greenolive

spring flutterbys

The cute Flutterby design is now on sale in the etsy shop.

Spring is almost here. Yay!! And to celebrate Spring the very cute and girly Flutterby design is now reduced and on SALE in the etsy shop.

The Flutterby design is based on a drawing I did when I was almost five, and comes in four different colourways.

Its perfect for making things to decorate a girl's bedroom, or to add a bit of colour to the handmade clothes you make for your little one.

And of course, its also perfect for little girls who never grew up – for journal covers, bags, zip purses...whatever takes your fancy.

use more wool

I'm doing my best!

Can you believe this is the wallpaper in the toilet in our new place?

Use more wool. For warmth, wear and wealth.

One of mr greenolive's friends thought we took the place because of the wallpaper. He thought it was perfect for me.

a new crochet favourite

move over Anne

 

A crochet scarf in purple yarn – a custom order requested by my Dad, a Mothers Day present for his mum. Isn't he sweet?

For awhile there Anne was my favourite crochet scarf pattern. I certainly made a few of them. But now she's been replaced with another....

Inspired by this photo and with instructions from Sue, I picked up some yarn and a crochet hook and followed my nose... and voila, a new scarf design was born.

I've made about ten already, most in tweedy Jo Sharp yarns. The juxtaposition of a "lace" stitch with a thick tweedy yarn is amazing.

They are proving a firm favourite with market goers – the "lace" is quite different, providing warmth while at the same time being very feminine and delicate.

Each one is unique: sometimes I make them long, sometimes I crochet too many rows of lace. But that's part of the fun isn't it?

I'm itching to try it in the Linnet linen yarns I've got for Spring/Summer scarves. I think it will be fantastic.

I might just have to call this scarf Sue.

fun at Rose Street

Sunday at Rose Street Market was a lovely day. 

The weather held off – no rain but a bit of wind. We were on concrete – no mud or wet grass underfoot. We were able to use the fabulous wooden display crates they supply – gives one's stand a certain stylish je ne sais quoi. And they have such fabulous food and great coffee – they even deliver if they aren't too busy. Mr greenolive has declared it his favourite market!

But by far the best bit of Sunday was the unexpected surprise of meeting two ladies I "know" via the blog and flickr-sphere. It really is a small world isn't it?

Susan from spin spin handmade was just across the way from us. I recognised her type cushions immediately and was very keen to meet her. 

After looking at photos of her and her work on her flickr stream for the past two years, I would have recognised Mariana anywhere. Her stand featured cards and prints of her photographic work, all beautifully displayed and packaged.

Our next Rose Street market is Sunday 23 August – we hope to see you there!

I need your vote!

etsy's fabric frenzy

The Zanzibar design from the Tribal Range printed in white on mud linen

Sometimes you wake up in the morning and have no idea what the day has in store for you. No idea of what happened overnight while you were asleep.

This morning we discovered that one of our fabrics (pictured above) made the cut for the Etsy Fabric Frenzy. Readers were asked to nominate items that make outstanding use of fabric or are exemplary swaths of fabrics. Exemplary swaths – yeah, that's us alright!

This nominated shortlist is now up on Etsy so you can vote for your absolute favourite. The winner will be featured on Etsy some time in the future. Wouldn't that be exciting!

So go vote now! Vote for Zanzibar. Tell all your crafty buddies to vote too. Spread the love. And if you don't have an etsy account, why not sign up now and then vote. 

Voting closes 12am, 11 August (USA time).

bliss is...

A bunch of chickens scratching around in the yard

One of the bonuses of the new house is the neighbour's chickens. 

On our first morning in the new place we awoke to the sound of roosters cock-a-doodle-do-ing and chickens clucking. When we finally got out of bed we found them scratching around in our back yard. It was like they were welcoming us to the neighbourhood!

These chickens obviously know their way around – they squeeze through the hole in the neighbour's fence to get into the horse paddock, then walk along the side of the horse paddock, crawl under our house, and finally scamper through the side gate into our back yard.

On one of the mornings in our first week here I feed them with wild bird seed in an attempt to bribe them to come and live at our place permanently. Mr greenolive took some snaps while I wasn't looking, including this one of me still not dressed for the day and with bed-hair.

We tend to get a daily visit now, from up to 14 chooks. This includes four or five roosters which seems overkill for that number of chooks. At least that's what mum said when I told her about them. She had chickens when she was a child so at the moment she's my chicken consultant.

It seems the chickens have worked their magic on mr greenolive too as he has agreed to get the latest issue of Burke's Backyard – which has a feature on chickens – so we can work out what we need for our very own brood of chickens.

Do any of you have advice for some new chicken wranglers?

PS: We are at Rose Street market tomorrow – don't forget to say hi!