kaite yarngarden

Garden Colour and more tiny Beanies (hats)

2012-01-30T07:20:00.008+11:00

Welcome to mixture of colour from the top down - head to feet.

Amidst the jungle in one nearly untouched part of my garden i discovered an Echinacea in full bloom for the first time, it's like a purple sunflower. i bought the seedling in Spring from those same markets i showed yesterday, planted it then forgot about it. i'm hoping it will shed seeds and i'll have many more next year. such a delight!

And now, more premmie baby beanies, and this time in Aboriginal colours.
Red, yellow, black - difficult to put together well and i had to hunt around for a good yellow. The one on the right above is too pale in combination with the red and black but alone it is a mid yellow. Tricks of the eye! and the one on the left is a bit strong but i have fiddled with the colours on the screen so you'll have to trust me that both are a bit better in reality. The smaller one started with 72 sts and the larger with 80, but they are acrylic/nylon so a bit looser than the previous ones with wool.

From the top, champions i think. You can just see a tiny black baby lying there in its neonatal IC crib wearing one of these - a hero!

And someone recently asked me how i knit these tiny beanies - the answer is in the round (don't like stitching up seams) and with 2 circular needles. i put about half the stitches on each needle and knit only with one needle at a time, both ends of one needle. just be careful to pull the yarn tightly when taking it from the first needle to the second that's all.

The local hospital here in Bathurst has a need for quite a few of these premmie beanies and basically there's only me making them at the moment. If you have a mind to help a little i would love a few more, any colour. Or alternatively some baby yarn would be most appreciated too. Email me and i'll send you more details incl my address. I would donate them in your name. cheers

Local vegie garden colour, i love the mixture of colours you can get with the slightly more unusual vegie plantings.

And lastly my new Birkenstock sandals, they are oiled leather uppers. they'll last for years and years. If you're in Aus and you want to see a good range of birkis at reasonable prices email me, the B store is having a sale.

Have a good week everyone, it's starting out like Winter here today, windy and raining. byee...

Bathurst Farmers Markets in January

2012-01-29T12:29:00.005+11:00

Yesterday, the 4th Sat of the month, the first Farmers market of the year for Bathurst, i thought you'd like to tag along, not a lot of chat needed

Beautiful fuschias, but too expensive for me.

Chinese foods, we're lucky like that. a Chinese family from Cowra, they are recent arrivals, i think refugees.

mostly native plants, i've bought hundreds from Judy.

Seedsavers network
and what i bought from him. Has anyone had any experience of edible chrysanthemum? he had some but couldn't tell me much about it. i didn't get any, this time but maybe next time i will?

a rainy Aus Day

2012-01-26T17:45:00.007+11:00

But first, i can at last reveal the whole of the basket which is on the header.I made it for Anne Marie for our annual parcel of goodies swap, which i referred to a few days ago. AMD has finally received it, i think the mail to Can has been a touch slow this year. Anyway, it's another knitted fabric strip basket, and i chose fabric which has colours that i know she likes and it was loose weave so the colours showed thru on both sides, that's important if you plan on trying it yourself.
And now on to the rainy Australia day, also known as Survival Day and Sovereignty Day. I won't say any more on that for now except that it is also the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra.

What do you do on a rainy public holiday - well knit another premmie beanie of course, and this time it's a swirl beanie, cute eh! and just so there's no confusion here, these tiny beanies are for babies born prematurely who have to spend some time in the baby version of Intensive Care.

Do you want the pattern? email me and i'll send it. Easier than typing it out.

It fits beautifully on my hand. I'll try to find some appropriate coloured yarn and make an Indigenous premmie beanie too.

What else do you do on a coolish wet day - bake muffins! the base mixture is half and half almond meal and gluten free flour (a cup of each), plus an egg, tab'spn of olive oil, buttermilk, sugar, grated apple, currants and ginger. Enjoy.

pop and premmies

2012-01-24T20:15:00.005+11:00

Baby beanies on a grapefruit? how weird is that!well it turns out that grapefruit are about the size of a premmie baby's head, and lemons the size of a very small premmie head, so it makes sense to knit to fit a citrus fruit, OK?

My Midwife friend has asked me to knit up some little beanies for premmie bubs as their heads get very cold in the baby intensive care unit, so these are my prototypes. Cute eh!

Do you want the basic pattern? pretty please? Ok, as you can see it's 3 or 4 ply (fine) baby wool or other baby yarn, 3.25mm circular or double ended needles.

Cast on 88 (small) or 96 (medium) stitches using the long tail method as it is nice and stretchy.

Join the circle taking care not to twist the first cast on row. I do circular knitting with 2 x 40 or 60cm circular needles, my preference is for Addi Premium needles, but feel free to use DPNs if you prefer.

Knit a K2 P2 rib for 14 (18) rounds.

Knit around in stockinette stitch, all knit when done in the round, for 18 (20) rounds.

Shape the crown: for the 96 stitch medium sized beanie -

1st row:Knit 10*, K2 Together and repeat to the end;

2nd row: Knit;

3rd row: Knit 9, K2Tog and repeat to end;

4th row: Knit;

Repeat the above rows, decreasing 1 stitch at the asterix in every 2nd row, as in K9 K2Tog, K8 K2Tog, etc, until you get to 8 stitches remaining, thread the yarn thru the remaining stitches and draw up tightly.

For the 88 stitch small beanie -

1st row: Knit 9*, K2 Tog, repeat to end;

2nd row: Knit;

3rd row: Knit 8, K2 Tog, repeat to end:

4th row: Knit.

continue as above until 8, or 4 stitches, remain. Thread yarn thru remaining stitches and draw up tightly.

That's the basic pattern, use your wild imaginations to add stripes in colour or stitch or whatever other motif or design you would like.

And now for the Pop knitting......

I received an offer from Interweave Press as i'm sure many of you also did, to purchase a new book which is still being printed called Pop Knitting. I followed through and found a page called Preview and there were 2 tiny patterns which i could write down and try. So as soon as i had finished the premmie beanies i had to try them.

The different colour yarns went everywhere, at one time even wrapped around my glasses! but i managed to struggle thru and here are the results. Hmmm, interesting i thought, and with the Aussie $ so high currently i might try this book. It's not due out till April so it will be an Easter surprise for me, i just hope i remember i've ordered it!

Has anyone else checked it out yet? what do you think? i love the cover and want to make all those little coloured diagonal crosses.

cheerio for now, happy knitting or stitching this week everyone

Update: deanna has just told me that Amazon will also stock it and at a lower price. How good is that! thanks deanna, i've Popped it on my wish list there.

presents in the New Year

2012-01-23T15:08:00.007+11:00

Don't you just love giving and receiving presents......i know i do.

These pressies (above) arrived last week all the way from Toronto, Canada. Anne Marie and i have an annual, sometimes biannual, swap of calendars, a card, one nice wearable or useable and other odds and sods. So, what have we here, from top left: an Ontario calendar, a tiny exquisite piece of old embroidery medallion, a christmas/new year collage card, a half size collaged FPC (love your collages AMD), a tricky little needle and pin holder that looks like a match folder, a gorgeous mobius scarf made from fabric strips and FMing, such a creative and spectacular idea, 2 beautiful brooches or pins made from altered dominos, and 2 of the most beautiful buttons. These buttons are replicas of wonderful old European glass buttons and i am so lucky to have them. Thankyou Anne Marie, i do hope your parcel arrives today.

This year we co-ordinated posting dates but unfortunately mine to her hasn't arrived yet, boohoo, so i can't show you what i sent.

Instead i'll show you a close-up of Mum's knitted fabric basket which i made for her birthday. I made it from leftovers of other baskets and quilting, i'm really happy with how it turned out. I never know when i start, they have a life of their own these knitted fabric baskets.

Someone asked for a close-up of Mum's cards and gifts from Saturday, on the left at the front is a clever handheld puzzle, one of Escher's designs and of course the obligatory large key mobile phone on the right. I love the card which says FRIEND, it was made and sent from her lovely old friend Joyce in Victoria - she is over 90!! a very creative lady.

A detail pic of Anne Marie's brooches, collaged onto dominos or other playing pieces, so clever. i wore mine today (top) and Mum loves hers, very pretty and intricate.

Scroll down to the end of the page, you'll see my fish have swum away and instead there is a dog you can play with. Have fun with him, he doesn't bite but he likes you to throw the ball and feed him treats. cheers, enjoy your week everyone.

a stormy birthday

2012-01-21T16:45:00.007+11:00

The heavens had a surprise tucked under a cloud for Coralie's 87th birthday, we had a massive storm with celebratory festive lightning, thunder, hail, wind and a huge downpour - 47mm (nearly 2 inches in the old money) in 30 minutes. So here she is, trying to avoid looking out the windows at the lightning behind, by getting ready for the grand opening of several envelopes.

You remember the half finished basket i showed last time, here it is now. Mum loves it and honestly didn't twig that i was making it for her. She also received a mobile phone, a handheld puzzle, a handmade brooch from AMD, an embroidered handkerchief, a book by Kumiko Sudo and a cake of lavender soap.

And here she is again still studiously avoiding the windows and having a ball opening pressies - thankyou Joyce, Anne Marie, Loreen and Marcia for your thoughtfulness and Alan, Katrina, and Marie for your lovely cards.

Did i mention that the whole time we were under a life changing storm? this is how one little dog weathered it by turning his attention to his breath.

And i received a tiny giftee also, a beaded artefact made in Africa which Mum bought yesterday while in town. Luckily we had our birthday outing for her yesterday as today was not a day to go on the roads.

She said to say thankyou so very, very much to everyone who left lovely birthday comments on the last post - "you are all so kind, i am delighted". Hoo roo all, i have to go outside now and mop/sweep/shovel/hose down/rake up and prune the mess left behind by the heavens' partying.

a dedicated knitting chair + more

2012-01-18T17:18:00.008+11:00

But first before we get to the chair, this is a secret knitting project i have under the needles right now.....it's a funny secret because it's being done quite openly but the birthday girl in the house who turns 87 on Saturday (21st) does not suspect it's being done for her. She just thinks i'm "keeping busy" - ha!

And now, my brand new today, dedicated knitting chair. I am one of the thousands (millions?) world wide who suffers from restless legs at night after a busy day and i need to have a chair which is low enough to put some weight on them to relieve the waves of relentless involuntary muscle tightening. Also this wonderful chair is wide and has low arms so that my knitting elbows are not cramped. It's well upholstered, has good support, i got it at an end of year very low price and best of all it's in Charlie's colours so if he thinks i've bought it for him his donated fur shouldn't show up too much.

Do you have a dedicated knitting/stitching/beading chair? i'd be interested to know more about it, why you love it so and what it looks like. I have been searching for this chair for months now. oh and the reason it's so low to the floor is that i've removed the legs

And now on to a little showing off, my tomato crop is looking good. I think i have 5 different types all with fruit on them and all are starting to ripen except for the 'roma' so far. I started with a small 'tumbler tom' in September and really, really looked after it, carting it around to the sunniest spots all day and bringing it inside at night and this tomato is still rewarding us with a half dozen every day, tho it's fading a little now. The 'yellow pear' is for Mum as she loves yellow toms, there are also 2 types of larger bite size toms there and an 'apollo' which has just started to ripen. I can soon start to freeze the little ones for use in Winter.

Oh and btw, i bag my tomatoes on the bush after they get to a certain size to ward off bugs and birds. It works well and i can use a lot less spray. The bag material is a lightweight frost protector synthetic which dries quickly if it gets wet. Waxed paper bags work also but they don't last as long. Don't try plastic bags - unless you want cooked rotten toms on the bush!!!

And finally my last 2 angel wraps, these ones are larger, i cut them at 13" square (reminder to self), with a hood at 4 1/2" sides. For these ones i broke away from the completely neutral and safe fabric patterns to a bit of gentle baby design.
The Midwife friend i gave them all to loves these soft fabric (flannelette inner and soft cotton outer) wraps and said they would be a lot easier to wrap the babes in than the knitted pods - tho she does like them also. She's also asked for knitted premmie beanies, sizes to fit an orange up to a grapefruit, so if you want to use your baby wool for that instead, these quilt wraps are very quick to make. I just have to stitch on a satin ribbon for a tie now and they can be delivered.

