They're in the mail!

Well, here they are, MIL and my contributions to the Softies for Mirabel 2011 campaign.

The little dolls are courtesy of MIL.

Stripy Ted was handmade by me . This was my first attempt at toy making, I'm pretty happy with the result! His face was really, really hard to get right, so while it's not perfect I'm hoping that the cuddliness of Ted will compensate for his facial features!

Give Handmade

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon crocheting. It's been years since I last attempted a crochet project. I was inspired by this lovely blanket, which luckily for me has an awesome tutorial to get me started.

Courtesy of Meet me at Mike's; Larksfoot Blanket. Isn't it gorg!

There's a special occasion early next year for one of my friends and in the spirit of giving handmade, I thought she would love (and I would love to give) a handmade blanket.

Giving handmade is also going to be my theme for Christmas this year. Last year I went with a giving nothing theme as I was feeling a bit down about the excess of our Western lives when compared to how little others have.  I decided to donate some money to Oxfam and kept the actual presents to an absolute minimum. 

I'm keeping some of that theme this year and I've 'bought' a goat and a duck through Oxfam Unwrapped (goat = 'a gift that's gruff, tough and does heaps of good stuff'). For the other presents I'll be giving, they'll be courtesy of my sewing machine.

Giving handmade is great for a few reasons; I get pleasure from making, the recipient knows that I spent time and love making their present, it's a great way to recycle or reuse and it's less commercial, hopefully it means a bit more.

I encourage you to join me and give handmade this year.  If you're not into making stuff yourself, you can always pick up great handmade gifts at Etsy and Made It.

Softies for Mirabel

Courtesy of Meet Me at Mike's

Some of my creative energy over the last few weeks has been spent trying to finish my contribution to the Softies for Mirabel campaign.  I have a really bad habit of leaving projects until the 11th hour to complete them, and with submissions needing to be sent early next week, it's going to be a push to the finish line.

I've been making a stripy teddy bear and hopefully he'll keep a special little person in good company for the next few years.  He's been made with love and I hope that he brings love to his new owner. 

I've also inspired my MIL to get involved and she's been beavering away knitting a few softies of her own.  Unfortunately MIL is a huge worrier; if there is something to be worried about, she seeks it out and worries on it for days.  On our recent road trip to Bendigo (to see The White Wedding Dress exhibition, which was totally wonderful...) she was talking to me about some of her worrying. I encouraged her to find a way to feel like she had some control over her worries and maybe finding a way to give to someone in need could help with this. As a result, we've both been crafting, making our softies and taking back control by finding a small way to make a difference.

I'll be sure to post a few pics of both hers and mine before they get sent on their merry way next week.

Phew

I've been working on this baby blanket since August, when one of my close friends had her first baby. 3 months later here were are... project finished!

It was a real chore to get through all of the moss stitch which makes up the body of the blanket; easy, but tiresome.  Knitting the lace border was much more interesting and was something that I hadn't attempted before.

I'm absolutely in love with the finished product; it's nearly as sweet as little baby V herself :)  

Family and the Holiday Season

Maybe the most dysfunctional Christmas family story!

This week I read this blog post from Gretchen Rubin of, The Happiness Project.  It provides some simple but really practical and sensible advice on dealing with difficult relatives over the holiday period. 

While she's thinking about Thanksgiving, which is approaching quickly, I thought the advice was pretty spot on for some family tension that often plays out for us over Christmas.

Check out her blog post for yourself, I'm sure that there's something that you can take away for your family this holiday season:
http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2011/11/9-tips-for-dealing-with-difficult-relatives-over-the-holidays.html

This year, we're spending the holidays in Adelaide with my family; all 3 of us... husband, M dog and me! Should be an interesting 8 hour toad trip with M dog in tow!

Knit, sew and ramble

Hold the press... I might have to change the name of my blog to Knit, Sew and Ramble, as I can now proudly call myself a sewer!

I've been wanting to continue to develop my love for making and giving and I felt that re-learning how to sew would be a great way to help me achieve this.  I've also set myself a new life goal of ensuring that I always create an atmosphere of growth; to keep learning, developing and growing as a person, both personally and professionally ('creating an atmosphere of growth' is something that really resonated with me from The Happiness Project). The first task that I set myself was to get back into sewing.

