Knit one… Drop one… Ooops

Most Sundays I head to the local markets to help Mum with her jewellery booth. Here in Australia we are in the middle of Winter and although it’s not as cold in the CQ area of Queensland (that’s my opinion anyway) it does get a bit nippley. Well last Sunday was no exception with most people rugged up in multiple jumpers and jackets, beanies and scarves and complaining how cold it is. It had also been raining that weekend as well. I must of been one of the crazy ones wearing just jeans and a flannelette shirt.

Anyways I’ve never been a fan of following fashions as I’m more of a fashion dont-sta than a fashion-ista, but I found myself checking out the knitted scarves that many of the ladies were wearing and thought ‘why not’?

Remembering that I had bought 4 balls of wool from the markets just because I liked the colours, I headed off to Spotlight on my way to picking the Codeman up from work, and bought myself a pair of size 8 knitting needles.

I wanted one that was very long and maybe have fringing on the ends like this one

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and it had to have a soft, loose knit similar to this

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After spending about a hour looking a YouTube vids on how to ‘cast on’ and ‘knit’, I proceeded to make my first scarf.

The first attempt was too wide and I somehow kept adding extra loops… ooops, so I started over.

Second attempt is being modelled on this display mannequin that I got from the resale area of the dump. I only used the knit stitch which is called a Garter stitch….. I think.




Because I wanted it to be long, I had to forgo the fringing but I still love it!!!
I remember trying to knit when I was a lot younger but for some reason never actually finished it, so I am very proud of this scarf. And what about those colours???? It’s actually got more green in it which isn’t showing in the pics with purple and black.
Hmmm now what can I make next??? Maybe some cushion covers so I can learn how to do the Perl  or cable stitch perhaps?
Maybe even something like this.

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Oh and I bought something else in addition to the knitting needles but that is for a future post. I’ll give you a hint. It has something to do with the Kitchen Hutch.

Thanks for stopping by

Jenni

Today I am linking up to the following fabulous parties:

Funky Junk Interiors' SNS 141

Cherished Handmade Treasures: Creative Corner Hop #18

Natasha In OZ

30 Boxes in 30 Days: Update 6 Part 2

Here are the rest of the photos as promised in my last post of the stuff that I’ve been storing away in the 3 plastic containers I sorted through yesterday.

 

 

This Macramé hanger won 1st Place at the Bundaberg Regional show

 

These macramé hangers were made when I was in my mid teens many many years ago. I taught myself just from reading how-to books as there was no Internet back then and would knot them from a handle of a wardrobe in my room as I wouldn’t have been allowed to put up a ceiling hook to make it easier.

Hangers 1, 3 and 4 are my favourites and when I finally get the back patio cleaned and decorated I will be swapping these out every once in a while for a new look.

I’m seriously thinking of hanging number 5 out the front when I get those two chairs painted and reupholstered and the table there replace with something more to my liking.

Well that wraps up my 30 Boxes in 30 Days Challenge. There is still so much to sort through, and looking at the car garage and the other side of the garden shed, there are plenty more boxes to sort through to keep me busy for some time.

I bought a new front loader washing machine today so I need to clean the laundry before it arrives tomorrow. Don’t you just hate how those dust bunnies find areas to hide that are difficult for us mere mortals to reach???

Thank you for stopping by

Jenni

30 Boxes in 30 Days - Update 6

My decorating style has change from ‘Country’ in the mid 90’s to ‘New Country’, to my new style which is a work in progress but definitely eclectic. I guess it’s becoming a mix of Shabby Chic and French Provincial, mixed in with Junk Style.

Because of this change, it was time to sort through the 3 containers that I’ve been hiding keep sakes in that I just can’t bear to part with, as well as stuff that I’ve been collecting ever since I first started my decorating journey back in the mid 90’s.

This post is image heavy as I want to show off what I found in these boxes as they may not see the light of day for some time.

The first few collections were from my Mum’s collection. She allowed my sister and I to ‘fight’ it out between ourselves who got what, so we took turns. I picked something and then Sandra would pick something until one of us decided we had enough stuff for our own collection. That was me; however I now regret not continuing until the last item.

Dog Collection

 

Cat Collection

 

Random Animals Collection

Wall Vase Collection

Isn’t that green one horrendous lol. There are three little wood imps, two of which are poking their heads out from behind the vase. One is at the top left and the other is on the side right.