In the garden and under the sewing machine

2012-01-15T19:57:00.004+11:00

You don't know how much i love this,sleeping wasps,
upside down on the very tips of two potted red cedars. These are indigenous Aussie wasps, by day they feed only on indigenous bushes like the Grevillea rosemarinifolia, but in the evenings they put themselves to bed on the tips of North American cedars, which i am growing in pots. There are more than 1 or 2 paradoxes here.

Above and below are my latest versions of the Littlest Angel garments, made for stillborn babes for my local Maternity unit here in Bathurst. These ones are tiny quilts, with soft flannelette inner and fine cotton outer and with a hood.
Much faster to make than the knitted pods which i showed in December, and i think these soft wraps will be quite acceptable. I hope to take them up tomorrow. You can't see it but i have stitched a large heart in the centres, to quilt the 2 layers together, and the satin ribbon is stitched on with a lazy daisy flower.

If anyone wants to make these for their own Maternity units then the sizes suggested, from what i could find, are from 9 to 13inch squares and with a corner hood which is about a third of the length of one side. One of my hoods might be a little small.

And you see this space? this is the reason i haven't been "on the blog" all week. On Wednesday, i think, i had several trees removed which were shading too much of the veg garden and in this space here was a large red crab apple tree in a built up garden as high as the garden bed behind. I helped with the tree removals and that is a story in itself, but the very next day i started digging out this built up bed and levelling the site to the ground. There was only a very narrow path on either side, that whole central area was built up.

Now the veg bed behind, currently with tomatoes in, has all day sun and i have moved one of my 3 compost bins here. The rest will make their way up here when they are ready for emptying and refilling. This site is very near the back of the house and it gets good sun, just what i need for an efficient compost event all year round - easy to get to for Mum and myself, right near the veg gardens and good sun. My muscles are slowly recovering, a little gentle stitching today helped.

I'm still considering one more large landscaping project so if i disappear again for a week you know where you can find me! cheerio for now, i hope you're all having a pleasant weekend.

Shadows in the bag

2012-01-09T21:53:00.007+11:00

I can't seem to stop this shadow knitting,above - here you see it,
and here you don't. Don't worry, i'll get over it soon and move on to another obsession.

I discovered this gorgeous hollyhock flower yesterday morning, growing in the middle of rhubarb and scarlet runner beans. I have never seen a hollyhock like this before, a new variety perhaps or an evolved one because of it's neighbours?

And the dianella berries are out in full blueness. I have tried dianella icecream and jam, also dyeing with them but for now i'll just enjoy their blueness in the garden.

A quick update on the bagging which i use successfully in the kitchen garden to keep pests away, above photo is showing how well the apples are growing. They'll be ready for picking in another couple of weeks. The codlin moth has been particularly invasive this year, as seen in other people's gardens and in my crab apple also, so i'm pleased i have my eating apples bagged. The alternative is fortnightly spraying with a highly toxic chemical which i simply would not do.
The tomatoes were bagged over the weekend also, not so much for the insects as for the birds which have been enjoying them green. Sorry birdies, i don't grow my vegies for you, esp the dreaded blackbirds which "flew here and didn't grew here"!
Even the raspberries have to be bagged now as the season ends and there's not enough fruit for both us people and the birds. In another couple of days i'll leave the rest to the birds but Mum wants just one more bowl of fresh raspberries and yoghurt.

If anyone wants more info on the fruit and veg bags, i buy mine from Green Harvest. The waxed paper bags can be re-used many times if you're careful, and they survive many rain storms without falling apart. The tomato bags are made from a microfibre fabric, you could make your own from "frost cloth", and the apple bags are the little sockettes you get in shoe stores. I buy them in boxes of 100 each.

Lastly i'm trying hard to allow these borlotti beans (aka cranberry beans) to mature so i can harvest them for the bean seeds inside. It's difficult as i like to eat the whole bean so much but there are so many other varieties of green beans in the garden that i won't starve. If only everyone knew how to grow beans, they don't need much space or time, there would be a lot less hunger in the world.

I know someone who is having a birthday this week, maybe you could pop on over to Stitch and Sow and say HBD to Nanette, she'll get a big surprise. cheerio for now, enjoy your week.

PS: don't forget to feed my fish, they get a bit hungry and bored when they're left alone for too long. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

a blue friday

2012-01-06T15:39:00.005+11:00

Not necessarily emotionally blue, more of a blue tinge to everything.

I'm doing some more of this shadow knitting that i spoke of before, above - you can't really see the pattern,
while here you can, fun isn't it.

Beautiful blue borage, bee forage,

i planted some several years ago and they just keep on coming every year. Some people candy them and use them for cake decoration, but i just like to see them in the jungle which i call my backyard.
There was a blue haze this morning in the foothills of Mt Billywillinga, don't you love that name, it only occurs when it's going to be a warm (read hot) day and after a storm the night before.
Lastly a shot of the "soft" corner that AMD wanted me to make on the stairway to nowhere. The camellia will grow well here and be double that size by next year, and the bromeliad seems to like it also. duck doesn't care, she's on her rock and that's all that matters.

The cows came back again this morning and nearly knocked my fence down while trying to stand up to get at my wattle which hangs gracefully over the fence. The wattle has now been cut back and i have a difficult job on my hands to repair the colourbond fence before they come right in. Anyone know a cow hex?

And if you're feeling like some mindless entertainment right now, scroll to the end of this blog and please feed my fish, they are hungry as i haven't had time to feed them today. cheers and once again have a happy and safe weekend fellow bloggers.

arrivals and departures

2012-01-03T08:31:00.003+11:00

This last week has seen some interesting and beautiful arrivals in the mailbox, and mostly they have been very unexpected. Thankyous are well overdue but my excuse has been the landscaping work which is now finished.Above are 2 delightful creations from Ulla in Finland, she says they are traditional christmas decorations and gifts, and to me they are very refreshing and quite amazing. Thankyou Ulla for my pony and christmas cuckoo, tho i still think it is a rooster.
Mary Anne in Ontario, Canada sent me this fabulous magazine about recycling for your craft work, its ideas are unique and often very amusing. Mary Anne also made me a notions holder which will be very handy for when i take my work to classes or workshops. Mum thought it also doubled as a wrist warmer, but that's just because she's still focussed on her arthritic wrist. MA also sent a small bag of pearl shell buttons which are very pretty and a little Santa gift card. Thankyou Mary Anne.

This morning i received something very precious from grace, a small handwritten note, thankyou grace for such a personal gift, you are a treasure.

In the departures lounge we have a wee gift or 2 going over to Canada, the annual exchange of calendars and something else, whooshing off to AMD in TO today.

And speaking of departures, here are half the mob who have given me so much grief over this last week. Outside my back gate, in the paddock where they have acres to roam but they found my little pile of granite and did their best to destroy it. In its wake they left their calling cards.

I'd like them to depart but they are keeping the grass down which is important in this upcoming fire season. Bye for now friends, have a kind and gentle year.

Update on the Stairway to Nowhere

2012-01-01T21:19:00.005+11:00

It's finished! well almost unless i decide to narrow it and widen that garden bed on the left, always a possibility.In my last post i showed Days 1 - 4, starting on Boxing Day. Well today was Day 5, NYDay, with a day off yesterday for good behaviour. I knew i had a bit to finish off but that 'bit' turned into a whole day
as the final slope needed grading. At each row of bricks you can see above, the level drops off a brick height. We have very heavy gully raker storms here and if i hadn't levelled it this lower section would have washed into the paddock behind the fence. The infill is crushed granite which sets quite hard once it's been watered and stomped on several times, but needs time before it is completely stable. We may have storms in a few days so i was hurrying to finish it. The pavers you can see are also for added stability, i may yet also add a few more. Tweaking the edges!

I love playing with rocks and stones, here i've made a little stone edging just for fun, for a laugh. Several years ago i did a dry stone wall course and made a few dry stone walls on a property we owned back then. I've also done rock carving, or should that be chiselling, i'm just an old rocker. Oh and i do have a seat under the gum tree at the top of the path, with a large flat topped rock for a coffee table.

Anne Marie, the paddock where the cattle were is right behind that gate you can see at the end of the path. They came back again this morning, and had to be chased off several times as i wanted to work with the gate open for an extra breeze. They were so close i could have tickled the bull, tho i would have rather smacked him!

Thankyou everyone for all your encouraging comments on yesterday's post, it helped to motivate me to finish it today. HNY2012 all you lovely blogger friends, i don't know what i'd do without you. May you all have a happy, healthy and safe 2012.

a week of no rest

2011-12-31T16:10:00.000+11:00

The gorgeous deep red glady of the last post is now fully open, or almostso i took another pic this morning in the early morning sun. Beautiful isn't it.

And my harvest this morning, i think i was picking for over an hour and Charlie is deciding which one he'll start with but unfortunately his favourite peas have finished and he doesn't like raw beans. My favourite beans are the borlottis, upper left corner, i just steam them whole and eat with my fingers. Yumm, i must remember to plant more next year. Bottom right corner is the first cucumber of the season with a yellow marrow and more broccoli, which they say don't grow in Summer!

And now on to the reason for the title above -
The reason for this pic above is that it no longer looks like this. It was a nasty slope down to the bottom of the garden and out into the paddock behind which Mum had trouble negotiating and grass never grew here so for various reasons i got stuck into it on Boxing Day. Mainly the noisy barking dog next door is away with it's noisy splashing neighbours so i had some peace and quiet to work in.

The end of Day 1, a bit of digging, much thought and re-sourcing grey concrete retaining wall blocks from various places around the garden, where the soil level had sunk so they were no longer needed.

End of Day 2, the first level of steps are laid and a lot more digging has gone on. Whoops, i think this project is becoming a bigger job than i had originally thought. It was made worse because i had 2 cub metres of crushed granite delivered out in the paddock behind so i had easy access to it, but disaster struck.

All was fine until i returned the next morning only to find the wild cattle, all 50+ of them, had found it and thought it was delivered for them to play in! What had been a neat pile of about 2.5 ft high and a nice tidy base was now barely a foot high, spread everywhere and with "droppings" of various kinds on it!! In my jarmies (jammies) at 6:45am i screamed loudly to them and waved my hat and chased them off, temporarily. This saga went on for several hours as they continued to try to return as i madly bucketed and wheelbarrowed a tonne and a half of granite inside my fence where they couldn't get it. Whew, i'm exhausted just writing about it, but i must have looked a sight as i yelled obscenities and worked madly in my PJs.

Anyway, the work eventually continued quietly and here's Charlie testing it some time on Day 3. Hey Mum it works but where do i go after this?

Day 4, i think, the job is nearly done, but i have to make some finishing touches which as we all know will take me another full day, not today tho - i'm resting my acheing muscles.

I'm calling it "the highway to hell" as it has become so huge. i simply followed the line of the fall and of the previous garden beds to the back gate, but i could have (should have?) made it narrower. It's done now tho and soon when the granite is settled Mum will be able to walk down here more safely. The steel posts are for her to hang onto for extra support, i've got a couple more to add.

I hope you all have a splendid NYEve and a very rewarding and satisfying 2012, and i'm hoping that the world and its people's have done with disasters for quite a while. This has not been a happy year for many people and animals.

flower surprises and a shy reptile

2011-12-29T21:57:00.003+11:00

The week between christmas and new year is a busy garden week here and i've found a few new surprises to show off.Firstly one giant white cosmos above, it's a real beauty. I planted seedlings that i'd bought from the garden centre and altho they are pretty the plants are quite small and insignificant. This white one was from a seed that i'd sown in a jiffy pot, and the plant is huge, waist high and now covered with these large white flowers. I'll have to sow more next year now i know it works.

Above and below is a gladi, normally called a gladioli in most other countries but we call them gladi's or glady's for short. This one grew from a corm i found in the back shed of the old house which was going to be sold to a developer, so i "saved" it.
The old man who used to own the house and garden was close to 100 when he was forced to move, so all of his plants that i have saved are very old rootstock, and very precious to me.

