susan in stitches

Christmas has moved

2011-12-19T12:42:00.003+11:00

If you've been missing your annual dose[s] of Catsmum Christmas Insanity, it may be because you haven't caught up with the move over to the new blog.
Please come visit for some shortbread, mincepies, general christmas cheer [ and of course more santas, snowmen and snowflakes than you could shake a reindeer at ]

One Door Closes

2011-07-18T22:42:00.003+10:00

and another one opens

From today I will be blogging over here

I do hope that you'll follow me over to the new abode, and see how the furniture looks in its new home. It may take me a while to get it all arranged to my satisfaction but we're mostly unpacked and the kettle is on, so come on over.

decisions decisions

2011-07-13T17:59:00.006+10:00

For some time now, I've known that I was almost out of photo storage space on this 'ere blog, and because of that, perhaps haven't posted as often, or with as many pics, of late.

Moving across to another blog is hardly onerous ... Bells did it quite successfully and so did Caity ... but illogical or not, I've resisted having to make the move from this space where I took my first tentative baby steps into the blogiverse.

I can't put it off much longer though:
As of this post, I'm up to 99% of photo storage so it's going to happen soon, and yes, I do realise that I can put pix in by linking to my Flickr account, but I tried that and that doesn't always want to co-operate, so pffft ... some day very soon, you'll come by and there'll be a note pinned to the door, telling you where to find me and mine.

but not today

today I'm going to show you some of the multitude of small things that I've been churning out since Kiri came off the needles.

Not all - probably don't have photo space enough for that

Herewith my dears, the four versions of Meret [ freebie from Wooly Wormhead ] that I've churned out recently:

Meret #1
is in Reynold's Andean Alpaca [ worsted/10ply ] that I bought in April's destash a while ago
2 extra repeats of the lace for maximum slouch. This one is nominally mine.
#2
is in BWM's Luxury 8ply [Brick] and only one extra repeat.
Despite how well that colour looks on The Girl, this one is also mineminemine
#3 is Bendigo's Alpaca Rich in Deep Plum ... and THIS one is her ladyship'sand finally [ for now ]
#4 is in Colinette Art [ Aran/10 ply ] in Copper Beech, which is also Nadie's.

and in case anyone is concerned about possible depletion of my stash [ yeah, right ] from all of the needle action that has occurred during my recent extended couch time,
need I remind you all that

it's

2 more sleeps till The Oz Wool & Sheep Show

completely gratuitous cute grandkitten

2011-07-11T17:06:00.000+10:00

Suki up close and personal

where we're at

2011-07-10T11:08:00.001+10:00

Well here I am, 7 weeks out from surgery, and to be honest not getting back to full strength as fast as I would have hoped [ Nadie says that this is because I totally SUCK at being lazy ]
Doesn't feel like that to me.

Initially there was a lot of bed-time. In fact, on the advice of a multiply-surgeried friend, I spent the first couple of weeks post-surgery, in my jim-jams.

and subsequent to that, there's been a buttload - and that's a metric butt-load, not an imperial one I'll have you know - of time spent on the couch: reading, knitting and catching up on some tellie.

I'm convinced that the real problem is that certain things are hard wired in when you're a mum ... I'll just bend down and pick that up, wipe that bench, empty that washing machine, dishwasher, feed those animals ...

okay okay ... yes Nadie is correct. I'm no good at taking it easy.

Still doesn't feel like that to me. The couch is beginning to develop a definite Susan-shaped divot at my preferred spot. The garden is sadly in need of a weed [ and yes, I DID pull out a few handsfull until the achey bits told me that wasn't a brilliant idea ] and we will not even discuss the amount of winter-born detritus that needs raking, piling and burning. THAT I am resolutely ignoring ... for now.

and no spinning either :(

However, I did manage to get myself off the couch, albeit under the careful supervision of She Who Must Be Obeyed,otherwise known as my lovely DD.

With SWMBO riding shotgun "just in case" I made my first tentative forays into town, to drop off Dave, and when nothing too dreadful ensued, there were a couple of [ careful ] expeditions further afield
... over the North Harcourt Road to Emu Creek for some baby goat snuzzles

[ pausing ever so briefly to admire the two lots of newly finished headgear, I would suggest that you ignore the hunched over Catsmum and focus instead on Bear 'kissing' the little Boer kid. A cynic might point out that he was probably after the milk remnants on it's cute wee face ]

and a few days - and a few ibuprofen - later into Bendigo for the ritual raiding of the Magic Back Room at the Woollen Mill, ahead of the arrival next week of the locusts ... ahem ... the lovely ladies and gentlemen who will be decending on Spendigo for the Wool & Sheep Show.

Ten minutes at the Mill segued into some baby snuggles of a very different kind, when Nadie and I finally got to meet the newest arrival at Mayhem, Chaos & Anarchy
seen here modelling one of his Catsmum natal offerings - it's a lousy pic of the hat but you've got to admit that it's a cute one of Master BJ

I was going to show you all the latest knitting but I doubt that I can top such baby cuteness so I will leave you here

Ta Da !!

2011-07-06T18:10:00.003+10:00

As I pointed out last week, there's a huge difference between unblocked lace and the way it looks once it's thoroughly wetted out and well stretched on the blocking wires

and even better once it's completely dry and being modelled by my darling girl:

The things one finds...

2011-07-03T21:37:00.003+10:00

when one has finally given up all hope of ever finding them.

Dateline: yesterday
Location: my wardrobe
where the urgent need for a knee brace [ I need to train Bear out of his habit of jumping enthusiastically into the back of my leg when he wants to play 'fetch' ] had me searching the innards of the tote bag that I only take to clogging classes. It is just the right size for a couple of pairs of tap shoes, some CDs, spare socks, some bandaids ... and an elastic knee bandage brace thingy.

Knee braces are a necessity for those of us, well past the first flush of youth, who still insist on engaging in high impact pursuits like Appalachian Tap, so I rarely bother to take it out of that bag. I mean, I know where it is when I need it, right?

but
what with the surgery [ and the run-up to the surgery ] there hasn't been an awful lot of clogging in my recent past, and no need to wear knee protection, so the bag has been stashed away at the top of the wardrobe.

A couple of weeks ago, I was bemoaning the loss of a pair of fingerless gloves that I'd managed to misplace before I'd even photographed or blogged about them.
I hunted high
and low
I checked every bag, basket, drawer and coat pocket that might conceivably harbour a pair of rolled up gloves, I even checked under the bed and that space under the driver's seat in the car that attracts old shopping dockets and stray mints.
No joy.
It didn't cross my mind for a single second to haul down the dance bag. It was completely off the mental radar.
So of course that is precisely where the missing gloves were hiding, along with the matching cowl that I don't actually remember making ... and the brace of course.

and another addiction is born

2011-06-30T22:05:00.007+10:00

Tara was responsible for my well-documented love of the Forest Canopy Shawl. This is where it started.

and if you've been with me for a while you know that my deep desire for one of my own has actually resulted in seven of the beggars

That first one was pin blocked before I acquired the wires [ well that, and the fact that I wanted to show it off at knitting group before it was truly bone dry] which means that it 'relaxed' a bit during that first wearing, pretty much lost the points and therefore doesn't really have the drama of all its younger siblings.
Anyway, I'm seriously considering reblocking that one ... one day ... when I have nothing better to do.

Now, it seems that I have passed on my love of that particular pattern unto the next victim:

You probably don't know my quilting friend Val-from-FerntreeGully.
We've known each other for quite a long time now, and though she never comments directly here on the blog, she always emails me with her responses.

Anyway, pushed to action by all of the shawls that I've made over the last year or so, and in particular, the aforementioned Forest Canopys, Ms Val has just finished one of her very, very own, and here 'tis in all its glory.

As she doesn't have a blog, I asked her if I could share it with y'all :)

unidentified 8ply[DK]yarn on 4mm needles

and [ big suprise ] she's already on the lookout for the right yarn for the next one :)

[Sh]awl Together Now

2011-06-28T20:20:00.005+10:00

Last year could be justifiably decribed as The Year Of The Shawl

I finished 11 of them completely from start to finish [ plus the Neverending Baby Shawl that had been on the go since 2006 and finally finished Feb 2010 ]

... and it's not like I kept them all for my own wardrobe ... several of them ended up as presents for my nearest and dearest, so it's fair to say that I haven't quite made all the shawls that I hope to just yet.

Around Easter 2010, I finished a shawlette version of Kiri and have always intended to make another larger one.

and it needed to be red
and preferably finished before The Australian Wool & Sheep Show at Bendigo in a couple of weeks

so that's what I've been doing over the last couple of weeks - when I haven't been reading

MissC made it her job to ensure that the shawl-in-gestation was thoroughly CATscanned

Anyway, this is what it looked like before blocking ... kinda wafflish and fluted
but what a difference a warm bath makes

here 't'is on the blocking wires

hardly looks like the same project, does it ?

pattern:
Kiri [ rav link ] & if you aren't on ravelry, you can find a free PDF on All Tangled Up

needles
KPs 5mm & 6mm for the cast-off

yarn:
Socky Goodness by Mayhem & Chaos[ aka Tara ], and a small amount of leftover Aarlan Arwetta dyed brown to finish out the border when I ran short ... because heaven forbid that I should pull out several thousand stitches to go back one full repeat, and then redo the whole border. Serendipity. I like the subtle dark edge.

anyone else got something on the needles for Spendigo?

For the cats' domestic staff

2011-06-26T21:52:00.004+10:00

If, like me, you are in servitude to a feline or two ... or three ... or ..., you may appreciate what Chris found for your jollification

How do non-readers cope?

2011-06-21T13:19:00.008+10:00

Just try being stuck at home and indoors with orders to 'take it easy' and 'not to lift more than a couple of kilos' for a month and a half.

Okay, the first week or so, it's all about the rest and the pain relief, and the 'being looked after' [ thankyou Nadie ], but after a while that begins to get old.
There's only so much tv that one can watch
and it hurts to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes [ stitches ... don't ask ]

so how do people stave off total boredom if they don't knit ... or quilt ... or read ?

I really have no idea [ and don't say gardening, cos I can't do that yet either ]

Anyway, there has been plenty of reading going on, as evidenced by the fact that I'm up to book 60 for the year, and that doesn't count the ones that I started but gave up on halfway through.

It may seem that I'm getting desparate for blogfodder when I post lists like this. but that's just so not true.
There is method to my madness.
Promise.

Y'see, every time I post my booklist, someone who has bothered to wade through it all chimes in with some fabulous author that I haven't discovered yet.
Recently I've been working my way through two authors that I wouldn't have found were it not for rave reviews from Sheepish Annie ... Cassandra Clare and Mike Carey specifically.
As it happens I was able to get the Clares from the Library, but they only had the first of the Careys ... which turned out just fine, because I liked him enough to plonk down my dineros to buy the series [ including the one I'd just read ]

So, in the hope that some more great reads might be forthcoming, here's the 2011 booklist to date:

January/February
I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett
Changes - Jim Butcher
A Kiss of Shadows - Laurell K Hamilton
A Caress of Twighlight - LKH
Seduced By Moonlight - LKH
A Stroke of Midnight - LKH
Mistral’s Kiss - LKH
A Lick of Frost - LKH
Swallowing Darkness - LKH
Divine Misdemeanor - LKH
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Attwood
Dead Over Heels - Charlaine Harris
Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K Hamilton
The Laughing Corpse - LKH
Circus of the Damned - LKH
The Lunatic Cafe - LKH
Bloody Bones - LKH
The Killing Dance - LKH
Burnt Offerings - LKH
Blue Moon - LKH
Obsidian Butterfly - LKH
Narcissus In Chains - LKH
Cerulean Sins - LKH
Incubus Dreams - LKH

March
The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Played With Fire - SL
Many Bloody Returns - Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher et al
The Harlequin - LKH
Dark Lover - JR Ward
A Touch Of Dead - CH Book 30
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest - SL
Merlin - Stephen Lawhead

April
Murder By The Slice - Livia Washburn
Goodies Rule OK
Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
Dance Dance dance - HM

May
Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
City Of Bones - CC
City of Ashes - CC
Side Jobs - Jim Butcher Book 40
Keep The Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell
Deja Dead - Kathy Reichs
City Of Glass - CC
The Devil You Know - Mike Carey
Death Du Jour - KR
Deadly Decisions - KR
Dark Side - Belinda Bauer
Rite - Tad Williams

June
Fatal Voyage - KR
Grave Secrets - KR Book 50
Bare Bones - KR
Devil Bones - KR
Blacklands - BB
Mint Juleps, Mayhem and Murder -Sara Rosett
A Cottswold Killing - Rebecca Tope
Bones To Ashes - KR
Indigo Dying - Susan Wittig Albert
Fever Of The Bone - Val McDermid
Vicious Circle - Mike Carey

reading
Dead Man’s Boots - MC Book 60

so any suggestions ???

