Short yet Destructive

This afternoon as I readied to go and collect the children from school it started to rain. It wasn't that heavy but I grabbed raincoats and umbrellas just in case.

We returned home to find this:


Even though the storm hit at the school we just didn't realise how destructive it was. A neighbours industrial sized shed has had the corners of the roof turned up. All the wheelies bins were blown over. It was as if a mini cyclone had hit. I'm just glad I left Marley inside, I'd hate to think what could have happened to him.

Of course now the sun is out and it is a lovely winters afternoon. The funny thing is, winter is our dry season and there are usually no storms.

Keep smiling :-)

It was worth the wait...

For quite a while I'd been considering buying Cookie A's Sock Innovation and Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up. They arrived on my doorstep this morning and don't I wish I'd ordered them earlier. They are both wonderful reference books as well as containing beautiful sock patterns. Now I just have to find time to knit some...


They have joined my two other all time favourite sock books, Laura Chau's Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, to be thumbed through over and over for inspiration, techniques and simply a good sock pattern to knit.

I've been dedicating a little time over the past week to lace knitting. You will notice a common theme in these projects, the yarn - Malabrigo sock. I've fallen in love. It is such a wonderful yarn to use in lace. Though Merino is has a lustre and feel reminiscent of silk and look how well the patterns define on a 3.5mm needle.

Dodile's North Roe Shawl in Eggplant. The lovely Odile has agreed to let us teach this pattern at Tangled Yarns. Of course I already have my lovely Blue Moon Fiber Arts Laci North Roe but thought it would be good to show students how it looks in a fingering weight. Yes I know Kelly, I also had a little trouble resisting the yarn so what better excuse :).

Next we have Laura Chau's Milkweed Shawl in the Persia Colourway.

And finally a lace scarf, in the Turner colourway, that I'm designing for our other Lace class at Tangled Yarns.

And yes I'm still spinning. Look at this gorgeous green I picked up at QSPFA's latest open day. I'll show you the finished product when I reach that stage.

Keep smiling :-)

Workroom Rearrange

Currently it is school holidays so I don't expect to get much work done at all. So instead I decided to move furuniture. Every now and then comments are made about how my work takes over the house. Well must admit you could find it in the lounge and library but the bedroom and study are relatively clear :) .

So if you check this post you can see what it looked like and here it is now:

And as you can see I even provided a perfect cat spot, as Rooster is demonstrating.


Maybe I should also take pictures of the other areas to show how bare they are now.

It is interesting how the change has affected me. By bringing everything together I'm actually spending more time on my project because I know that everything I should need is in that room.

Keep smiling :-)

Crazy Hair Day

At school today it is Crazy Hair day to raise money for the Leukimia Foundation though some of the children are going to whole way and doing the Shave for a Cure. Here's how my two left the house.
Last year we did the hair colour thing but not this time. Between the chemicals and aerosol of a spray, not to mention the cost and the fact that you could hardly see the colour in their hair anyway. Most importantly they were happy though Anna has asked me to put more plaits in her hair tonight. Might make the others fall straighter as well. She's been told she can leave it in until Sunday and then we have to go 'normal' again. Have to admit it would be the easiest way to keep her hair tidy and it knots very easily.

Now I'm going to go and hide back under my rock and hope this head cold doesn't get any worse.

Keep smiling :-)