Fantastic Weekend Away

OMG! What an amazing weekend away!!!  Just what I needed - the only thing that could have made it better was spending more time down there in Bendigo!!

After the Tiger Fiasco of 2011, we managed to get tickets on Qantas, who really helped us out with cheaper fares.  Talk about relief!!  I have to say that while I usually have no problems with Tiger, the pressure of having to try and find new flights will probably mean I will never fly with them again, I think we will be sticking with a more reliable airline from now on... but that's a whole other issue...

Anyway, being our first weekend away together, B and I were quite excited by it all and as I love airports, it was just nice being together, having coffee and waiting for our flight.

When we got to Melbourne, we were picked up by my bestie who drove us back to her place in Bendigo.  It was just awesome to catch up with her and her husband, I have missed them so much since they moved away.

On Saturday morning, we headed off to the wool mill, where B got his first taste of yarn craziness for the day... The back room wasn't as impressive as I had seen it in the past, but I still managed to pick up a few things, such as the Pure Wool (right) which will be used for felting - maybe some clogs??  There were quite a few people in the mill, although I know a lot of people see each other and want to catch up, it's not the best thing to do in such a small shop, with lots of people - and definitely not a good thing to do in the tiny back room  where you almost need to walk around single file.  But in all honesty, it's the way it goes, and with so many online knitting friends out there, catch ups are bound to happen.

From here, we were off to the the wool show!  All kinds of excitement!!  We started at the second gate at the bottom of the hill - which meant the first stop was COFFEE!  The second stop was for Kai to go to the petting zoo (left) which we got to in a round-about kinda way... I was following Kai, and apparently she was following me... meaning we ended up heading in the wrong direction before we realised!! haha!! B was a little excited to see the Woodfired Pizza guy (can you guess what he had for lunch?) who was near the petting zoo. 


I managed to get to all of the places I needed/wanted to.  I got my sock blockers and yarn from EGMTK as well as picking up some of Ixchel's yarns, which I have never tried before.  Having B there reminding me about colour choices was good, as I only bought one heavily variegated yarn, which I have nicknamed wicked witch as it has black, purple and orange in it.  I got some really nice laceweight and also managed to pick up some lovely 50/50 wool/silk from Moseley Park.  I loved walking around and seeing all of the lovely yarns and gorgeous colours!  Being able to spend time with Kai and talking about the different options out there and what we would make or do with yarn was just absolute bliss!! The coffee was so great once again and in my opinion, there is nothing like walking around with a friend looking at all the lovely yarny goodness, gossiping and shopping with a delicious coffee in your hand.  As you can see below - the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show was a hit!! And I can't wait for next years!!!

When we got home, Kai and I cast on our Yggdrasil blankets which we are hoping to put into a "Baby Hope Chest" for when the time comes.  We are doing a bit of a mini KAL and have both chosen greens.  I am doing mine in Braken and she is doing hers in Forest.  Both are in 4ply Luxury from BWM and I think they are going to be so wonderful once they are done!!  

To top of such a wonderful day, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner - now while this doesn't that great or special, we actually don't have a Pizza Hut restaurant here, so being able to get the Works is a bit of a highlight, especially considering it brings back memories of my teenage years.

On the way home, I did some work on my Travelling Woman - a project that was started at the end of July last year with wool that I bought from the Show last year!!  It needed to be ripped back again but it was a good project to be able to take on the plane with me.  I am happy to say that I only have 3 rows to go before I cast off, so the next blog post will probably be of the finished project!  Funilly enough, I specifically started this last year so that I could also use the blocking wires that I bought at the show at the time... Well, a year late and it's almost finished!!  Can't wait to block it out now!!!

Overall, best weekend away!!  Got to go away with the boy and spend time with him, also got to catch up with the best friends and visit my second home and on top of all that, I got to go to the Wool and Sheep Show and do a bit of shopping!!  Already planning the next visit to Bendigo - hopefully in a couple of months, and definitely will be going back to the Show next year!!

All on socks...

Last night I finished the Harris Tweed Socks for my Dad's birthday in just under 2 weeks.  I am really happy with how these have turned out.  I think that socks in an 8ply is really the way to go - I just love the texture and how they look especially tension-wise.  I really think 3.75mm needles are the way to go.

I made the Boyfriend Socks in a 10 ply, and I don't think I like the texture of them.  I think it may be the needle size, so will be trying to make another pair of Thuja's for my brother's birthday (also in under 2 weeks).

It was really hard to get a nice pic of the Boyfriend Socks - black just doesn't show patterns very well!!  I am doing my Brothers Socks in a Navy, so hopefully that will show the pattern a bit better.  I am unsure whether to up or down a needle size to get a similar texture to the Harris Tweed Socks.  I think I will make them on 4.5mm needles so that they are just a little bit bigger for my brother's gigantic feet.

Once these final pair of socks are completed, I want to finish off the Little Lady Bug dress for Nessa and I also want to complete the Top Down Jacqueline (so I can wear it to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show).  Once these are completed, I want to make another February Lady Sweater as a KAL, but not sure what colour I want as yet as well as another Yggdrasil Afghan which I want to make out of a 4ply as a baby blanket.

So many projects, so little time...

Sexy Vesty - Almost Finished

Well, as I don't have Ravelry available to me at work anymore, looks like I will be updating my blog a bit more! lol

Last night I finished off the armhole shaping, cast off the 10sts for the actual armhole and began working on the left front piece. As of this morning I have no finished the left front piece and have made a start on the right front piece. I have to say that I am pretty happy with the mods in this one. I even tried the vest on this morning (praying that the sts wouldnt come off the needles) and it fit really well! The ribbing stretches right across my belly, but I'm hoping that once I get a chance to look in the mirror that it wont look too bad.

It currently has car hair in it, and I can't wait til I finish it so that I can get all of that pesky cat heair out of it!

This wook is really nice to work with. It's not itchy, its nice and thick and warm too! I'm so happy that Bendigo Woollen Mills bought out a 10ply in such lovely colours, because I have so many projects queued that call for 10ply!

Next on my project list however is a Skull and Cossbone beanie for my 5 year old nephew (that is when i do my next wool order!!) otherwise there is a cute sheep dog cushion I'm going to make to add to my 'hope chest' for future babies - mine or otherwise! lol!

*** btw - do you all like my cool progress bar on the side?! Special thanks to Bells for helping me with it! ***