Wool on Sundays...

My goodness the last week has gone quickly; doesn't seem like a week since my last Wool on Sunday post! Linking up my post with Janine's Rainbow Hare blog.
During last week I finished the 'knitting part' of that ripple/chevron throw in blues and black. I just have the fringing to do, label to sew on and a couple of ends to weave in. (I usually weave the ends in as I change colours but there's always a few that somehow weren't knitted in)
And last night DD1 and Cam dropped in and of course I showed Cam his new rug...he no longer has to share my daughter's pink blankie! lol. We got him to 'model' it for a photo...he was really thrilled as we had kept it a secret that he was getting his own throw. Next time they're over visiting, it will be all finished and able to go home with them.

Notice how Eduardo was sitting in his favourite spot and he wasn't moving for anyone! 😀

Last week's post was about my 'missing' started ripple throw. Some of the yarn that I bought the other month on my visit to the Bendigo Woollen Mill, will be just perfect for it! 

But I have a few 'must do' projects that might have to come first...one will entail working with the purples in my yarn stash! 😊

Food for thought...

Earlier this month my brother celebrated his 60th birthday. I had asked my sister in law what she would like me to bring as a contribution to the meal. Eventually she suggested I bring a dessert or 'something sweet to have with coffee'. 

We rarely eat such food but I thought I'd buy in some provisions and make something like brownies or caramel slice; cooking from scratch...just like I used to do. But I've got to a stage in my life where I don't hesitate to 'cut corners' on the odd occasion...especially if it gives me more time for crafting! Lol. 

With this in mind, I bought a Betty Crocker Brownies mix, some tiny vanilla slices from the freezer at Coles and visited Aldi and checked out their 'sweet stuff'. I also bought some coconut and a tin of condensed milk. With the latter I made a big batch of rum balls from some packets of sweet biscuits that had been languishing in the pantry. 

And I also found this tin of cream wafers ( chocolate) and they were put in the food processor too with the other biscuits...

So technically I only made the brownies ( albeit from a packet) and the rum balls...the rest I only opened packets...

And this was the 'finished product' all ready to take to the party...

And...the family ate all the Aldi 'stuff' and the Coles' mini vanilla slices...my 'baking' was hardly touched. But my neighbours had a wonderful morning tea over at my place the next day so all was not lost! 😉

Wool on Sundays...or A Mystery Solved!

A few years ago I decided to do the casting on stage of a few knitted blankets. The idea was to then have these potential knitting projects all ready to pick up and start as I finished other projects. You see I've found that after completing something I often fiddle faddle around and sometimes it takes me a while to start something new. This is especially so if I know I have a few hundred stitches to cast on and then there are those first couple of rows to do, setting patterns etc...

This plan to have new projects ready to go worked quite well. But then there was the one that I couldn't find. DH and I were going away and  I particularly wanted to work on this started blanket as other projects had become too big and cumbersome to take travelling. But, despite looking in all my stash 'hidey holes', I couldn't find this cast on blanket. And I gave up looking and started another one.

Then recently, I was looking through all my storage cubes and shelves, searching for blue yarns for the ripple/chevron throw, when I came across this ziplock bag of yarn...

But when I took the time to look more closely, I saw...

yes! A knitting needle! So a little bit more 'digging' and voilà...

The missing project! Over the last few years I would have seen this bag in the storage cube and just dismissed it as a bag of yarns! I plan to start another throw soon but it won't be a chevron. This started one will be handy to work on when I need a change or I need something to work on if we're travelling. 

Linking with Janine's Wool on Sundays. This week, Janine has posted photos of her completed crocheted ripple blanket...it is big and looks stunning!

FNSI...

Last night was Friday Night Sew In. One plan was to cut out some hexagons to start another Dilly Bag...

I had a packet of sample Liberty prints that I bought last year from the lovely UK shop, Alice Caroline...

Perfect I thought. And the templates had been put away in the correct spot, so out they came! ( I only use the big Perspex template as this pattern doesn't use the 'papers' method')

But then I remembered that at the Albany Creek Knit and Natter just last Wednesday, I heard that K4BN had already been asked for 1000 mini Christmas stockings by a charity. This was a 'new' charity for us to help, let alone the 6000+ stockings we provided last year, complete with sweets. Hmmm, so maybe I should be thinking about sewing some stockings??? So I printed off the pattern I use for the fabric ones I make...

But you know what? I ended up just knitting for the evening...

A few more rows on the 'blues and black' chevron/ripple throw. Only about 30cm or so till it's long enough. 

Thank you to Wendy for organising FNSI ! Check out the links to other participants here...http://www.sugarlane-designs.com/2016/07/july-signups-for-fnsi.html

Goliath of the veggie world?

Recently, while weeding in one of my veggie gardens, I found this little sweet potato ( kumera) peeping up out of the ground...so I dug it up. 

