Happy Halloween!

Lachlan and Isabelle with their friends getting ready to go trick or treating. Hope you all have a very spooky Halloween....

Cable and Moss Stitch Bag

This is the next project on my "to do" list which is actually a Christmas present for my sister. It is the Cable and Moss Stitch Bag from Debbie Bliss' Home book. I am using the Maya yarn as the book suggests. It does not have a color listed on the label, but it is a mix of dark purples. I hope it knits up okay, I need to use 8mm needles which are quite large, as the yarn is doubled up. Luckily I received a pair of 8mm needles with my last Simply Knitting magazine so that helps me out. I am hoping it will be a quick knit, and then I will need to decide what other projects to make for Christmas. On the homefront things are good. Ruby the kitten is now eating food, just started today and climbing things, and yes as some of you suggested does like yarn. She was actually biting the band of my CPH when I was seaming it up. No holes though, she was just getting her teeth which are now like little sharp pins. I also enrolled Isabelle into primary school to start Prep next year. I am actually excited for her, she just wants to read and write and I am sure she will be coming home with new words she has learnt. It seems like such a long time ago when Lachlan started primary school, and he is at high school now. He is going okay too, as I went and checked in with his teachers today to see how he was going. I was actually told I was worrying too much about him. Oh well, too bad, better than not worrying I suppose. Well that is about it for now as Paul is cooking dinner tonight, and its just about ready. It is nice having a man who likes to cook. I wish he would like washing dishes too! Happy knitting and see you all later on.

Central Park Hoodie

is finally finished.
Pattern: Central Park Hoodie
Size: 48"
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills yarn - Rustic in Dusty Blue, used about 17 balls.

I sat up last night sewing on the toggle buttons. I did not do any buttonholes, I just pushed the toggle buttons through the bands, and they fitted through perfectly. I was going to crochet some small loops but my skills at crochet have never been any good and I proved it last night. I will have to try it on later and make sure that it fits. It does look on the small side though, so if it doesnt fit me my sister will get to wear a new oversized jacket next Winter won't she. I am so glad that it is now finished, and I dont have any plans to knit another one, too many other things on my "to-do" list. By the way, I could not resist the yarn that Karin sent to me, and have cast on for a new pair of socks - for me. I will take a picture when I have done a bit more of the pattern, and hopefully it will look okay. I have never really knit anything other than ribbed or plain socks, apart from the pink ones I made for Isabelle back in April/May. I am looking forward to knitting these up though, and I will tell you which pattern later on. We have a wedding to attend tomorrow. Paul got an invite a few weeks back, but went out on a boy's night and lost the invite. He called this week to find out when it was on, and of course its tomorrow at 1:00. I love going to weddings, just hate having to think about what to wear to it. It would be good if my tummy was a lot smaller, must try and do those sit ups I keep thinking about. Pity knitting doesnt make you lose weight, I would be a lot skinnier now!

Sock Yarn!

Thank you so much Karin. I love the colors which are actually more green than aqua in this picture, but I absolutely love the colors in it. I can see my sock books will be coming out tomorrow and a new pair of socks will be on the needles. I have not knit any for quite some time since Isabelle's pink ones so maybe its time for another pair. I love the card too, grey kitties on the front, and maybe Ruby will grow up to look like one of them. Grey cats are my favourite colored kitty, so you must know me well Karin. Thanks once again for the yarn, it has come to a very good home and will be loved very much!


I have also been browsing on ebay for my yarn for a knitalong which is to be hosted in the New Year for the Tweedy Aran Cardigan. This is Rown Yorkshire Tweed Aran in Hero which is a beautiful blue with green flecks through it. Unfortunately I did not read the meterage on the ball, and need about 4 more balls. Lucky for me she sells single balls so I have already ordered more, but another bank cheque is a pain in the #@!* if you know what I mean. At least then I might have a little bit left over, in which case I can make a hat or something small. The Bo Peep cardigan is nearly finished. I am doing the embroidery but not the same as in the book, and I am not adding buttons to the white stripes. Just some french knots and then try and crochet the ties at the front and I will be finished. Hooray for when that time comes. Our neighbours also had their little boy 2 weeks early last Wednesday, so welcome to the world Dylan. He is a real cutie and I went and bought some little gifts for him. I will try and finish his jacket but it will become a Christmas present now instead of a welcoming gift. I am also nearly finished the first sleeve on the CPH, so hopefully tonight I will cast off on it. I have been trying to keep up with housework lately so I have not been knitting as much, (and also reading blogs on the computer) so I will have to try and read in the morning and knit later on in the day, so at least I will have something to show for all the yarn that I have stashed in my wardrobe. Well time for me to go and get dinner started, and to finish off ironing, and then knit, knit, knit I hope!

