Post 496 Food, Fibre, Family, Friends - and moonshine.

I missed the super full moon on 2 August. Rising at 4am to see it wasn't a priority. However, last Wednesday morning I woke with a start at 3am. Although my blind was drawn, the bedroom was very light, so I got up to investigate. 

It was a half-moon (not evident in the hastily taken photo) with a star above it. I don't know why it woke me up. I sleep pretty soundly and thought the least I could do was to take a photo.

I went back to bed and slept a couple more hours. The star, it turns out, was Jupiter.

I'm tempted to say it's a once in a blue moon event, but there is blue moon on 31 August which rises at 11.08 am, so that's unlikely to wake me up. It remains to be seen if the sky will be clear enough to see it.

Wednesday was our WES Group meeting, and Barbara shared her collection of tribal textiles from West Bengal and Gudjarat. It is a fabulous collection and was accompanied by an illustrated account of her several trips to the area, developing links to the producing communities. There were 13 of us there and there was a lot of interaction and engagement with the topic. 

I had to rush home to let the cleaners in. Fortunately fortnightly cleaning will not fall on the second Wednesday of the month again until December.

On Thursday morning I had my annual skin cancer check. The dermatologist I have seen for the last 25 years or more has retired so this was my first visit to the new, young, dermatologist she referred me to.  I don't enjoy these visits, but was very impressed with her manner and thoroughness.  She identified two growing moles on my back that need removing. I have an appointment for this in early September.

I went on to Pilates, grabbed a milkshake at the Queen St Cafe,  and then visited friends who had invited me for dinner. As always, we had a relaxed and refreshing time. I undertook to further mend the pants one of the friends bought in Indonesia a few years ago. He wears them to travel in - especially on planes. When the pants split (also several years ago) I offered to mend them, and have been continuing the tradition ever since. I enjoy the challenge and he enjoys the pants and the narrative. They are travelling again soon, and the pants had developed yet another tear.

I finished mending them on Saturday. The  detail  is in my stitching blog.

My granddaughters roll their eyes. Their idea of fashionable, respectable, or even acceptable, clothing, does not include orange pants, with or without patches.

Rowan magazine 73 arrived on Friday. It is a beach-focused issue with some inspiring patterns. I already have more projects than I can handle, but I do hope I can make some of these. 

 As if that weren't enough, yesterday this book arrived with another fine selection of things I would like to make.

Guess I just have to  keep on being highly selective or find the one or two people in my circle who get attracted to one or other of them.  

A friend living in England sent me a link to this article about favourite knitting projects. I don't think I could name one favourite project, but the enthusiasm these knitters express is familiar to me. It continues the discussion kicked off by the Kate Davies quote I used last week. In December the World Embroidery Study Group will be discussing knitting and I'm hoping we will explore this aspect.

It looks like the trainer who works in the Square has returned. Perhaps this signals Spring is on the way. This group was working at 8am on Sunday as I was preparing to go to my Book Club. The cafe we used to meet in has closed due to a major shopping centre renovation. We have been meeting in homes, waiting to see if it reopens, but that, alas, is not going to happen. On Sunday we tried a new place, called Foliage. It is a lovely venue, with plants and all sorts of interesting bits for sale. It got a trifle noisy at one point, but was pleasant and convenient so we will give it another go.     

From there I went on to Katherine's birthday bash, which she had at home. The food, catered by Jesse, was fabulous, disappeared quickly and seemed to be endlessly replenished.  Everyone was occupied, kids drawing, playing games, visiting the park, adults engaged in catching up with each other. It was good to catch up with quite a few friends I haven't seen for a while.

I prepared Monday night's moussaka on Saturday, which gave me a relatively leisured Monday, extending into the relaxed dinner. 

Perhaps a little less relaxed, I cut the steek on the alpaca shawl. The cutting went well. 

