the Wise Robin

a wee waistcoat

 

 

Just recently I finished my first knit garment that doesn't fall under the category of scarf or beanie. My go-to-girl Jenny in our local wool store assured me that this little waistcoat pattern was as simple as they come and a good place to start as I slowly edge my way toward knitting a cardi or jumper for myself. And she was right. Big wool, big needles, simple design, quick results. This wee waistcoat is from the Sirdar Big Softie range. Zahra chose a chunky alpaca and merino wool from Naturally Hand Knit Yarns in shade 2007. The colours in these pics are not a true likeness. It's not actually this bright, but my camera doesn't seem to take to well to blues, maybe a little tweaking is in order. Eager to finish it off and with no buttons in the button tin that seemed to fit this little waistcoat, I up and made one from a piece of Crape Myrtle...some light sanding, a quick drilling and a splash of linseed oil later and one wee waistcoat is ready for action.

 

 

Chook cuddling

 

Pumpkin pulling

 

 

Tree climbing

 

Or for just feeling cosy on a cold and rainy day.

 

It has the thumbs up from the woman with the small dogs in the park who caught me, with nose buried in a Spin Off  magazine, and asked if I was the knitter. She  generously told me it looked very smart. But most importantly it has Zahra's smile of approval...warm and easy I'm told. She even went so far as to say she was never giving it away and would keep it for her children. Psssaw. Be still my beating heart.

Hope you're all staying warm and cosy through these cold days.

Cxo 

hens teeth

 

Since embarking on our homeschooling journey at the beginning of this year time for me to be alone, recharge and catchup with myself has been as rare as hens teeth. It is often squeezed in as five minutes here and five minutes there somewhere between breakfast and our evening bedtime rituals. Or it takes the form of late nights at the sewing machine or on the couch with a cuppa and some knitting when I know that I'm tired and should be in bed so my patience is not thin the following day. A grumpy Mama is not a pretty thing to behold in our house. So we Mama's do what we need to do to come back to ourselves each day even if that means staying up way too late, letting an early dinner slide by in order to finish that project or even locking oneself in the bathroom for fifteen minutes to take a deep breath or read a book. Never underestimate the value of keeping reading material in the bathroom I say..."I'll be out in five minutes". And while incorporating creativity and slowness to our days is one reason why we choose to homeschool, sometimes, just sometimes, amongst all this, these moments for ourselves are thin and we need just a little more to keep our bucket full.

 Today Zahra was off creating with a local artist and hanging out with friends....all day. And once more ... all day. This morning while driving her to her class I found myself writing mental lists of what I could do with my time. It quickly became obvious that there were two kinds being formed in my mind. One full of things that I should do and one full of things that I love doing but don't get the chance to do by myself very often. The should do list was full of doing things like last night's dishes, vacuuming, laundry, menus, tidying the house, mowing the lawn and not forgetting a dose of exercise for me and Miss Kaya. As I thought of this vast expanse of time laid out before me, the other list  took a more fluid form, full of a few doing things and a lot of just being. There were even a few moments, just a few, of not knowing what to do with so much time.

 So there was a little necessary sewing, lots of tea drinking and chocolate eating, soaking up the sun, a first try at meringue making with leftover egg whites, burning of meringues,  one load of linen on the line ( gotta make the most of the sun this time of year), more sitting and soaking up the sun, pottering and collecting from the garden, searching for new knitting pattern and a tiny trip to the store. A nice balance if I do say so.

While there was a bit of doing and just being going on all day, today was a good reminder to feel for that balance each day, to spend more moments enjoying the small things, slow down and just be. A good way to keep that bucket full.

goodness

 

I'm trying to squeeze this in before I hear Zahra's feet hit the floor. Do you all  know how hard it is to creep around an old house with creaky floorboards early in the morning with ugg boots on? It's a mean feat I'm telling ya. My week has started a little slow again. I haven't forgot you all I just needed a few extra days to get going. The sun is now peeking over the hills and sending it's beautiful golden-ness in through the front windows as I sit here and write.

I thought I share some mid week goodness with you that I've found over the past week and another view from my windows. I took this one last week before the grey days settled in. All the flame coloured leaves have fallen from the crape myrtle now leaving only lovely twisted branches with their mottled bark. These are one of my favourite trees. It's a great place to sit and catch the early morning sun before it swings behind the lilly pilly leaving our house shady and cool. Whoever thought of planting tall evergreens on the northern side of a house?

Ooh, I hear feet, running, so I'll leave you with some of the goodness that I've been enjoying over the past week. Have a good one.

For all those lovely Japanese sewing books out there that need a little deciphering

Gorgeous handmade books from Loiuse's Bibliographica shop, we've got a little craft swap in the pipeline which I'll share soon, so excited.

