On knitting, foraging, and so on

It's been another long while since my last post, sorry about that.  It's easy to put it off and put it off and think "who cares?".  But then of course: who does care?  Me.  I care.  I love reading posts about things I had entirely forgotten about, or seeing photos of the house or garden and realising with a jolt how things have changed.



We recently ticked over the two year anniversary of the day we arrived in NZ.

Here is the post I wrote when we first arrived.

And here is the post from our one year anniversary.

Now our life in Perth feels like a dream, it was so long ago.  Sometimes I take for granted our amazing life and beautiful location.  Usually when I'm pushing the lawnmower around the acre of lawn twice a week, and I dream a little bit of a suburban-sized patch of grass.  Only for a moment, I promise!

Not having knit a stitch over summer, I've had a burst of productivity.  I knit up a little cardi for J in record time, and while we were on the most holy Button Selection mission, I discovered that A had chosen some buttons for her own (non-existent) cardigan.  So being the sucker that I am, I'm now making one for her too.  The only issue being that I was in such a hurry to get it done that I forgot to follow the directions for the size 3 and am now making a size 5.  At least she'll get years of wear out of it I suppose.



I'm rushing through A's cardigan because I'm a bit obsessed with something on my needles that's just for meeee.

I bought some merino/silk yarn, and am making a seriously luxurious shawl for myself.  I've been wanting a sort of "investment" project for a while and when my friend showed me this pattern it was an instant yes from me.

And it is an investment.  The most expensive - and prettiest, softest, dreamiest to knit - yarn I've ever bought, and a major investment in time.  Hours and hours of work have gone into this thing.  I'm over halfway through and my major motivation to pick it up every day is that I simply can't wait to wear it.

I finally frogged bloody Sauvie which was very freeing.  I realised what a dud project it was when I was discussing it with my friend and saying how I hated knitting it, the wool was so scratchy and I didn't even know if I was going to wear it.  What was I doing??  I ripped it all out that day.  Not sure what will happen with that scratchy yarn (I have ten balls of the stuff) but at least I don't have bloody Sauvie hanging over my head anymore.

I'm also planning to make a beanie for B's birthday (in June, giving myself lots of time to get it done) out of some possum/merino yarn which I'm just waiting to arrive.


Another very autumnal thing is that the kids have been sick/coughing for the past month.  When we were in Perth I thought "cold and flu season" was a bit of a myth, but here it certainly is not!  The weather turns cool and the kids get sick.  It's all much easier to cope with now that they're a bit older and better able to cope themselves, but A is still the queen of the cough-vomit which is unpleasant for all of us.  At least now she can tell me it's going to come up before it does.



Check out the vegetable garden!  Bit weedy and very quiet.  The freezer is full of beans and carrots and broccoli.  I thought I dried the onions correctly but they've all rotted in storage which is annoying.

It doesn't get more autumnal than this: there was a few weeks there when B and the girls were picking bucketfuls of mushrooms from the paddocks every day.  I'm not a mushroom eater but it was pretty awesome to be able to forage food like that.

This is the last of the gooseberries and I had to fight the chooks for them.  I'd never seen gooseberries growing before we moved here and isn't it cool how they ripen inside their little paper lanterns.  The chickens know exactly which ones are ripe and ready so you have to be quick.

Other things that have happened ...

I made a quick trip back to Adelaide at the end of March.  There are two milestone birthdays in my immediate family in June but with B's work schedule it was a matter of book it now or run the risk of not being able to get away.  I had five full days there which was great and I squeezed in a LOT of eating and drinking.

Because it wouldn't be a trip to Adelaide without it, of course one of the girls got hideously sick while I was away.  Poor little A was coughing and feverish and generally incredibly miserable... B made sure I was kept constantly up to date.  I might have to tell him that if it happens again next time I don't want to know.  I did feel bad for him of course.  It's bloody hard doing it on your own and I've done it plenty.

For easter this past weekend we had dinner with B's mum on good Friday - freshly caught snapper with thanks to B.  Saturday we made a day trip to the bach which was fabulous as always.  The girls even braved the water which was a lot colder than it had been last month.  On Sunday the easter bunny had hidden the eggs inside because a rain event was forecast for Sunday, and it didn't disappoint.  The girls were a bit berserk after being cooped up inside and way too much chocolate so last night B and I made ourselves ill reducing the size of their stash.  Luckily today is bright and sunny (for now).

The yarn for B's beanie arrived a moment ago so I'm off to do my swatch.  Hope you're having a lovely autumnal time with all the best bits of the season, and not sick or suffering chocolate regret.