This weekend, I took steps one and two in this journey...

Step one looks like this:

My new Janome sewing machine! Yay!

Step two looks like this:




My first project; a small drawstring bag to house my sewing bits and pieces. I also think that I've found project number two here; apparently this is the world's easiest skirt... sounds like a good place to start to me! So now to find some funky fabric to make this super easy (fingers crossed!) skirt.

More updates to come!!

Giving

Giving:  the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return...

I really love this sweet little pair of fingerless gloves and I hope that a certain 6 year old will too!

While the weather is probably starting to get a little too warm for gloves, hopefully there will still be a few cold mornings when they can be worn on the walk to school.

I know I've said it before, but I get a real kick out of giving handmade presents; I think it just means that little bit more when the recipient (or in this case, the recipient's Mum!) knows that I have spent time and effort crafting away and creating something lovely just for them!

In other knitting updates... I'm still working on the purple moss stitch baby blanket that I posted a photo of a few weeks ago. I've finished the body of the blanket and am just finishing the edging. I've also started knitting a teddy bear to donate to the Softies for Mirabel campaign; if you're able to make a toy of any sort then you should jump on board as well. You could knit, sew or crochet, anything would be OK, as long as you can do one of these things then I think you should join in! Go on!

Knit and Sew

Last week I roped in a few of my lovely colleagues to spend the day volunteering with me at Save the Children.

We worked our little fingers to the bone, as we stitched knitted squares into blankets. I had also knitted a few squares to donate to the cause and while I didn't have enough for a whole blanket, they got included with some other dontated squares to make up a blanket.

The finished blankets will be sent to India, Cambodia and Laos to help children keep warm in the hope of preventing pneumonia; one of the biggest killers in children under five in the developing world.

Volunteering is one of those things that I've always wanted to do more of, but to be honest I've never prioritised it or really worked at making it happen and that's about to change... as of now. I want to find a regular avenue to volunteer and to give service to the local or global community. I believe that having a more active service role in my life will help me to 'feel right' (one of my recently crafted personal commandments). Being involved in the Born to Knit campaign has been right up my alley; a fantastic combination of my craft and my interest in volunteering.

Now to get knitting for next years Save the Children campaign!

Reading... Retro style!

If like me you follow this lovely blog, you might be currently reading a particular children's classic, 'James and the Giant Peach'.

Some of you might be wondering, why would you want to read a kids book. Well I say, why not! If you were an avid reader as a little one (as I was) you'll remember long afternoons spent cuddled up with your favorite book and falling asleep at night time with your book flopping across your little face as you literally couldn't keep your eyes open any more! Many a night my Dad had to come into my room, put away my book and switch off my light for me, as I had fallen asleep mid sentence! I confess that I still do that sometimes now... just one more page... Zzzz.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. I'm reading 'James and the Giant Peach' as part of the Meet Me at Mike's Retro Readers book club, and I'm remembering just how ace kids books are and in particular how fantastic Roald Dahl is. James wasn't my childhood favorite though, this honor would have to go to 'Matilda' or the 'BFG' and don't get me started on Enid Blyton... The hours I spent reading her novels are too many to count!

So if you loved reading as a little tike jump on board and get reading with me, retro style!

Check your letterbox!

I posted a few weeks ago about letters, or more specifically, hand written letters and how much pleasure you can receive from sending and receiving letters.

I'm pleased to report that I have since written five letters to friends and family. I've also received one letter back! I was so thrilled to open this beautiful letter, where one of my dear friends explained how my post had reminded her how much she used to love writing and receiving letters.  After reading her awesome letter, of course I sat down and wrote her back! I think this might mean that we're pen-pals now!

The last time I had a pen-pal was in Primary school. I think that the girls name was Caroline and she was from the U.K. I have no memory of how we came to be pen-pals, but it must have been arranged through my school. We wrote each other a number of letters back and forth and I remember that I used those funny blue aerogrammes, how retro! Imagine telling my future children about that one day! Mummy used to have to write a letter on funny blue paper which folded up into an envelope, as this was the best way to write to someone in another country. I'm sure I'll be asked why I didn't just Skype, email or Facebook them. How much communication has changed in the few years between my childhood and adulthood.

