School has been all-consuming since restarting. Adding to the busy-busy has been Year 7 Camp - a week of preparing the lessons for my classes in my absence, a week of rain and Sun and tents and too much heat and humidity, and a week spent chasing my tail trying to catch up to how things should be. That would be this week. Throw in a few storms, blocked storm water pipes, a lawn that desperately needed mowing - I could go on and on here, but I'm sure you get the picture.

Calli had to go into boarding for the week. I was away from early Monday morning to Friday afternoon, but the cattery hours meant she had to stay Saturday to Saturday. I finished Ishbel quite fortunately at knitting group on the Saturday afternoon after dropping her at the cattery. So I was able to block it on Sunday in her absence. No wrestling the blocking wires from her or messing with the T-pins or sitting on the knitting I'm trying to block.

Of course, lace looks awful before blocking:



While blocking:



I left it to block while I was on camp, so there was no "is it dry yet?" bother. I forgot all about it until my return. Since then it has sat around waiting for an opportunity to photograph it in suitable light. After work today, I finally found a moment to take a photo I'm happy with.



One thing I can share from what we did at camp was to make bracelets and necklaces from twisted reeds. I understood the principle of what we were doing straight away from spinning. It was quite flexible when wet, but is stiff and has shrunk a bit on drying. I was very happy with my beaded bracelet.



Calli didn't like boarding. She's over it now, thankfully, and it won't happen often. I missed her on the nights I was home but she was not. She might get to stay at my sister's in future - sadly Oscar, her cat of 16 years, passed away the day after Calli went into boarding.

I had a little knitting time while on camp, but virtually none since getting back, so the latest baby blanket is progressing slowly. The dyeing was eventually completed, but the story behind that will have to wait until after the gifting.

It is too hot to be wearing sock, but I finished these Jaywalkers this morning.


I have also been spinning the Angorino, filled a bobbin and chain plied it. I'm very happy with how it is turning out - I'm after long stretches of colour. They show up well on the bobbin:


But the skein looks very different.



About a third of the fibre is spun. I would have done more today, but the wheel is being temperamental and I find the best way of fixing it is to come back tomorrow!

I have also been dyeing more cotton this morning. The particular colour (which I won't name as it is part of a surprise) is one of my dyes I haven't used before and I underestimated its strength. So 546 grams (2 cones Bendigo 8 ply plus one ball of Lion cotton) of yarn are consequently much darker in colour than I wanted. I'm waiting for it to dry before I decide what to do next. Partly because colours are always darker when wet, and partly because I have run out of soda ash and can't do any more dyeing until I've got more.

I have a week and a half before I go back to school. It is too hot to do half the things I ought to be doing!

If you'd like to start again at the beginning, I have updated the previous posts on the trip with more photos and links. (Navigation to the next post in order is down the right side.)

Christchurch - Sydney

Sunday started off clear and sunny and I headed into the city to the Arts Centre for the Sunday Markets. They were not as busy as the Nelson Markets had been. As well as the market stalls, there are many shops, galleries and studios. The Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners have their guild rooms here. I am jealous.



At Wool, Yarn and Fibres (downstairs in the same building as the guild) there was an awesome range of fibres and yarns as well as made garments. Two lovely ladies were in charge of the shop and I had a chat to them as I decided on what to buy.


They had some lovely merino fibre, but I have so much Aussie merino... I came away with some natural grey alpaca blended with silk and merino. I browsed at a lot of jewellery and woodworking shops, but nothing 'must have' came my way. I had two hours on a parking meter, and when that was up there was little parking nearby to be had, and a parking ranger was busy booking cars. A cold change with possible hail was forecast, so I decided to grab some lunch and head back to the hotel. I spent a lazy afternoon doing little and watching the weather become wild outside.

On Monday the weather was fine, but it was windy and cold. It looked like it could be 20 degrees outside, but it was nine! I drove to Hands Ashford for a look around the shop. They had a good range of yarns, though it was still small. Lots of other crafts were also represented. By this point I feared being able to get everything in my suitcase and wasn't willing to buy anything much.

I took a bus into the city and returned to the Arts Centre to finish off seeing some places I hadn't had time for on Sunday. I visited the exhibits on Sir Ernest Rutherford in Rutherford's Den, then made my way across to Canterbury Museum. There were many families at the museum since the school holidays had started and the Great Museum Santa Search was underway. Various toy Santas, big and small, had been hidden among the exhibits, and the children needed to locate all of them. One, among the bird exhibits, was quite obvious, as was the one over the North Pole (I think it had a sled too) on a globe of the Earth. I spotted another within an environmental education exhibit that was a bit more tricky, but I wasn't really seeking them out.



By lunchtime the weather outside was a little more pleasant and I ate my lunch by a pond in the Botanic Gardens. I then strolled across the city (actually further than I thought it would be) to get to Knit World, a knitting chain store (I also visited the one in Dunedin). This place was large and had the biggest range of yarns of all the places I had visited. I nearly bought some Zealana merino/possum/cotton lace weight yarn, but the possum content put me off (I don't like possum fibre much). I took a bus back to the hotel and set about packing my suitcase and finishing off the last of my cherries.

