The Lilly Apron - FREE Pattern Download

Click on the BOLDED title to go to Media Fire to download:

The Lilly Apron Pattern Download



I'm offering this as a FREE Download as I'm too lazy to do the final edit required to sell it!

It has been kindly tested by a few of the Crafty Mamas.

There are a few typos in the PDF and I forgot to add some grain line markings on the pattern.
It can be understood and easily followed and varied and all were happy with the Aprons they made.





Please be nice and do not sell my pattern as your work.
It's fine to link to this post.
It's fine to share the printed PDF with your friends.
It's even fine to make these aprons to sell at craft markets, etsy etc.

It's NOT OK to claim it's your own work and resell this pattern to others.

I'm giving it to you, please respect the law and my gift.

Alyssum Hug-me-tight

I'm guessing this is a 1950's pattern book.
It's pre-decimal currency.
It was published here in Australia by Coats Patons (Australia) Limited but no date.

Knitted in double moss stitch on 2.75mm needle in 3ply baby wool.

I made the lazy Daisy Flower as instructed.
And used a tie instead of the ribbon.

This took me a while to finish.
Knitting 20 inches of moss stitch with such small needles and fine wool I found tiresome.

Washing Fleece

Both these fleeces were grown locally at Mt Bryan SA
I bought the grey fleece about 18 months ago when I first became interested in learning to spin.
I bought the white fleece last week on a trip to Wirrabarra.

Both are coated raw fleeces.
Which means they are from sheep who have worn coats to protect their fleece from vegetable matter and dirt. The fleece can be spun in the raw, this is called spinning in the grease or washed prior to spinning.

As the grey fleece has been sitting around for awhile I decided to wash it and the white fleece to remove some of the lanolin and dirt. Over time the lanolin can harden causing the wool to become hard and difficult to spin.

I decided to use this method for washing my fleeces.
I washed them in small batches over a few days.
It took a while to dry.

Now I just need to sit and spin it.

Coopworth and Merino Crochet blanket

I spun this yarn last week.


and this week I crocheted it into a baby blanket.

The border was crocheted in a single spin of Coopworth.
I spun a thick single from the remaining Coopworth.

This is very squishy, having lots of bounce in the wool.

Flora - nope not a flower ;)

This is Flora's wool

Flora is a sheep.
She's a Finn/Border Leicester/ English Leicester/ Corriedale.
She's four years old and belongs to Jane at Moseley Park.
Flora wears a coat to keep her fleece nice and clean.

Flora's fleece was this months natural fiber club package.

I used a worsted draw to create this yarn.
I plied Flora back on itself to make a 2 ply yarn.
It has 10 Wraps per and inch making it a light Worsted weight yarn.
There are 286 meters of this yarn.

The photos don't do this yarn justice.
It has a lovely sheen to it.
It's very soft and has bloomed up beautifully after it's wash.

A trip to Laura

I went across to Laura today.
It's a lovely little town not far from here.
I visited a little craft shop and bought a couple of things.
This lovely crochet shawl for only $10!!
I really can't say how many hours the maker put into making this but I'd guess over 10 hours.

All that work and such a little price to pay.
The maker probably spent almost that amount if not more on the yarn to make this.
I of course snapped it up, but I felt a little sad.
That someone's hard work and talent is valued in money terms so little.
I will value it and use it with pride.

I also purchased these beautiful booties.
$5 for the pair. They are beautifully knitted.

So what do you think on the valuing of handmade items?

My Friend Gilly is a temptress...

Fancy posting a recipe like this on a forum where a pregnant woman hangs out!

Now the big question is....
how much will be left for the kids lunches tomorrow?

Cold Meat Fritters

Or how to make a roast stretch to a second meal...


This is a favourite of the kids. Very easy and economical to make.



1.5 cups of Self Raising Flour
2 Eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1.5 cups of chopped cooked meat - about 1 cm square pieces. I used roast Pork.
1 cup of Chopped veg - I used frozen mixed veg
1/2 a cup of grated cheese.

Olive oil to fry, because it tastes and smells nice. You can vary this to another oil.

Method:

Put the oven on to warm at a moderate temp. This isn't to cook the fritters just to keep them warm as you cook the whole batch.

Mix flour, eggs and milk together. Until smooth and thick.
Add the meat, vegetables and chesse. Stir to combine.



Drop large spoonfuls of mix into a fry pan on a medium heat.
You don't want it too hot or the outside with cook too quickly and the inside won't.
Cook a few minutes on one side and turn and cook the other side.

Pop them into a warmed pan and place them in the oven as you cook the rest of the batch.
This is handy if the inside hasn't cooked long enough, plus it lets the excess oil drain off.

I served tonight's with baked beans.
A very simple meal.
I'm a simple home cook.
I recently saw an episode of Compass featuring Gay Bilson she talked about how under valued basic home cooking is.
I totally agree with her.

I think we are loosing our cooking heritage. We don't all need to be Master Chefs, or present our food like one to be a good home cook.

Give me good old fashioned, slap it on a plate meals, any day over the culinary delights of the restaurants.

You can try adding lots of different ingredients and spices to the mix.
I don't add salt to my cooking. I think it ruins the taste.
I like to taste my food, not the salt.
Mum never cooked with salt so I'm not used to lots of salt in home cooking.
So if you can't do without salt sprinkle a bit at the end.
I do have a salt shaker, but I can never find it and it's probably caked up or empty.
You can add pepper too. I don't because my kids don't like it.

