I got tired of waiting

... for the workmen who will be creating messes all over my house when they finally deign to arrive, and decided to go ahead [ as per the rant yesterday ] and decorate my bedroom, albeit 3 or 4 weeks later than usual.
If I have to dust, wipe, polish and vacuum after they've left, well, so be it. It is after all, a very small room and making a start has made me feel a lot happier.
Not so much grumbling today even though it was 32 degrees [ around 90F ] and A/C would've been welcome ... [ Okay. So there was a little bit of grumbling. I have the normal complement of human frailties ]

So:
cream bedding changed for more seasonal burgundy [ although cream works just fine too ]


wooden shabby chic angels floating from the netting which has a new burgundy wreath. I just whacked it straight on top of the old wreath which was looking a bit faded and having the two of them up there makes a stronger statement.
We will try to ignore the occasional cracked fragments of burgundy pearlescent coating which fall off the old one and land on the pillows!

The usual stuff on top of the cedar tallboy has been added to, with a Victorian-style angel, a 'crystal' beaded garland and decorated twigs in an Edwardian crystal bottle, and a couple of very cheap and cheerful trees at the back.
The garland of glass 'bobs' hanging from the drawer was a pressie from Maz a couple of years back


In the opposite corner is my tree - usually the smallest one of many but currently the only one up - crystal, glass, silver and pearl mainly.
I still haven't added the usual collection of silver knitting gauges and ivory needle cases and scissors and such - mainly because they actually do get used and so aren't stored with the Christmas stuff - although there is one tiny pair of silver scissors in there somewhere.


Under the tree, sitting on a piece of vintage crazy patchwork that you can barely see because there's so much stuff on it , are assorted calico [ muslin ] angels and a Victorian Saint Nick in a patchwork coat.
I'll try for a better photo tomorrow.

This year's new additions are the acrylic NOEL, PEACE, and JOY, a gift from my darling daughter when I was recuperating from the recent surgeries:


Like a lot of my favourite special pieces, these came from Stocks in Castlemaine.


I can highly recommend it as a source of good quality Christmas thingies that are just a little different.
They aren't cheap by any means but I've got to the stage , decorations-wise, where a couple of good pieces a year makes more sense than a huge box of cheap baubles. [ which is not to say that I don't have them too, just that I don't need any more ]

Nadie also bought me the gorgeous little ' night before Christmas' box a couple of years ago ... during the year it houses the decorations for this particular tree
and
you should probably take notice of the plaid bow on the cat statue.
I say this every year but it bears repeating: if it sits still for more than 5 minutes, tie a Christmas bow on it! This applies to cats [ real as well as ornamental ] dawgs, chairs, light fittings, goats and visitors if they're over 6' tall !

Can I have a whine with that?

No
the A/C guys didn't arrive today
huge surprise
They DID at least have the decency to ring - after lunch - and are now coming Monday next week ... sometime ... maybe
A handfull of days before Christmas ?
I'm not at all sure that I believe them, and I'm feeling more than a bit put upon as it's supposed to be hot later this week and functioning a/c would've been nice
... and of course I put off the Chrissie decorating because they were coming 3 weeks ago , 2 weeks ago, last week. today ... hardly seems worth bothering now

grump grump grump
grizzle whinge

oh blow the lot of 'em
I'm going to decorate my bedroom ... now ... and they can just cope with it!

Ending on a High ... Note

It has to be said that my day started on a definite low note when Bear chose to wake me up at the positively ungodly hour of 5am.
The method chosen for this early morning wake-up call was novel to say the least:
He threw up all over my bed - quilt, pillows, sheets, the lot - and then on the carpet beside the bed.
Not a sound that you really want to hear at any time but somehow worse on the downside of dawn.
He had obviously been eating the dry cat food. The reddish brown cat food.
... which was now on my pale pink and green handmade quilt !

I am not at my best at 5am

I will admit to thinking some less than sweet thoughts about my furry little buddy's antecedents [ and you have to admit he is a son-of-a-bitch ]
Cut to some hours later, by which time I had washed the bedding - two loads - and hung it to dry. Care to guess how much my quilt weighs dripping wet ? and it became apparent that the A/C guys were no show. Again.

