Hello-Goodbye!!

Just a super quick note that we are going away for 5 days tomorrow............hopefully, I will be back with a blog entry quickly after we get home. Just going to the coast a couple of hours from here-fishing & rock pools for the kids & Ron, and peace & quiet for me........(sounds like a good plan you think?) Lots of other things to do, including a couple of craft shops to visit. I have stitching & knitting packed-I have found that I can knit when we are travelling. Catch you all soon!!

I took some pics......

........and am going to post them. Firstly a picture of "the nun". I know I said I would take a picture of it when I was done with part 2, but I figured I would do a picture now. I have had to put it onto scroll rods, so it's going a little slower as I have MTM on rods in the stand and I'm worried that if I take it off the frame it may not go on for a while!!

I also have a picture of a facecloth that I knitted-nothing complex but it's nice to finish something occasionally. Caitlin has already claimed it! I used an Anchor cotton yarn from Spotlight and this pattern

The colours are brighter in real life, and it feels quite soft.

And just to finish off, I found a photo of Caitlin on her first day at kindy so you can see how she has grown in 4 years.......yikes-that went fast!! lol

My, how she's grown......

Of course, the title would seem more appropriate if I had a picture of her as a young child or baby............

This is Caitlin, now 8 years old, on the day of her party, which was blessed by extremely unseasonally delightful weather. This, as you may imagine, made a party of 9 children much pleasanter for all concerned ;)

Ron has been to Moomba, and returned (in time for the school performance and Caitlin's birthday).

I have picked up a sleeping WIP - Chatelaine's Convent's Herbal Garden (aka the nun, because it's so much quicker to say lol), and enjoying it. You can see what it should look like when it is finished here Convent's Herbal Garden I'm thinking that I will finish part 2 (it was originally published as a monthly mystery of 12 parts) and then reconsider what I feel like working on.......... I will also take a picture then too so you can all see just how far I have to go!

I have Luke home with a yucky cold/virus (just picked him up from school) so I am going to look after him (whilst trying to not catch the thing myself!!)

Gasp

......yes, I am posting again already. It is day 3 of week 1 but for some reason I was thinking earlier today that it was week 2 (time flies!). I have already had one meeting and have been working on kid's costumes........I have a whole bunch of things to work on at home. And there is another meeting on Friday morning although that is only a welcome to new parents.

Now, for the promised pictures of the beanie....




























Shown here modelled (somewhat reluctantly) by the recipient Ron (DH). Knitted in Cleckheaton Country Silk (very nice to knit with) with a ridged rib brim and ss top.

I think I will stop now instead of rambling on aimlessly-a coffee and some stitching or knitting sounds just the thing though ;)

Holidays are over!

School holidays that is. And we survived. We went to the museum, art gallery (an eye opener for the kids what with all the naked statues/paintings etc LOL), fruit & veg market, shopping centre, library (crafts etc here also) as well as usual fun stuff and both kids got to sleep over at a friend's house (Ron & I went to Pirates of the Caribbean 2 that night).

Ron is heading off to Moomba for a 2 week stint in a weeks time, but he will get 2 weeks off afterwards, although it won't be immediately after he gets back.

My computer has been amalgamated with a laptop so I can use the laptop in the house and take it down to my stitching room and put it in a docking station to use the scanner, printer, etc. All the photos that I have saved are still on my old hard drive (which Ron still has to transfer some things from ) but this laptop has a card reader thingo so I can post a couple of pics that were still on the camera.
















The socks are the ones I knit for Luke for bedsocks and the car is Ron's new possible WIP. His Mum and Dad are getting ready to sell one of their blocks of land and Ron would like to restore this old Holden if he thinks it is viable..........it is currently in the garage under inspection.

I have been stitching on TW Storyteller and finished my first sock-the second is on the needles but has been superceded by a beanie for Ron as he has lost his and it gets cold of a morning on the way to the bus :)

I may start a Long Dog design of some kind soon-I caught up with my buddy Mel visiting from Dubai (only saw her for a couple of hours but she still managed to enable me lol) and saw her St Georges.........beautiful!

Have to go do some housework stuff-hopefully I will updated more regularly.........

Just Do It!

.....as they say! I have been putting off posting a new entry as I want to put up pics-model, bed socks, etc, etc, but whenever I get the time to blog I am not near my computer in my stitching room (where the cord for the camera lives and hence where all the pics also live). Because of this I don't blog at all. So I am "just doing it" and will get to the pics one day.

