Archive | Outdoor Challenge

How to make a Kite Tutorial

By Linda on April 19, 2010 in Autumn, Crafts, Kites, Outdoor Challenge, Tutorial

Today was a wonderful day, we did all our schooling in the morning, Erin has begun Ancient Egypt, Jenna is busy with Renaissance Biographies and Cady is learning about time and money. We had a slight breeze here today and when I went outside I saw Erin was busy trying to build a kite to enjoy this lovely Autumn wind. So we set about making a simple kite with materials that we had at home…

Simple Kite Tutorial:

Matreials: ( Just use what you have…)

Wooden skewer sticks (we just joined ours to make them longer)

Selotape

Scissors

Brown paper

Tissue paper

Yarn

First I joined the skewer sticks to lengthen them. Then I joined the sticks to make a cross. Make sure your horizontal stick is not in the centre, it must be attached higher up. This helps the kite to fly beautifully:) The horizontal sticks must also be shorter than the vertical sticks…

Cut some long tassels with your tissue paper…

Attatch the tassels to the bottom of the kite.

Attatch a long piece of string to the center of your kite so that when your kite is flying in the air you can hold onto it! And there you have it, a simple little tutorial on how to make a kite with items from around your home… We have been running up and down the garden and these kites have worked so well, I am totally amazed and I am sure we will be up early tomorrow morning making more kites. It’s great outdoor exercise!

Happy kite flying!
Warmly
Linda

WIP Wednesday and Outdoor Challenge

By Linda on April 14, 2010 in Outdoor Challenge, WIP Wednesday

Thank you so much to everyone who sent Richard and I warm anniversay wishes yesterday and today, you are all so wonderful and I really enjoy reading all of your comments:)

I really didn’t think I would be able to post a WIP Wednesday today, I have been busy dyeing yarn and finishing off with Caiden’s Native American block and Jenna’s Middle Ages block but I managed to take photos of my wips’ and post them! Yay:)

On my needles at the moment:

This is a custom order photography prop cocoon that I am busy with, I started it this morning and it is going well so far. I love this soft Merino yarn and its varigation.

Jenna’s hat is almost finished! Don’t you just love the pattern? I love how it creates that turned effect, really amazing, I bought this wonderful pattern here on Etsy. This hat just leaves an opening for the face and keeps the neck and head warm. Going to be cozy for winter.

Here is another one for Erin that I am knitting, she chose a soft lilac Merino.

I have had so much fun dyeing with natural dyes this week! The above photo is boucle’ Mohair I have dyed with onions skins, I mordanted the yarn with allum and I think this should be perfect for doll hair, will list it in the shop later for sale. I have also been dyeing with exhaust dye baths and the results are so subtle and pretty!

Outdoor Challenge:

Remember the large box that everyone had so much fun with? Well the last few days it has had another function, as a giant slide. You have NO idea how much time everyone has been spending outside sliding down this cardboard and I must say it does work really well. They cannot get enough of it, they have so much energy, this has really been wonderful fun! Amazing how versatile a piece of cardboard can be:)

Off to visit all your WIPs:) Happy Wednesday!

Warmly

Linda

Todays Activities…

By Linda on April 12, 2010 in Dyeing Yarn, Outdoor Challenge

Today was a day for dyeing quite a lot of boucle’ Mohair yarn. I have been experimenting with Eucalyptus bark and the colours have been amazing. I dye it specifically for Waldorf doll hair and the results were wonderful…

This is the honey blond colour of the first dye bath, the following skeins were a little lighter and so pretty, they are still drying on the lemon bush outside:) I will list these skeins in my Etsy shop for sale today:)

Can you see my little love in the photo above? This is my youngest, Kye, he is always with me and is so sweet! He is keeping me company in my studio while I am working. This room is filled with my work and I really enjoy this space but I also love sharing it with my children. They will often join me here and knit on the couch, Kye has a space for his wooden toys too and his stove resides in this room, so he serves me the most wonderful cooked dishes and cups of tea while I am spinning or skeining my yarn… He also has many pirate adventures too because his pirate ship and village live under my work table and I love listening to all the details of his voyages and adventures he goes on while we are here together…

I love that my children are a large part of everything that I do,we learn so much from eachother and have the greatest discusions, it is wonderful to be present in these moments and never be too busy to listen to what they have to say. I guess, I am a happy mama, so honoured to spend these days learning alongside my family:)

Here are our outdoor photos for today… We have a huge cardboard box that has lent itself to so many wonderful play experiences, a pirate ship, space ship… Today they flattened it out on the grass, went to fetch their crayons and drew beautiful pictures in the shade of the afternoon sun. They loved this and told me how much fun they were having. Great hey… to be outside… Later they took their box over to the hill at the bottom of our garden and slid down the slope like they were on a sled…shouts of joy followed:) What a brilliant day…

Happy Monday friends:)
Warmly
Linda

Saturday… Outdoor Challenge…

By Linda on April 10, 2010 in Outdoor Challenge

Today has been a lovely day:) We have joined in with the Outdoor Challenge over at 5 Orange Potatoes and I am so thrilled we have:) Today we were all outside so early that the grass was still coated with beautiful dew. The sunlight was wonderful, streaming through the trees…

We brought our knitting outside with us and sat together and chatted…

Caiden and Kye played all over the garden…

Of course Charlie was with us, he never misses an opportunity to be outdoors, all those leaves moving about in the breeze, he just can’t resist. Nicole, we actually weighed Charlie and he weighs 6 kg 13.2 pounds! I love his yellow eyes…

Jen has discovered Harry Potter books, she has almost read the entire series and absolutely loves them! I am just so relieved she is enjoying her reading:) When Richard returned home from his mountain bike ride this morning, we cooked a brunch and all ate outside together under the shade of our trees. We spoke about the Outdoor Challenge and how important it was to spend as much time outside as possible, we had a wonderful family discussion… We are thrilled to be a part of this!

The view from my lap… I am knitting this hat scarf for Jenna, I bought the pattern last night off of Etsy, it is knitting up so quickly and Erin has started knitting herself one too…

My favourite season is Autumn, and I really love how our Oak tree in our back garden is displaying its array of colours. The air is slightly cooler but the trees already know it is time to drop their leaves… isn’t mother nature amazing?

I have finally finished my swap item for our Share the Love Heart Swap. I really enjoyed this creative process and have met so many wonderful people all over the world through this swap:) If you would still like to join please email me at lindadawkins@mweb.co.za and send me you full name, postal address, email and blog link if you have one:)

We are off to make batter for waffles now, yum! I used this easy recipe…

Thanks to everyone who posted their links for their tutorials on Friendship Friday, your tutorials were wonderful:)

Happy Saturday,
Warmly
Linda

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