Prisons, Pictures and Great Grans...

....with some crochet, of course!

I thought I'd take another break from work
and all the filing, packing and shredding I have to do
to say hi.
Hello!!!!

Since I last posted, there's been a bit of crafty action here at Chez Inkberry.
I've made yet another simple dischloth:

I do like making these cloths.
I can crochet one up in an afternoon, which is satisfying,
and I use them for dry brush massages which, I've been told, are good for my immune system. (In my version, the washcloth takes the place of a brush.)

I've also been working on something for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.
Meet Bluey:

I'm using Crochetroo's pattern, a 3mm hook and Shepherd Colour 4 Me wool.
He's lots of fun to make.
He'll probably be very hard to give away too.

...and I also thought I'd share some photographs taken at Fremantle Prison museum, which I visited recently.

Fremantle Prison used to be a maximum security gaol and, before that, housed convicts sent out from Britain. Not surprisingly, it's a pretty grim place but its history is fascinating and, unexpectedly, it has some amazing artwork. There are pictures that were painted by the last men to be imprisoned there:

and there are delicate drawings,
rendered secretly onto the walls of a cramped, dark cell
by a nineteenth century forger called James Welsh:

Beautiful, aren't they?
(Thanks to J for letting me use her fantastic prison photos.)

My paternal great grandmother's family came out to Western Australia around about the time James Welsh was drawing on the prison walls
...but I can't claim any convict heritage ~ they were all settlers.
My great gran loved to knit and crochet however and,
although I never met her,
I feel a sense of connection with her because of that shared love of yarn. I remember, when I was little, admiring a hexagon blanket that she had made, which might be why I'm so fond of the pattern now.

Here's a photo of her, knitting by the fire, with my great grandfather:

and here's a picture of my (very sombre) grandmother and great aunty, wearing her lacy socks:

(My nanna's on the right.)
I would imagine my great grandmother would have loved the internet, especially Ravelry!
Do you have any family stories to tell?


Have a wonderful week everyone.

An Owl and an Angel

My mother is an imaginative creature.
She often draws onto wood and pebbles ~ seeing images in their surfaces and bringing them to life with her pencils. She drew this little owl, quickly, yesterday and gave it to me when we met for coffee:

Mum also presented me with a belated birthday gift ~ a little kneeling angel:

I found it difficult to photograph in the frame,
but I kind of like the way the reflection of my hands works in this shot:

I love them both!
Thanks Mum.
x

I've continued to work on scarves.
(Work is really complicated and challenging right now. Creating simple things is like an antidote ~ soothing and relaxing.)
I've just about finished the scarflette I wrote about in my last post (I'm planning on uploading some pictures soon) and I've been crocheting a Crocus Scarf with some cheerful, bright red wool:

I've also bought some balls of Noro sock yarn from The Wool Shack:

which are destined to become a Spring Ripple Scarf or a Wavelength Scarf. I'm really looking forward to seeing the repeats of all that beautiful colour emerge as I crochet.

Happy creating everybody.

Hot Chocolate, Cacti And Crochet

I've just returned from a lightening visit to the South West. I went, with my baby sister, to visit my older sister and her family. It was lovely, as my older sis loves to spoil. She has green thumbs too ~ look at her gorgeous cactus:

Speaking of being spoilt, we went out to lunch at Xanadu (my family are involved with the winery) which was absolutely delicious. I was too focussed on eating and drinking to take many photographs (I had black bean crusted lamb rump with eggplant and woodear mushroom salad ...mmm mmm mmm.. and divinely dry champagne) but I did take a picture at the very end of the meal. Here it is ~ a snap of hot chocolate with the Xanadu dragon swirled into it:

I wish I could have fitted in the dessert plate ~ a yummy array of parfait, pannnacotta, vanilla bean tart and semillon, but I was way too full. Next time. Definitely.

We also went out for a scrumptious lunch at the Natural Temptation Cafe in Bunbury, where my big sister bought me a copy of their First Temptations vegetarian cook book. (See, spoiling!) Now I'm back at home I'm looking forward to getting into my kitchen and trying out some of the recipes. I've just finished making a scalloped pot holder too, which will come in handy if I can bear to get it dirty.

Christmas And Boxing Day

I love looking at other people's blogs around Christmas time. It's interesting to read about the way people celebrate the holiday season all over the world. (It's also inspiring ~ after reading Northern American blogs I've taken to Christmas baking.) Carola, has written a lovely post about Swedish traditions.

Christmas celebrations are always a team effort for my family. My mother readies the house for overnight guests, we all cook and my baby sister puts up the decorations. Last year we ate Christmas dinner under the stars, with lots of twinkling lights:

This year, my sister decorated with Chinese lanterns:

I made a pavlova, the national dessert of Australia and New Zealand ~ my first:

As you can see, I topped it with strawberries, milk chocolate and passionfruit. It was (she says immodestly) delicious. Nigella has a similar recipe to the one I used (if you take out the chocolate in the meringue) here.

We celebrated Christmas in the evening because it was so hot, scorchingly so ~ Christmas Day was 40.1 degrees celcius. The following day was even hotter, a sizzling 44.2 degrees celcius ~ Perth was the hottest city on the planet on Boxing Day. I stayed inside, underneath the ceiling fans, eating left~overs (Dad's roast chicken, beef and potatoes with red~wine gravy, my sister's pumpkin and pine nut salad, lots and lots of chocolate...mmmmmmmm), watching old movies and , finally, finding the time for some more crocheting (hooray!). I made a Pink Shells dishcloth out of some gorgeous Peaches n Creme cotton that I bought from The Wool Shack.

Christmas was a simple but lovely time for me.
I'm not planning on taking down the decorations any time soon, I'd like to savour the season's memories instead.
I hope that you also had a wonderful holiday, wherever in the world you were.