Here Be Knitting

Australia Calling. Blooocking Over You....

Hi Shelagh,

I have signed up for some exchanges on Ravelry.  The Shakespeare Swap on the Odd Duck Swap Group and the Rainbow Swap on the Aussie only swap group.  This has forced me to keep knitting even while we have been moving.  Actually on the morning we were meant to be ready to go, I was blocking this lovely thing on the dining room table before it could be moved:

All Her Dad could do was smile and shake his head.  He wasn't even particularly surprised or angry; he was just amazed that I could think of needing to do this while we were in the midst of that chaos.  He knows me, but he just doesn't understand a knitters compulsion....

It is of course another Swallowtail Shawl, this time in a 4 ply sock yarn in plain blue. My swapee loves blue so it was an easy pick.  It also looks as pretty in real life as it does in the photo.  I just love this pattern - it takes me about a week of not too solid knitting, I know it well enough that it makes good TV knitting and the result always gets a positive response.  What's not to like?

I couldn't go past it either for the Rainbow Swap I'm in on the Aussie list.  This time, it is at the blocking stage:

Terrible photo, I know, but I think you can see the many colours of the rainbow yarn - it will be a very different shawl to the plain blue one when it is finished.  Fingers crossed, it will be just as good.

I've had such fun with both swaps.  Finding Shakespearean items or twists on that theme was fun.  In the middle of Melbourne, while we were out and about one day, we happened upon:

I've made a little postcard with the image to send to my partner.  I wonder about the history of this place.  3d a night  - how long ago would that have gotten a night's accommodation in the centre of Melbourne?  And what happened to the hotel, I wonder?  Just faded with time or bankruptcy or ....? 

Enough for now...

Canada Calling: I'm back!

As usual I've been remiss in posting.  My life needs to be more exciting, then I'd have lots to say.

The best thing going on these days is our lack of winter weather.  The sun was shining today, the temperature climbed to 10C and there was no wind.  It was beautiful!  We even have a bit of green grass to celebrate.  

Ken & I were busy on Saturday.  I worked on our winter fire wood supply, while Ken tilled up the garden (a chore usually finished by mid-October at the latest).  More ironic, we put up snow fencing.

Here's a picture of the ever growing supply of fire wood. And look at the green grass!  An added note: behind the wood piled in front are four rows around 5ft long running the other way.

 

Here is the nifty log splitter that helps me make all that fire wood.  A girl's best friend.

My knitting has fallen by the wayside a bit. I have been working on a wee dress for my 13" naked teddy bear.  I should have had it done by now, but I haven't been motivated.  I've become addicted to a game on Facebook called Bejeweled Blitz.

I finished up a new pair of felted clogs for myself a couple of weeks ago, and am very happy with them.  It took two sessions in the washing machine and a damp form fit to my feet.  

 

Here's a photo of my latest purchase. I do love outdoor decorations at Christmas time, but this is bordering on silly:  

 

Mr. Polar Bear is absolutely useless in a wind.  He just lies down and waits for me to shut off his inflating fan.

I'm doing NO Christmas knitting this year.  The couple of people I usually knit for weren't looking for anything knitted, so that's that.  I've got to look through my queue on Ravelry to see if something strikes my fancy.  I have loads of yarn and patterns waiting here, but I need some inspiration.

I loved the photos you took on some of your day and weekend trips!  What beautiful scenery.  How I wish we could visit.  The Great Ocean Road reminds me a bit of some scenery around the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec.

I was so sorry to hear about the cat.  It's always sad to lose a pet.  

To be stuck with dial-up Internet is something akin to torture.  Having just got rid of my dial up a few years ago, I remember it well.  Sending sympathies, and hoping for you it's your last move in a while.

And to add to our misery, we've had trouble getting the phone transferred over (the previous occupants hadn't cancelled their phone account - too weird) and are now only on dial up. Way too slowwwwwww..........

It's been a hard few days - moving house which is always horrible. We had to euthanise our daughter's 13 year old siamese, Sapphire on Friday. It was the right thing to do, but it hurt and hurt bad. Sapphire had been a real rock to our middle girl. And then the youngest fell and gave herself a brain injury - OK now but needed to be observed in hospital, we had to wake her during the night and watch her today. It never rains but pours, huh.....

Australia Calling. Who knows what it is here...

Hi Shelagh

It has been busy here.  We are on the move, again.  This time to a house I hope we can call "home" for a number of years.  It is such a relief, although the moving is a total (total, total....) nightmare.  I.HATE.IT.

It has been unseasonably cool here.  Not much more than a month ago, we were travelling through this:

Not terribly impressive for a Canadian I know, but for spring close to Melbourne it is pretty unusual.

