Where does she get it from?

Miss 12 has always been a naturally good runner, placing in many events at school athletics and cross country carnivals over the years. A few weeks ago she was first in her age group at high school for cross country and last week also became the zone age champion.

Crossing the finish line

So yesterday Miss 12 represented her school zone at the Hunter Regional Cross Country and came an astounding 7th! She missed out on going to state by just one position but is first on the reserve list in case one of the other place getters is unable to attend.

Trying out shirt sizes for state, just in case

But what is most amazing about her performance is that she has never had a day's training in her life. Not a single session.

So now it looks like we are going to enrol her in the local Little Athletics group because this much talent deserves to be nurtured.

And we already feel guilty enough about not having done something before this...

Cheers

Meet Olly

We have a new puppy!

When I say puppy I mean the-biggest-six-month-old-dog-you-have-ever-seen!

Olly is a Maremma, a breed of sheepdog indigenous to Italy, and the perfect companion to our chickens. The cats not so much...

xx

Glorious garlic

As we slowly set up the permanent raised beds in the veggie patch I reserved one solely for the garlic as I wanted to have a largish crop this year. I purchased 6 bulbs of garlic from Diggers but when it came to planting them I was sure I was going to have to buy more, 6 bulbs just didn't look like it was enough.

Until I separated the cloves.

And ended up with 93.

93 possible bulbs of garlic. If that's not enough I don't know what will be!

So I planted them in mid March and they are doing very nicely now. There is a tiny bit of room left at the end of the bed so I might pop some leeks in too.

Have you planted your garlic yet?

xx

5000 Poppies

To commemorate 100 years since the Gallipoli landings, and in honour of all our servicemen and women who served in WWI and since, in April this year there will be a field of handmade poppies 'planted' in Melbourne's Federation Square. The initial plan was to have 120 poppies at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne but this grew to a target of 5000, hence the name. As of November last year there were over 52,000 poppies collected! Now the target is over 100,000.

So this is my little contribution in dedication to Great Uncle Harold. I previously wrote about him here.

You can read more about the 5000 Poppies project here. If you are interested in donating a poppy contributions must be received by 15 March to be included in the installation.

Cheers

February Knit - His Golden Lair

The MegaKAL knit for February was Kourtney Robinson's lovely His Golden Lair and I loved this pattern. It had several different sections so was never boring, but still intuitive enough that you weren't constantly looking at the pattern. It contained charts but also a written pattern if you, like me, prefer.

The result is small enough that it can be worn wrapped around the neck as a scarf or around the shoulders as a small shawl.

This was my first attempt at blocking, and I would say it was only partly successful, the points not turning out quite as pointy as I would prefer. Perhaps I will block it again in the future, although the result may have something to do with the yarn being part acrylic.

Details Ravelled here.

What's on your needles?

x

January knit - Armonika Cowl

This year I have joined my first knit-along (KAL) and I have started with a biggie. It's a MegaKAL! We will be knitting a shawl or scarf each month of 2015. It will be nice to spend some time knitting for myself instead of crocheting for someone else. The KAL's developers are in the northern hemisphere so I shall spend the warm months knitting cozy things and the colder weather on lighter things.

Excuse the crappy photo, it was taken with my phone (although love the filters on Instagram!)

January's project was a warm cowl called the Armonika Cowl. I really didn't like the look of it at first but am quite fond of it now. The pattern however was not enjoyable. Extremely easy but too mindless for my liking. My mind tends to run away with me if a pattern is too easy and when it comes back down to earth it is usually with a thud. Mistakes everywhere! Some of them I fixed but some I didn't notice until several rows along and then I was too lazy to pull it apart. Hopefully the mistakes will not be able to be seen when it is worn!

I haven't bothered putting many details on Ravelry, mostly because I have no idea what the yarn was. I remember making something else with it a couple of years ago but frogging it when I didn't like the result. But here it is if you want to take a look.

What's on your needles?

Backyard Bees

We have bees!

Well, they're not ours but they have made their home right here in our backyard. Squeeee!

Can you tell I'm a bit excited about them?

Keeping bees in our backyard was always a plan, but a very distant one as we know nothing about keeping bees. We got lucky when friend's of Mr Homespun's parents were looking for a new home for their hives and we got a mention. ' Yes please' I said when the question was asked.

We still know almost nothing about them, but we are slowing learning. I know to observe and take notice of their flight path out of the hive so as to not stand in the way. Bees won't generally go around you, just straight at you!

I have also donned one of the funny jackets to get a close up look at them in action and they are fascinating. Unfortunately in my excitement I didn't think of grabbing the camera until much later. Close up photos next time.

This morning the first frames were removed for honey extraction! They were very full and smelt divine.

Do you have backyard bees?

xx