The joys of stocking stitch

For all of September I only managed miles and miles of lovely soothing stocking stitch. But it paid off because I ended up with an Eyelet cardi. I knitted this with some Utiku 8 ply wool in Orchard that has been lingering in my stash for quite a while.





This was a very satisfying knit because its top down with no seaming. My one problem is that I need to find an appropriate button to finish it off but I've not found one yet.

During the move I also started an Ishbel but I set it aside once I reached the lace pattern. Last week I felt ready to knit lace again so I finished it. I knitted the small version using some Cleckheaton Cocoon which I had swapped on the Karma swap group on Ravelry. Its lovely and soft and ideal for a scarf. This Ishbel is destined for the gift pile and I think I might make a few more in the not too distant future.





It was lovely to feel able to knit lace again. Now I just need the courage to pick up the over 500 stitches for the border of my Dark Star. Soon I hope!

Moving in

The last couple of weeks have been really tough. Having to scale down from a 21 acre bush block to a half acre town block is no easy matter. I had no idea that we had accumulated so much junk! Yesterday we finally completed the moving out process and now we can start concentrating on the moving in process. Until now we have just been camping amongst piles of boxes but that is fast changing.

On the day we moved in we were greeted with this sight on the drive way.



It looked so cheerful that I felt it boded well for our new life in town.

As you can see I've not only changed my template but also the name of my blog. Its been very hard to give up my bush paradise but I now have a new paradise. I have my very own knitting studio!



This still very much a before picture. Once I'm settled in and I've organised the room I'll give you another look.

During this stressful time I have done lots and lots of lovely stress relieving stocking stitch. More of that in the next post.

Ah, it feels good to get back to normal!

Packing

At the moment most of the rooms in our house look like this:



I find all this packing and moving business rather tedious and frustrating. We've organised all the utilities to be switched on and off and all has gone well except for our broadband connection. Would you believe, all the utilities will function on the the day, including the telephone but the broadband takes four working days! Why??

To help me survive all of this I need to knit. I've finished the fifth square on my Dark Star Stole but now I need something else to knit. (No photos yet because the weather is awfully gloomy at the moment). And unlike some people I think all I can cope with for the time being is slabs of stocking or garter stitch. So I thought I might cast on for an Ishbel and work on it till I get to the lacy bit and/or I might cast on for an Eyelet Cardi. A little gentle mindless knitting will be most welcome over the coming days.

Finally some knitting

While on holiday I did manage to get some knitting done. I finished my Corona while we were in O'Reilly's which meant that I was able to wear it in the chilly mountain air at night.



I knitted this in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10ply in Ruby. I now understand why people have been raving about this yarn. It's a delight to have against your skin. Very soft with a nice bit of stretch in it. I'm already thinking about what else I can knit in this yarn.

I managed to get most of my Juno Regina knitted while away and finished it off this week. I blocked her yesterday and she measures 173 cm x 46 cm.



The shawl was knitted in Naturally Dawn 2ply in Black and it has a lovely soft, silky feel.





And finally, I have started catching up on the Summer Squares that were released while I was away on holiday.

This is called Cello.


And this is Moonshine.


Both these squares are for my cotton blanket. Moonshine is also the first of five squares for the Dark Star Stole which I am hoping to start this week. It is nice easy knitting, just complex enough to hold my interest but not too taxing. I figure it is the right knitting for a stressful time. We have started to pack and will start to move out of our bush paradise in just 12 days time. The countdown has begun!

Birds and more birds!

The birdlife on the trip was pretty good. I was lucky enough to get pretty close to quite a few birds - always a great thrill.

Here is a Pied Butcherbird.



This Lewin's Honeyeater was very tame.



I love the colour of the King Parrot.



Some cheeky Pied Currawongs who liked to join us at lunch.



A Yellow-throated Scrubwren. These little birds are quite fearless.



A female Regent Bowerbird. Note her yellow eye.



And the spectacular male Regent Bowerbird.


The female Satin Bowerbird. She has a purple eye to match her male counterpart.


The gorgeous male Satin Bowerbird.



And here is the bower of the Satin Bowerbird. He fills it with all things blue to entice his mate. We found blue plastic forks, pens, string, lolly wrappers and feathers in their bowers.

I had a great time

It was a perfect holiday. We had wonderful weather for the entire trip: warm, sunny and dry. And now we are home it is cold and wet and yesterday it snowed.

We drove over 4000 km on this trip. We headed north to O'Reilly's in Queensland via the inland and came home via the coast.

This was our view at O'Reilly's:



While we were up there we did several walks through the rain forest. We did an 18 km walk along a creek



and saw magnificent trees,



and numerous waterfalls.



We had a glorious stay in Belongil Beach with the river on the one side and the ocean on the other.

Sunset on the river.



And a great place to view the river.



Sunset on the beach.



Bliss wouldn't you say? I'll show you some of the wonderful birds we saw in my next post.

Busy times ahead

Tomorrow we are off on a road trip for about 3 weeks or so. We are heading north for a bit of warmth and sunny skies. And hopefully some good birdwatching. We will also be visiting friends here and there and I've been making a few gifts.



I'm taking my Juno along and hope to make some decent progress. I've started knitting my Corona and will focus on it first.



I've completed most of the body, one sleeve and I'm half way with the second sleeve. I'm going to try and finish it by the end of the week.

When we get back life really gets busy. We have to starting packing up like crazy because we are moving house in September! Unfortunately I have to leave my lovely bush paradise. We are moving to a small country town. Perhaps I might have to change the name of my blog? And yes, the best time to go on holiday is just before you move house right?

My internet access is going to be rather sporadic over the coming weeks but I hope to be able to pop in once in a while.