Saturday, November 13, 2010

Spinning, Charity Blankets & a Smiley Boy

Hi all this is my latest spinning, it's an English Leicester X fleece which I washed a few months ago and it's been sitting in a tub ready to prepare to spin. As you can see it has a lovely long staple and the color ranges from white to a beautiful silvery grey, very pretty.




About six months ago (or more) I volunteered to help with stitching up blankets for the bushfire victims from last years Black Saturday, who lost everything. I was given a bag of knitted squares and some yarn and it was up to me what I did with it.

Well, I've never stitched up or crocheted together knitted squares before. I'm mostly a crocheter, so this was quite a task for me. And I have to add that I didn't enjoy it very much either.

Don't get me wrong, I do loads of craftwork for charity. Not long after the bushfires I donated loads of blankets, hats, scarves, ponchos and more. It gives me a lot of pleasure to know that my craft is going to someone who needs it and will be useful to them.

The problem was, there were so many different sizes in the bag of squares, and there were even a few rectangles thrown in too. So I had two problems, how to get the knit fabric together nicely AND try and put uneven shapes together too! AND some were knit from point to point as well! Aaaarrrgh!!

A number of times I laid those squares and rectangles out on the floor and tried to put them together but they just would not work out unless I could crochet a few more rows around some of the shapes, but then I had the risk they'd come out too big!

In the end I knew my limitations, so I just put together what I could, crocheting them together in a simple single crochet in a few different colors. And then I added a couple of rows of fun fur around the edges to give the dull colors in the blankets a bit of a lift. It's most likely these two blankets will go to some kids as one is a single bed size and the other a cot size, and most kids love the feel of fun fur, so it just adds that little bit of cuddliness to the blankets.

As for the pile of leftover squares? They all went back in the bag to go back to the lady who has organised all this and they'll mostly likely be added to some other blankets.

Lesson learned: MAKE SURE when I offer to stitch together blankets ever again that insist I do CROCHET ONLY!!



Here's a couple of pics of my boy modelling his new shorts, shoes and socks, as you can see he's a very happy boy!


He ran off with one of my charity hats as he "loves the rainbow colors!"



Friday, November 12, 2010

Country Cotton Shawl

Hi all, I'm rather proud of this shawl I crocheted a couple of months ago. The pattern is the Country Cotton Shawl, free on Ravelry, and I've made a few of them now. The others were in store bought yarn, this is the first in my handspun yarn.

The yarns are all my own handspun. All the different colors are different fleeces from different sheep and I did the whole processing: sorting, washing, drying, and then flick carding, myself. Then I spun it into various 2-ply yarns.

I'm pleased with the effect the colors have given as I wanted the gradual grading of colors and it's worked very successfully. I absolutely adore colored fleeces and especially those that have more than one color in the one fleece, unfortunately those ones are a bit harder to get.

It's fun to look at the colors in this shawl and remember all the different fleeces. This shawl is quite heavy and will be lovely and warm in winter.



A Busy Week

Hi all, I'm GLAD it's the weekend, there's nothing like that thank-god-there's-no-alarm feeling when you can sleep as long as the kids will let you!

While I had the blogging issues, I've been taking some photos I wanted to share. Firstly, here's a chocolate cake I made a few weeks ago then threw in the freezer. We had it last week and I had some leftover cream, (trying very hard to make sure I use up ALL those leftovers as that's where money goes down the drain) added icing and sprinkles and wahlah! Lots of lip smacking goodness at our place!



Last Saturday I went to our local stitch n bitch and not long before we left to come home it started to rain, and I MEAN RAIN!!!! It bucketed down and this is what we saw on the way home. This is a bike track not far from our house which is normally dry. The water was nearly up to the road and would have been 4 - 6 feet deep in some areas. It was flowing incredibly fast. It was a good opportunity to chat with my boys about the dangers of this sort of water if they're ever out with their friends and this sort of rain happens again.

These photos were taken on two different roads.




The other weekend my friend and I took the boys to see our horse Harley. They both enjoyed having a ride and a cuddle.





Last weekend I did a pile of baking: 2 x sour cream cakes to use up a tub of sour cream, 2 x banana and sultana cakes to use up some near black bananas and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. This has covered lunchbox snacks and after school snacks and two more cakes left in the freezer.

I made a big batch of fried rice this week to use up some leftover sausages and what was expected to last two meals was eaten in one, that's what happens with teenage boys!!

