Winter already???

Wow, what is it with our weather??? For 3/4 of March we had not a drop of rain, and a week or so of full on heat, and now... winter!!! Its turned cold and wet! I'm glad about the rain, but it would have been nice to have some mild days with rain, so that maybe the grass would grow... oh well, not much we can do but complain about it, and get over it eh?


Well, the Cookie saga (Cookie is our goat who wont stay in the paddock) continues.... We have tried added extra wires to the fence, putting on various variations of yokes around his neck, but he still gets out, harasses neighbours and their animals (he is TOO friendly, raised by people not animals - I wont ever get an animal raised by people again, they just don't bond with the herd, but want to be with you all the time), hops into people's cars (yes, literally). So I'm looking for a home for him. He is back on the tether now, and unfortunately I just can't devote my entire day to him alone (yes, I do have other things to do too...) so he has to go. We are very sad about this, as for all his vices, he is a nice boy and deserves a good life....

I've finished my Jaywalker socks, they turned out well, and I'm happy with them. Next I will have to make a pair of sock for our little one, as I'm yet to knit her a pair. Crazy, since she has the smallest feet, and toddler socks would take me very little time at all....


Brad's vest is comming along slowly.... Note to self, don't do cables on men's clothing, Man Size items should be simple and quick, they just take SO long to knit! But I am up to the armholes now, so at least the back will be done soon.


I went along to the local spinner's group the other week. It was good. I've been meaning to go along for some time, but just never got around to it. I was the youngest one there by a good 20 years or so, but it was nice to see other's spinning. They all spin such fine and even yarn, made me look a little silly with my think and loosely spun stuff, but then again, one lady said that although her spinning is really good, she wont knit it, as its just too fine! I guess I spin the yarn that I like to knit, rather than striving for perfection. Maybe one day I will aim for a perfect yarn, but now I'm more interested in doing it as a way of being self-sufficient - grow the fleeces on the farm, then spin, and knit our clothing. Better than buying some cheap factory produced jumper...

New gadget!

Since summer has decided to try and make a comeback (nearly a week's worth of high 30C temperatures...) I've decided to dry some apples. Unfortuantely they are bought apples, but they are organic, so I guess that makes up for them not being home grown....

I just recieved my apple peeler/corer/slicer gadget, and its great! Its nice and solid (not plastic!), and its all manual (no electricity required), and should last a lifetime. So I've put out 2 trays of apple rings to dry, hopefully the next few hot days should dry them out, otherwise I'll throw them into the dehydrator to finish them off. Our daughter loves dried fruits, and will probably eat all these apples in a matter of days, but I can always do some more....


Have been doing lots of pruning in the garden, mostly because the goats require so much variety in food (they are not impressed by dry grass - and I'm desperate to keep them happy - a happy goat is less likely to cause me trouble.... and yes cookie has been escaping still, he was visiting our neighbour's cattle...). So they are getting Peach prunings, roses, jerusalem artichokes, lemon balm, camelias, and some old pumpkin plants. Soon I'll prune the raspberries, and they will like that!

I've been busily knitting on Brad's vest. I'm getting really worried about running out of yarn though, fingers crossed I can finish it.... This is my first real cabled project (I've done little practice cables, and 'fake cables' on socks, but this is the most intricate), and I'm really enjoying it!


Not much else to say, just trying to survive the current heat wave, and hoping my trees will hang in there... this could be the straw to break their poor little backs....