Finishing and starting

A finish to report!  The jumper which has been in the making for a while is now done, has been worn......and, I am pleased to report, is very cosy and warm.

 Colour is a deep teal with pale flecks, and the pattern came from a Classic Knits book; a plain raglan sleeved round necked jumper, but it was gussied up by the ribbing being done k2 p2 instead of the usual k1 p1.  Yarn is from Bendigo Woollen Mills, Highlands 8 ply woollen yarn, colour 'Ness', and was purchased when first released......oh......must be four, or maybe five, years ago?  There have been three previous attempts to make a cardigan with it but all were hopeless for various reasons, so I gave up and made this.  It hasn't yet been blocked, pressed or washed, but has already been worn.

The next project has been started, it will be the same pattern (I know it's unadventurous, but it's an easy make, it fits and I like it) but this yarn has been in the stash since January 2001!  It was bought in the Famous Back Room at the mills on our so far one-and-only trip to Bendigo, Victoria, and is alpaca yarn in a nicer colour than this shows - it's a rich purple-blue, which for some reason that escapes me is called 'Passion'.

The difference will be the ribbing, this is a diagonal rib pattern which came from my Mon Tricot knitting and crochet stitch dictionary (it has 1030 stitches - no, I have never counted them!) which was purchased in 1974, and to which I still refer.  With a bit of luck and knuckling-down it should be finished in time to take to Canada late in September; I'm told alpaca yarn is very warm, and it might be needed.

There is also a 'Dragonfly Wings' scarf on the needles; the pattern calls for beads to be knitted in with the lacy edge, and the choice of beads here in the Small Smoke is not good.  Truth be told, it's downright abysmal.  Next month we are heading south to Canberra to see our grandkid and his parents, and I know where there is a good bead shop there not far from a very good quilt shop.

The green top is proceeding after a minor hiccup; I was following the pattern steps (as I always do) and thought "I know what comes next" so stitched the neck facing to the neckband on the outer edge....they had already been joined on the inner edge....read ahead in the instructions and, guess what, that doesn't happen at all ever.....so the seam ripper and I renewed our acquaintance along with a few choice words, and now all is going along as it should.  It has short sleeves, so when it's finished won't be worn for months because it's not short sleeve clothing weather here now.  Not for me.  Some hardy souls let their bare skin hang out in winter, but I'm not one of them.

Now you all know that I am a genius of some note, and it was confirmed this week.  At Easter a beautiful new baritone uke came here to join my other instruments, and a suitable chord chart was found online and printed out.  Baritone ukes are strung differently to other ukes, consequently the chord positions are very different.  I didn't want to go to the expense of buying baritone copies of my uke books and thought of writing the chord charts by hand in my current books, at least three chords and up to 12 or more for each song.....but wasn't sure I would live long enough to ever finish because you have no idea how many thousands of songs are in my collection.  A little bright light went "boing" in my brain (so bright it's a wonder my brain didn't explode) and I searched online for blank chord diagrams to print out - and there they are!  Lots of them!!  Clicked on one uke forum, started to read some posts about chord diagrams, and someone wrote "or......you could buy a rubber stamp".  "Of course you could" said I to myself, and one phone call, two visits to our local office supply shop downtown, a handing over of the fantastic plastic card, and I have a blank chord grid stamp.

Now all I need is the time to stamp several of these for each song, and to write letters and dots on them......

"Washington's maxims:
Play not the peacock, looking everywhere about you to see if you be well decked, if your shoes fit well, if your stockings set neatly and clothes handsomely".

What about when one is wearing a gorgeous hand-knitted (by oneself, of course) new jumper?  I think a little peacocking is justified sometimes.

Enjoy your days!

In which we find a big spiky bum

The neighbourhood echidna has been visiting our front garden lately.

 Now you see it......

 .......and now you don't.

We don't know if it's a boy or a girl echidna, and weren't going to look either.  We're not silly.  When it thought that I and the camera had gone it would turn round, poke out its snout into the garden and burrow for ants, but as soon as I or the camera hove into sight again it flipped around and buried its head - so I'm very sorry, but the only shots I could get are of its aforementioned big spiky bum.

It's all go go go up here on the hill, folks.

Did you all have a nice Mother's Day weekend?  The day before, Saturday was my annual 29th birthday so we went for a drive to Armidale, an hour or so north, to a cat show.  Lots of lovely kitties, we could have brought several home with us......we told Bianca that if she doesn't behave, we will trade her in on a new model.  That night we also went out to dinner at a - actually, the - local French restaurant and had a wonderful meal; engraved on the portals of this house (and just about any other house I have lived in) are the words "The Mother Does Not Cook On Her Birthday".  Kevin gave me an unexpected birthday present, a beautiful brooch in a Celtic design of entwined birds made by a silversmith we know.  I have a few other pieces of his work......earrings, a pendant......and wear them often.

