Farewell Old Friend

Thank you so much to the lovely people who always find time to comment on my posts.  I am sorry they have been so few and far between of late.  This won't be a long one I'm afraid.  Perhaps I'll have something a little more chipper in a few days.  It has been a sad time in our household in the last week.  The time came for us to send one of our good working dogs to the big cattle muster in the sky.  He was one of ten in the litter - February, 2000 - and from the moment I saw him, he was 'my pick'.  Although he was a 'working dog', he was always treated with great affection, and termed 'Mum's loving pup' because he was my pick of the litter.  The boss has said he never regretted keeping him, as he was very good at his job, ie working the lead.

Farewell old mate, we miss you Hank.  Dogtown is not quite the same without you.

Decisions..................

It's hard to believe that a fortnight has gone by since I posted last!!  Thank you so much to all who gave me such enthusiastic responses to my knitting.  I have been grappling with a decision lately.  My husband has told me he would like me to have a new camera, a 'better' camera than the little pocket one I currently use.  I would like one, but wonder about the practicality of the purchase.  He says I should purchase one of the DSLR models and just spoil myself, as I will celebrate my 60th birthday in the next few weeks.   A few months ago I took the photographs I'm sharing in this post.  These were taken on a warm sunny afternoon, with my little NIKON Coolpix.  The first three photographs you will see are just as the camera took them, but I've reduced the quality of them in Photoshop.

I really need to be able to take good close-up's, and I'd like the ability to take good, clear zoomed in shots.  This little camera certainly takes good macro shots, but it falls down in the zoom feature - they tend to be a tad grainy.  It is also quite slow to react, which often means a bird or animal has moved during the process............

These next three photos have been slightly enhanced in Photoshop, just a little sharpening, that is all.  You can see the pollen just that little clearer by doing this.

I hope readers will enjoy these.  The hardy old 'pigface' always puts on a good show, and it's such a pretty site in bloom.

I am still thinking.................  I doubt the kids will miss that money in their inheritance.............LOL....

Take care all, and I hope the weather where you are isn't as nasty as it is here at the moment - a hot northerly wind blowing, smoke haze yet again, and the mercury climbing every hour.  It's shaping up to be another hot afternoon!!!

Knitting with BLING

I'm back again with some more knitting, my kind of knitting, ie with BLING!!!  I really wanted to share this with readers, as it's so absolutely divine.  I can't explain how ethereal this is, not because of me, but because of the gorgeous yarn and the wonderful pattern, and of course the glistening beads!

The yarn used was one I purchased via a fellow Ravelry member who was de-stashing, but you can see it here.  In real life it reminds me of wisteria, a plant I've never been able to have.  My husband is so very anti anything that climbs, and would never build me a suitable trellis, so I've had to admire it from afar.  Here is a close up which I hope gives you an idea of the wonderful wistfulness of this shawl.  It's truly as light as a feather.

The pattern can be found here and if you've always wanted to make something glamorous, I can fully recommend any of the patterns provided by this lovely designer.  Bev is a friendly and helpful lady, and if you find yourself in a bit of bother understanding anything in the pattern/s [I added the plural because I'm sure you will be tempted more than once], a simple email will suffice.   And another shot for good measure!!  Can you see the lovely twirling cascading drape of the ends of the shawl??

Again, I wet blocked this but had to move to the living room floor, as it was simply too large for the bed.  I think I measured in the vicinity of 2.6 metres around the inner part of the crescent, and 54 cms deep in the centre.  It does spring back a little once the pins are lifted.







I know this is not a photograph showing the knitting, but I wanted to share it as well.  I took this close up in my friend's garden last year, and did a bit of filtering in Photoshop.  The colours in wisteria are simply glorious, and yet again I seem to have gravitated towards purple.  I do not know why, it's not a colour I would tell you I like if asked, go figure........  Anyway, last, but not least, altered wisteria.

Ahhh.....blooming marvellous

 

 

I hope I have inspired some of you to try this simple yet beautiful form of lace knitting - nothing difficult, a lot of WOW factor for something quite simple. 

Worth the wait?????

