Christmas Day

My Christmas started at 7.00 am at Skye's to see Hugo and Oliver open their presents.
Heres's Skye and Hugo just out of bed!

It's present time with daddy Johnny helping

Here's Gigi and Poppy (Skye's parents) seeing what Santa left for the boys.

Christmas lunch was with friends in a lovely sunny backyard.
of course we ate and drank too much

To round -out the day we're at Gigi and Poppy's in Torquay to open some more pressies and eat and drink a little more!


I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of fun, family, friends and fine wine.

Knitter's Coffee Swap

I have received the most amazing parcels of goodies from Amber

The first contained some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, now, this is a yarn that I pick-up and fondle regularly at my LYS, it's beautiful. Also, there were 3 Brittany Birch Cable needles, they are just the perfect size.


The second parcel came directly from Amber in the US and WOW, she spoilt me!
Two mugs, a variety of coffees and biscotti and chocolates, all of my fave things.


The really strange thing is that the Yarn parcel came from Perth (on the other side of Australia), the parcel from Amber came from Virginia in the US and they were delivered to meat the same time. The knitting pixies must be looking after me!!

This has been a great swap and I've enjoyed getting to know Amber and being able to send Aussie animal goodies for her gorgeous daughter Audrey, I suspect that they may be sick of learning about Koalas by now.

A New Start and an Ending

I had to cast on and knit with this yarn,
this was after telling Debbie, the Skein Queen
that "I just want to stuff it down my bra and carry it with me everywhere, it's that soft and beautiful".
Debbie very kindly took this as a compliment and not a sign of my complete insanity



the skein became the cake



and then another rectangle!



actually, it's a 2 row chevron pattern and yes, it's going to be a scarf.

My nanna has passed away at the wonderful age of 91.
She was a strong independent woman.
She inspired my love of baking.
She encouraged my love of knitting.
She tried to teach me to crochet and eventually gave up after much laughter at my complete inability to master the most basic chain stitch.
She also grew the most beautiful lilliums.
She was my mother's mother and I'm comforted to know they are together and watching over me.

At times like this you are either blessed with a loving family or a group of toxic strangers!
I'm lucky to have wonderful friends who are 'the family of my heart'.

Tea Swap 4

here is my swap parcel from Courtney, just collected form the post office.
I remebered to take my camera, It's a shame I forgot to also take scissors.
Yes, I had a parcel of treats and no way to get into it, I now have a pair of scissors in the glove box for emergencies!

Yay, the parcel is open

A gorgeous assortment of my fave things,
Yummy yarn, new teas to try, biscuits to enjoy with the tea, gorgeous cards and hand made soap.
The soap was used this morning and is lovely.

The yummy yarns up close.
I'm thinking the three will be combined into a lace wrap/scarf.
At the moment I'm just happy to fondle and enjoy them.

While I've preparing this post, i've been enjoying "Egyptian Licorice Mint" tea in my fave mug.
The tea is refreshing and I might just have another cup!

Thank-you Courtney, you have sent me a gorgeous assortment of all the things that I love.
Your kindness and generosity is much appreciated.
I'm so glad that you are also enjoying your parcel of goodies.

Also. thanks to Suzy for a great swap.
I'm already looking forward to next years swap.

New Yarn

Mama Llama bamboo sock yarn in "venice"


Miss Babs Merino in "Spring Violets"
This is going to be a Clapotis for me


Miss Babs 100% Cashmere in "autumn leaves"
I don't know what it's going to become but, I love it so much, here is a close-up!


These all came from the lovely Jen at The Woolgirl

Merino Cashmere Yarn

This is the divine Merino Cashmere Sock Yarn from Daphne at The Knittery.
It's so soft that I just want to use it as a pillow. Above is 'Warm Pinks' and below is 'Midnight' and yes, I have 3 skeins of each.
Daphne is donating $5.00 from the price of each skein of the 'Warm Pinks' to Breast Cancer Research/Charities.

Why 3 skeins oof each? I'm going to make a couple of fingering weight lace wraps or shawls.
Oh, I also got an Addi Turbo Lace Needle ------ gorgeous and really pointy for quick and easy yo's, I might try and sneak a couple in with each order until I have all of the sizes I need.
Did you like the way I said 'need' instead of 'want'?

This lovely blue and gold parcel is ready to be despatched to Courtney,
My Tea Swap 4 Pal.

I'd like to say it was being posted tomorrow, but, it's Geelong Cup Day.
Yes, we have a Public Holiday for a horse race, so, the post office isn't open until Thursday.
As I work for a national company, i'm off to work, my lunch is packed and ready to go.

I've been shopping

Oh dear, I've been bad. I had such great plans to not buy any yarn to add to my stash.
Then I had a trip to visit The Loopy Ewe then Wool Girl and The Knittery.

I've received some of the orders and the rest are still coming, some of the shopping was for Swap Treats, but, I must admit that most was for me! Oooooh, there are some yummy yarns coming and there will be photos. It's all either lace or fingerring weight yarn. I don't have any projects in mind, I just bought yarn that I loved.

My Tea Swap pal is Courtney, who in her blog today talks about Qiviut.
Yes, I covet Qiviut, I dream about it and perhaps I should go on a yarn diet so I can save up and get some.
Okay, I admit that save and yarn are not words I use in the same sentence and Wool Girl does have some in stock!

I've promised myself that before I cast-on any projects with the new yummy yarn, I'm going to finish two or three things that are currently on my needles.
Is there a cure for 'serial starting'?

When reading Lime & Violet's Daily Chum I was lured to
Skein Queen's Etsy Store.
Ooooooh, she has some gorgeous silk/cashmere.
I may have bought the Raspberry Mocha.