Post 584 A very mixed week.

On Wednesday I decided it was time I used  the sweet potato and zucchini I had bought several days before with the intention of trying a fritter recipe I found.

I had the gist in my head so proceeded, without looking it up, with the ingredients I had; zucchini, sweet potato, my last 2 eggs, oil, and a little polenta. It worked really well. I had fritters for lunch and again in the evening with the last of my soup.  Eggs are scarce at the moment because of  avian flu, but my local greengrocer had an organic farm supply last time I visited, so I dashed out and snagged another dozen - free range from Kangaroo Island. I don’t use a lot of eggs but don’t like to be without them. These are good for a month. I’ll make sure I use them all.

While at the greengrocer I looked for white flowers and bought bought a bunch of verbena for the vase. 

Our entry buzzer was still not working on Thursday when my order of two books was to be delivered between 10.15am and 12.15pm, so, working on the usual timing of delivery, I stationed myself on the low cement wall outside our entrance with my knitting at about 10.40. Ten minutes later, just as I was hearing my mother's voice telling me I would get piles, the postal delivery van arrived with the parcel.

The knitting book has a couple of useful shawl patterns and what looks to be an excellent pattern for super chunky yarn slippers. Most slippers  I’ve knitted slip off the heels too easily. These come further above the ankle. Serendipitously, the same morning, Bendigo Woollen Mill advertised a new 16ply yarn from recycled wool, silk and cotton. I’ve ordered 4 balls. 

First, of course, I have to finish the beanie project. I’ve been experimenting with a specific variation within the brief. I took the first experiment with me to work on  after Pilates ,when I visited friends. They have both been ill, he critically. 

We had a relaxed afternoon catching up and chewing the fat. There was plenty to talk about. They had used a nearby pre poll facility to vote that morning, since neither of them are able to stand in the queues that are a feature of most polling places on polling day (Saturday). While there is a certain excitement and camaraderie about voting on the day, the queues are difficult to manage as we age - hence my postal vote.

I woke on Saturday to a pre-dawn pink. It disappeared as the sun rose, so I was confident neither shepherds nor sailors were issuing warnings about the election. Perhaps I was wrong.

I spent the day doing washing, remaking the bed to add a blanket under the quilt, and knitting another experimental beanie before heading to the family dinner and election count watch.

On the way, at 5.45pm, 15 minutes before the polls closed, I drove past my local polling station to take a photo. The queues had gone, along with the BBQ, but there were still a few straggling voters and faithful volunteers..

It was a great night, glued to the count on the ABC, with Niamh and Anthony in particular, seeking additional information and answers to questions online. Our system of preferential (and compulsory) voting leads to hours - even weeks - of vote counting, reported from tally rooms across the nation to the Electoral Commission’s National Tally Room, which posts them progressively online. Fortunes shift as votes are counted and preferences distributed. Many of us follow the public tally and swinging fortunes at least until the losing leader concedes and the other claims victory - in this case around 10pm on Saturday. Counting of absentee votes and distribution of preferences goes on for days. possibly weeks.

While the campaign has been divisive, lacklustre, and at times aggressive, the result was decisive, its  acceptance public, civil, gracious and respectful. Anthony Albanese, somewhat unexpectedly re-elected as Prime Minister with an increased majority, stopped a few in the enthusiastic crowd of Party faithful from cheering the opposition leader’s defeat with the assertion What we do in Australia is treat people with respect. 

I am left with a strong sense of shared values, healing, common purpose, decency and - the PM’s word - kindness. We all need to hang on to this through the hard process of implementation.

After an hour catching up with a friend by phone on Sunday morning I paid a short visit to the Bowerbird Market at the Adelaide Showground. It only happens 2-3 times a year and features craft goods from around the country, including, this time, a good representation of spirits and cocktails, none of which I investigated..

I did buy a couple of gifts for later birthdays, and a mug for myself. I have mugs aplenty, but liked it , so went home and made myself coffee in it, while finishing beanie no.24. I’ve now stopped. If the team reaches that number I’ll resume.

I have my annual checkup with my renal physician coming up next Thursday so I was at the pathology clinic for a fasting blood test just after 8am yesterday🤞🏼. By 10.30am our apartment entry buzzers were fixed (🤞🏼), the potatoes and meat prepared for  dinner, the kitchen clean, the rubbish out and more coffee in the mug. Perhaps I should have more early starts! I kept the momentum going this morning by cleaning the kitchen, including oven racks, before breakfast. 

