K-niddling

When my nieces were little sprogs and saw my mother knitting (their mother didn't knit) they called it "k-niddling".  So here is my current k-niddling project, a cardigan in 'Highlands' woollen yarn from Bendigo.  The colour is a deep peacock/teal called Ness and I fell in love with it when it appeared a couple of years ago.  This is the umpteenth time I have started a project with this yarn, and even this project had its shaky moments when I mucked up the lace pattern at first, but it is coming along beautifully now.  I have been knitting for very very many years and done all manner of patterns in that time, so I don't know why this one gave so much trouble.  Perhaps it's the pattern writing style?  It has changed since I first started knitting.

 It will be a thankful day when the cardy is finally wearable.  Design is"Peasy" by Heidi Kirrmaier and was bought as a download on Ravelry.  Heidi's pattern has 3/4 sleeves but as I have plenty of yarn I am thinking long sleeves might be more practical.

The challenge quilt is finally layered and pinned, and quilting of it will be started this week.

It's been a long time since we had a wombat on the blog, hasn't it?  So here is the latest addition to the collection, a little clay wombat recently bought from a local garden centre.

The little wombat is very useful for holding open the pages of the book I am currently reading, "Bad behaviour" by Liz Byrski.  I have enjoyed other books by her and this one is good too......it says so much about what growing up and coming of age in the late 60s was like and how those events shaped what some people became.  That and "Last chance cafe" were borrowed from the library during the week - I'm looking forward to reading it too.  They are a change from my usual book diet of murder books.  Yes, folks, I am a great fan of murder mystery stories.  And you all thought I was gentle and sweet.

When we watch TV it is with a finger poised on the mute button to block out ads, we don't have one of those fancy-nancy (and hugely expensive) gadgets that let you fast forward through ads or record something to watch later with ads edited out.  Have you ever noticed how humorous some ads are without sound?  Especially the ones with a nicely dressed young woman gazing ecstatically at a basket of clean washing.  My heavens, if that is all it takes to make her happy she has a good life, doesn't she?

So far nothing has been heard from the radio station, the application form was duly filled out and lodged with them, and a small sum of money paid - as it's a community station it runs on subscriptions and volunteers - but no doubt it won't be long.  Perhaps there aren't enough volunteers to write letters of approval.  Never mind, no doubt they will contact me in due course.

The house is smelling good at present, the slow cooker is full of vegetable soup spiced up a bit with chicken and bacon, and some chocolate slice is setting in the fridge.  The nice young couple next door have been very good to us lately so some of the chocolate, and a jar of marmalade from last year's huge batch, is destined to go to them to say 'thank you'.  Their 3YO daughter has been in here a couple of times to visit our cats, they have two dogs but no cats and Emily likes kitties.  I'm not so sure that our kitties like Emily in return, but so far they have been tolerant of her pats.

"An absurd idea is held by some that intelligence and domestic virtues cannot go together; that an intellectual woman will never be content to stay at home to look after the interests of her household and children.  A more unreasonable idea has never been suggested, for as the intellect is strengthened and cultured, it has a greater capacity of affection, of domesticity and of self-sacrifice for others."

The nice young woman in the TV ads is definitely a picture of domestic virtue,......although we know she is only being paid to look adoringly at that basket of washing.

Enjoy your days!

Leaf me alone!

Not really, I don't mind company.....do you like the leaf I made during the week?

 If it is turned inside out it looks like this.

A link to the instructions can be found on Bev's blog here.  When it first appeared I thought to myself "that looks like fun", I thought, "I shall make one of those" I said to myself, printed out the instructions, and bought the stiffening.  And there it sat.......last weekend the fabric was fused to the stiffening and cut out, then it didn't take long at all to sew the seams and round the edges.  It was so easy I may make more.  The link appeared on Bev's blog in January last year, 18 months ago - if anyone had asked me I would have sworn it was earlier this year.  My life is flashing by before my eyes, you know.

The fabric on the table behind the leaf is a pale gold wool blend textured knit for which I have A Plan, but first new sleeves need to be traced as my pattern only has short or three-quarter sleeves and I would like to make them long.  My recent foray into clothing shops has made me determined to dip into my clothing fabric stash and sew.  And yes indeed, there is green fabric with the gold; three different green fabrics (one of which I don't even remember buying), all destined to be tops.

Our little visiting grey kangaroo has been back a couple of times with her joey.  Binky saw them through the window and was intrigued - do you remember the Sylvester cartoon about the giant mouse?  Here it is, just to remind you.  Perhaps Binky thought it was really a large mouse - she was a very good mouser in her younger days when we lived in the Big Smoke.  Frequent renovations and construction in the neighbourhood meant there were piles of timber in which to go mouse hunting, and of course there was always something to bring home to show off.

The poor birds who use our bird bath had a shock last week, as one morning it was so cold the water turned to ice - first time it has happened all winter.  Our feathered friends would have had to wear skates!  Birdy skates must be quite small, mustn't they?  Come to that, can you imagine the size of the bones in a bird's toe?

"To remove wrinkles.
Put powder of best myrrh upon an iron plate sufficiently hot to melt the gum gently, and when it liquifies, cover over your head with a napkin, and hold your face over the fumes at a distance that will cause you no inconvenience.  If it produces headache, discontinue its use."

