The Cycle of Life and Flying Fish

 Hello lovelies. It has been far too long. Some of you expressed a little concern in e-mails so I thought I should fill you in. There have been no health issues but I have found myself to be  considerably slowed down by the  Cycle of Life. Particularly the econo quick wash cycle.

Cycle 1: No matter what life brings, the laundry still dictates whether or not I feel in control of my life. I have been lax (lux?) with the laundry talismans and must throw some suds their way to keep them on top of things.

Unfortunately, a cranky Glaswegian Energex man came to switch over our washing machine to solar today and onto some sort of low tarriff savings device. This signals an end to spontaneous washing every time the machine is full. (Hourly it seems.) Who knew there were so many jerseys in a rugby team! As for the cycle of life- it is clearer than ever that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction in more than one aspect of life.

Cycle 2: Rain!  Finally the summer months have relented and it has been rainy and cold at last! How I love a bit of dreak weather. It's only two days till the shortest day of the year!

Cycle 3: Lots of people seem to be growing older very quickly this year, in their teens, seventies and preschool years. The signs are becoming more evident in their limbs. Some are longer, some are stiffer and some are ever more adventurous and skippidy doo dah.

Other limbs have started to behave quite differently as is demonstrated by the appearance of "the Flying Fish".

Cycle 4: The duck is back in the pool. Is it the same duck as every winter or a new duck or do the ducks now have a family tradition sending offspring on an annual pilgrimage?

.

Cycle 5: The girls are baking swirly cookies again just to keep them busy and warm up the house. There has been little baking this year as there is just no time.

 

  After work on Monday I made pumpkin soup, a roast dinner and chocolate brownies and ice cream. It may as well have been a tin of beans, the speed at which it was consumed.
Last night we had leftovers.

Cycle 6: With the dodgy weather there has been game playing of the nostalgic  kind. My family loved board games growing up and now Lala has the bug. She has roped in some regular girlfriends and they always thrash me. I blame my drugs but that game should be renamed Clueless. Annie in the dining room with no idea at all.

 Other old games have returned with Shorty Divine finding some goodies stashed in the boys' room to recycle. Her favourites are, not surprisingly, the people.

Cycle 7: Some of the classic books have turned up that the offspring have been given and I realized upon starting the Jungle Book that I had not read all of the stories in it. Anne of Green Gables is next on the list and then A Gazillion Leagues Under the Sea.

Cycle 8: The crochet hooks are out again because it is Winter and I bite my nails if I don't hook. Anyway the three boychilds still need handmade blankets and I have an idea that it may take me a while and I have to stay well while I finish them. Following this logic they will take years to finish keeping me fit and well!

 Cycle 9: Under the pretext of getting Lala sports shoes, I got my annual Converse sneakers. They are always my winter foot wear of choice as it is still too warm for boots here. I need a job like this one where I am permitted to wear the Con daily.

 Cycle 10: When the students make art at school, samples are needed so I've been making things I haven't made for years. All the old skills from over a decade ago are bubbling up to the surface for a rusty run through.

If they don't all blow up I'll show you the results. They've been making pots based on the Hermannsburg Potters of Outback Australia.

There is apparently a very good display of them at GOMA in the new Indigenous Exhibition. That will fill at least one day of the holidays nicely. Hopefully I'll see some of you there. I won't be the one wearing a beanie!

Finishing off

Finally the radioactive rug is finished. 

After it was all joined up I realized it wasn't quite big enough for our bed which was where I hoped it might live. I just couldn't face any more granny squares. A girl has her limits. So I just kept going around the outside in a border till it was the right size. It went a bit wonky the first few rows so it had to be disciplined with a severe pulling out of stitches and started again. Second and third time I finally figured out that I had to ditch all the connecting chains and just do the trebles. 

Then at the beach it was cool and quiet enough for me to whack on a scalloped edge to finish it off. 

  Done! Ta and Da at last!

So once again for a final appearance and yet another closure to the cycle of last year's Kafuffle.

We have the radiotherapy rug, a.k.a. family blanket ,

the biopsy blanket, a.k.a. rainbow ripple for Shorty Divine,

and of course the chemo quilt, a.k.a. Lala's blanket.

Here they are in their natural environment back home. Lala likes to bask like a cat in the sun. This is permissible in glorious Spring  Autumn sunshine. 

I love this time of year. We can finally behave like normal humans who live in more temperate climes and enjoy the benefits of gentle morning sunshine.

