Yesterday was all go as Trixie arrived to help with the shed. We now have it all lined out (well, a bit more to do, but not much) and the set of shelves that has been blocking the fireplace in the future craft room  has been relocated as well. It will be very useful for storing plastic bins containing smaller power tools and their associated instructions/tools/spare parts. Also the table saw is finally out of the spare bedroom so between that, and rearranging the loungeroom I have a pretty well organised workspace now.

 This is the workshop end of the shed (the other is the dyeing space). The metal cladding marks the future location of the wood heater which can not be installed till I get the digger man  back with a load of gravel to build up the entry point. The sheet of ply has two sets of bins for storing small fixings (I have another set as well, and this may be distributed alongside these or possibly split with the dyeing end as I am sure there are lots of little tools and toys that will require storage there too.

 Next comes some pegboard for hanging small hand tools and so on around the shed to the shelving and the metal shelves from the craft room.

I was well pleased with the results but totally knackered last night so finding the cables to hook up the computer was beyond me. Especially after cleaning the bank as well.

 Today being History Room I finished off this beanie - the colour reproduction is not good - it is rather more vibrantly autumn toned than it seems. It is really more of a beret, and the blue one, having been accidentally knitted on the wrong size needles is more of a snood. But both look good. Not sure I want to sell this one!

Naturally I called into the Lucky Ewe, if only because she had 500g of a glorious flame red dyed corriedale top. Since I am now planning to enter in the Campbell Town Show I thought it would be a rather nice addition to the Moorit (with a few other baubles) to make an Art Yarn. The natural coloured Tussah Silk seemed a nice addition too.

 I spun a small quantity today - it was too luscious to resist, but that meant I didn't have a bobbin to try out the red tops. Sigh. Still, I made progress on the sock and kept myself happy before heading to the tip with the discards from the shed makeover.

This is the top view of the beanie/beret - it is that pattern from the House and Garden magazine.

While the neighbours' horses are still in their paddock it will not be for long. They seem to have forgotten last time the horses were there they had installed an electric fence along the rear boundary which, due to their continual and obsessive fiddling to no purpose has been dismantled. The fence in question has been walked through by the stallion in the past.

To add to my woes, they have bought the 13 year old boy a bow and arrows - of the hunting variety. He is not noted for his attention span, and his lesson (about 15 minutes last night) has involved messing around shooting at a straw bale placed in a most unsafe position if anyone two or four legged happened to emerge from behind a nearby building. No evidence of instruction on anything other than how to get the arrow out of the bow. And today he headed down the lane clutching his trusty bow and arrows alone.  Apart from the potential to cause harm when merrily pot-shotting around the place this kid is being badly beaten by his older sister, and give his age and inability to express himself has some pretty serious pent up anger inside. Time will tell how this expresses itself now he has a deadly weapon at his disposal.

On a more cheerful note, my second load of firewood arrived today (or is it the third?) and has been partially stacked. I really must pay for those two loads! Sent the farmer off with a couple of my spiral tree protectors that arrived from the UK a couple of weeks ago. Not sure i mentioned these - they are wonderful things being basically flat spirals of plastic perforated with holes to avoid condensation. They wrap themselves around the stem of the tree, and the spaces between the spiral band allow for smaller side branches to emerge as required. I used them on a working bee in England but they are not available here in Oz. I worked out that combined with postage they would cost a dollar each, so ordered some and they arrived promptly. I will apply them to stems and side branches of trees in the orchard to protect them when I get sheep in to keep the grass down. They have the added advantage of providing protection from the whipper snipper.

Speaking of the UK, I was startled to receive an account for outstanding Council Taxes from Medway Council - it seems that they had originally attempted to recover these from the new owner, but as they apply to the period after the departure of the tenant and before the completion of the sale, they are mine to deal with. Fortunately with the exchange rate the way it is, paying them in Australian dollars was a pretty cheap option which I took advantage of.

Tomorrow I have a person called Trixie arriving to help me set up the shed (and I suspect she will find she has one or two other tasks to do) which will be good - getting the last of the lining/insulation sorted and having someone else to do battle with tec screws will be most useful.

And tonight I am supposed to be cleaning the bank but, having decided it is better to do it in daylight at least once a week (due to the absences of one of the flourescent tubes in the front part which makes it hard to see if I have done my job properly), I decided to defer it till later. I might have gone in had it proved difficult to light the fire with no firelighter cubes, but it turns out the new wood takes nicely and so the fire is chugging away merrily.