The next step, however, was to pick up a further 320 stitches around the two cut sides, giving me 772 stitches on which to work a 12 row border.  I knew that was coming, but hadn't registered that the pattern requires this to be repeated on the inside, as well as the outside, to form a double border joined by an i-cord. I'm on my way with the outside border - but am not yet committed to the double border. It is taking me 70 minutes to knit each row. I've done three rows.

I will record progress in my stitching blog - and hopefully report on the outcome next week.

Post 463 It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas

It has been an incredibly busy week. I've had medical appointments, pre-Christmas catch-ups, Book Club, World Embroidery Study Group, hairdresser - and lots of preparation and project finishing.

After a bit of experimenting, I managed to establish the air plants I bought last week. I glued one to a mineral paperweight I've had for years, and the other to the side of my wall garden. I try to spray them with water at least once a day.  So far so good.

After a discussion with the green-fingered receptionist at Pilates, I realised that plants in clay beads need to be in transparent glass containers to access light on the beads. That means the handleless cup won't work with beads. I got out some glass vases and used up the remaining beads I had with some philodendron cuttings and another begonia.

Worth a try. 

The World Embroidery Study Group final meeting for the year was last Wednesday. There were two last minute apologies who were COVID close contacts. We were all appreciative of this consideration. Most members are vulnerable and cautious - but still enthusiastic to meet. The 9 of us who made it had a terrific session with Junette talking about Smocks. I took the opportunity to wear a top I smocked years ago and rarely wear - along with the crystal Denise gave me last week.

There were lots of examples of smocks to examine and a really interesting history. About 6 of us stayed on for lunch - keeping our distance and with doors open - and enjoying the chance to share and catch up. It's a fabulous group - and next year's program is looking good.

After WES Group, I made a quick trip to the Yarn Trader at Port Adelaide to pick up a tube of wooden darning needles, then on to a Guild friend's place for an early dinner. She had cooked a delicious salmon meal to go with the bottle of Stan Ivanova's wine that Nelly gave me when the Guild Museum accepted some of Stan's mother's embroidery. I've been saving it to drink with these friends who need and appreciate organic wine. It was a lovely meal - and lovely wine. Other than half a dozen or so glasses of prosecco, this is the first wine I've drunk in over a year - and it was worth waiting for. 

On Thursday I had an extended dental appointment with the lovely Clemmie - an Xray and tricky filling. All good. I made it to  Pilates where there were only two of us and the anaesthetic eventually wore off.  Friday was a rarity - I had lunch with a friend and dinner with other friends. I try hard to follow my nutritionist's advice to have only one main meal a day, so avoid eating out for 2 meals, but I chose carefully. It was a privilege to be able to do it - and to have such friends.

In between commitments I have been preparing for Christmas. Last year I bought re-usable crackers, so needed to remake them. That involved sourcing and purchasing snaps, downloading and printing this year's Christmas jokes and riddles (which bear a striking resemblance to last year's) and finding fillings for them. It proved a bit tricky and took a couple of hours or so, but I got there in the end. Two have gone in a parcel to Canberra and the rest are now ready for Christmas Day in Adelaide.

While preparing the parcel for Canberra, I decided to get all my presents organised. A couple of months ago I bought a basket of Christmas fabric from the Guild Trading Table, with a view to making more of the drawstring bags I use in place of wrapping paper. While I could have managed with the bags I have already, it seemed timely to use the fabric now. Realistically, if I don't, it will sit there for another year. So I took the plunge. It turned out to be more than I had bargained for. There was A LOT of fabric. I cut out and machined what I needed for this year - maybe 10 bags. For several days my sitting area had piles of gifts, fabric, beads, ribbon. 

Eventually it transformed to this.

During the process, it dawned on me, that there might be something in the advice of my one-time dressmaker several years ago, that it was more efficient to prepare and iron the bags I cut out, rather than just zooming them up on the machine and tidying them later. 

So I gave it a go. 

