The weather at the moment is wet and grey and even though I have knitted my way through spring and summer, the cooler weather, with rain falling constantly, is made for knitting.  I was at work yesterday and each time I looked out the window at the sodden gardens and water running down pathways, I wished I had brought my knitting with me.  I think it's something like the instinct to nest - when the weather is cooler, knitters knit.

The last thing off my needles was a pair of fingerless gloves for my sister Tricia. I'm lining them with a flannel fabric for extra warmth because Tricia lives in the Blue Mountains, not quite on the snow line, but where the winters are frosty and hands get cold.  I love the idea of fingerless gloves/mittens because they allow you to work while covering your hands.  Quite a number of times during winter, I can be seen here, at my computer, typing away with my fingerless gloves on.  The pair I made for Tricia are longer than usual so she will be assured of complete coverage between hand and arm. They are just a long tube, knitted in rib - K2, P2, top and bottom.  The bulk of the knitting is stocking stitch, which is knit one row and purl one row, then keep repeating those rows.  Honestly, this is very basic knitting and even if you're a new knitter, you'll get good results if you watch your tension and take it slow.  These basic projects are great after you've mastered the dishcloth, you've supplied yourself and almost everyone you know with dishcloths and you want to move on to something else. ; - )   For Tricia's mittens I used a machine washable 8 ply pure wool on US size 6 needles.

There is a lovely fingerless glove pattern for experienced knitters here.  I also like these arm warmers.  A simple pattern for self striping mittens here.  A pattern for beginners is here, but I would recommend you make them much longer than these.  The ones I made have 7½ inches/19 cm of stocking stitch between both ends of rib stitch.

I'm now going to concentrate on getting Hanno's jumper/sweater ready for winter.  Again I'm using an 8ply Superwash pure wool that will make the jumper warm and cosy but also easy to keep clean.  I've only done about one third of the back so far but as that's the largest part of the jumper, I feel I'm making progress.  I have my knitting set up in a 1940s vintage knitting basket Tricia gave me for my 60th birthday.  It's full of various knitting projects, there is always a dishcloth on needles in there somewhere, as well as tiny scissors, darning and wool needles, needle gauges and little bits of paper that I've written certain patterns on.  

I have fond memories of my mother knitting by the fire in my childhood home and maybe that is where my feelings of being nurtured come from when I'm knitting. On those nights when mum would check our spelling for school the next day, dad made up a tray full of bread to be toasted by the fire, tomatoes and roast lamb leftover from that day's Sunday lunch, with black coffee for mum, tea for himself and milky tea for Tricia and I.  We would have had an early bath and be firmly wrapped up in our flannel PJs and woollen dressing gowns, sitting by the fire on the floor while mum clicked away with her needles, our spelling books on her lap, asking us to spell this word and that.  We would hear dad preparing the tray in the kitchen, then the door would open and in he walked, proudly, with that tray laden with good simple food.  I don't want to mythologise my childhood, the truth is times were tough, but those nights with food on a tray, a fire crackling in the open fireplace and mum clicking away with her knitting needles prepared me in many ways for this life I live now, and I am sure ignited the knitting flame within me.

What or who brought knitting into your life?

I have a wonderful life.  I work in my community and am praised by one and all for doing it.  The truth is I get a lot more out of it than I give.  I am suited to the welfare sector.  These are my people, this is familiar territory. I grew up working class and I have gone back to being working class after living my middle years cashed up and spending. Now I'm back where I belong and I'm loving it.  But if my truth is fairly told, despite the fact that I love my voluntary work, I prefer being at home.  I might work harder and smarter at work and meet some very interesting people, but home is where my heart is.

Here at home I can potter around and work to my own rhythm.  What I do here is not decided by who walks through the door, or by a committee, a deadline or what day it is.  Here my work plans are my own invention; here I do what I want to do and juggle the tasks of my day to suit myself.  There is a lot to be said for carrying out daily tasks according to a rhythm rather than working to a strict plan.  While I've been at home since Friday, I've had a loose idea of what needed doing in my head and have accomplished it all with time left over to watch a movie I recorded (How to Make an American Quilt) and several much needed sleeps in "my" chair in the loungeroom.  

