I don't hate August anymore.

 

I normally ignore August.

It's still technically Winter. It has a grandiose sounding name (AUGUST!) but I spend so much time yearning for Spring which starts in September, that I don't really pay much attention to August. Poor August.

But the early blossoming trees are doing their funky thing.

So this year I stopped whinging about the sleety, cold rain and horrid winds that charge through our city and paid closer attention to August.
I realised August isn't really Winter. It's 'pre-Spring'.  It's just as fed up with Winter as us humans are, and is trying to shed the bad rap.

The days are trying to be a little bit longer at a rate of about 2 minutes per day. Sounds like a snails' pace but after losing sun at around 5-5.30pm, by the end of August, there will still be a lighter sky around 6.15-6.30! Reminding us that long Summer days aren't far away.

We have prepared the vegie garden for the summer crops. Turned in bags of horse poo and I set up a Snow Pea Teepee complete with fairy lights!

The Earlicheer Jonquil lives up to its' name with flower heads so fat, they keep falling over.

This rose had a nice sheltered spot through Winter, so kept flowering but needs a hard cutback as all its' flowers come out slightly fasciated.

After a couple of years of poor tulip performance, I kept this batch in the spare bar fridge for about 6 weeks before planting.

And they are looking beautiful!

I also planted Ranunculus in random spots throughout the garden and in some pots. It's been fun seeing where they have popped up because I usually forget where I plant bulbs.

I planted more shallots. We love them in salads and stir-fries!

 

I made a sweet Lalylala lady bird from a free pattern that was included in a magazine, I think it was Inside Crochet? All the good crochet and craft magazines come from the UK & the US but we get them 6 weeks after they are sold there. It feels very 1950s waiting such a long time for stuff like that when I can order something from the UK direct and get it in 7-10 days.

 

Like this!!!

I literally squealed at the courier when he arrived with these 2 big bundles. Like girlie/ psycho squealed. He looked kind of freaked out. A 40 something woman with her hair in a towel, no makeup (and not in one of those Instagram- worthy casual glam ways. But haggard, real life, 'where the f*** did my youth go' ways).

I was lucky enough to have a little tax refund after I lodged my return this year. I could have saved it. I could have put it towards bills. Sure! That would be the responsible, grown up thing to do. And because paying bills and saving are grown up, adulty things, I immediately spent it.
Deramores UK were having a nice sale of Stylecraft DK and Scheepjes cottons. With free postage on international orders over I think $75.

I thought to myself, "Hmm, it would be okay if I bought $75 worth of yarn!  That's a nice splurge."
I bloody blew that limit out of the water!
But here's the thing...
Our local craft stores have double knit acrylics but the colour range of Stylecraft is gorgeous. I prefer to use small local yarn shops but they tend to stock very expensive boutique yarns. Stylecraft yarns aren't sold in Australia and if someone does sell them here, they are horrifically expensive. So I bought a nice batch for super cheap from Deramores, but I could have bought 2 or 3 of every single colour and I think they have more than 80?

 

I also chose a pretty armful of cute little Scheepjes Catona. 

And these 7 skeins of Scheepjes Sweet Treats. Aren't they sooooo delicious!

Just before I received my lovely big bundles, the Mothership and the Fatherdom came to Melbourne for a visit and brought along a present for me.

This is a wooden suitcase which I made in woodwork class when I was 16. Nearly 30 years ago! For ages (probably nearly 30 years) the parentals have used it to store irrigation sprinklers in the back shed. They cleaned it up, painted it cream (it was plain pine) and vajazzled it.
Now it has a new job!

 

Holding all my old and new cottons!

The delicious colours of the Scheepjes Catona and Sweet Treat has inspired me to go back to making something that I used to love crocheting.

Birds...

This little sweet bird above was the first of a new type I am making. He is a kind of plain green here as this was Prototype No.1!  He isn't wonky, I placed his beak and eyes so it looks like he is looking to the side. Kind of being coy!
He has some way to go before I'm happy with the end design but he was made with the Scheepjes Sweet Treat colours.

I'm in the middle of making this one below using the same design but with Scheepjes Catona!

It has colourful pins for eyes and a beak at the moment while I sew the wings on. Then I have to make certain facial decisions!
Phew! There were a lot of photos in this post. Thanks for visiting!

xox

Louise

The Red Haired Amazona