Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Whats in a Month ......

 

Between Rain and the huge amounts of water being released from the Hume Weir into the Murray River - towns are being flooded with the River overflowing into low lying areas.  This is the street over from us - aptly called River Road since that's pretty much what it is now - residents here are having to use their back lanes to access their homes!

This is one of the main roads in/out of town - this bridge has flooded over  - it heads to the old bridge that goes over to Whagunyah - as the river has filled the parkland, football grounds, and access to the shire offices, library and numerous other places ..... today when I went past you could see the current is pulling up chunks of road!



The houses along River Road

Meantime the rain has had a wonderful effect on my garden! Hard to believe there was nothing here a year ago when we moved in!  The front yard has been fine, but the back yard has required Pete having to purchase and install a submersible pump to pump out water from the back yard to stop it coming into the house ....... surface water from rain no longer has anywhere to run with things so wet

I'm in the process of knitting another one of Laura Aylors patterns - she currently has a KAL going and if I get it finished by end of month I'll be eligible for a free pattern from her store and have my eye on a blanket pattern

Secret Christmas Crochet going on .......

I was sooooo blessed to be able to pick a bunch of roses from my garden over the weekend to fill a vase! All of these are fragrant roses so they were just beautiful.   God has truly blessed me with filling our gardens with beautiful colour and allowing all my plantings to flourish so well.  Since I first had my children,  I  have always felt closer to God when I'm working in my garden.  I love how the garden is bringing so many types of birds in. 

Picking nice amounts of strawberries from our garden - unfortunately they tend to get eaten before they can be used for anything else lol

I've pulled out my "Down the Rabbit Hole " Quilt and started a big effort to get back working on it.  You might remember back that I started this BOM back in 2017 (before all the moving houses occured) - hopefully it will be finished by the end of Summer

Pete picked up a 2nd hand trailer for a very good price-  it needs some work doing on it so he now has a project to keep him busy.  We sold our other trailer up in Queensland before we moved down here and it will be very handy to have it for carting wood, rather than just the ute.

With all the rain ...... we have frogs again coming to visit the pool - they are only a small type .... apparently just the right size for breakfast for this blue Heron who regularly comes to visit and does the circuit of the pool early in the morning before flying off 

Mid October we had my Stepsister Kathy (Dads other daughter ) together with her hubby and children come over from New Zealand for a visit.  It was a lovely time and good for her to be able to see how well Dad is going and how wonderful his new place is.

Baking goes on most weekends and Pete is usually pretty quick to get to the tray not long after they exit the oven lol ....... These Anzacs were made on Remembrance Day

I'm in desperate need for a few more kitchen hand towels so made this one up and have another couple ready to go shortly.   I'm also needing to make some new aprons!  I'm down to just 3 and I use my aprons every day!!  Many many years ago, I decided to make up my own design as I was finding it hard to get what I wanted ...... a full apron that slips over your head and has a huge big pocket at the front!!!  I have a list of things I'm needing to get sewn or crocheted up over the next couple of months...... once I get the Christmas stuff out the way

This garden is relatively new and it's inside the pool fence.  The yellow rose is a climbing one which will - I hope - grow to give us a bit of a privacy screen from next door when we are in the pool.   

More Rain Coming ..........


We recently joined up the Corowa Fishing Club and this was the presentation night they had a few weeks ago ....... it was held in the Corowa Rowing Club rooms which are now well under water.  Last week the water could be seen half way up the outside of the building but that was prior to the water going over the road where the bridge is!  Luckily they got all the stuff out in time.



As I looked out one of the doors of the rowing club that night, the sun was just going down ...... the River was already up then, but not like it is now ......I couldn't resist snapping this photo!

Kathy, Dad and I

With my nieces and nephews Ollie and Pierre, Mindy and Neomi (Lucy had already flown back to NZ for work), Kathy, myself and Dad.

Finished knitting this vest with some of the yarn I had in my stash ...... I'm not sure I'm keen on the way the colours worked out (thought there would be more pooling rather than striping) and not sure yet if I might end of dying it????  Thoughts anyone??

Pete out working on pumping the water out from the backyard.  This is becoming a regular event at the moment!!

My little nook with my rocking chair ..... taking time out with a cuppa and Anzac and pulling out some of my Amish novels off my bookcase to read again.  This one is by Wanda Brunstetta.

I've also finally gotten around to sewing up a new curtain for the kitchen window,  This material matches in nicely with the kitchen cupboards which you can see in the photo below ..... along with the old curtain I had up.  Would you believe I made that curtain for our kitchen when we lived in Brisbane in Wynnum North back in the 90's!  I've used it in just about every house since then so its had lots of use and is not going to last too much longer lol
And that pretty much wraps up the month since I last posted!  I'm still having blogger problems and now need to use the Ipad to add photos and then write in the comments under the photo  but ..... whatever lol ........ Have a blessed week
Hugs Sharm xo




Sunday, October 9, 2022

Lots of Rain and a visit to Dartmouth Dam

 I’m not sure if this post will publish - blogger has dealt me a problem that has ended up with me no longer being able to comment on any blogs any longer unless I do it automously which is annoying! I’ve also had trouble posting so this will be short …..time spent on longer posts that would not publish seem a waste of time.  It has something to do with me having checked my old soap blog and now it automatically thinks I’m registered with a different email address 😡. 

Lots of rain here ……the Murray River is in flood and many of my walking tracks are under metres of water but we are safe here.  The big dams are close to full or starting to overflow …..like Dartmouth Dam up the mountains from Albury about 2-3hrs from here.  It hasn’t flowed over in 27yrs but is now quite the tourist attraction as it flows over its spillway ……we went to see it yesterday - such a grand sight to see.






