Sweet Spring

It's still officially winter in Australia but Nature is definitely saying it's spring.
The mornings are warmer, the days are longer, the birds have begun to gather nesting material, freesias and jasmine are sweetly scenting the air...I love this time of the year. I spent the weekend in my garden,
sweeping and weeding and repotting,
clearing up the damage from the March flood,
kept company by industrious bees



and small, squabbling honeyeaters.




Amongst the debris from the storm, lots of flowers were blooming,
including a delicate native flame pea




and the coral gum I planted when I first moved here.




It was a lovely way to spend Saturday and Sunday.

I spent time crocheting a new blanket too. I'm making one with Lucy's Granny Stripe pattern. I haven't taken any progress shots yet but I have managed to take a picture of the yarn I'm using. I've chosen colours to go with my living room. It's going to be bright!



In other crafty news,

• I've crocheted a One Row Lace Cowl:

which I have given to my good friend Robbo,

• I've worked on a stirling silver and copper ring:

which I've since oxidised and polished

• and, lastly, I have had the pleasure of seeing my What the Dickens Fingerless Mittens being made by somebody else! A lovely and busy blogger from Holland has crocheted four pairs, which you can see here. I really like the yarn she's chosen.

And you?
I'd love to hear about what's happening in your corner of the Earth.

Blessings..
x

Chilly

I've written my first pattern
...for fingerless mitts!
It's winter here in the Land of Oz and it has been very, very chilly in the mornings. I have really needed something to keep my hands warm
and I've come up with these:







They are made out of 8 ply wool, although the pattern is easily adapted to 10 ply, they're crocheted in the round so that you can fit them as you go
and they're super quick to make.
I'm planning on posting the pattern in the next couple of weeks (once I've finished tweaking the construction of the right hand glove and when I can fit blogging into this crazy, busy life of mine.)
I haven't come up with a name for them yet. I'm considering something Dickensian ~ fingerless mitts always make me think of Dickens and I actually crocheted one of these while watching (and loving) the television adaption of Little Dorrit. I could call them Little Dorrits, perhaps? I've also thought of naming them Crisp Morning Mitts, which is a play on my name. My pun loving sister came up with What the Dickens. Or maybe I should go with something more sensible like Lacy Fitted Mitts?
What do you think?

I came up with my own pattern after making two sets of Shell Lace Fitted Fingerless Gloves:




This is one of the most clearly written patterns I've ever worked from and really helped me to understand how fingerless mitts are constructed.

In other crafty news,
I received this gorgeous knitted washcloth and soap in a Ravelry swap from the wonderful WendyLew, my swap partner




and Little Red Hen gave me one of her beautiful HANDbags when we met up for coffee:




It's constructed so cleverly and I love the pretty floral fabric.
As well as generously giving me some of her handiwork Little Red Hen engaged me in a really interesting conversation that covered, amongst other things, travelling, teaching and selling art which was very thought provoking. I never usually sell any of my work but after talking about how validating it can make you feel, as an artist, I'm thinking that I might exhibit some of my paintings some time in the not~too~distant future.
Thanks for the inspiration, Dette.

I've enjoyed cooking comfort food during this cold snap. I made a Bread and Butter Pudding for a family dinner that was so nice I came home and cooked another one just for me!





The recipe asks for vanilla beans, and demerara sugar that's sprinkled over the pudding to create a crunchy, caramelised top. I left the crusts on the bread and that made it even crunchier, a fantastic contrast to the egg custard beneath.
Yum. Yum. YUM.
(It was so delicious I had it for breakfast too.)

It's been too cold to do much outside
but my garden's bloomed,
regardless:





Flowers bring me so much pleasure.



I hope this finds you enjoying the comforts of home too.

Blessings.
x

Little Pockets of Joy

I have sat down at the computer with the intention of posting here quite a few times over the past month but the words just haven't wanted to come. It's been very, very busy at work and I've been doing loads of reporting, interviewing, commenting, reviewing...
And I think I'm just all talked out.
(Which some members of my family will find very hard to believe, I know.)

So today I'm just going to share photos,
mainly,
of things that, in amongst all of the hard work, have brought me joy.


I've walked around Lake Monger in the soft light of dusk:




I've also spent an afternoon with my mum,
where we drank tea, talked honestly, and busied ourselves with crochet and knitting ~ Mum making bandicoot bags for the local wildlife rehabilitation centre, me working on yet another Sweet Lorraine scarf.




I have admired the little posy of marigolds that's been sitting at my sink,





finished the ring I've been working on in my silver smithing classes (hooray!)



and met the charming Little Red Hen for afternoon tea at Fremantle Arts Centre.
But more about that in my next post...

I'd love to know what's been bringing joy to you.


Blessings.
x

Cosy

I'm almost done for the day ~ after I post this I'm going to curl up on the couch with my cat, some crochet and Dr Who on the television for company.
Yay!
It's been another good weekend.
There's been enough balance between paper work and play for me to feel relaxed and to have been really productive...not something that happens often and definitely something to savour...

