2paw

Run, Peri, Run.

The Hydro is laying pipes across the park at the dam where we walk. Peri and Gilly have had to have their leads on so they don't run into the path of the digger. On Saturday it was all quiet and so they could have a lovely run.

Gilly ran:

And Peri ran. Away. For ten minutes we couldn't find her. I knew where she was. She was up the hill near the smelly things. Gilly and I drove to the gate and back and parped the horn. Peri was waiting at the spot where the car was parked and came running to us.

She ran so fast I didn't have time to get out of the car before she arrived!! I didn't worry that she wouldn't come back, but I thought she might have been caught on a branch or some wire by her collar, or have hurt herself. She just had awfully smelly, muddy feet.

It's been reasonably quiet here, although there was a bit of a stir in the neighbourhood when the new people over the road lit a fire in their garden. The smoke was very bad, I couldn't even see over the road. My washing, and the knitting that was blocking, smelled smoky and there was ash all over the car and yard. Luckily it was a bonfire of wet vegetation rather than a dangerous fire.

He did come over later on and apologise, but I think we've all checked the Fire regulations and next time we'll ring the Fire Brigade instead of dithering for half an hour.

That's the roof of our house and the smoke wafting high up into the sky.

Whilst doing nothing very energetic I have managed to finish my Short Scene cardigan, which fits, and find some very good buttons. I think finding buttons is the hardest part of knitting a cardigan.

There's a new hot water bottle cover, and a repaired cuff on my mittens and the Dexter Haven Hat.

The beret is finished, I just need to sew in two ends. I am hoping it looks OK. Hats don't suit me, I don't know why. I finished the Secret Knitting for MrsDrWho as well.

The weather has been both very cold and quite warm: the other morning it was 1*C when we went for a walk, but today it was 18*C and I went out in a Summer skirt and top. Peri and Gilly are enjoying the not too hot Autumn sun. Gilly has been feeling quite well, though I watch her like a hawk and try to discourage mad beserker-bonkers running in the backyard.

I've made about five batches of Lemon Meringue Cupcakes recently. These were for the doctors and nurses at The Animal Medical Centre. They look after Peri and Miss Lorelai Gilmore so well!!

So basically, we're having a lazy time here: resting, lying on the couch with a hot water bottle and a quilt, taking a book and a cup of tea outside in the afternoon to enjoy the sun.  I'm saving up my energy for an outing to Afternoon Tea on Sunday. There may, or may not, be a new dress. Only time will tell!!!

1 2 3 4: my5

Flybuys is a card with a points system that used to be for saving up your frequent flyer points. Now it has been relaunched by Coles, with Dawn French, and they implore people to choose their 5 favourite items and get 10% off.  But in some ads, and only on half their promotional material, you find that you must spend $50. It does say you save 10% on the products of your choice, but then the tiny, tiny print says you choose from their special 800 product list. The things I would like buy are not on their list. What a surprise.

I think I shall not really be 1 2 3 4 my5-ing thank you very much.

The new Knitty Surprises have been released and lots of lovely people pointed me to something very appropriate.  I am knitting it for MrsDrWho's birthday and although she doesn't read my blog all the time, I am making a clicky link so you can see what I am knitting and look at my project. I am almost at the border. It is something I could knit again, I am really enjoying it.

The Short Scene sleeve Mark III has been very successful and I think I might just knit another. Two sleeves in a cardigan are better than one. Just one last sleeve to go, sewing the sleeves into the body and grafting the back of the neck and it is done. Hurray.

Lorelai Gilmore has been well. She has appreciated all the lovely comments and well wishes. The drugs are excellent and she has been as good as new. We finished the drugs today and so now it is a waiting game to see how she goes. My poor baby. She has loved being able to go for a walk again. She's most obedient and hops in the car when she is called. Peri doesn't always come straight away though:

But when she does, she zooms!!! (Courtesy of PicMonkey, a good Picnik replacement and they will soon have collages. Thank goodness)

And then they both stand there, good as gold, ready for a treat.

Mohairmama  set up the Fingers and Toes display at The Craft and Quilt Fair. I went along to give some moral, and a little bit of actual, support. We had to leave A4 size spaces fr a piece of paper with a torso, arms and legs, but when MrsDrWho and I went along on Saturday, the paper wasn't there.  That's why the spacing is a little weird. People were voting for their favourite items.

