While we may not be too fond of the weather it produces, winter has a loveliness all its own. Our fruit trees are in dire need of some professional attention so I have booked an expert to come and prune them; and teach me how to do it at the same time. These trees are 20+ years old and they provided us with unlimited supplies of luciousness last season. I want to save them & keep them going ~ no matter what the cost. We have an apple, a pear, 2 cherry, 5 apricot (all diff varities), a white nectarine, a yellow nectarine and a white peach. Their naked starkness against the winter sky is very sculptural ...

This tree is the one in Diablo's night paddock - he looooooooved the apricots which fell to the ground and ate every last one. He also pruned the tree to as low as his l-o-n-g neck (while standing on tippy hoofs) could reach!

He's banned from this paddock at the moment, until the fungi growing on the tree, die as the weather heats up! But .. isn't it purdy???
Look at all that gorgeous greeness - pity it won't last much longer :(

These bloody things keep me busy all year round - Paddy Melons. They have the most vile taste in the world and even starving cattle won't eat them. They spread like wildfire ~ all those 100s of seeds. We are waiting for some warmer weather so we can light the bonfire they are in. DH even has some fireworks left over from the 70s .. sshhhhhh!

DH with his bestie of more than fifty years ~ Peter.
They are about to jump on their Harleys and go for a ride one day last week when the weather was glorious here. Peter bought a brand new 2008 model; and DH has been sweating on this happening so he could buy Peter's FX bike.
These two never have any trouble expressing their feelings for each other :)

DH hasn't ridden for many years, so I'm not allowed to ride pillion yet - but boy! am I hangin' out for when he feels confident enough to have me behind him on the Harley. I'm gonna be a bikie's moll ...
I'm gonna be a bikie's moll ...

A few weeks ago now, we had a Rav meet-up in Sydney which just happened to co-incide with my 60th birthday. It was a fantastic weekend with many ladies coming from interstate - Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia were all represented. We wore our hand knitted garments out for dinner on Saturday night and wowed lots of other people who were eating at the same restaurant. One of my fave activities was Saturday's picnic lunch near the Chinese Gardens in Darling Harbour. This is one of the prettiest places I've ever been to. A few of us got into the spirit of the gardens and hired wonderful costumes which we wore as we strolled around the beautiful gardens in perfect weather ... thank you Sydney!

The smell of Spring must be in the air as my little chookies have started to lay again (yesterday) after a bit of a strike during the very cold weather. These are so small & so cute ~ the first eggs from last season's babies.

The boy chickens were not quite so fortunate .. but, hey .. you have to harden your heart & this is going to be a delicious dinner for tonight. At least they were processed humanely.
We are also having some of last year's nectarines which I preserved ... with custard & cream ... yummo!!

and ... lastly ... a magnificent cactus which is flowering. Our climate suits them perfectly.
L-O-N-G hot summers and freezing cold & frosty winters.
They seem to love it & flower prolifically.

The weeks seem to fly by and I don't make entries frequently enough. Now that winter is here, I go to bed early and read for several hours all tucked up in my gorgeously comfortable bed. I visted DD1 last week - the first time for several months - and we talked about having a Woolly Butts stocking in time for Spring. No final decision was reached, but I think it will probably happen. I knitted a cute little jumper for Chiara, using some BWM 10ply Luxury I dyed in a soft pink semi-solid. The pattern is called "Bunny Hop" and is available as a free pattern at Ravelry. It was Natalya's birthday while I was visiting & I made a Swallowtail for her from some gorgeous JJ yarn I've had for ages. She picked the yarn & the pattern, so it wasn't a surprise, but the shawl sure looks great the way she wears it. The colour combo of violet and cranberry/cerise looks great ~  I am sooooo glad this yarn finally found a home, as I like it so much!

Diablo continues to deteriorate :(
DH cared for him while I was away, but when I got home Diablo had developed another symptom of the metastes from the melanomas he has. They have been growing wildly since October last year and are now in his eyes and throughout his skull; as well as in other parts of his body. He has daily medication and is not in any pain. His life is good. He is wrapped in layers of sherpa fleece and warm, waterproof rugs. He has not lost any condition and he's happy. He's been my friend for almost 15 years now and I will not allow him to suffer, but it will be so hard to say good-bye to him. He was a very successful show horse & we had lots of adventures together. He is well-named though ... he surely is a 'devil' ... he can be so very naughty.