I've got a lovely bunch of broccoli, or so i sang to myself as i picked them. Did you know that after cutting the main flower head of the broccoli you can continue to pick and eat the offshoots for several weeks more. It really is the vegetable that keeps on giving. These side shoots are delicious.

A shy blue tongue lizard, photographed thru my BR window as she/he disappears at the slightest sound. It did not occur to me that when i built this retaining wall and it's ag drain that i was providing a home for someone. The lovely lizard eats the snails in my garden, that's why i don't use normal snail bait as it would kill the lizard as well. These critters are much more effective at keeping the snails down.

I hope to get back to you all again by the New Year but right now i'm doing some very heavy landscaping and when i get inside at the end of the day i just go into freefall. If i don't see or speak to you before Sunday i hope you all have a wonderful New Year and may only good things come your way in 2012. cheers

Coralie's christmas day and the day after

2011-12-26T16:57:00.008+11:00

Coralie had a lovely christmas day, and it was made extra special because a very thoughtful friend called Terry sent her not one but two presents to open on the day.

Here she is already wearing a bling bracelet from Terry while she opens her second gift, all the while watched by our little Charlie.

Terry very kindly made us both matching quilted placemats, they're so lovely they're almost edible. Mum was delighted to receive these gifts, it really made her day, thankyou Terry. It goes to show that older people also get a huge thrill out of opening beautifully wrapped handmade presents, not just the young-uns. She also received a huge bagful of cards from rellies and friends, including a wonderfilled e-card from her niece Katrina and a phone call from her brother. She really had a lovely day

And here are some of the christmas gifts we received from each other and from kind friends. Terry sent me a beautiful little brooch pin cushion, you can see it on the diary cover above. Actually it's too nice to use as a pin cushion, it makes a lovely brooch just as it is. We also received a christmas cake from Marcia, she always makes us either a chrissy cake or pudding which is very generous of her, and one of our "nice neighbours" gave us some delicious little shortbread biscuits. We are a very small family nowadays, basically just the two of us here in Bathurst with a very small number of other family members scattered across two states, but too far for easy visiting.

Later that evening we drove around our neighbourhood to look at all the decorated houses which was quite amazing, some were totally OTT while others were very beautiful. I didn't take my camera as it was dark, however i retraced our steps this morning and took some in the early morning light. Not as spectacular but still you get the idea. Enjoy.....

The Santa in the blow-up chimney here moves up and down the chimney as he is fan powered, we love to stop and look at him.

I hope you all had a lovely, safe and sharing Christmas day wherever you are. There is a huge storm happening here right now so i hope there are not too many people out on the roads, there will be local flooding all around the Central West. Stay safe.

As a final postscript can i urge you to have a laugh and look at Sarah's blog and watch Molly "opening" (ie ripping up) her presents.

Summer Solstice in the garden

2011-12-22T20:53:00.007+11:00

I took all these photos at around 4.30 this afternoon so that i could wish you all a happy Summer Solstice down under the lower side of the world, which is now actually pointing up at the sun. Six, yes count them, 6 varieties of beans all ready for picking at the same time. We, including little Charlie, love beans here in this household so i planted as many types as i could find. Yay!! beans for breakfast!!

Followed by raspberries and yoghurt. This is just the afternoon's pick, there was a morning pick and an all day birdie picking too. I probably grow too many but they're easily frozen.

And don't let anyone tell you that you can't grow broccoli in Summer, here's proof and i grew it from seed as i couldn't buy any seedlings. I'll do that more often now.

The tomatoes have been at picking stage for about 2 weeks now, this is only what i could find in the garden this afternoon as i had picked the ripe ones this morning.

I think these are called Soft Billy Buttons - a small headed indigenous arid lands everlasting type daisy

The foliage is grey not green which means they are very hardy. They will flower now for months, until Autumn, then turn into a burr which sticks to your clothes and transports the seed further afield. very pretty.

I never cease to be amazed by the antics of pansies, this one is self seeded and so cheeky, as most ferals are
and so are these, they never cease to delight.

And talking of delightful antics, i just can't take a photo without someone coming right up and insisting on being a celebrity - if you look hard you'll see me in his eyes.

I hope you all have or had a delightful Solstice, whether Summer or Winter, and stay safe and connected over this weekend's festivities.

flower and flight, festive and a little late

2011-12-19T22:10:00.005+11:00

My usual flower and flight on fridays is a little late, lets blame it on the weather will we?As you can see, we're in the storms season, there's a double rainbow here and a very eery light.

Finally i succumbed and bought a poinsettia for the festive season. They are a tropical tree so they don't last long in the pot in Bathurst but they are beautiful and do remind me of childhood christmasses.
In the rain i went hunting for red plants this afternoon and found this new red dahlia which obliged by shining wetly at me as i photographed it.

And new photinia tips, very festively red and green.

Charlie is doing what dogs do best, introducing himself to the new chooky in the garden, even tho she was stone cold unaware of it.

And lastly a very welcome resident in my garden, the Australian paper wasp, who build such a lot of papery nests here in small bushes and under the eaves. I leave them alone to help clean up the garden of grubs and they leave me alone as i don't disturb their nests. You can find out more about them here. They are different to the European wasp which is an introduced species and a lot more aggressive, even tho they look similar. I have linked to the European wasp here.

Thankyou all for your lovely comments on my last blog post about the littlest angel pods, i appreciated your interest and it was good to find out that there are others who are making similar wraps and garments for the littlest ones.

The Littlest Angel Pod

2011-12-17T16:05:00.009+11:00

Warning: this post contains sensitive images or content which could upset some people, so please do not continue reading if you think you could be affected.

When i was a small child i was given this book about the Littlest Angel, which i have treasured since then. This post is also about Littlest Angels, those who are born at 21 or 22 weeks preterm and asleep.

In many Maternity Hospitals around the world when these tiny stillborn babes are handed to their parents there is nothing suitable to wrap them in, so i have been asked to make tiny knitted wraps or pods for our Maternity wing in the local hospital. I did a lot of research and the pod design shown below seems to be quite acceptable, however i have added a hood to keep the back of the head secure and safe.

The garter stitch knitted pod above with a small (6 inch) doll comfortably wrapped up.

The pod showing hood and knitted tie above.

Unfolded, showing the size and the two attached triangles for head and lower body.

The foundation square from behind.

I also made another pod first, this one is in stocking stitch and is double knit based on the hexagon pieces i made a couple of weeks ago.
I actually prefer this one as it looks more cocoon-like to me but the knitting was more complex

so it would not be as easy to share the pattern,

but if you'd like to try it then ask me privately. You need to know how to double knit or knit in the round with only a few stitches on board first tho.

My knitting group which meets at Bathurst Spotlight are inspired to make these garter stitch angel pods shown first above for our local hospital. I have been told that they need about one a month here, as otherwise they have nothing really suitable for the babes. If you are interested you could ask at your maternity hospital if they have a need for something similar.

I have published my pattern on a separate stand alone page, see the bar above for this pattern. If you have any questions about it then ask me and i will endeavour to answer them to your satisfaction. I do hope i haven't offended or upset anyone, this is a very sad topic but a very important one to try to offer comfort.

shadow knitting out of the shadows and into the Spotlight

2011-12-15T20:48:00.006+11:00

At last, i can now show you some of the shadow knitting i made for our Spotty (Spotlight) knitting group christmas exchangeCompare the photos above and below, now you see the trees and now you don't, it all depends upon the viewing angle.

The same here, above and below, 2 nine patches on the left which are hardly visible above.....

but here they are again from an acute viewing angle, above.

And lastly 2 diagonal knit squares with simple strips above

and triangles of green or white in this one. This Shadow Knitting is a lot of fun, i have a book by Vivian Hoxbro which explains it all but basically it is done with alternating pairs of rows in 2 different colours, and the pattern is created from the underside by knitting the wrong side row with either knit or purl.

Row 1: (RS) all stitches Knit with colour A;

Row 2: (WS) Knit (or Purl) with colour A;

Row 3: (RS) all stitches Knit with colour B;

Row 4: (WS) Purl (or Knit) with colour B.

Repeat these 4 rows for the basic pattern but for a more complex design vary the stitches used in rows 2 and 4 between purl and knit, but only use the one colour in each pair of rows. Try a sample and remember to always knit on the right side and use strongly contrasting colours or tones.

Now for what i received from my lovely Spotty knitting group. We've been meeting every Wednesday morning since early July, and if you live locally to Bathurst you're welcome to join us.

A gorgeous black velvet bag from Carol, this is the deepest black you can imagine and a fluffy white knitted coathanger from Janette.
Janette also very generously made all of us knitted brooch pins in different colours for each person. I get many compliments when i wear mine, it's very cute. The other girls are still making gifts which they will exchange in the New Year as this occurred very spontaneously.

Thankyou Ruth and Brenda and the team at Spotlight Bathurst for hosting our lovely knitting group, we feel very welcome there and we make so much noise with our natter that the other shoppers look at us probably wondering how we can be having so much fun knitting.

view from a window and other views

2011-12-13T07:57:00.005+11:00

A room with a view,
the view from Coralie's window right now, pretty as a picture,

and detail shots of the flowers, above the fairy fishing rod, so aptly named

and a lily, sorry don't know it's real name. If you can help then feel free please.

Update: Dietes grandiflora or wild iris from Sth Africa, thankyou Vireya.

Lastly the christmas production line knitting is finished, but i can't show you anymore than this for now as i haven't given them out yet and "someone" might be watching!! next time i promise, but for now let me tell you it is Shadow Knit, so that what you see from an angle is different to what you see from a direct view.

What i am now working on is something very, very sad but also very, very important. It's something we often don't think about because why would we if we weren't part of the actual story? More on this next time and let me just say that if this works right then many of us can get involved in our own way and in our own communities. Just give me a couple of days to do the prototype, ok?

flower and noflight, flying fingers instead

2011-12-09T08:22:00.003+11:00

I'm so busy i nearly forgot that it is friday -
so a quick pic of my dahlias in the early morning light, these ones survived underground during our Winter, and i'm so pleased they did.

and sunshine in a bloom - i have a whole row of these miniature marigolds, liquid gold.

This is why i am sooooooo busy, can't stop and chat, i have a production line of this hand knitting to do before mid next week. Will take a breath and show you more then,

cheerio, a happy busy weekend everyone.........

teal vest completed and two hexies

2011-12-06T20:41:00.008+11:00

Mum's knitted vest is completed, hurrah!!I spoke about this a little while back, Mum was knitting herself a vest in 5 ply (medium fine) but her wrist became painful so i took over the knitting for her, and finally it's done. We used a rough outline for the pattern but i changed it quite a lot, adding a collar as you can see and cap sleeves, as well as doing a picked up front band as i hate having to stitch on such a long strip.

You'll have to trust me on this, i took 3 lovely photos of her from the front but the computer doesn't recognise their format -??????? they were the same as everything else i photograph. It's too dark outside now to re take them so i'm sorry but you only have the back view.

Here's a closeup of the pattern detail, a nice texture which was more interesting to knit than plain stockinette. The yarn is flecked too which gives added interest, it's Heirloom Merino Fleck 5 ply. Lovely and soft, a very gentle handle.

I've also made a couple more tiny knitted hexies, the one above i gave to a friend here in Bx as a birthday gift along with the dyed silk ribbon. The extras are from some old jewellery which i pulled apart.

This one was sent away, it's part of a combination gift or swap for someone else. They're fun little things to make, i double knit them on 2 needles.

Cast on 10 sts, then on the first row double every stitch to make 20. Then every row you knit one stitch then bring the yarn forward and slip the next stitch and continue that across the row. Two rows makes one complete round, each side knits one side of the article as it's double sided. Try it with a square first. To bind off reduce the stitches to half the number as you increased them at the beginning, by knitting two together across the row, then simply bind off as usual.

And here are two pics of my latest geraniums which i bought from a roadside stall on Sunday.

They are quite simple ones but as they were grown locally they will be a tough as old nails and survive our Winters without blinking. I think they are quite pretty and a bit different too. cheerio everyone and thanks for visiting......

edible flower and flight + a rose for Martine

2011-12-02T17:49:00.006+11:00

A rose for Martine with love,

you know why my friend, i hope it brightens your day. It's called the Peace rose.

