And by the way, my new camera? Freaking loving it. I finally feel like I can breathe again.

xox Amanda

Zoe did not particularly feel like indulging me with my need to test out the camera.. and to be fair it was cold outside! But winter early evening/late late afternoon light is so pretty!

The main difference I’ve noticed so far is, like I said, the controls and functions etc all being backwards to canon. I haven’t figured out how to change focus point yet…which I really need to do!! and the filesize is SOOOOO tiny compared to the files out of the canon mark 2. BUT that could be a good thing for my hard drive I guess! The colour tones SOOC seem to be much cooler/on the blue side compared to the redder tones from my canon. Anyway, I’ll update again once I get the feel of things and work it all out, but for now I just couldn’t wait to share.

xox Amanda

In the meantime… sooo much to catch up on! Is it just me or does anyone else get overwhelmed when it’s been a little while since you’ve blogged.. and so you have SO MUCH to blog and don’t know where to start, so you just… don’t?! I forget what I meant to blog or want to blog and end up just sitting here going… huh… yep

Look, Zoe is not impressed that I haven’t been posting regularily here:

Ohhh I know I’m a horrible mama. She’s teething. Again. And of course I always run out of time and end up trying to take photos when she should actually be taking a nap…

My new hat pattern has been released too! See I meant to blog about that when it happened, and didn’t get around to it either. But go check it out You can purchase and download it instantly for $5AUD. Check out how adorable it is:

Did you know I’ve made it in the tiny newborn size for Kelley Ryden & Skye Johansen among many others?

I got some bunnies! The brown/white one is Mallow. She’s a dwarf lop. And the grey one is Luna, and she’s a mini lop! We keep them inside the house as house bunnies. They are the cutest freaking things ever. Soooo affectionate. They’ll both jump up to snuggle with me on the sofa. Luna especially loves to go and bonk her nose against Lilly for attention.

xox Amanda

Firstly, a pair of longies for Zozo. These are similar to the last pair I showed. Knit in Mosaic Moon BFL “Daydreamer” & Woolganics Lotus.

Some shorties knit in Evoke Hand dyed Yarns BFL “Maia Jade” (I really did not like this colourway at all, hence why I made them shorties - I got sick of knitting with fluro rainbow vomit). We only use this at nighttime.

Another pair of longies. Knit in Mosaic Moon BFL “Ravensong” & Woolganics Raindrop.

A cute wee vest ( “Milo Vest” pattern by Tikki) knit in Woolganics Grapefruit moon.

And lastly, a funny little guy I knit as part of her First birthday present. Pattern is “Spherey” by Jess Hutch.

If you’re on Ravelry, you can find me here: http://www.ravelry.com/people/mskeeys I share more photos and stuff of the knitting there if you’re interested. And if you ARE on ravelry, let me know! I’d love to add you to my friends list.

I’m *this* close to being ready to release the newest little hat pattern. I’m in the final testing stages, and so hopefully within the next week or two it will be ready to go! I need one or two more testers - specifically for the 0 - 2 month size and the 2 - 6 month sizes. If you’re interested, please do let me know. I do however need you to get it knit up pretty quickly The pattern is quick to knit though, and won’t take much time at all.

xox Amanda

I took these on her actual birthday, the 26th of June

Raise your hand if it’s your birthday!

Told you she doesn’t like photos She’s calling for Daddy to pick her up.

xox Amanda

Some updates on the workshop front. Kara and I are busily working on some changes we have had to make to the format now that we are doing things online vs in person. So it’s taking some extra time to sort it all out and put it back together in a way that makes the most sense. Rest assured it IS coming and we’ll update when we have a definate launch date.

I am totally bummed that today is the FIRST day of winter. The only season of the year I truly truly madly deeply love is AUTUMN. And this year I went through the most horrible and depressing “slump”. It happens to all of us, of course, but I was just soo tapped out and exhausted mentally I just had nothing leftover for creativity. This dragged on for about a month and a half before I finally worked my way out of it - just in time for a couple of weeks of pretty much non-stop rain so the opportunity for photography was nil! Actually, I DID manage to get a shoot in, but I’m not allowed to show those images yet. Which is a bummer because I really love them. Oh well.

Zoe’s first birthday is approaching with rapid speed. It’s on the 26th of this month (June). Jakob will be 11 in just a couple of weeks (the 18th) and the in July Lilly turns 4, and in August Madison will be 8! Whew. I’m tired just thinking about it.