Hi again to everyone, and apologies for being so slack.  I don't have work to share just at the moment, and time is short.  Thank you to all who have expressed concern for my absence.  I am trying.  I wanted to quickly share this gorgeous flower with everyone.  Quite some years ago, probably around four, I was given a small piece from a succulent by a long time friend, Joan.  Her husband couldn't stop bagging the plant, but she insisted it 'had a very pretty flower'.  Well, after four years watching this scraggy piece of 'cactus', my reward was this bloom.  And, yes, Joan was quite right.  The bloom was gorgeous, and huge.  There was only one on the entire plant, but so worth the wait.

I took a photograph from the back too.  I'm not sure why, but I just thought it might look nice.  When you look into the photograph, you can see lots of smoke haze in the background, the result of so many every present fires in and around our area at the moment.  Sadly, there are many more areas which are being threatened.  I believe a number of them have been started by lightning strikes.

Both of the above photographs are shared as taken, but the one below has been cropped and slightly enhanced in PhotoShop.  I really can't stop looking at it, and have decided to get a print made to send to Joan for Christmas.  I don't see her very much, as we don't go visiting, and neither does she.  Anyway, for all of you, please enjoy, and thanks again for your friendship.

One gorgeous bloom

 

Family News

I am sorry I have not been blogging for some time.  Thank you so much to those who have kept in touch.  Things in my life have changed somewhat, and at this point I find it very difficult to continue blogging.  There seems to be a never ending list of jobs to be done, and I haven't found how to stretch my time out to meet those needs.

I must share some family news.  Our family increased by one little female a few weeks ago.  We have a new grand daughter, and hopefully her life will be full of love, health and happiness.

Thank you once again to all the wonderful ladies who I now call friends, ladies from near and far.  My life is the richer for knowing so many wonderful people.

Classic Navy

I can't help it...........I'm still knitting, and thought I'd share one of the recently completed shawls I've been doing.  This lovely lace shawl is made using a pattern I purchased via Ravelry.  Hope you can see it here.  I love all the designs by this lady, Bev or Boo Knits.

I hope this photograph will show the lace design detail.   The pattern offers several size choices, by simply adding more 'solid' or more 'lace', such a great idea.  I've just finished working on another one in a different colour, and with beads.

I purchased this wool last year from this store:-  http://www.pickupstitches.com.au/ when there was a little sale happening.  It is Heirloom Baby Pure Wool in 4 ply, and lovely to knit.  I used 6 x 25 gram balls, plus a bit on the 7th.  The picot cast off takes a surprising amount of yarn!!!

Despite being a knitter for many years, I've come to realize there is so very much I do not know.  This pattern introduced me to a few different things, and of course, the chat on Ravelry, with links to tutorials, etc., is so enlightening.  I have to admit to not paying much attention to blocking in the past, but I now have a new found respect for same!!  This is how the shawl looked just after it had been soaked in warm water, wrapped in a towel, stood on, then stretched and pinned within an inch of it's life!!!  I'm sorry, but there is no other way I can describe 'blocking'..................LOL

And just another photograph - a close-up.  Of course, I didn't get very adventurous with colour.  I can't resist good old classic navy.



If you are looking for something like this, I can really recommend any of the patterns in the Boo Knits range.  They are all delicate, yet the instructions are extremely easy to understand - both written and charted.

Now I'm off to 'block' the second version of this pattern.

Niebling Knitting

I have been knitting.  I know, I've told you, but now I'm going to share this lace table mat with you.  I finally found out that this design has a name, although it wasn't stated in the ANNA magazine that features the pattern.  My very learned sources on Ravelry gave me the good oil, and this design is called Quadratische Decke, by none other than the famous Herbert Niebling.  I've even found that he had a wife whose name was Linda.  And, after a bit more Ravelry chit chat, it seems Linda was also a designer of knitting and crochet.  

For those of you who are interested, this table mat was done using #60 Coats Mercer cotton in Ecru, and was knitted using 1.5mm needles.  It began life with only eight stitches, but by the time I got to the leaf/petal part on the outer border, each row had in excess of 1100 stitches, with the patterning rows taking almost four hours to complete.  Even knitting the intermediate or plain knit rows took ages!!

This close up shot will show you the leaf/petal design in the corners.  It feels so lovely to pick up, so light and airy.  I only used about 50 grams of thread.



I'll finish with another photograph of the whole mat, showing the tape measure so you can see it's size.  For some reason this shot has a slightly more yellow tinge to it, perhaps a reflection from the tape, who knows.  I am up for some more Niebling knitting, but will do a few ladies' shawls to give my eyes a rest from the fine thread.  

Enjoy!!