2paw

Lady Caroline La(m)b

Thank goodness The Ribbet has a Red Eye fix, or in my case a White Eye fix, because The Labradors' photo made them look mad, bad and dangerous to know. After their tea they decided to play rowdy games in the quite hard rain and in the dark. The Game also necessitated running inside, around the house, and then back out again.

After Byron threw Lady Caroline Lamb over, he married, and his daughter Ada was the woman who worked with Babbage on his computer. I wonder if I knew that and had forgotten? I think I did.

Earlier this week on our walk I was patting Peri and Gilly when I realised there were too many legs: Sandy had appeared out of nowhere. He is so strong, and the hill so slippery and gravelly, his dad lets him off the lead and we usually hear him thundering like a horse towards us. The wet ground must have absorbed the sound.

I've finished The Walk Mittens. I am not sure I need buttons and loops. I'll see. I made a little pop-top for the right thumb. It works well enough. I have torn both my thumb nails about half a centimetre down from the top at the edge. It must have been the cold snap and not wearing rubber gloves enough. I am nursing them along with nail glue and tiny squares of tea bag material. I've noticed that when I click on Popular Posts on Bloglovin' they are mostly fashion, and nail polish. I am not a nail polish person, I am too gung ho and chip it after five minutes, but most of the popular world is nail polish obsessed it seems.

Sadly, it hasn't been cold enough to wear my mittens, but I have been knitting away on the back of Dreamy Vision (Aislinn) I am going to attempt short row shoulders. I love the way it is looking, nice and long and such a nice green. I'll be ready to start a sleeve tomorrow. I knit a sleeve and a back to check how much wool I will need. The pattern says about 1859m, but so far I've only used 400m for the back so I may need less.

Today I wore my sleeveless Pear dress to Leukaemia Support Group. It did rain and turn dark and cold later on, but I'm pleased to be getting so much mileage out of my dresses. And speaking of dresses, my Sew Serendipity patterns arrived from the US is eleven days. That's right, eleven days. Excellent service, and great communication. I am very happy.

In other complimentary news, Nestles has thoughtfully put a little hemispherical dip in the lid of their condensed milk so that when you slip your thumb under the ring pull, there is extra room and it is so much easier to open. And McKenzies has released Gelatine Leaves, with instructions in Australian and a clear indication of how many leaves to use for the amount of liquid you have.

I used the leaves to make The Iced Vovo Tart. It's going to be my Friday Food this week. There is no actual baking, but it does take all day to make, so you need a wet day at home and some dedication. I went to The Dutches' for tea on Sunday night and saw the wonderfully cute Bay Zoe. She's gorgeous and doesn't have her nasal gastric tube anymore and eats and is starting to talk. I am so happy for all The Dutches.

I sewed a Bunny bag for The Dutches for a very late Easter present.

I can't add any books to my Books I am Reading list because Typepad and Amazon are having issues again, but I picked up new Library books and there could be a day in bed reading later in the week.

In other happy news my sewing machine is back. MrsReno's dad kindly cleaned it and said that the plates were tight. I am not sure what that means, but I am so glad to have it back. MrsReno's dad has gone back home but when he comes back to visit I shall cook him something delicious to say thank you. He said he was very pleased to fix my machine because he is pleased people still like to sew!! How cool and kind is that???

MrsDrWho and I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness last week. We went on Friday at 6-30pm and there would only have been twenty people there. We saw it in 3D, because, well why not??!! It was great, it was full of lovely nods to the original series and explosions and Starship battles and angst and running and sacrifice. Pretty fabulous all round. I think they have done an excellent job with their casting and I could slightly swoon over Chris Pine's James T Kirk and Karl Urban's Bones. Oh my!!! I know some people pooh-pooh reboots, but I lived through the long Sci-Fi and Fantasy drought of the 80s and early 90s and so I am just ever so grateful that someone has gone to the trouble of making a new film that I can enjoy. It was over two hours long and by my usual rating system I did not look at the time once, didn't even think of the time I was totally engrossed, and ducking debris, for the whole time: so that's 5 Stars, A+++ and 10/10.

