Remembering Bessie

I am over in Perth for a few days for work. It was an eventful flight with a mid-air medical emergency necessitating a faster trip than normal and paramedics to greet the plane. Hopefully the young woman involved is OK and that all is well with her pregnancy.

From the office I am using I have an amazing view.

My camera (and my photographic skills) don't do it justice. From the office window, I can clearly see the War Memorial and grounds of Kings Park. My grandmother (Bessie Rosina) was a very practical, sensible woman not given to displays of emotion. She was the eldest of twelve children and had a hard life in her early years growing up in the East End of London. She and my grandfather came to Perth on a cruise following his retirement. Bessie was so impressed by the view from Kings Park that it moved her to tears.

So I always think of her when I see this place. I won't get time to make a trip to the park but for some reason, I always feel a bit closer to her here.

Back from Bendi

So last weekend was the Australian Wool and Sheep Show at Bendigo. Bells, DrK and Randomknits have already blogged about the weekend and about their travels in country Victoria.

I flew to Melbourne on Friday afternoon and drove out to Bendigo to the house I was sharing with DrK, Bells, Jody and her mum and aunt. Friday evening we went to the Ravelry event at the Bendigo Bowling Club. So many knitters and so many amazing knitting garments! It was great fun pattern spotting and quite made up for inadequate catering.

On Saturday, I headed off to the Bendigo Showgrounds in some fear and trepidation that there would be nothing left after the hordes had descended the previous day. Of course there was plenty to look at, pore over and eventually purchase. So much lovely yarn but I was fairly restrained. Despite the cool day everyone was in great spirits and the general atmosphere was upbeat and cheerful.

I have never actually seen a sheep sheared before so I greatly enjoyed the sheep shearing competition. I love watching sheepdog trials and spent some time watching the dogs put through their paces. By that time I was really cold - despite the Cranford mitts etc - so made my way back to the house to warm up and catch up with the election news. I cast on the Lacy Kerchief Scarf as a reward for not buying too much at the show.

On Sunday I packed my bags and got ready to head back to Melbourne and home to Sydney. I had a bit of spare time so set off for Bendigo Pottery. I bought a teapot and a plain but lovely salad bowl for me and a vase which is a Christmas present.

Here is the yarn I bought at the Show in the salad bowl

It was a good weekend but I feel that I missed out on a lot by not spending more time there. I've been to Daylesford a couple of time before and know that there is so much else to discover in this part of the world. Sadly, I didn't get to the Bendigo Mills as I ran out of time on Saturday so the famous backroom is still a mystery to me.

And I think that I would have enjoyed it all a lot more had I had a travelling companion. Next time I'll be better organised and plan to stay for longer.

Dreaming of Bendigo

Thanks everyone who left comments about my last post. I think I was probably being a bit precious about it so your words helped me put it into context.

I slept well last night - apart from a bad dream where I arrived at Bendigo with an empty suitcase as I had forgotten my knitting! My suitcase is now packed - possibly overpacked as I am worried about being cold. And this is the knitting that's going with me:

Lacy Kerchief Scarf

The yarn is Knitabulous Fifty-fifty - one of my favourite yarns. I wound the skein last night and I just love the colour. It's called Vintage Lady.

Swirled scrolls scarf

It's Lush Yarn Cashmere in Lava. This the yarn used for the hat fail - here:

Quincy

Was intended to keep my head warm in Bendigo but unlikely to be finished in time.

Crazy Monkey Socks

One down - one to go! The Fyberspates yarn is lovely to work with.

That should keep me busy! Am off to the airport shortly.

There's a theme here...

You know how you have those days (or weeks, or months) when nothing goes right? I think I had one of them last week.

Months ago, I volunteered (along with some others) to do the morning tea for the Inner City Guild meeting. We were all fired up and rashly promised a Christmas in July theme. Well, life got in the way and people had other things to do and as the day grew closer it didn't seem such a good idea.

