Storms, mowing & productivity

well we had quite a week here with storms on Tuesday & the weekend before that we had some rain but weather was mild compared to the last week. 
Thursday a friend came over with his ride-on & mowed my place as i was getting a little flustered with the weather being against me trying to mow it with a push mower. i would get a good portion of it mowed, like all the front, around the house & down to the chook shed when the rains would come & then it would be on & off & before i knew it i was re-mowing the same areas again, so the back part of my blocks was getting neglected & it was getting long!
then Friday came & it hit us here with almost 45`c! the storms that came here that afternoon were savage! hail, lightning we had the works, power outages, it was scary, most of the weekend was like that, though saturday was a cool 36`c but still had high humidity & storms & sunday was a tad milder with storms.
so, i have had the computer off for a good 3 days, wow, i got quite a bit done too, well, more than i usually do in a day, there was raking to do, (was out on Friday trying to beat the storm) got a fair bit of the mowed grass put around the trees, plants potted up, got quite a few done there, grass chipped out around the fig tree, knitted some dish cloths, finished the tea pot cozies & started re-making some old bath mats.   

up-cycling some old bathmats

finished tea cozies

today the computer went on early & i got almost absolutely nothing done ...

boy, does it make you feel lethargic! 
i did manage to drag myself away late this arvo to let the chooks out for a green pick & i got some lemongrass potted up, not a total wasted day at least. 
computers do have their good points, research is easier, ordering online, reading wonderful blogs, etc. i just need to use my time on it more wisely. 
i think i will keep up some days where the computer doesn't come on & sit & do knitting or my bath mats, am folding them in half & putting a blanket stitch around as well. they were once one towel re-purposed, they didn't sell at our markets so i grabbed them to make myself a bath mat, as i only have one, i was going to just sew them together to make one but it seemed too big. am totally enjoying making them too. 
plus there's also plenty of weeding to do & more raking...

sounds like another storm coming in, got to love living in Queensland.


hope everyone is keeping cool or warm in your part of the world

thanx for visiting

a few things in progress & made

it's been awhile since i posted anything, sorry but i prefer to post when i have something to show you which unfortunately isn't very often of late

i finished some flip flop topped mittens for London Girls beau & some legwarmers for her but in my rush to get them done & posted i forgot to take pictures! don't worry, will get her to send me some to post when she gets them.
this is the pattern i used for the mittens: flip-flop-top mittens 
& this is the legwarmers: Barbarellies


i've also finished two knitted coat hanger covers, made with lace as these are my favourite to make, they are now at our market stall for sale.
                            

last Friday i finally got round to making some soap, had a bit of a panic with it as i didn't have enough lye to make the recipe from Rhonda but found another recipe that only needed 90gr of lye, whew! still used olive oil & copha, which my olive oil has had calendula soaking in it for several months. i was very pleased with how it turned out this time, looks like i'll be able to gift this lot, hopefully, will know more in a month when it's cured. 
                                        
                             

might've added a little too much Calendula

 

i still haven't tried any recipes from my olive oil book, am a stickler for sticking to what i have already made & am a bit scared of trying new things with something i'm not very familiar with but hope to make a batch next time from it. 

undid my cotton top several times then decided to go up a size in needles, instead of 4mm for the body it's now 4.5mm & i must say it does bring out the pattern better, what do you think?

                               

broken rib, this is commonly called 'rice' stitch

i still have the tea pot cozies to finish, just need to sew them up, also have not done much more on my fisherman's rib jumper. the hot weather we're having is causing me to sweat badly so knitting is in spurts
will post cozies when i finish them soon

hope everyone is keeping cool or warm in your part of the world

thanx for visiting

apron is finished!

S  for 'Shop' & P for 'Plants'

two Sundays ago (same day as the bees) i took this apron with me to the markets, to finish sewing the final bit of waist band & then it was finished! as you can see, being worn by our lovely member & shop assistant Dallas.  

that will be my little bit of sewing for this year. 


i think summer has definitely started here with the temperatures soaring & high humidity, lots of smoke around here too.

hope you all are keeping cool or warm in your part of the world


thanx for visiting

Update on the bees

sad news, that lovely swarm Nev scored has all gone, he checked the box tuesday as he noticed there was no activity at the box, when he opened it up they we all gone. 
he also discovered they were a much darker colour, said they were probably from a feral hive which could be a little harder to contain, he's not totally sure, it was only he's second or third swarm he has retrieved & has only had one success but he reckons you learn more each time you do it, he thinks he may have had better chance if he left them to settle over night then moved them to his place. live & learn, it was still a good education for the rest of us.

thanx for visiting

Buzz ... Buzz ... Buzzing!