Three loads of washing dealt with (and two put away) and I will be happy to head to bed which now has a doona cover on the doona!

 More beanies have been knitted, and i have managed to turn the heel on the sock successfully. I tried while at the History Room, but having left most of my stock at home in an effort to reduce the quantity of things I carry in and out, I had left behind the bag that contains useful things like crochet hooks (for picking up stitches), needle gauge etc. So it had to wait till I got home to start the gusset. And that had to wait till I had adequate light to be doing tiny things with dark yarn.

The night before last my evening was disturbed by loud neighings from the stallion next door. When he was still not getting any attention from the owners, I headed out to see what was going on. Got part way up the drive and heard galloping hooves on the road. So I poked my head around the corner and spotted a car that had just pulled up. Asked them if they had seen a horse and he responded that he was down there to talk to the owners as his friend had received reports of a horse on the road. Told him to wait while I got my boots on and a torch and lead, and headed into the fray. Fortunately it was the filly, not the stallion that was out and she had put herself into the pig sty. So we shut the gate to the sty and congratulated ourselves on getting her under control (the neighbours were out).

I then took Seb out to stretch his legs and realised the other end of the pig sty had been dismantled for some reason and she could just walk back out again. So Seb went back inside and I headed over to see what i could do. The section of fencing was just laid back on the ground, but so too was a coil of wire and the filly had her foot stuck in that.....

So taking my life into my hands I ran my hand down her back leg (while she was nibbling contemplatively at my back) and tried to lift her foot out of it. Naturally she has not been handled enough to know about picking up her foot, but cooperated eventually. Once in the air the leg waved around wildly, but fortunately more by way of objection than by way of deliberate kicking and the wire remained attached.

So I patiently bent it back and forth till it broke and she was free. She has also not been taught to 'walk on' so it took a bit of persuading to get her to move forward so I could get the wire out of the yard, reinstate the fence, use a bit more of the wire to secure the fence to a convenient post and go back indoors.

Next morning I had a bit of a sleepin so she was back in with the stallion by then and no word from them next door, or any attempt to check or improve the fencing. With the result that this morning when I awoke I found this in the back yard.....

She was not feeling terribly cooperative so rather than being bitten or kicked, I went next door and knocked them up to come and get her. Now, I don't know about you, but if my horse (or any other stock) had been in a neighbour's yard, once I got them back where they belonged I would be back to check if any damage had been done. But no. So I guess I will be restacking the bales of mulch hay that she was eating when I get a moment.

I did get to the Guild today, if a little later than expected, and their shop is rather dangerous. I bought a moorit fleece (oops) and had fun spinning it for a couple of hours with the ladies and gents, before heading to Bunnings and other destinations and getting home in time to walk the dog before dark, and get the fire lit again.

Fran yes! The vice is a thing of beauty. It will be even more beauteous once I can spare the time to see to it.

I have had a bit of a varied week last week. Monday I headed to Hobart in the hopes of seeing an exhibition at the Art School, but as it was a Public Holiday the school was closed and so too was the exhibition. Fortunately the parking meters were also closed and as it was a nice sunny day I took advantage of the chance to have a bit of a relax and wander (instead of my usual frenzied approach to Hobart). It was a glorious day as you can see.

I comprehensively failed to share my calamari rings and chips with this poor bewildered juvenile (stormy petrel?) on the principle that I do not encourage youths to develop bad habits.

Tuesday was my day off from the History Room as well, so I had a day of carrying stuff out to the shed and reorganising the inside and did much the same on Wednesday. It was nice to have a week off cleaning the bank - no obligation to go out in the evening etc, but when I did finally return to the bank on Wednesday it was rather early as I had expected there to be a gathering at Diana's but there wasn't. So I parked down by the lake and played on the computer till six. The Mill is illuminated at night, and after several attempts I managed to get an image that was not too grainy (sorry about the implied pun).

The autumn colours are starting to emerge in a major way and further fecundity in the orchard is producing apples faster than I can use them. I do have a plan to slice and dry them  but it remains to be seen if it happens.

The medlar has also been remarkably productive this year, though not enough to bother making jelly. By the end of the reduction process I would end up with a teaspoon full, so will pick them once Wednesday is past and give them to someone with a more productive tree (and kitchen).





The colours on their leaves and of the fruit themselves is gorgeous as it is every year, and have inspired me to attempt to reproduce them in dyes. So I have bought some colours to add to the ones I already have and dug out a partial length of corriedale top to play with.