Sunday, August 21, 2022

August Catch Up

Since getting back from Bendigo wool show in July and finally getting back to being able to knit again I've been busy ....... but before I show you much more, let me say that I'm having major issues with my google account/blogger.  I made the mistake of opening a very old email address from when I used to sell soaps ..... blogger/google has now decided that because it was once linked to a blog (which I used as my website)... its now making that my main account log in and no matter what I'm trying it won't revert back to my original one and therefore I'm guessing that's why I've been unable to leave ANY comments on ANY blog since then!!!!  To say it's driving me crazy would be an understatement and I'm not sure what to do without loosing my blog here.

Anyhow ...... this is the scarf I crocheted using some of the purchases : Shamdana Shawl which was based on the pattern but I made quite a few changes to it to get the shape I wanted and some of the texture in the rows. If you want to check it out further you can visit my Ravelry project page to get more info:

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/sharmayne/shamdana-shawl


I've finally finished this sweater that I've been working on off and on now for a year!! I'm soo happy with the results though and it's very warm with the bunny mink.
And finally managed to find enough sun to be able to get it outside blocking for a short time before I brought it back in near the fire to finish off.  
It's based on the pattern called Avenue by Laura Aylor although I decided not to do the sections of stocking stitch and instead making my own stripes using the two yarns


While at Bendi I borrowed a beanie having left all mine behind and for the first time ever I felt like I'd

discovered a beanie pattern that I felt suited me! So I was keen to purchase yarn at the show to make the same pattern up and I'm really pleased with the result.  It's super soft and warm with the edition of the fine mohair mixed with the other yarn.  Winding it into the ball it just looked so fluffy I felt I had to share with you...





Isn't it just sooooo pretty  and flluffy lol


In between all this knitting and crochet there has of course been other things happening ..... like trying to get the craft/study room a little under control!  The problem being that I have about 3 boxes of "stuff" dumped in there from the move together with a pile of paperwork needing sorting, filing or dumping!!  At any rate I made a start on the desk area and this meant having to make a start on this book shelf with the folders (which are there ........ but will eventually need their own sorting out) ......... but for now, at least I have one corner of the room somewhat sorted .......... hopefully I'll be able to make it to the sewing machine before long


  

This one of the other yarns from Bendigo ....... It was actually my very first purchase of the day ...... 

It sung to me  lol and I felt like it needed to be used on its own to show how pretty it is ........ perhaps a shawl of some kind that just uses the one skein of yarn .............
I think I may have found the pattern ........ at least I hope so ...........................  and yes, I've made a start .............. but you will have to wait to see how it turns out .................

In the meantime I was given some lemons and eggs ........... of course in my mind that equals homemade lemon butter (or lemon curd as it's also known) ......... so yummy!!  and it looks just as good while cooking in the pot!




I did have more to share with you but since I'm having such a frustrating time with blogger and photos sitting in the right places for this post, I think I'll finish here and get back to you with other news .......
Hugs Sharm






Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Bendigo Wool Show Fun

Coffee Stop on the Roadtrip over
All went well and Finally I made it back to Bendigo for the Wool Show!  The last time I was able to go
was back in 2016 so I was super excited and had fingers and toes crossed everything would go ahead ..... It's a girls weekend with a group from Ravelry and a couple of houses next door to each other are booked out from the Thursday to the Monday (although I had to head back Sunday afternoon to go to work on Monday). 

 I picked Jill up from her place (about an hour from here and on my way) and we really enjoyed our road trip and weekend together! It's about 2 hrs or so from Benalla where I picked Jill up from.  Lots of fun was had and a very full day on Friday from 9- nearly 4 spent at the show, lunches and dinners, knitting and chatting, a walk around the town and visits to the Woollen Mills and the smaller Artistry Fair across from the showgrounds ........ so much fun!! Not to mention all the show and tells from everyone's purchases lol

My haul included much needed moccasins, scrubbing brush tops, drizabone boot covers for Pete, Sock ruler, notions and yarn for several new projects and to put with some of the yarn already in my stash.  It's so nice to be able to see and feel the yarn in person.  Lots of ideas for projects swimming through my head lol

The girls came from all over: Canberra, Melbourne, even Adelaide - Not as many made it this year due to the fear of Covid creating issues but we here braved it & won!


It is the Sheep & Wool Show - not just yarn lol - these were the pups still learning and so cute to watch

Judging and posing for the newspapers

Jill & I chose to wear masks as did most people with so many stalls so close together

Jill, Jacquie & I taking a break - that big shed behind was filled with yarn stalls as was a number of other sheds ..... yarn and fiber heaven lol

Brunch time - just a few doors down from the house
 


A walk to the tea shop in Town - couldn't resist a photo of this one!



Our breakfast on Sunday before it was time to head back home ....... and thankfully we managed to get home before the big storm hit!




I worked on a few projects while we were there, but of course started work on a new one since it was obvious I was going to need a new beanie (I borrowed one from Nettie for the weekend as she had brought 2 with her - me, I couldn't find mine to bring) ..... and the pom pom was found at the show - perfect to add to this beanie which I finished knitting up a couple of days after getting home

And just in time as we seem to be getting lots of harsh frosts hitting us here ..... just look at the ice on the car after I had hosed off most of it 



The poor birds were going to have to wait a bit before getting a drink!  We've had quite a few of these mornings - Winter is definitely here!