I spent the past two nights working on a pair of longies for Zoe. I figured it was about time, what with the cold weather creeping up especially in the evenings now. I LOVE the way they turned out. Super freaking cute. Too bad she was not in the mood to let me take any NICE photos. We were only in the backyard too! The ground was sooo smooshy and muddy I had to keep her trapped sitting on that chair so as not to get herself coated in mud. I loooove cold weather, but I sure do hate when it rains so much the ground turns to gunk.

I wasn’t going to show these two, since she looks a bit “huh” and stuff (she’s sick) and I took these ones before I gave her a bath and tried again after she had a super (super super!) quick nap, but I dunno, they’re still kinda cute.

And see, she would only smile at me when I tried playing peekaboo, hiding behind a tree! Sooo yay I have great honkin’ tree branches right in front of her, but I guess it’s OK because she’s smiling.

And one more just for fun. Sweep came outside to hang out with me while I was taking the photos. She’s not allowed in the garden, and I caught her up walking up on the ledge and pointed my camera at her. She’s pretending not to look at me, because if she doesn’t look at me I don’t exist and then she can’t get in trouble HA.

xox Amanda

So while I’d love to blog PROPERLY… and really, I have so many photos (especially of Zoe) that I want to share, I need to keep it short right now.

I have a new hat pattern available. It is $5AUD and you can purchase it through Tangled Yarns exclusively until the end of April. After that, I will make it available for purchase through my blog and my etsy store.

And a couple of snapshots, more or less, of Zoe this afternoon as we were playing in Zai and Jake’s room before all the kids got home from school. The light in there, even on a rainy dark day, is so pretty.

She’s so lovely to be around… she really is just the happiest, sweetest baby

I’m selling a new design newborn hat in my etsy store too Shown on one of my beautiful recent clients.

A couple of shots from the beginning of March of Lilly that I just love..

xox Amanda

She slept nearly the whole time we were there, only waking up when I needed to give her to Matt so I could finish eating.

A phone-pic of (one of) my margaritas. YUM.

I’m SUCH a party animal, we were home by 10.30 (just the way I like it), so we watched “Whip It” before going to bed. Great movie, I really enjoyed it (and it totally made me want to dig out some skates…. until I remembered I’ve had 5 kids and that probably isn’t such a great idea afterall).

Of course earlier in the day I grabbed my camera and took a few photos of myself, just for the sake of it being my birthday.

xox Amanda

She reaaaally wanted that duck (which came from p2c - my kids LOVE when I get a p2c order in because THEY get a duck LOL). And see how wet the bench was? She discovered the joy of splashing.

If you’re going to take photographs of baby in the sink, make sure you have a helper on hand to hold baby and stand right there in case she wiggles

My helper!

Zoe is actually sick with a cold right now, and was not at all impressed when I wanted to take a photo of her all wrapped up in her towel post-bath.

Speaking of being sick, Lilly was in hospital for several hours the other night after she had a really bad asthma attack. She’s still sick now, having ventolin every couple of hours. She has a really high fever right now too (though is thankfully asleep in bed, getting some much needed rest!).

Also, I know this is kind of random, but are any Sydney-siders going to Colour Conference? (Hillsong) at the entertainment center. I’ve never been before, and I am fairly anti-hillsong, but my sister in law keeps telling me how great it is, and now both of Matt’s sisters are going and my niece is going so here I am buying a ticket. Just curious to know whether any one else is headed out there, maybe we can say hi or something.

xox Amanda

I know I always mention how I LOVE her serious face! But I’m going to say it again I just LOVE her serious face lol.

I still plan on lugging my full-size pram out one day…..when we get our car back….!

I also photographed her in this sweet little headband for Grace Designs. We have several hair pretties I need to get photographed for Ros, but on this day Zoe was in need of a nap (and Gemma had to catch a plane home!) so I only managed the one. But isn’t it darling? Unlike many hair flower sellers, Ros actually hand-pieces her flowers herself.

I moved her around a bit for a slightly different feel to the light and some “sparklier” bokeh. I didn’t tell Gemma really why I was changing things around so I hope she didn’t think I was crazy.

And then I showed Gemma my “happy place”. I just breathe out a huge sigh every time I come to this spot. My husband and I have been coming here pretty much once a week for the past 12 or so years (before we were married!). I’ve done self portraits in the middle of winter floating around in that water We have always called her the Lady of the Lake. She used to have a head, once upon a time…

I just found this photo Matt took of me while I was “setting up” one of my photos at this spot back in 2004 lol!

My photos of her never do her justice. One day, one day. The statue reads: “Let me, I pray thee. Drink a little water of thy pitcher.” Gen 24th Chap. 17th verse.

xox Amanda