Help Me, Obi One Can Call Me. You're My Only Hope.

The Internet and Phone are back. It was not, in fact, my ISP at all. It was the Evil Darth Telstra. It appears that the cables to my next door neighbour's house were cut by mistake, and they were offered call diversion and compensation. Because I am not a Telstra customer they just didn't bother with me at all. I rang and that is basically what Rob from Telstra told me: Ha ha boo sucks to you. My ISP explained that this happens pretty regularly, especially in older areas here where phone lines are archaic. I can complain to The Ombudsman, but as I have no details or names, they won't be able to do anything. I do intend to write and explain what happened, as perhaps if they receive enough complaints the Ombudsman may act. I asked my ISP person to pass on to the people I spoke to what had happened. I may have become a little short when they both insisted on reading me long scripts instead of really listening to my problem. It was all very civilised.

Hence I missed Friday Food and May The Fourth. But I did not have a Georgette Heyer decline or even a Florence Nightingale take-to-my-bed. Which is very good.

We had a massive and very scary hail and electric storm last week. Here's eight seconds of what it sounded like in my car:

   

I thought I would get out and my car's roof would be covered with dents, but it wasn't. The sky was black and there were rainbows and it lasted for about half an hour. At MrsDrWho's house it settled deeply, like snow, and still hadn't melted the next day. 

The weather has taken a distinctly Autumnal turn: close to 0*C overnight with heavy morning frosts, but beautiful sunny days at 19*C.

Peri took the opportunity to roll in the most awful smelly and yucky thing, her best yet. I ended up buying some pampering spray to try and mask the smell even after a bath.

Gilly decided that the almost complete felt Christmas plum pudding would be a good toy. And so now it is.

The Labradors do enjoy their walks together. They run so fast and range so far that they need giant drinks from puddles and a dip in the paddle pool when they come home. Lorelai Gilmore likes to follow where Peri leads.

There has been some knitting. I've knitted up the two balls of wool into the back of Dreamy Vision (Aislinn) Yay. I love it. I am sad I didn't take more wool with me. I love the tubular cast on. It's as magic as turning a heel.

You can't see the Eiffel Tower lace very well and my close up photos are not terribly good.

I haven't found the rest of the 4ply to knit my convertible mittens so I've started a new 8ply pair. I think I can crank out a mitten a day. We'll see. The Walk MIttens are from a free pattern.

MrsDrWho's Lord of the Rings wool beret, My Precious,  is complete. I found the website for the wool, where you can buy all sorts of LOTR movie costuming. If only!!! There seems to be a severe lack of green though.

New denim leggings, or jeans as I like to call them, have been worn. Once with Labrador accessories, and once with MrsHouse Of's eldest daughter's new shoes. Surprisingly I could balance in them, even walk a little. Just.

The passsionfruit vine is bearing fruit and a bumper crop too. I made melting moments with passionfruit filling last week for morning tea. I plan to try some passionfruit curd this week.

Once the Sun goes down behind the hill at the back the temperature drops quickly every afternoon. It's 4-30pm and time to close all the windows and turn on the Warmy bed for Peri. There's chicken and vegetable soup to be made for tea and The Labradors' rice to be cooked and a mitten to be knitted. I have lots of blog posts to read and comments to answer. We plan to be online into the foreseeable future!!!

Wool Frontal

This post was shaping up to be all about knitting, but then some other things crept in: Labradors of course, and some material, clothes and weather.

Knitting first. I have knitted the Ding Dong hat out of the Socks That Rock 5ply Merino. It is the Rainbowret, a free and very simple pattern. I did twisted rib for the band and then just knitted away until I realised I was running out of wool. I wound up two strands of my Colour Me Surprised Opal sock wool and did a few alternate rounds, which you can just spot in the middle section, and then remembered I'd stopped winding the skein of STR when I hit a knot. So I wound more and knitted a hat's worth. It is very warm and if you wear it on a nice Autumn day you give yourself a warm hat headache.

I actually knitted this to check out what the hat was like for MrsDrWho. She found her Lord of the Rings Royal Mythral 8ply from two Christmases ago and now I am half way through her hat- My Precious!!!

