Wool on Sunday

Joining in with Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday. I had planned to write about other yarn related things that I've been doing this last month, but in the last day or so I've changed my mind. Instead I'm going to write about an incident in which my past caught up with me...in the nicest possible way.
It all started when I joined my Newmarket Mums group for our monthly coffee the Sunday before last. Pictured are some of the treats we bought 😉

. One of those friends said she had a message for me. Apparently she was having coffee at a local café when she was approached by a woman who asked her whether she had been a teacher at this particular school. When my friend said yes, the woman (Daphne) introduced herself as being a parent of children who attended the school in the 1970s-1980s. Coincidentally I had been a teacher at this same school at the same time and after some chit chat Daphne asked if my friend was still in touch with me and if so, could she please pass on a message to me.

So with all the Newmarket Mums listening intently, the message was passed on. Daphne  wanted to let me know how much she loved a crocheted rug which she had bought at a school fete. Then the memories came flooding back and I shared the story with my friends. I had made that rug!

Gradually the details came back. I had made 2 knee rugs and donated them for sale and both sold. Apparently Daphne missed out on buying one and possibly mentioned her disappointment to one of the organisers of the fete. This person asked me if I could possibly make another one and I agreed. I also remember that the rugs were sold for $10 each and the Parents and Citizens Association also got that 3rd $10 from the extra one I made.

Daphne's message also went on to say that the rug was in perfect condition and that she had told her children that they were not to throw it out when she died; one of them should take over looking after it. Well...to say I was chuffed was an understatement!

When I came home I decided that I wanted to personally thank Daphne for her lovely message. A search of White Pages didn't help find a phone number...but then I hatched a plan using Facebook. I'm a member of a FB group which has members who went to this same school. So I asked if anyone was still in touch with Daphne's family or even Daphne herself. Within an hour or so I had a reply from a former student of mine who said she was a FB friend of Daphne's older daughter. This daughter lives in the UK but my former student said she would message her. It wasn't long before the daughter and I 'spoke' on Messenger and I had a phone number.

Next day I rang Daphne and we had a lovely chat. She said that she had bought the rug as a gift for her mother. Her mum loved the rug and treasured it apparently. When her mother died, Daphne reclaimed the rug and she iterated her instructions to the children not to throw it out when she herself passed away. I had no idea of the year that I had made it but Daphne was able to tell me it was 39 years ago in 1979.

By coincidence her daughter from the UK is spending a week here  and J very kindly took a photo of the rug and the other day sent it to me. It was a shock to see it...I thought it was a granny square afghan...but it was a hexagon design! But I guess it is a while since I made it so not surprising I'd forgotten the actual design! lol

Wool on Sunday

Once again joining in with Janine over at the Rainbow Hare blog here to share what yarn related things I’ve been up to in the last month. Janine's post features a magnificent crocheted mat.

So a fair bit of progress on the mohair throw which is using up some hoarded yarn. I think this will be donated to the Karuna Hospice Christmas Market in late November.

More donated squares have been turned into a big blanket and a little baby blanket. My knitting group had just had a request for baby blankets from an organisation that helps young mothers who are doing it tough and on their own. And luckily one of the ladies who crochets squares for us had decided a little while ago to do some smaller squares in soft yarn...perfect!


The golden yellow yarn was donated by a friend who had the yarn for a while. Readers (of a certain age 😉) from SE Queensland  might recognise the brand of yarn. It’s Baroba which was the brand of a local department store called Barry and Roberts. B&R closed its doors when DD1 was little...about 36 years ago! So my friend had that yarn for a loooooong time, but it was in perfect condition.

I’ve also been working on mini Christmas stockings for K4BN. Each year the group makes these and fills them with sweets and these small gifts are distributed to the needy in the community. We’ve been giving away over 6000 per year.
Instead of showing my efforts I’m going to share a photo of some of the stockings made by an amazing member of K4BN. Rita has made 800 of these so far this year; her goal is to make 1000! 
Aren’t they fabulous and Rita is certainly inspiring.