Summer is finally over .. and what a summer it has been!! I can't remember one which has been so hot and so dangerous to our state of Victoria. Black Saturday will be remembered as the day when over 200 people lost their lives; when towns were literally razed ... and others almost so.  Saturday 7th February 2009 will never be forgotten by history or those who lived in Victoria on that day. Where I live, the temperature reached 52 degrees. The hurricane force winds reached speeds of 62 mph. DH & I sat as close to our newly installed air cons as we possibly could. We draped wet towels over us, but we were still mightily uncomfortable. Outside, the birds were literally falling from the sky. 100s of birds - mostly Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Galahs and Long Billed Corellas - rested in our back paddock as they flew into our district to escape the horrendous fires. On that day I put a sprinkler in their run with my little bantam chickens and they were joined by Grass Parrots, Musk Lorikeets, Crested Pigeons and Magpies who all sat on the ground with wings outspread, soaking up the fine cool water spray. High level water restrictions were in place, but I didn't care!! Had I not turned the spinkler on, many birds would have perished. The native birds remained in our back paddock for several days as they recovered from their long flight away from the bushfire areas & I was happy to host them. It was a dreadful period of several weeks where we all lived continuously on high alert until the weather conditions changed and our magnificent Country Fire Authority (CFA) personnel battled the devastating fires until they were finally out. Life returned to a form of normality for most ... but not for the families who lost loved ones ... and, for some, literally everything except the clothes they escaped in.  The wildlife toll has also been enormous.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
Dorothea McKellar

The next Saturday (which was still verrrrrrrrrry hot) I was sitting quietly in our living room ~ knitting, of course! ~ when a movement caught the corner of my eye. I saw the last 12 inches or so of a Brown Snake disappearing into the brick building, about 8 feet from the back of the house, towards the cattery. One of the cats was watching the snake - about 6 feet long - slide through the doorway & was about to give it a bat with her paw. I raced outside. The snake heard me coming and did a very quick whip-around and tried to disappear into the small garden close by. The dogs came to investigate why I was screaming at the cats. DH arrived home and I screamed at him to come help me. The snake was lying dead still in the grass and DH couldn't see it. I had a garden rake in my hand which I banged on the ground close to where the snake was. This frightened the snake which took off at a great rate of knots and disappeared. We didn't see where it went.  I looked down and noticed I was in bare feet ... eeeppp!!! We are pretty sure this snake is a very local resident as we saw a brown snake in the same place in October last year, just out of hibernation ... very skinny ... and very cranky!! It growled at me when I chased it away from our back door. I hate snakes, am almost phobic about them. However, I don't go out of my way to kill them for simply "being" ... but this one lives too close to us and our animals ...

I named this bag for the yarn I used to create it. I found some fan.tas.tic. wool blend craft yarn in BWM Bargain Room for $1 .... and it was in 200g balls!!! BARGAIN!!!

I've made 2 of them now for DD1 and am happy with the pattern.
You can do two yarn round needle instead of just one and it works equally as well. Also makes for a much quicker finish!!

The Bendy Bag

Approx. 300g of Craft Yarn used double stranded. (The stuff I use is approx. 8ply)

Size 8mm needles (or upsize to 10mm ... any needle around these sizes will be OK, really).

PATTERN

Row 1: K1, *yrn, K1, yrn, K1, rep from * to end

Row 2: K1, *drop next stitch from left hand needle, K1, rep from * to end

BODY

Using 2 strands of craft yarn, cast on 35 sts.

Work 8 rows of garter stitch.

Work 2 rows of pattern, then 3 rows of garter stitch.

Rep last 5 rows 6 times more.

Work 4 rows (or multiples of 4) of garter stitch for base of bag.

Work 2 rows of pattern, then 3 rows of garter stitch.

Rep last 5 rows 6 times more.

Work 4 rows of garter stitch.

BO loosely.

The bag will appear small, but it stretches when in use.

HANDLE

Using 2 strands of craft yarn, CO 12 sts and work in garter stitch for approx. 38cms (or length desired).

TO MAKE UP

Make sure you sew securely – use double stranded yarn!

Fold bag in half and sew side seams … I used Whip Stitch.

With right sides facing, fold handle in half lengthwise & stitch together.

Attach handle firmly to bag in desired position.

This is a fan.tas.tic. little child's beanie pattern which is very easily adapted to fit adults. The child size Large fits me perfectly. It's a great pattern for using up all those 'bits' in your stash ... and even better! uses large needles & double stranded yarn.

Child Size/s

Small - Medium - Large

Using 8mm (US size 11) needles, CO with waste yarn  …  24(27-30)sts.