The other emerald green 5ply is the wool for a new cardigan for me, Floriston. These are two pictures from the Twist Collective to whence the link leads. I think the pleat at the back is lovely, the vents in the sleeves too and it has a nice flared shape which I am learning is very flattering for me.

My newest cardigan had no wool yet. It might be this wool, unravelled from the cardigan it almost is.

It's Aislinn by Amy Herzog, who is my current cardigan pattern crush. MrsDrWho persuaded me to buy the pattern. I have one cardigan that just needs to be sewn up, one started in mohair, the Floriston ready to go and now I have Aislinn. I adore the pattern around the hems and the lovely lace, and as I have but an illusion of a waist, when I knit and add the ties at the end they can be at Empire Line height. And once again the photos are from Aislinn's pattern page and the link leads there.

So it's all about the knitting here and there has not been a dress at all this month. Luckily I had the extra dress up my sleeve. New dress material arrived from the FatQuarterShop. At $5 per metre it is too hard to resist, and nice teachery material. The fat quarters are metallic greens for something I've yet to decide on.

Peri rolled in something so smelly today that I had to drive home breathing through my mouth. Baby wipes met their match in Peri. She has her eyes closed as she blissfully rolls. This isn't the actually smelly site, that was somewhere in the bush.

When we came home she had to be washed. Again. She's on her lead because she runs away before she is dry and the weather is too cold for that. She's pretty happy with all the attention and wagging her tail at me.

It was 1*C this morning and there was ice on the car so I used my gifted ice scraper, which worked a treat, much better than a bucket of warm water.

Poor Gilly had an issue with the big metal plates we walk across every day at the dam. She runs across them and has never paid any attention until today. She put her little paw on the icy cold metal and then would not go near it again. No treat would entice her. No nice or commanding word would do. She tried valiantly, and in the end Peri was so exasperated she ran back down the steps, growling playfully, and herded Lorelai Gilmore across.

She seemed quite recovered after that.

RoseRed was an invaluable help in the purchase of my new Denim Leggings. Yes, that's right. RoseRed helpfully explained that they were less legging and more jean. She is right. An emerald and sea green pair arrived today in the post and as I tried them on I said a prayer to the Denim Legging gods. They were listening and fit was achieved. The colours aren't true, it was dark outside when I took this photo.

I've also had a crush on tiny quiches and lemon meringue tarts: I've made two batches of each, and more no-knead bread made with Atta flour as suggested by Jan.

There was a little special happening for a few moments at the lights on Sunday. Tony Robinson, Baldrick of BlackAdder fame, was filming an interview for one of his Time Walks. He'd been in town for a few days hosting rebellions and such like. I don't know who he's talking to, but I'll see when the programme is shown later this year or next.

And now we're off to bed. I slept for 3 hours this morning as I was feeling a little bit swimmy and dizzy in the head. Not poorly as such, but not quite right. And I am sure there are myriad people who would agree I am not quite right. If I'm still feeling dizzy tomorrow, it's off to the doctor for me.

I Just Can't Get You Out Of My Bread.

I made bread. Edible bread. Bread that is not a solid rock, or a damp squib. I was idly browsing the Bloglovin' popular posts when I spied the bread.

It is No Knead bread, and I started it yesterday.  As the weather is cooling I made a warm place for the dough to rise in a foil lined supermarket bag that is meant for carrying cold things home. I microwaved a towel, wrapped it around the bowl and then zipped it into the bag overnight. I renewed it in the morning. I cooked the bread in my new cast iron casserole that came with the new saucepans. I am most impressed with my rustic/artisan bread and it tastes delicious. I am looking forward to toast and soup tomorrow.

There's a video here and some written instructions here.

I see more bread in my future. I want to use some other flours, like spelt and rye. We will see how that goes.

Peri and Gilly have been sunbathing. They sunbathe on the black foam tiles until they are hotter than Mercury and then they come inside, drink a barrel of water, and cool down. Repeat all afternoon.