Bugger that for a joke

I refused to spend the day waiting for guys that were not going to arrive, so I jumped in the car and headed for deepest darkest Bendigonia [ or Spendigo as 't'is also known ] and suddenly my day was looking a lot brighter.
First stop Bunnings [ big box hardware store ]
Always good
Then on to Long Gully and some fabric acquisition at Honeysuckle Patchwork.
Next, round to visit my friend - and fabulous longarm quilter par excellence - Jodi Abel, and to collect one of my quilts ready to be bound.

I did turn the car for home at this point ... truly I did ... but it is an unfortunate fact that, to get from Jodi's place back onto the road to Castlemaine, one needs must pass within a block of the Bendigo Woollen Mills and its magic back room of super special discounted yarn.

I'm afraid those woolly pheromones seaped out onto the Highway and ambushed me.

so: fabric, yarn, and a trip to the Hardware store ... all good.

and tonight?
David and I in company with the rest of the Peace Choir and many other wonderful singers, have just spent the last three hours, singing, listening, reflecting and eating at the Peace Concert for Christmas.

My day, that began so inauspiciously, has ended on the highest of high notes

and once I upload the photos, I'll tell you all about it, in slow and excruciating detail, on the morrow.

and the A/C guys are - maybe - coming on Monday.

In which all shall be revealed ...

There were some very inventive guesses as to what the mystery knitting might be ...

a Christmas dog sweater
a Christmas bauble storage receptacle

[ do these people know me or what ? ]

but I have to confess the answer is much more mundane

and the trick is to imagine the photo from yesterday upside down, because that's the way this particular article is constructed
so that cast-on edge that was at the bottom of the photo is now at the top [ and has been folded in half and seamed ]

still no wiser ?

does this offer any clues ?

and does the colour perhaps offer any insights ?

yes folks! this is my ever so subtle way of telling you all that
#1 son and his lovely wife have just found out that The Jellybean is going to be a little brother for Master Riley
[ and you thought that The Big Reveal was only going to be about the knitting? ]

yeah, well actually, that's about it, because there's no scan photo to share, so I suppose the knitting specs will just have to do :]

pattern:
Easy Baby Cardigan by Pure and Simple - it's a freebie
yarn:
Sirdar Snuggly Fair Isle DK from the stash - less than 2 balls
needles:
4.5mm KP Options and dpns

and there's still no sign of the A/C guys :[

Anyone care to guess ?

... what this rather oddly shaped piece of current knitting might be ?

Still waiting...

The Aircon guys are supposed to be coming at the end of this week - either Thursday or Friday. I'm keeping fingers crossed for Thursday because that means they'll be finished and gone by the weekend.
and so the feeling of being in limbo continues

It feels so disconcerting to be this far into December and the the 'ol homestead is still not wearing its Christmas finery.

I couldn't completely resist the season though:

as of December 1st, we are eating from my cheap and cheery Christmas china

and drinking our coffee from some of my extensive collection of Christmas mugs [ with, of course, the puppy coasters that I bought when I couldn't find any cat ones ]


and all the teas and coffees have made the transition into the festive tins that I've gleaned over the years from various garage sales and op shops


and in the category of " what I'm loving" would be the solar powered Christmas lights that I found in a local discount store
so I can be lit up and eco friendly

and finally
a big happy birthday wish to my gorgeous future son-in-law, The Boy

Just like Pringles!

You just can't stop at one


I actually had to restrain myself from casting on for a fourth one as soon as this was finished !!
Seamless Baby Kimono in Sirdar Snuggly DK [ indigo ] in the 3 months size
4.5mm needles
pretty much the same mods as the cream one

it looks a little greyish on my monitor but is actually a gorgeous denim blue

'T'is [ almost ] the Season ...

December will be upon us in just a few short hours, and it has been pointed out that I have not as yet given any evidence of the usual descent into Christmas Craziness a la Catsmum.

