Nets, and some other Nutty stuff ...

? apropos of Nothing ... or something like that ...
This is actually a post that I did NOT get around to posting back when I wrote it, so it is Not all New Now.

I Kind of didn't get around to a K post, for ABC Wednesday, and Lost the chance to do L in time ... Much the same for M ... so Now it is ... er - make that "was" ... N time (in fact it is Nearly too late for that!) ... lets hope this one doesn't end up as "Oops" ;-)
No - worse maybe - I was Naughty and "lost" it in among my draft posts for a year or so - LOL

The other day week month ... last year, I think I did take a photo of Nancy and her Nice, Nifty, Nets ... and she said she didn't mind if I used the photo on my blog ;-)

[ insert nancy net photo here if I can FIND it]

ok ... that might be easier said than done, but I am finding a few other N photos while I am looking:


a ?yabby Net that the dog fished out of a local dam 

... I think whoever left it there was probably a bit Naughty - as far as I know one is Not allowed to use that sort of Net in this area.

I also found a photo of some Nutrigrain:

... why was I playing with Nutrigrain at work? 
 - I was doing this:

 - setting up a rather odd science practical lesson ... the nutrigrain and beads and stuff were "prey" and the students got to use forks/spoons/skewers/etc to be different types of predators.


I also get to clean up the mess after science lessons ... and sometimes I get some odd things come back from the classroom ... something definitely looks Not quite right (in fact definitely wrong) here:

The brownish one is what it is meant to look like ... not sure what they did to the other one ... from the colour of it I would say one "delightful" student decided that it needed to be refilled with copper sulphate, or copper chloride ... sigh ... 


Something also looks a bit Not right with this beer label:

 ... or is it just me who thinks there is something a bit unfortunate with the placement of the dark tip on that Thylacine's ear? (if you click on the photo you should get a closer look ;-)


N is also for Nose:

... welll - Diesel's Nose kind of IS in the middle of this photo ;-)


More "Not right" - it may have been a Nice fence, before some Naughty Nutcase wrote on it with a spray can!

some more Nutty things:

 ... the results of me messing around with some dog hair at a friend's dog grooming salon ;-)

a Nice place to sleep?

 Spook seems to think I put that bunch of grass on the chair just so her head would be in the shade ;-)


Not right line markings? 

Nice view! - from on top of The Nut, at Stanley, Tasmania (while on holidays there a while back)

... and I finally found the photos of Nancy and her Nets! LOL

She also gave me a URL ... which she wrote (Neatly?) on a bit of paper ... I wonder where I put that? lol
actually I think I found that and went there, and the page didn't exist ... but I got the correct URL a bit later on - http://netwurks.wordpress.com/ ... a site which I never did get around to having a decent look at, but (looking at it quickly now) I think I could get lost on there for a rather long time - LOL
actually I think that was a newer URL ... I am sure the original one she gave me was on blogspot - ah - here it is http://www.netwurks.blogspot.com.au/ also interesting to look at (gives an explanation of what it was/is all about) but hasn't been posted to since last year.


Now ... for some other N related, and hopefully Not too Nasty, Nuttiness from the InterNet ...

I often go here - What Not to Crochet er ... now I have to go find that link - LOL 
- it can be found here: http://whatnot2crochet.com/wordpress/
(oh dear ... there are a few New things since I last looked, and some are downright Nasty! ;-)

there are also some what Not to knit sites too ... and I wonder how long before this - Knit Your Own Royal Wedding - will appear on those?! (er - that kind of gives away just how LONG ago I started writing this blog post! lol)
(or this, for that matter - Knit Your Own Dog: Easy-to-Follow Patterns for 25 Pedigree Pooches
... and I can Not leave out this Nutty crochet version - Ami Ami Dogs: Seriously Cute Crochet )
If they were going to, they probably have by Now, but I an Not going to go check ;-)
I suppose, before I post this mess, I should also check if those links still work? lol  
(yes - they do ... they are actually books one can buy on the Amazon website ;-)


I was probably going to add some more Nonsense in here, but I think this post is now more than long eNough ;-)


btw ... just an interesting thing I Noticed as I was checking for typos (some of which I am sure to have Not Noticed), and looking to make sure I had Not forgotten to add any URLs/etc - this post contains NO tweets - LOL
(although I am fairly sure I have posted at least one of these photos to Facebook at some stage ;-)


Now, it is time to post this, add my URL to the list of Nutty N stuff on http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com.au/  and go and watch the News ...

