She Finally Posts.

It's been ages, it seems, since I've been here.

So, what have I been up to? This and that. The big thing was a crafters weekend in Bendigo. I came home wanting to knit socks, crochet, sew, make a sock monkey, make felt...it was really inspiring and the women I met a terrific bunch. I was very nervous about meeting them, but needn't have been.

Here is what I managed to produce :

I didn't finish this one:

A little bird with a floss loop for hanging.

This purse is a ring-in. I actually made it some time ago.

I also hitched a ride to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show - wasn't going to go - glad I did. All that wool, all those lovely things made from wool...sigh. I even bought a skein of indigo-dyed wool and I'm knitting the Windy City scarf from the Stitch and Bitch book (by Debbie Stoller). It has some nice patterns in it but I get tired of the "funky-hipster-speak" writing that litters the book. Heh, must be showing my age.

I'm winging it with this. The wool is the wrong ply, the needles the wrong size and I have immense difficulty following even simple knitting patterns!

The best stall by far was the one selling old buttons among other things. Now, I really could've gone wild with button purchasing, I think I was quite restrained really.

 I also found four Enid Gilchrist books that I don't have. Bonanza!

I certainly had more to carry home on the train than the backpack I started out with. There were those books I bought in Melbourne too...

Train reading was The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. Loved it. Cried, when the main character's son died, and laughed too. The description of visiting funeral parlours while researching coffins was a crack-up. Plus she kept chooks.

When I finished that I started on Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. I enjoyed In Defense of Food, the Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants tenet is something I strive for. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed though, by all I want to do, the changes I want to make. I try to remember the words of a good friend: Hasten Slowly.

Thursday saw me on a flying visit to Pakenham. Why Pakenham? The nearest Bernina dealer. Well, not the nearest but the one in Traralgon would talk the hind leg off a donkey - too much for me.

I raided my savings and bought a seriously nice new overlocker.

A Bernina 1150MDA. The internet was most useful when researching overlockers. Reading reviews, visiting manufacturer websites and so. I did need to go and actually try the machine myself though, just to make sure all those positive reviewers were being truthful!

What else has been going on? I completed Giles and Linsey's tax returns (ugh) and remedied this:

A very sad specimen of a roman blind. This is what happens after twelve years hanging in a west-facing window. I made a new one. Rather lairy, but sometimes lairy is good.

 I even remembered to take before-and-after photos!

Cheers for now. I will publish this before Typepad freezes up again.

Comments

[suse]

Love the roman blind!

And the owls, the owls! They slay me with their unbearable cuteness.

(You didn't seem nervous, you must hide it well. It was so good to put a face and voice to the blog).

[Laura J R]

Good to hear from you. Love the buttons, and the little purses too. I especilly love the one with pearly buttons.

Hope you are well and on an even keel - well, more even than that 'before' picture of the blind. Great replacement!

[victoria]

The lairy is so so good. Love the latest creations, the photos make me want to touch them!

[janet]

the penguins look like pingu, (one of grace's favs on tv) so very cute.

it was really great to put a face to the blog, I was really scared the first time...

and your blind, love the lairy!

[librarygirl]

Spooky. I gave a talk at work last week about In Defence of Food.
(Also Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which you will love.) The crafty goodness is lovely.

[Angie]

ohhhh those buttons! Thanks for sharing your latest crafting....love the blind, but those buttons.............ohhhhhh

[Kris]

Lairy is almost always good!

Love those owls - so very cute. And yet real owls always give me the serious spookies.

[Lesley]

I'm so glad you're back — and you've been so busy and productive while you've been away. I love the new blind: happy to see someone using some good strong colours. Will you finish the leaf purse? Hope so!

[Claire Falkingham]

So glad your're back! Ah - Enid Gilchrsit - I can't decide whether I'm a teenager or a small woman!!

[Rachel]

Love the owl pouches!

[Banu Karagil Dalaman]

I love owls, yours are so lovely...

[Kay]

'LOVE your little purses, esp. the ones with the buttons. My Mom had all of those knitting patterns....isn't it funny how the styles are all back??