Delaaaaayed!

I have many the photos, many the stories, and many the sharings to share!
But I don't have many the spare moments to sit and type a post! Ack!
So I instead fill you in with a quick and incomplete duo of Sash items for the moment... until I have some spare time I can allocate to catching up with the weekend post! Particularly as it's a LONG weekend post!

So this weekend amongst the other bits and bobs (stories to follow) we got up to, I knitted up skoot's magical hand dyed stubby holder! With 100% wool hand dyed by skoota with food dye (story to follow) knit on 4mm straights, a tight gauge - basically it's a long strip I will stitch onto a stubby holder - not quite insulative enough on its own, tight gauge or no, so I'm adding the extra woolly goodness to the outside of a regular stubby holder.

Close up of the colours and stitches :)

The second exciting news item is that I've decided to start up on a knitted garment! Wheee! Gorgeous Mum has sponsored me the yarn for knitting up a jumper - but it's quite exotic yarn (story to follow) so we'll need to order it through the US as the company (and NO stockists!) ship outside the US! grr!! So while we organise that exciting venture (story to follow) I've decided to knit up CLEAVES!! Yay!

Remember the pattern I posted about a while ago - the half-a-jumper from knitty.com? Lovely lovely! I'm thinking of Silkroad ultra by Jo Sharp, through lovely Helen and Ann at Knitting Inspirations - as it seems it'll give the right gauge etc.. but then it may be exie as it has silk and cashmere in it.. will look at pure wool options too and have a chat with the Inspirations ladies then consider my options! Woohoo! A real knitted garment! It seems a nice easy pattern, knit on circulars, bit of ribbing at the sleeves, nice and funky.. yum yum!!

Excitement via post!

I tell you what, the SuperGirl jocks must have worked wonders! Because not only did the day at work go well yesterday, but I returned home to a great big hug from my shveetie, who then whispered in my ear "there's a package for you on the table over there" to which I squealled and jumped about with excitement but he kept hugging me so tight so I bounced around until we were both giggling and he let me go so I twirled and danced about in excitement squealling "Where?! Where!!? Ooh how EXCITING!! I bet my Spunky fibre's finally arrived!!!" You see, I'm in the Spunky Eclectic fibre club and have been expecting the Dec and Jan fibres in the mail... but the fibre it was not *yoda voice*
Behold the package!!

A quick glance at the return address on the top told me all I needed to know - Heidi Kenney of MY PAPER CRANE!!!!
EEEEEEE!!!!!! *squeals of excitement*
I had not blogged yet about this particular package whinging it's way across the oceans to me from the U.S, because I only placed the order on the 7th Jan - so it got here amazingly quickly!

So I ripped open the package with much glee and released my three new little friends!!
Mr Happy Toast, Happy Cloud, and Sad Storm Cloud!

I had also ordered Heidi's 'zine on spinning :)

I am SO thrilled to bits with them! They sat on the couch last night, after their introduction to skoot and the household, and everytime I glanced over at them, or saw them in passing I couldn't hold back my massive grin!! THEY'RE GORGEOUS!! I adore how Heidi's work brings wonder and delight to everyday objects, and injects life with joy and fun!

I had been wanting to invest in some of Heidi's work for myself for a while now, but could never justify spending the money on such luxury items, until the birthday money from my Grandparents came my way!! So I decided this was the time to buy soemthing super special and lovely that I would be unlikely to buy otherwise - so I picked My Paper Crane!

With the money left over, I decided a knitting book was in order. I checked out Amazon for their prices and availability for the two I had in mind, and compared to Borders in town (where my Satdee knitting group is) amazon was hands down FAR cheaper! So I decided I'd get both books!! hehe!!

So there's another package winging its way towards me! This one containing Yarnplay by Lisa Shobhana Mason

and Knit 2 Together by Tracey Ullman & Mel Clark

I saw these two books at the library SnB before Christmas and LOVED THEM, and have been covetting them ever since! So I'm over the moon to have my own copies on their way to my bookshelf!