Now this unusual little flower is a feijoa or pineapple guava flower. It will drop its ripe fruit at Easter, we call them green easter eggs. The petals are edible, quite sweet, but i try not to eat too many.

A hot pink strawberry flower, which doesn't seem to set fruit but i don't mind as the flower is joy enough in itself.

Another strawberry flower, this time a pretty pink one which does set sweet fruit. Sometimes my edible plants have flowers as beautiful as the ornamentals.

The scarlet runner bean will be covered with these bright scarlet flowers in another month, it is a beautiful show and the beans are a bonus. This one has self sprouted from last year, it died right down over Winter and re-emerged in Spring. What a surprise.

And talking about edibles, this little fellow, the silvereye or Zosterops lateralis has flown in again and he and his friends will endeavour to help themselves to every edible plant in the garden. He's one of the reasons i bag and net my best vegies and berries, especially the berries.

I'm sorry about the borrowed silver eye photo, but they are too fast for me to photograph. Also about the premature posting of this page, i hit the return button too soon - whoops!

Have a happy weekend everyone.

home in December

2011-12-01T12:20:00.003+11:00

What is 'home' to you?

My vegie and flower garden on 1st December, a place where i spend half of my day, every day.

My immediate family, Mum who you know already, with her brother Alan from Tasmania and his daughter, my cousin Katrina. They visited for a few days this week from Tasmania, my second home.
Saying goodbye at the end of Keppel St, Bathurst, otherwise known as the great white wave because of the beautiful heritage lamp posts behind them. The railway station is nearby. Bathurst has been home for me now for nearly 8 years, as it was home 30+ years ago for a while also. It's a solid city, drought proof and recession proof, beautiful in Spring and Autumn, home for a while yet. Keppel St is interesting.

My favourite craft, knitting, and in this instance it is a gingerbread house for this festive season.

Have a wonderful Summer all you Aussies out there, or Winter if you're in the northern hemisphere. We've had good rain to start the hot season, so the vibes are good for now.

pioneering - the 2nd generation

2011-11-29T06:30:00.000+11:00

This is the second generation home built adjoining the tiny one i showed last week and this one was built by the son of the first owners.

The sign above tells how primitive it would have been, 2 little girls slept under sheets of tin on a breezeway between the 2 buildings and sometimes the rain splashed in on them. In bad weather Dad would sit and sing them to sleep.

Here are both houses, the little one on the right was last week's tiny one. The 2nd gen home looks quite grande here but don't be fooled, it still had only 3 rooms - 2 bedrooms and a combined kitchen/living/everything else room. Fortunately they were a bit bigger than the tiny house's rooms. Nice view.

The side aspect, still wattle and daub and hardwood timbers, all covered over with corrugated gal iron.

The "back" aspect showing foundations for an extension which never happened. They made a good vegie patch instead.
The "everything" room with fuel stove and fireplace. Note the baltic pine timber flooring, which would have come off the sailing ships which brought the new comers out. I can imagine a small family of maybe no more than 2 kids plus M&D in this one living room, but this family had 5 kids. Dad went away shearing at times so Mum was out here alone with the children, no power, no phone, no car.....the nights would have been long.

One bedroom, a little bit larger than the small house's BR but still had to cater to several kids.

Lovely old hand stitched hexie quilt and those hats are something else again.

And the long drop loo, 50m away from the house, and in those days would not have had that electric light. The black thing in the corner is a pretend red back spider, an Aussie must-have (the real live one that is) in these old toilets.

Lastly the original sewing machine in the house. I don't know what year this one was but it's very pretty. I'm nearly done here now, so will have to find something else to show next week. Hope you've enjoyed this visit to a piece of Bathurst's history out along the Bridle Track at Duramana.

Pin Tangle - take a stitch tuesday

2011-11-28T15:27:00.003+11:00

Do you want to learn (more) about stitching and embroidery? i do as i am very limited in that department. I've signed up to sharon b's Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) at Pin Tangle for next year, it starts on Tuesday 3rd January. You can too, apparently the more the merrier.

Go straight over to sharon's web site now and take a look, she's just published the interim list of participants, you'll find it here, and you're not too late if you want to join in. cheerio, see you in the stitching go'round for next year.

knitting - why i love it so

2011-11-26T12:46:00.005+11:00

a simple domestic skill - take a normal saucepan, add hand spun wool and a small handful of onion skins from the pantry, simmer it gently for about 20 minutes,

cooked and served - ginger yarn. icecream or yoghurt anyone?

A surprise is being knitted up, simply and by hand, using 2 sticks made of milk (casein). I can take it anywhere, knit it anywhere, sit anywhere, and use otherwise idle time by creating something beautiful, intriguing, perhaps useful. I can listen or talk, watch or read while doing it, but more than anything else - i can sit quietly in the present moment, beautiful moment.

I love knitting because i have always done it, i was taught by my Nana who was taught by her little Gran, who was taught by her Mother. It's in the blood, in the genes, in our ancient memories, and it links us back to our family traditions, our heritage and our culture no matter where in Europe, or even perhaps the Middle East, those ancestors came from.

The sun came out today after a week of almost non stop rain, and this ginger butterfly came to visit, the first for some time. She's really quite large and altho she enjoyed my flowers she didn't want to be photographed on one.

The sun came out today and i was able to wash my beloved little dog. I asked him if he'd like a bath and he walked straight into the bathroom and waited for me to pick him up and put him in the bath. He loves it, probably because he gets a massage and then a large doggy treat after.

Do you love knitting also? tell me why.....

pioneering flower and flight

2011-11-25T07:58:00.014+11:00

The pioneering cottage of tuesday this week had a lovely old garden and some unusual bird friends.....i love the contrast of this pure white geranium and the old rusty bucket, against the mud brick wall and grey timber.

and the gal iron has been put to some interesting effects with this garden art. I love finding surprises in the garden like this.

The cosmos has to be protected from rabbits,

while the corn flowers seem able to survive with their density.

This is a very dark geranium, a port wine colour, i've asked for a slip.

The birds were a surprise, these baby willy wagtails were getting ready to fly and their mum was very protective, acting out an unusual behaviour where she pretended to be hurt in order to distract me from going too close to her babes. I think i was supposed to follow her instead. Their nest was built on the head of a very long shovel, and very close to this hot tin roof.

If you'd like to read more about this bird which is the most well known fantail bird in Australia, you can do so here, especially the paragraph about their nest ( i've had an idea from this).

These birds are very special, they are striated pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus) and i don't see them around our place, they spend more time further out in the farmland areas and usually high up in the eucalypt canopies.
Aren't they pretty, you can hear their delicate little call here and read more about them here. These little ones were very brave as they hung around even tho there were a few visitors coming and going.
Finally another piece of garden art, made with sticks, coloured string, found objects and old nests. Hard to see here but it was delightful, i took several pics.

I hope you all have a pleasant weekend and my sincerest sympathies go out to the people of the Margaret River area in WA who have lost so many homes in this latest and very nasty bushfire. May the rain come today and extinguish the fires so that no more homes, animals and properties are destroyed.

pioneering

2011-11-21T20:37:00.006+11:00

In the mid 1800s, about 1840, a young man with his wife and 2 or 3 small kiddies travelled from Germany to Duramana, a locality about 20 km from Bathurst, NSW and set up home there. He was a vintner and was sponsored out here by a local winery, so he grew a vineyard and made wine.Peter built this house for his family, a 3 roomed dwelling, out of local mud and hardwood timbers, in the wattle and daub style.

It wasn't very big, this room was the one bedroom and the bed you can see here is a single bed. There's not much room left as i was standing hard in the doorway. That door leads out into the orchard, it was i guess "the back door".

This is the other room in the house, the kitchen/living room. i estimated that it was about 4 by 5 metres. The stove and fireplace would have kept it warm in Winter, but Summers out here can be hot too. Sorry about the person there but it gives you an idea of the scale. I had trouble photographing as the rooms were so small, i couldn't get far enough away.

This room, the 3rd room, was for the pantry and wine room, so the wine had a premium place in their life. It's now used as a bathroom for occasional guests, so excuse the shower curtain on the right.
The current owners have gone to some trouble to restore the old place to how it was back in the 1800s, with fresh clay walls. Here they have left a section of the wattle and daub to show you how it looks - vertical hardwood timbers with horizontal slats (the wattles) and clay packed in between (the daub).

Another view of the front of this tiny doll's house. I had to duck as i went inside. Later i'll show you their next house and the garden, it's a little bigger but not much.

Bathurst and its surrounds was the first white inland settlement in Australia, established in 1815. It was the site of the first goldrush in Australia and the country was also good for sheep, market gardening and now wine. Peter and his family were very early settlers out here at Duramana, the nights would have been dark.

a mixed bag

2011-11-20T17:08:00.006+11:00

of garden and knitting on this wet Sunday afternoon. Do you remember this vest? i took over from Mum, she was knitting this for herself but her wrist started to become painful. I've done the two fronts and half the back as i had to undo the back down to the armholes. Anyhoo, i've now picked up up all the stitches for the front band and only have the front band to finish and short cap sleeves to do. She might get it for christmas at this rate, tho it will be too warm to wear then. It's pleasant knitting as the yarn is 5 ply merino, fine and soft.

I don't know what the name of this cactus is, one of you will tho, but i wanted to show it here as this one was given to us by Mum's brother when we lived in Hobart, that was about 10 years ago and it's survived a couple of moves since then. It's flowering beautifully don't you think. I hope it's still flowering when my uncle and cousin visit us here in a week's time.
A rain garden, to show you how the vegies are flourishing. I picked our first tomatoes this afternoon, and we've been eating the strawberries for a couple of weeks. It's not even officially Summer yet!

Some of you spend 5 hours a day stitching, so i'm told. I often spend 5+ hours a day out here working in the garden, so i've decided that my garden is my artwork. This morning i went outside at 6am and came back inside after 11am, exhausted but very satisfied and the rain held off until i had finished, and no, i don't just wander around with a cuppa in my hand admiring it all. There is a lot of work involved in keeping it looking like this.

We went for a drive yesterday - i had to stop and take a photo of these along the way. Obviously the mail contractor doesn't go up this lane even tho there are 9 or more homes there.

And lastly the "mixed bag" that the title refers to - she is a member of the Psychidae or bag worm family and probably an unknown one as there are hundreds and not all are named. What i like about them, and there are many in my garden, is that each caterpillar designs her own bag using what she can find and holds it all together with her own spun silk. This is a mature one and she's about 6 inches long. She's a girl after my own heart, using silk and bits from the garden to make her home.

flower and flight - red and blue

2011-11-18T08:12:00.007+11:00

We've had heavy rain, these pics were taken in the fog the morning afterso the rain drops and soft colours are a welcome change.
I planted several red bottlebrushes (callistemons) when we moved here 7+ years ago and they never fail to delight, even when they hang low after rain.
This one is only small as it was a recent planting, but it is different in that it has gold tips to the needles, they look whiteish here but really they are gold.
This is a darker almost maroon one, with longer brushes, very rich.

And now to blue, one of the remaining pansies above
and a new pot of blue lobelias.

Our garden is filled with small Fairy Wren families now as cats are not welcome here, so the small birds know they are relatively safe. However this blue wren dad keeps a lookout on the highest point around just in case,
and at other times he tells his family where to find tiny moths and flies. There are two baby wrens and several helper aunts and mums for them. They are an absolute delight as they flit all over the garden, but very small and fast so difficult to photograph. You can hear their high pitched call here and read more about them here . They are very naughty, known to be the least faithful and most promiscuous of our birds. Apparently the females even sneak out of bed at night to visit other males!!

On that note, enjoy your weekend when it arrives.........

hexies - with a loop

2011-11-17T07:17:00.012+11:00

knitted hexies, double sided using sock wool, the idea came from tiny owl knits,

but i had to try to knit them my way, so i tried several different techniques.

The first one, knitted with 3 double ended needles and the smallest. I found this method hard on the hands.

