I see red

A couple of my favourite reds for the lead-up to the silly season.

We planted this kangaroo paw this year and it's flowering for the first time in spectacular tall stalks with furry-looking flowers on the ends. They open up one by one, and each afternoon a striped honeyeater visits, clinging on to the stalk and poking its beak down the newly opened flowers. The stalks have started to bend right over from its weight but none have broken....yet.


I can see why this was chosen as the floral emblem of Western Australia, as it looks stunning with very little effort.

And today I finished one of my red cable socks.

At this rate the pair will be done in time for winter next year.. I had a bit of a crisis after I turned the heel, because I tried it on and it felt too small. So then I put it aside and tried not to think about how I should've probably done a tension square first.   Luckily I couldn't bring myself to unravel it, so I kept going and now it fits fine, and I love it!

Knitting update

I had some organic cotton yarn for summer knitting tucked in my stash for about a year, and I finally found a use for it - knitted washcloths.  They're small enough to finish before I get bored and they're a fun way to try out new patterns.  Here's my 'ears of wheat' washcloth, with a moss stitch one underneath.

I've been making stacks of them!

Birthday Boy

Craig turned 33 on Thursday, so we had a few celebrations.  We went to Adriana and Juan's place last night for pictionary and nachos, followed by chocolate cake with racing car candles. 

Lula in the wild

This is Craig's latest creation. She is made out of corrugated iron sheeting and the plan is to stand her up in front of the fence with a light behind her.  Water will run down a sheet of perspex behind her. 

Custom made designs are availble to members of the family for $150 plus p & h.  Please supply design blueprints upon ordering.  Payment can be made by PayPal or credit card.

Pebbles, stones and sawdust

Here it is Mum, not bad hey?

The bushiest creeper has since died though, after they cut the gum tree down.  It was right on the other side of the fence, so this whole area was covered in sawdust afterwards.

I spent half the morning vacuuming up bits of sawdust which were wedged between the pebbles -

not much fun but it looks much better now!



Jeremy, the thirsty ant

Washington - How To Tame Lions

Fraggle Rock knitting song!

Fraggle Rock AND knitting!  I would never have thought they went together until I saw this! 

The funniest thing is at the end when one Doozer says "I'll shout if I want to, and do you know WHY?" and hthe other one says "Why?",  I thought he replied "Because I AINT knitting, I want to KILL!"  when actually he says "Because I HATE knitting, I want to BUILD!"

Garden spirits

We went to a barbecue at Craig's supervisor's house in the Perth hills last night.  They had a beautiful garden, and my eye was caught by a variety of garden spirits hidden in their little nooks.  Tiny stone birds pecked crumbs on the table, little tin mice hid among the flowerpots, and a frill-necked lizard watched us from a tree branch.  

My collection is only small but they add a bit of whimsy to the garden which lifts my spirits.  I took some of their portraits this morning.

Eva, who greets us serenely when we get home,

Luna, who watches over us at night,

Bella beatle, climbing up to get some sun,




and last but not least, Knee the Gnome.






Peppermint stripes

I found this peppermint cotton yarn in the market for 50c a ball and it inspired me to start knitting again.

I like this colour combination but I'm not sure what to make with it. Any ideas anyone?

It can't be too big a project as I only have two balls of the mint, one of cream and one of grey. And they're all different types of yarn as you can tell by the variable width of the stripes. The grey is wool, and the other two are cotton. Another knitting no-no I'm sure, but if necessary I can find some grey cotton to match instead. 

So send any ideas this way!