Rainbow Happiness

We've been having a combination of rainy days and very cold ones - this frost was still here in the front garden at 9am when I decided it was waiting to be photographed .... and combined with the shorter daylight hours I've been needing something to brighten things up a tad!  Working on DH's jumper in navy blue is slow going .........

 So poking around in my little cabin I pulled out this crochet book and found a great little crochet project that I've been able to make up for the Christmas in July swap which seems to be suddenly getting closer!!! I guess I can show you since nobody knows who they will be receiving from...... and I may end up making a couple extra to have for stocking fillers .... What do you think?
DD recently found a picture of  some rainbow ripple afghans and asked if I could maybe make one up for her since she's currently spending her first winter in Melbourne in her own place and doesn't have a good supply of that type of thing.  So after a bit of stash diving, I've managed to come up with these 17 colours of rainbow goodness ........

I love the way they just fit into my basket so well, and I love the brightness of it sitting in the lounge room ......it adds a " Happiness" factor I think :)  I'll be using a size 4.5mm hook with this lot of 8ply yarn.  Once I've done a bit, I'll be able to show you how it works up with that size hook.

I also have another blanket I started work on around Springtime...... It was put away over the Summer, and I've just pulled it out again and started a bit of work on it.  This blanket will end up going onto our bed once it gets finished.  I had thought I'd have it finished ready to use on our bed by July this year, but that was before I got bitten by the knitting bug making up sweaters, scarves and other items....including that sleeveless dress which I've actually worn quite a lot!
Anyhow, winter is such a great time to work on an afghan or blanket - is anyone else working on one as well I wonder?  if you are looking for the pattern for the ripple, or numerous other blankets, check out the Attic 24 blog where Lucy shares her free patterns.   

Today while sitting pondering with cup in hand and pen and paper trying to make sense of how we might even begin to manage retirement in a few years time (well, DH will retire in a few years, I'm afraid I will prob still be working part time for a few more years lol) ........... it's tricky when you still have a significant mortgage and the loan statement tells you there are still almost 11yrs left based on current interest rates and weekly loan repayments!  So after sitting a bit contemplating and praying about the situation.......  along came this lonesome little bee on this cold morning.  We have few flowering plants at present with all the frost, but these Winter Glady's which are more like a weed and I was trying to get rid of,  actually were providing the nectar this little bee was searching for ....... and bingo  -  I found myself checking out interest rates and checking our loan details ...... we may just have found a little nectar of our own!   So I urge you to check on your loan statements, check the various interest rates (and charges) that other banks are offering and see if your bank will match them if they think you will leave to take up a better offer (no exit fees then).     So it seems I've had a nice dose of Rainbow Happiness today!  I pray you get some happiness in your day also
Hugs Sharm

A light in the Fog!

The mornings here are dark now, even at 7am it's only just starting to lighten up, so when I had to go out to grab something from my little cabin (my craft cabin for any who don't know), and that meant turning on the light to see what I was doing...... when I came up to the kitchen and turned around, the little cabin looked so cute with it' lights on, that I couldn't resist taking a "winter morning photo" of it!   As you can see, things are getting a little "full" in there ..... kind of "overflowing" a little with skeins and balls of yarn! 

I am happy to report that I am using some of them though lol  Remember those balls of yarn I showed you last post that I was using to make "Therapy" ?  Well, here it is all finished!! (you can join in a KAL here if you want to see more about it) 
And I'm wearing it here with the Ingonish Jumper/Sweater I finished in May. It was a great pattern and I'll make more of  these in the future.

 On Saturday we had a gathering of knitters meet up at the café here in Bundalong which coincided with the Worldwide Knit in Public Day!  We ended up with some  members from the local Ravelry group, and also some locals from Bundalong and Yarrawonga - 19 ladies all up and what a great time we all had!  The café was a wonderful venue as we took over half of it and there was heaps of room for us as well as other patrons!!

I arrived home from work on Monday to find a parcel full of wonderful goodies waiting for me!  I had
taken part in a swap a couple months back now it must be, - I sent one over to the UK,  and as happens from time to time the one meant for me didn't show up.  Nobody knows if it was actually sent or not as the lady I was swapping with left the group and deleted her account soon after receiving her parcel so I don't know exactly what happened ..... except that a wonderful "angel" stepped in and sent me a parcel far beyond what was required of the swap! 