getting in position under the swarm

positioning under swarm, ladder unsteady

shaking bees into box

picking up a few that missed the box

adding a little smoke to get them settled

think it's a winner (Queen is in)

we had some excitement at our markets yesterday, when a swarm of bees was discovered by our fruiterer. gave him quite the fright too. 
our resident Bee Keeper Nev was at the ready, brought back a hive & partial suit & got to work. it was quite the education too, did you know that bees don't sting when they swarm? they are so full of honey that they can't, plus they are more concerned about the queen, you can see the swarm in the tree above Nev, just before he shakes them into the box. lots of people were watching him work. the bees gorge themselves on honey before splitting off from the hive, so they have plenty of food to make new 'cells' for the queen to lay eggs.
i dropped around to see Nev today & so far the hive is still hard at work building cells, he says he'll have a peek about Thursday to see how they are going.

hope you all had a safe & happy weekend

thanx for visiting 

to tension or not ... ?

tension squares is something i haven't done since i first started knitting large garments, think i did about 5 & stopped, they were all perfect, i'm a very average knitter. 

the pink (purple actually) is jumper sample, front is for teapot cozies 

i was reading through one of my knit books & came across 'sample' squares, or if you like 'tension' squares but instead of undoing them you keep collecting them & then when you have enough sew them altogether & make a throw or a blanket. well, darn it all, why didn't i think of doing that all those years ago? i would have a wonderful collection of patchwork blankets by now if i had... bugga. the thing is i never thought of using 'throws' as they are called now, think we used to call them 'rugs' as had plenty of doonas. well guess what? i've started up a new/old habit, i want a patchwork blanket so i've started doing tension squares again, just did one for my new jumper & my tension was almost perfect, was a needlepoint out in the rows. i also did a teapot cosy square & i'm way out but am using BWMs wool which is different to the yarn specified, ended up with 9 extra rows but the counted stitches was exact, no matter for a cosy, will measure it as i go. i'm going to do textured stitch samples for my first blanket, as i've been collecting Deramores Stitch of the Week, which has many unusual textures to try out, should be fun. plus i have a few stitch library books i will search through too. the squares are only 40/41 stitches & 20cm long i think that should be plenty big enough to start. 
a lot of the blogs i read all have gorgeous crochet or knitted blankets thrown over their lounges or they're working on one. even my daughter has a crocheted throw she made for hubby which sits on her lounge, she is also making another one with the larks-foot stitch, which i can't wait to see when it's finished. i've also been making granny squares out of the left over wool, get about 6 rows on them, they will also make a good blanket.
been madly knitting my beanie as i want to get it finished but ended up with a seized wrist, ignored it for a good while before i stopped, well i'm at the crown decreasing, just didn't want to stop, so close!  
so, today i sat & did a little sewing instead. remember the market apron i started back at beginning of the year? well have been niggling at it on & off, am up to the waist band now. 

tiny little stitches, hope it all stays together 

almost got halfway across when my eyes declared they couldn't see it anymore lol. 

storm season has started, had a thunderstorm on Tuesday & thought there would be one yesterday but it was just all show 

it looked a lot more menacing than the photo is showing

been trying to rain since mid morning today, it's nice, not too hot, seems to be just right.
tomorrow might do a spot of mowing, weather permitting of cause.

well that will do for today, hope everyone is staying warm or cool in your part of the world

thanx for visiting

it's on it's way to England ... finally

well, i finally got my London girls cardigan done, finished putting the collar on today, took a rushed picture of it as i really wanted/needed to get it in the post before 3:30pm TODAY! her birthday is the 17th & would love for it to get there before then.

the buttons are actually more red, not orange

the collar gave me so much grief, several times i undid it to try yet another 'invisible' seam but non of them were, in the end i just did a slip stitch & though not perfect, did the job better than the others. i just hope she likes it & it fits!

now i can start my jumper! have a pattern already picked out too. am doing in an old wool of Bendigo colonial, a nice light purple, which i had to wind some up as it's in 'hanks' ...  i used a chair turned upside down. 

     

wooden chairs work best for this, now Bendigo make their wool into balls so there's no need to wind anymore up.



also have another cap/beanie on the DPNs Snowtracks Cap, you can get the pattern from  HERE

i am so loving this pattern, after this one i might make a few more for gifts.
am loving using the DPNs & am so glad i practiced with all the headbands, mittens & other plain beanies, though using a full length circular needle for all the cable would probably make it a lot easier. on this one i am doing the brim longer, instead of 3 & 1/2 inches it's 5 & 1/2 inches, i wanted a decent brim to fold up over my ears which kept getting cold, should be perfect for Tasmanian weather! 
it's well worth learning to use them, sure very awkward when you first learn but so is straight knitting when you first start too. 


we've had some good rain the last couple of days, or should i say storms, they were good ones, plenty of deluge so the grass will start growing now, it's back to mowing season but at least i don't have to water for a few days. thought we were going to get another this arvo but it blew over, thundering as it went too! perhaps it will swing back later...


well hope everyone has had a pleasant week


thanx for visiting