the snood is in the hood

We've had weeks of grey, rain, hail and sleet.

Rainbows momentarily breaking through and occasional shards of sunlight casting dark shadows.

The fire has been glowing golden orange and I have been sitting there, knitting beside it.

With 7mm needles I cast on 60 stitches in a warm grey double knit and clicked away in garter stitch until it was 70cms long and stitched up the ends to make a tube. I hear these are called 'Snoods' - a hybrid of a hood and a scarf.

For interest there are 3 rows of laddering starting 27 cm along. This lacy effect is made by wrapping the wool around the needle 3 times instead of just the once and knitting the next row normally but letting the extra wool unravel. Then work 4 rows and start the new ladder row on the 6th row again x 3.

These days, every little bit of light we get sent is a kind of rare treat that can't be taken for granted. I have sat like a hunter, hungry and waiting for it to appear, capturing it, then in a moment of gratitude, happy to have it disappear again. I watch trees losing their leaves and becoming all the more bare and it feels as if we are all getting very quiet. We settle in, sleeping and snuggling for longer as we near the shortest day, nearly two weeks away. As always, this time of the year speaks to me of something promising. The quiet before the growth.

be warmer still x

pieces of today

Sourdough therapy- photographs courtesy of the 3 year old

The procurement of a freezer box in which to make believe away some time while mamaG finished filling an order

... the powerstore will give them out for free...

A lot of time spent sitting right here

and here

reading some of this

reminding me a bit of this super dooper cool dad and his wonderous ideas

Liking the idea of this one as it seems especially appealing to adults for obvious reasons

perhaps another drizzly day wasn't so bad after all

keep warm x

unruly

She has such unruly hair - not behaviour, thankfully... at least not today. Not from her anyway.

Like that of a mohair goat, sometimes frizzy curly, other times ringlet curly... but never tidy.

So, after much experimentation with all sorts of silly hair accessories and much worrying about where they had gone and whether they had been ingested or not, I've decided to give these homemade Alice bands a shot. They seem to be doing the trick so far.

We will cross our fingers and hope we don't have to cut her some weird curly fringe thing to keep these curls with a mind of their own out of her big blue eyes.

murals on buildings

I love it when I stumble across an otherwise drab building that has been beautified for our benefit. I guess the council funds this kind of street art to make us less likely to grumble about the rates we pay. It's kinda working on me right now...

I found this mural in Kaiapoi while I was out walking with my Grandma.

It's along the river wharf, just past the old railway station heading back into town.

There are real tussocks in the foreground and because the painted scenery blends with the immediate plantings, it's the building itself that looks out of context.

It shows us the native wetlands and wildlife of the area before it became gentrified.

So aside from the artistry these murals also serve to tell a story.

These charming depictions are from along side the butchers shop in Oxford.

Wondering what these dudes are gassing about? Same old I guess...

or perhaps the price of meat.

crazy rain

Crazy rain came and kept coming.

It made the backyard boggy and the trains stop running

Slips and floods where ground can't cope to soak it up

and so it spread sideways, and a baby hedgehog was found dead, presumably drowned.

And buried in said soggy-boggy garden. A child upset at the incomprehensible sadness,

while I felt sorry for farmers whose feed for winter has been forsaken

by too much too late.

But we had our saving graces:

Funny hat sessions

Space mobiles

and ginormous feijoas with their floral fragrance devoured skin and all.

sorry

Just incase you didn't know, I am here to torment you.

You know you shouldn't but you probably will....

See you there and here.

mamGhomemade SHOP on ETSY

Finally it's happening. I have opened up shop online and will be listing new items daily for most of this week. I will continue to showcase a lot of my designs here on this blog, as well as much of what inspires and feeds the process. It's early days yet but I am very excited about this new direction for mamaGhomemade and invite you to join me on the journey.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Follow the link and see you there!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamaghomemade