I have moved! My life has been packed in a very cute handmade bag and carried over to pompomrouge.

It’s very cosy and pretty and there is FREE stuff happening.

So don’t miss out! Scoot! Go now! Off with you!!

Thank you for that virtual kick dans la knickers! I needed it. And the decision is made . Twolimeleaves has been a great place to live. And now it’s time to move. In fact, I already have. Pompom rouge is  up and running.

The leetle conversation yesterday (and a few more with these guys) has identified for me what my Issues were (as if I have Real Problems! ha! ).

1. I am always squeamish about selling stuff to friends. It feels weird to ask friends for money. It feels yucky to show a friend stuff and then say “For only $19.99 this can be yours” with an expectant face. HOWEVER, the flip side is that I want to buy stuff from friends and, as the lovely Ms H. said in her comment,  commerce between friends is one of the really nice aspects of the Internet. It really does make you feel good to support the efforts of friends!

So, Issue 1? resolved.

2. Scared that no one will come to the party

Solution : stop being such a bloody sook! No one wants to hang out with a  sook. Have a good time even if you ARE by yourself (besides, they all came anyway, didn’t they?! Told you so.)

3. No one likes a blog that’s just a shop. I don’t either. So the personal stuff stays (as if I could have gone a week without mentioning my life anyway!  pfft!).

Issue 3 – no issue.

4. If you tell everyone you’re doing it, then you have to do it or you’ll look like a twit.

Righto. Gotcha. Doing it!

Twolimeleaves will be here for a while yet. I’ll leave it up until, well, until I delete it

I’ve taken my links page over to pompomrouge, lock, stock and both barrels.

Can you please update my link on your blog?  Thank you *kissie kissie*

Oh, and to everyone who thought that the name “pompom rouge” meant that I would be attaching tassels to parts of myself …

…you’re a bad girl! I just like red pompoms. That’s it. End of story.

OK, I kind of need your help. I don’t know if you’ve been wondering where I am, but I sure have. Been wondering where I am, I mean. This has been a confusing time.

(I was going to say “This Year” has been a confusing time, but then I thought “Man, it’s been longer than that”. Maybe the last five years or so have been confusing?  Maybe I NEVER had it figured out? My brother claims that at the age of 42 his mid-life crisis is now reaching a record 30 year run. He may be right. My own life concurs.)

Not sure how the personal stuff entered there, of its own accord, but I was really talking about work. A year and a half ago I started working for my husband. I did it willingly and it was temporary. Sheesh, it still is! It’s not my cup of tea, bookkeeping and office admin. It’s not my forte. It sure as hell does nothing to feed my soul. I’m hungry. I’m freaking STARVING.

I don’t want to sound resentful or bitter – I’m truly not. This business of Peter’s is paying our bills and I am genuinely very grateful for what we have.  But I have been letting this office job overwhelm me and when I have spare time (of which there is really quite a lot), I fritter it away rather fruitlessly and aimlessly. Whether half an hour of time appears for me to use or half a day is free, I just can’t focus. I flit from one thing to the next and now  have a hundred half-done projects and a thousand ideas for cool stuff that I haven’t even started.

(At this point, I am hoping that there are nodding heads out there. Please, God, tell me you relate?!)

Anyway, two years ago, my plan was that THIS year I would be starting a business of my own. Then last year, we bought out the partners in Peter’s business and now there is no money for my plans. That’s OK. It was, and still is, definitely the right thing to do. But I can now see that it has left me floundering a bit and running around in circles waving my arms quite a lot. There is a screaming need for re-grouping, re-focussing…

I have made a decision to stop feeling sorry that the business I expected to be starting now isn’t happening and instead to make the most of what I can currently do – which is plenty. I have heaps of resources,a business name that I registered a year ago (!!), a space in which to work, internet and , yes, I will say it, I have talent. I’ve kind of started.I’ve set up an etsy shop, a flickr account and a blog for the business.

