As Sue and I were sailing away on the harbour last Sunday, we were thinking about a nice sailing team uniform. Should it be knitted? Not great for keeping the wind out – but Elsa Schiparelli’s bow tie jumpers came to mind straight away. And then there is the beautiful sailor’s top with the red bow – but the image was copyright…
Here, finally, one month late for Vicky’s birthday – the hot water bottle cover! I just love it! I hope she will!
I picked the Ornate Lattice cable stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s vast selection of patterns and knit this very tightly (ouch, poor hands…) to make the pattern show up really well. I knitted a tube and finished the bottom with an i-cord and incorporated two buttons and buttonholes.
Sue and I discussed this wonderful idea of how to manage multiple knitting projects while we were sailing on the harbour. Sue is a firm believer in having 3 categories of projects on the go at any time: one for the handbag (little), one for chatting and TV (straightforward) and one that is a challenge (sh, don’t talk to me I am in focus mode). My problem is that most of my projects fall into the latter category. Currently I have the Japanese top on the go (sh!), which I still need to blog about.
Happy knitting and categorizing!
Here it is, the small bbq that I gave to my husband for Christmas, that is now following me around like a lapdog. I had made a huge bowl of char-grilled veggie salad, lentil salad, bulk bought some steaks on Friday night and thus started the intensely social and wonderful weekend. Here you see the bbq and all my other essentials (cup of tea and knitting!) on my friend Ruth’s balcony. Ruth has just bought a flat in a Sydney seaside suburb, so I decided to have a sleepover to really check out the new home and it’s surrounds. It’s in spitting distance to the beach. 
It is very urban. 
And very connected to the elements at the same time. 
And there is lot’s of scope for activity. 
And this is winter?!?! 
Friends forever.
And then the bbq took all of my family to a friend’s place. 
Jonno’s has just about finished a major renovation, and most of the work he has done himself – well, the inside is done, smick or what? 
And the studio has got very creative walls for soundproofing – personally I don’t think he should paint this at all!
The courtyard will get a makeover next. 
But the unfinished business did not stop us from having a great afternoon, opening some bubbly and celebrating.
Fits like a glove, itches like hell (gotta find a skivvy and quick!) and looks spectacular!
I am very pleased with this one, let alone with whats on the inside 
!
We had a great morning walk with the dogs, Patrick discovered a baby eel in a little waterfall, and I enjoyed the moss graffiti on the rocks.
For the record: The Joey
We have established a nice routine getting into The Wild without any major dramas. Well, it takes two nights of packing, Patrick plans the route, I buy the food, dogs go to the dog hotel and off we go.
Friday night we drove to Canberra, had dinner in the car and stayed with Patrick’s brother Chris and his wife Helen and (not so) early Saturday we left for Namagi National Park. 
Look at the dam!
Chris signs us all in for the hike. Amazing trees everywhere, the sky is bright blue, the birds are making a lot of noise and the hill is steep @)(&_%&@(*%^@& (a lot of bad language…).
What a climb… some shocking numbers where thrown at me in consolation of my moaning under the weight of my pack… was it 1 metre up for 4 metres forward??? No idea, it was not much fun… much less than it is now, in hindsight!
We finally reached the hut.
This was to give us shelter against the elements in the evening. And it did. 
After setting up camp near the hut, Patrick and I climbed to the peak of the mountain, whilst the others re-hydrated the dehydrated bolognaise sauce I had prepared during the week and they stoked a great fire.
Unbelievable views! Kosciuszko covered in snow!
And little patches of snow right there in front of us! That was the drawing card to get the kids up the mountain top in the morning… but first a picture of a knitter on top of the world: to cast on or cast off, that is the question!
We were in bed at 7pm, well, most of us, not those guys who walked 1km to the creek after dinner to get water for breakfast. Honestly, I did not hear them return, I was out like a light.
Good morning, Chris, are you enjoying your coffee and your biscuits with blue veined cheese?
Magic ice crystals in the puddles in the morning.
Teenager on top of the world. Bloody brilliant weekend!
or… the tragedy of the fast and furious…
Lately I have heard several times knitters describing themselves as ‘slow and steady’ and it made me think that I would describe myself as a ‘fast and furious’ knitter, if not a ‘raveler’, rather than a knitter. Yes, more undoing of something nicely done. In case any of you have wondered what has happened to the Joey, the Kangaroo Pouch Jumper inspired by Elizabeth Zimmermann, uhmp, it’s been the victim of the latest unraveling.
Why? Everything seemed to go so well, until I fitted it on Esther and realized that the shoulders are simply too wide. She looked like an American Footballer without her shoulder padding put into her shirt! Sigh. What to do? Denial, that was the choice for the last 2 weeks. Instead I started a hot water bottle cover for Vicky and a beanie for Patrick (now completed and photo will be taken on our weekend hike!).
Today there was a lot of rain and denial became unbearable, since there was no sunshine to escape to. Here were my options:
I opted for option 4. Here you go.
Before… 
…and after. But I have learned my lesson. When Elizabeth Zimmermann said I should measure across the shoulder and subtract that number of stitches from the number of body stitches for the ‘pouches’ and knit straight up the shoulder stitches only I was alert and subtracted a stripe worth of stitches from my shoulder measurement, so the shoulder would not be too wide. But I did not question the definition of shoulder measurement in the first place! And now I know it is NOT from one tip of the shoulder to the other, it is from bone (where the arm connects to the shoulder) to the other!!!
There is nothing quiet like water to keep my soul in balance. I always have to take the dogs to the water for a walk every weekend, or I feel I have not had a break… just love the sound of it, the motion. And this weekend I was ON the water… and shall be every fortnight during the winter sailing season because I, the absolute non- sailor, have been ‘hired’ by the captain!
This sort of thing makes me shriek and want to go home straight away, but fortunately my fellow deckhand Sue assures me ‘it’s all good, we really will not sink…’. Phew!
Lot’s to see… lot’s to learn…how lucky am I? Thanks Captain!
