need for this project.



I'm pretty sure the wool is from when the Coats Patons Mill ( originally Patons and Baldwins) closed here in Launceston and all their surplus yarn was sold off.

The knitters of Launceston and beyond had a field day buying up all the wool and knitting needles.


Patons was a huge employer in Launceston especially of women and especially of the people of Glen Dhu and West Launceston.
Being a West Launceston girl myself and attending West Launceston Primary School I knew many of the children of the workers.


Here is a link to the history of the Mill, it's very interesting, and I hadn't realised the close connection with the British company.
Launceston had several woollen mills during the 20th century and all had declined or closed by the end of the century, although Waverly Woollen Mills have experienced a rebirth.










I'm also trying to spend at least 30 minutes on Kate's cardigan / Zip Front Hoodie.

This pattern is from Knit So Fine

Kate wanted a red cardigan with a hood so we went onto Ravelry to
see what other people were knitting and what they had to say about various patterns.
Kate fell in love with this one...








and luckily the library had the book.


So that's my knitting life at the moment with large quantities of dolly knitting thrown in.

I get to wallow in wool almost all day long.







But I must say after seeing Lucy's magnificent crocheted throw, my fingers are itching to choose a multitude of gorgeous colours and start polishing my crochet hook.



Now, because you can never have too much of a good thing when it is in season and likely to disappear at any time, here are some pictures of the life cycle stages of the Amanita muscaria toadstools in my front garden.
























One more thing, I received an email from a reader in Turkey, with a name similar to Daisy Rosemary??? asking about how to make dolls similar to my little jenny wren dolls. I accidentally deleted your message before I could answer so please contact me again, thanks.