Toby had the 'cops' come to Preschool for a visit this week and that has been the highlight of his week. All the kids were allowed free access to the inside of the police car to press all the buttons and make the light and sirens go on, what a happy bunch they were!

For me this week was a mass of appointments and I'm very glad the week is done! xxx

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I Feel Loved

Last night after school my two boys were out playing in the backyard after school, they came back inside and called out, "close your eyes mum!."

They came into the kitchen and handed me a little bunch of flowers each. These are growing over our side fence from our neighbors house. Aren't my boys sweetie's??

A New Park

Today the boys and I went to a new playground over at Rowville. We hadn't been there before so I didn't know what to expect, but had been told it was a fabulous playground and we weren't let down.

The boys didn't know where we were going except that it was somewhere free (I'm broke after buying my new little laptop) and we had a picnic packed.

As soon as we pulled up at the park their faces lit up and there was sounds of "Oh cool!! Thanks Mum!!" We unloaded my basket and the food, and then they disappeared on their scooters.

The great thing about this playground is that it has plenty for kids to climb on, swing on, slide down, climb up, whizz around on, get dizzy on, hide under, and on and on. Plus it had a concrete path that went all around the outside, plus wiggled it's way through the middle as well, so they could ride their scooters as well.

There was also a path down to some outdoor basketball courts too, so they happily rode down there as well.

We had chicken chip sandwiches, cookies and cordial for lunch and I loaded them up with sunscreen and hats as the weather became quite warm as the afternoon went on.

They disappeared for ages at a time and every now and then I'd see then run somewhere or their heads pop up so I knew all was okay. I don't think I would take Toby (4) there by himself to play, but it was perfect for the two boys together.

I happily sat and crocheted some more dishcloths for Christmas gifts and caught up on a few knitting/spinning podcasts on my ipod.

It was a lovely afternoon, and even better because it was free! I reckon we'll be using this park quite a bit on the Christmas school holidays coming up very soon.





Computer Issues... AaaaaRRGH!!

Hi all, well I've had blog issues and kid issues and other issues and thank goodness they are all over and done with and I am back! Phew!!

Firstly, my lovely laptop caught the most dreadful virus, I've never had an issue like that before and it was quite frightening when this virus was telling me I had trojans everywhere, and other things were going to take ALL my passwords through my system and go into my bank accounts and all sorts, yes I was panicking and rushed my laptop down to the computer shop.

I was without internet for a few days while my trusty computer tech sorted out what was going on. I've been going to the same guy for years, he's a friend and always done reliable work. Well, I got my laptop back, plugged her back in and BANG!!! Up came the dreaded virus again!! AAARRRGH!!

So back I went! He was shocked, and I've left her with him for a complete wipe out and re-install. He has another three computers with him at the moment with the same virus and he said it's a ripper.

The thought of being offline for another few days AND those days being the weekend, almost made me tic and shake and...... well you get the idea. I don't have much of a social life with special needs kids, so the internet is sort of a lifeline for me to online friends and the outer world. So my boys and I went out last night browsing at secondhand laptops, I was hoping to fluke a bargain, but there was nothing that grabbed my interest except one, and it had cord issues. Where the cord plugs in wasn't working too well so I quickly side-stepped that one and continued on my way. I don't need another computer with issues!!

Anyway we browsed a number of computer shops and there was nothing, until we came across a new shop that we hadn't been in before. Straight away I found a little ebook, it's a brand new netbook and I've long been thinking about getting a netbook for taking out when I take the boys to playcentres as there's usually free Wi fi.

It was right in my price range and had all the bits and pieces that I wanted, plus it's BRAND NEW!! I've NEVER had a brand new computer before, I've always gotten refurbished as I couldn't see the sense in spending hundreds more for exactly the same thing, and I've never had any issues with them.

So I bought this little ebook and late last night I got her all unpacked and connected up and then I couldn't get my internet going..... aargh!! BUT..... a quick call to my service provider and it was just a case of disconnecting the power cord to the modem for a few seconds and plugging it back in and I was online!! Woohoo!! It just needed that little bit of help to tell the modem to recognize another computer, easy peasy!!

So here I am, back online a happy chappy! xx

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Chocolate Cafe

Last Thursday we had an hour to waste before an appointment, so I took Mathew to a new Cafe I found in Ringwood. It's one of those Cafes that sell really rich coffee and cakes and lots of different chocolates in little patty pans. His eyes nearly popped out when we walked in, then he just didn't know what to choose!

