KnittingNatty

Holiday retreat - a snapshot (or two)

We're back from our family holiday, which was really well appreciated by everyone and lets just say a little overdue for some of us.  We went to the usual place in the bush which is secluded, no phone, no tv, no radio, no mobile reception, no internets; just perfect! We cooked porridge for breakfast, warming soups for lunch and good hearty food for dinner each night, accompanied by a little red wine, to ward off the cold, of course ;) We did some bushwalking, snoozing, played board games, that kind of thing.

It was not exactly freezing, but at least we all got to wear our winter woolies!
 I took knitting, and lots of it. Of course, I took more than I could possibly knit and still be responsible for the supervision of small children, and some of my estimates of what was possible were  based on sitting up late into the night just to get extra knitting done, but this did not eventuate, as catching up on sleep proved to be more important on the day.  And not just for me, it seems.

I got to read my new book, Buddism for Mothers (recommended reading), using the bookseat. This next picture is pretty typical of what the first 2 or so days looked like:







And, what about the knitting, you say? Well, I got roped into making some socks for the kids. I always tell myself that "socks don't take much time". Note to self - socks do so take time! Last week, DS Ian was allowed to wear "odd or unusual socks" to school, and well that brought out the first request. Except to make an odd pair, requires the eventual knitting of 2 whole pairs. And what is good for one child is also good for his or her sibling. They chose the colours themselves. Sigh.

The Fo' s for the family knitting retreat are:

• Noro st st socks

 
These socks are purposely non matching, and the wool was a lovely and unexpected present from Donna. I cut out the yellow colour on the first sock and put in an afterthought heel. By using an afterthought heel, and by leaving the yellow in, the socks (would have) had a reasonable chance of matching. These socks are cast on over 60 stitches and the foot is not overly long.

The yarn does catch on itself, which can lead to lots of unnecessary tangling. I countered this by not pulling very much out of the skein at one time (makes sense, right?), and by pulling on any tangles from the skein end of the yarn. This helped a lot. I have a reasonable amount of yarn left.

• TOFUtsies socks

These are the socks for Ian's odd sock day at school. They have been on a few bushwalking adventures, and somehow missed the washing machine this morning, and are presented for your viewing pleasure in all their red mud glory.

These socks are cast on over 50 sts.






 

• Caitlyns purple socks

These are the "what about me?" sibling socks. Purple Opal sock wool from stash. Cast on over 50 stitches as well. Call it insurance for next year's odd sock day. (Can I just whine for a moment? My socks are only cast on over 60 stitches! Whinge over!)

• Caitlyns yellow socks

Same as for the purple sock, above. Except mercifully without partner for the moment. I could take no more of the stocking stitch fest that was our family knitting retreat. I am so over  stocking stitch!

• Noro coffee pot cozy

This is a bit of a cheat - all the knitting, and felting has been done for some time, it just needed some sewing up.The yarn is the left over Silk Garden from my Clapotis. I added blanket stitch in Dream no Colour Smooshy "Strange Harvest". I cut the size piece I needed without fear or favour - the pot has no real need of further insulation, having a double wall already. But this coffee pot is something I use absolutely everyday (yes, it comes on holidays with us), and I liked the idea, having been inspired by 2007's tea cozy swap (but being too busy to play at that time).




I am still on holidays today and tomorrow, and looking forward to some more knitting time. Yay for holidays!

Oh, one last thing - family portrait time!

Anzac Day, a little late

DS Ian marched with his school

DD Caitlyn wanted to walk with big brother ...

We have had a busy and therefore tiring weekend. I am up to the armhole shaping of the Hubster's jumper, and I have to hurry as he is complaining that he is the only one without a new jumper this season... To which I reply to him, if that's the most you have to complain about, then your life is going along quite nicely.

Which it is, except I have to go and pull the kids apart. The fighting today has been terrible. Sigh ...
I am going to take them out somewhere so at least the house will stay clean and they will be properly tuckered out for bed time tonight. (The other recent battlefield of the Wills.)

Like rust, the tropical garden never sleeps

A recent comment from Bron to the effect of how exotic our sky looks with the palm trees at the  bottom of the frame made me realise how much my dear readers may enjoy a look around our garden at the moment.

As the title says, the tropical garden never sleeps: plants that die off in other parts thrive here all year around.

