Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

Another weekend, but this time something special........sunshine!
Yes, we finally had an (almost) rain free weekend, with only a bit of rain from 7pm last night to sometime this morning.

Last night we went to eat delicious sushi & drink sake & sup on miso, then went off to see a movie...the Simpsons movie. As a fairly die hard Simpson's fan, I was pretty disappointed. Its like someone who watched a few episodes wrote the movie. Thin on gags, poor continuation of character...not great. Excellent Mickey Mouse joke around 2/3 of the way through.

Anyway, a finished object...This is the beautiful baby hat from Purly Whites. Knitted in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (I really should buy shares in her company, the amount I use), on aluminium 3.25mm dpns. They were horrible. I really need some bamboo or wood dpns of this size - I felt like I couldn't keep gauge (although it looks ok in the end), and it was slow going. But the pattern itself is intuitive, easy, and despite looking like it is going to fit a giant, ends up looking quite nice. I didn't do the 'stem' out the top (well, I did, but I didn't like it so I undid it!). So another thing (unwashed and unblocked as yet) put away for the coming baby influx.

Also, more progress on the black socks...

Which, in fact, has commenced. My dear friend Vincent and his lovely wife Andy had their two beautiful babies last week. They are very little and a bit early, but everyone is healthy and I would like to wish them all the best wishes. In the meantime, there is a bit of catch-up knitting to be done (they are both early and smaller than expected! Although if I wait long enough they will get to a more finished-object-friendly size...)

On a different note, some pics from tonight's meal...

Almost looks like summer, doesn't it!

ECF

I just love the colours & textures. Also, tomorrow is the weekend!!!

Can't Stand the Rain...

So much rain. At least we aren't flooded! The river near us is very very full, but we are a fair distance uphill, so we are ok. It does mean getting around the place a bit tricky.

Anyway, some things just seem to love all this water...aren't they great! Also, they are a bit bigger than they seem here - about as long as my forearm at the longest! And pretty tasty too.

Furious Political Thought

I know I usually keep this blog to knitting, our allotment, our holidays and general stuff. However, this is really starting to piss me off, and I just don't know what to do other than to let others know and ask for their help.

I grew up in Tasmania, which, for those who are unaware, is a smallish island off the south coast of Australia. There are around half a million people living there. It is known as a beautiful place, and the more I travel the more I realise that it really is spectacular. I know that everyone thinks that the place they come from is special, but Tasmania is unique in its natural beauty, and in the way of life that people continue to enjoy.

We grew up in the north, living along next to the Tamar river. Since I grew up, this has become a major wine production area. The river is a large estuary, and an important nursery ground for many fish and haven for all sorts of marine wildlife. When I was young, it was a bit risky to swim in the river. Since then, the river has been cleaned up in a number of ways and there are now seals, dolphins, pelicans, waterbirds and other visitors to the area.
So yep, I guess you get it. It is pretty special, to me and to others.

However, there is plans to build a pulp mill on this river, at one of the most beautiful parts. The local community is very much against this. The process for approval seems rife with loopholes and corruption. The mill will create all sorts of problems for the area. There are other places in Tasmania and Australia that want this mill in their community. It will impact on many aspects of the local environment, and provide further reasons to chop down our trees for chipping and pulp (a separate but related issue). Here are some links for further info about the company Gunns, and on the proposed mill (and some pictures of what the Tamar looks like), and from the Wilderness society.

I don't want to rave on too much, but it seems to me that this is another example of another small and unique part of the world being destroyed for commercial gain. While we are all looking at our own carbon footprint, and the wider ramifications of global warming, small communities struggle to maintain important local environments and in some cases need our wider support. If you think you would like to support our fight against a pulp mill in this area, there are details of who to contact and people to email here. The Wilderness society are another good source of information (http://www.wilderness.org.au/).

Thanks for reading. I am sorry I don't have any photos of this area at hand, but I will try to get some up soon.


You can find out more about Tasmania here.

Treats! More Treats!