The More Things Change ...

2011-06-18T09:05:00.002+10:00

the more they stay the same:

Bear and Sophie July 2008Bear and Sophie June 2011

Evolution

2011-06-15T15:07:00.008+10:00

We all know how one thing often leads to another.

well this particular chain starts with a simple little [ free ] headband pattern, that my friend Robyne-with-an-e found on the Drops website about a year ago. As is the way of such things, it quickly went viral within our Purl's Princesses knitting group with pretty much everyone - myself included - making at least a couple of them.

Now the thing that caught my fancy was the clever way that the increases and decreases were worked within the purled sections of the rib, but to be honest, I wanted to try the idea on something else.
So I trauled through my collection of stitch dictionaries and found a nice - and still simple - lacy rib.
The next step was to swatch a set of increases in an 8ply[dk] and to block it.

A little bit of maths and a fair bit of luck / intuition led to this beret [ modelled here by Tara ] with all the shaping within the purl sections a la the original drops headband

then a matching pair of wristwarmers

You'll just have to take my word for it that, after languishing in the bottom of a knitting basket for half a year, they did in fact get sewn up about 2 months ago, and have been worn a couple of times.
The reason that you'll have to take my word for it is that I appear to have lost the beggars.
Can't find them in any of the obvious places
or even in any of the totally ridiculous ones
bugger
so basically the only 'proof' I have that they ever existed, is this fairly c****y pic of one of them in its unsewn-up state, and the second one on the needles.

oh, and they're not pink either ... more a deep cherry red.
Moving on
I made a second and much longer pair for The Girl in BWM Allegro 8ply [DK].

You can see the way that the increases have been worked in.
Needless to say, the girl was rather happy with how these turned out ...

and before you could say 'Flashdance' this led somewhat inevitably to a pair of legwarmers, also in Allegro.

Was I finished with this lace yet ?
Na-uh!

It occurred to me that I could probably stretch the pattern a bit by introducing an extra row each of knit and purl to make it a little less lacy
and I did gave that one ball of a lovely soft sage green [ also from BWM ]
so

the sequence - currently - ends with this slouchy hat

Now if I could just find those blasted fingerless gloves!

I've lost track

2011-06-08T14:09:00.004+10:00

... of what I've shown you and what has gone undocumented

so, after some blog perusal just to jog the little grey cells, here's some of the stuff you haven't seen:

First up, you might remember the red slouch hat I made for Nadie. At the time I said that I was going to make a blue one for myself
which I did
and then the girl hinted strongly that she wouldn't mind one
so now there are twins.

BWM Luxury 8ply in Junior Navy
KP Harmonies 4.5mm and 3.75mm

Which is just as well, because a certain person has managed to misplace hers twice already and has had to borrow mine
which is okay
not as though I've been going out anywhere

and then she expressed a strong desire for a blue scarf
I was going to say matching scarf, but it doesn't exactly

match that is

it's the same colour as the hat, but is a completely different lace pattern ... the same Grandmothers Lace variation that I 'unvented' for the Frothy Gothy Wristwarmers.

DD already has a matching set of those Wristwarmers and scarf in country red Sirdar Snuggly DK. They were made a couple of years ago and by happy co inky dink are close enough in colour as makes no nevermind to the BMW 8ply Luxury in Ruby that I used for her slouchy hat version1.

The red one btw has four eyelet rows per point [ so 8 pattern rows ] and this one has 6/12, so the points are a little larger. Not precisely what The Girl had in mind, but mama likes it/

what else?
well, the Hair Of the Dog handspun shawl is waiting for me to recover enough to spin more alpaca/samoyed, so it's in hibernation at probably about half finished

I crocheted a different shawl while I was waiting but no pix yet, so I guess that's a post for another day

Some of the alpaca/kid angora/corrie cross handspun from the Goat Show demo at Easter is now a pretty basic, rustic lookung beanie for David and then there was ...
and...

okay stopping now before anyone has a cerebral meltdown

2011-06-03T09:21:00.000+10:00

a week in the life

2011-06-01T22:01:00.003+10:00

Well, it's just been one hectic and giddy thing after another here Chez Catsmum.

There was the sitting
sitting and knitting
lying-down and knitting

reading - both the sitting and the lying-down variety
watching seasons 6,7 & 8 of NCIS, 1 & 2 of Glee, and slabs of heroes and Dr Who, in both the sitting and the prone position
there was a certain amount of 'persuading certain animals that I am not a cushion
... or a springboard'

AND for a change of pace
there was knitting

Oh, what a life I lead!

possibly TMI

2011-05-25T09:01:00.004+10:00

Thanks all for the good wishes, both here and on FB

As it transpired, six days of heaving up my toes after the massive surgeries of '09 [ because no-one had made the connection that I was having what is euphemistically referred to as an 'adverse reaction' to morphine / oxycontin, as a result of which, they kept me well topped up with more of the same ] didn't do my then newly eviscerated insides any favours

quelle suprise !!

anyway, the net result was last weeks reprise repair of some of the same portions of my battered carcass ...

Apparently I am something of an anaesthetist's nightmare now [ three of the fetching, red alert bracelets, each with multiple entries ] ... there were no general anaesthetics that he was willing to risk so I had a spinal.

As promised, I don't remember anything between having the ice cold pink stuff washed over my back and waking up with everything below the bellybutton not answering directions.
It was a very strange experience as bits and pieces came back on line.
At one point I could make my legs respond, but not the blocks of heavy ice that were subbing for my feet/toes and tush.

There were no private rooms available initially, so I had the 'pleasure' of sharing with a locally notorious, extraordinarily demanding, little old lady who was both physically and verbally incontinent and deaf [ loudloudloud tv] , and a fragile young lady going through some health and lifestyle issues that were totally none of my or any one else's business, but which, because of the flimsy illusion of privacy offered by a drawn curtain, we were all fully aware of.

After three days of feeling like a voyeur [ and 2 hours sleep a night due to little old lady's nocturnal wanderings ] I was less than sparkling, so one particular staff member iniatiated the opening of a closed 4-bed ward just for me.

It would have inconvenienced the cleaning staff who suddenly had one more bathroom to cope with, but, to tell you the truth, I was past caring.

A couple of days of peace and quiet ensued and I came home on Monday.

I'm trying to behave: bedrest with periods of moving around, trying not to 'just pick up this' or 'move that' and to find the balance between adequate pain medication [ I am invincible, I can do anything ... ] and somewhat less than adequate [ owowowowowow ]
It's a delicate dance known, I now realise, to all who have ever had to recover from major surgery.

I am:
reading [ Cassandra Clare: City of Glass, and during the last week, Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs, Keep The Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell and Side Jobs by Jim Butcher ]

knitting [ currently a scarf for Nadie - hospital knitting was a shawl from last week's alpaca/samoyed, now temporarily on hold until I am up to spinning some more ]

and catching up on 3 seasons of NCIS

and you should all make yourselves a pair of these [ fabulous freebie pattern from Mindie ].

Pattern: 19 row slippers from Knitting If Not Eccentric
Yarn: vintage Thorobred Celtic 12 ply /bulky pure wool from New Zealand
Needles: KP Options 8mm
Mods: I used a slip1, k2tog, psso as the left leaning double decrease instead of the SSSK, and added a few rows of garter at the cuff before casting off.

and the colour is actually not as grey blue as this nightime picture would imply. It's both clearer and brighter.

I made Nadie's first and then a 'taking to hospital' pair.

So that's m'week!

Doing well

2011-05-20T15:59:00.002+10:00

Hi all, Nadie here.

As some of you may know, mum went in for surgery yesterday (re-doing part of what was done 18 months ago). She has come out of it very well, and will most likely be home on Sunday. In the meantime, anyone local who wishes to visit her at Castlemaine hospital is welcome to do so.

Only in Castlemaine [again]

2011-05-18T20:26:00.001+10:00

the full vid of our flash sing during the State Festival

I'm at 2:42 and Nadie at 3:47

A Hair of the Dog

2011-05-16T08:17:00.010+10:00

Just quickly
[ because Blogger has been temperamental, and also it's past time for me to jump in the shower and do all those things associated with getting on with my day ]

this is 220 metres of pale blue-grey alpaca from the back room at BWM with some of last week's wonderful white [obviously] Samoyed. This was seasoned with a hint of Wendy Dennis' dark brown raw Polwarth fleece.
Not the easiest mix to work with, but my fondness for working with alpaca stood me in good stead with the puppy dawg wool which has a similar feel and 'handleability' to the alpaca.

The whole lot was lightly drum carded, before spinning on my Sheridan Celtic

... initially the Celtic and I were having some 'issues' but a clean-and-oil in all the right places worked wonders for her 'tude. Shouldn't be surprised I guess. A good oiling does me the world of good :)
Anyway, the resultant yarn varies quite a bit in weight, mainly dependant on whether it was the stuff I spun on Saturday night, before I figured out the problems with the wheel, or yesterday's lot.
Some of it is almost an aran/worsted, most is about what we Aussies would call 8ply [ DK or Sport ] and some of it is about sock/4ply.

Yarn with character !!

and now I'm late ... buggerit

EDITED TO ADD:

Okay so here are the thoughts that occurred after I pushed 'publish':

The yarn is a 2ply construction. Only one of those plies is the alpaca/samoyed/polwarth mix and the other is the carded alpaca. You can hardly see the dark brown wool but it has added a certain little extra something.
The magnificent animals whose wool it is are the Aussie Champion 'Taj' and his mum 'Grace'. If you'd like to find out more about them, you'll find the Snowbrook Samoyeds here

And a cast of ... several

2011-05-12T23:47:00.000+10:00

So do you all remember me mentioning the flash sing at the IGA during the State Festival ?
Here 't'is [ most of it anyway - filmed on someone's phone, so all things considered the quality's not too bad ]
The sharp of eye may be able to find me in the midst of the pack but poor Nadie, being somewhat vertically challenged, is invisible.

Some of the more "innovative" harmonies were supplied by shoppers who just had to join in.
I can't decide whether my favourite bit is Judy & Janey dancing or the bemused 'checkout chick'

Guess Who's Three Today ?

2011-05-11T15:43:00.002+10:00

This is Bear when his adopted [Cats]mum came back from town without the obligatory birthday bag of big meaty bonesnot impressed Mum !

a liberal ingestion of leftover roast pork has since returned Bear to his customary happy self

this is what a box of dog looks like

2011-05-09T17:19:00.007+10:00

When Nadie and I were at the Goat Show over Easter, we had an intriguing conversation with a lovely lady who breeds Australian Champion Samoyeds about the possibility of spinning her dogs wool. She went on to order some Tupperware from Nadie, the delivery of which sort of clinched the need for a visit.

I mean really
talk about your no brainer

Offer me free fibre and the chance to get up close and personal with a couple of the most stunning canines you are ever likely to see [ although you're NOT likely to see them because I failed signally to garner photographic evidence of their magnificence ... bad Catsmum ... BAD ]

and the day got even better as we managed to combine it with a return bout of baby boer goat snuzzling over at Emu Creekthis is actually a pic I took last week but they were just as cute today :)

a prettty good day all round then:
Nadie and I got sniffed/slobbered on and muddied by assorted cats, dogs and goats
Bear visited his Mummy and sister - but I forgot to buy them some special bones to celebrate Bear & Molly's third birthday on Wednesday [ again BAD BAD Catsmum! ]
and
this is what a boxful of freshly shampooed-and-groomed dawg looks like

I think I have a date with my carder!

another finished object [ which needs a name ]

2011-05-02T18:21:00.003+10:00

Nadie wanted a slouchy hat
I felt like playing with a particular lace
This was the result
and I like it so much I'm about to cast on one for myself in blue

pattern - improvised
needles - 3.75mm & 4.5mm KP Harmony
yarn - Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply in Ruby

This isn't by any means the first time I've used Luxury, which is a nice, soft, machine washable little workhorse of a yarn with only one drawback. It grows like nobody's business the first time it hits water. Now if one happens to know that, one can [to a certain extent ] allow for it, but it does still make 'improvising' in this yarn a bit of a gamble size wise. This time, with the help of some swatching and some maths, I pretty much got the desired result ... even if The Girl does still think it's a little loose.

anyone want the pattern ?

More Fibre goodness

2011-04-28T17:35:00.002+10:00

I don't know that I ever actually explained to you how I ended up spending a large portion of Easter at the Bendigo Showgrounds, but in a nutshell the story goes like this:

The denizens of Emu Creek, otherwise known as Pete-and-Brenda, are keen Chrysanthemum growers as well as their more usual guise of gurus of all things goaty.
Anyway, a year, or so, ago they decided that Bendigo really needed a Goat Show. I mean really, really, reallly [ no arguments from me ] and the easiest way to do it without headaches over venues and public liability insurance and the rest, was to create a goat sub-group in the local Chrysanthemum Club and ride along as part of the long-standing Easter Chryssie show at the Prince Of Wales Showgrounds - better known to readers of any knitting blog based in Oz as the home of the Australian Wool & Sheep Show. [ prize for most run-on and parenthetical sentence of the month ]
As is often the case, someone who fully intended to be there, selling her spinning wheels, fibre and yarns, had to bow out fairly late in the piece, and all the advertising mentioned spinning, so a spinner there had to be, even if she was only there to demo... and guess who is the only spinner that Pete-and-Brenda could call to mind ???
Yes
got it in one

And actually, now that I've written that, ONE advertisement came out touting the presence of " sinners" as I found out on the Saturday when one smartypants enquired " Are you one of them sinners I was reading about?"