Last night I cut out a further 30 bags from the Christmas fabric. Some are quite large, some small. When I got home from the hairdresser today, I got out the iron and pressed the side seams and turn-overs.  They are sitting on my machine - hopefully tomorrow's task - more professional than my usual effort - and hopefully efficient.

On Sunday I took time out from bags for a commission from Veronica - two Christmas stockings for family visitors.The wool felt is left over from the coat I made a few years ago and the rest is felt and bling left over from felt Christmas ornaments in past years.

Book Club was relaxed and fun. I had managed to completely read one of the books - Exiles by Jane Harper, listened to half on another The Tilt by Chris Hammer, and read 20% of Day's End by Garry Disher. All good reads - but I just ran out of time this month. I'm trying to finish them.

A couple of other books arrived this week (just what I need!) I ordered Fabric after it was lent to me in hard-back. It was available at a reasonable price in paperback and I thought it would be useful for WES Group. I read her Jewels  when it was first published in 2005 and really enjoyed it. I've looked for it a few times without success. It too has just been published in paperback. 

Maybe in January I'll have time......

The other adventure this week was a visit from my friend Cathy. She called me seeking directions from Frome Rd, around the corner from me. I (irrationally, I realise) assumed she was heading south and gave her instructions accordingly. She was, of course, heading north. By the time we worked out the problem she was crossing North Terrace, so ended up touring Adelaide University before retracing her path and arriving in one piece, with a pile of embroidery books for me. Several, on Candlewicking, are reviving my once quite intense interest, and another, by Helen Stevens,  has great chapters on Anglo-Saxon and Medieval embroidery. A Guild friend is enjoying the two Jane Nicolas Stumpwork books. It was a very generous gift. We had a good catch-up, in spite of the directions drama. 

My local Post Office has moved - same great staff, more convenient to me, expanded and with parcel lockers! I have my access code!

Finally, my second order of Christmas cards arrived.

I have made my own Christmas cards for many years. In recent years I have had cards printed with a run-down of my year. I still add a personal note but the broad news is printed. I no longer send them to friends I see regularly, or many who keep up with my news online (don't want to bore them silly!). Cards are a bit of an anachronism in an age of social media, and every year I ask recipients if I should stop. There are some friends and family who like the annual connection and news, so I continue.  This week Jeremy Ng posted a link   V&A post on Victorian Christmas cards to the Guild website. The history is interesting.  I'm not sure of the purpose of Christmas card greetings in 2022. I have come to see cards as a vehicle for catching up and communicating with absent friends but  I was so pleased with this year's card,  that I decided to have it reprinted without the lengthy text for a few people who like cards but don't need the news. Now these have arrived I will send a couple tomorrow and hope they arrive in time. Evolving traditions.

I do hope your Christmastide is Joyful.

441 Wool, plants, ravens - winter in a pandemic.

 

On Wednesday morning I had the additional blood test in relation to my eyes. The promised gold pack hadn't arrived, but the nurse sent her assistant to the nearby Wakefield hospital to pick one up. When it arrived 10 minutes later, it turned out to contain another 4 vials. This time I followed instructions not to lift anything - including my bag on the arm used, and I avoided the bruise.

At Frewville I bought, amongst other things. a pack of wooden knives to use as labels in my bush plants, The paper versions disintegrated within 2 weeks. This is a quick and easy replacement.

I also called at Create in Stitch to pick up the DMC Broder collection they have put together.  It isn't a thread you can easily get when you need it. This was the first embroidery thread I ever used - when I was 8 - and it hasn't lost its charm. The colours have certainly improved!

 

I also like these tins for keeping and finding particular threads - the best and tidiest organiser I've found to date. Buying it led me to sort out a few other things like wool left over from recent projects.

This is the wool left over from the four small Marie Wallin projects I have knitted in the last couple of years. I feel a few hats coming on. 

I opted out of Pilates on Thursday, nervous about Covid and still having stitches in my leg. I got stuck into the Arnie and Carlos knitting and also added a thousand or so words to the story of my maternal grandmother. 

