S.E.X. on the Road II

We made good time to Wagga and found a motel within budget fairly quickly. We were both tired and emotionally drained. Mum was certainly not up to going out for dinner. As a bonus, the motel had pay tv movie channels available, so we rested, knitted, ate takeaway with wine bought in Leeton and watched movies. Luxury!

I admit to not being faithful to the travelling sock this first night in Wagga. Maybe it was the motel vibes, but I cheated by finishing the foot and toe of Mum's birthday sock before returning sated and just a little sweaty, to the travelling sock's gusset. The travelling sock pouted and refused to be photographed that evening.

The next day dawned overcast and rain threatened. It was Mum's 65th birthday. We celebrated by a trip to a very good Salvos shop where Mum scored a printed linen fancy work table cloth complete with colour chart which she will embroider on our next holiday together in July/August. She also sorted out a big bundle of short metal dpns for me. I found a heap of vintage Patons patterns which were not already in the collection. We spent so much time there that we couldn't make it to Tarcutta that morning as hoped as we were due to meet Kate for lunch. This meant we missed Miss Ginger and Pierre at Tarcutta, which was a shame.

I've forgotten the name of the cafe we lunched at but it was good. It was even better to catch up with Kate, though.

The sock consented to have it's photo taken with the birthday girl. I forgot to photograph it with Kate - oops.

While we were lunching we met a member of the Wagga SnB. Melva told us Vinnies had just put out a heap of knitting wool and she'd managed to snaffle a big bag of Cleckheaton Tapestry for a song. In what I hope was not indecent haste, we finished lunch and I dragged Mum over to Vinnies. Here we hit pay-dirt and got two big bags of mohair and another large bag of odds and ends of 8ply for Mum and big bunch of needles for the swaps basket. Other women were carrying off bags of novelty yarn.

We met Melva again not long after, when Kate took us to her local wool shop. It's in the garage of Melva and her daughter Faye's house. Faye Verrall is the business owner. The shop sells quilting fabrics and notions and has a room for workshops. It also has a very creditable range of knitting patterns and yarns.
This is part of one wall of the wool room. It's a small room and packed floor to ceiling with good yarns. Faye doesn't compete with the local Scablight and only gets quality merchandise.

Another wall.

She also knits up samples and knows her stuff. If you are anywhere in the region - go to Simply Stitches. It's open Fri-Tues 10-5, other times by appointment. Much to my delight, Simply Stitches has two resident dogs. After three days on the road, I was missing Peggy mightily. Faye's dogs gave me some much needed puppy love.

Influenced by the quality yarn fumes and the personability of Faye, there was an accident involving sock yarn.

Tofutsies in the Footsteps colourway.

We saw Kate home, and Mum chose to spend the rest of her birthday watching movies and knitting wristwarmers. Some of Mum's work to this point.

The sock forgave me enough to allow me to finish its toe. Here it is all ready for the graft. (It's still in that condition, btw, and so is the second sock).

Mum enjoyed her birthday and we were extremely pleased that it rained that afternoon and much of the night. The rain stayed with us the next day, too.

Knit Lit Bits

Not much interesting knitting news. Not much knitting at all. Instead of knitting, this week I've been enabling Mum (still) and reading about knitting.

Firstly the Knit Lit.

This books is worth the read - The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood (available in the ACT Public Libraries).

I was a bit over the premise of knitting as a saviour for the grief stricken but this book is not mawkish or over-sentimental. In parts it is heart-breakingly honest and so sad I was beyond tears. I now find it is semi-autobiographical. There are few actual surprises after the first chapters but it isn't twists we want from this book and it manages to avoid some of the manipulative cheap shots that are used in the other knit-novel of the moment The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs.

Also available from the ACT Public Libraries, FNKC is mostly trite. It is transparently written with the movie rights in mind and manages to incorporate all the demographic and ethnographic characters and concepts (white, black, Asian, young, middle-aged, older, mixed-race love affairs, ballsy single mothers, over-achievers reclaimed by the power of knitting, celtic wisdom). There is a twist and it is unexpected and it's what lifted my rating from "trite" to "mostly trite". I'm sure Julia Roberts will walk through the film role with (my guess) Blair Underwood as the romantic lead. Olympia Dukakis as the older woman, perhaps?

A recommended read is the Australian novel Knitting by Annie Bartlett. It is set in Adelaide and deals with knitting and grief in a very beautiful way. And yes, the ACT Public Libraries have both the paperback and audio versions of this novel.

