And some horrible photos.
Just another lazy Sunday
We woke up in Dwellingup after a good night’s sleep on the stretcher beds.
My duffle bag did do a surprisingly good job as a pillow, J’s towel not so much.
It was a beautiful Sunday. There had been a little rain overnight but nowhere near as much as Sunday night (which luckily we were at home for, and not stepping out of a tent to 52mm of rain).
A hot cup of tea hit the spot, before a bacon, egg, mushroom, and tomato sandwich cooked on the gasmate.
A one fry pan meal means less washing up. It would have been better on the fire, but we had run out of firewood the night before.
After breakfast we went for an explore. J took me to where he went fishing last night. The river was flowing. There weren’t as many kayakers around as I expected.
We packed up the tent and went for a drive and checked out all the other places we can go.
We stayed at Baden Powell, and the time before was Lane Pool so next time (and there will be a next time) we’ll get organised and .
We turned on the The Twelfth Man and drove around, looking at the scenery. It is a beautiful place. So green and lush.
Heading home we stopped in Byford for a pie. It wasn’t great, but it still hit the spot.
It’s a good thing I love driving. Well I love sitting in the passengers seat. Listening to the football on talk back radio, knitting, and watching the world go by with my man by my side.
I had a long, long bath when we got home. Another one of my favourite parts or by-products of camping.
Dinner was Chinese Take-Away Wing Bo. It’s by far the best chinese restaurant we’ve found locally, even if we do have to walk there to pick it up.
We shared a chicken and sweet corn soup which hit the spot.
I had cashew beef with steamed rice. Which was delicious, but could have used some more cashews.
J had mongolian beef with noodles which was really tasty too. But I wasn’t allowed much of that.
Chinese food curled up on the couch watching movies (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, and then Gullivers Travels). It was a good way to end a camping weekend.
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Camping – Dwellingup
I love camping
I love getting away from it all.
And food always tastes better on a camp fire.
We set off a little late on Saturday morning. We had planned to leave at 6 but it ended up being about 10. We got into Dwellingup (after a few scenic route detours) around 12 and we picked up some salad rolls at the local deli.
Once we got into the campsite we could relax.
We set up the tent, the (brand new) stretcher beds, self-inflating mattresses, and sleeping bags. Realised we forgot pillows!! We always forget pillows. Then we sat around the fire (I needed coals for the pork belly) and listened to the football on the radio with a couple of cold beers.
People watching gets better on holiday. We started off with some really awesome neighbors (a young, quiet couple) but they left and we got a couple with a child and a boombox. I’m not even exaggerating, it would run off double d batteries and still took CDs!! Anyway, they were loud and bogan and kept us up all night with their arguing.
J went fishing and I kept knitting. It suits us perfectly.
One of the things I love about camping is my alone time.
I enjoy and cherish solitude.
Camping provides that for me. I can sit by myself and watch the world go by.
He didn’t catch anything but I added a few rows to my knitting.
I had prepared most of the evening meal the night before, as in I chopped the onion, carrots, and capsicum so all I had to do once the camp oven was hot was plonk everything in. I left the potatoes whole so they wouldn’t go soggy.
And it was delicious.
The veggies may have been a little on the overcooked side (read slightly burnt) but the pork was delicious.
Seriously awesome.
The rest of the evening read like our usual camping evenings. Drinking beer, listening to music (the national, arcade fire), and talking about life the universe and everything around a campfire.
Imagine the shadows of trees against the sky, and the sky littered with stars. The stars were beautiful. Escaping the city to see the stars.
Did I mention I love camping??
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Comfort food is required
Apricot chicken with rice, the way mum made it.
Out of a packet.
Chicken drumsticks, coated in apricot chicken mix, apricot nectar, and put in the oven until slightly burnt (exactly the way I remember).
Then served with white rice.
Accompanied by a new knitting project (bathius scarf) and finishing series 3 of Mad Men.
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Back to the beginning of my adventures in knitting
This is the first scarf I made that I was proud of.
It was made in 2 x 2 ribbing from an knitting naturally pattern.
Knitting Naturally and About.com were (then) my first point of call for knitting stuff. Now I know better and I tend to frequent ravelry.
It was made using Homemaker Acrylic 8 ply in hot pink that I bought from K-mart. Again before I knew any better and thought that wool was wool (yarn was yarn). Now I know better and have only scraped the tip of the iceberg.
I knitted it using 4.5m needles and it took me a couple of weeks.
There’s a couple of anomalies on it, but overall I’m pretty proud.
Me lurking under a no-smoking sign, trying to surreptitiously take a photo of myself.
I really must enlist a helper in these things…
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Hand knitted creature comforts
A new scarf.
Made with Moda Vera Bouvardia, an acrylic/wool blend.
But what struck me about it was the colours.
I used colourway 104-05
Which cycles through dark purple plums, with turquoise, green, pinks, and olive.
The base pattern was from knitting daily free lace patterns
I used the lace pattern (p1 yo k2tog) but not the recommended yarn. And i used 5.5m needles as recommended but the yarn.
It took me a while to figure out the pattern.
The language ‘one-row lace’ was/is confusing. I had to research it to make sure that it was just the same row repeated when you work back along the line, and there wasn’t some right side / wrong side inverse knit (k1 yo p2tog) that was necessary.
I still think i’ve done it wrong, and maybe I should have done something different on the wrong side. Mine looks a bit different from the pictures.
I also ignored the colour changes which made it a bit difficult to read the pattern (but easier to knit I would imagine).
But the end result is quite beautiful.
I started Thursday night and finished on Monday night, with another project (and some non-knitting time) in there aswell.
It was simple enough to knit, but the multi coloured yarn really makes it something special.
I love it.
polka-dots & sparkles 