Charity Projects

Hi everyone

Posted off these two separate packages for the group I belong to - Knit4Charities. Now if you look closely you will notice that all these items are crocheted, so don't let the groups title fool you. There is also a lot of sewn items which are sent in too.

All these projects have been worked over many months. I have a drawer in which I put these projects and when a charity comes along which can use them, off they go.

This lot went to the Footpath Library. The blanket is approximately 90cm square and while it looks easy as a simple granny square blanket, for me it was a nightmare. I DISLIKE Mohair, and this yarn is an acrylic pretend mohair. It took me ages and ages to work this. I do know though that the blanket is warm. I definitely could not work on this during the warmer days!!!

Footpath Library, originally uploaded by Aussie Maria.

And this lot is off to Women's Refuge NSW

Now the reason I do this is multi-fold.  I have the time now.  I can only make so much for me and my children.  I love to try out new patterns now that time is not an issue.  Whatever I make will fit "Some-one" - no size issues.  They will be put to good use.  And I was lucky enough to have a MIL who had a large yarn stash who gave it all to me for these projects - not great yarn, but when washed and conditioned becomes lovely and soft (I then know that the items are machine-washable too!!).  For a very, very long time I have wanted to do a little bit for the community.  I used to volunteer at my girl's school and for their sporting groups - which included them being volunteer Life-Savers.  Now I have found something I can do at home for "Some-one" else!!

And as a post-script, I will become a bit quiet around here for the next 2-4 weeks as I move from my lofty eagles nest down to the tree-tops.

Bye for now

P.S - I discovered Knit4Charities quite a few years ago, but did not have the time or inclination to participate, so I stored it away in the back of my mind for 'one-day' time.  I have only recently started participating.  The reason I am blogging about it is that I hope that some other like minded people who are looking for something like this may just find it.

 

As the group leader, Pam, says - one item will fit and help one person who needed it, that is all she asks of those in the group.  Butterfly effect, I hope

Books & Movies

Hi everyone

Now we all know the saying - don't judge a book by its cover!!!!!  Well I found one example where this just was not true.

I became a of fan of  "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" trilogy about a year ago.  The title of the book grabbed my attention and the synopsis was intruiging.

I have no knowledge about Sweden and found the first few chapters labourious to get through.  But to me, it seems that the author was laying down a very large, but strong foundation.  Because after the initial chapters, the book starts speeding away and my interest was captured.  I found it hard to put down towards the end. 

So of course I bought the next 2 books in the trilogy.  Basically they follow the same principles.  Heavy, large foundation, then the book gets going.

Well last night I went and saw the movie.

It is in Swedish with English sub-titles.  Main complaint I have is that the sub-titles were in white type which was extremely hard to read at times when the background was light.  I think it should have had black outline on the type, which would have disappeared on the darker backgrounds.

Even so, I found it easy to follow - especially knowing the story-line!!!!  Hubby had a little difficulty, especially when he could not read the sub-titles, but he said he got the jist of the story.

For once, a movie followed the story-line and did not change it - Yeah!!!!  A few small things were left out, but they really had no affect on the story.  The movie had a slight amount of difficulty allowing you to get into Lisbeth's head, but you get the hint of what is to come.

The colours were a bit soft/faded.  I thought Sweden would be more vibrant with the greens and blues.  But when they get to Australia it all turned yellow!!!!!  What-the!!!!!

Over-all I enjoyed it thoroughly

Have a great weekend

African flower pattern

Hi everyone

 

I tell you, Blogland has a lot to answer for!!!!!

Way too many beautiful projects that I keep spying on blogs and on Flickr.

I have been admiring this pattern for ages, I think I saw ElizabethCat's Flickr photos first or it could have been ............ ?????

Anyway I loved how it looked, so I put it in my queue - my now very, very, very long queue.

And then Bethel put her sunniest African Flower square on Flickr!!!!  I could wait no longer - you have a lot to answer for Bethel VBG ☺

And what do I notice this morning??????

Karin had the same idea VVVVVBG ☺☺☺☺
We must have been working on the same project at the same time!

Karin also added another project to my queue with her beautiful and bright pot-holders.  Watch out!!!!

African flower pattern, originally uploaded by Aussie Maria.

Has everyone seen the new Ravelry log in page - so very cute!!!

Bendigo Woollen Mills has a new yarn in their online shop - Melody. There is a Ravelry group for BWM and someone who lives near BWM had a look at it - the raves were great.

I already had a part order ready to go - so of course I had to order some

BWM Melody 50g Balls

Mix - 10% Cashmere, 55% Merino Ultrafine & 35% Microfibre

Colours - Crimson, Sapphire & Gold

Very, very, very yummy and so, so soft.
No project in mind, just wanted to touch, feel and see the product.