I still have more letters to write and I still want to encourage you to write a letter to someone special in your life. Don't worry if you don't have pretty paper (although you can pick some of that up at Kikki K!), just grab a page out of your notebook and write a special hello to that special person.

The only catch is having to trot down to the post office for stamps!

Feisty Jane

Jane Eyre was one of my first literary loves. The character of Jane resonated strongly with me, I admired her and wanted to be like her; she's strong willed, independent of thought and determined not to be looked down upon because of her gender, her position or her lack of money or status. To put it simply; she kicks butt.

I saw the recent adaptation of Jane Eyre last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Mia Wasikowska gave a beautiful performance as Jane and I was pleased to see that Mr Rochester was just as handsome as he needed to be! I always thought that he should be handsome in a strangely compelling way; not traditionally handsome, or 'hunky' but oddly handsome and you should feel drawn to him. Michael Fassbender was a perfect Rochester in my eyes.


Jane and Rochester

In closing, if you haven't read Jane Eyre before, you really have to. It's a novel before it's time. I also highly recommend this film adaptation; it's probably not showing for much longer, so get down to your local cinema and grab your ticket!

Big wool!

Check out the size of my new yarn! No wonder it's called, Big Wool! I was sucked into buying this yarn and knitting a last minute winter garment for myself (seeing as I didn't finish my blue jumper this season, it's been put aside for completion next year!)

I've also started a blanket, for a new little baby who was born on Census night. The body of the blanket is in moss stitch and there's going to be a special lace style border, that will be a bit more challenging to knit. The moss stitch is getting a little tiresome, but at least it's something easy to work on while watching something nice on TV (like 2 episodes of Mad Men Season 4 on Sunday afternoon!)



Now it's hard to choose which one of these new projects I should be working on right now!

Challenge finished!

8 weeks ago I started the 'Happy Heart, Healthy Me' challenge at Curves.  My goal was to lose a few centimetres from my waist to make sure that I'm not at risk of developing heart disease. If a woman's waist measurement is 80 centimetres or more, then she's at risk. Scary, huh?

The 8 weeks finished on the weekend and I'm very pleased to report that I lost 6 centimetres! Woo hoo!

Completing the weekly activities and committing to at least 3 workouts every week really helped me keep the focus on my health over the colder months. Now it's time for some new goals just in time for a new season.

Change is in the air

If you've been reading along, you'll know that I've had two great experiences lately. The first was attending the '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' seminar. The second was reading, 'The Happiness Project'. Both of these experiences resonated very strongly with me and have resulted in some big shifts in my thinking and doing.

As a result, I'm making a few changes.

There are a few little things; like no TV nights, writing a daily one sentence gratitude journal (sounds a bit 'Oprah', but is helping me focus on all the great things I have to be thankful for) and taking time out for fun.

And there are a few bigger things; like creating my personal commandments (or personal mission statement as Mr Covey refers to), goal setting, committing to an exercise routine and making sure I stick to my new weekly and daily planning routine.

So far so good, but feel free to drop me a line and make sure I'm sticking with my changes!

Winter into Spring

I finally finished this man's snood that I was planning to send to Jock Palfreeman, but bad news... I just checked the details for postage and there have been changes to what he is allowed to receive in prison.

I'll contact the administrators of his appeal group and hopefully I can still get this snood to him.

I'm really pleased with the finished product; it even looks good dangling in my tree, imagine how much better it will look on!

It certainly is pretty dreary outside at the moment, but I'm sure that I can feel Spring in the air.  While outside taking these photos the sight of my daffodils certainly lightened up the drab front yard. I love that daffodils make the effort to get you through these last few weeks of a long winter and it's not long to go now, we officially have 2 weeks of winter left and until Spring springs into action.

Keep warm and enjoy the last days of hot chocolates and snuggling in front of the heater.

C-Day

It's Census night in Australia and I'm about to complete my form online (technology = awesome).

