Rangas, Records and other things that don't begin with R.

There have been lots of things happening in the Amazona household over the past month.
So much in fact that poor Blog has been feeling quite neglected.
Firstly this has been happening...

No, I did not buy a new generator.

This is the first box I packed as we begin to pack up our little house and move only a short distance away to set up a fresh new home with the Bear. After several years of living between 2 houses (although mostly in mine), my gorgeous Bear and I are shacking up. Blending fams so to speak. It's a little bit exciting!

And a little bit sad because whilst my little house is getting old and a bit worn, I'll miss my big backyard with the eternally fruiting lemon tree. And the rainbow lorikeets that flock to the nashi pear trees in February. The fig tree that has only just started growing figs. And I will really miss our suburb. So close to the beach and with a lovely community spirit.

In an effort to get the Bears house ready for Spring, a few weeks ago we dug up a patch in the garden, set up a massive trellis and sowed a line of Sweet Pea seeds.

After they popped up their little seedling heads, the snails ate all but one. 🐌🌱

A couple of weeks ago, I gave up my Saturday morning sleep in and trudged into the Melbourne CBD to display a bit of redheaded ranting at the 2nd Annual Ginger Pride Rally!

Melbourne City council obviously thought so many gingernuts, rangas, coppertops and flaming tomatoes with their famous firey tempers were bound to cause trouble so there were crowd control wardens...


"Hey Jim, watch out for the one in boots. She looks like she's about to riot!"
"No worries Fred. I've got enough pepper spray to light up the whole bag of carrots..."


Gingers, duracells, matchsticks and freckle faced carrot tops of all shades were represented. Non-gingers were also welcome but had to be accompanied by a BloodNut friend or family member.

Because Star Wars inspired slogans make everything cool...

A non- ginger hides his shameful brown fuzz with an appropriately coloured scarf.

There were games of ginger beer pong, and even a ginger speed dating booth for those of you wanting to help spread the MC1R gene by doing the wild thang with a genu-wine Fanta pants!

The SPF50+ sunscreen and ginger beer flowed freely as pale skinned Titian creatures frolicked under the partly cloudy skies. 

There were flamed haired rock bands starting with local Melbourne band The Vanns.

Many of us frequently scampered to the shade of the small trees in Federation Square when the sun peeked from behind the clouds lest we sizzle like sliced tomatoes on the bbq.
 
The Rally also raised money for the Alannah & Madeline Foundation which raises awareness & funds to help stop bullying against children (including little rangas!)

There was loads of camera-people running around taking photos and videos. Finding myself in some of the photos of this Daily Mail article was a little bit like looking at those Where's Wally books. Can you find me?

We all like, totally felt like celebrities, like totally....

 

1500 of us marched and chanted from Federation Square and around Alexandria Gardens. The march organisers led rousing chants with megaphones such as:

"R.A.N.G.A! We will never go away!"

"We're proud! We're red! We're really good in bed!"

I am hoping the parents of our little baby rangas didn't let the kiddies chant that last one...

There were even some orange & red flowers along the way showing solidarity...

 

In crochet news, I have also been crocheting a lovely light blue cardigan from a pattern I found in an old copy of Simply Crochet magazine. Issue 34 to be precise.

It's called the Cream Soda Lacy Cardigan by Annalies Baes. I love how this already fits so well.
The pattern calls for Malabrigo Arroyo Merino and 4 and 4.5mm hooks. 

However I have 3 balls of light blue 5ply acrylic. I had bought them by accident thinking they were DK, and because I never use 5ply, thought they'd sit there unused. However after creating a swatch for this pattern decided to use them but crocheting with 3 and 3.5mm hooks.

I love love love this old Rod Stewart compilation. The cover is in the shape of a scotch glass.

Since Bear gave me a record player for Christmas, I have been finding gorgeous 2nd hand vinyls in op shops, and by raiding Bears record collection. I did still have some of my own left over from when I ditched my last record player after it died nearly 10 years ago.

It's been so lovely to make a cuppa, pop on one of these classic LPs and crochet this lovely cardigan.



Me and Ian Anderson go waaaaay back. I used to listen to my dads original copy of Thick As A Brick over and over again.

The busy-ness of life has seriously interfered with pattern writing time.

I have been trying to finish editing and photographing my latest mandala for nearly, or morely a month.  (yes I know 'morely' isn't a proper word but it sounds like it should be!)

 

I did finish one, then realised my stitch count was all wrong. So instead of frogging it, I finished it off, then started another.

I really love the colours in this mandala. I used the same cottons as my arm mitts but also added some gold thread.
 

Would you believe good old Susi Q has been amazing for inspiring wild, colourful mandalas?

 

I finally finished my mandala that has been remade and perfected over the past couple of months.  I guess it has been inspired by the 70s glam rock that I've been listening to lately such as Suzi Quatro and The Sweet (I love love love Ballroom Blitz!).
Check it out!

Stay tuned as I publish the pattern in the next day or two!

So in between cardigans, mandalas, Ranga Rallies, and moving house I am also planning a rather amazing little excursion to a place FAR FAR away.

A place where I never imagined visiting.

A place which feels a teensy bit intimidating but exciting!

It has been very 'spur of the moment' as I have a family member getting married and I was thrilled they thought to invite me but they don't exactly live 5 minutes down the road...

I'm going to keep it under my belt for a little longer yet. I'll let you know where I'm going when it gets closer to the time!

Like seriously people. Do you ever have those times when nothing happens for ages, then everything, like all of the really big things happen at once?

It's like life is nice a sleepy. A little dull, but in a nice sleepy way, then someone sticks a firecracker under your bum! Startling, makes you jump, maybe swear, but with lots of pretty colours.

Thanks for visiting!

xox

Louise

The Red Haired Amazona