Spring days and Crochet Tits (er, Birds)

It's Spring! Prepare for a few gratuitous flower photos...

We've had a funny kind of Spring down here in Kangaroo Land.

Love love love Apple Blossom! 

Spring can be cool, warm, windy, then cool again.

I literally inhale the perfume of sweet peas!

This year the temperatures are swinging so rapidly and widely some times I'm not sure if it's the Godzilla El Nino the meteorologists are threatening us with or if I'm going through early menopause.

The Pear blossoms were falling like snow last week.

Last week we had a 35 degree day. That's celcius people! That's hot summer, yuck, 'where's the bloody air-con' hot!

Native violets growing in my Lime tree pot.

Then the very next day it was 18 degrees.  Yes. 18 degrees celcius.

So in practice it works like this:

Oh holy Oprah it's friggin hot!

I bring the guinea pigs inside to live in the bathtub for the day so I don't come home after work to find their little smelly carcasses dead in their hutch.  Axels cage is plonked on the cool of the tiled kitchen floor.
When we're home, the 1980s aircon blows constant Antarctic chill into the loungeroom at the noise level of a Boeing 747 and there are no less than 4 fans and 2 portable evaporative coolers going so the whole house sounds we're testing the latest Holden Monaro for aerodynamics in a wind tunnel.

After tossing and turning in the wind tunnel until 3am when we finally drift off to sleep, the cool change blows in and we wake again at about 5am when the temp drops to 11 degrees.

All windy, cooly blowy things are switched off and we cosy up under doonas.

Waking up bleary eyed at 6.30am after the crappest night sleep, it's time for ALL OF THE LAYERS as I dress the kids and myself to set out for a miserable cold day.

The guinea pigs go back outside, I de-stinkify the bathroom from their fetid piggy- pee smells and actually Thank Yoda I live in crazy weather Melbourne where the heat waves never last too long.

It's crazy weather times, but except for inwardly freaking out at this possible End Of The World example of Global Warming, I don't mind it!

I have had some lovely Spring flower joy so far.

Sonofagun No.2 was disappointed that they didn't look like real dragons. 

I haven't planted too much this year, but just enough to fill a vase or two.

I've also been working on a few little things.

I have finished creating this sweet little bird. 

My friend Vicki from off The Hook called him a Tit. 

I was thinking of making a whole bunch of them, taking a photo to post on Facie and asking people if they like my Tits.

I've just read that last sentence back a few times. Perhaps it's not the best idea.

We don't really have THOSE kinds of Tits in Australia. There's a Crested Shrike- tit. But I think Australian Ornithologists realised if they called birds in Australia 'Tits', and had to talk about them at lectures to other Australian Ornithologists, the whole audience would be snickering and chuckling like a bunch of teenagers.
It would be worse if it was their main focus of study. At dinner parties, sorry, it's Australia: at BBQs someone would ask,

"Oi mate, whaddya do for a crust?"

"I study tits!"

"Crikey! I tried doin' that at the beach the other day and they called the coppas! And you do it legit? You're a bloody legend Mate!"

One of my Facebook page followers Margaret suggested I call it Steve.  I liked it, but thought as I'm headed to see Fleetwood Mac in concert soon I'd call her Stevie instead. Hope you don't mind Margaret!

I'm also trying to work out how to make a kingfisher.  Kookaburras are members of the kingfisher family.  I'd love to make a Kookaburra. It's in the works but their bodies are a bit stockier than other kingfishers. And they have longer tails.

I've also had lots of questions lately about the Cloche Hat pattern.

The main questions people ask are about how to alter the pattern to suit children of different ages.

So I'm working on it!  There is a brief description in the original Russian pattern which mentions reducing the number of double crochets worked into the 1st row, but I'm experimenting on a few different options.  I've also been revisiting some of the different methods that put single crochets in different places etc.  Just to kind of get a sense of what looks best. 

I've also had another cotton yarn splurge.  I really totally, honestly intended to only buy 1 ball!  But every colour just made me think of different types of birds I could make!

OK. I've blabbed enough for today.  Have a nice weekend!