Remembering Pop Ben

Well, it may be Thanksgiving in America tomorrow, but it WOULD have been my grandfather's birthday. Benjamin Cecil Barbour Hodder was born Nov 25th 1905 in Perth, WA. He and his sister were the only two to survive of four, born to his parents. Alas, his father William, had previously lost his first wife and their son, and after moving state and re-marrying, he and his wife Zoe, lost their first two children at 7 weeks and 5months of age. Losing his parents early, Ben spent his formative years at an Anglican care facility. He never spoke of his childhood and it wasn't until YEARS after his death that my genealogy research revealed the sad truth of his life before we knew him as 'Pop'.

He's pictured above with my grandmother. Their life was full of turmoil. It wasn't until years after they both passed away that the truth of their relationship came to light. Victims of circumstance and an era in time, I don't ever remember them sharing a happy moment together. I do love this shot though....it's a real 'Bonnie and Clyde' style shot taken mid 1940s. Pop served in the Australian Army at home and nan worked in a munitions factory. Due to deafness in one ear, pop was turned down for active service.

And here's a photo of me as a child in the kitchen of my grandparent's home. Both sets of my grandparents were like surrogate parents to my sister, brother and I. We went to school up the road from dad's parents and would usually eat our meals with them, even coming 'home' for lunch from school. It was literally only 8 houses up the road. Both my parents worked full time, so much of my life was spent around my grandparents. I loved them to bits.

 When I think of Ben, I remember his room in the sleepout, the trips of Mundaring Weir he would take my sister and I on, the jelly tot lollies and his glorious gardens, front and back. With great gardeners in my gene pool on both sides of the family, I don't quite know how I missed the green thumb...guess you can't be good at everything though. He had more sheds out the back than we could poke a stick at lol, and we would always be plaing in one of them. Sadly, he left us aged 82 after suffering terribly with angina for many years, in 1986. Miss him terribly still. Love you always Poppy. mwa xxx

Diagonal Cables Cardigan

Well, here we go....another horrid pattern lol. Seems like everything I turn my hand to with needles lately ends up vexed. This is a Patons pattern and it's gorgeous, but SO verbose with the instructions.



The cabling section is listed in rows 1-26, then the stocking stitch instructions, then the beginning of the actual pattern to get it started. Unfortunately,  once the cabling pattern is started, the increasing instructions become confusing and you lose track of the increases through the cabling. Also doesn't help that the cabling and increase instructions are on different pages! Suffice to say I've unpicked it 9 times so far! GRRRRRRR. There has GOT to be a better way to write this pattern as it's so verbose. I ended up writing it up as a table for ease of use. I've yet to work out how to save it as a PDF so if you'd like a copy, email me and I can forward the text document to you.

So, this is a Xmas gift.....we'll see how we go as I now have the beige capecho to finish and the sleeves to re-stitch on Em's cream capecho...I know...why do I do it? It wasn't intentional, but with my back and shoulder giving me grief inconsistently for a month, it's been hard to sit and knit. The right front is done, so while the pattern's fresh in my mind, I'll get the left front done, then knock up the back. That'll be pretty easy as it's straight stocking stitch. I'm aiming to have these pieces done within the next week! The sleeves are HEAVY cabling, but I think I might shortcut these and just do the cable section up the middle front of the sleeve. It's a very dark purple so that will feature the pattern, which may get lost in the darker colour anyway...well, I've convinced myself that's for the best hahaha.


Here's the actual cabling section. The increases are made BETWEEN the stocking stitch and cabling sections. I've used Red Heart Super Saver Solids on this which cost me about $20 AUD. It was purchased about 6 months ago from supermart.com.
 Although the patter says to use 4.5mm and 4mm needles, I found the tension too taut so upped them to 5.5mm and 5mm. They're perfect. This is an XL which I'm making for a friend for Xmas. She is not a very large girl, but I've allowed for her 'ample bosom', wide shoulders and she likes to wear skivvies underneath her jackets. The large looked a little on the small side. Let you know how I go for sizing when she puts it on!

Here's the finished front. I have to say that I thought I'd done something wrong with the shoulder being so high as it doesn't look like that in the pattern picture, but I've looked at anothe of these jackets on ravelry.com and found Britt's looks the same SO.....mine is all good too!

May be my tension but I've also found the cabling a little tighter than the stocking stitch. When I wash and block it, I'll straighten it up.


Onward ho!

