Post 518 Adventuring

I posted last week from Adelaide Airport while waiting to board my plane to Canberra, the first flight I've made since March 2020. It was a smooth and pleasant flight, taking off over the sea, then swinging around over fairly bare terrain and cloud for most of the flight. I used to fly to Canberra fairly regularly, and had forgotten the regular pleasure of descending through clouds to the unexpected vista of lakes and land that surround the city.

It's lovely - and a large part of (for me) the attraction of our National Capital.

Creeks and roads wind through the hills, eventually revealing isolated farms, and then the lakes emerge in the background, with a glimpse of carefully located wind farms.

I had forgotten the joy of it.

The best part, of course was being there, spending time with Alison and Karl, catching up with a couple of friends. I have quite a few friends in Canberra and I'm glad I decided not try to see them all. I want to do things mindfully. There'll be other times.

Canberra does wildlife fairly well. There were bird sounds from dawn to dusk, currawongs, miners, and plenty of sulphur-crested cockatoos.

I spent a few hours meeting friends in the Botanic Gardens where we shared deck space with this Eastern Water Dragon (Intellagama lesueurii). 

 The flowering gums along the path to the carpark were doing a fine job of attracting the bees.

I also visited The Crafty Frog, to spend the voucher Alison and Karl gave me for Christmas. They have an enormous selection of wools (which I avoided) and an excellent selection of threads I needed.  I came away with a treasure trove (right).

The book on Brioche knitting is a find. I've wanted to try this, but without a focus. This has very clear instructions, including how to cast on and rib for Brioche, how to work it in the round, tips for finishing, and, surprisingly, a section on developing ideas and designs.  It looks as if I won't be reducing my knitting projects any time soon!

The best find, however, was the ebony needles. I have been pretty committed to bamboo needles, which are much kinder on my hands than plastic or steel. at The .Crafty Frog had about half a dozen sets and I was intrigued so bought 2 sets in a size I could use on the project I had with me. It took about 10 minutes for me to decide these were the best needles ever.

They are hand made in India, smooth and silky to the touch. I want to use them always, and within 24 hours of being home, had found a supplier of interchangeable sets and ordered them. They are not easy to find. I suspect they are not being made in any quantity, if at all. If you are a knitter, and stumble across them, buy them!

We went to Pollen, a bit out of town, for lunch on my birthday, which was also my last day in Canberra. It was a delicious, leisured meal in lovely surroundings.

The flight home was a bit bumpy, but without drama. Our entry into Adelaide at sunset provided - in contrast to our Canberra entry 3 days previously- cloudless views of the city. Although both flights descend over hills, Adelaide is drier, more heavily populated, and jammed between the sea and the hills.

And of course there's the Oval.

I had forgotten the routine and pleasure of air travel. I had expected, but didn't experience, disruption and hassle. 

Security checks at Canberra on the way home did pick up two doubtful items in my luggage, a credit-card size steel all-purpose opener-of-everything piece of merchandise I had slipped into my handbag because I didn't know what else to do with it, (great idea if you are not flying anywhere!), 

and a bag of cotton reels that had belonged to my mother, passed to Alison and are now coming to me. As commonplace as these may be to some of my generation, it is hardly surprising that current airport security staff want to examine a 'bag of cylinder-like objects' showing up on their computer screen!

Since arriving home, I've caught up on sleep, been to my Book Club, had coffee with Panayoula and managed to get to Aquafit today. 

I've made quite a bit of progress on the prayer shawl, ordered some more bookmarks (yes, I know) using the photos above of the cockatoo, the lizard and the bees, and finished the tote bag of native plants. Detail in my embroidery blog.

The Duftin Tote Bag kit was waiting in my letterbox. I'm a little daunted by the punch needle component in cotton, not wool, but a piece of test fabric is included, so if I don't like the test piece I will embroider instead. 

As I predicted last week, the frangipani was blooming to welcome me home on Friday night and has further opened in the hot weather we have had since. It is a hybrid of the pink and white varieties and does have scent!

Temperature here is a bit warmer than I prefer, but it would be churlish to complain in what has been a simply fabulous week. 

Now I'd better get back to researching Mexican embroidery!  🙏

Post 517 Food, family, friends - and a flight!

 Another busy week, on way or another. On Thursday morning I had a morning tea/brunch for Adelaide family and partners before they set off on a family holiday adventure. It was a happy time, with lots of laughter and stories. I hope they are all enjoying their time away. I had lots of food left over, so didn't do much cooking until Sunday, when friends who have been travelling  came for lunch and I tried out a new recipe - Chicken Maryland with haloumi, honey, and lemon. It was a success and will join my Monday night repertoire. It’s lovely to have the friends back in Adelaide for a while and the hours sped by.

I had primed myself to take photos of the table for both meals, but, as always, when I get into a social situation, photography fades from my consciousness. It seems it is a solitary preoccupation. Saturday night's sunset will have to do as a lead photo.

I worked pretty steadily on a couple of tote bags, finishing Women's Voices ( as usual detail in my embroidery blog) and starting on Botanica in Rust - a remnant I bought from Ink and Spindle. It is a beautiful heavyweight Belgian linen dyed and printed in Melbourne.  The Australian native flowers printed on it are bold enough to embroider and the remnant will cover both sides of a tote.   

My idea is to embroider just one, or at most, two flowers on each side, that way emphasising rather than colouring in, the work of the designer.  The Waratah lends itself easily this treatment, using bullion knots.

So whereas last week was a Quaker stitch  binge, the current binge is bullion knots!

I finished this side last night. I don't want to do more to this piece. It is a work of art in itself. I am taking the second piece (the other side of the bag) with me to maybe work a grevillea on the plane. Yes, by the time this is posted I will be in Canberra for a few days, my first trip outside Adelaide since March 2020.

I spent much of yesterday thoroughly watering all my balcony plants in preparation for the rising heat in the three days I’ll be away. One of my balcony frangipanis is about to bloom. None of them bloomed last year, so this is an event. It is not the highly scented white with yellow centre, but I’ll settle for the beauty of this one.  I'm guessing it might be open when I return on Friday night. 

It has taken a bit to orient myself again to preparing to fly. Once I did this on autopilot. I've had to focus to remember, and check, luggage allowance, what I need (all those chargers), what I can't take, what I need to turn off at home, how I will post his blog. I figured I had time to swim today before going to the airport, but abandoned the idea in favour of triple checking my preparation.             

 A few months ago I saw this book advertised and was interested, but decided against it as it was expensive,  I have a pile of unread books and have again run out of bookshelf. Last week it came up in a listing in The Book Grocer at $20 and I bought a copy. I'm guessing it was remaindered stock, as they have multiple copies. It arrived yesterday and I began reading straight away. It has me hooked. It has the irresistible element of uncovered detail that shifts accepted viewpoints - and includes women who wrote, or scribed or made parchment. It has already given me another idea for the next women's faces bag.

Pat Manser, you might want a copy! 

I am, however, intrigued that the author either published the same book under a different title with a different publisher, or wrote something very related in the same year under the title of Hidden Hands. 

I made time during the week to improve on the display of my mother’s unfinished horse embroidery. The transfer pattern and stitching instructions were with it, so I have stored them underneath the embroidery. One of the linen mats Vivienne gave me for my birthday a couple of years ago makes a nice frame and I’ve turned it lengthwise.

 Now it does justice.

Hopefully my plan for posting this from my iPad at the airport will work. It will be a bit earlier than usual and next week I can report on my Canberra adventure.