I think I will keep the wrinkles......

Enjoy your days!

The weekend rolls round again.....

.....and once again it has been a very relaxing week in which not much has been done.


We have had some lovely rain over the past few days, so much so that the river flowing through town has flooded.  No damage so far as it's only a minor flood, but the river level is well up today with muddy brown water spilling over the bank.


The rain has greened things up beautifully - before it fell everything was dry and winter brown - yesterday we had some visitors who thought the grass just outside our back fence was definitely greener.

 Two wallabies, or they could be kangaroos, I'm not sure; both are macropods.  Looked like mum and a young one - Mum is perhaps 150cm (four feet) tall.  You can see how near they came to our fence; while we have often seen kangaroos and wallabies on the hill this is the first time we have seen them so close to our yard.  They were only a few metres away and obviously enjoying eating the grass.

Then the young one hopped off, so the older one stayed in the rain looking at me for a little longer before hopping back up the hill.  We can recognise her (we're pretty sure it's a female as she seems to have a pouch) by her ears, one is a bit droopy.  The land is crown land leased by a local bloke who runs a small herd and a couple of horses on it.  At times we get a whiff of something.....rural........but it's not bad enough to be a problem.


Last weekend's lemon slice is all eaten.  It was very nice.  This morning I bought some rhubarb at the local farmer's market.....wonder what to make with it?  Rhubarb pie is good, crumble is yummy, muffins would be tasty too.  Perhaps it should be frozen while I decide.


Although the farmer's market has been held for some time this morning was our first visit.  As today is Bastille Day there was a French theme with a band playing, and staff (the market is run by a local French restaurant) dressed appropriately.  We bought some fruit and vegetables, some really really good cheese and loaf of just-out-of-the-oven bread.  Guess what we ate for lunch?


"It is the duty of parents to accustom their children, by example as well as by precept, to be attentive and polite to each other at every meal, as well as to observe proper rules of etiquette, and if they do so, they need never fear that they will be rude or awkward when they go abroad."

Our visiting macropod friends had very nice manners.  The young one was eating grass very daintily and the older one also nibbled quite delicately.  Don't you wish all children could be as well behaved when eating in public?

Enjoy your days!

Would you like to join me for afternoon tea?

Following a link on Debra's blog I found this recipe for lemon squares, so yesterday a batch was made.....it's very yummy, and I can recommend it.  Recipe is here, so do yourselves a favour and make some.  Many thanks, Debra!

 The lace doiley was made by my mother's Auntie Laura who died when I was a wee baby and is tatted lace.  Not tattered.  There is a difference.......the pretty plate is part of a Royal Doulton set which was a wedding present when my parents married in 1946, as was the silver fork.  Life was more genteel in those days, wasn't it?

 The backing for my pinwheel quilt has been pieced.  I couldn't bring myself to waste these last three little blocks so used them in the backing.  As the fabric had to be joined in width, a strip of background fabric with those three remaining blocks was inserted - so now all 128 blocks have been used!  The quilt and backing are on the spare bed waiting to be layered and quilted.  But first they need to be pressed.....

This is the design which will be used for the border quilting, it compliments the rose-printed white on white background fabric beautifully.  All designs for the 16 alternate blocks and 20 setting triangles have been traced, as has some of the border.  The paper is sold here as unwaxed lunch wrap and is excellent for this purpose as it is easy to quilt through and tears away afterward with no trouble; freezer paper could also be used, but the paper is easy to position as it is semi-transparent.  The design is from one of Mary Covey's packs, 'Follow the line'.

You will notice that this blog is a sport-free zone.  Nowhere here will you find mention of any tennis games, or sweaty blokes in lycra cycling round Europe, or the sports carnival which will happen one of these days in England.  All that money just so one bloke can run faster than another bloke.......our dancers, musicians, writers, scientists etc travel overseas and are much acclaimed everywhere they go, but as soon as they come home they disappear back into their own world.  However if a sports person runs faster or jumps higher than someone else they have the world at their feet.  Not to take away from anything they may achieve - but isn't it time that all fields of human endeavour were recognised, not just sport?

There is no danger of my running faster or jumping higher than anyone else, I can tell you.  Since it has got so cold even the walking routine has suffered because getting outside bright and early on a cold frosty morning has no appeal for me.  But when the weather warms up again I won't have that excuse, will I?  If someone could invent a gene that could be magically turned on to make us enjoy exercise they would make a fortune, I'm sure.

You will also notice no gossip here about so-called celebrities, because frankly I have no interest in who is divorcing who or what they had for breakfast.  Wouldn't it be ghastly living one's life in what amounts to a goldfish bowl?

"Even when persons habitually eat alone, they should pay due regard to the rules of etiquette, for by so doing they form habits of ease and gracefulness which are requisite in refined circles; otherwise they speedily acquire rude and awkward habits which they cannot shake off without great difficulty, and which are at times embarrassing to themselves and their friends."

So if you are eating a lemon square, make sure you are dainty.  Don't stuff the whole piece in your mouth at once.

Enjoy your days!

To my American friends.....

........best wishes for July 4th!