This is a shot of part of the veggie garden. At the back is a mandarin tree with boughs bent over to breaking point laden with fruits. At the top is the fruiting passionfruit, and at the bottom left is a glimpse of the rosella bush that is taking over the world (the little red smudge is a fruit):

We cannot claim credit for either the mandarin or the passionfruit, and are very grateful for the bounty!

And I wanted to show you the progression of the rosella flower into a fruit.

At first, the flower is all furled up

And slowly opens

And opens (I love this photo):

And opens:

Until it is fully open:

And then after the bees do their biz, the itty bitty rosella forms

at which time it grows and grows and grows, until it is fully grown.

Why grow rosellas? For the jam.

There's nothing quite like it...

Walking in the bush.  They have an annual race up and back down this mountain in May. I wont be competing, too slow...

Forgot the camera. Bad blogger. Knitting and podcast listening this afternoon. (Dishwasher is almost in.) Bliss!

Saturday sky on a Sunday

and things that make me happy:

Looking up at a blue sky under the shade of our passionfruit vine:

The way the sun lights up the clouds as it is starting to go down and having mountains behind our house:

Taking sky photos with palm trees in them (late afternoon, again):
Going through knitty patterns and all my pattern book to try and find new inspiration (no pic)

and passionfruit flowers, in different stages of development along the one vine tendril:

Saturday sky from Friday' sunset

The tiles outside were looking a pretty colour yesterday evening, so I quicky skipped outside to snap a couple for ya:


And, just for Robbyn, one with the palm trees showing:

:)
We managed to change Ian's swimming lessons to Saturday morning; so after housework, the swimming lesson and a quick trip to the shops, it should be down to knitting, with loads of laundry to take advantage of the weather which has finally turned dry. Must also mow and spray the weeds  whilst we  may get 6 hours without rain...

Anyone who knows me, k nows that I can be a bit of a dag. So here is the latest (check the sidebar self portrait for another photo of similar ilk) daggy self portrait:

Happy creativity to you this weekend, whatever you do!

A brief look at some of Tassie's National Parks

Taken at Dove Lake, Cradle Mountain National Park:

The boyz, backpackin':

(I carried Caitlyn).

Above, a tarn from Mt Field NP.

Below, a rest stop at Lake St Clair. Oh what a difference World Heritage Listing makes to  the capital works budget! I'll explain below:

Behold, Cradle Mountain:

See the boardwalk that Tony is standing on? He tells me that it costs about $90 a meter. There were kilometers of boardwalk in Lake St Clair, Cradle Mountain and Freycinet NPs. Wow.
Wineglass Bay (Freycinet NP) from the lookout:

and from the beach:

The tract of land you can see at the right is a narrow isthmus. Here is the sea on the other side. I think you are familiar with the characters in the photo

Mt Field and Douglas Apsley NPs were quite low key in their presentation compared to the "big" parks. Not that we minded. It just shows where the dollars go, that's all.

That's it for scenery shots for the moment. I have some saturday sky photos lined up for, umm, well, tomorrow. And there will be knitting after that. Yep, For sure. 

Saturday Sky

Here are 2 photos from out on our walk. (There will be more next week)

There was smoke haze (from a fire) about, and the sunset got trashed, which was unfortunate.

Looking westward now-

Ciao!

More sunset shots

I am so enjoying everyone's Saturday sky, that I thought I'd join in. I'm not just a knitting lemming, you know. I'm an Everything Lemming ;)

This shot is taken over the back fence.

Ditto, a bit further along the fence:

And from a different angle:

Exhaustion

Well, our visitors have gone home, and I need a holiday to recover from our holiday!

So many photos were taken that I want to post some of them and get back to knitting content in a separate post -  there will be progress to show (check the WIP  progress charts in the sidebar for an idea of what got done), and a parcel to reveal from the lovely Bron...

I snorkelled on the reef at Fitzroy Island until my fingers went numb from the cold water. It was the most relaxed I have felt in absolutely ages. Here is a picture of me and DS Ian at the end of the day:

Caitlyn and I at the end of a long day touring on the Tablelands. Note the "special SIL" earrings. Awww.

They are made of wool, and the kids just love them!

Ian's first trip on a train; boy, was he ever excited!

I spent all Saturday on the sofa just wishing I had the energy to move, and today catching up on some knitting and housework (I actually don't mind housework, only that it gets in the way of playing and knitting). Just what weekends are for... a bit of relaxation...