Film and camera talk from elizabeth

Talented Aussie artist Pia Jane Bijkerk sharing her first Mother's Day.

Lots of home eye candy here

 Cxo

 

 

 

from the files

 

I am very excited to be sharing something  with you today, something that I have been waiting to do for quite some time. Very late on Mother's Day an unexpected and very generous gift was given. Unless we're talking cameras I don't often get excited about technology and even then the older the camera the more beautiful and the more promise I do believe. This little piece of technology, in the form of a simple scanner that scans not only 35mm film, but more excitedly, 120 film, has me thinking of darkrooms, black and white, medium format and dusting off my old Mamiya 645. I'm excited because for me this means once again shooting in film, my true love, and being able to print without a darkroom. I still have all my darkroom gear and in a twisted kind of way the thought of smelling those darkroom chemicals again gets me going but the thought of handling these chemicals and disposing of them responsibly outside an art school style setup is enough to put me off.

Today I headed down to the studio to open a couple of old suitcases that have been untouched for the past eight years. They are full to the brim of negatives. Some I have seen in the form of  proof sheets or prints but others were simply developed then filed away. I'm not sure what I will find inside these suitcases that hold so many memories....smiles I think are guaranteed, tears maybe, nostalgia I'm sure. With so many negatives to sort through I thought I'd simply start at the top and slowly work my way down. Come take a look with me.

 

All these images are were taken in my early twenties when Miss Kaya dog was a pup and we lived in an old farm house right on the river. Hot in Summer, freezing in Winter with our very own red belly who lived under the house. She would come out to sun herself on the back porch and disappear into a small hole under the backdoor. It was here we had some great parties, one hundred acres of space, a house sheep called Lucy, our very own stretch of the river and a wide inky night sky jam packed with stars.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend

Cxo

 

a sunny corner

 

Two posts in twenty four hours... out there somewhere. A little frustrating. So today's post is a little scant again.

half price Echino fabric for Mother's Day. Thanks Mum

Snip out the golden, lichen green and pair with linen

Back with yesterday's leftover tea towel

makes one happy cushion for a sunny corner

~Cxo~

Maybe we'll be back on track tomorrow

nurture

I'm not sure what to say now. I just had a post ready to go and it got sucked away to who knows where. Ah, the joys of technology. It went something like this...first loaf of wheat free bread, first butternut harvest and pumpkin soup for the season, first go at a quick stitched aromatherapy wheat pack using a tea towel with clary sage, lavender and chamomile as the smells of choice and a wee girl on the mend.

Hope this finds you all in good health dear friends

~Cxo~

beanshoot mitts

 

 

I didn't quite find the time to get here yesterday after a slow, but full and lovely weekend. I hope all you Mama's out there enjoyed the same. Today my Miss Zahra was down with a bug, sleeping for most of the day... which makes for more time to catch up on a few things. I started on some fingerless mitts from Erika Knight's Simple Knitting a couple of weeks ago. The right hand mitt has been waiting for its mate so this morning I curled up next to my girl on the couch to finish them off. I love looking at the names that different colourways are given for paints, wool and fabric. I often wonder if there's someone somewhere whose job it is just finding inspiring names for all those lovely shades of colour out there. This beautiful wool from Jo Sharp's  Silkroad DK Tweed line is called beanshoot. A soft green flecked with cornflower blue and mustard yellow.

 

 

I changed the pattern just a little, stopping short at the thumb gusset, and in my excitement to get these cosy mitts on these hands I accidentally knit two right handers.

I briefly, very briefly thought about frogging it... but in the end it is just as cosy.

 

Happy Knitting 

~Cxo~

 

bringing in the goodness

 

 

 

There's so much Autumn goodness oudoors at the moment...we brought some of it inside to brighten our table.

A lovely weekend to you all and a peaceful Sunday to all the beautiful Mama's out there.

xoC

rhythm, ritual and windows

 

We're slowly easing back into a daily and weekly rhythm after our trip north. Lying in bed yesterday morning it occurred to me that my morning rhythm and rituals are very nearly the same every day. Often it starts by being woken by the birds outside our window. This time of the year the camellia tree is blooming and we see and hear all the birdsong and going's on of their morning meal. I lie for a while, trying to wake gently, during which time a pair of small feet has made their way into bed for snuggles and chatter about the day ahead. Sometimes I get a moment longer to be with the morning while Zahra heads off to get on with her plans for the day. Chook cuddles or reading are generally first on her list.This morning she's into the paints, something about an art shop out the front of our house... oh how she makes me smile. Once I rise I make my way from room to room opening the curtains. Always in the same order, looking out, seeing what weather we have to play with. As I do this each and every day it really feels like I'm greeting the day, saying hello to the world. Some windows I linger at longer, for the way the sun is streaming in or for the coloured leaves outside. Then it's off to the kitchen to get the kettle going for that first cup of tea, a pat and ear ruffle for Miss Kaya dog, then out into the yard to greet the girls, feed them and collect any eggs. I love the way that this little ritual unfolds every morning, differently but the same. I find comfort and beauty in it, a steady slowness and quiet that hopefully, but not always, sets the tone for the rest of the day.

