It's all about the knitting, folks!

Despite my best resolution, life (and knitting) intervened.

I did think about popping in a post last week which said `Can't blog - knitting.', but decided I needed to knit more than I needed to blog. Here is the result of my labour:


Taadaa!

The Placed Cable Aran, from Interweave knits, in 10 ply Luxury from Bendigo Woollen Mills, in the Leaf colourway. This should also qualify me for Lynne's Textured KAL.

This absolutely flew off the needles, and set a new record by being finished in 11 days. I can't believe I actually knitted a jumper in 11 days, but here's the proof. Cast on May 13, cast off May 24. The only mods I made were too make it slightly longer (could have been even longer) and to convert the sleeves, so I picked up stitches and knitted them from the top down to eliminate seaming - Oh and I knitted the body in the round to the armholes, so the only seams are at the shoulders. Took 3.25 balls of Bendi, so a bit over 1000m.

I am thrilled with it, love the pattern, the yarn, the colour and the finished product.

I also thought, although it isn't the end of the month, I'd get stash honesty out of the way. We're off on holiday on Wednesday and I don't anticipate any arrivals of squooshy parcels between now and then, so we might as well do it now.

In:
8 balls of Tango and 5 balls of Superior (both of which I blame Rosered for): 525gr
5 balls of Bendi Luxury (see above FO): 1 kg
6 skeins of River: 600gr
2 skeins of BFL 2/8: 500gr

Total In: 2.625kg

Knitted:
650gr Luxury (placed cable)
600gr Allegro (gathered sweater)
100gr socks
150gr Jet (Princess's jacket from Zeph)

Total knitted:
1.5 kg

In other words, almost twice as much has come in as was knitted - despite a knitting frenzy. Sigh.

June should be better, mainly because I won't be in a position to buy any yarn, so although some sock club yarn (ahem) may arrive in my post office box, I should also be able to be about square, knitting wise.

In other news, the birdie appears to have settled in with the resident population of Little Wattle Birds, the schools holidays are much too long (this is the first day - they are tooooooo long!) and life rolls along.

We are still warm and although somewhat damp here, have been spared the utter downpours of Queensland and Northern NSW. However, with our usual perfect timing, we are about to holiday in the epicentre of this weeks floods. What fun!

If I don't get back here before we leave, have a love fortnight or so, and I'll see you in mid June!

Birds, Beasts and Relatives (with apologies to Gerald Durrell)

The strangest thing happened yesterday.

I was in the garden, picking off the last of the apples on the tree, and a bird came up and sat on the branches quite close to me. I chatted to it, as you do, told him he was brave and so on, when he flew on to my shoulder.

Now this didn't quite freak me out - I am an animal person, I can deal with most things, but a wild bird? Landing on my shoulder? Last I knew, I was not Snow White or Cinderella or one of the Disney cartoon princesses who regularly go into forests and have assorted livestock land on their heads.

This guy was a juvenile Little Wattle Bird (about 12 inches or 30cm long), and has a long beak. I would say he was a teenager - a young adult with some of his juvenile plumage still. He landed on my window sill a few days ago and just sat there when I tapped on the window. Now he is landing on my head or shoulder and is more than happy to perch on my finger.


My children are rather amazed. Obviously Mummy has supernatural powers over animals. Here he is, letting me get very close to take his picture. When I rang a friend in the local animal rescue service, her theory was that these birds are quite easy to hand rear, but in the very high winds we have had recently, he may have been blown away from home. He's probably a bit dependant on humans, and wants to be fed.

I wouldn't mind, but now he has taken to stalking me - following me from window to window and trying to sit on me when we are outside. Weird.



If you have lost a Little Wattle Bird, please feel free to contact me.

There has been knitting happening.

Here it the finished Gathered Pullover 2, in Bendi Allegro in Scarlet. I really like the feel of the fabric this makes. It was just a bit splitty to knit with, which I had expected, but is lovely. Great stitch definition. I made the neck higher and the shoulders wider. It took a while because it was the carry along mindless stoicking stitch for ages. Strangely, when I fnally paid some attention to it, it was finished very quickly.