We loved looking at all the quilts. I have decided I like the actual patchwork part and not so much the painted on fabric or just quilting on a plain-ish background. I bought a silicone thimble, some Labrador fabric and some 2ply Fern coloured mohair for a scarf (Dairing) Mr 'Dairing' was glad to talk to someone who knew about 'fibre'!! I was quite amused, I think a lot of scrapbooking people were asking him a lot of unanswerable questions. The Labrador fabric had a happy panting Peri, a little Gilly and I think a lovely Harki as well. MrsDrWho and I bought a Christmas embroidery pattern and she also acquired a rainbow jelly roll!! We had a cup of tea half way through our two hours, but I had to sleep for three hours when I came home and I had a tired-and-I-can't-sleep headache later on.I think I still need a little more recovery time.....

MrsDrWho lent me her second best iPad when she went away and I was not very good at anything apart for the Find the Hidden Object game and the Rise of Atlantis, which is like a big game of Connect 4 really. It eats up time. I would play a whole level and an hour or more would just disappear. The iPad has gone back home and I am sure it will have a much more varied and happy life!!

MrsDrWho and her sister chose some tea for me and she brought it back from her holiday. I have tea from Raffles and tea from the special tea company TWG. I have tried the peppermint, ginger and chamomile and tomorrow at morning tea we will try a new one. I also have the whole tea menu, with an authentic tea smudge, but it it too dark to take another photo now. There are at least twelve kinds of Earl Grey teas!!!

Everything is so beautifully presented. I have some more presents to show next time. I am so lucky!!!

Today Me-Made-May begins. I have really enjoyed all the Me-Made Marches and Self-Stitched Septembers, but May is just long sleeved t-shirt tops, a cardigan and jean month. Not very exciting really and nothing I can sew or knit in time. So, I recall a comment suggesting I should sew something this month instead. Maybe I will even finish my cardigan? So I shall try to under promise and over deliver!!!

Heston's roast potatoes?? Absolutely delicious: crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the centre. I made these again the next night. The new Family Circle Winter magazine is out and I am swooning over the recipes. I can't wait to make something for Friday Food this week!!

The Seven Ear Itch

Thank you for all the kind comments about Lorelai Gilmore. She has been taking her medicine every day and walking on a lead when we go to the dam. Peri ranged far and wide and Gilly yearned to run after her.

She hasn't cried at all and we have been trying really hard to be quiet and calm. Today she was allowed to run off the lead and she has a wonderful time, running with Peri. There were so many smells she had to have a bit of a rest!!

Peri was happy to have her running, and rolling in something smelly, mate back.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... I had my ears pierced an extra time and a half. Ergo I have five holes in my ears all up. Sadly, probably more than seven years ago, I stopped using the extra piercings. They closed up at the back. MrsDrWho gave me nine pairs of cute earrings perfect for the three extra piercings and so for the last three days I have been making my piercings work again. I concentrated on one at a time and every time I walked into the bathroom I'd poke the earring in to see if it would go through. Eventually the back of the hole gave up the ghost and I poked it through. Strangely, I seem to have no real feeling at the back of my ear lobe. And today: success. I am all earringed up!! Here's the three earring ear:

I can see more gray in my hair. It's bite the bullet time. I don't think I could keep up with a colouring regime, so apart from some wodges of colour in late Winter, I am apparently going to just not care!!

That's one job out of the way.

Job Two was pyjamas. I wanted to sew some, but of course The BSODL (tm) only had fluoro green or pale, pale green with white bunny flannelette.  There was a sale at Target, and though there wasn't a matching pair, these will do nicely at 50% off the original price. The top is a bit racy with the back being all lace. It is lovely, soft and stretchy!! The pants have sheep that say, "I only have eyes for ewe".

And a new striped green top. It is not emerald, it is not bluey green. It has dark blue stripes. It is hard to photograph and it was on sale at Rockmans.

There has been, wait for it, knitting!! I found my cardigan carefully put away in a tub of knitting and sewed the fronts to the back. It fits. This is good. So I decided to tackle the sleeves, bearing in mind the pattern is written for 10ply and I am using 8, and I want straight sleeves instead of bell shaped.  The first attempt at a hem was a failure.

Then I tried a band like the one on the other pieces with a potential placket and button. This was more successful but I over-estimated my arm size and it was way too big. I want the lace pattern to show up nicely.

The third time seems to be the charm thus far.

I am not a huge Heston Blumenthal fan. I know his food can be considered 'art', but I liked it best when he helped the children's hospital or the submariners. SBS is showing How To Cook LIke Heston. I am never going to serve my chilli con carne on a bed of flaming wood-chips or waft about the house trailing liquid nitrogen vapours,  but I might just be tempted by the chicken pie, the rich chocolate truffle cake (without the exploding space lollies in the base) or today: the roast potatoes. They are cooling in the colander waiting for the next process.