My second, using 2 circular needles, one for each side. Easier on the hands but all those ends were messy. This one is larger because i added an extra round to try to make it more "hexie shape".

My favourite technique - double knitting, using just 2 needles. Even here i used 2 different methods for the shaping, hence the 2 sizes. My fav is the 2nd one but i need to cast on using the technique of the 1st one, that is cast on with half the number then immediately double each stitch.

Of course what i was wanting to do and what i was building up to were tiny double knit houses, and this was my idea and design, so here's my prototype using scrap sock wool.
The reverse side, note the colour change. When i make some more i'll use more interesting and nicer sock yarn colours, but for the experiment this was ok.

Anne Marie you asked what size they are? this little inch button is to scale.

Thanks deanna for alerting me to these double sided knit hexies, i said it would waste my Sunday and now it seems that i have "wasted" half my week on them - such fun!! BTW each one takes between 2 and 2.5 hours, so they take a bit longer than fabric hexies. And the originals of deanna's and tinyowl's are stuffed with a tiny bit of batting, but i chose not to as i prefer the thinner look.

Post Script: for the best double knit instructions to help you get started look at Alasdair Post-Quinn's instructions here. He's recently published his new book Extreme Double Knitting which i bought as a pre-publication. It's wild and i strongly recommend it if you want to advance your knitting skills!!

texTu(r)esday

2011-11-15T11:00:00.003+11:00

terracotta and sandstone

early 1900s

high up on a heritage building

main street in Bathurst, NSW

most people don't notice them.

more wiccan colour

2011-11-13T22:59:00.004+11:00

Pure magic these colours....
bundles of camellia and old copper pipes brewed in fermented fatsia berries.

This is a new one, squashed berries of an unknown type, see below, bundled up using an inert rod to hold it all together.

Does anyone know what this plant is? i found it growing in shade near the shadehouse at Orange but outside it, so it obviously doesn't mind cold in Winter.

Now before you ask what plans i have for these coloured pieces i need to say that i grow flowers for their colour also, but i have no "plans" for the flowers (except a bit of dyeing occasionally) and the same goes for these dyed silks - i do it for the love of colour only.

cheers, have a lovely colourful week

flower and flight in the fernery

2011-11-11T06:00:00.001+11:00

Once again we found ourselves at Cook Park in Orange, NSW and it was warm so we headed into the fernery...enjoy the walk with us, not many words are needed.

white swans keeping us cool

while i became entrapped in these grids

and my favourite beast - a dragon.

It was opened in 1938, still looks beautiful and well cared for.

My flight for this week is the noisy friar bird (Philemon corniculatus) who seems to have taken over one of the Euc leucoxylons. They are honey eaters as are the wattle birds of the last post but these fellows are even louder, click here for their call. I always say that you're never alone in the bush when one of these is nearby. They have a naked black head with a large bump on the beak, and black legs. You can read more about them here.

Obviously they like to eat while upside down.

Have a lovely week's end everyone, i hope it's not too cold or hot for you wherever you are.

wiccan colour

2011-11-08T15:40:00.003+11:00

Nature's colours...a mysterious mixture of fatsia berries,
beetroot leaves,
iris flowers,
overdyed over eucalyptus,
camellia flowers,
and old tarnished copper pipes.

these are all washed and dried, and the colour is slightly stronger than you can see here.

abandoned?

2011-11-07T17:55:00.004+11:00

three little ducks in a rowthey aren't lived in altho they look in reasonable condition
i think they may once have been pickers' huts
as they are very near an orchard
The mowed area and glimpse of new water tank and otto bin are next door to the first one and not in any way related to these three. i drive past them on my way to Orange about once a month and have always been very curious about them so one day i took a closer look, they're more or less empty except for rubbish.

A very basic design that can be seen in many older areas around Aus, quite lovely really, it's all you want.

This will be my last abandoned? post for now, i'm thinking of replacing it with another which will be similar but more focused. Stay tuned! Thankyou everyone for all your interest.

hearts and flowers

2011-11-06T17:22:00.006+11:00

apologies for the titlebut i couldn't help it. I was asked by a friend to help her with a new knitting pattern, the motif being a heart. There were a couple of aspects of this heart motif which were difficult but i resolved it and i think it's a really lovely one. A couple of years ago i knitted a "blue heart blankie" and included all the hearts i knew, i might have to knit another one now and include this one. The last one was - you guessed it - for a charity, a give away. Time to make another one and perhaps keep it.

Mum can't knit at the moment due to wrist pain so i've taken over her vest project. It's 5 ply (finer than DK) teal wool, a small pattern every 5th and 6th rows. Rather than knit the left front then the right it seemed to make sense to knit both at once, and it's growing quickly. Lovely soft yarn helps as it's very tactile. I'm halfway there.

We got home after a day out in Katoomba to discover a gorgeous new pelargonium on the front door step, with no note. Isn't it beautiful. I guessed who left it, friends whose house i look after when they go away, thankyou Judy.

flower and flight - seeking red

2011-11-05T07:24:00.006+11:00

First red callistemon or bottlebrush of the season, it appeared on 1st November. I must try to remember that date as it's something i really look forward to, soon the whole garden will be full of these red brushes.

Mum just back from a good walk, wearing a red hat.

I have two Euc leucoxylons, this is the more red one, the other is a hot pink.

Ground cover grevilleas, shape somewhat like a toothbrush and my tame duck.

Photinias, this is the Robin Red Breast, one whole length of fence has these along it, they are very popular in Bathurst as the frost and hard climate doesn't faze them at all.

A red leaf maple, Autumn colours in Spring, it stays dark red, doesn't turn green but it's delicate as the hot wind later will shred the leaves and turn them brown. This one was a feral, flew over the fence while living in Tasmania 10 years ago and has moved house a couple of times.

Not my photo unfortunately, however it is a red wattle bird one of which has taken over that Eucalyptus above and aggressively defends its tree from all outsiders. He even growls at Charlie and i as we walk under it. He has a variety of calls, mostly harsh and very loud, click to hear them . He's called the red wattlebird as his "wattles" at the base of his beak, are red. I'm finding it very hard to photograph him as he sits high up and is camouflaged by leaves.

I hope you have a lovely weekend dear bloggy friends, i'm going up to Katoomba today (saturday) for the Knitters Guild.

apples, vegies and a 9patch

2011-11-03T15:05:00.001+11:00

I've been asked about my apple bagging, so here are a couple of pics -above is the sundowner apple, my smallest apple tree and for this reason the first one i bag usually. There are two types of bag here, a white waxed paper bag which i think offers the best protection but it's harder and slower to attach, and the nylon stockingettes - quick and easy to put on using short cable ties. These are the little ankle sockettes which we are given in shoe stores when trying on new shoes, but i buy them in boxes of 100.

The red trap in the top of the tree catches both male and female codling moths using a special lure, but it's really only an indicator of how many moths there are active, i wouldn't rely on it as a preventative to stop the grub attack.

Here you can see how tiny the apples are when i bag them, (around half an inch) and even at this age it was almost too late as many had become deformed or showed signs of being stung. Many people around here grow apples and quinces without bothering to have any form of pest control and even leave their diseased fruit on the ground, e.g. my nearest neighbours, so i have to either spray nasty chemicals every fortnight, which i won't do as my garden is as organic as i can make it, or bag the apples early and leave the bags on until the fruit is ripe - sometime in January.

It's all done now for this season, over 350 apples are bagged and a couple of thousand were culled as i have to choose only one per bunch which is difficult and takes time to make those decisions.

I have 3 eating apple trees and 2 crab apples, but i only bag the eating apples, the Sundowner above, a Mutsu which i love and a Gala. The Mutsu is a very large green/yellow apple which is delicious eaten fresh or cooked. You can't buy these Mutsus except at a very few Farmers Markets as they aren't considered profitable to grow - probably because they actually have some flavour!

While i'm outside in the garden i thought i'd show you a pic of the vegies as they are now, broccoli in the foreground, beans and peas under cloches or nets because of the birds, garlic nearly ready to pull and red onions in the background. Broadbeans in the next bed, with silver beet at the end of the row and a couple of caulis at the other end. The last bed in view has tomatoes and lettuce under cover because of the hated blackbird which digs everything up and spreads dirt and mulch over everything. At the far end of that bed is my asparagus, i let the slender ones go to seed because they'll get bigger and stronger next year that way.

This year i also planted 4 different pumpkins as i had moved the compost bins and had some space between the apples. We have just the right amount of growing season for pumpkins IF we don't get an early frost next March or April. If we do i have to run around after dark and put frost cloth on them, but it's worth the trial as i love homegrown pumpkins (you might call them squash).

And lastly the 9 patch which is my header for this month. It's just a simple fabric 9 patch, but knitted because i can, and in cotton (blue) and ecodyed silk strips. The 9 patch is such a quilting icon i wanted to see if i could make one but knitted instead of stitched. It's knitted all in one, starting at one of the silk corners and picking up and knitting on the blue sideways, then picking up and knitting on the silk again and so on for the next row. Oh and btw before you ask, i'm not doing anything with this 9 patch, it's just for patting.

I'm enjoying knitting these fabric strips and as i knit i dream up some interesting ideas for it. More will be revealed in the future. bye for now......

abandoned?

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000+11:00

Remember the teaser of this door from the last abandoned? post -i tried to clamber thru the morning glory vine to get to the "front door", but gave up as i didn't fancy getting bitten by whatever might have been hidden there.
This is how it looks from the road, it stands at the corner of the prettiest sounding lane - Hen and Chicken Lane. It was once a thriving orchard and market garden site, possibly owned by the Chinese market gardeners who used to work this area at the turn of the century (18/1900s).

It's now very rundown, you wouldn't want to visit this area, the soil is probably still good but otherwise it's feral. Also the railway line runs along here as you can see, that could be very noisy at night with km long coal trains.

This was once a large house with vertical hardwood slab sheds, there's still a lovely purple lilac which Mum desperately wanted a sucker of, but i wasn't going to risk shotgun pellets in my but.
It's now very old and abandoned, probably a few odds and ends left inside but the rats would play havoc here. I asked the local 2nd hand dealer about it and he said there was nothing of value here and he would know i assure you.
The back porch,
the corner of the laneway,
and one very old and unloved water tank. Consensus - this one is definately abandoned.

grace even you wouldn't want this one....

PIF Handmade x3 all received

2011-10-29T11:08:00.010+11:00

PIF Handmade - Pass It Forward handmade - done and delivered

The first one i made for Martine (ateliercolore) in the Netherlands, she asked for "something for her pins and needles in her new atelier". This pin cushion + needle bed is an idea i dreamt up as i think that needles should be stored differently to pins,

so here they have their own book with felt pages. I made one for myself first as a trial and then Martine's, now let me tell you that stuffing these was so difficult that i won't be making any more, but i love the concept.

Next piece was for Nanette in northern NSW, Aus. She asked for something in strong pink or purples for her studio - my interpretation of this request was a basket of course, not another pin cushion, and in torn fabric and of course knitted - because i am first and foremost a knitter.

"i knit dammit, i knit" with apologies to Ian Fairweather.

For Annette in northern Qld, Aus who asked for something for herself and in colours of the sea, a small knitted bag made of once again torn fabric strips. It is the perfect size for her mobile phone, isn't that clever.

The "rejects", my prototypes as i hadn't done much torn fabric knitting before and needed to trial it. Guess who gets these? yep - moi!!

This was a fun project, these 3 ladies will be looking for 3 participants themselves for next year to make and send to. If you get the chance do try it, making for others is very rewarding, it releases serotonin and makes you feel good, plus you might try something new as i did and make new friends.

flower and flight, from the sky

2011-10-28T22:42:00.005+11:00

Found in the middle of the roada very dead sparrowhawk, and i wondered how on earth could a person run over a hawk? so sad.

Also falling from the sky lately are these half egg shells, i think they're blackbird eggs

every morning i find a couple on my early walks. Also a nest which had fallen, it seems to be the season for precious objects falling from the sky.

And, while i'm in a blue mood - a blue iris,

followed by devon skies which i adore as they are so happy

and a few blue pansies for Mary Anne.
Lastly, for those of you (Penny?) who haven't seen wild asparagus in longish grass, how many spears can you see?