My kids like to eat these with lashings of tomato sauce, especially mummy's homemade.
I like them with pickles.

I often make these with corned beef and have used left over ham and turkey at xmas.

UFO - finished

Pattern: Powder Puff Hood Jacket
From Patons Book Zhivago Baby Knits - with feathers & Powder Puff
Yarn: Powder Puff 100% Nylon


I started this little jacket over 2 years ago.
I was knitting it for a friends baby girl and it never got finished.
D.K will be way too big for it now!

The reason it took over 2 years to finish is I dislike working with this yarn.
It drys my hands out and feels 'squeaky' to knit with.

I'll add this to the baby clothes pile.
I'm going to have to find a home for all this girly stuff if new baby is a boy.

I've already had a couple of people offer to take it all off my hands if they have girls.
And I'll be very honored to bless their baby girls.

Coopworth and Merino

I spun and plied two fibers together to make this yarn.
The Coopworth is the almost solid purple and the Merino which I bought in the Plumrose Colourway.
Both of these fibers came from Jane at Moseley Park
The Coopworth was this months fiber club.

I can see the improvement in my spinning.
It's getting more even slowly and I'm not over spinning as much as I used to.

I used a short front worsted draft when spinning both singles.
With the Coopworth I had more success letting the spin go into the fiber held in my back hand. I had a lot of breakage when I wasn't.

I still have next to no control in how thick I'm spinning the fiber.
The merino I spun generally finer than the Coopworth.

WPI is about 10 making the yarn about a worsted weight or Aussie 10ply.

406 Metres

Needle Felted Butterflies

I tried something new.
I bought a kit from Ewe Give Me The Knits.
The kit is made By Ashford and contains all you need to make these butterflies.
There was actually a lot more Corriedale wool sliver than needed so I have some extra to play with!


These little beauties didn't take long to make at all.

They have brooch pins on the back.

I find kits a really good way of having a go at something new.
Everything you need is in there so saves you trying to figure it all out for yourself.

Some Web Links to needle felting tutorials:

The Silver Penny
Video and downloadable PDF

Needle Felt a Doll - Black Sheep Designs
3D needle felting

Needle Felt a Lady Bird
3D needle felting

A selection of videos
For those of us who are visual learners

Mum . what did they build the great Wall of China out of?

My answer....

Weetbix!

Any one who has cleaned dried weetbix off a highchair knows this is a true and factual statement!

Always clean off Weetbix ASAP!

There are somethings that are best left to dry to clean up..

2 minute noodles are always best to clean up after they are dried. They smear and make a worse mess if you try before they are dried.

Slime made from cornflour and water, always best to leave it to dry.

Another thing that is easier to clean after it is dried on the carpet, but you wouldn't want to!!
Dog poops!

Sleep deprived ramble...

My observation for the day..

You'll find plenty of people who will tell you what you are doing wrong and few who will tell you what you are doing right...


I had another Sleep deprived night! I seem to do my deepest thinking when I've had my least amount of sleep.

Michael doesn't like to sleep!

Now there are a lot of people who will offer me great advice on how to 'fix' this. They'll tell me how wrong I was to give him a bottle. How he shouldn't be having milk at his age. How their children slept through because they did x,y and z.

But there are very few people who will listen to what I have tried. Will offer a friendly ear and not be coming up with a solution for my problem.

Do you really listen to others? or are you planning how to solve their problem or what advice to give? Or how their problem relates to your life?

I know I'm a terrible 'solver'. And after being on the receiving end of others solutions I really should know it really doesn't help the other person. Why? Because it's not their solution but yours.

Why do so many of us assume others aren't as intelligent as us? and we need to solve their problem for them? When really if we let others talk it out they really can come up with their own solution?

I've come to the conclusion that the best thing I can do when a friend is telling me how difficult things are is listen and ask questions which help the person come to their own solution. There is a name for this Active Listening. But to do it well you have to practice it, it's something you can do badly and will appear false and condescending.

Really other people are intelligent and can with a little encouragement and listening, form their own solutions when they have a good friend who listens.

You know I find being a mother hard work! To all those other mothers who find it hard work too.. A BIG HUG.

More links on listening:

Listening is powerful medicine

Active listening - PDF

Listening to Children

Spinners Lap Mat

Inspiration hits at the strangest times.
I was sitting here this morning thinking about spinning up my next lot of fiber from the Natural Fiber Club from Moseley Park.
Wondering if I should card the fleece into rolags or spin from the fleece using a Flicker Brush to open the ends.

Then my train of thought went off to how I would keep the flicker and fiber handy to me and wheel. When you get this far pregnant any bending down to reach stuff can be a challenge!

And this is my solution:


I used some off cuts of rubber backed curtaining for the top and a non stretch fleece for the back.
I chose the Curtaining because it's strong and the fleece to provide a bit of grip on my lap so when loaded up the mat won't slide off!

I quilted the two layers together to add a bit of structure to the mat.
The Pockets I pleated and gathered with elastic, making them nice and roomy.
The tape I added to hang my flicker from.
I could even tie my orifice hook and gauge to, keeping them handy.

The center of the mat could be used to cushion the seat too if you don't need a cloth on your knee to catch all the fiber.

I could even use it to store all my bits and pieces.

Fern with the unbrushed hair is kindly modeling

I'll have to go have a spin now to see if my little mat is handy!