Gem & Fossil Museum

The Gem & Fossil Museum...

It has been on our 'local places to check out' for a while now. Last week we went on a little road trip to Bathurst to see the Sommervile Collection.

I love the look of these amazing fossils with every detail preserved.

The collection is housed inside an old school building which has been done out for the Museum.
It was a private collection that has been donated.

Fossilised Dinosaur eggs

Here is collection of amber with insects

and a lizard entombed in the amber.

A closer look and you can see its backbone!



There were lots of beautiful specimens to look at but my camera battery was dying so I didn't get many pictures.

Pyrite

Not sure what this is called.

It looks like some sort of quartz sea anemone.

A beautiful pink Rhodocrosite crystal.

Outside the museum.

Gilet court d'ete

I finished this short sleeved cardigan today. It is a freebie off Ravelry. It's called Gilet court d'ete by Marie-Adeline Boyer. It is a quick uncomplicated knit, knitted from the top down.

The yarn I used is Noro Taiyo colour 6 which I got on sale for $9.49 US on WEBS web site.
I used 2 balls. I have enough left over to make Katie one as well...:)

Katie took these photos - she thought it was hilarious that she took a picture of my butt ( I edited the pic) when I asked her to take a picture of my back....:)

Noro Love...:)

Look what arrived in the post today!.....

Lois from the Knitter's Guild told me about some web sites that have Noro sales. I bought 7 balls of Noro Furin reduced at $7 US a ball. The Noro Kureyon Sock wool was $11.50 US. While the Australian dollar is so high I thought I'd get a few things that would be double the price over here in the wool shops. The web site I bought this wool from is Yarnbow and the shipping rate is $13.95 US. I'm eyeing off some Noro Retro at the moment.

I bought this Araucanda wool for $6.75 US.

Such pretty colours - I love the mix of pinks and purples.

"Chestnuts"

Today we set off to do some chestnut and walnut picking at Kookootonga Nut Farm. It was a beautiful Autumn day. I have wanted to go chestnut picking for a while now but I always seem to miss the season each year. This year I got an email from Anitra from the Fruit and Nutree Network about chestnut picking and roasting today at Kookootonga.

They are amazing looking nuts. They covered big old trees in bright green spiky pompoms and when they are ripe and go brown they fall to the ground where the kids and I picked them up, careful not to get spiked by the outer spikey shell.

As you can see in the photo, the kids got a bit enthusiastic and nearly filled the bucket (at $8 a kilo!). I'm not sure how many kilos we had. I mentioned to the kids before we got there we would only pick up a small amount and only get what we need, not to go crazy and fill up the buckets! It s hard not to it so much fun for them.

So we tipped out the bucket under one of the chestnut trees, picked out the fattest nuts and put them in the bucket. The rest we left there for the next person to come along and pick up. There were a lot of people so I don't think they will be there for long.

We ended up having just over a kilo, which I was happy with. The chestnuts and walnuts came to $17 all together. So, I was in budget. The person before me spent $100 on Chestnuts.

The bucket after the cull....:)

After picking, the group of us that were with the Fruit and Nut Tree network set up a picnic. A lady called Anne set up a portable BBQ, lit some BBQ coals, and we were set for roasting the chestnuts. We had to cut slits on one side because they can explode like popcorn, which a few did. We stood around and talked, watched and listened about what we can do with chestnuts and a bit of history about the nut.

Here, we are turning the nuts over. The smell that was wafting from the BBQ was amazing.

It's been quite a while since I have eaten chestnuts. I had forgotten what they tasted like but I remembered that I liked them. I think they where oven roasted when I last tried them but BBQing them gives them a nice smokey flavour. To me, they sort of tasted like a powdery sweet potato. They are best eaten warm.

Jet Gloves

Wow - time has flown between posts. I've been away from the computer for a while trying to finish some UFO's.

Katie is modeling these fingerless gloves that I've knitted up. She is holding these beautiful Japanese wind flowers from my garden that flower in Autumn.

The gloves are knitted with Jet wool that I got on sale for about $3.50 last year at a clearance sale. I cast on 34 stitches, knitted rib, 2 knit, purl 2 to the end. I knitted to about 7 inches then cast off. Sew up the sides - easy peasy. Quick, cheap, warm gloves.