The end is the beginning...

New years often suggest new starts, or at least a chance to consider what went wrong and what you hope to change. It is an exciting time, but it does not have to be the only time for new things. New things an happen at any time. A new hair cut perhaps, a new book to read, a new coffee shop to discover, an opportunity to make a new friend, to love a new person, to welcome the new morning, to start a new habit, to consider a new craft project

NEWNESS.

The sound of it is fresh and crisp, like clean sheets just off the washing line.

So, what is new for you? What are your plans for this new year? What do you hope to start? What do you need to say a goodbye to in order that the new thing starts?

New for me is my garden, is being a careful knitter, using pinterest, the extra cat, being a train traveller, cooking rabbit for lunch, enjoying being calm, saying no to television.

About this new business, I have been trying to get my technology circle working, and consequently I am loving Pinterest. In the process i have discovered beautiful images though a scandi lady named Klara. I have also gotten back to the design files. lovely blogs, lovely images, lovely creativity, lovely homes. Nice.

The last say for 2011

Post-Christmas, the lights are still up. And tonight it is anticipated there will be lights and amazing visual displays all around. Brilliant! How I love fireworks. How I love celebrations. Wonderful to welcome in the new year.

How will you celebrate?

We have a bottle of bubbly set aside. We have plans to ponder the new year as it rolls in. We are considering joining the masses in the city. But should we go to a suburban barbecue to whistle away the hours, in the company of old friends...

Happy New Year.

Christmas blessings...

Although this is a few days late, and my posts have been far and few between... Merry Christmas! Hope you had a lovely day, celebrating with family and maybe even pondering why the holiday exists.

We were stuffed to the gills.

We went to midnight church.

We were given far too many gifts.

We spent quality time with our nephews.

We were delighted when loved ones appreciated homemade gifts.

We caught up with family not often seen.

We praised God for his son Jesus's birth.

What did you do?

Beachy weekends...

Over the weekend we went away with friends. And it was wonderful. Drove down the Mornington Peninsular, to a little place called Blairgowrie. We were staying one street back from the surf beach, in a giant house. Aren't friends generous to organise such a holiday? Weather was wonderful, which meant going to the local monthly market was a must. Afterwards I went for a stroll along the bay beach while the fella went swimming.

I love wondering along the beach. I enjoy getting sandy and having the cuff of my jeans become a little wet. I hunt for shells, for tumbled glass, for worn pieces of wood. I snap photos, wrinkle my nose up a seaweed and dream of doing this every day.

It was a great time to catch up with some friends we simply have not seen for years. I am excited about renewing old friendships... and feel very chilled after my mini-break for the weekend.

How have you relaxed lately?

The Nordic Festival

Last weekend, our family went for an adventure in the country. The car was packed, an itinerary was agreed on, accommodation booked and off we went to Warburton. Only just over an hour from Melbs, Warburton is a little town in the east, nestled in amongst the hills. The sky was clear and still. The country side was gloriously changing from green to orange with deciduous trees. The leaves on numerous grape vines were going this way also. It was gloriously relaxing and felt like a holiday.





So why Warburton you ask... For an inaugural Scandinavian Festival! Who would have thought? Certainly not me. I didn't really have any idea that this sort of thing occurred. But a few months ago I was going to the Nord Living shop on Glenferrie Road to purchase a gift for a baby shower, and sure enough the proprietor asked if I was going to the festival. With the details scribbled down and plans being hatched, I discovered more. Not only was there to be a smorgasbord dinner prepared by a Danish chef, but viking re-enactments, a film festival, vodka tasting, two art exhibitions, an opportunity to discover one's Nordic roots, lectures on social policy in Scandinavia and a market. Oh, I am quivering with excitement just recalling it all!