This is so extraordinary as to have occasioned alarm amongst the general populace - or at least those who know me well - so I thought that I'd better 'splain quicksmart:

On the day that I began the prep for this year's 'Explosion at the North Pole' [ as someone who shall remain nameless described my house during the last festive season ] I only got as far as doing some pre-emptive dusting / polishing and putting out the Nativity sets when I received confirmation that workmen will be arriving next week [ I hope ] to install the new A/C. This will include the sawing of numerous holes in the plaster ceiling and ...
Yup
Plaster dust over absolutely everything.


and I don't even want to contemplate what hordes of blokes in workboots might do to all the strategically placed festiveness


so
hard as it is to believe, I'll be waiting until they've gone and until I've cleaned up and by then who knows how close to Christmas it will be and how much decorating can be done.

However, if you are brave of heart, possessing nerves of steel and an iron constitution, you can check out last year's effort here

Now before anyone jumps to any conclusions ...

I actually thought rather long and hard about whether I was even going to show you a particular piece of this week's knitting.
and not because it's some hideous freakish failure for which I would be forever derided, laughed at and shunned by all right thinking individuals ...
It's just the colour
You see, it's pink
very very pink
and very very small
and given that some of you are aware that I'm going to be a grandmother again in June, I could just see certain people jumping to all manner of conclusions

The article in question is, in point of fact, not for my grandbaby-to-be-who's-sex-is-still-undetermined.

I just felt like trying out a variation on one of Jackie Kelly's versatile and cute seamless baby kimonos [ link to specific pattern at the end of the post ] and here it is
ta da!

I added a garter neckband and front bands and it was fine, but I felt that I could've done with a smoother transition from the neck to the front bands:

so then I made another in cream [ which probably will be for the grandbaby ] and shaped the neckband a little differently and I'm happier with this iteration.


both versions were made in Sirdar Snuggly DK in the 3 month size, but the pink was on 4mm needles and the white on 4.5mm so it's slightly bigger. I think that I actually prefer the slightly looser fabric of the larger one, but you can see that there's not really a huge difference in size:

Either way it's a very easy and enjoyable knit
Lots of plain stocking stitch [ or garter for that matter ] can be awfully boring to knit unless there's clever shaping to keep you interested. This pattern has just that ... very clever engineering, no seams, and the potential to play with endless variations.

You can find a free version of the 3 month size HERE
or you can download a paid version with multiple sizes from Jackie's site.

Clean washing? What clean washing?

Bear proves once again that he has been raised by cats:

Grrr!

I've just spent over an hour lovingly crafting and polishing a post on the evolution of the crochet bag made to carry my darling daughter's yoga mat to class. I'm sure you would've been amused ... enthralled even.

the Internet ate it

so here's your lot for today:






Panda Fuchsia [ cotton blend ]
4mm hook
no pattern

and this is supposed to be Spring

... The scorcher continues - although not quite at the revolting level of Wednesday

the last four days have 'only' been around the 35C/95F mark

absolutely not fit weather for [wo]man nor beast

so the Weasleys spent the day asleep under a bush, but they emerged for long enough to make unflattering comments about Bear's new short summer look


and here he is treating them with the utter disdain that such rudeness deserves


"Blast! How can you tease someone who ignores you ?"

[ well actually he didn't say 'blast' but I can't repeat what he did say because I don't use fowl language ]

It's too darn hot

It's been one of 'those' weeks.
You know the kind where you have plenty of fodder for posts, lots of photos to share
and no time or inclination to craft a decent post.

It is quite possible that some of that lack of inclination may have something to do with the fact that the digital equivalent of mercury has been registering over 30C all week [ that's mid 80s and above, Fahrenheit ] and right now it's sitting on 40.1C
... and for you on the 'heading into winter' side of the planet, that translates as 104F
[ and I still don't have functioning A/C ]

All of which makes me very glad that the date for Bear's summer haircut had finally arrived.
There are a lot of good reasons to use a groomer ... but in the bush in summer there are 2 main reasons when one owns a long haired dog.
The obvious one has to do with comfort in the heat ... but the more important reason are the ever present grass seeds.
They are a huge problem and can work their way in between toes, inside ears and cause all manner of nasty results

So this was Bear at 11am and before he saw the lead and the car keys, put two and two together and hid under my bed.

