The New Kitchen ...sort of

I'm saying 'sort of' because there are still plans ahead for other alterations. Removing the wall was only step one in the renovation. We have more walls to knock down, these are not that old, Bessar brick! I want a wood burning stove in the old fireplace but may have to settle for a pot belly as the wood burning stoves are way over the $2000 mark and that is way out of our budget.

DPN Keepers - Give Away (Australia Only)

needlekeepers, originally uploaded by Tracymumto5.

Be one of the first 5 people to leave a comment on this blog post and send your snail mail details to tracy at desertrosedesigns dot com dot au and I'll pop one into the mail to you.

I've got prepaid envelopes sitting here ready to go!

Drum roll please.....

My newest creation! I got the idea from those DPNS cases that are around. I thought that's a bit of a complicated way of doing it.... ummm I'd like one but they are expensive. I wonder if I can make something that will do the same job but cost a lot less?

And this is what I've come up with.



A very basic design. It's just a couple of pieces of fabric sewn to the end of 2cm wide elastic! And I thought of this all by myself! Maybe there are some brain cells left in there?

Here are the ingredients!

A half finished sock on needles.

A length of 2cm wide elastic, just a little longer than the needles ..to allow for the seams. Also you don't want it tight you don't want your needles to bend or worse break!

Two small pieces of fabric ..you could use felt and this would be even easier as you wouldn't have to sew and turn the fabric to get a nice finish. Mine are 4cm by 9cm. You don't want them too big just big enough to hold the points in.

Fold the fabric in half and sew up the sides. Clip and grade the the corners and turn through.

Sew the unfinished ends to the ends of the elastic. This will hide the ends of both the elastic and fabric, helping them not to fray.

Flip the fabric over the elastic and sew down the sides and across the bottom. I did it with the elastic up so I wouldn't miss sewing them together :D.

And TA DAH you're done! One Double Pointed Needles project holder!

I'm so proud of myself ..I think I'll go solve the problem of world peace now ....

We're cracking up ..

The kitchen is slowly getting there. Pete spent the weekend painting, where he could. We have some areas of the wall that have been damaged by rising damp, they need to be repaired before we can put a layer of paint over them. The large crack in the corner (on the right in the photo) we are having repaired by the stone mason next summer. The stone mason thinks it better to wait until after the winter to repair the crack. We've had a few years of drought here and we are hoping when the winter rains come the crack in the wall will close a little. The Stone Mason will also be underpinning one of the corners of the house which is also cracking and moving.

Although very romantic, old stone homes need lots of attention and money. We have lots of work to do. The floors need replacing due to white ant damage. We need a new bathroom, laundry and toilet. She's a beautiful old house, well worth preserving.

A little at a time.


I feel like I'm tied to the couch cuddling Michael. He only wants to sleep while someone holds him. If I'm going to sit all day, I may as well crochet. I put him in the sling and then I have my hands free.

This is just a wider version of the other headband. Very simple, mindless crochet.

Donna's Wide Crochet Headband

( Australian Crochet terms used)

4ply cotton
3mm crochet hook

tr - treble (American DC)
ch - chain
dc - double crochet (American SC)

Row 1 Chain 4, work two trebles into the 4th chain from hook, work 3 ch, turn.
You should have 3 stitches, the chain counts as the first and two trebles.

Row 2 - 7 One treble into the next two stitches, 3 chains turn.

Row 8 One treble at base of 3 chain, treble in the next stitch, work two trebles into last stitch, make 3 chains, turn (5 stitches)

Row 9 One treble at base of 3 chain, treble in each of the next three stitches, work two trebles into last stitch, make 3 chains, turn (7 stitches)

Row 10 One treble at base of 3 chain, treble in each of the next five stitches, work two trebles into last stitch, make 3 chains, turn (9 stitches)

Row 11 One treble at base of 3 chain, treble in each of the next seven stitches, work two trebles into last stitch, make 3 chains, turn (11 stitches)

Row 12 to 15 One treble into the next ten stitches, 3 chains turn. (11 stitches)

Row 16 One treble at base of 3 chain, treble in each of the next nine stitches, work two trebles into last stitch, make 3 chains, turn (13 stitches)

Row 17 to Row 43 Treble in each stitch across (13 stitches) remember not to work a treble into the base of the turning chain or your count will be out.

Reducing the stitches to shape the end of the band.
On row 43 only work 2 chains on the turn, this acts as a reduction.

Row 44 one treble in each of the stitches to the last two stitch, work last two trebles together. (11 stitches)

Row 45 - 48 Treble in each stitch across (11 stitches) On row 48 only work 2 chains on the turn, this acts as a reduction.

Row 49 one treble in each of the stitches to the last two stitch, work last two trebles together. (9 stitches)

Row 50 one treble in each of the stitches to the last two stitch, work last two trebles together. (7 stitches)

Row 51 one treble in each of the stitches to the last two stitch, work last two trebles together. (5 stitches)

Row 52 one treble in each of the stitches to the last two stitch, work last two trebles together. (3 stitches)

Row 53 - 58 One treble into the next two stitches, 3 chains turn.

Row 59 Treble the next two stitches together. Do not turn

Work around the sides and create the ties.

Double crochet all the way around. Put two dc in the side of each treble. Work to row one. Make tie. Chain 50 then slip stitch back along the chain, dc into the next stitch and continue working dc's around the second side. When you get to the beginning make the second tie. Chain 50 and slip stitch back along the chain. slip stitch into first dc and fasten off. Weave in ends.

This is adult sized. To make smaller reduce the number of rows worked in the middle of the band.

If you want to make these to sell, you have my permission. I think they'd go well at a craft market and you should be able to make a nice profit on them. They only require a small amount of cotton and don't take long to make.