Have a lovely weekend everyone, it's apple bagging time again for me. I've done almost two trees, but i have one to go - the biggest one, the gala, so if i'm not around then you know why, this is a very intense time in the garden. For those who don't know, i protect my apples from the codling moth and other pests by first thinning then bagging all the remaining baby apples. It's got to be done quickly as the moths are starting to appear and i have a couple of hundred apples left to cover. I'll show you when it's done. cheers.........

it started with one

2011-10-25T15:09:00.005+11:00

small house brooch that is -for Anne Marie's birthday back in July.

But like all good ideas and locations, it soon grew into a village, an environmentally friendly village as it uses only scraps and repurposed bits and bobs.

You may have seen some of these before and i apologise for repeating myself but these are a few of the more recent ones. Above for Pamela also in July, she loves purple as you can see.

These two went to Tasmania last week, one person turned 40, the other loves her cats

and this one is in the mail to somewhere in Europe.

This last one is on its way to a person who gives and does so much for others that it's time she received a surprise for herself. No guesses please.

These little houses are a joy to make, they are slowly changing and i start simply with a scrap of batting and thoughts of the person for whom i'm making it. oh and btw, they are all wearable as they have a pin backing embedded in felt. If you're nice to me (bribery?) don't be surprised if you end up finding one in your mailbox one day!

abandoned?

2011-10-24T14:38:00.004+11:00

An abandoned gold mine? with the price of gold as i type at $US 1643/ounce,

it's hard to believe that there could be a gold mine anywhere that's abandoned...

but i think it is, except for the local fauna and flora.

As you can see by this blue stone granite wall, there was once a substantial building here at Lucknow, but i guess their luck ran out.

And here's a taster for next Monday, what's behind this door? for those who know the area, it's at the corner of Hen and Chicken Lane. Isn't that a wonderful street name? hmmm.......

on dyes and teeny houses

2011-10-23T16:40:00.002+11:00

Still experimenting when the dye mood hits, and above is a mixture of beetroot and eucalypt leaves, with a dash of onion and old copper. I discovered i had a few silk cords in the stash so threw one of them in as well. I like it.

And this one is new, the plant is Aralia or Fatsia japonica which i discovered in our park's greenhouse, see below. I haven't found any reference to it used as a dye plant before so i'm claiming it!! as you can see it's a lovely dark dusky pink.

I've also been busy brushing up on my house making skills, little brooches,
little treasures which are gentle to make and completely absorbing. They use up a few scraps, but can also create more.

And lastly a tease, raspberry fizz for someone who will go unnamed, make what you will of the pic! chuckle........

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend, our weather here in the Central Tablelands, Australia is warming up, getting close to max of 30 C, but the nights are still cool, in the single digits, so it's all good for now.

flower and flight just a walk in the park

2011-10-21T07:46:00.005+11:00

Come for a walk in the park with us in Bathurst, it's Springtime
Black swans mate for life, aren't they a lovely couple,

but look what she does for a bit of quiet time, buries her head under her wing and just floats, around and around.

Here's one park entrance, opposite the Catholic Cathedral, and those aquilegia were absolutely beautiful.

Mum in front of the rotunda, walking well, stepping out.

The old fountain with wonderful gargoyles, but too far to take a pic of them,

so a closer look at the rotunda and its fleurs, pansies i think.

A very cool fernery with these ancient old Italian marble statues, there's a large fence between me and them or i would have closed in on their faces better.

It's a lovely winding fernery, cool on a hot day.

and lastly 2 gorgeous lilacs, Bathurst seems to be alive with lilacs right now.

cheerio everyone, enjoy your weekend when you get to it.

mid week eclectica

2011-10-19T15:51:00.004+11:00

warning - randomly added pics.....

the reason being that i'm working on a few surprises for my PIF participants and you wouldn't want them to know what they're getting ahead of time now would you?
Above is Mum's little "daffodil" which she made this week from a pattern in her omiyage book by Kumiko Sudo.

Noticed this morning - a pole wrapped in graffiti crochet in Keppel St, Bathurst. Fabulous surprise and it might stir me on to do some now.

One small dog who knows where the morning sun lies, found it himself and didn't bother to ask permission.

My vegie garden now, in mid October. Currently planted are broccoli, bok choy, lettuce, strawberries, caulis, broad beans, silver beet, beetroot, purple carrots, red onions, asparagus, tomatoes, zuccini, snow peas......the list goes on. Tonight i'll be game enough to plant out my pumpkin seedlings and more tomatoes. Every evening i have to cover a few frost tender babies with a special frost cloth, and so far it's working well, fingers Xed.

And talking of asparagus, it's wild roadside asparagus time again, where i brave snakes and whatever else to find a few stalks of the delicious stuff. I grow it so don't need to go foraging but i love the hunt.

See you later, thanks for dropping by and come back on friday for a walk in the park in Bathurst.

abandoned?

2011-10-17T07:37:00.003+11:00

Last thursday we went exploring, looking for more abandoned places.....found this, very close to the roadside, a narrow winding dirt road. Surely this one is abandoned?
So i ventured in past the gate, what does 1 mean ?

It's wattle and daub, an original in this area, covered in a mix of ash and clay, possibly a bit of cement.
I wanted to get closer and photograph the exposed wattle and daub, but something i saw stopped me, it's not abandoned. Can you spot what i saw? i'll answer in the comments.

But wouldn't you rust lovers out there love to play with this piece of rusted curlicues.

Have a lovely week everyone. Our days are sunny and warming up but there was a frost last night. Fortunately i thought ahead and covered the tomatoes, beans and zuccini - whew! i know i shouldn't plant them out until Melbourne Cup Day, first tuesday in November, but i do try to beat the timeline. cheerio....

white - flower and flight on friday

2011-10-14T14:42:00.005+11:00

mostly white anyway, maybe a touch of yellow or grey......white apple blossom, there are 5 apple trees in my garden, 4 have white blossoms but the fifth has dark red, which is fab for dyeing.

I never thought i'd like white pansies so much, but these are just perfect.

White irises or lilies planted for my Aunt Sylvia several years ago by Mum, after my Aunt passed away. They bloom every year to remind us. There's also a double may next to them, you can see a tiny sprig.

White geranium, saved along with about a dozen other geraniums from the old lady's place which has recently been bought by a developer. We've also saved her daffodils, gladioli, a lilac, aspidistra and rhubarb.

Tiny teeny white grevillea with masses of flowers, and bees.....
and white hakea which has a very strong perfume.

Lastly, it's not exactly a bird or moth and i don't know how well you can see them (try enlarging) but this is one example of the many flyovers we were "treated" to last weekend when the Bathurst 1000 motor race was on here at Mt Panorama. One time they flew so low i thought they'd touch the roof, and of course i didn't have the camera in hand. The noise was horrific, one would be forgiven for thinking we were in a war zone. Such a waste of fuel and energy, but i did find i raced out the door each time to catch a glimpse.

Well that's it for me this friday, hope you all have a pleasant weekend and try to get a bit of gardening in.

PIF and midweek yarns

2011-10-12T19:37:00.010+11:00

Look at what the postie brought, all the way from Finland...they are my PIF handmade gifts from Ulla of Kotkarankki and she generously included a beautiful little bag for Mum as well. Ulla's gifts are so professionally made and beautiful, a large shopper bag and a knitting needle case, plus Mum's delightful quilted bag for special items such as chocolates or dried flowers. Thankyou Ulla, from both of us.

Of course that now means i have to get on and start making gifts for my 3 PIF recipients and maybe they (Martine, Annette and Nanette) might start thinking about finding PIF partners themselves for next year.

Above is my finished mitred cross blanket, started in May of this year. I'm not normally this slow at finishing something but i've had a few other challenges thrown onto the path such as a whole bunch of charity knitting. This one's for me, i've long dreamed of dreaming under an orangey blanket.

Now, can you guess what this "yarn" is? it's not this colour, i turned the photo sepia to make it harder to guess. I haven't knitted with it before and it was a challenge but it's interesting as it holds its own weight to a certain extent.

Finally a bag, actually it's a handbag, made out of a recycled denim skirt of a very popular brand here in our coast and surf loving country.
There's a pocket inside as well, and all the outside pockets work just as they would on the original skirt. I really like it and will try making more. Using a skirt was a blessing, i didn't have to cut off the legs or reshape the crutch. Back to the Op shops tomorrow to find more skirts.

My apologies to anyone who thought i'd posted this a few minutes ago, the dog was growling at me to take him outside and i pressed the wrong button in a hurry. Enjoy the rest of the week everyone.

abandoned?

2011-10-10T15:39:00.004+11:00

a change of scene with this abandoned? post, the sign says it all.....a very old cemetery just outside of Orange NSW,
it hasn't been in use for well over 150 years, but someone keeps it mowed.

next time i visit i'll take some crayons and do a few rubbings,

look at this one, the marks are done very simply and with minimal tools,

compared to this one which was made professionally by a stone mason, for a man who died in 1817, 24 years before the date on the sign at the top.

We often stop here after shopping in Orange, have a late lunch and t/a coffee while enjoying the peace and quiet. There's something about cemeteries that invites quiet reflection.

An update on the first abandoned? post in early September, i've since found out that an old man lived there alone until a few years ago, he died and since then the place has been deserted as the rest of the family live further out and don't go there all. It is truly abandoned and falling down, but no i'm not venturing inside that gate - none of my business and i'd hate to think what i might find. He was somewhat of a recluse to put it mildly, so i'm told.

colours - of earth and opals

2011-10-09T14:34:00.004+11:00

i've been tinkering with colours again lately, and sometimes the results are worth sharing...have i crushed up opals and used them for dyeing?

beautiful colours aren't they.....
the green is from an old copper pipe, the red from a camellia and the blues from 2 irises.

and lastly woven earth. playing with woven dyed and torn strips of silk and cotton, you haven't seen this before, this is my 2nd one like it. the colour of the woven strips is La Compost! the woollen twill was overdyed with just a couple of brown onion skins as the original colour is just a light fawn.

hint for the day: if you have some fabric that you like but the colour isn't quite right then try overdyeing it. the silk opalescent on the top of this post was originally a quiet eucalypt brown, you can still see smudges of it, but then a friend gave me the 3 flowers and suddenly i struck an opal reef.

indigenous flower and flight on friday

2011-10-07T09:25:00.005+11:00

i thought i'd give you an Aussie treat this friday morning, so it's native or indigenous flower and flight only....i have 4 types of spiky grevillea here, the first above is the pink one, the most beautiful pink.

Caught while eating fresh paddock flowers this morning, the male crimson rosella above (check his call here)

and nearby a crested pigeon, just so very delicate in its colouring, like a pink grey pearl. Watch them feeding and playing here, just scroll down a little.

Right at the base of one of my eucalypts, a green moth ( i looove my new Nikon!).

Another grevillea, red pink with creme touches

and a honey yellow grevillea. The garden is alive and buzzing with trillions of bees, both native and the imported honey bees.

Lastly a teeny tiny grevillea, this one is so small that i always have trouble photographing it but the bees have no trouble finding it. Have a lovely weekend my dears, it looks as tho we might have even more rain here in Bathurst.

midweek news - knit, stitch and walk

2011-10-05T19:52:00.005+11:00

Care for a bowl of christmas socks anyone? I've just about finished the ball of 3-coloured chrisssie wool and have made approximately 20 little christmas night stockings ready to be filled with sweets or chocs or a tiny toy for an underprivileged child somewhere in the universe. I'm just one of a team of Jan Mac's maker elves each doing our bit to help.

Next on the agenda is a bit of hand stitching and raw strip weaving. The fabrics were all dyed using a bundle of eucalyptus mulch found on the roadside, and the different fibres have coloured up with different but harmonious tones. The lightest one is silk and cotton so it absorbed the least.

And i took Mum for a river walk yesterday, in the sun as it was a perfect Spring day by the Macquarie river. She wanted me to take a pic of this magnificent old house at the bend of the river and it makes me wonder what era i'm in and perhaps what country or state. Apart from the electricity and telstra poles we could be in 18th C Tasmania, or England.

abandoned?

