Tired of seeing Julia

I visit my blog every day so I can read the latest posts from the blog list (on right hand side) ... and I am so sick of seeing that picture of Julia that I thought the best way to overcome this problem was to post something myself so she'll just move on down the page. Mind you, having said that, I think we'll all be seeing lots of Julia and her colleagues and/or opponents in the next few weeks leading up to August 21 !!!!

The weather here has been so cold and miserable lately that staying indoors and playing with the hooks and yarn in front of a nice warm heater has been the best option. So, I have a few things to show you .....



The pattern for this little doily was from The Crochet Spot and is called Hipster Doily. Its very easy but quite pretty I think. I used bedspread weight thread (No.10) with a 3.00mm hook. Finished size is 7 inches.



Spent most of last week working on these potholders which I made as gifts. I love this fun pattern and really enjoy playing with the different colour combinations. These ones are made with Naturally Loyal 8ply machine washable wool and a 4.50mm hook. The pattern used to be free on the internet but unfortunately I can't find it now. I kept a copy and there is one in the files of Australiacrochet group on yahoo. I believe Naturally Loyal wool is relatively new in Australia - its from New Zealand and they have an amazing range of colours. I think there are about 46 in all. It cost me $4.95 for a 50g ball at my local store but you can get it for $3.95 online at Craftee Cottage but they would no doubt charge for postage on top of that.



Patons Tasman Sport 8ply caught my eye last time I was in Lincraft. I think its called Sport because of the footy team colours. Naturally I had to buy a few balls to see what it was like. The way the colours worked in this crochet hat was interesting. I also have a blue and white ball which I think I may knit up to see how that turns out. I'm collecting chemo beanies/caps on behalf of Knit4Charities in support of the Beanie Basket project being run by a lady in Canberra so these hats will be added to that collection.

Before I finish this post, I want to show you something which I think is absolutely amazing. The vest was knitted many years ago by a man and was brought in to CWA by one of our members for display in one of our recent craft exhibitions. Have a look at this ...........



... and here's a close-up



Talking of CWA, here's an interesting little recipe for you.

Three Ingredient Fruit Cake

1kg mixed dried fruit
600ml chocolate flavoured milk
2 cups self raising flour

Soak fruit in milk overnight.
Mix in flour.
Bake at 160 degrees C for about 1 and 1/2 hours(or bottom shelf at 130 degrees for 2 hours).

Can substitute milk with 2 cups strong black coffee or tea, or 600ml unsweetened orange juice.

Note: If top is getting too dark, cover with foil towards the end of cooking time.
Keep 2-3 days before cutting.

Enjoy !!

Canberra 23/6 9 to 9

Time to present the present

Mothers Day has come and gone for another year and I hope all the mums had a lovely day. After spending a wonderful day with my family, I opened the gift my partner sent me in Australiacrochet group's Mothers Day Exchange. Look what I received from Pat in Tasmania .....



The little sachet has a vanilla scented envelope inside it and the fragrance is divine. I'm going to hang the sachet in my wardrobe and of course use the washer in the shower.

I haven't been too motivated with regard to knitting and crochet lately so decided to have a change and play with my looms. Most of the patterns are American and they use double worsted weight which equates to about 20ply so I tried using 3 strands of 8ply and am quite pleased with the look.



It is a very thick hat and will certainly keep the wearer very warm. Next time I feel inclined to loom knitting, I'll try a man's sized one to go with my charity donations. Getting a bit sick of doing hats for now and my next project is going to be a little cardigan from a Debbie Bliss book I have on loan from the library.

Did you hear about Julie Andrew's 'comeback' - I think it was in London. Apparently she wasn't able to reach the high notes she once could and only sang for about 20 minutes in the 2 hour concert. I heard a Sydney radio announcer say "Super Julie's comeback vocals really were atrocious" - funny Alan !! This reminded me of the clip made at Central Station in Antwerp awhile back .. click here to take a look, its amazing.

Then of course the ripple effect comes into play and the folk in Stockholm didn't want to be outdone - Michael Jackson fans will enjoy this.

I do spend far too much time on the computer but before I finish, a friend of mine on Facebook posted this gem today. Imagine what it would be like if the real world was like Facebook !!



Now I must go check my cafe and farm. See ya ..

Storm and Rainbow

Today in our local paper, I read a very moving story about a 12 year old girl named Dainere Anthony. You may already know about Dainere as Statewide has featured two stories about her in the past few weeks and her story has been on the front page of the Canberra Times. This beautiful, brave little girl suffers a rare form of brain cancer and was granted a wish by the Starlight Foundation. Rather than ask for a trip to Disneyland or something similar, Dainere, who has been blogging her journey, wished for a book to be published to help raise awareness and to help other people with cancer. A link to her blog is in my blogroll on the right hand side of this page. If you haven't seen the ABC programmes, click here and here to watch. I guess we can all learn a lesson from this courageous little girl - embrace life, live it to the fullest and take each day as it comes. Dainere's book is called "You Have to go through a Storm to get to a Rainbow".

As the days are getting rather chilly now, I've been enjoying the few hours of sunshine that comes through my dining room window each day and taking the opportunity to make a few baby items. My niece is expecting a little boy in the next few weeks so I made this little hat and pair of mittens for him.

Looking at the preview of this post, I notice that the hat and mittens look a funny kind of grey colour .... they're actually a nice baby blue so I'm not sure what happened there !!

I'm now working on a little cardigan and last night I indulged a little and couldn't pass up a great offer from JustCrochet in the UK. I now have another five beautiful pattern sets designed by Heather in my collection and think I'll start with a very cute pair of overalls when I've finished this cardigan.

The only other thing I've managed this week is a square for my partner in Australiacrochet's 7" square exchange. She prefers summer/spring colours so I hope she likes what I've done.