Another exciting little goodie arrived in the post too - the invitation to my aforementioned lovely mates Liz and Paul's wedding! Hooraaaayy!! :)

Stunning invites they've made up - beautiful ribbon and each has a smokey glass bead at the top! Plus a little matching RSVP slip and mini envelope - how darling!

Right! Now I'm off home to pack ready for our long weekend away down south-ish for Australia Day! Whee! But of course, must stop off via the SLYS (somewhat local yarn store - as it's actually a bit of a hike for me!) to get some supplies for knitting this beanie for skoota!

Having some troubles finding another ball of matching red pure wool in the right ply to finish off his scarf *grumble grumble* so thought I'd start on his beanie in the meantime and LOVE this spiral pattern from FrogMonkey for him!

Today I am wearing to work my Supergirl undies

And my drum-set shirt

I'm not enjoying work at the moment and need all the help I can muster from fancy jocks and hardcore-type shirts to get me through. Had a huge sob-session and wrenchingly yucky time last night, but am through now and have made my decision. The people I work with are divine and I adore them, but it's well past the time for me to move on.

p.s. I have a pain in my chest which is hurting like indigestion, but can't be as I haven't had any brekkie yet..

Cute OVERLOAD!

CAUTION!! Seizures may occur due to extreme cuteness of following image...

How gorgeous is little gingernuff in his little stripey hoodie!!

For further seizure material, explore cute overload!

How timely!

I have some fabulous exciting news!

Lately I've been so eager to start some sewing crafterness, and have been thinking of how to get my hands on a sewing machine. Huggable Mum has lent me hers, but the pedal and cord extensions couldn't be found when we were hunting around for it - so it has essentially been a large beige ornament for some time! So just as I was about to ask my Gran if I could borrow her sewing machine - Mum found the accessories!! So as soon as I can go over and pick up the parts, set up a table and find myself some delicious fabric - I CAN START SOME SEW CRAFTS!! Wheee!! Am super keen at the prospects, but also super aware of how many hobbies I have and how much time I have spare after work and so on.. doesn't really add up at the moment...

However, after work today when my colleague and I had been held back a little, I would have faced odious traffic if I left then, so instead I cruised over to the nearby lovely lakeside lawns and willowy trees, sat on the grass and knit on my sock!

As I sat there, listening to the latest of Brenda's dulcet tones and turning the short row heel of my sockie-bo-dockie, an inquisitive black swan idled up beside me, eyeing me off with curiosity and subtle caution. As I sat there calm and placid, swannie gradually stepped closer and closer, shiny red beak nibbling and tweaking at the green green grass, little orange eyes turned towards me - watching me knit. Perhaps a knitter in a previous life, fascinated by seeing the looped yarn again, looped and looped on tiny sticks - a new swan-perspective blossoming within the little feathery head. There was certainly a connection there, and just as it turned time for me to hit the road, swannie had strolled up only centimetres from my crossed legs, after nonchalantly inching closer and closer. I truly felt quite rude getting up just when we had built trust and were increasing the intimacy of the friendship.

But I'm sure we'll meet again :)

Weekend wonders

The Weekend is a fabulous thing, I have decided =D

Although of course, always too short. As my brother and his mates often said on a trip we took up to Exmouth and they wanted as much adventure as possible.. "PACK IT IN!!" And that's exactly what Skoota and I did this weekend!

Saturday morning started with meeting my lovely Dad at the river front to do a dog-swap (no more Chilli-Billi for us - she's gone back home, a little plumper than before I must admit!), catch up and have a brief walk. Brief because I was meeting a bobbin-full of spinners (what would be the collective noun for handspinners?! Any suggestions?) for the Spinkhana at the river! It was fabulous, spinners from all over were there, plus the spinning guild I am part of, The Handspinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild of W.A was there in force! We had a fabulous time! Before Dad headed off, he and Chill helped me skein up a bobbin-full of the Spunky Eclectic Pie in the Sky Finn wool which I had plied with silver embroidery thread with the following results..

I love it! I'm planning to knit it up into a headband/earwarmer for a friend of mine - though I'm not sure if there will be enough of it actually... May have to use it for a feature panel, but use normal purple/blue yarn for the majority.