I also finished the 2 parts Zephyrama, 1 part Tink jacket for the Princess. Zeph had sent me the mostly finished child's One Piece Ribby Jacket, in Jet, along with the extra to finish it off, due to the fact she had started it for her daughter and said daughter had grown out of it before it was finished. I think it will fit the Princess for a while. She likes it. The buttons are clear, with pink and black butterflies. She chose them.



Just because you need some proof of knitting, here is Ms Rosered, ensconced in our very messy family room, helping the Princess with her knitting. You might recognise the Pearl Buck Jacket.

Of course, much of this weekend has been taken up with the festival of bad taste and excreable music which is Eurovision. While Norway was both cute and a reasonable song, my favourites were Moldova (great boots and costume, funked up folk song and folk dancing), Portugal (once again, the folk song and costume), the Ukraine (those boots, those Trojans!), Turkey (yay, Dum Tek Tek), Estonia (gorgeous singer and song, Arwen with a fringe), Bosnia Herzegovina (who doesn't love some nice performance art?) and Armenia (great costumes).

Greece was rather up himself, the Azerbaijan entry was tediously ordinary, Iceland sounded like Celine Dion and most of the others were forgettable. The hosts were hysterical. While Barbie was cute, her co-host was a sleaze who kept peering down her dress and squeezing her. I kept thinking of the Fast Forward comedy duo, doing the Russian TV presenters "Viktor, you are very unattractive man''. If you missed out, you can watch it here.

I will try to be a better blogger, at least until we go on holiday. The stretch of glorious late autumn weather continues, with cold nights and lovely days - but winter is breathing down our necks, rather like the Russian Eurovision host.

Is it May yet?

Oh dear.

Over a week since I blogged, and such a lot has happened.

First (and most importantly) a visit from the lovely Rosered! She escorted her mother to Tasmania, but slipped the leash for a couple of days and came to visit. So lovely to finally have a face to put with the shoes!

We knitted and drank coffee and champagne and ate some nice things - and she brought me a lovely darning mushroom! It was a lovely visit. I dragged her along to circus school, and pointed her towards the LYS and the nice shoe shop - and strangely, she came back with yarn and shoes, having found a hitherto unmined source of Grinasco Tango. And a pair of orange shoes. How unlike her!

This of course, meant I also had to do a quick dash to the LYS too, and grab some of the Tango, and somehow 5 balls of Superior (70 cashmere, 30 silk laceweight) slipped into the bag with the Tango. It probably wanted company.

It was a wonderful visit, and so lovely to meet her. I hope she comes back to visit again soon!

Friday was Agfest day. In keeping with tradition (well we did it last year and twice in a row must make it a tradition) a girlfriend and I consigned our respective children to the tender care of their fathers and did a dash to the delights of Agfest.

An utterly wonderful day, so sunny and hot we were out and about in t-shirts (the last gasp of the Indian Summer). There was a lot more fleecy and fibre-y stuff than last year - mainly alpaca, but a wool shop from Moonah (who also sell Ashford gear and knitpicks needles) had a stall. Overall I was very good and only bought 1 ball of alpaca - hand dyed, 2 little bags of tops and one ball of silk garden sock. Some plants, bulbs, soap and lovely hand cream etc came home with me though.

Which brings me to stash honesty. These purchases, having been made in May, do not count in April's total (heaves sigh of relief).

April:
In: 800 grams

Knitted: (wait for it!) 100 gr - Black Rose socks
700gr - raglan cardi
100 gr - fish hat
100gr - Lighthouse gansey socks

Total - 1kg knitted - so I finally managed to knit more than came in! At last!

On a much sadder note, thank you so much for all your lovely thoughts on my poor little Hobson. And thank you for sharing your cat stories, too. It is awful to lose a fur friend, and I miss him dreadfully. Thank you.

And a big Happy Mother's Day, and to those who aren't yet, but will be - Happy Day to us all!

Vale, Hobson.

This is just a very short post.

For the first time in more years than I care to remember, I have no animals.

Last night, my cat, Hobson, didn't come home. As the weather cools down, Hobson is always keen to be inside.

I acquired Hobson as a semi-feral teenage cat from our local RSPCA. Our cat, George, had been hit by a car, and our other cat and dog missed him. Hobson came into our lives. He loved the other cat, adored the elderly Labrador and loved me.