Nothing startling has been happening-we have all recovered our health; Ron got back yesterday from Melbourne for a couple of days work. School holidays start next week for 2 weeks-I have already booked some activities at the library for the kids, and have a few other trips planned, but hopefully it will be relatively uneventful (I say relatively since we are dealing with kids here LOL).

Craft wise I haven't been doing heaps of anything-I did finish Luke's bedsocks which do fit him (with some room to spare-essential in a 10yo who's feet are almost as big as mine) and he wears every night. I am back to my sock-turned the heel and will get back to them but am knitting some bootee/slipper things for our neighbours' new baby which should have been born last night. I picked up the Yarn Harlot's (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) new book Knitting Rules! which I had ordered through Angus & Robertson and enjoyed it very much. Also discovered that a shop here in town stocks yarn (mostly wool as it is a shop that stocks woollen products ie clothing, underblankets, etc) and at reasonable prices which is handy to know, I think. Stitching-wise I haven't done heaps, but I did pick up TW The Storyteller which hasn't seen much action since I started it on a stitching weekend. It will likely become my Guild Thursday night project since HAED designs can be tricky to concentrate on when much chatting is going on! Which reminds me that at the end of Oct a group of us from our Thurs night Guild group have a stitching weekend. We hire a couple of units about an hour's (??) drive from Adelaide and spend the weekend stitching, talking, eating, shopping, more talking, some drinking, etc.

OK-well that will do for now-hopefully pics will get done sooner (or later) but I'm off to have some quiet time before I have to go get kids from school..........

Been sick..........

.......not an exciting title, I admit, but says it all really. I originally had some sort of cold/virus thing, and when that was nearly done, we got hit with a nasty gastro bug. Thankfully Ron didn't succumb and we are all mostly well, except for our tender digestive systems.

Caitlin was luckily recovered for her Zoo Snooze (it would have been the end of the world if she had had to miss it!).

I have (between illnesses and after recovery) been working on HAED Owl & Pussycat, as well as HAED Snowflake QS. I actually looked at MTM (Chatelaine's Medieval Garden Mandala) as it is still set up on my stitching frame in my stitching room, and am contemplating working on it for a few hours each week-disasters aside! LOL Oh, and 3 weeks until school holidays........

I finished off a scarf in a chunkyish yarn for me today and must get Luke's bedsocks done now.

Oh, and it's been cold here at nights-like really cold!!! We expect it cold as we are up in the hills, but regularly under 0C is colder than I expect and -5C is just...........brrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! The days have been mostly clear and warm(ish)-ie 13-15C but that is the reason for the cold nights.

Must go and get kids to bed so I can have a coffee and stitch......or knit.........

Woohoo!

I finished the model-no pic at the moment as it is still on the camera and the cord is down in my stitching room. Actually I finished it at the beginning of the week, but since then it has been fairly hectic. Most of Wednesday was spent waiting for Ron's mum & dad to arrive at the airport (we didn't wait in the airport-but their flight kept getting delayed for various reasons, but we eventually got them). Thursday was spent at a seminar (it was interesting). Our group at the Embroiderers Guild has just put up a display and I dragged out the 2 Mirabilia's that I have done for that (not framed, but I am planning on getting one of them framed at least with my model stitching fee). I am planning to take my camera to take some pics next week (actually I planned to do that last Thurs..........) and will also get some WIP pics of some of the girls' (that is females-not necessarily young LOL) work. Better go forage for some food for dinner before the natives get restless.

Yep, I'm still alive

.......it has been awhile since my last entry-you know how it goes...'I will do an entry tomorrow!'. We have had Mothers Day since my last post-had a lovely day-although I still have to go to the local nursery and choose a plant for my stitching room garden as part of my gifts.

What else? Ron's parents are currently overseas-they are just going to part of Canada and Alaska for 3 weeks. Luke's camp went well-he had a great time! I have had to brush up my chess skills (what I have of them LOL) as Luke has joined the school chess club and likes to practise against me. I can still beat him-at the moment!

