foraging for mushrooms and yarn

Posted on July 20, 2014 by bear loves dove

Yesterday I had a road trip of the best kind… with blue skies and rolling green hills dotted with sheep and cows and trees. My hubby Charlie went foraging for mushrooms… I went foraging for yarn.

Charlie got to meet the very cool Ro Anderson from Whole Larder Love at his mushroom workshop… in a forest bursting with pretty light and mushrooms.

A bunch of lovely folk went foraging in this beautiful forest, then Ro cooked them up an amazing feast on a campfire and a brilliant little bush kitchen set up in the back of his ute.

Not only did they all learn heaps about what mushrooms to pick, where to look, and what not to pick, they got to eat the most amazing food at the end of it all.

You can read a bit more about the mushroom forage and see some more photos I took on hubby’s blog, Stockman Leathercraft if you like.

Meanwhile as Charlie searched the forest floor for mushrooms, I road-tripped my way to Bendigo Woollen Mills and found myself some gorgeous new blues and greens in wool and alpaca… I’m so predictable aren’t I? I just can’t help but be drawn to these colours over and over… I find them a colourful and peaceful mix all rolled in together, and that’s a combo I can’t resist.

Speaking of colourful… My Popping Candy Blanket is nearing the finishing line… except I’ve got about a billion ends to darn before I can crochet the edge. So I’ll try to resist the urge to start a new blue/green project… I’ll be busy darning ends for quite some time I think…

How about you… darning any ends? Busting to start a new project? Been to any beautiful forests lately?

Wishing you ripper days filled with good clean country air.

embroidering monet & darning ends

Posted on June 7, 2014 by bear loves dove

Yesterday I attended my first ever etsy craft party. It was such a lovely crafternoon with my sis and mum, and there was some amazing talent in the room. And what a room it was, this is the second crafty event I’ve attended at west elm chapel street and I don’t think it’ll be my last. The theme for the party was ‘Recapture: Bring new meaning to your photographs’ … There was a lot of embroidery of photos and a little collage play with photographs too… I embroidered travel photos. This photo of Monet’s Garden is still in progress… I think… I’m considering what (if anything) I’ll do next. The Bridge is under consideration at the moment. Or not. So indecisive!

What I love the most is the texture and three-dimensional aspect the embroidery gives to the photo. Now I really wanna learn French Knots! (Mum, I’ll need you to show me again how to do French Knots because I tried it last night… and…um… as you can see, there are no french knots above! x)

Luckily for me I’m a craft stash ~~hoarder~~ collector, and happen to have a lovely collection to continue on with my new love of embroidery. I knew I would use this stuff one day! And would you look at that – greens too!

Ittybitty darning needle, a zillion threads… My Kiwi Coast blanket has stalled pace a little. I’m up to darning in the ends and darn it if this doesn’t slow me down every time. There’s some kind of edge that needs to work in with the gentle wavey edge my blanket developed too. As I’m darning in the ends I’m trying and figure out what that’s going to look like. Any suggestions?

This is #mysmileinducer for today… a whole mountain of yarn that was gifted to me by a lovely friend whose sis was cleaning out her stash… one persons stash clean out is another persons stash treasure hey? (Can you spot the Buddha head?)

‘My smile inducers‘ is going to become a regular post that I will try to do on the first Saturday of each month. I would really love you to join in and share your smile inducing things too so there will be a little froggy link in at the end of the post where you can link to your blog or Instagram. Or you could simply pop yours in the comments. And you can instagram a smile inducer anytime you like really, just hashtag #mysmileinducers so I can see it!

Come and have a smile with me, it’ll be fun! I think it’s a great way to focus on the little things in everyday life that put a smile on your dial and make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Wishing you treasure filled times with your loved ones.

postcards from nz – wool

Posted on March 24, 2014 by bear loves dove

Yarn yarn yarn! So very happy to have found what I think is the equivalent to Bendigo Woollen Mills back home, here in Napier. Skeinz is a mill producing luscious yarns from local fibres – mostly wool. I have searched long and hard to find a perfect turquoise yarn and what a thrill it was to stumble upon it here. My colours are totally inspired by the kiwi coast, the waters are so beautiful in their jade, turquoise, and greeny blue shades. I think this scrumptious bundle of pure New Zealand wool is destined to become a ‘kiwi coast blanket’. Now to stuff all this yarn into hubby’s luggage, he has way more room than me!