Boomerang Bags

As more and more retailers no longer offer free single use plastic bags for carrying purchases, the result is a plethora of reusable bags being offered for sale. ( In my state, the government has legislated to ban the single use bags)
One example is the Boomerang bag which is made of cloth and mostly made by community minded groups and offered for sale at various outlets, including markets. The bags are very similar to the morsbags I saw in the U.K.when we were there in 2008. I'm thinking the name Boomerang reflects the fact that you can keep using these bags; as long as you remember to put them back in your car! Lol
It was decided in our parish that we would make Boomerang Bags for sale. Donations of fabric, including old curtains, sheets and doona covers were requested. So I took a hard look at my dressmaking fabrics and also my patchwork cottons and donated quite a bundle.
So then some pockets were screen printed...

A prototype was sewn, ready for the first sewing bee...

But progress was slow via the sewing bee method. I couldn't make it to the sewing session on that day and it was the same for others. So the organiser came up with the concept of 'outworkers' and the 'assembly line' concept. I put my hand up to help. I was given the task of sewing the handles. I was spoiled as the handles had been already cut out. So it was just a case of pressing, pinning and sewing.
I've done 2 lots so far...total of 39 handles. Maybe more to come.

My favourite sewing machine, my vintage Elna 'work horse' needs a service ( the needle is going up and down when the bobbin is being refilled 😕) so I need to get that done next week in case I get some more handles to sew...or use the newish Janome? 

The Art Show...

The parish art show this year was more low key than ever before but as if by magic,  ( or was it divine intervention? 😉) the money raised was almost as much as raised in other years.
The organisers decided to feature the works of indigenous artists and much effort was put into finding such artists to invite them to exhibit.
Our parish priest opening the show. Father B is himself an aboriginal.




After the show when I checked my photos I realised I'd missed taking photos of some really large works...that were very traditional and eyecatching.
The next photo was an exhibit put in the show by the teenage granddaughter of our parish priest. These pieces were part of an assessment for her art studies at high school. They were eyecatching and attracted a lot of interest...

A close up of that dress made of Coca Cola cans...

The young artist joked that it wouldn't be the most comfortable dress to wear! I agree! 😂
I knitted 2 throws to donate to the show...
The chevron garter stitch one sold on opening night. The buyer planned to use it as a wall hanging as she said that way her teenage children couldn't 'wreck it'. I didn't really mind that she wasn't going to drape it over her sofa and snuggle under it when the weather was chilly...the main thing was that it sold...which meant money in the parish 'kitty'! 😉

The inset photo in the previous photo shows both the chevron throw and also another indigenous throw that was not for sale. It just was on display as it had been made for K4BN.
The other donated throw...

The mohair one in indigenous colours sold on the Saturday. An aboriginal elder woman bought it saying that she would auction it to raise funds. She was confident she could raise a fair amount that way. ( I did hear later though that she loved it so much she was thinking of keeping it)
This year the craft stall holders were in the hall. Other years they have been in the church and the paintings were in the hall.

And I fell in love with a painting and ended up buying it. It was painted by a young indigenous artist who had entered 6 pieces of his work. There was a luminescence about the painting that I just loved!

The artist described his painting as being 2 traditional young indigenous men sitting at night thinking of their plans for hunting the next day. DsD1 said it reminded her of the Lost Boys characters in Peter Pan. And I found that it reminded me of the Kindle icon on my iPad. Lol! Different interpretations to different people.

And that was the 2018 Art Show. 

Wool on Sunday

Confession time...I tend to procrastinate when it's time to start a new project. Especially this is so when it's a knitted throw and the thought of casting on 200 or so stitches and then those first few rows where the pattern is being set...I dither/put it off! Lol.
After the 'knitting marathon' to finish 2 throws for the Parish Art Show in late July, I decided to just focus on starting some projects ready for the future. No new patterns, just old favourites that I can just pick up and work on when I decide I want to make a gift/Raffle prize or whatever. So...

I started 4 throws and popped 3 into bags and I've continued working on the 4th one.
Another garter stitch chevron one...

Yet another garter stitch chevron/ripple one!


