What's that wet stuff falling from the sky?

Nice to see some rain that is actually convincing enough to be called rain! You can almost see the gardens smiling!! I just hope that it makes all the grass seed grow that we've lovingly raked in for Corinbank!!

Not much happening here... plugging away on my gift for E's bub... which could arrive any day now. Can't wait to show some pics of the finished creation! (the pressie, not the bub!)

Lots to look forward to, with a SnB roadtrip to Bundanoon this weekend (woohoo for learning to spin!!), and a sculpture course that mum and I are doing next weekend! Plus... I've just had a five day weekend approved for next weekend, so I get to have a proper visit at Mum and Dad's! Ah... life is good! (except for the fact that I'm coming down with yet another cold, thanx to the petri dish that is a childcare centre!!)

Hooray garden!

Everyone else's garden pics have inspired me to share some... The most exciting thing in our garden is asparagus that after two years is finally big enough to eat... but asparagus is very difficult for the camera to focus on.... so there is no photographic evidence!


I'm so proud of my thyme bush that I nurtured from a seed and managed to keep alive!!

Wisteria... along with jasmine, daphne and jonquils is my favourite smelling flower!

All of our lovely seedlings... not supposed to plant the tomatoes in the ground til after Melbourne cup right? The big lanky thing is Mr Purl's hops plant for his homebrew!

And in non garden-related news... here is an early stage of my pressie for E's new baby... due in a couple of weeks!! (I'm slightly further along now...) Can't say what it is incase E is reading... but it's probably obvious anyway! The crochet is fun... but not as therapeutic as knitting I think. I'm really enjoying the Bendigo cotton though!
Hugs to you all... I'm thinking of you... even if I've been a bit absent!

Hooray socks!

Well... I've been realising that I may not actually have time in my life to upkeep a blog. But ah well... I'll do what I can!!
Anyway... excitingly... here are some pics of the turtle walk socks!! YAY for my first pair of socks ever!!! A big thanks to Spidey for the expert guidance in her sock workshop, which definitely gave me the confidence to try making a pair of socks at all!! These are for my sister, who I'm pretty confident doesn't read my blog, so I should be safe to post the photos here!

This photo is taken on Lady Musgrave Island... where Mr Purl proposed... of the fresh bebe turtle tracks in the morning... my very own 'turtle walk'!! :)

Oh...

Oh my goodness! Apparently I had signed up for Ravelry... and then promptly forgotten! So I'd never been checking where I was up to on the waiting list etc, because I didn't realise I was on it!! Then this evening, trawling through my junk mail folder I found an invite!!!! Craziness!! I spose I'd better say goodbye to that last sliver of time I had!!

In other news... I've signed up for the Southern Summer of Socks. Here are my personal goals for the KAL as posted on the SSS blog:

1)To knit my second pair of socks ever... from wool I've dyed myself (my first foray into dyeing - yay!)
2)Potentially knit my third pair of socks ever... from the very special 'purple trainwreck' colourway, hopefully coming my way from the lovely Julie, care of the lovely Bells!! These socks will definitely be for ME! (also a first...)

And... excitingly, I've finally finished the turtle walk socks!! What an incredibly satisfying feeling to have made my first pair of socks and have them turn out roughly the same size etc!! Sorry for the lack of photo... one coming soon!

Monogamy is boring!

As much as I'm loving knitting the turtle walk socks... I keep finding myself dreaming about all the projects I want to start! It would be nice to have a couple of other things on the go to be able to mix it up a bit! I've ordered some cotton from Bendigo to start on a present for E's baby... which is due in a month! I'd better get moving :)

It was a lovely weekend (hooray for the long variety!). Saturday saw me up early at a yoga class... I was dubious about having to get up at 7 on a weekend, but it turned out to be a lovely way to start the day... and even lovelier when Mr Purl met me for brekkie at Cornucopia afterwards. We got the last two chicken, almond and mushroom croissants! Woohoo! (they're seriously yummy if you haven't tried one before!). Then we explored Floriade with our favourite 2 3/4 year old (Mr Purl's goddaughter)... taking in the ferris wheel and the petting paddock in particular. Then hanging out with our favourite 8 month old, and a delicious bbq lunch... then dinner at E's house (perhaps the last dinner party before the bub?). It was a lovely, bonding day!
Sunday, I was very excited to go and hang out at Floriade and knit with Aunty Daisy and Margaret -the Indigenous ladies from the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. It was really fun... it was a shame not to see more SnBers there! (there were only the two of us, aswell as one newbie and a couple of ladies from the spinning guild). None the less it was lovely... just sitting around knitting together, without having to say much at all. Some local people came and gave 'Aunty' a traditional 'welcome to country'... and the respect they showed her, and the way they treated her as part of their family was incredibly touching and brought a tear to a few eyes. So we sat and knitted for a fair while... the only weird bit was the huge crowd that kept gathering around to watch... presumably they were watching the indigenous ladies and not us as such... but it did feel a bit like being an animal in a zoo.
Then I popped past the Old Bus Depot Markets to say hi to our mates who have just taken over the Portuguese food place. I was drooling over the gorgeous bits of fabric... sorry, 'fat quarters' (I have no idea what that means!) at the Japanese stall... and thought "stuff it, it's expensive, but I'm going to buy some because they're pretty and I might find something incredibly inspired to do with them down the track!"

Aren't they prerty??

Yay! I kind of made this decision that I don't have to have any particular project in mind to buy the odd little bits of fabric or yarn... I'll find things I can use them on :). Probably not the ideal attitude seeing as my stash is outgrowing the bottom of my wardrobe, and Mr Purl has learnt the expression SABLE (don't think I'm quite at that point yet though). But hey....

Oh, and I'm getting really excited about the prospect of learning to spin! Now all I need is a drop spindle (anyone know where I can buy one in Canberra?) and someone to teach me (anyone want to teach me?)!!