Stitching/knitting news-I have 3 small motifs and some border left on the model so I'm hoping to post it off by the end of the week (I haven't done any today as I was anxious about our chooks-they disappeared yesterday and were away overnight. I was convinced they had become fox food, but they had been rescued by a neighbour down the street and put over their fence into another neighbour's yard as he mistakenly thought they belonged there. The chooks will no longer be so 'free range' in the future!!........but I digress) Knitting wise I haven't really done anything....although I did start some bedsocks for Luke (his feet are so big....and they are done on 2 needles so ideal for when kids are reading to me, etc). I have also been giving some thought to what I will stitch on when the model is done.....I haven't dragged out all my WIPs, but a few that might make the shortlist are: Storyteller (Teresa Wentzler), a Chatelaine, and a HAED or three. Not sure which ones......and I do have a vague yearning to start a new one....a QS? or Scotland? Who knows?? When I am musing I might make sure all my WIP pics are up-to-date and show you.

Better go and stitch (I have borrowed a few more talking books which works better for me than TV-much harder to get distracted visually)

Oh, just a little something to share with you.....questions at the tea table from a 7yo.....after asking about worms (ie tapeworms) and being told that it wasn't a topic for discussion whilst eating, she asks "Well, then, can you tell me about how the world was made???"........sigh..........they don't tell you about that at ante-natal classes!!

Brrrrr........winter is on the way!

After some fairly mild Autumn weather, we have had some quite wintry weather in the last 24 hours or so. Yesterday was very windy (gusts of 90km/h nearby) and about an inch and a quarter of rain. Today is cold (max expected 12C) and we keep getting heavy rain showers with a bit of hail thrown in for good measure. Definitely a day for the wood fire and pumpkin soup (yes, I actually made some soup for lunch!!)

The kids are back at school (one week down for this term) and Ron is back at work, so hopefully life will settle down somewhat...........Luke has a school camp next week (3 days) so I must get organised and pack & label things for him. Caitlin will have a sleepover later this term (called a Zoo Snooze as it is in the Adelaide Zoo).

What else? Oh, if you are a regular reader of my blog, you may remember my discovery of blogs-as in how many there are (huge number) and my reading of them. Well, when reading one of these many blogs recently I clicked on a link to a podcast-a knitting podcast, Cast On , and so have discovered yet another new world of which I was ignorant! True, I have only listened to this one particular podcast, but there are LOTS out there. Oh, and also talking books are online-these are read by volunteers and are from the public domain so they are free. I haven't tried any yet, but I will for sure and let you know what I think. I have found that stitching to audio is ideal for me. Here is the link for Librivox.

Speaking of stitching, the model is coming along quite well-I really want to get most of it done this week, and since this week is relatively free (i.e. no meetings at school, etc) I think this is doable. I am looking forward to rummaging through my WIPs/stash when I am done and see what appeals!

Anzac Day and some pics

Today is Anzac Day here in Australia (reminds me-must go check if I have ingredients for Anzac biscuits that I have promised to bake). We went to our local Dawn Service-first one for the kids. Caitlin wasn't over keen, and complained about how sore her feet were (quietly thank goodness!). Our town is fairly small but there was quite a large turn out-it was cold but not too bad-lovely & clear. We also went to the local hall for breakfast-toast(with Vegemite), coffee, and Anzac biscuits-very Australian! (and you could have Bundy Rum in your coffee-v traditional, but I declined as I imbibed enough Bundy in my Uni days to keep me going for the rest of my lifetime-ahem)
I have also finally got some pics for your viewing pleasure-the Easter ones are still on the camera, but I've got those foggy cow pics (doesn't everyone??) and a couple from our childless weekend away (how long ago that seems! - reminds me of a post I will make in the future, musing on childbirth, kids, school holidays and shopping during school holidays-bet you can't wait!!)














The cottage above was divided into 2 1/2s but was very nice & cosy. The other picture shows the street we were on-note the slate drywalls-there is a slate mine nearby and it is everywhere! The cow pictures above are taken from our back yard looking into the paddock next door-we get the pituresqueness (note the new word!) without the hard work!

Well I must go and think about baking biscuits (with my oven from hell) and doing some more stitching (on the model). Suffice it to say that I am way behind where I would like to be but am getting there.............more stitching/knitting chat another day-I have rambled imparted enough news for one entry.

Back Again........again!!

We made it back from the Riverland yesterday, so I thought I'd just briefly pop in and post a quick entry. Had a lovely time-the weather was pretty good considering Easter was quite late this year. Kids had a great time swimming (!) and fishing, etc. We do have some pics but I haven't downloaded them yet-still catching up, finishing the unpacking and washing. Hopefully a more interesting entry with pictures will be available soon!!

