Saturday morning

Aren't  I lucky, to be able to hang out here, to pretend for a week: these animals are ours, and even to be able to enjoy the gifts of milk and eggs they give in return.

 And even more lucky to enjoy a picnic breakfast  and a swim on nearby Kina beach.

more beautiful wool pics

my cowl, and earrings my husband bought for our anniversary. sorry no pic of my face, i haven't presented myself yet! But I have milked a goat, he he!

Autumn calling!

The children thought the slightly chillier mornings and faint colouring of the poplar leaves mean that it is high time to make an autumnal nature table display. Nice work don't you think? It was completely self directed, and we are looking forward to some nature walks to collect more leaves etc as they fall.

 I've started sewing  for the easter fair, inspired by retro sheets and pinnies, and bias binding and ric rac. lots more projects in mind, lets see how far I get!






 Ive also been knitting up this  wool. it has turned into a cowl style scarf, with a twist ( unintentional, but makes it drape nicely), and I am completely in love with the colours, it is like knitting molten gold, or autumn leaves and so soft! My son was stroking it this morning as he had his wake -up -nurse.  I'll try and get a photo soon of me wearing it.
 I have been busy this week looking after a friends farmlet: milking her goat and feeding chickens etc. I love it. I spent a year in Australia on a farm stay outdoor centre attached to a high school where we had a myriad of animals to see to every morning;  including teaching the students who came on camp to milk cows by hand. It made quite an impact, and I think has  made the yearning for a country life unignorable!

Friends

  A morning tea with friends, babies and a baby to come (soon), knitting,  Talking, food and herbal tea, and this morining, an email from a friend that moved away, perfect. Now an afternoon , for sewing!

 (the light is not great ( nor is  my camera), but this is the vest for Maaike, from the wool she dyed).

 Sorry to miss you Gill!

organised chaos?

A corner of my workroom/playroom. I tried to organise enough a path through to my sewing machine. I received my application form for the local easter fair, and thought, yes, I had better get sewing, can't earn any money without stock!
So Before I got sick, I searched through my patterns and my fabric stash , and cut my first 'range' of the year (!!!I have been slack!). its now sitting my my trestle table ready to sew, alongside my containers of trims, buttons, threads etc (which are, although, orgainsed, still to chaotic to photograph!). Maybe Ill get some done while the girls are at Playcentre today; or maybe  and more likely, Tobin will want to stay and play, and I will have to too. Still abit wobbly, but a bit more strength today.
And it was only tonsilitis! We are all taking colloidial silver- We call it magic water. Have a nice tuesday.

Away sick

I  have been "away" sick; I felt like crap! I am still really wasted, dizzy when I stand etc. Struan coped, just! Its busy, 3 kids and all the chores, which we normally divide between us. 

Look at my wild orchard! All the herbs are in flower, good for the bees and beneficial bugs. More later in the week, when I'm coping better.

A moment

just before 5 pm yesterday, i poured a little glass of wine, and looked at our summer nature table. just a moment of calm. before the mad rush, dinner, bath, bed, time of day.

 some of Jessicah's wool, spun up( see previous post). What do you think? 

Wool!

This blog is turning into a yarn blog! I think this time last year i blogged about the garden more! (Its doing okay, maybe wilder than last year, yesterday I harvested carrots, cauliflower, runner beans; purple and green, zucchinni, and tomatoes). But look what  came in the mail today! The wool giveaway from Jessicah at Spinning a Yarn , dyed in the colours I suggested, PLUS, some goodies for the children, and chocolate for me (And maybe Struan, if it isnt gone before he gets home)!   i'm so blown away, thank you Jessicah!

A glove (other still to come), for Struan in some more of the wool I dyed last week, I'm very happy with it. The pattern is from stitch 'n Bitch for men . 

 In other new, we have been making some good old fashioned valentines cards for people we love, after first having read about the history of it and looking at examples of the olden days cards held at a museum (found by googling valentines cards history of).  The kids all got stuck in their own creative ways.

 it is incredibly hard to find paper doilies these days! Is anyone else going to bake off?  Sounds like fun don't you think?

wool dying

yesterday we dyed some wool with the girls while Tobin slept. It came about because Anoushka decided she didn't like the wool she was knitting with. So  I said, "do you want to make your own? " We've done this together before so they knew what was involved, and jumped at  the chance( in fact they are already designing their next yarns!) Anoushka had some white (badly) spun roving, from one of my attempts at spinning, and she will use the wool for a dolls blanket. I felted it slightly as I was rinsing the dye out after fixing and I'm quite happy with it actually. I hope she is too!

 Maaike started with some commercially spun grey wool (not sure what breed), and knew she wanted a rainbow wool. It ended up with beautiful yellows and pinks with some flecks of blue and green and orange. I like the mellow effect with the colours on the grey. Her wool will be a winter vest that I will knit for her next project.

 The light doesn't really do it justice.  I did some too, a whole lot of mellow greens/ blues /yellows on the same grey wool that maaike had, and some yellow/red/orange on some random white merino looking wool from the op shop. The white wool definately took up the colours in a brighter way!

 I felt really "present" yesterday, something I have struggled with in the past. I like playing OMA /grandma in the fantasy games if it means I can sit and knit at the same time. I have lots more projects to go.....

Another day at home (school)...

A pattern traced, cut out, fabric selection made, felt heart stitched on and mama helped with the sewing machine bit : a dress and jumper for a doll, and all before 9 am!

The finished (and blocked), homespun jacket. not too bad?

 

A silky eye pillow for a sick little Maaike,and a heart  pillow for both the girls for good measure (and hopefully to help oldest insomniac calm and settle to an anxiety free sleep). Patterns from Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade home. 

Unfortunately also lots of tv time beacuse the sick one is too sick for anything else.