Post 446 Evidence of Spring, and I win a raffle

The highlight of my week was the Certificate Course Workshop on Bulgarian Embroidery on Saturday. I have written about it in my embroidery blog, so won't go over it. It was however, a lovely, relaxed and shared time. Maybe the Great Goddess was present in more than the embroideries we studied.  

What I didn't say in the blog post, was that during the workshop I was presented with a basket of goodies, which came my way as the winner of the Guild's SALA raffle!

I was blown away. The last raffle I won was a set of Tupperware jelly moulds in about 1977. While I bought tickets, I didn't even examine the prizes, assuming I had no hope of winning. I saved the packaged prize to open at our family dinner on Saturday night. 

It turned out to be a basket containing a biscornu, a scissor fob, a cutting tool holder, a linen bag and lavender pillow, a really fabulous hexagon tote and four reversible placemats and serviettes.  

I was blown away.  I will get a lot of pleasure from it.

On Thursday morning I had an Xray on my right index finger, I have a follow-up appointment in 3 weeks with the surgeon who might operate on it to remove a couple of spurs. I'm hoping this can wait. It aches infrequently, and will be very inconvenient when healing.

I had the Xray at Wakefield Hospital, on South Terrace, and took these photos of the trees in front of my parked car. I love the contrast between the elegance of the trunks of some and the messiness of the leaves and seed pods. 

Susan's Gymea survived the wind. It seems to be getting even taller as the lily is slowly opening to reveal the inner leaves.

The potted gazania I bought last week is doing really well, producing some fabulous blooms at eye level as I go out to the balcony.

On the back balcony the pot of euphorbia I bought back in March has turned into a riot of bloom - Spring must be just about here, although it's still chilly, overcast and still raining a lot for Adelaide. 

Not too much, I hope, in the Flinders Ranges, where Niamh is on her Year 9 Camp.

I am progressing the Calico vest. On Wednesday night I ordered an extra ball of the pale colour and emailed Morris & Sons to say I thought the yarn requirements were wrong in the pattern. I can't see how this colour could only require one ball when all other colours have 2 or 3. Morris were, as usual, terrific. They refunded my postage and have contacted Rowan with a query. The yarn arrived on Friday. I have started the steeks. 

So far, so good. The moment of truth will, of course, come when I take to them with scissors!

Finally, a shout out to my friend Robin, in a Rehab hospital in Sydney. Hope your recovery is steady and smooth.

Post 445 Quiet Winter Week

I bought this pot of Gazanias this week.  They are really lovely, hovering over the chair I often sit in in the late afternoon. The long stems are remarkable, and there are plenty of buds. It's a shame I didn't buy them in time to show them off to the friends who came for lunch on Sunday, but I only noticed them as I left the shop and was in a hurry. I'd been to Book Club and didn't have a lot of time to get fresh bread and get home to put the oven on.

Book Club was again good;  wide ranging discussion and shared books and interests.

Our lunch went well - I cooked duck, potatoes with bacon and eggplant parmigiana. Susan brought a blueberry cake. The best bit was the relaxed afternoon of conversation.

Another friend joined us to Sit'nStitch on Friday. Susan had made her fabulous cheese scones in celebration. I just love them.

Susan's Gymea is slowly opening. This morning wind threatened to damage it, but I think disaster was averted when the wind dropped.  

I got to a mending job that has been waiting a while, two pair of possum wool socks whose heels have worn through. The possum wool and merino components tend to wear through leaving the framework of elastane underneath. The socks are the warmest I've ever had, so mending is in order.  

The top two photos are a plain black sock before and after mending, and the left lower is that pair finished.  The lower right is the second pair finished.   I realise, in darning them, that the wear is just above the heel, rather than right on it - which may  indicate I need a larger size sock!

I used my collection of darning wool, still stored in the box I inherited from my grandmother. Some of it is still hers, but I have added to it over the years. It's a chore, but the satisfaction on completion is worth it. 

Today our video entry system was installed in all apartments. Where until this morning, I had a phone, I now have a screen that gives me a view of who rings my buzzer.

It's an improvement, and will be even better next week when the installer returns to help each of us set up the app that will enable us to answer remotely from our phones. I am so looking forward to being able to see the postie when I'm at the Guild, and open the door to enable a parcel to be placed in the foyer. It's a bit of a scary change to master - but wow!  - improvement!

 I've progressed the vest this week.  

This is 24 cm of knitting in the round. At 35cm I get to the V neck and arms. The pattern (and therefore the kit I bought) has one ball of the pale beige, two each of the green and grey and three of the red-brown. It seems to me that the only colour likely to need two balls, is the pale beige! I'm in two minds about whether to just order another ball of beige or persevere until I run out. Fortunately, it's looking good, and is fun to knit, so one way or another the vest will be great. Apart from the beige, I am going to have enough left to make another one!

Finally,  the doves were back this morning, taking time out to catch up on avian news.

Enjoy the week and stay safe.

   

Post 444 Gardens and Garments.

This morning, after my podiatrist appointment, I visited the Himeji Gardens. There were several gardeners working and few visitors. The forecast was for an overcast day, but the sun refused to accept that. It's a magic place. 

 

Today the sound of water was clear and the plants seemed to glow.  

