The Tuesday Poem was rudely interrupted...

Mademoiselle Rouge departed for Spain last night. It's her first solo trip overseas. The first trip was a school exchange visit to Japan - very different from going to Spain by yourself and planning to walk 100 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago, not to mention couch surfing. It was all too stressful to think of poetry - although that might have calmed me down! But I was busy completing these:

Fingerless mitts to keep her hands warm. A good pattern from Ravelry - sized so you can make it for most gauges and for most sized hands. I shall be making more of these!  The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug sock  yarn. I bought a grab bag of odd yardages from the Colinette mill shop - not enough for socks, but plenty long enough for mitts.

When you've admired these and before you whisk out your double-sided needles to make your own, hop on over to the Tuesday Poem blog where you can read three intriguing poems from a debut verse novel, Bird Murder,  by Stephanie Lash, brought to you this week by Helen Rickerby. When you've put your order in for your own copy of Bird Murder, check out the sidebar for other Tuesday poems.

Knitting!

The Colinette throw in 'Charade' - perfect colourway for our couch. I love the different textures and I wouldn't mind knitting another of these. Weaving in the ends was a bit of a pain, but it was accomplished with t.v. I wasn't going to bother with a fringe, but in the end I had enough yarn leftover, so I changed my mind on that. I bought this as kit from the Colinette mill shop in Wales but I know you can also buy the kits online. Now to finish my latest pair of socks - one nearly down, one to go.

Market Day!

So, in an effort to return to frugal living and keep cooking creatively, we took the Mothership to Dandenong Market today. Last week I managed to buy a box of peaches for $5.00 - they didn't look the best, but they stewed up beautifully. This week I wasn't so ambitious as there are still stewed peaches in the fridge. Hopefully in a few weeks time our gardening efforts will be rewarded. The Mothership and Motorbike Boy had managed to ignore the gardening completely while I was away.

The Accountant and I weeded and planted lots of veggies. In the meantime the artichokes are looking good, the rhubarb has flourished and the herbs have flowered. I love sage flowers and would have it in the garden just for the flowers. Against all odds (it's covered by a prolific vine we haven't been able to identify), the tarragon survived. It's also still growing at home - perhaps possums don't like aniseed?

After Dandenong Market, we went down the hill to Upwey where a local twilight market was being held. It was much larger than I'd imagined and people were selling everything from cigar-box guitars to zatar. I thought about upgrading from the uke to a cigar-box geetar but decided the uke was more my style. Instead I bought Japanese bbq sauce, soap and a small round pottery dish in which to keep the spheres of soap.

And this was the result of last night's Neighbourly Knitting Night - the beginning of the Colinette throw. Here it is, artfully flung on top of the sheep bag I bought in the U.K.

Foraging through the veggies for tonight's meal I found this - a reminder to keep your eyes open and enjoy the extraordinary in the ordinary.

 

Be My Valentine

Home Again, Settling In, Making Things...

 

From Milan and cobblestones to Belgrave - a world of green, birdsong and breakfasts on the back deck. We went swimming today at the local Belgrave pool, had a lane each and were two of the only three people in the pool. A far cry from swimming in Paris!

I returned home with good work intentions and was immediately caught up in the Hospitality Queen's 21st birthday preparations. It was a good night.

But all that - and catching up with family stuff, not to mention unpacking and dealing with the subsequent little piles of mess piling up everywhere has stopped me from starting my Colinette throw. I bought this at the Colinette Mill shop in Llanfair Caereinion. Walking through the shop was like walking through a kaliedoscope. I love Colinette yarns for their colours and seeing a whole shop full of skeins was amazing. It wasn't difficult choosing the colourway for the throw - The Accountant (who shut his eyes to the price of the adventure!) and I quickly decided on Charade, which meant that I could drift around yearningly for the rest of my allotted time there. 

I finished balling up the skeins last night so I'm prepared to start the throw at the very least. And, it's knitting night tonight.

 

I have come home inspired to make more things, whether those things are books, poems, knitted throws, clothes or prints. I've seen wonderful art while I was away and also some fabulous craftwork. I'm committed to making most of my clothes for the next year, sewing and knitting fearlessly and learning some new skills. 

I'm also committed to getting back to the Tuesday Poem - and introducing readers to some new poets, extending my own reading and creating a poetry circle. Busy times ahead! (With a few piratical parties thrown in...)

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