Yay, I finished something!

Yes, that's correct, a project is now officially complete - it says so in Ravelry!
It was fun and easy and what's more, I think I will definitely wear it.

Now, what next? Should I finish the squares for my rug, or perhaps connect the squares for the Wrap with love rugs at work.
But what I really want to do is start an Ishbel ... or perhaps Brooke's column of leaves ... or perhaps the Leaf beret (there's something going on here with leaves ...) or perhaps some more bed socks (wish I could find the mum's pattern - I've put it somewhere safe ... I made a pair last year by trial and error and they worked OK)

Not sure. I will report back.

In the meantime another pic of the Finished Product ....



(did I mention it was finished?)

Musings from a casserole

Cooked a lovely new dish last night, Lamb and green bean casserole. It has Greek influence, with cinnamon and fetta featuring in the dish. It's from this book, Apples for Jam:

We bought it the weekend my country brother visited, along with another one of her books, Venezia, a gorgeous cookbook, with its gold edged pages and black velvet place keeper. Splendiferous. It reminds me of our honeymoon there, last century (he he!) - two of our favourite dishes whilst in Venice are included: Squid Ink Linguine (me) and liver and onions (UV). UV is going to cook it for himself though, as I am no great fan of liver and in fact, offal is off my food radar (although I have to admit, I cooked Beef Wellington once, making the pate from scratch. So I have to qualify the previous statement: I will eat pate but that's about it when it comes to offal.)
It must have been a night for casseroles because Dad rang to report his best ever Uncle Charlie's Chicken. He felt this was in no small way related to the fact that he had cooked it in the french oven as opposed to an open baking dish. I'd showed him this method when he was down staying last week. Juicier and much more tasty figured greatly in his description of the meal so I'd say that's a resounding tick for cooking with the french oven.

UV and I ate our lamb and green bean dish while watching Merlin, the new offering featuring one of my faves, Tony Head. He's a swaggering Uther, very king-like and as always, brings something solid to the show. Even though it is a teenager's show, I like the way they are handling the story, the actors are good and they are keeping it fresh - plus the dragon alone would keep me watching (I happen to hold dragons in high regard).

Which in a round about way reminds me of my dream last night - Giles, or perhaps it was ASH himself, featured (how nice! - haven't had him in a dream before). I think I asked him about asking for someone's (?) approval. He said the person you should ask is yourself. This is not quite right but the gist. Just read a blog post that kind of echoes this thought -

The only thing we are going to be asked at the precious moment is why didn't you become you?
Elie Wiesel

Working on it ....

New scarf

Loving this new scarf, called Coorabella, my inaugural project on Ravelry. It's my first 'pattern' - a very simple shell design but it has created a dense, cushy effect that feels very snuggly. The border was an experiment that worked: I used the contrasting red/brown Harmony Moda Vera wool and worked back along the first row which created circles rather than the half shells. They look a bit like the pulled thread fabric circles that are often used on bags or in quilting. It's such a straightforward pattern, much easier than I expected or indeed it looks! I'm two thirds of the way there - if I can ever get off this computer I might finish!!

These are the wools I used, the chocolate brown is Kicky and the multi-colour red/brown is Harmony, both Moda Vera.

Mosaic moments

1. Splashing is so much fun, 2. Mmmm, Angel ...., 3. Resting meercats at Mogo Zoo, 4. The bathing frenzy, 5. Freshly bathed, 6. Three amigos, 7. Drying off, 8. Beachcombing, 9. And the cat jumped over the moon ..., 10. Fenec foxes at Mogo Zoo, 11. Magpie yoga, 12. Bathing beauty, 13. Early morning at Bermagui, 14. Meercat posing, 15. seagull in driftwood, 16. Last morning

Had fun creating this little mosaic. Holidays are so wonderful- this was (hmm, hmm) March last year, yes 2008. Took me a while!

Autumn sun

I love this photo. I took this about a year ago but it reminds me of the sun out on the deck today, although today it is much windier. The boys, from left Jasper, Rufus and little Licorice, the cat next door, hang out together all the time. Both Jaz and Ruf are tucked up inside in the office today, while Licorice is lounging on the flannelette doona cover on the sofa bed, still out after Dad's recent visit. I suspect it's a little too windy out there for them. I'll take some shots later when my camera has finished charging.
The orange flower bobbing in the backgroud is still blooming, a year later. It's some type of rock orchid and it just seems to send out new buds and re-bloom. Recently, a little pod appeared on the stem but whatever was within it had vanished by the time I checked again. I hope the contents spun off in the breeze to take hold in some new spot.

Great yarns

There's been some good ones of late. The revival in interest of that amazing story from the 70', A Lion called Christian, all the more interesting to me because I've had the original book since it came out in 1972. Nan brought this back for us from London, after one of her trips. I've always loved this tale of two Aussies in London, buying a lion from Harrods and eventually returning this 5th generation in captivity lion to the wild. Its reappearance on youtube had me spellbound, particularly as I hadn't seen any of the reunion footage. Then a program on tellie the other night retold the story in its entirety. I checked out the Born Free website and found that they seem to be involved with lots of rescue work. Good stuff.

Loving Who do you think you are? at the moment. So many good stories - particularly enjoyed the Colin Jackson episode. He was so enthusiastic and interested in all the history he learned and the people he encountered. The show is inspiring me to pick up again with family history research. Scotland, Devon, London and Ireland, among other spots, here I come (one day!)

And to stories fictional ... I watched an episode of Star Trek Enterprise the other day that was done really well. Carbon Creek has T'Pol telling the story of the Vulcans first encounter with humans in the 50's. Is it a family story or is it perhaps T'Pol's own story? As she says at the end, well, you asked for a story ... a great episode from the Star Trek franchise that works the best for me.

From the beginning ...

Whatever possessed me to begin again with another blog? Work on a Friday afternoon, that's what!

I'm aiming to have fun, chat about knitting, crocheting and all things related to wool, fabric, colour, design ... or really, whatever takes my fancy.

And as the blog name suggests, yarns of all sorts, both of the woollen and spoken variety are part of the show here:

(v) yarn (tell or spin a yarn)
(n) yarn (a fine cord of twisted fibers (of cotton or silk or wool or nylon etc.) used in sewing and weaving)

Anomalies ... well, sci fi works as a genre for me!
(n) anomaly (any event or measurement that is out of the ordinary regardless of whether it is exceptional or not)

Hope you enjoy the offerings