RAIN

You would not believe this but we have rain. It has gone on longer than 6 drops. We have not had rain for so long. Woo Hoo. It has not been under 30 degrees here since the start of December and heaps of those days have been up to 40. It's still bloody hot and muggy. Yuck.

You can't really tell but there is rain in them there hills!!!!

See this baby Wooy (what Liam calls Cats) - he's shitting himself. He has never seen rain. He is up on the back verandah shaking. He doesn't know what it is.

This kitten is one of 5 - one died pretty much after birth (it was the runt), one was given away and we kept 3. Two were born with tails and three without. Their mum did not have a tail but their Gran did. Their dad does not have a tail. At 8 weeks their mum died from a snake bite. Terrible. She layed under the back verandah (in other words she came home), the 3 kittens were suckling of her. It was so bloody sad. We only suspect it was a snake bite - she was very healthy and I had seen a big brown snake in the house paddock just a couple of days before. So I presume she was trying to protect the kittens.

Must go and do some more knitting of Al's socks - I am ready to turn the heal or knit up the side. Whatever it's called.

Socks

I haven't been doing much this week. I have been working on Al's Brown socks and have so far snapped 3 dpn's! You think I might be knitting a little tight? They are coming up great.

I went to spinning group on Monday and we had Delores Anderson there from Melbourne to teach us how to make a Wombat Jacket. Pinched from EZ's Badger Jacket. Bloody hell - what an ordeal.

Hope to do some more dyeing and carding this weekend. Would like to spin up a blend in the colours I did for the ISE scarf. I will have to get one of the kids under the bed to look for some nice wool!

Anyway, have a great knitting, spinning or whatever weekend.
JO

More Photos

I have some more photos from the weekends work. Here we go.

Some really black/dark brown Alpaca which I drum carded and left on huge batts. They look and feel great.
My bambino modelling yet again. This is the scarf I made for a girlfriend from the purple wool and silk I showed ages ago.

This is the sock yarn for Al's socks. Not my choice of colour but will look great knitted up. I am going to double knit with blue for the heels and toes.
Finally this is the orange I dyed with the lot from the last post. It is Ashford Red and Yellow mixed.

Well must go to bed. I can't believe how much fibery things I did over the weekend.

JO

Wombat Jacket and Dyeing

We had spinning group today Dolores Anderson from Melbourne came to show us how to make the Wombat Jacket (knicked from EZ's Badger Jacket). Bloody Hell is that tricky. We had something like 400 years knitting experience between us and you would've thought it was the first time we had picked up needles. It was fun. I'm no where near finished my sample jacket on 10 stitches but if I ever do I will publish a photo. The plan is for all of us to make one and wear them to the Shepparton's Group Sharing Day. Should be interesting from the outcomes today. We will be lucky to have the test ones done!!!

I did some dyeing and drum carding over the weekend and had fun. I love to dye and see how the wool changes on outcome.

The wool is all from a white merino roving I had which was blended with a blended with brown. Didn't know what to do with it, so I dyed it - I think they turned out great.

Ashford Yellow

Green - Blend of Ashford Yellow and Blue, Purply-Brown - blend of Ashford Red and Blue
Landscape - Sarsaparilla
Landscape - Wild Raspberry

Ashford - Red and Blue. (The red really is a true red but turned out orange in the photo)

Big Day Out

We went to the Hume Weir today and I am so tired. Mum and I did nothing but watch the kids swim, eat a BBQ and catch up with each other, it was great. My brother had a great day, he caught heaps of fish, mostly too little so he threw them back in and 2 European Carp - he threw them on the bank.



This is Dean my brother he caught two fish at one time!!! I had never seen this done before.


This is my Dad, he was the chief BBQ cooker and nag!


And these ofcourse are my boys - they had never seen a live fish before and were so excited. This one's a Euro Carp and they are a real pest in OZ.

We stayed at the Weir for about 4 hours, the kids had a blast. They only got out of the water to eat their lunch for about 15 mins.

