WOYWW Spring knitting Down Under

It is not Autumn here, or even Fall. It is Spring. And fast heading towards Summer, but there's still time for some knitting, right? Recently, I came across a lovely blog hosting a knitting get together called Yarn Along. Of course the main purpose of posting on Wednesday is to meet up with all the WOYWWers and their desks. And you can do this via Julia at The Stamping Ground.  And last week I met with (for the first time), a group of ladies at my local library for their fortnightly knitting group. I'll probably go again, and who knows, this may be the incentive I need to work my way through an unseemly amount of wool. So hence, my preoccupation with knitting this week.

At the moment I am having another attempt at a snug fitting neck warmer (suitable for snow cold). You can see the original attempt behind. Yes, it's pretty, but useless for it's intended purpose. I won't pull it apart, at the moment, but may very well later. (Although I'm thinking about felting it. We'll see.)  I kept the pattern simple on this attempt and I think it is going to fit properly this time.

I can't tell you much about the novel. I have only just started it. I think it will be good.
And I really, really, really want to knit socks. Soon.

 Knitting : Shepherd 4 ply pure wool, knit on circular needles

Books : Girl in the Afternoon by Serena Burdick &

The Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes

WOYWW week 300, but who's counting?

Luckily, Julia is, because my brain is full and I don't need any more big numbers rattling around in there. So, what's the big excitement about 300? I guess it's a Really Big Number, and a long way to go til the next Really Big Number, and I'm often amazed at how this Wednesday desk visiting has led to so many interesting online friendships and connections.

Anyway, this is what you came for ...

and as you know, I'm very much in favour of the "short and sweet" post, so I'll just say that I am "playing with dolls" (Prima dolls for big people), and turning them into colourful book covers! It keeps me amused. The pink one on the right is finished and I am just toying with everything else.

Lots of people join in for WOYWW ... you can too.

Julia at the Stamping Ground has all the details.

Alice - an ending ... of sorts

The Alice pages were a project from a while back. They can be viewed here http://paperisticplus.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/alice-art.html 

Angela asked how (or if), I had finished them. Now, because I started them with little thought about how they would go together at the end, I had to settle for a basic binding technique. (Strictly speaking, not really a binding method at all, but you get the idea.) Just punched holes with metal clips, as per below ...

The front page has an acetate overlay (which you can just see) to protect the 3D butterfly.
(Next time I start a book type project I will take into account an appropriate binding method.)

Another Party Guest Book

After the success of the first Party Guest Book, I made another one,

this time for a 50th birthday ...

WOYWW it's not Wednesday

... well not here anyway, but I'm betting it's still Wednesday somewhere else, maybe Arizona?  And we all know that this desk hopping journey lasts longer than a normal length Wednesday!

Now, if you have been here before you might notice an improvement (of sorts). Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING has been completely tidied away. Where is it all (I hear you ask)? Good question.

OK, so what you can see is ...

3 x A5 pages of watercolour paper ... making more backgrounds with cheap acrylic paint. Why am I using cheap acrylic paint? That's another question with no good answer.
Old ice cream container holding lots of junk texture making implements.
Some lovely Christmas cards from online friends.
Some Memory Box dies that I just purchased needed really badly.
White hydrangeas from my neglected garden in an ancient pottery vase I made in high school. (It's very heavy and solid, and it kinda leaks, but hey, I love it. Maybe I could paint some sort of crafty sealer on it's base? Any ideas?)
Oh, and a new (whoops, did I say "new"?) book that I wanted needed.
And my dinosaur mobile phone.

OK, if you are wondering what this is all about, go see Julia.

WOYWW still tidy and more books

By now you probably know that I spend just as much time poring over books as actually doing anything, possibly more. And that is what's happening at the moment. So, here is my "desk" offering for our What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday sticky beak. (Look, you can still see the surface beneath!)

I have actually borrowed those two stamps on the side from a friend. 

"What?", I hear you say, "Don't you have enough of your own???"

Er ... well, umm, you know ...

Now, if you are a stranger, from a far flung foreign land, maybe, just maybe,

you won't know what this is all about. You can find out here.