Wool on Sunday...

I noticed that Janine from the Rainbow Hare blog had just written a post for Wool on Sunday. As it’s been ages since I wrote any blog post, I thought I’d make an effort to remedy that situation. I have been pondering on the fact that I don’t seem to have done much in the knitting and crocheting situation this year, but I looked through photos on my iPad and found that perhaps I’d been a bit harsh with myself. 

Early in the pandemic, I did some Christmas knitting...I made some knitted decorations. The photo is masked with a call out as some of the recipients of these read my blog. 😉

Because of the increased demand for warm items for the needy in the community, for many months I focused on joining donated squares into blankets for distribution. To this end, I also crocheted the most granny squares, I’ve done in many a year...with that ultimate goal of providing yet another blanket or two for Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy to distribute. 

In the next photo, I have sewn some donated circles on donated squares. The circles were a bit wonky and squaring them up would  have also made a square that was a bit open. 

Some more of the blankets I put together for K4BN; I used bright colors, that’s for sure! 

I think that my tally for blankets was 11...but it could have been more. 

At one stage I started a baby blanket using oddments of yarn. The plan was to make it to donate to K4BN, but a week or so after I started I found out that my nephew and his wife who live in Sydney, had had a new baby daughter about 6 weeks before. ( my brother thought I knew so didn’t bother to tell me...hmmm 😜)  So the newly started blanket suddenly became baby Zali’s gift and I quickly finished it ready for posting. 

And then there was the throw that I knitted for our parish art and craft show, which this year was all online. DH warned me that it probably wouldn’t sell as being a photo in an online catalogue isn’t the same as seeing such an item in ‘real life’, but I wanted to feel as though I was contributing to our parish’s main yearly fundraiser. And it didn’t sell which meant I could take it to Sunday Stitchers that month as my Show and Tell. And of course, I have a throw available to give away if the need arises. At Sunday Stitchers, the lovely Helen took this  next photo of me holding up the throw. 

With the restrictions on meetings due to COVID-19, our regular Knit and Natters were discontinued for a time. Eventually a very, very small number of venues were reopened with strict protocols in place and with very restricted numbers. But at one Knit and Natter, we started bringing a chair and having an alfresco Knit and Natter beside the car park of the library venue. ( With the social distancing regulations, only 4 of us could meet IN the library...so that would NOT have worked!) 

And in these strange times I decided to use as my knitting bag, a bag I bought from the merchandise counter at The Addams Family Musical. It seemed appropriate 😉😜

Home...

Yesterday morning  DH and I repacked our suitcases and with much rearranging of the contents, fitted in our holiday purchases. For once, I did NOT buy any yarn or fabric...nope not a bit! But there will be more about that in a future post. 🙄. 

Then it was time to leave our latest accomodation, a lovely B&B in Como a suburb of Perth, and head for the airport. 

Perth airport has 4 Terminals, spread over 2 separate areas of land...and despite being warned about this by my brother, we first went to the wrong airport. But we had given ourselves lots of time, so got to the correct place in plenty of time. 

So today was all about unpacking and also a few loads of washing. But the nicest task was sorting out those purchases.

Several packs of Western Australian chocolates for family...

A calendar from the wildflower farm for my neighbour...

Books for Anthea...

Some clothes for Anthea...

Some lovely soaps and a mustard from Vasse Virgin...( which is famous for all their products made with their high quality olive oil) 

Some stuffed toys that I will 'mind' for a while until Anthea is older! 😉😉😉

WA is famous for its vineyards; there are just so many. We visited a couple, including Woodynook, where we had an order for some port, from my brother. We ended up with 6 bottles of wine, including the 2 for Harry, and we sent them home by Toll Couriers from Albany. The box arrived today...all intact so my brother will be pleased. 

And I bought some potpourri from the wildflower farm. 

It smells delightful! So all in all, a very modest amount to carry home, but that's how I wanted it. 

And DH only bought 2 souvenir Teeshirts and one polo...very restrained! Lol.

And just like other members of K4BN, I also 'gather' items when I travel. DH and I carried our own soap so we could gather up the motel soaps. And of course any of the little bottles of shampoo and conditioner provided by motels, that we didn't use, we 'gathered'. 

And why are we such 'bowerbirds'? These items will end up being included in the hygienie pack  that K4BN  hands out to needy recipients. So these will come in handy helping people. 

I still have some 'travelogue posts' to do but the next post will be a FNSI. 

The Christmas Craft Markets

Today was the annual Christmas Craft Markets in our parish. As well as various stall holders who pay a small fee for a place at the markets, we also have a few parish stalls where items are sold to raise money (much needed funds) for our church. 

Because I'm still recuperating I was excused from actively helping this year, so was able to 'swan around' as a guest! 

I saw this on one of the parish stalls...

I was immediately entranced! The price tag was $18 with funds going to the Parish...so it was a done deal as far as I was concerned...and the money was handed over and it was mine. 

A few more purchases...

A wreath made with 'scarf yarn'. I've bought one of these from this stall holder before...

