CHRISTMAS BEETLES

You know Christmas is just around the corner when these lovely beetles fly in for a visit. It's another warm and sunny day but the usual calm has been disrupted by a gaggle of painters. The colour scheme the owner's chosen is grey with blue trim! so this little happy house now looks like a little sad house. I can't wait until the contract is completed on the 21 December. We have already started to pack up things we don't need to use, it makes the settlement date feel closer. I'm going to leave the new house pink for a while and concentrate on painting inside and getting the lounge room floor sanded and polished before we move in.

HOME SWEET HOME

I've been to busy to blog or keep up with other bloggers, the great news is the house in the photo soon will be mine. My offer was accepted today at 11.50 am! the contract will be signed on the 21 December. The outside colour's a bit girlie, the three bedrooms are painted in very intense shades and the lounge room is a blotchy dark green. This was the main reason it hadn't sold and the fact the garden has been overgrown for months. Overall it's been well maintained an ideal first home, plus I got it for less than the asking price. Home Sweet Home.

1 MILLION WOMEN

Climate change, global warming and living in a sustainable way are important to my friends and family. This website is a fun way to chart your progress and be counted among the 1millionwomen of Australia who want climate action and change.

Overview:

We are 1 Million Women - daughters, mothers, sisters and grandmothers inspiring climate action. Our goal is to collectively cut 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas pollutant triggering climate change. Every woman who joins has a personal goal to cut 1 tonne of CO2 from their daily lives within a year of joining.

BUTTONS

I'm a bit of a miser these days, so when I went shopping for buttons I just couldn't justify splurging on them when they were over $1.00 a pop that's how my button collection started. There are rules- must be cheaper per button than I can buy here in Hobart (including postage). Must be an interesting button in colour, shape or pattern. They have to be used, no hording my pretties. So 17 vintage buttons, price under $10.00 total bargain!!!

BLACK COTTON CARDI

I've had to find a new pattern and yarn as the charcoal wool cardigan just wasn't working out. When I took what I'd knitted so far off the needles it seemed to be extremely long and stretchy. I could wrap it around my waist twice!!! and as I'm shaped like a large wombat I new something was wrong. So from the stash KATIA 10 ply bulky cotton-black, pattern DROPS 108-40 the test swatch matches exactly the yarn gauge and this time there will NOT be any changes to the pattern. I'm knitting one size larger as the cotton doesn't have a lot of give and I'm more of a cover up sort person. So far it's going smoothly but I've only knitted three rows.

FLOWER FROGS

I love flower frogs, this one is just like the one I've bought on eBay. There's something about green depression glass that makes me want to collect as much as I can find. It reminds me of Summer, grass clippings and aprons covered with flowers. On the knitting front my cardigan developed a problem (two holes) on the right front band. I was watching television not my knitting! then had to frog back almost to the beginning the holes turned out to be loose tension on the moss stitch part. I've decided it's time to find another cat, it's been two years since Ziggy (a very large, curry loving ginger and white moggy) had to be put down at the ripe old age of 21 3/4 human years. So in two weeks we'll visit the cat home and rescue a grown up cat as they seem to be the last to be picked. Ziggy was a rescued cat not from the cat home but from a friend who was leaving Tas, if I hadn't taken him his next stop was the cat home.

SEAMLESS CARDIGAN

Instead of glandular fever the extreme pain and swelling of my face, neck and glands has turned out to be a troubled tooth. My glands have been going up and down for about three months, there have been Dr's visits, blood tests all to no avail. So I did some research and came up with teeth! the dentist took one look found the culprit straight away. Poor tooth was in death throws and had to be removed, 24 hours later nearly all the swelling has gone there's no pain and I can drink warm tea and coffee. NEW KNITTING, I've started a seamless cardigan in a light charcoal fleck. The pattern is a mishmash of three patterns, I'm using the edging of the Debbie Bliss Cardi. (above), Elizabeth Zimmerman seamless sweater from Knitting Without Tears, I love the look of round yoke sweaters and cardigans, and a Drops A-line for the decreases. Just look at this gorgeous bunch of kale it's a most beautiful purple black almost to nice to eat.

MY GRAN

This is my Grandmother Lillian Blanche Pennyquick and although looking at this photo makes me sad it also brings back good memories. We used to spend most of the school holidays with her and we were aloud to run completely wild. I used to hate brushing my hair so when I was at Gran's I just didn't, she never forced me, she would wait until the night before we had to go home and after a bath I'd sit on the old poof in front of the fire and she would gently comb out all the knots. She also gave me some very good advice, don't get married before you're 25- 27 would be even better, always work and always have your own money in your own account. In this photo Gran's just received an award for being the longest serving postmistress in Australia (at that time) she died at age 82 in 1987 and was STILL working in the post office. There were chickens, wild hares, rabbits, cats, possums, if you were lucky field mice, a horse called Charlie and sheep who would sleep next to the bedroom window at night and snore. I used to have a war with a farmer about traps, he used them-I hate them, so I would hunt them down and set them off. We would go on all day explorations and as long as we got home before dark we could go anywhere.

