it's been a while

my goodness, I was distracted a moment and totally lost track of time.

what happened to those two months? lots and not a lot particularly blogworthy.

there was some knitting for the Majura Primary School spring fair...

don't you love cheezezombie's slugs? I sold all three to 9/1o year old boys!

In amongst that was stealth knitting for my love's birthday....


fittingly 'van dyke' socks from the book 'socks from the toe up' and knitted in our own talented local dyer fibreweb's yarn - it was very beautiful.

They are very appreciated - and isn't that important for hand knitted sock recipients!

I've started a summer cardigan - I think I have managed an inch and that was on our recent holiday with about 2o hours in the car! Three kids on an 800km each way drive doesn't actually allow much knitting time I found. We had few lovely days in Armidale being proud at my love's doctorate graduation and visiting her family and some of the spectacular local spots.


We went horseriding. I really dislike horseriding. Horses scare me. A lot. In fact I think I would be more comfortable skydiving than being on a horse. Maybe. But the pirate was keen and I had to be brave.

the next little while is going to be so so busy too. You see we have plans....

They involve turning my 96m2 60's house into a 120m2 thing of beauty and fit for a family of five. It's fun and I am getting to totally indulge my frustrated inner architect. We are working very hard to keep it as sustainable as possible ( I plan to blog about that soon!). And cheap. The plans are off being tweaked and drawn up right now, all going well we will be able to afford it and find a builder who will start sometime in the new year.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention - my sister has started her stem cell treatment. She is amazing. And hairless. I think she is only the 2nd MS sufferer in Australia to be accepted for the treatment. So far it is going very well and we are all hopeful. The next step is the most difficult. Fingers crossed it will go well and she won't feel totally totally awful through the next lot of chemo.

dreamy sunday

On a beautiful frosty and brilliantly sunny Sunday morning
the pirate is away visiting his first mate
the 2 day scarf is finally ready to cast off
blogs are being read
tea is being drunk
my house is being tended to
with cleaning and washing and painting
my soul is being tended to
with meditation and gardening and then
a whole evening and morning alone with my beautiful partner

I am satisfied

phew

well that was christmas 09. I took a little while to get over it. I won't bore you with all the details - it was busy. it was fun. it was productive.

it was too short.

here is a snippet which includes presents, renovations, a broken arm, the first visit of the tooth fairy, knitting, walking in the mountains, lounging in the mist, a new bike for the pirate, a letter from santa, a letter to santa, heatwaves, vegies, job applications, visitors, friends, parties, naps, sewing, cleaning, freecycle, plans, crushes, wine, champagne, grandparents, air conditioning, travel, new friends, new resolutions, new plans, and a whole lot of love and friendship

Honestly I think I am the luckiest person alive with the friends I have and the support I get. I hope you are as lucky.

And what did I learn these holidays?
that my aircon does work, that freecycling can get rid of mountains of stuff and it feels very very good, that the tooth fairy can remember to come, that a waterproof cast does exist, that it does not come in green, that it costs quite a bit, that you can knit a scarf and not go insane, that stones and a mountain stream can keep 4 boys under 8 occupied for hours, that march flies like blue, that it does get hot in Guthega, that you can get good coffee in Cooma, that knitting socks from the toe up is fun, that you can find a pattern for pants that isn't too bad, that having an oven again is magic, that the pirate can cope with a broken arm without too much problem, that a child can have a broken arm for days and a mother not be sure it really is hurt, that new birkenstocks feel fabulous, that shopping for clothes and fabric after a fabric and clothes diet feels fantastic, that leaving salmon in the car in 5 days of over 35deg isn't at all good, that eggplants produce very very well and peas only grow with mulch and much much more.

I hope your 2010 is a lovely one.

mountains and mist

You know how your body just lets go and relaxes when you go somewhere you feel at home and connected to? I had one of those experiences this weekend visiting the misty Blue Mountains.

The Blue Mountains are where my father grew up. It is where we went for weekends as children, where I got to know my grandmother as a young child and where I have returned for bushwalking weekends throughout my adult life. When I am there I feel connected to my grandmother, Ethel. She was an amazing woman who, like many others, supported her family when her husband decided a good drink was more important than food on the table. Interestingly his drinking was what sent them to the mountains in the first place. They were set up in a house by his family, hoping it would be far enough away from drinking influences in Sydney, and while the drinking did not improve, in fact it thrived on the train commute to the city each day, it did give us the mountains.

My favourite story of the many about my grandmother was how she came into some money around the time she retired from nursing. Without my grandfather's knowledge she had a house built in Katoomba. One night, while he was at the pub, she moved into her lovely little house. Alone.