I've agreed to deposit a friend's contribution to the Guild's SALA Exhibition in August for her next weekend. We arranged for her to drop them in to me on Sunday afternoon, because my Saturday had three commitments. On Friday, all three commitments were cancelled one because of a medical emergency, one because my friend's retirement village was recommending residents stay home to avoid Covid, and the third because family had managed to secure tickets, on the last weekend of the school holidays, to Illuminate Adelaide at the Botanic Gardens. I'm so glad they managed to have this adventure together at the end of what has been a difficult school holiday for all of them. By all accounts it was a bit magic.

I made the freed-up Saturday time productive, doing some shopping for Monday night, and in the afternoon found a sunny spot spent on the western balcony to  read, knit and listen to the ravens dominating the Square. They wheel and call, with dominant birds seeming to direct operations from the tallest tree.

It is lovely to sit there, on afternoons such as this, surrounded by the balcony plants, the sky and trees.  I'm not, as my mother was, a great gardener, but the plants I've been able to plant and nurture on my balcony, even the simplest. are an important part of my wellbeing.

On Friday, I had  a calming and pleasurable afternoon stitching at Susan's. 

She has a Gymea about to flower. This is amazing in an Adelaide garden. These are plants of the more humid Sydney climate. The stem is about  6 metres high and the giant flower is now forming at the top. It's not open yet, and not easy to photograph in situ but truly exciting to see, especially in a suburban garden.

This is a cut  one I bought and photographed in 2011- a single Gymea lily with two waratahs - and waratahs are not tiny!

I finished the Arnie and Carlos Jaeger cowl (for want of a better term). I really, really like it - although I suspect it is not the most useful thing I've ever made. I think I might just try wearing it one day, on a black jumper. It needs to be worn under a suit coat, not something I have these days.  Hopefully, one day someone will see it as part of their wardrobe. It has been a very pleasant thing to knit.

     

I progressed to the Shetland Wool Week 2022 hat, beginning with 4 ply cotton from my stash, and I'm liking the result. I can see this in quite a few yarns and colourways that I have on hand - family members be warned!

Sunday was dominated by books - Book Club discussion followed by my Guild friend dropping her exhibition entries in. Our discussion turned to books and resulted in another list of things to read and some now reserved for ebook delivery from the library.  I've also started reading This Golden Fleece, by Esther Rutter - a fascinating delve into UK wool.

On Monday Brigid and the friend with whom she is house-sitting, both tested positive to Covid. They are isolating at the house-sit. I had erred on the side of generosity with two pork shoulder roasts for dinner - a lot was consumed and the left overs packaged up for delivery to the house-sitters. One granddaughter had her first training session for her first after-school job and another headed off to footy training.  This is a new normal. The enthusiasm of the latter two was uplfting. 

Today my stitches were taken out. The wound is apparently healing very well. I now have taped sutures that have to be kept dry for 24 hours and stay in place for another week, during which I can walk, but not vigorously! The mole was benign. 

I celebrated with Panayoula over coffee, and by buying a couple more plants for the balcony at the IGA around the corner from our coffee venue - dwarf sansevieria, or snake plants. I've been after more since the one I bought at the Guild market day has done well. These are chunkier and very healthy. I think I need to do a bit of repotting and rearranging to do justice to them.

It has been a week of plants, animals, friends, family, creation and healing,  all the time trying to stay safe in a community with increasing illness and infection.  C'est la vie it seems.  A fortunate life, nevertheless.

Post 373 Mostly books, with a little knitting and a milkshake.

It has been mostly sunny during the day this week, a bit cool in the mornings and evenings but sunny spots during the day. I spent some time one afternoon sitting on the Western balcony in the sun, noting that the spider, or a descendant of the spider whose web I photographed last year, has been busy again.

I still love the web structure and gossamer.