This
is Bear at 1pmand yes I am sure that I got the right dog back !

and thanks to my blogging-friend Groomer Angie in Tennessee who gave me some really great tips on how to find the right dog groomer

All the news that's fit to ...

It seemed like a simple enough idea really - pop Rosie and Robbyn on their chains, lead them out the front and get them to act as lawn mowers on the grass ... ahem ... weeds ... growing along the side of the carport and the driveway.
Normally this gets done through September/October/November, gradually moving further away from the house but, strange as it may seem, wrestling with a 90 kg / 200 pound critter was not on the list of approved post-operative activities so it had to wait until I felt up to it

that's their normal paddock behind the fence

I wasn't about to leave my caprine Houdinis unattended ... not if I wanted to still have a rose garden when all this was finished [ a collar and chain mean very little to a truly determined goat ] so I settled down with a comfy chair, cuppa, Bear and the newspaper

"Whatcha doin' Mum?"
Reading, huh ?

as promised

My ravelry queue has several hundred patterns in it - there's a whole sub list for arms and hands -
So you'd think there'd be no problem on deciding which goth-ish gauntlets were needed to complete a costume for DD's work 'do' in December

... there are a lot of really nice gauntlet / armwarmer / fingerless glove patterns out there ... but somehow I still ended up creating something new

Now you have to bear in mind that she wants these for the start of our summer, so above the elbow in anything other than cotton would potentially be unbearable to wear
... but then with cotton there's that whole lack of stretch when you need it, coupled with the tendency to stretch sideways right when you don't want it to [ so having opera length gauntlets stay up - without resorting to ribbon - was an interesting technical issue ]
we decided to go with lengthwise garter stitch not unlike my Frothy Gothy wristwarmers and the first one was finished while Nadie was up here this week
there was a slight hitch when the cord on my KP's came adrift from its mooring, spilling the stitches [ which when we're talking black and lace and at night is never a good thing ]

which required a restart on #2, and it is entirely possible that some bad words were said, but thanks to the wonders of Craft Glue, we are again underway

Monday Miscellany

It was hot and humid again, so much of the day was spent doing various 'vegging out inside activities with David, Bear and Nadie.

The television figured prominently
We have worked our way through Ironman, some Harry Potter, and now we are engaged in a Red Dwarf marathon of sorts [ but only till 9.30 cos I have to watch Mythbusters ]

It was far too humid to even contemplate being under a quilt-in-progress, and reading might have been construed as unsociable when DD is only up here for a couple of days.

Normally I'd say that knitting was just as unlikely as quilting, but the next project in the pipeline required working in cotton so I happily ignored the slowly growing miles of boring stocking stitch that may - by next football season - realise it's potential as a a Melbourne Footy Jumper for grandson Riley. I haven't photographed the new project yet, or even listed it on Ravelry, so I'll save that for the morrow [ which could well be a sad day as there is a funeral/memorial service to be sung at and I probably won't want to blog about that ]

so basically you're getting a few shots of the garden this week, taken before the inevitable heat damage and the downward spiral into summer ruin

Here against an unidentified pink daisy and Larkspur, the first of the Love-in-a-mist which started flowering only in the last couple of days.
I've been watching the delicate, feathery fronds grow larger for weeks, waiting for them to bud. Just love these flowers.
Pierre De Ronsard is just getting started but is absolutely covered in buds - dozens of them

Against a background of lavender and stock, the latest lot of iris - and I have NO IDEA who gave me these ones. They just appeared!
and this Fruhlingsmorgen (Spring morning) rose was a houswarming pressie - and again, I have no idea who from because there was no card. It was just there after the party.


Someone out there probably thinks I'm the rudest beggar in creation for not saying thankyou but I've asked all the likely suspects to no avail.

and lastly,these petunias were a single $2 pot bought last February - $2 well spent I'd say!!