Cherry on top

A family funeral in Harden this week was an unexpected bonus. 

"Hard-hearted wench", I hear you cry - but not so.  It was a sad occasion but it was also a chance for the family to catch up and that's not bad at all.

And, as Bob Hudson so memorably said in the Aussie classic, The Newcastle Song, "Don't you ever let a chance go by, O Lord, don't you ever let a chance go by".*

So we left early and overshot Harden by less than 10 minutes to make it to Petal Falls Orchard and load the car with cherries.  When I say load, I mean 30 kilos of first quality at $5 a kilo for family and friends, and 10k of second quality at $2 for us for jam and sauce.  And a cherry pie for Junior.

It is still early in the season, so the fruit isn't quite at íts best, but we weren't sure we'd have time for another cherry run this year.  We spent two evenings pitting the 10 kilos of seconds in preparation for jam and sauce and we Friday night and most of Saturday performing the alchemy of preservation.

4 kilos went to jam and 5 kilos went to sauce, the other kilo mysteriously disappeared (some spoilage, some noms).  We also processed another 4 kilos in preserving jars, poached some for breakfast and had some with icecream.

Any basic jam recipe is fine, such as this from Taste.com.au. I doubled the mix each time and added the juice of a lime and a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon.  I also forgot to double the Jam Setta, so it took a couple of hours to reach setting point, but that's ok.  For cherries, you really do need the added pectin.

The sauce recipe is one we trialled last year.  I call it Cherry Christmas Sauce.  Also from Taste.com.au, we substituted cherries for cranberries.  While the recipe is billed as a jam, this stuff won't set and we've found it great as a saucy ingredient in main meals.  I'll write up what we've done with pork belly, lamb mince and kangaroo fillets another time, but it's well worth the cherries.

And jewels for the store cupboard - 5 small jars of preserved cherries, 1 large jar of preserved cherries in port and another of preserved cherries in brandy.  We've got dessert for Chrismas sorted, anyway.

*if anyone has access to the album this appears on, it also has a song "Librarian Lady" - would love to hear it!

Thursday we can knit - my favourite

Wednesday is mending day

Tuesday we iron

Seven Things Week 2

It didn't take long for the seven-thing agonising to kick in.

Last time, there were many looooong conversations with TSS about what constitutes an in or an out and just how creative counting could be.

Last week, was my diary insert an in?  If it is, then the old one is an out.  What about the bonus note paper that came with the insert, and the little plastic stamp holdery thing and the lovely leather bookmark? - all bonus gifts.

It doesn't really do to overthink these things.  The spirit of the challenge is to acquire less and let go of more.  I need the diary insert, it's definitely consumable and it cancels out anyway - it's not counted.  I don't need the note paper, the plastic stamp holdery thing or the book mark and if I did need them I could have made or readily improvised them from materials around the house- they are counted in.

Although TOF agreed that "hiding" things at his house or at the caravan would be wrong, he thought if he bought it, I didn't have to count it.  Nope, that's just sleight of hand.

Stuff that either TOF or I buy for joint use are definitely ins.  The fact that we operate separately and together out of three houses and a caravan (actually 2 caravans but that's another story) makes it logistically difficult but the principle is the same. 

IN

• 1 electric BBQ hotplate from some caravanning friends who didn't need it anymore - GIFT 
• 17 books (we went to the local church fete.  Only 4 are really for me, but them's the breaks) - FETE
• 1 food thermos.  It will fit pies for the footy or soup or stew.  At $10 it will make it's purchase price back in two uses - ONLINE AUCTION
• 1 knitting magazine - Can't resist Yarn Forward
• 1 bucket.  Actually it's an old 20 litre paint tin we picked up by the side of the road.  It's better than the little plakky bucket we were using for waste water at the van. - FOUND
• 1 copper based frying pan which matches the saucepans we took out to the van.  I bought the saucepans at DJs nearly 30 years ago and they've done me proud. $3 TIP SHOP
•  gift (no peeking) $2 TIP SHOP

