My knitting chair

Pearl Phyllis loves my chair,
Don't you want to scratch that gorgeous white tummy?

My chair displays some knitting,
this is an alpaca scarf that I'm knitting for a November birthday pressie,
they will be a matching hat.

My chair is ready for me to sit and relax
Just behind you will see a cross stitch of two black kitties sitting on quilts
Yep, I made it!

I've shown you my chair because,
'Crazy Aunt Pearl'
wants to see everyone's knitting chairs/spots.

A wet and windy Sunday

It's the sort of Sunday when you stay inside to knit and read blogs!
Pearl Phyllis likes to read blogs about other kitties.

Yes, there is kniting.

This is my bedside knitting.
It's a hand-dyed 2ply wool from Marta's.
I'm knitting a simple wrap and it's in the most beautiful shades of purple, grey and aqua.

This is my take out knitting.
It's growing, I've nearly finished the second ball of Habu Mohair/Silk.
I think it will take 3 balls in total, but, I did originally get 5 balls!

I've now got my secret tea swap pal,
so it's out to buy tea tomorrow
and off to the post office to send the parcel to my not so secret chocolate swap pal
------ Hi Gretchen.

Gorgeous goodies from April.

My parcel from April, my wonderful Lace Swap Pal has arrived.
Yep, I'm excited!

April took the time to wrap everything beautifully.

I'm so spoilt.
Thank-you April I love everything!
How did you know about my passion for citrus scented handmade soap?
Lets get down to details,
3 skeins of Knit Picks Gossamer lace yarn in Sweet Peas, purples and pinks are my faves,
2 lace patterns that I had been on my wishlist,
Knit picks needles, fabulous 'jumper' needle holders,
tea, chocolate, note cards, post cards and a lovely note from April.

April, you've taken the time to put together this amazing swap parcel
and I want to give you a big hug of thanks and just say "wow" you're amazing.

Sunny Sunday

It's a beautiful sunny Sunday morning in South Geelong.

Today is the start of my spring cardigan/jacket washing festival.
I have approximately 20 knitted wool cardigans in my cupboard.
Yes, for many years I've knitted cardigans.
In fact some of them are 20 years old and still gorgeous,
a good aran pattern never goes out of style!
Well, 2 are done and 2 more will be done tomorrow and so it continues.

I've received my pal for the Chocolate Swap,
It's Gretchen of Gretchenknits.
I have the yarn selected so now it's off to buy chocolate,
what a hardship that will be!

I've spent a couple of hours in my local garden centres today,
and come away with some new plants for the garden,
planting will be a task for tomorrow.

4.00 AM and I'm awake

My cats are snoring and I'm wide awake
so
I load all of the knitting podcasts I have onto my Ipod
--- I can listen to them as I'm gardening.
I check my emails, I even reply to some
I read some blogs
I load the dishwasher and turn it on
I wax my underarms
I make a pot of tea

Do I knit, cross stitch or read?
No

It's now 5.30 am, still not sleepy
Time to brows some on-line yarn stores
Must be good and only look, no buying.

Yes, you guessed right, cats are still snoring

Don't panic!

I don't want to scare everyone
but
Christmas Day is in 100 days!

Okay, so it's time to,
Get out the Christmas list,
Think about baking the Christmas cakes,
Start browsing the shops to get ideas,
and panic.

Am I going to knit any gifts??
i'll think about that over the weekend.

Stash busting and litter boxes.

I've spent a gorgeous sunny afternoon in my garage,
amongst my knitting yarn stash
doing some stash busting
to share some goodies with my swap pals!

I found some treasures and treats to put in my swap box,
no photos because these are secret,
but,
I will give you some hints --------
Anny Blatt, Berger bu Nord, Bendigo Woolen Mills.

And I found some wonderful cotton,
so I'm going to make some things
for my swap pals.
No, not dishclothes!

The saga of two cats and two litter boxes.
Do they use one each? No.
Do they use the same one each time? No
Do they prefer the covered or uncovered box? Depends on the week.
Do they both stand waiting while I change the litter? Yes.
Do they enjoy driving their mother crazy? Yes.

A bright and sunny monday.

Thank-you for all of the loveyl get well wishes I've received after yesterday's 'sniff-athon'

Today is a much better day,
the sun is shining,
the washing is on the clothes line,
the cats are outside
and
my nose has stopped running.

I'm going out to have lunch with a friend
and then a trip to the garden centre.

I need to see what I can plant in my garden for spring.

It's officially sniffy sunday!

Okay, please confess, which one of you two, well fed and indulged kitties turned on the tap in my head?
My nose is running so all I can do is sniff, sneeze or blow my nose.
This is not a fun or fabulous way to spend my Sunday.
Why am I sick and you're both sleeping in the sun????

I tried knitting, but, i needed to blow my nose in the middle of each row!
There is nothing on TV worth watching.
It's days like this I'm reminded that I should hook-up the DVD in the beedroom.
But if I did, how would i decide what to watch?
I don't enjoy watching DVD's on my laptop.
Reading a book didn't help, nor, did flicking through magazines.