So what did I do?  I got through all my household chores like baking bread, making the bed, cleaning, cooking and washing the floor.  I forgot the bread once or twice and we ended up having poor man's bread (scones) for lunch.  When I'm properly in my rhythm, the bread making just follows what comes before it and leads on to what comes after it but I've been so haphazard with the bread lately, not being here on my regular days, that it is forgotten about until it's too late.  That is why a regular rhythm works so well, it doesn't have to be thought about, it just happens.

In addition to the normal daily tasks, I made more liquid soap and I have to tell you it was much easier the second time around.  I used this recipe from here and it made about two litres/quarts of soap.  I use this for shampoo, hand wash, stain remover and washing dishes. It does an excellent job without making my hands feel dry and itchy.  When I made the soap this time I experimented on which container was the best - a saucepan, and a different oil.  I used mainly rice bran oil with a cup of coconut oil.  Next time I make it, I'll look for different recipes and start modifying so I get a soap that suits us well and uses the oils I usually have here at home.   And next time I'll take photos so I can write a tutorial on liquid soap making.
But I do not work alone, this is a two person operation.  Looking out into the backyard while I wash the dishes I see a vegetable garden starting again almost from scratch.  That is Hanno's pride and joy and one of the important home-based projects that sustain us in a very thrifty manner.  Working on those tasks that support and feed us is a great way to spend our time.  We feel capable and independent looking after ourselves, our days are spent in a productive and enriching way and we know that what we do with our time results in us eating organic food that we probably wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.

When family and friends phone us and ask about what we've been doing, I usually say: "oh, we're just pottering around the place." And that is exactly what we're doing but it means so much more than that.  It means we decide what we'll do each day, no other person tells us how to spend out time, and that we work here together for the benefit of us both, which forges stronger bonds that are now impossible to break.
As I work in my home I often think about all of us working towards the common goal  of simplifying our lives.  Being part of this large group makes me feel connected, even though we're all vast distances apart.  We probably won't ever sit down and have morning tea together, but I know I can come in here and tell you about my day, and learn about yours.  Clicking on links takes me to far off places, shows me how similar and different we all are and make me feel exactly how I want to feel - independent and connected.

We have an Australian kitchen with a twist today, it's in Japan.  Adele has sent her photos in and she writes:
"I am an Aussie trying to live a simpler life amongst the hustle and bustle of Japan. I am also a stay at home mum to three children under the age of five. While the Japanese are over consumers there is also a new shift towards thriftiness and frugal living.

 

In all honesty my kitchen sink is never empty like this but I wanted to show you how big the kitchen sinks are in Japan. My five year old daughter could actually take a bath in it it's that big!! I still haven't figured out why they are so big when the rest of the house is so compact!

 

The other photo shows as much of my kitchen that I could get into the frame. I am lucky to have a system kitchen, while it is a bit dull it is just the right size and very functional. My rice cooker and bread-maker sit side by side and they both get a daily workout, sort of east meets west. Like the majority of Japanese homes there is no oven but I have learned to cook in a microwave convection, I've been promised a real oven one day. There is also no pantry/large cupboard in Japanese kitchens but to offset this there is storage under the kitchen floor, you can see a square on the floor in front of my stove. We put things there that we don't use so often and it is a great place to leave the pickles when they are maturing.

Thankyou for letting all of us partake in this series, it really is a look in to the heart of peoples homes."

Today's kitchen sink is from Lisa in Germany.  It's very familiar to me as I lived in Hamburg for two years when Hanno and I first married.

Lisa writes:

"I discovered your blog a few weeks ago, and I really love it! I check it almost every day :) what I found really interesting are the kitchensink-photos you post on tuesdays.
I study anthropology and what really catches my interest is everydays ordinary culture. what I noticed in the pictures you already posted, is that the sink is always in front of a window, 

so while washing the dishes you can look outside - I like that! in germany where I live, the sink is usually facing a wall. I also noticed, that most of the pictures were from america, so now, here are some from europe :)

In the pictures you can see the sink and part of the kitchen. I'm a university student and I live in a really big and old apartment with seven other people. You can see our cruchet-washingcloth hanging over the sink and next to the sink our red water carbonator that we use to turn our tapwater into sparkling water."