When we were coming home the cops had blocked the road about 1 KM out of town. There was a fire blocking the road. They told us we had to go back around where we came from and go through 2 other towns - which would've taken about 1 1/2 hours!!! I knew a short cut through the bush and it took about 15 minutes. We were only 2 minutes from home the direct way.

There were 3 helicopters so we went out to the cemetary where they were filling them up. I had the camera with me still, so I got some shots. Not good ones, but hey I never have the camera.




The fire is apparently out there now but has started on the other side of town where they were originally detouring people to!!!

Anyway good day - no knitting, spinning group tomorrow.

JO

Socks, Socks, Socks

I finally finished the bloody socks! They look great and Jess is so happy to have them. He's recieved the first pair and ofcourse everyone has put their order in.




He spent the day at the lake swimming with friends and did not take the sunscreen. I could kill him. Look how sunburned his face is. Mongrel.

We're going to another lake today for a BBQ with my parents, brother and his girlfriend for my brother's birthday - should be interesting, the girlfriend is such a bitch. None of us like her, not because she's with my brother but because she's a PSYCHO!!!! I should take the camera and take a couple of photo's.

Anyway must go, Liam is being Liam and Al's cracking it.

See you later.

JO

International Scarf Exchange 2 Scarf FINALLY sent

I finally posted my scarf today. It has been ready for so long but I never got around to posting it. I was so impressed with it. Looked at it alot and stroked (!) it alot. I love the ways the colours all spun together. Very impressive I think.




This is my model Liam - he was so proud that he was allowed to touch the scarf.
P.S. He is the only one that gets away with playing with my wheels and he has quite a good rhythm on them.

I've neally finished the second sock. I'm going to knit the foot on this one a little longer. I think I might have been to stoogy on the first one. But it will be OK and Jesse will just be stoked to have them.

These are some photo's of my baby's. I got them when they were about 4 days old. They are now a couple of months old but we still have not got any eggs. I think they are beautiful.





Well am going to visit Nan and Pa now.

See you next time.

JO

Life Path Number

Your Life Path Number is 3

Your purpose in life is to express your unique self. You are a creative and artistic person with an interesting view on life. Witty and outgoing, you enjoy sharing your crazy ideas with anyone who will listen. A total social butterfly, you're the life of any party. In love, you inspire and enchant your partner. You are often an object of fantasy and desire. While you are very talented, you sometimes lack the ambition to put your talents in play. And while your wit carries you a long way, you occasionally use it to mask your true feelings. Your natural abilities can bring you all the success in the world ... if you let them

What Is Your Life Path Number?

Quite scary really!!!! How do they know?

Better late than never

Where have you been lately!!!!

I've been busy, lazy and bored all in the last couple of weeks. I've spun and dyed the wool for my son Jess' socks and am neally finished knitting one of them. I think they may be too big around the legs and not long enough for the foot length. We'll see. Should finish the first one tonight.

The downs single on the bobbin - I have been plying them from a centre pull ball. Very easy coming out - no tangles at all. Gotta love that.

The colour of the sock wool it more a bluey-grey. Nice. He will be able to wear them to school.


I've been going mad buying books about knitting, etc on Ebay. I promised hubby I wouldn't buy anymore fleeces until I used all I have got - so books seem to be a good alternative. I will post a pic when they have been delivered.

My 11 year old Jesse went to a new school this year. He used to go to the Catholic School but I decided to send him to the Public P.S. this year. There were too many issues at the other one. Shame really I went to the Catholic School when I was a kid and it was a good school. Very strict with the dscipline but also very fair. I only got the strap once from a NUN and that was in Grade 5 for talking in line. Believe me I learnt!!!!

This is a picture of the school Jesse is now going too. Isn't it lovely. My dad went to it when he was a boy. He wasn't a Catholic Wog like me!!! It's over 150 years old. They actually got airconditioning and heating at the end of last year. The class rooms should be very comfortable for the kids.


They do science, music and drama, environmental studies, have a chook pen and heaps more. The other school didn't have any of this. I should have put him straight into there when we moved back to the country town 2 years ago. Oh well, we live and learn.

Well I am going to finish that sock now so bysy bye.

JO