From the Archives

Back to our normal programme - I now present another Jumper (or Sweater) from the Archives.

This Patons "Aran Style Sweater", circa 1988 is from the Patons Handknits book 926. The yarn, Patons "County" (discontinued) was bought from Greta's Handcraft Centre.

It's another drop-shouldered big, blocky, yarn hungry creation with Shoulder Pads! I had first seen the completed item in the shop window and I just Had to make it. (As you do)

I recall I was laid up in bed at the time so Chris went all the way to the North Shore and picked up the yarn for me. I must have been very, very keen to do all those hundreds of bobbles. Unfortunately it didn't travel overseas or go anywhere exciting in its life.

Grrr! Code problems

I have to learn about XHTML and CSS because the lovely template I was using for all my previous entries unaccountably added an extra column, thereby banishing the profile side bar to the bottom of the page. I don't know if it was as a result of my ill-advised fiddling or it didn't like the links and buttons I was putting in. It's all a learning experience I suppose - albeit a frustrating one.
09/05/06 Postscript - I fixed it! A problem with too many big photos kicking the frames out. It took a bit of trial and error to find though but I now know how to tweak a template.

Anzac Day

After the Anzac memorial servcie at Gloria Park - a small gathering but a very moving experience - we had CWA morning tea at the Club Rooms.


Lunch was the Sausage sizzle and real Damper with lashings of butter and Golden Syrup at the Lawson Anzac Day Fair. Yum!

Lest we forget

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

The Battle of Lithgow : Ironfest

The Battle of Lithgow was a little known but hard fought skirmish between the vastly outnumbered 21 eme Regiment D'Ligne and a contingent of crack English troops including the NSW Corps of Marines, the 73rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd 49th Rifles. The French fought bravely but eventually succumbed to the superior forces on Sat 22nd April 2006 at 1345. Then they did it all again on Sunday at the same time.


The Ironfest weekend is one of the highlights of the year for us. You can keep your RAS Easter Show - here is quality entertainment and fun at a cheap price.


There was clowning and belly-dancing, jousting, blacksmithing, beheadings, and other healthy entertainment. There were no Fairy Floss stands or Carnie rides or rip-off sideshow alleys.


Performers such as Ghawazi caravan mixed with audience in a crowd of exotic dress and chainmail. The sound of Anvils ringing mixed with canon fire and sword against leather.



A feature event was the Australasian World Jousting Championship. This was "full impact battle rivalry of an ancient kind".




The flame jugglers, circus clowns and giant kangaroos kept young Dragons amused and distracted for hours.

The vain hope that I might get some knitting done if we traveled there by train didn't happen and in hindsight, as we trudged back to the car, it was probably a good thing.

Maybe next year I can do a Madam Defarge during some of the beheadings.

Works in Progress

In the absence of one of those zippy little side bars with graphic representations of various projects, I'm going to document my current knitting with photos. This is in the vain hope that in a few months time I will look back and congratulate myself for completing every single one of them. Note I said 'current' projects - I'm not going near the diehard UFO's - not yet anyway.

Item 1: The Eki Riva Cardigan. I love this alpaca/silk blend - the softness, the slub, the gorgeous colour. I picked up the wool last year at the Prestige Yarns stand at Darling Harbour and have combined it with a "Naturally" boucle in mossy tones. The pattern is a basic Cleckheaton cardi. The only thing that needs to be done is the sewing - I tried to save a bit of time by doing the back and front all in one, so the sleeves are all I have to do - as well as finish off the neckband. But, as they say, "the devil is in the detail" - I am not going to rush these last few tasks as I really want to wear this silky, soft, garment.

Item 2: The red ball of wool also in the picture is some lace weight yarn from Rubi & Lana's that will be turned into a pair of Fingerless Mittens from Magknits. I have adapted the straight pattern to circular and have begun juggling my purple, 3mm, DPN. That will make sure no one sits next to me in the train!

Speaking of DPN, the loss of one bamboo DPN in that said train has bought Item 3: the "Naturally" Silk/Mohair, top-down jumper, to a screaming halt. I have only one sleeve to go - no seams! The annoying thing is I still have 4 needles left as Clover sells them 5 to a pack. So it's obviously a severe form of procrastination.
This was a learning experience that has turned out to be mildly successful but I would actually like to wear it one day. The image is a bit dark I know - it's black/bluebottle yarn on a Navy blanket. No prizes for photo composition here.


Items 4&5:
Cleckheaton Studio Mohair Cardi in K1P1 rib and the Guild "No Pattern" Cardigan in Shepherd Aran 12ply . The first I will stick to the pattern, the second I make up as I go along (with a little bit of preplanning). I love knitting the Shepherd - after fiddly laceweight and sticky Mohair the Aran just flows.

So - 5 items. Will they find completion? Will they overcome distractions, temptations, computer games, work, and other excuses to take their rightful place in the wardrobe? We shall see.

My Day Job

Here is a picture of a typical day at work - a little bit out of the ordinary as the stage in the photo is no longer there. It was a short lived experiment by the powers that be to expand the theatre experience outside the shell (or Shells, excuse the pun). The neighbours weren't too impressed unfortunately and the first show was the last show of the Forecourt experience. (The irony is that the neighbours were the residents of the Toaster - one of the most unpopular buildings in Sydney.)

I'm sitting in front of a Jands Event 408 Lighting desk that was bought especially for this gig with the expectation that it would be an ongoing thing. It's a hybrid Manual/Memory desk with Moving Light control. It doesn't get much use these days as it's not really suitable for Theatrical shows.

The backdrop visible on the stage is a copy of John Coburn's beautiful Curtain of the Sun tapestry that used to hang in the Opera Theatre. It has a partner - The Curtain of the Moon - but neither of these wonderful works of art have been, or will be seen for many a year. They were not designed to withstand the daily wear and tear or grime of theatre and so were removed for repair.