The calm after the proverbial storm

And when I mean storm, I don’t mean this…(not sure if you can see, but its raining….hard)

I mean the crazy rush there was to open our hands and let our little shop fly! Which it has – we are overwhelmed with the number of visits we have had since opening (ahem…1,479 whoohooo), the fantastic support, the tons well wishes from you lovely lot, and just the general feeling of relief! Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!

We have even had our first purchase (by my mom. but no matter, a sale is a sale!!! THANKS MOM x).

We got to practise the whole transaction and our customer was extremely happy with her gorgeous purchase – my mom has owls all over her house, and this wise bird will be very happy in his new home! This beautiful felted owl is made from 100% Merino wool and is made by Cathryn Ward of Skaapie (Skaapie is the Afrikaans word for sheep, awwww).

The calm…

Sitting at home with my lovely family and finally finding some time to catch up one some crochet. Ahhhh, bliss! My sister-in-law, Kryspynoodle asked me to make a skull cup for her daughter Kiki who is also my Goddaughter. I managed to do it in two sittings (which is very unusual for me these days) and it felt good to actually see a finished product! Here it is….

I used a basic crown pattern and edged it 4 half double crochets in each stitch to make the scallops. Kiki’s middle name is Rose, so the flower was apt! I used this rose pattern which was super easy. The yarn I used was Vinnis Colours Bambi which is a cotton/bamboo blend and edged it in Vinnis Colours Serina which is 100% bamboo.

While I was on a roll, I gave into my inspiration from Vicky with her iPhone pouch cover (thank you for the free pattern) that she whipped up…I love it, the colours are gorgeous!

I made this one for my eldest daughter….who is “into the peace” (we tease her because a couple of years ago, one of her school friends walked into her room and on seeing a symbol on her wall said, “oh, are you also into the peace”)!!

I hope you all had a super relaxing weekend and I look forward to seeing all the new creations from you all next week!

Night night

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Woolhogs is ALIVE!

….well, according to my 6 year-old it is!

What she really means is that our online shop is LIVE, up and running, open for business, WHOOOOHOOO!

Click and go and have a squiz!

www.woolhogs.co.za

We have offically gone from stay-at-home Moms to WORK-from-home Moms! How awesome, and the best past is that we actually get to crochet GUILT FREE!!

Awards, Gratitude and a Sweet Farewell

For a humble little blog like ours who has been rather s l o w at getting those posts out or even finishing the projects than need posting, we are so happy and even more humbled to be nominated…..THREE TIMES by some seriously lovely folk!

We have received the Versatile Blogger awards from Jill over at crafts by the sea who’s blog is great and who is a super talented, knowledgeable and experienced needleworker!

The One Lovely Blog award came from the sweet Marissa at Colouring with Yarn who has one of the most interesting blogs I’ve read and whose colours are incredible.

The other Versatile Blogger Award comes from the lovely and whimsical Millie from millie on her world who’s paper mache tea cups are exquisite!

Go and have a look at these ladies NOW NOW NOW!!!

*****Thank you lovely ladies for nominations, we are in great company!*****

Now, the rules are as follows:

1. Add the award to your blog.
2. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you.
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

I think I have successfully completed numbers 1, 2 and 4 so I will proceed to number 3.

I think it may be cheating to list “7 things” again, especially as I have done so in a previous post but what the heck, I’ve seen others do it! Seeing as though it’s two of us, I thought I would do things a little differently:

Vicky                                                             Maryanne

Capricorn – clever, conscientious                Sagittarius – clumsy, foot-in-mouth issues

Tall and graceful                                           Not so tall, see above

Quiet and composed                                   Loud and mostly messy

(getting the picture?)

Middle name Anne                                       Middle name Barbara

Latest project                                               Latest project

                                      

(finished in nano seconds!)                         (beanie for hubby for Father’s Day…oops)

Best food @ http://www.myoga.co.za/        Best experience @ http://www.moyo.co.za/

Nick name VIX                                              Nickname Mac

And now,  for the best part….here are some of the inspiring bloggers out there who we would like to nominate for the ONE LOVELY BLOG award, in no particular order: (apart from the ones who nominated us of course!!!!!)

1. The Giraffe’s Hat

2. Cute As A Button

3. Crayons and Milk

4. Show Us Your Crafty Bits

5. Map Of Time, A Trip Into The Past

6.  Agujas

7. Divine Debris Jewellery

8. Pics and Stuff

9. My House in Africa

10. Homemade Honeybird

11. Knitsmiths

12. Bear Loves Dove

13. DanielleJoe

14. bhb kidstyle

15. Geeky Crochet Mom

And finally, last week my daughter lost one of her best friends, Sarah, rather suddenly and very unexpectedly to a rare blood disease which she was supposed to grow out of.  I would like to pay tribute to a beautiful soul who will live on forever through those who have been touched by her

Here is a picture taken at her memorial on Friday, at which 100 pink balloons with messages of love were released into the sky….

Sarah Anne Ralph

13 April 1999 – 13 June 2012

I won! I won!

YIPEEEEEE!!!

I am not sure I have won anything since a single record at a disco when I was 16 (and yes, I mean the round black disc with music on it)

but *drumroll please*

I WON THE “BUTTONY GIVE-AWAY” FROM LAURA AT cute as a button!!!

Thank you so much, I will look after your babies and give them a good home!

No bears were harmed in the making of this post…

Hello!

You may be wondering what I am doing with bears here in Cape Town, hmmmm? Wait, I will get there…

Has it really been 2 weeks since our last post???

I have had loads of posts in my head but finding the time to sit down is really tricky at the moment. Vicky and I are in throes of getting our new online shop up and running and the time required to upload products and images etc, is mind-boggling!  – especially when all I want to do is CROCHET!!!

Sunday mornings are usually “family time” in our house and are quite laid back but today it was a bit hectic. With the busy past couple of weeks I’ve had, I really needed to get some things done. Sooooo,  in the spirit of “family” I roped them all in so I could finally have the time to photograph the last of our products.

While my 12 year old looked after the baby and our 6 year old….. (hang on, who am I kidding – there’s no roping in a six-year-old…sigh), my hubby kept them all away from me and I managed to get to work!  Just so we are clear, this is not really work for me. It’s more like my “happy place” – lots of colourful wool; fairly quiet house; no kids hanging off me for a teeny while. Bliss!

Ok, at this stage the kids are starting to get ratty, the baba is crying to be fed, my legs are sore from balancing precariously on the stairs (the pics are all taken on my landing) and I am having a serious sense of humour failure because I just can’t get the shot of the kiddies knitting needles that I need….arrrrgggg!

I made a deal. I took the baby, kids went off to play and hubby took over being “art director/photographer” and peace was restored once more! While feeding my baby, I hear the comforting “click click” of the camera and know that hubby is on a roll, making the kiddie knitting needles look great.

Or not.

HAHAHA!

“Bear” – hand-made by my gorgeous Mom-in-law for my daughter – I am happy to report is fine and back to her super-cool-self!