I had a birthday...

I had a birthday last Friday. it was fabulous. it was a Friday and I didn't have to go to school. I spent a couple of hours at a end of school year prize giving, then came home to these divine flowers at my doorstep...

 Aren't they stunning?! I get flowers once a year from the husband!

 Here we are - I've a new bag from H&M in Melbourne; new shoes from Marks and Spencers (bought months ago and thrown into cupboard for the birthday) - you know - the gifts you always buy for yourself... and a gorgeous new bracelet from Tracy (more coming about her, as a box she sent back in August arrived ON my birthday - it was really exciting!).

 Some more self bought gifts...

 oh and some more.... (hee hee!)

 The shoes - love and adore and so damn comfortable and so cheap!

 From a mate in Christchurch...

 O - M - G - LOOK - just look! at these. Letterpress knitting cards to give away when I knit goods for people. They are just simply divine! Almost too good to use.... April also sent 4 of my favourite Burst Bees lip balm! Swoon

 And this pottery leaf from my cousin , made by a potter in Dunedin, is just gorgeous. I love it!

 The cousin also sent me this - I laughed and laughed... it already ... might.... be working! Another car load of stuff heading to the op shop. And I've had a mighty good sort out at school too...

Aren't birthdays grand with sweet friends and family sending lovely things. I can see now better for cross stitching with a new lamp combined with a magnifying glass.. pic coming too.

Cousins' 24 day Christmas Swap - Days 1 to 5

My cousin Jackie and I decided to do an Advent Christmas swap with each other. I'm in the North Island and she lives in the South Island. The rules were a little gift for 24 days and the total cost of the package had to not exceed $60 (not including postage). So we each got scheming and making and boxes duly arrived at our houses...


This is what I sent




Days 1 to 5 -


Day one, of which I forgot to take a photo, was of shortbread I baked.

This is what arrived at my house....

 Day one - a conference bag which Jackie re-used and stitched - how cool is this?!?! What a great idea!

 Day 2 was my birthday - I cracked up at the muesli - I did get breakfast in bed!

Day 3

Oh this is amazing! I just laughed y head off! Oh YES - I DO keep New Zealand post in business...

Day 4 -

I can never, ever have enough of Lily Sugar-n-cream cotton!

And Day 5 -

All ready in my pencil case for next year's university papers.

It is really cool waking up to cute and useful little gifts each morning!

this is me tonight

New Zealand's  prime minister resigned today. That, truly, has made my year!

artwork love

13 year old's artwork which arrived home today. Seriously jealous that he has one last day of school and then a whopping 2 month holiday for him!

a day immersed in wool

I woke up yesterday and on impulse spent the entire day (it really, truly did take all day long!) sorting out my wool and adding it all to my Ravelry Library (I'm "KimberleyA" on there if you want to look a wee peek :) ).


I'm so happy - still a bit to load - but it has really given it a big sort out; plys are stacked together; I know exactly what I have (4 jersey/cardigan lots which is fab to know) and it all looks tidy and less de-cluttered now!


The funny thing is that the husband came home for lunch - the look on his face was absolutely priceless! I think he was saying "why on earth do you want more wool for your birthday next week?".... and other things ;).


I've also found a grand pile of works in progress - some things were knitted, just never stitched up! I spent last night doing that and now have a few things I can use for Christmas gifts too! Yay!


I still believe there is always more divine wool to be bought... ;)

oops - bit of a spend up!

I love my husband! Last Friday was the first free Friday in months from study. A girlfriend and I went shopping... we went to the first H & M opened in NZ about a month ago. Think we timed it well as queues were not bad at all - 2 shirts, 2 tees and a couple of things for family Christmas presents.
The off to the little Scholastic bookshop -


the pile for a few teenagers (most expensive book was $7 ! Most were $5!)

The one dollar pile !

The pile for school (now in the school office with me thinking about donating - or not - as I have run out of budget)...

After shopping at Scholastic with these prices, one finds it very hard to go into normal bookshops like Whitcoulls etc (but I do!). Great prices for schools at Scholastic!

The next day - a wee splurge on stationery at K-Mart. Only my 3rd time this year in there - insanely cheap! Adore the set of 3 notepads (A5 size) for letter writing especially.

Then the husband took me to Spotlight to buy my birthday gift, but I snuck a few things in on top of that....

Wool on clearance for $10 a ball; ribbons for $2

 Fabric was 30-50% off a metre -

 Christmas fabric 40% off

 This was down to $24 for me - back of the box says it was originally $125.... bargain of the year for these fat quarters.

So a successful weekend one might say; fab to catch up with a friend (and for the husband to say "one only lives once" when he saw the shopping with the friend ;) ) .

Work is tiring and very stressful (I hate this time of the year actually!) at the moment - I want the term over fast! And then 6-7 weeks of lovely holidays!

I'll be kept busy crafting to take away some of the stress!

I have a sock addiction

While trying to get stuff into my head for a university exam, I knit. I knit a lot! This exam I knitted a lot of socks! A few for me, and because I really do have enough socks, I knitted 5 pairs for workmates too! The really funny thing is that one of my workmates appeared in the library the other day saying how much she loved her socks "but..." Rosa goes;  Me " Your husband took them?". "Yes, so..." ; Me "of course I'll knit you another pair!". I thought that was hilarious! So happy people love my socks!