Knitting wise I have finished the beanie I designed for the bloke who gave me the Ryeland fleece. The blue and white are the first attempt at 'woollen style' spinning in the Ryeland, the black is a FinnxEnglish LeicesterxMerino fleece and the brown (which is invisible in this image) is moorit. The green background is the merino fleece I dyed ages ago when first experimenting, plyed with some Ashford merino/baby alpaca crepe style. I love the fleckiness! I don't love the poor execution of the beanie, but i have posted it off anyway.

And I am presently working on a pair of socks - the current one is presently 8 inches long, so another inch and I can start turning the heel. This is the tops blended with nylon that I obtained at the Spin In and which I have since spun to end up fingering weight once plyed.

Another load of wood turned up on my doorstep the other day so  I am well prepared for Wednesday when, by my forecast, we will see some snow. With minus 2 forecast overnight and a maximum of 8 combined with precipitation I reckon it is a pretty safe bet and that will start the bletting process for the medlars - hence my plan to pick on Thursday (or Friday as I hope to get to the Guild on Thursday).

Yesterday I  comprehensively failed to achieve the one definite task I had set myself (emptying out and removing a cupboard from the kitchen). I did, however get several other jobs done and so was rather tired by the end of the day and staggered off to bed at nine.

Three loads of washing dried and put away, shower cleaned (partly with the new steamer which turns out to be pretty useless in a moulded shower situation, and partly with the eco-cloth), oven top cleaned (also with the new steamer - very satisfactory result as no drip marks on the stainless steel), vacuumed the prayer mat and put it away bathed in epsom salts, all sorts of things. But still no empty removed cupboard. Oh well.

Today went rather better at the History Room due to a lack of interest from the general public for the first part of the day. So they now have a plan and elevations of their new cupboard to criticise and comment on, I have sewn in the ends of all the stripes on the scarf I have knitted with the indigo dyed wool from the workshop at Bothwell, and started a pair of socks in the yarn I spun from the nylon-blended merino wool also purchased at Bothwell. And designed the band of sheep for the beanie I am also knitting when 2 ply becomes tiresome.

I finally downloaded some photos from the phone so here is a grab bag of the last few weeks.

 As you can see, Billy is quite at ease with the dog (though the same can not be said for the dog), and prepared to tolerate him at close quarters as long as he is on my lap.

 He will even feign sleep when the dog is close by.

The new work bench looks right in place in the shed and has already come in handy.

 This is a closeup of the vice - it needs two new timber cheeks fitted (you can see the holes for the screws to attach them), and a wire brush - and possibly a lick of red gloss paint!

 This is my dystopian dream catcher - as you can see it looks really pretty but if you get close up you will see the fish hooks and other signs of the dark side.

 My first attempt at 'woollen' spinning (as opposed to worsted which is what I usually do) - it has come up quite nicely now it is plyed and is knitting up in a rather more 'handspun' style than some of my other stuff.

 Billy can be quite clingy at times. Here I had dared to move my arm so he dropped his arm down to clamp me in place. Then I dared to move my hand, so he stretched out and fastened me very firmly in position - all the while feigning sleep.

 This is the scarf I have been knitting (there is more over the other side of the door). When you do lace knitting you are supposed to 'block' it as it dries. I was planning to use some corflute I own, but it turned out to be rather too small, so the door leaning in the laundry is serving the purpose. The beach towel (wrong side showing) is one I have had since I was about 12 and is a bit thin these days, but serves to pin knitting to, and is itself pinned to the panels in the door, as it the hand towel and facewasher that had to be added to provide sufficient length!

This is a closeup of part of it. The blue is the indigo-dyed fluff from the workshop, the stripes are a mixed dye bundle of corriedale I bought the same day which has a bit of a halo about it. It is also stronger than the merino yarn so the stripes tend to take the edges of the scarf out a bit in a scalloped pattern - a happy accident rather than a designed intention.

Two loads of washing done - I was unsure what the weather was doing (cloudy, sunny, breezy, chilly) so did one, then as it was nearly dry, did another. Will do the rest tomorrow.

I also managed several more trips to the shed with contents of kitchen cupboards and offloaded a roll of lino to the neighbour over the road.

I unpacked both the new vacuum cleaner and the steamer and these are now in the shed, with the vac charging merrily away. I will use it to clean the prayer mat I have put out there with a view to cleaning and then rolling up, and see how it goes. The steamer will be applied to various parts of the kitchen (stove etc) and the shower to see how it works then it too will be put to one side for 'ron.