My critically ill friend is back in hospital. He and his partner are much on my mind. I live in that state of heightened awareness where the world looks different - much more mutable.

My hands are benefitting from my return to the Kasia Jacquot panels, this time Marta. I’m still enjoying the variety of both colour and stitches in these designs. I’m going to run out of some of the recommended threads again soon and will need to work out whether to substitute or buy.

After dinner last night I was able to get Brigid’s advice (aided by consultation with other family members) on a couple of Mola panels I bought to see if she’d like them as cushions.

Consequently I visited Spotlight today for fabric and zips. I'm unlikely to construct them until Friday. I’m looking forward to it.

Post583: Beach, beanies, ballot and bag

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The week began with a catch-up lunch with friends, set between travel dates, three back from trips, one about to go. The restaurant was at the beach. I was there a bit early to find a parking spot and walk along the front, noticing for the first time the mosaics on the rocks along the path. Lunch was a leisurely exchange, a chance to catch up and relax.

That evening I had a text message from my GP to say my bone density test results show early osteopenia and I need to concentrate on VitaminD and Calcium. Good of him to be so prompt. I discussed it with my Pilates instructor the next day. I now have some extra exercises in my Pilates routine and am taking a supplement.

Aside from the lunch excursion and Book Club, I focused  on finishing the beanie project. On a couple of days I even knitted before breakfast. By Saturday I had 20 completed beanies, knitted over 18 days. At the time, the team had 16 walkers registered for the mid-May walk, so I stopped.

I have yarn for about 12 more. Yesterday the registrations hit 19 so I am picking up again. 

I am enjoying the exercise and feeling quite excited to have written a knitting pattern. 

Sunday Book Club was lively. I had read the suggested books but not a lot more. A couple of members were away but a new one widened our conversation and recommendations.     I had my postal vote for our upcoming election ready to mail on the way home. Anthony had acted as my witness the evening before. When I realised the postbox wouldn’t be emptied until 4pm on Monday I changed my mind about dropping it in. I  handed it in at the Post Office on Monday morning. I had inadvertently used the envelope to test my pen but it did not invalidate my vote. I got acknowledgement of its receipt from the Electoral Office today.

It’s been good to switch back to embroidery for a while. My hands are appreciating the change. A seated hoop is kinder than a knitting needle held in the hand. This is Stanley, one of Kasia Jacquot’s colourful designs. I like the economy of her stitches on the colourful fabric. It makes for texture, pop and quirkiness.  I have followed her example of using 6 strands, so used up the 2 skeins I had of the brown. I was about half a metre short. Since I was likely to use the same colour in a couple more of the panels, I called at Create in Stitch yesterday to buy more, rather than cut sections out of a variegated skein.

I then went on to OfficeWorks and bought myself an iPad Air.  I am very fond of my iPad Mini, but the on-button  now frequently sticks, or slips when pressed. It's a nuisance, but eventually works. Current models are made without an on-button because of this fault. Fixing is apparently possible, but unreliable and expensive. After a lot of reading and heart-searching I decided to keep using it as it is, but to buy an 11" iPad for a smooth transition when the inevitable happens. The larger screen will help with some tasks. My local Officeworks had a purple one, relatively scarce, so I went to them: a bit pointless because I also bought a cover which is, inevitably, black. The set up was easier (and longer) than I had expected but I spent a couple of hours unsuccessfully trying to set up the pencil. Additionally, the screen protector didn’t fit under the cover.

Today I was supposed to go to a Retired Secondary Principals’ lunch. Since I was anxious to sort out the iPad and I had notice of two large parcels to be delivered around lunchtime, I apologised and opted out of the lunch. Late in the morning, while awaiting the parcels, I was notified that our entry buzzers weren’t working so the first parcel delivery had failed and been diverted to the Post Office! As I didn’t want to wait in the street for the second one, I took myself off to Officeworks with yesterday’s purchases.

It took a while, but the service was faultless. It turns out the assistant had given me the wrong penci, an easy mistake to make. I’d checked it myself in my attempts to connect. Model names and numbers were confusing. In the end, none of their stores have stock of the correct pencil. Neither do they have a screen protector that fits with a case (advice: "go to stalls that sell phone cases"!). Staff were thorough. patient and knowledgable. Once they refunded my money, I checked other shops, took myself to JB Hi Fi and bought the correct pencil (checking and rechecking). At home the pencil connected immediately. I felt oddly elated.