Before I go, have a look at this which I think fits nicely in the "what not to wear" CATegory.

You gotta laugh !!

Someone has a wonderful sense of humour ! Is it the news journalist, is it the cop or is it the drunk? It was reported on the radio this morning that a man in England who was suffering the effects of a night on the town, was seen squeezed into a bright pink Barbie car (capable of 6kms/hr), driving down the road. You guessed it - he was picked up by a policeman and charged with drink driving.

Then, a few hours later I heard Alan Jones telling people not to put all their eggs in one basket. The same, he advised, could be said for investments. One fellow put half his money into a paper towel company and the other half into a revolving door company. Poor bloke was wiped out before he could turn around. Ho Hum !!

One of the fun things about surfing the net is not knowing where you might end up. Tonight I found a site well worth an hour or so. Have a look at this site - here's a sample of what you'll find.



My mail-person (actually I think its a lady) brought a lovely surprise today. A few weeks ago a friend in the US who is in one of my crochet groups, posted a photo of an afghan he'd made. I commented on how lovely it was and he sent me the pattern which will definately be a WIM for me. I don't think I'd have the patience to make a huge bedspread but perhaps a babies blanket might be nice. Isn't the pattern gorgeous .....



and here's a close-up ....



Today I've been working on a baby's cardigan from a free pattern. Hope to have a pic to show you soon. I really appreciate being able to get free patterns but I do wish the people writing them would have them tested before making them available. I've already found two mistakes - the first one would have made one side of the front bigger than the other so I'm glad I picked that up. The second error could have been 'fudged' but I've changed it anyway. Its an all in one cardi and I'm up to the bottom part so the rest should be ok. Might even do a few more rows now before I go to bed.

Its that time again

I visit my blog every day so I can follow all those other blogs (the ones down on the right hand side of this page), and I keep thinking how slack I've been lately in not posting anything myself. Other than to say that the weather has turned very cold (great for crochet & knitting)I don't have a great deal to tell you. Guess I could tell you about some ratbag drivers I encountered when driving through Sydney last week but perhaps I should leave that one alone !!! Instead I'll just show you some of the charity things I've done recently.

I love the concept of this little poncho sweater as it sits like a sweater but looks like a poncho. Great for babies and toddlers. There are a couple of free patterns for this on the net - unfortunately the one I printed off had a problem with the mathematics so I had to make a few alterations to make it even on both sides.

The Knit4Charity group had a challenge to make the slippers with soul for a nursing home who had requested them so of course I had to have a go. They are the weirdest looking slippers but when on the foot don't look too bad. Because they are so stretchy, they mould to the foot with the little bar going across the top.

Knit4Charities has another challenge which I'm collecting for at the moment. Its called H4H (Help for the Homeless) and we are making beanies, scarves and fingerless mitts to be given out by Vinnies Night Patrol in Canberra. They requested big beanies as some of the people like to wear two at a time in an effort to keep warm.

Another quickie was the little gumnut babies hat. This was for my daughter & son-in-law's friends in Belgium who had a little boy a few weeks ago. The pattern for this is in the Lincraft Baby Book "Knit One, Purl One, Make One, Give One". It so easy, very quick and I think quite cute. The pattern calls for Fairy Floss yarn but I used Powder Puff which I think is very similar.

Today at CWA I learnt how to knit on dpn's (four double pointed needles) and actually surprised myself when I managed to do it ! I think I'm going to have to have a go at another beanie this weekend - probably start off on circulars then change to the dpn's when I get to the crown decreases.

While at Forster/Tuncurry last week I finished the scarf with that beautiful Bendigo Woolen Mills Luxury. Its turned out lovely and soft - I hope my friend likes it. This pic was taken not long after I started - the finished scarf measures 66 inches.


Well, I've rabbited on a bit haven't I ? I'll leave you with this little gem.

THE SENILITY PRAYER
Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

The Monthly !!

That's what it seems to be lately doesn't it? No excuses - let's just say 'life' got in the way, so grab yourself a cup of coffee and let's chat.

It been a busy month for me in lots of ways but probably the most enjoyable occasion was catching up with an old friend who I hadn't seen for 15 years. We had an all day lunch at the golf club and talked and talked and talked - so much that I had a sore throat the next day. Molly handed me a little gift and said 'you might like this'.

It was a lovely surprise and a very good read. In a series of tender and touching anecdotes, Molly tells the story of her beloved pets' lives and their very special gifts. A real warm and fuzzy story and I can highly recommend it to any animal lover. You will need tissues at the end.

Let me tell you a bit about Molly and I'll quote this from the back jacket ...
Molly Oliver Sasson was born in the UK, where she studied piano and voice at the London School of Music. Later she became an intelligence officer with the Royal Air Force and this took her around the globe. Eventually she settled in Australia, where she worked for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, retiring with the rank of Senior Research Officer. Her busy career has not prevented her from being a dedicated animal lover and for many years she was a successful breeder of Siamese cats. Today she lives in Bayside, Melbourne with her second husband, Albert, and continues her work for animal welfare groups.

While on the subject of books, I treated myself to another couple from the Bookdepository in the UK. I find their books much less expensive than buying them from the US and they offer free shipping worldwide. It usually takes about a week for the books to arrive. I figured these two books would come in handy for my charity crochet.



I've told you before I'm not a good knitter but enjoy doing it anyway. That jumper I told you about in my last post is still on the go, by the way ! Always on the lookout for super easy patterns, I found this on eBay and of course couldn't help myself.

And here's the little hat I made using that pattern


My very good friend Lucille gave me some yummy tomato sauce she made from her home grown tomatoes and I was going to tell you about a dish I made using that sauce but this post is getting a bit long winded so perhaps I'll tell you about it another time. Thanks for the sauce Lucy.