Things knitterly

Last Saturday Liz Gemmell was the guest speaker at the Inner City Guild meeting. In the afternoon she conducted a workshop for us. It was an amazing day and Liz was incredibly generous with sharing her knowledge. I think we all felt inspired!

I shall certainly be more diligent about swatching and will try charting out patterns before I start knitting. I realise that this is why so few - well, none really - of my knitted garments work out the way I would like. It absolutely makes more sense to spend time doing the maths rather than waste many hours knitting a garment that I am not happy with and will never wear!

Two items that have turned out well are

the Vintage Lady scarf. This is the Lacy Kerchief Scarf in my favourite yarn - Knitabulous Fifty Fifty.

And

Many Yards of Heaven. This is 195 Yards of Heaven in Rowan Silky Wool. I bought four skeins in John Lewis in London but needed a fifth to get the size shawl I wanted. To cut a long story short I eventually got the yarn from Webs and amazingly it was the same dye lot!

From my office window

This is what I see.

It's very distracting.

The weekend just gone:

I didn't
- do the City to Surf, my knee was too sore
- buy any yarn

I did
- start and finish another swatch for the Guild workshop next weekend
- do some ironing
- make some lentil soup (yum)
- go to the movies (A Special Relationship which was excellent! Brilliant performances.)

On balance, a good weekend!

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.......