Post 442 Embroidery, books and bits of repair.

  

This has been quite a busy week - the kind of busy-ness that means I don't stop to take photos. Fortunately, Friday was a bit of a break with Sit'nStitch at Susan's and I managed to take a couple of photos of her fabulous Gymea lily.

It reaches far above the roof of the bungalow next door and must be visible from many neighbouring properties.

It's going to be extraordinary when it opens.

I am still being ultra-cautious in relation to Covid, but I did venture to Pilates. I think I pulled a muscle which is causing discomfort. The scheduled broadcast of the first of my two radio interviews for Vision Radio did not go to air on Thursday because the studio had a power outage so it is rescheduled for this Thursday at 7.30pm.  I have an audio file of both interviews. I have played the first one. I seem to be talking very slowly, and it doesn't sound like me - but it does make sense! 

I have taken the dressing off my mole removal wound today and it's fine. I also visited a specialist today in relation to the recurrence of a cyst on my right index finger. It has been red and swollen, but, of course, today was barely visible! Turns out the bone spur that was removed in 2007 has regrown - apparently inevitable. The more I use the finger, the more the cyst will grow and hurt. I can either tolerate it, or have the spur surgically removed again. I'm having an Xray and thinking about it.

My weekend was taken up at the Guild. Saturday was a Certificate Course Workshop with Christine Bishop on Shisha Mirrors. It was relaxed, informative, interactive, and a lot of fun. The account of my project is on my embroidery blog. I also dropped in 3 of my  pieces for the upcoming Guild SALA Exhibition, and I piece for the friend who is away.

Sunday was an embroidering on felt class with Bernadette Thomas I had enrolled in. I liked the design and thought it would be a relaxing project to work on. 

It was designed to go on a Yatzi bag, and I had a Yatzi bag, with embroidery on one side - so I could see a use for the project on the other side. 

It was a class of 5 and the project was more complex than I had expected. It was very well designed and planned - lots pieces to it, lots of tips about cutting, placing  and piecing. 

Bernadette has a dressmaking background and brings her precision and detail to embroidery. I really loved the project and finished it the next day. 

The bag holds all my silk threads and is bulging a bit, but it works, and looks, I think, great. 

On Monday morning I was back at the Guild for the monthly General Meeting after which I had agreed to talk about Viking Embroidery. I was a bit nervous about whether members would really be that interested in what is a topic fairly removed from the usual embroidery topics. It went well and certainly a good few people were very interested and engaged.

It's been fairly cold this week. I need to progress my hat knitting so I can get to the 2 jumpers I have planned! Today the two books I ordered as a follow up to Holy Woman  arrived.

I now have a pile to read. I began St Cuthbert's Way and quickly got hooked. I'm planning a quiet week or two catching up on knitting and reading - unless I decide to have my finger operated on!

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 440 Air waves of various kinds.

Around 3.30 on Friday I had just come inside after sitting on my front balcony in the sun for half an hour, when I heard the sound of bagpipes - loud enough for me to hear the tune through my double glazed windows. When I investigated, the sound was very loud but the piper hard to find, standing under a tree, difficult to see from any position on my balcony. I love bagpipes and the piper was good. This was the best I could do with my phone so I rushed for my DSLR.

The result wasn't much better. After 5 tunes she left walking with a friend towards Carrington St. Yes, a female piper appeared like a goddess through the trees,  laughing with a friend, and, with a cyclist who had been an admiring audience, played beautifully for about 10 minutes before exiting stage right.  A bit of magic on a cold Friday afternoon.

Wednesday's World Embroidery Study Group went smoothly. There were 10 of us there and Barbara went through her presentation on the recent trip she led to Central Australia. 

On Thursday I had morning tea with a friend at her home and in the afternoon Michael came to talk further to me about my life, in preparation for the radio interview I agreed to do for his weekly program on Vision Radio - a community station for the vision impaired broadcasting at frequency 1197AM. We talked for just under 5 hours! He then compiled questions which he sent to me and the interview was recorded this afternoon.  He decided we had too much material for one broadcast, so we recorded two. One goes to air on Thursday 28 July at 7.30pm and the other on 4 August, repeated on the following Sundays at 12.30pm. The two interviews went smoothly - once I found the studio car park! It didn't quite follow the script of our previous session - but we got there comfortably.

On Friday morning I showered and removed the outer dressing on my knee from the mole removal. My instructions were to avoid walking with it,  so I bunkered down and knitted for much of the day. 

There is a lot of Covid in Adelaide (and everywhere else as far as I can tell). My Adelaide family is locked down with Covid, recovering slowly. I dropped in what I hope were some lockdown cheer on Saturday after I'd been to see the Eye Specialist. I included the wrist warmers I've been knitting for Katherine from the Marie Wallin kit I bought last year. A bit mad and useless in Australia - and no help at all in relation to Covid, but maybe one cold morning when walking....

