Another Yarn Winding Project - Cactus

I bought this cute little cactus a while ago, but the pot it was in was nothing special, and I'd been meaning to wind some yarn around it to make it look pretty. There are so many possibilities for this crafty idea. It's just a matter of gluing as you go. I imagine I'll be doing a lot more of it. Anyway, here are the results.

See my other yarn winding project here

Inspiration from my garden

The weather is paying attention to the seasons and today is a beautiful sunny and crisp spring day. I haven't been in the garden most of the winter (except for some half-hearted hoeing) so today I got stuck in. It's the first time I've had a garden of my own and it's great to see some of the fruits of my labour come into play. Not to mention, Mother Nature has been out there doing some work of her own. Anyway, here's some inspirational (I think) pictures. I'd be doing some watercolours from such inspiration if I didn't have stupid university work to do :(

Our cherry tree is blossoming!

We have a beautiful bushy lemon tree with loads of tiny wee lemons on it. They're good to look at and dynamite in my cooking.

This the new sprouting of my pumpkin seed, that I got from a pumpkin I used for soup and dried out. I had almost given up on it sprouting, then one day I looked and there she was. Seeing a new plant sprout is as wonderful today as it was when we grew beans in primary school.

My cabbages are growing like crazy. Can't wait to eat them.

I bought a whole bunch of snow peas and only one has survived. But that one is rather lovely.

And finally some other general greeny goodness.

Baby beanie

Thought I'd share a picture of my latest model, my too-cute little step-nephew, Leo. He's modelling a green beanie I made for him. Baby beanies are even more fun than full size ones because they come together even faster and look even cuter. Nothing to it, just do a big beanie pattern but with less stitches. Go here to see my beanie pattern. I cast on about 90 stitches for the baby beanie and made it a bit shorter.

Knitted Slouchy Socks

Winter's coming to a close down here and I've only just finished my slouchy socks. Anywho, here they are. I used a lovely multicolour yarn in muted tones, and they're just basic socks with a pattern of knit three, purl three. It's also an uneven thickness wool so they ended up looking rough and rustic, which charms me :)

These are the boots I knitted them for, but I can also imagine a future running around in tights and these big socks at home because they make me feel cute and comfy :)

Watercolour Takahe Painting

This one is twice as big as the other two paintings in the previous two posts. The bird is much larger than the other two as well, so it seems appropriate. I'm really enjoying painting these, but I'm back to university on Monday so expect not to hear from me for a while.

Watercolour Stitchbird Painting

Watercolour Fantail Painting

I'm on university holidays and have been itching to do some arty stuff so I settled on having a go at some watercolours of New Zealand birds. I've started off with a fantail, which is a bird I think no one dislikes.

Hopefully more to come!