Murder Most Fowl

A silly heading, my odd sense of humour coming through, but we have had two murders in the chook-house within 48 hours of each other.  The question is, who or what is to blame?  There are two theories - a neighbour's cat, who has been seen stalking said chook-house, or a hawk.  Over the last week or so there have been many an 'expert' leaning on the fence, listening to evidence and placing their verdict and the majority seem to blame the cat, even though the hawk was seen in the vicinity.  The reason?  The first gruesome find was headless, the neck clearly gnawed on by teeth rather than beak, and the second victim, on closer inspection, also had teeth marks around the neck.  The wise old sages also assured us that there was not enough room for a hawk to swoop upon its prey.  


In the end it really doesn't matter what was responsible.  We lost Harriet and Esme, two beloved little bantams who were endlessly amusing, sweet and provided a good deal of eggs.  By Sunday last we only had little Milly left, she was safely locked up in her tractor but already pining for her mates.  So after a frantic telephone call to Troy at the Chookery, we ended up with Gertie.

Gertie spent her first six days in the little chook tractor with Milly, who was not impressed, and she found her name by her rather comely appearance.  But as you can see from the above photo, she is out and about with Milly and roaming free.


How on earth can I do this with said murderous cat and hawk still about?  I spent nearly the entire weekend cat and hawk proofing their yard.    

It looks rather awkward but it works.  


Now I am looking forward to an afternoon of knitting in front of a warm fire and waiting for my Roast Pumpkin soup to finish proving so I can feast!


I do hope you all have had such a productive weekend.  And to all the Mums out there - Happy Mother's Day!

Wollomombi Chimneys and Horses

Do you ever wonder what the story is behind these chimneys?

Yarn Along and Matjana Preschool Water Fundraiser

If you love knitting and reading and having a peek into what others are doing, then head on over to Ginny's marvelous blog, Small Things, and check out all the wonderful Yarn Along posts for this week.

This week I have two vastly different books that I am reading.  "Amish Peace" by Suzanne Woods Fisher is a lovely book that gives an insight into the Amish way of life and focuses on many aspects including Simplicity, Time, Community and Forgiveness with a scattering of their Proverbs.  The second book is "The Yowie: In Search of Australia's Bigfoot" by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper, this is an interesting book and the authors have done a marvelous job in documenting cases, providing theories and giving a honest review of the Yowie.  I am a dag, this is my second reading of the book and I am thoroughly enjoying it.  Do I believe though?  I am in two minds about it all.


Of course that now brings us to the knitting.  No one will be surprised when I say I am knitting socks!  There are two pairs on the go this week - the yellow will be for a friend (and yes, you know who you are!) and the very brightly multi-coloured ones are for me.  The yellow is a silk/wool blend, dyed by me with Greener Shades - I am absolutely LOVING these dyes and I prefer them to anything else I have dyed with so far.  The multi-coloured ball is a commercial yarn called Magic Merino For Socks by Touch Yarns - beautiful yarn, lovely and soft and I can't wait to finish so I can wear them!


Talking of socks, do you want a pair but can't really justify a purchase?  What about if it was a donation to a worthy cause?  Then you should head on over to Dust Bunnies & Sequins blog - she is a wonderful person who has organised an auction of various items in order to raise funds for Matjana Preschool in Swaziland.  Amongst the items you will find an auction for Socks - these will be Silk/Wool socks hand dyed and knitted in either a cable, lace or two colour self striping pattern by me.  Please note, it will take about two weeks from the end of auction and confirmation of your payment for the wool to be dyed and then knitted.  So go on, place a bid!

And so it begins...

It started off slow.  A single red leaf on the Sugar Maple.

Now there are more.

The days have a chill in the air, the nights more so with it now being the time for warm bed socks and the heavier wool quilts.

Autumn has come to the New England Tablelands!

Yarn Along

If you love knitting and reading and having a peek into what others are doing, then head on over to Ginny's marvelous blog, Small Things, and check out all the wonderful Yarn Along posts for this week.

I don't think that anyone will be surprised by now that I am knitting yet another pair of socks - again for a lovely friend's birthday which is coming up. The pattern is Polly Jean by MJ Kim and so far knitting up well.  


The books are a bit of a mixture with "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt" by Laurie Aaron Hird and "All That Swagger" by Miles Franklin.  I need to make a new quilt for my bed, my first little log cabin I ever made on an old treadle Singer Sewing Machine is sadly falling to bits, and I am tempted by the Farmer's Wife. The really lovely thing about this book is all the letters that were submitted by actual Farmers' Wives for a competition - would they have their daughter marry a farmer?  The responses are heart-warming and incredibly touching, sometimes rather funny as well.  The main thread that ran through all of them, though, was that the Farmer's Wife would work hard and while it could be seen as a simple life it was filled with beauty, reward and satisfaction. 


Swagger is another heart-warming story for me - this book is very similar to the Brent of Bin Bin books, you kind of feel like you getting all the flesh and bones of a pioneering family story and working through the generations.  There is quite a bit of love, scandal and an incredible amount of snobbery!  

A Lovely Day

Today was exactly that - a lovely day.  Nothing was rushed, nothing 'had' to be done, it was just a day for relaxing and having some fun.

I dyed some more silk/wool for a few pairs of socks for some lovely friends.

 

I hand washed a few pairs of my own socks and left them on the line to dry.

I watched bees feasting on my lavender and wondered how many plants it would take to support a hive and what would the resulting honey taste like and would the lavender also be a subtle part of the beeswax?

Finally, we escaped the heat of late afternoon by kicking back in the shade.

Yarn Along

Yet another week to join Ginny in her marvellous Yarn Along posts.  To have a look-see at all the other wonderful posts or to add your own, head on over to Small Things.

Over the last week or so I have spent quite a lot of time reading, sewing, knitting and spinning, with a little bit of blackberry picking thrown in for good measure. At the moment, though, I am knitting yet another pair of socks for a friend's birthday present.  The pattern is Bois de Rose, it is a lovely lace pattern, the wool is 4ply silk/wool mix and hand dyed by me using Greener Shades, mixing Sunshine Yellow and Amazon Green to get a really bright Lime Green.  Fingers crossed the friend will like the colour!


The books I am currently devouring are "The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery Volume II" edited by Mary Rubio & Elizabeth Waterston and "No Idle Hands The Social History of American Knitting" by Anne L. Macdonald.  I am thoroughly enjoying both of these books. Both provide an insight to life as it was, with No Idle Hands constantly leaving me going "how on earth did they do it all?".  Seriously, I have the luxury of electrical gadgets galore and I still struggle with day to day housekeeping, I just cannot get my head around how these women managed to do everything they had to do just to survive, let alone keep family members, clothes, linen and houses clean and make them homes.


The Montgomery Journals are fascinating too, the way she describes herself as a flirt, her engagement to a Cousin who really would have been a terrible match for her, the great love affair with a young man not at all suitable to be her husband.  I do hope things have changed since then as some of the constraints and snobbery of the era were disheartening.  Still, I am enjoying them immensely.