Hypnotized by a strange delight under a lilac tree

The first flush of lavender.



The last blooms of lilac.



The viburnum is about to erupt, but what is this beautiful pink flower?

Wish I had a mango tree in my backyard

This afternoon I sat in the garden, and while Mr QM did this:



I did this:



And came out with this:



The Weekend of Doing Nothing is going well. Please send more chocolate and coffee.

Pack up your things, your work here is done

Ah. The end of another working week. And for once, this weekend will hold absolutely nothing for me. No heavy lifting, no hoisting barrow loads of soil. No hanging out of the washing. It's not as if I don't want to do these things, but my back decided it had finally had enough, and twisted itself into bucketloads of pain yesterday.

Nothing for it but to sit on the sofa all weekend with Lorelai and Rory and crochet away. I'm really upset about it. Really. Upset.

In Southern Summer of Sock news, I have been quite productive given my time on the sofa. On Tuesday I was three inches from the end of sock #2 ... and then I allowed myself to get distracted by a new sock pattern and a ball of amazingly coloured sock yarn. It was only when Mr QM reminded me that I still had to finished pair #1 that I decided to finish them off tonight. I'm quite pleased, although next time I'd make them a little less wide in the foot and leg.



Garden news - the lettuces have perked up after the hot winds of last week, the snow pea seedlings are growing taller, and my first lot of seeds (the sugar snaps) have finally sprouted. The plans for building a third bed have been put on holdfor a week. Mr QM has to dig out a tree stump first. I'll be too busy on the sofa to help.

Take this sinking boat and point it home

This is the post where I share with you the outcome of my many weekends away from the computer and the crochet hook.



Four weekends of hard yakka have produced our vegetable patch. I love it. There are two beds (and there will be a third shortly) and three wine barrels (and I'm hoping to fit a fourth in). The fruit trees along the right fence were already there, as were the compost bins - and of course my beloved Hills Hoist. I'm really pleased with how it's all turned out.



So this weekend I was all ready to have a whole weekend of coffee, newspapers, movies, crochet and sewing. I got the newspapers and movies OK - but would you believe I have spent another two days in the garden? This weather just lures me outdoors, and before I know it it's almost dark, I'm in desperate need of a shower and I'm aching all over.



Tonight is my night though. I'm going to mend some pants, make some more progress on Short and Sweet and finish off sock #1 for the Southern Summer of Socks.

Southern Summer of Socks Day #1

I'm not able to blog to SSOS yet, so thought I'd log my stuff here instead.

Challenges: to finish my first bloody sock, then the second so I have a pair, and then move on to more exciting patterns. That is all.

Day 1: I had already started making a pair of socks - months ago - but realised last night that I should perhaps let them hibernate for a bit, try a different yarn, and get at least one finished sock under my belt (or on my foot. Whatever).

I started Tutti-Frutti from Crocheted Socks by Janet Rehfeldt, but ripped it out after a few rows because I HATED the inside-out slip stitch. I then decided to use single crochet as the stitch - the yarn was making a nice enough pattern without me interfering with it. Put it on, it was huge, so ripped it out again and took 4 rows from the ribbing.

In the middle of all this, I took mum and dad to the zoo. I do love me some extreme crocheting.



And as of 10.15 pm tonight, we had this:

I'm using Four Season Michaela, and I hope to goodness that they have one ball left at Lincraft because I only have three balls and I'm going to run out.

Thanks to everyone for wishing me a happy birthday for Thursday. It was an odd day - I found out on Thursday that an ex-workmate of mine who I held dear to my heart had passed in very tragic circumstances. Sure, there was cake at work, lunch with a friend and my parents turned up that night to visit, but that sadness for my old mate wouldn't shake, and won't for quite some time.

And because I don't want this post to be depressing, here's a photo of some cuteness:



Mum and dad went home tonight - we had a great few days, and I miss them already.

When the daylight fades and night invades

My last night of being 37 years old, and I think I almost had a heart attack and died from laughing so hard at The Chaser tonight. Gawd those boys are damn funny.

Given the lack of blogging and photos in the last month, I thought I'd better make up for it with a couple of shots of Projects I'm Currently Working On.

Exhibit A:



This is the start of the back section to the Short and Sweet bolero from The Happy Hooker. I'm using the Lincraft Bamboozle and it's fun making it up, but this pattern isn't really very economical on yarn. I think I'll be making the bolero longer, so will require a lot more Bamboozle at some stage.
Exhibit B:



One of the first magazines I bought when I finally worked out how to read a pattern was Crochet Today, a magazine I detest on one level for being a Coats publication and therefore only using Coats/Moda Dea yarn, but yet I also love it for the number of patterns in every issue and them being brave enough to combine funky patterns for News Boy hats with patterns for doilies.