Now, it is unseasonably warm.  A week of weather over 30^o which is continuing now well into next week.  Our average for November is supposed to be early 20s.  I wish someone had remembered to tell the sun!  Of course, it heats up just before we have to move.  Murphy as always seems never far away.

We have been travelling, a lot.  Just weekend and day trips, but the sights we have seen....

The Crater Lakes region of South Western Victoria - incredible.

The rightly famous Great Ocean Road (I'll let the photos do the talking):

This collection of rocks reminded me of a bear with her cub:

And some little Fairy Penguin footprints!(You'll need to click to embiggen to see them):

We plan on being there in the evening sometime this summer to see the makers of these prints.  Should be fun!

Phew... that was a lot of "talking".

I have been knitting quite a lot, sort of, but don't feel I have much to show for all that work.  I also don't have any photos of the finished work, which is a technical glitch I hope to remedy for the next post.

I have joined some swaps on Ravelry (a few in the Odd Ducks Group where I feel I have particularly found a home....).   Next time, which I'll try not to make so long again, I'll post on the packages I am putting together - the packages always make me nervous (have I got the right blend of stuff - too little, too much...) but I do so love "the swap".

Enough for now...

Canada Calling: It's Autumn

Hi Deb

I'm remiss as usual.  Ken & I went on a short but lovely break away from civilization to one of our favourite haunts, Barrier Bay in The Whiteshell Provincial Park.  We did this back at the end of September, the day after I got back from the knitting retreat.  This is our fourth year at Barrier Bay and we wish we could go more than once a year.  

We had a different cabin this time, called Kingfisher Cove.  It was lovely, same floorplan as the others we've stayed in but even more private.  There was a great, but simple addition.  The owners had put memory foam mattress toppers on the beds, ours was like sleeping on a dream.  When we got home I promptly went to the store and bought one.

Ken tried fishing again, but unfortunately had no luck:

 

As if working on firewood at home wasn't enough, Ken decided to work on the fire wood at the cabin as well:

One day we decided to hike on the Trans Canada Trail.   

 A place we stopped for a rest had a couple of stone benches.  The people that own Barrier Bay had installed memorial plaques for their mom & dad.  Lovely.

 

The benches were at the top of a hill, and the view was quite stunning.

 

It must have been wildlife day on our last day.  We had a Grey Jay (Whiskeyjack) stop by for bread crumbs.

 

Best of all, a really healthy looking Red Fox walked through and stayed for quite a while. I had a great time taking pictures of him/her.

 

 

 

 

Knitting has been happening, especially on The Icarus Shawl. No new pictures yet.  I've come to a bit of a halt on the border since it seems I can't get the pattern to work.  Earlier, while on the last few rows of the last chart, I had to put it down for a couple of days, then it worked just fine.  It's the type of thing where I have to be able to concentrate and have no one around while I work on it.

I've finished a Christmas gift, and have a pair of very loud lime green socks on the needles.  They're my mindless project for knit nights.

I managed to acquire two beautiful hanks of Tilli Tomas sequined silk yarn, thanks to one of our favourite shops, Little Knits.  I'm not sure yet what I'm going to make with it.

 

My dear Ken has come down with a flu of some sort.  When he goes for his allergy shot on Monday he's going to ask the doctor to check him for the Hamthrax.  He's not deathly ill, but I asked him not to go to work last night.  He has headache, mild fever, cough, chills, sweating.  Luckily it's left his digestive tract alone.

We had some snow on October 9th, which thoroughly annoyed everyone.  Happily it didn't stay, but the Indian Summer we're all hoping for hasn't arrived.

Enough for now.

Canada Calling: Remember me?

Hi Deb:Sorry for the long absence.  I'm no busier than anyone else, but just hadn't made the time to post.

The weekend of September 25-27 was spent at the Colours Autumn Fibre Arts Retreat at Delta Marsh Field Station on Lake Manitoba.  A good time was had by all who attended.  I just wish I'd slept better while there.  Our group was last there in March when the lake was frozen and it was really cold.  This time was nicer, but the wind picked up Saturday night and all day Sunday.

The lake looked quite lovely when I arrived early Friday evening. This view was right outside the door of the lodge.

 

The Lodge:

 

Penny & I were given the same room as the spring retreat.  The bed by the window was mine and Penny took the bottom bunk:

Everyone was happy and the dress was very casual:

 

Erica and Lisa were enthused about the yarn table (as was everyone else!)

