Sunday Lovelies

The Lovelies are back! Lining up for the past week:

1) Caramel pear upside down cake from 'Winter on the Farm' by Matthew Evans. I can still smell the cardamom.

2) The swing has always been her favourite.

3) Truffula trees.

4) Back garden harvest. I'm thinking of preserving some and making lemon curd with the rest. Any other suggestions?

5) The first spring bloom on our magnolia.

6) Remembering how much I love knitting with Cascade Eco Wool.

A warm welcome to my newest readers. Let's hope there's lots of lovely for us all in the week to come x

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

Via Soulemama.

Searching for Spring

Yesterday we went searching for spring. And we found some signs. 

I can think of three small girls, and one crooked old woman with perpetually cold toes, who will be grateful for its arrival.

Stats

Number of girls being raised in this house: 3

Number of girls currently being toilet-trained: 2
Number of size 2 underpants laundered since Monday: 17

Number of girls awaiting new mama-made jumper: 1

Balls of wool purchased to knit jumper: 4

Balls of wool apparently required to complete jumper: 4.1

Chance of getting out of the house to purchase extra ball of wool whilst two toddlers are toilet-training: Fat.

Reading Raising Girls by Gisela Preuschoff.
Yarn Along here.

Butterflies and Rainbows

This one, she sleeps well. And she wakes looking like she's done 10 rounds with the doona. Hair askew, puffy eyes, gorgeous.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yesh."

"What did you dream about, baby?"

"Bufflies and wainbows."

She reels it off in her croaky little voice, and while I know she's only repeating something she heard me say a long while ago, it always makes me smile.

I imagine being able to plant seeds for her real dreams so easily, filling her sleeping visions, and the imaginings that may come to life, with little waymarks, guiding her forward into a wonderful future.

What did you dream about, baby?

Endless play. Adventures, big and small. Passionate learning. Far-flung destinations. Deep and lasting friendships. Fulfilling, creative work. One true love (but only after a handful of lesser ones). Beautiful, healthy, funny children, in a long time, after many other important things have been done. 

Long life. Contentment.

Butterflies and rainbows.

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

Via Soulemama.

Bumpy Bonnets

Wow, way to make a girl feel special! Thanks so much for your beautiful comments yesterday. What a lovely bunch of good souls. Next time I feel like a little boost, gosh, I'll rattle off a few meandering thoughts about this blogging lark and hit 'publish'. As good as chocolate, with far fewer calories.

A while back, I was bemoaning the state of my working life and wondering how/why/what/when I might seek out something that satisfies my creative urge rather than just the pesky financial burdens. I think it was Evelyn who said to be open to the signs. Around that time, there had been a rush of people commenting, in real life and here on the blog, about the hats my girls were always wearing. It felt like every other day someone said, "If you go into business, I'll buy one."

Now, whichever way I look at it, knitting kid hats, by hand, just me, will never be all of the answers to all of my prayers. But maybe it's a simple answer to one of them, a supplementary one, if you will. 

With that in mind, I've been busily knittering (that's like tinkering only with knitting needles) away in the background coming up with a few little patterns that are slowly turning into a few little actual hats that sometime soon may appear in a teeny-tiny Etsy shop bearing my name. Why all this incy-wincy, tiddly-widdly talk? 'Cause I'm nervous just mentioning it...

But you know what? I'm sick of meeting new people (and I seem to be meeting a lot at the moment, such is the life of the newby in town) and cowering behind a description of what I do for a living* and yet being so tentative to tell people what I WANT to be doing for a living. More on that soon. More on a lot of stuff soon.

In the meantime, one of my favourite people recently called and asked for a hat for her baby girl. She meant for me to send her a hand-me-down. Instead, because this is a very special little girl, I knit up one of my bonnets. I dug into the stash for some beautiful Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky, because it's so soft and luxurious and I love this colour. And Stella, with the promise of a lollipop when it was all over, agreed to be my model for the shoot. I can call it a shoot now. I've been to The Nursery.

Oh, reading? Why, still 'Simplicity Parenting'. I've taken two huge bags of toys to the charity bins. The girls didn't even notice. I'm struggling a bit more with culling their books. You're readers, you understand.

Yarning Along with the best of them. 