It was a stunning day to be out and about - the sun was shining, but not a scorching heat, beautiful river, grass and trees - which we were all huddled under with our wheels (or spindles) to avoid the sunshiney UV rays!

There was a huge turn-out, with demonstrations of 4 person may-pole style braiding, natural dyeing and so on. I was spinning with a friend of mine, Anita ( with the Ashford joy in the photo above, my lantern moon basket is to the right in the photo next to her) and I had been talking about dyeing our own yarn and different ways to do it, when we heard the dye pot was still steaming away on the barbie for anyone interested! She dived into my basket and came out with a little handful of the lovely pure white merino tops and we dashed off to the bbq to dye it! It's sitting soaking to rinse on the sink at the mo, but I'll post a pic later when it's dried out and all fluffy again - I'm so intrigue as to what colour it will be! The dye was from the sap of the Marri tree - an Aussie native, with no mordent used.

I had brought a selection of all my Treetops fibre along, and decided to start spinning up the rainbow machine dyed merino - a complete luscious joy to spin :)

One of the lovely collections that was going on, was everybody donating a metre or two of handspun yarn - the goal being to collect enough to reach all the way around the equator! I contributed two metres of the PieInTheSky Finn that I had plied with pure white Merino. The tagline they're putting on the project is "United we can put the world in a spin" - how cute! :)

From there I was into the car and off to the city for the CitiKnits Stitch'n'Bitch - one of my favourite groups :) When walking from the car park to the bookstore where we meet however I saw a very strange sight.. I simply had to snap a photo off on my phone of this most unusual get-up...

WHAT IS THAT?! Don't tell me this is the newest of emerging fashions.. the rolled hem, knee short overall-catsuit *cringes* I'm sorry, I'm not normally so judgemental but SHEEEZ!! I certianly won't be wearing them - but I don't even want to see them trotting down the footpaths or around town - hideous!! I guess this counts for the "bitch" part of the Stitch'n'Bitch outing!

As always I had a MAGIC BRILLIANT FANTASTERIC time at CitiK and met Yin finally! Although I managed to confuse Yin and Michelle again! Ack! Why must Michelle where PINK when Yin's blog is PINKY YIN?! They're TRYING to confuse me!! I know you are, you two! *points accusingly at Yin and Michelle* hehehe :)

(Not a very good shot.. couldn't get any further back because of the shop counter and only had my mobile so couldn't zoom out! But Anne, Yin and the others are there somewhere!)
I got some more down on the heel of my sock - yay! With some help from Anne and Helen as I kept chatting to Helen too much and knitting where and how I shouldn't! Thanks too to Anne for the hot-tip on my shortrow heel, and the load of two liddle stitch markers:)

I also picked up the December issue of Spin Off magazine. I'm really thinking of subscribing - it's SO expensive buying them from newsagencies and Borders!

Just before I had to rush off to the next PACK IT IN event, three ladies of about my age arrived at CitiK who we'd never seen before! They have a knitting group they run on a monday evening and have also been doing Saturday groups and such. They were super friendly and one, Clementine (who I know has a blog but can't find it yet!), showed us her gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill yarn socks which she is knitting - both at the same time - on circulars! How magic! She said she'll teach me how to knit two socks at once - yippee! So we're thinking of amalgamating the Saturday groups perhaps, and I've emailed Clementine for the details of the Monday night groups - so awesome to find more knitters out there! And so awesome to increase the size of our knitting groups! KNITTERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!!

I met Skoot at home (he'd spent all day fixing our ute and customising the pit bikes at his workshop) and we glammed it up for my gorgeous friends Liz and Paul's engagement/housewarming party! It was an absolute ball, and as we had to drive so far to get to their place we stayed over the night so I was able to hit the Bombay Sapphire Gin&Tonic and not worry about anything! It was brilliant!

Liz is such a treasure, an absolute gem and an amazingly loving and close friend - I wish her and the lovely Paul the most awesome-ness of weddings and most snug and warm-fuzzy life together in their blissful true love!!