I try to sneak up on Gilly, but her young ears are alert and she looks up and wags her tail furiously.

I've started crocheting a blanket. I'm using two strands of Shiver, which is 12ply I think, and a size 15mm crochet hook. I am limiting myself to one ball's worth a day as the crochet hook makes my hand hurt after a while. I think I am up to round 4 or 5??

Last night I started knitting The Boo!! Socks with Opal Surprise in rainbow colours. I could not stop knitting until I had circled through one whole colour repeat. It is very addictive. I made an Eye of Partridge heel flap.

I sewed a DPN Project Keeper thing to stop the needles poking through my handbag all the time. There's a tutorial here. I tweaked it by turning a little hem to the inside before sewing the sides together so that all the raw edges were encased. My needles are 15cm long, and I cut the elastic 15.5cm. Next time I will just cut 15cm.

Tomorrow I am having Morning Tea with Jet's mum.  I am looking forward to it. Peri and Gilly are looking forward to their walk as Wednesdays are a day off.

I am also going to buy some wool for my new emerald green cardigan and seek out green jeans. I have found more!!! I am overwhelmed with the variety of greens available. I am glad to feel happy and well. Oh, my toe is behaving, it's not totally better, but I can wear proper shoes again. Hurray!!!

There are two new shoes (Edited  a bit later on: Thank you Lois, they are in SHOWS, wearing evil shoes!!!) about serial killers: The Following and Hannibal. I've recorded them, but I am not sure if I want to watch them. There is enough horror in the actual real world. Maybe I am over crime TV shows?? Instead I am catching up on The Great British Sewing Bee Part 3 and knitting the Boo!! socks.

Error and Error, Forever And Error You'll Be The One.

I was tempted to type: You'll Beeeeeeeeee The One, just as Demis Roussos sings. And now I have.

My sewing machine has Error 6. Error 6 means the motor is straining because there is thread caught somewhere. I can't find thread caught up anywhere. So my machine will be off to be looked at. Luckily MrsDrWho has a spare sewing machine, so I picked it up when I delivered some cakes this afternoon. She is very kind to lend it to me.

Error 6 interrupted my quilt assembly. I sewed the strips between some blocks and joined two rows.

It is all slightly wonky as I blithely cut 1 1/2 inch strips and they should have been 2 inch and then I had to trim the back. Wildly inaccurately.

I did make my own biased binding. I needed it wider than my machine biased binding maker and so I just used one of the Clover tape makers. I cut bias strips from the left over batik fat quarters and then sewed them together randomly and made biased binding. It is the best fun ever. I shall be making biased binding for all my dress hems I think. I've been watching The Great British Sewing Bee. It is no end of fun!!!!

Not much work on my cardigan, but I just have to graft the toes and my socks are finished. I knitted the toes after the photo was taken.

Peri and Gilly have been playing together on their walk lately. When I call they both come running.

You may notice that this morning Peri rolled in something smelly. Gilly did not. If you are a Labrador and you come when you are called, a treat is required immediately.

Fish fingers: not with custard. I tried Jamie Oliver's fish fingers. They are from sustainable fishing areas it says and when you open a fish finger it is one whole piece of fish. I like fish fingers and fish finger sandwiches. There's always a few left over for Peri and Gilly too.

Tomorrow I am having a rest. Today I cooked raspberry cupcakes and Cherry Ripe Brownie for MrsDrWho's Morning Tea turn. I sewed at the weekend and did some jobs too. I think I shall stay in bed and have some Earl Grey tea and read a book. Or two. The weather is still warm during the day - dress and no cardigan, but at night it is staring to cool down. Peri and Gilly must, must, be under their quilts now. I think they are under their quilts too early, they do have thick coats and thicker undercoats, but who am I to argue?? Their quilts are swooshed out and they turn around on the spot and then complete a mid-air manoeuvre and curl up ready to fall asleep.

I may have to break out the hot water bottle in solidarity.

I Dream Of Green Jeans: I have Light Brown Hair.

This week I collected my two lay-bys and I am very pleased. It was worth paying twice the price for the teal boots as they feel so comfortable, so soft and look so good. And I almost have both boots matching jeans.