Last Wednesday I had a ticket to see  the SA Theatre Company production of The Gospel According to Keating at the Playhouse at 1Morgan1.00am. I have not subscribed for the last 3 years because of building work at the Festival Theatre Complex. There is no car park, and access is very limited. I can get there and back by bus during the day, but not at night. This year's subscription included an 11.00am performance for most plays, and distanced seating so I took a punt and booked. A week ago, restrictions were eased and the theatre opened up all seats to booking. The day before the performance I received a notification that masks must be worn for the whole performance and that the bars, restaurants and food suppliers would be closed. I decided not to go.  I'm sure it was a great production and interesting play. 

I'm a fan of Paul Keating, a former Prime Minister. However, the effort of getting to the theatre, through the building works, without food or drink and wearing a mask, not just in the foyer, but through the performance, was too much.

I stayed in, progressed my shawl, had a nice long phone call with my friend Vivienne in Canberra and did a bit more Viking embroidery research. This photo is of a stem-stitched warrior from the 970AD Mammen Gravesite in Denmark.

Late in the afternoon my Guild friend Margaret phoned. She was heading to the southern NSW, where she lived until a few years ago,  to attend the funeral of an old friend. who had asked her years ago to sing at his funeral. I do hope it went smoothly for her and the family. 

Another Guild friend has sent for an alumni library card for Flinders University so she can borrow the Margarethe Hald book to further our Viking studies. WooHoo!

The Guild has also been given a large number of books relating to World Embroidery. The surplus will be offered to the WES Group next week!  More WooHoo.

At the end of last week, before Pilates,  visited the Yarn Trader at Port Adelaide to pick up the book I had pre-ordered. I have moved the cover slip up on the photo to display the title fully. The slip extends about 5cm beyond the top of the book, which is about 25cmx30 cm. It has some marvellous, and quite varied shawls, in a variety of yarns, weights and difficulty. The photographs are somewhat muted in colour, very clear and often close. There's no way I would contemplate knitting one a week, but I'm sure I will try some of these.

On Saturday I took Niamh to JEMS where about 5 girls seemed to have a good time talking and stitching. We just had time to go for our usual milkshakes afterwards before getting Niamh to the Netball Stadium where Brigid was playing in the A Grade team for the first time. She played for two quarters, immediately after umpiring a game and was very happy with the quarter she played as Goal Defence.                                                                                                                                                                                      I was excited because the cafe owner had given in to my frequent requests for lime as a milkshake flavour. Made my day. 

Our Crime Bookclub on Sunday discussed Greg Woodland's  The Night Whistler which all of us liked. It is an Australian small town mystery set in the 1960s - and felt very much as I remember those times. I didn't live in a small country town, but my brother did and I had a friend who moved to a country town as a policeman in 1968. The Night Whistler was a good story and resonated. 

I also finished reading The Dictionary of Lost Words  by Pip Williams. I found it very interesting and engaging, though sad, especially in the context of the family history I've been doing. I have a slight discomfort with some aspects of the blending of history and fiction particularly as it relates to the contemporary. It is nevertheless very moving.

Yesterday's dinner was another traybake with potatoes, multi-coloured carrots, coloured beetroot, shallots, fennel, broccoli, capsicum, parsnips and 2kg of tiny sausages. It worked quite well for an evening with the younger girls coming after school then returning to school for parent-teacher interviews and back with their parents for dinner. I think next time I will use larger sausages. The cooking time for the vegetables, especially the potatoes, is longer than the time needed for the tiny sausages.

I was also delighted to find Bravo apples back in my greengrocer. Their season is May-September. These apples were developed in Western Australia and released to the market in 2016. They are now being grown by 80 growers around Australia. I'm not a huge raw apple eater, but these are fabulous.

I have made little progress on family history, but today a parcel of books arrived from the British National Archive. It containing a book for recording family history facts. I'm wanting to use this as part of a back-up to my online tree and to accompany the stories I intend to write.   

