Continuing on

Merry Christmas everyone - I am so looking forward to a break which may - covid-willing - involve some beach time! The Sydney outbreak looks like it's on the decline with only 8 cases yesterday; they've put some serious lockdowns in place so it should keep shrinking. Famous last words! I like looking back on these blog posts with my narrator voice on "But she was wrong. It was not on the decline. Even as she wrote those words, a mutant strain was brewing in the Dee Why bowlo that would change the face of Christmas .... for everyone" etc.

Lifeline held its first bookfair this year which was a very joyous occasion. I don't think many people knew it was on because when I went for Sunday-afternoon-$20-a-bag there were hardly any people there and still masses of books. Good books too, so I filled two grocery bags to the absolute brim and I will enjoy them at my leisure. This is the desk in the bedroom.

There are some library books in there too, just I case I run out. Despite working through Christmas last year to organise that massive conference I am not taking leave this year - just the time between Christmas and New Year when my organisation closes down. I feel slightly ripped off but there's not really any option given how short we are on staff at the moment, but I feel that I am owed a holiday. Perhaps March?

What a difference in a year

Ten days without a post! All I can say is that work is completely bonkers, and weekends are full of sleeping and socialising. We were meant to have a weekend away to walk to the top of Australia's highest mountain (not that high, it's a day walk, there might be snow or there might not) but the weather forecast was bad so we decided not to. Even though it's not exactly the Alps you still don't want to get caught in a sleet storm so we put it off until March. Apparently January and February 'the flies will carry you away' which doesn't sound appealing. So I went for my usual 16 km on Saturday morning and on Sunday afternoon we went (with the boys) out to Tidbinbilla to do the Sanctuary wetlands walk.

It's almost exactly a year since we were here with my brother and sister-in-law from NZ. It was shockingly, terribly, depressingly dry. These two photos are the same spot - a year ago and yesterday.

This is why Australia burnt down in January. Everything was bone dry and dead.

But what a difference a year makes. I know that something major has to be done about the climate or these dry spells will just continue and get worse, but in the meantime, it is very pleasant to see turtles and fish and black swans and magpie geese and even a tiny little Eastern bettong rustling in the undergrowth. 

More weaving

I'm finding a heap of good things to binge on Netflix and Binge and SBS On Demand ... which fits in nicely with lots and lots of weaving. Ages ago I ordered a very cheap microfibre yarn from Ice which I have never used - it looked incredibly shiny and plasticky and ugly, despite being a pretty blue. I wove a sample and it weaves beautifully; looks like twine, feels like silk. 

But I couldn't get over the appearance of it so left it in the cupboard until I was feeling adventurous a couple of weeks ago. I put it in narrow stripes with a plain mid-brown on the weft, and the pale blue fluffy alpaca blend on the weft. And it's lovely! The bit of shiny is fine, and the colours blend beautifully.

I was so pleased that I did the same thing with green: plain wool and shiny stripes on the warp and a fluffy mohair blend on the weft. That turned out nicely as well, it is very light and flowy.

So I decided to go the whole hog and do a full warp of the peculiar microfibre (which made it much easier to deal with, unsurprisingly it stretched completely differently to the wool yarn so stripes was a bit awkward to manage) with my dyed blue/yellow on the weft. And I'm pleased with that too! 

Except for the ugly plasticky fringe. I might just cut it fairly short and forget about it. You can't tell from photos but it is very soft and drapes beautifully.

And finally here is one that has no shiny bits at all, just the brown and green in a 3-1. This is a cool threading because it makes two quite different patterns on each side as you can see below. The colours aren't very exciting but it would probably be quite a practical scarf to wear.

Windy as heck

It was hot and windy on Saturday, then it rained, and it was cold and windy on Sunday. Not the best kind of weather for doing anything outside but I forced myself to do the 16 km walk on Sunday morning so I would have had some exercise. The lake was brown from the rain and white-capped from the wind and VERY unappealing. Usually Sunday morning is yacht racing and dragon boating but not today. 

There were still quite a few people out and about though, biking slowly into the wind or running happily in the other direction. It doesn't matter so much when you're walking.

Saturday I did lots of errands, which was satisfying but I forgot that Christmas shopping is upon us and the shops were PACKED. The boys have not expressed much interest in presents this year so they could be getting bugger all if they don't give me some ideas soon. Or I could chuck cash at them I suppose. I was set on finding a pair of white lace up summer shoes, which I did, and they are nicer than they sound - not lawn bowls shoes, honestly. 

A rayon dress

One of the sundresses that I made at the beach is so comfortable that I've started wearing it to work - you can snazzy anything up with tights and a jacket! Rayon is lovely to wear but a bit of a curse to sew with; too slippery. Luckily this dress has hardly any seams.

It is a raglan sleeve with a centre back seam but absolutely zero shaping anywhere else. So yes, a sack, but at the same time it falls nicely through the body and of course is incredibly easy to wear. It does need ironing after washing but that won't kill me. These photos were taken by the 6'2" number one son so are on a downward slope! I am trying to be cool sewing blogger with this pose but I think the background is not working in my favour (although I am so happy with my new kitchen that I would put it in every photo if I could).

This photo I took in the mirror to try and show the raglan sleeve seams but of course you can't see a thing in the print. Which is good. And the inside of the seams are beautifully finished with my lovely overlocker, which does make a very nice edge. And this is the pattern - it is designed for knits but seems to work fine on wovens for me - because I am not making anything tightfitting! Plenty of room to pull it over my head and then float away from the blubber rolls.

Heatwave at the beach

This weekend was the first of the summer heatwaves - cracking 40 across most of the south-east - and I very very happily spent it at the beach. The heat was coming from westerly winds which means even our place was scorching; one of the handful of days a year when we think maybe we should get air-conditioning. But there is a cure for that, jump in the water, which is still freezing. Wonderfully beautifully freezing. I wore a short wetsuit and stayed in for over an hour both days, and then late in the afternoon a cool change came through and dropped the temperature 15 degrees in half an hour.

As well as swimming I sewed and read and ate. The roof guy came at 6.40 am on Saturday which was a bit early but he repaired the skylight that had been leaking and some other roof-related activities. I didn't get up to inspect it ... but saw his photos. Seems fine (?) and I had a nap in the afternoon after my swim. It was a perfect couple of days and I can't wait for the long Christmas break.