So then to cap off the weekend, Scrumptious Bum and I packed the bikes up and went for a ride! It was so SO much fun! Every time I go riding I can feel myself breaking my personal bests, and improving in certain skills. Lots of sharp corners and deep sand in a fabulous circuit we were doing through some bushy areas - so. much. fun!!

Now we plan to chill out, have a few drinks and appease the addictive gaming gods by playing some Diablo II before watching a moofie or two in bed! Aaahhhhh the weekend!!

Kitty photos

Don't get too excited by the title of the post, we haven't bought any kitties. I like to post photos with each post if I can, but there were no relevant photos last post re: my light bulb idea sparking above my head! So to make up for it, here are a select few of the hilarious photos I was emailed today - all cat related, and all brilliant! I read the email with my work mate when no clients were around which was lucky - we both laughed SO HARD! I had tears running down my cheeks! These two are my favourites :

I give you....!


And sporting equally psychotic eyes....!


Hehehe... makes me laugh so much!

Oooh an idea has sprung!

SPRUNG IT HAS! Right forth from my little noggin!

This morning I got out of bed with a bit of trouble and didn't really feel like rushing about in my normal pre-work frenzy to get things together, proper clothes on and out the door on time to miss the traffic. So instead I set up my 'pod with 'casts to listen to (I'd lost my pod for the last few weeks so when I found it yesterday i was EXTREMELY relieved! No more hour drives to and from work with no entertainment! Phew!), made myself some toast - which in itself was a thing of wonder, hardly ever is the Sasharus Knitlotsarius species seen eating breakfast at home on a work day, and even took Chill down to the park!! I sat with her there for long enough to do a row of knitting then we strolled home. But it was LOVELY to actually DO stuff before leaving for work. It feels like I'm fitting work into the other things in my life today, not as it normally feels like I'm fitting my life in around work. And I liked the way it felt today :)

So it planted a little seed of thought.. an EXCITING (surprise surprise) seed of thought!

I could get up early and SPIN or KNIT or otherwise CRAFT a good amount each morning!!
*massive grin at the potential*
Of course.. I would need to seriously watch the late night Diablo II game sessions and movie watching with skoot... hmmm.. must find the balance there...

But what an exciting possibility!!

Wednesday night we headed up the hill again to have another squiz at the Comet McNaught . We got bogged part way up, and after digging around in the dirt for a little while a father-son duo came up the hill behind us, on their way to the Comet viewing spot also, and towed us out - phew! The comet was awesome. Even better than the night before. I managed to get some shots with my digicam through the telescope. You can seeit like this in the sky pretty much, bright glowing orb with a visible tail streaking through the sunsetty sky. It really puts the world into perspective.


Lately I have been finding myself yearning to craft. A strong and deep craving for creativity is running through my veins, and I don't think I can appease it with short stints of knitting any longer! I must spend HOURS knitting, or painting, or spinning. I want to absorb colour and fibre and texture through the very pores of my skin!! I know it all sounds rather extreme, but I'm absolutely HANGING OUT for some crafterly time - think I must make myself set aside the time to clear out 'la nestie', set up my work bench *drools slightly* and then GET STUCK IN! Wheeee!! =D

One of the creative endeavours that has particularly caught my eye and made me super keen, is the fabulous fabric craftiness I've been ogling at blogs such as Craftapalooza, and Little Miss Meshell's, amongst others. These lovely ladies are creating such incredibly beautiful and customised hand crafted items - and I wanna have a gooo!! *whines* Look as these ever-so-cute pincushions of Meshell's

How divine!
I've been wanting to make my own skirts from a pattern I'll do up from a skirt I have and adore and want many duplicates of in many funky colours and patterns, so I think the time is nigh for me to ask my Gran if I can borrow her sewing machine!

But then we are met with the dilemma... where will I find time for another hobbie?!

So much fun!

How can there be SO many fun and lovely things! It's brilliant!
I've returned to work since last week, which has been something of a shock to the system.. But it was softened somewhat by the uber generous spoiling of me for my birthday by the lovely girls at work!!
Just look at my goodie stash!!