Look - a final parcel from my great unsecret pal, Carol:


My camera really can't handle the yarn - the bit that looks blue is a deep electric violet colour, and the muddy colour here is a purpley brown. The yarn is amazing - I have no idea what it will knit up like! Thanks Carol - you have been such a great Secret Pal!
Also, a new WIP - I am getting good at having more than one thing on the go at once (especially little things!), although I feel the need to get a larger project on the needles.....

ECF

I can't take the credit - these are pics of New Zealand, courtesy of Simon from our recent trip. A heavenly place. Happy Friday!

WIC (Work in Completion)

Completed Hello Yarn bonnet in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Worked out pretty good, although clearly Lamby has a slightly unbaby shaped head (I think it is the ears), but you get the idea! The stripes had a bit of jog on one side, but not so much that it ruins it, or that non-knitters would really notice, to be honest. I just love how this yarn knits up. I know it is a bit ubiquitous, but these colours really appeal to me. And it used just a tiny bit of each ball! Plenty for more knits. Also, some pics of our holiday. As you can see, we were pretty enamoured of the New Forest ponies!

Uncompetitive Knitters!

Hey - well, after a flood of entries (two!!!), I have completed some complex calculations, and the winner is...Anne! Which is cool, cause I haven't ever heard from Anne before, and (one of) the points of the blog is to meet people. So Anne - I will be in touch. If you care to know, I now have 16 different yarns in my collection - SP10 gave me an increase of around 50%!! Well, more if you count the stuff I bought each time I went to buy stuff for my pal (he he!).
So thanks for reading - maybe the celebrations for 2000 hits will be more thrilling. Who knows. In the meantime, I have exciting weekend adventure photos to come...

WIPs

Look - actual knitting!

The first bit is both very exciting and very boring! The exciting bit is that Simon actually asked me to knit him something! He wanted plain, black socks. Plain plain plain. So I bought some black Regia sock yarn, found a nice plain pattern, and have surprised myself how much fun it has been. They are knit on 2.00mm dpns, which is always a bit like knitting on toothpicks, but it has knitted up beautifully. Even Simon thinks they look good! I just hope they will stay up (his biggest criteria) - I think I might knit one and get him to wear it a bit before starting the other, to see if it needs more rib on the leg. Anyway, I promise that the yarn is the blackest of black yarns, it just was a sunny (yes, actually sunny!) day.

And this is a partially finished Hello Yarns top-down bonnet, knit in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. It is just quick knitting, as there is a whole flotilla of babies due in the next 12 months and I want to be ready! It is nearly done - finished pics coming soon.

A competition...

So, as previously warned, to celebrate that 1000 hits have been registered to my humble little blog, I give you....a competition! This seems to be blog etiquette, so here goes...
If you ever read my SP10 questionnaire, you will know that at the time I completed it, I said that I didn't really have a stash. If you don't have a stash, and you think you might like one, I suggest joining in SP11 - somehow I now have a stash! It is fantastic, only my brain hasn't adjusted and I still seem to want to buy yarn specifically for projects, rather than working with what I have. Ah well.
So, the competition is this: If you can guess how many different yarns I have, you could win a little treat! Nothing huge, but something. I haven't decided yet, but I promise it will be something knitty and maybe also tasty. If you aren't a knitty reader, I reckon I could go tasty only (I know there are a few of you!).
Now, by different yarns I will include (a) different brands of yarn and (b) different colours of yarn, but not individual balls (cause some are bits and some are not wound from hanks). So, for example, I have two colours of some German wool that I lost the label from (2 balls of one colour and 1 of another) - this would count as two.
Suddenly this is sounding much more complex than intended! ANyway, if you want to play, just leave a comment and your guess. Closest guess wins, and if there are two or more that picked, then I will get Simon to draw a name out of a hat (he has a good hat for this kind of thing).
Happy 1000 hits! I really enjoy writing this blog, and it is nice to get comments and hear that people read it.

PS: Oops, forgot to say until when...lets say, next Saturday 14th.

Weekend memories...

Well, I had intended to blog what we did on the weekend, and suddenly its Thursday....so I'll do it anyway!