The second book from the British National Archives is about the folklore of rural crafts and I'm already about 40% through it. The first chapter is about Wool, Thread and Cloth, and the second about Telling the Bees. I have Blacksmithing and Metalworking, Beer and Brewing and Milling and Baking to go. Knot magic is one of the most interesting ideas new to me so far.                                          

The two books on Viking and Anglo Saxon embroidery I had ordered a few weeks ago also arrived today. I'm quite excited about these and looking forward to reading them and learning more. I'm on a bit of a roll.

The Scheepjes wool shawl is progressing. This is not quite half the balls. I'm enjoying knitting it. 

Tomorrow is my flu vac - and a drink with a friend to celebrate the completion of a long, tedious task we undertook together. Over the next week I'm hoping to make a lot more progress on the shawl and to read and write more about the Vikings. Maybe even begin to write about my grandmothers and their ancestry.

For now, it's time to finish my glass of wine.

Post 360 Books, Doves and the entry of a squirrel.

 I'm glad that, when heading out to my Crime Book Club meeting this morning at Uncle Albert's cafe in Norwood,  I thought to try this necklace, given to me by Alison a few years ago, on my bamboo top. I'm glad that, when heading out to my Crime Book Club meeting this morning at Uncle Albert's cafe in Norwood,  I thought to try this necklace, given to me by Alison a few years ago, on my bamboo top. The beads in the necklace have a green tinge, which I couldn't capture. It works really well. 

It was a good Book Club session - six of us, the full quota. The format works well. While we are rostered to recommend 2 or 3 books for everyone to read, there is no compulsion to read all - or indeed any - of them. After we've discussed the recommended books we share what we've read in the month, which results in a long list of titles and enough information to know whether you'd want to read them. There are 32 titles on the list generated today, of which I will probably try 3 or 4.

Coles, the supermarket I usually use near Uncle Alberts, is being demolished and rebuilt. I tried Foodland over the road, which was terrific. I was looking for chipolatas for tomorrow night's dinner and they had 5 different kinds. 

When I got home a strange squawking noise drew me to the back balcony. There were the two young doves, Black Tips and Blush. He was puffed up and she was grooming him. I wondered if it were a mating ritual. 

She walked away, ate a little seed and drank some water.

I then realised that one of his tail feathers appeared damaged. It was bent at an angle to the other feathers. He spent ten or so minutes grooming his feathers. I couldn't really see how it would help but it did appear that he was trying to fix the problem.

There was a lot of fluffing of feathers. It was windy and the wind was strengthening. I watched for quite a long time, because I was worried whether he would be able to fly with the broken feather.

Blush hung around, keeping watch. 

Eventually, he sampled the seed and water,  mounted the rail and flew off - seemingly with ease.

They returned several times in the afternoon but without any more of the previous behaviour and with no sign of the damaged feather. His tail seemed normal.

I found my archive pen and marked the back of my Owl Service. I printed five exhibition entry forms,  dug out the padded bags required for Exhibition entries, as many tags as I could find and gathered the 4 bags I embroidered with the exhibition in mind. They need a good iron.  I put that off till tomorrow. 

I debated whether to begin the Remembrance Poppy, or to launch into the Aesop Frame. The poppy was tempting, but when I got it out I was unhappy with the orange colour of the fabric and silk thread. The fabric I can live with, but the silk thread that covers it needs, in my opinion, to be blood red, since it is representing blood. I'm not sure if I can get the right red in A ver au soie silk in Adelaide, but I want to try before I launch into it, so I set it aside and got out the Aesop.

It took me a while to find it. I had put it away in a safe place when Alison and Karl came to stay in January.

I read the booklet, unrolled the linen for the first time and mounted it in a ten inch frame, covered with cling film,

I used quilting clips to roll up the excess linen. I'm now ready to start.  

Rather than start tonight, I added a couple of circles to the apricot collection I've been working on over the last few days. I now have three edges and 5 circles - half the number I'm aiming for.

Along the way, another interesting, mild sunset.