OUT

• 20 cuddly toys collected for my favourite Westie breeder and slackly not sent.  Sent now.  - GIFT
• 4 precious Fowlers' jars lost in an avalanche in the storage area under my house - BIN
• 13 empty jars/bottles unsuitable for jams or chutneys - BIN
• 1 mixing bowl another jaralanche casualty - BIN
• 1 audio book - OP SHOP
• 1 camera case - OP SHOP
• 1 CD - OP SHOP
• 1 man's belt left by the previous owner of our caravan - OP SHOP
• 6 home decorating books - OP SHOP
• 1 cheap plastic container that probably arrived in a bulk lot of something else - OP SHOP
• 1 vintage Tupperware milkshake maker (we don't need 3) - OP SHOP
• 1 computer mouse (dead) - BIN
• 1 telephone headset (dead) - BIN
• 12 tshirts and shirts.  The summer stuff came out of the bag and these didn't make it into the wardrobe.  They were hand-me-downs or ill thought out bargain purchases from the op shop, so they can return - OP SHOP
• 2 Tupperware sandwich boxes - OP SHOP
• 1 thermos, came as  freebie and is replaced by our schmick new food thermos  - OP SHOP
• 3 cheapo measuring cups - OP SHOP
• 2 "green bags" - OP SHOP
• 1 glass jar - the button boodle continues its migration to Tupperware as suitable sizes are unearthed - OP SHOP
• 22 cook books.  - OP SHOP
• 4 lots wool and fibre - GIFT
• 2 prs trousers - 1 to the bin, 1 to the OP SHOP
• 2 shirts - wrong size for TOF, wrong fabric for repurposing - OP SHOP
• 1 coffee pot and 1 tea pot.  Even though I love these vintage Crown Corning pieces, they are totally unnecessary. - OP SHOP
• 2 Tupperware salt/pepper shakers.  We have enough and prefer the grinders anyway.  OP SHOP
• 3 novels.  Read and not part of the permanent collection - OP SHOP

SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT

• 2 pairs socks - all knitted and the ends sewn in - will blog them later.
• 2 knitted pot scrubbers - ditto
  
  
  IN   23
  OUT 111
  NETT OUT 88
  
  
  SIAA 4

Monday is washing day

Sunday we play

Saturday is cooking day

Friday is cleaning day

Terriers Toil on Tea Towels

It's no secret that I'm a sucker for vintage linens, hand-embroidery, second-hand bargains and Westies (and Scotties). 

It would take a woman of more will-power than I to resist a combination of all of them.

Last Sunday at the R-Shop (Mitchell Waste Transfer Station), I spied this in a rummage box.

Sweet vintage hand-embroidered and cro***ed tea towel.  It's 30 inches wide and 28 inches long.  Crocheted on the bottom long edge only.

The worker of this was not an expert needle-woman.  The towel is selvedge to selvedge and machine hemmed on the top and bottom.  I assume she cut a 30 inch square of the fabric which is lightweight and unevenly woven. Mum says she'd seen nappies made out of it in her childhood.  You'd be constantly changing nappies made of this stuff, it's so thin.  The scalloped cro***et on the bottom is, even to my eye, unevenly executed.  The back of the embroidery is reasonably neat (always a test of needle-skill according to my mother when she repeatedly had me unpick mine at an early age).

I was delighted to find it and clutched it to my chest.  All TOF would say was "you know you want it".  He's a lovely man, but does nothing for my won't-power.

Imagine, then, my glee, when another browser said "Here, lady" and thrust a further 6 of them into my hands.  "Dunno what they are, but you seem to like them" he continued gruffly.

Sweet frugalling angels!  It was a Monday-Sunday set of hand worked teatowels and mine for the princely sum of $5 which included all our other purchases (Bodum ice bucket, Tupperware, jam jar, cricket ball for the kids).

I spent the evening wondering if I could transform them into anything.  Skirts, cushions, summer frock?  Then, laying them out together, it struck me - the most perfect cafe curtain, ever.

So each day for the next week, I'll post the toiling terriers and show you the finished curtain (eventually).

Seven Things Week 1

Thanks for the encouraging comments, emails and 'phone calls.  Apparently some people find other people's junk fascinating - hang on, I find othe people's junk fascinating, that's the problem.  Ah well, entertainment coming and going.  For those of you joining in - GOOD LUCK!

The first week of the challenge is always easy.  There's a top layer of stuff that's begging for decluttering.  The only difficulty in the first week or so is getting it out of the house quickly enough and finding containers to put them in.

The stash of shop bags etc. went early in the last challenge and as we don't buy much retail and most groceries and op-shop items go into re-usable shopping bags, there's always a scramble to find suitable receptacles.  I'm starting with the so-called "green" bags that are inconveniently shaped for grocery shopping.  If we need more shopping bags, I can make them from fabric in the stash.

Also, even after the post about the pavers and the trailer during the week, I didn't reckon on the effect equipping and improving the caravan will have on this challenge.

We spent yesterday writing Very Long Lists (fear my lists!) of our immediate, short, medium and long-term plans for the van and what that would require.  I'm going to have to be particularly tough on the "outs" to accommodate the "ins" for the van.

