prairie mouse

which witch?

these three little harbingers of halloween have been sitting on the back burner slowly coming into being, patiently waiting for their turn while the afghan took the number one billing.

much to prairie's horror they are going into my etsy store. perhaps i better make her one but witch one?!!!

a finished 'ghan

i think i started in this in april for tommy. i had made one last year for prairie, here, and wanted to make one for my boy. it is 13 squares wide and 16 high in 8 ply and crocheted with a 4.5mm hook. now the weather is warming up just as i finish but it was used all winter while in progress, first as a foot rug, then as a knee rug and so on as it grew! there was no planning. i just crocheted a few squares and sewed them together. and sewed the ends in as i went-most important!

i love making the label. tommy calls me the momster so in turn i call him tomster. i love freestitching the lettering and not knowing how it will turn out. and i adore crocheting around the edge of the blanket. tommy laughed when i apologised for not being able to stop myself putting some bobbles around the edge. ah the things my children have to put up with! and......now what?!!! i have already made a dolly size one that i will make a bed (well, i will ask michael nicely if he will!) and doll for, for our school fair in november. i think i might start a ripple blanket otherwise i won't know what to do with myself in the evenings!

more springiness

this is a classic new zealand flower that flowers in early spring called the kowhai (ko-fie). along with its arrival comes a great bird who comes to gorge himself silly on the nectar.

meet the tui. he has a white pompom under his chin (do birds have chins?!) the early settlers called him the parson bird but in maori lore he wears the pompoms as the sign of a coward.

he makes the most amazing noises. sometimes a whistle but more often almost wooden and raspy and knocking. the kowhai tree is right by our front deck and i can never resist going out when i hear one. i also enjoy, later in the season they go for the flax flowers which have quite deep cups so the nectar is well fermented and those birds sure do tie one on!

here he is sideways and he often hangs upsidedown. anything to get that precious nectar. not sure that i'll be applying for a job with national geographic anytime soon but hopefully these are okay.

spring has sprung

i cut these branches from a really old lichen coated plum tree in our back garden. it produced about 3 plums last year but it is such a sweet little tree that it stays. after a long wet winter the sight of this darling little blossom was most welcome. the birdcage, which i found on the side of the road awhile ago, waits patiently for a softie dweller. happy change of season wherever you are!

saying goodbye

it is with a tear that i bid harry potter farewell. this morning i finished the final book, the deathly hallows. i read late into the night then got up early and sat with coffee in the dawn and saw it out. and i really do feel like i'm farewelling an old friend. tommy and i have read harry potter together all the way through, sneaking the book away in the daytime or waiting till he fell asleep at night so i could keep up - or get ahead! i guess i am also watching a part of tommy's childhood become his tapestry. so wonderful to watch them grow, so hard to let go. tissues please!!