The colours are not accurate because by the time I got my act together and took photos,  it was almost dark outside. I have some beautiful 10ply that matches the teal coloured jeans and boots. It's Debbie Stoller and I shall have to rummage about and find it. I may have a better emerald boots match in one of the four pairs of jeans I put on lay-by yesterday: Khaki, Menta(???) Emerald and Sea green. Yay!!

I have never seen so many green jeans and I am going to go madly wild. I can't miss the opportunity to have green jeans. I've knitted two balls of the mohair and made a lot of progress on my cardigan with the long, long rows. It should match well too.

Me-Made-May is soon beginning, well obviously it is, it will soon be May. It's a bad month for me. I would rather have Me-Made-March or Self-Stitched-September because May is the last month of Autumn and I shall just be wearing jeans (green!!) and tops and cardigans. Really, there is little excitement in wearing and showcasing a cardigan every day. I am thinking of having my own Self-Stitched-September this year when I will be wearing dresses almost every day.

Our Sewing group has gone ahead in leaps and bounds and we have made so many nice blocks in our semi-Craftsy BOM 2013.

Soon it will be School Holidays and we're having a catch up day. With glasses of wine and lots of nice food. I am aiming to make two blocks each month and so I have to catch up on two blocks myself.

I don't know where the time goes. Monday disappeared in a long nap, Tuesday was Leukaemia Support Group, yesterday I readied myself for sewing and today I did some jobs. And of course, The Labradors.

Peri and Sandy played Pride and Prejudice: will Peri accept Sandy's invitation to a brisk run?? Will she, won't she?? Yes, she will. Huzzah!!!

Running is such fun for Peri, I forget she is twelve and a quarter now. I love the joy in her eyes.

Lorelai Gilmore has been seeing off the big bunnies, or wallabies as humans call them. She's always on the look out for them.

She thinks she has bravely thwarted the evil wallabies and their dastardly plan to hop through the bush. She doesn't even woof at them, but shivers with excitement and her tail is long and brushy.

I have had my 'new' car for two years and seven months. Today my odometer read 18,000. I average 20km a day. It has taken me approximately 940 days to work out that my remote locking has two different modes when locking and opening. Whilst out at the weekend I had to go back to check to see if my car was locked or not. MrsDrWho said she was sure I should be able to tell remotely. So today at the dam I opened and locked the car a few times and yes, it's two beeps when it opens and one when it locks. It is just as well I am not in charge of being alert and observant and have Gilly to do that for me!!

My car still feels new and I have made a big effort to keep it clean and tidy, apart from the dog hair. Sigh.

My toe is still not properly better. It is not worse, it is slightly better. I am sitting here typing and soaking my foot in Lectric soda, or washing soda crystals and warm water. Even if nothing happens my feet are so soft and clean.

Oh, I forgot that I also prepared my Friday Food today. I already know what I am cooking for next week too. It's for MrsDrWho's to take to school and I am very excited to be cooking it, though not half as excited and the people I mentioned it to when I was making chocolate crackle Easter eggs!!!

I don't think anything special is happening tomorrow so we shall have a lovely walk, a nice nap and then maybe catch up on reading some blogs. The weather is still sunny and warm, I wear a dress and don't need a cardigan yet, so Peri and Gilly will no doubt spend the afternoon sunbathing and I shall read a book and drink cups of tea.

 

What's A-Flatter You, Hey?

I remember watching Joe Dolce's 'song' being Number 1 on Countdown for weeks. Believe me  you don't want to click on the link, at best you'll have an earworm, at worst......

This week my Knit to Flatter book arrived. It's a book of patterns, by Amy Herzog, where you decide what figure type you are and which styles suit you best. Without even asking MrsDrWho to help me with a photo I have decided for myself, to be going on with, and I'm going to knit the Cypress Cardigan.

The book has lots of cardigans and gives hints on how to adapt each pattern to suit each type- and there are only three types, so I have a high percentage of making something fabulous!!