So we explored the town and found great cake and some nifty second-hand shops. We ate Swedish meatballs and Danish open sandwiches. We purchased Finnish glass wear. We spoke with women dressed in Norwegian traditional costume. We made friends with fellow scandies, and discovered where in Melbs to by lenkisauna (sausage to eat when having a sauna). What a weekend.


As for crafting up there, a number of stalls at the markets had beautiful crafted things. I did feel too cheeky to take pictures of their creations though... So imaging an army of comical vikings, made from felt and faces obscured by wispy woollen beards around 15 centimeters tall. Or hand-knitted hats featuring Nordic designs. Lovely!

For some Scandinavian links I picked up over the weekend, try the following:

Fine by Nature - Finnish textiles shop in Warburton
100 Hats - hats and creations with Scandinavian designs
Nordic Festival information - where we went, the program, etc...
The Mud Factory - Swedish bicycles and Scandi-inspired ceramics
Nord Living - Scandi shop in Melbourne

Scandi-ing about on the weekend...

Images from a Scandi weekend away. More details to follow...

Holidays are over...

Just some images from our few days away last week. We made the most of a week off between jobs and went bush. The air was so still. The bush was fresh and largely untouched. We pitched the tent and made lovely fires. There is something about cooking outdoors, isn't there? We walked up big hills, drove up some too. We enjoyed the wildlife, such as this cheeky rosella who explored my handbag.

Back to the city now. And off to a new job! I think blogging this morning is my way of avoiding getting on with things... Time is ticking, off I go to get ready.

Cozies completed yet again...

Start of a week off work - well half way through now. Loving the break between one job and the next. Loving having time to sleep in. To meet up with people for coffee. To get some odd jobs done. To have a late lunch down the street with the fella. To watch MasterChef re-runs until my eyes water and my mouth is locked open in disbelief and greed around what has just been created. To take time for the small things, like watering my plants and enjoying the cat's company. To finish off projects before starting something new - I bought some great items from the S&C Fair.

So for some show and tell, a little bragging if you don't mind. I have finished my first cozie from Loani Prior's Really Wild Tea Cozies. It's the floral one, that is a little out of control on the top. This was conceptually a challenge, as knitting it involved using two sets of circular needles which revolved around the work as it grew. Once I had mastered this, things turned out okay and I was able to be quite quick with my building of the cozie's body. The cozie is self-lined also, and consequently really snug.

The second cozie is a simply completed giftie for my sister-in-law. A few years ago I bought her a lilac teapot. For her birthday this year, why not dress the cozie and add a few quality packets of tea for good measure? I hope she is a tea drinker... Otherwise, oh well. Although I've chosen terribly similarly toned wool for this project, I love the effect of the snowflake on the background. The pattern is soft and makes me pretend I'm at a ski lodge. I've knitted up a contrasting cozie of the same pattern, with green background and brown snowflakes. It is striking and very Scandinavian.

And lastly, some chocolate chip biscuits for afternoon tea. Hastily consumed by the fella while he whipped me at a game of Seafarers of Catan. Drats!

A sweet little cozie knitted up by my nana.

Bits and bobs that have made me happy!

Launceston Marina
Originally uploaded by Kah Kit Yoong

A beautiful photo of Tassie for your viewing pleasure. Not my own photo unfortunately - I'm yet to unpack the camera.

Life continues to get more organised! Hurrah. Friday was a day off work, and was the rejuvenating lift that I needed - morning markets, hot bratwurst with sauerkraut, cups of tea with sisters, sister-in-law, mum and dad, house cleaning, repair men fixing things, coffee and red wine in St Kilda while reading the Big Issue. What a day - then off to Tassie that night. I felt so relaxed, the fella commented that I was happy (I take it I've been a grump lately!) and I had good friends to spend the weekend with.

As for crafting time, I need more in my life. But I'm getting plenty of book time (reading Sense and Sensibility), and a fair dose of the tennis too. I am looking forward to the crafternoon this Saturday! Which will give me some crafting hours, some cups of tea and some good chats.

