More cute kids in hats

I’m just back from Melbourne again, and so so so much to blog about … but not right now. If I try, my brain may well explode and that’s never going to be good.

So for now I’ll show you Master Noah [ last week's birthday boy ] in his TMNT hat which did not come off his head the entire time that he was at his Auntie Nadie’s place yesterday. Please excuse Nannie’s dishevelled ‘do’ – I forgot to pack a brush or comb. This is me more or less au naturelle, or would be if blue hair could be considered natural.

and just so that no one can accuse me of being unfair, or biased in any way:

here’s my little Abby monkey

[photo:Judie Gade]

 

 

 

More Turtle Power

You may remember from the last post, that my major concern was whether the Teenage Mutant Turtle hats that I’d made for the three oldest grandkids would actually fit them.

I only had head circumferences to work from, which meant I pretty much had to wing it when it came to depth and also the width of the face openings.

Possibly more by good luck than good management, all three were a perfect fit

I can only provide visual proof for two because the birthday boy was a tad hyped up on sugar-and-presents and just would not sit still long enough

but the other two approved for sure

Turtle Power!

Remember these guys?

Back in 1987, my eldest had me videotaping a new cartoon series that had just hit our screens, and which, unfortunately, aired just before he made it home from High School. Ergo the daily videotaping.

At least for a while.

I can’t remember whether he got over the TMNTs or whether the airing time changed and he was able to see them as they aired.

Probably a bit of both.

Anyway there have been many incarnations since. The cartoons aimed at kids were of necessity a bit lighter in tone than the comic book versions aimed at a slightly older audience, and the look of the turtles changed a bit when CGI came in.

I thought they’d faded into the mists of forgotten merchandising fads

Apparently not so.

My #2 grandson is currently enamoured with said Chelonians, so – at his daddy’s suggestion – I decided to make him a Raphael hat as part of his birthday present. This is Raphael:

I couldn’t find a pattern that I liked, and murky-turtle green was in astonishingly short supply in my stash. However, a quick hit on the Bendigo Woollen Mills website provided the appropriate colour [ although - surprisingly - they call it 'Bracken' rather than murky-turtle ] in the weight of yarn I preferred, and then my improvisational crochet skills were called into use.

First version using a conventional earflap … passable but not quite what I had in mind.

Version 2 with a more helmet type shape and with shaping into the back of the neck for maximum warmth:

Then I had to decide on how to do the eyes. Roundish and googly like the original turtles or more teardrop-shaped [ and slightly sinister ] like the later iterations?  I really preferred the look of the teardrop shaped ones, and after a little experimentation came up with these:

But then it was gently suggested that similar hats for his siblings for be happily received , so a blue [Leonardo ] one for Riley, and a pink one for Asher even though there are no girl turtles as far as I know.

Finished this morning, for delivery tomorrow, and now all I have to do is keep my fingers crossed that I managed to get the sizes right.

… and that they like them

 

ETA: the pink turtle now has eyelashes

Speechless*

* this was not a Mothers Day pressie as such

Twinings had these sweet decorative tea tins in mauve, grey or turquoise, on sale at Coles and Woolies supermarkets, but the nearest of those is about 80km round trip [ insert sadface here ] … and then I discovered that I could buy them on-line through the Twinings Australia site. So I ordered a couple for myself and one in Nadie’s favourite colour for her first Mother’s Day.

They arrived this morning which is pretty good going when you consider that I only ordered them on Friday.

Anyway, seeing that  I bought the big box o’tea for myself, why am I speechless you ask. Take another closer look at the label on the end of the box

Yup

Moter’s Day

… Epic fail from the packaging company / Twinings / whoever is responsible

and

who was so fixated on my big box of Twinings goodness that they didn’t even notice ?

Beary Happy Bear-thday

I did have a dog growing up – a daschund named Brandy – but he died when I was about 15, and there were no pets of any kind after him. Well, not until after Marc and got married, and acquired the first of many cats … and guppies … rabbit … guinea pigs … more cats … and of course, latterly, guinea fowl, duck[s] and goats.

But mainly cats.

So it was a huge surprise for many of my nearest and dearest  when I was adopted by Bear.

He was born on the property next door

and decided fairly quickly that I was his person.

**Cue puppy nuzzling into the side of my neck**

Brenda: ” You can have him if you like”

Me: “But I don’t need a dog”

Brenda:” But you can have this one …”

Me: “But …”

Well we all know how THAT turned out don’t we?

Today, after a run past the butcher for the obligatory Natal Anniversary Bag O’ Bones, His Beariness was conveyed with full pomp and circumstance [ well actually, it was just the rug on the back seat of the SUV ] over to Emu Creek for a 5th birthday nosh-up with his sister Molly, and various members of the extended pack.

So Happy Birthday little buddy. Can’t imagine life without you any more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello May. I missed You.

An overnight temperature just slightly south of zero wouldn’t be particularly noteworthy if this was June. It would be almost commonplace if this was July.

But as it’s only the second day of May, last night’s overnight low of minus 1 felt more than a bit nippy.

Especially as we were wearing short sleeves only a week ago, so we haven’t really had a chance to slowly acclimatise. Not that we ever do. Castlemaine is nothing if not extreme in its weather changes … which is one of the reasons why Castlemaine folks perfected the art of ‘layer dressing’ long before the rest of the world caught on.

Today I started out in socks, leggings, trousers, a long sleeved top, a dress over all that, a jacket and a knitted hat. Thus far the hat, jacket and trousers have come off. When it gets REALLY cold, the kit will include a cowl or scarf, wristwarmers / fingerless gloves and legwarmers. Maybe a jumper/sweater.

For now though, it has turned into an absolutely stunning, clear autumn day.

Perfect for outside work like raking and piling and bonfiring.

It will – no doubt – be equally cold tonight with no cloud cover to trap the heat, but for now, it’s a lovely day to be a goat

Spinning at the Goat Show

Perhaps I should have titled this multi-tasking at the Goat Show.

It was the last weekend in April, so for the third year running, Renata, David Abigail and I could be found at the Prince Of Wales Showgrounds in Bendigo, surrounded by boer goats, woodturners, saanen goats, chrysanthemums, cashmere goats, giant pumpkins [309 kilograms!! ] angora goats, fabulous food, mini goats, local food producers, nubian goats  … and alpacas.

We were basically there to pad out the ‘exhibits’, do a favour for our favourite goat gurus Pete-and-Brenda, and to add a bit of Ye Olde Worlde local colour.

 

I took one of the upright [castle] spinning wheels and spun appropriately goat-y cashmere/mohair, Nadie was demonstrating supported spinning using a spindle turned by a local Bendy bloke by the name of Jeff, who, we are reliably informed, was there amongst the woodturners, [ shame we couldn't remember the name of Tara's supplier  of wonderful turned thingies ]

David who isn’t really an ‘animal’ person, was fairly resigned to a boring weekend, and Abby cornered the market on being cute and adorable [ although these ladies came a close second ]

As you can see from the video, Nadie has fully mastered the art of Mummy multi-tasking, although she feels this wasn’t her BEST spinning, given that she couldn’t see what the heck she was doing over Abby.

Call me biased if you like, but I think she’s pretty damn impressive.