Another Year Older

Today is my birthday. Sean and I took the day off work, planned some time ago, and disappeared down the coast for the day.

We would never dream of going to Bateman's Bay (or Little Canberra) in summer, when you'd have to queue just to get a table at the fish and chip shop. But in winter, we like these touristy places a lot.

The sun poured down on us today. I'd had visions of a bleak, wintry seascape but really, who gets annoyed at the sun?

But first, the day began with Sean gifting with me a lovely set of Knitpicks Harmony needles. As I noted recently, the name has changed outside the US to Knit Pro. I hadn't realised the names of the needles also changed. They are no longer called Harmony needles. They are Symphonie Birch needles. Doesn't matter to me. I will still call them Knit Picks harmony because, really, who is going to pay attention to the name change?



Sean's a good husband. This is the third year in a row he's sourced a set of Knit Picks needles from Donni, my supplier. Wonder if they'll come up something new he can buy for me next year?

Before we left for the coast, I found out Adele had provided me with a year's subscription to Donna Hay magazine. Life is good.

We headed down the coast soon after and soaked up the difference that approximately 7 degrees can make in the air. It was 15C (59F) in Bateman's Bay today.

First stop was the village outside Bateman's Bay - Mogo. Antiques, second hand books, artsy stuff.



We found a couple of treasures in the bookshop and headed to Bateman's Bay for lunch. This was our view from the deck of the fish and chip shop.



And this was one of the main reasons I chose the coast for my birthday. Oysters.



Sean can't eat them. He's got an allergy. But I can and the Bateman's Bay oysters are quite wonderful. I lapped them up.

We passed the afternoon with a little more wandering, a little more sitting and taking in the ocean views. I wore my February Lady Sweater today, but it was possibly a little warm for it on the coast. I don't think worsted weight yarn is good for coastal weather. Thank goodness I live in Canberra where we have real winters!



Eventually, we had to head home and when we arrived, I found my birthday present to myself had arrived from the lovely Sarah Durrant. This woman's service is second to none. I ordered this on Friday. Colinette Tao in Ginger Cinnabar. Delicious.



Could you imagine a more blissful end to a birthday? Oh, other than your five your old nephew singing happy birthday down the phone line to you. When I described my day to him he declared, 'how good is that?' It's very good, Willem. Very, very good.

Bells

Laying Low

We got out of town on the weekend. It was a rather necessary escape, just overnight, to do something different and unwind.

Our destination was Wollongong, just two and a half hours' drive. I have to say, it was very nice not to be going to Sydney. Not that we don't love going to Sydney to see family and friends, but we do it a lot and this was a pleasant change.

Our host was dear friend Kylie or KMS as she's most often known in the blogosphere. Wollongong is a coastal city and one of the things I love most is a wintry beach. Wollongong delivered.



Kylie, Sean and I plonked ourselves down in a cafe right on the beach and watched the storm clouds over the foamy waves. It was eerie and dramatic to knit, eat cake and watch a storm grow.

We paused briefly for photos on the shore before we escaped falling night.



We spent the evening tucked up in Kylie's adorable new home, a cottage that has been lovingly restored to perfection. Can you tell that two knitters were here?



All in all, it was a great mini-break. So much knitting. So much talking. Lots of eating. A few handyman or tech support moments for Sean. Twenty-four hours of laying low in someone else's home, feeling good, feeling at ease.

And I may have come very, very close to finishing my Chevron Lace Cardigan. Almost there. Stay tuned.

Bells

Austen-fest

Yesterday, my friend Polly and I spent an entire day and part of an evening immersing ourselves entirely in three of the best Austen adaptations ever made (in our humble opinions).

I arrived at Polly's house, a beautiful country home outside Canberra, around 10am and we promptly declared our Austen-fest for two had begun.

(Polly had the truly awful 1999 version of Mansefield Park playing in the background when I arrived. Just so that we could sneer at it and bemoan the atrocity that is the attempt at re-telling the story of Fanny Price. We turned it off fairly quickly and got on with the quality viewing.)

There aren't many photos. I took a few, but mostly I settled in with Polly for a day of keeping warm and trying not to sneeze and wheeze through the best scenes.

This was my view from the couch in the TV room. It's a gorgeous fountain, isn't it?



The universe gave us the ideal day for our little Austen-fest. It was grey, cold and ever so slightly drizzly. A day when you are very happy to look outside at the beautiful landscape, rather than step into it.

Mostly the day looked like this. Watching Austen over the February Lady Sweater on my lap.



I did step outside for a few minutes in the afternoon, in search of some fresh air to clear my head. I caught this rose on Polly's front porch.



And snapped myself breathing in the cool afternoon air.



So for the Austenites among you, here's a run down of what we watched.

We started with the best Austen adaptation of all. 1995's perfect adaptation of Persuasion.



This really is Austen done well. It's gentle. It's quiet. It's subtle. You believe these people are Austen characters. The lighting strives to be authentic. It's not glammed up. It's my ultimate repeat-viewing Austen. I will never, ever grow tired of this perfect depiction of a sublime novel.

Next we watched Emma, the BBC version which is, we agreed, far superior to Gwyneth Paltrow's Emma. This one stars Kate Beckinsale before she ran away to America and became a Hollywood starlet. I liked her better then, especially in Cold Comfort Farm. But that's just me.



Finally, we laughed and laughed, delighting in Emma Thompson's fabulous and fun adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. Kate Winslet as a 19 year old, pre-Titanic.



It's funny, it's touching and it's impossible not to watch it and remember that in the middle filming, Hugh Grant met Divine Brown and, well, that was not his finest hour. Ah the mid 90s. Seems like a long time ago now.