I was chatting with a girlfriend on the weekend about completing our Census list of questions.  In particular, we chatted about the heritage questions.  We were wondering which ancestry options to choose; the questionnaire asks you to select 2 ancestries which you most closely identify with.  Interestingly, one of the options is 'Australian'; that's not something that we normally have the option to select, it's always whether your English, Scottish, Irish, Italian, Greek, Chinese etc. This led us to question how and why people would select 'Australian' as their ancestry. What's the cut off point? Maybe if your grandparents were born here you can say that your ancestry is Australian. Or is it your parents? Or do you need to be a 5th generation Australian?

At the end of the day, unless you're an Aboriginal Australian, we all came from somewhere else, but I'm wondering when we get to start identifying ourselves as just Aussies and not as people from somewhere else. As someone whose family has been here for a number of generations, I most definitely identify myself as being Australian and I have no clear connection to any of my other ancestries; although it's clear that these blood lines have shaped some of the cultures and traditions in my family.

Nationality and cultural identity are always hotly debated topics in this country and I look forward to the day when we can just think of ourselves as Australians. With this option on the Census form this time around, maybe we're getting a step closer after all.

Curvy

It's the end of month 4 for me and my new relationship with Curves and we're still going strong.

I wasn't that confident when I put myself forward to complete the monthly weigh and measure (dread...); but it wasn't a bad result at all.

There's now 31cm less of me than there was 4 months ago and I'm feeling SO good about it!

For the month of August, I'm going to up the workouts to 4 per week and am hoping to say goodbye to a few more centimetres.

Watch out for another update in 4 weeks time...

Letters

When was the last time that you received a hand written letter? Was it back in primary school when you had a pen pal, or does your Grandma send you a letter for your birthday each year (along with a $5 note!)...

Personally, I can't remember the last time I received a letter, let alone wrote one, which makes me a bit sad. It's so lovely to check the letterbox and see a handwritten envelope amongst the bills and other boring bits and pieces that we receive. With my recently rediscovered interest in writing, I'm thinking that writing letters will give me another way to indulge in some creativity and also to let my friends and family know that I care enough to take the time to put pen to paper.

I've loaded myself up with some funky paper, envelopes and a pen (surely that's another bonus... stationary shopping!) and I'm looking forward to writing a few letters this weekend. If you're lucky, one might make it's way into your letterbox; and if that happens, I dare you to return the favor!

What 'fun' means

I'm still reading this awesome book (and also reading the daily happiness emails as well; you can sign up for those over here).

The book is really resonating with me and I'm having all of these little a-ha moments; it feels like they're zinging all around me while I read. It's kinda cool.

This particular a-ha moment was so good that I wanted to share; here's the quote that got me thinking about fun and what it means to me...

I needed to acknowledge to myself what I enjoyed, not what I wished I enjoyed. If something was really fun for me, it would pass this test; I looked forward to it; I found it energising, not draining; and I didn't feel guilty about it later.

- Rubin, The Happiness Project, 2009

In my life, there are a whole heap of things that I wish I was interested in doing. I wish that I was a bit more interested in reading 'The Economist', that I read more about International Affairs, that I understood how Twitter works, and the list goes on. But to be honest, I'm not that interested in any of these things, that's why I find it such a struggle to do them. So why bother? It would be a whole lot easier (and I'd be happier) if I spent time doing what's fun to me (which won't be what's fun for you, and that's cool, because I'm me and you're you!)

Sheesh, am I making any sense here? I'm not trying to say that it's not good to try new things and to push yourself if you don't initially enjoy something; but it's those things that you know deep down you're just not that interested in, even if you wish you were.

And so I have another little resolution; I'm going to stop thinking about what I wish I was interested in and embrace what I do find fun.

Sydney wrap up

We packed a fair bit into our Siblings weekend in Sydney.

Mixed in with the sunshine, exploring and eating was plently of sibling chatting and reminising. The topics of conversation included; childhood pets, 80's TV shows, family stories, updates on our work/partners/friends and future plans. 

Here are the locations where all of that great conversation was held!

• Dinner at Wasavie @ 5 Ways.
• Coast walk from Bondi to Bronte (and back!)



Bondi Beach



• Dinner at The Commons
• Brunch @ Four Ate Five
• Chilling out in the sunshine @ Rushcutters Bay

Rushcutters Bay

We decided to make Siblings weekend an annual event; we'll head to Perth for the 2012 event, but hopefully we'll all be in the same room a few times before then!