I'm atill pleased with my new vase. The daisies have lasted well. I've been topping up  or replacing the water, discarding any drooping daisies. I'll need to replace them in a couple of days.

In between playing with my new iPad Air and helping a neighbour work out how to contact a celebrity she once worked with, I finished Stanley, and added it to a bag.  I managed this time to stitch on the loop that comes with the bag, so it can be folded.

So now I'm back to beanie knitting for a few days. I'm aiming for 3 more this week.

Post 582: Quite a week

I had tickets for an ASO concert at 11.30am on Wednesday, at Elder Hall, which is part of Adelaide University, on North Terrace next to the Art Gallery.

I caught the City loop bus, giving myself plenty of time.  It was still warm - 34C.  

I had chosen the concert mainly for the Vaughn Williams, but really enjoyed the whole program, which was recorded for ABC radio.  

It will be broadcast on ABC Classic FM 25 April at 12.30pm.

It was only an hour long, and I planned to have lunch at the Art Gallery, but unsurprisingly, the cafe was full, so I went next door to the State Library Cafe where I managed to find a seat, a very decent mushroom quiche and a milkshake. I was home and knitting again by 2.30pm. Beanie No.11 was finished before I went to bed.

Thursday was a few degrees cooler, so I took my knitting to the back balcony to get No12. started,  I came inside when I finished the band. I hadn't quite finished the pattern section when I had to go to the dentist, after which I treated myself to a visit to Frewville to stock up on soup ingredients and some chuck steak to try out a new recipe. Rain was forecast from Saturday through to Monday and there was a slight drop in temperature on Thursday. Not yet soup weather, but I thought it would serve well while I’m on a knitting mission.

Friday, therefore, was activity day. I washed sheets, since no rain was forecast. While they were in the machine I cooked the chuck steak with onion, capsicum, stock and herbs, as well as preparing stock for the soup from beef bones (I rarely use beef for soup, but no pork bones or hock available), chopped vegetables and soaked pulses. Once this was all done I made the chocolate crackle nests.

Before I left for Katherine’s at 2 for her delectable team-assisted hot cross buns, the soup stock had cooled sufficiently to refrigerate so I could skim the fat on my return, and add the vegetables. The dishwasher was also doing its job fuelled by the solar panels. Regretfully, I forgot to photograph the dozens of hot cross buns cooling at Katherine's, some of which found their way to those on duty at the St Clair Recreation Centre and to an Aged Care facility. 

Back at home I finished the goulash off in the oven, following the recipe. It looked great, the potato and flavour good, but the meat was tough. I discarded the remainder. I might try again with different meat. The soup, on the other hand, is excellent.

The promised rain was slow in coming, and, as is often the case in Adelaide, barely noticeable. I delivered chocolate nests to Sam, my supermarket hero, on Saturday. He seemed pleased and ate one immediately. 

Sunday lunch was at Katherine and Anthony’s - eight of us for relaxed conversation and a feast of roast lamb, pork, pumpkin, beetroot, potatoes, carrots and broccolini followed by an excellent pav. 

The temperature had dropped, and the rain eventually came.

By the time I got home at 4 pm. It had set in. I dug out my warmest slippers from the back of the wardrobe and knitted another beanie,  the 15th, enough for all who have currently registered for the team. The last two are cotton, in case there are wool allergies. 

It seems we had 6ml of rain on Sunday, a veritable deluge for Adelaide.

Monday dawned cloudy but dry. The plants on the eastern balcony were still wet, but the Almandas needed topping up. They have suffered through the hot weather but persistent soaking has paid off.  One that had died around the edges, emerged strong underneath. 

There are even signs of life from one I thought totally lost (left). I’m hopeful they will now recover.

Yesterday I gave my left thumb joint a bit of a change. Instead of another beanie, I made 15 pom-poms, mostly using the Bucilla Doodle Loom, after stubbornly trying variously sized slithers of stiff cardboard. While not resting my hand, this varied the movement a bit so less of a strain. I’m now knitting a few more beanies.

Today was busy. I put the washing on before the cleaners arrived, and forgot to hang it out. I rang  a radiology clinic to arrange an overdue bone density scan and ended up accepting a 4pm slot this afternoon, the result of a cancellation. I fitted it in after my 1.30 audiology appointment, a trip to Norwood to pick up the Violet Cooper vase I bought from their now-closed exhibition, and picking up a parcel from the Post Office.

