Crafting roundup

Despite all appearances of inactivity, there has been a slow trickle of crafting over here in the last few months...

Winter knitting, with first a hat for Poppy, who chose the wool herself. A little persuading out of a very fluorescent shade of pink took place, I must confess. I'm not confident that I could knit whilst trying not to catch sight of bright salmon pink wool. Fuschia was much more bearable:

Then a pair of wristwarmers for me. These had the virtue of being finished in time for winter wearing, and also featured my first attempts at cabling! I was very pleased to actually finish a project for myself in the actual season I began it in...and the best thing about these? The wool was such a bargain at our lovely local op shop. And I still have 3 balls of it left!

Then I was at a friend's house for a fortnightly craft group and made this:

Everyone was a little nonplussed. Myself included - I'd meant to try making these a long time ago, after seeing them here. I think it's been about 2 years since I first learnt of them, and how to make them, and now I discover that they are called Penny wheels or yo-yos, and also that they are springing up all over the East coast and North of Australia. Who knew?

Not quite beach weather

Today we visited my cousin's grandmother, known to us as Baba Luba. She lives in a place called Black Rock, in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne, which turned out to be only about 45 minutes by car from our house.

Poppy was very excited to learn that Baba Luba lived very near the beach. Delighted, she proclaimed that she was going to bring her bathers...but we ended up having to wear this kind of thing instead:

Such is Spring in our part of the world.

Much fun was had at the beach, though. We found shells, glass worn smooth on the edges by the waves, seaweed to take home to feed the garden with, and Poppy's new favourite thing: rockpools!

All in all, a successful foray into beach territory, but a little more warmth, a little less wind (and rain on the way home) and a little more opportunity for actually getting wet, with actual seawater, is being looked forward to with great anticipation at our house.

Note: being responsible citizens and all, we did not souvenir seaweed from the beach for feeding the garden. We did not brandish great bunches of it whilst walking, and festoon a certain neice's pram with the stuff on the way back from the beach. I did not stuff it into a garbage bag to take home and then almost lose the lot to the dog before I got to soaking the salt out of it. That would be plain rude, and, I'm led to believe, illegal. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Sprung!

Hi there.

So we were minding our own business, being chilly, wiping winter lurgy drips from our noses, complaining about the weather and how dark it was in the morning/evening/anytime, envying overseas friends who are in the throes of summer; also known as wishing our lives away.


Then one day, it wasn't. Chilly, that is. I actually had to take off the scarf that I think was starting to somehow become part of my neck, and lo! We looked out the window, to find that Spring had Sprung!

The evidence is everywhere: The blossom is out next to the woodpile.

The broad beans in our vegie patch have suddenly started to grow before our eyes, and turn to follow the sun each day.

The bare-rooted strawberries have only been in the ground 4 days, and yet! Leaves!


They even beat the raspberries that we put in a week ago:


We're hoping the kale is too small to attract the notice of possums, though some snails and slugs have already succumbed to a beery trap:

All this greenness and new shoot-ness has inspired MrWildflower to use his holidays to create another vegie patch. Just because. (and also, I am not busy enough while he's at work. I need another thing that needs looking after. I do, I tell you. Be quiet, of course I'm grateful.)

Aerial view of said vegie patch construction. Particulars: no-dig, terraced as we're on a hill, whacking great stump in the middle for...trellis attachment? seating? sacrifices to the vegie gods? who knows! Note also that all paths planned for ease of working in the vegie patch have been forgotten in the excitement of construction. Much scratching of heads ensued.

The dog is now worn out from all the attention and outdoor plays the good weather has afforded him.

...and then there were two

...pets, that is.

First in our home was Gilbert Lightfoot, a scrawny stray who fell over my back fence when I lived in the inner city, and didn't have the strength to leap back out again.

I think he might possibly have some other reason for not being able to jump over a fence now. That is 7 kilos of premium cat you are looking at there.

Second is our recently acquired pup, Sharik. Chaos on four legs, but so cute! And so willing to please for any form of cheese, it's almost unbearable.




Gratuitous cute cat shot to close:

Uh...hi!

Hello. It seems that I've been on a rather extended blog break.

Not wanting to bore anyone with details, May and June were a morass of birthdays and winter setting in, a visit from my mother-in-law, debate about where best to site the vegie patch in Spring, fending off winter lurgies, and acquiring a puppy.

yes, a puppy. Stay tuned for photos. Technology is not my friend tonight.

And just to keep you amused while you wait for pictures of the unbearable cuteness, some books that have been read around here lately:

*The Ubiquitious: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. All in the household have now read it, all are now officially in mourning for the series' end. Very satisfying, and far pacier and tighter than the last few in the series, imo. Daughter #1, 4yrs old, is totally confused about what a Snape is. She had a nightmare about it last night.
*The PoMo yet readable (oh ack, can't believe I said that!) : The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. I know, I know. I'm so behind the times. This is the Eastern Regional library we're talking about. We take our time out here. Interesting, got me in, lots to recommend it, but still a book about a book club. Lovely characterisations.
*The Unmentionable addiction: like hot chocolate with marshmallows, sticky sweet and ultimately drinkable, The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey. Love me an author called Mercedes. It's gotta be a pen name. Me? Trying to replace books about a boy wizard? Is denial a river in Egypt? Forgettable fluff, great when you've got a cold and a baby who has a cold and a 4 year old with a cold. Did I mention we had colds?

