A minute to breathe, at last!

Finally I can update my blog. It seems like I update less and less, but not through a lack of wanting. I like writing here it’s kind of therapeutic in a way only I always feel so tired, or I am playing some game for hours on end to try avoid thinking about things. A lot has been happening as usual. Things I wish had never happened. My friend tried to hurt herself, Jessica spent 3 days in hospital and I had to fight the dr and nurses the whole time. I need to see the dr tomorrow and I really don’t want to. The less I see of that guy the better!

They made me see an asthma nurse yesterday. Implying (imho) that I knew nothing about asthma and that I was perhaps over reacting about Jessi (the dr didn’t want to hospitalise her, he was sending her home even with her oxygen saturation at only 92%). So.. I went along to see the asthma nurse yesterday. Least I could do since the poor guy travelled 1.5hrs to see me. Besides, it’s better to stay informed about these things. Steve, the nurse, was so nice. He asked what I knew (finally someone who doesn’t treat me like a 5yr old) and we discussed Jessica’s hospitalisation in the lead up to and time we were there. He was dumbfounded I was sent to him. The nurse here who arranged it just said she had a mother who needed asthma education and he had none of our notes or anything so was very surprised at what I knew and said to me “you know as much about it as I do”. He said I asked all the right questions and had appropriate expectations. He wasn’t happy at the way things were handled but said as this isn’t his jurisdiction its hard for him. For him to speak up he’s walking on treacherous ground. Well that was annoying! As I said to him, what’s the point of me being educated/informed on these things if it still means nothing when I see the dr or take Jess to ER.

I cut Jessi’s hair the other week. It had been annoying me for aaages and said to her one night “next time we’re in Kalgoorlie I will have to make you an appointment with the hair dresser” she replied “you can cut it mummy” as I had asked her only a week or so before to cut it and she looked horrified. Not at the prospect of having it cut, but at me doing it *lol* Well, while she says do it I wasn’t wasting any time. Couldn’t find my hair scissors so we went straight to nannas and chopped it off. It’s not perfect, one side looks a little longer than the other, and there is about 6 whole inches gone, but it looks SUPER CUTE!!!!

Before and after


I crocheted her a very sweet little wrap top from the lionbrand website in Bernat Cottontots. She looks absolutely adorable in it, and loves wearing it. The cottontots is surprisingly warm so perfect for this time of year. Such a fast little thing to crochet too, took me maybe 12hrs on and off. I hated sewing up the seams though.



On the craft front I have been dabbling. Doing a little bit of this and a tiny bit of that. Crochetville is holding it’s Holiday in July Random Act of Kindness (raok) lists and I have been tatting for that. A lot of people ask for handmade ornaments or anything handmade. It’s something I can post relatively cheaply as most things have to go over seas. I’ve done a snowflake from a pattern then just made up a couple more, a tatted angel, tatted bookmark (see that hugely obvious mistake?), and a dragonfly I did when I was teaching myself split rings that I somehow over looked photographing before now.


I’ve also knitted a little rose which is really cute but was quite tricky to knit, a few crochet flowers and some tatted ones. All were just something to do at the time cos I have no plans for them. I do love the knitted rose, and the crochet one. The crocheted ones are so quick and easy!


I attempted some knitting and am at a complete standstill! I was given a whole set of a 1980’s collectors series called “Get Knitting”. You had to buy one a fortnight from the newsagency. I found a few patterns in there that were cute (and literally only 6-8 from over 100) and decided to make this for Jessi. Using bigger yarn and needles. It was all going along well until I had to decrease and pick up a stitch repeat without instructions. I guess it was written for an experienced knitter. That I am not. I have had some good help just haven’t got back to it yet. I think I will run out of the yarn before finishing too. Again it’s Bernat Cottontots and Jessi loves the colour! She really wants me to finish this.



Right now I am crocheting a mermaid outfit for Barbie. The stitch I am using looks like scales which is so cool. Slow going though. The colours are blocking which is not what I was after and I am pretty bummed about it. Will see how it looks when I am done. Might even be another RAOK. If Jessi doesn’t claim it first.

I have netball tonight, it’s so cold, I am getting a flu and Jessi already has one. Fun fun. Wish we had an indoor sports centre!! Oh, my mum moved back to town too!! It’s so nice but I am sad for her. Things didn’t work out how she hoped which must be hard for her. Jessi is rapt to have her back!

