Eating And Driving

This visit from the boys was a little different to our past ones. No big trips were scheduled - no Great Ocean Road or Odyssey Trip. No old favourites were automatically pencilled in - probably due to the mere six month gap between this and the last visit.

Instead we had zero plans, unless they were of the Last Minute or What Should We Do Tomorrow? or That Sounds Cool variety. This resulted in what shall be known as the Holiday Of Eating And Driving.

We ate at bakeries, pubs, pancake houses, all-you-can-eat diners. We drove north (to a wheelchair basketball game that just finished), south (to the Fruchocs factory, where we proceeded to add imperfect chocolates to our menu), east (to Hahndorf, home of bakery, pub, and elusive doughnut place), and ... actually we didn't drive west, as that's the beach, and this is winter.

It was the holiday of frisbee, BSG, card games, and books. And for the old guys it was the holiday of woodturning.

It was pretty awesome, as always.

Which is more fascinating? A frisbee blog or a knitting blog?

It is winter here in Australia, the alleged land of eternal sunshine and hot weather. IT'S A LIE, I TELL YOU. Not the winter part, the sunshine part. The winter part is very very true right now, and very very cold.

The other thing that's happening right now is that frisbee is taking a little holiday. It's flown off to play in the sunshine (and lightning storms, so I hear) of Prague. Go Smurf!* This is awesome for me, because it means I get a whole month off** in which to eat, do zero exercise, and get massively fat and lazy.

*And Pie Wagon and Kaboom! And u19s and u23s, coming soon to a Germany and Italy near you.

**Actually, it has come to my attention that I have to go back to school frisbee next Monday. Robbed!

So I find myself in need of a project. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to tackle something I've never done before, which results in a very tangible way to measure how good I am (or not) at said new skill. Two bad ideas that taste awesome together.

I have decided to knit a scarf.

I found the address of a knitting shop, went in and told the woman what I wanted to do. She presented me with all kinds of options - for designs, for patterns, for wool - all of which were met with a vague "Um, yes? I don't really know. I guess so?" Once she cottoned on (that's not really a knitting pun) to the fact that I had less than no clue about all this stuff, she made a decision on the pattern, told me which section of wools I should be looking at, and left me to pick a colour that took my fancy.

I chose a purple mixed with black, paid for it all (I would never really pay $30 for a scarf), and that's how I ended up sitting in Adelaide airport with my dad and my brother (Skywalker was surprisingly good at following the pattern instructions, by the way) trying to figure out which exact piece of wool I was supposed to put the needle under and then around? Or though there? Oh well, that'll do! (In case it's not obvious, I would welcome any help the internet has to offer!)

I think my stilted efforts were causing pain to the lady sitting across from us, but she came over and whipped off a couple of stitches and flipped it around and got me going again - all at a supersonic speed - without laughing or crying, so all was well.

Yesterday I decided to figure out this casting off business, so I am now the proud owner of ... maybe a wristband? A remote control rest? An unassembled scrunchie? Plus I have started on the official scarf, which is currently about as long as my practice piece.

I feel like a month may not have been enough time for this project.