According to the specialist, my eye condition is apparently a bit of a mystery - an unusual development in someone my age and usually associated with auto-immune conditions. I had an eye swab, a referral for another raft of blood tests and an appointment to see her again in 3 weeks time. I had the blood tests on Monday - all but one, for which the clinic did not have the tube. I had to ring their head office and book it. I'll go back tomorrow to have that. 

The blood test clinic was quite close to the Victoria Park Wetlands, so afterwards I went for a short walk - about 20 minutes. It's the first walk I've done since having the mole removed. I'll keep the walks short until I get the stitches out.

The wetlands were looking pretty but some of the paths were pretty muddy.

I'm on a bit of a knitting roll at the moment. This is an Arne and Carlos pattern - Jaeger- which makes a lot of sense in the snow in Norway.  I love the look, and the challenge of knitting it - but it is not a sensible garment in Adelaide, where the lowest recorded daily maximum was 8.3C in 1922. Today was only 9C, however, I'm not sure if anyone will want to wear this.

Plan B is to join the sides and create a bag. I've finished the back, and am now working on the front. It is Rowan Norwegian Wool - really lovely to work with and much easier than the Fair Isle arm warmers. this technique of working the contrast colour in a contrast stitch to the main colour. It takes concentration.

I have managed to resist the temptation to buy any of the new Bendigo Woollen Mill Alpine yarn - 60% Wool, 20% Alpaca, 5%Silk & 15% Neps- and also the Morris & Son sale. I have found a pattern for some Rowan yarn my brother bought at auction (left), and also some 8ply I bought myself a few years ago (right). I'm also itching to knit some of this year's Shetland Wool Week hats, using up some yarn I have stashed. Knit faster, woman! 

I've also been reading Holy Woman: a Divine Adventure  by Louise Omer, an Adelaide author who was a Pentecostal preacher until the breakdown of her marriage, after which she set out on a pilgrimage around the world to find the female divine. It is a remarkable account of the journey. It is a very specific, personal journey, with significant insights into controlling behaviours. It is not as historically based as I had expected. It has sent me off to find some more books from her bibliography - particularly in relation to the transition of Irish goddesses into Irish catholicism. 

It's been cold and grey for most of the week but there have been a couple of dramatic sunsets to alleviate the gloom. There's also the memory of that piper.

I plan to keep knitting and reading this week, going out cautiously as required. Staying safe, staying warm is the theme. 

Post 439 Resilience required on all fronts.

Wednesday turned out to be delivery day - my next round of bush food plants arrived, as did two books and a couple of designs from Tatiana Popova. This was a bit of luck - all on a day when I had no commitment, so could stay home and wait. The books came by courier, which I dislike, as there is no guarantee they will be taken somewhere convenient for me to pick up if I am not home. It was not, however, an issue this time. I did need to get some milk. I had enough for one more cup of coffee and I was saving it until I became desperate. However, all parcels were here by 2pm and I went out straight away for milk.

On Saturday I went to BigW to pick up a couple more books - this time for our next Book Club meeting. I also bought 3 pots for the new plants. The books are The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill and Once There Were Wolves  by Charlotte McConaghy.

The two that arrived by post are both embroidery books. This one (right) I thought might be of interest to the World Embroidery Study Group. I've been through it and compiled a list of ideas we could explore next year. I'll run these past the group and see what members think.    

The second book, bought on a whim, has proved very interesting indeed. I hadn't thought of stitches in this way, although now it seems obvious. I think some of the Junior Embroiderers will also find it interesting.

The third of last Wednesday's parcels was the chicken panels I had bought from Tatiana Popova. They are lovely, but not, I think, to be embroidered. I have put them to use to repair a couple of t-shirts. Details in my embroidery blog.

On Friday I had lunch with 4 friends at the Adelaide Oval Hotel. I have lived in Adelaide now for 49 years and never been to the Oval in the day time.

This was the view from our table.

There was activity on the ground - marking out the sponsor's  ads for the football match the next day - Port Adelaide vs GWS. The local team won.

Following a suggestion from Katherine I had parked at the Cathedral - a few minutes pleasant walk from the Oval. 

Plenty of plants to look at on the way.

I finished the horsey blanket and gave it to Brigid on Saturday night. She and a friend are now house-sitting for family friends. She took it with her and is finding it useful. Again, detail in my embroidery blog. I'm missing the warmth of the blanket over my legs as I stitch - so have been using the blanket I knitted years ago while recovering from an operation.

I haven't started a new embroidery project as I'm working to finish a couple of knitting projects. There is a bit of a contrast in size and texture!  My head is buzzing with knitting projects, but I am focusing on clearing what I have and steadfastly resisting buying more wool!

Yesterday I potted up the bush plants.  A is a finger lime, B a blue flax lily, C a cut-work daisy and D a yellow tea tree.  The plants were, again, well packed and in good condition, so here's hoping. They look good so far.

Today I had a mole removed from my knee. I've had many removed in the past, but not for many years. It went smoothly and I am now resting it at home. I can't shower for 2 days but can drive and go out provided I don't walk very much.  I can go to the Guild tomorrow as long as I don't have far to walk from the car - which I don't. Stitches come out in 3 weeks and the excised piece has been sent for testing.