IN

• 1 leather bookmark, 1 plastic stamp holder thing and 1 set note paper for my diary - I won a giveaway of a PocoProfile diary refill off TSS's blog.  The lovely Victoria included these things as bonuses.  - GIFT
• 15 besser blocks (for work at the caravan) - TIP SHOP
• 1 Bodum ice bucket (for the caravan - wine gets warm too quickly) - TIP  SHOP
• 1 jar (for this season's jams and preserves) - TIP SHOP
• 1 Tupperware container and extra seal - TIP SHOP
• 1 set vintage hand-embroidered tea towels, totally unnecessary, but wait until you see them! - TIP SHOP

OUT

• 1 vintage letter holder - OP SHOP
• 6 glass jars - these held some of the buttons boodle. The buttons they contained are now in Tupperware which nest better, take up less space and break with less disastrous results when dropped on timber floors. *sigh* - OP SHOP
• 1 bowl - OP SHOP
• 1 Tupperware mixing jug (we don't need 3) - OP SHOP
• 7 books - OP SHOP
• 13 specimen vases.  Collection of tiny cut glass and crystal vases - OP SHOP
• 2 "green" bags - OP SHOP
• 8 teaspoons - GIFT
• 5 knives - GIFT
• 6 forks - GIFT
• 4 dessert spoons (all cutlery donated to our workplace tea-room. There are never enough clean spoons or forks - the knives are a bonus) - GIFT
• 1 teabag holder (my brother's MIL collects Royal Albert Old Country Roses - she gets this melamine teabag holder I picked up at Vinnies' a while back) - GIFT
• 1 three-hole punch (new in box and has been for 16 years. It's going to work where it will be used) - GIFT
• 1 large bundle copy sheet protectors going to work, we use a lot of them and the budget is tight - GIFT
• 1 ream copy paper, also going to work - GIFT
• 1 microwave oven (not needed in the caravan) - DONATION
• 4 headbands uncovered in an avalanche from TOF's bookcase - we don't really know how they got their either - OP SHOP

SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT

• 6 padded coathangers - STASH

IN  23
OUT 63
NETT OUT 40

SIAA 6

Warm reception

We have internet access out at the carvan - the mobile dongle thing works.  Woot!

We've spent our first night at the van and I've spent the whole morning writing lists of things we need to do and equipment we need to have.

Most of the equipment etc. we can bring from home.  Some of the things we need to do will take more time and more resources.  If anyone has a good double mattress they don't need, for example, do get in touch.

As usual, we are re-using as much as possible (see previous post on pavers).  No photos today, but I'll be documenting our progress.  Stay tuned.

Hang 'em high

Sometime in the late 1980s I started padding coathangers.  Not the nylon lace knitted covers so beloved of my grandmother, but an improvisation on what was to hand.

I needed a wider hanger as my clothes were wider than most.  I needed a way to avoid the horrid "angel wing" effect of coathangers on clothes, I wanted delicate fabrics to maintain their shape and I needed to be able to do it for nothing or next to nothing.

So not much has changed, really.

I came up with a way of using materials readily available - wire coathangers available for free from clothes shops and the shoulder pads that were on the wane fashion-wise and available cheaply (or occasionally free) from op-shops.

The best shoulder pads to use are the fat, shoulder-shaped raglan pads.  If there is velcro attached, so much the better for gripability.

A pad is folded over the end of the wire coathanger and whip stitched into placed.  For extra width allow the padding to extend the hanger 1/4 to 1/3 the length of the pad. 

 To help the pad stay in place, stitch through the pad around the metal end.

On these hangers, I can hang wet shirts in woven or jersey fabrics to dry in small spaces and after ironing, rehang them to preserve the shape - no "angel wings" on my tops.

This week, I found a bag of raglan shoulder pads rescued from an op-shop. I whipped up six padded hangers using the last of the shoulder pad stash.

Timing

Just as well I started seven things on Monday or we'd have had to count these.

Something like 500-600 pavers we bought and moved in a storm on Saturday and in warm weather on Sunday.

Did I tell you we bought a caravan?  No?  Well, we bought a secondhand van in June.  It's on site outside town on a bush block.  We want to pave around the van to make a kind of patio and as the budget is non-existent, we're picking up second-hand materials when and where we can.

The two trailer loads on the weekend, and a load a few weeks back, came from Tiny's Green Shed at the Mugga Lane Tip.  We love Tiny's.  It's a second-hand shopper's delight.

A casualty of the second load, though, was a tyre on the trailer.  Once we'd unloaded, TOF unbolted the wheel and we left the trailer with the van.

We have a summer of paving to look forward to.

