Yarn Along and a Winner

Hello good people !
Hoping your week has gone along smoothingly....with lots of good things.
Here ---- lots of knitting ( i'm sure you non knitters are sooo bored with my blogging as of late?)
also lots of cuddling and nose wiping and such, two little ones with colds.
Some of the Monsoon weather is back with us this week, i love the rainy season.
It's great for bird watching !
And just look up there ,,,, my bird watching shawl is nearly done. This is a truly addictive knit. If i'm not madly working on it, i am thinking about working on it. It is the last thing i put down at night , and the first thing i pick up , after coffee of course. Some more knitting you say, oh yes then !

Look at this little tater tot. Peanut butter face and all, modeling the 'other shawl'  ( its a test knit in progress ).  We've hit a bump this week, this shawl and myself. It is measuring several inches bigger than intended. I did think of doing it over, but that is alot of work to rip, aint it? So after speaking with the designer, she and I both agree to keep it going as it is. I think it may be the MadTosh Vintage giving me extra length? Who has used this yarn,,,,its my first time. Does it work a bit bigger? Please don't say it grows lots with blocking.

My latest cast on ( and the book I am reading ) is Jane Austen's Knits .
This is the Yak cottage shrug. So far so good. It's the first time I've ever knit -purl - knit in the same stitch.
It's making a bit of a hole, but I guess that 's what it's suppose to be doing?
I checked out Jane Austen's Persuasion from the library, and haven't read enough to comment ;)
Who can read and knit? What's that,,, you want to see more of the magazine? Ok then..

I know I know I know

and now for the drawing........

# 5 Emma you won last weeks giveaway , congratulations !
I'll be in touch shortly .
Happy yarn along !

Needled

                        Needled ::   (in order of appearance)

• Jane Austens Knits Magazine arrived in my post this week. Oh my goodness....Diving right in to this. Lace Yak ? [Has anyone knitted with lace yak?] Can you believe I successfully caked a skein of lace yak?
• Madelinetosh Vintage pattern testing for Nell on ravelry. This is super fun, and dazzlingly soft. My first project with Rowan's Kidsilk Haze. But today , I saw THIS.  [queued]
• Another of Veera's very smart garter stitch shawls. In all greens so I can successfully bird watch in camo.
• My  Lispenard Pattern giveaway is still open for all. Put your name in once or twice for the drawing next week.
• Linking up with the lovely Linda today. Have a great weekend !

Lispenard Cowl Pattern Giveaway

"  A thing of beauty is a joy forever "    -John Keats .

              

            Excited to show you the Lispenard Cowl test knit completed !
                                                    
                                   
                    Kirsten would like to gift one of you this pattern ! 
                                          
                                               Leave us a comment on this post to enter the drawing.
                                                   My followers feel free to enter a second time :)
                                                        I'll pick a winner next Wednesday.
                                                                  Happy yarn along  to all .

The Lispenard Cowl

                               My Lispenard Test Knit is completed !
                                    Whews ! Go check it out....
                                                   xoxoxo

colour affection

                                      neW yarNS !!   neW proJECT = WONderful weekend :)
                                                  ps. I am thrilled to be on this boat  ! ! !

a room

" If we think of the existence fo the individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident that most people only know a corner of the room, a place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and down. "

  fear of the inexplicable   - RILKE.

                  Thank God for you , {that patterned cowl was doing my head in}.
                        What say you , lovely knitters ?

School Boy

Time goes by and by.
Oh my, I just sent my schoolboy off for his first day of SECOND grade.
We homeschooled last year....and decided that it would be lovely for our oldest boy
to have some friendship interactions with other children his age.
Such decisions we make as parents, a bit heartaching seeing him go away,
out of my sights and protection and control. I do hope he has a fantastic day.
I do hope its the right thing to do.
I do hope i can get some more knitting done today, ( it does take my mind off things so nicely)
{especially when its lace and cables, oh my. isn't it growing!!}
Nesta hopes we catch more tree frogs.
They have spawned around a thousand and four tadpoles in our swimming pool.
Yesterday was nice, sitting out in a spawney pool with my two boys, catching tadpoles.
It was just what I wanted to do....now I feel a bit restless with one gone.
I am not sure what I want to do.
I suppose I should make it fun for the 'littlest' one - who was a bit sad and confused
seeing his big brother go off for the day.
Sorry for the dribbling !!
I think i'll go shed some tears in my coffee.....
joining the yarn along with ginny.