Anyway
this is the alpaca/ kid angora singles that I managed to get spun over the two days of constant interruptions - like having to go pet sweet, snuggly caprines and camelids
this is how it looked on Sunday night when I plied it with a Corriedale-cross singles that was hanging around begging to be used

and the plied, wetted-and-whacked end product

Those lumpy bumpy bits all seemed to happen when I was trying to answer questions

as did any and all yarn breakages

any perfect spinning occurred when I was not being scrutinised

of course

and we will not even begin to discuss the subject of how one copes with the discovery [ beginning of day 2 ] that one has left the [ absolutely vital ] orifice hook sitting in yesterday's bag on the coffee table 50 kilometres away !!!!

Goat Showy Goodness Now With Added Alpaca

2011-04-24T19:45:00.003+10:00

All roads lead to Bendigo

2011-04-23T19:57:00.005+10:00

Last October I was able to cross yet another life ambition off The List when I achieved near immortality by having a goat named after me

"Self" I thought at the time, " It doesn't get any better than this" [ which my family and friends would probably tell you says volumes about my life ]
Self agreed with me, but it turns out that both of us were completely incorrect.

It turns out that leading your namesake into the judging ring at the inaugural Bendigo Goat Show is pretty nifty too

and even better is when she wins Best Anglo-Nubian Doe in her age group [ narrowly beating out another of PND's doelings, Ms Hannah ]

and, cheesy grin notwithstanding, if you click for big, you can read what it says on my shirt

Almost lost for words

2011-04-20T12:10:00.002+10:00

chris found this on line

I can't decide whether it's so twee that it's cute [ maybe with a white 'beard' as an elf ]

or whether it's just ...

oh, heck, you decide :)

finished object

2011-04-18T22:38:00.000+10:00

Castlemaine State Festival 2011 ; the final washup

2011-04-11T18:54:00.004+10:00

So here's the thing

Pretty much every day for the last week and a half, I've composed mental blog posts... mostly in the car ... or under the shower.

They were witty and polished.
Moving even.
They would have really made you want to jump on a bus/train/plane and get yourself up/down/over here ... if I had, in point of fact, actually got as far as the keyboard,
but alack
and alas even
there was just sooooo much going on, that just didn't happen.
as you may have noticed

there was:
mass dancing in the streets at the Opening Ceremony
marvelous pieces of theatre to be seen/heard/enjoyed in venues both traditional and decidedly not.*
wonderful exhibitions by just about every practising artist in the area
fabulous concerts [ the standout for Nadie and I had to be Toronto-based Klezmer band ' Beyond The Pale' and their Beyond Mozart concert

... the divine Wolfgang Amadeus played on electric mandolin, violin, clarinet, piano accordion and bass ... some of it in Balkan 7/8 time !!!! ]

singing ... in the street outside the Castlemaine Fruit & Veg with the Peace Choir
singing ... at the railway station [ at 6 am ] with the Chat Warblers
singing ... with a cast of what seemed like thousands in the IGA Supermarket [ and apparently we were on ABC Radio too but I missed it ]
some seriously frocked-up** singing ... with soloists from Victorian opera conducted by Richard Gill in a sing-your-own Mozart to Mayhem concert.

Surprisingly, I have almost no voice left, and and seriously need to buy shares in whichever pharmaceutical company makes Strepsils.

Oh, and I mustn't forget that David got involved too

and then there was the all-day closing party yesterday
but I'm all tuckered out so I'm going to leave that for tomorrow

* down a Goldmine

**frocked up: the condition of being very, very dressed up for an occasion such as The Opera or The Ballet.
In the case of my friend Janey, it meant swapping her habitual checked-work-shirt-and -jeans for a pristine white-shirt-and-jeans.

Some of us who did frock up as directed, scored double pass tickets to a Victorian Opera production in Melbourne later in the year.

spot the Catsmum

2011-04-06T13:55:00.002+10:00

Forget Where's Wally? ... can you find moi in this group of pajama-clad ladies warbling at the Castlemaine Train Station at 6-flipping-AM on Monday ?

OCD queen

2011-03-30T20:25:00.004+11:00

I swear I had today's post all planned out.

It was all about the evolution of an idea

I was going to explain to you all how a really simple freebie headband pattern lead to a beret
[ that I haven't shown you yet, despite the fact that it was finished halfway through last year ] which lead to some wristwarmers
[ that I also haven't shown you because they're not sewn up ]
which lead to the leggies that I kinda slipped into the last post
and then to the current project ... which I was confident would be entirely finished, ends sewn in and photographable by tonight

except

in the long established tradition of best laid plans 'o mice, men and Catsmums going aft aglay

just as I was casting off, I noticed a row count error

90 rows back

and yes
I nearly said something less than ladylike
and yes
I did pull it all out
and yes
I have started again

but that will be a post for another day

this week

2011-03-27T13:42:00.004+11:00

Nadie and I spent some quality time with Bear at the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens

I made a new bit of garden ... which has been subsequently rearranged several times by the cats

so I've temporarily given up my landscaping attempts until the irresistible attraction of newly turned earth wears off

I also designed and knitted some legwarmers for The Girl

Nadie made sushi for the WIP [works in progress] day that we had yesterday

and we marked Earth Hour 2011 appropriately [ Nadie and The Boy playing cards by candlelight ]

gorgeous little visitor

2011-03-22T17:09:00.006+11:00

MissC is sulking because Nadie 'stole' her Bearded Dragon

do or do not ... there is no try

2011-03-15T17:46:00.006+11:00

Why is it that as soon as I say ... well, okay,write ... that I'm going to tell you something in particular in the next post, other stuff intervenes ?

In this case, like a whole bunch of other bloggers, I have found myself just overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the continuing disasters in Japan.

It seems insensitive to blithely witter on about my latest knitting / gardening / singing, etc in the face of yet another horrendous natural occurrence

again

First it was floods in Queensland, and then in New South Wales and Victoria.

Then the horrors of Christchurch

and now Japan

so do I blog about my inconsequential stuff or don't I ?

Today as I trawled through my favourite blogs, and read about Bell's newest gorgeous shawl, and Sheepish Annie's ongoing battles with her students, I realised that reading ... and writing ... about the normal stuff is one way of dealing with the overwhelmingly big stuff.

So
as promised

the backstory to my Zen Shawl:

back in October of 2008, I was working on a pair of Broadripple socks for Nadie.
I'd already made a couple of pairs for myself and just loved - and still love - the pattern.
I had decided to dye some cream sock yarn with a totally random [ and the key word here would be 'unmeasured' ] mix of blues, purples and hot pink.
It turned out just as I wanted. So far so good
... until ... I ran out of yarn with just the toe of the second sock left to do.

Cut to frenzied gnashing of teeth

Granted I could have just unpicked the toe of the first sock and given both of them a contrasting toe. That trick has gotten many a savvy knitter out of a tight spot before this ... but did I consider that ?
Nope
Never even crossed my mind for a second.
Instead I attempted to duplicate the 'random' dye job.

First attempt: came out as a pretty but very pastel version.
Second attempt: surprisingly close.

If you look at the photo in the link above, you can see that one toe is ever so slightly paler than the rest, but as the person for whom they were made was happy, I decided not to listen to the OCD side of my brain, and to quit while I was ahead. Said socks were duly finished four days after I started them.

The full ball of attempt 1 and the almost full one of attempt 2 were relegated to the sock wool tub where they lived in complete harmony with all the other sock wool candidates for a couple of years.

until
October 23rd 2010

I was about to catch a train down to Melbourne to spend the evening-before-her-wedding with my darling girl.
As I headed for the door, bag in hand, 'She who must be obeyed' [ aka my BFF Beryl ] yelled "Take your knitting. You'll need something to keep you calm tomorrow morning!!"

far be it from me to argue with SWMBO

but what to take ?
the then current - and still unfinished - project was far too complicated.
I needed to start something new...
I needed to find yarn, pattern and needles ... like right NOW

Snap decision: lace, but something I could do with my brain in neutral. It pretty much had to be another a Forest Canopy Shawl
but what yarn ?

okay, that stuff leftover from Nadie's socks is pretty and I can dye a couple more balls darker for the border later

needles? these 4mm KPs will have to do. They're already screwed together. I don't have time to fiddle around changing the ends.

I cast on going down in the train and got a couple of repeats done

and of course this brings us to the next morning. Nadie's wedding day.
Amidst the chaos of hair and makeup people, I sat in my oh-so-elegant white, fluffy dressing gown, knitting fine lace

I only had to pull out a little bit when I lost the plot for a few stitches [ but I didn't tell you that ]

and that whole 'keep you calm ' premise ?
It actually worked.

Specs:

pattern - Forest Canopy Shawl by Susan Lawrence [ ravlink]
yarn - Arlaan Arwetta [ ebay purchase ] originally cream
needles - KP Options 4mm
yardage - 760m or 830 yds [ 4 balls ]
mods - 7 extra repeats of the diamond pattern and 8 extra eyelet rows in the border

and in case you missed it the photo is here

dum dum dum dum

2011-03-12T20:04:00.002+11:00

... another one* bites the dust**

* unfinished object finished
**with apologies to Queen

edit:
I started this one back in October and just finished it this week. There's a story attached. I'll try to get back to you with that tomorrow.

The Great Muckleford Cat Rescue of 2011

2011-03-04T18:30:00.005+11:00

Time - just after lunch this afternoon
Place - the BIIIIG tree directly in front of the house

The predicament - look closely at the centre top of the photo

that is the younger grandkitten, Suki, precariously perched - and extremely unhappy about it - almost 20 feet up a gumtree

Point the first: only Nadie and I were home at the time.
Point the second: my ladder is only 10 feet long ... and that's measuring total length to the top step upon which no sane person would stand.
Point the third: I am not good with rickety ladders.

While I went to the shed and lugged down the sturdier of the ladders, Nadie managed to entice Suki down about a foot, but have any of you ever tried to get a feisty feline to come headfirst down a sloping branch when she's 16 -18 feet off the ground and terrified ?

Did I perhaps mention that ladders and I are not friends ?

Anyway, I inched my way to the second top step, wrapped one arm around the trunk [ all the while telling the Man Upstairs that I would take it kindly if there were no Wolf Spiders lurking in the immediate vicinity ] then stretched as far as I could in any kind of safety and discovered that I was about two inches too short.

Deeeeep breath
Cautious realignment of my stranglehold on the trunk

and ...
managed to get a couple of fingers around Suki's fore-paw ... which she promptly and firmly dug even deeper into the bark that she was hanging onto like Grim Death.
After readjusting my own death grip on the tree, and several failed attempts, I caught hold of her paw again [ and remember that at this point I was balanced on the top of a ladder at full stretch, holding an overweight chat by ONE FLAMING FOOT.

I suppressed the momentary vision of myself scratched to ribbons, heaved and ended up wearing a Suki collar.

Poor baby was so stressed, she didn't even manage a decent hiss, let alone any claw work on my quivering carcass.

Result:
Suki, Nadie and I have all survived her little expedition [ even if my knees did go all wibbly wobbly once I was back on terra firma ! ]

This is becoming a habit

2011-03-03T17:20:00.003+11:00

Part the first
Once again I've managed to go a whole week between postings ... and it's not like there's been nothing to blog about either ... but I think that certain things are conspiring to keep me from posting:
Of course the most obvious one is just the general upheaval of normal patterns that is the inevitable consequence of trying to amalgamate two separate households but we are getting there.

Mind you, there are definite benefits

All this cupboard reorganisation and rationalisation means that I've rediscovered a whole bunch of stuff that I'd forgotten I owned:
Things that I'd hung onto "just because I had the room" have been re-appraised and, where necessary, sent ruthlessly to the Op Shop.
That poor guy who works in Receiving at the local Thrift Store winces when he sees my car pull up.

Then there's the stuff I hadn't really thought about ... like the fact that Chris & Nadie would be hauling up the contents of their pantry.

