Post 450 Swiftly fall the days

Wednesday was marked by the arrival of the wool for Brigid's jumper. It seemed to sit at Heathrow for a week - then turned up in Melbourne and made it here overnight. I shouldn't have been surprised by the skeins, but I hadn't thought about it. I don't mind winding skeins into balls, and am happy to do the odd ball on the back of a chair, but 17 skeins is too much to do either that or to dragoon friends or family into winding.

I had organised to spend the afternoon at a friend's place 10km away, to transfer my scans of Maureen's articles to her database. I did a detour, 20 km to Port Adelaide to the Yarn Trader, then 19 km to my friend's place - and bought a swift.

We made good progress on the database - and also had a fine time. I stopped off for milk on the way home.

As soon as I got home I assembled the swift. I chose the ChiaoGoo Amish one. The Yarn Trader has several, but this is the only one that doesn't require clamping to a table. It sits comfortably on a table or the floor and rotates easily. I am hooked.  It is mesmerising. Each skein takes 8-10 minutes to wind and I love doing it. I resisted the temptation to wind all 17 balls at once, rationing myself. Today I have two to go, but I'm considering doing all the skeins in my stash!

Thursday was our Day of Mourning public holiday. I stayed in all day, did washing, read a book, wound 6 skeins and progressed my shawl. 

On Friday I zipped into the Central Markets to buy duck for Monday dinner, since my weekend wasn't going to allow for shopping. It was crowded, which augurs well for the Markets. On advice, I froze the duck and defrosted it on Sunday. It cooked easily on Monday, along with potatoes and broccoli.

Saturday was the Certificate Course Workshop on Russian Goldwork, taken by Jackie Denniston. It was well attended and a lot of fun.  I didn't finish it in the workshop, but got close. I finished off the stitching on Sunday afternoon.  This is just out of the hoop, in need of a clean and iron. The dressmakers carbon I used (bought, I'm pretty sure, in the 1960s!)  left a couple of marks which have faded with careful spot cleaning.

This morning I constructed it into a pouch. The account of the finish is in my embroidery blog.

It's a very nice design. 

In between all of this, I have been entering data into our Maureen Holbrook Document Collection. Its use and structure is revealing itself as we go. I've got a bit of negotiation to do with the Guild Library Team, but it looks as if we will have a database of around 400 items, covering articles on a wide range of countries and their embroidery traditions, searchable by country, technique, author and title, with publication details and whether the Guild holds the source publication. How we make it accessible is still to be determined, but there are promising options.

Sunday was Book Club, and once again, the discussion was wide-ranging and dynamic.  Of the three books we read to discuss, I really liked The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley. Unfortunately, this was her venture into crime fiction, which has been published posthumously and the only one we will ever get. It would have made a great series.

On my way home I stopped at the Victoria Park Wetlands for a walk. It's looking good. 

There were ducks on  the pond, enjoying whatever is beginning to collect in the reeds. The ponds are quite full - a cause for celebration in Adelaide.

The plantings are slowly taking off and you can begin to see how rich it will be in the future.

The Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos were feeding. Not much is allowed to get in their way when foraging!

Yesterday some coffee arrived from Jaques Coffee plantation in Mareeba, Queensland. I had read about the pioneering efforts to grow coffee in North Queensland and thought I should try it. My coffee machine is currently full of East Timor dark roast, so I'll put this away to try later.  

It pays, I think, to diversify one's coffee sources!

On Saturday night  we had the birthday cakes delayed by camp and Mourning Day. Both spectacular, and I had small pieces of each in defiance of my diet. Both delicious.

After finishing off the pouch this morning, I headed off to our special Sit'nStitch. Jennifer is heading to Queensland later this week to spend a month with her family so we had a session. to wish her bon voyage. Her crocheted shawl is looking very good. 

Susan has harvested her Gymea lily, which is enormous. It needs to sit in a large pot or a bucket. It's still not fully open 

but these buds will hopefully continue to open as the weather warms.  I'll keep you posted.

I now have my brother's chest measurements, so his vest is next in my queue. In the meantime, I'm off to wind another skein for the St Brigid jumper.