MOHAIR UPDATE

The wrap is now over halfway done and kindly held up by Dan my flatmate. It's raining today so I'm going to make bread rolls to have with dinner tonight, the lounge room is toasty perfect for rising dough and the smell of baking bread is so delicious. Pushing Daisies has become a total addiction and I want to bake pies of every kind. I now have three pie funnels all I need now is the perfect pie dish, my heart's set on this one, Emile Henry in plain white it's just right for a single crust pie. Maybe chicken/leek or beef/mushroom, or spicy apple.

MORE MOHAIR

I'm now at the halfway mark with Mrs DEagle's wrap, It's been a fast knit thanks to the Tour De France, so hopefully she'll get it this winter rather than next years. First we had gastro now we have flu all thanks to D's work, I've been so cold, sore and achy all I've managed to do is a quick visit to wool shop, knit a little and plant some kale. kale's the most fantastic veg, I add it to everything! usually just wilted.

SNOW DAY

Mt. Wellington 7.00 AM, this photo's about a month old , the first real snow day of Winter. I love snow and cold weather, gumboots and mittens. On really cold wet school nights and after a hot bath, as a special treat we used to have grilled cheese and tomato on toast with mugs of hot Ovaltine made with milk. My brother would have five heaped teaspoons of Ovaltine, I'd have three.

GRAVEL MOHAIR THROW

This colour way's called GRAVEL (TeAwaWools Soft Spun Mohair/col-1233/12PLY/100gm), it's a lovely mix of black-grey-off white and a touch of midnight blue. So this is going to be another throw this time for my flatmate's Mum. I'll use 2x hanks, 10mm needles, cast on 90 stitches and the pattern will be blocks of knit x10 st./purl x10 st.

There's been two confirmed cases of Swine Flu at Mr. D's work ( my flat mate) he works in a hotel so it's not surprising. There were lots of protocols everyone had to follow while they were waiting for the test results and special gloves/masks/cleaning products to use. Mr. D said pigs around the world would be breathing a sigh of relief as they're not a favorite menu item at the moment.

SLIPPER BOOT UPDATE

The Aunt Alm Dorm Boots originally had two rows of purl in between the shaping rows of knit (k-p-p-k) if that makes sense, the outer (k) rows are the decreasing rows. I changed the purl to knit, it looks much neater. There was also a rib cuff that I've deleted, I'm sewing the two layers together and I'd like them to come just over the ankle so there's no need for it . I've struck a bit of a problem with the inner boots. The wool I'm using for them isn't as stiff as the carpet wool they're the same size and shape as the outer boots but when I joined the sole seam the shape changed and the seam doesn't fit well. So they've been frogged! and I'll try knitting them using a Turkish cast on.

ORFORD

While some major electrical work was being done my flatmate and I left the electricians in peace and drove to Orford. We stopped at Scorcher's Cafe for coffee and a piece of caramel cheesecake which was totally over the top in a good way. Spring beach was perfect, Orford always seems warm even in winter. Here are my new sensible boots that cost only $33.00!!! boys size 5 they're a little bit big but are fine with thick socks.

SLIPPER BOOTS

I've decided to knit a pair of booties instead of buying a new pair of Ugg's, the basic pattern is Aunt Alma's dorm boots with some changes. I'll felt together two separate boots the outside layer is made from carpet wool with the sole knitted with two strands (sole left open) and the inside layer is a soft pure wool knitted with two strands (sole closed) . The idea is to knit or use Kitchener stitch to join the boots together at the top cuff, sew the two layers together, sew outer sole closed then felt. I love buttons! here are the latest ones added to my stash.

CATCHING UP

I haven't been very good at keeping my blog up to date so this is what I've been up to. Waved at the Sea Shepherd, made lots of Easter buns but forgot to take any photo's of them when they were cooked, made up "learn how to knit" and "learn how to crochet" packs all from my own bits and pieces for a fund raiser, start another knitting project this time using my own pattern (it's going to be a neck warmer). Learn how to use my beautiful new camera Pentax K200, and get over the flu which for some reason made my eyes extremely sore .