Suddenly we had TWO huge tins of Milo to find a home for, two large jars of Vegemite, two sacks of Basmati rice [ and jasmine rice, and arborio rice and ... ]
and so began the Great Pantry Tidy of '11.
Past-Use-By-Dated groceries have been hunted down and terminated
Oh, I feel so virtuous

but all this virtuosity takes a toll on a Catsmum

hence the non-bloggage

part the second [with no attempt at a segue ]

about a week ago I did actually get as far as scribbling down a list of some of the stuff that I could share with you.
So with some additions from this week - and absolutely no expansions or explanations - here's the list:

garlic porcupine meatballs

feather and fan shrug [ which did make it into a post ]

ebook reader

weird weird weather [ okay, so I lied about no explanations. It's the first week of March. If the previous 6 years were anything to go by, it should be peak bushfire season. Instead we've had more rain, and mornings hovering only a handfull of degrees above zero ]

Fred-the-duck MIA

Lonely George. Tuesday. 4 degrees.

garden

Viva Verdi Concert

humungous blisters

cat politics

Bear and Chris

Flourless Almond Orange Cake

Chat Warblers

Peace Choir

Zumba

Purls Palace closes

WiiFit

WIP Day:

Bear-based yarn tensioning device

visitors

presents

any or all of the above may now form the basis of forthcoming Blogfodder if so desired. just ask okay ?

She's ba-aaack !

2011-02-24T22:34:00.003+11:00

Quilting Mojo is still MIA, but as her sibling Ms K. Mojo [ known as Knit to her friends ] has returned to the fold, can QM be far away ?

Mind you, Ms Knit is severely displeased with me.

She expected to return to piles of finished woollies
and
what did she find ?
nothing!
not a scrap!

By the time she had finished castigating me for the pathetic lack of sticks-and-string related activity, my membership in the Knitterly ranks was in serious danger of being stripped from my wilting shoulders. Oh the shame !
There was no help for it.
I had to re-establish my credentials asap.

A quick rummage in the depths of the UFO basket under the coffee table produced a vaguely familiar bit of feather-and-fan. I seem to remember starting it around New Years with the nebulous intention of it being some sort of trans-seasonal long sleeved shrug for Nadie.
When I actually got around to showing her what I'd started, she was somewhat less than enamoured with the colour [ a subdued sort of bluey, mauvy grey] and it ended up in time out.

So now it's going to be for me

The yarn is an aran weight Patons cotton blend that I originally bought - cheaply - at the local supermarket, and then added to when I found some more balls of the same dyelot going for a song at the Salvo Op Shop [ Thrift store ].

No pattern as such: two identical panels of feather and fan with garter stitch border and a segue into stocking stitch for the back[s] and then joined centre back with kitchener stitch.

I could've also just seamed the two pieces together, or done a three needle cast-off ... or I could've just done it all in one continuous piece with the lace at either end and trusted that no-one would actually notice that the pattern on one sleeve was upside down.

anyway for those who care about the specs

yarn - Patons Washed Haze Aran
needles - 6mm KP Harmony

No promises about how long it will take me to sew up the sleeve/side seams.
Can't rush these things.

evidence...

2011-02-23T19:00:00.000+11:00

Natal congratulations

2011-02-12T21:33:00.007+11:00

Hippo Birdy
two ewes
Hippo Birdy
two ewes
Hippo Birdy deeeeeear Nadie
Hippo Birdy
twooooooooooooooooo ewes

Hard to believe that my 'baby' is 29 today !

Nadie circa 1990

so here's the thing

2011-02-11T21:35:00.003+11:00

what with
the alternating floods and heatwave[s]
the running to and fro to Melbourne to get Nadie-and-The-Boy packed up and moved in here
the running to and fro to Melbourne because MIL collapsed and got dragged off to 'ospital the day after Nadie-and-The-Boy moved up here
the packing/unpacking/rationalising of two households worth of goods and chattels

all coming hot on the heels of the Great Annual Post Christmas Take-Down and Pack Away [ which was somewhat more prolonged and involved than expected due to the fact that some of my usual storage spaces were about to be repurposed for storage of the above mentioned goods and chattels ]

and let us not forget the garden ... repeated flooding rains after 15 years of drought equals rampant and unprecedented growth equals [happy] hours of pruning and weeding,

and then, naturally, Nadie and I had to spend some quality time sitting-and-contemplating-the-results-with-book-and-companion-animals

net result:
I have not touched anything involving needle or hook for over a month
[gasp]

and Bear would like you to know that he is still adorable

2011-02-04T21:43:00.003+11:00

Ms Spiny Spider had just finished mending the storm damage to her web when Nadie decided to show us what her top side looks like. You may remember the recent pic of her nether regions

... and now that I read that sentence again, it does occur to me that it is, perhaps, open to more than one interpretation ... erm ...

Obviously, I'm referring to the arachnid she's nether regions, not those belonging to my darling daughter

Is it safe to come out yet ?

2011-01-26T16:14:00.002+11:00

After innumerable trips up and down the Highway, and with the help of a few good men ... and women ... Nadie and The Boy, and their goods, chattels and livestock [ aka the grandkittens Sumi and Suki ] are here.

Not quite what you'd call squared away yet.
That's still a work in progress

mainly for my overseas friends: the floods

2011-01-17T17:38:00.006+11:00

I'm aware from comments here and on Facebook, just how much coverage overseas has been devoted to the recent & ongoing flood situation, but I also know that my overseas friends don't really have a way of measuring the sheer SCALE of the disaster... or indeed any way of knowing where I am in relation to those scenes of devastation.

so
just so's you know:

Not just Queensland - which copped the worst of it - but also vast areas of New South Wales, Victoria [ which is where I am ] and even Tasmania have experienced flooding.
You look at a map of Australia and we're talking almost the entire eastern third of a country that is not that much smaller than Continental USA [ if you don't count Alaska ]

I'm one of the lucky ones.

Nothing worse than a bit of storm water through the big shed, and the frustrations of trying to get down to Melbourne the other day ... which by the way I succeeded in doing not too long after the last missive.
The creek that forms my neighbours-over-the-road's back boundary rose enough to cut about 100m of the dirt road that leads to the Pyrenees Highway, so I had to detour in and out the 'back way', but get through I did without risking life or limb.

Now, in a water related segue, according to my understanding [ via the Almightly ABC* ] the insurance industry apparently differentiates between 'stormwater' which is what came down the hill and through my shed, and for which I and many others are covered, and 'floodwater' which is what happens when a creek or river overflows its banks, and for which almost everyone is not insured.

Bloody semantics!

Am I alone in thinking that it totally stinks that people who have faithfully paid their premiums year in year out, thinking that they were covered for any and all eventualities, are now finding out that they will be refused their claims ?

and off the soapbox now

* National Television Broadcaster

change of plans

2011-01-14T13:57:00.002+11:00

It stopped raining a couple of hours ago.
so I packed Dave, Bear and a load of cleaning products into the car, and set off for Melbourne.

In case you're unaware, Nadie is currently trying to clean and pack for the immanent move up here.
I think we can agree that moving house is stressful at the best of times, but imagine trying to do it with both arms in splints! [ work injury, long story ]
Hence the maternal visitation last weekend to lend a literal helping hand or two at the Pre-Move Garage Sale, and theoretically again today to do a spot of cleaning & bring back the Grandkittens.

That was the plan
but you all know about the best laid plans o' mice, men and Catsmums, don't you ?

things 'gang[ed] aft aglay' in a big way

all ways to & through Castlemaine currently cut by storm water to some degree ...

Police were diverting traffic away from one sheet of water, only to have those cars intercepted a bit further on by another lot of constabulary and sent circling back to the first lot ... and so on ...

I didn't have my usual desire to pull over and take photos, even though some of it was quite spectacular. I've just seen a little too much television coverage this week of people's lives and livelihoods being destroyed.

so here I am back at home
feeling fairly b****y useless

will try to get out to the Calder again later

Sorry if I worried anyone

2011-01-13T22:45:00.002+11:00

No funny/witty posts tonight.
It's been a long and mostly negative week

Last weekend was excruciatingly hot.
I got badly sunburned [ sunscreen, hat, shade sail, the whole nine yards, and still I got scorched ]
I lost the stone from my engagement ring.

It took 5 days to get the Christmas stuff down and semi squared away

It's been raining pretty much constantly since Sunday.
The weather [ or possibly all the packing/unpacking ] is playing havoc with the FMS.

Like everyone else in the country I'm sick at heart about the incredible scale of the losses of Queensland floods, and trying not to whinge about the fact that my big shed just got inundated for the third time since September because it seems so paltry stacked up against what those poor people have to endure.

So that's it

Family and friends in Queensland are flooded but okay
Tomorrow - if the roads are passable - I'm going down to Melbourne to collect the Grandkittens.

Expect feline hostilities to commence shortly after my return!

an omission rectified

2011-01-05T18:18:00.006+11:00

While she didn't exactly take me to task, my darling girl did express some surprise that I hadn't shared photos of these recent interesting garden visitors:

this moth was about 7.5 cm or 3" long, and presumably asleep clinging to the flyscreen.

I didn't manage to catch him awake but you can still see his beautiful barred wings

and this impressive mantis/stick insect thingy got him/her self trapped in my bug zapper, but managed to escape before I had to do something drastic like dismantle the thing to free it.

He/she was quite happy to hop a ride on my hand to the slightly more salubrious surroundings of a eucalypt and stayed there long enough for a photo session.

and The Girl herself took this last pic of one of my occasional guests ...

this totally weird, spiky, little spider, the Spiny Spider, Austracantha minax.

Despite numerous attempts, I've never quite managed to catch her in focus, even in macro, probably because she's really tiny ... about a centimetre across.

If you're wondering why I'm calling it 'she' with such conviction, the males are even smaller.

Anyway, Nadie had a go at taking the shot from a bit further out and I just cropped in closer.
Success!

booklist 2010 and breaking news

2011-01-02T15:43:00.002+11:00

Back in August, Ms Gayle of Mangofeet - based on shared tastes - suggested Lois McMaster Bujold as an author whose work I might enjoy.
She was right
so I'm giving you my completed list for last year and, if you can be bothered wading through it, please feel free to suggest other authors that you think might be a good fit.

I haven't included textile or art titles as I rarely read every word of those so they don't count

January:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JKR
The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown ( disappointing )
Loving Richard Feynman - Penny Tangey ( Young adult - okay except the weak ending )
From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris
Living Dead In Dallas - CH
Green Mill Murder - KG
Blood and Circuses - KG
Ruddy Gore - Kerry Greenwood
Urn Burial - KG
Raisins and Almonds - KG book 10
Death Before Wicket - KG
Away With the Fairies - KG
Murder In Montmartre - KG
Queen of the Flowers - KG
Murder In The Dark - KG
The Persian Pickle Club - Sandra Dallas
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency - Douglas Adams
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul - DA
Cocaine Blues - KG
Forbidden Fruit - KG book 20
Dead Until Dark - CH
Club Dead - CH
Skin Trade - Laurell K Hamilton
Seventh Son - Orson Scott Card
Red Prophet - OSC
Prentice Alvin: OSC
Alvin Journeyman - OSC
Heartfire - OSC

February
Crystal City - Orson Scott Card
The Fire Rose - Mercedes Lackey book 30
Dead to The World - Charlaine Harris
Dead As A Doornail - CH
Definitely Dead - CH
Dead and Gone - CH
Phoenix and Ashes - ML
The Wizard of London - ML
Swallowing Darkness - LKH
Shakespeare’s Landlord - CH
All Together dead - CH
Shakespeare’s Champion - CH book 40
Shakespeare’s Christmas - CH
Shakespeare’s Trollop - CH
Shakespeare’s Counselor - CH

March
Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
InkHeart - Cornelia Funke
The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club - Gil McNeil
The Lover’s Knot - Clare O’Donaghue ( had trouble finishing this one … too contrived )

April
Handfasted - Catherine Helen Spence
A Knight Of The Word - Terry Brooks
Running With the Demon - TB book 50
The Patient’s Eyes - David Pirie
The Night Calls - DP
The Dark Water - DP

May
Jane Bites Back
Jane Austen Ruined My Life ( MEH! )
Turn Coat - Jim Butcher
Dirt Music - Tim Winton ( IRL bookclub )

June/July
The Science of Discworld 1
Last Continent - TP ( reread)
The Jerilderie Letter - Ned Kelly ( IRL bookclub ) book 60
The Magicians - Lev Grossman
The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie - Alan Bradley

August
The Childrens Bach - Helen Garner ( IRL bookclub )
Jingo - Terry Pratchett ( reread )
Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris
An Ice Cold Grave - CH
Grave Secret - CH

September
Grave Sight - CH
The Curse of Challion - Lois McMaster Bujold
The Paladin of Souls - LMB book 70
The Hallowed Hunt - LMB

October
Love In A Cold Climate - Edith Warton
Twighlight - Stephanie Meyer
New Moon - SM
Eclipse - SM
New Dawn - SM
Beguilement - LMB

November
Dead In The Family - CH
Unseen Academicals - TP
The Science of Discworld II; The Globe - Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen book 80
Legacy - LMB
Passage - LMB
Horizon - LMB

December
Real Murders - CH
A Bone To Pick - CH
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse - CH
The Julius House - CH
A Fool & His Honey - CH
Last Scene Alive - CH
Poppy Done To Death - CH book 90
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Dead Man’s Chest - Kerry Greenwood
Devil Bones - Kathy Reichs

reading
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

so suggest away!

and now to the breaking [ momentous ] news:

No, nobody's pregnant as far as I know

but

[drum roll please cos this is happy news ]

My son-in-law has snagged a job transfer to Bendigo and so, within the next few weeks, he, Nadie and the Grandkittens will be moving in Chez Catsmum for a period as yet to be determined but not less than 6 months, and possibly considerably longer.

happy dance!

racing towards the finish line

2010-12-31T20:53:00.005+11:00

It has been a week of extremes
half the country is under water. Seriously under water.
Not here though.
After all the rain we had in October/November, the dams are still delightfully full, but there's been little evidence of moisture of late.

