Photo a day challenge

01.05.2012 - "Peace"

I've decided to get my self organised and do the photo a day challenge again this month. Even though in the past I was slack in getting the daily photo posted on time, I did enjoy the way it made me look at things differentely. So I'm jumping in again.

"Peace" - the drip drip drip of the rain lulls me into a relaxed state of peace.

Catch up time

I had a fantastic weekend catching up with my old friend Kim. I don't mean she is old, but a friend that I've had a for a long time. We worked out it has been nearly 6 years since we spent face to face time together. Kim and her family live in Kalgoorlie Western Australia, and after a family holiday to Tasmania took a detour to visit friend on the East Coast.

Kim is one of those special friends that you may not spend time with often, but when you do your friendship picks up right where you left off. As a I get older I realise these types of friends are rare and need to be valued.

We spent time with her girls at the local park on Sunday, and I couldn't resist taking some photos of the Autumn colours and the girls in the park. Living in an extremely dry area of Australia where the Autumn colours are nonexistent, the trees left an impression on them.

There was a even time for a crash course in crochet for Rose. If we lived closer I  could see more lessons happening, but as a poor substitute she went home with a ball of wool and a crochet hook (and the scarf she is wearing). Keep going Rose. It will get easier.

Storage at last!

Back in Feb the Photo A Day Challenge theme was "inside your closet", and I showed you my poor excuse for a wardrobe. Well fast forward 2 months, and I couldn't contain my excitement to finally get the first of 2 new built in robes installed. What a difference having storage makes to life. After a bit of fussing about, I settled on the  elfa storage product, as it is totally configurable to our changing needs. Love it!

Photo a day challenge

19.04.2012 - "Orange"

The changing of the seasons is such a natural thing, but I still look forward to Autumn each year. The days warm enough to still wear short sleeves, and yet the nights are chilly enough to snuggle under the blankets.

The other reason I love Autumn is the amazing colour in the trees. The splashes of colour given by the deciduous trees, against the constant colour of the Australian bush, takes my breath away. Nature really is amazing. Imagine if we humans could have this yearly show of pizazz, while getting rid of the toxins in our bodies. How great would that be!

Dot's Hat

I love, love, love Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries showing on the ABC at the moment. The acting is great, but to me the real star of the show are the sets and fashion. In last weeks episode Miss Fisher's maid / assistant Dot, inspired me to come up with my own 1920's inspired hat. So armed with a ball of 12 ply from my stash (the label is long gone, so I have no idea what it is), I played around with a basic beanie shape. Then I added a 3/4 brim and rosette to give it that 1920's styling. 

My niece Lauren was helping my at the craft market on the weekend, so was roped into modelling for this shot. Assuming none of her friends would ever read my blog, she agreed. 

Booties for Mr.

What do you do when your bandaged toes are too big to fit into warm socks or you warm winter slippers? You ask me to make you something to fix the problem. So I grabbed some 12 ply yarn from my stash, and came up with these customised "booties". Now I just have to make sure he follows doctors orders and keeps of his feet for the week.

Photo a day challenge

11.04.2012 - "Where you ate breakfast"

Trying to capture any rays of sun this morning, I ate my breakfast infront of the kitchen window while rugged up in dressing gown and uggies. Winter has come early!

A cushion with no name

I tend not to plan too much when I'm creating. I just make a start and see how it comes together. That's how this cushion came about. I was playing around with colour and liked the way these colours worked together. Before I new it, I had a granny square. Not wanting to leave it there, I decided to do a couple more. Like so many of my projects, I lost interest at 4, so it seemed natural that it would be a cushion to sell at the market this weekend.

I use the Fjadrar Ikea cushion inner made from feathers and a 100% Cotton Japura cover, for my cushions. I love that when you can see the cushion through the crochet, you see a nice crisp tight weave cotton cover (and I don't have to make the cover)!

As a fan of felting, it was natural to use up the odds and ends to make a felted back,

I've learnt from this cushion. Have a look at how differently the rows have felted. In particular the red at the top verses the red at the bottom. They are from two different balls of what is meant to be the same yarn (according to the label).

This is a yarn from Spotlight, and I know it isn't a high quality. But with exactly the same tags and care instructions, I expected that it would have the same specification and behave the same. You can see that the twist is different. The one at the bottom is looser, and this is the one that hasn't felted well. I'll put this down to experience!

Photo a day challenge

10.04.12 - "Cold"

Over the Easter weekend I was chatting to my niece Lauren. I wasn't aware that she has been reading my blog regularly, but she asked why I wasn't doing the "photo a day" anymore. Apparently she was enjoying it. So Lauren, this is for you.

The first frost of the year greeted us this morning. So it was definitely cold this morning!

Hidden treasures.
The Easter weekend has been filled with family catch ups, beautiful artwork, and way too much food!

After lunch on Sunday, Mum and I spent a couple of hours enjoying two exhibitions. The first was held at our local gallery Spiritus, and was an exhibition made up of work from a few different local artists. One of the exhibitors was family friend Marg Pullen. Marg's work is full of colour and is so very tactile.

The other exhibition was at John Dermer studio gallery. He is a world class potter, and sadly he explained to us that he is the only potter left in Australia that is making a full time living from his artwork. With such stunning work, I hope so very much that he will continue for years to come. If the budget was unlimited I could have bought some stunning pieces, as it was I did give myself a small Easter present.

We are so lucky to have so many talented artist in the area. The artworks have so much heart and soul in them. Mr and I have often talked about why every day Australians don't seem to support artists by buying their work. Australians are very quick to admire the work, but don't seem to see the value in what is created. So I want to ask you to make a promise. Not to me, but to yourself.  Promise yourself to buy the work of local artists in your area as presents, rather than the mass produced stuff you see in shops. I will.

The Office

Today I'm working from my parents place. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, because I'm writing this post rather then the business process I should be doing), the best wireless broardband reception in on the back veranda.

A lovely day in the garden - Carlton Gardens

I spent a lovely day at the Melbourne Garden Show with my mum on Sunday. It is held at the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens and it is the perfect venue for this. I always love looking at the building, and today was taken back in time to the late 1980's when I attend several university balls there.

The RMIT University Fashion Students had a fantastic display of garments made from flowers, foliage,  fruit & veg. The bridal gown made from garlic was so clever.

We were both a little more restrained than last year with our buying. That may be because Mum wasn't able to find stands with Clematis or Daylillies, and I wasn't able to find the Grevillea I was after. I've loved the garden show in the past, but today I came away with a feeling that it is changing. It is moving away from a garden show and more towards a lifestyle show. Less focus on plants and horticulture,  and more on the "garden room". We discussed this over dinner, and believe it is being influenced by the smaller and smaller blocks that houses are being built on. It is a pity.
Having said that we did find one of our favourite nurseries in Country Farm Perennials. Their range is fantastic, and I always have to restrain myself. Their range of really interesting perennials is well worth taking a closer look.

A blokey crochet hat!

I've struggled to come up with a crochet hat pattern that looks blokey. So many of the patterns for men's hats that I like are knitted. So I've taken inspiration from the traditional knit fisherman's rib pattern to come up with this crochet design. Mr seemed happy to model it (or perhaps that was the end of term / I'm now on holiday good mood).

I've used the Jo Sharp Aran Tweed and a 5mm hook. Without my model to try on the hat this afternoon I got a bit carried away with the length. So he has rolled it up to fit, which does actually make it look more like the old fisherman's rib hats. I might leave it this length. You will find that  the ridges don't form straight rows, but rather have a slight swirl to them.
So here is the very easy pattern.

• I start my hats with a sliding loop, or you could try a chain of 6 stitches and join into a loop.
• Chain 3 (counts as 1dc) - 10 dc into the ring - join. (11)
• Chain 3 (counts as 1 dc) - fpdc in next  dc - (1dc in same dc - fpdc in next) - repeat around - join (22)
• Chain 3 (counts as 1 dc) - 1dc in next dc - fpdc in next dc - (1dc in same dc  - 1dc in next dc - fpdc in next dc)  - repeat around - join (33)
• Chain 3 (counts as 1 dc) - 1dc in next 2 dc - fpdc in next dc - (1dc in same dc - 1dc in next 2 dc - fpdc in next dc) - repeat around - join (44)
• Chain 3 (counts as 1 dc) - (fpdc in next dc - 1 dc in same dc - skip 1 dc - fpdc in next dc) -  repeat around - join (44)
• Chain 3 (counts as 1 dc) - 1 dc in next - fpdc in next dc - (1 dc in same dc - 1 dc in next - fpdc in next dc)  - repeat around - join (66)
• Repeat last row until hat reaches desired size.
• sc around last row and end off.

Enjoy.

In the garden.....

It has been a while since I last did a post on the garden. That dosen't mean nothing has been happening.

I've harvested my "rubish bin" potatoes, which was a bit like digging for buried treasure.This would make a fantastic project to do with the kids, and is really easy to do. I've used an old rubish bin, but any tall structure would work. Try a tower of old car tyers.

Any way here is how to grow your own potato crop in a small space.

• Late Winter you will be able to pick up seed potatoes from your local nursery. I've tried a mix of different ones this year including Kipfler, Pink Fir,Royal Blue and Pontiac. This gave a mix of potatoes good for roasting, mashing, and chips.
• Once the risk of frost has passed, you can get ready to plant.
• Cut each potato into sections making sure that you have at least 2 or 3 eyes on each piece. Anyone who has had potoatoes start to shoot in the pantry will see that the eye is where the plant will grow from.
• Add about 20cm of soil to the bottom of the bin. I've used a cheap potting mix, but any normal garden soil will work just as well.
• Scatter the potato pieces on the soil, making sure that you don't crowed the pieces.
• Cover with about  15cm of soil, and lay another layer of potato pieces. Keep going.
• Cover the last layer with about 30cm of soil.
• As the plants grow about 10cm above the soil, cover with another 30cm of soil.
• Keep repeating until you get to the top of the bin. It is important to keep covering the plant as it grows. It will continue to put out roots if it is covered, and set new potatoes on the roots up its length.
• I had planned to keep adding straw layers up the wire tower, but the plant grew too qucikly before I had the chance.
• It is important to keep the soil moist but not wet, or the seed potato will rot.
• Towards the end of Summer / early Autumn the potato plant will go brown and die off.

• It is then time to harvest the potatoes by digging them up.

I've kept the soil and will dig it into the veggie patch when I prepare it for the winter crops.

It really is good fun to get your hands dirty and find the buried treasure. Just look at what I have uncovered.

There has been other things going on in the garden too.

The rain as bought the end of the Beans, and caused the Tomatoes to split.

The Dahlia are in fantastic bloom.

The Japanese Wind Flowers have taken over the bed, and add fantastic movement to the bed.

The Gazania continue to give wonderful colour day after day.

The pumkins have gone crazy and had taken off down the hill, so have been trimmed back so we can get into the wood shed!

That old uneasy feeling!

I know it is a controlled DSE burn, but I still have an uneasy feeling when I see a bush fire so close to home. Concerning that the CFA don't have it listed on their "Warning" page though.