 Today I wanted to share the view from our bathroom window with you. I've been lingering here for the past few mornings loving the mix of colours and sky, sun and life. If I really look I can see the bush behind our place, the hill we so often climb. It's just a small window but it's tiny frame, with its snapshot of the outside world, are my favourite part of this morning ritual.

 

Happy Friday

Cxo

 

moon planting

 

 

Last night we headed out for a moonlit bush walk.

On Sunday, when the moon was full, as I was heading off to bed and the house was quiet and dark,  I stood looking out of the window into the backyard. The silver light was bright and clear, the shadows deep and long. It was beautiful. So last night as the moon began to wane we headed through the bush and up the hill to gaze and smile. Truly beautiful. Did you see it wherever you were?

 

 We try our best to plant by the moon and after checking our charts this morning today seemed like a good time to head to the plant nursery. In early Autumn we started a herb spiral in the garden by the kitchen door. So far we've planted angelicum, a blueberry, chamomile, cat mint, dill, echinacea and fever few. Today we gathered and planted some foxgloves, garlic, geraniums, hyssop, hollyhocks and bush iris. We hope to have a a thriving kitchen and medicinal patch by the back door come Spring, with some colour for the bees and butterflies. We then had to get inventive with wire and stakes to keep those ever curious free ranging girls of ours and their scratching feet at bay. I love how they follow our movements around the garden hoping for the odd tasty morsel from our diggings in the soil.

 

 

... and for the birds this Winter, a small bird feeder. I'm not sure how many different birds we'll attract with our chook food and backyard berries.

warmly

~Cxo~

 

homeward

 

 

Here we are, back down south, where the temperatures dropped so much while we were away that I think it's time to swap the summer doonas for feathers and spark up the gas heater. I love the cold and the woollies you get to wear to keep warm. I love the quietness of this time of year and the creativity and in-wardness it brings. But yesterday the sun was hiding behind a thin cover of cloud all day and it reminded me of my Winter in central France where the cold bites to the bone and every day was gloomy with greyness. While looking at the warmth of Spring in all those beautiful Northern Hemisphere blogs out there I found myself craving warmth and sun, Spring and outdoor days. Maybe the universe heard me, crazy notion you may say, but today I woke up to this...

 

 

I was going to to share with you our travels... the museum, Sydney, the wool show and poultry pavillion that we visited, how turkey was lost and found again, he is the forever returning turkey, a little knitting
and our bush adventures... but the sun is shining, the laundry has a chance to dry outside and this girl of mine wants to go for a ride...

We're heading out to seize the sun

Happy Days

~Cxo~

 

northward

 

Miss Kaya dog sleeping in the sun is a good measure of how we spent our weekend...soaking in the Autumn sunshine.

We read, collected, rode, walked, drank tea, snoozed and Zahra cuddled. She loves her frocks this girl of mine. Chooks, frocks and boots, a perfect combination.

Tomorrow we head North for a week.

May soft sunshine find you wherever you are friends

~Cxo~

pod bag

 

I've been meaning to make this simple pod bag since I bought this book about a year ago. Like my knitting, for me wet felting has only ever extended to simple projects. Over the weekend I was feeling game and ready to part with the last of my favourite coloured, merino, sliver.

 

 

I followed the instructions but ended up with a 'frill' of sorts around the outside. This piece of pre-felt was meant to bind with the rest of the pod in the felting process. Turning the pod inside out makes the frill disappear but I've decided I like it and it can stay. I had Zahra's runaway maths counters in mind when making this, I tell you there like marbles, you find them in the oddest places, but then this idea was quickly disposed of in favour of it becoming a rock collecting pod by a certain girl of mine. I did manage to convince this little geologist in the making that perhaps some of the rocks that are lugged home would be too big and weighty for such a fragile thing which might be better suited to something lighter, lets say, um, wool? and needles? Really now, in all honesty it's too small for this, but I like the idea, maybe a bigger one is in the pipeline. 

 

Still wet from the felting process, the pod was whisked outside to hold seeds, leaves and berries from our garden. I can see that this pod will be spending some time in the bush, down in the gardens and in my bike basket, ready to bring home those little treasures we always seem to find.

Happy collecting dear friends

~Cxo~