Actually got quite a bit done despite just pottering so am feeling pleased with myself. Tomorrow being another day off, I might get even more done!

Weather has been all over the shop this week, and so have I. Tuesday and today I was on the History Room, so Wednesday, having checked the forecast I decided to do the washing and defer my trip to Hobart till Friday. Then I remembered Friday is Good Friday so a trip to Hobart would be a bit pointless. So I set off at around tennish and was therefore late home.

For all the time I have lived here, people have been telling me there is a hedge on the back road that bears sloes. Every year, for some reason or another I have failed to get there at a suitable time, but yesterday was the day! I of course forgot this in my rush to head to Hobart so arrived without anything to pick into but decided to pick anyway and sort it out later. As I approached the hedge I could see lots of fruit, but nothing that resembled a sloe, but I picked it anyway, pausing from time to time to wonder at the softness, largeness and pinkish redness of the fruit. Having finally picked a jumper full and discovered a ziplock bag under the car seat to transfer them to, I finally cracked and tasted one. Now a sloe is a bitter fruit, one that puckers your mouth and makes you want to gag. They are only acceptable when translated into gin. This, it turned out, was a damson. Sigh. Fortunately damsons also go into gin and make nice drinkies, so that will be their fate tomorrow. Gin, sadly turned out to be remarkably expensive, so I bought vodka instead, so I will have damson vodka on offer in a couple of months time.

On to Kemp and Denning, Shiploads, and other various shops at Cambridge Park at which I spent not a penny, and so into town to the Salamanca Wool Shop where i was once again subjected to the life history of the saleswoman, avoided buying anything (I had promised to go look at some coloured fleeces) and headed off to Howards Storage World. There I scoped out the hanging thingies for the inside of cupboard doors (to store spices, custard powder, smaller sauces and vanilla etc) and bought some drawer dividers (the next lot will come from Shiploads I think). After finally relocating the car I headed to Enwrapt to get some small ziplock bags to use for my record of my spinning activities which turned out to be cellophane bags which I though would be less susceptible to sweating. There I encountered the lovely relaxed approach of store security that is still a hallmark of Tasmania. Total stranger to the shop, carrying a large shopping bag, but the attendant asked me to keep and eye on things as she had to go out the back, lol. She didn't even ask to see in my bag when I left! And yes, most of their stock would have comfortably fitted in the bag with no evidence of its presence. This is the second time i have been asked to do this recently, I find it terribly amusing.

From there it was off to the Reject Shop to get some more storage containers for my ever-increasing stash of wool, and to Coles for food and so home. Walked the dog, cleaned the bank and headed home exhausted.

I spent a happy hour or so labelling bins, transferring contents adding mothproofing and so forth before collapsing into bed.

It was a late night last night because I became engrossed in Escape to the Country and that last episode in Scotland was enthralling. Meanwhile I sat and span/spun/spinned. After various tension squares failed to come up with a suitable number for the desired beanie pattern I had in mind I have worked out how many stitches make an inch and multiplied it by the number of inches I need - it should work! lol. I am rather making this pattern up as I go along as the Alafoss Lopi patterns do not have a turn-up and seem a bit girlie so following the instruction but adding a band and also adding colour-work sheep to it as well (on a rather smoother background than the Ryeland is producing). I am thinking a sheep flanked by border collies with possibly a row of smaller sheep to make up the circle and carry the yarn around to the beginning once more (the down side of using circular knitting methods is the need to carry contrast yarn all around the item as you won't be catching up with the design until you get there.

Lots of houses for sale in Oatlands at the moment - even the tourists are commenting!

And a bit of rain yesterday - 12 mm in total so nothing to write home about but better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.

Yesterday started badly with a total abscence of glasses. They weren't anywhere I might have put them (I take them off for bed or shower only, so not terribly many options) and I was really stressing out that they might have been somewhere on the floor where I might tread on them!!!! Poked under bed and bedside table and chests of drawers with the broom, still no glasses. Since i can not drive without them, I had to resort to searching for their predecessors. And that is how I found them again. Apparently the cat had knocked them off the table, into the drawer and then kindly shut the drawer with them inside. Phew.