Ruby Tuesday

That's what Paul likes to call her, after the Rolling Stones song I think (I hope that's who sings it). Ruby is 3 weeks old now, and is walking around and her eyes have opened up better too. She has decided that she wants to explore the house now, so we have to be careful where we leave her, otherwise we might have to spend an hour or so trying to find her again. She loves cuddles and rubbing noses too. Knitting updates tomorrow!

Kool Aid

Look at the wonderful wonderful gift that Siow Chin sent to me from Hong Kong. Isnt she wonderful. Lots of Kool-Aid for dyeing yarn, and some cute little stickers for Isabelle and Lachlan. We dont get Kool Aid here, so Siow Chin kindly sent me what she was not going to use, and I cant wait to get started. I think the next free weekend that I have, Isabelle and I will be dyeing some yarn for socks. I hope mine turn out as nice as Siow Chin's did. THANK YOU SO MUCH SIOW CHIN.
I also finished off another hat, but this time I adjusted the pattern to hopefully fit a 2 yr old. Gillian sells some of my hats at her stall, and a lady requested a black and white striped one for her grandson, so I hope that she likes it. I am nearly finished the Bo Peep cardigan too, just half a sleeve to go. Isabelle does not want all the embroidery on the cardigan, so maybe just some little beads and sequins, I'll see how I feel about sewing them all on. I have cut out the template for my postcard too, just need to design them now and start sewing away. Tomorrow is our nephew's 3rd birthday, so the weather is going to be much like today, pouring rain and cold and miserable. I am giving him the dinosaur sweater and a box of blocks (similar to Lego) so I hope that he likes them. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend too!

Acquisitions Are So Nice

We have been trying to take better pictures of Ruby, but as you can see from this picture she comes out too light or at nighttime she comes out too dark. Maybe an outside shot in a few weeks will turn out better. Last night Daisy decided that she did not want to sleep in the cat basket, so she kept coming into our bedroom with the kitten and jumping in between us. 3 times mind you, and the last time she wanted to go outside, so I let her in the garage, looked in the cat basket and could not find Ruby. I came back to bed and there she was fast asleep in between us. I dont know how long she had been asleep there, but thankfully we did not roll on top of her. Daisy must have carried her in and I didnt realise she was there. At least Daisy doesnt leave her behind. I am certainly not having her bring the kitten in tonight, even though they are so cute with their little antics, so tonight I will be transferring them both into the laundry and shutting the door. I need some sleep.

In the meantime, I have been waiting on some new knitting books that I ordered a while ago. My parcels seem to be taking a while to reach me, but on Monday these arrived. I love the Home book by Debbie Bliss, nice easy patterns and I love the cushions in them. The blanket on the front cover is gorgeous too, and I am sure I read someone's blog who was making it. I will have to try and find it again to see if she has finished it yet. I also bought Kids Learn to Knit by Lucinda Guy. I thought that later on Isabelle could use it when she is able to read. So far her knitting has been set aside, so it gives me a chance to knit some more, although at the moment with the new kitten that is really not happening as much as I would like it to. I also noticed that the new Winter Interweaves Knits is out, and there are some really really nice patterns in it. I cannot wait for my subscription to come out next month. How exciting but anything in there I would like to make will have to wait until next year, otherwise none of these UFO's will get finished. I also need to start my xmas postcard swap. I have 10 postcards to send off, mostly to the USA, and a few in Europe, and I cant wait. I have been looking at making some out of fabric so we will see how that turns out. Maybe I will post some here for your input. Happy knitting!

What a nice surprise!

Well it is a great start to the day. Karin from Cool Shahs advised me this morning that I had won a ball of Opal sock yarn, and it just happens to be in my favourite colors. How did you know? A very big thank you Karin and I will be sure to post about it when it comes in the mail to me. It was just what I needed to help cheer me up. We have been having a rough time of it lately, not as bad as some people but just enough to get you down for a while, so winning a prize from a wonderful woman is well wonderful. You must pop on over and read her blog too, she knits beautiful beautiful garments for her family. I love reading her blog, and she is in my sidebar too.

