More holiday photos

Here are some more holiday snaps taken around Lakes Entrance.



Typical Aussie bush tracks

Colquhoun State Forest
White Stringbark and Silvertop Ash
 



Hubby standing by the 'danger' sign at the Stony Creek Trestle Bridge

Australian Black Swan
 

Raymond Island Ferry





This Raymond Island Ferry is one of my favourite snaps because it depicts a very common scene here in Australia. A family (not mine) eating fish and chips out of the paper spread open on a park bench and people lining the pier with fishing rods hoping for a catch, the gum trees, land surrounded by water, it's very Aussie. We were sitting in the car eating a meat pie and watching the goings on around us, also very Aussie!

Cheers,
Lynda

Time out

Last week hubby and I took some time out and went on a short vacation to Lakes Entrance. It's about three and half hours drive from home. The accommodation I chose was great and right on the esplanade so the views across the water from our room were very lovely. Being a seaside town everything revolves around the water but we also took in the sights around the area including a drive through the forest to see the Stony Creek Trestle Bridge, The Wyunga Park Winery, Nyerimilang Heritage Park and other local attractions. It was very serene and restful down in East Gippsland

Looking back to the hotel from the pier

Our accommodation, Bellevue on the Lakes

Sunset over the water, it was like a Summer's evening

Pelicans coming in to roost for the night

We had a lovely time away and I can't wait to plan our next trip.

Cheers,

Lynda

A memory blanket

When my mother died I kept her wool sweaters with the thought of felting them and making something as a keepsake out of the felted fabric. It took a long time before I could bring them out and felt them and even longer until I was finally able to do something with them. She was such a tiny lady and her sweaters were very small. To be able to use colours that went together and have enough squares to make a blanket of a usable size I added one of my wool jumpers to the mix. I left out some of the colours that didn't fit for another project.

To utilise as much of the wool fabric as possible I cut squares and rectangles. I  sewed them randomly together as I had varying numbers of the different coloured squares and placing them in a pattern or keeping the colours separate wasn't an option.

It's not finished yet but all the pieces have been pieced together.

Now I need to consider how to finish off the back and edging. That's for another day!

Cheers,
Lynds

The Lorelei Shawl

Oh what a lovely project this was to crochet. The pattern is the Lorelei Shawl by Kimberly McAlindin and  the yarn I used is Moda Vera Bouvardia in the colourway Blue Mix. I was drawn to the lovely long colour runs in this yarn. The colours are beautiful and there is enough wool in the mix to make it a nice yarn to work with and especially nice to wear.

It was good to mix it up a bit and do some crochet work. I don't do that very often but this pattern appealled to me and reminded me of the crochet shawls from years ago. It was very quick to make as the main motif is about 15 cms across. The overall size of the shawl/scarf is large. It's warm, soft and squishy and perfect for this time of year in Melbourne. It worked up very fast and the only hassle was weaving in the ends that I didn't weave in during the construction part.

It is toasty warm to double over and use as a lap blanket. I've been doing that every night since I finished it.

Cheers,
Lynda

Windward

This pattern by Heidi Kirrmaier  is one of my very favourites. For some reason it evokes special memories for me. I don't know if it was the yarn, the colour, the pattern or all of that but it was always very enjoyable to work on this project. I love the ragged edges and although I am usually ordered in my psyche and have a passion for things to be neat and even the weirdness of this pattern is what drew me to it. A clever construction and interesting to knit.

The yarn is from Moseley Park and it's a wool and bamboo sock yarn which gives beautiful drape to the scarf. I chose the colour with the thought of the rough, ragged cliff faces around some of Australia's coastline. The asymmetrical and ragged edges of this pattern bring to mind the very scenic rugged sandstone cliffs that yield to the forces of the ocean creating spectacular jagged rock formations.

It is also at home here among the Autumn leaves.

What to knit now? So many choices!

Cheers,
Lynda

Wordless Wednesday What a sticky beak!

Photos by Marnie

Cheers,
Lynda

Sock Update

The Longitudinal Socks that I have been working on are finished. .My tootsies will be warm! The socks are bright and colourful and it will be interesting to see how the Wisdom sock yarn stands up to the wear. It looks as though it would felt in the washing machine but it is 75% super wool so I guess it won't felt. I didn't start each sock with the same colour. I think the randomness adds to the effect of the longitudinal stripes.

It's definitely getting cold enough to bring out the woollies.

Cheers,
Lynda

Longitudinal Socks

There is just one at the moment but the second sock is on the needles and I hope to have it done soon. I really do need some lovely warm handknit socks for Winter. Now that I have experienced the beauty and warmth of handknit socks I don't want to go back to store bought ones.

I decided to try the Longitudinal Sock pattern by Nicola Susen for something different to try. The yarn is Poems Sock Yarn. The colour is Vista. It was a good technique and fast to knit up although I did push the knitting aside for awhile to enjoy the last of the hot weather.

Instead of using the magic loop I used two circular needles. I found that easier and quicker than pulling up a loop especially at the beginning.

I knit using the English method but I used the continental method for these socks as garter stitch works up easy and fast using the picking technique and it made for a change. I don't think I would ever purl that way though. I guess it would get easier with practice.

The contruction was interesting and I very much enjoyed doing the kitchener stitch for garter stitch to close the seam.

There is a lot of give in the fabric due to the garter stitch running vertical so I omitted a couple of rows in the middle of the sock to make it narrower. I am glad I did that as they are now a perfect fit with no creases or wrinkling over the instep.

All up a fun knit and a good wearable sock.

Cheers,
Lynda