Monthly Archives: March 2014

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Quick Knits

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After the cardigan, I made a few quick and easy projects, with a few twists, of course.

After my old K-Mart lunch bag gave up the ghost, I had a quick look around Ravelry and found this pattern. For a knitted, and felted lunch bag. I was nervous about felting anything, but in the end it was very easy, even with a front-loading washing machine.

Felted Lunch Bag

I also knitted up this beanie for my nephew J’s birthday. The original pattern was quite plain so to challenge myself I did a stranded fair isle pattern that I found in one of my knitting books.

Boy's Beanie

That was good practice as I will be knitting up a very big colour strand project next.

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Camping Adventure – Part 5

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As in all the previous times that we’d camped, the rain eventually caught up with us. It started raining on our last night at Riverwood Downs, and was still going when we woke up the next morning. That meant not much of a breakfast and another wet pack-up. Soon we were on the road back to Sydney. What a contrast from the hot and dry landscape of the previous few days!

Rainy day

One lady who was happy was Bridie. She relishes getting her nose out of the window no matter what the weather.

Rainy day

She really enjoyed having the wind in her hair ears.

Rainy day

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Camping Adventure – Part 4

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We took a drive to the nearby town of Dungog, about 25km away. To get there we had to navigate the gravel ‘main road’ over the forested Monkerai Nature Reserve.

Drive to Dungog

And then across the pastured valley leading up to the town.

Drive to Dungog

Dungog seemed to be the hub of the district, with the usual amenities, and the local high school too. We were there at 3pm when school ended for the day, and the line of school buses were endless. There was even one to Monkerai, near Riverwood Downs.

Back on the main street, there was the usual cross-road cairn and selection of quaint pubs. This pub was located, as you would expect, opposite the oldest bank in town. Unusually, in this age of bank conversions, it was still a bank.

Drive to Dungog

The arts/crafts/antiques set had also arrived, but hadn’t totally dominated the main street like in other towns.

Drive to Dungog

And there was an assortment of cute cottages about too.

Drive to Dungog

Dungog was perhaps how the Hunter Valley used to be before viticulture took over; laid-back, quiet but still with a good supermarket and a few cosmopolitan cafes (the one we went to for lunch served a good vegetarian selection and was dog-friendly).

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Camping Adventure – Part 2

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When the sun went down, the temperature dropped to more comfortable levels, and the wildlife made an appearance. First up were the water birds who had their dinner on the lawn.

Camping at Riverwood Downs

Then the almost-full moon appeared, and quickly rose up high.

Camping at Riverwood Downs

At bed-time, the moon was very bright indeed.

Camping at Riverwood Downs

It wasn’t until about 2 or 3am that the marsupial wildlife made an appearance. There were possums scouring the campsite, looking for food and mischief. One even had the gall to climb on to the fly! We were cleverer though. All our food was locked up tight in the car.

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Camping Adventure – Part 1

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In February we went on another camping adventure. It’s been more than a year since our previous camping trip. Our destination was still the Barrington Tops, but this time we chose the southern side, cutting perhaps 1.5 to 2 hours off our trip. We once again chose a dog-friendly camping ground, as Bridie was with us. They were very dog-friendly, with the kiosk even serving dog-friendly treats.

Camping at Riverwood Downs

Riverwood Downs was more than just a camp ground, being an eco resort of sorts, but camping suited us just fine.

Camping at Riverwood Downs

The location was still rural, and although not quite as scenic as Cundle Flat, the river was more accessible. We certainly needed it as it reached 35C during our stay.

Camping at Riverwood Downs

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Knitting Up a Storm

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I’ve been knitting up a storm so far this year. The longest project so far has been a jumper for my father-in-law (using this old favourite). It took me about four months to complete.

Paul's Tweed Jumper

Since then I’ve taken on projects that were quicker. Like this cosy for my hot water bottle, as last winter I was sick of having to wrap and pin it in a makeshift tea towel cover.

Hot water bottle cover

I also wanted to do more challenging projects. This girl’s cardigan involved quite a bit of lace knitting, which was new to me. Luckily it was relatively quick to do – it took only a month.

Girl's Cardigan