making do…

(Mum milking.)

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of homesteading videos where people are dropping out of the rat -race and doing for themselves.  Self-sufficiency being the name of the game.  Making do and mending.  
I love it. 
I love watching the creativity, the inventiveness.  I love seeing the food made from scratch with care. 

There’s so much work involved in living the self-sufficient life.  I don’t think I’m really cut out for that sort of work,  frankly, my dear,  I’d much rather be knitting or stitching, but I do so love the idea of a gentler, softer, simpler hand crafted life.  So, I thought I’d give myself a little taste of self-sufficiency and have decided to ‘try’ and forgo buying myself any new clothing this year – and using what I already have or making it myself.
I think it will be fun.

living from the inside…

2016 – the year of no goals. 

The year of not controlling, of not wanting of not demanding of not expecting. 

The year of living from inner direction and allowing Spirit to direct what I put forth into the world rather than the world controlling what I put into the world.

It is liberating this surrender.

winter…

I was woken early this morning by claps of thunder and the sound of heavy rain on a tin roof.  It was a delicious way to be woken.
I lay in bed and listened to the storm feeling warm and safe and sleepy in my bed.  I dozed off again to be woken later by the  jarring sound of the alarm *ugh*

Today is most definitely crafting weather and I have a great many projects to choose from.  Shall I knit that second sock? Continue on with the shawl? Cast on for another scarf that I saw a delightfully easy and mindless pattern for?

Maybe I should finish one of the 4 quilts I’ve started or maybe piece another that’s all cut and ready to be assembled.

Then there’s those aprons I’ve been meaning to make using as a template one I loved and which is starting to wear out. 

Hmmmm…
I’ll have to think about it because I want to do all of them, at once, and read a good book at the same time. 
The weather’s just perfect for it.

works like a charm…

“Charme to make thee pits not stinke.”

I really dislike using chemicals – especially in skin care products.  I also really dislike that most of them are tested on animals.  So, if I can do it natural I will.   I had previously made myself a powder deodorant using bicarb-soda, cornflour and scented it with 100% lavender essential oil.  It works awesomely as a deodorant, but after a few days my skin reacts to the bicarb and becomes red and itchy and so I have to stop using it for a couple of days while my skin recovers.

However, while scanning the net the other night I came across  the ‘Crunchy Betty’ blog  – what a treasure – and found another recipe for deodorant using the ingredients I was already using, but mixing it with coconut oil.  There was also a solution there to the skin reaction which was a pre- spray of apple cider vinegar mixed with distilled water.  It does something to the  ph, but I don’t remember exactly what.  Anyway, I made myself a batch and then I made each of my daughters a sample batch and gave it a bit of witchy character – because that was way more fun than getting the dishes done.

got glue…?

So – I was back to sock knitting the other day and at the point where I had to knit the heel flap.  I like to write down the numbers and cross them off as I go because then I can just let my mind go free and not have to worry about keeping count.  I found my little pocket sized notebook and it was all scrungy and beaten up and there were very few free pages left in it – and that’s what inspired me to go to the shops and buy a new pack of fresh pocket notebooks and make them pretty…

The string tie is to keep them closed in the knitting bag so it doesn’t come open in transit and get all its pages bent up.

Thar be gold in them thar hills…

On Sunday Hubby, Son and I took a drive to Sofala,  a small country town that came into existence at the time of the Gold Rush which was in the early 1850’s.  The town is supposedly Australia’s oldest surviving gold mining town – which is an interesting titbit.  People still pan there for gold. 

It’s so lovely  and peaceful there, running alongside the Turon river and we like to make fairly regular trips to go and have lunch at the Panner’s Inn Coffee Shop and take a bit of a drive around the area.   I was delighted to find that this time there was a book shelf over flowing with delicious pre-loved books.  I chose… 

There’s a really nice river spot about a 5 minute drive out of the town and we go there and I knit, or read or collect interesting stones and Hubby throws sticks for his dog to fetch while my Jinxy runs frantically along the water’s edge getting all excited, but just not excited enough to plunge himself into the water.  He’s a bit of a wooz like that.

I managed to do all three of my favourite river spot things  – I read, I collected stones and I knit.  All in all it was a really lovely day – topped off with a thrilling storm blowing in just as we were heading home.

just one more project…

I’m having a bit of a problem with itching to start more and more projects without having finished any of the many which are already on the go.  I don’t think that’s a particularly bad thing because I continue working on what’s already on the go, but then starting something else, sort of like a progressive factory line which takes and awfully long time to turn anything off the conveyor belt.