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the guns falling silent at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month at the Western front, after four years of fighting. The two minutes silence, now one, was suggested by Australian journalist, Edward Honey, who was working in Fleet St at the time, and was supported in England and Africa as an appropriate and fitting tribute to the fallen soldiers. King George V asked everyone in the British Empire to observe a two minute silence in memory of those who served, in recognition of their fight for freedom and victory.

My beloved great grandmother, Alexandrina, lost her first husband at the Ypres in 1917, and like so many war wives, had to bring up her 8 children alone. She is pictured here 3rd from the left, with one of her daughters, first left.

Alexandrina, or Alice as she was called,  went on to marry a wonderful man, Alfred Ernest Cardinal, and together they had another 3 children, one of whom was my maternal grandmother. As a keen Genealogist, I am often reminded what a remarkable man Alfred must have been, not only to take on 8 children, but to be a father to them, and three more. My grandmother never wanted for food in the great depression as they lived on an orchard in Armadale...she was indeed, quite lucky. Any reserves of food such as fruit, vegetables and eggs they had were bartered for meat, such was the system of trade in those days!

Even in her dotage I remember visiting my great grandmother's home, where we would hunt for eggs in the garden and I once told my nan that Nanna Cardinal would be cross because someone had taken the eggs out of the carton and put them in the garden! lol. We would pick mini potatoes and she'd boil them up on her cast iron wood stove,  eating them with lashings of butter. She was such an extraordinary woman...even had to kill the chooks for one of her sons who just couldn't bring himself to do it lol!!! She also won the best garden in Gosnells 10yrs running. I remember her with great fondness.

So today, not only do I give thanks and prayers to Frederick Metcalf and all those he served with, but the women who kept the country running while the men went off to fight for King and country...the grand adventure, so they thought. May time never weary them and may they always find grace in the Lord's embrace. Karen Cosson  (C)

Sadly, the only picture I had of Frederick has been lost.  Lest we forget.

Adriana's Scarf

Not overly happy with the end product in cotton...note to self: use acrylic or wool next time. This is the 4th Irish Lace Scarf I've made and they're certainly getting quicker to whip up. This one is for Kyle's teacher, Adriana, for her end of year gift. A quick couple of days work and not even $10. Jolly good I say! OH, and by the way, remember the pattern is free at  ravelry.com

Minimum's Birthday

Well, it was Miriam's birthday, my husband's stepmother, on the 7th and after a stressful year, thought she deserved a special cake...I DO need to keep up my cake decorating skills after all! Anyway,  as my father in law, Bill, was getting her an IPad, I thought it would be appropriate to make an IPad cake, so I searched the internet for ideas. The icons took shape quite quickly and I chose some that were of 'sentimental value' lol. They're accountants, hence the +/-/= etc signs and she loves her cooking and music, hence the others. The uggboot.....lol, is DEFINITELY another story! hahaha. Well, after finishing up at Kyle's cricket, I trotted off to finish the cake. Crikey, it took me almost an hour JUST to dye the icing black and I used an almost full bottle of black dye ON IT! Apparently, there were dark green 'exhibits' for days afterwards! (sorry, but quite funny as I didn't eat the icing, though everyone else DID!)

Miriam was SO excited, apparently only the second cake EVER made for her in her life. Sad, I thought. She's a little estranged from her daughter who married into money and her son lives in another state so I think she was quite touched that I went to all that effort when her own kids hadn't. She carefully took the icons off for safekeeping before she cut it and we tucked in.

And 'Minimum' you ask??? lol. When Brayden was little, he just could NOT get his mouth around her name, so began calling her Minimum....it stuck ahhaha. So, happy birthday 2011 to Minimum! And her age????? late 60s, though a lady never tells!  Hope I look that good at her age. We didn't take any photos of us all though....had too good a time drinking and enjoying each other's company. I shall try to get an updated one soon.

Hannah's Quilt

Phew...better late than never! Finally finished Hannah's Alphabet Quilt last week. I'm quite happy with it except for one thing...and no, you don't need to start going through the alphabet lol. It's the colour of the blocks on the lower left...they're the same. Luckily, it works because the whale has water moving from one block into another and distracts the eye, and any 'religious' quilter, and I mean that literally and with no disrespect, will tell you that there must always be a mistake in any quilt so as to be less than perfect...only God is perfection! SO, there's my deference to the Lord above...my error lol.

