Among my treasures.

I read a quote a while back from A.A. Milne, that said (paraphrasing because I've forgotten the exact wording), "One of the nicest things about being disorganised is that one is always making exciting discoveries." How true Mr. Milne. My life is one continuous adventure. Yesterday I went looking for the one-hole-punch and turned up all sorts of things I'd forgotten I had and, yes I did eventually find the punch. But here's something I thought you might like to see. It's a crocheted baby outfit that my Mum made for me when I was a baby. I was born on Christmas Eve one very hot summer 72 years ago and this little set is made from a silky sort of thread that isn't available any more. Mum gave the set to me when our first baby was born but being a July baby, the outfit was too cool for her to wear. To be honest I wasn't game to dress her in it as by that time it was 25 years old and I thought it might be a bit too fragile. It's been tucked away in a plastic bag in a drawer all these years and, of course, has yellowed a little with age (haven't we all?). The bootees are knitted on fine needles, about 2 or 2.5 mm. The waist had a ribbon tie, now missing, I suspect because Mum said she found me one day with most of it down my throat. Using that as a lesson I never put ribbon ties on any of my babies' garments.
I suppose the set is just about a museum piece now and should be packed in something a little more respectful than a battered old plastic bag.
Do you know. I'll bet Mum didn't even have a pattern for this outfit - she could do things like that - just look at a garment, count the chains, double crochets, trebles etc. and away she'd go.
Must be off now. I hope you're having a nice day wherever you are. Bye for now until next time.

Thank you Mishka

My sister arrived for a visit in February and after "Hello" the first thing she said as she handed me a shopping bag, was, "Here is some of Mishka's fur for you to spin." Mishka is my sister's little pomeranian dog. A tiny little thing. It has taken my sister 8 months to collect enough of his coat to make these three balls of yarn for knitting. There are now 5 balls, counting the two I spun at Christmas a year ago. With dilligent brushing there should be another bag waiting for me when I visit my sister later in the year. This drawn out process occurs because Mishka lives in Queensland with my sister and we don't get to see each other very often. There's enough there for a hat at present but who needs a woolly hat in Queensland? We're aiming at a vest so we have a little way to go yet.
The lovely soft stuff that I spin is from Mishka's second coat, the fuzzy stuff you can't see until you part the longer hair. All spitze variety of dogs have this second coat and it is an absolute dream to spin. It feels like a cross between angora and mohair. I use a lightweight drop-spindle to spin the yarn as I find I get less overspin this way. And I used 6.5 ml needles to knit the sample. I'm looking forward to seeing what my sister will make from it.
It's newsletter time again so I'd better be off. I hope you are having a good day in your corner of the world. Bye for now until next time.

From little things

These are really boring, aren't they? Bits of dowelling that look like firewood. In fact they're the handles of the little prams that the man of the house and I have been making at the woodworkers club to which we both belong. Looking at them I get all philosophical: plain, little and ordinary they may be but our prams would be incomplete without them. The wheels require more work. The man of the house tucks himself away in his shed whith his band-saw, cutting out lots of flat discs which he then has to shape, on the lathe, into the wheels. Not for me the lathe work. I'm not very good at it. A few more weeks down the track and we'll have some prams ready to paint. Here's one that we made earlier. The quilt is one of my few attempts at patchwork. I leave this to the lovely ladies of the patchwork group in a neighbouring suburb, who made a hundred of them last year, all different patterns.
This year, due to a shortage of wood, we are only making thirteen little prams. The generous man who used to supply us with the offcuts from his business (and more than offcuts quite often) has retired and so our supply has dropped off a bit. We wish him a happy retirement anyway. So we woodies are in scrounge-mode and every so often someone will arrive with a car load of useful timber that has been donated to us. People love to help.
Autumn is having a last shot at hot weather down here and today is steamy and sticky.
Must go now. Hope you are having a good day. Bye until next time.

Starting again

There's no doubt about it, I really enjoy knitting these little patches into a blanket. So here I go again. At the request of the welfare group I'm knitting for, it is acrylic - easier to wash for mothers in situations where facilities don't lend themselves to handwashing wool. As usual I'm picking up the stitches of the previous patches, which I find easier than sewing up. The other WIP will be leg-warmers for our oldest daughter who likes to wear purple. These are being made from a cone of one-ply wool that I bought at the op-shop (love the op-shop) I'm using seven strand together to achieve the tension required in the pattern and and a collection of needles to form a tube. It's taking ages; I'm slow at 1 x 1 rib.
The rellies from Canada are due to leave on Monday, heading for Queensland where it will be a little warmer than we've had it down here. Life will feel a little slower without them. We have really covered some ground with them over the past few weeks.
Lovely gentle autumn weather here today. Hope it's a good day wherever you are. Bye for now until next time.

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.