We're happily harvesting beets and carrots at the moment...

It sure is a beautiful time of year to be scratching about in the garden. That is until you happen upon creatures of the slithering variety, they sure do mack my skin curl....

So long big brown snake - you are not going to be missed....

Corner of My Home

Thanks to an early start to the warmer weather this year my beans and pumpkin are coming along nicely, flowering and already producing fruit...


Over the weekend I was extremely fortunate to attend a clearing sale not too far from home. There I scored a 7 piece Olive vinyl lounge suite for only $50 and its history intrigues me. So now it sits in my home and here's a picture of just 1 of the 7 pieces...

On a wall in my study/office, a special corner of my home, this cosy seat sits. Many a sleepless night is spent in front of the computer here, where inspiration flows freely and motivation is abundant... Here I hope my new seat will find a well deserved home and although you can't see too much (and this pic may be a little blurred), from where I sit things sure do looks sweet....

Mustering...

'Round these parts we like to Muster our Stock by air...

It helps us cover vast distances in a shorter amount of time....

So thanks to the help of our friendly Gyro pilot - Luke, we were able to clean out some back paddocks and sell off some goats.

And all the while Miss Connie picked flowers.

This really is a beautiful time of year.

Art In Motion....

This week I've been hooking away on a couple of Queen Anne Scarves. I used the gorgeous Taiyo yarn by Noro which was a dream and they're now all finished, wrapped with a bow and ready for the giving...

I'm so thrilled I finally got some quality computer time this morning to upload what I have left in stock of the Noro Yarn onto my Website...

This stuff sells like hotcakes!!!!

And I can totally see why - it's like Art in motion when you're working with it. I love the colour changes and am always surprised at how they all just seem to work together.

Have you used Noro before??? What did you think of it???

**Shop Update**

I've uploaded 6 Malabrigo Yarns to my Website this morning and to celebrate I'm offering 20% off what I have remaining in the Malabrigo Chunky.

So pop on over if you're looking for a bargain as they're selling out FAST!!!

**leave now if you're a snake lover**

We shot our first brown snake for the season on Tuesday.

I was pushing a wheel-barrow full of sheep pooh back to the house yard from the shearing shed when I almost stood on this little bugger.

It was so close to the back lawn it wasn't funny - the very place my 2 girls had been playing not 2 mins before hand.

This has definitely been a wake-up call, yet again!!! Regardless of the size of these snakes they are DEADLY and when you live isolated like we do it sure does feel good knowing this snake won't be around tomorrow...

Today I'm.....

Putting the finishing touches on some hats for a gorgeous lady from Broken Hill

and enjoying wearing my Shalom just one last time before the heat of Summer arrives...

The wind must be blowing off snow somewhere today - brrrrr it's cold....

Simple Country Life....

It's always busy round here this time of year as we prepare for the long hot Summer...

There's dam fences to mend, stick piles to burn, goats to muster, garden beds to prep, veggies to plant, sheep to shear, more fences to build (and mend), fence lines to clear and if you're one of my girls, pockets to fill...

Today, while I mended holes in old fences my girls helped out in other ways....

They piled up sticks, collected flowers for drying and filled their pockets full of rocks - eager to take home for washing and painting, these always make the perfect gifts.

We really do love our Simple Country Life*!!!*

Skinny Taiyo

I've had this crochet scarf made for a couple of months now and just love it..

I love it that much that I thought I'd share the pattern with you all... This scarf works well with any wool but for the striping effect that I have in mine Noro Taiyo is a must.

So grab yourself a 6.5mm hook and 300yards of yarn (make sure it's thicker than a 10ply) and we'll get started*!!*

Skinny Scarf Pattern

There are only 2 stitches that you need to know for this scarf, chain and half double crochet(hdc) - if you've never done a hdc before follow this link for a great easy how-to.

O.K. now that you have your materials and you know all of the stitches you need to make a REALLY long chain. Don't worry about counting just chain until it's long enough to wrap around your neck a few times loosely, mine is about 2.5m long.

Row 1 - hdc into the 3rd chain from the hook and in each chain across.

Row 2 - Chain 2, turn and hdc in each hdc across.

Repeat Row 2 until you run out of yarn (I got 7 rows from my Noro Taiyo).

Fasten off, sew in your ends and you're done!!

I also like to add a couple of buttons to one of the narrow ends of my scarf so that I can fasten it into a loop around my neck but that's totally up to you.

The red skirt is something I came up with at the start of the month when I was in desperate need of an outfit to wear to the Picnic Race's down the road at Louth.

It's a simple box pleat construction made using a similar technique to this one over at Burda.

just the right amount of 'BULK'....

I've had this shawl off the needles since May but for some reason forgot to blog about it

I made it to enter into the 'Knitted Shawl' category of my local Agricultural Show and am so thrilled that it actually won 1st Place!!!!

I used the super simple 'Damson' pattern from the Whimsical Little Knits 2 book ($22 in my shop). Ysolda you are a pattern writing GENIUS!!! I loved every minute of making this shawl from the start right up to the blocking at the end....

The Malabrigo Sock yarn was the perfect match for this shawl and used up all but 10 yards of the 440 from the 100g skein. With only 1 skein in this shawl it's perfect for wearing right now, as the days start to warm and the nights are still a little chilly - it's just the right amount of 'bulk'.

I currently have 4 shades of the Malabrigo Sock left in my shop if you're interested - they're $19.40 per skein!

I also made the skirt I'm wearing in these pix to wear to our local Picnic Race Day. I used this great tutorial from Burda and some Raw Silk I scored from the sewing shop down the street for $5 a metre. My whole skirt cost a total of $7.50 - WHAT A BARGAIN!!!!

Klamath....

I've been working on a couple of shawls for a dear friend over the past couple of weeks and with their completion last night I couldn't wait for sunlight to share some pictures with you all...

The pattern that I used was the awesome Klamath - a FREE download off Ravelry...

It has a whopping 14 PAGES!!!! But the designer really explains the whole process of the construction of the shawl perfectly - even a beginner could tackle this one...

I used some of the divine Malabrigo Silky Merino which will soon be added to my shop and I'm absolutely loving the way that it drapes with this pattern.

You are an amazingly kind hearted and generous woman Judy and I do so hope you love your shawls!!!!

Shortbread....

Last Friday a gorgeous friend popped by my shop for a bit of 'knitting time' and with her bought the most delicious shortbread I'd ever tasted.....

Kylie, your shortbread's are amazing and thank-you so very much for sharing your super simple recipe with me..... I made my first batch this morning, adding passion-fruit butter to half and orange jam to the other half - they are absolutely D E L I C I O U S !!!!!

So, here's the basic recipe for the shortbread and you can add anything you like to the middle of them for extra flavour.

Kylie's Shortbread

Blend 1 cup of plain flour, 1/2 cup of icing sugar and 1/2 cup of butter with a dough hook in a mix-master (I use a kenwood chef) until it all comes together like a dough.... Press teaspoons of the mixture into a mini muffin tin. I used the point-y end of a wooden spoon to poke holes in the middle of my shortbread, approx 3/4 of the way down. Fill this up with jam, chocolate, curd, fruit, nuts etc, this is totally up to your taste! Bake at 170'C for 20mins or until shortbread is browned all the way around the edges. Remove from oven and leave in pan for 5 mins before turning out to cool on a wire rack....