****
There has been some knitting - most of it in the week before last.

Finished are 7 more hats

Beanies 2007.33-38

TTWC 2007.39

Mum has completed 15 pairs of wristwarmers for Stasia. She's also made another 4 pairs for the kids and our parcel lady.

Yesterday I made the mistake of taking her into the Smith Family shop. While I was chatting to the staff and checking out the fat clothes (Phillip Smith Family has the best selection of fat clothes of any op-shop in Canberra), Mum found the yarn boxes. As I rounded the corner she took a protective stance over the containers and with a look that said "back off, bitch" proceeded to defiantly hoik several balls of 8ply into the basket of her walking frame. She also scared off a very nice man who knits for his sons. My knitting mother is back with a vengeance.

This is great, really it is. She hasn't knitted in 10 years and we fought for the last 5 of those years about her stash and her needles. She wanted me to take them, I insisted she keep them. (I'm a knitter, I know how much those things mean!) I only yielded and took the stuff to my place less than 18 months ago. There was not much decent yarn left in her stash. She'd knitted most of it, or the moths had got to it and over the years I'd managed to "borrow" lots of the needles - usually when I'd come home from Sydney for the weekend and find I needed another size or whatever.

She's also using the knitting to combat the need for lollies. Mum has used the Soothers cough lozenges as a substitute for cigarettes and for years. She's on one-two packs of Soothers a day. I've been trying to get her onto sugar-free lollies as her blood sugar is a little high. However, the sugar-free lollies, when taken in excess, can cause diarrhoea. The transition has been less than smooth and knitting helps.

So far her RSI has not been a problem. The pattern is easily memorised and gratification is instantaneous and accompanied by the knowledge that she is helping less fortunate people.

The second All Sorts Beret is complete. I'm in love with this technique and I'll be keeping this beret.

I'm also keeping the latest Short Circuit Scarf. This one is in Cleckheaton Naturals boucle in black and a dark bluey-grey. It's not too long (only 2 x 50g) balls, knitted on 5mm needles.

Not the best photo. It looks great with jeans, black t-shirt and my black leather jacket. It's still too warm to wear it that way, but I gave it a go anyhow.

I leave you with puppy-porn. My brother and his family are away for the school holidays leaving me with joint custody of the 3 dogs. From left is Lochie (son of my Peggy), Rosie and Peggy.

Seconds before taking this photo they were all together in one basket looking like a Christmas card. Here they look tired and confused.

Charity begins at home

Mum recently experienced knit-envy.

After the fun of the Harlot Happening, and hearing how well received the hats were, Mum decided she needed in. She also decided that what the homeless really need are fingerless gloves. She could probably manage fingerless gloves, but a whole beanie was too much. Yes, I know, it's about the same amount of work etc, but it's much easier if you accept her reasoning and go along with it.

So I left her with the Voodoo Wristwarmer pattern, my completed black ones, a set of 3.75mm dpns, and what was left of this jumper, which St V de P made available for $1 and which was reclaimed last October.

The jumper yielded 683g of what I have since discovered was this yarn.

I had already made 4 TTWCs from it but Mum had admired the wool as I was making them, so I knew she'd enjoy knitting with it. She has finished three pairs of Voodoo Wrist Warmers from it. There is about 30g of the yarn left. Not bad for a buck.

Meanwhile, the grandchildren discovered the wrist warmers and requested a set each and did I have any maroon 8ply to match the girls' school uniforms? The only maroon in stash was 400g of vintage crepe which I confess to only reluctantly surrendering. My reluctance was duly noted by the Yarn Goddesses and resulted in my black wrist warmers being claimed by my nephew because he didn't want maroon ones.

Now I've lost my wrist warmers and all of the maroon crepe because it was so nice to knit with Mum is keeping it. She has also requested more 8ply. All of you currently supporting the yarn habits of your children take heart - eventually you get your own, and their stash, back. ;)

TTWC 2007.32

Au revoir, Margit

Sad SnB this evening - it being the lovely Margit's last.

She departed in style by finishing a Carla beret - seen here

and bringing a garbage bag full of yarn for the swaps basket. Forgot to take a picture of that, but here's another one of Margie in her beret.

Kylie also brought some very noice yarn for the swaps basket. Here's Kylie being mugged by Lulu, Jejune's very naughtly lamb.

And for those lovely people who asked, here's the link to the Victorian Cabled Wristlets, one of which is modelled below by the ball winder.

These took 50g of Bluebell (5ply), knitted double.