But until then, I need to clean more. I need to organise the house - particularly the shared study/craft room. I need to do our grocery shopping as you can't get everything from the markets. I also need to spend some more time reading blogs, linking with people and loving the creative world that is online.

By the by, thanks so much to MMAMs for putting the crick-star up on their photo gallery in December. It was part of the meme that was running around the theme of "My Place and Yours". Now all I need to do is get the real Cricket back as our house is inhabitable at last.

Friends and fun-times

We took yesterday off to spend time with friends from down South. It was a wonderful day, full of laughts, fun and silliness. We went and saw the spectacular jumping crocs on the Adelaide River, we swam at Florence Falls and dipped in the Buley Rockholes. Laksa for tea and a game of Risk topped it off. Hurrah! We really do live in an amazing part of Australia!

This morning coffee, conversation around copyright law relating to internet technology and some good video hits have hit things off. A taste the morning if you please....

Pst... I've finally figured out how to post YouTube vids. So stoked! Thanks to this blog post for making it happen, and to the Blog Doc for some tips too. In light of my success, any good YouTube vids that you recommend I peruse?

It's show time!

The local show is on this weekend, and will be fun for those who are going. For me, it means a short working week and a bonus day on the weekend to get things done. So lovely, so exciting. Now really the house should be cleaned from top to tail, but knowing me this isn't going to happen. Instead perhaps I will

Attend a BYO cheese party
Watch So You Think You Can Dance
Sew a quilt
Knit some more of a baby jumper
Sleep lots
Finish reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Eat pate
Perhaps get a bit more of the sun on my bones.
Sounds stella to me.

Ever entered anything into a show? My father entered some flowers he had grown into the church fare when I was sixteen on behalf of all of us kids. We won in abundance, but each prize was only twenty cents or so. Hardly worth it. A lady at work often enters some delicious baked goods. Got me thinking, what would I enter into the show...

Off to watch an environmentally friendly home design show. Thanks ABC.

Saturday business

Mt Martha boatshed, November 2008
Originally uploaded by the_bashful_owl

Today was a to-do day: clean the car parking space, go to the tip, have sushi for lunch with a friend, finished off some swaps, get enough sleep, wash the clothes, pack the dishwasher of hand wash the dirty dishes...

Some of these things go done. I went to the tip and discovered the tip shop. So exciting. I've been checking out the many before and after shots on the design sponge website, and felt so inspired to salvage something and repurpose it. Alas, not today. We currently don't have the space to work on big projects, and I just couldn't choose what to rescue. There was an appealing telescope that tempted me. As did some bronze light fittings. I found what could have been a perfect sewing chair, and a sewing/craft storage system. There were too many possibilities... The most exciting thing though was the free plant I picked up from the item disposal bins. In saying that it was free, I then went to the hardware store and spent almost $50 on a perfect pot and premium potting mix. Perhaps it was a more costly outing than I anticipated! At least the plant was free.

Today the weather is perfect in Darwin. I was perusing my photos, attempting to create space on the lappie and found this beautiful image. It would be perfect in Darwin - if only you could swim in the ocean. Oh well, Melbourne boatsheds and Darwin dreaming...

Happy weekend

Broome beachside reading... If only...

Broome beachside reading...
Originally uploaded by the_bashful_owl

Sitting at work, wishing I was in Broome reading on Cable Beach!

I took this photo of my fella when we recently went on holiday to W.A. The nightly sunsets over the ocean were my absolute favourite part of what was a challenging trip. Can't you just smell the salty water and feel the sandy grit between the pages in your book?

Things are getting me down around here at the moment. I've got some challenges with work, am really missing my fella (who is away for an extended period), can't seem to get enough sleep, and don't have the time to craft. I'm longing for a holiday and some rest for my weary brain and body. So posting this photo gives me hope - beautiful places exist, there is always time to watch the sunset, holidays are precious, I will get rest again!