I had told my Birthday Buddy (we have a work birthday group) about Stitch'n'Bitch Nation, having LOVED the first Stitch'n'Bitch I was hanging out to get the sequel. So they all signed in the front cover so now I have not only an awesome knitting book filled with awesome alternative and fun patterns, but as I've had them all sign the inner cover, a fabulous book immortalising the birthday wishes of my GORGEOUS work colleagues who are such good friends of mine, and I shall miss so much when I leave. I was also spoiled with a fabulous huge knitting tot! (the big blue and flowery number in the photo) which is AWESOME! I've got a few different knitting bags, but nothing as big as this one - perfect for a big afghan or jumper or something - verrra niiice!! Top it all off with some lovely fluffy green yarn (acrylic I think, but nice and soft, am thinking of some cushion covers for my studio..), birthday chockies and a hilarious satirical office memo pad - SPOILT!! Such lovely friends at work, I appreciate the effort and thought put in so much :)

Last night skoot and I headed out to a nice high hill near the ocean not far from our place to check out the nearby comet! NEARBY COMET!! How rad is THAT?! Obviously not visible in this shot, but the sunset had been stunning too and left, as the navy blue night descended, a gorgeous rich orange along the horizon.

We're heading out again tonight with our telescope again, and a good camera to see if we can get a shot of it through the telescope. Tried with a phone camera last night (I'd had a glass or two of champers and was a bit relaxed about what to take up the hill!) and could almost capture it through the 'scope, so with my lovely flash spanky new camera it should be do-able :)

As soon as I started knitting again, on the Anchor-cotton-coloured-delight pressie i can't BELIEVE I managed to go without knitting for however many days I did! The smoothness of the needles, glossy against one another as the cross and brush, the silky shimmery fibres of the cotton looped around my fingers - BLIISSSFULLLL!!!!!!! Am thoroughly enjoying it and knitting at every opportunity again - while the car's warming up in the morning, lunch breaks at work etc - almost in manner of madwoman or person obsessed... I even knit into the night while skoot was asleep nearby, it was a super hot night so we slept on the swag in the loungeroom. I didn't want to disturb the sleeping giant so I used my little head torch we made up, and wore my birthday tiara of course.

Have made progress to another little coloured bar - lovely lovely :)

Amongst all these super fun things however, the one thing I seem to be lacking is time. I have all my stunning and snuggle-worthy birthday fibre fluff and haven't even spun one fibre yet!! And gifts to knit, games to play, Chilli dogs to walk, blogs to post on...!!! Work and chores of course put a significant dint in my leisure time - holidays are never long enough! And then there's this...

Since the Halloween party last weekend this is the state of my studio, or as I call it the 'nestie'. My little place of artful thoughts and knitterly delights, soft and snug, peaceful and nurturing - lovely :) But not any of those really at the moment! We had to move everything out of the lounge/dining/hall for the party, and in our haste and lack of other space it all ended up smooshed into the nestie. So I have some serious tidying ahead of me! It presents an excellent opportunity though to rearrange and reorganise the space and all my crafty goodies :) Woot!! Found a silver lining!

Oooogedy Boogedy!!

The Haunted Mansion of Castle Von Morgue has been returned to its more humble household appearance, and Frankenskoot and I have retired in exhaustion to the now restored lounge!

When guests were arriving last night I was still getting my wickedy witchy wardrobe sorted, so I didn't get any shots of people in full garb, and as the night wore on, and the heat did not relent, wigs, capes, horns and mummified bandages were gradually cast aside! However below is a shot of the dining hall of Castle Von Morgue (the house sign is juuust visible at the top) amd the ghoulish quests at the party! So hard to get good shots - without flash was too dark but showed the candles well, but with flash made the room look like the lights were on full bright! Not spooky at all! So I settled for a few shots, and mainly relying on my fabulous memories rather than getting caught up on fiddling with my camera :)

We spent so much time decorating and looked brilliant! I made some little jack-o-lanterns out of jars - very Halloweeny!

