Friday, May 28, 2010

The Lurgy has hit!

Well it was inevitable moving going into winter. The cold here is a bit of a shock to my system - I have been wearing an average of 4 layers of clothing and the locals are still running around in t-shirts or 1-2 light layers. Apparently I will get used to it eventually?!?. Ian and I both came down with the lurgy this week which rapidly turned into pnemonia and a trip to the local doctor for both of us - on seperate days of course. So needless to say not much got done this week, we were just happy to have the kids feed, dressed and off to school. If I wasn't sleeping I was rugged up in a blanky, with a heat pack on the couch knitting. I did get a Play jumper knit for PJ from this blog and here is the Pattern.


I also decided to make a beanie to go with it for the left over yarn.  Its pretty simple and can be changed for any size.  Thought I would write it down for you.

Plain Beanie

do a small swatch with your desired yarn and needles (I used plain knit but you can use any stitch pattern you like just make sure you do the pattern in the swatch)
measure the head circumference and work out how many stitches you will need to end up with (rounded to the closest multiple of 4) 

To be knit in the round
inc 1 st in next st - knit into the front and back of the next stitch

I used size 5.5 mm DPNS needles with 2 strands of DK yarn and needed 80 stitches

cast on 4 stitches
next row: increase 1 st in every st (8 sts)
next row: knit 1, inc in next st til end (12 sts)
next row: knit 2, inc 1 in next st til end (16sts)
next row: knit 3, inc 1 in next st til end (20 sts)

cont in this way increaseing the knit stitches by 1 each quarter until required number of stitches
continue kniting every row until about 2.5-5cm shorter than required lenghth. 

Finish the last 2.5 - 5 cm in k2 p2 rib (or what aver edging you prefer)
cast off

Saturday, May 15, 2010

More Animals

OK we are slowly becoming more "farm like" We have added to our family. We have now got 5 lovely Ilsa Brown Hens. The kids got to name one each. here is a list of the child and what name they came up with:
Nish: Lou Lou
Dave: Pecky
PJ: Calm ( I know! don't ask me?)
Kie: Sarah
Tay: Sally.
We got them at 4 weeks of age (30 april) and they should start laying at about 16-20 weeeks of age so stay tuned.




Pop and Pip,(our cats) and Flopsy Jnr and Mr Hephalump (our rabbits) have settled in well to.


We have been looking at our fences and there is a bit of work to be done before we get the sheep. I have an Idea where I would like to but the veggie patch and orchard but am waiting until the sheep come to eat down the grass (not point in wasting all that beutiful food)before I start, am also waiting on Ian getting a tractor to do all the heavy lifting.

I spend a lot of time walking around the property and am always amazed at how blessed we are to finally find a home.

The property is on a biocycle for all the sewarge and this means no antibacterial stuff down the drains. This isn't a bit deal as I mainly use a lot of old fashioned ways of cleaning anyway. Can't go past good old bi-carb, vinegar and essential oils. I have made my own washing powder for ages now and get asked a lot for the recipe so I thought I would post it her. It works wonders and is really cheap.

1 cup of grated and powdered laundry soap
lux flakes is ok but is quite expensive - I through 1 cake of laundry soap through my kitchen wiz with the grater attachement and then with the chopper to powder it and 1 cake is close enough to 1 cup
1/2 Cup Washing soda
found in the laundry isle powder not crystals
1/2 Bi-carb soda
mix together, use about 1-2 tbs in your wash.

you can also add white vinegar to your fabric softner intake instead of fabric softner. I don't always do this but it is good for those things you want soft and fluffy and there is no smell when it drys and you can add any essential oil to it you want - I used lavender, jasmine, orange or lemon gum or if I have some bugs in the house eycalyptus or tea tree. a few drops in 1 litre of white vinegar is plenty.

Oh and I got mothers day pressies this year - The school has a stall for the kids to buy stuff for their mums - much better than trusting the hubby who always forgets and then the kids get all upset with him - check out my loot


and this is what I made my mum

cheers - catch you later

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

We are here!

Well the move is done - we are officially here - unpacking not so much done :-( . It is sort of surreal being here.
We have been busy though, lots of walks, visitors, walks, unpacking, and more walks.  You just can't help yourself you just want to wander around all the time and there is so many things to explore.
We have picked up our beutiful boys (border collies) from the Johnsons.  They are georgeous and very good.  They hardly bark or anything.  They love to go for walks with us but are still on the chains or in their cages (at night) until we can work out the best way to let them run free and not have to worry about them running off or getting to the neighbours animals (That wouldn't be a good way to meet the neighbours) so here are some picies of our beutiful boys
Heys and Spud