Saturday we went into London for the day, and saw some theatre (Cats Eye at the Kings Head theatre- it was ok) and caught up with Bennie, Simon's friend. We went to the Borough markets which are excellent and about 99.9% food and booze! Shame I ate too much for lunch and didn't want to eat anything, but we did get some good parmesan. Highly recommended (get off at London Bridge station, but go the right way - we didn't). We had dinner at our fave korean place in Soho, had a few drinks (if you could get to the bar thanks to the London Pride rally!) and slept home on the bus! Lovely, but it rained all day! I am really glad we went - I was a bit uncertain after events on Thursday, but it was well worth it.

Sunday we had a 'home day', putting up with the rain again, but we bottled our homemade cider (even before secondary ferment it tasted good! I'll keep you posted), I made a carrot cake due to left over cream cheese (meant to take a photo but is all gone!), a batch of onion jam (picture below) which turned out ok I think (first attempt and copying the ingredients from the jar that we bought at a fete about a year ago!), and I almost finished knitting a gift! I promise more on this soon...

So anyway, very productive. We dug our first spuds from the allotment yesterday - some stuff is doing well, but lots of things look like they would love a day or two of sunshine (including me!) Anyway, I am preparing for my next post to be pretty big - I will have had 1000 hits to the site! I know, nothing flash for most folks but any excuse for a celebration here!

In the meantime, check out Esmerelda's blog - she has some cool NZ sites listed there. And have you all seen Brooklyn Tweed's latest creation? I am completely in love with it!

ECF

Allotment fun!

Secret Pal Revealed!

Its a little bit superhero, but today my secret pal finally revealed herself - well, her blog anyway! I knew her name and that she was from Estonia, but today I find out her blog is http://tikrimari.wordpress.com/ - you should go check it out, it is cool!
Anyway, show off pictures from my most recent (and possibly not the last!?) secret pal parcel - I am so very very spoiled!



Aren't I lucky! The yarn is (a) reddy pinky laceweight alpaca silk (!!ooooh!)perfect for my first go at lace knitting (actually probably far too good for my first attempt, but it is so delicious! I feel a mini knit-along with print o' the wave with Claudia and maybe others...?) and (b) bright light green 100% alpaca (another oooh!) and (c) beautiful leafy olivey green merino, which is absolutely on the mark as a Clare colour. Unfortunately it has rained and rained and rained so the pics are a bit dark - the individual yarns are better representations of the colour.
And then of course there is sheep! I have not been able to take a decent picture of dear lamby yet, but will keep trying. He is the perfect reading pillow and so cosy!
Thanks again, unsecret pal!

More Pics....

More pictures - I cannot seem to get the formatting on this right, so you get all the text up front! Pics are of boy & me in various disguises, mum & me, the gorgeous (winter!) view, and a turtle (look very closely...). Enjoy

Pictures! Millions of Pictures!!

Guess what ..... our phone line is back! Which means I can start posting some pics.
First call I think is holiday - later this week I will try and do pics of my Secret Pal parcel and of our allotment.
So here tis....
We ate a ridiculous amount of these lovely big orange things....although they weren't all this big! (Gotta love a country that makes giant replicas of prawns!)

We saw a real emu (actually, we saw a few!), as well as some of his metallic mates...














My brother caught this fantastic coral trout, which was delicious!











And we caught this cutie in a beer box!


















I swam with some real ones of these for more than an hour! (At least this big!)



















I caught up with old friends (and the latest in Melbourne street art)



















And more old friends - on rooftops! Aren't we all Melbourne cool!














I think thats enough pictures for one post....but more to follow I promise!

Secret Pal Adventure Continues...

I got to work this morning after an infuriating drive in the rain, and there was a lovely big parcel waiting for me! My wonderful Secret Pal had sent me a box full of delights! I got a sheep (you will have to wait for pictures of this - I am not even going to try to describe it!), lavender soap (mmm!), lavender tea (mmm mmm!), cherry chocolate & blueberry chocolate (perfect for Friday afternoon tea), an Estonian-English dictionary (excellent!), and yarn! Beautiful beautiful yarn - a skein of alpaca in a light appley green (nothing immediately springs to mind, but good for the patting and looking!), three balls of merino in a lovely olivey leafy green (I feel a hat coming on...) and two balls of gorgeous deep raspberry red coloured alpaca silk - perfect for a Print o' the Wave stole! Of course, Secret Pal had paid much attention and noted that i wanted to try knitting some lace! And this is great timing as I don't think I have mentioned that I inherited my grandmother's knitting needle collection, so I am all stocked up with any kind of needle (and some crochet hooks) that a girl could possibly need! (well, I am sure I will find an excuse to buy new ones every now and then, but for now I am set).
Thanks Secret Pal Carol - you really did spoil me terribly! I can't wait now to find out your true identity!

