April-May

We spent some quality time with my family this Easter, the boys, Sitara and I. We LOVE our family time but getting there is challenging(almost 2000km trip), its getting harder to bring the kids along, they are becoming impatient about the long days in the car. I always thought it'd be easier once they weren't toddlers...hmmm.

But the journeys have their moments, this is a red capped robin we spotted in Victoria while driving near Echuca. Even though we often miss stuff driving in such long stretches on highways the little stops and observances along the way do mean a lot to me, to us.

Upon our return this furry fella had disappeared. He returned a fortnight or so later looking shabby and skinny...he was ever so purry/grateful to be home.  He quickly regained his weight and is back to his usual behaviour, biting toes and swatting us when he's hungry. He's laying on top of the lovely blanket Sitara made by the way!

There has been much crafting, J and L hand stitched some lovely owl softies at the Woodfordia Planting festival...

I spent some time dyeing and spinning with gentle natured Mel. The weather has been dry-after a summer and autumn of near continuous rains it's a wonderful thing to be able to dry yarn!

 At tafe I have been learning tree species and weeds- I love this, wandering around and looking at different species. 
I always keep an eye out for fungi, I loved the colour and stripes of this one which had come up on an old stump.

We have also been propagating native seeds...I'd been puzzled by the lack of growth in this tray at home. Hmm, she found herself a sunny soft spot, maybe she thought they needed hatching??

Til next time, bye for now
Kate

Hello, hello,

Goodness me, its been awhile...I wonder do people even blog much anymore? Mine has been pretty much the last thing on my mind as family, study, work and the usual gypsying about the place takes priority.

Anyhoo, dash robin is pottering along, with less pressure on me to produce all the time as I have dropped doing markets. I haven't totally stopped making though-dyeing yarn and making small things like brooches. 
I supply stock to thread and seed cafe and Cultiver. It's suiting my hours to have a little bit of dash robin crafts available. And its a blessing to have the support of truly independent and ethical businesses (at either end of the outskirts of Brisbane!) Follow the links to find them.

The last few months I have been mostly making things when I am on the road. Car time is great for crochet(or sleep if you're a little fella and have had a big holiday!) I made a toy for a friends baby and a couple of presents for family in a hired campervan in NZ and in our big blue ute as we travelled up and down the east coast of Australia.

 I gathered some lovely yarns in the beautiful colourful town of Bellingen in NSW. I found an op shop and I was not disappointed by 50 c balls of beautiful pure wool! And I bought home some very special wool straight from the yarn producers in New Zealand. 

The cowl above was made with a blend of possum fur and merino wool-lusciously soft and beautiful to wear, a gift for my mum who turned 70 this year! 

I loved visiting New Zealand and would love to go again! It was inspiring seeing a country where it seems the environment is well respected and where travellers can visit so many free camping sites. The eco centres I visited while there-including the royal albatross centre and the Orokanui eco centre were brilliant. 

this albatross gave a fantastic display of gliding...

 And the views everywhere were just stunning.

Back on home ground again I've made a few changes this year, taking some time out of 'career crafting' I've begun studying conservation and land management in Nambour. It feels fabulous and wonderful to be studying something I am so passionately interested in..I keep getting my homework done and wishing there was more to do!

Last week we had a field trip camping overnight at Charlie Moreland park to record fauna and flora. We saw lots of beautiful Australian mammals, birds, frogs and we aslo had 6 encounters with 5 different species of snakes (all in under 48 hours!!) I think snakes are gorgeous though and so long as you are careful you are safe-they really aren't out to get you, more like get away from you! 

Below are two of the species we saw, the carpet or diamond python and the brown tree snake. I like this brown tree snakes- it has the most cartoon- like face of any snake with its bulgy eyes and smiley mouth. It'd make a perfect amigurumi model!

So now that I have freaked out anyone who is snake phobic (sorry mum) I shall sign off and wish all well to anyone who might still pop in and check up on this!

Take care,

xKate

Green living...

I've been enjoying the paths I have taken lately. Part time gardening. Part time crafting. Heart-ful parenting and relaxing back into some kind of routines after travelling(while of course planning and dreaming of the next adventures!).
I love my latest work place-I spend a chunk of my time in a very full organic permaculture garden...apart from the herb spiral, fruit trees and usual garden this ordinary house block home garden has 6 compost bins, 3 worm farms, visiting possums, honeyeaters, silver eyes, blue tongues and dozens of frog ponds teeming with tadpoles. It's a wonderful oasis for life.

At home what I've been making lately is one heck of a mess while finding and matching all my fabric pieces. There is reason for this-making upcycled fabric bags and skirts. The process, the discovering of how an vintage piece of barkcloth might match a discarded Japanese fabric calendar wallhanging-pulling apart and putting together, reminds me of gardening and it's endless cycling of nutrients-nothing goes away, rather is incorporated and dispersed in different ways.
xoKate
  

Crochet in the garden&botanical bookmarks

Weren't we lucky with the gorgeous weather for the 'whats cooking' Redcliffe botanical garden festival? 

I loved setting up the space in the quiet of the early morning light....

After pulling the couches and yarn bombing and blanket draping the whole area looked a lot like my own lounge room-but MUCH bigger and outdoors!

Lovely people came, young and old to play with yarn, explore crochet and try their hand at printing with plant colours...