Apart from that not much has happened, at least till I took Seb for his walk this afternoon and he slipped his collar. He had a wonderful time racing around the oval, chasing a hare and generally being elusive, but he stopped for an interesting snack he found and I grabbed him by the base of the tail. He lunged around to bite but thought better of it and just lay down in a complete submission - I suspect it is how the dog catcher finally caught him when he was a stray. Totally passive. It was quite worrying, so I talked to him as i fixed the collar  back where it belonged and he soon got over it.

Supposed to be raining this afternoon but not much evidence this will happen so I will hope it arrives tonight.

Better again today - amazing what a past-use-by antihistamine can do to clear the sinuses.

Washed the rest of the recoverable wool from the Ryeland fleece - what does not get spun into the two bobbins i am presently working on will go in a labelled box for future reference. Had to stop on my way into town to let a flock of Suffolks cross the road so booked a fleece with the farmer for his next clip (November). And at the moment I am wrestling with the desire to light a fire and the knowledge it will make sleeping difficult tonight due to increased temperatures. It is this time of the year when a pellet heater would be a very good thing.

Meanwhile the temperature for the next few days will be in the low 20s after which we will once again plunge into cooler ranges (13-14). I really should be packing up the contents of the dresser (the bits not already dealt with which are the precious heirloom bowls etc that have to be properly packed into something that will keep them protected). I found a plastic tub with some old sheets in it, so will pack them into that using the sheets to keep them apart to avoid chipping.

The plastic tubs of fleece have each gained a camphor ball as I spotted a silverfish in the bathroom this morning. Once dispatched, a rapid trip to Oatlands provided the cure.

The book has yet to be given a good reading - I will reserve it for tomorrow in the History Room. It being hardback and fairly large, does not lend itself to reading with a cat firmly planted in the lap.

Tonight is bank cleaning and visiting friends - all good fun.

Tuesday already and a fair bit of progress. Monday I woke early and had already cleared the floor in the spare bedroom before 8. Remaining are the table saw and a small folding table, both of which belong in the shed, but neither of which is going there any time soon. Once they are gone (or moved to one side, the room will be ready to receive the various cabinets from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry but first I need to finish off the lining in the shed so they can go in something resembling a suitable location. I will need some spare muscle to do all this so am trying to track down someone who can work to instructions and provide cheery company while working - it may take a while. I also need to find out what sort of lead time the vinyl people need so I do not find myself kitchenless for a month or still half-kitchened and them on the doorstep.

The plumber came and sorted out the roof plumbing for the shed yesterday also and since most of the relevant parts were missing in action, it seems he was back here today while I was at the History Room. He has sorted out the slow leak from the side outdoor tap, fitted a tap beside the shed and generally made himself useful, though the tank gauge is still in pieces and uninstalled. It seems the string on the float was not all it could be. I will use some string line string to fit it.

Meanwhile in the History Room the wife of one of the other members called in and we talked Council and campaigns - She is interested in developing a team of women to run - apparently has little experience of these matters and does not understand the voting system. I have suggested we get an experienced woman councillor to come talk to us and for her, in the mean time, to identify potential candidates. If it were me I would certainly form a team, but suggest we run on a ticket with a defined preference system so the vote was not scattered across us all and therefore lost. I would be happy to run on such a ticket as long as I was not first preference but am a bit concerned about some of the people she views as suitable candidates. Still, the elections are not till next year and such concerns are not all that important at this point.

Meanwhile I am feeling mildly ill, but I am sure it will pass. If not I will go see the doctor if  I can get an appointment with one who will not go for the pat solution.

Yesterday was a trip to Hobart rather later in the day than usual - I had an Art Exhibition opening to go to being hosted by a friend. She is a ceramicist which sounds fairly uninspiring I realise, but she does amazing stuff with found objects and thinly rolled clay cut out with cookie cutters then rolled onto textured surfaces of bark and shells. The glaze might be anything from Raku to none. My purchase (oooops) was a 'Dystopian Dream Catcher' with the ring formed from a bit of old reinforcing rod, suspended from  a spring that may once have added bounce to a trampoline. The circle is divided by two strands of rusted barbed wire that has survived two bushfires, and from this, suspended from fish hooks is a flock of birds. Pretty from a distance and disturbing close up - it will look wonderful over the fire place once the lounge is finished.

I had a beer at the opening and after getting in the car concluded a cup of tea would not go astray so lobbed into Barbara's house with no notice and received refreshment and conversation before heading home.

Today was the spinning group - only four of us today but quite a few visitors to the Supreme Court building, many of whom dropped by for a chat and to admire our work