The work we do in our homes

There is a lovely feeling of contentment attached to doing work I enjoy, whether it be paid or unpaid work. When I worked for a living, I always strived to do my best. Nothing's changed now I'm doing my own work at home. I get paid in contentment and satisfaction now and that always motivates me to keep going. Last week I was ironing, baking bread, cooking and doing my usual housework and I'm pleased to say I'm back into the rhythm of it. This week will be much the same, but different. I'm sure many of you feel that too. The work we do in our homes tends to be the same over the weeks, but the mindset of self-reliance and productivity makes it feel fresh and meaningful.

At the end of a fairly mild summer, last week was very humid so not too much was done outside. There is always something to do inside so we were lucky to be able to stay out of the sun close to the fans. We even had the air-conditioning on a couple of days. It was the perfect time to preserve a few lemons and make mint sauce from the summer mint in the backyard.  This sauce is delicious with lamb and it can quite easily sit in the cupboard for six months because of the high vinegar content - vinegar is a great preserver. So that is one less thing I have to rely on the shops for and I use more produce from my backyard.

I did a lot of knitting last week and finished Tricia's cowl scarf. She lives at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains and the winter temperatures can be bitter. It snowed there last winter. I wanted to make her a scarf she can wear in her home that will keep her neck warm but won't dangle down to hinder what's she's doing. I used the fabulous EcoYarns O-Balance, which is 50 percent organic cotton and 50 percent organic Merino wool. I also cast on another shawl in EcoYarns Organic Cotton in the Virtues range. I chose the beautiful soft dusty pink, Pride, this time (below). It's such a lovely yarn to knit with.

If you're a new knitter and you're looking to move onto a larger project, this shawl may be just what you're looking for. Making a smaller version will give you a great wrap-around scarf. You'll need circular needles long enough to hold a few hundred stitches. I used size 5 needles and my yarn is 8ply. Cast on 8 stitches, knit the entire second row, then on the next row, knit 2, then yarn over and knit to the end of the row. This will increase every row by one stitch. Repeat knit 2, yarn over and knit to the end of the row until your shawl is as big as you want it to be, then cast off. Look at this You Tube video to see how to do a yarn over between knit stitches. Happy knitting everyone!

So, what's on your agenda this week?

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