For many years, he'd have nothing to do with the Accountant, and generally gave the kids a wide berth. One of my friends, when seeing Hobson streak past her said, ``That's not a cat. It's a wabbit!''

Hobson seemed to be scared of most people, but was a mighty hunter of rabbits, rats and mice - and I'm ashamed to say, occasionally, birds.

He kept his white bits very white, and I loved him and he was hit by a car last night. I found him when I returned from the gym this morning out the front of our house.

We have buried him, and in keeping with our traditions, will plant a fruit tree over his grave (actually 2 - because I think he will look after the kiwi fruit vines for us, and you need a male and a female).

Goodbye Hobson. You have been my cat for over nine years. You were always as light as a feather. We joked that you had bird bones. But this morning you felt very very heavy.



Goodbye.

Just for Amy - and the end of poetry month

I wanted to include so many poems in this blog: Omar Kayyam

Awake! For morning in the bowl of night,
Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight
And Lo! The hunter of the East has caught
The sultan's turret in a noose of light

and Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rage at close of day
Rage, Rage against the dying of the light


and D H Lawrence:
Not every man has gentians in his house
In soft September at slow sad Michaelmas

Bavarian Gentians, big and dark
Only dark
Darkening the daytime torchlike
With the smoking blueness of Pluto's gloom

All poems I love (along with a million others) and all typed from memory. I have so many fully, half and partly remembered poems sloshing around. I love Walt Whitman and Robert Frost, Yeats and Dylan Thomas, Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley, Marvell, Shakespeare, Donne, the war poets, Ogden Nash, Edward Lear, RL Stevenson, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and .... and

Love them. Love them all.

But in the spirit of feminism, and because some readers may not be familiar with A D Hope's extraordinarily sensuous poetry, I thought I'd pop this one in.

Advice to young ladies

AUC 334: about this date
For a sexual misdemeanour, which she denied,
The vestal virgin Postumia was tried.
Livy records it among affairs of state.

They let her off: It seems she was perfectly pure;
The charge arose because some thought her talk
Too witty for a young girl, her eyes, her walk
Too lively, her clothes too smart to be demure.

The Pontifex Maximus, summing up the case,
Warned her in future to abstain from jokes,
To wear less modish and more pious frocks
She left the court reprieved, but in disgrace.

What then? With her, the annalist is less
Concerned than what the men achieved that year:
Plots, quarrels, crimes, with oratory to spare!
I see Postumia in her dowdy dress,

Stiff mouth and listless step; I see her strive
To give dull answers. She had to knuckle down,
A vestal virgin who scandalised that town
Had fair trial, then they buried her alive.

Alive, bricked up in sufficating dark,
A ration of bread, a pitcher if she was dry,
Preserved the body they did not wish to die
Until her mind was quenched to the last spark.

How many the black maw has swallowed in its time!
Spirited girls who would not know their place;
Talented girls who found that the disgrace
Of being a woman made genius a crime;

How many others who would not kiss the rod
Domestic bullying broke, or public shame?
Pagan or Christian, it was much the same:
Husbands, St Paul declared, rank next to God.

Livy and Paul, it may be, never knew
That Rome was doomed; each spoke of her with pride.
Tacitus, writing after both had died,
Showed that whole fabric rotten, through and through.

Historians spend their lives and lavish ink
Explaining how great commonwealths collapse
From great defects of policy - perhaps
The cause is sometimes simpler than they think.

It may not seem so grave an act to break
Postumia's spirit as Galileo's, to gag
Hypatia as crush Socrates, or drag
Joan as Giordano Bruno to the stake.

Can we be sure? Have more states perished, then,
For having shackled the enquiring mind,
Than those who, in their folly, not less blind,
Trusted the servile womb to breed free men?

So there you are, Amy.

One of my favourite poems, sneaking in before the end of the month. Thank you for making me re-visit so many of the words that have given me so much pleasure - and introducing me to new words and more pleasure!

Winter sneaks in on cat feet...

OK.

I have to admit that winter has arrived (either that or it's suddenly late autumn and winter is around the corner). We have had 2 frosts in a row, and it poured with rain all weekend. Drought breaking rain - we had 76mm of rain in 3 days. Farmers were dancing.

I have turned over the clothes, the children are in their winter uniforms for school and I have rediscovered my spencers and skivvies. I may have to do some knitting.