So now I am a year older.  I don't like getting older.  Don't give me that guff about it being better than the alternative either.  And don't say tritely "it's only a number" because the number is getting larger every year.  Scary large.  I am not liking the stuff that goes along with getting older such as health problems, and losing any claim I may once have had to a nice slender figure, and my once-gorgeous auburn hair going grey and colourless.

Sigh.

The green top has been started, so let's hope it fits!  The next quilting project will be to finish a charity quilt, and the next sewing project will be some new pyjamas from fabric in my stash.  A quilt show is held annually here in spring, and I have it in mind to finish a couple of projects for this year's.  The jumper (sweater) which was being knitted is all done, and is now being sewn together.

None of which will get done if I sit here on the computer, will it?

Tonight we will be attending a performance by the local Musical Society of "Company", a musical we haven't seen before and of which we don't know the plot, but if it up to the usual high standard of the local society - and it has a very high standard - we will enjoy it.  On another musical note (hah) some of us in the uke group played last Thursday for a local women's organisation, and the feedback was positive, they loved us and will probably ask us back.

"Deference to elderly people.
A young lady should show the same deference to an elderly lady that a gentleman does to a lady.  It may also be said that a young man should show proper deference to elderly gentlemen."

We can always hope, can't we?

Enjoy your days!

Happy birthday to me.......

.....Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday, happy birthday,
Happy birthday to meeeeee!

Swinging from the chandelier

Although it's not quite a chandelier!  A few days ago our new shade was installed.

 It is not easy for a short person to take a picture of a light fitting, you know.

 Looking up from under, the outer row of diamonds is bevelled clear glass, next row in is patterned clear glass, inner row is opalescent glass.  Shades with coloured glass are gorgeous, but we wanted a clear/white one.

We could have bought a ready-made shade in a lighting shop, had we found one that we liked......but no.  The 1970s are back with a vengeance, folks - remember brass, copper and wooden light shades? - which is why we decided to have ours made by Linda and Mark, the lovely folks at Volcania Art Glass.  We've lived through the 70s once already, we don't need to do it again.

The block that I designed last week is done, and since this was taken it has been starched and pressed.

At least I think I designed it......there are probably similar blocks floating round out there in quiltland, because there is nothing new under the sun, is there?  I called it "Spinner" because it reminds me of those child's toys that spin round on a stick.

The green top cut out a few weeks ago is being looked at next.  The fabric has been in my stash for a few years, the pattern was bought a year or two back, but I hesitated about cutting into it because I didn't to wreck it.  Up until several years ago I could buy a pattern, cut out and make up a garment and it fit perfectly but since going through menopause, changing shape and turning into a short barrel on legs, getting clothing to fit is much more difficult.  That's why the fabric has been sitting for so long, but now it's cut out and if it doesn't fit or makes me look like the side of a house and is thrown out......why then, it's only fabric.  Even if it is beautiful green fabric and was bought on sale because it was the last of the roll and there is no more because it was a few years ago and the fabric shop has none left and it's all gone.

Ah well.  It's only fabric.

This morning we had a thick fog, and the whole valley disappeared into cloud.  Planes couldn't take off or land, so pity help those folks who were planning to take an early plane to the Big Smoke to connect with another flight.  There was a good chance they missed it.  Like many country towns in Australia, on the closest hill to this town there is a lookout which affords views over the town, over the valley and for a long long way round - but there was no view this morning.

One of the local Rotary Clubs is having its annual used book sale this week, so yesterday I bagged a few bargains....and a few more today.....the sale is on all week, so I might have to visit again before it closes.  One of the books I bought today is about some of the women - some very young, still teenagers - who sailed from Australia to England after World War II to join the English men they had met and married during the war.  Going so far from their families and friends must have been a huge step for them at a time when many people didn't go far from home.  I remember watching a documentary about Aussie women who sailed to the USA after World War II to join the husbands they had married but barely knew, and that was interesting too.  Not all of these marriages lasted, a small number of women were notified by their husbands en route not to bother continuing because they were no longer wanted and were sent back (just imagine the hurt and humiliation!), and not all the women were welcomed by their husband's family when they arrived.  England has long had a reputation of looking down its nose at 'colonials', and some of the women were made to feel this very keenly.

"If, perchance, after they have entered upon the stern realities of life, they find that they have made a mistake, that they are not well-mated, then they must accept the inevitable and endure to the end, "for better or for worse;" for only in this way can they find consolation for having found out, when too late, that they were unfitted for a life-long companionship.

'Acceptance and endurance' - doesn't sound like a good bargain to me.

Enjoy your days!