I am rather more excited about Sally Wise's self saucing banana pudding. I'm making that tomorrow and served with custard it should be delicious. It's from her new book. I made the Ginger Coconut slice for morning tea and it was so quick to make, cooked in twenty minutes and topped with lemon icing it was delicious. I like A Lot of ginger so I think I will add some finely diced glace ginger next time.

We have been having record April temperatures during the day and overnight so it was lovely to have some proper rain. Not much, but enough to make things green again and to make Peri and Gilly smell like my woollen school blazer did when it was in the rain.

The Labradors like the rain too, here's hoping we have more, but in moderation.

I Name This Day, Fiona!!

I'm sorry you'll read that again, and wonder whatever I am talking about. This afternoon I went to Petrarch's Bookshop and the lovely Fiona McIntosh:

signed her new book, The Lavender Keeper, for me. It begins in Vichy France WW2 and tells the story of Luc, a lavender farmer, adopted into a Jewish family. I have only read three chapters, but it has already drawn me in.

Set in France, it is no spoiler to say that the sequel will be partially set in Tasmania. Fiona was inspired by The Bridestowe Lavender Farm and if only I could transmit scent through the internet, you could smell the fragrant French Lavender Perfume she spritzed over the page after she signed. I keep opening the book and smelling the perfume. Scent is a powerful trigger for memories, and I think I will always associate lavender with Fiona now!! I have read all of her books: fantasy, children's and crime, apart from Fields of Gold. I missed that somehow.

She is a lovely person, and listened attentively as I chatted away to her about how much I loved her books, and had read them all. She graciously signed the first three of her books I had brought along and then gave me a hug. It was so exciting to meet her. And after I have finished posting I am off to bed for a little R&R, that's rest and reading!!

Peri and Gilly had an Easter Carrot Hunt. Peri was quite happy to sit for an Easter Carrot picture, but Lorelai Gilmore thought I wanted to take her carrot away and she was off. But off slowly, as she didn't want to be too disobedient and I think she was conflicted!!

The weather has been very Autumnal: long, loud and bright electrical storms and then 1*C icy cold mornings. I knew the weather would be windy and rainy because my white Camellia is in bud, and you can guarantee as soon as it blooms the wind blows and the rain falls to make the delicate flowers brown and bedraggled.

Peri and Gilly love the cold weather and they are extremely happy and full of joy.

The NextDoor Neighbours have a party every Easter and Peri spends the whole day at the fence, joining in vicariously. This year Gilly spent quite a lot of time there too. Sadly for them, the guests know that there are no treats for The Labradors, but they live in hope.

This week is the week when I catch up with all my friends, except MrsDrWho who is still away overseas. I have been dining out with my Knitting friends where we waxed lyrically about the wonders of turning a heel, something we still find miraculous after all these years:

I had some yummy veal last week and some Trevalla with a tangy crunch salad yesterday. Tomorrow I am off for Grand Afternoon tea with friends I used to teach with and then again on Friday I am off to The Gorge for lunch with two friends I met when I first moved here to teach. Even though we don't see each other as often as we would like, when we do catch up it is as if we last met yesterday. I don't have a Facebook full of friends, but my friends are the loveliest I could hope for!!

We have been going to bed early as it makes me very fatigued to be social so many days of the week. On Saturday I am going to visit Toddler Lucy and Baby Zoe for afternoon tea to wish them well as they leave soon for The Mainland.

Next week I am planning on sleeping every day I think!!  At long last it's cold enough to knit, so I might spend a couple of hours sorting out the patterns for my two Half Finished Cardigans: You Only Rib Twice and Short Scene. I have two new emerald coloured tops for Winter and I must have a new emerald cardigan to wear with them. I shall have to knit like the wind!!

The Internet is conspiring against me. I wouldn't let me comment on Wordpress blogs, though I have changed my email address to one I never use and I seem to have out manoeuvred it, and now Typepad won't let some people leave a comment. Ha!! I have turned off the new Word Verification and now comments are moderated. By me. So your comment won't appear immediately.

I am sure it is not just me who finds the new Word Verification thingies terribly hard to interpret. I hope that this has ameliorated the problem. Happy commenting. I am slowly, but surely, answering my comments so I may email you soon.

Now I am tired so please excuse any errors I haven't caught......

Thou Speakest Visor Than Thou Art Ware Of.