Tuesday was a nice day and having squashed all my things into my suitcase and backpack (it would have been very hard to have got more in), I checked out of the hotel. My flight home was not until the afternoon, so I went to Riccarton House and Bush to kill some time. The fragment of bushland here is surrounded by a fence to exclude predators of the native birds and animals and you had to pass through an elaborate double-doored enclosure to enter and leave. Having almost always lived close to bushland in Sydney, I find it bizarre that the tiny remnant of bush at Riccarton is the only native vegetation left in all of Christchurch.


The Kahikatea trees are impressive and the bird life was prolific. After the short walk around the bush I spent some time with the ducks by the river. They were very hopeful that I was going to feed them.

After some lunch I headed to the airport and returned the rental car. I was very pleased to learn that as I'd paid the extra excess-reduction amount for the car, the damage to the windscreen would not result in any charge.

The flight home was much smoother than the flight over. And I finally got to see those pesky mountain peaks that had been hiding in cloud for so much of my stay.


The flight landed early and Customs and Quarantine were both almost empty. Quarantine didn't even want to see all the fibre I declared.

Some Statistics
The total distance I covered by car was 2680 km.
Total number of 'stash enhancement opportunities': 28.
Total stash enhancement: 6 skeins of yarn: 900 grams; 4 bundles of fibre: c. 1.56 kg.
Miscellaneous purchases: assorted beads/jewellery, silk skirt, hat; chocolate fish; DVD box set (and yet my suitcase was supposedly only 2 kg heavier, which is not possible).
Photographs taken: 258 stills, 4 videos on Sony camera; 93 stills, 2 videos on Apple iPhone.

Nelson - Christchurch

Friday was fine and sunny - the warmest weather of the whole trip. I took a walk around town and visited Fibre Spectrum - an excellent shop run by a cooperative of local fibre crafters. I didn't end up buying anything though.



I then went to the World of Wearable Art and Car Museum. No photography is allowed in WOW to protect copyright so I can't show you how stunning the garments were. If it had not been for the video displays of models wearing some of the garments on the catwalk, I would not have believed they were wearable. I'd like to know how hard it is to get dressed in a dress made from wood...



Later on I went to the Bead Gallery in Parere Street (there is more than one gallery). Here, they encourage you to pick out some beads and make something on the spot for the cost of materials only. I ended up being in the shop until not long before closing time, putting together a necklace and matching earrings.



Saturday is the day of the Nelson Markets in Montgomery Square. I got there quite early, and at 8:30 am I heard a stall holder comment that the crowds were like 10 am already. I bought a muffin and Chelsea bun to have later, a bag of cherries and a packet of fudge. I also bought a ring and a silk skirt. I came away with the smell of hot nuts and waffles still lingering all the way back to the car. Mmmmmm!



Then it was time to leave Nelson and drive back to Christchurch via Blenheim and Kaikoura. The weather varied from misty rain to sunny and back again. I stopped to see the seals at Oahu Point. For afternoon tea I had an icecream at Cheviot and was amused by two boys - one on a tricycle powered by a small engine towing the second on a skateboard. I was too slow at getting out the camera for a photo.



On arrival at my hotel in Christchurch, I dragged everything out of the car and to my room for the first time since Dunedin. I have until Tuesday to make all my purchases fit either in the suitcase or my backpack or be mailed home. Some just needs squashing the air out, like the lamb fleece. Some is food that will thankfully be eaten by then!

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dunedin to Nelson

Back on the road again, heading North. I stopped at the Moeraki Boulders, where the tide was out and there were tourists all over the place.



At Oamaru I stumbled across Enterprise Beads and bought some strings of beads for knitting and some spinning wheel charms I will make into earrings. Nothing else terribly interesting on this stretch, since I'd visited Ashburton already coming South. On Wednesday night I stayed in Rangiora.



The Jaywalker socks reached the turning of the heel.

Thursday morning was clear and sunny. I made a last minute decision to take Lewis Pass to Nelson and return on Saturday by the coastal route, rather than the other way around, because the weather forecast for Saturday was not looking good. Mind you, the mountain tops were still hidden by cloud (it's a conspiracy against me!) and road works prevented my stopping at one scenic lookout.

At Brightwater I visited Hallblacks - another supplier of natural coloured fleeces, but she has also got a good range of commercial yarns, and, if it's your thing, lots of novelty yarns including some I've never seen before (maybe that's not hard since I don't usually look for 'dead muppet').



I chatted to Mary, the owner, for quite some time as she is a former English teacher and we were discussing education systems (among other things). I bought a prepared half fleece from a Lincoln lamb by the name of 'Curious'. Apparently the other half of Curious's fleece was purchased by a Melbourne chorister.


After a quick visit to the Visitor Information Centre, I checked into my hotel in Nelson. From my room I had a lovely view of the Church spire.

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone