Unbeknownst to me Craig has been checking the papers since we got back from Brisbane, and yesterday he said to me, 'Do you want a puppy?'. And he showed me an ad for pure bred beagle puppies for sale a couple of suburbs away.

Now the subject of getting a dog had come up in conversation occasionally over the past few months, but I hadn't really thought about it too much. And although we agreed that any dog with the right kind of personality would be great, it was a beagle that we both secretly wanted. Of course we had to have a look.

So we drove down to Spearwood yesterday afternoon and asked to see the male, who happened to be the only one from a litter of six. And here he is, the newest member of the family! He's a pure bred beagle, with Dumbo ears and the saddest eyes, and we're going to call him Albert. Or Bertie the beagle for short.

Happy Halloween!

I haven't seen any trick-or-treaters yet tonight but I've put these lanterns up and I have supplies of chocolate ready just in case. I know you're supposed to use pumpkins but I just love these pigs - thanks b! Pigs, pumpkins, they are both p words anyway.

I miss you all out there. Hope you're having a fun halloween, and drop by flickr sometime for some photos from the proper side of the country.

Chocolate cabled beanie

I was so pleased with the green beanie that I bought some more merino/silk blend yarn and a smaller round needle and started on this one. The cables look complicated but really they are easy, you only have to do them every third row and just alternate between front cables and back ones.

So the cable pattern is just:

1st row: p2, k12, p2

2nd row: p2, k12, p2

3rd row: p2, "cable 6 front (k3 and 3)"- which means slip the next 3 stitches onto a cable needle (or safety pin or skewer or whatever is handy) and hold at front of work, k3 from the left hand needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle. Easy! Then cable 6 front (k3 and 3) again, then p2.

4th row: p2, k12, p2

5th row: p2, k12, p2

6th row: p2, k12, p2

7th row: p2, k3, "cable 6 back (k3 and 3)" - which means slip the next 3 stitches onto a cable needle and hold at back of work, k3 from left hand needle, then knit the 3 stitches from the cable needle. Then k3, p2.

8th row: p2, k12, p2.

That's it! Then you just go back to the first row and do it all again.

I did 5 sets of cables, with purled stitches in between, and decreased stitches in the purled sections to make it gradually taper in. Then I decreased each 3 stitch cable down to 2 stitches, and I think I'll knit a few more rows like this before bringing it right in at the top. Which I am not looking forward to because it's so fiddly but how hard can it be?

Green beanie

I knit a beanie!

It's got cables and ribbing and decreased stitches at the crown, and I knit it ín the round as well!

It was the first time I've used round needles and I had no idea it was so easy. Plus it's much easier to avoid dropped stitches and there's no chance of you losing one needle down the crack in the couch in the middle of your project (a definite bonus). And you can stop for a break anywhere you like, instead of waiting till you get to the end of a row. I love it.

When I reached the top I had to switch to double-pointed needles and as I had none yet but was desperate to finish it I improvised with bamboo skewers from the kitchen, which I broke into smaller and smaller lengths as I got closer to the crown. It worked, but I don't think I'll be doing that again - especially when they started to splinter and split the yarn... oops.

And though craig was asleep when I finished, he managed a sleepy thank-you and slept with it on (it's still freezing here). He even let me take this photo, AND has worn it in public, so I reckon I can call it a success.

The Herd

Gabby and Nidge surprised us with tickets to The Herd a couple of weeks back, and we all hit the dance floor. It must have been impressive because we got our photo taken for FasterLouder.com.au

A bit of a laugh!

Random funny

Aibohphobia:
The irrational fear of palindromes (words that read the same forwards and backwards).

Dude 1: Hey, what's your name?
Dude 2: Bob.
Dude 1: AAAAAAAAAAH! *Runs and hides behind sofa*
Bob: Wow.
Dude 1: AAAAAAAAAAH! *Runs away and falls down stairs*

Found this when I googled the palindrome: A man a plan a canal - Panama!

More things like this on http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Yellow bus found

Berni and Dave finally made it over to Perth last weekend, looking very happy and full of stories, so we had a big catch-up session on Saturday night and drank too much beer. It was heaps of fun, and lovely to see my bestest buddy again!

The bus has changed a bit since I last saw it, and is now very comfortably set up with bedroom, kitchen and even a library (well, a bookshelf) - all they had to do was park it across the street and that was home for the weekend! They couldn't even be persuaded to sleep inside the house, in spite of the 4 degree night and our new bathroom with four whole walls and a door (although we still don't have ceilings).

I took them around Fremantle the next day and we must have visited every single bookshop there while Dave got hungrier and hungrier for something greasy and hangover-worthy. We ended up getting sushi which didn't exactly fit the bill but was delicious anyway, especially the 'abocado' roll.

After a few more bookshops we stopped at the supermarket on the way home and Dave finally got his grease fix in a kilo of bacon. Yum. Uh-oh, there goes my reputation as a vegetarian.

The big yellow bus has headed south to Busselton for a bit but I'm looking forward to seeing it again soon. For more bus tales, check out their blog.

Lacy day scarf

It's getting cold here so I've taken up knitting again, and rather than sticking to boring old garter stitch I thought I'd try lace knitting.

I found this gorgeous yarn in 'vintage hues' down at the local Kmart and bought 5 rolls; isn't it beautiful? The lace pattern would probably stand out more in solid-coloured yarn but it turned out to be a good choice because it disguises all the mistakes I made as I was learning how to slip stitches, knit two together, yarn forward and pass slipped stitch over!

Just don't look too closely at the part that's draped over my shoulder - that's where I started from, and after unravelling it three times I just forged ahead and let the mistakes add to the 'uniqueness' of the piece. I figured it out in the end, with the help of KnittingHelp.com, a very handy knitting website with free videos of every stitch you could possibly need to know.

I'm so impressed with the result I'm going to knit a lace wrap next, although it's 121 stitches wide and I started last night, so it could be next winter before I get to wear it!

New blog-a-log

Hello and welcome to my new blog, where I'm hoping to post more often than my last one.

First off, here are some pics of my humble vegie patch.

I staked the peas today, they were growing along the ground and trying to climb up each other, so now they look much happier.

When we got back from Margaret River we found that some more of the fence had fallen down, and the neighbour's dog had taken the opportunity to escape through our place down to the park. So this weekend's job will be to get a new fence.
At least the tomatoes didn't mind, they just bent forward and kept growing!

The second crop of radishes is coming along too, and the pak choy is ready to eat.

The only disappointment so far is the oregano - that's it in the purple pots. The seeds germinated but haven't done much else. They seem to be stuck at a millimetre high, not growing but not dying either. Any suggestions anyone?