I only used scraps, which are still overflowing from the container I might add. OH, and I snipped the binding AT THE FRONT....got that HOT flush of adrenalin when I did it! NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo! Well, being the Queen of lean and having learnt the 'waste not, want not' adage from my depression raised grandparents, I decided to put tabs on it to cover the snip and make it a wall hanging. Unfortunately, cot quilts have a limited life with children so this one will live longer as a wall hanging AND be a 'poorly rug' for her beautiful Hannah to cuddle . Her big brother Jude has one I made for him as a baby too.
 Hannah's Quilt :

 

Jude's Quilt

Both these beautiful patterns are from Hot Possum. You can buy the patterns from their online store.

Ladybird Totem

It never ceases to amaze me how much life can change in a short period of time. I was distraught, to say the least, about something over the weekend and sought solace through spiritual prayer and my cards. Nothing overt came to me and I have to admit, I rarely read for myself as I am not always objective, but then I headed off to visit a lady my daughter saw a few weeks ago. What she told me was truly amazing...about my past, verifying my future.

While I waited in the parking area of the building for her to come get me, a rather large ladybird flew to my left forearm and proceeded to have a wander. I was stunned by how long it stayed on my arm...a couple of minutes...unusual I thought, for a ladybird. Well, I made some wishes, including those for world peace and an end to poverty (and with no intention of flippancy I can assure you!) and when it appeared the old girl was still not going to head off on her own, I moved her onto my right arm and raising it, ousted her into the breeze. I watched her fly for a few seconds, then she seemed to just vanish. Thinking nothing of it, I then went upstairs with my new friend, Rohini, and to my astonishment, as I sat with her to begin the reading, the first thing I focused on in the room on her carpet was....YOU GUESSED IT! A ladybird! It was sitting there.

Well, I thought it odd at the time but said nothing and off we went into the depths of spiritualism, palmistry and the cards. Indeed, some enlightening and powerful things were imparted to me in the hour I was with my new friend. I came away feeling much happier about the horrible situation I felt we were facing. Day 2 however...and this is where things get creepy...NICE CREEPY...I'm talking with a friend on the phone....looking out my french doors, I'm telling her about the ladybirds when I notice, and remark with a laugh, that I'm now looking at a ladybird crawling across the top of my fence, ADDING, with complete irony, that it's now raining outside, and not lightly. We're both having a laugh when I notice ANOTHER ladybird, and another and another....until I realised they were literally bringing the leaf litter on the deck outside my bedroom doors, to life! I then imparted the tale of the little jumping spider, or money spider, which has been sitting next to my toilet roll holder in the bathroom in almost the same spot for 24hrs! Now, normally, these things are just an annoyance to me, and I would've flushed him lol, but in light of the ladybirds, I thought better of it today. Now I've google searched the signifcance of ladybirds, I am CERTAIN that this is the answer to my prayer. The message to me was clear, but let this be a message to you also, you who may come to read this passage, that miracles and the answers to our prayers are all around us......we just don't often recognise the small, DIMINUTIVE  nature of them sometimes. Look for the messages and miracles around you every day....!

 The Ladybird is now my personal totem.....what's yours?

Thankyou God and the lady divine!

Blogger Bogged

WHY do Blogger keep changing the goal posts??? I've been trying to get into my blog for almost a week now and ended up, in frustration, trying to set up a new one and import the old. It SAID the previous blog had been imported but there was certainly no evidence of it! The reason for the new blog??? I couldn't get the 'new post' button to come up where it used to be. I've just now signed in in the hope of them maybe having identified a problem and fixed it, but was basically going to delete them both!!! Instead, I find it's on the dashboard and no longer showing atop right on my page when I go to sign in. I DO NOT understand why it says 'create a blog' when I'VE ALREADY SIGNED IN TO MY OLD ONE! Maybe I'm missing something??? To my utter disbelief now, after spending hours searching the net for help and being refused entry to blogger and google help forums, I've just logged in again and BINGO! I'm in. Unbelievable. So incredibly frustrating, yet there was STILL no 'new post' icon on my main page or 'design' for that matter, until I previewed THIS POST, only 'create new blog' and sign in. The only way to make a new post is to go into my dashboard, which I've never had to do. The 'new post' button/icon has not shown up for a whole week even on the dashboard page!? Confusion, annoyance, aggravation....yet, within 1min....solved. Don't get it!!!?

Anyway, that problem sorted, here I am again talking to myself.....cathartic. Been an amazingly crappy and depressing few days. Just when you think things can't get any worse...they DO! lol, but what can you do? I saw a picture on Facebook of a man wearing flattened plastic bottles as shoes tied on to his feet with string. Well, life's not quite that bad but I fear it's not the best it's been either.