A FEATHERED VISITOR COMES TO MY BACKYARD.

This is not his first visit to my backyard, this is the first time he actually "Posed" while his picture was taken.

He only stayed about 5 or 10 minutes, but it was nice for me to see him again

THE LITTLE FELLA CAN DRAW PRETTY GOOD:::::::::::::::



My Grandson, Zac. He draws very well for a 5year old, and writes very well too. A couple of days ago he sent me a card in the mail..the outside was addressed by an adult hand, but everything on the inside was written by him...and...it was very legible.
He starts school next year.

Hope everyone has a Happy & safe Festive season.

Fruit salad anyone?


There are times when I don't feel like following a pattern...the last couple of evenings were one of those times...so with hook in hand and some yarn I decided a little experiment...Fruit!
There will be more added to this lot over the next few weeks..needs some greenery...

On the way home from work yesterday afternoon

I saw this ............. what is it, what is it? It's a Rainbow...lol.

MEET NELLIE..................

I love my "Yarnable".

Well, she WAS mine.. I am not her creator, I am her Maker.
Comes from a pattern by Bernat, Canada.

She was entered in the Royal Melbourne Show this year....&...came in 3rd.
Of that I was very happy.
There was another toy that "I created", no pattern, just what came from my head..hee hee, it got a Commendation. Must be doing something right. AND they both SOLD, mind you no profit was made, especially after commission and GST comes out. If I made a profit of 10 $ after all that, then I'm happy.

Hello...still here lurking.







A little picture of Orchids, picked from my Aunties garden on saturday. These flowers are just magnificent. Photo doesn't really do them justice.

I've been doing bundles of knitting & crocheting over the past few months. This year I managed to get a Commendation and a Third prize in the Royal Melbourne Show...needless to say, I was very chuffed about that.

My Mum is still hanging in there, battling along. Only a higher power knows when the time.....
When someone you LOVE has been diagnosed with in-operable Cancer...it's tuff.

Keep well.

MY FIRST SWAP COMPLETED




A huge thankyou to my SWAP BOT friend from Canada for this lovely piece of handmade jewellery. It will look great with the right chain, or even maybe a thin leather strap...hmmm, good excuse to go shopping. Thanks again 'Pickle'.

On Friday 23rd Feb......

....this was taken as I was driving to the country to see mum...about 300 kms...with a mobile phone....hand hanging out the window...Actually the sunset was a lot nicer than in the pik.

Mum and I had a really good weekend..the nursing home where she is now, is really nice and comfortable, and the staff....I have never met a nicer group of carers. It makes me feel more at ease knowing she is in good hands. We both look forward to every second weekend. It's a long drive...I worked it out that I drive approx 800kms every second weekend....but she's worth it.

My niece, Asheleigh is 20 tomorrow....Happy Birthday Ashe....Oooh, and I just realised my eldest son will be 31 this year. . . and my "Baby Boy" is just 27....Dear me, I don't feel young when these sort of numbers come to mind...

Happy Tuesday everyone.

24 and COUNTING !

Yes, it's only 24 days to the Melbourne Grand Prix. This was taken about an hour and a half ago, and as you can see the works are in full progress. And almost diagonally across from this scene will be where a group of friends and I will be partying. I just love this time of the year...the build up to the GP is electrifying.

In the meantime I have joined SWAP-BOT ..This is going to prove interesting and this is the first time I have done such a thing. Am very eagerly awaiting my first swap package....and three more in the near future..

There has been more stash enhancement of late..(only himself above knows why)..I sure don't know why...just can't help myself..

Something funny to finish off with....I tried to knit from a graph...HUH...no way Charlie... I am now in the process of reading & writing out the whole pattern in long hand.......aaaah, that'll teach me!

Aaaagh!!!!!

Oh dear, this blogger thing is coming VERY CLOSE to doing my head in...At first it forced me to switch to the "New & Better version"...HUH!!!, and consequently wiped the Flickr badge from the blog. Am I the only one who this has happened to?
Now the brain cells are attempting to work overtime in order to rectify this problem. Any advice would be handy.
I think I need a drink.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMBER

My dear Grandaughter, Amber, is 10 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMBER.

Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.

AND

It's also my first BLOGIVERSARY today.

I'd like to give someone a pressie, (possibly a package of fancy yarn stuff)..any takers??? come and say hi.
It's Wednesday here....and on Friday, names will go into a hat or something
similar...An independent party will dip in, grab out a name...IT COULD BE YOU.

Happy Hump Day Wednesday.

FLOWERS TO PUT A SMILE ON MY FACE



My lovely daughter in law....Tracey gave me these flowers on Sunday just gone..All home grown too. The garden is only small, but it is very well nurtured. Also, considering that water is like liqiud gold at the moment, she has done herself proud.



INTRODUCING......."NIKKI"



This set of 4 wheels will be named 'Nikki' after I take possession in 2 days time.
Unfortunately my car that I am driving at the moment, Carrolle Corolla, is being put into retirement. I think she is well past her use by date. But not to say she hasn't been good to me. For the small amount of $$$ she cost me, she more than did me good! It may sound a bit kooky, but a person's gotta have a name for their car...Nikki is a 'KIA'.


