Now you see them, now you don't

Yesterday was the last day of Summer down here in my little corner of the world. OK so I hear some voices out there saying "What Summer?" And they're right, this has been a really weird season but for me it was just 'luverly'. I find the heat torture and can be heard to make a thorough bore of myself with my whinging. This year has been so different and my agapanthus loved every minute of it. I've had to chop all the finished flowers off because in this area they are considered weeds and must not be permitted to spread. Even growing them is frowned upon but they're such a treat that I can't resist and take care to remove the dead flower heads before they can seed.
We took the rellies from Canada for a drive over the weekend and I was amazed to see how green the countryside is. Victoria's Summertime paddocks are usually the colour of sand, with dry grass as far as the eye can see but not so this year. I am really sad for those who suffered from the flooding that the rain caused, but so glad to see the thirsty paddocks thriving.
We are spending every moment we can with the rellies (Sister of the man of the house and her husband) as they won't be back in Oz for another three years or so and we will miss them when they leave.
Must go now. The man of the house has baked egg and bacon pie and I can't keep that waiting. Bye for now until next time.

A sigh of relief

Finished at last. I thought I'd never get through darning in those dreadful ends. Memo to self: Use a circular needle next time - far fewer ends. The sleeves look too short to me but I used the measurements found in a knitting magazine. It's a long time since I had a small person to use as a model. My beautiful grandsons are 14 and 16 now. I found a couple of marvellous knitting sites today. www.knittinghelp.com and www.knittingpatterncentral.com - free patterns, advice and videos. I'm sure I could get lost in there for a long time.
Gotta go now. I've sneaked a few minutes off from getting the woodworkers newsletter finished but it won't write itself so I'd better get back to it.
Bye for now until next time.

Unexpected visitor.

Don't ya just love it when you get this kind of e-mail from your youngest child, living far away at the other end of the country. "Look who we found in our dining room when we got up this morning." Yep, you guessed it, this python - youngest child fancifully named it Tiffanny Long.
Our girl and her husband have just moved into a bush property in Queensland and are loving every little bit of it. The python had aparently come into the house to warm up on the windowsill in the morning sun. Happily this is not a dangerous reptile (unless you're a mouse a small venomous snake or something else of that size.) They don't have fangs, their teeth being small and hooked so that they can hang on to their prey, so they're not usually eager to bite humans. This one was removed to the outdoors using a long stick under her front end and a hand to pick up the back end. She found another suitable spot to sun herself and our daughter has the comfort of knowing that Tiffany will be on the look out for the more unwelcome visitors that might happen along.
Our Canadian rellies are away for a couple of weeks doing the tourist thing and visiting friends in South Australia but we'll be seeing them again and this time I thought we'd take them to see the inner suburbs of Melbourne - vastly different from the outer suburbs.
Gotta go now as I have a newsletter to get out. Bye until next time.

More Buried treasure.

Well not really buried. Just tucked away in a cupboard with a lot of memories. Mum (for whom I named this blog) had hands that were never idle and churned out rugs like these at a rate of knots. Any scrap of yarn was fair game and wound up thoroughly crocheted into one of Mum's rugs. We lost Mum thirteen years ago and, unable to bear parting with her beautiful rugs, I collected them for safekeeping. This year I finally got brave, dragged them out and offered them to a few family members, keeping one for myself.
Mum's rugs are a little more special, I feel, because Mum was born with three fingers missing from her non-dominant hand. I never discovered anything that those seven busy fingers couldn't do. Here are some of Mum's rugs for you to look at.
Our Canadian rellies have arrived. We will be looking at our country with refreshed eyes as we take them about for the next few weeks.
Happy Australia Day to all. Bye now, until next time.

Surprise

Pulling my gardening gloves on to do a bit of weeding, it became obvious that something was already occupying one of the fingers. It felt a bit prickly, like perhaps a bit of dried grass, so I thought I'd investigate. You remember that thing you used to do when you were little? You know, look under the bed before you got into it at night, or just check in the wardrobe to make sure there were no aliens/boogey men/evil goblins (strike out whichever doesn't apply) then make sure the door was firmly shut. Well I usually do the equavilant of that with gardening gloves, just to ensure that they are not harbouring some kind of insect world fugitive. But I didn't do it this time, and you guessed it, something had claimed prior occupation. Poor little thing was no match for my great big fist, however, and came off second best.
It's only a little house spider. They never get any bigger than this (her legs are curled up beneath her) and are not at all aggressive, in fact they're very timid. Given to building their home in cracks around doors and windows, they usually duck out of sight when I approach, so I can't imagine what made this one choose to take up residence in my glove but it was definitely a poor life decision.
You can bet I'll give my gloves a jolly good check out before I put them on in future.
Bye for now, until next time.

Back again

This may not look like much to you but it is the result of the whole morning yesterday, spent at the band saw cutting out some prams for the end of the year. Next is a session at the sander to get rid of the rough edges then they must be assembled. The man of the house does that with me holding bits in place while he uses the nail gun. (which I can use but prefer not to) And finally there's the painting. There's actually another ten to cut out. That'll keep us busy for most of the year.
The band saw is my favourite tool in the workshop. I believe that if you can follow a line with a sewing machine then you can use a bandsaw. Mind you a sewing machine is a lot less nerve wracking - you need to concentrate with a bandsaw as mistakes on either wood or fingers can't be unpicked.
The woodworking club is having an auction of no-longer-required machinery, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Flood Appeal. It's great to see so many folk wanting to help.
We are having visitors from Canada next week. Much cleaning being done here though they already know that I am very untidy. I just hope I can remember where I've put things when I want them again. I had no idea I had so many knitting magazines. I'm being awfully good; the op-shop has had a couple of shipments so far and more to go.
Gotta go now I can hear the man of the house weilding a vaccuum cleaner. Better go and do my share. Bye for now until next time

Yippee

I have been looking for a copy of the Baby Surprise jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman for a very long time. Having been a Zimmerman fan for several years, I knew the pattern had been printed in Vogue International back in Spring 2007 but a rummage through my back copies proved unsuccessful. Looking it up on the net I found that it had been printed in a couple of Zimmerman books and so sought the help of the local library who obligingly obtained a copy for me - purchased it especially which involved a six weeks wait as it had to come from America. Unfortunately the BSJ did not feature in that publication and so back to square one. Another internet hunt informed me that the Knitting Workshop was the book that I needed. (Yeah - that's what they said the last time about the other book) The man of the house (may all his camels have twins) decided that the book would make a good birthday present and ordered it for me at the local book shop - another six weeks wait.
I have been hopping around on hot bricks (well not really but you know what I mean) waiting for the shipment to arrive and at last it has, and yes, it does have the BSJ in it along with a whole lot of other stuff that I just can't wait to find time to read. Elizabeth Zimmerman wrote her books in a very readable form, like a chat over a cup of coffee and I'm very glad that her daughter Meg Swansen has continued the work her mother started. We knitters are the better for it.
I'm itching to get started on a BSJ but I'm being very good and finishing off the sweater I'm working on at present in order to avoid another UFO. If you could see my workroom you'd see the logic of that.
I'm off now. There's knitting to be done. Bye for now until next time.