My walking program is now on hold for several days. Yesterday I shopped to ensure I had food for a few days and then walked around the Hameji Garden, where pollination was a bit of a theme -some bees at work and seed distributing plants in hidden corners. 

            

I have been trying to increase my vegetable intake this week - mostly salads with salmon or tuna, tinned here, but also fresh.  I admit, however, that my carbohydrate intake has increased a bit in the cold weather. I'm managing to maintain my weight although not reduce it further.

My Adelaide family had booked a holiday in the Northern Territory - leaving early tomorrow morning for 8 days in Darwin, Lichfield and Kakadu. With 6 diaries to be aligned, it has taken an enormous amount of organisation. Today, with the last preparation ticked off, and the taxi to the airport booked for 4.30am, one granddaughter has tested positive for Covid and the whole thing is off. So sad and frustrating for all of them.                                      

This is the world we live in. The theme certainly seems to be resilience.

Post 438 Satisfying but Tiring Week.

It's been a busy week one way and another.

On Wednesday the much awaited lunch actually took place! John, being the gentleman and caring friend he is, brought flowers as well as champagne.

The moussaka was excellent and the gingerbread well received. There were little bears as well as angels. I invoked the angels to make sure we did get to meet this time! 

Cathy bought me a plant, an Almanda Blue, a form of lobelia I had admired at her place. I don't have a photo, but it is on my eastern balcony in a tray of water as it needs to be kept damp. Here's hoping I can grow it into its full glory.

It was a relaxed and sustaining afternoon and lilies have opened, providing continuous interest and joy. 

My Thursday optometrist appointment brought some sobering news. The eye treatment we have been following has modified the condition but not prevented it advancing to a stage of beginning to damage my cornea, so I now have an appointment with an eye surgeon in ten day's time to see if further intervention is required.  My Pilates class was taken by Leanne, the owner, because my instructor's teenage son has Covid. Leanne is always interesting - she always varies standard routines with additional challenges very specifically focused on each individual.  

Inevitably, the wine I had succumbed to ordering from a promotional phone call arrived while I was at Pilates, so was taken to the Post Office for me to pick up. Ironically, I'd have been home to receive it if I hadn't stopped at the PO on the way home to send a letter by express post!

I also had a phone call from the agency that supplies my cleaner, to say they are branching into carpet cleaning. Since I still haven't heard back from the carpet cleaner who visited my 2 months ago, I made a booking, which was today. 

This is the first time I have lived in a carpeted home - and the first time I've had the carpets cleaned - so I could only follow instructions to prepare. I was up early this morning to move all my indoor plants, small furniture, ornaments and sundry bits on to the balconies, bathrooms or kitchen. When Matt, the carpet cleaner arrived, we moved chairs and a bit more furniture. He cleaned all my carpets - 3 bedrooms, hall and living room and the arms of my 3 seater lounge. 

After getting him settled, I went out and came back when it was dry.  It took about an hour to move everything back in but it looks fresh and clean. I now need to do this regularly.

While it was being done, I went to the State Library to meet Michael, a man who went to Teachers' College with John, my lily-bearing friend above. Michael runs a weekly program on community radio, in which he interviews people and tells their stories. He has done several hundred broadcasts. When Michael asked if he could interview John, the latter deflected him to me - arguing my Baby Boomer Teacher book would be of interest. Michael meets with his subjects 2 times to get to know them, before recording an interview. I agreed to meet him today - and ended up spending two and a half hours sharing stories. Our second meeting is next week. John will keep!

While I was on this organisational roll, I ordered a Sutton Hoo Beastmaster kit from Tanya Bentham. This is an indulgence, but I plan to talk about Sutton Hoo in my Anglo-Saxon embroidery presentation later this year, and this looks like a good example, not of Anglo-Saxon Embroidery, but of Anglo-Saxon design being repurposed to a different craft form. Left is the Sutton-Hoo original in metal work and garnet and right is Tanya's embroidery kit version.

My Guild mate Margaret Morgan finished her knitted Shetland Shawl. The size isn't discernible from the photo but it is around 90cm square. I love the work and the colour.     

I finished the horse blanket (perhaps I should call it the pretty little horses blanket!) and consulted with Margaret about washing out the solvi. Her advice was sound, nothing ran the folds came out, solvi dissolved and the blanket is clean and ready to gift. It is very hard to photograph. I will publish a bit more detail tomorrow in my embroidery blog.

I managed to add the pocket to the second of my summer dresses that I dragged out last week. It's called spot the pocket!

Yesterday the fire alarm went off in our apartments just before 2pm. I evacuated down the stairs with my handbag, meeting up with 11 other residents on the footpath as the fire brigade came within minutes, blocking the road when they could find no parking space. 

After about 15 minutes of checking, they concluded it was a malfunction caused by pressure in the water pipes in our carpark - presumably related to sprinkler systems.  

I was pleased to back inside in time to turn my oven on for Monday dinner! It is reassuring to have such prompt service.

I'm a bit late posting this. I haven't had a lot of time to pull it together today. It has been that kind of week!