Knitting on the Foot

Hubby is a school teacher, and gets all of the school holidays off, which aside from making me extremely envious of all that free time he gets (and he doesn't even knit, what a sin), drives me nuts because he's home underfoot. As Christmas is in the summer here in the Southern Hemisphere, and as the Christmas holidays is similar to "summer vacation" in the states, this is his longest break of the year, about 6 weeks. So I took 10 days off of work, and we planned a little getaway.

We booked a cabin over on the Yorke Peninsula here in South Australia, at a little community called Point Turton. If you look at a map of South Australia, the Yorke Peninsula is at the bottom, slightly left of middle, and is shaped like a foot. Point Turton is on the top of the ankle, if that makes any sense, and is located on the bottom end of Hardwicke Bay. We got in our bookings rather late considering the time of year, and had to settle for 3 nights in a pretty basic cabin. While the cabin wasn't bad, and the veiw was excellent, my main purpose was to finally see Innes National Park, which is located on the toe of the foot. Hope your following me here.

Anyway, hubby did all the driving, and I did all the knitting. I was working on the Bendigo cotton top for myself that I SHOULD have saved and started on the trip, but I had started it early. So instead of doing the mindnumbing but simple stockingnet stitch that makes up the majority of the back of the piece, I wound up doing the arm shaping on the trip, and the shoulder shaping that night in the cabin.

Now hubby didn't seem terribly impressed with my idea of seeing Innes, but he'd been putting me off quite a while about it, and finally had to give in. He's seen it all already basically, being a native, and sometimes forgets that I haven't. So, on our first full day there, we went off to Innes. By this time, I had started on the front of my top, and had gotten thru the cast on and ribbing at the bottom and was ready for miles of stockingnet again. So I knit on the way to Innes, and I knit on the way back. I had figured I would knit while we went around the park, looking up to see points of interest. No way! It was all so beautiful (and I hate to admit this) that I forgot my knitting while there and just looked around more or less awestruck. I can never get enough to the Australian coastline, particularly parts with cliffs and rocky outcrops and islands. Absolutely spectacular.

After getting back to the cabin that night, I picked up my alpaca (also bought at Bendigo Woolen Mills) that I'm making my jacket out of, and finished the other side of the front and part of one sleeve before we left. As it is lots of ribbing (4x2 ribbing at that) and lots of shaping, I only worked on that inside the cabin. The cotton was my "take along" knitting for the trip.

I've included a pic of me poised with my knitting (the cotton, of course) at the lighthouse near Corny Point (the top of the toe). All in all a fabulous trip, and I got sooo much knitting done. Now, with only two days left before I have to return to the "grind", I'd better make good use of my time and get those needles clacking.