Here, As You Like It or not, are three more Star Trek felt book pages, almost complete. There's Geordi with his visor to help him see, a glove to help you Live Long and Prosper and Worf and his Bat'leth. I am very pleased, and about to start the Enterprise with the saucer section that detaches. I have made a hole in my right middle finger pad from pushing the needle through layers of felt. I am not a very nimble stitcher with a middle finger thimble though. All my life, apart from appointments and pre-determined outings, is about The Star Trek felt book.

Peri and Gilly have had some lovely play times with Sandy. At first, Peri and Sandy were both running after Gilly, but she is quick and agile and soon turned the table on them!!!

MrsHouseOf came to visit for her birthday and I gave her the skirt,

and a black top as a present and she really liked them. I'm glad she liked them!! MrsDrWho, Mrs HouseOf and I ate out. It was all very delicious. I didn't have any dessert, though I did have the Endless Cup of Green Tea.

I have some new wool. I have 10 balls of Damasco for Heirloom. It is Merino and acrylic, and I am in love with it. I am not sure which pattern to knit: I am thinking of either this, or this. I want a longer length cardigan, surprise, surprise. Twenty-three years ago when I came here to live I knitted a long sea green/teal mohair cardigan with a v-neck, pockets and a cable down each front beside the button bands. I don't plan to start right away ( Star Trek felt book anyone??) so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Then there's a skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino 4ply. I am in love with it, it is soft and has a beautiful twist. I am thinking of a scarf or a longer narrow shawl type affair.

MrsDrWho and I have caught up on February's Craftsy BOM blocks:

March's blocks use left over strips from all the fabrics and so we have decided we will be able to whip them up after blocks 19 and 20. Bear in mind it took us 2 1/2 hours to make Block 4. We are very optimistic!!

I am feeling very tired. This morning I walked with Peri and Gilly, went to the Hospital for blood tests, came home, fed The Labradors, went to Leukaemia Support Group came home, went back to The Library as my DVD was overdue, and then came home again. I had to sleep for three hours and it was 27*C.  I have to go back to see my specialist at the Holman Clinic tomorrow. I am always nervous and worried about what my results will be. It will also be 28*C.

And then (lots of elbows of excitement) in the evening MrsDrWho and I are off to the local ABC Radio station to be the audience when Miriam Margoyles is interviewed live, right there!! Somehow we both managed to NOT book tickets to see her show on Dicken's Women so this is a sop to our hopelessness!!

Is it wrong to be looking forward to a big rest next week?? I think not.

I went out the front door to get the letters and there was a parcel on the table. My mum does the That's Life competitions and every Monday when we talk I help her out with the ones she doesn't know. She put my name on the entry form and she won a prize!!!  I think she already has good outdoor lighting and I could really use these to light the path down all the steps from the car to the back door!! Mum has been on a holiday for few days on the East Coast with one of the ladies from Probus. The weather is wonderful so they will be doing lots of touristy things. It's a poor photo. Again. The new energy saving light bulbs just don't produce enough light for a proper picture when it is dark, even with a flash.

Now I need to cut out all the parts of The Star Ship Enterprise before I go to bed.

The Lovely Bones Marrow

Since it has been on the news, and you can see the video here, I feel I can talk about the awful thing that I mentioned a little while ago, which has happened to my dearest and closest friends. It is so very sad and we are all devastated. I can't donate bone marrow because mine is compromised. I wish I could.

My heart breaks regularly. I think of them every day, and send them my love.

Today was the Turning of the First Sod of our new Northern Cancer Support Centre. It cheers me no end to think that there will be much happiness for people who are able to use the centre when it is finished.

Peri and Gilly have been engaging in circus worthy activities. They are up very high. It must be the cool weather, which is so lovely, urging them to such heights.

MrsDrWho and I finished one of February's Craftsy blocks on the Cup day holiday. It was an easy block and hers looks fabulous.

Remember this material??

I dyed it chartreuse and it's almost a dress.

And now I am off to a Vietnamese restaurant for tea with my knitting friends. I''m taking the scarf and I hope to have it finished soon. It's so Autumnal I think I can pull out my cardigan in a few weeks and finish it off.

Happily Ever Afternoon Tea

This afternoon my sewing group (wittily named in our emails 'Sew Chatty' because there is a preponderance of chat and a general lack of sewing when we meet) went to Grand Afternoon Tea. And it was quite good, and a bit grand. There was the option of Champagne Grand Afternoon Tea and we all chose that. It wasn't posh bubbly, but delightful on a hot afternoon all the same. And we had endless cups of tea and coffee as well. It didn't rate as highly as it could for me, because the tea was made from tea bags while the coffee was brewed. Oh, MrsDrWho just emailed me this menu for High Tea in New York. To paraphrase Mick Dundee: That's an afternoon tea.

