an entry for ethel's photo challenge

Ethel from ethelexperience.blogpsot.com has started a competition where she gives five words/phrases and you have to post a picky for each word, it can be as tenuous as you like.
So I thought i'd have a go, bear with me. the first word/phrase is
America the beautiful
this one caused me the most problems, so I've posted 2 the first is a fun one, It's a chinook helicopter ( adam asked me to take it), they are an amazing feet of engineering, so are beautiful. (If you look to the right of the photo you might notice a Swift getting in on the act ( also beautiful).)
But I'm not sure if they are american( helicopter that is), so I posted the next one, which I know is american, although spun in Taiwan, it a ball of Squiggle by crystal palace yarns, this is also beautiful.

the second word is heatwave
did I mention I had a cat? this is Lenny, and he loves the sun, taken in a short sun burst this week! he's also very mad, runs in the family.
the third is ice ice baby
this was taken a few years ago by me, and is a bit of a cheat, it's got Ice in it! I'll try harder next time ethel honest.

the fourth is under the pink

I love the underneath of flowers I find them prettier than the front most of the time. this is a pink aquilega from my garden this week. I so wanted to post a picky of under the calomine pink lotion, but he wouldn't let me take it.
fifth building a mystery

Need I say more... this is adam building a mystery in our garden.
now you can go and see the other entries or take part at ethels photo challenge
I think ,bit confused. nothing new there.
enjoy
al x

Simplicity

Simplicity
Originally uploaded by goodkharmabunny.

Every now and again I get it right, I just had to share this picky with you.
Just a quicky to let you all know we are alright. Thank you for the words of wisdom and support. You'd be amazed how may people are prepared to share their pox scars with you......
Adam is very very spotty, but seems to be coping. They only seem to itch when you ask if they do... four year old logic strikes again.
Si seems to be on the mend, slowly but surely. He's had the week off and watched nearly every CSI episode we own. He's hit the Inspector morse books now! cabin fever is beginning to hit.
No sign of any spots on Emi yet.
Adam and I spent the morning in the garden, so I took lots of pickies.
Will share more later.
al x

holes in roads take two!

Thought you might like this...
the Hole in the road picky continues...
Mary at quite contrary who submitted the picky has posted a follow up to the Hole.

al x

pox ridden bunnies

We have chicken pox!!!
woop!
Buckets of calamine lotion!
Apparently the 4+ have it!
The spots are multiplying as we speak, and I've managed to get some antibiotics down him.
I feel a chicken pox party coming on, any one interested?
This does mean Emi Lou will have it for half term though, ah well.
al x

contagious bunnies

Hooray for parenthood!!
I would really recommend having kids to anyone!
but sometimes it's really hard work!!
Today was a classic day of disaster followed by disaster!
after a busy weekend and not alot of sleep!
Hubby has torn a ligament in his back! ( boy jumped on him) so is absolutely as much use as a very useless thing. probably off for the week, (aaaahhhhhh)
Adam was off school with suspected Impetigo! (you don't want to know)
The antibiotics he's been given, he spat out on our pale floor, not a problem if they weren't fluorescent pink. They tasted so bad apparently he has now completely refused all bribery, and I've got to take him back tomorrow to try to get something else.
by 9 am I'd had them both to the doctors and back, on a monday morning!!!! ( see miracles do happen)
By 11 am I had been to loughborough and bought adam a pair of trainers to replace the shoes we left at mums yesterday, ( with adam).
BY 12 I'd decided Adam was possibly contagious so couldn't go to school.
I had a hospital appointment in the pm so had to call up the cavalry again to look after my entire sick family, cos emi is still coughing her guts up and not sleeping......
I could go on, you get the idea!
there are several things I would like to draw from this...
Aunty Catherine ... there is absolutely no way I am dancing on wednesday night!
And I would like to thank my sponsors
mum and dad and ruth and peter (inlaws)... you are the best ... thankyou very much for all your support.
and mum keep the spare bed made up i may still need it if they carry on like this and Emi keeps waking up!
Thought a nice picky of emi might offer a little light relief,Isn't she growing up quickly?!?!?
I will tell you all about weaving spinning and dying later if I have the will.
it'll all be fine!!!!!!!
al x
p.s to all those in the know, can I post more than one photo to a blog posting from flicker, or do I have to do a posting per photo? answers on a postcard.....

Lots of stuff going on!

