Marvelous discs pt 1

Ok so I know this blog is supposed to be about craft & stuff, but sometimes I like to take a creative detour. You may have guessed from the title what today's detour is about- yes those collectible plastic discs from Woolies. 

With both my boys in high school I thought we were over collecting the latest " collectible" novelty from the supermarket, so  at first I was saying "no thanks" to the discs.  Then I decided to collect some and give them to my friend as "rewards" for her grade 3/4  students. I hadn't even opened a packet to see what the discs actually looked like, I assumed they were thin plasticy cardboard pieces, something like tazos ( another  collecting craze from years ago!).

It was only when I saw some discs during a home visit for work, that I realized how solid they were, and that they were buildable.  They remind me of a toy which I think used to come in the cereal box ( showing my age here I know!), which was made by the Australian Jigsaw toy company.  I have a box of jigsaw "daisy" shapes bought when my kids were at playgroup,  a set of simple plastic shapes which slot together- exactly like the marvel discs! *
Suddenly I thought of all the teaching activities I could use the discs for, so I started collecting them for myself! And thanks to friends, family and workmates who have added to my collection, I have ended up with quite a few! I bought a storage tin for $1 at Woollies today, and with some cardboard dividers made from a cereal box, managed to fit them all in the tin.
Here is my collection so far- stay tuned for lots of ideas on how to use them  for a range of teaching activities.
( *seriously until tonight I had only looked at the colours and had not looked at the pictures on the discs, apparently some are rare and worth real money!)

Crafting memories #1

I found a folder of old drawings and stuff recently, dating back to my uni days.  Sketches, hand made paper, designs for a painted calico bear, stencilled wrapping paper and other things.  A trip down memory lane.  With help from my sister's cat who actually climbed inside the brown paper folder and sat in it!

Crochet op shop finds

Spotted these gorgeous knee rugs/ blankets at Vinnies in Glenroy this week; they look brand new, priced around $10 each. I LOVE the fluoro brights with the black border! Like a giant liquorice allsort!

Mitts in May

I needed a small, quick project after finishing the last blanket, so since the weather has been a bit cooler, I decided to knit some mitts.
I had a pattern in a knitting book (which I mainly liked for the colours used!) I found a similar colour flecked grey at Lincraft.
When I knitted up the pattern, it was waaayy too big, so I frogged the whole thing and started again. These fit much better! I had to use youtube to figure out how to do the picot bind off- which I love the look of! - but will have to try blocking it again to make it sit flat.

And yet another blanket!

I finished another blanket - my first for the year! It is probably about single bed sized, I basically kept knitting until I ran out of yarn!

Now I need to get cracking on the next one, but after the blast of winter last week, I really need some new arm warmers. And I keep looking at shawl patterns, and the ball of wool and pattern for the " little dragon shawl" I bought from the brilliant craft store in Lakes Entrance last year...not to mention all the Outlander knitting patterns I have been looking at...and I always wanted to make a proper Tom Baker Dr Who scarf....!!!!