A week ago we had overnight lows of 4C/39F
... and today?
While it wasn't the hottest New Year's Eve I've experienced up here [ that distinction belongs to ... I think ... 2006, when it reached 48C, and was still over 40 at midnight ]
it did still get to 40.9. That's 105.6F!
4 degrees above freezing to " OMG I'm going to die of heat prostration" in less than a week.
Makes it very difficult to acclimatise
especially for the elderly.
My 90 year old, just-had-a-triple-bypass, darling Godmother came up for the day today, and I just kept thinking
"Thank God for the A/C"

After the visitors left, I was at a bit of a loose end, pottered around a bit, knitted some lace, browsed a couple of books ... your basic dithering
then I decided to make another of those wrap aprons. Ma-in-law liked her Christmas one so much, I promised her another for her natal day in March.
I'm not sure whether this will be it.

It might be.
Or it might be for DIL who said she'd certainly wear one.

At least this way I've got MIL covered :)

anyway
Happy New Year to you and yours, from me and mine
and I'll be back tomorrow with news of some big changes Chez Catsmum

sometimes ...

2010-12-28T19:58:00.004+11:00

it all comes together

right place
right time

and with camera in hand:

Last Minute Christmas Sewing

2010-12-24T14:09:00.005+11:00

I never do this
never
ever
I don't race around at the last minute trying to finish off gifts ... mainly because that's normally a sure fire recipe for having everything go wrong, right ?
but here's the thing
even though MIL is blind and won't know the difference, I really wasn't happy with the wrap-around apron that I made for her.
It is pretty enough, and would serve the stated purpose, but there were things about the finishing that I wasn't thrilled with: the purchased bias was too narrow and I didn't really like the way I'd zig-zagged in on.
So I've just spent a couple of hours making version 2.0,

and this time I grabbed a hunk of contrast fabric and cut 2" bias strips with my rotary cutter, then fed them through my handy dandy [ seldom used ] Clover 1" bias maker.
Much much better.
and no I'm not showing you the first one.
That was the whole point of remaking it.

one sleep to go!!

Be Warned

2010-12-23T19:41:00.005+11:00

Basically, if you put your head through my door between the start of December and January 6th [ Twelfth Night ] you are going to find yourself admiring the Christmas decorations whether you want to or not
and I will grasp at any excuse that will get a few extra people through the door.

... you have a busload of Senior Cits to entertain? Bring 'em over
... require a venue for this year's choir break-up party? No worries!

Need to kill 90 minutes or so with two busloadsof disabled adults from David's thursday social club before pizza-dinner-and-Christmas-Lights-Tour ? *

Bring 'em here for junkfood, a visit from multiple Santas - and an elf - plus presents, candy canes, and a total overload of Christmasness

and someone obviously knows the hostess well:

I scored a really nice Christmas mug stuffed full of Robert Timms coffees, shortbread, & Twinings teas: English & Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey and Prince of Wales.

If you'll pardon me, I'm off to become better acquainted with the Prince of Wales.

* a note for my Northern Hemisphere friends: because we are only a day or so past the Summer Solstice, it doesn't get dark enough to see the Christmas lights until after 9pm. Hence the need to kill some extra time before dinner.

Wee Jake

2010-12-22T20:54:00.002+11:00

has had two blood transfusions, has lost a bit of weight, and is being treated for jaundice, but despite all that, is now out of Intensive Care and in the High Dependency Unit. A huge step forward methinks.

... and he's wearing his aunty-made knitteds

A quilt, some goats and a good day out

2010-12-21T20:45:00.005+11:00

After His Royal Beariness and I dropped David off in town this morning, we choofed up the Freeway to Bendigo and picked up my newest quilt from Jodi Abel, longarm quilter par excellence.

Ms Jodi has done her usual wonderful job of enhancing my patchwork with her meticulous Japamese inspired machine quilting and I'm thrilled to bits with the result.

Then an already quite good day got even better, as we proceeded out to see PND and Brenda at Emu Creek.
Bear got to visit his extended family, which was why he was along for the ride, and I got to snuzzle - and bottle feed - some of the newest lot[s] of baby goaties:
some beautiful pure-bred Saanans

and some sweet little Nubian cross babies that have the same sire as my Ruby and Rowan.

After a substantial lunch, it was back home [ very carefully ] with a car loaded with wooden pallets, and also my very country Chrissie pressie from PND&B : a spiffy new water gauge to replace my cracked old one, a very fancy goat hoof-pick-and-brush, and last but not least, a box of Ferrero-Rocher chocs.

... and here's the newest quilt in all its oriental splendour ... which could be a pretty good name for it now that I come to think of it. What do you think, hmmm? Oriental Splendour ?
Yes ?
No ?

I still have to put on the binding and hand sew it down but I couldn't resist laying it on the bed,
It'll probably stay like that until after Christmas.

Irony

2010-12-20T16:38:00.003+11:00

It is one of the inescapable truths of blogging that the more there is happening in one's life, the less time or inclination there is to blog about it

I would have expected that, because I'm not having the family Christmas dinner here this year, that perhaps the pre-Christmas run-up might be a little calmer than normal

I should have known better

Lunch at Maldon with friends on Thursday [ for my birthday and to stop me from dwelling on the other implications of the date ] was followed by frantic last minute house cleaning before about forty past and present members of our women's acapella choir 'Chat Warblers' descended upon the premises for our annual Christmas knees-up.

So the next few hours yielded
birthday flowers aplenty

copious amounts of delicious edibles,

good friends,
and some really great singing.

Judging on past years, I expected the girls to start heading off at about 9.30 - 10pm, around the time David was dropped back home after a meal at the pub with Carer Graham, but nope. Everyone was still having far too good a time singing to even contemplate leaving.
Not even the ones with an hour drive ahead of them.
The same ones who needed to get up at 6am to get ready for work!

Instead of Dave heading for bed and Graham going home to a well earned rest, the boys both settled into the rumpus room and listened to the carols, etc emanating from the other end of the house in three & four part harmony.

Fast forward to a little past midnight, and was I fast asleep in my virtuous bed ? kitchen clean and shining ?
Aaah ... that would be a no
I think we'd worked our way round to the Banana Boat Song [ Dayo! Da-a-a-y-o! ] and the Happy Wanderer by this stage:

Castlemaine ladies certainly know how to party [ or should that be par-tay ?]
They did eventually all depart, declinig my offer to roll out the sleeping bags

Friday was reserved for doing the dishes,

taking out the rubbish
finding all the hidden champagne flutes,
and making a tally of the things that people had managed to leave behind:

2 tote bags - one with sheet music and one with a large jar of Italian Nougat [ which may not make it back to its owner. Just sayin'!!]
one large salad bowl
one large casserole w lid
one pair of salad tongs
one large serving spoon
one blue cardigan
a marble cheese board
sticky tape
a packet of safety pins

and a bucket of tomato plants

I think they had a good time
I know I certainly did

introducing Jake

2010-12-17T21:24:00.004+11:00

my great nephew Jacob was born on November 30, weighing 896 grams or 2 pounds, and 2.5 months early.
This photo was taken on day 14 and already I can see that he definitely favours the Italian side of the family.

I did not make that hat

it's a perfectly nice hat
made no doubt with love and care, to be donated to the NICU

but don't you think he should have a hat made by his great aunt ?
Of course he should!
which is why these will be passed over to his great grandmother tomorrow for delivery asap.

I look at the size of those horrifyingly tiny hats and am just so thankful that Jake is hanging in there.
You know, I've been sending off similar tiny hats for a long, long time, and only rarely have I known the intended recipients. This puts a whole different slant on my NICU knitting which I am struggling to put words to ... and not just mine, of course, but all those other legions of knitters [ and crocheters ] worldwide, churning out tiny garments with just one aim: to keep these fragile little bundles of humanity warmed and comforted.

NOTE: the teeny weeny prem BSJ is an adaptation of the classic EZ Baby Surprise Jacket, as engineered by my friend Yvette
The hats were all just improvised

Victory!

2010-12-15T19:59:00.005+11:00

If you'll allow a mountaineering metaphor or three, today we step onto the summit ... the peak ... the pinnacle
After weeks of hard slog and unremitting effort, we have finally reached the other end of the House Tour from whence we started lo, these two weeks ago [ gotta love the opportunity to stick in a 'whence' and a 'lo!']
today we're in the rumpus room ... the domain of Father Christmas ... Saint Nick ... Santa ... aka the fat bloke in the red suit

The room once likened to an explosion at the North Pole

I can never get a truly accurate count, but there's a little over a hundred Santas in here, plus assorted bears and moose in santa suits ... which is probably why I can never get a proper total. Where do I draw the line in defining 'santa-ness'?
Is a bear in a Saint Nicholas robe, complete with luxurious, long, fake santa beard, a santa or not ?
No. I can't decide either.

I try to acquire at least one Father Christmas - bought or made - per year, and usually exceed that quite easily. This year was no exception. Now, okay, this year I didn't make any [ did manage multiple Christmas quilts though !! ] but Nadie bought me three little guys back in July, and I've added another two or three since then from a local gift shop that was changing hands.

There probably won't be time for a post tomorrow - 't'is my natal day, so a lunch out with friends is on the cards, and then a Choral Christmas break-up party here later [ obviously with lots of singing ]
I like to keep busy on the 16th
As well as being my birthday, it's also the day I lost Marc in '99
so mixed emotiions

but I'll be back on Friday

Day 10 : Into Snow Country part 2

2010-12-13T17:40:00.003+11:00

and for the crochet challenged amongst my knitterly friends, here's a link to a lovely little KNITTED snowflake:
so you too can have your very own white Christmas

Day 9 - Into Snow Country part 1

2010-12-12T20:29:00.004+11:00

I was going to act as your guide through the snowy hinterlands of my kitchen, but the family members who were coming tonight ... and then were probably going to leave it until tomorrow ... are back to coming up tonight
[ and don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to get more time with them ]
but I'm afraid my brain translated 'probably' into 'we are coming tomorrow morning'
... so now I'm going to have to leave you to your own devices, while I get stuck into the vacuuming that I really knew I should be doing today instead of

reading another Charlaine Harris [ Poppy Done To Death ]

and starting a new Christmas quilt [ triangles ]

and watching Dr Who DVDs.

Christmas House Tour 2010 Day 8

2010-12-11T20:24:00.006+11:00

As you can probably tell from the glimpse of vintage postcards in the extreme left of the photo, we've just moved a little further along the wall from yesterday.

This is my 'main' tree, and it's decorated with mercury glass

crystal, and frankly-fake acrylic.
This year I stumbled across some palest pale blue baubles [ $1.50 each !! ] ] so I grabbed all eight that the store had in that colour. If they'd had more, I'd probably have bought at least a dozen - or two :)They are so barely blue that I'm sure most people don't see it, but they tone in with the nativity and the newly finished Arctic Saint Nicholas wallhanging

... or wallhangings, depending on your point of view ... it's three separately quilted and bound pieces, which hang as one, but the two star panels can also function on their own as table runners.
The left panel and the centre one have been hanging for the last two weeks ... and looked just fine ... but ... I wanted all three done and crossed off my list.

As Tara can attest, I was still hemming the third panel last night !

This Stack-N-Whack quilt is folded across the back of one of the couches at the moment, but I opened it out for the photo.
I guess I must've made that one in the late '90s. The colours are actually much deeper and richer than the photo has captured but you'll just have to take my word for that.

The reportage has been pretty quilt-centric of late, but that imbalance is about to be addressed Tomorrow it's the kitchen
Snowflake Central!

Still in the Big Room

2010-12-10T18:40:00.005+11:00

Today I thought that I'd share my collection of vintage Christmas postcards

these are the fruits of many years of scouring antique fairs
and most of them only cost me a dollar or two.

There ARE scarcer, more expensive ones out there. I just haven't bought any .

