November 21

 Hallo again, just a few pics of what we've been doing lately...not a great deal and I am yearning to travel again once we can...such a sorrowful time for so many people and I do count my blessings every day.

Garden is booming with the warmer days although it hasn't been really hot yet which is unusual...lots of pansies here...

lovely lobelia self-seeds everywhere and looks divine...

I'm picking silverbeet, parsley, spring onions, basil, strawberries and lettuce from this riotous bed...

and now my mini Bougainvillea is really thriving...

Some more baby knits finished for two babies due in April...I have bought these top down patterns as there is no sewing up to do once the knitting is finished, the sleeves are knit on the round and the pattern starts at the neck edge and increases to the under arms...very clever methinks...

I went with Dad, Elizabeth and Caleb to the Remembrance Day Service at dad's Care Home, Gill (from Warrington) took this great photo...

Elizabeth and the Lads had fun at Halloween, K and V throw a great party every year and their whole street joins in...Dad and David getting in the 'spirit'

Steampunk is such fun...

Their bus is almost ready for the road with the help of big Bro and good friend Brock, will show some photos once it's tidy and ready. We're also working on Dad's house, de-cluttering and stripping wallpaper and painting(big Bro again)...there's still such a lot of upkeep even though Dad no longer lives there.

Pip pip cheerio

xxx

Hallo

Hi every-one, I haven't been blogging as my dear Dad(86) is rather ill now and I am taking him to chemotherapy and lots of medical appointments too...in the words of a friend 'I haven't got time to scratch myself!"
It didn't help that I got locked out of here either lol!



I've been knitting more than ever as it does really relax me so I'll just add some photos for my record as much as anything. A Lily dress from Tikki on Ravelry...

A cardi made with King Cole yarn and pattern...

An acrylic lap rug/afghan for a grandson...I am going to make each Aussie grandchild something similar...

Gardening is nice in Spring(we had a record for November 40.4C in Perth yesterday)

BBQ any-one?

Elizabeth and David helped me establish  a raised garden bed over Winter...the tomatoes cover the whole bed these days...

We lost Joe's Mum on August 1st, to 'old age' I suppose you'd call it. Maman(86) made me very welcome in the family although with my lack of French and her lack of English our chats were very brief. Her ashes were taken back to Gaspe where she was born in Quebec Province.

So that's us for now...I miss even reading every-one's blogs so please forgive my lack of comments...things will change once again...swings and roundabouts of our lives, eh?

xxxx

Curtis's Pumpkin Soup et al

The two big supermarkets here publish a free monthly recipe book using products they sell. I don't always pick it up but this month Coles had slow cooker recipes and a chorizo, pumpkin and white bean recipe by an Aussie chef named Curtis Stone.

My adaptation

1/3 cup chopped chorizo...and seriously any tasty meat or mushroom etc will work(sage leaves?)

large chopped onion and carrot

5-ish cups of chopped pumpkin

3 chopped garlic cloves

drained can of white beans

1/2 cup cream or sour cream

salt and pepper

saute the meat and remove from pan

saute onion and carrot, then garlic and pumpkin

add 1/3 cup of beans

cover with water or chicken stock

cook until tender, blend and season well

add the cream and the rest of the beans and heat through

To serve sprinkle with the fried chorizo or mushrooms

Bon appetite 

We bought a Sunbeam Pie Maker recently and have been enjoying some delicious home-made pies, simple make a thick 'stew' or pie filling and the pies cook in under 15 minutes without having the big oven on for ages.
My two elder grandson are flat-sharing these days...I packed up a couple of hot meals for them...no-one starves on my watch...I spent a whole $10 at the op-shop on 2 Pyrex dishes/platters, the big pasta bowl you can just see here and 4 kitchen utensils. These pies are a chicken, potato and corn mix...

These meat and tatie pies were my all time favourite as a child in Lancaster and Morecambe, I had no idea they were a local treat...I thought the whole world must love them nearly as much as me! Elizabeth and David were most appreciative lol

Lancashire Meat and Potato Pies

I finished little Darcie's cardigans, the second one looks a bit lop-sided unfortunately...I hope she is too busy running around for (m)any people to notice! Those wooden buttons come from Spotlight and at $2 for 6 are very good value...she will love the little hearts...

Off now to drop Joe at the podiatrist's and take Dad to the shops
No rest for the wicked!
Love,
Sue

Feather and Fan Keyhole Scarf

Details of the scarf I made as promised. I've used that lovely Jeans yarn that I bought at Spolight but sadly they no longer sell it.

You'll need

size UK8 or 4mm needles
around 100gms 8ply wool(perhaps a little more)

Feather and Fan is worked over an 11 stitch repeat pattern plus whatever you'd like for a garter st border...I've added 4 sts at each side here and so cast on 41sts. ie 4 sts per border and 3 x pattern repeat.

Row 1 Knit to end
Row 2 K4, purl to last 4 sts and K4
Row 3 K4, (P2tog) twice, (M1, K1)3 times, M1, **(p2 tog) 4 times, M1 K1 3times, M1** repeat from ** to last 8 sts, (P2 tog) twice and K4
Row 4 K4, purl to last 4 sts, K4

I continued with the pattern until the work was around 20cms/8inches long then made the 'keyhole' by working on the first 15sts until that part was about 10cms long. Place them on a sts holder and work the next two parts to the same length~~ the middle 11sts and the last 15sts give a nice even width and also make it easy to keep to the pattern.
Once done you simpley work across the three sections to make them one again and continue in pattern until the work is about 36 cms in length or when the two ends are the same length once you have threaded the end through the keyhole(I placed the work on a spare length of wool and tried it on for size.)