And that's it for August so far.

that's a lot of tree...

...in our backyard.

We recently found out that a venerable old gum tree, growing right next to the house, was full of dry rot. Before we knew what was happening, it was time to say goodbye. Then, there was this:

And a lot more sun.

The kookaburras had a feast of witchetty grubs and then hung around the garden like beady-eyed sentinels, hoping for more. We climbed around and over the logs, marvelling at the spongy soft bits threaded right through, then chopped most of them for the upcoming winter's firewood. And we saved some larger ones for cameo roles in the mystery children's playspace we're planning soon.

the beginning

Poppy started 'little kinder' at the local Steiner school this year.

She is only going to two sessions a week, but it feels like the beginning of a big big thing. The start of all of those years of school, the terms, the holidays, friendships, animosities, learning, joy, heartache. And at the end of it all, she'll be grown. It is going to be quick! I want to hold it in my hands, feel the time trickle through - not let it happen without noticing.

First day went off without a hitch - I left within 20 minutes of arriving, she was fine! I shed a quick tear in the carpark, and at playgroup when I got there with Leo. Arrived to pick her up a little early, so waited in the car...good mum, not too eager. And went in: she was awash, crying on her teacher's lap. Apparently they had finished early. And I was not the first mum in when the door opened. Suddenly she missed me very very much and thought I wasn't coming.

So, a penance applies: I am to arrive 15 minutes early every time, and listen to the story in circle time, so that she knows I'm there. I'm sure that this will wear off. And I happen to like a story as much as anyone.

Anyway, I made her a bag to take, as prescribed: drawstring, big enough for a change of clothes, hat, coat, slippers. And assorted friends who are under strict instructions to stay in the bag (blue bunny; that means you!).

found!

Blue bunny has been found!! (oh joy, oh relief. Bedtime will be so much easier.)

After a day of retracing our steps, ringing offices, searching, lecturing.
Found: on the floor, under the doona, between it and the mattress...

...he is under strict instructions not to go adventuring again.

detectoring

Tomorrow we are going to play at being detectives.

Poppy's beloved Blue Bunny has gone adventuring, and we must find said bunny before another bedtime of tears. (3 hours of tears...)
Blue Bunny is in danger of garnering a reputation for being a free spirit, not to be tied down, wary of the commitment involved in being a Blue Bunny of distinction, especially when that distinction entails necessary confinement to the grasp and bed of a 3 year old.

Blue Bunny has made it back by post once already...
Hopefully Blue Bunny is just hiding, laughing at us running about with torches, looking in cars, under beds. Hopefully we haven't left Blue Bunny somewhere in our travels. Please, no.

FF#2

Too hot for anything but this:

And this:

February Funk #1

Sitting, waiting while wildpapa went on a reconnaisance to find friends, who were sitting and looking at this:

I find that even though it is Summer here, it still takes me a lot of effort to leave the house and go somewhere. Anywhere. So this time I've taken pictures so that I remember just how good it was, and how much fun was had by many certain someones in the water and sand. And all just 10 minutes away!

peg out

Why is it that whenever a new member is added to a family no-one ever tells you to buy more pegs? It's just a small thing, but oh-so-significant when the nappies hit the line, not to mention the tiny clothes.

Our newest little person (Leo, 7 months) more than doubles the peg numbers needed, yet I persist in believing that because the clothes are so small, they don't really count in terms of clothes-line and laundry real-estate. How can this be? I have often remarked that the amount of washing has expanded exponentially, yet I do not expect peg numbers to have to increase. In fact, I resent running out of them, and go to outlandish lengths not to have to augment their numbers...but I may be a little strange about my washing.

As you can see, pegs are preferably wooden, and I use Wildpapa's patented diagonal hanging clothes method to conserve line space. And lovely colour arrangement doesn't hurt, either.

...for the rest of this month, I'm playing February Funk, as started by Soulemama. And perhaps I'll post a bit, too. We'll see.

art love

What better way to start a blog than with some kid art?





An angel with yellow wings, a butterfly, a fly and a 'nippy ant'. At the seaside, with waves and a large shell. I love kids' artwork.

This old purple square has lived on our wall since we felt kind of rakish one weekend and went crazy with the sample pots from the local hardware shop. It has been there for about, oh, 9 or 10 months ( we like to take our time with decisions....and now we don't like the colour for this room anyway...) and suddenly we had the great idea of getting Poppy (our daughter, 3 1/2) to draw a picture on it. Instant art!

The photos can't do it justice - this room doesn't get enough natural light. We are sooo not painting this room purple; in winter it would just gloom at us. All our votes are cast for a light, warming, buttery yellow at present, but I can see this purple square staying with us for quite some time. Possibly even when we paint the rest of the walls yellow.