Dear all, you may have noticed there has been a post explosion today! I'm trying to jazz up the blog, especially if I am going to branch out to a web site. So you may notice a few changes, please let me know what you think. I'm still working on the title bar, well the Hot cross bunny is actually.
We had fun last night, HC bunny completely sabotaged my blog, unintentionally, but it was very spectacular. I've managed to reinstate nearly all of it.
still trying to figure out Flicker.
But besides that there is much going on in bunny land.
Mum in law is going to wonderwool this weekend, of which I am truly jealous.
I'm going to Leicestershire WSD on saturday, we've got Linda Rudkin talking on natural dyeing and stuff. It's little sisters birthday on sunday, I'm sure there will be pickies!
and next weekend mum is exhibiting at the artists and gardens in Draycott, which has been organised by The Beetroot tree.
I'm going to help her set up and stand behind her looking menacing, or maybe just offer support. Should be alot of fun.
off to fall asleep now.
al x

Yarns for dyeing

Yarns for dyeing
Originally uploaded by goodkharmabunny.

I got this lovely collection of yarns over the weekend for dyeing!
from Texere yarns.
al x

Knotted ply split bracelet

Knotted ply split bracelet
Originally uploaded by goodkharmabunny.

Oh what fun we had last night, I hope no one noticed the bunny blog blip!
still, all up and running again, and valuable lessons learnt.
This is a new knotted bracelte I finished yesterday for aunty Catherine, her prize for coming second in the photograph competition.
I've got some of my photos on Flicker.com now, still working out how it works, bear with me!
al x

foxglove

foxglove
Originally uploaded by goodkharmabunny.

we're trying to be clever, what do you think of my potential template title?
al x

Bits and bobs and bunnys

Dear all,
Poorly children really get in the way when you have a blog! Such is the delight of parenthood.
Just a couple of bits for now, until I think of something scintilating to tell you.
The most important thing that happened this week was my dearest darling hot cross bunny went live!
My hubby has been working on his web site for an absolute age... it's only caused a few disagreements. He's such a perfectionist! But it's finally happened, and I have to give him a plug, even thought it's not textile related in any way shape or form. It's about little painted minature people, it keeps him happy, and the web site looks fab... so if your at all tempted it's www.hotcrossbunny.co.uk
Now he can get on and work on mine!!!!
the otherwebsite worth a look is knitting4fun .
They've had a revamp and it's looking wonderful, she's got a huge stock and I can't wait for her delivery of sari silk and banana yarn over the next few weeks.
I've also been looking into the secretpal phenomenon, I love the idea. You subcribe and get given a secret pal who you send parcels of goodies to and viceversa, over a period of three months. There is a money thing of $60 to be spent over the three months, I really want to do it, i just can't afford it, plus where would I find the time? subcription for the next one wont be for a while, maybe I'll have to save up.
So nothing to show you for now,
will try for later in the weekend
al x
p.s found out how to do links, can you tell!

More bracelets

Dear all,
Thought I better show a few more of the finished ply split bracelets..








They are all made of Linen that I have dyed, the purple one has some fanatasy yarn in it as well.









the red one is part of my glamour puss range.. or should that be glamour bunny?













And just incase you getting family withdrawal symptoms....Emi discovered the joy of gardening on friday,


look at adam's face, such excitement.
and I don't think I've posted a picky of me yet! ( not that I'm giving much away with this one.
this is emi and I contemplating a packet of raisins.
al x

new bracelets

Just one of a few that I've finished over the weekend.
This is my favorite and one picky doesn't do it justice.

And the winner is!!!! ( belatedly)

I do so hate starting with an apology. so I wont.
There is nothing I could do about it, life is just to hectic at the moment.
So I'm pleased to announce the winner(s) of the spring has sprung competition.
Thankyou all for entering they were all beautiful.
Unfortunately there has to be a winner, you can't all win.
If I had the time I would give you all a little something. Next time maybe....
There was only going to be one winner but I've stretched it to three.
A winner, a runner up and a " it made me laugh alot".

The winner is Ethel from ethelexperience.blogspot.com for her beautiful picture of tulips in the Chicago Botanical Gardens.





















Runner up is Catherine for her lovely picture of blossom.













and the "It made me laugh alot" prize goes to Mary Graham from silverbellsallinarow.blogspot.com, for her " the council has started to put marks around the potholes, it must be spring" picture.













Congratulations, prizes are negotiable. A good kharma bunny bracelet or windchime, and as Mary is into plysplitting at the moment ,you can have cords if you want to do it yourself Mary.
I will email you soon to discuss what you would like.
Now let me think, what could the next competition be..... answers on a blog to me....

al x

p.s stay around I have new bracelets to show off!