Meanwhile I am making the There's A Sucker Cardigan. It's The Bailey Cardigan and I am using my Damasco mohair. Thus far I have only knitted a few centimetres, but it is made in one piece to the underarm, so it's a slow journey.

There has also been a little crochet of a Bunny doing the rounds. It's my Rabbiting On. I crocheted a little ball for the tail instead of a pom-pom and embroidered eyes, as I felt a pom-pom and button eyes weren't safe for a baby/toddler. Rabbit just needs to be sewn together.

One row of my Craftsy BOM 2012 has been sewn together.

Once each row is sewn, I am making some biased binding from the left over batiky prints and centring it over the back where the two blocks meet. Then I'll sew it down and make a nice set of quilted lines on the front.

Peri Pumpkin has been enjoying the Sun. Now Daylight Saving has ended, and I am starving them by making them wait an extra hour (from their POV) for their food, she has to seek out the warmth. The Sun doesn't shine on her spot outside the back door until much later in the day. This is Morning Tea Sun on the front verandah. She has been sitting in that same spot for twelve years. Well not constantly, but once every week.

While we were having Morning Tea a very stange boast motored up the river. I have no idea what kind of boat it is, but it looks as if Captain Jack Sparrow could be aboard.

Lorelai Gilmore has conquered The Creature several times. Velcro and a too big plastic cup are no barrier to her insistent nose and teeth. She is very funny. The Creature doesn't stand a chance.

I put some saucepans on the lay-by. My old saucepans were excellent and the same brand, but the knobs on the lids had broken and the handles were all loose and wouldn't stay tight. The new ones have copper bottoms and cook beautifully. How do I know this?? Because my very kind mum sent me the money to pay them off and they are at home with me. I am very lucky!!!

I have had quite a sore toe since last Sunday. It was swollen and felt infected. I soaked it in hot salty water, rested it, doused it with antiseptic, but nothing worked. Knowing that if there was going to be a red line up my toe and foot it would be at the weekend, I went to the doctor and came away with a script for antibiotics. And yes, my toe was much worse yesterday so I cashed my script in. It's still sore, but not as bad. It would be so much easier if I could just fight my own germ battles.

Last, but definitely not least, we went out for Knitting dinner and I had the most delicious mixed entree, Tom Yum soup and Green Tea ice-cream. Peri and Gilly had a wafer each. Peri actually had one and a half because she was waiting faithfully at the back gate.

I had meant to post to my blog on Thursday, but I had an appointment and then on Saturday I had brunch and a long nap in the afternoon and today I knitted and made a cake and went to tea at MrsDrWho's house. I think I am suffering from Daylight Saving Lag.

Peri and Gilly are very happy because Sandy and Rafa are back from Easter holidays. We haven't seen Jet thus far. Maybe tomorrow? And the weather? Warm, but not too warm, with a few showers. I am getting as much wear out of my dresses as I can before Autumn really kicks in.

All That's Left Of The Dreams I Hold, Is A Band Of Cold.

Yes, a cold front swept through and we are currently luxuriating in a second day of 26*C. Last night it was 8. 8*C!! Peri and Gilly are happy and I am feel so much better. I did some jobs today. I needed the first day to somewhat recover and today I sent the too big boots back to be exchanged for a smaller size, bought Vliesofix and made March's Craftsy BOM and even sewed and posted off a gift. I added some of the books I've been reading to my Typelist and read two more books. I cooked pasta sauce and had a proper hot meal along with the usual salad.

Here's the block. It's not the Craftsy Block. That would have involved drafting my own block and sizing it up from 9 1/2 to 12 1/2 inches. I don't think this year's BOM is really for beginners. Instead we chose a block from a Moda sewalong by Zen Chic. I have made a green one today and I'll partially assemble the aqua one so our Sewing group can see the steps involved.

In other good news I found my lost blocks. They were inside the unbound Spot On Kaffe Fasset JellyRoll quilt. On Monday I unfurled it and there they were. It is amazing how an invitation to afternoon tea with The Dutches can elicit this:

and this for Baby Zoe.

