By the sea, by the sea...

I started a post a few days ago, and typed on it over a three day period, but it got seriously long winded and muddled. I was trying to cover such a long period of time, and as I wrote it in spurts, I was writing much more than any sane person would want to read about my life. So I've erased that epic (believe me, you would thank me if you had seen it), and decided to start fresh, letting my pictures guide me.

Given that this post covers a good two weeks, I won't give as many details as I'm prone to do. I've forgotten half of them anyway.

After my last post, I finished off the second sleeve of the "Peace in the Hood" cardigan, and then sent that project into hibernation until after I finish all my Christmas knitting. Heaven knows, I hardly going to need it for the next few months, as spring is well and truly here.

I also did a bit of dyeing on some light grey locks from the fleece that I had cleaned. They looked ok on the table, still wet from the dye:



but once they had dryed, well, the results weren't that great:



I'm thinking the darker colours did better. I used the cold pour method to dye them, and might try again dip dyeing them. Or I might just go with the greens or blues (or both) and settle for a bit of a steely, mottled effect. I'm still deciding.

I also finished spinning the two bobbins from the corridale roving I had dyed to practice my spinning colorwork with. The bobbin on the right I spun from a thick band of the roving, getting crisper colours with longer colourways. The one on the left I spun from thinner strips of the roving, and got more muted colors and shorter colourways.



They are still sitting on the bobbins next to the spinning wheel as I write this. Due to my Christmas knitting, my spinning has more or less been put on hold for a few weeks so I can "Take care of Business". I miss it already, but I do plan on taking the time to participate in my spinning study group in November, since I do have at least one of the fibres they are studying that month. I'll look forward to that, but until then, I'll be on a dyeing-preparing-spinning diet.

Early last week we took our short holiday to Port Victoria, on the beautiful Yorke Peninsula. I love it there. It's a small village, and very peaceful, even in the caravan park. We stayed in a cabin there that we always request, and have stayed in several times before. It costs more than some, but it sits right on the beach and has a lovely large veranda on the side of the cabin, which is sheltered from the worst of the ocean wind, which tends to blow up from the southwest.

I took a few pictures of the cabin this time, having the laptop and the ability, at least, to download photos if my camera got full.

So here we have the dining room, attached to the living area (a couch and TV are behind me when taking this photo):



A nice big (for a cabin) kitchen:



The master bedroom with a full size bed, linen included:



There's another bedroom with two bunk beds, which we normally use to store our luggage and such. It stayed a mess, so there's no picture of that.

And the best of the best of the cabin is it's big bathroom spa:



(there it is, Mom, the spa I'm always telling you about)

Here's part of the veiw from the living area:



and the veiw in the other direction from the veranda:



I took this picture of all of the cabins from the jetty:



While I was farting around taking photos, Chris walked off and left me:



Now of course, I took some knitting along. After much deliberation, I decided to carry one of my Christmas projects, a pair of socks I had started (on Rav, my "Candy Corn" socks). I had cast them on before we left, as they are toe up socks, and I still like to have references near me when I do the figure 8 cast on. And I'd knitted a couple of rounds on the toes, but nothing more than that. The yarn I used is the Heirloom Easy Care 8 ply that I dyed with Koolaid a while back. Having knit so many fingering weight socks lately, I was really surprised, in a pleased way, but how quickly they knit up.



I also brought along the two skeins of black and white Border Leichester that I had spun up recently, and three skeins of Sirdar Denim Ultra, a super bulky yarn I'd bought out of the bargain bin at the LYS here in town. On the first night we were there, I fiddled around some with the spun wool, hoping for inspiration, but I finally decided to make a shoulder bag from the Sirdar.



So I knit away, sitting on the veranda most of the time, smoking my fags and knitting and looking out over the ocean, and by the second afternoon, they were both coming along nicely.



I did also fool with the computer some while there, mainly trying to get used to Vista, and while I did make some progress, I'm still far from a pro with it. I like some things, like being able to search from within folders, but the general setup altogether is still confusing.

We went for walks, and a very short drive on the second day, but for the most part, we stayed at the cabin and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. The veiw is so good, even from the inside, that you don't even fell like your wasting your time when you sit and watch TV.

But all good things must come to an end, and on the third day, we headed home. I worked on the bag on the trip home, and pretty much finished the body part of the bag, needing only the flap and the handle. The socks, by this time, were on the leg/calf section, working their way towards the cuff.

I managed, working on it a few minutes here, a few there, after a few days, to finish all of the knitting part of the bag:



And after taking them to work for a few nights, I finished the socks:



Which only goes to prove how badly work cuts into my knitting time. I managed to complete about 80% of BOTH projects in three days, but it took me almost a week and a half to finish the other 20% of them both.

This past Wednesday morning, I stayed in town to do a bit of shopping. I had been searching around on Ravelry, trying to come up with some inspiring Christmas idea when I saw the Fetching pattern. Actually, I didn't have to look too hard, as it was always listed first when I searched the mittens/gloves section. Apparently, it's the most popular pattern on Ravelry.

And, it just so happened, it had a recommended yarn that was available in Australia, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. Now I'm not stickler about using yarns other than the recommended ones, and I substitute all of the time. But this was a yarn I had really wanted to try, and here was a pattern that only took one ball.

So I stayed in town to shop. I went out to Marion Shopping Center first, as it has places to eat open early, and is a good place to pass the time before things open. I had breakfast, then went to the newsagency and bought myself Interweaves Fall 08 magazine. Then I left and went by the Needlenook and bought the yarn and another pair of Addi's to add to the collection.



The mitts will be for a Christmas present for my cousin, who, as a kid at least, loved that purplish pink colour. I've cast it on, and started enough of it that it's transportable, so it's the project that will be following me to work this week.



I'll get going properly on it tonight at work. I'm on the "easy" floor tonight, and working with the best possible person, both things conducive to a good night of knitting.

The only other project I have on the needles is my mystery project, which is coming along nicely. For reasons I can't explain here, this project is not a good traveler, so I will be working on it more or less strictly at home (unless I get into some trouble toward the end regarding time). Meanwhile, I'll be casting on my smaller Christmas projects to take to work or otherwise on the road with me.

Spring is now in full bloom in my backyard. I've gotten inspiration from my apple tree for my next dyeing project.



I'm not sure what the project will be, but I do know the hues.

Most of my plants are at their prettiest right now, but this post has been way too long in coming as it is, so I will save that for another day.