Welcome back....to the silence

We had a fantastic holiday, and happily returned to the UK last Friday to find that our phone line has died. BT is on the case, but it is pretty dire stuff involving the digging up of many things. Fingers crossed, but in the meantime, there is no internet! Disaster! Not only that, but no phone and, in an unrelated matter, our TV blew up! It is very very quiet at our house....

So apologies as still no pictures, but everything was great! As you have heard I had many marine close encounters. I also met my new nephew, and caught up with the rapid development of my other nephew, who is now two. Very hard to say goodbye to those two! I visited my parents in Tasmania, which was as cold and as beautiful as ever! I spent most of the visit in front of the fire with the cat, finishing off a pair of fetching fingerless mittens for a friend in Melbourne. We caught up with said friend, and a whole host of other friends, most of which appear to be expecting! I found out that a melbourne friend reads this blog, which is admirable as she is not in anyway a knitter! So hi D - I hope all is ok, and we are thinking of you & yours.

Anyway, not much point in rambling on here. Hopefully BT will get on the case sooner rather than later, as these non-pic blogs are getting a little tedious!

Holiday Update!

Hi! Am having a great time on holiday, enjoying the lovely weather - around 25-30 degrees and sunny every day! I have seen dolphins, dugongs, turtles, sea snakes, humpback whales, minke whales and a hammerhead shark! Also I swam with whalesharks for an hour or so! Amazing amazing stuff. Highly recommended.
Off to the Karinji gorges tomorrow, then heading south the next day! More updates soon.

Frustrating Farewell

Well, this is it for a little while as I traipse around the globe and have a bit of a holiday! Unfortunately, I am both very excited (about the holiday and seeing my folks) and very frustrated - I have something like tennis elbow and my physio friend said I need to rest my arm! Including no knitting!! We'll see....she also said no typing, so I'll keep this short and promise interesting pictures not from my garden when I get back!

Secret Pal 10 Competition 2!

Ok, so Hostess Bobbi asked us what we would pack to knit when going on our summer holiday, and what do we hope to shop for?
As I am conveniently heading off on a lovely holiday in just 3 days (!!!) it didn't take too much imagination.
Firstly I hope to be taking a finished pair of fetchings in lovely blue green colour, but at this stage, they might not be quite done. They are for a friend that I am seeing later in the holiday so that is fine.
Secondly, I am taking stuff to knit for my Secret Pal! I figured holiday time would give me that little bit extra to knit something especially nice.
Finally, I am going to take the yarn that my other Secret Pal sent me in my first parcel, and a pattern for some lacey-ish socks. I think I have decided. I am not totally sure> I will make a last minute executive decision on Saturday, in the midst of the rest of the mad packing.

The shopping bit...well, I am not really going anywhere that I know has good yarn shops, but I am hoping to pick up some more of the lovely handmade wooden knitting needles my mum got me for Christmas - they are made in Tasmania and are beautiful to use (fetchings are currently on them). Also I am going to try and get hold of some possum-merino (sometimes known as merino mink in that part of the world!), maybe in Australia, or maybe I will ask my dearest to get me some when he pops over to New Zealand. And apart from that...who knows? There is a lot of unknitting related shopping to do in Melbourne, as we are planning to update our wardrobes completely, given the good shopping and the excellent exchange rate!

Ideal knitting holiday....maybe a week in a cottage on the coast in Sweden, just with my dearest and good seafood and mushrooms and great wine and a huge stash, and just knit myself silly! One can purchase things any time, but getting the time to actually knit, that would be great!