The most recent was one of the yarn sock blankets where you knit little squares and then join another little square and the idea is that it uses up the left over bits of your sock yarn, of which I have a fair bit.  I love it.  Each square is quick and satisfying – so instead of, “just one more row”, it’s more like ‘just one more square.’  Since this photo I have added about eight more…

Then, last night, while browsing pinterest, I found a gorgeous shawl pattern called ‘Sheep Wagon Shawl’  by Joanna Johnson which I’m absolutely hanging to cast on for.

I’m only going to use two colours rather than four and I went to spotlight this afternoon to buy the black – which is going to be one of the colours.  The other is going to be plum, which I already have a stack of.  I love that this shawl has three increase points rather than just the one down the back and so it looks to fit more like a cape.

I do love the inspired feeling and I don’t like to deny it, but I may have no choice this time as I think the size needles I need are already being used on the wedding shawl I’m madly making.

On the needles already I have a pair of socks (as always), a pair of fingerless mittens, a shawl, a sock blanket, a doll, a baby blanket, a boxy jumper, a birthday scarf, a balaclava and a sock yarn blanket.
Then there  are the quilts which are at different stages of completion, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish – the mood of the moment is knitting.

just because…

So – my youngest daughter is getting married in May.  They wanted a simple, sweet wedding with a vintage touch and I was tasked with making the invites.  Having done that I had a lot of pretty paper cardboard left over and on Sunday I got out the glue and the stickers and got carried away – back to about 8 years of age when nothing else existed except the absorbing task of cutting and pasting and making pretty.

There are more, but they weren’t finished and so didn’t make it into the photo.

But…why?  You may ask.

Well, the idea came to me Sunday morning as I reached for my book and the torn off piece of hubby’s quick eze wrapper which was holding my place prompted me to think that there must be better options than using litter as a bookmark.

And so I got gluing and cutting and sticking.  It was lovely fun.

I gave some away.  My daughter Roo, asked me to make her fiance one as well and so I made him a man one – not in the photo – which was pretty spiffy. I wish I’d thought to take a photo of it.
Also, I thought it would be a cute idea to leave one in a library book every now and then.   I know I get a real kick out of finding little treasures in library books.

I’ll keep a lot too.  I have about 6 books on the go at any one time and will read whichever I’m in the mood for at the time.  Unless it’s one of those Can’t Put Down books – but I haven’t had one of those for a while.

Back in the saddle…

Oh my – it’s been a long, lo-o-o-ong time.  But, not to dwell.  My blogging mojo is back for now and I shall go with the flow and enjoy what comes.

Though I haven’t been blogging I have continued making.  A lot.

A few months ago my daughter, Roo,

was moving houses and one of the things that got severely de-cluttered was her wardrobe. Amongst the pile of clothes there, was a white ruffled skirt which with some snipping and sewing – and then some more snipping and more sewing, – I really need to do the measuring thing, it would save a lot of time and stitching – I ended up with this… 

I think it’s super cute – and while it took twice as long to make as it needed to I am completely satisfied that I have added another pretty to the slowly growing doll wardrobe.

This is the pile of discarded clothing I have to choose from.  There are some lovely fabrics there.  They were all damaged in some way and so weren’t acceptable to donate to the op shop.  

 

On the ironing board at the moment are the pattern pieces for a doll dress I started making ages ago and found this morning packed away in a plastic baggie while I was sorting out what doll patterns I had on hand so I have decided that it will be the next dress on the list.  Pictures of that as soon as it’s done.
You all know by this stage not to hold your breath waiting, though, right?

this Sunday in May…

Today is going to be partly dedicated to getting the yard looking reasonable.  At the moment the back yard requires mowing, autumn leaves need raking and the vegie patch needs to be weeded, dug up and fertilised so it’s ready for Spring.

I’m doing some windowsill planting inside for things like herbs and I have a sort of hothouse (plastic) and so am going to put in a pot each of tomato, cucumber and maybe some salad mix and see if anything comes up.

I also planted the lizard his own patch of radishes and carrots because he loves the leaves – his house has a UV light and so weather isn’t a problem.

Starting the lizard’s garden.

Then I plan to make a chocolate cake – from a packet mix.  I bought a ‘That’s Life’ recipe book yesterday which looks amazingly simple and delicious so later on a trip to the shops is on the cards because the plan is to make something from it for dinner tonight.

After that and the lounge will be my friend where I shall pop on my earphones pick up my current knitting project – a poncho – and listen to Bill Donahue speak about the esoteric language of the bible – sooo interesting.
If church was like listening to Bill D – I would so be there.

OK – better go.  I hear the lawn mower has started up and my menfolk are out there being industrious so, it’s on  with the galoshes and out into the fray.