Today's Activities

Today has been such a productive day, it started off with more Mulberry picking, but after a while we just stretched an old mosquito net under each branch, shook the branches and loads of ripe fruit rained down. It was wonderful and so much easier than picking each little berry individually. They were washed and another 12 bottles of jam have been made, I really love this, I feel like a pioneer! The soap that we made a few weeks ago is hardening nicely and we will start using that in about a months time. So for now we have jam and handmade soap to gift friends and family with at Christmas:) I must start on some more gifts, Christmas is so close now!

I also managed to plant some seeds today for squash, pumpkins and sugar baby melons.

Catching mulberries...

We have discovered that we also have a white mulberry tree, those berries are in the basin on the right, I will make a new batch of jam for these.

This is Lucy Rabbit she is visiting us all the way from Australia. I will soon be sending her on to Kristen in the USA. Lucy has been patiently watching me make jam all day:) It is so lovely to have her visit us:)

I love these Calendula flowers, I have planted them all amongst my veggies to attract bees and other pollinators.

Grapefruits!

A shy apple...

Happy Wednesday:)

Flower and Leaf Garland and a small Giveaway...

We always find these little flowering creepers climbing their way through our herb garden, in and out of the plants they wind their way, they have the most beautiful trumpet flowers. Their colours are spectacular and I have been working on this little garland pattern since yesterday. It could have so many uses, perfect for Spring and Summer, for weddings, as table settings etc...you can also make the garland as long as you wish. You could even use the flowers and leaves as embellishments on clothing, hats or make little hair clips with the flowers too:)

The flowers are knitted in the round with the Magic Loop but can also be knitted with DPNs.

The stems and vines are knitted with i-cords.
The pattern consists of patterns for the flowers, the leaves, the stems and vines.
Fairly easy patterns.

Measurements:
Flowers: 3 inches tall
Leaves: 3.5 inches from top to base including stem.

Congratulations to:
          Steph:
          I also shared your giveaway on my Facebook page!

         October 23, 2011 12:43 PM

          Tammy:

Cute design..! Would love to have the pattern. Count me in!
knitwit29@gmail.com

October 24, 2011 9:43 AM

Gracey is not my Name:

Cool looking vine and flowers...not sure I have the skillz yet, but couldn't hurt to give it a try!

October 23, 2011 2:47 PM

I will email off your patterns soon:)

xo

Linda

Giveaway:

This Flower and Leaf Garland Pattern is a new pattern in my shop, if you would like to win one of the three patterns I am giving away, just leave a comment in this post and an email address where I can send the pattern if you win:)

If you would like to share about this giveaway, that would be lovely too and let me know with another comment, this will give you extra entries:)

I will choose the winners on Tuesday and post about it here.

Have a lovely Sunday
xo
Linda

Bumble Bee Knitting Pattern

I had noticed that the Wisteria creeper was full of buds before we left for our holiday, it's amazing how a garden can change in just four days! We have returned to the most amazing display of mauve colour imaginable. When we were outside this morning feeding the chickens, Erin called me to come and have a look at the beautiful Wisteria flowers. When I went to her, she told me to listen... wow! There were hundreds of bumble bees flitting from one flower to the next. There were plenty of regular bees there too.

Well, as you can imagine, I was inspired to knit a little bee! So off I went and found some black and yellow mohair scraps, it needed to be mohair because little bees are so fuzzy and well full of pollen, so mohair was perfect.

I knitted him in the round on my circular needles but DPNs would work just as well too and after a few minutes, there he was, a little bee:)

Materials:
4mm / US 6 circular needles or DPNs
DK Kid Mohair yarn scraps
Merino fleece for stuffing
Wool needle for sewing up
Black and white fleece for the eyes
Felting needle

Pattern:

Cast on 6 stitches in black yarn and join for knitting  in the round.
Round 1: Knit
Round 2: Knit into the front and back of all the stitches across the round. (12 stitches)
Round 3: Join the yellow yarn, and knit the round.
Round 4: Knit into the front and back of all the stitches across the round. (24 stitches)
Round 5: Pick up the black strand and leave the yellow strand and knit the round.
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: Pick up the yellow strand and leave the black strand and knit round.
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: Pick up the black strand and leave the yellow strand and knit round.
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: Pick up the yellow strand and leave the black strand and knit 2 stitches together all across the round. (12 stitches)
Round 12: Knit
Round 13: Pick up the black strand and leave the yellow strand and knit 2 stitches together across the round. (6 stitches)
Round 14: Knit
Round 15: Knit

Stuff the little bee before you finish off, then break the yarn, thread the yarn through a wool needle and thread the needle through the remaining stitches. Finish off. This will be the stinger of the bee.

Wings:
With a wool needle, sew two black loops over each other for each wing.

Eyes:
Needle felt the eyes, first with white fleece and then a little black circle of fleece in the centre of the eye.

You are finished:)

Can you see this little bumble bee in the photo above?

Thank you so much for your thoughts for Kye today, he went into hospital early this morning, everything went smoothly and he is recovering at home, he is back to his normal self already:)

Happy knitting and have a lovely week:)
xo
Linda

Out and About in our Garden

I am loving working in the garden at the moment, there has been so much progress, our raised vegetable box beds have all be repaired and composted, we have added gravel to the pathways, which look a lot neater now and this keeps the weeds at bay too. I have been using the most wonderful online veg garden planner, it is called Grow Veg and it really is worth taking a look at. You can plan you veg garden, what you will plant in each box or bed, the programme also lets you know what plants will be suitable as companions for each vegetable keeping them pest free and enriching the soil. It helps and gives guidance on crop rotation and how to ensure continuous food with succession planting. You can even add your postal code to the programme, it will take your seasons and weather conditions all into account. I really am enjoying this tremendously!

I am also reading a book I downloaded to my PCs Kindle called One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein, I was going to order the book, but I couldn't wait to read it so I just bought the kindle version and I love it!

Other lovely organic gardening sites to visit are Jane's Delicious Garden and her blog she has a book out too by the same name.

And now for some garden snapshots...

These are our Primulas that are in full bloom...

We have added crushed stone to our pathways...

Hooray!! The Asparagus has started to grow.... Delicious!

Nectarine blossoms...

Aahhh, the Rocket is so tasty this year, it just continues to grow by seeding itself all over the garden...

Miniature Prune blossoms...

This plant is so gorgeous, it is called Buddleja, an indigenous plant to South Africa, it is flowering now during our winter months and the perfume that emanates from its flowers is just amazing...

These two Grey Louries, were arguing over a piece of orange they discovered on the bird feeder this morning, very entertaining to watch:)

This is one of my favourite birds, the Rameron Pigeon, they are huge birds, with large yellow feet, beaks and circles around their eyes, so beautiful...

Wishing you all a wonderful week.
xo
Linda