Bendigo Woollen Mills – Yarn Blog

Happy Mothers Day

Well I had my first Mothers Day in Australia with my Mum for about 15 years and it was a wonderful day. Mum and Dad took Alan and I to the Tea Tree Gully Golf Course for lunch and as always the meal and service was great. Just a shame that the entertainment, which was a good singer, was so very loud that we could hardly hear ourselves talk at times. I have to admit to a very bad headache by the time I got home but apart from that it was a lovely day.

Got home and completed the right front of the cardigan and got the rib for the second sleeve completed before I went to bed. I managed to get the first sleeve knitted in just over a day, so with luck this one will be done by Wednesday at the latest.

After all my calculations with the Bendigo Woollen Mill yarn and Patons Totem 8 ply I knew I was going to run out of yarn with just three balls. Fortunately because I had done one sleeve, the front and back I could see that fairly quickly. I called Bendigo on Thursday and was lucky enough to be able to order an extra ball of the same dyelot. My knitting is right on guage so am a little concerned about running out of the yarn. Never mind I told Jan I can make her a hat, mittens, socks or scarf out of the remains of the extra ball.

Am busy looking for a job either full or part time but would like something permanent in the city of locally at Tea Tree Gully. I am going to register this week for a course in Medical Terminology with the hope that I can then get a job as a receptionist in either a hospital or doctors office, while still trying for a dental receptionist which is my expertise. There does seem to be a shortage of trained health care workers so here’s hoping that something might come up sooner rather than later.

Twelve months have gone – where!

I can not believe that it has been twelve months since I added anything to my yarn blog. Amazing how the time just flies when you plan a large move overseas.

We made the decision to move back to Australia after 14 years in the USA to be much closer to my elderly parents. It is a move we completed in February this year and when our cats arrived safely from quarantine at the end of March our lives were complete again. Our worldly belongings are on the ocean somewhere and that does include all of my knitting stash and of course our furniture and other household goods. Original date of arrival was May 5th which was then brought forward to April 18th, but regardless of the docking date for the ship, customs could delay the delivery by up to three weeks.

I have a dear cousin living in Adelaide and the first thing she asked when we were reunited at the beginning of March was, will you knit me a couple of cardigans please? Patons cardigan pattern This was the pattern I chose for Jan from my Mum’s collection of pattern books.

Close up of the detailed pattern Jan wanted something just a little bit fancy, but definitely no lace. So I think this fits that criteria nicely.

Bendigo Woollen Mills yarn Jan chose the yarn from a new colour card by Bendigo Woollen Mills in Victoria Australia and it is their Classic machine washable DK (8ply) weight and the colour is called Brick Red.

After doing a swatch last night I cast on for the very smallest size on a 3mm circular needle that Mum found in her knitting supplies. I have used this yarn before and it knits and feels beautiful on the needles.

With Fall well and truly here in Australia and winter officially beginning in June I would like to have at least one new cardigan for her before the weather starts to get very cold in South Australia.