Biting the Bullet

For the past 9 days I've been discovering what life was like before the internet ........ or at least the

Fogbound Cardigan in progress

home wi fi ....... yep, it's been down that long ...... apparently an upgrade for southern phones, but I didn't get notice, have had several phone calls with them ..... and been listed for needing "the backroom department to check into why it's not working" ....... so I've had to go out and purchase some Telstra mobile  internet for my Ipad, and yesterday bit the bullet and went and purchased a USB Wi Fi for my lap top so I could spend the day working out how to get that going to be able to use now ..... finally!
What a week it's been, well .... a couple - 17 days it seems since I last posted and that was late also!  We are having a fabulous lot of Autumn weather here in Bundalong this year - haven't had to light the fire yet!  Plenty of farmers have been burning their paddocks as they do each year, burning off the stubble before plowing up ...... this year though we had a huge wind storm come through which meant lots of dust from the plowed paddocks all around ....... and an outbreak of a number of grass fires when the wind whipped up overnight taking with it embers not put out from the burn offs ....... we were fine here, just huge amounts of dust and smoke for a couple of days!

Bundalong House

Pete and I have also bitten the bullet - we've decided that if the house here is  not sold by end of day on ANZAC Day (25th April), then we will put a permanent rental in here to allow us to move up to our house in Maryborough in Queensland!  Not quite what we had envisaged back in November, 2016 when we first put this place on the market after having purchased the other house, but it's certainly not for lack of trying on our part and it's been long enough!  We have 3 parties of people who have "shown interest" but not yet committed to anything over the past 3 weeks since coming through ......... so we are calling it and giving an end date!  

On the crafting side of things, the test knit cardigan (see photo at top), was coming along quite well

till I got a little thrown by having to pick up stitches from behind the pockets ..........  so while I contemplated just how that bit was going to work, I started on the scarf for Stace using the yarn we purchased when I was down in Melbourne with her.  I decided to use the pattern Therapy by Fogbound Knits (Laura Aylor) and told Stace she would need to choose another colour to go with the skein since it wouldn't be quite enough to make the scarf ........ so at her suggestion I looked to see what "white" yarn I had in my stash and found some Bendigo Yarn "moon" which is one of the  Milky Way Yarns in an off white which just

works perfectly with the "white" in the other skein.  The only trick is the Milky Way is 8ply and the other 4 ply, but it seems to be working quite well and giving a rather nice interest to it.  Apart from that knitting, I've been sorting out cupboards, collecting empty boxes and beginning the process of packing up any excess items.

So stay tuned my friends ...... the wind is changing ...............

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all ..... What a shame it's over so quickly!  I seem to be constantly playing catch up here on the blog ........  
The weekend prior to Easter I went down to Melbourne on the train on the Thursday - I do tend to enjoy the train ride down to Melbourne as it allows me (once I drive to Wang and get the car parked somewhere safe for the few days it will be sitting), time to just sit quietly and read, plan or ........ knit!  It's enjoyable to just sit there and gaze out at the scenery, of course I never can seem to manage to catch the photos at the time a mob of kangaroos are out grazing lol

 This particular sweater is one I started working on last year - it was put aside over the hot summer months, but now that I can see winter is getting closer, and needing something for the train trip, this seemed to be quite the appropriate WIP

 

- officially heading down for a work related study day on the Friday, but having the day off prior allowed me to head down in the morning and meet up with daughter who took me to a couple of the yarn shops I had heard about!

The first was a mixture of yarn and materials, but I came away with a couple of skeins (one of which Stace picked out which will make a scarf for her as a thankyou and reminder of our time together).  The other yarn shop was overflowing with all sorts of lovely yarny goodies ...... with my love for all things Echidna, I just couldn't help picking up a couple of things I was needing that had that theme

lol.......... 

And yes, the guage ruler and stitch markers have already been put to use!  

Easter Saturday I started work on a test cardigan for Fogbound Knits.  It took me 3 goes to get guage, but I really wanted to use some of the wollmeise yarn I already have in my stash, rather than purchase some sports weight (which this pattern is).  I figure there will be alot of others that will be wanting to use fingering weight yarn they have in stash - sports weight is not so common.

Getting back to my few days I had in Melbourne, Stace and I spent one evening down on the beach having fish and chips - chatting and watching the sea gulls race from one group of people to

another looking for free chips lol  Her partner John had elected to stay back after work for "time with the boys", which gave us some nice time to ourselves to sit and chat together!  During the weekend she had also lined up a trip to the gold class cinema to watch a movie - apart from having less people in the cinema and not having anyone tall sitting in front of you, I can't really say that I can see the price difference between Gold Class and ordinary cinema prices as being value for money.  I had always thought that the way it was advertised the food was included in the price, but not so and not cheap, so be wary if you are thinking of trying it! - but it was an experience.

The one thing was very excited about was being able to actually go for a run along the pathway beside the beach!  I'd actually slept in after a very late night, so I was a bit short on time, but luckily I managed to get a few kms in and back to Stacey's place before the rain started!

.

I really love this photo with the Brighton Beach cabins and the city  behind.  All too soon it was time for the 3hr train ride home (with 2 city trains to get us to Spencer St Station lol) 

Back at home again and 
We were meant to have a 2nd viewing by a couple on Easter Saturday, but half an hour prior to the viewing time it was cancelled - so once again we had a very tidy house with yards mowed and all stuff out of the way ........... a random couple turned up late yesterday afternoon standing out the front looking in so Pete went and chatted with them and they ended up coming for a look through having been sent down by people we know.  If nothing else, the house is certainly being kept clean, but I'm getting a little over it all!

One of the girls in the FB running group I joined was up over the Easter weekend and we got to go

mother and daughter time in the city

for a nice 5km run on Good Friday morning.  It's nice to be able to run with somebody who is actually a runner as she helped me get a better idea of pace and breathing - and very happy to walk as I needed breaks.  Still in the "learner" section, I find I can only do around 500mtr - 1km before I need to stop and walk - its a process which has been interrupted quite considerably by the change in seasons this past few weeks .......... I had been trying to go out around 5.45am which worked well, but now it is pitch dark and with lots of sightings of snakes still going on around here - I simply don't feel safe with a torch finding my way to the street with the street lights to practice running!  If I had an extra hour before leaving for work it would be fine ...... just not sure how I'm going to work that one out just yet as after work is when I take old Scruffy for his dawdle and then get chores and dinner going!  But right now its time to head off to work, so I better grab my bags and scram ....... have a great day!

Beach Sunset at Mordialloc