My cooking plans were somewhat interrupted by a work trip to Canberra but I was still determined to stick to the theme. The sausage rolls worked out well. Then I realised that most of my kitchen equipment still resides in the now-vacated (by me, that is) marital home so I didn't have the necessary pans and pastry cutters to make mince pies. Fail # 1. So I made Christmas Cookies. The star shape was vaguely festive but the icing was exceedingly dodgy. Fail #2. (They tasted great though).

It was now late Friday evening and I had to get to the dentist for 9 am the next morning. My dentist is the other side of Sydney so it wasn't going to be a quick trip. Raced over there, tried to find some festive decorations and then raced back to make the mulled wine. Smelled great but I forgot to take the slow cooker to keep it warm. Fail # 3.

The Guild meeting was brilliant - the new location is fabulous and it was the usual lively and informative meeting. I happily knitted away at a hat in softest cashmere to keep me warm in Bendigo. I finished it later that day. Fail # 4. It's far too small. Kind of ironic that the Guild topic was tension squares.......

A most excellent weekend!

On Friday evening we went to the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House to see Waiting for Godot . It is a great production with an excellent cast.

Saturday we were up early for the drive to Coffs Harbour. Great knitting time for me with the occasional stop for food and comfort breaks. We stayed at an amazing B & B just outside Coffs - Santa Fe has (unsurprisingly) a Mexican theme. We had a lovely, very comfortable room with a deck and spa. As we were the only guests that weekend we had the run of the guest lounge. Our host, Sharon, provided us with a wonderful breakfast each morning - lovely!

Breakfast was the culinary highlight of each day. A very ordinary soup in Dorrigo for lunch on Sunday - the hail drove us to take shelter in the nearest cafe we could find. And dinner that evening was an experience! Being winter and a Sunday evening, not much was open. We tried to eat here but were turned away by the surly owner despite the many empty tables because he and his wife were the only staff on duty. We later found out that he has reputation for being extremely unpleasant and that the food is equally as bad. The Indian restaurant that we ended up at was not much better. I do object to paying for curry consisting of the meat being tossed into a not very nice sauce and gluggy rice.

After inspecting R's property on Monday morning we headed back to Sydney. Again, I got a lot of knitting done and finished the 10 in 2010 shawlette (dreadful name) I had been working on. Just needs to be blocked.

Also on the knitting front the final shipment from the Knitabulous Black Japan club arrived. A stunning grey fifty- fifty called Samurai Sword.

And another piece of good news - I finally located the pattern for the cardigan I almost completed last year and also found the piece that I was working on. Hurrah!

Crafty capers (and some yarn acquisition)

So there have been a number of crafty events over the last few weeks. First up was the Guild meeting and an excellent talk on blocking by the very talented Randomknits. I know Donna was nervous but she did a brilliant job. After that we adjourned to the Abraham Mott Hall in the Rocks for WWKIP. A lovely afternoon of knitting, socialising and perhaps a bottle or two of bubbles. Sally did a fantastic job of organising the event despite being laid up in hospital with a broken hip. It was great to see her up and about (albeit still on crutches) and I know that all 92 of us had a great afternoon.

The following week the Craft show rolled into town. We went on Saturday so that R's mum (visiting from Adelaide) could see the quilts - some of which were amazing! I was fairly restrained in the yarn acquisition department as I only bought a couple of balls from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

The next day I was back at the Craft show helping out on the Guild stand. We weren't very busy so it was a relaxed few hours knitting.

A couple of ideas for projects had been percolating overnight so two cones of Habu and some more Bendigo yarn (which was reduced even further!) fell into my basket.

And yes - for once I do have projects in mind for this yarn!

Have you noticed?

How young emergency service workers are these days? I was pondering this last week as I was standing in the street in my nightie in Darwin at 4 a.m. As I evacuated the hotel with the other guests I was thinking that were my daughter there she would have been excited that there would be firies to look at once we got outside. And there were - but they were all so young a couple of them looked as though they might have been on work experience.

The week in Darwin went downhill after that as I succumbed to the stomach bug that is going round. So no nice snaps of the bay or Mindil beach market as I spent the time in the office or in the hotel room. Or more specifically in the bathroom in each of those places.

Oh well - at least I lost 2.5 kilos!