There really is no reason for me to know what day it is, or the time of day for that matter, nevertheless, I do usually know the day. I didn't yesterday though and when I signed off thanking you for visiting this week, I thought it was Friday. Today I know it's Friday but I have no idea what I will write about because after I finished yesterday, I thought it would be another couple of days before I posted again. So bear with me, I do know what I'm doing, even if it doesn't look that way. LOL!

Shane and Sarndra are here! They arrived back from their holiday in New Zealand on Wednesday, had one night with Sarndra's mum in Brisbane and they are now sleeping soundly here, tucked up in bed. They were going to look for jobs in Brisbane but a little house Shane used to live in, set in trees on a lake just metres from the sea, is vacant. A friend of theirs is moving out and the lease will be current till September. The rent is quite low so they'll live there until after they get married. It's only about 20 minutes drive from here so it will be easier to help them organise all the ins and outs of the wedding. And I'm pleased they'll be closer to home for the time being.


Soon, I'll make breakfast for us all. No doubt we'll sit around talking for a while and then I have quite a bit of work to do. I cut out a new apron last weekend so I'll iron that and sew it up, I have tomatoes to make into relish and sauce. I made yoghurt yesterday and will make that into quark today. It will only take a short time because all I have to do is sit it in cheesecloth in a strainer for the whey to drip out. After a few days draining in the fridge, I'll add honey to half the batch, herbs to the other half, and we'll have another batch of delicious simple cheese.

I have laundry to do today and the bathroom needs cleaning but the majority of my time will be spent writing. I am trying to get the proposal back by next Monday. To all those lovely people who sent emails, I will reply later today and over the weekend.

I don't know what Earth Day is. Do we celebrate it in Australia? That is one of the downsides of not watching much TV or reading magazines or newspapers, these new things start and I have no idea. I visited some other blogs yesterday and noticed many of them writing about it so I gather it's a day when the focus is on the environment and how we live responsibly on our patch of land. I look forward to future times when such days will not be necessary because we live like that all the time. It was really wonderful to see all the photos of new seedlings started, little chickens and ducks and general feeling of optimism and renewal on those blogs. It is a great thing this internet. To see what you're doing in your own homes, to be a part of your planning and hopes for the new season connects us all in a way that was impossible in the past. It is a wonderful time to be alive.

Let me show you what the volunteers at my work gave me for my birthday. Twenty knitted squares! Isn't that fabulous. I was so pleased and surprised. Bernadette was behind it all, she had them all knitting when I wasn't there. They even made a card and all signed it with a personal message. They are such a great group of people, I'm proud to know them all.


So that has given my blanket project a big boost, it would have taken me weeks to knit 20 squares. Now I'm thinking about joining them, which I'll do by crocheting. I'm not finished with my knitting yet but I want to join them as I go. I will start on that next week, this week is fully booked.

Thank you for the wonderful comments you leave. They help me know that we are all connected and trying to live a life that matters. When you write about how a post effects you, that you're motivated by what I write, or a little story about what you're doing, it keeps me going. I am really heartened by this group of world-wide friends who choose to visit here. In a world where much is maligned, where money is king and we fail to talk to our neighbours, we have built a neighbourhood here that supports and nourishes. As an older woman I feel it is my duty, as well as a pleasure, to pass on what I know. I hope as you grow older, you find that same inclination and help others who are yet to know what you do. If we don't do that we are as guilty as all the others for letting old skills and neighbourliness die. You have a part in this just as much as I do, so let's all reignite the passion for helping our friends and neighbours. It used to be a common thing, and it should be like that now.

See you all next week. Take care.

Despite my gentle reminder about slowing down, I've been very busy of late and today will be no exception. I have a few other things I should be doing, but I have made a commitment to you and to this blog, and it's incredibly enriching for me to write for you, so here I am again, albeit with a shorter post.

I have some good news about our lovely chooks. Lulubelle, who is the barred Plymouth Rock chook on the sidebar has recovered and Margaret Olley, our buff Sussex, is not yet better, but is on the road back to good health. Hanno is doing a really good job looking after them. He lifts Margaret onto the nest to sleep instead of having her on the roost with the others. Margaret has an ear infection which is slowly getting better. BTW, in chook talk, barred is a colour - it's a black and white stripe, and buff is a dark blonde colour.

snuggling in, soft and warm, on a cold winter's evening, wrapped in a Shaker-style blanket made by my own hands. I am trying to stay focused on that wonderful thought but now, so early in the project, when I have only seven squares completed, it seems a far off dream. Starting something new, even though you want it very much, seems like too much sometimes.