Yesterday was a long long day, and the funeral service was very nice, if you can say that, and very sad. Lachlan's friend's family were okay, but at the end of it his friend broke down and it broke my heart. I just wanted to take him home and look after him. His sister and older brother seemed okay, but you never know when people dont show their emotions. I am sure it has hit them just as hard as well. I know his mum would have been so proud of him, and I told him that. He was her favourite so I am sure it is extra hard on him being so much younger too, and he is such a wonderful boy too. I dropped the boys at the cemetary afterwards, since Isabelle had fallen asleep and the other mum was going to be there. I really did not want Isabelle to see that part since she is so young, so she timed her nap at the right time. Lachlan really wanted to go, so he was quite allright when he came back. The cemetary is just around the corner from our street, so it only takes about 5 minutes to walk from there. Apparently they released doves during the burial, and Lachlan said it was nice. His friend is moving back to Melton soon too, so the 3 of them can hang around together like they used too. Lachlan is quite happy about that, and I am too so I can make sure he is okay. It will be good for him to be around his friends too. I think he was really happy that Lachlan and Aaron turned up to be with him. He is a really great kid and needs all the support he can get, but I am sure that he will get through it one day. I also wanted to thank you all for your wonderful and heartfelt comments too, sorry I havent replied to them yet, but yesterday was really draining and busy too, so if you dont hear from me then THANK YOU VERY MUCH! They are all very much appreciated.

Onto a lighter note, Ruby and Daisy are going well too, and Daisy woke me up 3 times during the night last night. I think that Ruby is wearing her out a little bit. She went outside for a little mummy break last night and reappeared about 2 hours later. I think she just needed some rest, but thankfully returned and went back to her box with Ruby, gave her a wash and feed, and then had another sleep. I think the whole family is besotted with Ruby, she is such a cutie. When she is a bit bigger I will try and get some nicer photos of her. It is so hard to photograph her because she is a dark gray color, and then with the flash on she turns out really light colored. My photo skills definately need some redefining and more practice I think. Maybe some black and white photos of her would be better at the moment. I will see how they turn out.

No knitting content today, but I hopefully will be able to do some today as not a stitch was knit yesterday and I was so tired after running around everywhere and then going to South Melbourne to pick Paul up. I felt worn out about 4:00 yesterday and all I did was the housework. I also received two knitting books in the mail yesterday that I had ordered a while ago. One is for Isabelle so I will post about them later in the week. I will also have to take another photo of Isabelle in the dress I made for her during the weekend. The photo did not turn out, another green square appeared afterwards. Note to self - get camera checked.
I hope that you all have a wonderful day with lots of crafty goodness in it.

Ruby!

Isnt she gorgeous. She is just 2 weeks old and we picked her up yesterday. I felt like we needed something nice to happen for a change, so I made enquiries about some kittens during the week. A lady named Trish had some little kittens and advised me that she had 2 females, (I hope her friend was right or there will be a name change for sure) and I told her we were interested in the grey one. We did not even see what she looked like, so we were quite surprised to see how gorgeous she is and that her eyes were already open and she could walk a tiny bit. Now as you know Daisy had lost her kitten a week ago, and when I picked Ruby up I was told that maybe Daisy would take her on as her own. Well when we got home we introduced them and Daisy was growling and not really interested. Later on last night she decided to come and visit the kitten and lied up on the couch. I put Ruby next to her and Daisy must have still had milk because the kitten went over to her, and Daisy let her feed. Daisy and Ruby are now asleep together in their bed in the family room and Daisy is purring away. They are so content together it makes me feel like crying just watching them together. What a nice start to the week to wake up and find this image this morning of the two of them. They are beautiful together, and I am sure will be just like mother and daughter. The only time Ruby cries is when she has to have her face washed by Daisy. You sit there hearing these loud squeaks and look in and there is Daisy washing her face. It is so cute. Well enough gushing about Ruby and Daisy. I am just so happy for Daisy that she still gets to be a good mummy, and that Ruby is happy too. I am sure that there will be many more photos to show later on, but I now have to go and get the kids ready for the long day ahead, and an emotional one at that. Thank you for all your wonderful and kind comments for Lachlan's friend's family. They are all truly appreciated. I hope that you all have a wonderful day and keep your family safe.