A 'burp' towel bought from another stall holder. Nearly every baby in 'my circle' has 'spat up' on one of these lovely towels draped over a mum or dad's shoulder. This one is for DH's grandchild arriving in early February. 

A bag?

Open it up and there are little dolls inside.

The idea is for the children to use the dolls to tell a story...

Good for travelling. Over the years I bought a few items from this stall holder and all items were loved by parents and children alike. 

So that was my Saturday morning.

A day at the races...

Last Christmas, I gave DH a gift that I bought through the Red Balloon site which specialises in 'experiences' rather than more 'material type' gifts. I have now purchased a number of this type of  gift; dinners, a session in a flight simulator and an A3 canvas print from any photo that a recipient chose.

Last Christmas I chose a 'behind the scenes' Tour Gift Experience of Doomben Racecourse, here in Brisbane. And yesterday was the day that he organised to use his voucher. So, dressed in his suit, off he went yesterday morning with strict instructions from me that he had to take photos for a blog post
:-)

DH rarely wears a suit, but yesterday he donned one ready for his tour...


The tour included entry to the racecourse, morning tea, meeting a jockey in the jockeys' locker rooms, watch the weigh in and watch the start of a race at the barrier stalls. The people on the tour also meet a trainer in the mounting enclosure and also stand with a race caller as he commentates.

The tour starts on the track just past the winning post

At the start...

At the start

At the start; near the barrier. The man in front is Bill Shuck, manager of the Racecourse

The mounting yard

Pru Reed (BRC rep), Bill Shuck and jockey, Rosie Meyers

Rosie Meyers on Dorchester

Jockey, Tim Bell, Bill Shuck and Pru Reed

When DH came home 5 hours later, he reported that it had been a wonderful gift and that he had really enjoyed the experience. I asked him were the men with the large leather bags (bookmakers taking bets) there and he said no...they have computers these days, no 'pencillers' or anything like that!

Christmas gifts...

When I was a little girl my mother would make me write thank you notes/letters to the people who had given me gifts. For some reason I thought about that letter writing the other day even though it is many many years ago. Those letters were dreadful!
I would start with the greeting (eg Dear Nanna) and write a sentence saying thank you after writing the obligatory 'How are you? I am fine.' Then obviously to fill up the page I would then proceed to write another sentence listing ALL the gifts I got on that particular occasion! I like to think that I used commas but probably I just used lots of the word 'and'. Pretty crass and self-centred!

Now I'm not going to write a post listing all this year's Xmas gifts and normally I wouldn't really mention gifts but this year my gifts have been very special. Regular readers would be used to my occasional rants about my having too much 'stuff'. My gifts from the family this year are extremely thoughtful; many are consumables to be enjoyed and these items don't need a home to be found for them :-) Here's some of the items that my lovely family gave me...

I love the story of Noah and this lovely item came from my brother and his partner

This year I have received some handmade gifts such as a beautiful fruit cake from my brother's partner and a mosaic tile as a feature in the garden which was made for me by DH's DD1. Meg put a hydrangea motif in the design as she knows it is a favourite flower so how special is that?

I plan to put the tile near the new front entrance and grow some blue/mauve annuals around it :-)

From my BIL and SIL I received a cultivator which my BIL bought online at a bargain price. (on Christmas Day at their place, I tried out their one and it worked a treat!) DH's DD2 and her partner gave me some skeins of soft New Zealand merino wool which they bought whilst in NZ...so thoughtful and useful! My DD1 bought me a coffee mug in a pretty tin that I can take to Sisters of Stitch and use the lid of the tin for my afternoon tea plate.

DD1 also bought me some cuttings/divisions of 3 types of irises. My DD2 bought me a lovely metal rooster who's taken up residence on the new veranda and DH's DD3 gave me a Bunnings (huge hardware chain)voucher that will help buy another raised garden bed for vegetables. Then there are the chocolates...more than enough to see us through until Easter!

It's New Year's Eve here in Australia and this evening people will see in the New Year in various ways...Happy New Year to everyone and may 2012 be a great year!

PS This post probably did end up like the letters to my Nanna and godmother,but hopefully the punctuation and grammar have improved!!! lol The technology has certainly advanced.

Christmas in Blogland...

I got so involved with finishing my Kris Kringle item that I forgot that as well as giving an item away, I would also get an item in the mail from someone!
Last week my surprise arrived from Nicole who lives in the state of Victoria. What a lovely little ornament for my tree.

Hmmm....blogger keeps uploading the photo on its side!

Then on Saturday I got another parcel and this one came from Claudia, a fellow blogger, who lives in North Carolina. Claudia knows that I love to knit... This is what she sent to me....

A knitting needle case roll

Look at all those colourful felt flowers! On the top lefthand side Claudia has embroidered a little cat as she knows that I love cats!

What a delightful touch! Claudia has embroidered my initials :-)

And there was a lovely pair of bamboo needles in the case

And a lovely handmade card was included

I feel so fortunate to receive these lovely gifts...Claudia has to wait another week or so for her parcel from me...as I've only just posted it. It involves the colour green and is a knitting project....no other clues as Claudia reads this blog! lol