It’s that time of the year again, time for all the super creative Beanieologists from around the world to strut their stuff at this year’s Alice Springs Beanie Festival; only 2 sleeps to go.
This year’s theme, “Listening to the land” will have inspired many wonderful creations & I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s interpretations. Good luck to everyone who entered the completion. It’s a tough gig &, I imagine the judges, as always, having a difficult task deciding each category.
I named my entry simply “Listen” with a short speal:
Listen:
to the birds & bees,
to the rustling flowers & leaves
&
the cascading waterfall.
This is Alice Springs Beanie Festival’s 28th year & still going strong.
Life sometimes gets in the way so I’ve been AWOL for a while but not idle. With Easter only days away I thought I should get motivated & post a few new items in my online shop; items I’d finished some time ago but required photos & listing…
The 2 flower beanies are created in a beautiful pure Australian wool
The 2 funky tassel beanies are created in 100% acrylic
The vibrant purple Cloche is created in a soft, premium acrylic
The freeform crochet Handbag is medium size with shoulder straps
I hope everyone gets to spend some special time with family & friends & I’d like to wish you all a happy, safe & relaxing Easter break…
This time last week I was madly packing for the Maleny Knitest; fretting about not forgetting anything &, hoping upon hope, that the wet & windy weather would clear & be kind for the weekend ahead.
Fortunately, I didn’t forget a thing. Sadly, the rain persisted for most of the 2 days. However, this didn’t deter the thousands of visitors that came through the doors. So, a big Thank You to everyone, from near & far, who braved the elements; & to everyone who came & said hello. It was lovely catching with old friends & meeting so many new ladies & gents.
Maleny Knitfest is getting bigger each year confirming that all the hard work the organisers & volunteers put in is worth their ongoing effort.
There were lots of new trade stalls with tempting yarns & fibres & I must admit I couldn’t resist bringing home bundles of lovely yarns & fibres to play with.
Another big Thank You to all the ladies who attended my 6 flowers workshop. I trust you all enjoyed yourselves & that I inspired & increased your crochet repertoire somewhat.
The last Thank You must go to the lovely Robyn Bailey, my trusty trade stall off-sider, I say it, again & again; I couldn’t have done it without you… You’re a Gem!!!
Congratulations to Deb Niotaris & Jill Henderson, the raffle winners, of the 2 Crochet books I donated I hope the books give each of you many hours of happy crochet time.
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…
Here are some new freeform crochet pieces I’ve been working on over the past few weeks, now finished & sold from my Etsy shop… Lots of gorgeous colour & beautiful textures to inspire you. For each piece I took into account the type of yarn used, resulting in totally distinct & individual pieces. I’m pretty happy with the outcome… enjoy!
This Jester beanie is possibly my most popular beanie style, created in an 8ply, 60% Superwash / 40% Polyamide yarn & an assortment of acrylic / natural yarn embellishments. Rich, vibrant colours, a joy to work with…
I just love the colour combinations of this lovely 8ply, 50% wool / 50% acrylic yarn, reminiscent of the ocean blues & yellow sandy beaches.
Texture, texture, texture… these 2 pieces, created in 12 ply, 80% Acrylic / 20% wool yarn, are wonderfully chunky yet, if I may say so, subtle & dignified..
& lastly, this freeform crochet scarf that moves from creamy, off white, to chocolate brown to velvety black. Created in a gorgeous, super soft, 8ply, 30% Alpaca / 70% Acrylic yarn blend.