The 'How To Host A Murder' game was great and everyone got really involved and in character - heaps of fun! Everyone was super dressed up and looked brilliant, and I received some lovely gifts - even wrapped in spooky (very Sash-like pirate scarves!) wrap!!

I had made a yummy chocolate birthday cake earlier in the day, from my Lovely Mum's Choc-Fudge One Pot CHocolate Cake recipe - yummo!! So in between round I iced it up - appropriately themed of course!

And each couple took a little noodle box of tasty snacks and Halloween treats!

This evening after returning the house to a semblance of normality, and bludging on the couch with Frankenskoot watching Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire, I took the scruffin muffin Chilli dawg out to the nearby park, and while she was sniffing about, chewing on grass and generally nature-tripping, I managed to get a few rows done on some Christmas gifts as yet unfinished. I know... Christmas gifts - how bad is that?! Most of the recipients have received other parts of their gifties, but it seemed that I was frantically knitting up to and on Chrissie Day, then as soon as it hit Boxing Day I subconsciously said - "I don't have to knit frantically anymore!" But now the holidays are over and most distracting things are more easily set aside, I am super keen to crack down and get these few knitted gifties finished :) As there are a few people I'm knitting for, I feel it's safe to post pics as I go - they won't know which is what and for who!

Knitted in Anchor cotton - such gorgeous colours!

Phew!

It's just past 2am, and I've decided to sit down for just a little bit :)
The Halloween How To Host A Murder Birthday Gig has officially finished!!
The lovely scrumptiousness is asleep in bed, still with his Frankensteiny stitches etching his face with eyeliner! I'll soon follow suit, but have been trying to make as big a dent in the cleaning up as possible, so we have less to face tomorrow - eugh!!
It went so so well - I had an absolute ball :) Lovely people, fun atmosphere (wait 'til I describe the deckies we had up - didn't take many shots, too dark and too much happening!), something different to play - I truly enjoyed myself :)

Right! A little more wiping, scrubbing and and clearing then I'm off for some blissful shut-eye!

Bad Ass Knitters Unite!

Hehehe I saw this a few months back on Wendy 's website, and absolutely loved it!

Encouraging knitterly attitude I share with you today, Wendy's 'How to Be A Bad Add Knitter'!!

How to Be a Bad-Ass Knitter Knit whatever the hell you want . . . whenever you want. Buy as much yarn (and books and needles etc.) as you want, whenever the hell you want. Never, ever, apologize for knitting. Never, ever, apologize because you think something you knit isn't "good" enough. Never, ever, apologize about how you knit: right-handed, left-handed, or with your toes! Traditional knitting is timeless. Display your stash with pride! You don't have to follow a pattern exactly -- make changes if you wanna. Never apologize for knitting cat/dog hair into your sweater. It's all the warmer! Whenever a non-knitter asks you a stupid question, remember that you carry long, sharp sticks. All graphics, patterns, text, and content on this site are the sole property of Wendy D. Johnson ©2002 - 2005 Not to be reproduced in any form without written permission from Wendy D. Johnson Note: I did email and check with Wendy that it was okay I post a copy of it here, and link to her site and she ok'd me :)