It's a wombat soft toy, each side is different, from Saffron Craig. I lined it with cotton batting and then some wadding. It will need to be washed, but baby Zoe will only feel the soft natural materials. She is so happy and so cheeky. She is starting to eat real food and almost say some words and crawl about. She's just lovely and gorgeous.

The Federal Government is mooting higher entry scores, Emotional Quotient tests and Literacy and Numeracy tests for Teachers in training. The tests will be in Year 3. By then they have been on Prac. every year, surely they need to be tested and show excellence before they begin?? Way back when I trained, to win a Studentship you needed the highest Matric results, you needed to front a panel and be interviewed and convince them of your passion to teach, and in First Year we all took Literacy and Numeracy and needed to show we were more than just able. In our whole State there were only fifteen Primary studentships awarded and I am very proud that I was chosen. I am sure the teachers who must facilitate learning should themselves have a very high standard of education and be creative and diverse thinkers.

Google Reader is being closed down. Why?? There must be quite a lot of people like me who are not all tablet and smart phone-y and like the organisation and convenience of an RSS aggregator. Bah Humbug. I will wait while other more techy people come up with some solutions.

We solved the sprinkler problem. I placed the sprinkler on an upturned bucket and then the initial spray wasn't in anyone's eyes or ears. It was like rain and Peri and Gilly spent many happy times in the  sprinkler rain, being cool.

When not under the sprinkler, Gilly was improving her digging skills in the paddle pool and getting nice and wet.

Peri had some enforced time under the hose when she rolled in something smelly and grubby. She was inordinately happy to be smelly and grubby and didn't mind smelling of colloidal oatmeal when she was clean!!

I'm turning on the oven and cooking an apple pecan banana cake tomorrow for Friday Food and I'm also having a go at making my own tomato sauce. Not sure how that will go, but I have lots of tomatoes from people's gardens and I love home made tomato sauce.I always choose it over commercial sauce when there's the option. Maybe I'll make some relish too. Yum.

And soon, very soon, I hope to be knitting myself Slow Line and Alight. As soon as I finish Petrea: I just need to sew it up and knit the button bands. Come on the cooler weather.

What Is This Thing Called, Luv?

Luv. Dear. Duck. : all terms used, particularly in shops, by older people. I'd rather be a 'Luv' than a 'Guy'. I resent being called a 'Guy'. A guy is a man. But "What is this thing called, luv?", is a question we all might have asked this morning.

Rain. It rained for about 90 minutes and we all went and stood out in the rain. Looked at the rain in the tub. Ran about when the thunder clapped. Walked in the last of the shower. What a nice surprise to have rain at last.

Hobart, the Southern Capital, has 600ml of rain a year. That's half of Sydney's total. We are regularly in drought, even though on the West Coast they have literally metres of rain a year. They announce Outside Days at School, instead of Inside Days. You do everything in the rain on the West Coast as a matter of course.

Gilly has had a Wonky Eye for a day and a half. I promised myself that if it was wonky this morning we'd go to the Vet. And so we did. Gilly was so good for Dr Liz. She had some local and dye in her eye which showed there were no scratches. They had to take her out the back to turn her third eyelid inside out with tweezers because she was trying to hide under my dress. She was perfectly behaved. It didn't hurt. There was no grass seed, she has a little conjunctivitis and so we have eye ointment.

Peri welcomed her home and they ran about. Gilly must have smelled of the vet. They were happy to be together again.

Peri and Gilly had a special treat. Their new favourite thing is sugar snap peas. They were on sale for $7 a kilo so I bought some. They snap them up!! You can see the remnants of the dye in the corner of Gilly's eye.

The weather is hot. I know the BOM says it was 28*C yesterday, but if you stand in the backyard in the full glare of the Sun for three minutes, it's 38*C.

I wore my Mashup dress in public. The straps feel a little insecure and I hitch them up a lot, but as a wearable toile it is a success. Next time I would put a zip in the side and also add a little to the neckline so I could pull the bodice down a bit further to get rid of the gathers on the princess seams. I can see all the bruises on my arms from where Miss Lorelai Gilmore treads on me. I do bruise very easily now.

