Devonport Craft Market first birthday this Sunday!

I can't believe it's been a year since the first craft market! I remember well that first Sunday ... feeling so apprehensive and such a newby! I'd had a dummy run at home laying out all my beanies, mannequin heads etc. on the dining room table but it still look me ages to set up on the day. Now I seem to do it with one hand tied behind my back! Although having said that, I may be minus a right index finger's help this weekend!

I got hassled (nicely) a couple of weeks ago by some dear friends as their son, Ollie, had just about outgrown his baby beanie and they were wondering if the beanie fairy might be producing a new larger one for this winter ... well, here's Ollie and his new beanie.

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No knitting .......... :(

I cannot knit
I feel adrift
My hands are empty

And I can't think of a rhyme for the end line .....

But it's true, I can't knit and as other knitters will know, it feels like losing part of you!! I had a little operation on my right index finger a week ago and it's out of action for a few more days yet.

Isabella has been keeping me company on the bed and couch over the last few days ...

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Boxes of wool everywhere!

Eddie, Isabella and I live in an old, very compact (real estate agent word for small!) 2 bedroom cottage and I'm constantly looking for places to keep not just my wool but also my completed bits and bobs. Thank goodness I don't make large items or we'd really be in trouble.

So here's a little photo essay .....

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Devonport Craft Market

We had a fantastic market yesterday. Such a beautiful day and we had heaps of people through. So many so I initially thought there was a cruise ship in but it must have been just the mixture of a beautiful day and school holidays.

Notice the subtle placement of my can of Diet Coke on my table! Plus I managed to pop a beanie on Steph from Liberty Lane's gorgeous 3 month old .. isn't he cute!

Many thanks again for the two Sarah's for organising another fabulous day.

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Devonport Craft Market

Looking forward to the market at Devonport this Sunday. It's a fantastic market and well worth a visit. This market started in May last year and other than a break over the summer (for obvious reasons!), I've been fortunate to have a stall each month.

Cross fingers for cold weather .... last year it was so cold one Sunday I even sold a beanie to an outside stall holder.

See you all at the market!

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Some general thoughts on knitting

I was thinking at the weekend - while I was knitting of course - that knitting is such a fantastic hobby as it's so portable. And that started me making a list of all the strange and not so strange places I've knitted.

* perched half way up a steep hill in Wellington watching my brother compete in a hill climb

* in the car and on the sand at various surfing beaches around Wellington, Gisborne and New Plymouth - venues courtesy of my first serious boyfriend

* numerous motor racing events at Manfeild and Pukekohe watching said brother compete

* on the old Kelstrel ferry that ran between Devonport and Auckland city - the trip took about 25 mins each way so you could get a lot of knitting done. Then Fullers upgraded to the quicker boats and it's barely 12 mins now - not nearly as productive a trip

* in the car on family trips when I could get away with it, my mother being of the opinion that a knitting needle would be extremely dangerous in the unlikely event of us having an accident

* in a motel in Kerikeri where we were stuck for 2 days with absolutely foul weather.
I was on holiday with my Mum and Dad and she and I knitted away happily while Poppa read ...

* walking arouind the house knitting when I was in the 3rd form as my best friend Anne Peterson and I had an on going competition to see how many inches we had knitted the night before

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Easter - Chocolate and knitting

I should have taken a photo of our one and only very very large Easter bunny which we shared - he was very smart, with a green spotted ribbon around his neck, and made totally from dark chocolate other than his two white teeth. Eddie adores milk chocolate but I can't stand it so I very selfishly bought a dark one knowing that we'd be sharing.

As I said, it was very large and I have no desire to eat chocolate again since we demolished it in what seems to have been a very short period of time on Sat night while watching a movie.

P.S. It was made by Bennetts of Mangawhai and I can highly recommend them!!

So apart from chocolate demolishing, a spot of gardening, a trip to Tauranga to see my brother and some wool shopping, I also did some knitting - how unusual ......



I made a bit of a booboo colourwise and started knitting this lovely pinky/light mauve ribbon yarn with dark purple - wrong, wrong wrong - they did absolutely nothing for each other and I ended up undoing it all and starting again with a lilac colour base - so much better ... So I knitted a creamy one as well.

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