Most of mine are from the US, a few are English, a couple appear to be German and one at least is Norwegian. Not a single one was printed in Australia, so I suppose that will have to remain my Holy Grail. I don't even know if they produced them in Australia during the Edwardian period, which is when most of mine date from.

and you might want to click and enlarge for a closer look at some of the graphics.
There's the expected holly, ivy and poinsettia, but quite a few feature subjects that don't strike a modern eye as particularly festive ... pansies for example ... or violets ... a stylish Gibson girl ... kittens with roses

I especially like the ones that have postage cancellations [ dates are always good. It puts things in context. ] and faded, spidery copperplate writing.

One hundred years ago, Amelia wished Molly in Minneapolis " very merry & happy Xmas times"

I wish you all the same

I know you're out there

2010-12-08T16:51:00.004+11:00

I can hear you hyperventilating.

So deep breath everyone, because today we're rolling into The Big Room.

In anyone else's house, it would be the lounge/ dining room, but ... y'know ... my house ... my rules.
So the dining room bit actually has the couches [ sofas ], buffet and display unit, while the space normally designated lounge room [ living room ] is my studio / sewing room / call it what you will.

Going on past years, it'll take us about three days to get through this ... and then on to the kitchen, and finally the rumpus room.

So ... in here the bookcases [ normally ] house quilt books and needlework tools, both the ones I actually use and the vintage stuff. One shelf has been cleared [ and don't y'all faint but I actually DUSTED ] and temporarily reassigned to the Nativity sets.

This Italian set is not very old - maybe 10 years - and has no particular story attached

- unless you count the time I discovered that David had added two plastic toy goats to the more traditional sheep, ox and ass. This year the additions are a knitted sheep [ or goat, I'm not sure ] and an alpaca who is hiding just out of the photo.

The stable for this group is one that Marc made from his mum's old fence when it was replaced.

He made three stables, so I bought three sets of the figurines. We gave one lot to his mum [ who didn't much appreciate the gesture at the time but now treasures it ] and Nadie and I have the others. I know that the figures are inexpensive, but I like their simplicity, and of course, anything my late husband spent the time creating is doubly special.

This next little paper one was bought by my parents on their first married Christmas. It has 1950 written in pencil on the back in my mother's distictive handwriting, as well as the price: 1/3 [ 12c ]

I guess if my folks had been more affluent that it might have been replaced decades before I snaffled it, but instead it's still here, and still loved. Still appreciated both for it's lovely soft graphics and for the link to other times.

This last group was a 'Post-Christmas Sales' gift to myself a couple of years ago.

Do I really need to explain?
It's blue
and 'quilted'
'nuff said really!

Catsmum Christmas House Tour Day 5

2010-12-07T20:01:00.008+11:00

Call me paranoid if you must

but I have a sneaking suspicion that a certain feline has been CATscanning the quilt-which-still-has-no-name in Nadie's room [ which I suppose I had better start thinking of as Nadie and Chris' room ]
The QWSHNN - which will probably grace my own bed next Christmas - was finished earlier this year and contains decades of leftovers from seasonal projects, charm square swaps and also donated strips leftover from other people's Christmas sewing.

Like I didn't already have enough Christmas fabric to last me until well after I become a resident in the Old Quilters' Home.

Anyway
this room is usually decked out in my DD's preferred palette of blue, purple and turquoise but for 6 or 7 weeks each year it goes red.

and here we get to another 'decorating-for-Christmas' strategy:
THINGS ... DON'T ... NECESSARILY ... HAVE ... TO ... HAVE ... REINDEER ... OR ... A ... FAT ... MAN ... IN ... A ... SUIT... ON ... THEM ... TO ... BE ... USEFUL ... AT ... THIS ... TIME ... OF ... YEAR.

If it's the right colours [ whatever your 'right' colours happen to be ] USE IT !!!

anyway
moving on
I decided on no tree in there this year
but plenty of Christmas teddies, including a 2010 version that I bought to mark Nadie and The Boy's first Christmas as a married couple.

Maybe I should qualify that last bit, and amend it to no real tree, because there plainly is a fabric one one on the Log Cabin quilt behind the teds.

I've recycled an old 'stained glass' ex-class sample into a mini-quilt which is doing double duty as a bedside table mat [ accompanied by a fabric origami Happy Coat and one of the Christmas canine themed coasters I bought when I couldn't find reasonably priced cat ones ]

and, by the way, I think we may have confirmed my suspicions regarding the source of all that fur:

Now I want you all to get a good night's sleep, because from tomorrow, you'll be needing all your strength and stamina.
Up 'til now I've been going easy on you
From tomorrow we get serious about this Christmas House Tour
Tomorrow we move into the Big Room.

Day 4 and more of the hall

2010-12-05T20:06:00.004+11:00

I went on a bit of a Christmas stitchery bender a few years ago and the garland down the hallway bears the fruits of those labours [ and a mini quilt or two ]

I always intended to stitch another Nick, and one of these years - when I run out of things on the to-do list - it may even happen

Spent today gardening, reading, and hemming a pre-printed snowman panel for a friend who claims not to be able to sew.

Day 3 and the Tour ambles on

2010-12-04T19:23:00.003+11:00

... down the hallway, past the 20 year old Wild Goose Chase quilt

and the [ sadly undecorated ] laundry, into the main bearroom

... ahem ... that should be bathroom.

resin bears by the bucketload

embroidered handtowels from the fair hand / machine of OzJane

a fake greenery garland sporting a few crochet stars and snowflakes

I also change the usual blue towels for hunter green and/or red in both the bathrooms but, given that the towel rails are behind the door, not too many people see them. so why do I do it ?
Ya gotta have fresh towels, right ? so why not green ?

I will admit that, for all of about five seconds, I did contemplate filling the bath with a bunch of Christmas bears [ genus stuffus toyus ] but decided that would just be making more work for myself when the real Bear needed a B-A-T-H.

Christmas decorating hint #1 - if it sits there for more than 30 seconds, tie a festive bow on it!
This applies equally to light fittings, furniture, domestic pets and any male visitor over 180cm or 6 feet.

I think we have a problem

2010-12-03T22:16:00.002+11:00

there seems to be some question as to ownership

Christmas House Tour Day 2

2010-12-02T18:14:00.005+11:00

In keeping with yesterday's stated aim of easing you into the Catsmum Christmas experience, today's offering is David's bedroom.

This is the only room in the house that gets the tinsel treatment.

not that I have anything against tinsel personally, it's more that - as you'll soon see - round here, it would be overkill.

[ that thud you just heard was Sheepie fainting dead away from shock over there in Maine ]

If you thought that my festive zeal knew no limits, you may consider yourselves told otherwise

... and while we're on the subject of personal seasonal decorating limits, as I believe we just were:
I don't do much in the way of lights outside either.

A couple of reasons really:
I'm in the middle of the bush - who'd see 'em ?
and
balancing precariously atop a rickety ladder is not one of my favourite things to do

and then there's the size of the January power bill ...

[ and am I the only one who senses the inherent irony of power companies who exhort us to use energy wisely all year, and then sponsor competitions to find Australia's 'best' - which is to say most extreme - Christmas lights ? ]

so it's basically just nets of solar powered white fairy lights flung over some of the shrubs down the driveway.

Anyway this was David's choice from among the proffered Christmas quilts

The Christmas Geese [ which D insists are ducks ] were hand pieced in the late 80s, from a photo shown to me by an American visitor. She kindly sent me a copy of the Debbie Mumm pattern on her return home, but by then I'd already drafted it up, and finished the quilt.
My draft has much fewer pieces because it was for hand work, where the original took advantage of a lot of the then-current speed piecing methods ]
The one on his bed isn't really Christmassy in any way other than the inclusion of red
which reminds me ... I really need to dig out the red and the green pillowcases to match his red sheets.

Once again Bear felt that the photo taking process would be enhanced by his presence.

... and so it begins

2010-12-01T16:32:00.004+11:00

"T'is the first day of Summer here in Oz, but you'd never know it by most of the country.

The unseasonal weather continues.

Significant percentages of the dirt road that I need to traverse to get from MY dirt road to the Highway. were last seen floating down the creek formerly known as the Castlemaine Golf Course,
In addition, my shed was [ mildly ] inundated, and the 9 hay bales parked - I thought - sufficiently high and dry in the carport ... weren't.
But enough of that.

It's time for you all to grab a glass of something festive, perhaps some shortbread, maybe a mince pie or a bite of gingerbread, because it's time to set off on Day 1 of the Official Catsmum 2010 Christmas House Tour.
If you're new to 'The Tour' you may need to pace yourself ...

We'll start you off slowly - think of it as getting acclimatised at Base Camp before the ascent on Everest - at the far end of the house from where I intend to end up in a couple of weeks

This is my semi-Victorian / Edwardian bedroom.

His Royal Beariness declined to move so just consider him a furry decoration, okay ?

So
seasonally appropriate bedlinen [ but as the room is green and cream that wasn't too much of a stretch ]

'crystal' garlands on my great grannie's cedar tallboy,

and the 1920s tea-trolley that the tellie sits on ...

which, as you can plainly see, also houses
a collection of mainly cream Saint Nicks and angels:

the tall skinny Saint Nicks were presents from Maz and Chris, the little white wooden one behind the WillowTree angel is one that Nadie bought for me back in July [ along with red and green versions which you'll see another day ]
and I made most of the others.
The tree in here is a small one and , because it's my tree, and I can put whatever I like on it [ well, obviously, I get to do that to all the trees, but you probably get my drift ]

it has:
vintage and not-so-vintage scissors, vintage sewing tools and knitting gauges, a thimble case, as well as an assortment of stars, baubles and angels [ and one very elegant cat which is actually a brooch ]

and tomorrow we'll move on to ... whatever room I decide to photograph next.

I's helpings Mum decorates

2010-11-28T07:58:00.008+11:00

With - or despite -the input of various four-legged 'assistants' [ and I am using the word in its loosest form ], the festive decorating has been completed in time for the arrival of various crafty friends and relations later this morning.

Even in the face of inundation of near Biblical proportions,

they are braving the water, and the potholes, and I expect these hardy souls to arrive armed variously with their quilting, crochet, knitting, spinning and embroidery ... oh and food ... lots of food.

David was busy after tea last night, creating his own culinary contribution : mini plum puddings

and in a tenuous water-related segue:
This rare sight is the overflow pipe from my dam doing what it is designed for

... overflowing.

With summer only 3 days away, and after the wettest Spring in a dam[n] long time

the dam is full

and thousands of litres of precious water are disappearing down the road
but
and I can't emphasize this enough
[just in case you missed it ]
the dam is full
for the first time -or so I am reliably informed by the previous owner - since 1996

did I mention that the dam is full ?

it's been a long week

2010-11-26T12:35:00.005+11:00

I want to thank you all for the kind words and your understanding of how difficult last week was.

I'm slowly getting used to life with one less furrbaby around, and Bear seems to have stopped fretting.
Isn't it odd that the one dawg in the house seems to have noticed Oakley's absence far more than either Sophie or MissC ?
Well, no [ answering my own largely rhetorical question here ] because that is the nature of cats and dogs.

and before I move on ... did you spot the common thread in most of the p hotos of my ginger boy ?
Sophie's chosen path as the resident feline yarn tensioning device has been well documented. What was perhaps less well known was Oakley's long career as quilt cat.

I'm sure that you'll agree

2010-11-21T16:50:00.004+11:00

... someone-who-shall-remain-nameless has finally gone too far

edited to add another photo so that you can see more clearly exactly what she's inflicted on me

Oakley 1995 - 2010

2010-11-19T18:39:00.004+11:00

I'm sorry that most of you never got to meet Oakley.
He was the sweetest natured cat that ever walked this earth
and I have watched him fade away little by little over the past year.
There haven't been a lot of photos of him lately. he was just too frail but these are two from this year:

Nadie would say her final goodbyes each time she left to go back down to Melbourne but I think we both knew last weekend that this time it really was for the very last time.
Each time I watched her do it, it just about broke my heart
When I've woken up in the morning recently, or come in the door getting back from town, I've half expected him to have 'gone'
and bad as that would've been, and as awful as it has been in the past, sitting up through the night with an animal that I knew I was losing, it was somehow worse to have to make the call to the vet. I did that earlier in the week, knowing that I needed time to say good-bye and to make peace with my emotions ... and that I needed to let my girl know too.
Part of me hoped that Oakley would somehow take that decision out of my hands in these last few days
but he didn't
so today he made his trip over the rainbow bridge.