No more October

I am waiting for the month to change. After the incidents with Paul, the cats, the washing machine and the car, (yes the car needed its brakes fixed and the hoses too), we are just waiting for something nice to happen. I thought that nothing else could go wrong as it seemed like we had had our fair share of bad luck for a while, and then Lachlan came home all upset saying that the friend he had stayed with 2 weeks ago had had something terrible happen. His mother and 16 yr old sister had both been killed in a car accident in Merrijig. Apparently they had swerved to miss an old lady who had stopped her car in the middle of the road, and a petrol tanker had been coming the other way and smashed into them. The car had caught fire and they both died. I have tried trying to contact the family, but there is just a recorded message. Apparently they are staying in Bright for the time being, as his mum's boyfriend is taking care of them. Lachlan's friend's dad was killed in a motorbike accident 4 yrs ago, so now there is only his older brother and sister. I feel so sorry for his family and Lachlan and I feel so helpless as we cannot do anything. We could not find the funeral notice in the paper, but it could have been in Monday's or Tuesday's papers as it happened on the 5th of October. I am going to get Lachlan to write a letter to his friend, and I hope that this will help him feel better. Tragic accidents like this make us realise how short our lives are and make us take stock of it I think. Enjoy the good parts and try not to worry about things too much. I am a natural worrier and I think Lachlan has inherited that from me too unfortunately. Paul is much more relaxed than me, but he deals with stress in a different way. I just hope that this family has lots of love and support which I am sure they do. I really do not know what else to say so I will leave it at that and try and send good thoughts their way.

* We have just found out that the burial service will be on Monday. I am going to take Lachlan so that he can be there for his friend. He has decided not to write a letter because he was not sure what to write in it, so we have decided to buy some flowers and a card and take them on Monday, and pay our respects.

Christmas Postcard Swap

I just joined the Christmas Postcard swap over at Nichola's site. It sounds like a lot of fun, you just make a Christmas themed postcard, and send it off on December 1 to your recipient. I will have to sit down and think of an idea now, and wait to see who I am posting it off too. I cannot believe that Christmas is only 9 and a half weeks away. I had better get organised. I am off to Bacchus Marsh today to visit Gillian at the market, and also have a browse around town to pick up some little crafty things at the Patchwork Shop, like zippers for some of those bags in the book, and then I can get started. I also started the Tater Cardigan for my friend's daughter Bianca, whose birthday is in December. I have never knit a pattern from the top down, so it is quite interesting to see how it works out. I am nearly to the part where I start the sleeves on dpns so that will be fun, kind of like making socks, which I have some plans for very soon. Back later!

Patchwork Goodies

On Saturday my sister, my mum and I went on a bus trip, which we do every year in October. It is with my sister's patchwork group, The Willow Quilting Group, and they visit 5 different shops. First up we went to Sandlyn House in Mooroolbark which is across from the train station. I bought this very cute book called Totes with Zippers. They had some samples in the shop and I loved the small bag with the red and green fabric. Around the corner, straight across from the train station was a Wool and Threads shop. I did not expect much, but when I went inside they had lots of different needles and yarn. I bought this new book, Knit Issue 2 by Jo Sharp. I did not even know that it had been released. This was one of my favourite buys, as it has washcloths, bathrobe, towel, jumpers and cardigans, a lot of patterns which I really do like.




After that stop we went to Catharina's Country Collection which was in Wandin North. It was a small little shop, but with lots of beautiful fabrics and lovely soaps. They also had knitting patterns and yarn too. I bought a quilt kit with chenille fabric in it. I love chenille fabric, and I have been building up quite a bit of it in my stash. After that, we ventured to The Patchwork Teahouse which is in Warburton. It was quite beautiful, and is a little restaurant in amongst tables of fabric and patterns, and beautiful samples everywhere. I could have spent a lot of money in this shop but I restrained myself. I only bought some green fabric and green ric rac. The teahouse actually sits beside the Yarra River in amongst the rainforest. I could have easily have spent all day at that place.

We stopped here for our lunch as well and my sister and I ate our lunch by the river. It was very nice and sunny. We then hopped back onto the bus and ventured onto Monbulk, where there was another shop. I cannot for the life of my remember the name of her shop, but the pattern I wanted to buy is not available until next month in Country Threads, so I will have to wait until then to purchase it. Last but not least we went to Tecoma Patchwork Shop which is actually Belgrave and across from the Primary School. They had beautiful fabrics and patterns, but with 39 people in there it was very crowded. I bought a little bag
pattern with a fairy on it. I like this bag very much, and I bought the sandcastle fabric for it too, so that is going to be made very soon. I also bought a Words for Wisdom stitchery which I plan on making into a cushion soon. After such a long day I was glad to get home. Travelling on a bus seems to tire you out. The next fabric trip will be made on Cup Day in November, when my sister and I plan to travel to the patchwork shop in Williamstown. It is going to be open from 10:00 to 5:00p.m. and they have lovely patterns including some Amy Butler bags too, and gorgeous fabrics as well. I must go and organise my little purchases into some sort of order and finish up my knitting. The Bo Peep cardigan is driving me nuts as it is not quite going to plan, but more about that later!

Not such a good day!