I loved her very dearly and think of her most days even almost 30 years after her death. I know she would have loved the pirate.

So back to the mountains. I love so many things about the place. I love the wild wild bush. I love that it till has some of the feel of a 1930's hill station retreat. I love that it has junk shops and bookshops galore. I love the stonework everywhere.

I love most the eclectic mix of houses. I especially adore the old ones, a bit shambly, with a wild garden, a bit of stone work and an old fence. It is so different to Canberra where finding the quirky and eclectic takes a much more trained eye.

The mountains experience is different for the pirate. The reason we were there though was to visit our friends and to drop the pirate off for a few days sleepover with the first mate. He found it confusing and difficult to be in a strange house in a strange place even if the furniture and people are very familiar. I was a little worried leaving him this time. He is usually so relaxed about being with different people and sleepovers but his time he was less settled. We talked about it a bit and then he seemed fine when I left. 4 hours driving later I was just coming into Canberra when I had a call from my very upset boy who is missing me and feeling too far away. He felt much too far away for me too hearing his voice and his sadness. He couldn't even finish the conversation, breaking down and running off somewhere to cry it out. It was all I could do not to turn straight around and do that 4 hours all over again. Thankfully I didn't - cause it all seems fine afterall.

my creative space

I moved out of the 'master' bedroom some time ago. It has a much better purpose as the sewing-study-craft-guest-junk-ironing room than a sleeping space. It has a huge north facing window - which over looks the front yard. This is good for two reasons - I can keep up with everything happening in my street, like the neighbourhood busy body, and can keep an eye on the pirate and first mate playing in our lovely front yard while I sew.

The sun comes in and a skirt is on the machine. It is a good day.

For more creative spaces check out this.

ask

I am a strong believer in putting what you need out to the universe and most of the time it will work out for you, it sounds a little new age, but that is not where I am coming from, and it works.

For instance I wanted to move back to Canberra and I wanted a little house in the inner north that would be sunny and warm and within my price range, which was really very low for the area. Friends doubted and counselled me to be more realistic. But my little house came through with $500 to spare and a location which couldn't have been better.

I needed support and community and who should be across the road but the first-mate and family. I had met them briefly a couple of times over the years through mutual friends. I had last met them several years before when we both became god-parents to two lovely boys. It was destined to go on in this way, but my little house is across the road from theirs, and they had a boy the pirate's age. It is the universe I tell you.

(We won't talk about them moving right now)

And now it has worked for me again - at a smaller scale. I recently indulged in a beautiful set of harmony interchangeables. I love them. The set came with 4 cables - plenty you would think.

it isn't.

I have a few projects on the go - like the box-lace wrap, a touch yarns ribbed vest and of course my Amelia.

I am up to the sleeves on the Amelia - it is one of those patterns where you keep the body on hold while you knit the sleeves and then attach them all together for the shoulders and finale. For the first sleeve I ended up using my 120cm cable - it is ridiculously long and I spend more time feeding it through than I do actually knitting I am sure. I was thinking I really needed to get myself some more cables.

Last night I came home to a wonderful package on the verandah. It is part of the birthday swap and now it is my turn to be treated. Guess what was in the parcel? Of course you did - a shorter interchangeable cable. The added beauty of this is that last night I started the second sleeve and I didn't have to put everything onto waste yarn - I just started up with the new cable.


Thank you universe - and toffle, for this and the rest of my wonderful gift.

lemon thingys

Posts three days in a row - this is getting a little frightening, but I wanted to share one of the things in my life I am sure someone can relate to.

You see I have a collection. It isn't much of a collection, but it is mine and I lam quite attached to it. I started it a couple of years ago and have found it a home which serves a very important purpose - it helps me to not notice, as much, this hideousness.






Slate. Miles of the stuff. Dark and brown.

My kitchen is huge, dark and very, very brown. Someone back in the late 70's decided slate made a great splashback. So they put it along two full walls - that is 8 lineal metres of slate.



The copper range hood and stove are pretty special - and so I can imagine the pitch - "why not keep the theme going and put in gorgeous slate tiling - it is the latest thing". And why not indeed? it goes with all the other brown.


This is all bad news for me in the 00's with a long time aversion to slate. It gets worse too - the most frightening thing is that it has a backing that may or may not be asbestos, so I can't pull it down till I want to spend a lot of money. So this is my solution till I decide on the best one....






so that is 8 juicers - another 50 or so should do the job don't you think?

Orange

Ethel loves Fred has a post on some very sexy orange stuff. I love a bit of orange myself and thought I would follow on with some orange things of my own.