It's THAT time of year

2010-11-16T18:48:00.005+11:00

Yes my dears

with only 12 days until the last WIP Day of the year [ works in progress that is ]
and also because I can't cope with the idea of visitors mid-decorate - largely because the house at that point looks like an explosion at the North Pole - I have begun decking the halls a few days earlier than usual

In line with hallowed custom, the Official Annual Chez Catsmum Christmas House [ cyber ] Tour won't start until the first of December,

but here's a little taste
and in case you haven't been watching the Christmas Countdown widget in the sidebar, here's a small and suitably subtle hint:

Yes, I know that it's three weeks

2010-11-15T15:41:00.003+11:00

... since Nadie and Chris' wedding, and you still haven't seen a 'finished' photo of their quilt.
No I didn't forget.
With the having the flu, and then the recovering from the having the flu and all, it just got put in the too hard basket ... or rather, the 'too damn heavy' basket.
It's a BIIIIIG quilt, and it weighs a tonne/ton [ feel free to choose your preferred system of weight measurement ] so I pretty much haven't had enough oomph in me to hold it up for long enough to pin it to the design wall ... and to move the sewing tables out of the way as well.

that situation was finally rectified on the weekend, and Chris [ who has a better camera than I do ] took this shot for me.
and even though it's pinned at ceiling height, it's still on the carpet a bit.
Told you it was big!

and just to prove that it WAS finished on time and was indeed at the wedding, here's the extremely mediocre shot I took of it spread over the couch in the Bride's Retreat at Chateau Wyuna.
Now you can see why I waited to get a decent shot before posting

A Sound-Of-Music Moment

2010-11-14T09:19:00.007+11:00

I have tried
I have even come close
but I have to admit that the quest is over
he's done it

SIL Chris
managed to get the PERFECT raindrops-on-roses' shot yesterday.

look at that drop trembling on the edge
you just know that a millisecond later gravity triumphed

maybe I should try for the quintessential 'whiskers-on-kittens' ?

Next year I'm wearing a tiara!!

2010-11-13T16:53:00.003+11:00

Last year the Relay for Life was cut short due to extreme heat
but the forecast for this weekend was somewhat different
The past couple of days had been a bit on the hot side but a change was forecast. The atmosphere by 6pm was sticky and humid

Nadie [ seem here with some of the other members of our team ] and I, began walking laps around Camp Reserve.

At first there were only a dozen or so walking but the number soon swelled to somewhere between one and two hundred [ I'm guessing here ... not good at estimating crowds ]

Inside the Clubrooms, this hardy soul [ Greg ??] honoured his fundraising promise and endured having his head shaved ... brave man!

The lap walking continued, pausing at 8pm for the lighting of hundreds of memorial candles - tiny tealights set inside paper bag lanterns inscribed with the names of both the survivors and those taken too soon.

We then did a special lap of the oval led by the Castlemaine Pipe Band, to the tune of 'Scotland the Brave'

before assembling in front of the portable stage for a very moving opening ceremony which culminated with a minute's silence

and another lap 'round the oval behind the pipes and drums.

Nadie and I left about 9pm, a bit tired, very mozzie-bitten and quite happy with our part in the proceedings . We WERE intending to return with the boys this morning for another couple of hours before the official closing.
Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas, and those hardy souls who were camping [ and walking ] overnight, were forced to abandon the effort when the heavens opened.
The deluge has pretty much continued unabated all day
and while we are always happy to see evidence that 15 years of drought may well be over ...
the timing was a wee bit of a nuisance.

Last night there was much laughter, more than a few tears
and we'll do it all again next year

Relay For Life Castlemaine 2010

2010-11-10T21:11:00.004+11:00

I don't normally use this blog as a vehicle to solicit for fundraising but there are always gonna be exceptions in life, aren't there ?
This weekend Nadie, David, Chris & I are all taking part in the Castlemaine Relay for Life in support of the Victorian Cancer Council
If you've been with me for a while, you already know why this is a cause dear to my heart.

If you would like to support our little team, made up of parents, staff and clients of Windarring, which is David's Day Placement, you can donate online here

and btw if you are a local, and would like to come down to the Opening Ceremony, it all kicks off at the Camp Reserve [ Showground/Footy Ground ] at 6pm, this Friday, November 12 and continues overnight until noon Saturday.

Purple

2010-11-06T10:40:00.004+11:00

Names added for Alison:

my favourite Iris with Italian Lavender and the bright pink behind is a succulent generically called Pig Face
the classic cottage garden annual: Larkspur
which I also have in pink and white
Supposedly the Plague Locusts - which are shaping up for this summer to be the worst in nearly a century - don't like Larkspurs, so it could be a good thing I have thousands of 'em.

another beautiful Iris

and this is Scilla Peruviensis, commonly known as Cuban Lily [ even though the latin name means Peruvian Bluebell ] ... tough as old bootstraps, spreads readily but controllably, and soooooo beautiful

Doggy Day Spa

2010-11-03T16:40:00.003+11:00

So
This was me at breakfast time

My usual gorgeous self.
I mean one can't improve on perfection.
Am I right ? or am I right ?

Ahh! but y'see Mum'd realised that Summer will start in less than 4 weeks, so the Forces of Evil had been contacted [ No, seriously, Leanne? loveya babe! ]

I mean ... people ... did she HAVE to book my annual haircut for a day when it was BEARly going to make it into double digits ?
C'mon

the dreaded collar and leash appeared
and just like that my fate was sealed

This is moi about 3 hours later

Can you tell I'm less than impressed with the bow ?

and I smell like a sissy
a French sissy

[ those cats have been giving me grief all afternoon. Even the grandkittens ]

the mani-pedi's not too bad though

I guess a fella could get used to this

something ...

2010-11-02T20:27:00.006+11:00

... old
something new
something borrowed
someething blue

the 'old' I've written about before; my great-grandmother's french silk hankie

the 'new' was, of course, the beautiful dress

the 'borrowed', daughter-in-law [ and bridesmaid ] Christina's hair ornament/comb thingie from her own wedding to my #1 son in 2006, which you can see in one of yesterday's pix

and the blue was a pair of the traditional garters, supplied by Nadie's 'surrogate mum' - and my good friend - Nicole
and 'why a pair ?' some of you may be asking.
In my day, back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, one only had the one - although I actually didn't have any [ I had a blue silk ribbon horseshoe sewn into my petticoat ]

Anyway, apparently it is now the norm to have two - a slightly fancier one for the bride to keep and one for The Toss.

This is the toss one, which was caught by David - thanks to some careful shepherding by his thoughtful youngest cousin Adam and good aim on Chris' part

and which was worn proudly for the rest of the night

albeit upside down :)

Halloween 101

2010-11-01T21:21:00.004+11:00

If US television and the innernetz are to be believed [ and - hey! - if it's on the Internet, well, it MUST be true, right ? ] millions of US parents have just spent a bazillion gajillion dollars, and/or vast amounts of time and energy, in ensuring that their li'l monsters' Halloween dreams did not go unfulfilled.

Wasted effort people! Wasted!

Really, all you needed to do was catch some kind of gastric flu bug, suffer the MUTHAH of all migraines for 5 or 6 days with a side of throwing up your toes, and other bodily functions that I'll choose not to dwell on here.
Fevers
Chills

Yup
No solid food at all for about 96 hours,

and you too can - with no monetary outlay AT ALL
- do a very convincing impersonation of one of the living dead

simple

yes I'm feeling much better
still light headed and wobbly
the house is slowly disappearing under a layer of suitably post-apocalyptic dust and detritus
but at least I'm in no longer in any immediate danger of being chased by angry villagers with pitchforks

and because you don't need the visual

here's some more wedding pix:

Normal Blogging Resumes Tomorrow

2010-10-31T22:27:00.002+11:00

but in the meantime:

Enjoy !!

blog hijacking in progress

2010-10-29T19:38:00.003+11:00

Hi all, Nadie here.

Mum wanted me to let you all know that the reason for the lack of posts this week is that a couple of days after the wedding she came down with a rather nasty bug, which she initially thought was an exceptionally bad migraine. You really don't need the details, the main thing is that she is now on the mend, but still feeling too icky to be up for much.

If we look on the bright side, at least she didn't come down with it any earlier, since if she was contagious at the wedding I'd have it by now, and if she'd come down with it a few days earlier... well, lets just be grateful that she didn't!

Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!

xxx

Nadie

why I didn't have time to post this weekend ...

2010-10-25T21:10:00.002+11:00

DIABETICS BEWARE: your weekly sweetness overload

2010-10-21T16:56:00.004+11:00

Yes, Bear and I have been out to Emu Creek again.
Actually, he's still there ... having a wee holiday with his extended family until after The Wedding.
There have been no new goaty babies so far this week, but some due possibly this weekend [ which I'll get to snuzzle when I go back to collect his Beariness ]
So in lieu of more brand new kiddy cuteness, here's last week's lot again:
L. to R Hannah, Montanna, Madonna , Mitchell - the lone little boy so far - Susanne and Linni

and a Catsmum getting up very close and snuzzly with Madonna

and Madonna again with either Hannah or Montanna

yes ... I know ... you don't have to say anything ... one of PND's grand daughters named them

and Bear sizes up Ms Susanne so I can die content now. I have a goat named after me :)

4 days to go: gettin' there

2010-10-20T19:31:00.007+11:00

Rather than show you an almost identical stretch of the 'quilt-inside-a-big-beige-and-black-sack-with-elephants-on', I'll content myself with telling you that I've just rounded the final corner of the hand sewing of the binding, so have one side, plus an equivalent length for the hanging sleeve [ or casing or rod pocket ] still to do ... and a label
Just as well it's nearly done because the phony gel nails go on tomorrow morning, and heaven alone knows whether I'll be able to wield a needle after that. Last time I had fake nails on I couldn't manage a needle if my life depended on it.

Today's completely unrelated pix are some of the [ mostly unidentified ] tiny wildflowers popping up all over the block.
Several of these I've never seen before ... maybe it's all that rain we've had lately.

This one I DO know - because they're positively everywhere at this time of the year ... known locally as 'Old Boy's Orchids', they are Waxlip Orchids, glossodia major.

This one is Common Rice Flower, pimelia humilis

The next three I have no idea - Marcie? Janine ? you've lived up here forever ... can you identify any of them ?
and gratuitous goats:

5 days to go

2010-10-19T13:59:00.003+11:00

... and counting

Engage panic circuits:
Panic circuits engaged !

The quilt binding has all been machined onto the front and I've just rounded the first corner onto side two of sewing it down to the back. Only another 300 inches of hand sewing to go [ or 400" if I manage to get the hanging casing on as well ]

At this point some of you might well be wondering why I'm showing you a photo of a big beige sack with elephants on. A reasonably valid question.
The big beige bag is, in point of fact, a very old, ragged, past-its-use-by-date, doona cover [ sans doona ] which currently contains the wedding quilt.

Just the bit that I'm currently hemming is exposed

and the theory is that this will enable me to:

a] be able to blog about it without ruining the surprise of how it looks now that it's all quilted.

b] so that I'm able to work outside in the glorious spring sunshine while it lasts

c] keep the quilt as free of cat hair, as is ever possible in this establishment [ as evidence, may I refer you back to the first photo ? ]
Total absence of feline 'additions' is - of course - a physical impossibility, but I'm giving it my best shot.

That was the week that was

2010-10-17T21:53:00.007+11:00

What follows are the somewhat disjointed ramblings that are about all I can produce in a fog of pre-wedding sleep deprivation.
6 hours sleep in 3 days
Wedding in one week.
Engage panic circuits!
Panic circuits engaged!
Gaaaagh!

So here's the overview of the last few days:
Thursday - After lunchtime visit from some old quilting friends from Melbourne

David and I drove to Lilydale for the wedding rehearsal, and a lateish Chinese dinner afterwards, with Chris, Nadie and Natty, the Maid of Honour [ other bridesmaid, DIL Christina, having a 5 month old in tow needed to head for home

[ Like the way I managed to work in some cute bubby pix there ? ]
Home at midnight.
[ Bear ecstatic to see me ]

Friday - after roughly 2 hours sleep - went to Bendigo to pick up the wedding quilt [ and we'll go into a bit more about that AFTER the wedding, so that I don't ruin the surprise for our Bride & Groom, eh? ] - then home, and almost immediately back on the Freeway again and down to Kyneton to drop David off, and onto the train for the rest of the way as the weather by this stage was truly appalling.
Spent the trip sewing the picot edge of Nadie's newest shawl ... much to the evident amusement and/or concern of my fellow commuters.
I tell ya, if you want to make sure the seat next to you stays vacant on public transport, start wielding a lethal looking 4 inch long crowbar of a needle.

... and the reason for this second trip down in 24 hours? Had tickets to see one of our favourite musicals, RENT , with Nadie and #1 son. Possibly the only time ever that the three of us have been to the theatre together. The timing could've perhaps been a little better but the overall experience was ... just ... brilliant.

Thanks to some great driving by Nadie, I made the last train home by the skin of my teeth at midnight, then picked up the car, drove another half hour, and got in the door at 2am.
[ Bear ecstatic to see me ]

Saturday - back out the door at 2 pm for yet another 2 hour drive down to and through Melborne for Nadie's Hen's Night [ or Batchelorette party for my trans Pacific friends ]

I probably don't need to go into too much specific detail about what the show would be like at a theatre restaurant called Dracula's. Right ? You can probably make an educated guess.