That's our afternoon tea and we all love the tongs. The sandwiches were lovely and fresh, the egg ones being especially delicious and I had two!!! The scones were light and slightly warm. The little pavlovas were yummy and the brownies, I gather, were also rich and moreish. The place setting were very nice and the serviettes were fabric.

I wore The New Dress I sewed out in public to Grand Afternoon Tea. I added sleeves with some pleats and I bound the hem with green biased binding and the neck with the dress fabric. The FBA went well, but the darts are too high. I don't think anyone else would notice, but when I make my next dress I'll move them 5cm lower. Peri is not quite sure about The Dress. I think she's worried it will be Self Stitched September all over again!!! The Dress is quite cool, but I think The Next Dress made from a lighter cotton will be even cooler.

In The BlackSpot of Doomlight(tm) their sale fabric was half price so I picked up three metres of this border print to make another version of The Dress for just $7-50. I plan on over-dyeing it. I am thinking lime or chartreuse, rather than a darker green.

The weather had been nicely cool, but from today it started heating up again. Peri and Gilly have been enjoying the cool temperatures on our walks and they have been doing a lot of mad running.

My next door neighbour and I grew our own garlic last year. We bought the bulbs from a local grower and our first attempts have been quite successful. I am hoping to grow a lot more this year after our first experiment. Now if my rhubarb will just settle in and start growing things would be great.

I knitted another cardigan for Susan the temporarily one armed doll. I should have called it The Kimble Cardigan. It's the same general pattern as before, but using Ixchel merino/nylon sock wool in the Harry Potter colour.

I took a picture of the moon. I glanced out the window and it looked eerie. I clicked my little camera to the night-time-far-away setting and rested it on the window ledge and voila!!

Twinings are heavily advertising their new Australian Afternoon Tea. There was a blending competition and it is highlighted in this month's Delicious and in other media. No-one in either of our two supermarket chains knew anything about it and I was looking forward to a cup next week. I emailed Twinings to ask where I could buy it and they said: We are unable to provide store ranging on this particular product at this time and then urged me to ask at the stores. I don't think they actually read my email and they weren't helpful at all. Now I think I shall just drink some of the swish leaf tea I received for Christmas instead. I have a selection of about twenty to choose from. I am so lucky!!

On Thursday Peri and Gilly are off to The Vet, together, to be vaccinated, generally checked out and weighed. It shouldn't be so hot by then and we are going in the morning before 11am. The Vets are very kind and let them go in together and it only costs us for one appointment and no-one has to stay home alone howling like a banshee.

The Cauli Of The Wild

Once again, I strayed to the Dark Side and watched some Christmas episodes of Martha. Jessica Seinfeld, she of the cook books which hide vegetables, demonstrated some recipes. I borrowed her Double Delicious book from the Library and made her Chicken Cannelloni this afternoon.

Her first book, Deceptively Delicious is all about surreptitiously adding extra vegetables to the food that children eat. This second book continues the theme, but with family meals.

First I had to make cauliflower puree. I bought a nice fresh local cauli and steamed if for about fifteen minutes. She said ten, but the cauli was still quite hard. Then I pureed it with a little extra water and it turned out perfectly. It is quite mild. So mild, that two Labradors will gladly eat it up when offered a portion. 

You know it must be good. My cauli yielded almost four cups of puree and I froze the leftovers in half cup batches.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly: I used some local ricotta which was not low fat, I eschewed the low fat mozzarella cheese for extra Parmesan and I added quickly sauteed onion, garlic and tomato paste to the passata ( tomato puree in a bottle) I did use wholemeal lasagne sheets and I poached the chicken breasts earlier. I served it with MrsValley's silverbeet sauteed in a tiny bit of olive oil with garlic and pepper. Yum. I could have eaten it twice!!!

I could not taste the cauliflower at all, and in a taste test neither could my neighbour. I will definitely be making this again. And I am eager to try other recipes. It's not that I don't eat lots of vegetables already, but the idea of extra secret vegetables is too good to pass by.

Susan's bespoke cardigan is complete. It just needs a button. I am very pleased and I hope Susan the Doll and her human like it.

Peri and Gilly like the new squeaky football, but a rice cracker is a much better thing.