A honeycomb pattern throw using as the main colour some remnant navy blue yarn from the Bendigo Woollen Mill bought on a holiday to Victoria a few years ago...or maybe it was a lot of years ago! 😂 lol

The other 'start' was a throw using a favourite slipstitch design and some gorgeous Jo Sharp yarn that I bought before I retired...I've been retired 7 years! I continued working on this as it is so light a project that it was perfect to take away last month when DH and I spent 6 days in Sydney. I think I have enough of this yarn to make another throw! Lol

One more photo that is yarn related. I kept some of the knitted items that my girls wore as babies. The reality is that today's babies rarely (if at all) wear the styles of the 1980s so instead of a granddaughter wearing this particular little top that I knitted in 1984 for DD2, Gerald Bear ( or should that be Geraldine Bear? 😉) is now wearing it while the weather is cold. The little girls love it!

Joining with Janine from the Rainbow Hare Blog for Wool on Sunday.

Wool on Sunday...

Once again I'm joining in with Janine from The Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday, where all things ' yarny' are written up in a post. This month Janine has posted a number of projects including the cutest little toy, Peter Mouse. There is also a pretty little cardi and a market bag...
In July's W.O.S I wrote about the projects ( 2 knitted throws) that I hoped to have ready for donating to the annual parish art show...one was basically finished and I posted a photo in the blog post and one was just started. Good news, both were finished in time! The second throw was that old favourite of mine, the chevron garter stitch pattern, and it was done in my favourite colours.

More about those 2 projects in my post about the art show which is coming up soon!

So after those 2 items were finished, it was time to get to work on making blankets out of all the donated squares I had been given by some very generous people. I hadn't had much time over the previous few months to work on those charity blankets, so it was a case of 'knuckling down' and catching up. There were bags and bags of lovely crocheted squares...


By the time I had joined squares to make 5 blankets, I thought to myself that I couldn't face making many more. But the next day, I was back there joining them. In just over a week, I made 15 blankets...I'd built up momentum and was on a roll...until all but 2 squares had been made into blankets. And I also had my little helper...

It's always better when there is someone with you keeping you company...
On Sunday night I stacked up the blankets for a photo...here are 14

 

When we put the 15th one on the pile...over it tumbled!

So these have all been packed in 2 big bags and are ready to hand over to K4BN for distribution to needy people. At any time of the year there is always a demand for blankets, especially for those forced to sleep rough.

Old Age...

Not my dotage...instead this post is about Eduardo, 'The Next Stage' cat. Ed will be 17 in September and has been getting rather skinny.

He was also having a bit of trouble chewing. So not quite 2 weeks ago, I made an appointment for him at the vet's for a check up.
So the cage was dusted off...

There are no photos but let's just say that Eduardo was most uncooperative in getting into the carry cage...I even have scratches that attest to that! He thought that a visit to the vet was really unnecessary. He howled all the way there...luckily only a 2 kilometre drive. Then he howled in the waiting room 😒. The veterinary nurses all came out into the waiting room to check out the cat with the 'fancy name', Eduardo Felipe, lol.
But as usual on a visit to the vet, when we went through to the consulting room, Eduardo was 'as good as gold'...he purrs!!! ( possibly a nervous reaction ? 🤣) In fact the vet had difficulty listening to his heart because of the purring...but in the treatment room he did stop purring for a short while when the blood tests were being done.
Kat, the vet checked him over...and my goodness he had lost a kilogram...not good!😔 Kat took blood samples which were sent off for testing and also a urine test which showed no bacteria or blood...so that was a tick! The teeth will need some attention but that will be a bit later. Kat mentioned 3 conditions that could cause his weight loss...one was hyperthyroidism...and next day she rang to confirm that that was indeed the problem.
Three methods of treatment had been explained to me and I chose the least expensive...tablets every day for the rest of his life. The most expensive was $1500 for a one off treatment using a radioisotope...no tablets...but he is nearly 17...😙
Now Eddie is very difficult to get tablets down his throat, but the tablets crush up easily and the vet was fine when I said that my cat LOVES Nestles Reduced Fat Cream and would it be okay to mix the tablet in a teaspoon of the cream...after all, he is nearly 17. Kat said some people mix crushed up tablets in with Vegemite or condensed milk. I did try the Vegemite but Eduardo didn't like it.

So each morning Ed takes his tablet...he looks forward to it! Lol. Next Tuesday we go back for another blood test to see if that dose is working. It could be my imagination but after 11 days it does look like he has put on a bit of weight.
Stay tuned...