11.5" Fashion Doll Panties/Knickers in yarn (Barbie)

This is my pattern for yarn panties to suit a fashion doll as requested by someone at Crochetville as posted originally at Crochetville. I personally used both a modern and an older Barbie doll but I'd guess they'd suit any fashion doll. I would like to say this is in the public domain, I can't see copyrighting anything like this any kind of achievement. Feel free to use it as a basic guideline to experiment from.

older style Barbie

modern Barbie

I used a really fine baby yarn and 3.25mm or US-0 hook

sc decrease- pull up a loop in first sc, pull up a loop in second sc, yarn over draw through all 3 loops on hook

Begin top front
ch9
row 1 - skip first ch, sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (8sc)
row 2 - sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (8sc)row
3 - sc in first 3, 1sc decrease using next 2 stitches, sc next 3, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 4 - sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 5 - 1 sc decrease using next 2 stitches, sc in next 3, sc decrease using last 2 stitches, ch1 turn (5sc)
row 6-13 - 1sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (5sc) repeat for 6 more rows (8 rows of 5sc)
row 14 - 2sc in first stitch, sc in next 3, 2sc in last stitch, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 15 - sc in each stitch across, ch1 turn (7sc)
row 16 - sc in first 3 stitches, 2sc in next stitch, sc in next 3 stitches, ch1 turn (8sc)
row 17 - sc in each stitch across (8sc)
row 18 - 2sc in first stitch, sc in next 6, 2sc in last stitch, ch1 turn (10sc)
row 19 - sc in each stitch across (10sc)
row 20 - 2sc in first stitch, sc in next 8, 2sc in last stitch, ch1 turn (12sc)
row 21 - sc in each stitch across (12sc)
end off

I looped a ribbon between the top stitch both front and back on either side and tied but you could just as easily use crochet chains. I worked in a small hair tie in the first and last rounds with no difficulty. Experiment with it :)

PS. This is untested and I am no way affiliated with Matel
Oh, yes I am Australian but I speak crochet in US terms so don't think you need to convert anything

It's busy busy in my household right now!

For the first time in a long while I felt like making some Kelly doll clothes. All of these are my own originals, all crocheted off the top of my head at the time of picking up the hook. I love the overalls the most! The purple/white outfit I was going for a sporty outfit, maybe like a jogger or yoga or something but I don't think I quite got there. Will work on it a bit more and see what I come up with. The purple dress was just playing about and all of a sudden I had a skirt so I reattached where I started and made a top half too. Looks pretty dressy huh! Have been contemplating pattern writing as I really could use extra $$ (who couldn't!) but it's so daunting. I like to just crochet. I came across a hosting site I'd never seen before called www.esnips.com and in there I found wonderful folders full of tatting patterns. I especially like the work by Terri Dusenbury. This is 2 letters from her Butterfly Alphabet. Terri used a lot of joins in her work and as I am lazy and hate (make that despise!) sewing in ends I made both in one piece with a few extra split rings. The J is of course for Jessi and will probably be used on a scrapbook page in the not to distant future. It's made with an unknown size 20 thread and about 1.5" tall. The P is for Pauline, a lady on the tatting along thread I started at Crochetville as she liked the J so much. It's made with size 70 tatting thread and is only about 1" tall. Both are very cute!! I started to tat Jane Eborall's Large Sea Horse but realised my threads were two different sizes... oops *lol* Will go back to that one! I received the MOST AWESOME RAOK the other day (Random Act of Kindness) from some sneay fairy god-kitties at Crochetville. 17 skeins of Bernat Cottontots which I must say is sooooo lovely and soft, not to mention gorgeous colours plus a Kool Kids cottontots pattern booklet; 6pk Boye steel hooks; Scat cat Beanie Baby for Jessi; 12 pks of scrapbook stickers (too cool!!); and 33 scrapbook papers in a project protector! I am soooo overwhelmed and feel so lucky! I love so many of the papers and sat to scrap with them the other day only to decide my workspace was too untidy and I needed to do something about that first. I am looking for a knit pattern for the cottontots and goodness knows what I will make with it all. It's so nice I'de like tojust keep it to look at *lol* I also feel as though I must have made a very positive impression to someone on the 'Ville and that makes me feel very happy indeed!The above dragonfly will be my next tatting pattern if and when I write it up. I think I can make a few modifications to it before I share and writing it wont be fun! I will also modify it so there is a two wing "in flight" version and a 4 wing "specimin" version. I hope!

More of my tatted dragonflies and a heap of lil fishes. I like both! Will be great on cards or scrapbook pages etc. The grey thing is a Kodak film canister lid for size reference. The fish pattern was found online somewhere.. Can't think of where at the moment.All pics [should] be clickable.

My first free pattern, a Tatted Dragonfly!