It wasn't very big so I made sure I bought another one from the supermarket...

And then a few days later DsD1 brought us a sweet potato from the veggie garden of the cattle property in Wandoan, where she lives...

It's huge!

I couldn't cut it, so I had to get some help from DH...

Now lots of vegetables would be rather 'woody' if left to grow so big before harvesting...but not these sweet potatoes! I love this vegetable...cooked any way, but my absolute favourite is baked in the oven, either in chunks or chips. And so most nights we have been having this favourite of mine to accompany dinner. 😉. Despite eating it most nights, we aren't even halfway through it yet! Lol. It's still just a bit big to fit into the crispers of the fridge...so it's up top. But I have plans to make a batch of soup, some sweet potato fritters, vegetable curry and a few other ideas, so it won't be taking up fridge space for much longer. 

Meanwhile my sweet potato crop is nearing harvest time. And for the first time in my experience, the possums have been eating the sweet potato leaves...just a little nibble at first...

The leaves must be delicious! 

I will be putting some mesh over this bed. Not to stop the possums nibbling the leaves but rather to stop the bush turkeys from digging up the sweet potatoes...yep, it's almost THAT time again! Lol

Wool on Sundays...

Joining in once more with Rainbow Hare blog's Wool on Sunday. Janine's post features a gorgeous lacy granny square; well worth a look!

Today's post is about some fun purchases that I made when we visited the Crestwick Woollen Mill during our recent visit to Victoria. 

Alpaca yarns feature a fair bit at this mill...

Two alpaca statues greet visitors at the door...

This Woollen mill mainly produces beautiful clothing but that's not what caught my eye. 

I have a friend and former workmate who loves Spider-Man...he has a small room in his house where he stores his collection of comics and other 'Spidey' memorabilia...he has quite a tee shirt collection too...

So when I saw this next item at the mill shop, I just had to buy it 😉

It's a knitted finger puppet!! 

And I bought a few more too as there are a few 'little people' in our family these days. Lots of fun! 

I was quite happy to pay $3 each for these cuties because I avoid 'fiddly' knitting projects whenever possible, especially that 'sewing up bit'! 

( The clothing was gorgeous at Crestwick but way too heavy to wear in Brisbane's winters. I toyed with buying a ball or two of yarn as a 'souvenir' but they were $25 for a 50gram ball as they were alpaca...but not in colours that grabbed me. So no sale as yarn at that price has to be irresistible! lol) 

Wool on Sunday...

An alternative subject line for this post could be, 'Maybe I need to make Cam a throw of his own?'

DD1 recently posted this photo of her fiancé Cam. The weather had turned cold, so he obviously reached for something warm as he lay on the sofa and drifted off to sleep...

I made that throw for DD1 quite a few Christmases ago, in her favourite colour...pink.

Now Cam is joining our family, it's time for me to make him his own blanket I think...but it won't be pink! Lol 😉

Linking up with Janine over at the Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday. 

If I am devastated...how must she feel??!

I belong to a number of 'groups' as I go about living my life. One group that I regularly socialize with consists of women whose children were at school with my two girls. One of these ladies has been experiencing problems with her voice over the last 12 months or so...it was as though she had permanent laryngitis. She has been to a number of ENT specialists, but tests revealed nothing. My friend also noticed that one of her legs 'seemed heavy' and her usual brisk walk to the station each morning was becoming more difficult. 

Another lady in this group is a radiographer and our friend's problems intrigued her. This lady suggested  that our friend ask her GP to refer her for neurological tests as the ENT specialists had had no answers. Our friend had to insist she be sent for these tests as her GP thought it was a waste of time...😒

Just under a month ago, our friend got the results of her tests. It was devastating news...she has Motor Neurone Disease. ( also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease and ALS, depending on what country you live in) 

'Motor neurone disease (MND) is the name given to a group of diseases in which the nerve cells (neurones) controlling the muscles that enable us to move, speak, breathe and swallow undergo degeneration and die.'

The prognosis is not very good I'm afraid. Our friend got this diagnosis a few days before she was due to fly overseas to visit her only child. The specialist told her to have her holiday, so that is where she is at present. When she comes home, she plans to move to a complex with various levels of accomodation. She will first go to an independent living townhouse and then as her need for care arises, she will still be able to be in the same complex. Our group are discussing how we can help...and reading everything we can about this terrible disease. 

During this last month, I've found that attending the gatherings of the other groups I belong to, has been great in lifting my spirits...

Knitting group at Albany Creek..

Show and Tell at Sisters of Stitch at Chermside Library...

Show and Tell at Sunday Stitchers at Coomera...

One think that 'struck me' when I heard of my friend's illness...in all the years I've known her, she has ordered fruit toast without butter as she felt butter or margarine should be avoided because they are fat...so she ate dry toast.