He decided on the Mountain Mousse Cake:

And I had Lemon Meringue Pie:


Well Mathew managed about a third of his as it was SO rich. The guy there kindly popped it in a container for us to take home. He had it for breakfast the next day, then after school as well, then he finished it off for brekky the next day. That's how rich it was. It tasted like it had a light sprinkling of liquor through it and really was delish. I said that next time if he wants that one or something like it, we'll share a piece.

Mine was devine, gorgeous tasty sticky meringue and sharp sweet lemon goo. OMG it was soooo good!

Just Found Comments!

Hi all, I was just mucking about adding a new gadget to this blog when I found some comments! Woohoo! Thank you to all for your lovely comments, I didn't know they were there because I wasn't emailed about them. Hopefully I have fixed that now, so I'll be able to respond if any more comments come my way.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Cat Bordhi - Part 1: wrapping & turning, concealing wraps

Cat Bordhi demonstrates Judy Becker's Magic Cast-On

Cat Bordhi-PERSONAL FOOTPRINTS-start toe on 1 long circ

Cat Bordhi-PERSONAL FOOTPRINTS- toe on 2 circs

Toe Up Socks - 1st Increase Round

Cat Bordhi-PERSONAL FOOTPRINTS-overview

Cat Bordhi - Part 2 of Knitting on Two Circular Needles

Cat Bordhi - Part 1: Knitting on 2 circular needles

Friday, October 1, 2010

School Holidays

Hi all, today is the second last day of our Spring school holidays. Mostly the weather has been miserable, cloudy, wet and very cold. BUT today the sun is shining, we are all in short sleeves and my backyard looks like a green suburban jungle. The grass needs mowing again (after only being done a couple of weeks ago), and the fruit trees are growing new little leaves as fast as they can. The blossom has almost gone and the backyard is almost all shady again, instead of stark with "nude-y" trees!

My little Toby and I like to call them "nude-y" trees as this helped him to understand how/why they lose their leaves in winter.

The other day we were driving to an appointment when suddenly Toby called out, "Look Mum! There's nudey trees!!" His brother Mathew just curled up laughing in the front seat, so then I had to explain why we called them nudey trees. Both of my boys have Autism so they are very visual and very literal, which can make for some very interesting conversations!

Today we are staying home. You see today is a very important day, it's Grand Final Day in the AFL (Australian Football League), as last weekend was a draw..... YES..... a draw!!

Me and my boys watched it last weekend and spent a couple of hours watching the game and screaming at the tv. The two teams were St Kilda and Collingwood, and we are all die-hard Collingwood supporters. I don't follow the footy very much unless Collingwood are doing really well, and this year they have just flown up the ladder!

We decorated the front of our house with black and white streamers and balloons. Then we watched the game.... and it ended up a draw.... YES a DRAW!!!!




So it's a repeat of last week to hopefully get a winner! So many supporters are disgusted with this outcome and this has led to the rules in AFL being changed so this doesn't happen again.

Now onto CROCHET!

As you know I've been decluttering, and that includes my stash of yarn/fleece/roving. Last weekend my friend Marion of 'Spinning a Yarn' (a small business of spinning supplies, fleece, and Marion is a spinning teacher) came over and took a whole pile of my handspun yarns with her as she's having a market stall at a heap of local markets. We spent the afternoon weighing and pricing my yarns and her first market stall is this weekend, hopefully she'll do well!

I sorted out three huge baskets of odd balls of my handspun yarns that I dyed that not enough to do anything much with, and I've made three lovely crocheted blankets with them. Here's one. As you can see it was going to be for the back of our couch. Our couch looks quite tatty so I thought these blankets could cover it and brighten it up, BUT Mathew fell in love with the first blanket even when it was only half done and he nagged and nagged and nagged as he wanted it, so I ended up giving it to him.



Now he has his doona, a handmade patchwork blanket I made him and THREE hand crocheted blankets I made him as well, on his bed. It's a wonder he can move in his bed!!

This recent blanket is all completely pure wool so he must be incredibly warm!!

The second blanket is finished but I haven't taken a photo yet, and the third just needs a few rows added to it to be finished. I'm very pleased with how all three of them came out. It's an excellent way of using up those oddballs of handspun into something useful. The second blanket won't be going on the couch, that will be used by my eldest son and his girlfriend out in the caravan when they come to stay as they were cold last week because we'd run out of blankets.

Last week my eldest son Josiah (17) came home for the week with his girlfriend Clare (who I love to bits), and we had a lovely week together catching up. They took me out for dinner on Thursday night and it was so nice to get to know Clare a little better.