* It's not that I do anything shameful or embarrassing for a living, it's just kind of boring and uninspiring served with a hefty dose of unfulfilled potential.

Afternoon Delight*

This blog will never be a confessional. It's never going to be the whole story. Occasionally I may rant, or moan, or tell a sad tale, but the words are always carefully considered, as much exercises in writing and storytelling as any kind of giving away.

Some weeks the energy flows, as do the words and pictures. Other weeks I struggle. I've been at it here, regularly, for nearly two years. For more than half of that time I had about a dozen readers, most of whom I knew in real life. It took me a long time to learn that if I wanted people to visit my blog, I had to visit theirs AND let them know I'd been with a comment or a little click on the 'follow' button.

My following here isn't huge, but it is so lovely. Genuinely nice people with genuinely nice things to say. Encouragement, advice, friendship. I like it. Yes, I do.

And more lovely, every now and then I find my little blog's name in the 'favourites' list on other blogs. What a compliment. You can't even know the lift that gives me. I'm not sure what people see when they visit here, and why they return. I hope it's for some half-decent writing, a half-decent eye for a pretty photo. A sense of fun. Something good to eat. Cute kids swathed head to toe in handknits. Oh, relentless knitting.

I probably don't say it nearly enough, if at all, but thank you - for visiting, commenting, and making me feel like something I'm doing here is having some small impact out there.

I should probably end with a question because I've been told that's the way to engage readers and start a conversation. But I won't 'cause it always seems a bit contrived when I do it. Is that OK with you?

(*I found some more of that glorious afternoon light, or "afternoon delight", as my friend Bri calls it. Look at my golden-haired babe up there.)

The Nursery

I spent Saturday, all day, at The Nursery, hosted by Tim Coulson and his lovely wife Kesh. Tim was so generous with his knowledge, his story so inspiring. I've been following his blog and admiring his photos for months now. I can't believe he's been at it for such a short time - less than two years - and that his skill, his eye, his talent is so rich.

I've got no aspirations to be a professional photographer but taking photos is something I love, and since getting my hands on an entry-level DSLR, it feels like a little part of the world has opened up for me. When I take a good picture, I think it's usually a bit of a fluke. But Saturday showed me that the technical stuff I already know is really about all I need. And that it's just about practice - "Thousands of photos over hundreds of days" - and about connecting with my subject.

Some things I learnt on Saturday:

- Afternoon light is really quite wonderful

- Jodi and her beautiful family are lovelier in real life than on her blog

- A group of people coming together with a similar interest is incredibly energising

- Kesh and Tim have a very sweet, and content, baby boy

- Overexposure is just fine

- My decision to buy a 50mm lens (and repair it when I broke it) was a good one
- There are many very fancy cameras available which I must remind myself I don't need and can't afford anyway

- The way Tim culls and organises his photos is almost as impressive as the images themselves
- If you have a DSLR and don't know how to use it, shove people out of the way to get into one of these workshops. Really.

I'm a bit nervous to show the pics I took on the day, more so than on an ordinary day in an ordinary blog post. Don't ask me why. But - deep breath - here are my favourites.

Eight Things

Inspired by Soulemama's Ten Things, and because I'm sorely lacking inspiration for much else, here are eight things making me smile today:

- my two youngest arguing over who gets the latest mama-made pants (upsized Quick Change Trousers like these ones - oh, would you look how much my babes have grown!)

 - the GM and Lola disappearing off into a quiet corner several times a day to work through the Roald Dahl collection.

- vintage sewing patterns in the right size.

- Earl Grey leaf tea, made proper-like, in a pot - almost as good as when my pal Sophia makes it. Hers is the best.

- pretty flowers in a pot, from the same Sophia.

- Matthew Evans's glorious cookbook 'Winter on the Farm'. His twice-cooked pork shoulder had us swooning last weekend (rivalling Jamie's overnight version), and the macadamia butternut biscuits are pretty bloody delicious too.

- my big girl's blossoming artistic streak. That's a pirate with a princess.

- my latest Etsy purchase, two gorgeous wool-backed, upcycled fabric cushions from Neon Vintage. 

Oh, make that nine things - I was so pleased to see Gillian finally received her orange mitts. She models them so well, don't you think?