Many Marvelous Mixtures of Colours

I was going to post about "Lots of Lovely Colours" for my L post for ABC Wednesday ... but I kind of Lost the plot and Left it a Lot too Late ... and then came in here to do it and got Lost following Lots of Links (from Facebook) and ended up reading Lots of posts on one or 2 Lovely blogs ... then realised that I had Lost all of my evening and it was so Late at night that it was actually early - and I had yet again Lived up to my blog name ... and I was either going to still be awake finishing off the blog post when it gets Light ... or if I wait until Later I will have missed the chance to add my Link to the Linky thingy ...

so ... I had a Little think ...

and realised I could think of another name for it and Make the same thing become My M post instead ... which Means I still have a day or 2 to write it and Maybe I can share it at the same time as Most of the other ABC Wednesday M posts get shared :-)

So why was I going to post about colours anyway? ... well - someone Mentioned some Methods of choosing colours for their crochet projects, on the Australiacrochet yahoogroup - in fact one person Mentioned his rather interesting Method - he works as a nurse and is inspred by the colours of all the pills he has to give to patients! ... of course that got My Mind wandering ... and I ended up Madly taking photos of all sorts of odd things - just because they had interesting Mixtures/combinations of colours, and I figured I Might have to put them in a blog post ;-)

... of course it Might be a point to Move said photos from the Memory card to the computer (actually I usually copy them onto 2 different external hard drives - one is where the photos belong and the other is the backup for anything important (like photos ;-) then once I have got organised and made sure all the photos are happily living in both of those 2 places then I delete them from the memory cards) ... putting those photos on the computer was one of the things I came in here to do ... the other being writing my Late L post (which has now become this M post ;-) but Mucking about putting photos onto the computer takes ages, and so does uploading them all to blogger and writing captions or whatever ... and it Might be a good idea to actually go to bed before the sun comes up and/or DH gets home from night shift (good chance to get a few hours sleep without someone snoring beside me ... except the dog sometimes snores too, and he will probably sleep beside me ... possibly even ON the bed - LOL)

[a day or 2 goes by ... ]

... and another day or 5 go by as well - oops?

I Might just be able to sneak this in before it it too late to add my link - I have just put Most of the photos onto the computer (there are still some on the memory card that is still in the camera, but I think I have More than enough to put in here now, so they can stay there until later)

ok ... I think 30 photos might be enough! LOL



red bark chips and green grass etc.



wet fence - rain brings out the colours in things

green, red, blue, grey, brown, etc



blackberries - pretty greens and reds and stuff



green and pink grass ... with a bit of yellow and brown



more green/brown/yellow/red/etc



soft greens/greys/browns/etc



red/green/white/grey




food can be colourful too, so can cats and dogs
(the plate of food was on my lap ... it was yummy roast chicken (wrapped in bacon ;-)  and spud and vegetables and gravy ... and the dog and cat wanted it!)




brown, green, and yellow flowers




more browns and greens




er ... brown green grey yellow(ish) red ...




grey/blue/green/white/purple ... wisteria is pretty ;-)



brown/white/grey/green ... I love the heart shaped seed pods on this weed!



more browns/greys/greens




pinks and blue and more ...




more green/grey/brown - with a dash of yellow and red



lovely lavender - soft greyish greens and purples



a couple of cars adding some colour - lol




bits of buildings (I was actually trying to take photos of the cracks in the stuff on the windows ;-)




more building bits




and almost the same colours in bricks and ... water



blacks and greys in an old birds nest in a half dead banksia bush

lavender (again - but this time with a bee)



my stash often tells me what colours I am using - I just start digging stuff out and end up with something




... but I was actually digging that lot of yarn out for this!




these colours just sort of happened ... I started with the greener one, and then decided the "eyes" did not go (they were going to be another row around the edge of that rug) so they became the edge of another rug ... and a third one - lol




I was taking photos of spider webs under the pergola - but just noticed the bright colours




fruit, and shop signs - lol
btw - gee fruit is getting dear?! - no - actually this is a new supermarket near here - this was taken a few days before it opened, so they had not actually put the prices on everything yet, but it looked funny so I took a photo ;-)
The other funny thing is - this fruit is already in the shop, getting old, at least 2 days before it even opened - and they call themselves "the fresh food people" in their adverts! LOL




lovely lichen ;-)



... and last, but not least, a sunrise.
yes - I did say sunRISE ... I know - I don't blame people for assuming it is a sunSET - I see a lot more of those - usually the only time I am up at sunrise is if I have not been to bed yet ... but that day I was out at a quilt retreat and when one of my room mate's alarm went off (she wanted to get up early and do some sewing before breakfast!) I got up and went for a walk - and got to see a sundog! (that is what the bright dot to the left of the sun is)

I am not sure those colours will look that bright or eye catching in this post ... clicking to see them bigger might help ... but there does not have to be much of a colour in a photo to use it for ideas for a crochet/quilting/etc project ;-)

most (but not all) of those photos were taken just because I saw colours and I wanted to use them in this blog post ... I also took a whole pile that are not in here (at least twice as many more!) ... but I think 30 is enough!!! (a few were very similar to each other, and a few didn't actually look so good as a photo, but I probably could have added another 30 that I liked if I had wanted to ... and I could have taken dozens more, with even brighter colours, if I had gone to Floriade (the flower festival we have at this time every year here in Canberra - the one that has now finished/closed ... but they are leaving it set up for the Queen to come and see it on Thursday) .

er ... I had better post this and go to bed before I see another sunrise!!!
(it is after 3am, and I have to get up for work in the morning - oops?)