Yes, I'm officially miserable!

So, I check my emails and Woo Hoo, it's now officially 'sniffy swap sunday'
I've joined the chocolate swap and secret pal #9,
Together with knitters tea swap 2, I now have 3 swaps to plan for.
Yes, I can plan and blow my nose at the same time, thank-you for asking.

I already have birthday and christmas present boxes in my cupboard, now I'll need a swaps box!
I like to buy things when I see them and not wait until the last minute for my gift shopping.
Hmmmmm, did I keep the box that those dozen bottles of wine were delivered in last week.
Yes, it's under the dining table, time to rescue it from the kitties.

My namesake the chicken

I've been reading the lovely Jessie's blog (http://whathousework.typepad.com) for some time.
I'm madly in love with her poodle Sophie, her chicken Helen and her sooooo cute daughter,
but i now find out that she has a chicken called Lindy and we both have silver hair.

Go and say hi to Jessie and learn all about her family, animals and Vermont.

Cough, knit, cough, have a nap.

The hacking, barking winter cough has arived.
It's pal the sore throat and raspy voice have been with me since the weekend.

I've been reclining in my nice warm bed,
With never ending cups of honey and lemon tea
and the knitting from my bedside table.

What, you don't have bedside knitting??
I have a lovely large cake of Marta's hand dyed 2 ply merino
that is becoming a long, rectangular and toasty warm wrap.
It's a 2 row pattern repeat so I can just keep knitting until I'm almost out of yarn.

How my cats respond to my barking cough.
Pearl Phyllis just snuggles in beside me and sleeps, snores and twitches.
She only stirs when i go to the kitchen, just in case I put something in the food bowls.

Miss Puss thinks coughing is a secret form of communication.
She comes bounding up from her spot on the foot of the bed to miaow at me.
So it's time to open the back door and let her play in the garden, but, it's raining
Yes, you guessed correctly, half an hour later I have a damp cat miaowing to be towel dried!

the chocolate swap.

How could I not join the chocolate swap?
I can find some chocolate coloured yarn in my stash.
I can buy some drinking chocolate to send.
I can sample a variety of chocolate to decide which ones to send.
I can send my favourite chocolate cake recipe.
Yep, I love chocolate!

My 'take it with me' knitting

This is the knitting that goes out with me!
It's Habu 2ply hand dyed mohair silk in 'Ink'.
I have 5 balls that will be a long scarf, it's a two row pattern that is easy to take anywhere that i'm going to have a spare couple of minutes to knit.


I thought that a sleeping girl would make a great 'prop' for a yarn photo.
Silly me!
Miss Puss woke and went 'Woo hoo, yarn for me'
A kitty playing with cashmere could scare her mummy.
It can be noted that no cashmere was harmed in taking this photo.



My Habu stash, cashmere and mohair/silk

Goodies for my stash!

Some sock yarn goodies from Pureknits!
from top to botom they are
Yarn pirate in Paris, Culture Club and Plum Gorgeous.
Yarntini in Cosmopolitan and Grape Ape.
And Chiaogoo bamboo needles that are wonderful to knit with.

I love it when Sam, my mailman (of course we are all on first name terms with our mailman, he brings goodies!) delivers a parcel from Yahaira at Pureknits.

am I a swap junkie?

I've just signed up for the Knitters Tea Swap 2
This is my second swap
Does this make me a swap junkie?
I will have to learn how to save the swap buttons!

A new yarn basket

I bought a new basket for yarn
Silly me
I have cats
Pearl Phyllis has taken possession
Along with a mohair blanket
The life of a cat is very good at my house.

Knitters Lace Swap

I've joined my first knitters swap!
It was the wonderful Knitters Lace Swap organised by Donna and Ailsa.
My swap partner is Megan, here is the parcel of goodies that I sent her.
Yes, Megan has received the parcel and tells me that she loves it.

currently on the needles

I'm knitting a rectangular wrap with Habu Nerimaki Silk.
The yarn is from my fave enabler Yahaira at Pureknits (sorry, i haven't learn't to do links on my trusty mac, yet!)
The yarn is amazing, it varies from lace weight to aran weight and makes gorgeous loops as you can see.
I'm knitting it on 4.0mm or size 6 needles.

I will admit that I am completely in love with Habu yarn.
My stash also has some of the cashmere and mohair silk, both are soft and gorgeous colours.

I also have a couple of two ply wraps on the needles.
Yes, I'm someone with multiple projects on the go.
There will be photos soon.

Miss Puss requires equal time

This is Miss Puss
She was rescued in January 2005
The vet advised that she was 6 when rescued
From what I can establish I'm her third home, and Yes, her final home!

meet pearl and her mother

This is Pearl Phyllis the wonder cat and I'm her mother.

Welcome to my first Blog.
In coming entries you will find out about my love for any or all of the following,
my two cats
my love of knitting and cross stitch
my enjoyment of a nice glass of wine
my gardening skills
my friends and their children
my fave books and magazines
and
anything else that takes my fancy.

Feel free to stop by and say hello.