This is my first proper week of unemployment, and yesterday I went to the Sheffield spinners and weavers with my wheel and started to learn to spin. They were lovely and welcoming ladies, but strangely, most of them didn't knit (or crochet). I didn't actually ask them what they did with their handspun, but I will next time. I now have 3/4 of a bobbin of rather overspun alpaca and merino (90/10). Apparently the overspinning was only partly me. The tension on the wheel wouldn't stay set, so running repairs were carried out by a little old lady with fishing wire and a red Post Office rubber band. I also found I am a much better spinner if I don't look at what I am doing.

I spent the wet weekend teaching the Princess to sew, and we made this:

Here is the proud creator.



So, that is the wet Saturday. On Sunday, Princess made a chocolate cake, mainly by herself (under supervision), so she is inordinately pleased with herself (and I am very proud of her).

I have been cooking more exciting wintry type food too. Last night I attempted to recreate a lovely dish I had at Brown Brothers Epicure restaurant, chorizo, potato and tomato. I used the roasted tomato sauce (will it see out the winter, or should I try and make just one more batch?).

I fried off the sliced chorizo, and drained it. Cooked some dutch cream potatoes then fried them in a little olive oil with sweet paprika, smoked paprika and hot paprika. Returned the sliced chorizo to the pan, added the roasted tomato sauce, tasted it, added a little more seasoning - nom nom! Not a bad recreation - maybe a little more hot paprika next time!

It's nice to have a bit more time for cooking and meal planning.

I have almost finished the body of the gathered pullover, and hope to start the sleeves in a day or two. Still need to finish Cherie (just not feeling the lurve), and the plain toe-up socks. then I can get on to some more things. Winter is coming - we need to keep warm!

Indian Summer

The lovely Kate at Kiss My Frog gave me this award a little while ago (and it's not that I forgot, I just kept getting distrac....look - a bunny!) Sorry - and I was very happy to get such a nice award. Now I have to pass it on. Kate has already mentioned some of the people I would have named, so in order to spread the love a bit I thought I'd try and link you up with some new names.

Miss Cindy2paw and her gorgeous labby friends is an obvious one - crafty, friendly and always something wonderful in her blog
QuiltingMick - Crochet liberationist, crafter and enabler - always one to watch
Zephyrama - not posting as much these days, but always interesting when she does
Yarning to Write - with Amy you always get something unexpected - bits of a new book, children, cuteness and cussing - all in one great package
A Little Bit Crafty - can you believe someone can knit THAT small!
MadmadHousewife - the glories of yarn, wine and children (not necessarily in that order)
Last but definitely not least, Julie the Samurai Knitter - I never come away from reading her blog without having learned something surprising!


I even have an FO to blog

Here is the Raglan Jacket
Adapted from the topdown raglan cardigan recipe (but turned into a swing jacket)
7 skeins of Manos del Uruguay wool I scored in a Ravelry de-stash
The 5 buttons were 5 cents each in one of those button bargain tins in haberdashery shops where you trawl through to try and find some that match

Love it - lovely and warm and gorgeous selection og colours.

Obviously, monogamous knitting on Wips, instead of Knitlottotm means you actually get things finished.
Next stop - Cherie Amour and the last sleeve and a half

In other news, by the end of tomorrow I will be unemployed and I'm quite looking forward to it. I'm excited and already thinking of all the things I will be able to do.

This weekend quinces will be becoming both jelly and paste (a great recipe which boils the quinces and then turns the liquid into jelly and the pulp into paste - and the paste takes ages and needs welders gloves because it spits sugar and quince which sticks to your skin and burns the way toffee does.) Paste takes around 3 hours.

I will also pick walnuts - we usually end up with between 35 and 50kgs of walnuts - we have 21 mature trees - and pick over the apples and think about making another batch of roasted tomato sauce. I'm not sure if I have squirrel (hoard hoard hoard for winter) or bear (eat store eat) tendencies at this time of the year. Probably squirrel - I'm too much of an insomniac to be a bear. I use the harvest to feed us and try and capture autumn and summer in the depths of winter.

So far, we are having an indian summer. It is balmy and gently breezy and the breeze is warm. I know that there is only 1 month till winter officially begins. I must think about knitting......