Don't walk on the lions or the bears will get you...

It's funny how memories stay with us.

When we were kids my Dad loved to read us poems from A.A. Milne's "When We Were Very Young" (A.A.Milne is also the creator of Whinnie the Pooh).

I remember one night my youngest brother (4 or 5 at the time) wanted a story read to him at bedtime and Dad kindly offered. In he went to Lac's room with two books in hand, A.A. Milne's "When We Were Very Young" and J.R.R Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". Lac was not impressed!

Anyway, my point is, Dad often read us these poems. I have many favourites, but one I remember always (not the poem so much as the topic) is 'Lines and Squares'.

Lines and Squares

Whenever I walk in a London street,

I'm ever so careful to watch my feet;

And I keep in the squares,

And the masses of bears,

Who wait at the corners all ready to eat

The sillies who tread on the lines of the street

Go back to their lairs,

And I say to them, "Bears,

Just look how I'm walking in all the squares!"

And the little bears growl to each other, "He's mine,

As soon as he's silly and steps on a line."

And some of the bigger bears try to pretend

That they came round the corner to look for a friend;

And they try to pretend that nobody cares

Whether you walk on the lines or squares.

But only the sillies believe their talk;

It's ever so portant how you walk.

And it's ever so jolly to call out, "Bears,

Just watch me walking in all the squares!"

by Alan Alexander Milne 1882-1956 [from his poetry book: When We Were Very Young ]

Whenever we walked anywhere I was always very careful not to walk on the lions in case the bears got me. Yes, I know, it's L-I-N-E-S but had a lot of trouble saying lines and it always came out L-I-O-N-S. It was such a natural thing to walk down a footpath avoiding the lines that even now I have trouble walking on the lines (and the lions).

I was thinking this as I found myself avoiding the lions on the footpath as a walked home from the station. Actually I was cursing the council for not making the squares even and making me adjust my steps for each square, just so I didn't step on the lions. That is when I realised that I was doing it! People must think I'm strange but hey! what do I care!! as long as the lions are OK and bears stay away. *grin*

Fabric arrived!!

The fabrics that I won from Trish (Trishalan Designs) arrived this week. I haven't had a chance to photograph them, but if you drop by Trish's online shop you'll see them there. I got the Bouganvillea and the Sunburnt Country sets.

Thanks Trish!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out my new slippers....

I started these on the train-ride home on Friday afternoon and finished them on the the train on Monday (of course I worked on them over the weekend as well).



They are to be felted - hence their enourmous size!!!!!!!



This is the comparison - before felting and after.



The other is yet to be felted but the first took has gone through the washing machine on the hottest wash (90 degrees C) twice. It's still a size or two bigger than my foot but that's OK.

Of course I didn't do any testing first - who can wait for that? Certainly not me!! The wool I used was probably a bit (actually it WAS a LOT) thicker than the pattern asked. It said 10ply and I couldn't find any 10 ply. The one I used didn't have a ply but was probably more like 12.

Never mind. When I felt the second I'll throw them both in the dryer and see if that shrinks them any further. If not it still doesn't matter because they're comfy all the same.

We also went to the beach on the weekend. I walked and took photos and then retreated to the shade (and my knitting) before I got scorched. I wanted to share some of the scenery with you.


The pelicans were so good - they stood and posed for me for ages, changing positions occasionally.


This is the "Ozone" at Indented Head (Bellarine Peninsular, Victoria). It's a paddle steamer that was sunk to create a breakwater. B went diving around it while I enjoyed the scenery.

I won!!!!!!!!!

Trish from Trishalan Designs had a competition in October, giving away two sets of her fabulous hand-dyed fabrics to a lucky reader who left a comment on her blog. I was the first in, and the first name to be drawn.

I can't wait to see her fabrics for real. I'll have to come up with something equally fabulous to make with them. Hmmmm what to do?........