De ja vu

The clutter has been creeping back in. OK, it's been arriving by the gleeful armload up the front stairs and I'm not all that sorry.

Earthchick (blog now non-existent) started the Seven Things Project in July 2006. Her goal was to try and live more simply - to have less and more importantly to want less; to rid herself of the clutter that overwhelms and paralyses.  Her method was to rid her life of seven things each week. 

I'm not paralysed yet, but getting a little overwhelmed so the de-clutter bug has re-introduced into my system.  Also, I have clean out under Mum's house.  We never got around to it after Dad died, but this summer is the go. 

So we're seven-thinging again at Taph Towers. TOF will keep me honest - I'm not allowed to hide anything at his place or in our caravan. Of course, that means anything I cull in those places counts to the total, so it's all good. :)

For the uninitiated, I did two Seven Things Challenges in 2007. 6 weeks in Winter 2007, then 78 weeks from 1 Sept 2007-Feb 2009.  5,126 items (nett) left the house in those two challenges.

As before items will be thoughtfully dealt with. Just throwing stuff out isn't part of the deal. Mindful consumption and thoughtful disposal are tenets of this particular faith.

I will report each Monday in three categories :"In", "Out" and"Shake-it-All-About". The aim is that "Out" minus "In" will be greater than or equal to 7.  I'll keep it up through Summer and see how we go from there. 

In
The stuff I bring in to our homes. This includes:

• stash items of ANY kind
• other forms of entertainment such as books, magazines, cds etc.
• items received by subscription, for example, magazines
• clothes and accessories
• homewares
• gifts received

Exempt are consumables such as food and other groceries and items borrowed from the library (but not items borrowed from the library and copied for keeping because that is (a) illegal and (b) not in the spirit of the challenge).

Out
Items deliberately weeded from the houses. Consumables do not count. Completely worn out and non-fixable/transformable clothing, household items etc do.  I will try and repurpose before I give it away, but in the main, if it's clothing that is still wearable, just too big/small etc, I'll give it to the women's refuge or op-shop rather than cut it up.

Shake-it-All-About

This category is about transformation. After the first challenge I realised it is important to acknowledge the creative transformation of items already in the home. It might be as simple as the use of stash buttons on an old blouse to revamp it instead of buying a new blouse or other transformation of clothes. It might be the creation of something new for ourselves or others from stash. I have much sewing to do just now, mending and curtain making being the most pressing.  Some items from this category will become "outs" which is perfectly fine.  Maybe I'll include a "use it up" section to account for stash.  Dunno, I'll think about it.

So check back next Monday for an update.

Squee

Got my invitation to the Craft ACT Christmas event. 

Went squee to see Olivia's baubles featured on the invitations.

Double squee then, that they are on the website, too.

Truly local yarn soon

Lifted from the latest Poacher's Way newsletter, Spring 2010.

Eco sustainable wool mill on horizon for Bowning - Crisp Galleries

These are exciting times for the Crisp family, with the recent announcement that their historic ‘Gwandoban’ shearing shed (circa 1856 and moved from Harden to Binalong in 1914, then to Bowning eight years ago) will be rebuilt to house the new Yass Valley Woollen Mill, in conjunction with the Armour family, of Bookham.

With a majority of Australia’s woollen mills closed, and China now processing 82% of the world’s wool production, the Yass Valley Woollen Mill is set to become Australia’s premier processor of superfine wool.

The ‘mission’ of The Yass Valley Woollen Mill is to produce an Australian grown and made, eco sustainable yarn and fabric that can be totally transparent along the supply chain.

Between them, the Crisps and the Armours have a vision to create not only a productive and sustainable mill but also a valuable tourist and educational facility. The ‘great hall’ which runs the length of the 50m building will be transformed into a viewing room, with retail space selling products created with Yass Valley yarn.

The Yass Valley Woollen Mill is a serious commitment to the wool industry to ensure its sustainability into the future.

CAN'T WAIT! - Read the full press release on the Crisp Galleries website.

More Improvisations

Now THAT'S a campervan!

Snogging

Reflections in water (and pelicans)

Byways

TOF has a philosophy - when faced with a choice, always take the one you haven't experienced before.

So we did.

Taking Seale Road from Kempsey to Gladstone we pass from tall timber to low swamp country then through lush dairy farms beside the river.

In the tall timber country, the buzz of trail bikes.

In the low area we travel on a dirt road with expanses of wetland on either side.  Black swans and their cygnets keep an eye out for the hawks that were circling on either side of the road and the herons stalk in the shallows and reeds higher than the car provide shade. 

Magic.

Pelicans

Pelican spots fisherman

Pelican circles float

Pelican brings mates for participation in fish-gutting ceremony.