2011-10-03T08:08:00.004+11:00

miles from nowhere, no obvious purpose, too small for habitation, not an outback dunny........

wet day

2011-10-01T18:09:00.002+10:00

it was a wet day, all day,
no let up,
it's still raining.

so i stitched, i'm trying something a bit different, 3 dimensional,
and Mum jigsawed. she's got 500 pieces here, it's a challenge.
i also unrolled 2 bundles, wishy-washy, the large piece is from the Euc leucoxylon with the pink flowers, while the smaller is from a poppy - which wasn't even pink, go figure!

flower and flight on friday

2011-09-30T11:38:00.005+10:00

this post should really be called "can you see them?"can you see the bee near this grevillea? in reality there were squillions, i simply held the flower in focus and waited 3 seconds before shooting. i am amazed that i didn't get stung, and the noise was deafening.

now this is where the real "can you see them" comes into play. every afternoon i walk Charlie in the paddock behind, and on the path i encounter tiny little sounds, followed by equally tiny movements - they are there on the path, but i'll bet you can't see them.

now can you see them?

you should now......

Yay! here they are up close with the camera maxed out, the tiniest most delicate little birds you can imagine.

Double-barred finches, Taeniopygia bichenovii . Described as having a neat "owl face", a brownish grey bird, white face with black border, black wings spotted white, white chest with 2 narrow black bands above and below it. Said to have a high pitched nasal 'tiaah' call. They seem to feed on the short grass near the path, the parts where i mow to make it safer for us to walk, and presumably for them to feed. To read more click here.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. This weekend in Aus, and presumably NZ also is colloquially known as "The Festival of the Boot" - i'll leave you guessing but most blokes and a few sheilas will know.

unbundling, wrapping and pouching

2011-09-29T09:26:00.005+10:00

Caught in the act, this beautiful poppy slowly unbundles its gift. i later ecoprinted the petals and was rewarded with a delicate apricot and yellow print on dupion.
Someone, was it Carol? wanted to see a couple of long views of my garden so here you are Carol. the kitchen garden takes up the centre third of the backyard, and under the wrapped section i have young broccoli plants, protected from birds and white butterfly.

Another view, this time from the lower section and looking up, there is a huge variety of plants in the whole garden, many for attracting various beneficial insects and birds, some for food, some for dyeing and/or basketry and others just flew in over the fence and were allowed to stay. The bare canes in the mid ground are raspberries.

A small pouch to keep my new camera close at hand. This is just the prototype, to see if the size works, i would like to make more decorative ones but for now this one suits my purpose. It is lined and altho most of you know how to do that already i had to work it out for myself, so i'm pretty pleased with it.

It's windy and rainy here today, we've had about 40mm overnight with very strong and dense winds. a good day for indoor stuff such as knitting.

Oh and bye the way before i go, i still have one place left for the PIF handmade which i talked about a few days ago. Nanette and Martine have kindly agreed to join up, and i'd like one more. You won't have to do anything until next year and even then you have a year to make your PIF gifts for others. Think about it, otherwise i'll donate my third gift to someone who i think is very worthy, possibly a charitable cause.

abandoned?

2011-09-26T18:02:00.002+10:00

Truly international!

Out of the Blue and PIF Handmade

2011-09-25T09:30:00.008+10:00

A parcel of blues flew in my door right out of the blue last week. A delightful surprise, various fabrics and paper dyed with indigo from the lovely Martine in the Netherlands. We all know Martine at ateliercolore but unfortunately her blog is down for a time so the link doesn't work very well right now, sorry. Thankyou, thankyou Martine, i love our worldwide sharing community.

Now, on the subject of sharing communities, i'm going to introduce you to an idea which i'm hoping some of you will embrace - it's PIF, known variously as Pay It Forward or in Aussieland as Pass It Forward. I'm going to call it Pass It Forward handmade (PIFh) as we like to subvert things a little downunder here.

Now that i hope i've got you interested here's what it's all about. I make small handmade-by-me gifts which i send to you and 2 others and you in turn make something which you send to 3 others. I probably haven't explained that very well so i'll try again: i'm asking 3 people to comment here and agree to come aboard on this project. Each person will receive a small handmade item from me and each in return will "pass it forward" by making and sending on a gift to 3 others. So i make 3 and gift them on, those 3 each make 3 and gift them on, then on and on it goes, spiralling ever upwards. Soon there will be a lovely worldwide PIF handmade community out there. Each PIF partner also blogs about it so that we know who we all are and others can be encouraged to join in.

I was asked to join in with PIF by Ulla in Finland, there are two links to PIF on her blog which i found, both here and here. Another link i found which i liked is here. You'll see that it is a small item, and made with the person in mind such as preferred colour or style.

Ulla said that one has 12 months to make these 3 items and pass them on after receiving your's, but i'd like to keep the idea warm by speeding it up, as much as one's time allows. 12 months would be the outside limit, i'm more inclined to make it 3 or 4 so if you are one of my PIF partners you could receive your gift before the New Year, all being well.

Please note, these are not for sale. If you google PIF handmade you'll find that many of these items are for sale on etsy or ebay. Wrong idea, it is supposed to be about passing on a favour not selling. OK?

I'd like it also if we had a button for our sidebar - Ulla do you know if there is one? If we can't find one then i'll make one, so we are immediately identifiable.

Thanks Ulla for the idea, and the invitation. I'm looking forward to being part of this.

Bathurst Farmers Market today

2011-09-24T12:50:00.004+10:00

A highlight of the calendar here in Bathurst NSW is the Farmers Market on the 4th Saturday of each month.I've been meaning to show you pics of the Market and today seemed just right, being mid Spring.
The Market is held in the historic Bathurst Showgrounds, and stalls are both inside and out.

There is fresh produce grown in the region - fruit, veg, organic meats, olive oils,

honeys, eggs,
plants of all types which are grown around here and therefore should survive in this climate.

You can get a coffee, fresh cooked breakfast, cakes and breads and sit for a while chatting.

There's a few buskers too, usually children which is good for them to learn to play in front of a tame audience. Have a lovely weekend folks, whether Spring or Autumn/Fall, now is a lovely time to be outdoors.

flowering and flying on friday

2011-09-23T06:56:00.007+10:00

It's the Spring Equinox at 7pm tonight, so here's a quick check of what's newly flowering this week. Above are the massed beauty of the dwarf Eucalyptus leucoxylon flowers at my front gate (tho there's no gate as such).

This is what i call a "blood tulip" for obvious reasons. I did nothing to this tulip all year, didn't dig it up and refrigerate it, didn't fertilise it, forgot about it in fact. Beautiful isn't it.

A potted camellia, under the shade house.

Absolutely the essence of feminine to me, flowers on my sundowner apple.

The red crab apple in flower, it gives wonderful and very strong dye colours on silk and wool, from the leaves, flowers, tiny shrivelled apples or even the twigs.

More tulips, these are also neglected ones, they seem to be the best ones this year.

The yellow faced honey eater ( borrowed photo from a biodiversity site). I saw a couple come through here on their annual migration south, but didn't have the camera to hand. Quite small, a child's hand size, they fly in small groups and are very quick to move on after grabbing a beak full of those eucalyptus flowers in the first photo above.

is it christmas yet?

2011-09-21T14:28:00.006+10:00

NO, no no no i can hear you all yell at me and as for me i don't usually "do" christmas but

some people do and especially kids.

The story behind these boots is that Jan Mac in Victoria, who i often do charity/comfort knitting and quilting with, has been asked to provide 5000, yes 5K, of these or similar little christmassie boots which can be filled with sweets, lollies etc for disadvantaged kids at christmas. So i said i'd help out and make a few, and the above are my trial runs. They're not bad, in fact kinda cute i reckon.

If you'd like to help also i'll write up my knit pattern below. i've tweaked Jan's pattern just a touch.

8 ply, DK yarn with 4mm needles. Cast on 25 stitches leaving enough yarn at the first loop to stitch up the foot.

1. K1, (Kf&b, K1), repeat brackets to end, K1. (37 sts)

2 - 8. Stocking stitch 7 rows beginning with a purl (P) row.

9. K14, (K2Tog) twice, K1, (SSK2Tog) twice, K14. (33 sts)

10. Purl

11. K12, (K2Tog) twice, K1, (SSK2Tog)twice, K12. (29 sts)

12. Purl

13. K10, (K2Tog) twice, K1, (SSK2Tog) twice, K10. (25)

14. Purl

15. K11, K2Tog, K12. (24)

16 - 26. St. stitch 11 rows beg with a P row.

27 - 32. Garter (all knit) 6 rows (3 ridges).

Bind Off. Make a short single stitch chain of about 11 sts at the end of the bind off for the loop.

Stitch up.

Note: SSK2Tog is slip, slip, knit 2 together. It can be easily substituted for K2Together if you don't know it.

One boot takes me only about an hour from initial cast on to stitch up, so i can manage about one a day in between everything else in this very busy Spring season. They are only about 41/2 inches long, the inch marker in the photo is accurate. The address to send any you might make is over on Jan's blog or else email her.

Happy Knitting anyone who wants to, these little treats are quite fun.

bull kelp vessel

2011-09-20T11:52:00.003+10:00

Sail away in a beautiful bull kelp boat.

My Mum, Coralie, made this charming little vessel about 10 years ago from bull kelp she harvested from the beach in northern Tasmania. The doll's hair is from beach grass and there are a few found beach objects adorning the whole.

Apparently the kelp is quite easy to work, it's really just like leather and can be stitched, manipulated and folded while semi dry. Just rinse it first to wash off the salt.

It's also very durable, and has had absolutely no maintenance. Penny, up in Nova Scotia, showed some kelp on the beach in one of her posts recently so it reminded me to photograph this little sail away doll of Mum's. I think the face is just from air dry clay and the body is bundled cloth and fleece.

I've been trying to encourage Mum to have her own blog but she doesn't want to so i'll start to show some of her projects past and current here for her. Enjoy.........k.

abandoned?

2011-09-19T07:58:00.003+10:00

a ramble thru Rydal daffodil gardens

2011-09-18T12:37:00.006+10:00

Daffodils at Rydal Village are a favourite annual event for us, but this year we concentrated on two gardens in particular, Karingal and Chapel House. Come and enjoy the ramble with us, only a few words are needed.

These first few were taken at Karingal which is an 1860s cottage set in the country side near Mt Lambie, NSW.

Mum has found a new freedom with her "giddy cart", she can enjoy walking and photographing without worry.

I love the contrast of daffodils and gum trees.

Now we've moved on to Chapel House just outside of Rydal Village. This crab apple arch is magnificent.
Convict hewn sandstone, great pattern for a future quilt.

Chapel House, circa the early 1900s.

I really like this shot of Mum with the giant daffys, we had lunch here on the swing behind. Smoked salmon, avocado and home grown lettuce sandwiches.

Magnificent extensive daffodil gardens,

and even more daffys. I could go on and on but i won't just now. I'll save the close-up daff images for another post.

Lastly a pic of me taking a pic of an old teddy in a window at Karingal. Hope you enjoyed this ramble with us, cheers.

flowering and flying on friday

2011-09-15T20:06:00.005+10:00

I might start a new friday series for Spring based on "flowering and flying on friday" - just try saying that out loud quickly......now hot off the camera this morning and mostly new this week:A pair of King parrots (Alisterus scapularis), very rare visitors to this garden but they must have heard about the wild bird seed bell. They come in to sample it and then find that one of the gum trees is in flower so move off to eat tasty Euc leucoxylon flowers. The male is the one with the red head and the female has the green.

Here they are again, and behind them a long way off is that view of the old houses.

Can you see the bee's bum as she/he samples the wattle pollen?

Freesias and a little lamb by the front door

and a self sown freesia at the edge of the house brickwork. It's been there a few years now and getting larger.

Needle hakea in full bloom, excellent safe nesting habitat for small birds.

Young leaves (for Penny) and flower buds on my red crab apple.

A late blooming pure white daffodil in a garden of almost spent yellow daffys.