The little girl one used to have a matching vase of a little boy but it got lost…. long story 

Birds… of the two legged as well as the feathered variety lol

The following are from my own collection that were hiding in these 3 boxes.

Cherub Collection

I’ve got two more cherubs hiding in a box somewhere around the house. The ones on the top right I bought from the Rockhampton Swap Meet…. I think.

Handmade By Cody Collection (from his Pre-School and Primary School days)

Gifts From Cody Collection (there are heaps more displayed around the house)

High School Year Books (just a faded memory now)

There’s still a few more items that I found in those 3 boxes but I’ll show them in the next post as I’ve still got more photos to take.

As I finish each room, I will dig through these boxes again to create lovely vignettes to show off and inspire.

After sorting through/emptying/repacking 30 boxes, it doesn’t look like I’ve made a huge difference, with the exception of the floor space in the garden shed. At least I can finally walk in there without having to literally climb over stuff to find what I need

I start back at Uni next week so maybe after 2nd term finishes I might end up doing a ‘30 Boxes in 30 Day: Round 2’.

Total: 31 boxes in 27 days

Thanks for stopping by

Jenni

30 Boxes in 30 Days - Update 5

After my lame excuse of an update last night, I felt the need to redeemed myself. Sooooo after a good feed and washed the dishes afterwards. I sat on my butt…..

loosened my pants, well it was a really good dinner,

and went through my kitchen cabinets…..

If it wasn’t Tupperware or something I use at least once a year i.e. celebrations like Christmas and birthdays then it was cleaned, priced and packed.

I sorted through the Kitchen/Dining buffet cabinet

After clean out

and the kitchen hutch.

After clean out

They will eventually be home to my entertaining crockery and serving bowls as I get them. Ooops I forgot about needing to cover these shelves.

Today I emptied 5 boxes of stuff and priced, wrapped and packed 3 boxes of garage sale stuff and another box destined for the dump that may or may not end up in the resale area.

In addition to that, I went through a pile of paper work just before dinner that was cluttering up the ‘office’/spare room and ended up binning 1 box of rubbish.

Total: 28 boxes in 23 days

Oh my God… only two more boxes to go and I still have 7 days left!!! I’m almost tempted to sort through 2 more but I really need an early night tonight because I’m helping my Mum tomorrow at the Arcade Markets.

This is my reward for a day well done of sorting, pricing and packing and trying not to freak out when an escapee roach climbed up the insides of my jeans.

Jenni

30 Boxes in 30 Days - Update 4

Been extremely slack these last few days but I do have a really good reason. I finally worked up the motivation to work on some long need projects. Two kitchen chairs have now been stripped and the upholstery has been pulled off, and I’ve been working on a venetian blind which is also for the Kitchen/dining room.

This chair is now naked like the one you can just see in the far left in front of the go-cart.

and another view of one of the chairs waiting to get dressed

With the blind up to the staining stage, I am determined to catch up and get some more boxes sorted through. On my last trip to Bunnings Hardware, I picked up some more boxes to fill for an upcoming garage sale, date still to be decided, but it will be on a weekend when the Codeman takes a weekend off work. Now that he’s got a new job starting in a couple of weeks, it probably wont be until the New Year when they’re not as busy.

There are at least 5 boxes of garage sale stuff to sort through and price, so that’s on tomorrows to-do list. At least until I can gather up the funds to buy the stain for the blinds and more paint stripper for the kitchen chairs LOL.

Oh well, pack to it (get it???) Yeah I know, that was crap.

Total: 18 boxes in 22 days

Jenni

30 Boxes in 30 Days – Update 3

How is everyone today?

Since starting this challenge I have found that my mojo for craft and home decorating is coming back. The “dining” room has had a good going over with  a dust cloth and vacuum cleaner, and all junk that was dumped on the table are now properly stored or disposed of. I’ve done some more work on the kitchen chairs and have started cleaning a venetian blind I got from a local recycling business.

I also managed to get some sewing done as well. Just repairs; although I have got a project in mind for the bottom half of Cody’s full length jeans that he cuts off during the Summer months, but more about that project in a later post.

So here is the challenge update

Day 5 - Cleared 1 box that had some old toys that belonged to Cody when he was younger. They just need a bit of a clean up and will be perfect for my nephew Dominic whenever he and his Mum come to visit.

Day 7 - Sorted through a box of painting supplies in preparation for stripping and finishing off the kitchen chairs.