Officially, there are two days left before Autumn arrives in Australia.  The Autumn equinox is actually March 21,so we have a few hot days yet to come, nevertheless, we have begun our major planting of the year.  Where we live, it is much easier to garden organically during the cooler months.  Summer's heat brings many insects and diseases that we don't see when it's cooler.  Generally, we plant for nine months of the year, we harvest during Summer, and start all over again in Autumn.

Starting over again always means ripping out the most of the plants still producing, like eggplant (aubergine) and pumpkins, and working around those that will continue on, like the capsicums (peppers) and sweet potato.   Hanno has worked hard on adding cow manure, compost and worm castings to the garden beds, it's been raining on and off for a couple of weeks, so the beds have settled again nicely, and now it's time for the first plants.

Most gardening books will tell you to rotate vegetables and plant those with the same requirements for water and feed in the same plot and although that is how we started out, that is not how we garden now.  We found long ago that if we are to produce food year round, many of the guidelines in gardening books don't mean much.  They are written for short season gardens.  We start off in a very organised way, but as soon as the first crops are harvested, and they don't often ripen at the same time, we fill in the empty spaces with other crops.  So where we started with, for instance, a row of tomatoes, we might end up with lettuces or radishes in the spaces when the tomatoes finish.  

There are only a few real rules we go by: we always grow the vegetables in excellent soil that is rejuvenated every year, they always have adequate sunlight, and we are very careful not to plant members of the solanacae family - tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, capsicum (peppers), in the same soil two years in a row.  We also tend to keep these vegetables in groups and don't fill small spaces with one tomato or one potato.  If we keep them in groups, we know where they've been grown recently.  This family of vegetables are notorious for wilt diseases and soil nematodes and we need to plant them carefully to avoid problems.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about soil improvement  and when we improved our soil here we also started to sow seeds and plant cuttings.  Of course, this is an ongoing task throughout the year, but these and seedlings bought at the market, are what started our garden again. This year I have turmeric and ginger growing from tubers planted a few weeks ago.  They'll be planted out soon.  We also have seedlings of tomato, beans, cabbage, cucumber and bok choy, as well as new parsley, lemon mint, and coriander.

So our garden is planted again, albeit, with only a few seedlings, but it feels like we're back on track again.  In the coming weeks, the empty spaces will disappear and greenery will grow tall and overflow.  Trellises and climbing frames will be secured in the soil for cucumbers and peas; stakes will hold tomatoes steady and firm.  There will be all sorts of lettuces, ruby red tomatoes and radishes, dark purple cabbages and beetroot.  Soon we'll plant potatoes, carrots and baby cauliflowers for our Winter soups and vegetables.  Soon we'll be back to normal.

"We moved into this house a couple years ago and I have been slowly doing different renos along the way. I painted the kitchen walls and ceiling, put up the panels/rod on the sliding door. Just need to fix the other panel and make it into a topper above the sink. We changed out the old lighting and my pride and joy is the backsplash. I did that all by my little lonesome. I like to think it ain't bad.

Still dreaming and making changes as the funds will allow.. Saving now for a new sink and taps. We have really hard water and these taps are ready to explode. Lets hope they don't.

If you would like your kitchen sink to be featured in the current batch of photos, send two photos, reduced in size to about 30 percent, to  rhondahetzel at gmail dot com.

Thank you for the kind thoughts for Bernadette.  We went to chemo yesterday and I'm happy to tell you she was pain-free all day.  Maybe it was your prayers and good thoughts that helped that along.  On the way home we picked up her daughter from the airport and they collected Flora McDonald on their way home.  Hanno drove them home from here because I was tired and needed a short sleep.  What a lovely thing it is to sleep during the day.  I never liked to in years gone by but now I sleep whenever I feel like it and I am better for it.

After my nap I checked the forum, talked to Hanno, and did a few odds and ends.  I bought a large dish drainer yesterday as the one I had doesn't handle our dishes and all the bottles, jars, funnels and spoons I usually have when washing up.  I reorganised the kitchen sink to accommodate the new addition, washed the lunch dishes and the bits and pieces sitting on the kitchen bench, then stood back to admire my new drainer.  LOL!  I am amused by simple sights now - a dish drainer full of drying dishes pleases me as much as anything finer would.  I am looking forward to tomorrow when I can get stuck into the kitchen and give it a good tidy up.

