I recently found some beautiful 8 ply & 10 ply cotton yarns that I couldn’t resist purchasing. Although I didn’t have a project in mind, I knew the few brimmed crochet cloche/hats I’ve made in the past have always been popular. I decided to create a small collection for our Aussie summer.
These crochet cloche/hats are super practical; squish them into your handbag, throw them into the washing machine, they always come back into shape. All have a braid around the base of the crown. The brims are flexible so you can manipulate them any which way you like. A few have an attractive flower motif that can be worn on either side or right up front.
I’m so very late with this post, but better late than never, or so I’m told… Many of you have asked me about my Alice Springs Beanie festival 2019 entries – did I even enter?
To explain… The past couple of months have been super busy with getting my online shop up & running which has taken more time than anticipated. All my for sale crochet & freeform crochet items have been transferred to rensfibreart.com My Etsy shop will only be carry patterns now. I feel this is the right move. What with Etsy now aggressively pushing free shipping, something I’m not able to do; the integration of PayPal into Etsy direct payments; not to mention a whole string of other changes that adversely affect many sellers. Please take a moment to checkout my new shop & let me know what you think… I’m open to all feedback, so don’t be shy.
Now… getting back to Alice Springs Beanie festival entries, yes I did enter: one Beanie & one Tea cosy & here is a link to all the 2019 winners
The Theme this year was ‘Head full of Tunes’
If Colour was music, this would be a symphony’
‘The Song of the Sea.’
I’m 5 yrs old & walking along the beach with my dad. I’m carrying a little bucket for collecting shells. Dad takes one of the shells & puts it to my ear,
“Can you hear that?” he asked
“Yes, what is it?”
“It’s the Song of the Sea”
I thought it was magic & still do.
Songs of the Sea. Tea Cosy
So, there you go… I’m still re-organising from last week’s Maleny Knitfest & will post about that soon as well…
What a fabulous weekend it’s been for beanie enthusiasts & fibre tragics across Australia… From all reports Alice Springs Beanie Festival was a gigantic success & had its best sales ever… As always, the competition entries were amazing & huge congratulations to all the winners. You can find the winner’s list & photos here . Caroline Payne won the Acquisition award, a huge honour. Megan Jack also received special mention for her Dark Emu. Congratulations to both of you.
these were my 2 competition entries: both sold so I’m pretty happy about that, yay!!
(1) Cosmic Goddess:
Cosmic Goddess – Alice Springs Beanie Fest 2018
(2) The Blue Planet… received special mention for the Embellishment category:
And so to the Maleny Knitfest. The weather was perfect & people came from far & wide. It’s getting bigger each year which the organisers must be thrilled about. The assortment of trade stalls selling beautiful yarns & fibres were buzzing with customers & workshops were overflowing with happy participants learning new & exciting skills. A big thank you to all the ladies who attended my 2 workshops. I hope I inspired & increased your crochet repertoire… Another huge thank you goes to Robyn Bailey, my trade stall off-sider, I always say it & I’ll say it again… I couldn’t have done it without you… You are a champion!!!
Knitfest competitions entries were down from last year, nevertheless some awesome pieces were on display… Tea cosy prizes were won by Jivan Leela, sorry I don’t have photos or a link. Caroline Payne won 1st prize for character beanie & 2nd for shawl… Megan Jack won 1st prize for beanie… These 2 girls ripped it this weekend, I must ask them what’s in their water…
These were my entries: I won 1st prize for shawl & 2nd for both character beanie & beanie… a great result all round
(1) Shawl:
(2) Character Beanie:
Freeform Crochet silver Sci-fi costume hat
(3) Beanie:
Freeform Crochet Hooded Scarf
And so the fibre madness has come to an end… thank you to everyone who came along to say hello, & for all the lovely compliments you gave me about my work…
… So, that’s a wrap for 2018 (no pun intended)… but, let’s make it a date for 2019…
It seems like an age since my last post… with Christmas & New Year celebrations well & truly over, I was keen to get back to what I love, writing patterns. With lots of ideas floating around in my head, I wanted to get them written down on my trusty work computer; the computer I’ve had for years. She had all the bits & pieces I need for the precise & intricate details required for pattern writing… You can imagine my stress & panic: when she refused to start up & the Techie sadly shook his head…
So, years of work gone… my fault really… I should have up-dated regularly, I should have backed-up more often… well, I didn’t, trusting that the ‘old girl’ would go on forever… naive, silly me…
However, it’s not the end of the world… some of my work can be re-loaded onto another computer, unfortunately, I was using very old programs so more up-to-date ones will need to be found & I’ll be able to re-build… A whole new learning curve… yikes! that’s a job…
Meanwhile, crochet on… just so you know I haven’t been completely idle, here are a few new items I’ve created, with more to come, & which I’ll be listing in my Etsy Shop over the coming weeks as I get more photos done… stay tuned…
How lucky were we to have had the best 2 Queensland winter days for the Knitfest… you couldn’t have asked for better. So many fibre enthusiasts came to enjoy all that Knitfest had to offer: presenters had wonderful, interesting trade stalls… the many, varied workshops were all well attended with participators leaving happy & inspired… the yarn-bombing was a hoot & greatly appreciated by all the photo clickers…
A huge thank you to my friend Robyn, who kept my trade stall humming while I was workshopping… I couldn’t have done it without you….
The competitions had lots more entries this year & I’m so honoured to have won both the best beanie & scarf.
All in all, a great weekend… Hope to see you all again in 2018