Back Again (for a little while.......)

We are back from our kids-free weekend.............it was lovely, quiet, and restful. Now we have 4 days to get organised and packed for Easter. Each Easter we travel ___ km (I have no idea-takes us a couple of hours or 3 to get there towing a caravan?) to the Riverland where we have a caravan site on the edge of a lake. We usually end up staying about 6 days so a little organisation and packing is required.

On the stitching/knitting front-yes I have done some-no, I haven't finished anything! I will have to put "taking pictures of WIPs" onto my "To-Do List" (yes, I have on started for this week). I usually get some stitching/knitting done at Easter time too (small lamp is on my list already!)

Yes, I'm Still Alive.........

........haven't been on the computer much for the last few days....week?? So it's taken me a while to catch up with emails, reading blogs, etc, etc. Let's see-the Commonwealth Games are over (enjoyed them very much) and I didn't reach any of my goals. Problem was that I set some goals willy-nilly (as I am wont to do) and didn't really plan how I was going to actually achieve them. Quite a lesson there really. I am still working on the model (struck a hitch at Guild tonight as I realised I had left my pattern home-luckily I could ring Ron and get details of part of the border that repeats so I could get some done tonight!) and have done very little on the sock. I had to start a babies beanie for my new(ish) nephew.

Ron & I "celebrated" our 14th wedding anniversary on the 28th. I say"celebrated" as we have a weekend away to ourselves in just over a week's time, so celebrations as such have been postponed. And yes, time does go fast-life is such a cliche sometimes (and if someone knows how to type with accents over letters can you let me know? I'm sure it will come in handy sometime)

Well, I am going to get some more of the model done-page 1 is almost done so if I get cracking we might get a photo tomorrow sometime.

Finally a pic

post started 19th March..........

Well, as promised, here is a pic of my model WIP-finally! My wrist/arm seems to be better-although I am trying to alternate knitting and stitching to make sure I don't overuse any tendons/muscles. My sock is coming along nicely-it's still taking a bit of getting used to juggling all the needles, but I'm getting better! Oh, and I finished Caitlin's scarf too so I only have 1 knitting WIP (we won't mention stitching WIPs LOL).


OK, well, since Blogger was having a fit over trying to post a pic, I decided to finish my entry at a later date which is now..............

I have obviously done more since then-am off to Embroiderers Guild tonight so hopefully will get even more done.

Oh, and Autumn seems to be in its Summer phase-we've been having max temperatures around 30C or a little higher-although the nights have been quite cool. We had a lot of fog the other morning-I did take some hopefully pituresque photos of the cows amongst the fog in the paddock next to us so I might post some of them another day-but don't hold your breath!

Getting Better!

Thanks for the good thoughts! They must have worked cause my wrist has been improving daily-still not sure what caused it though. I have done some stitching and knitting the last few days (actually I sent Ron to Lincraft to get me some dpns today as I didn't have the right size for socks). I need to get stuck into the model too-I promise to get a pic up soon-really!

Luke turned 10 a couple of days ago-my, that decade went fast! lol We had a nice, fairly quiet day (which he prefers) and one of his favourite things was that since it was a public holiday, he didn't have to go to school.

As it looks like my wrist will allow me to knit/stitch I have been musing on my Commonwealth Games goals (I have made a Pittman comeback!) and after finding out exactly how many days it is (12) am getting an idea of what to set. I'm thinking to start & finish first pair of socks, 2 pages of model done (well, approx-some motifs spill over so I may not do exactly 2 pages), and lose 1kg (I go to WW on Wed so that will be a 14 day challenge). I will also finish Caitlin's scarf (that should be done tomorrow-nearly done) and I may possibly assemble some of those knitted things ie poncho, baby cardigan, etc. Note I said may.

I will probably work on either the model or cast on and start socks............or maybe both?! Need to go do housework kinda things so I can settle down later and stitch while commenting on all the countries outfits.........maybe trying to knit on 3 needles will work perfectly for this (depends on horror factor of outfits..)