Birds of the Kimberley

" They shall see teal, blue winged, green winged, shelldrakes,
 whistlers, black ducks, ospreys, and many other wild and noble sights before night,
   such as they who sit in parlors never dream of . "

- Thoreau

I took my morning coffee sitting outside yesterday morning :: just watching it rain gentle and steady.
I sat out there for two hours and watched this frog mouthed owl up there on that tree branch. They usually always sit in pairs, but this time just the one.
The only time it moved was once an hour into things - a shake of the head to rid the raindrops i imagine.
I do often wonder what it would be like to escape the world, and sit and watch and wonder and write.
Did I ever tell you that I once visited Walden Pond ?
A big Thoreau fan, it was quite a moment in my life.
Here you can see and read about other birds of the Kimberley, seen where I live.

Yarn Along

Hello lovelies !!
It's yarn along time again.... and I have a finished project to flaunt.
It's my chick a dee scarf - and I do love it. It's my first ( finished ) lace project.
I am also working this week on a new project - a white cable and lace cowl.
I hope to be sharing more of this test knit soon.
No reading this week - Hubby has been away in Tasmania.
Thank goodness he is home. xxx

Making Men

1784  by Benjamin Franklin in Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America :

....at the Treaty of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, anno  1744, between the Government of Virginia and the Six Nations...the Commissoners from Virginia acquainted the Indians by a Speech, that there was at Williamsburg a College, with a Fund for Educating Indian youth; and that, if the Six Nations would send down half a dozen of their young Lads to that College, the Government would take care that they should be well provided for, and instructed in all the Learning of the White People.  It is one of the Indian Rules of Politeness not to answer a public Proposition the same day that it is made ... they show it Respect by taking time to consider it ... They therefore deferr'd their Answer till the Day following; when their Speaker began by expressing their deep Sense of the kindness of the Virginia Government, in making them that Offer; 'For we know,' says he, 'that you highly esteem the kind of Learning taught in those Colleges, and that the Maintenance of our young Men, while with you, would be very expensive to you.  We are convinc'd, therefore, that you mean to do us Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily.  But you, who are wise, must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things, and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be the same with yours.  We have had some Experience of it ; Several of our young People were formerly brought up at the Colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your Sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger, knew neither how to build a Cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counsellors;  they were totally good for nothing.  We are however not the less oblig'd by your kind Offer, tho' we decline accepting it; and to show our grateful Sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take great Care of their Education, instruct them in all we know, and make Men of them.'

 sharing poetry at Linda's space today. x

                                                   Celtic Memory Yarns - dyed by my pal Jo.
                                                  Who can resist such yarns? I couldn't...
                                                   psst.. go away nosey stash Leprechan !

Knitting a Fool

My new years resolution?

To knit like a fool.

I finished my study shawl  !!!!
It is so lovely i've been wearing it round the house.
Veera has some lovely striking designs, doesn't she.
ps. Test knitting coming up soon :))
Also, do you see how my sunny day scarf is growing !?
I am so encouraged by that lace ball slowly getting smaller, smaller, smaller.
Truth be known, the only reason I am working on this one is because I am
waiting for more exciting things to arrive in the mail !
Test knitting times two :: COWLS.
With that beautiful blue MadTosh Vintage you see there..
Joining up today with Ginny's yarn along  - (my word there are alot of link to get thru nowdays)
xo

New Camera

Yarn Along

Helloooo!
I've got some knitting to share with yoU!
I'm making HATS , AND HATS, AND HATS !

I am wearing that 70s hat , and Jack is sporting my rose red. I am casting on soon for another rose red. That's 4 hats in two weeks !@!

For this weeks yarn along ... I will show you my lace knitting progress. I warn you, it doesn't seem to look much different that my last blog post here = which was in OCTOBER !!!!

Doesn't this look gorgeous , fluffy , and adorable. Can you believe I frogged then unfrogged it.

I'm sorry little item of fluffiness - but you are slow going. Anyway, i'm persisting on. I will love wearing you little chick a dee scarf . ( thank you all for your tips on this last year, i did manage to untwist my twist )

 As for our reading :: John and I both have read this book - it's  beautiful.

Swimming with Crocodiles     by Will Chaffey

If you are interested about Australia or the Kimberley ; this is the book to read.

This book is all about where we live right now. Derby even gets a mention.

Happy knitting and reading to you all, Blessings. x

Lace

Hello lovely creatures... How are you all?

please come and visit me here soon, won't you.

xoxoxoxoxox

knitting

my sweater is almost finished.... you can read more here.  :)

older and wiser

35 trips around the sun today for me !!!
Yah!   (Read more here). xxxxxxxxx