Anyway, this magazine had a pattern for a crochet cable fisherman's sweater which I absolutely loved, but I'd be buggered if I could visualise how those cables were formed. Eventually I tried this swatch and it was so simple and yet clever that I'm going to make the whole jumper in this grey/mauve Jet.

A random question - I'm headed to Wagga in early November for a family wedding. Anyone know of any yarn shops I should be patronising?

Something's frying on the floor below

Shhhhhh! Don't tell Mr QM I'm on the computer - he thinks I'm sitting in my sewing room gazing off into the distance listening to Tony Delroy. You see, I have "shovel arm" from a heavy weekend in the garden, and I've been confined to the sofa to do *gasp* nothing.

Those who know me well will know that this is nigh on impossible. Nothing? No cooking? No quilting? No crochet? No shovelling of mulch and hauling in a wheelbarrow to the back yard?

Last time I blogged, I was about to launch head first into Spiderweb Cardigan heaven. Which turned into hell - the last time I touched it was at the last Northside SnB. I'm unsure whether I really do not like how it's turning out, or whether the night left a bad taste in my mouth and therefore has doomed all projects from that night into Crochet Hades. My only comment on the matter is this - Dude, you'd better hope that your rejection of 15 hip young knitters and crocheters was worth it to your business, because I for one frequented your choice establishment prior to all the rudeness, but will hesitate to ever again.

While the Spiderweb Cardy has been wallowing, several things have happened but alas there are no photos. Yet.

1. I started on Short and Sweet from Happy Hooker, using the Bamboozle from Lincraft

2. I now have a cleaner backyard, two veggie patches, a mulched area for a wine barrel salad garden, a designated compost station and a world of pain for my efforts. It was worth it though. Plus we finally got rid of the remnants of this cubby/tree house and swing set. Only took us 14 months.


3. I've ridden to work 4 times, and back home again. I'm aiming for 2-3 times a week. Plus Mr QM got a bike - the same as mine but a blokey one.



4. I got my Ravelry invite. Sadly, my profile is a bit sparse - I need a week of no arm pain to fill those fields up.

5. I started getting ready for the arrival of my beautiful parents this week. "Getting ready" means getting manic about the fact there are still 2 cubic metres of soil and mulch piled up on my nature strip, my lawn needs mowing (with the mower they bought us a year ago and which we have only used three times due to the drought), and the guest bedroom closet needs cleaning out. Of course they don't care about this stuff - but I do. And I anticipate cleaning the bathroom on my birthday, just hours before I pick them up at the airport. Cleaning bathrooms on my birthday? Not what I had in mind!

Plus I have just spent two hours looking at sock wool to order. Do you think I can decide? Do you think it is tempting to say "Bugger it - I'll order it all"? You'd be right on both counts.

The sun is low, the air is still

It happens every spring. That anxiety about not having enough hours in the day to work, garden, craft, blog, take photos, play with my Blythes, meet up with friends, cook dinner, exercise, ring my parents, sing at choir.

So I've started a routine again.

Ride to work = exercise.
All day Sunday = gardening.
After dark = crafting.
Talk to parents on phone while digging holes in yard.
Who needs friends? Or Blythes for that matter? Or singing? They can wait until summer, surely.

Obviously I don't do well with routines.

Changing the subject to other matters, I have become reacquainted with the ACT public library service. It is really quite fabulous, and much cheaper than spending my lunch hour in Borders or Lincraft (not that there is anything wrong with that). After getting books and CDs the other day, I realised I needed a library bag - and not just any bag (this coming from the queen of bagmaking). I needed this one:



I used a pattern by Fiona Dalton from "The Crafter's Companion" and it was quite simply the easiest pattern I have ever followed. I've have this book for a while, but now want to make more stuff from it - everything in it is so beautiful.

After making the bag, I got distracted by this ...



... when really, I should be making this ...

Joy in threes #2

After a trying day at work, these three things make me super dooper happy (not as happy as winning the lotto and retiring from work forever, but happy nonetheless):


By Friday, I want to ride this baby to work.



I need to make a quilted clutch bag to hold my bike locks. I currently carry them in my basket and they make quite a racket as I tear along the footpaths of Ainslie. I think this fabric would be perfect.



One day this bare patch of earth will be our vegetable garden. One day soon, I hope - but in the meantime it is fun to dream of snowpeas and carrots and coriander and rhubarb.

Joy in threes

Here are three things that made me very happy today.



My new crochet bag - the Pleated Bag from Amy Karol's book.

Spending the entire day in the garden.

A half-finished sock.