I have a new pattern ready to mash up for a dress in March. I'm thinking of a play on Klingon Kleavage.

I shall make View B with the short sleeves, and leave the high neckband in place. Then I shall put a sweetheart or some such neckline so that there is a cut out where you can see Klingon Kleavage. Should be an interesting design!!

I am ready to start on my Posher Frock to wear in a week. I have decided to use my first Amazing Fit pattern, but I shall shorten the long sleeves, rather than have the puff sleeves the pattern uses. Using the 13th dress length means I can wear my aqua wedges or 'pear' coloured shoes and take my small aqua handbag. I have nothing better to think about.

I am very excited because tomorrow we have our first Sewing of the year where we look at the Craftsy Block of the Month 2013 and all our material and catch up together. Yay!! I must decide what to cook to take with me. Red Velvet Cupcakes, Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Meringues?? I see a theme there. I made Nigella's Meringue Gelato Cake for dessert on Sunday, served with this chocolate sauce. MrsDrWho said the sauce was very rich, so next time I would not make quenelles, I would zap it in the microwave and pour a little over

There is still no knitting. It needs to be cooler.

The Famous Five (Words)

Not famous words at all. But definitely five.

I had 117 blog posts to read and comment on and I felt daunted. Those blog posts really mount up and people are participating in NaBloPoMo: I'm not! I feel daunted quite a lot in my life. Nevertheless I made a plan: read and then comment in just 5 words. It made the task seem less Herculean. I wanted to read all the posts and comments!! So if you found a weirdly short comment with  a - or a : then it was me, being concise!!!

Speaking of weird, I have a tree growing on my fence line.

I found Gilly eating the fruit. I think it is a Medlar. I know they are safe to eat. Does anyone know what it is?? I did search for pictures, but as I am no gardener, I couldn't really tell. The knife blade is 8cm or about 3 inches long and inside the fruit are four compartments with a big seed. The fruit is very yellow and soft when it is ripe.  Since birds are eating them, I reckon they are safe!!

In other gardening difficulties: my zucchini leaves are going yellow. I am trying not watering them so much, and then I will try watering them some more.

Gilly met her very close friend Sandy the Labrador last Thursday. She insisted on walking up the hill and then stood still, and in the distance I could see Sandy and his dad walking down the hill.

When Peri, Gilly and Sandy met there was a muddle and confusion of happy Labs!!!

Since there will be a posh birthday party this weekend for Wee Jock and Bessie's mum, well finger food and bubbly, I am making a new dress. It is a Simplicity Amazing Fit pattern and I have some lovely emerald tie-dye fabric. It doesn't seem to photograph well. I plan on making the scoop neck and I think sleeves. If I don't finish the seams off I can take the sleeves out and face the armhole later on.

On Friday we had three tornadoes in the South of the state and hail storms here in the North. I have never seen a tornado or such hail storms in all my life.

Of course Gilly thought the hail was tasty treat just for her!! No-one was hurt. I did check in with my mum who was busy and didn't even hear the warnings that were broadcast all morning!!

Gilly wears herself out with all her running about and guarding the house. She is so sweet when she is asleep.

Peri has been enjoying the sun, and her hay fever comes and goes. The ointment helps, but I have to put it on wearing gloves and just before she hops out of the car for a walk or has a meal so it has ten minutes to work. She's not supposed to lick it off.

 

One of the women at Leukaemia Support Group, who is a carer for her husband, knitted a cardigan for herself from some very vintage Coats Patons wool. She didn't like the way it looked on her and so she gave it to me. I have tops in both the main green colours. It will need a single button at the mid bust point. The sleeves are too long, but we both decided I could just cut the sleeves off and then knit new cuffs. There is a belt so I have plenty of wool. It is just too hot to wear it right now. I think it is such a lovely gift!!

At long last.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced today that there will be a Royal Commission into Child Abuse in the churches and other care facilities and institutions. There is video of her speech and of an interview on 7-30, but it is confronting.

Yesterday was Rembrance Day. I always think of my dad especially. He was in the Navy and fought in the Korean War.  Lest we forget.