Day 14 - Been very slack these last few days but I have definitely made up for it today. Emptied 7 boxes of random “stuff” and filled 1 plastic storage box which now stores all my gardening gear…. AND I can now actually walk into my garden shed. Still got plenty of stuff to sort through in there but I’m very pleased with myself with todays achievement. Now where is that calamine lotion and Phenergan? I’ve now got a touch of hay fever and I’ve got bites all over me from the dust and the microscopic bities in that shed.

Total boxes to date: 18 boxes in 14 days.

Cheers

30 Boxes in 30 Days - Update 2

Day 3 - was a very productive day with 5 boxes sorted through. I had planned on doing just the one but kind of got a little carried away. 

I had got tired of seeing a box overflowing with plastic bags every time I opened the pantry door and having to pick up the odd bag that had found its way to the floor; so day 3 was the day to get that under control.

Before

After

As you can see from the second image, the original bag storage was now way too big so I needed to find something smaller to store them in. The story is a little similar to the three bears. The first one was too big, the second one was too dirty but the third one was just right

Ok, now this is where I got a little carried away. In the hunt for the right box I found some stuff that I hadn't seen in a very long time tucked away. I was like a kid at Christmas.

Look what I found.... and there's two of them. they are actually a pair of candle wall sconces but they sit rather nicely on a flat surface.

Isn’t it gorgeous????

Not sure whether to paint and age these babies or leave them as is, but for now they are sitting on my mum's cabinet that she had for years. In fact I recall seeing it in and old black and white photo of when she was in her teens. that is a future project after I finally get around to re-doing these chairs.

Day 4 - I almost missed day four as I spent most of the day working on my final Uni assignment and was really excited about the finished product that I spent the arv showing off to my parents. bonus was I was allowed to pick a bag full of fresh mandarins off their neighbour's tree

Total boxes to date: 8 boxes in 4 days.

Anyways, time to put my feet up and chillax with an icy cold beer.

Cheers

30 Boxes in 30 Days Challenge - Update 1

Found time to empty two boxes over the last two days even though I had an extended Uni assignment to finish and submit yesterday.

Day 1 -  I started on the spare room which had all sorts of paperwork, booklets and stuff that made its way there in order to keep the rest of the house looking barely presentable. That room is definitely a dumping ground :-(

I can now see the foam couch/small "bed" that takes up one wall. I did have to put stuff into a box for future sorting so I'm not counting that one just yet. I did however manage to fill one box from that room with used paper. I've still got to get into the habit of printing on both sides more often but I do use the blank side for my family research notes. which leads to the second box for the month.

Day 2 - Today I had a look through a box that I've been dumping my genealogy/family research stuff and managed to empty it. The former contents are now in folders and sitting on one of the shelves in the built in wardrobe.

Two boxes down..... 28 to go. So far so good. Let's see if I can keep this up.

30 Boxes in 30 Days Challenge

WOW I can't believe it's been just over 3 months since my last post. Time surely does fly when you're studying hard at Uni. I have managed to get through my first term at Uni and I had so much fun... even though there were moments where I felt like I was going to pull my hair out with the stress of assignments. I can now draw a little better, have a better idea of how to do vector designs for logos etc, have found that I enjoy playing with digital video and audio, and enjoy creating animations. I now have 4 weeks off before term 2 starts on the July 2nd.

One thing that really bothered me during 1st term was how difficult it was to find just what I needed to create a lighting system for the digital video and audio course and to find room to put it. This leads me to today's post. 

I have given myself the challenge of sorting through and packing 30 boxes in 30 days for the month of June. I have so many boxes filled with trash mixed in with treasures that it's time to sort through it all. I am ashamed to admit this but I have 1 junk room which is the spare room, I can barely get to my car because of boxes stacked on both sides and at the front of the garage AND to get anything out of the garden shed I have to literally climb over stuff. As far as having enough crap to do this challenge certainly wont be a problem, nor is time an issue until term 2 starts. The problem is that I am a big procrastinator. Yep, that motivator is always breaking down, so this blog will hopefully help me to stay with this challenge to the end.

OK so the rules are simple. For every box I empty equals 1 box and every box filled to donate, return, use for storage or throw out also equals 1 box each. Each box is to be of a size and weight that can be carried by one person and no smaller than an archive storage box.

Wish me luck... I'm sure going to need it.