Christmas in July 2016

The Christmas in July swap  run by the wonderful Chez,  finally got opened later this week - we had to wait till the 25th to open, but since I was in Melbourne on yet another respiratory course, it had to sit patiently till I returned home.  I received these lovely items from Deb who has done some lovely stitching work.  I haven't done very much embroidery at all this year, so this was  such a nice treat.  The way it came in the box was just wonderful and it gave me a lesson in how to work Australia Post a little better!!   A cute little decoration for the tree, and a framed embroidery as well as a little sack!    I think the little sack will make a perfect project bag for keeping  small Xmas projects in to take with me to work on in the car or visiting. I love all the redwork stitching, such lovely work!
 Thankyou Deb, I love them all!

I sent a parcel off to Vicki from NT.  I decided to do some crochet work and made a Christmas  snowflake table doily , a candy cane coloured basket ( ideal for holding yummy Christmas chocolates ), and I used up the last of my precious bees wax to make some scented candle melts that I hope she enjoys, along with a few treats that I didn't bother to photograph.






At least going down to Melbourne for a 1 day course involved having to head down the day before, which meant time for mother and daughter to catch up again briefly.  Stace took me down to one of the beaches where we took a couple of photos before jumping back in the car ....... The wind was freezing, so it was a quick look and then back in the car!

Friday Night

Last night was Friday Night Sew In hosted by Wendy - a wonderful way to knit, sew, crochet by virtual means.  Since it's still winter here and I'm on a roll - late home from work and not at all prepared for a sewing evening - I grabbed one of the new balls of yarn purchased at Bendigo in last weekends haul.  I think it will be perfect for a beanie for my eldest sons partner.  She has been eyeing off all the handknits I've been making, so it's high time I make one for her!   With only a couple of hours I sat down, watched a movie that just happened to come on when I sat down - and proceeded to cast on.  I almost got the brim finished.  I waited till this morning, which just happened to be sunny, to take a photo of it, and with the sun out and the lavender suddenly in bloom I couldn't resist having it as the background!

 

While I was knitting,  Scruffy decided he needed some special attention from Pete!  I think he must know that I have to head off tomorrow morning to head back down to Melbourne for another work related day at the Alfred Hospital.  I'm getting a lift down with daughter who is up for the weekend with her partner visiting his family who have had a recent addition to the family.  It will be nice to get a ride down with them and spend the night at their place.  I'll be catching the 6pm train back up after the course finishes  at 5pm.  3 hrs on the train back to Wangaratta and then around 40 mins or so drive home - a long day!

I managed to get the other beanie finished and posted off to the 3rd niece having a birthday over in New Zealand.  She likes rainbows - sure hope she likes this one as its rather bright!

I know it's officially still Winter here, but I just feel like we are having a snippet of early spring in the air??  Even seeing some of the early bulbs in full flower - yes, lots of weeds as well hmmmmmm - that all needs to go on the "to do" list!!   I think by next weekend most of the "crazy busy" might have come to a slow down and I can get all my sewing projects back out (like the signature tablecloth) ......... till next time,
Enjoy the rest of your weekend
Hugs Sharm xo

Bendigo 2016

Marilyn Munroe statue from US

Just back from the Bendigo Weekend Trip which is becoming an annual event for me, given this is the 3rd year in a row I've been able to attend for the big Wool Show. We just missed the Marilyn Munroe exhibit, but the statue was still up.   I meet up with a group of girls from one of the Ravelry Groups and we take over a few houses, meet up for dinner both Friday and Saturday night, and call in on each other over the weekend while we attend the showgrounds, the craft muster and of course ........ a couple of visits to the Woollen Mills ....... not to mention cake, coffee etc etc.  Lots of things to see and do ......

Jane and I at the yarn bombing

  This year was a real hoot!  I shared a house with 8 other women and we had such a fantastic group with such a great vibe in the house the entire time...... thanks girls!  Another part of our group had the house right next door, so were able to do lots of visiting back and forth ....... with our knitting of course!  I couldn't wait to get there on Thursday afternoon to begin the fun .....

Sooooooooo......... guess you are wondering just what I bought while I was there????  I save up during the year so I can get some nice goodies while I'm there - this year was no exception  hahaha.......................


Part of The Ixchel Stand

We were one of the first in the queue on the first day of the show - Friday  and our very first stop is a run down to where the Ixchel Fibre stand is.  This lady has her own Angora Bunny Rabbits that she gives hair cuts and spins their fibre into wonderful skeins with other fibres ....... Here is her stall ......   I purchased some Bunny Mink from her ..... isn't it lovely!