But I press on.


I am enjoying the knitting, it's just I don't have a lot of time for it at the moment. I love that it's small and movable, I love that I can finished a square in a fairly short amount of time, and I love starting and finishing each square. Seeing each square completed and selecting the yarn for the next square gives me the motivation to keep knitting. How is everyone else going on this blanket?


The square I like the most so far is the mustard one with blue crosses. It is just alternating blocks of plain and purl - I think I did four rows of plain, then four rows of purl. It gives a nice textured look without having to remember what stitch I'm up to. I also like the stripe, so I'll do another of those. But the squares that are the easiest are those in plain stocking stitch. I also like them because I can embroider whatever I like onto them to add interest and I can do them without looking while I talk to someone. I'm guessing there will be quite a few of those.

If you're knitting along, here are some patterns you might like to try:

BASKET WEAVE
Rows 1 - 4: four plain followed by four purl, repeat to end.
Rows 5 - 8: four purl followed by four plain, repeat to end.
Repeat these two instructions until you reach the right length.

And Rose sent an email with more patterns. You might like to try some of these:

CROSSED KNITTING STITCH
Row 1: Knit into the back of the stitches.
Row 2: Purl into the back of the stitches.

BROKEN DOUBLE RIB
Row 1: K2 P2
Row 2: Purl

DOUBLE MOSS STITCH
Row 1: K1 P1
Row 2: K1 P1
Row 3: P1 K1
Row 4: P1 K1

MOSS STITCH LADDER
Find the 5 stitches in the centre of your square. Work a normal stocking stitch square but, in the middle:
Right side: P1, K1, P1, K1, P1
Wrong side: Purl
Continue throughout square.

FRAMED SQUARE
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: K2, purl to the last 2 stitches, K2
Repeat Rows 3 & 4 until the last 2 rows.
Knit 2 rows.

REVERSE FRAMED SQUARE
Row 1: Purl
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: P2, knit to last 2 stitches, P2
Row 4: Purl
Repeat Rows 3 & 4 until the last 2 rows.
Purl 2 rows.

Many thanks for those Rose. It's a big help.

I would like to have a photo sharing site where we could all load our photos to show our progress. I know this would be a big motivation for me and I think it would help many of our other knitters too. However, I have no clue about where or how. How does Flickr work or is there another site, can anyone help me? It needs to be something I can have a link to on my blog but where everyone who is knitting along can freely load their own photos.

With two incredibly busy days at work behind me, I'm happy to be home again. I love my work, love the people I work with, and the students at our Flexischool, but as we move closer to our new building, the days get more hectic with more work to cram into the days I'm there. I have to go back for a meeting tomorrow, but today I will appreciate the quiet and familiar here at home.

We've had Shane and Sarndra staying with us for a couple of days. They were organising a few things for the wedding and wanted to make sure Princess (the cat) and their chooks settled in well. It's a slow process, but everything seems to be going well on that front. I helped Sarndra with the wedding invitations on Sunday while we had a nice conversation about her hopes for their special day and our wedding in Hamburg. They left to go to Brisbane on Monday to stay with Sarndra's mum and this morning they're flying to New Zealand. They'll return a couple of weeks before their wedding in late June. Bon Voyage S & S! One of the wonderful things about blogging for me is that my family can read that life is going on as normal here at home, even though they're far away. I have family members and close friends who read my blog most days so I'll take this opportunity to say hello to Kerry, Sunny, Tricia, Danny, Kathleen, Susan, Wendy, Bernadette, Suzie, Nick, Angie, Billie and Zoe.

So today Hanno and I will be here together with all sorts of possibilities on the horizon. We have bread in the freezer so I won't bake bread, but I'll be sweeping, washing, making the bed, and tidying up; all the gentle things that will bring my mind back home again, and I will make sure I talk to Hanno, smile, relax, sew and knit, enjoy myself and get enough sleep. :- )


We have walnuts! We were given a large bag of Tasmanian walnuts last week - 10 kilos (22 pounds) of them! Hanno and I have cracked a few open with the hammer but today I'll have to do something with the bulk of them. Have you frozen walnuts? I hope to freeze most of them in small bags but I wonder if it will affect the taste. At the moment they're really delicious and I don't want to spoil them. If you know of any other ways to store walnuts, please let me know. Which reminds me, I'll check the pecan tree today to see if any are ready to fall. When I last looked, a couple of weeks ago, they were still green.