A camellia bush is loaded with blooms which find their way into many places throughout the garden.  

      

The shadows play on rocks and the winter trees make webs against the sky.        

It's lovely to visit.          

The week began with our WES Group meeting focused on Sequins. Pat did an impressive presentation and we had a few examples of items decorated with silver coins and mirrors. It generated a lot of discussion and sharing.  Great session.

I skipped our Strata AGM Thursday evening and voted online. I don't feel comfortable in a meeting room where most people will not be wearing masks. Apparently I was right about that, and the meeting lasted over 90 minutes. 

I did go to Pilates on Thursday and we had a good time Sitting and Stitching on Friday. On Sunday afternoon I had a fabulous relaxed lunch at friends' place and dinner with a selection of family on Saturday night.  Yesterday I cooked duck legs and tried an experiment with capsicum, stuffing them with feta, ricotta, spinach, parsley and spring onions. Not bad for a change.

The two Alice Starmore books arrived and are proving interesting and helpful. Before Pilates I swung past The Yarn Trader to get a knitting needle I was missing. Of course, I came away with three more  Kate Davies' books.  

I'm not going to run out of things to knit in a while!

I've now finished three of this year's Shetland Wool Week hats, one in each of the three provided sizes. Having tried them on a variety of family heads, I think the small and medium would cover most heads. The large does fit a large head, but the medium stretches sufficiently.

This is the three on top of each other.  I've thoroughly enjoyed knitting these, but have set hats aside to work on the Arne and Carlos vest for Katherine. 

It took a while to assemble all the bits for this. It has the addition of DMC Diamont gold thread in the reddy colour lines and that was not in stock when the wool was despatched. I now have it and have started. It's not a complicated pattern - except for steeks, which I have not used before. One step at a time. I've got about 35 cm to knit before I have to worry about that.

My brother and I have decided to give the blue vest a go, so when I finish this one, my next is chosen. It might also prove to be a break if I find the steeks too challenging.  

Somewhere along the line I had better remember my income tax lodgement and my grandmother Nellie's story, which is still very much at the beginning. 

Onward!

Post 443 Invested in Vests.

In a rain break on Friday afternoon I walked around the Square.  Our winter rain has helped a mossy blanket form on at least one tree.  

In a week when both Judith Durham, of the Seekers, and Olivia Newton John died, I have cherished these signs of growth and life. 

   

It was  also, joyfully,  Katherine's birthday on Sunday and lovely to be able to celebrate with all her family at Osteria Oggi in the city. I have undertaken to knit her the Fair Isle waistcoat from Rowan magazine No 70. The wool, on its way from Mascot, next to Sydney airport, did a bit of a dance around the Sydney suburbs, then turned up in an attempted delivery here this morning while I was at the Ophthalmologist. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the PO this afternoon, so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to pick it up.

Meanwhile, Anthony found a decent home with a colleague for the Arne and Carlos neck warmer! Yeh! 

Another cause for celebration is the news that my friend Robin in NSW is now in rehab after a successful major operation.  It has been a painful and difficult time - but a positive outcome. Another Yeh!

I had a long call from my brother and  agreed to knit him a vest too! We discussed patterns and styles.     Right is the current favourite, possibly using this Bendigo wool (left), but the sample swatch I knitted and posted on Saturday hasn't arrived in Sydney yet, so the jury is out.  I'm looking forward to knitting it, whatever it is.

There have been a few sunny afternoon when it has been pleasant sitting on the balcony, knitting, reading or writing. I love the play of light through the leaves of the balcony plants and the shapes and colours that emerge. There might be another embroidery in there.

Monday evenings get more interesting by the week. This week Fionn, who got his driver's licence last week, drove Niamh to her football training in the family car that had been parked in one of my parking spaces, then returned for dinner. Veronica worked after school at a shop in the city then came on here after work. Brigid was at a Netball Committee meeting and their parents arrived after work. The diners left together to pick up Niamh on the way home. Neat!

I've now finished the second Shetland hat, this one in the medium size, and more cream background, rather than beige. I've embarked on a third, in the small size.  

I've become a bit obsessed with Fair Isle and Shetland knitting. I've now ordered two of Alice Starmore's books from Booktopia.

and two more from the Shetland Times Bookshop.

I think I might be knitting Fair Isle and Aran for a while yet!

In contrast to the last one, this week was low-key. I nursed my pulled muscle for much of it, cancelling Pilates. I knitted, and finished St. Cuthbert's Way,  a handbook for a Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne. I really enjoyed the history components of this - and the melding of landscape with story. I am getting great satisfaction out of returning to the history of Iron Age Britain  - a major area of study in my BA some 55 years ago. So much has been learned in those intervening years and it still fascinates me. 

The results of all my tests for the ophthalmologist today provided no explanation for my eye problem. There was a single marker of auto-immune condition - but not enough to help with a diagnosis. My eyes are functioning quite well but there is damage. The next step is a biopsy in September. It was a long drive to see her today, which is how I missed the wool delivery. 

This afternoon I was expecting Nelly's Bulgarian Embroidery collection to be dropped in, so didn't try to pick up the parcel of wool. I'll get it tomorrow morning on the way to the World Embroidery Study Group. 

Pat is talking to us about sequins - should be good.

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!