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.