It has to be one of my happiest days! Thanks to all who visited, loaned crochet blankets and helped make flowers and played with natural paints. Warm thanks especially to those generous souls Helen and Rebecca who helped both before and after the event! 
And below here are the natural paints and a flower pattern for you to continue at home :o)

The materials for the natural paints-

(All were boiled until squishy, mashed a bit with a potato masher to get the 'juice' out and strained, use the liquid for the paint. The the mush can go into the compost or worm farm)
blueberries, 
beetroot,
carrots
gum leaves. 

The first three are ideal for toddlers as obviously it won't matter if they taste them! 

We used mint leaves, banksia leaves and pigeon pea pods and fingers to print with. 

This is the flower pattern I created for the Sunday mail article

Kates' five petal flower 

You will be able to make 2-3 flowers from a 50 gram ball of yarn.

The crochet pattern terminology for this flower pattern is American 

(UK treble=US Double crochet,  UK Half treble=US half double crochet)

Use a size 4 hook and 8 ply yarn.

Begin by making 5 chain.

Join with slip stitch to first chain to form ring.

Chain 2, 9 double crochet into ring(Total 10 double crochet in ring) Join to 2nd chain with slip stitch.

*Chain 3, skip double crochet, slip stitch into top of next double crochet. Repeat from * 4 times to create 5 loops.

Working into first loop make 1 single crochet, 1 half double crochet, 3x Double crochet, 1 half double crochet, 1 single crochet.

Repeat this 4 times. Slip stitch into the first single crochet, fasten off and weave in ends.

Happy creating!
Cheers Kate

wintry

So many many rainy days. Much time spent indoors, also 'in-tents' looking out.

And sometimes also indoors looking in!

                                 Between showers we've been venturing out to find Koalas going cheap...
and lots of loveliness...
                              

All the rain, the fallen leaves, the sudden bursts of sun the other day reminded me of some lovely
 Leonard Cohen lyrics, from 'anthem'

'ring the bells that still can ring,
forget your perfect offering,
there is a crack, a crack in everything,
that's how the light gets in'

xKate

free pattern crochet gloves

Hello. Oh, how I love wearing crochet fingerless gloves and these are pretty easy to make and stretchy. 

Here is the pattern :o)

Classic crochet fingerless gloves

Design by Kate Allan-dash robin
“crochet fingerless gloves”
These gloves have a nice stretch so they are great for a gift as the size need not be exact. An easy to use unisex pattern for adults and adaptation below for children.
For the childrens gloves I used a dash robin indigo hand dyed in 5ply

For the adults size gloves I used Patons classic wool in moonrock and
dash robin organic natural dyed grey in 8ply.


Supplies Needed for adult unisex
Size 5mm crochet hook
2x 50 gram balls or 1x 100 gram yarn
Scissors
Pattern Notes
These classic fingerless gloves feature a subtle raised stripe created by  stitching only into the back stitch of every second row.
They are made up flat and sewn together with a gap for the thumb. They work very well in stripes, simply change colours as you like or as I have (alternating colours by sets of two rows.)

Special Stitches
No complex stitches are required. You need to be able to make a treble, half treble and know how to stitch into both the whole stitch and backstitch only.
Pattern for adults size
ch 32
Row 1
Skip first 2 chains and treble in each chain
Row 2
Turn, chain 2, treble into each treble along row
Row 3
Turn, chain 2, treble into backstitch only of each treble along previous row
Row 4
Turn, chain 2, treble into each treble along row
Row 5
Turn, chain 2, treble into backstitch only of previous row trebles
Rows 6-15
Follow instructions as for row 4, 5
Row 16
Turn, chain 2, half treble into each treble along, fasten off leaving a 30 cm length of yarn for sewing side seam.
Sew side seam for approximately 2 ½ cms, leave a 3 cm gap (for thumb) and then continue to sew the rest of the side seam together, fasten off and weave in end.
Repeat for second glove.
Childrens unisex classic fingerless gloves
Materials needed
Size 3.5 hook
5 ply yarn
ch 32
Row 1
Skip first 2 ch and treble into each chain along
Row 2
Turn, 2 chain, treble into each treble along
Row 3
Turn, chain 2, treble into backstitch only of each treble along previous row
Row 4
Turn, chain 2, treble into each treble along row
Row 5
Turn, chain 2, treble into backstitch only of previous row trebles
Rows 6-16
Follow instructions as for row 4, 5
Row 17
Turn, chain 2, half treble into each treble along, fasten off leaving a 30 cm length of yarn for sewing side seam.
Sew side seam for approximately 2 cms, leave a 2 ½  cm gap (for thumb) and then continue to sew the rest of the side seam together, fasten off and weave in end.
Repeat for second glove.

Please use this pattern only for your own personal use &please do not make these to sell.
Please link directly to my pattern if sharing.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy these gloves!

dash robin yarn and custom made gloves can be ordered for sale via
www.madeit.com.au/dash robin

This grey and black striped pair are now in London gracing a friends' beloved brothers hands. 

And the childrens' sized ones are made with my hand dyed yarn for my youngest son. 

About time I made some for him!!

As the evenings have cooled here in subtropical Brisbane we are getting this!

The season isn't long here so I snap up any rhubarb I can when it's available. 

The colour is gorgeous-and when made into a crumble, with proper dollops of cream...all I can say is yum!

This rhubarb coloured hat was made with a vintage pattern for another friend...

Even my latest hand dyed yarn seems to have been inspired by rhubarb! 

And aside from baking and dyeing and making I have been reading/watching my way through this stack from the library...they're all very good!

xoKate

wordless weekend