And So it Goes .........

 Time marches on and we are almost at the end of  yet another month and well into our beautiful Autumn Days here.  The mornings are cooler but the days can still get quite hot and I've used the pool a few times to cool down after working in the garden!   Dad had a fall the morning we were leaving for our trip - he had a good skin tear which I put steri strips and bandaging on but unfortunately he got it infected while we were away so needed a course of antibiotics when we got back and I've been having to attend to wound care 2 -3 times a week since getting back.  With aging skin healing takes longer but after being there today for another dressing change it looks like its not too far away from getting better (depending on how much other "imput" it receives).  I was surprised the last visit on Saturday that it didn't have the scabbing I'd expected and wondered what was going on with it (luckily today I discovered it wasn't the way I've been tending to it - the scab was sitting on the bedside table with other bandaging.......... so perhaps it will take a bit longer to heal than expected ).  

Knitting has become my sanity time -   I finished knitting the shawl but made it smaller and I'm happy with how it turned out - useful for wearing around the neck with shirts.

Currently I'm working on a test knit for a cotton t-shirt style by Laura Aylor (Fogbound Knits) - If you click on the link it should take you to my project page on Ravelry.  Using cotton to knit with is hard on the hands and shoulders as it doesn't slip along the needles the same way that wool does.  

I sent the beanies for Stacey and John up last week and was surprised when they received them the very next day!!!! They took a photo with them both wearing them which was great to see as I was a bit worried about the fit for John, but it seems to have worked out just fine!  I'm so looking forward to seeing them when they come down in May for my "big" birthday!

Can you believe we pulled 12.5kg of carrots from our garden beds?  I've never had such a crop like it ever before!! 

They are sooooo sweet too.  I've sliced, grated and top/tailed them all and placed them into bags in the freezer to use over winter.  I've kept some in the fridge to use the next week or so - I've made some yummy carrot cake (recipe at the bottom) and plan to make some carrot and ginger soup as well.

  I still can't believe the sweetness - just sooooooo different to supermarket ones - but then nearly every supermarket vegetable and fruit tastes pretty much the same these days and goes to rot before you get time to use them! 

 The vegie garden has been well worth the initial effort we put in when first moving here as it will save us $$ (particularly with the price increases) and be better for our health.

We enjoy our trips to the markets and the occasional garage sale - it doubles as both an outing where we often see people we know and have a good catch up ........ and sometimes we find a bargain or two ............ like this old Treadle sewing machine base - Pete will tidy it up and put a piece of redgum on the top to work as a lovely table

I picked up this little tin for a couple of dollars as its just the perfect size for me to use to put some of my knitting stitch holders and a large sewing needle into it to pop into knitting project bags that I take with me when we go places (you never know if you might just want to do a bit of knitting while you are waiting or sitting having a cuppa with a friend who happens to have knitting or sewing to work on as well).

Pete tried this old hat on - I think it suits him and told him he should buy it but alas it didn't come home with us .........   And now I best get going with a few other things needing to be done.

Take care my friends.  May God answer your prayers as we head through the week ahead of us!

Hugs Sharm xo      Here is the Carrot Cake recipe I used - I divided it into a bar cake and a ring cake and froze the bar cake which I took out and used 2 days ago and it was just fine having been frozen.