My three boys, Josiah (17) left, Toby (4)middle, and Mathew (13) right.



Seeya! xxx


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Animal Spirit Guides..... Are they true??

Hi all, I haven't been here for a little while as I've had some issues with the kids, which thankfully are settling down. My decluttering has come to a halt but school holidays start on Friday so I'm looking forward to getting back into it during that time.

I have been doing a fair bit of spinning as I find it very soothing, the continual turning of the wheel seems like a kind of emotional hug, if that makes any sense and is exactly what I've needed at the moment.

I keep looking at all my handspun yarn and wondering what on earth I'm going to do with it all....... I love doing the spinning, but then most of the handspun yarn just seems to sit and not actually be made into anything. I'm more of a spinner than a maker! Hmmmm......

I've been struggling with my books. I'm definitely a book addict and although I took a pile of books to the Op Shop last week, I have also bought Astrology, Tarot and Decluttering books, so really I'm no better off.

My interest in Astrology and Tarot has fired up again after a break of a few years and I've been having fun downloading free programs on the internet and searching for a decent correspondence course in both. No luck so far. I need courses that I can do at my own pace and fit in around my kids.....

A few weeks ago I started a Thursday night course in Psychic Development. The first week we did Palmistry and spent a very interesting evening looking at each others hands and studying the lines. I really enjoyed it.

The second week we did Animal Spirit Guides. Now I know nothing about this topic except that they're sort of like your angels standing by you. Well the teacher went on to say what animal/s were nearby each student and then had us stand opposite each other in pairs and 'intuitively' see if we could 'see' what animal/s were around the person we were looking at.

Well I felt really stupid and silly as my rational mind was telling me this was a crock of shit!! However I consider myself open-minded and was willing to give it a go, so I did.

Then I sat down, the girl I was paired with seemed disappointed that I didn't want to stand there for ages looking at all 'her animals' and discussing it.

The teacher never gave any background about how/why these supposed 'animals' are there around us and watching over us. I had no idea what it was all about and I felt quite silly all through the class. When I left I didn't ever want to go back and felt very disappointed.

The next week I had planned to go back but just ended up wandering around the shops instead, I don't even know what the topic was.

I think the problem is for me, is that the teacher didn't explain what all that stuff is about. Plus when she was saying that some of the people in the class had multiple animals around them, and the teacher herself has "13 animals around her and that things can get pretty noisy sometimes," it was just a bit much.

All the other women in the class have done classes at the shop except me. Now I've done lots of reading on all sorts of New Age topics, but not this one, and the teacher knew that. I feel that there should have been more explanantion about what all this is. BUT I also have a strong gut feeling that yes animal guides may exist, yes I don't have a problem with that, but when someone is telling me that they have 13 animals following them around, I'm being taken for a ride..... what do you think??

Monday, August 30, 2010

Thoughts on Too Much Stuff

Hi all, I don't know where the days go at the moment but the weeks seem to be flying by! I've been on a manic decluttering again, which has resulted in a big trip to the tip on Sunday and a trip to the Op Shop yesterday. It's SO good to get all that 'stuff' out of my house and backyard. I only wish my place LOOKED like it had been decluttered!!

Here's a pic of the trailer and back of friends 4WD on our way to the tip.


The trouble is, I am really good at organizing, so my place does look a little cluttered, but not terribly so. You see I have dozens of 55 litre tubs in my bedroom floor to ceiling on shelves so that I can access my fleeces, yarn, finished projects, not finished projects, and so on. So the place doesn't LOOK too bad. BUT ...... I FEEL like things are coming in on me and I want to scale back a LOT. And I mean a LOT!

But how does one choose what to get rid of? What if I want to go back to that hobby? I spent all that money getting all the tools and paints and papers and brushes and glues and books and information on that hobby, and now what? Do I just chuck it? Freecycle it? Sell it? (No way, that takes too long). What if in a few weeks/months I decide I want to get back into art again and play around and all/most of my stuff is gone? What then?

I've thrown out a LOT of fleeces, those that I KNOW I won't enjoy spinning. Friend who was helping me commented that I 'spent good money on those fleeces......?' NOT what a declutterer wants to hear. But when I bought them I hadn't spun that breed before and thought I'd give it a go. When I tried them out it was pure hell and I don't want my spinning to be hell, I want to enjoy it, so OUT they went!!

