More Dreadlocks!

9am on Sunday morning! but i feel awesome! and i've already adorned my new dreads with some beads i made myself (will do another blog post on those). Jo and Ben are just rolling out of bed as i get there. We begin with coffee and danish... mmmmmmmm!

River is tired and feeds almost constantly over the next few hours...

when he wasn't dozing or feeding he was entertaining us with gorgeous giggles...

Nearly there!!

Et Voila!

It's common to loose a lot of length with dreadlocks, but we managed to keep it! 

Our method? well... as Jo says 'It's a secret family recipe' ;)

one little tip tho, there are no products in these, and i'm hoping to keep them that way.

 

words cannot describe how ecstatic i am with my new do! Infinite thank you's to Ben and Jo. My dreads took 22 man and woman hours all up, and i am eternally grateful for the time and effort, not to mention, the coffee, the wine, the food, the music, the conversation, the company. I don't just look different, I feel different, and it's exciting.

Dreadlocks!

So, i finally made the decision to get dreadlocks. i've wanted them for a long time, but a number of things have held me back, like being too vain about my hair, what if they dont look good? what will my Mum say? i let it all go, kind of, i'm still worried about what my Mum is going to say! lol. So it was Confest this year that inspired me, and i wanted to do it while the inspiration was fresh.... and while my best friend and hairdresser is still in England! lol! 

So i rallied some gorgeous friends together, shared with them some pictures of dreadlocks and techniques that i liked, set a time and a place... Oh My Goddess! it was really going to happen!

So here we are on dread day!

i'm nervous but excited, can you tell?!

and so it begins! i feed River while we decide how much of my fringe to leave undreaded. 

A few dreads in and Loki decides to come and help out, gorgeous boy, bless you my darling xx

We are joined for a few hours by the lovely Sarah and her men. they come bearing lunch, and Sarah straps on my tired little man while she prepares our feast. Thank you so much for being another mama for River, Sarah, you are so beautiful, i adore you xx

 Grant having a moment with River, too cute.

EEEP!! DREADS!!

 Gorgeous little Sufjan, looking adorable while Ben and Jo work away. These two are so in love, it's so warm and fuzzy to be caught in the middle of them. I want more of both of you xx

The dreading process takes hours... but i enjoy every second, including pulling faces for photos, lol

 We are joined by the lovely Leah later in the evening for some wine time and some awesome conversation. it gets late, we are all a little bleary eyed and we call it a night. Leah drives me home and my car has a sleep over at dread central. thank you Leah, you are such a delight to be with xx

i need to get moving for the day so will do another post with day two's shenanigans... Peace out xxx

Lozzie learns to crochet!

2 months ago, i learnt to crochet! here's the first thing i did...

impressed? no? me either! lol

off i went to Spotlight for the 'Patons - Learn to Crochet' book.

 i quickly moved on to a beanie...

impressed now? me too!

i was hooked! ;)

 Beanies for River and Marlie

More beanies! Neapolitan inspired beanie for Miss Nellicious and a Demons beanie for my wee second cousin Jimi.

Just for fun...

coz i'm a bit mushroom mad, a clutching toy for River.

A beret for myself.

A dinosaur beanie for a good friends little man.

African flower beanie, not quite finished yet, needs a few more rows around the bottom... and an owner, not sure who this is for yet.

Very rough coz i made the pattern up myself, but i needed some slippers! pattern needs a few changes.

and finally...

quite possibly one of the ugliest things i've made! i had some of the most disgustingly coarse string, its so think, it was a bitch to work with! but i did it, a dish scrubbie!

Crochet is my new love, i love working in the round and using treble stitches. i love that i can create beautiful things while sitting in my big comfy arm chair with my feet up and a cup of tea on the table next to me. hmm, tea..... yep, its about that time ;)

Peace, love and wooly goodness

xxx

Mabon at the Woods den

From now on i WILL blog at LEAST weekly! but to catch up a bit, here's one that was saved in drafts last month, lol

The Autumn Equinox is also known as Mabon (March 20-23rd), a Pagan Sabbat to honour the season and the Autumn harvest. It is a time of abundance and gratitude, a time for reflection and giving thanks as the Earth prepares for the darkness of Winter. In more spiritual lore... The God has died and the Goddess, growing old and becomming the Crone, mourns his loss. The Earth has recieved his body and has given up the last of the harvest - He has sacrificed Himself, giving His energy to the Earth so that we may enjoy the fruits of the harvest.

 

 This year, we decide to honour the Sabbats, learning as we go. Loki draws in Autumn colours while i make a poster, to write down everything we learn about Mabon along with its traditions, rituals, crafts and foods.

 

While River masters his crawling techniques under the dining table. love.

 

We decide to take our crafting outdoors and meet our friends, Sazz, Ealesy and their daughters, Harri and Nell, in the local park. The Mamas make Goddess Eyes, while the children go free range, looking for pine cones, but mostly, running away with our yarn.  And yes, the babes have matching matryoshka doll bibs, too cute!

 River gets his first real feel... and taste, lol, of grass, and Loki wears a garland of Maple leaves, made from a tree in our front yard.

 

Our alter all set up, complete with seasonal Mr Potato Heads and the Goddess Eye i made at the park.

The next day is time to harvest...

 Our wild vegie patch! very overgrown but it had some lovely goodies waiting for us to pick! Tomatos, capsicums, cucumbers, blackberries, rhubarb, basil, rosemary and passionfruit!

 Basil.......................... Blackberries, what was left after picking all the ripe ones for jam!

 Baby zucchinis!

 Rhubarb..................................Tomatoes on the vine, yet to ripen.

 doesn't it all look so beautiful! time for some cooking!

Onion, cheese and rosemary bread...mmmmm!

Blackberry jam, bubbling away............ and all bottled up in the fridge and ready for toast the next morning!

Vegetarian chickpea sausage rolls about to go in the oven.... and some apple and rhubarb stewing on the stove, waiting to be made into a yummy crumble!

Our Mabon feast!

 

And our beautiful Lady Moon.

It was also our intention to do a John Barleycorn Sacrifice with the dried corn in the vegie patch, but it never happened.

We will invite friends to join us for this ritual and Mabon feast next year, can't wait!

Happy Mabon xxx