The weather is lovely: cold and cloudy. We had breakfast and then slept till 12-30pm. I am banking sleep for when it is next hot. The new Delicious magazine arrived and I found lots of things I want to cook for Friday Food this month.

This Year Of Living Dangerously

I have been sitting on the verandah following our New Year's Eve tradition of Filling-In-The-New-Buffy-Diary. To ease the burden of writing in all the dates, holidays and birthdays I rewarded myself with some dip at the end of each month and a sip of cider whenever I liked. The cider is in a glass my dad used to drink his beer from.

Peri and Gilly met a new friend called Jet on their walks this week. They ran and played together very happily.

The veranda was the coolest place to be, after a walk and a swim for Peri and a paddle for Gilly this morning, we went back to bed until 3-45pm: avoiding the hottest part of the day. It's a good thing there is a liner in the car because Peri gave a big shake again after she hopped in.

Last night I went to late dinner with MrsDrWho and her family and friends. MrsDrWho and I had Wagyu beef. It was utterly delicious. It is grown in the North West of the state. Mine was medium well with a mushroom and bacon sauce. It truly was melt in your mouth meat.

2011 has been an interesting year. The most horrid part was when I had to go to hospital unexpectedly with the septic shower in my blood stream, and then I spent the rest of the year working hard, and I think successfully, not to be depressed and anxious.

Peri and Gilly have lost over 7kg each and, despite of The Widdler and The Winky Eye, they have had a very happy year.

My new car is still going nicely, the big oak tree is gone from the garden and I have my nice new computer with which to surf the Internet.

I am so lucky to have wonderful friends, real and imaginary, and a kind family who have all helped me in many ways.

This evening I made some collages of the craft I have completed this year and Self Stitched September too. I am quite amazed at all the things I have made, though there are some projects languishing and I have yet to produce another wearable dress: my bete noir. I will finish them off when the weather is cooler.

 

I am now officially agog, I must have buried myself in my craft. Oops, the christmas tea towel bags are there twice.

Next year I am looking forward to The Olympics, spending lots of time playing with Peri and Lorelai Gilmore, making a wearable dress, finishing my two cardigans and generally being more organised. It's a Leap Year so that makes it extra special. I think I shall be doing Friday Food and cooking from magazines this year: I always mean to but hardly ever do.

Lorelai Gilmore has been racing about searching for the source of the fire cracker noise and Peri is saving us from the party at the back. They are very good girls.

Happy New Year: welcome 2012*!!!

I say Twenty Twelve 2012, just like I say Ten SixtySix 1066.

Dolly's Begeres

MrsGardyGardener found a dolly at the Op Shop and asked if I would make some clothes. So here is the dolly wearing a dress, cardi etc.

When you pick the dolly up she talks and moves her head and limbs. When you lie her down she sighs and (eventually) goes to sleep. Lorelai Gilmore was not sure whether she wanted to like the dolly, or separate the dolly into individual parts.

I don't have a before photo, but the dolly's hair was like a fir bush in a fit. MrsDrWho gave me a great tip and also some conditioner. I slathered it onto the dolly's wet hair and combed it through and rinsed it out: very carefully while dolly was wrapped in a towel so as not to ruin her electronic innards. Now her 'hair' smells lovely and she's back at The GardyGardener's house.

I bought some fabulous 15cm long 4mm dpns. I often knit 8ply socks and mittens and the 20cm needles are very cumbersome. They only cost $13-50-ish, including postage, from the UK.

Peri and Gilly have been playing in the creek,

and exercising their ears

and rolling in you don't want to know what.

Today I caught up with TinkingBell. We catch up on a semi-irregular car servicing basis. We could chat for Britain!! We talked non-stop from go to whoa. We exchanged early Christmas gifts. I am the proud and joyful owner of some beautifully dyed Knitting by Zen Emerald City wool, enough for a vest, and a Dalek booklight. I expect if you don't like the book you are reading the Dalek will exterminate it for you.

In turn TinkingBell is the, I hope, happy and chuffed recipient of a Dalek boxbag (Spoonflower fabric) and a Twelve Days of Christmas Button calendar. For once I remembered to take a photo to show Tinking really did come to visit, usually I forget!!

And now I am tired and have already had a 2 1/2 hour nap and I am giving Sewing a miss this fortnight.  Yesterday I had my hair cut and went with MrsDrWho for an hour to The BlackSpot of Doolight(tm) to spend vouchers, and tomorrow my car is being serviced. That is enough, I plan to sleep all day on Saturday!!!