There are lots of patterns available for this type of scarf, a beginner could make a simple garter sts scarf perhaps?

Hooroo for now,
Love, Sue
xxx

*M1 make 1 st...I knit into the wool in between 2 sts to form another  st or you could knit into front and then the back of the knit sts to increase that way

Just adding this pattern too after searching high and low for it, I made this cowl in 2015 with a 200gm ball of Bloom from Bendigo Woolen Mills, it can be worn twisted and doubled for extra cosiness

Purl Ridge Cowl

Thursday Morn

I went outside to hang out the washing and was delighted to see these four galahs on the fence, Carol next door puts seed out for the local doves and these gorgeous 'cockies' have found it too...

Not sure if you can see but the bird on the left has black eyes so is a male, his Mrs is next to him with her soft brown eyes...

I'm knitting two cardigans for Darcie(2) who is my grandaughters' step-sister, this is sewn up now and I've nearly finished a stripy one in bright left-over yarn for her...I also made two cotton tote bags from Vintage inspired cotton for my grand-girls' birthday presents, they can use the bag again and again that way but I forgot to take photos!

Joe has stopped the chemotherapy for his skin cancers as the side effect of muscle cramping was becoming unbearable, legs and abdomen were so very painful...it's good to see him getting some proper sleep at last.

I was prompted to write this small post by Outback Tania who is going to post more regularly...these little things all add up to make our story don't they?

Bye bye for now
xxx

 Hallo there, there a few recent pics from around the house and garden...look who turned 3 yrs of age last week...our Charlie and his Mum excelled herself with this beautiful cake complete with fire engine topper that a friend had made her(I'm learning all sorts of new baking terms from Bree and her cakes!) We had a feast at Nando's, we're all chilli heads here I think!

I finished a baby blanket this week-end, I used 2 strands of 4 -ply acrylic, it's so very soft and made up a broken basket stitch pattern in the middle of the night when all our best ideas come to us!

Snapped these glorious roses while taking the photo of the blanket, for such neglected rose bushes they produce prolifically and make a lovely gift for any-one feeling blue.

Major excitement when I spotted this almost ripe orange on my potted Cara Cara tree....the frangipani  trees had been sheltering it from view but they are losing their leaves now and wow! I also have lemons and limes ripening  but this is my first ever orange!

Our Paul has been going out with his mate, Jason, in Jase's boat...fishing, catching squid and trapping crayfish in deeper water...here's Jason this morning(it is so cold atm) with catch of the day...I just cooked one of them and shelled it, there is a surprising amount of meat them. We'll eat it warm with salad and brown bread and butter I think keep it simple is best here...

The guys also smoke fish and here is one of Jason's pies made with smoked fish and crayfish in a thick tasty sauce...so very good...not unlike our Tassie Scallop pies really....

So the days pass by like sands through the ...oh oops! sorry for the plagiarism (not).

Love from Sue
xxx

Cake of the Week from Bree too

New Jacket and Hats

lots of knitting going as usual...will let the pictures do the talking...firstly my 8 ply(acrylic) jacket, cost less than $10 to make using this pattern

Cable hats with 8ply wool and this pattern  I always look on-line for free patterns before I make anything these days...ravelry is my favourite place...

How socks start Life...loving this tiny circular needle from Chiaogoo, bought on line from Skein Sisters, I've also started a baby blanket and am using a long circular needles as it takes the weight off my shoulders , the work rests in my lap and I only use my hands...

I've just read a wonderful book about Julia Child which led me to watching some YouTube clips of 'The French Chef', I am pleased to say my knife skills have greatly improved as well as my appreciation for all this amazing woman achieved in her long life.

6C here at dawn and I'm off to Dad's this morning with two serves of Shepherd's Pie and extra vegies...I out-did myself yesterday and doubled the amount of mincemeat needed by padding it out with grated carrot and zucchini and lots of chopped mushrooms too...we always have grated cheese on the top for extra yumminess :) I made Irish Stew at the weekend for the first time in years, lamb seems so expensive these days. Winter food is just my absolute favourite!

Hope all is well in your world ,
Love from Sue
xx

Using Icing Colouring to Dye Wool

Hallo every-one, it seems I've been knitting non-stop for weeks, one thing was different though because I dyed my first a skein of 4ply merino wool with icing colouring! This is the technique, the dye is very thick and you only need a little, DIL Bree is making beautiful cakes with the dyes too*

using Wilton's icing colouring to dye wool

When it came to applying the dyes, purple and royal blue it looked as if they'd just mixed together to become one dark blue mess so I didn't agitate the wool in the dye...this surprised me by leaving pretty parts un-dyed, and some parts with varying degrees of colour...

 drying the skein before rolling it into a ball, a 100gm skein is enough for a pair of short socks...

it was a bit of a struggle to wind the ball as towards the end it got tangled, I sat and persevered to make sure none was wasted...it doesn't look enough but it was...

  ta-da! my new socks, I used Winwick Mum's Basic 4 ply Sock Pattern again, it's simple and knits up quite quickly...

This is Charlie's new jacket made with that lovely soft Jeans yarn and this pattern  , you will have to join  ravelry to see it but it's all free and wonderful over there...the buttons are wooden

  another pair of socks made with Spotlight's 'Not Just Socks' yarn, the pattern is on the ball band, again 100gms makes one pair of socks

Mum's collection of matchboxes from the days that they were complimentary and placed in a clean ashtray in restaurants and hotels, thank goodness those days have passed, some of these are from her overseas holidays...

Will finish off with yet another photo of this stunning hibiscus...
Love from Sue

* just some of Bree's gorgeous cakes using the Wilton's Food Colouring,
for more pics look for Bree's Cake Creations on FB