Usually I cower like a vampire in the Queensland sunshine. It is finally cooling down enough here to wear sleeves and long pants and a covered shoe. Bliss!

Lala likes to peruse the Aldi catalogue for such treasures as the travel pack of Zoobs for around $12. 

I only bought them because I wanted to say Zoobs a lot.

 "Where are the Zoobs? Have you got your Zoobs?" Try it. It's a satisfying word.

 Having decided to not crochet anything else for a goodly time we then stumbled acoss this tasty little pouffe in a gift shop.

Rainbow hexes, indeed. Couldja...wouldja...?

 Perhaps one close up of the stitches just in case.

Hookery Pokery

There has been a little more hookery going on although it is not the most seasonal activity. My niece told her mother that she liked the big bag I made a while ago so I've made her a smaller version for Christmas. Yes it's late but it'll be Sydney-side very soon.

 

It follows the Attic 24 pattern (sort of) until it got to the size I wanted then I just went straight up. I used treble where she uses a tighter double crochet stitch.

 We used to call these dilly bags when I was a child. The draw string was an add on, just crocheting up a long piece of chain stitch and threading it through every two stitches. The flowers just look pretty and stop it coming undone. These two were left over from the other bag.

I'm thinking a black and white one in cotton yarn might be noice in a Dr Seuss kind of way.

In further hookery news, the radium rug is almost done. Only three (tedious) rows to go crocheting the turquoise border to join them up as I go. The momentum is running down. 

My crochet mojo is finally slowing after enjoying quite the revival through last year. How many rugs do you really need in the sub tropics? Regardless,  I'd like to have one for each child so there may be a stripey theme for next winter's boy rugs to come.

Meanwhile back at GOMA for some more Gomalicious indulgence.....

The way in...

Seeing...

Doing....

NOT touching...

Shooting...

Lala went Dada and was moved to photograph these visually arresting pieces...

The way out....

They got all Dr Who on me in the zombie tunnels. Rest assured, this only happens if you over Goma-ise yourself with more than two visits in three days. Normal transmission has resumed.

Blinky Bill and the Mystery Crochet

I often find it difficult to sleep at night. 

So I crochet. 

It has been years since I last crocheted but the gentle repetitive hooking away has been soothing and satisfied the desire to make things without cleaning up afterwards.

It has been good in waiting rooms, hospital rooms, our room, the car, at the pool...pretty much anywhere. 

 Low energy, low cost, portable- what more could you ask of a sedative. Perhaps for it to be less addictive?

This one started about a week ago. 

There are a few components which are just about ready to assemble.

Can you  guess what it is?

The bedspread distracted me from the crochet. 

Did you notice it too? It was squirrelled away in the linen cupboard and was the first thing I grabbed to throw on the floor for Shorty this morning. 

It was given to me years ago by a friend who was fairly sure she wasn't keeping it for children any more. It had been her older brother's and he would have to be sixty by now.

It used to be on Fishy's bed when he was a little fellow.

 Lala had other girly bed toppers that she preferred. So it went away to hibernate for a few years. Now it might be just the thing for Shorty if we ever get her new bed organised.

It has a few spots of mould on it. 

Does anybody have a failsafe method of removing mould from fabric without damaging the colours or old cotton fabric?

Eclectica

Something old.

These tulips were $3 because they were a bit past their use by date...but aren't we all?

Something new.

This is a new evening project that I'll show you more of soon. The crochet bug really has me in its hold lately. If you search around you can learn something new each time you make something.

 Something borrowed.

This could also be titled, "Youth with Euphonium", "Boy with Baritone" or "Teen with Tuba". Either way he is so ready to ditch it which is a shame after four years. Why do they give primary school children instruments to play that they don't like and won't continue with? Why???

You- phone- me- mum!

Something blue.

This malevolent beasty was spied swimming the perimeter of the pool this morning. The wildlife is have a most leisurely time in there of late. The gormless critter will be disposed of by the Big Fella post haste when he gets home. 

If I find one under the house I will gingerly place a bucket over it until somebody else deals with it. They are one of my pet hates. More than bush turkeys! In fact if you put them in a coop together they might just do each other in. We rarely find them up here on the ridge. There are more down closer to the creeks.

Forgive me, overseas readers, but these nasty things were introduced to our sunny shores in a huge environmental bungle decades ago and now have reached plague proportions. They are the amphibian cockroach in these parts!

Prehistoric streamlining. Dive deep, Mr Ugly, 'cos we're a-coming for you!

To finish on a prettier note: finally, a cool breeze!