I feel so blessed by it all!  Part of the swap was to include something you had knitted, so here is this
lovely scarf Bonnie knit - in one of my favourite colours I might add!   The Angora Yarn and the Madeline Tosh are in Neutrals since I had put down initially for neutrals and wow, are they gorgeous!!  And don't you just love the project bag!  Bonnie and I are both nurses, so it has that wicked sense of humour that we can do with some days!!

Well now, I didn't think much had happened in the past week and a bit since I last posted, but it seems it may have been fuller than I had thought!  Work is just so crazy busy at present, and this time

of year I tend to leave in the half dark, or foggy morning and arrive home with little if any daylight left to quickly tend to the poor chooks and see to other chores!   I'm thankful I have tomorrow off, and don't head back to work till Tuesday - hopefully that will give me time to catch up with a bit of sorting that needs doing around here!   Well I'm off to see to a few quick chores before I leave for work...... looks like another foggy morning with lots of drizzling rain around!
Hope you all have a wonderful day, whatever you are doing
Hugs Sharm

 

Hello Winter

 We went from some lovely Autumn weather in May to a freezing cold day on the 1st June -

officially the start of Winter  downunder! Now as we move into Winter, that also brings with it the season for catching freshwater Crayfish!!  What a wonderful change to the normal dinner around here!  Plus it's also a bit of fun getting the big cooking pot and stand kept specifically for this purpose out from the shed where it's been sitting since last year ..... getting the fire going under it to boil them up ready for dinner tonight!

And what a weekend of "gourmet" eating we had.........  about a week ago  
we were blessed with a large bag of frozen cherries from a local farm - ones they are unable to send to market due to having split skins and had planned to cook up, but since they have sooo many bags, they gave me one!  I've only used about 1/2 the bag, but made up 4 jars of yummy Cherry Jam and also made a Cherry Pie!! 




 I think in 32yrs, we have only ever had enough cherries to make 1 cherry pie before, since they are usually eaten fresh and finished off quite quickly!!  We were all so keen to have some that I nearly missed getting a photo lol   Hubbie has ordered another pie from the remaining frozen cherries lol

Naturally, I'm getting in some knitting ...... I've slowed down on Pete's jumper to work on something else that I just couldn't resist...... knitting as one of a few testers for a new scarf Laura Aylor has designed.  Unless she changes the name of it, it is currently called Therapy......... and it is a lovely relaxing knit, with just enough variation to keep you  from getting bored.  What I will say though is that I am having not so nice a time with some of the Wollmeise yarn I'm using ..... the multi coloured one seems to have an issue with it and the smaller "tastie" skein has knots through it!! Hmmmm!   Perhaps today I'll get a good bit more of it finished off.................  Hope you all had a great weekend too!

In Progress - Therapy by Laura Aylor, soon to be published



 
  

Homefront Happenings

on the blocking mats

As this post was meant to publish at the end of May,  I'll do a quick catch up instead.....
During May, I  finally was able to complete my Ingonish Sweater!  It's quite a warm one being made up in 10ply (worsted weight).   
Progress is being made on some other knitted items, and I have dishcloths to make up as well as beginning to work on some items for the Christmas in July Swap I'm taking part in.  It will likely be my last swap for the year so I can use the last 6 months to work on Christmas gifts
While things have changed around the garden/yard here with DH pulling out the large vegie garden and other flower gardens that we were battling with grass that came up from underground runners, putting up the new front fence and doing other shed repairs ........ dead leaves have been raked up and added to the compost, which got another turn over and emptied into a raised garden bed I had down one corner of the yard.  It's been sitting empty - mostly because it had been filled up with the dirt and clay from when we dug out the pond about 4yrs ago.  So I emptied out half the clay mix and added the compost to it ....... it now has some pea seeds and cauliflower seedlings in it.  If it works ok being here, then I'll be able to use it  for some Summer Vegies. 

My herb garden was cleaned up, and I added some silverbeet in here ....... and the added compost has grown a tomato plant (not so sure it will make it through the winter with the frost, but I'm happy to let it grow for now and see what comes of it!

I've been trying to get on top of things here - cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and pantry, and the next major job is to attack the piles of paperwork!  Over the years I've tried a number of ways in which to keep the incoming paperwork under control - unfortunately when "life" gets in the way of routine, it seems that  paperwork has a way of reproducing in copious amounts and taking over every place it can get to!!  Hopefully I'll be able to tame it over the winter months!