I made a New Year resolution

Well I actually made a couple BUT only a couple:

1. Teach myself to crochet

2. Learn to back a trailer +/- up a hill

These are the two things I always say I cannot do. I haven't attempted the trailer thing yet, tho I have enlisted my beloved's assistance and he has said he will help me. He can back a trailer up a hill, blindfolded and around corners. When I went to boarding school in the Victorian town of Bendigo one of my housemates could back a trailer up a hill when she was 14 - her father said it was a prerequisite to getting her licence. She lived in a country town.

So lets move to crochet... I have actually made a few small things over the years; mostly caps for dolls heads and generally out of loopy mohair or some other very forgiving fibre! I've never made anything pretty or practical and I have had an urge for a wee while.

On January 1st 2011 ~ I made this little flower (I am quite pleased with myself):

It is the first project in the book First crochet by Lesley Stanfield which was lent to me by a clever friend.

Next I made a wash cloth... I have strategically photograped it in dim light and folded so you can't see the edges and laugh yourselves silly at my expense (they are wibbly wobbly, must work on tension and picking up the last stitch!); the pattern is a free one from here

And...ta da! today I finished this:

I have wanted a little crochet stone since I first saw one over at GardenMama. I followed (well I tried to, I really did) Margaret Oomen's little urchin crochet stone cover  pattern. I used a thread much finer than the one she recommends cause that is what I had to hand AND a ridiculously small hook. I am a bit please with myself.

Ooo Margaret has a beautiful blog, resurrection fern and here is another by the very talented Maribeth Lovely World: crochet that I aspire to.

I just want to write again about the floods that have engulfed a third of our state (a state that is the size of Texas). I am too sad to read any more news reports or to look at any more pictures or video footage.

Fifteen people are now identified and confirmed dead, they have found other bodies, but have yet to identify them and notify family members. 60 more people are still missing, in some cases whole families have vanished. Today they let us know that they may never find their bodies, their bodies might have washed away or be buried under tonnes of debris.

Further flooding is unlikely and towns and cities around Queensland have begun to clean up ~ it is so heartbreaking. The vast majority of people are not covered by insurance and they have lost everything. It is not that they didn't have insurance; the insurance companies don't cover for natural disasters. We feel so helpless.

My beloved is heading out tomorrow with neighbours to wade through the sludge and try to help those he can, we expect that it will be pulling destroyed belongings ~ furniture, carpets, clothing, bedding ~ from houses and throwing them in the street for the big truck to collect.

I will stay home and bake for 'baked relief' an initiative that aims to offer some relief to the rescue effort by way of delivering home-cooked baked goods to SES (State Emergency Service) and Volunteer centres around Brisbane.

If anyone would like to contribute, just whip up a batch of muffins, biscuits, cakes, slices (savoury too please) and drop them off at Black Pearl Epicure, 36 Baxter Street, Fortitude Valley.

From there the goods will be distributed to the relevant locations. For more information on ‘Baked Relief’, please visit www.digella.blogspot.com

Just one last thing ~ if you can afford to, even just a few dollars, please make a donation to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal . Tens of thousands of people have lost everything, some their lives. Earlier today the Queensland Flood Appeal had raised over $54 million - a testament to generosity of Australians and friends overseas.