So,  two lime leaves has been going now for several years. You’ve probably noticed that I am prone to bouts of navel-gazing and pontificating in this little corner. There are plenty of opinions expressed here, sometimes I have discussed quite personal stuff and it’s kind of been a catch-all place for me. The new blog will be the focus of and home to all of my creative moments, in the hope that it will give me a little corner of the world that nurtures my soul -  no whining, no ugly stuff, no boring book-keeping or typing. It will focus on Making Stuff and there will be tutorials, ideas and … other cool things. Here’s  my dilemna. Do I keep both? Do I abandon twolimeleaves and say “Follow me!” and hope that more than two people do? I am a  staunch believer in the seperation of Church and State but, let’s face it, Making Stuff is both Church AND State for me! I have made so many friends through this blog. People that I don’t want to lose contact with. But we know the Internet, don’t we? We know what a  fickle, fair-weather friend she can be…

If I am painfully honest, I worry that this little blog will not survive. I will move to, oh yes, haven’t even told you the name, hey?… I will move to pompom rouge and soon forget that I was here. two lime leaves will dwindle and die. pompom rouge may never sprout wings. Maybe that’s what I’m really scared of? What should I do, oh Wise Ones?

I’m not sure why I decided that I need a wrap. After all, a really cold day here is about 18 degrees C. But I suddenly felt the urge to make something snuggly that I could hide inside when I was napping in the car and on planes and such. That’s why I bought the Noro yarn. It cost a bomb. And when it was halfway through? I realised it wasn’t what I wanted. The colours are just not me. (They are perfect for Someone Else, though *shhh* birthday soon!)
Then the food colouring dye session. Then four false starts: three knitted ones (I now know how to do a feather and fan pattern with knitting. I feel so clever!) and finally this fourth try with crochet…

The colours look so nauseating. It was a bit of a shock to see two beautiful yarns turn, well, kind of ugly next to each other. It was so sickly. Needed toning down.
So, I added this gray/beige colour and (bonus!) it has some cashmere in it. Wow, that stuff is so soft! I’ve never owned anything with cashmere before and now I see what the fuss is all about.

Then I figured it needed a bit more colour so I quickly dyed a few skeins of light wisteria purples. Now I love it!

The pattern is really, really easy. I’m not kidding. I learned to crochet so that I could jump on the ripple bandwagon (eventually I was successful) and this is the first “fancy” pattern I’ve tried. I think it’s even easier than the ripple and possibly faster, too.

So, this is called closed shell stitch and here’s what you do…
Cast on stitches in multiples of 3 + 1 (I cast on 121)
Each little shell is a cluster of 5 double chains.
Row 1 – sc in 2nd chain from the hook, *skip 2 chains and 5 dc in the next chain, skip 2 chains and 1 sc in the next chain. Repeat from * to the end of the row. You should finish on a sc.
Row 2 – 3 chain (this counts as the first dc in the shell), turn, 4 dc in the first sc of the previous row, *skip 2 st, 1 sc in the centre stitch of the 5 dc group, skip 2 st, 5 dc in next sc, repeat from *across. When you reach the end of the row there isn’t room for a whole group of 5 dc -just do 3 and that will let the edge of the crochet stay straight.
Now just repeat Row 2 until it’s long enough!
I plan to do two rows of sc around the outside of the wrap and then a row of shells to finish off.

If you need any help, let me know. Honestly, it’s so much easier than I thought it would be. Makes me wonder why I didn’t try it earlier.

Updated to add: The tutorial that I used to dye my wool was kind of OK, but if you want GREAT instructions, go visit Suse at Pea Soup. She has this tutorial which covers everything. And if you don’t like getting dirty, she sells beautiful yarn that’s already clean and dry and ready to use.

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After scouring the internet for handpainted yarns, I concluded that the yarn I want doesn’t exist. Ah hah! I cried (quietly, to myself) I’ll dye my own!
Quick googly later and I had enough info to be a danger to any unsuspecting undyed wool that may have been nearby. It just so happened that I also had a significant quantity of the softest merino baby yarn bought in a moment of frenzy last year.
A quick trip to the supermarket for vinegar and food colouring and paper towels and latex gloves and it was all on.
The tutorial mentioned how “grabby” the dye in food colouring is. What I didn’t realise is just how strong the pigments are!

I was aiming for pistachio green. I got this…

Gorgeous it may be, but it isn’t even close to what I want so I have listed it in my etsy shop. There are five skeins, each 80-85 metres long. The wool is 100% merino, very very soft and four ply (it’s baby wool).
I also made some rather amazing red/hot pink/orange stuff. This was supposed to be pink…

It is rather yummy. I might keep it.We’ll see. For a non-knitter I seem to be amassing quite a hefty yarn stash.

You will be comforted to know (because I know you worry about me) that the next day I had another go and succeeded in producing some rather fabulous pistachio green with hints of apple and a few skeins of coconut ice with strawberry ripple. Delish. Now this stuff is MINE…

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