Pelicans always win in the end.

Kiss of Death

Book him, Dano

Some of my friends adore travel writing - they read it, they write it, they live it.  Me, not so much. I just don't enjoy a lot of the genre and I've decided its because, being mostly autobiographical, I don't think I'd enjoy spending time with the authors in real life either
Bill Bryson is snarky, Peter Moore is foolhardy and boorish, but David Dale: him I like.

Dale's The Obsessive Traveller : Or why I don't steal towels from great hotels anymore came with me to Europe in 1992.

This week I've read his 1996 publication,  A Traveller's Alphabet of Essential Places : A book about ideas and where they started. It does what is says on the box - the reader travels to 26 places on the globe that gave rise to some of the most crucial ideas (or things) in history.

Not everything is earth shattering, but David is an intelligent and humourous guide to the places and the history of ideas spawned there.

How much did I enjoy it?   I had to read bits (lots of bits) out to TOF.  Wanting to share it is always the sign of something good.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Great Drying Days

There isn't much that can beat piles of fresh fluffy towels and crisp cotton sheets warm from the sun.

Drying days with the sun shining and a good breeze should be celebrated!

Reasons to be Cheerful - Serendipity

One of the major appeals of second-hand shopping is its serendipitous nature.

Yesterday we found this.  Too, too apt to stay in Macksville. :)

Reasons to be Cheerful - Avocadoes

Spread on wholegrain toast with a cracking of black pepper at breakfast (or lunch), avocadoes are lush and decadent with a banana-like mouth feel and just a hint of bitterness.  Obviously ovoid and pale-green are enough to make me very happy right now.

The local avocadoes are plentiful and cheap where we are right now.  We're making the most of them.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Customer Service

Clever baristas who assist the serving staff and put a smile on my face at the same time.

Reasons to be Cheerful - Improvisation

It will be no surprise that improvisation makes my heart glad.

A recent client graciously, if a little bemusedly, allowed me to photograph his improvisation.

Take one metal coat hanger, one crepe bandage and some origami skills and hey-presto, a custom-made iPad stand.
 

 

Reasons to be cheerful - eggs

Driving up to the farmhouse on a late winter's afternoon, the cows were plodding back to the paddock after milking and the dogs, after initial alerting barks, boisterously friendly and cuddly.

The chooks were glossily pecking around the yard, so many colours and types.  I shouldn't be surprised, then, that the eggs were charming, too.

Palest brown shells and palest green shells. Like sugared almonds in a box. Delicious poached on toast, too.

Totally compatible

Can so too drink a bottle of red wine* and knit a tension square in garter stitch while holding simultaneous conversations with two people by text message and two other people on Face Book chat.

*Woorawa, Barrel Select Old Vine Shiraz, 2003 - very nice indeed.

Let me count the ways

One of them is he is a bloody good sport.

I give him an internet name like The Old Flame and he creates a blog from it; I want to go to a knitting book signing, he comes along and counts the number of times the author uses the words "tea cosy", is rhythm accompanist for the rap and has his picture taken (fantastic arvo, Loani, btw); I find out about a blog called Dudes With Beards Eating Cupcakes, he lets me exploit his birthday for it.

It was his birthday yesterday - happy birthday my love.

Bale up!

I’ve said it often enough, so you’d think I’d believe it by now - boodle has its own level. It is a living (and probably sentient) thing that resents being reduced, except by the natural attrition of finished objects.

I’ve spent the better part of the last couple of weeks weeding the stash. Odd balls, colour collections of odd balls, garment amounts in weights/colours I won’t use, novelty and other fun yarns, feltable yarns, and wool that, while the shine has not quite gone off it, has resisted attempts to be transformed into the wonderful item I envisaged for it – all have found good and welcoming homes. This was a considerable undertaking and the yarn went out in ripples and small waves.

Also, we are going away next week with an overseas visitor, also a fibre fiend. We are taking her to a couple of woollen mills and some independent fibre and yarn pushers. I was prepared to be extremely strong (particularly in the face of the stash enhancement aversion therapy just undergone) and had worded TOF up on the need for him to not enable me.

Is it fair, then, that a little problem of tenses in the English language landed me with an incoming tsunami?

A couple of weeks ago, a colleague of TOF’s emailed him:

“I am having the black sheep shorn this weekend, would you like the wool for your girlfriend?”

Oooh, a black fleece, we thought, that would be lovely and immediately accepted the kind offer. I popped out and bought a 150 litre plastic bin to store it in.  I joked with TOF that it should come in 3 bags full.  Not so funny now!