Oh! Did I mention that dessert was choc chilli mousse in a little chocolate coffin complete with Dracula logo on the lid ?

home at 2.30 am.
and yes, Bear was ecstatic to see me. He is nothing if not consistent.

Went back to Kyneton today to pick up Dave, followed by supermarketing, dinner, a modest modicum of housework, and right now I have an appointment with my pillow.

I promise more coherent posts when I've caught up on some of those missing zzzzzzzs

and if you see one of the living dead shambling around Castlemaine this week, don't panic.
The zombies are not invading.
It'll just be me.

Kids In The Kitchen

2010-10-13T16:45:00.006+11:00

Bear and I have come back from Emu Creek covered in baby goat dribble, milk and other less savoury bodily fluids.

Do we care ?

Well, I certainly don't,
and I'm pretty sure Bear is only going to start caring when he discovers that there is a B-A-T-H in his immediate future.

The theory was that I was going over to:
1. Meet the three little does born earlier in the week
and
2. Help PND and Brenda to feed those three, plus the eight from a few weeks ago, whilst simultaneously conducting a guided tour of the farm for a busload of kindergarteners.
and
3. Check in with Bear's little half sisters

#1 & #3 happened but due to the torrential downpour of the last 24 hours, #2 was put on hold until next week

probably just as well too says I

because [ 4 days overdue ] Ms India decided she wasn't waiting any longer.
Ten minutes before I arrived - inconsiderate animal - she produced a tiny wee girl followed, minutes later, by a whopping big boy - so I was met by Brenda and a box full of wet, mucky kids, which we proceeded to bottle feed their mum's colostrum while PND helped deliver another tiny little sister.
Here she is at about 3 minutes old

pause for collective awwwwwwwwwww

here's the boy about 2 hours old and already up on his feet, and able to climb out of his box

These are the little does from earlier in the week [ twins and a singleton ]

and just so I can't be accused of one sided caprine favouritism, Bear's little sisters who have grown exponentially
[ and yes I know that's to be expected in 2 weeks but I still get a kick out of it ]
Don't you just love Misty's harassed new mother expression ?

feel free to insert another awwwwwww here

sometimes my life sucks beyond the telling

2010-10-09T16:01:00.002+11:00

it's been such a lo-o-o-ong week
some good stuff happened
some not-so [ which you largely don't need to know about ]

What I will tell you is that Ms Gwen [ introduced to you in the previous post ] celebrated her 90th birthday with a full-blown myocardial infarction [ that's a heart attack to we lay people ] and underwent double by-pass surgery 48 hours ago.
She has come through okay - so far - but I'm sure you all get why I haven't been exactly bubbling over with the zumba classes, birthday lunches with friends, the quilting and knitting et cetera, or even the wedding that is now only 2 weeks away!!

I definitely needed to restore my equilibrium:

My self prescribed remedy was tea-and-book-in-the-garden-with-animals. Friend Robyn dropped by and bought flowers ... red ranunculas ... and also lunch [ which we had in said garden with said animals ]

so today? Definitely not so suck-y

A Treasure

2010-10-04T16:20:00.004+11:00

I thought you might like to see this: an incredibly fine filet work crochet bedspread designed and made by my talented godmother Gwen in the early 1980s and passed to me about 5 years ago

As it happens, this week G [ who was my late mother's best friend from a very young age ] reached a fairly significant milestone.

The big 9-0.

So I marked the occasion appropriately
by passing into HER keeping the quilt that I made 20 years ago for Mum's 70th birthday.

Gwen and I are in firm agreement that it is the thought that counts, so I know that this particular piece means far more to her than anything else that I might have newly made, and I can't imagine a more fitting custodian

and you probably thought that it was the bedspread that was the treasure ... which it IS of course ... but really ...
I meant Gwennie :)

They gotz mee surroundedz

2010-09-30T09:28:00.005+10:00

Two down

2010-09-28T19:51:00.002+10:00

One to go
although I do rather like the effect of the two

... and I have to allow myself a brief moment of hubris ... please notice that they are exactly the same length and hanging straight and square to each other.

My daughter would no doubt comment " and so they should after 28 years practice " but trust me, it's harder to achieve than you might think.

Mind you having written that, I have undoubtedly totally and completely jinxed myself for the third one
which may well end up as a tablerunner after all :)

It's not ALWAYS about the quilting

2010-09-27T22:18:00.004+10:00

current travel knitting:
gee whiz, what a surprise ... it's a SHAWL!

pattern - improvised
yarn - mystery 8ply machine wash wool of some sort, from the magic back room of special discounted delights at BWM.
A trip through Dorothy-the-Dinosaur in a nice hot bath of Landscapes Clematis, Sarsarilla, Wild Rasberry and Night Blue has ensured that it now bears absolutely no resemblance to its original cream shade.
needles - 5.5 mm KP Harmony

and it all started so well

2010-09-26T20:34:00.003+10:00

It was an absolutely perfect Spring morning

The obvious response was a leisurely breakfast in the garden with David, and the full complement of domestic retainers for company.
Breakfast over, I could have perhaps headed back inside and done dishes, made beds, dealt with laundry and the rest of the never-ending roster of housework but ... come on ... Sunday morning, sun shining, bees buzzing, birds singing, and the garden chiming in with its own siren song, so I bowed to the inevitable, slapped on a hat and the 30+ sunscreen, unfurled the garden umbrella and settled in with the current book.

Reading-in-the-sun segued into an hour or so of weed pulling

later there was even knitting

but then for some totally inexplicable reason, I decided to get to grips with the long put off and increasingly pressing need to find the septic tank, based on the incredibly vague location supplied by the previous owner [and I'm just hoping it's not now buried under a flower garden ]

So here are the things I learned today:

dawgs are just as attracted to quilts in progress as the cats

... but I already knew that

umm ... how about

People who have spent a goodly part of the day swinging a pick-axe probably shouldn't attempt after dinner free-motion quilting [ with or without said canine accompaniment ]

and

If my surgeon didn't want me to swing a pickaxe, he should have added that to the list of banned activities. Like splitting firewood
Strangely I don't think this even occurred to him.

So that was my day.

My agenda now involves hot shower, a wheat pack, mega doses of magnesium, bed, book, decaf mochachino, and quite possibly large doses of industrial strength painkillers... and porridge [ oatmeal ] ... I have a sudden and overwhelming need for porridge.
So if you'll please excuse me, I have a date with the microwave.

This is your official warning!

2010-09-25T15:22:00.005+10:00

As of today it is THREE MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY
TWO months until the Christmas decorations start going up

You may now all proceed to panic!

Okay stop that!

Now if you've been here for a while [ or know me in the real world ] you will just possibly be aware of a certain prediliction for the Christmas stuff ... and quite possibly you also know that I mostly run to fairly traditional Chrissy colour schemes: deep reds, burgundy, hunter greens, that sort of thing.

I used to say that I [ the queen of all things blue ] didn't go blue for christmas because
the whole [ last ] house was blue anyway, so who'd notice ?

and then, early last year I treated myself to a stunning Jim Shore Nativity Set - January Sales y'know - and it's mainly blue

It did go out last Christmas, but given that I was still recovering from some very major surgeries, the decorating was slightly scaled down [ well by my standards if no one else's ]

but now I'm back firing on all cylinders, and I've decided that what I need is a blue Christmas themed wallhanging to put over the vintage sideboard behind the Jim Shore.

Anyway, I blame OzJane.

She was the one who sent me the link to one of Stitch-N-Frame's famous [ or should that be infamous ? ] Thursday specials. This arctic Saint Nick was sooooo cheap, I had to have him
and of course I'd been merrily churning out those red and black stack & stash Japanese blocks, so I decided to make a set of 6 stack & slash stars in blues to match him.

Stack and Slash lends itself to making blocks in sets of 6,
so
I thought I'd put 3 large stars down each side of the panel

Then I did the maths and worked out that I could make a set of 6 teeny ones to be a top and bottom border and it would come out the same length as side sets of 13" ones.

We have a plan!
[ just ignore the red Japanese blocks, okay ]

Well, then the next thought was ' why not quilt each of the three panels individually and join 'em up after ? [ quilt-as-you-go]'
Followed quickly by 'Well, why not just quilt 'em and bind 'em separately ? That way I have more freedom to change the arrangement if I change the furniture."
Plus the two side sets of stars make perfectly good table runners in their own right !
So I guess we have plan version 2.0

All of the fabrics for the stars are from the stash, and I decided to go with prints that complemented the Saint Nick but which weren't actually Christmas print
... so snowflakes, stars, and pine branches all on blue.
The stash also supplied a fawn-splodges-on-cream that toned in with the panel as if they'd been designed to go together - even though all of the stash fabrics I chose were all several years, if not decades, old.
Backing and batting also from the stash . I'd be feeling positively virtuous ... if I hadn't bought about 20 metres more fabric this month

I've quilted and bound the first set of stars, so I have, in essence, a finished table runner, and because none of the fabrics are actually Christmas print, I can use it right now

so when is a finished object NOT a finished object
The aim is to have that tryptych for Christmas.
Maybe not THIS Christmas. but certainly A Christmas

Oooh decisions decisions decisions ... should I do the other set of stars next, or Saint Nick ?

oh and Nadie? I hope you don't ever decide to reclaim that navy-blue-with-snowflakes long skirt that you made in High School. I used it as one of the star fabrics and as the sashing between the blocks as well.

goooood day out

2010-09-22T22:02:00.004+10:00

Coffee in Collins Street with the Bride-to-be
Scots Church dwarfed by modern Melbourne
the Regent Theatre
[ brilliant, energetic, exuberant revival of "West Side Story" ]
pleasant train ride down and back ... with knitting
choir tonight

because Marcie asked

2010-09-21T20:39:00.002+10:00

Susan's pumpkin & spud soup:
As near as I can remember

gently saute about a half tablespoon of minced garlic [ or mash a couple of cloves of the real thing ] in a tablespoon or two of olive oil
add 6 cups - or thereabouts - of vegetable stock
half a Jap pumpkin, cubed
1 large carrot, sliced
2 medium boiled potatoes, cubed *
a couple of shakes of ground coriander
same of ground cumin
a goodly quantity of freshly ground black pepper
a 400 gram can [drained ] of chick peas
the merest pinch of chilli powder

simmer until the veggies are soft enough to mash / blend / or pulverise in whatever manner you see fit.

* the spuds were a late addition when the soup was a bit thin, so I preboiled them ... you probably shouldn't need to.

Monday Miscellany

2010-09-20T19:20:00.003+10:00

Okay so:
Saturday was David's birthday.
Nadie came up
Friend Robyn [ she who's own birthday avec flood was chronicled a fortnight ago ] brought her DD Jessie over.
Jessie and Dave are of the shared opinion that presents +cake-and-balloons = party regardless of the number of people involved.

Saturday night was spent recovering from the effects of a junk food overdose.

Yesterday saw another gathering of the clans for a Works-In-Progress day
... knitting, crochet, beading and quilting all featured

I was working on the red and black stack-and-slash, Nadie was working on her teal and turquoise one ... with a side foray into beaded wedding favours, Tara was knitting a sock, Val was stitching, and as you can see she brought Chantelle [ show & tell ]

Michelle was piecing a quilt in vintage-look repros, and Marcie was crocheting a cardi for one of her girls. Lizzie I think. Lizzie from Wednesday Peace Choir ... as opposed to her sister Katie from Thursday Chat Warblers.

a good time was had by all [ as far as I'm aware ] and we'll do it again soon
... and can you all send healing thoughts in the general direction of J9, who called in sick with a rotten migraine ?

Today I took His Beariness out to Emu Creek. I got to snuggle his four new little half-sisters who arrived on the weekend. Bear hasn't actually been introduced to his newly extended family yet.

He spent the day playing with, and cheering up, his sister Molly [ who has been banished from the immediate vicinity of the puppies by mum Misty ]

BTW Bear and Molly are Fox Terrier cross Maltese/Papillon.
These new additions

are Foxy cross 'whatever the heck the Farrier's dog is, as far as we know it's Jack Russell Terrier'
the visit also included:
a lovely lunch
post-prandial bottle feeding of 8 gorgeous new Anglo-Nubians [ always gooood but I forgot to take the camera up to the stables ... bad Catsmum bad ... so no kiddy pix till next visit ]
There was horse patting
general garden admiring-and-raiding

your basic day at Pete and Brenda's

and then Bear and I proceeded home in a car redolent with the smells of a bootload of plants, spilt goat milk, and the substances which tend to accrue around new babies of any species.

Since then I've planted most of the largesse from Brenda, squared up the final blocks for the quilt, made dinner, and I'm just about to make a cuppa, to be consumed with some of Val's slice from yesterday. I confidently predict that knitting-with-Dr-Who will occupy the rest of the evening.
Although there may be quilting.