Knit 1 row.

Change to double stranded DK (8ply) yarn, leaving approx 20cms of yarn for tassel.

Row 1: Purl to last 5(6-6) sts, K to end.

Row 2: P5(6-6), K to end.

Row 3: K to last 5(6-6) sts, P to end.

Row 4: K5(6-6), P to end.

Break off yarn, leaving 20cms end for tassel.

Join in next colour, leaving 20cms end for tassel.

Repeat Rows 1 - 4 17(19-23) times using colours of choice at each change.

Work Rows 1 - 3 only with last colour change.

Leave enough wool for grafting (approx. X5 the width of the completed knitting & break off yarn. Note: I grafted the first one I made, but then just sewed up the seam for the others. The seam is a flat one and does not irritate the wearer.

TO MAKE UP

Remove waste yarn and graft edges together.

Make tassel by winding yarn around ends approx 3cms apart.

Gather top with a running thread & pull tight.

BO. Trim ends to desired length.

FOR ADULT SIZE:

Add extra sts (3 – 5)at CO; make turn up deeper (change to more than 6 sts @ beg & end of rows ... I used 8 on the one I made for DH); and do a couple more pattern repeats for man, one for woman.

I've been knitting lots of small projects recently - toys for the grandies & various types of cloths. Here's the pattern I've developed for a very pretty one. I am aware that I have not provided a tension guide ~ if you use Worsted Weight yarn on the right size needles for you it will work fine!

FOLIAGE CLOTH

This pattern is adapted from "Foliage" by Emilee Mooney.

Materials:

Size 4.5mm needles (US size 7)

(I prefer to use flats for knitting cloths, but you could easily use a circ adapted for flat knitting).

Any suitable Worsted Weight yarn – I used gorgeous Patons Cupcake yarn in Denim colourway.

Please note:  4.5mm needle is not the recommended size for this yarn, but it worked fine.

Peaches & Creme Worsted Weight cotton would also work really well.

Cloth Pattern Directions:

This cloth has garter stitch borders.

B4 = 4 garter stitches

CO 56 stitches

Knit 8 rows of garter stitch.

Lace pattern directions:

Row 1: B4, K4 [K2, slip 1, knit 2 tog, psso, k2, yo, k1, yo] to last 8 sts, K4, B4.

Even-numbered Rows 2-12: B4, purl to last 4 sts, B4.

Row 3: B4, K4 [K1, slip 1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k3, yo] to last 8 sts, K4, B4.

Row 5: B4, K4, [slip 1, k2tog, psso, yo, k5, yo] to last 8 sts, K4, B4.

Row 7: B4, K4 [Yo, k1, yo, k2, slip 1, k2tog, psso, k2] to to last 8 sts, K4, B4.

Row 9: B4, K4 [Yo, k3, yo, k1, slip 1, k2tog, psso, k1] to to last 8 sts, K4, B4.

Row 11: B4, K4 [Yo, k5, yo, slip 1, k2tog, psso] to to last 8 sts, K4, B4.

Repeat these 12 rows until cloth is desired length. I did 4 pattern repeats.

Then knit 8 rows of garter stitch and bind off.

Ta! Da! One gorgeous cloth. Add a crocheted border if you wish ....

Finally did some baking yesterday & tried out the ranch oven.
Yummy flourless lemon cake ~ one of DH's faves.
Made using free range organic eggs from my little chookies ... and magnificent Meyer lemons picked fresh off the lemon tree I managed to rescue from the drought. The tree was on its last legs when we bought the property & I've saved it. Lots of work digging a trench around it in soil like concrete; lots of dried chook poo from the existing chook house and water from one of the rainwater tanks we installed. I have done the same with other mature fruit trees ~ white nectarines, peaches (types yet to be identified), apricots (ditto), a cherry (ditto), plum (ditto) and an apple tree (ditto). I am determined that we will have tree-ripened fruit to eat in early 2009. I am sooooooooooo sick of the crap they sell in supermarkets, etc. I will then get a professional in to prune them next season. We also have a thriving veggie garden. DH & I are very water conscious and looking forward to eating more of our own produce.

My gorgeous little chooks continue to provide me with enormous pleasure and wonderful free range, organic eggs. I have some for lunch at least three times a week. DH& I recently completed The Cat Hilton so the pusses are now living here with us. They haven't been out yet, but seem calm & more than happy to live in luxury.

and guess who I caught trying to get into the chook house?? I reckon he was looking hopefully for left-over grain ... Mr. Diablo