I love it! Particularly the bit about not apologising for how much stash or needles or books etc you have. I totally agree with that! Within reason of course, don't live outside your means and so on.. But people don't really seem to get, I find, that knitters need TOOLS. And those tools are needles, tape measures (in the shape of woolly sheep), crochet hooks etc.. And that the same as any passion one wants inspiration around them in the form of books and magazines that teach new skills, push the boundaries of ones personal best and encourage the art. And as for the "too much yarn" bizzo? That comes under te tools heading anyway, but also... People collect stamps, people collect trophies, people have huge collections of books or model aeroplanes - the list goes on. Knitting is a past time, and in order to pass time with knitting, one requires to knit things, generally made of yarn. And while it seems unusual to non-knitters (and some knitters too!) horde a stash large enough that you couldn't knit through it in a year - that is inspiration in itself, to lift the lid on your yarn basket and see all the colours and textures resting in there, awaiting their turn on the needles. It would become humdrum and loose the exciting passionate edge if we knit by schedule or roster. "Right, finished the blue clapotis, now I have to knit that orange wool into a cushion cover". I can definately see the value in buying yarn only when you have a project in mind to knit with it, and even only when you have finished a project and need a new one! But for me, I love being surrounded by the lovelies and snugglies of my craft. I don't have a large stash at all, but enough that I can look at it, imagine what yarn could become, have some yarns I know exactly what I'll do with and maybe even a little bit of room for some more. But for now I'm not acquiring anymore yarn. Not until I've done a few more projects, or if I know exactly what I'll be using it for. BUt I don't want to bank up too many obligations. "Oooh I bought that yarn for a tea cosy, I'd better do that up" or "I spent all that money on that yarn for a jumper.. better do it" But then I suppose being an art form, creative and customised, knitting has the flexibility to free the knitter from the confines of locking in a particular project to a yarn. If one decided NOT to knit that tea cosy, they could knit some gloves instead, or a beanie or...?

Hmmm *ponders the subject for a little* I see I've given arguments for and against stash accumulation, which fits quite well actually as I'm very happy with my medium sized stash! But it's high time I hit the road for work! (last day before the weeekend yay!! Last day before halloween party day!!!)

Sunshiney day!

Chill and I've just been for that walk, and the sun has come out filling the day with gentle warmth and colour!

Chill had fun sniffing around all the agility equipment in the dog park (tunnel seen behind her here) and posing with her mumma for a happy snap :) (although I don't look all that cheery! - concentrating too hard on trying to take a non-blurry one handed photo and keep Chill interested at the same time!)

We then retired to the house for some shared yoghurt. Deal is I eat the yoghurt, Chill licks the tub. She would like it to be followed by a further step - "Chill takes the tub and chews it up into squillions of tiny pieces which are then strewn all over the house", but I veto-ed that suggestion!

*happy sigh*

Don't you just adore being in love?
*dreamy happy sigh*
These last few days for my birthday have been so thoroughly enjoyable, contented and blissfully fun. This morning I've gotten up early with Skoot as he headed off to work, in preparatoin for my return to work and normal sleeping patterns tomorrow - and it's beautiful. The morning feels so crisp and cool - it's rained overnight and everything feels calm and slow, sort of settled by the nocturnal shower. It's relatively quiet, with the occasional "drip drip" from tree branch or a "ting" as water drips from the gutter onto the tin. Very peaceful :)
Lovely fluffy muffin Chill is still staying with us, so I think I'll take her for a walk shortly. I can imagine her delight at her paws brushing through the damp, chilly grass and all the myriad of sniffs tinkling about in the air for her to savour after the rain.

I feel so relaxed and content lately, and so overjoyed with life and the fun, exciting, rewarding things and people in my life - I'm feeling very grateful and satisfied. It helps, of course, that I've been on holidays for 3 and a half weeks, and have celebrated Chrissie, New Year and most recently my birthday over the course of the holidays! Add to that the scrumptious bum has been on holidays too, and it's easy to see why I'm feeling so happy :)

On Monday skoota took me out to Treetops Colour Harmonies and absolutely SPOILT me rotten for my birthday! I've been wanting to check out Nancy's fabulous hand-dyes and fibre selection for aages (see post back in November) but with Christmas, and being on holidays etc.. couldn't justify spending money on such a luxury - would have been very naughty and un-'responsible adult'-ish! So to be taken there for my birthday and set loose in her studio was a fantastical dreamy ecstatic moment!! Skoot had said he wanted ot get me "fluff" for my birthday - and he sure did!! We came away with arms FULL of delicious merino and SILK even! *faints away with dreamliness* In the photo below you can see the acquisitions all restricted and compressed up in their plasticky confines..

Once released from their squishy packs, they blossomed into fabulous fibery MOUNTAINS!! I could barely fit it all on the table!

The booty consists of...