SILK SILK SILK

You know how sometimes you just have a thing about a certain fibre....
well at the moment I have a thing about Silk yarn.
An expensive thing to be into, but I'm trying to do it on a shoe string. There are so many new silk fibres out at the moment, Debbie Bliss has some lovely ones out, but they are a bit to pastel for me. I've worked a bit with recycled sari silk, it's a lovely fibre, but a devil to work with, it had alot of loose ends, it's very soft though. I've also done some crochet with the mulbery silk that I dyed, that is more rough and not shiny at all. I keep looking for the next silk yarn to work with.
In the mean time I went on a trip yesterday, to the Macclesfield silk museums, (http://www.silk-macclesfield.org/). I went with the Lutterworth embroiderers guild, on a bus trip.
It was a fascinating trip, lots of machinery that did ingenious things with fibres. The buildings were beautiful, big silk factories. I came away with more questions than I went with though. So I have to do some research about silk farming! like you do. Like they didn't farm the silk themselves, it all came in, in skeins, I want to know how and where from etc.
I'm afraid I didn't take any pickies though, sorry, the day went very quickly.
Added excitement was getting locked in the museum whilst the footy yobs were trashing macclesfield... grimsby were playing macclesfield apparently... lots of sirens and riot vans!!
I also almost finish three 3D bracelets whilst on the bus! pickies when they are finished off.
al x

Spring competition

Just to remind you, all spring pickies need to be in by 1st of May.
send to my email goodkharmabunny@tiscali.co.uk
not to big please ( mail box won't cope)
al x

Another one of those mile post things!!

We did it!!!
We got through Adam's first half day at school!
We're all very very tired/exhausted!
but we survived.
I think he had a good time, it's the " so Adam what did you do today?"
" well, I can't remember"
That was the edited conversation, I gave lots of options, but he couldn't remember a thing!
but his book says " Adam had a very busy afternoon"
Oh dear, I know what that means.... adam was a whirling dervish all afternoon...
The best bit, apart from him being really please to see me afterwards, was the way he completely engraciated himself with the lollypop lady on the way home, by blowing her a kiss. totally unprompted.
More textiles soon, promise.
Oh and get those spring pickies entries in very soon, almost run out of time.
al x

flower power and sari silk!

Dear all,
Did I mention my mum is a textile genius!
She makes alot of different sorts of these flowers, cards and brooches mainly, but in lots of different colours, this one was emi lou's 1st birthday card. I'll photograph the brooches she's made later.
I thought it might brighten up a slightly grey day.












I've also put in a picky of my plysplit bracelet using recycled sari silk.














AL x

freeform crochet workshop

Hello,
Not very coherent tonight, as worked two days in a row and not had much sleep.
But never mind!
I've been busy.
I've done some more free form Crochet for the online weavers spinners and dyers workshop (www.onlineguildwsd.org.uk)

I'm not sure what it is but it was fun trying. It's made of hand dyed thick silk thread and a little ( bright pink) dishcloth cotton.

I also made a 3D plysplit bracelet for my mum. It's very difficult to photo a 3D object and do it justice!Using hand dyed medium weight linen thread.

And just in case you were getting withdrawal symptoms there's Emi Lou in a box!

al x

spring has sprung! Competition!!!

Greetings all,
Just a little shout out for spring... I think it may almost be here.... well it is really, i'm hedging my bets. I don't want to frighten away the blue sky!
Adam and I planted lots of seed in the greenhouse yesterday.
I just keep seeing really cool colours and shapes outside, so I thought I would share a few with you.
keep looking for those signs, and let me know what you see.



Is it spring where you are?
send me pickies (small jpg's pls) and we can do a spring montage, there may even be a prize for the best one!
Lets say a Good Kharma Bunny 3D bracelet for the best, or a windchime if it's more you.
Closing date 1st of May!
email me on goodkharmabunny@tiscali.co.uk
Have fun
al x

green cross code!

Tenuous link title, i was going to call it getting run over by a bus... but didn't think it appropriate. What I really meant was, you know when your mother makes you have clean/new/matching underwear in case you get run over by a bus...
well showing your stash of yarns is a bit like that.
I'm going to be honest, cos it's more fun.
I was going to show you the box of threads that my mother and i dyed last week, so took the picture...








Then realised what a terrifying and shocking mess it was so I had a sort out!!
wow how much of a control freak am I. I knew my collection of large Floras boxes would come in handy.













Thought I'd show you the box of threads I use for sparkly interest
in the cords as well, mainly rayon and rayon boucle.
the blitz didn't get that far.



And also the ones I'm using for fuzzy interest. al x