Very impressive - Well done BWM!!!!

Just re-reading what I have typed - I am all over the shop this morning?????  And I have not had ANY caffeine - or is this the reason ☺

And as a postscript - hubby did not win the Grand Final.  A great effort was put in on Saturday, but 6 days in 3 weeks was way too much for these very relaxed, happy guys (the average age is 36 and that is only cause there is one 21 year old in the team!!!!).  They enjoyed their cricket season thoroughly and were surprised that they had gotten so far in the comp.

Well done Toukley 4th Grade!!!!

Lady Helsie's Challenge

Hi everyone
And especially to Helsie - look you have your own title in my blog ☺And to anyone that has not met Helsie, pop on over and have a look.  She is a very lovely Lady!!!!

Now Helsie found herself a bit stumped for a blog posting yesterday and stumbled upon an idea of the 4th picture in your folder.
As I was not too sure what to write today I thought I would have a look-see at what my photo was ......
Nothing like many of you would expect, but here it is

It was also the fourth photo in the fourth folder in the fourth folder of my pictures - I like to organise these particular photos

Mary Ann BOWERMAN nee Partridge 1797-1877

Daughter of First Fleeters, Richard Partridge & Mary Greenwood

Married George BOWERMAN, another convict, who may have been erronously hung for a crime in 1820, 10 years after he arrived in Australia

This is hubby's direct line.  He has links to the start of white (and black) men in Australia.

The black comes from 2 convicts, both First Fleeters, one who was an American Negro and the other from West Indies.

Now I bet you would never have thought that you would see that kind of photo here VBG ☺

Now back to our normal channel ☺

Now I know you have seen the Colineet before, but what about the BWM Luxury Ruby?  Wonder what it could be turning into????????

And lucky me, after searching for ages online and in bookshops, I finally came across this last week.  And I got it for a great price!!!!

Bye for now

and have a great weekend

I will be at the cricket ALL weekend for hubby's Grand Finals - go Toukley 4th Grade!!!!!!!

PS - Thanks Karin for the hello for Percy, he says hi back

BTW - forgot to mention how warm it has been here over the past week 28-32C/82-90

Blankets are off at night, but sheet is definitely on - it does get a little cool ☺

Bits n Pieces

Good morning everyone

I finished this last week, just never got around to posting about it.  So to prove I did two and did not just use one photo here is both the flowergirls capes

Now which one do you think is the original??????

And this guy turned up a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot to introduce him.

Say hello to Percy!!!

What a cutie!!!

I do love penguins, especially fairy penguins.  So I just had to do him when I noticed him here.

Down Cloverlaine does some very lovely work.  I find the patterns very simple and easy to do.

And an update on the weekend - 2 days at cricket.  Fairly cool and very windy with some rain on Saturday, but fine weather on Sunday with a little wind.  The end result came down to a bit of a nail-biter, so only a little bit of crochet was accomplished, otherwise I would have been frogging  ☺

But hubby's team won, almost down to the wire.  So next weekend will be more of the same.

So now I need to find a very, very, very simple project to work on to keep my fingers busy, otherwise I will start pacing ☺

Bye for now

Aussie Maria's Australia

Hi everyone

First off - on the right hand side of my blog you will see a wonderful project link that Mrs Twins has started.  I showed you my squares here.  If your on Flickr, look up Mrs Twins and you can see the blankets she has already put together.  Four of my squares are in the third blanket which has been christened "Alice in Sunshineland", so named for Mrs Twins mother whose favourite colours were purple and green.  One of the participants created the link - Molly is wonderful!  And Karin aan de haak had an idea, which has started a challenge.    The group is very friendly and it is not even a week old, but is snowballing very, very fast.

BTW - SIBOL is an acronymn for "Sunshine International Blankets of Love" cause they are full of sunshiney colour, the squares have come from around the world, and the blankets are made with love for the elderly.

So if anyone is interested in crocheting 6" sqares for the elderly, please click and join in.

Now back to Australia 

I noticed a advertisement in the Adsense on the right hand side of my blog and I thought that is what I should show you.

Now I have shown you this photo before, not a good one, as its just on nightfall and it was very humid and overcast

I went digging in my photo archives.  You know the old-fashioned ones where you can hold it in your hand, on photo paper and .......

Way, way back in Ancient History ...............

alright then not that far back, only 9 years ago actually my photo of the Bridge (otherwise known as Sydney Harbour Bridge).

It was about this time of year that

I had views of this .....

Yep, thats me n hubby way back when.

We are on the western side of the bridge and behind us is the southern part of the city.