There are just heaps and heaps of stalls full of all sorts of fibre and fun ......... This is what I purchased from the Show and Muster ..... if you look carefully you will see I got some Yak, some Camel, some Cashmere ....... and yes, some fibre to finally begin that spinning thing again.  I even got a spindle that came with some fibre and a bag for easy learning, and found a book about it all at another stall.

 
And don't you just love the tea cozy that resembles Shaun the Sheep????  He just had to come home with me!  I had to take a photo of him with his friends ....... there are some talented people out there!

I ended up making a couple of trips to the Mills and came away with this assortment................

I should be kept busy for months on end after all of this! 
  


One end of the group at dinner on Sat night

And yes, I did manage to get some knitting done (we all descend on dinner venues with knitting in hand as you might see in the dinner photos lol)

Look carefully - Im down this end on the right lol
 

I worked on getting a hat made to send to NZ for one of the nieces birthdays, and also managed to finish one mitt (which includes my first attempt at cables)

 

And now I'll leave with you a couple of photos of the yarn bombing ........ I had a fabulous time and I'm going to enjoy making lots of lovely things with all of this - sooooo much squishy goodness from such a wonderful variety of animals!

All the crocheted umbrellas!

 

 

 

MIA and OPAM

 

MIA - Missing in Action, so it would seem since the last blog post was in early June and here it is the beginning of July!  I've found myself busy on several fronts:
Firstly I'm doing some extra stuff at work - so that involved having to undertake some updated study in Melbourne over a couple of days, and also took care of a number of days prior to going down since I had to undertake a written test and also a case study of a couple thousand words.  I decided to take the train down since its a 3hr trip and sitting in the train means I can at least get some knitting done!

While in Melbourne I was able to catch up with our daughter Stacey and enjoy some Mother/Daughter time shopping in the city which was nice - and since the end of financial year sales were on, I also managed to get a couple of things I've been needing for a while (new jeans, work trousers for a quarter of the price!)


I also was able to meet with a couple of the girls from our online 50 and over 12WBT group.  They travelled into the city on the Sunday meeting me at the train station as I arrived in!  We've been part of this group

since 2013 when we first all joined.  We now have it as a private group (still with over 60 of us in there), supporting each other through the trials of trying to stay fit and healthy - which seems to be an ongoing challenge these days!

Stace n John in their knitted beanies

I think I mentioned I am currently doing the program again.  Why is it, that whenever you begin something to help yourself, that is going to need extra focus, that "something" always jumps up to try and sabotage your attempts!!   I think there have been a couple of these that have taken the wind out of my sails kinda like a "sucker punch" leaves you winded, and so the last couple of weeks have not been going so well with keeping up with the program!  Here it is now, wk 4, of the 12 weeks and I'm hoping to get back into focus this week and regroup so to speak!  At the very 
least, my weight has remained stable. 
 
Many of you have asked how my Dad is doing - well its like riding a roller coaster, while everything is great one day, you find out the next that everything is terrible!  Things he has told some he is happy with, he has told others he is less than unhappy with - its leaving my sister and I rather exhausted emotionally and mentally, and I'm spending a good deal of my time trying to "fix" things.   I'm still working 7 days/ fortnight, so days off are full before they have even begun because of all the extra running around.  I would Sooooooo like to get back to where I was about 11yrs ago when I somehow had time to tend gardens, write my letters, do the craft work, work part time ......... BUT there was nothing like the stress we now have???   I want to s l o w  down the merry go round before I fall off! So for those of you who are waiting on letters from me, all I can do is apologise and tell you they are on the list.

Pete has been busy working on getting the stump from the very large tree burnt out so we can drive in the back gates  ....... he decided since we had such a nice fire going we might as well use it to cook the roast lamb in the camp oven!  Why Not!!!

Knitting is my sanity saver at present.  I don't seem to be able to concentrate well on any sewing and I just get frustrated with it these last couple of months - sewing is now on hold, although this does often happen during the colder weather.  I'm currently working on several projects - but this is Bear River that I'm trying on for size before continuing on.  I love how its knitted in one piece!  It's a Laura Aylor pattern if you are wanting to check it out.

Speaking of crafty goodness - I need to share my OPAM - all the finishes for the month of June
Which included a beanie for one of my nephews, and a plastic bag holder sewn up for daughter when she was up a few weekends ago ( the long weekend at the start of June). Rather than bore you with photos of stuff already seen, I will show you the shawl/scarf I just completed over the weekend - its the one I was working on in the train .......