btw, I was going to add some links to a few good/interesting websites where I have played with colours ... but I didn't get to that - I might do that some other time - it will take a little while to dig them up - I have a couple in one of my older posts, and one I know about but might need to go hunting around for it on the blog/website I originally got the link from ...  maybe I could post about colour for the letter C?   (if I remember - lol)

Kangaroos and Knitting

No ... I Know those 2 things don't have anything to do with each other ... well not normally, although I am now entertaining the idea of trying to get hold of some Kangaroo fur and seeing if I can spin it so that I can Knit a Kangaroo - LOL (or maybe a Kangaroo wooly jumper?) ... it is just that I was planning on posting about Knitting for ABC Wednesday, when I just happened to see (and take photos of) some Kangaroos, and realised I could also post about those for the letter K ;-)

ok ... first - the Kangaroos ... actually they are possibly Wallabies - same kind of thing but usually a bit smaller ... anyway ... I was walking from work, around the base of Black Mountain (which is mostly one big nature park with lots of bush and some wildflowers and stuff now coming out ;-) and heading for the middle of the city (which is right next to the mountain/bush/etc) and I noticed a few "skippawobbellys" hopping down the hill toward the track ... they waited beside the track until I had walked past, before hopping across the track and down the hill ... and one had a joey in her pouch - and she was happy to stand there while I took a photo, or 2 ;-)

Mum and Joey are on the right, and if you look carefully near the middle there is another Kangaroo (or Wallaby - which is what these probably are ;-)
(so you can play Where's Wally With a Wallaby - maybe I should have saved this for a W post? LOL)

here is a closer up shot

... complete with red eyes - lol


and here is "mum" hopping back into the bush at the other side of the track:

(the green thing isn't a tree trunk - well - it probably was in a past life, but now it is a power pole - lol)

btw ...
Q: what do you get if you cross a Kangaroo with a sheep?
A: a wooly jumper.

Q: what do you get if you cross a Kangaroo with an elephant?
A: great big holes all over Australia.

[Andrea ducks and runs]


and now ... for the Knitting:
Usually, I crochet - I am way faster/better at it (and that is probably mostly why I seem to like it better) and I do quite a lot of crochet stuff, but sometimes I do actually Knit things ... usually fairly small things - lol - and often unusal things I am trying out, like those curly twirly scarves, made from a special yarn that you actually Knit (or crochet) along the side of, that seem to be the "in thing" lately:
Actually only 3 of these 4 curly scarves are Knitted

The green one was Knitted by my mum ... she sent it to me with a note saying she figured I probably wouldn't  have made one yet because it is Knitted and I crochet - lol
... so I had to tell her that not only had I made one - but I had actually Knitted one (the black and grey one) then crocheted one (the brown/orange one) and then Knitted another one (the brown one) ... and am also part way through crocheting another ... something ... with another variety of that type of yarn. (it might become a scarf or a beanie or a bag ... or get undone and made into something else - probably a bag or a beanie or a scarf - lol - or possibly an edging or a collar on a coat or something made from fabric, or different yarn)
btw ... I will eventually wear the one mum made - just not as often because the yarn is a lot stiffer and the scarf is thicker - but I probably won't wear any of them much for a while - Winter is over and the warmer weather is coming (not that one would think so at the moment - it is currently cold and wet and windy - lol)
anyway ... those couple of scarves are not the only thing I have Knitted this year - I also made these:
(the photos should all be clickable for a closer look ;-)

The small one (on the left) was made at a Textile art retreat I went to earlier this year - we learnt to use 3 (or more) yarns at once to knit these little bags (about the right size for a chatelaine to keep a tape measure/etc in ... or to use for a phone sock ;-)
We used a pile of yarn scraps, some of which were very short lengths and rather fluffy/fuzzy - we knotted those together and left the ends hanging out - and some of us "let it all hang out" a bit more than others - LOL
The bigger bag was made using some more of the fuzzy scraps (left over from what I kept to finish the little bag) and some green and black yarns that I saw in the op shop next to work, just after I got back from the retreat ... oddly enough - the green yarn was almost the same colour green as one of the yarns I used in the small bag - lol

Later on this year I found a few odd short bits of a sort of turquoise coloured yarn in my stash and was inspired to make another one of those knitted bags - so I started, and finished, this one:

I used dark blue as a main colour and used lots of other blues/purples/greens for the other rows, and left all the ends dangling when I changed colours each row - which resulted in the fringe around the top. The handle is actually one short bit with a hole in it, and one long side - which is threaded through the hole in the short bit so the handle is adjustable. (the other big bag is done like that too, but the handle is twisted cord and the long side is threaded through a loop in the short bit ;-)
The top bits of both big bags are crocheted (so is the handle of the blue one).

so ... I wonder what I will Knit next?

a Kangaroo? a Koala?  ... no - probably easier to crochet those - lol

(and I am not going to Knit myself any Knickers - now that would be ITCHY!)

... maybe I should Knit a garden hose?!