Crafternoon -

Over Christmas little caterpillars have attacked all my herbs. I have been going through and picking them off, and discovered this little chap. Maybe he was helping thin the herd. I love how you can see him looking right at the camera.














I don't like scaring them, I think they are just the loveliest looking little things, but the camera seems to give them the wiggins.














There is a friend staying from overseas, it seems to be turning life into a perpetual craftanoon.














I have lost any skill I once gained with the drop spindle, but I shall soon have a second little ball of singles, so I can have a go at plying.

Gretel -

Genius. Gretel in Lorna's worsted. And I'll have to try my hand at those gingerbread cupcakes. Suddenly I am itching to head back up to town.

Brother's cattle pup -

I am enjoying the sunshine and the beach and all.















But sometimes I wish I lived somewhere there was snow.

I'm thinking about resolutions, this year's was fun, I might base next year's around something I read - "As we head off into a year of uncertainty, there is one thing I know is true. Things will be better if we all take care of each other than they will be if we don't take care of each other."

The Day -

I waited for AGES for everyone to get up for Christmas - I was very good and didn't wake anyone (except my parental units, but I always wake them up on Christmas morning, and at least I waited til 7am this year).

I gave the first gift, and then read it to my little cousin (it has sound effects, everyone laughed, even the hung over people).















Cups of tea were made, presents were handed out from under the tree. (I know that looks suspiciously like a wine bottle in the foreground, but no one started drinking until 11am).















Well, nearly. The boys didn't get in until 3 in the morning and, when I sent the dogs in to wake them at 10, one of them came out and opened a pre-mixed whiskey...




















I cooked a turkey.




















The turkey did this to the family.















And this is my Christmas pony. My boon childhood companion, still kicking on.



















In spite of my plans, no knitting has been done. I started a bloody book. I had the overwhelming urge to write in the margins (doesn't often happen, but when it does, I am powerless to resist), but it doesn't belong to me, so I have been writing on scraps of paper.

Christmas -

I know it is Christmas because I just spent the better part of the day passed out under a tree in the backyard with two dogs and a good book. Other signs: I've just been sent down the street to get a Christmas present on behalf of one parental unit (who is at the pub) for the other parental unit (who is pretending that this doesn't happen every year). I am also going to head down to the village green in half an hour to sing carols with the village choir.

It is really hard to take a picture of two bad black dogs.















I have given the badly out-sized bayret to the brother. I should probably take a picture of him when he hasn't just hauled out of bed, having arrived at 4 am this morning. He and the cuz came through the nearest large town at 3 am and were flagged down by the police looking for drugs and guns. The car was searched and they were surly. I guess a caddy with two dodgy looking boys is just too much of a cliche.



















This year's Christmas tree.



















I'm off to sing and then make the pudding.

Flat -

I have been feeling a little lost, lately. What better way to find yourself than to ball up some cashmere for a new project. Or to cast on some Sundara in Mossy into a neat little scarflet?

Women's Association.

Yarn (or the want of it) -

I went through the stash the other night. In part because I was egged on by a friend who has been staying, in part because I had lost two skeins of yarn and thought this might shake them loose.














So, I flash my stash for the first time. I did find the yarn, which is nice because now I can knit the sleeves of my brother's jumper.














This morning I finished Topographie in the Monet Cadenza, the purl bumps are not so far from lilies on the water.














We went for breakfast where there was a breakfast cat at the door.


















And one of the more delicious pots of tea I have had. I will be going back there again soon. It was delightful.














We went from breakfast to Sunspun, where I didn't buy yarn for the Brooklyntweed Noro Scarf. It was a near miss. My friend tried every persuasive technique she knew to coax me to yarn-buy. She even challenged me to a race to the finish. My competitivness was nearly the end of me, but I stood firm. The only thing I worry about is that I've used up all my standing-firmness. I better not go into the city.

Christmas -



















I should have taken a picture of the turkey, it was spectacular.

Impulse -















But then, I just found this today when I was tidying up in the craft room. I bought it 5 years ago, so last night's purchase no longer strikes me as quite so impulsive.

Topographie -

Double Happiness.

Oh My God.

Where had I heard this wind before
Change like this to a deeper roar?
What would it take my standing there for,
Holding open a restive door,
Looking down hill to a frothy shore?
Summer was past and day was past.
Somber clouds in the west were massed.
Out in the porch's sagging floor,
leaves got up in a coil and hissed,
Blindly struck at my knee and missed.
Something sinister in the tone
Told me my secret must be known:
Word I was in the house alone
Somehow must have gotten abroad


Frost.