And the winner is Sydeneey

5 Ways @ Paddington

My bag is packed, I'm checked into my flight, I've got my 'new' jeans on and I'm ready to spend the weekend in Sydney with my siblings. 

As adults, we've moved to different parts of the country and don't get to see each other as much as we would all like. So, this weekend, we're flying in from Melbourne and Perth to spend a weekend at my sister's in Paddington.

I still clearly remember the days when I shared a room with my sister. We had some great times sharing that room and we also had some difficult times, where we wanted to get as far away from each other as we possibly could. As adults, we seem to have achieved this, but definitely not by design!

It's one of my personal goals to always make sure that I keep up regular contact with my siblings and to visit them as often as I can. I love that we have such close relationships without the slightest hint of rivalry or jealousy, as can so often happen in families.

So here's to an awesome siblings weekend in Sydney.

(Just so you know, it's going to be 21 degrees in Sydney tomorrow - eeepp! Vitamin D intake here I come!)

Feeling good with jeans

How good does it feel to do something that you've been meaning to do for ages?

Good, it feels really good. 

Even if it's just something small or something a bit silly. I bought a pair of jeans on sale in November last year and I've been meaning to get the hems altered since then. It wasn't super important and I obviously haven't been going pant-less since then or anything, but today I got myself sorted and dropped those jeans off to be altered.

The piece de resistance is that they'll be ready this afternoon. So I also get instant gratification with my pair of 'new' jeans!

Note to self, never underestimate how good it feels to just get stuff done. And also to have 'new' jeans to boot!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I've started reading 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin and I've signed myself up for her daily 'happiness' emails.

I'm really enjoying the book; it captures Gretchen's challenge to self to be more happy, more fulfilled and appreciative of the great life that she has. Over the course of a year, she creates her personal framework for happiness, her 12 personal commandments and each month sets herself a few themed tasks (pick up the book to find out more!).

Yesterday the 'happiness' email popped into my inbox with an incredibly tantalising subject line; 'The Joy of Craft'. As a self confessed crafter I was keen to read more. The article was about Frederick P. Brooks' book, 'The Mythical Man Month: Essays on Software Engineering'; what on earth does this have to do with crafting? Well, craft can come in many different forms; maybe software engineering is one of them and maybe knitting is another one. Each to their own, I say.

Here's the part of the article that really struck a chord with me:

Nothing is inherently fun. Some people find computer programming fun, or skiing, shopping, drinking wine, doing crossword puzzles, playing tennis, knitting, fly-fishing, watching American Idol. I find none of these things fun. But then, some people wouldn't enjoy blogging -- or reading books about computer programming! Which I do find fun.
But apart from the particular fun (or not) of computer programming, Brooks had a great list of the reasons that "craft" is fun:

1. "The sheer joy of making things." Not to be underestimated.
2. "The pleasure of making things that are useful to other people." Seeing other people take delight in what we've created, or benefit from something we've done, is enormously satisfying.
3. "The fascination of fashioning complex puzzle-like objects...and watching them work." Getting something to WORK. An under-appreciated joy. Gosh, when I finally got some songs to load into my iPod, I thought I would break into song.
4. "The joy of always learning, which springs from the nonrepeating nature of the task."
5. "The delight of working in such a tractable medium. The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff." True -- but the opposite of a profound truth is also true, and I think there's a mirror pleasure to be gained from dealing with actual, physical, tangible materials.

Source: http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2011/07/i-recently-read-sort-of-frederick-brookss-the-mythical-man-month-as-i-understand-it-its-a-cult-classic-and-i-was-very.html

Like wow. How awesome is that. Reading this reminded me of why it's so important to have a 'craft', whatever it may be and how much enjoyment it can bring to your life. It feels like I'm having all of these little 'a-ha' moments over the last few weeks and this little article gave me another one.

I encourage you to have a think about your 'craft'; do you have one? If not, have a think about getting one, or maybe two or three. And make sure you let me know about it!

Habits

This week I spent 3 days locked away in a training room at work. To some, this might sound like a strange form of corporate torture. For me, these days were the best days I've had at work in a long time (maybe even ever!)