I spent part of Saturday in my silver smithing class working on this ring:





You can probably tell from the photos that I need to finish riveting the glass bead to the silver cup, and that I also need to clean up some solder and straighten it all too but,
I hope,
I'm almost done.

I've also been sewing up the Monroe Lacy Stole that I crocheted last Winter:




and I have been admiring this gorgeous array of wool (and the little glass button) that I received in my Ewe Beaut Fibre Sampler Box:




(If you follow the link above and look at the contributors for the April 2010 box you'll be able to find out who created all of this hand made goodness.)

I've been enjoying the change in season too.
My poetic friend Jen (who writes beautifully and very very honestly)
says that Winter is a quiet, sacred, restorative time.
I do so agree.

I love wintery skies:



and late roses:





and daisies that bloom valiantly despite the rain:





I hope you, too, are enjoying the time of the year,
wherever you live on our beautiful Earth.

Blessings.
x

Textured

I've had to spend most of Saturday and Sunday writing reports and I'm still nowhere close to repairing all the damage that was done when my home was flooded...but I have had a nice weekend anyway!

I've been admiring this lovely begonia as I've been working on my computer:



I have also managed to get out to a jewellery workshop at Fremantle Arts Centre where I've had fun playing with texture:

(These are little copper samples that I embossed with an onion bag, some upholstery fabric and a dried leaf.)

started to make a new silver ring:



and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings:


(This carved lino floor was installed in the Centre's main hallway as part of an exhibition which was held at the end of last year. Isn't it gorgeous?)

Importantly for me and for my sense of well being, I have been listening to Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun, who has, I think, a fantastic perspective on life and its challenges.

It's also become cold enough in the morning to wear scarves. Hooray!

(I'm currently crocheting this Sweet Lorraine scarf. It's my second ~ I really like the pattern.)


...and I am just about to eat a large piece of delicious home~made white~chocolate cheesecake.
(Thank you Nikki!!!!)

I hope, dear readers, that your weekends have been full of simple sweetness too.

Blessings.
x

Wet

So much has happened since I last wrote here:
there's been some creativity
(which I'll get to eventually if you can bear with me)
but last month my home was flooded in a freak, incredibly intense, autumn storm. It hit at about 5:00 pm, meaning I had to drive into it on the way back from work...under ink black clouds and forked lightning, through rain so heavy I often couldn't see out of the windscreen and flash flooding on the roads...and arrived home (safely, to my amazement) to discover that instead of a parking bay I now had a small lake, and that the water had poured off the street, down the driveway, gushed into my back garden and streamed under the laundry door covering everything inside with at least a centimetre of muddy water. After a few moments of open~mouthed disbelief and some frantic phone calls I started the very, very big job of cleaning it all up.

Luckily for me my neighbours and my family were, and have continued to be, terrific. On the night of the storm, my sister and brother~in~law drove for an hour and a half, through chaotic traffic, to come and help. My dad, too, spent much of the next week at my place doing the most horrible jobs while I was at work. Thanks to everyone's assistance, and despite a few near misses, I haven't lost anything irreplaceable. My family have mopped, moved heavy furniture, cleaned out muddy electrical points, repaired brick paving that collapsed (with me on top of it), ripped out all of my sodden, smelly carpet and patiently listened to a few slightly hysterical stinking~carpet~induced rants from me. Theoretically, my insurance company should have helped me with most of this but they were so overwhelmed by claims I couldn't get anybody to come out...so I took photos for them instead:




Mopping Up, Midnight






My Back Garden, Morning After


There's lots more to do: my no longer beautiful bamboo floor is going to have to be replaced, my bedroom's too dusty and mouldy to safely sleep in, the back yard's still full of debris...but I'm getting there.
Molly's quite happy to keep the bed warm for me, for however long it's going to take:

(By the way, the windows are always wide open when she's in there.)

I've tucked cheerful little pots of flowers in amongst the mess out the back, which makes such a difference:











I'm planning on getting bamboo laid in the bedrooms too ~ hooray!!!!!

and,
of course,
I've been crafting.
Nothing too taxing,
sorting out the storm damage's challenging enough,
but I've taken some more jewellery~making classes:


Copper Pendant and Bangle

I've started knitting another Fascinate wrap:






(I love the Noro yarn's subtle colours ~ they remind me of looking out over the sea and the sky on an early, wintery morning.)

and I've crocheted a little project bag which I'm just about to felt:






The pattern's called the Marvelous Mini Tote Bag
and the flower's another five petalled rose made with directions from Crochet Bouquet. I've crocheted with stash yarn, in much duller colours than I usually use, but I really like it regardless.

Anyway,
I'd best get back to it as there are phone calls to make and quotes to organise.
I hope, dear readers, that you're all well and happy
....and that Nature's being a little kinder to you than she's recently been to me.
x