Ow! *sigh*

I'm just posting this as an update on my wrist/arm/whathaveyou as I suspicion that I shouldn't be using the computer..........I am guessing that I have some kind of tendonitis or similar (not that I have much knowledge in this area) but as it's Sat today (and Mon is a public holiday) it will be a few days until I can get to my GP. I was bad yesterday and knitted for a while.......but it so sucks that I really can't stitch or knit.......and I really wanna!! Maybe I should change my name to Jana Pittman or Ian Thorpe-my Commonwealth dreams of glory are fading fast.

Foolin' Around

Since my wrist/arm is sore I am fiddling around on the computer (trying to stay away from stitching/knitting)
Let's see if this works

You Were An Owl

You are stealthy and secretive - no one knows the true you. You are a seeker of freedom, and you are comfortable with your dark side.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?



There are lots of fun quizzes at this site......so if you have an hour (or so) to waste spare, go for it!

Bargains and other things.........

I picked up a bargain today........I figured I would go to my local Salvation Army shop to rummage for knitting supplies. I ended up with 6 pairs of double pointed needles for $3.50 (one was a bamboo set). Since I have never knitted socks I wasn't sure what my tension is like so I got what looked like a lot of different sizes-if I end up with duplicate sizes, I will just have spares!

At the weekend Caitlin decided to start her cross stitch kit that we bought in the summer school holidays........I wasn't sure how it would go as she can tend to be a perfectionist and is not always known for her patience or attention span. She's worked on it in small bursts (she's 7yo) and took it to school today for show & tell. She's using my 6" Q-snaps at the moment, and getting the idea pretty well (oh, and the design is a purple dinosaur-she's not into a lot of "girly" designs). We'll see how she progresses........

I've finished knitting the poncho-just need to sew it together now. The model is coming along nicely-I will post a pic soon, but the camera is sown in my stitching room and I can' be bothered right now. I am musing on giving myself a Commonwealth challenge a la Yarn Harlot's Olympic challenge......not sure what form it will take and also the CG are 10 days from memory.

Oh, learnt how to do a new cool thing. Of course, it helps when your almost 10yo son is a computer nerd expert. And it's using code. Maybe you can teach an old dog girl new tricks?

On another totally different note, remember the "Healthy Eating" committee?? Well, the meeting for this term is tomorrow............. And as we have a state election in a couple of weeks (groan) healthy kids has come up as an election policy/issue. If the current government is re-elected they will legislate against any junk food in canteens, etc...........So much for a quiet little committee! (and it's ironic that I am the convenor for this committee when I attend WW, gym, and have one child who eats a very limited number of foods)

Well, Mythbusters is about to start (when I was a kid we watched The Sullivans and Sale of the Century as a family...........but times change!) and I've rambled enough for now.............

Welcome Autumn!

Today is officially the first day of Autumn..........hooray! I'm not over fond of Summer, and I do like Winter (except for the cold mornings).

Update on craft-model has arrived so it has been started-love silks!! I'll post a pic probably tomorrow sometime. I've also been working on the poncho-nearly done-should probably get the knitting finished this afternoon-ideal to work on when kids are around and have friends over. I'll have to work out how to assemble it tomorrow. I also got stuck into my stitching room yesterday-it needs some more work but things are at least in the boxes/folders etc that they should be-yes and a dust and vacuum wouldn't hurt either.....

Things I have learnt about knitting on the web in the last week or so:
1. There are lots of knitters out there
2. Sock knitting is taking over the world
3. Bamboo/wood/plastic needles are better than metal ones.
4. There are lots of entertaining blogs out there devoted to knitting.

Also regarding knitting-I have in the past noticed that my tension is somewhat tighter than the norm (not that I have ever bothered with tension squares etc! lol) but in my tidy up/rummage yesterday I found a Patons "how to knit" book and it actually had a pick of how to hold the needles..........and it is not the way I do it.........and I take my right hand off the needle to wind the yarn..........maybe this is why I am slow and have tight tension??? I am going to have a practice on Caitlin's scarf when I am done with the poncho. Oh, I also found 1 baby's cardigan (with cable on front) and a toddlers jumper both finished except for the......finishing.........my MIL (mother in law) is coming over Sat afternoon so I might rope her in to help me/do it for me. Not sure who will actually get these garments but at least they will be done.

It's hard to believe that it's March already............Luke will be 10yo later this month and we also have our 14th wedding anniverary. We've got a weekend away early April (as in kid free) up to the Clare Valley so that will be our anniversay celebration.

I have another day at home tomorrow so I hope to get lots of model stitched in between housework...............