I've just completed the '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' signature program and wowee, what a great program it is. I'd heard about some of the elements before ('big rocks' and 'sharpening the saw' to name a couple) but I'd never read the '7 Habits' book or attended one of the workshops before.

I'm feeling really inspired and committed to living the habits.  In particular, writing my personal mission statement is something I am super excited to complete. I've been feeling a little adrift of late and I now understand why; I haven't formalised what I stand for, where I want to be in life, what I want my legacy to be.

I think this was the most powerful component of the workshop for me; thinking about my legacy, what will I leave behind, what will people say about me at my 80th birthday? Take a moment to think about that last statement, it's incredibly poignant.

So this weekend one of my 'big rocks' will be to allocate some time to drafting my personal mission statement and thinking about what I want my legacy to be. I can't wait.

Making a difference

I've been at a work conference this week and I was lucky enough to hear from a number of amazing guest speakers, like Li Cunxin (Mao's Last Dancer) and Lisa McInnes-Smith.

One of our presenters spoke about an organisation called Toms Shoes; for every pair of shoes they sell, they provide a pair to a child in need. How awesome is that.

It got me thinking; what can I do to help make a difference in someone else's life on an ongoing basis? I decided to set myself a goal to find a way to involve myself or to start something of my own that can fulfill this idea.

In the meantime, I'm using my craft to get involved in a couple of different projects that will make a difference to someone else. I'm knitting a scarf to send to Jock in Bulgaria (I wrote about that here) and once I've finished that, I'm going to knit a blanket as part of the Born to Knit Campaign. This campaign is run by Save the Children Australia and they're aiming to gather 15,000 knitted blankets that can be sent to children in India, Cambodia and Laos. The blankets will help keep these kids safe, warm and healthy. Pneumonia is the one of the biggest killers of kidlets under 5 in the developing world so a nice warm blanket will go a long way towards preventing kids contracting this disease.

I'm really excited to get thinking about what my community/giving project will be and in the meantime, I'll keep my knitting needles clicking for others!

Stepping back in time

I set off for work on Tuesday having left my mobile phone at home. Gasp. Shudder. How would I survive the day?

I spent the first hour freaking out; I'd miss calls, emails and what if someone needed me urgently?

I spent the next 8 hours feeling free and unrestrained; I had called a few people (using someone else's phone!) and told them how to find me and I sent a couple of emails from a colleague's iPad. Then I sat back, relaxed and went with the flow.

I ended up having the most relaxing work day that I've had in some time. It made me wonder whether it would be worthwhile spending a work day sans technology every now and then. Imagine how much free thinking and productivity there would be without the constant distraction of phone calls, text messages and emails.

My phone free day definitely provided me with food for thought and I look forward to the occasional technology free (or restricted) day in the near future.

Carbon tax smachs

Today was the day, the launch of the carbon tax which will be effective 1 July 2012.

I must say that in theory I am an advocate of a carbon tax, but I've become caught between the two major parties and their bickering and discrediting each other.

As per usual in the world of politics, each side vigorously defends their policy and would have you believe that the other side's policies will end humanity as we know it. I think I need to find myself some independent advice from someone in the know.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for me!

Deja vu

Did I actually experience the last week, or is it still last Sunday? It feels a lot like I'm doing the exact same thing that I was last weekend; rugging up, knitting and watching movies.  The Melbourne winter sure has set in today; it's been sleeting and it's very cold outside. 

No harm done for me though; this weather just creates more time for me to indulge in indoor activities (and no, I don't mean cleaning, washing clothes and cooking; although all of those things have been done this weekend too!) I mean, knitting, of course!

I cast off these cute fingerless gloves (but I still need to sew them up and sew in all of the thread ends), which will be for a girlfriend's daughter's birthday in August. I think she'll love the bright colours and the novelty of gloves (the pattern is Debbie Bliss).

Another girlfriend is having a baby in a few weeks; whaddya know, another baby! There are babies left, right and centre in my life these days.  I have a feeling that she's having a boy, so I'm starting on this hat and booties combo (the patterns are from Sublime) for her little one. Fingers crossed it is a boy, or else I'm going to have to start something else!

I've also been buying a few new albumns and songs on iTunes this afternoon. Have you heard, 'Beautiful Trash' by Lanu featuring Megan Washington? It's really ace.