This morning it became apparent that English is an imprecise and, frankly, bloody dangerous language. Here’s the last of a series of email between my benefactor and TOF.

“You seem to be somewhat a tad vague on the amount of wool.........You know those wool bails, well, it is one of them filled with 11 sheeps wool plus a separate yellow pellet bag, which contains the white rams wool. The wool bail is not compressed so it able to be squeezed, but still, it is quite heavy and quite large.”

Tonight, instead of going to a movie as planned (in a real cinema with snuggle seats, as opposed to the lecture theatre we usually see films in), we wrangled a bale and a bit of raw, smelly, glorious fleece.

Still here, just running and running and running.

TOF and I had a long weekend down the coast op-shopping  in February and since then, it's been food preserving non-stop.  For the first installment in our adventures in scrumping, pop over to TOF's blog.

Bewdy bottler

1. I am a stockpiler (I do not hoard - there is a difference). If oft-used commodities are going cheap, I stockpile and use. Doesn't matter if it's undies, wool or food - I stockpile and use.

2. I hate waste.

3. Freezer space in the Taph and TOF households is always at a premium (see 1, above, although Mum, TOF and Jnr have almost finished the reduced by 70% lasagne from my bulk buy in November)

4. I like stewed fruit - it is my cereal topping of choice and forms the basis of my favourite dessert Fruit Crumble (flavour depends on fruit to hand)

5. I particularly like stone fruit.

6. I like being self-sufficient.

7. I am concerned about the environmental effects of transporting fruit all over the country to be canned, then transporting it to warehouses, then transporting it to supermarkets.

8. I am more concerned when the fruit comes from overseas to start with.

9. I bought 3 packing cases full of Fowlers' jars for $20 at the tip shop over the Christmas break.

10. I spent our Christmas money on an electric bottling kit (and paid retail!)

11. We spent last weekend bottling the two cases of peaches my SIL got me from Araluen during the week.

I estimate that's about 2 months worth of fruit and we're keen to do more. TOF is already thinking about a fruit chasing holiday for January 2012 (we're booked until then!) taking the bottling equipment and the fruit dehydrators with us.

Anyone have fruit going spare or know of some? Anyone got old Fowlers' jars they'd like to part with?

Keeping Mum (happy)

And this pair of baby socks is the fourth pair of sockees completed in the last couple of weeks. Mum's hairdresser's daughter had a little girl recently.  Mum commissioned these for little Chiara.  It's Patonyle left over from socks I made Mum.

TOF's Mum commissioned 3 pairs of baby socks for her expected great grandson (see last post), which I was happy to supply out of left overs, including these ones from a Moda Vera sock yarn (Mum got the big version for Christmas).  Sorry forgot to photograph the others.

There's another pair on the needles and then the commissions are fulfilled.  Next up, baby jackets in self-striping sock yarn.

The Shiner

TOF's niece is having a baby in April so of course knitting is in order.  After checking with the grandmother-to-be, I opted for a blankie, any number of socks and some little jackets.

Spotlight had 8ply Sports Support yarn for $1.99 a ball during the after Christmas sale.  A 50/50 wool/acrylic blend, it's quite nice on the hand but I suspect may pill a bit.  This gorgeous royal purple is in the "Plum" colourway.  A very scientific poll of knittes and their fellas last week decided that the colour should be "Shiner".

The pattern is adapted from a freebie on the BBC website.  It's a diagonal garter stitch square knitted from 4 x 50 gram balls of 8ply yarn.  Improvised the ruffle edge from the remaining 2 x 50g balls as I wasn't fussed on the lace edging (little fingers, eyelets, not a good combo),

Using a 150cm circular needle, I knitted up stitches all around the edge (from between the edge bumps) and joined in the round.  The frill took almost every bit of the two balls.

First Round:  K1, Kf&b, repeat all around
Second Round: Purl
Third Round: Knit
Fourth Round: Purl
Fifth Round: K1, Kf&b, repeat all around
Sixth Round: Purl
Change to 4.5mm needle
Seventh Round: Knit
Eighth Round: Purl
Continue alternating knit and purl rounds until sick to death of doing 600+ stitch rounds, or the ruffle is deep enough, or in this case, until the wool ran out. (about 10 rounds)
Cast off in knit, or if enough wool, a picot cast off would be nice.

Finished dimensions 22" along each side.

I love this blankie and will knit it again and when I do it will be a little larger and the frill a little deeper.

Big read

One of the activities I let go when I took on more responsibility for Mum’s care was book group. More than that, I stopped reading altogether, having little brain power left at the end of the day. Every effort is being made to get to at least a couple of the meetings this year and even to read off list books.