When I'm doing that tidy up, I'll also make some soap.  I gave four bars to Kerry when he was here last week so we only have a few bars left.  I also want to make more liquid soap, and try to perfect my method of doing that.  It will only be my second lot of liquid soap so I still have much to learn, but the product itself is so lovely, I doubt I'll ever be without it again.  I've been using it for shampoo, removing stains, washing dishes, spraying on bugs in the garden and adding a little to my bucket of vinegar water when I mop the floors.  It's a full day job though, with lots of sitting and waiting, so I'll have to start that early tomorrow.

Many of the long term readers here will probably remember that Autumn is my favourite season, so as the days shorten and the strength of light changes, I look forward to those coming  cooler months when we have our vegetable garden back to full production.  Hanno started the planting  (I will do a post on that later in the week) but just seeing him out there in the garden in the late afternoon, reminds me that most beautiful time of the year will be here very soon.  And when I can eat home-grown heirloom tomatoes again and don't have to rely on the insipid pretenders we buy at the shop, I'll be one happy gal.

Growing a vegetable garden gives us such a sense of empowerment.  Those vegetables, along with all the skills we've learnt along the way, help us survive as independently as possible and if there was, heaven forbid, a local disaster, or a transport or oil strike, or problems further afield that stopped the production or movement of oil, we  know we would be fine here for a long time.  I guess we're preparing for the future by relying on the past.

I am going to work today and will be presenting one of my Frugal Home workshops.  I always enjoy them even though it's a bit of a rush in the morning to set up and organise food for lunch as well talk to people as they come in.   But it will be a good day, of that I have no doubt, and the incidentals of the day will be forgotten  to be replaced by the pleasure of sharing what I know with others who are keen to learn.  Sharing knowledge, passing on information, and encouraging those younger used to be a normal part of life, but it doesn't seem to happen much nowadays.  I love the point in the workshop when people realise they really can change the way they live and still be happy and fulfilled.  There is always a point when they see the payoff for taking the time to come along to the workshop.  They have the printed information in their hands but the thing that surprises them is the stirrings of motivation to change.  That is  what I strive to give them.  Information without the motivation to use it is worthless. The quiet people who walk in change into a little group motivated towards change.  When they leave, they hug and thank me.  Often they make plans to come back - sometimes to volunteer, sometimes to attend another workshop or take a bus trip, or to learn how to sew and mend at our sewing circle.  I feel very fortunate to be part of it.

I have always loved books and learned early in my life that books were entertaining, explanatory, trustworthy, and a dependable companion both in my home and when travelling around.  Books are where I go to for my information, even now in the age of the internet, my first port of call when I want to learn something is the library.  I used to buy all the books I read but now that I have reduced the amount I spend, books are a shared experience with others using my local library.  Sometimes though, I'm lucky enough to gather enough points on my Amazon widget to buy a few books, and that is exactly what I did just after Christmas.  Of the three books I bought then, I want to write about A Well-Kept Home by Laura Fronty and Yves Duronsoy.

This is a book that will serve to give you those hints, tips and recipes that you'll never find in a modern magazine or most books on household tips.  This is a gentle look at how we can use old-fashioned methods in our modern homes.  

 Click to enlarge.

This book is familiar to me, it's how I am living.  Some recipes and hints are old favourites, some are totally new to me. There are little treasures in the book like these:

This onion tip will also work by piercing the onion with two toothpicks on either side of the onion. That will allow you to suspend the onion over a glass of water.

And here is a lovely old fashioned recipe from my CWA (Country Women's Association) cook book:

CWA cookbooks are available from most CWA branches.  Mine is about 40 years old but it says inside the cover it's available from The Secretary, Soldier's Memorial Hall Committee, Tandunda SA 5352.  If it's still available, it's a fine book.  There are no photographs in it, which was the custom in those days, just old-fashioned recipes.

And finally today, the recipe for my Buttermilk Apple Cake that a few people have asked for.