Lastly, I have the slow cooker switched on and it's full of lots of veggies, some red meat, lots of herbs and some stock. All Jason need do is cook some rice and dinner is sorted. What better end could there be to a rainy Sunday.

Have a good week x

Far From the Madding Crowd

As you will know, I've been a little obsessed of late with period dramas.  The latest of which is 'Far From the Madding Crowd'.

I confess that I haven't read this book before; it's always been on my 'to read' list, but I've never prioritised it.  Well now I'm wondering why!  Last weekend I watched the 1998 adaptation (see the movie poster below) and it was really ace! I felt so sorry for Mr Boldwood and isn't Bathsheba Everdene just the most out there name you ever heard!

I'll be re-prioritising this book on my 'must read' list because I'm sure that the book will be even more engrossing than the mini-series was.  The story line really kept me on my toes; I didn't see the big twist coming and while I was hoping that Bathsheba would end up with the right man, I wasn't really sure that it was going to happen.

So all in all, I highly recommend giving this mini-series a watch and if you're up for it, getting your hands on a copy of the book.

Happy Heart, Healthy Me

This winter I'm giving myself a health challenge. We all know how easy it can be to have a bit of extra weight creep on in the colder months; well this year, that's not happening to me!

I'm taking part in the Happy Heart, Healthy Me challenge. My goal is to lose a few centimetres off my waist and to certainly not put any on!

The challenge is being sponsored by the Heart Foundation.  Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of women in Australia? And there are some really easy things we can all do to make sure we don't become part of that statistic.

One easy thing you can check if your waist measurement; if it is 80cm or greater (for women) you have an increased risk of developing heart disease. So grab a tape measure and see if you need to join me in this challenge over winter!
  

Rainy Sundays

What better days are there than rainy Sundays.  They're the perfect excuse to knit the afternoon away.

I'm trying to finish this man's scarf and also a scarf for me.  The man's scarf (or snood, it should really be called), is going to be posted to Bulgaria; you can read about why I'm doing that here.

The one for me is in a lovely angora, grey flecked yarn. It's so soft and will be incredibly snug. I've finally just started the last ball of yarn and my goal is to finish it today.

So, with that deadline in mind, it's back to the knitting sweat-shop for me!

(P.S. I do have some company, this little critter is also spending Sunday afternoon on the couch!)



A scarf for Jock

Did anyone else see the episodes of 'Australian Story' about Jock Palfreeman?

I had heard about Jock's case before, but hadn't really kept up to date with the recent events.  For those of you who haven't heard about the Palfreeman's before, here's my quick summary:

Jock is a young Australian convicted of murder in Bulgaria. In December 2007 he was involved in a dispute, where a Bulgarian man was killed and another injured. Jock states that he became involved in the dispute after coming to the aid of a Roma man who was being targeted by the Bulgarian men. He states that the group turned on him and he then drew a knife to protect himself. Jock has been in Sofia prison ever since.

I encourage you to watch the episodes and make your own assessment on the case. For me, the documentary showed some really basic flaws in the case and the trial process; it seems as though the foreigner was always going to be held accountable no matter what the facts.

The documentary also highlighted the torment a parent experiences in cases such as Jock's.

When the credits started rolling, I was left asking myself if there was anything I could to to help. While I admit that my knowledge of the case is limited, you couldn't watch this documentary and not have empathy for the plight of a young person, locked away for 20 years in a foreign country.

I found the Free Jock website and there was a 'how to help' tab. One option was to write to Jock; that I can do, no problem. And I figured that it must get pretty damn cold in Bulgaria, so I'm going to also knit Jock a scarf to keep him warm in that Sofia prison.

It might sound like something small and it is really, but it's something that I can do to maybe make a small difference to him.

Free Jock website; created by his friends and family.
You can watch the 'Australian Story' episodes here.
News.com.au article about the documentary.

Another project finished

Another project cast off, sewn up and ready to pop in the post!

This little pinafore dress may just be the cutest thing I have knitted. I think it's such a sweet little pattern and it was so quick and easy to make. I think that the next few baby girls that come along will also be receiving one of these little gems.

If only the projects for me were as quick and easy to complete!