Our book for discussion on 2 February is last year’s Booker Prize winner, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I was excited as the prospect of reading it as I’d enjoyed this author before and I once was a Booker junkie, reading as many of the short list as I could before the big announcement. I was excited until I saw the size of the book – 651 pages. Seriously? 651 pages? You really need 651 pages?

Mantel’s hero is Thomas Cromwell, who is often portrayed as Henry VIII’s Machiavellian henchman responsible for the reforms that led to the formation of the Church of England. Here he is a self-made man of intellect, ability and passion. Entirely human and entirely sympathetic.

I’m still not quite over resenting the 651 non-skimmable pages, but I am yet to see where the editing could be done to make it shorter. The prose is dense and intense but it is not wasteful. Some passages need to be re-read to gain a complete understanding, and the family tree and cast of characters at the front of the book is necessary, even if you have an average or better acquaintance with Tudor history.

There are still a 250 pages left to be read and I’m thoroughly enjoying the journey. This is slow reading at its best. Knitting to accompany such a demanding (but completely enjoyable) read is necessarily simple. Adult and baby socks have been knitted to it and just now a garter stitch baby blanket. Complicated knitting and this book do not mix.

Normally I would recommend borrowing a copy from your public library but this time, Canberrans, if you can buy or borrow a privately owned copy do so. The ACT Public Library has 32 copies and as of this morning 143 requests on them. This means the loan period is reduced to two weeks and trying to get through this in two weeks is impossible unless you have those two weeks to lie in the shade and read.  Although it does wonders for the concentration to have such a deadline.

Early Spinning and Knitting on the Monaro

Archibald Crawford was born in 1833, in Campbelltown, Scotland and was 10 years old or so when his family settled for a year on The Dry Plain on the Monaro in about 1844. He was in charge of a flock of 800 lambing ewes. 

He writes in his memoir Eighty-Five Years in Australia (Sydney: John Sands Ltd; 1925), pp 22-23.

My mother, of whom I was very fond, used to spin all the wool for our knitted garments, of which we wore a good many. She never spoke English in the home, although she had an average knowledge of it, but always Gaelic. When she was knitting, sewing or spinning, she would sing old Gaelic songs to us; she had a very sweet and pleasing voice. One of my brothers-in-law, named Brayshaw, made the first spinning wheel which she used in this country; later on, when we went to Victoria, she got an imported one, which is still in existence as far as I know, and would probably be used during the Great War. At night I had to tease the wool for carding, another thing I did not like doing, and one night I was complaining and mother said to me, "No doubt you do think it a great bother to have to tease the wool, but you just think when you are out in the snow to-morrow how you would feel if you have no nice warm socks to wear." The next day I had reason to remember her lecture.

Merry Christmas

Thanks to The Old Flame for finding this.  He thinks it is "too true to be funny."

Thriftmas

Because there just isn't enough compulsory shopping at this time of the year, The Old Flame and I squeezed in a little op-shopping on the weekend.

We found heaps of wool, sewing notions and a toy loom (a bit expensive, but what the hell, it's Christmas), some shirts and these, my favourite things, which I even managed to photograph.

The white cane basket was full of knitting wool - most of it useable, the hand made little blue and white mouse in 3ply wool, the blue darning mushroom, and pink ballet flats with cute toe detail.

Surprise

So I had a birthday.  The perpetual problem of having a birthday so close to Christmas is that it's a big hassle for everyone.  People are busy preparing for Christmas, attending Christmas parties etc.  If I plan a birthday function it's a hassle, so this year I planned nothing but a quiet weekend with The Old Flame.

He managed to surprise me with a gift.  A Tupperware mystery box of goodies.  I'm difficult to surprise, mostly because I tend to buy myself what I want and need, and also because TOF and  I went to Sydney recently to buy each other's gifts, so I thought I knew what I was getting.  I didn't, he surprised me and it was lovely.

The day held a surprise garage sale around the corner, a surprise visit to some friends, a surprise purchase of cute underwear at reasonable prices in a chain store (something I've never managed before - the benefits of significant weight loss) and yesterday, a surprise cake from my colleagues.  I thought I'd hidden my birthday from my friends at work, forgetting that some of them are also my friends on Facebook. 

Jill made a delicious cake which we shared yesterday afternoon.

Touche Turtle and Away!

I just love fnding new uses for Tupperware!

On Second Hand Sunday (29 Nov just passed), The Old Flame and I picked up the base of a Tupperware marinating dish thinking we might have seal lurking in the bits and pieces collection.

