New pattern: Lunate

I have another new shawl design to share: Lunate, a one-skein fingering weight shawl shaped like the crescent moon.

I kept this design quite simple, with a stockinette ground and lace mesh accents. Lunate is a very straightforward knit - most of the shawl is made up of the same two rows repeated. Counting is minimal, as stitch markers tell you when to work the lace parts, and each wrong-side row is a purled 'rest' row.

Features:

• curved crescent shape which drapes beautifully
• simple lace mesh and stockinette textures
• top-down construction, beginning with a garter tab cast-on
• a one-skein project, requiring 410 yards of fingering-weight yarn
• one size, easily enlarged by working more repeats
• written pattern only (for greater simplicity in this case)

I used one skein of Vintage Purls Sock in a pale greyish-yellow called 'Jaune D'antimoine' - perfect for a lunar shawl! The simple textures of Lunate would also work well with a speckled or variegated yarn.

We took the photos at Yarra Bend Park, a bat sanctuary and lovely bit of nature close to the city. I blogged about my first visit earlier this year. We had great fun taking photos at different spots on the riverbank, exploring, and watching the bats.

New pattern: Ascent

I have a new hat pattern available on Ravelry - a unisex, textured beanie called Ascent. It looks great with stripes, gradients, or colourblocking, so it's a fun knit and a great project for using up leftover yarn.

Features:

• a simple knit-and-purl texture 
• ideal for random stripes and colourblocking
• crown decreases add a gentle swirl to the texture
• one size fits most adults, with simple instructions for re-sizing if desired
• a one-skein project: you will need 160 yards of DK-weight yarn
• full charted and written instructions, so you can follow your preferred type.

This design started with the yarn - a 'Tiny Twists Kit' from Madelinetosh, which I was enchanted with and wanted to make the most of.
The little 50-yard skeins are so cute!

After using the lightest 4 colours for Willie's hat, I had some scraps left over. I combined them with half a skein of blue-green Vintage Purls Max (also leftovers from another project), and knit a striped hat for myself. I knit the ribbing using the darkest Madelinetosh skein, and striped the rest of the hat randomly, using up every bit of the scraps.

The photos of Willie and I were taken partway up Mount Taranaki, one of the most beautiful places I've been in a long time. :)

In the Goblin Forest

One of the best parts of our Taranaki trip was towards the end, when all of us 'kids' headed part of the way up Mt Taranaki to visit what Brian calls the 'Goblin Forest'. It's a very dense, damp area of bush with mosses and lichens covering absolutely everything, unlike anything I've seen before...

(click the photos to enlarge)

Lots of different species crowded together, beside the path

The Taranaki Trip

This post is a little belated (I've been back for a week!), but in my defense, I have been under the weather. I came down with a cold the day I left for NZ, and it's finally winding down now.

The trip was pretty eventful! The drive down from Auckland to Taranaki was very scenic - we passed through some amazing gorges covered in native bush (the combo of pongas with nikaus was unusual to my eyes), and through lots of pretty countryside.

Once we arrived, party preparation was all on with band rehearsals, errands to fetch food and people, and wrangling giant to-do lists. Just as well we had highly-organised people on board... especially as I was properly sick by then, and kept needing to disappear for naps. In the end, the party was a huge success, and I enjoyed hanging out with Rowan and playing a game of pool while the band played.

Willie, Julian, Chloe, and Julian playing at Sue's birthday

After that, the pace of our holiday became much more holiday-like!
We relaxed in the garden, wandered around the nursery, and even went on a short bushwalk up the mountain.

Knitting on the porch, enjoying the sunshine

A wonderful mass of cosmos flowers!

Bees doing their thing <3

The apple trees in the nursery were covered in apples, as they were on our last visit. I always eat masses of apples when I'm in New Zealand, as I find Australian ones just can't compare. We also gathered a big box of feijoas, my favourite fruit! If you haven't heard of them, they're very much a Kiwi thing, a seasonal fruit that lots of people grow in their gardens.

Brian and Willie strolling in the nursery

Apples!

Under the trees

Feijoas on the bush...

...and feijoas in the hand

All too soon we were off to Auckland again, where Willie and I visited our old friend Karen, and then back to Melbourne.

I've been taking it easy this past week while I recover (from the trip and from my cold), and doing a lot of knitting, which means I'll have some new things to show you soon! :)

Bats!

On Sunday night Willie and I picked up some fish and chips, and went to visit the colony of grey-headed flying foxes at Yarra Bend Park.

When we arrived, there were thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of them hanging from the eucalyptus trees on either side of the river. A few were flying around from tree to tree, and others were waking up and stretching. They got noisier and noisier, and more and more restless, until after sunset the air was full of bats...

 

 

I'm definitely not used to being around wild animals other than birds, so it was quite disconcerting at first. Some of the noises they made were especially eerie! Luckily the bats weren't interested in us at all - they stayed well up in their trees and sky. 

I took these photos (and video) on my phone, which is why they're a bit dodgy - although I think the blurry motion effects are cool! We'll have to go back again soon with a video camera. Apparently there are also echidnas in the park, and lots of birds, so perhaps a daytime trip too. Now that Willie has a driver's license, we can take advantage. ;)

Apparently these bats used to live in the Botanic Gardens, but had to be relocated "due to the sensitive nature of the vegetation". I wonder how one relocates a colony of bats?