Milky Way - Laura Aylor Pattern

Nothing much at all happening in the garden except rain and cold weather and lots of weeds, although being winter we have all the kookaburras coming in for a morning and evening feed each day.......... and the burning out of stumps lol





Recap of May

May has proven to be just a tad busy, initially quite stressful, upsetting, enjoying and full of surprises.......

First to my OPAM - finished pieces for May included my Sirocco top (Laura Aylor pattern)

 and a footy hat for daughter which thankfully she loved when it arrived in her mail box! It is my 4th Woolly Wormhead hat for 2016 - the goal is knit a dozen different ones in the year.

 
Oh and also a scarf for mum which was knitted in bunny yarn!
We've had a few ups and downs with Dad, but thankfully that has just proven to bring my sister and I closer (hard when you've never lived together as children and have had different mothers and lives).  Really enjoying having her support, albeit from over the sea in New Zealand lol   I'm currently working on some beanies/hats of various types for the nieces and nephews which range in age from 4 - almost 13!

May is also my birthday, which was rather a quiet affair this year.  We had had so much drama that weekend that I couldn't be bothered making myself a cake when it was just Pete and I that would be here for it.  I did get some lovely little bits arrive in the mail from the children and their partners (and grandies) which was rather special, nice surprises and lots of fun!

And after getting some not so wonderful blood results indicating that chronic stress was encroaching on my health in a big way, I decided it was time to step up and do something about it!  I've previously done the 12WBT program and had good success back in the later part of 2013, just before we had some horrendous family stress during 2014 and 2015 with various family members!  So yes, I have decided to get my mindset sorted out so I can work on building up my immune system back into a healthy place through exercise, good nutrition, and positive mindset!  It's also coincided with Pete and I finally having our home with just the two of us (which was meant to happen when we bought this smaller place 6 yrs ago lol).  So you will no doubt be seeing some of my 12wbt journey here as well.  I'm currently debating if I do it here, or put it on a separate blog????  I've been undertaking all the preseason tasks for the past 2 wks and I've already lost half a kg of weight, and not feeling so exhausted on a 24/7 basis - a positive change already!

 

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the mums and grandmothers out there including all the step mums and step grandmothers who also play such an important role in so many lives!  I hope you all can find a bit of time today to do something just for yourself! 



Let's hope you did - I had hoped to write this post this morning, but it seems my laptop is on borrowed time - it seems to just pack up on the spur of the moment now, and doesn't like doing some of the things I request from it.

Dear daughter sent me instructions to go purchase these lovely pots of chrysanthemums



In past years she usually gives me them herself on Mothers Day, but now she no longer lives close it's a bit more tricky.  I sent her photos of some of the ones from past years - I love having some of them in pots around my "Beehive/Cabin" to look at while I work on my sewing or craftwork
















FNWF is always a good reason to give those projects the extra push.  So I've linked in with them again and managed to finish off the shawl made from the bunny yarn ....... it's been one of those projects that got put aside and I actually forgot about it for a while.  It will be heading up to my mum in Qld as a Mothers Day gift.













Walking down the street the other day while out running some errands this little treasure caught my eye ...... This lovely jug and bowl set was sitting in the window of a second hand shop and for just $8 I was able to bring it home with me and fill it with some roses from our garden.  With lovely autumn weather close coming to an end, these could be our last show of roses for the season.

It's been raining here all day today, with the temps slowly getting lower ....and finally just now we have lit the fire as it's meant to be raining for a few more days yet which will lower the temps.  I can't remember us ever being so late in the season before lighting the fire.  It does tend to make it feel so much cosier in here now.  Scruffy thinks so too!

April Roundup

Here's a quick round up of April, which has turned out to be the warmest April we have had in a number of years!  To date we have yet to get the fire going for winter this year.....   
As for OPAM this month, it was all about getting a very big knitting project finished - Stonehaven, and also getting a hat knitted up for me!   April yarn deliveries have included my very first order from Germany with the 4 lovely multi skeins of Wollmeise you can see!  It's a fingering (4ply) yarn that is lovely to work with and wonderful to wear!  So apart from wool, it's been a busy month with getting my Dad moved from interstate, wood collecting, working on the kitchen garden in its new area, extra garden work in amongst the normalities of homelife and work at the hospital!  Hope you all had a great April!  PS: cooler weather must be coming since the kookaburras are back again for winter feeding!!