It came in quite useful when we rescued this little fellow.  He was trying to cross the Barton Highway at a very busy spot.  I picked up the smelly freshwater turtle, either Emydura macquarii (Macquarie Turtle) or Chelodina longicollis (Snake-necked Turtle), and we took him to a reedy spot near the lake in Nicholls.  He was gone in seconds.  So quickly did he depart, we didn't get another photo.

Live well, Stinky.

Zippity doo dah

Lovely to run into Button Beauty and Consumption Rebellion at Salvos in Philip a couple of days ago.

I was buying old Zip disks for a friend who volunteers in a major national institution helping preserve technology and electronic records.  If anyone has old Zip disks they were considering ditching, I can find them a good home. (And thanks to Twitter friend Sonja who has already pledged a couple more).

Hope the Barbie Camper found a good home. :)

Iron woman

I have a shameful secret.  Really, really shameful.  Only a few people know it and I usually don't like to talk about it.  I quite like ironing.

My post on fabric napkins garnered a lot of "I love them, but hate ironing" comments so I thought I should come clean (so to speak).

Ironing is a bit like making jams and preserves - I'm not that keen on the process but I really love the result.

There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from a truly empty ironing basket that defies description. 

Early memories of my mother are Sunday afternoons watching old movies on the telly while she ironed.  The smell of hot cotton and Fabulon!  I got to do hankies and pillowcases.

One of my household chores as a teenager was the family ironing.  I didn't much like it, but I wanted my pocket money and it was better than mowing the lawn.  When I was at college, I took in ironing to earn extra money.  

Ironing also gave me a passive-agressive outlet.  When Dad was pissing me off (and when wasn't he?), I starched his undies and hankies until they could stand up on their own.  After I left home he complained to Mum that his clothes didn't feel quite right!

But I have to be honest, I enjoy seeing a rail of freshly pressed items and get a thrill seeing people I love looking smart in garments I have ironed.  It's a bit like knitting really.  All that time and effort - you'd only do it for those you love.

The Old Flame bought a divine new ironing board once I started doing his shirts, and I've invested in new spray bottles and pressing cloths and a clothes rack (because I broke the old one with over-use) in this last year.  I even found the much lusted after Elna Press (at a garage sale in South West Rocks in August for $40) - which makes ironing jeans and tablecloths a breeze.

In moments of frustration I dream of leaving work and setting up as an ironing lady.  There may even be a business plan tucked in the back of my diary.  It's a great plan; let me know if you need an ironing lady, I might be able to fit you in.

Now go away, I have a fifties housewife to channel.

Are you being servietted?

New/old napkins on the washing line this morning. 

I bought 17 cloth napkins recently in navy, yellow, red, green and cream at a garage sale for $2 and another 8 navy napkins at the tip shop for $1.    These are going into the big box under the house where we keep our catering sets of glasses and other barbecue and party paraphernalia.  I loathe plastic cups and glasses and much prefer cloth to paper napkins.

Popping cherries

I know it's Summer when the first stone fruits hit the stove in a preseve-making frenzy.

The Old Flame and I took Mum and Peggy off to Young on Saturday and bought up big in the cherry shed on Torry Hill.  30 kilos between us might sound like a lot, but much gets given away.

Sunday, TOF and I get busy with the cherry pitter. 

We sacrificed a bottle of vodka to make two jars of cherry vodka which will be ready in time for New Year's Eve and made a start on the port stockpile Dad left me and preseved a couple of big jars of cherries in spiced port for dessert on Christmas Day. 

There are three containers of cherries poached in cinnamon syrup in the freezer to be eaten sometime in autumn or winter when stone fruits are just a dream.  Five jars of cherry, ginger and port jam also made it off the stove.  I suspect we'll use this more as a sauce than a jam as it's very runny and very gingery. 

There's also a weeny bit of highly concentrated "Essence of Christmas" syrup.  We chucked all the cherry pips and left over syrups from the other recipes which included  port, cinnamon, orange peel, sugar, star anise and lemon skins into a small saucepan and let it simmer while we did the rest of the cooking.  I seem to recall a mango seed also got popped in for good measure late in the day as well.  We then strained and bottled it.  It will be the base of a sauce or two for leftovers after Christmas.

Another couple of kilos went into the dehydrator for winter enjoyment as well.

Then there were the ones that only made it as far as our mouths.  And there's plenty for snacks this week.

Because I'm not the Mummy

I've been wanting to blog about what it's like to care for a parent for a while and not been able to come up with the words.

Luckily, Zuska has done it for me, and for all of us who care for a parent or older person.  While the specifics are slightly different, the issues are exactly the same.

This post was linked to in Wallaby's Down Under Feminists' Carnival, which I found through Penthe.