So last week I spent a couple of days in hospital having some surgery done. Nothing too dramatic! Since then I’ve been recuperating at home (Very well, thank you!).
I had all these visions of getting heaps of knitting done, and catching up on all my reading. I’d finish all my projects on the needles, and start new ones.
Hahahahahahhahha. Didn’t happen. The pain meds made me a bit wonky at times, and I’ve been sleeping a lot more than I intended to, and it all just plain didn’t happen.
But the Blue Blouse has been powering along.

Nearly there!

At Knit Camp earlier in the year, our table won the trivia competition. (No fault of mine – I was busy drinking.) As a prize, we won yarn. Yay! I love Knit Camp!
I won a bag of Cleckheaton Country Silk in blue. I quite like Country Silk but Australian Country Spinners, true to record, have discontinued it. They have an excellent track record of discontinuing the yarns I like, leaving only the bland or awful. Anyway, that’s a rant for another day. One where I get accused of having it in for ACS. (Not true, I just don’t particularly like any of their yarns!)
Anyway, as I mentioned, I’m a fan of the Country Silk, even though I can’t get 8ply (DK) tension with it unless I go down to a ridiculously small needle, then I don’t like the resulting fabric. So this time, I went with what I liked, and on a 3.75mm needle, I got 20sts/10cm. So I went pattern hunting.
And I found Sage Blouse by yellowcosmo, a free Ravelry download.
I was a little worried that the silk slubs would obscure the Moorish Lattice pattern, but I’m quite pleased with the way it’s coming out.

That’s three days work, and I’m enjoying it, as I’m sure you can see! I’m going to be laid up for a few days this week, and this will see lots of action, I’m sure.
And just because it’s been a while, a Twinkie pic. The quality isn’t great, because I took it late at night, but this is how she likes to wait for bedtime.

By giving us really big hints that she’d like to be in bed (with her dinner, please!)

So I said that I didn’t buy any pink yarn in Bendigo, and when I opened my sock project bag the other day, I realised that I had lied. I did buy some pink yarn.

Six tiny little mini skeins of yarn, four of them predominantly pink. Aren’t they cute? They were all only $2 or $3 each from Waratah Fibres. They’re going to go into my Sock Yarn Blanket, which gets very little air time, either here or in real life. But it is growing!

I pick it up every now and then to do a square, and at this rate, it should be done in a year or two. Maybe!

A few of you asked if I got the gloves done in time.
I’m pleased to say that I did, even if they were finished at 11.30pm the night before we left. And the fingers on the second glove might be just a smidgen shorter than the fingers on the first one!

Specs:
Pattern: Eve by Julia Mueller from Laris Designs, purchased on Ravelry (My project Rav link)
Size: Small
Yarn: The never-ending ball of Bendigo Luxury 4 ply in Black, about 65g
Needles: 2.25mm Square Kollage DPNS
Extras: 8/0 silver lined seed beads, purchased on eBay
Mods: The only modification I made was to the tips of the fingers – I tapered the decreases a little more, that’s all.
Verdict: The pattern is a winner! They look great, and they aren’t too difficult – as long as you pay attention to the charts! I went off on my merry way a time or two, and had to rip back to make adjustments.
The one thing I learned in Bendigo was that you can’t operate an iPhone whilst wearing gloves. So maybe next time I knit a pair, I might leave off just the fingertip of the right index finger so that I can use the phone without taking off my gloves!!
The yarn I’m not so happy with. They were worn pretty constantly for three days, and they’ve pilled up pretty badly in the hands, which is a shame. The yarn is pure wool, but I think the friction of using your hands all the time is just a bit much for it to take. It’s a pity, because the yarn is nice yarn, and the gloves are lovely to wear, but they don’t look quite so pretty any more!
That said, this really is the never ending ball of yarn. After making Em’s Veyla mitts and Ishbel beret, and this pair of gloves, I still have about 50g leftover.
The funny thing was that Ailsa also made herself new gloves for Bendigo, and ended up with a pair by the same designer, entirely by coincidence.
And I may make another pair by Julia Mueller, because all of her glove designs are gorgeous!

Ah Bendi! Where there was too much of some things, and not enough of others.
Too much good food. Great dinner in great company at Barzurk. Fantastic hot chocolate and truffles at the Chocolate Mill in Daylesford. Awesome lunch in a wonderful bakery in Daylesford. A perfect breakfast at The Dispensary. (Cannot recommend this place highly enough)
Way more alcohol than is good for any one person in the form of champagne (pretty good and moderately bad), red wine, an extremely odd Kahlua and Milk, Passionfruit Martinis and Lychee Martinis. (I think I’m allergic to lychees. Can’t think why else I’d wake up with such a headache the next morning!) We went to The Dispensary after dinner on Thursday night for dessert and coffee. That’s apparently a euphemism for Martini’s. Who knew? Their fudge is to die for, btw.
Not enough knitting. The whole time I was gone, I managed to knit a gusset and heel flap of a toe up sock.

(Knitabulous Supertwist Merino in the colourway “Emily’s Birthday”)
And a few repeats of a Clapotis.

(Waratah Fibres one-off yarn, purchased at the Bendigo Show 2 years ago!)
Not enough yarn purchases.

That’s the sum total of what I bought. Two 200g balls of Bendigo Cotton 4ply in New Ochre (It’s not pink, even though it looks it), Three 200g balls of Bendigo Rustic in 12ply, both bought from the Bendigo Woollen Mill.
From the show itself I got 2 125g balls of 4ply baby Alpaca from Tailored Strands, and two balls of Lang Magic Sock Yarn.
That’s it. I’m almost ashamed of myself.
Also, not enough catching up with people I would’ve liked to have spent more time with! It’s all a bit overwhelming for me – so many people, so much to see, so little time, so many yarn fumes. It all went by too quickly.
And, as I’m sure some of you have noticed – not enough pink yarn! How did that happen?