Knitting in unusual times

I have been thanking my lucky stars that I am someone who enjoys knitting and crochet. During this pandemic it has been a blessing for me.  I have managed to create a few items and the most recent is one that I would not otherwise have knitted.

A couple of months ago I purchased some wool from our local community buy and sell page.   Someone was getting rid of their stash of wool and I had been assured that it would be mainly 8ply wool.  The bundle of wool cost me $50 and there was a considerable quantity so it was a huge bargain.  In amongst the wool there were a couple of bags of acrylic and I am no fan of acrylic so I had planned on taking the acrylic to the thrift shop.  There were about 15 balls of acrylic mohair which I thought I might try to use to make a cardigan for one of our granddaughters.  I figured if it turned out not to be any good it could also go to the thrift shop.

I got out my trusty Patons Classic pattern book

and have completed the back and two sleeves and am about to start on the front of the cardigan.  I am happy with how it looks but my big concern is that it might stretch or be clingy.  We will just have to wait and see.

And a token picture of today’s sourdough.

The things you see on the bike trail. . .

Recently on my bike ride on the East Gippsland Rail Trail I spied a rider in front of me who seemed to be taking his hands off the handlebars rather too frequently.  I was surprised to discover, when I got closer, that the person’s bike had no handlebars at all, he was riding a unicycle.

As I passed him by I called out “Wow! I am impressed,” and then continued on my ride.  I took a side trip off the rail trail to add a few more ks to my ride and then returned to the trail.The side trip I thought would take me down to the water but unfortunately the road became private at the point of the Lake House B&B.

As I was nearing the finish of my ride I came across the unicyclist again and after passing him I stopped and he stopped as well.  We had quite a long chat and I found out the story behind his unusual way of riding the trail.  He was a young boy, in Grade 5 at school, originally from Mornington Peninsula and had moved to Bairnsdale in November.  He had seen the unicycle advertised in Aldi and asked his parents if he could have one for Christmas.  He had since then taught himself to ride and on this day he was riding from Bairnsdale to Bruthen and back, 66km in total. That is quite some distance on one wheel.

We chatted about riding and how his parents might be worried about him riding by himself, just as my son had been worried about me riding by myself, but he said he contacted them at various points on his ride and he said his parents had means of tracking him through his phone.  I guess with an app something like my Road IDI have written about the app previously.

I asked him if I could have permission to take a photo for my blog without including his face and letting him look at the photo after taking it and he agreed.

Here is the delightful young boy.  He certainly made my day a happy one.

Australian Children’s Literature

On our recent visit to Canberra I was able to visit the exhibition on Australian Children’s Literature at the National Library of Australia.

The building always impresses me and reminds me of the Parthenon in Greece.

The exhibition was in its last few days so I was lucky to be able to get to Canberra in time to see it.

The exhibition was well worth the visit as it brought back so many happy memories of reading to our children when they were little and also our grandchildren.

The art work on display was amazing and such a variety.  There was even an illustration by my favourite illustrator, Robert Ingpen.

It doesn’t look terrific in the photo but all of that work is hand drawn, including the newspaper in the background.  Amazing.

The first part of the exhibition was a display of all the paintings from the book The Rainbow Serpent.

Again the artwork was beautiful.

There were books from the earliest time of European settlement up to the present day.

There was a special area for children so they could sit and look through or read the picture books that were available.  The green sheep from Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox was hidden high up on a shelf so the children had to look up to find it.

There were drafts of the drawings for that particular book.

Also there was poster artwork relating to a spin off from Mem Fox’s famous book , Possum Magic.An Australian Classic Snugglepot and Cuddlepie has also lent itself to commercial spin offs.

I wonder why there isn’t a soft toy of the Big Bad Banksia Man?  Only joking.

So many of my favourite books were on display.

The collaged illustrations by Jeanie Baker.

The story, through time, of a particular area in Australia. My Place by Nadia Wheatley.  You will need to click on the illustrations to enlarge them.

Beautiful illustration from Are We There Yet?

So many books from the teenage years.  Here are just a few but not including the Hippopotamus on our roof eating cake. 🙂

We spent quite some time going through the exhibition as there was so much material on display.  It certainly showcased the depth of literature written by Australian authors and readily available to children.

Well done to the National Library of Australian for curating this wonderful exhibition.

 

My favourite illustrator again.

I have posted before about the Australian illustrator Robert Ingpen and mentioned a book called Wonderlands.  I was lucky enough to find the book at a much reduced price when we were in Melbourne visiting our elder daughter and her family.  A great bargain.

I just love his artwork.

From Wind in the Willows.

I am enjoying dipping into the book as it makes me happy when I look at the illustrations.

 

Our National Library :Australian children’s literature, so many memories.

Our younger daughter and our son both live in Canberra and we will be there in February.   I would like to pay a visit to the National Library as they have a wonderful exhibition on at the moment called Storytime.

“Story Time is curated thematically, exploring common themes in Australian children’s literature. Below are some highlights from the exhibition. Get ready to venture into a kaleidoscopic landscape of words, pictures, people, places and animals as Story Time reacquaints you with old friends and introduces you to new ones.”

We will be there just before the exhibition finishes so I will need to make sure we get to Canberra a day earlier than planned.

It was delightful reading the online version which you can find here. I was reminded of the many books our children had when they were growing up.  Lovely memories.

 

Time!

Where on earth has the previous month gone?  I should also say almost all of this month too.  I see that it was October 31st when I last posted on the blog.  I wrote about my October reading I will need to let you know what I read in November and also December when I get posting again.

I can account for three of the weeks when I was on holiday in New Zealand, more on that later, but the rest of the time has gone in a whirlwind and now Christmas is almost upon us and I haven’t put up the Christmas tree yet.  Today is going to be very busy as I have a few things to get done.

This is the Christmas wreath I spoke about in a post way back in January.

I hope to get a Christmas wreath made this week.

We have just returned home from a quick visit to Canberra where we were able to catch up with our son and our younger daughter as we will not see them at Christmas.  It was great to be able to deliver our Christmas presents and to get the added surprise that they will be visiting us after Christmas.  I had to post our presents to our elder daughter but I know she was delighted when she received them.

Prior to our visit to Canberra I had been down in Melbourne for a week with our elder daughter and her family.  I was keeping her company while her husband was away in Ethiopia for three weeks.  I had a lovely time just chilling with her.  I was also able see an end of year theatre performance by my granddaughter and was able to watch my grandson playing cricket.

I have to admit that much of my time has been spent watching cricket on television and now the Big Bash League has started I will be watching even more.  At least I get some knitting or crochet done while that is on.

Now you know I am still on the planet and I will get back to proper posting tomorrow.