And lastly white hellebores hiding almost under a conifer. Thanks for visiting my open garden, come back next week for more. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

R U OK? Day - Thursday 15th September 2011

2011-09-14T13:16:00.007+10:00

Hands up who saw Australian Story on ABC 1 on Monday night? It really touched a chord in me.

R U OK? Day (are you OK? day), an Aussie campaign to combat depression and help prevent suicide.

Thursday 15th September, do you know someone who you are concerned about? a friend or family member, even someone who you see or speak to casually. Can you spare a few moments to ask them if they are OK, to show them you care?

R U OK? is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which provides a national focus on suicide prevention by asking Aussies to stay connected with people in their lives and talk honestly about things which may be troubling them.

Pop over to the website of R U OK? to read more and perhaps to get an idea of how to go about talking to someone who you think may benefit right now from a friendly conversation. The website has a lot of information on it including links to other care and support organisations such as Beyond Blue, Black Dog, Reach Out and Head Space.

Go check it out now and remember - R U OK?

a collective feather

2011-09-12T15:08:00.008+10:00

a feather of joy, of cooperation and community.......

take a 5" square piece of recycled cotton cloth, over dyed in indigo,

stitch a simple feather with found embroidery floss,

name it, sign it, post it.

in about 12 days this piece should join up with many others over in the collective Feather Project at spiritcloth where eventually jude will stitch them all together and put the cloth/s to some charitable use for children.

i decided to join in with this project because of its community involvement. I'm not a "magic" person, but the spirit of collective stitching and giving for a charitable use resonated with me, and maybe it will with you also. you'll find all the details on the link above.

an offering for this day

2011-09-11T13:24:00.001+10:00

peace feather from a peaceful dove

kid's blanket finished

2011-09-09T19:39:00.005+10:00

Just a short post tonight to show my finished knitted woollen blanket for the Born to Knit campaign for Save the Children Australia. It took me 3 weeks to make, one square a day most days and of course another day or 2 for sewing together the strips and for crocheting the outer edge to finish it off nicely.

Their goal is 15 000 blankets, which will be sent to kids in Laos, India and Cambodia to help keep them warm and fend off colds, flus and pneumonia. As of last friday they had about 1 700 finished blankets, a great start but many more are needed. The closing date is friday 30th September. I'll be posting mine on monday.

Have a good weekend dear bloggie friends, take some time out to reflect on kindness - both for yourself and others. Stay safe and stay in contact.

remembering, repotting and anticipating

2011-09-08T15:58:00.005+10:00

There is an old abandoned house nearby. I occasionally wander around it ostensibly to "keep an eye on it", whereas in reality i am dreaming about the plants which continue on without any assistance from us humans. Yesterday i was told that the house and its land have been sold to a developer, so i rescued a small clump of these beautiful and very delicate ancient daffodils. I used to visit the lady who lived here, so in replanting these daffys i am remembering Ruth.

In anticipation of a bountiful Spring and Summer i have tried to beat the weather and get in early with a hanging pot of tumbler tomatoes. The old timers here say you can't plant toms outside until the week of the Melbourne Cup (2nd tuesday in November), so this pot is treated like a baby and carried everywhere that i can find sun and warmth, and brought inside at night. Already it has an early flower bud or 2, so i talk to it as i move it around. It's a funny thing about Aussie gardeners, for some reason we Must grow our own tomatoes whenever we can.

There has been a lot of re-potting going on here this last week. I have 17 geraniums (pelargoniums) in pots, some bought, some salvaged from Ruth's and others from un-remembered places. Above are 3 which were slipped last Spring and survived the Winter well, and will grow happily in their new pots. I can't grow them in the ground because our frosts would kill them, but pots under a light roof seem ok for most.

A few salvaged pansies which had sown themselves into the pots of others, ferals, wild things, and very pretty.
Spring seems very yellow,

my lovely Ovens wattle which protects the Spring green house, provides food and shelter for the native birds, and is a visual splendour.

Talking of houses, here is a tiny house at the back of the old farmhouse across the paddock from us. Can you see the tiny one windowed, gal iron roofed original building. I'd love to explore it but i can't get any closer than this unfortunately.

Expect to see more old tiny houses here as this area is an early settlement one due to gold and fertile ground, and many of the originals still survive in part or whole. I love tiny old houses, and even lived in one 30+ years ago which was originally an old one room school.

Spring

2011-09-04T08:00:00.000+10:00

dragonfly for Penny

gentleness

simplicity

colour, warmth and comfort for sick kids

2011-08-30T20:20:00.003+10:00

Save the Children Australia, through the website Born to Knit, are aiming to distribute 15,000 knitted wool blankets to children in India, Cambodia and Laos to keep them warm and try to prevent illnesses such as colds, flu and pneumonia. It's a nice size to knit so i thought i'd make one. Day Two above, i can knit one square a day.

Day four - the bowl of wools is getting larger tho, not less.

Day five, starting on the 2nd row, and the "magic pudding bowl" is filling up even more, not emptying.

One week into the project and two rows are knitted and stitched together.

This is where i am now, halfway up the 3rd row. That bowl of wool seems to be filling up from underneath!

Knitting on, in a different direction helps when it comes time to stitch the rows together.

I cast on the same number of stitches and knit along, knitting 2 stitches together where the live stitches meet. It's a nice effect and stops the wrap from stretching badly in one direction.

Thanks for all your lovely comments last time. All the current medical issues are now being dealt with and we're back to the status quo again. whew!!

early Spring @ Cook Park, Orange NSW

2011-08-27T14:19:00.004+10:00

We had a most delightful day yesterday, the weather was warm, the sky was blue, Coralie bought a new pair of shoes and we had lunch at Cook Park.

She loves Cook Park, we first visited here when i was 2 and she often tells me about it. She was recovering from a bout of pneumonia and she was already functionally a single Mum, which was tough in those days.

We admired the daffodils,
the pansies,
the beautiful hyacinth and matching pansy garden.
Here's a closer pic of the hyacinths,
and their pansy partners.
Lastly i found a tiny patch of hidden cyclamen.

I've been missing from here for a couple of weeks, thankyou to those who have so very kindly enquired as to our wellbeing. There have been a few medical issues, for both of us, and it has taken some time to sort thru them as well as learn to use this macbook, which i still think is not much more than a wind-up toy. I may be missing again for a bit as i found a melanoma on Mum's leg last night which will require some medical attention. At 86, life just seems to get tougher for her.

early Spring colour

2011-08-15T21:08:00.004+10:00

I was asked to show a pic of the japonica (aka Japanese quince) when in full bloom, so here it is with a bonus -

....can you see the bird's nest? i think it's a blackbird's nest. i discovered it when pruning.

snowdrops, i love these simple white and green bells. when we lived in Sydney they bloomed around my birthday, but out here they are a bit late.

I don't usually indulge in frilly, but i just had to try this new ribbon yarn. It's knitted in a very simplistic but different way to usual knitting. i have another ball, as you can see, and i have plans for using it in a different way.

Now back to the practical - i was given 28 x 8" squares to stitch together to make a wrap for Wrap with Love. It took me a week to stitch them up but it's not the size they ask for so i will now have to stitch a wide border all around. That's ok, there is no time limit. It's an eye dazzler isn't it, but my dark blue border will tone it down.
Lastly here's a close-up of the "invisible" stitch that i'm using for the seams. If you don't know it then look up "mattress" or "ladder" or invisible stitch. It is invisible when done well and when using the same colour yarn as the original. The lady who knitted these squares very kindly left a good 12" of yarn at the beginning and end of every block so i had plenty to use when stitching them together.

I'm still having problems with using this new #*%^&** computer, and i have gone over my monthly internet allowance and i'm still in pain with sitting so i won't be around as before for another week or so yet. Apologies for not visiting yours but hopefully all will be sorted by the end of the month.

Knit-In for Wrap with Love at Bathurst

2011-08-06T17:30:00.004+10:00

We were so lucky it was a sunny day yesterday at Miss Traill's heritage cottage in Bathurst for our Knit In for Wrap with Love.Above is what Coralie and i took along, 2 sets of 4 knitted and already joined squares, 4 crocheted squares and a full size wrap which i was asked to stitch together out of 28 x 10" squares. We felt quite happy with our achievements.
It was a lovely day in the sun, above is a pic of Sister Michelle who organised the Bathurst's Knit In and behind her some of the gorgeous wraps which the Bx community has made. We counted about 50 or maybe more which will be sent off this week.
Mum came along and helped stitch squares together. Look at all those wraps, aren't they beautiful. Eventually they will be sent to people around the world who are suffering in extreme cold conditions.

Some of the ladies who were present to help stitch the squares together.
And our first daffodil of the season - the beautiful white caesar daffy.

This is my first post sent from the MacBook, the L plates are still on but little step by little step i might be getting somewhere (i hope!).....

Take good care of yourselves wherever you are and find a tiny opp to do something unexpected for someone else if you can. It's a good feeling.

a very steep hill being climbed

2011-08-03T17:39:00.003+10:00

No, not these little creations, they were a delight to make and were made before the hill appeared. More about the hill later, but for now....... - i can talk about these little early settler cottages, representing some of Bathurst's older homes.
These little pieces are brooches, but they feel like soft cookies, they're lovely to hold.

I started by making one for AMD as it was her birthday in July

and one for Pamela, her's is one of the purple ones above, but then i couldn't stop and had to make several more. I just love them pinned all together, like a tiny old gold mining village of which there are quite a few around here.

Now, back to The Hill.

A rat ate the car's electrics over one night a week ago,

my 5 yo Dell is still threatening to die at any moment,

the 13 yo dog went right off colour and refused food and water over the weekend,

i had a nasty fall onto concrete which has put a stop to me sitting for long,

and i made a rash decision and bought a new Mac notebook - after using a PC for about 12 years!

Update on the above: the car is better and the rats have relocated (fingers Xed);

the dog is now ok, he had jarred his shoulder;

Dell is not yet quite dead and i have managed to transfer most stuff over to Mac;

bottom is still sore;

the penny is slowly dropping with using the Mac, but i wouldn't recommend it for others with no experience unless you have a lot of time and a nice Macperson nearby.

Please bear with me for a while yet, i shall return soon.

a rare visit

2011-07-29T22:08:00.006+10:00

Captured in mid flight - what is it? read on to find out more...... We don't often have Crimson Rosellas (Platycercus elegans) visit us here, so i was overjoyed to see them during the week. First the curious landing, but why here on the fence and the neighbour's trophy house downpipe?

Ah hah, i think i understand, but how clever they are. I have a very small coastal banksia with only two flowers on it growing in this wilderness. Can you see the one on the fence top? They walked up the fence to this point.

Here they are, a close-up. The banksia is very small so they have to take it in turns.

First your turn then mine, i'll wait over here as look out. Do you notice that the one on the left has a green back, that indicates an immature male.

Oh, something has disturbed them (probably me) and one flies off while the other watches.

Here's a close-up of the mature one, it has blue feathers on it's back and tail, where the immature one is more of a green olive. They gradually change to the blue tail and body colouring about the age of 15 months. Do you want to hear their call? click here for the mp3 audio.

I'm sorry i haven't visited any of your blogs recently but I haven't been on the internet all week. It's not been a good week as the computer was in at the doctor's and the car was invaded by small furry four legged critters which ate some of the car's engine electrics. Both cost me a heap and neither problem is fully resolved yet. I'm hoping to be back to normal programming again soon, but in the meantime i've still got a few little complications to sort. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves! ciao...

flowers for Norway

2011-07-23T22:34:00.003+10:00

Our sincerest condolences go to the people of Norway

Coralie and Kaite

friday flowers - still feels like Winter

2011-07-22T19:24:00.004+10:00

tho some could be forgiven for thinking it looks like the beginning of Spring. I had to search in the light but very cold fairy rain for these flowers but when i found them they were delightful to see.
My friend Sarah in Hobart, Tasmania has a beautiful one of these and she also wondered why they are flowering so early.

This hellebore, or winter rose, is hiding behind a tall skinny conifer, but it doesn't seem to be harmed at all by the overcrowding.

A very strong smelling white jonquil, breathe deep you will smell it.

The japonicas are set for a magnificent flowering soon.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and take good care of yourselves. byee.....