My hearing hasn’t changed in a year, and my serviced 10 year-old hearing aids are functioning well. My audiologist is retiring in two months, so I’ve made an appointment with another for next February. The bone-density results will be with my GP tomorrow. I see him in two weeks’ time. The radiologist was friendly and efficient - and she liked my new perfume.

I bought some daisies for the vase. They look so good I think I’ll have to keep buying them!

 

The parcel at the P.O. was the two vintage Molas I bought from Spain. They are lovely, and brilliantly stitched. I have ideas, but need to consult about what to do with them. 

In the meantime, I've had soup for dinner and am now well into finishing Beanie No.16.

So much for which to be thankful!

Post 581 Mostly knitting

WES Group meetings are always interesting and last week’s particularly so. One of our members talked about the Underlying Principles of her textile work over 40 years. She brought along examples. What few of us knew was that she had built up a career as a textile artist and costume designer, based on her domestic dressmaking skill and her training as a pharmacist, asking herself questions about purpose and the nature of materials and people. 

Shy and reticent, she has works in both the National Gallery of Australia and the ART gallery of SA. I’m so grateful another member, who knows her well, pressured and supported her to talk to us. 

Later in the year she’s going to tell us about her collaborative work.

I was home in time to get myself to Louca’s for lunch with an old uni friend’s son who is returning to Sydney after finishing an 18 month work contract in Adelaide. Good food and good company.

The temperature returned to 30+C for Pilates on Thursday and has remained there all week. The Bougainvillea is in full bloom at the studio, dropping blossom as well as overhanging the street. It’s such a fabulous colour.

At the end of last week’s post I mentioned I was playing with graph paper and a knitting design. This has consumed most of my time this week, hence a fairly focused post. 

I’ve been working on an idea to knit beanies for a work team taking part in a fund-raising walk for charity in mid-May. I began with some left-over wool from a Shetland hat and sketched up a chart. I realised pretty quickly (fortunately!) that working in 4 ply was not practical for multiple items. I rarely work in chunky wool, but did have some Aran 10ply in my stash, so adjusted my thinking around that.

I’m not in a position to show the results, but I have evolved the design to something the team is happy to use and I can now knit in 5-6 hours. At the time of writing I have finished 9 hats and 60% of the 10th. These will be completed from he 600gm of Aran I had. I am aiming for 25.

I ordered more 10ply yarn once it was evident the idea would fly. A phone call to Bendigo Woollen Mill  yesterday resulted in a switch to Express delivery and 600 grams of 10 ply wool and the same of cotton arrived today, thanks to a helpful sales assistant.  

I need to be able to knit over Easter to meet my target. I will report in a bit more detail and with a photo closer to the event. The most I can reveal at the moment is a view of the inside (above), which I rather like, and  part of my finished pile awaiting pompoms. I might need to organise a working bee for that.

I’m delighted to have put my Design Online skills to use and will eventually document the pattern. For the moment, however, I’m mostly just knitting!

I took time out this morning to have my hair cut at my hairdresser’s new salon a couple of kilometres outside the cbd (left). 

I’ve also assembled the ingredients for my mother’s Easter birds nests (the copha is in the fridge). I had trouble finding the speckled eggs in my usual supermarket and Sam, the on-duty finder, raced all over the shop looking for them. I plan to deliver a nest to him when he is working on Easter Saturday.

My hands are standing up reasonably well to the hours of knitting. I alternate between the bespoke original moulded support I have for my left hand - the one that suffers most because ot its more stationary position - and the more recent off-the shelf supports for both hands. I take stretching, massaging breaks in between.   That seems to work. Time to put the supports back on.

Post 580 April is a cooler month…🙏🏼

Wednesday was unusually busy at the Guild, with the library team working to make up for a day missed because of the way the April calendar plays out this year. It's been a long time since I’ve overheard cataloguing conversations. The Guild group, comprising, for the most part, trained amateurs working together with guidelines, had more interesting discussion than my memory of professional cataloguers. We also had embroidery discussions. It’s a great group.

I try to give more books to, than I acquire from, the Guild library’s sale of surplus books, but today I was unable to resist a copy of Sheila Paine’s now out of print Embroidered Textiles. It’s a large, heavy, hardback format.  I resisted, but it has considerable information on Evil Eye embroidery not readily accessible elsewhere. I came home with it.