Tatted Dragonfly



















Required: one shuttle wound with thread (will be great to use up shuttle ends)

start your ring with a 8-10" tail thread

R 3-----2-----4-4-----2-----3
C 12 (you are making the chain with the tail you left)
Cut central picot at the peak

In long terms it would be;

Make a ring of 3ds, very very long picot, 2ds, very very long picot, 4ds, small picot, 4ds, very very long picot,3ds
Chain 12 with the 8-10" tail you left
Cut central picot (or small picot)


Now, I didn't sew in my ends as they're at the base of the tail I knotted them, added a tiny amount of glue, twisted them together and then cut 1mm from the knot. It made it look like the tail tapered off.



DISCLAIMER: This pattern is copyright to me, Michelle Robertson. I do not authorise you to post this pattern anywhere but you may link to it here on www.shell-n-jessi.blogspot.com, can also link to the Crochetville post http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?p=783476#post783476 You may use your dragonflies in anyway you please (including sale items) but DO NOT sell my pattern, nor take credit for it yourself.

Up Up and Away..

So much for Bloggers "auto save". I posted this a few weeks back but it didn't post and it sure wasn't saved! I want the option to save manually, which I tried numerous times while writing this originally but it wouldn't allow me. Very annoyed! That's why I haven't come back to it until now.

I finally finished this tin "When I think of you.." for my mum. It was supposed to be a part of her xmas present but it became a birthday pressie instead. I filled it with strips of decorative paper finishing the sentence "I feel proud", "I know I am blessed" etc. Mum seems to have liked it..?

I've been tatting on and off lately, I really enjoy tatting. All but the cross were made simply because they could be. The cross was sent off to Germany for a special friends birthday present, and I made it specifically for her. She loved it which was great! I must get more organised in future though as it too was late.. See a trend happening here?

Mum was home recently and I wanted to make her something special. She is working away now and seems to talk about us a lot so I thought she might like to have a photo for her wallet. How dull! I remembered buying those business card holders some weeks back and knew that it would be a perfect protector that is stillvery pocket sized. So I made a mini book! A true mini book, all hand made. It's about 6x4cm or something crazy like that. I decorated every page with many different elements from paper and silk flowers, stickers, sequins, small pieces of tatting, ribbons and fibres etc. The very last page is a pocket and contains a few individual photos. I only used some stickers on the front page so as there was nothing to be ruined. The whole thing fits neatly into the business card holder. Mum did like this a lot. I really enjoyed making it for her too. Very different to anything else I have done before and a challenge to work on such a small scale.

This green page has written on it "no, it's not paint. it's eczema". People who have seen this photo before think that whatever Jess has in her hands is what has coloured her face. Unfortunately that isn't the case and she is only eating watermelon! Her cheeks used to be covered in eczema and it was really nasty. You can see below a bigger shot of the photo I used. What I found ironic is that when I went to date the back of this page I saw green ink. I remember trying to scrap these photos (there are 2 others taken the same day) I didn't know how. I was at a weekend scrapping event a local lady organised and she said green complimented red and to try it. The green was very plain and I didn't know what to do with it so she gave me her green ink pad to try. I didn't like it and ended up scrapping other photos. I looked up the date on the pages I did that weekend and it was 2 years ago!! Amazing to use that very same piece of paper unknowingly 2 years after my first attempt. I am so glad I finally found a way to scrap this pic as Jessi's eczema is a very big part of her life. I think I really like the green/pink combo!

Jess was about 17mths old in this pic, taken in the play room of the childrens ward of Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital. She looks so angelic sitting atop that slide and I really wanted to capture that innocence. We have plenty of photos from the 3 days we were there but none mean as much to me as this one. The wording says "if ever an angel walked the earth.." and hints at Jessica being that angel. She is to me! I'd never have thought to use such a colourful photo on paper such as brown but I wanted a muted background so the pic took centre stage. I bought the letters ($9.40 for a-z!! ouchies..) and knew they highlighted colours in the photo so just decided to find paper to go with them. Lucky for me it worked as I have to buy all my scrapping stuff out of town and didn't have the pics with me that day. I walked in to buy something to scrap this photo and walked out over $120 later.. oopsies!

This photo of Jessi and I is very recent and I love it!! I really think it looks best in black n white too. This was a BIG step outside my comfort zone as I don't do bright very well and am generally a very monochromatic gal. The paper was a striped sheet which I cut the stripes from and a second complimentary sheet I used to cut out the flowers and make them 3D. Very simple but I think it looks nice. I am lucky enough to know a picture framer and he gives me big bags of the offcuts of the mount board and I used this to mount the photo. Having it higher off the page really worked. I created a book-like effect and wrote a long letter to Jess in there. She's asked me to read her that letter a couple of times, she must like it.