And this afternoon, after I feel satisfied with the work I've done, I'll sit with my knitting for a while. I haven't knitted at all since last Friday and I've missed it. For those of you knitting along, I've only done three and a half squares so far. Hopefully I'll do another three before the weekend. The square I've almost completed is an easy one, giving a nice textured look.

BASKET WEAVE SQUARE
Cast on 28 stitches.
Rows 1, 2, 3: Knit to end
Row 2: K 5, P 3, K 3, P3, K3, P3, K3, P3, K2
Row 3: K2, P3, K3, P3, K3, P3, K3, P3, K5
And repeat rows 2 and 3 until the right length, making room to end off with three rows of Knit.

I brought home one of the knitting folders from work yesterday and want to look through it for ideas before I take it back again next week. If anyone has a favourite simple square pattern they'd like to share, let me know and I'll include it in a post later in the week.

Welcome to the new readers, including the knitters. It's lovely having you all here. A warm hello to those old friends who continue reading. I love receiving your comments, I read every one of them, and although I don't often have the time to respond to comments, I do appreciate your thoughts and good wishes. And now I'm off to answer a few questions in yesterday's post. Have a lovely day, everyone.

I always like doing those simple tasks that connect me with my history - washing up, sweeping, raising chickens, gardening and stitching are all things my great, great grandmas would have done. And they would probably have reflected that the same things they were doing had been done by their many times great grandmothers as well. Many of the things we do in our lives now are far removed from the past, but I rest assured that when I plunge my hands into warm soapy water to wash the dishes, when I pick up my broom and when I stitch, I am doing exactly what's been done by women and men throughout our long history. That makes me feel good.

This throw/rug/afghan/blanket/blankie pattern will be as simple as you want to make it. You choose the stitches you're familiar with or follow what I'm doing. The stitches I choose will be easy - just a combination of plain and purl - but they'll produce textured squares. I found this list of knitting abbreviations that has many videos of the stitch they're describing, attached. If you're a beginner, look at "K" for the plain (knit) stitch and "P" for the purl. Both have videos attached that show the stitch.


I started off doing one garter stitch square, which is just cast on, plain knit stitch, cast/bind off, and one in stocking/stockinette stitch. That is cast on, one row of plain, followed by one row of purl until the desired square size was reached, then cast/bind off. My squares are using 28 stitches. If you're going smaller or larger, go up or down four stitches, because the textured patterns I'm using work in sets of four. Using 28 stitches gives me 7 sets of 4 stitches. I'm using 8 ply yarn on no.7 needles. You will also need a straight ruler.

Let me say right here that I'm not an expert knitter. There are many very good knitters here though so if you get stuck, make a comment and I, or one of our knitting buddies, will help you.

A couple of the ladies commented that joining the squares together is a bit of a task, so I'm going to join strips together as I go, and then join the strips at the end. Does anyone have a suggestion for how to join the squares? I would like to hand stitch with yarn but I'm not sure how practical that is.

This is the textured stitch I'll be doing today:
MOCK DOUBLE RIB - It looks like rib but doesn't stretch like normal rib.

Abbreviations: p = purl, k = knit (plain)

Cast on 28 stitches
1st row: k to the end
2nd row: p1, k2, p2 and repeat until you get to the last 3 stitches - then do k2, p1.
Keep repeating rows 1 and 2 until you have what looks like a square. Then measure your knitting - whatever the width is, you will need to keep knitting until you reach the same measurement in length.
When you've reached that length and you have a square, cast/bind off.

Everyone will have different tension in their knitting, so our knitting will either be tighter or looser. Your 28 stitches might be 6 inches, mine might be 5.5 inches, someone else's might be 4.5 inches. That is all good - the measurement we are aiming for is a 28 stitch square and whatever size your knitting tension gives you is fine, as long as all your squares turn out the same size.

It's always wonderful starting out on a new knitting project but this one has that added bonus of knitting alongside friends, all doing the same project. I really like that! Thank you for joining me - now let's begin and make up some fine looking blankets.