Apart from bringing in the bins from the curb and emptying the internal Guild bins, there was not much call on my time, so I got most of the blanket stitch border done on the Mountmellick pouch and finished it at home. 

 As the Library team was there and the Office Manager had left for the day, I also left early to visit Beacon Lighting with my bed lamp. It suddenly stopped working, and the base holding the globe inside appeared to be broken. It turned out the glass of the globe had completely broken away from the its screw base. The cheerful young assistant manoeuvred the screw out of the fitting, got me a new globe, Voila! I was delighted to admire her skill and laugh at my poor diagnostics.

On  Thursday, apart from time out for Pilates, I worked on the Mountmellick inner border of herringbone and linked chains. By evening I had the piece finished and ready for blocking. As a result my hands were sore. The thickness of Mountmellick fabric requires quite a bit of effort pulling the needle through.

I opted to get out my knitting rather than my Sashiko while watching tv that night- much easier on my hands. I now have in excess of 350 stitches on the needles and continually increasing. At the moment each row takes around 16 minutes - so progress is slow to show..

This year's Shetland Wool Week beanie pattern was released this week. I bought a digital copy but have no plans to work on it as yet. None of the colourways are available here in Adelaide at the moment. However, in a Q&A , the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers has instructions for converting the pattern to two colours. I might have a go at at that, but I have a lot of higher knitting priorities!

I’m pleased to report the daytime temperature has dropped to low 20Cs (although back to 30s next weekend). Weather Bureau figures released this week indicate the 12 months to 31 March this year was the hottest 12 month period on record in Australia, and March this year was also the hottest on record. I was right to put off repotting plants.

Friday was Fionn’s birthday, and a family dinner for 9 at Sunny’s restaurant in Prospect. The food was good and everyone in good spirits. An uplifting privilege to be part of it.

My audiologist cancelled again, giving me a free day to construct the pouch. Details in my embroidery blog.

Saturday was for sleeping in, changing over my quilts, washing the summer one,  blogging and shopping for Monday dinner. Not enough lamb shanks at the butcher and none at all in the supermarket, so Osso Bucco.  Preparing it took care of much of Sunday morning, along with washing clothes. As I put the clothes in my front-loading washing machine I felt some resistance but didn’t check. I had, of course, forgotten all about hanging out the quilt when I returned from shopping on Saturday! It’s quite light, and had wrapped itself around the drum. It is now very clean, but the resulting large load gave me some drying challenges, solved with the help of my rarely-used clothes horse.

Since I had an extra hour, I turned zucchini,  bought earlier in the week, into muffins, checking a few recipes, then launching into my own version with the ingredients I had; self-raising flour, eggs, butter, honey, yoghurt and cinnamon. I ate three around 11.30 - whatever meal that was, and at 2.45 (really 3.45) put out the rubbish and headed to Prayer for the Wild at Heart for a meal while reading Louise Penny’s A Better Man. 

By sunset at 6.30pm (right)  the kitchen was clean, washing away and I was half way through A Better Man. Finished it at 9.30 - don't think I've ever read through Antiques Roadshow, The News, QI and Vera  before.

I think I got value out of my extra hour!

I slept well and on Monday awoke to Venus (white dot in top left quadrant between cloud and tree) rising ahead of the sunrise. 

Around midday the electrician and apprentice turned up to inspect the exhaust system in my bathrooms. I so admire their scientific method and skill. They were here for well over an hour. It seems the current extraction from bathrooms and laundry channels into the air-conditioning ventilation system. It works but isn’t strong. Since my ceilings are directly under the roof, which has two whirly-bird vents to the exterior, I can have extra exhaust fans installed. Quotes are being prepared. I’ve also asked for a quote to replace my kitchen extraction fan - and for Shaun-the-Geek to check my modem. Very happy.

There were 5 of us on site for the Osso Bucco, and a take-away for Fionn. Another hugely privileged time.

Early this afternoon I headed out to fill the car with petrol, pick up some graph paper, some Haigh's Chocolates and a copy of the Mountmellick Bible from Create in Stitch.  As I hoped, this has a good history, as well as very clear instructions for the stitches and several projects.  I am very pleased that the pouch I made did not include the fringing that was traditional for Mountmellick. It would not have appealed. I might try another pouch using a pattern from one of this book's projects. One day.

Right now I'm playing with knitting patterns, using the graph book I bought today. If anything comes of it I'll report back.