FINISHED HEXAGAUGHAN BLANKET

Well here's the finished hexagaughan blanket, all the organizing and sewing up was done by cadbury's keeper I don't know how she managed to work and move house as well. This is the first knit-a-long where I've sent something overseas I didn't think my knitting was good enough before. I've just finished a set of organic cotton face cloths including a mitt for Mum's birthday now I have to start another mohair throw this one is for Dan's Mum in a lovely charcoal colour. On a sad note, my brother's dog Junior was hit by a car last week. How he managed to sneak out I don't know, he died very quickly and without any pain, the driver didn't stop but we think they just didn't know it was a dog not a pothole.

THE BOTHWELL SPIN IN 2009

On Friday I went to the Bothwell Spin In, said hello to the lovely alpacas then made my way around the yarn and fibre stalls, then watched a hall full of spinners spin. The top photo is hand spun super fine hand knitted lace, the white piece is medium weight super soft hand spun wool and it's knitted in one piece! it's finer than it looks in the photo. I bought a niddy noddy, 2x skeins of black alpaca (from Quamby Park Alpacas), 2x skeins of brown/cream mix wool (from Waratah fibres) and a maintenance kit for my spinning wheel. I managed to get this all done in 1 1/2 hours as we had to get back to town early. It was really special to see so many spinners in one place and to see people I only have contact with on the net. Colonial Lake Books were there as well but I was to shy to say it's me Amanda from Hobart and I love your books. I love the lady with the bright red spinning wheel it was the only coloured one I spotted.

VICTORIAN BUSH FIRES

When I was growing up we spent a lot of time in the country, each summer there were bush fire threats one year a fire came very close to my Grandmother's house two paddocks away. We had our fire plan and the house was fire ready but nothing prepares you for the heat , smoke and shear terror luckily it didn't get any closer thanks to the local fire service and volunteers. When I see the remains of town after town I want to do something to help. So I've donated to the

RED CROSS, SALVATION ARMY, RSPCA, WILDLIFE VICTORIA, there's also a Ravelry group called "Packages Down Under" where they are organizing care packages and yarn, needles etc packs, also you can knit 12"x 12" squares for blankets and there's a competition, all the information is at serendipity .

SANDLAND WARE

I now have three pieces from the CITRONE range by Lancaster & Sandland LTD. there's something about the creamy white and the yellow back that I love. This is the year I'm going to buy a house.

MY DREAM HOUSE

1. Would have room for mohair goats
2. A large vegetable patch, fruit trees
3. Chickens
4. Separate studio with power, water etc
5. Polished floorboards
6. Gas heater
7. Gas oven etc
8. Solar hot water
9. Grid connected solar panels
10. Grey water collection
11. Heaps of storage space
12. large rooms with high ceilings
13. Lots of water
14. Heaps of CHARACTER!!
15. Be by the sea

The reality will be very different, some of the Green options I can add to the house over time but space versus being close to town, town wins. I have to be close to a bus line as I don't drive. The dream lives on, you never know.

MORE HEXAGAUGHAN"S

Here are the last of my HEXAGAUGHAN'S the colours are softer than in the photo's. I'm not happy with the way the SSK PSSO turned out if I make any more I'll try knitting the stitches together. It's been so HOT, to hot to knit or cook at least we have cool nights with a sea breeze. When I lived in Melbourne my flat was like an oven and the cicadas would keep me awake for most of the night if I had the windows open.

HEXAGAUGHAN KNIT-A-LONG

The Great Hexagaughan Knit-A-Long is on! the Norah Gaughan lovers at Ravelry have started a KAL where everyone knits and sends their work to a nomminated address where they will be sewn into a very large blanket for Norah Gaughan. The extra hexes will be made into more blankets for charity. I like the idea that there will be hexagons from all over the world in one piece of work. I've made one so far and I'm hoping to make another two or three by Monday when they will be posted to America, the deadline is the 01-02-08 so they should get there in plenty of time.

COMPLETED MOHAIR THROW

Here it is! the taller than my Mother mohair throw, it's wider than it looks and very stretchy. I tried to do a swatch using the fir cone pattern but it's to tricky for me, the dark wool didn't help either. The scallop pattern is easy but hard to see using the brown wool so I thought a chevron pattern might work, time to try another swatch.

BROWN FIR CONE THROW

I've decided to knit a wrap\throw using brown wool and the fir cone pattern from the Harmony Guides volume 2 page 59. The pattern does not seem to complicated so I'll start the swatch tonight and see if I'm able to manage it. I think the pattern looks more like peacock feather eyes, there's a scallop pattern that would look good if fir cone's to hard. You know your getting old when there's a LOUD doof doof party in your street and you can't be bothered getting out of bed at 4.00 am to call the police even when you can smell the rubber from the wheelies. I told myself never mind you can have a nice afternoon lay down with a good book. Happy New Year!