The other question is, what does one DO with all the yarn she spins??? I've known for a while that's it's the actual PROCESS of the spinning that I enjoy, not having the finished yarn to actually MAKE something with. And now I'm getting snowed under with handspun yarn. "Well sell it" I hear you say. I don't know if I want to, or even could sell it. A lot of it is just a couple of balls of this or that, and much of it isn't real soft for skin touching items..... So what does one do?? My tubs are getting fuller and fuller and I look at them and just wish they'd STOP breeding.....

I've been reading a lot about Minimalism, where people live happy/comfortable lives with just the bare minimum of things. It costs them less, they don't have clutter, it's easier for them to move house, it's easier for them to clean, and so on and so on.

I wish for this style of life, BUT am I really that sort of person?? I do love my junk, there's just too much of it. That's part of the thrill for me, getting a new hobby and then going out and getting ALL the new tools/supplies/books for it. I guess it's part of the chase for me.... And then I end up feeling overwhelmed and here we go again, a bit decluttering starts....... more therapy for me perhaps?????

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

And the Decluttering Goes On.....

Hi all, you'd think by now that there'd be nothing left to take out of this little house after all the decluttering I've done but believe me there is PLENTY!! I have half a load sitting in my car waiting for a stop at the Op Shop, and my friends trailer (borrowed and in my backyard) is about two thirds full.

A couple of days ago Toby decided that he wanted to play in one of his toy boxes like a hidey cubby, so he pulled out ALL of his toys one by one and sorted them by himself with NO prompting from me. I just provided a box for stuff for the Op Shop, a garbage bag for broken bits and pieces, and a smaller box for the toys he was keeping to go into.

He happily sorted through them and then also sorted through a set of three drawers and got rid of a ton of papers, old drawings, and those dreadful little plastic toys you get at MacDonalds with the Happy Meals. Boy was I glad to see them go!! He did an amazing job and now he has way less, it's easier to tidy up, and it all is not taking up so much space in his toy area in the loungeroom.

Next to his toybox he has a big tub of blocks and a cartrack, then a tub of Thomas the Tank Engine train stuff, then a tub of matchbox cars, and finally a box of Lego, plenty to keep him busy.

I sold his toddler bed on ebay last week and I knew Toby would have problems letting go of it even though he's been in a big-boy bed for ages, so I told him he could have the money we got for it. He was very happy to let it go then, and he bought an elephant game (I'll explain this another day with pics), and some gameboy games. He's very happy and I'm happy to have another item out of the house that's not being used.

I also noticed on Freecycle the other day that a lady who I've gotten a few things from was advertising for a spinning wheel. This lady is lovely and she has autistic sons like I do, so I offered her one of my wheels, you see I believe what goes around comes around and I was given my first wheel off Freecycle. I told her I would sort one out either today or on the weekend and she could come and pick it up. She's pretty excited, and I'm thrilled to be passing one on to someone who is excited to be learning to spin!

As I was sorting through my spinning stash last night, I put a few things aside for her too, like fleece samples I've been sent to try, and some fleece staples that I dyed recently, oh and some roving I dyed too. That way she can just play with some different fibres and textures as she learns.

I've got a little boy climbing all over me right now so I'll finish this here and come back later. xx

Crochet Anonymous

Wooly Bullies

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Washing & Decluttering Fleece

Hi all, I've been doing a lot of sorting out in my spinning stash and have decided to get a lot of it washed and spun so it won't take up so much space. I feel like I am over-run by fleece!

Some will be thrown out as I know I won't spin it and I don't want to stuff around trying to sell it, waiting for it to sell, waiting for buyers to collect and/or having to wrap it all up to post to the buyer. I have my friends trailer here and it's half full waiting for a tip run, yes I will throw out fleece if I know I won't enjoy spinning it. Life's too short.

The fleece I'm going to throw out is some really fine stuff, Merino X, I don't know what possessed me to buy it in the first place, in fact I can't even remember buying it. I loathe spinning really thin fleece that is fiddly to spin.

But when some more of my tubs are cleared out, I'll have more space to put away what I do have, and the thought of that makes me happy.

In my bedroom I have a whole wall, floor to ceiling, of 55 litre tubs. They sit on shelving for easy access and these are where I store my yarn/fleece stash, but the trouble is, I have MORE tubs scattered around the house with MORE fleece and yarn in them. It's TOO MUCH!! Way too much!

The decluttering bug has struck again and this afternoon I happily threw out another pile of papers and sorted and cleared and tidied. I now have a space where earlier today there was none.

