Post 636 Look to the sky - or the pattern.

One of the joys of living on the third floor is sometimes being treated to flocks of birds wheeling and calling around sunset. It doesn’t always, or even often, happen, but Thursday was one day when it did. I took a few photos, but most, while capturing more birds, were blurry.

I had been out all afternoon - at Pilates, then to the Yarn trader to renew my supply of fine gauge knitting needles, to Bunnings for a lucky bamboo (still no sign of the ones on tubes, but plenty in pots), to the Guild to drop off a Piecework article for a friend of a friend, Officeworks to pick up some printed merchandise and the local IGA for milk and fruit. 

At home I managed to separate one of the bamboo stalks and put it into the glass vase that came with some flowers a few weeks ago. It looks as if both might survive.

It was lovely to reheat some Osso Bucco, pour a zero alcohol Margarita and watch the birds. Oddly the latest Piecework was in my letterbox - an interest issue focused on blue and white.

I had spent Wednesday embroidering an aide memoire for my neighbour. I’m not sure if it will help her remember her keys, but it’s worth a try. It also gave me a small embroidery break from knitting!

The weather has remained warm. I had lunch in the CBD with friends on Friday, getting the city loop bus a bit early so I could call at Myers for some of the Narciso Rodrigues for her perfume I had settled on in March last year, which now seems has been discontinued. Myers still had stock, so I took the opportunity to stock up. I now have enough for a couple of years. 

The lunch lasted three hours, with excellent food and even better company. The restaurant wasn’t crowded and we could hear our conversation!

That morning's red sky had certainly not turned out to be a warning!

Saturday morning's pre-dawn sky, however, was even more interesting, a series of stripes and swirls ahead of two days of largely overcast sky with frequent rain..

Both were upstaged by a rainbow which I just happened to see on Sunday afternoon as I glanced out the eastern door.

Having finished the Chapter and Skein shawl last week, I did embark on a beanie with the remaining yarn .  It is a great grab-and-go project. 

Partly for that reason, I thought it was about time I tackled Marie Wallin's Berwick cardigan, which had arrived in May 2024, so, apart from shopping for food over the weekend, I spent most of it setting up and starting what is a challenging knitting project.

It is knitted in the round from the bottom up and a steek. With 404 stitches on the needle, and two alternating colours, twisting proved a challenge. I thought I had it sorted, but after 4 rows, found I had not one, but two twists. The only way I could get it sorted was to pin it out on the arm of a chair, cut the steek, remove the twists and stitch the cut end together with a sewing needle. 

I have now finished the Fair Isle border.

Annoyingly, but predictably, It is curling as it progresses.  I'm hoping that the introduction of purl stitches as I move into the main grey section will alleviate this. If not, I will have to see if I can block the work in progress. I don't think I can work with a fattening snake!

I haven't furthered the Poppies needlepoint cushion - one major project at a time is enough. For breaks from Berwick  I have been reading Ann Sutton's Saffron Weald series, set in the South of England in the 1920s. From a rocky start, they are improving and providing a welcome diversion. I've almost finished the second in the series. By tomorrow I should be on to #3, Book Clubs can be Murder, which is what attracted me to the series.