Poor little Daisy gave birth to her one and only kitten this morning, but alas it had died when we went out to check on her. We are making sure that she gets lots of rest and milk, and hopefully she will feel better in a few days. I was so upset for her to lose her baby kitten, and I have informed Isabelle and Lachlan that no we are not going to have any more kittens in the near future. After losing Rosie and now this baby kitten, I feel very sad today. I did have a wonderful day on my shopping tour yesterday, until Paul phoned me at 5:00pm that he was driving himself to the hospital to get stitches between his third and fourth fingers as he had sliced it open with the trowel he uses for plastering. He tripped over something and landed on it, so he arrived home last night after 10:30 with seven ugly stitches in his hand. He seems to feel better today, so hopefully in 10 days he can have them taken out.

Onto some better news (are you still reading), I did have a wonderful shopping trip and bought a few goodies, but I will post photos of them tomorrow. I did not get a real chance to take any photos of the places that we went to, but I can tell you that where we went was so nice and picturesque that I could easily live there. It is so beautiful and green, and the Yarra river runs through the countryside and is so clear and beautiful up that way, compared to the part of the river which is in the city, which is really dirty and brown. I do believe that the platypus live up in the river near where we were yesterday, but I did not see any. I think one day that Paul and I will take the kids up there one day for a picnic and spend the day. Well that is about it for now, so sorry to depress you all with my sad news. I hope that you will visit back tomorrow and see the goodies that I purchased, and hopefully the week will get better.

Bo Peep Cardigan

I finally decided to knit up the two fronts of the Bo Peep cardigan during the week, and I am now finally halfway through the first sleeve. I hope to have this finished by the end of next week, and to finish up both sleeves on the CPH too. I will then have time to finish up the baby cardigan, and then decide which knits I want to do over Christmas. I am thinking maybe some socks, a bag and some little knitted goodies for pressies. When I decide what I am making I will show you all. I am off on a bus tour of patchwork shops tomorrow up Warburton way, and then lunch at The Patchwork Teahouse. I will try and remember my camera and take some photos of where we go, as I think we go through the rainforests up that way. I hope that they have some yarn shops up there too. I do hope you all have a lovely weekend and good weather to go with it!

New knits to do!

First up, I would love to thank all of you wonderful bloggers out there who left us their kinds words and thoughts for Rosie. Isabelle was upset when I told her and was very quiet for the day. She still expects Rosie to come to the door when we go out, and so do I actually. I am sure in time we will feel better, so thank you all so much.

I have been knitting, though not as much as I would like too. I have nearly finished the back of the cardigan, and I love the leaf pattern on it. This will be nice and light to wear in summer when it cools down at night, even though we have been warned to expect a very hot summer over the next few months. I suppose we will suffer a very hot summer like most people overseas have already experienced. Bring back autumn please!

I also found out that our next door neighbours are having a little boy so I pulled out some yarn from the stash and started a little cardigan for him. I will post about it some more when I have a bit more done. The CPH (which you are all probably bored of by now) has half a sleeve done too, and I hope to do some more on it today. It is going to be 30 degrees today, so no going outside for me, until I pick Isabelle up from kindergarten in half an hour. Hopefully no sunburn will occur. I can burn in 20 degrees if I am out there long enough, so I am better off in the shade. Well off to do some little odds and ends around the house, and then fix lunch. Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Rosie - September 2004 to October 2006

Sweet little Rosie who liked to knock on our flyscreen door when she wanted to be let into the garage, and used to sleep all day and then wait to be fed. She gave us 3 beautiful kittens, and was a wonderful mother to them all. Now her baby girl Daisy is expecting kittens soon, and sadly she will not be here with us to experience it. I just hope that Daisy has a little kitten like Rosie to remind us of her. She is only a few months old in this picture and used to love sleeping on our bed and the couch. I used to put the little fur rug down for her and she would sleep for hours in there.
This is the second time in about 3 years that we have had a cat killed by a car, but since it was at night the driver sadly did not see her. Paul said the driver was actually crying because he had hit her, and I will miss her greatly. She had her own little personality, but never was the same after she had her kittens. She sort of lost her personality somehow, but I hope that she is in a nice place. I remember when I took Lachlan to the pet shop to buy a kitten and she was just so gorgeous. She was actually petrified and piddled and pooed in the box we had bought her in, so we had to rush back into the pet shop, and they actually washed her and fixed her up, poor little thing. She was such a pretty cat and even used to play with Tess the jack russell when she was little. They used to wrestle each other. Please wish me luck tomorrow when I have to tell Isabelle about it. She was fast asleep when it happened so Paul dealt with all of the awful stuff, great man that he is. You will be missed very much Rosie.