The day concluded with the viewing of a partial episode of Pride And Prejudice. We had to, really. We needed to look at Mr Darcy's britches. No, really. We did. It was for research purposes. Honest.

Bells

You Made Me Forget Myself

The perfect salve for the heartbreak suffered at the funeral of a friend is a weekend spent with friends who are very much alive, and lively. That is exactly what we did.

(Sean gave a deeply moving eulogy for which I am extremely proud of him. Mick would have been amazed.)



The weekend was planned quite some time ago for whoever was able to be there and really, that it took place the day after the funeral was perfect timing. A few friends gathered (with partners and children) at the spacious and welcoming home in northern Sydney of Kylie and her partner (and dogs). The plan was for a small, relaxed weekend wherein we would knit, eat, talk and swim. We did all that. 

The boys were around sometimes, gone at others, entertaining children or manning the BBQ so that we had some quality down time. 

RoseRed made a pavlova. It was spectacular. Her husby made an amazing paella on Sunday night and we drank sangria. 



We had BBQ breakfasts courtesy mostly of Sean and Mr RoseRed. We drank champagne and talked for hours.

We swam in the pool for the better part of Saturday when it was 42 degrees (or 107 F) and were vastly entertained by the children.

Speaking of entertaining, young Princess Grace didn't want to be left out of the knitting fun.



She was rather taken with a ball of Bendigo cotton which I gave to her to replace the Zephyr silk of mine she'd spotted (the girl has taste inherited from her mother, obviously).

On the subject of my ebony zephyr, Kylie and I started our Myrtle Leaf Shawls from Victorian Lace Today. That was fun. Mine is a bit bigger than this now after a few hours in the car today.



We were both a little nail-bitingly nervous about starting this shawl. We've been discussing it for ages, have had our black laceweight yarn ready and have speculated about the right cast on, the length of time it will take and well, you get the idea. We started. We went well. Kylie started over but that's a story she can tell.

I'm desperately happy with mine and during the week off work which I'm about to begin (today was Australia Day so no work anyway) I plan to knit A LOT of this shawl. I imagine I'll become consumed. If you don't hear from me again this week (fat chance!) you'll know where I am.

So thanks to our friends for a wonderful weekend. I'm not sure it could have been improved upon. We got enough heat for swimming, enough of a cool change for knitting, the best possible company and all the good things in life at our disposal.

Perfect. Thanks Kylie (and Trent) for your hospitality and to all the other gathered there with us. It was, as RoseRed would say, tops. 

Bells

Swatching the Moment

Thank you so very much for the care and concern and kindness in light of the loss our dear friend, Mick. Sean doesn't often hang out here checking the comments, but I know he did today. Very kind. Thank you. Now we just have to make it to Friday afternoon when we will really say goodbye - and Sean will give a eulogy. A big day for him.

***
Today there was post on Gidgetknits about knitting through the inauguration ceremony for President Obama (oh how magical that sounds!). Both RoseRed and I were suitably inspired and agreed to do the same tonight, watching the ceremony. I didn't end up rewatching it. I actually got up at 3:30am to watch it live - I wasn't sleeping well last night anyway and loved every moment.

But tonight as my 'tribute' if you like, I cast on a swatch for something new and watched the news and thought about the great and important change that's taken place. I truly think it began in some way with our own nation getting ride of John  Howard in 2007. It was a sign of things getting better.

So instead of Knitting the Moment, as Gidget and RoseRed did, I swatched the moment. 

Here is my 'mini' Myrtle leaf shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I think I'm in love. She's a little wonky, but that's what swatching is for, to figure out the wonk.



This weekend, I'm starting this shawl with Kylie when I and a few other knitterly people hang out at her house for the long weekend. We chose the black yarn last year and promised we'd knit it together, starting on the Australia Day long weekend. Now that I've swatched, I just can't wait.

Bells

Sunset

When I took this photo at sunset a week or two ago, I knew I'd want to write about it at some point, because I thought it was vivid and worth showing.

There was no way of knowing then that the first time I'd think to post it would be the day we lost a friend. I can't say how but it seems fitting. Putting into words why just seems unnecessary.



Today a little after 2pm, Sean received a phone call from the sister of his friend of many years to say that Mick had died. Two weeks ago, we visited him and I gave him some socks. Probably he never wore them but that was never the point.

After four years of illness, with medical trials, suffering and uncertainty, it all came to an end. We've watched him fight. We've seen him want to give up. Four years is a long time to fight.

On Sunday, we drove to Sydney for the day at the urging of his sister who said he had gone into palliative care and was rapidly losing the battle. An afternoon in his room, with his family at his side, watching him suffer and wishing for it to end was an afternoon we'll always remember.

He and Sean watched the cricket - with Sean telling him what was going on when Mick was too weak to watch. I talked with his mother and sister - both knitters - as i worked on a cotton handtowel to keep my hands busy.

I know you all don't know Mick but that's ok. I want to write because we are sitting around not sure what to do and feeling things we can't really say. I am cooking for us because it seems right. When Mick was our neighbour for five or so years, I cooked for him a lot. He brought beer and I served up plate after plate of food.

He never said much. Mick was a man of few words, except for when he spoke at length, both affectionately and hilariously at our wedding and declared in front of all our friends and family that he loved Sean and was happy for him. We listened to this man, who never said a lot, say more in that speech than anyone knew was possible. Moments like that are worth everything.

Mick was a fan of my knitting. He wore one of my earliest beanies, made before I even knew how to knit in the round. He admired my crocheted hats, the ones I used to make before i was a knitter and a few times put in requests for hats for family members. That's why I had to make his socks. I couldn't let him go without something for his feet.

Wherever he is now, I hope he is ok. No more pain for him, but he's leaving behind a man who has been his friend for many years and who is going to be lost without him.

Bells