Top End Tales

It's been a busy few weeks. September passed in a whirl as i whizzed from one end of the country to another, pausing long enough to add to the stash! Which was crazy really, considering I am off on my big trip tomorrow!

I had trips to Canberra and Melbourne and then almost a week away in Darwin. We arrived on Sunday afternoon so were able to relax for a few hours at the Mindil Beach Market. To be honest, there wasn't much at the market that appealed but the setting is just amazing. On the edges of the market family groups gathered to picnic and play games. It was obviously a regular event for many people and they were much better equipped for the event that we were.

We grabbed some food from the myriad of stalls and headed over the dunes to the beach. We paddled :

And then watched the sun go down.

A welcome time of relaxation and reflection before what was to be a very busy week!

S.A.B.L.E.

Most knitters know what this acronym stands for - Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy. I thought I was firmly in that camp until yesterday. I had a physio appointment (my ankle is coming along nicely, thanks. Not up to the City to Surf but improving). Alison (my physio) was admiring my socks and then told me about a home visit she made last week.

Her patient was a 108 year old lady who is cared for by her 84 year old daughter. Mum loves to knit and spends all her days making trauma teddies. It's what keeps her going. We had a discussion about the benefits of knitting but I reckon if I can still be knitting at 108 then I will get through the stash.

Happy days!

Not much knitting chez Yarna

I wasn't able to knit for a few weeks because of hand pain and now I find that I am suffering from unfinish-itis. I have started a number of projects but not been happy with them so they've been frogged. I'm not sure whether is better than having a lot of half-finished projects laying around but it certainly leads to less clutter.

So here is a finished object that I had a slight involvement in. Well - I did donate some of his genes!

A weekend away

In all the excitement of William's arrival I didn't get around to posting about our weekend on the Bellarine Peninsula.

We stayed at a B&B in Wallington where the hostess was a little perplexed at our arrival. Despite having paid a deposit in December there was no booking for us. It eventually transpired that she had us booked in for another weekend. And was fully booked that weekend. Fortunately she was able to find somewhere else for another guest and we had somewhere to sleep.

The next day was cold, wet and blustery. We drove to Queenscliff for coffee and then on to Point Lonsdale to explore. Despite the weather it was a very pleasant drive around. I really liked the feel of the area and we spent a few hours poking around book shops. We went to the JAck rabbit Vineyard for lunch. Good food, great wine and a stunnung view across the bay of the from Geelong, the You Yangs to Melbourne.

That evening we returned to Barwon Heads for dinner. Barwon Heads is where Seachange was filmed and we had dinner at a restaurant attached to the Shack

The next day it was back to Melbourne for work and then home to Sydney. A great weekend though and a beautiful part of the world.

What do non-knitters do?

I've had a few aches in my thumb for a while now. I put it down to getting older and ignored it. On Monday afternoon though it got significantly worse and I could hardly move my hand at all. I went to see my physio the next day. A lovely man who was very pleased to see me. Hardly surprising as I have made a significant contribution to his retirement fund over the last six months.

It turns out that I have some sort of (unspecified) problem which may or may not be connected with previous tennis elbow / neck and shoulder problems. The immediate course of action is to rest the hand which means NO KNITTING for two weeks. I stamped my foot and pouted. Doesn't he realise I have a grandson arriving in three weeks? A grandson who will be sans handknitted (by me) garments? OK so he won't remember that, but I will. As my son and daughter in law live on the other side of the world this is the only way that I can feel even slightly involved with the Great Event and so I am feeling sort of bereft.

And of course the other problem is what do I do instead? How do you watch television without knitting? How do you pass bus and plane trips? What DO non-knitters do?