 

It was very hard not to go on a buying spree:

I succumbed to 4 hanks of Lorna's Laces Fingering 

 

I really regretted not signing up for the yarn dyeing course, especially after looking at the results hung out to dry on the trees:

 

Penny enjoyed the spinning class and dreams of her own wheel:

Penny & I went for a walk on the beach Saturday afternoon, finding some interesting things:

 

 

 

I think that's enough for tonight.  I still have to show you pictures from the little vacation Ken & I took to Barrier Bay right after I returned from the knitting retreat.

Australia Calling. I'm Here, I'm Here (really I am)...

Hi Shelagh

I have been missing in action for quite a while there.  We had the dreaded Swine Flu (or Hamthrax) pass through our place.   It really kicked me around the pig pen for more than 2 weeks.  And, after that, well..... I was just not wanting to blog there for a while.  I had lost the blogging mojo.  It's back now, let's hope it stays.

So, what have I been up to?

1  Losing weight - I thought it was time to update the weight loss journal.  To recap:

January 2008

Not something I find easy to show, but there you have it, the "before" shot.

October 2008

 

I have lost a lot of weight but still lots (lots, lots...) to go.

September 2009

and

Still lots to go, but more than 1/2 way there now.  It makes me happy (as you can see).  It also makes my knitting so much easier - no need to search for something for my size and no need to size up patterns - there are very few that don't go to my size now.  I'm doing it slowly, but staying on the plan.  Hopefully, this time next year will be very close to my goal.  Fingers crossed.

2  Cooking

I have just finished a Lemon Meringue Pie

I used the recipe from Lifestyle Food.  I added a 1/2 teas of cream of tartar to the egg whites before I began to beat them.  A little fiddly, but .... I'm a sucker for lemon meringue pie.  Looks nice, tastes scrummy.  

3  Having Some Fun

The Yarn Harlot has asked her readers for help with finding a mitten pattern.  One of her readers came up with:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/anus-mittens

Very nice mittens, but the name is a little unfortunate when shortened in Ravelry.  I showed Her Dad and he said:  "Bumhole", paused and then said "Oh, poo..."  

I've also been knitting, visiting whales and the 12 Apostles (and me, not religious...) They can wait until next time.

Enough for now...

Canada Calling: More Knitting Happening

Hi Deb.  So glad you and your family are recovering well from your bout of the "hamthrax".  There's a lot of clamour and panic here warning of an impending "pandemic" of H1N1 this fall.  What ever happened to "epidemic"?  I'll have to Google that one.

In my previous post, I mentioned our group Knit-Out was to be held last Sunday, August 16.  It did happen, but in the rain.  Not only have I been soggy in Banff, but soggy at the Knit-Out too.  In spite of the rain, we all enjoyed ourselves.  We arrived early to snag a couple of picnic tables under shelter at Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park.  This is a beautiful old park with a lovely Pavilion, part of which is an upscale restaurant.  Shown below is a newer addition (in the style of the Pavilion) of an outdoor theatre called the Lyric.  One of many shows over the summer is a free presentation by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Here is the shelter where we set ourselves up.

Below we have Deb and Penny unpacking things and helping to get set up.

We had wonderful donations of knitting related items and other goodies for our door prizes.

Here are Anne, Susan, Karen and her son 

We also held a yarn swap where people brought in unwanted yarn, we piled it on a table, everyone milled around and took what they wanted.  The left overs were to be taken to a group for charity knitting.

I was being silly, but Penny took the picture anyway.

On to other knitting:

I finished the Strawberry Tea Cozy and no longer have a naked tea pot:

Today I started a new shawl, The Icarus.  It's deceptively simple in design, and I've been wanting to knit it for a long time.  I'm using yarn I bought from Anne's stash.  It's Elann Peruvian Baby Lace Merino with stupendous yardage of 600 yards in each 50 gram ball. In theory, I'll only need 2 balls.  Unfortunately, the colour shown below isn't quite true.  It's really a teal blue/green.

The sun finally came out for a while today.  We've had a lot of rain in the last week or so and I think people have had enough. We're growing toadstools and slugs. Ick.   I took a lot of garden pictures today, but I'll save them for the next post.

Canada Calling: The Muir Shawl is done!

Finally, some knitting content.  I finished the Muir yesterday and wet-blocked it.  I took it outside for a photo session this afternoon, and I'm very pleased with the finished product.  It's light as a feather and just as soft.

The colour below is more true.

Of course, I've started a new project. A small one for now.  It's the Strawberry Tea Cozy for my poor naked tea pot.

Our knitting group is holding their 6th annual Knit Out this coming Sunday, and we're hoping the rain will hold off.

It's so hard to believe summer is more than half over.  I've enjoyed all the summer weather, including the rain and cooler temps.  We are only now just starting to be annoyed with mosquitoes.  

The larger fish pond in the middle of the perennial garden is such fun.  The fish hear me coming and go crazy because they think it's time to eat.