Beware -

I like where I live -

I already have many favourite breakfast places nearby, but I am suddenly twice as looking forward to lazy summer breakfasts as I was before.

I have long been looking for a good breakfast site for this little corner of the world - and this one is great.

There is an interview with a chef I once worked with and reviews of some of my favourite cafes. It doesn't have quite the biting sarcasm of the breakfast blog, but there is nothing wrong with leaving the negative comments at home.

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day.

Words -

I have been trying to wrap my head around Finnish knitting - it seems like a good challenge. Then I noticed Med Pinner was writing up her shawl pattern, Mrs Barista, I guess because English is Germanic based, it makes sense that Norwegian makes more sense to me (I can guess better), so I am thinking of trying Norwegian, too. Plus, it is being written up on ravelry in English, so if I get really stuck...

Then I read Med Pinner's next post, and she, too, is grappling with the Finnish.

As I was walking home, this caught my eye -

Under this shade
I rest


















It made me feel a little odd (in a different odd way than the cemetery usually makes me feel).

Wordle

We're not here for your cheese -

A Day -

Meet Arbutus, Cumquat's slightly stupid cousin from the country. He is kind of big and soft and dumb. I used the yarn from the swatch for the wedding blanket.














And my first Finnish knitting pattern. (No, I can't read Finnish, but I can read knitting and it was very straight forward). I still need to get some snaps to secure the other side (oh no, a trip to Clegs...)














I got the button at a yarn store in Kitsilano, Urban Yarns. I wanted to get a whole set of them, but they only had one left.














I watched Into the Wild tonight. I cast on at the start of the movie and cast off, sewed on the button and sewed in the ends before it finished. It has been a piece full of thinking and reflecting and I feel kind of peaceful right now. A bit like all is right in the world. (Apart from the f@cking enormous spider on the screen door that is preventing me from going out on the balcony or, indeed, anywhere near that part of the house).

Camp -

We went on camp the other week.

We stayed in a place I have been many times before.














Walked on the beach.














And saw some wildlife.














It was grand, but I was glad to say good-bye to fifty kids at the end of the week.

Bleah -

It is a mucky weekend, unseasonably cold, rain and hail showers which leave no time for nipping to the laundromat, let alone time to dry things after, and I am supposed to working.

Bleah.

I have been trying to take my mind of the meh-ness.

I started something new and quick.














Thought about beginning some unmentionables, but only got as far as patting the swatch. Maybe I should pick a different yarn. I love the feel of the Harmony, but the colour makes me feel meh. And you shouldn't knit meh unmentionables.














There is a jumper for my brother, and that has been good exam supervision knitting, but it is just a big, black, 12 ply jumper.














I knit a few more half-hearted rows on Laminaria. It has been a (long) while since I have touched this project and the Addi Lace needles had got all sticky and smelt metallic and like when you touch a battery to the tip of your tongue. I gave them a good rub on my woollen jumper and it seemed to do the trick, but they still smell funny.














I thought that if anything could lift my mood, cashmere could. I have been saving this yarn up since Canada, but not even that could lift my knitting spirits. Maybe I should just go and get the work done.














I have been enjoying blogs in other languages, lately. And have just learned my favourite word ever. Langanostolakossa - on a yarn diet.

Wedding blanket -

In a few hours I'm heading off to the wedding of two very dear friends. They said 'no gifts' when they announced the wedding in March, so I immediately cast on some polwarth/silk from Wendy Dennis that I had been saving for just the right project. At the same time, I saw Wry Punster's beautiful Autumn Leaves (ravelry), which I had completely dismissed when I first saw it in Knitty. (ravelry).

I have been working on it steadily since April, and took it with me to Tibet, I knit a lot of it in the van and had it with me when we stopped at the glacier that marks the Lhasa/Shigatse border, 5300 metres above sea level.













I blocked it a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time I've blocked something so large and it was a bit inexpert. Next time will be better, I hope, as I now have some blocking wires.














To wrap it, I brought home one of the Tibetan silk marriage aprons.














And a khata to tie the wrapping.














I am all ready to go. I found a little black dress last week from a local Melbourne designer and it makes me feel pretty. And today I ventured out to the misty morning lane ways of the city and had my hair cut and straightened.


















I had a go at getting a shot of it.

Hoya -

26/10


















I came through the cemetery a different way and nearly didn't recognise an the angel.


















3/11



















My grandma made this while she was sick, 30 odd years ago.