I only wish I could make things as quickly as I want to use up my yarn! Not all of it, about half would make me happy!

Here's what I've been washing:

Both fleeces here are Finn/Border Leicester/English Leicester/Corriedale, this first one came out a lovely soft grey with a few areas of a rich dark grey, a gorgeous fleece!


This one washed up into a gorgeous white color.


Tomorrow I'll be washing some English Leicester that I think will come out a lovely caramel color. And there's also some chocolate brown Border Leicester to be washed. Washing these couple of kilos of fleece should fill up my drying racks nicely. Being full-on winter here I have to do my fleece drying inside and I have limited space, but the good thing is that our heater is running almost non-stop as it's raining and freezing cold, so it's ideal fleece drying weather inside.

Seeya xxx

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Ramblings About My Stuff

Hi there, why is it that as crafters, the amount of 'stuff' we have seems to grow and grow...... and grow! This year I have been through a number of de-cluttering phases with endless runs to the Op Shop, giving stuff away to friends, and just general throwing stuff away that's of no use anymore.

Why is it that I'm feeling at the moment like I never did anything???

I've been reading a few Minimalist blogs and I just love their way of life. I love the clear areas in their homes due to the lack of stuff to clutter it. BUT I know as much as I love to look at their homes, it's not for me to live that way. How do I find a middle ground?

I've been being really careful about what I bring into my home for quite a few months now. I didn't even buy one ball of yarn or one fleece when we went to the show at Bendigo, and that is a miracle for me. I've been using up my yarn stash and except for one short time of craziness a couple of months ago, when I was on a yarn-buy-binge, I've very proud of myself at not having gone out buying loads of yarn, especially since there have been a LOT of crisis times here recently.

I guess what I'm wondering here, is if there are 'creative' Minimalist people, or even if such people exist?

Yes I know of course they do, but I'd really be interested to see just HOW they manage their supplies, their tools, their books, etc etc.

I was reading a blog this morning, and there is a movement going on in the Minimalist world where people are deciding to ONLY OWN 100 THINGS!!!!! Can you believe that!! 100 Things! My goodness where would I even start? If I can remember the name of it I will post a link.

The woman even did her whole list of what she owns on her blog and it was amazing. Can you believe how freeing that would be, to only own 100 things? I am in government housing and have my name down for a swap to a country area. I can't begin to imagine just how long it's going to take me to pack up this house, the mere thought fills me with dread! AND I have three kids worth of STUFF to move too..... AAARRRGH!!

But my point is, that how would it be, if you could just throw your whole 100 items that you own in the back of your car, and go.....

I remember when I was married (ugh) in my mid-twenties (long-divorced) and we had a number of caravans that we lived in at different times, and a decked out bus. The caravans were 15ft, 18ft, 20ft and a 30ft. I loved living in those caravans at various times when we were following the fruit harvests and doing the picking. It really made us question anything we wanted to buy, because there just wasn't the extra space like in a house.

I remember when we had the 15ft caravan and we drove from Victoria to Western Australia to try and get a job in the mining industry. We packed WAY too much stuff, and then wondered why our tyres kept blowing out and even the rims crumpled as well!!! Young and stupid?? You bet! So we had to dump out half our belongings at a little bush town somewhere in South Australia.

The guy at the truck stopped was thrilled with my husbands tools, stacks of them, we just had to give them away to lighten up the van so we could keep going. Money was running short and we needed to get to WA as quick as we could.

The wife at the truck stop was mighty thrilled too, she got my treadle Singer Sewing machine. Yes I cried a few tears over that one too, my husband said he'd get me another one, I'm still waiting 18 years later.....

That machine was the lovely black sewing machine in almost perfect condition. The treadle all worked perfectly too and I was very keen to use it once we got settled in WA. The cabinet it came in was the ones with the three drawers on either side and the dark wood that's all hand-carved..... as I said I sure did cry a few tears for that one.

I did crochet back then, I remember my stash of acrylic yarns and a tin of hooks was stashed under our bed at the back of the van.

Living in a caravan is wonderful, so many people bag the lifestyle but it really is a wonderful life, the freedon to just up and go whenever you like, and the lovely, and sometimes strange, people you meet are such an experience too.

But anyway back to my stuff. I'm feeling snowed under at the moment, everywhere I look there is stuff. I have the urge to just take most of it, dump it in the trailer and do a dash to the tip! That would give me the space I crave in my house..........

Tuesday, July 27, 2010