The fires are still raging here in the state of Victoria. So much damage has been done. Praying for rain.

A sincere THANKYOU to all the dedicated Firefighters and Volunteers who are doing a great job with their efforts in extinguishing this carnage. You are truly a special bunch of people.

Also CONGRATULATIONS to me. At the end of duty today...in another 1 hour and 40 minutes.....TA DA....I will have completed 20 YEARS service in the same job! soooooo happy about that.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope everyone did have a good time wherever and however you saw in the New Year.

It certainly has been a while since I did a post. My dear Mum is having a few health issues. The medical teams etc are working on giving her a reasonable quality of living. My 'MA' will be 81 years young on the 7th Jan. She lives about 4 hours drive away....and I will travelling every other weekend to see her, starting tomorrow.

Keep well.....I'll be back!

LATEST ACQUISITION



The only word to describe this book is AWESOME! Finally, I now own a copy. The first design to knit will be Midwest Moonlight. And very slowly followed by about 5 or 6 more..

From the WOOL BAA shop in Albert Park, Melbourne. A few weeks ago, I purchased some yarn on-line from them, this time I went there in person. It's small but good quality, worth a visit if you are nearby.

BTW - that's my lunch in the top right hand corner. Prawn & noodle salad rice paper rolls with a spicy dipping sauce...Mmmmm Yum...

PRIDE & JOY



It never crossed my mind that something like this would be done in approximately 3 weeks, and in between working on other projects too. Giving myself a pat on the back for this number because I'm a smidge chuffed that it is FINISHED.



A close up view. All that remains now is a little wash etc. and it will be ready to use.


It's a quiet day in Melbourne today, that is for those select few that are at the cube farm. The race that stops the nation is on this afternoon..the good old MELBOURNE CUP..fingers crossed that my horses from the office sweep will do well.
The skies here have just started to drizzle, which is a good thing because the drought is so severe. Pray for a few days of good downfall which is so desperately needed. Melbourne may only be on stage 2 water restrictions, but in the Wimmera Mallee region, they have been on stage 4 for quite some time. They can't even wash their cars from a bucket of water.

On the lighter side of things....think of all those young Fillies & Colts out at the track today, all dressed in their finest without umbrellas...Now that's worth a giggle. lol. :-)

Another W. I. P.




Which means to me YAAAY, the Snowflake Ghan is finished, but um - er - ahem - guess who forgot to photograph it..Moi... This is the first thing that will be done on entering the home this evening. Stay tuned for a squizz because it's AWESOME...am soo happy with the result :-)

This newbie, which has only just been started, will also be Ghan size. The yarn in this project is TLC Cara Mia, just love working with that yarn. It might take some time to complete as I am doing the whole thing in single crochet....oooooh boy.

He's a WEIRD looking fellow, this POOPY DUCK.



This is NOT what I would call a success. Hopefully the next one will be a little more symmetrical. Possibly the beak done a different way and a little smaller. WOW, that is one decent sized snout!!!.

The Snowflake afghan in previous post..had 14 motifs sewn together....Now it has 33 - Yaay that means it's a bit over the half way mark, and the next picture of it will be of the completed project.

F. O. --- Something finished.



A few weeks ago My Grandaughter & I went shopping in the city. What better way to start spending the good earned dollar than at a yarn store. She picked out the yarn herself, and the colour too. It will match the auburn hair perfectly. the last row of this crocheted scarf had 1360 stitches.


U. F. O. --- W. I. P.




This will be my coloured version of Snowflake Afghan. The only thing uniform is the white border. The medallions are very enjoyable to do, at this stage..but....maybe....will have to re-think that after a couple dozen more are made.
After having a look in the Works-In-Progress basket, must to promise myself not to start any more new projects, until a few more are completed.... There's a lot in there..

A LITTLE STASH ENHANCEMENT




TRENDSETTER YARN, this is quite soft. With the amount on 6 skeins, I should be able to make a couple of shawls. Maybe, I'm being a bit ambitious on this one, Just got to find the right pattern. & now that my circular needles are in action and the cord is no longer doing it's own thing, this yarn is high on my list of to make something with projects. NOT JUST LOOK AT IT.




Mmmm, this ROWAN LINEN PRINT is just gorgeous. Don't know exactly what it will be as it was bought for a Christmas present. But I can look at it for a bit before it gets bundled out to a new home...boo hoo

Both of these yummy yarns are from the knitting garden.


TLC Cara Mia



Last but not least, this Cara Mia yarn purchased from Spotlight for a mere $3au per skein, would have to be one of the softest yarns out there. It's made up of 50% acrylic, 19% nylon, 18% rayon and 13% angora. It comes in quite a good range of colours too. There's going to be a nice handbag coming out of this one.

How many of these did I buy??? Not telling anyone, but let's just say that the shop did very well from my now empty purse.. hee hee, and loving it!

Have a great weekend everyone.