Weekending - in "Paradise"

The title of this post is a sort-of pun. We spent a long weekend on the Gold Coast (near Surfers Paradise). I spent all winter in lock-down dreaming of the Gold Coast - sunshine and no COVID. They went 118 days without a case - and then, as we left for the airport, they had a case get out of hotel quarantine. Also the weather was rubbish - it was mild and raining. because we had had a couple of cases in Melbourne we started the holiday with a cotton bud up the nose and down the throat. Ah COVID times, when will you end?

Putting all that aside and it was a wonderful holiday. We stayed with Fiona - Leon's sister - and their family. Leon's parents have been up there since the borders re-opened, and his oldest brother lives on the Gold Coast as well, so it was a wonderful family weekend.

We did Parkrun, for the first time in a long time - it's been closed in Melbourne. I swam in the sea, which was my "resolution" for this year. Mainly we relaxed and hung out.

I didn't get as much knitting done as I expected on such a relaxing 4 day weekend, I think because they live in a big house, and it felt like I was always moving from room to room, and leaving my knitting bag in the wrong place.

We got to spend time with Dusty, which is always a highlight.

And went to a beer festival, which was so nice, after they were all cancelled last year.

We did (finally) get to sleep on the boat, which was really fun. Also it felt like (probably because it was true) that we had our own guest cottage. This boat has two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. It was very fancy.

And then they let us come back to Victoria, and we didn't need to isolate or get tested, so that was a good end to the trip!

Comments

Linky Wednesday - the one with the pause

In meditation it's said that the pause between the in breath and the out breath is a gap, a space to rest. Well, I'm in that in-between space for reading, listening and knitting. This is a random photo of a highlight of my week - I filled up my lolly jar. These are just supermarket party mix. During the lockdowns, we sources a great pick-and-mix delivery service, but at some point they started sending from the UK, which is a bit silly. Rachey messaged me a new one she found, and I impulsed purchased a kilo of mixed lollies, and then she sent me a link to the biggest lolly shop in Melbourne, which also delivers sweets by the kilogram, so i think I'm sorted for the rest of the year! In reading I've just finished The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham . It's the second last book in the Summer of Mystery, and I have to admit, having now read nine Margery Allingham books, that they are OK. I wouldn't have read them if they were not connected to this club, but on...

Why Andrea Mowry, why? (A rant and a rather nice finished object)

As mentioned, prior to our hiking trip I suddenly, and rather randomly, decided to knit Andrea Morwy's Traveler Shell . It's basically an open fronted rectangle in a knit purl pattern. The pattern is FOURTEEN pages long. Why is the pattern 14 pages long? Because, instead of explaining the ten row repeat and then putting the shaping on top of that (e.g. decrease while continuing to knit in pattern), she writes out the entire ten row knit purl sequence every time something changes. Additionally, most of the time she starts with even number being the right side and wrong numbers being the right side,which is just plain odd. It's confusing and it's like she wants to keep you looking at the pattern for every row, rathe than following the very intuitive stitch pattern, which I had memorised after one repeat. The instructions for the band just say 'pick up x number of stitches'. No ratios, no acjnowledgement that different bits of the band have different ratios. Afte...

Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises.

What I made, by Sharon

Search This Blog