1kg (ONE KILOGRAM!) of undyed merino *drools slightly out of corner of mouth* I cannot believe she managed to cram an entire KILO into that plastic wrap! It was fit to burst on the drive home and now barely fits into one of my tall baskets! It looks just like soft serve vanilla icecream... mmmmm...

A sampler pack of rainbow colours, machine-dyed merino *dabs at drool with tissue*

200g each of hand-dyed merino in the sea lavender and chilli&pepper colourways - I had said to skrummy skoot that this is his gift to me, so I wanted him to choose some of the fibre, not just let me run wild in the studio, so he picked the Chilli&Pepper :) He favours the natural colourways, and I adore that he gives me a new perspective cratively, highlighting colours I would not normally consider. The Chilli&Pepper evokes images and emotions of the aussie bush for me, with the red dirt, the light latte coloured pale brown of eucalypt bark... very lovely indeed :)

Nancy also stocks silks, so as a super very absolutely special treat we took home two selections of silk for me to try. The Throwsters waste silk, all curly - handy-dyed in the Sea Lavender colourway

and some tussah silk tops, divine and smooth like faery-tale unicorn tail - an unbelievable light caramel cream colour :)

And I'm absolutely champing at the bit to try the silks in with the merino for texture and shine! Nancy showed me some of her swatches, the silk plied with the merino knitted up to a shimmery delight! The cream will tone brilliantly in with the Chilli&Pepper, and the sea lavenders together will be so fun!

So all in all I was completely showered with fibery love for my birthday from ma darling *massive grin* We were both pretty overwhelmed standing there surrounded by such colour and texture - dreamy really :) I'm hopinh to find some time today to maybe spin up a little...? ut I have much party crafting and decorating to do.. so maybe not.. but I'll try *grin*

Yesterday skoot and I went to the zoo and spent the day trolling about through the laberynthine pathways together, getting some perspective on life by seeing the giant lionesses, family-oriented painted dogs, and frisky otters - it was super fun :) Although it's still school holiday time we didn't have to fight through too many hordes of kids and were able to get about pretty easily - it was such a stunning day!

We saw lots of critters, my faves being the otters, meerkats and african painted dogs.

I also spied a scrumptius bumius along one of the pathways... *puts on David Attenborough accent* A rare creature, inclined to generous birthday treats and reknown for his larconic song and excellent nature, indeed named for his very scrumptiousness.

In the reptile house we saw an awesome (literally) articulated python cruise around his 'tank' and through his pond to cleanse himself of the ants irritating his back, and skoot decided that the Fijian Iguana is destined to be our next exotic pet :)

I personally couldn't stop "oooh"in and"aaaah"ing over the teeeensy tiny little bubba tortoises! Lookie how tiny they are!!

I know there's no point of reference in the photos, so lemme explain... they are about 3cm (an inch) tall, and 4cm or so long... TINY!! I had to use the macro setting on my camera! These are the same little dude that grow into those GINORMOUS tortoises that live to over 100! They take 10 years to get to full size - how incredible!

After the zoo we headed over the my paternal grandies place to catch up with them. My Pa is back home since yesterday from eing in hospital with some troubles, so it magic to see him back home safe and sound with Gran :) They gifted me some gorgeous green bags - one in particular with a bamboo handle is destined to become a knitting bag I'm sure *grin*

Then on to birthday dinner with my lovely Dad in town! We ate at a vegetarian restaurant which is always a treat because I can pick from the ENTIRE menu not just one little section! Very tasty meal, very yummy champers, and very good company :)

What more could a girl wish for? My two favourite blokes at dinner with me :) Dad very generously gifted me some tickets to go and see Circus Oz! I'm so SO excited!! I get up to the somewhat circussy hobby of firetwirling (will post pics later) and have always been intrigued by fire breathers/eaters, went to circus school as a youngster etc.. yet it's been years since I've been to a circus! I'm absolutely thrilled ot bits and can't wait! Dad is coming along too, and gave me two tickets, so of course I will take the scrumptious :) I didn't want to spoil the surprise by looking on the net too much, but found this pic as a teaster/taster!

Now off to crafting with me!!