Things you might like to know -

• 
  
  Very fasionable suits - one size fits most
• 
  
  We are all hooked together
• 
  
  You need to have a chainy thing around glasses.
• 
  
  And on that day we all needed sunglasses!!!!
• 
  
  You are given a brief history of Sydney and the Bridge
• 
  
  Can't take camera's in case they are dropped.  They do take photos as souvenirs for yourself and your group.
• 
  
  You get a certificate at the end to commemorate your achievement
• 
  
  Traffic below - cars, buses, trains and boats
• 
  
  You start the on the eastern side, cross to the western side in the middle, then back down the western side.
• 
  
  IT IS STEEP, fitness is an issue (which I had, but I scrambled up)
• 
  
  And the walk is timed, not leisurely.  You do get to stop at certain points for explainations - I used that time too get my breath back.  VERY HARD WORK for me!!!!!
• 
  
  You are 134 metres (146 1/2 yards) above Sydney Harbour
• 
  
  We had views from the Pacific Ocean to the Blue Mountains.
• 
  
  The tour we went on lasted 3 1/2 hours
• 
  
  It was a BLAST !!!

If you get to come to Sydney, you really should put it on your "must-do" or Bucket List.

We did the climb with D2 & D3 and their respective boyfriends.  D1 and her now hubby had already done the climb a little earlier in the year.

And as a footnote, we are finally back to slightly cooler weather.  Luckily we did not cop the rain or storms that QLD & VIC have.  Hope your all 'high n dry' there.

Have a great weekend

Bye for now

Weekends

Hi everyone

It seems I was a bit too eager with thoughts of Autumn - bummer!!!!  We are back to sleeping without blankets and humid days.  Luckily though the temperatures have not been too extreme throughout the day.

So I may have been a little too eager to play with this pattern, Easy Victorian Shell Mitts.

The wool is Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 ply (DK) in the Colourway of Poseiden.

I did increase the ribbing part by 12 rows and matched the shell part with that.

They are a very quick and satisfying project.  You will probably see many more of these turning up here.

As you can see, doing nails is not my thing.  Well, ok sometimes it is, but rarely, and then it is usually a clear lacquer, so you would not notice it much

Thought you might all like to see what & where I spend every Saturday for 6 months of the year!!!!

The locations are always different, but the main scenery is very similiar.

That is hubby batting.

While not everyone is interested in sport, particularly cricket, I thought I would give you a glimpse into my weekends.  Hubby's team finished 2nd in his grade, so both Saturday and Sunday are taken up for a possible three weekends.  One down (above photo) and now he is in the finals for next week.

When I first started watching cricket, I would take a book or a magazine and read when it got TOO boring.  A couple of years ago I started taking small knitting projects.

This season I have been crocheting.

This is where the two Xmas blankets had a lot of work done on them.  Found that crocheting at the cricket was great, doing hexagons and squares, as I could watch, while my fingers and brain did the roundy-roundy part.  Must be automatic as I found there were very, very, very few mistakes, which I usually knew almost straight away and corrected on the go.

I have started the second cape for the flowergirls and finished another poncho, which I will show when it dries - the yarn was a little scratchy for my liking, so it was washed and conditioned  ☺

Hope you all had fantastic weekends!!!!

Bye for now

What am I doing now ?????

Hi everyone

Woo-Hoo!!!

Good news on the cape!!

The flowergirl liked it!!!!

The matron-of-honour (Mum of said flowergirl) loved it and thought it was cute!!!

But most importantly The Bride Loved It and said it was just what she wanted for them!!!

Another Woo-Hoo!!!

So another cape will be made and shown, just to prove I am not using the one photo  ☺

I have mentioned that D1 wanted a throw to match her Xmas ripple pillows.  Now she has a KING sized bed and I could not get my head around doing a ripple THAT big.  Had the colours sorted out, just the size (and other projects :-p) were putting me off.

Then I had an idea, I started playing with triangle shapes - sorry no photos, they really did not get beyond a few rows as the effect they created would not come together in my mind with what I had pictured.
Then I played with a diamond shape, but it seemed more squarey to me .....

and Bingo .......

Squarey, diamondy thingy came together to start this

There is one light blue which I still have to get.  Not ripply more mountains than hills, but it will go well with the ripple pillows.  And more importantly I can do this in bite size pieces, so it should not overwhelm me TOO much - except for near the end when joining will be a challenge

Another project I am working on is a secret!!!!

And a way, way, way in advance pressie!!!!

Been planning for ages - needed just the right wool and pattern.  I have tried a lot, but I think this will be just right!!!!

A little peek

And a visitor!!!!

Say hello to Cocky!!!!!

Well the 1 March rocked round and so did the beginning of Autumn, only just.

For the first time, in I don't know how long, I actually got to sleep under a blanket!!!!  Only a light one, but still a blanket.

And the days are staying down to mid-high 20C's /75-85F

Don't you just love Autumn!!!!

Will have to keep my eye open for the changes in the plants which I love.

Bye for now