And finally.......we have furniture!

Our trip to the Big Smoke last weekend was hectic, but we now have our replacement furniture.  Kevin has been having a lovely time putting it together......just one desk left to go.

We don't miss the Big Smoke.  It was lovely to come home to the Small Smoke, where traffic is low and the air is quiet.  After seven years we belong here......not there.

On Friday night we paid a visit to our old music club and it was lovely catching up with folk again!  Not so many familiar faces though, lots of new ones, and much electronic gimcrackery with microphones and backing tracks and such like.  We used to be totally unplugged with just voices and instruments and no amplification because the acoustics in the hall are excellent.

Ah well.  Change happens.  We accept that, but we don't have to like the changes.

The trip down and back was livened up by flowering wattle alongside the highways - isn't it the most glorious colour?

 My knitting came along with me; the front of my newest creation was cast on, and 20 rows of ribbing completed.  The pattern I'm using from a book is plain; this travelling rib design was added to the front because I felt it needed something to give it a little oomph.  On the way home I started the pattern above the rib, knitted one row and realised that my calculations were out by 12 stitches.  We made a pit stop, I sat down with a coffee, pen and paper, and worked it out again.  (I'm better with words than with numbers, you know, it's no surprise there was a miscalculation) That row was un-knitted, and it was started again.

Two-thirds of the way along the third row I realised that I hadn't been following the directions correctly; instead of purling the background stitches I had been knitting them, so the relief pattern didn't stand out the way it should.  Le big sigh......those two and two-thirds rows were once more un-knitted, and it was started again......

......and now it's working out correctly, for which many sighs of relief are being sighed.  It's my current in-front-of-TV project; back and sleeves are already finished.  With luck, it may be ready to wear before winter is done although I am a long way from being the world's fastest knitter, and these days the old arthritic fingers don't like knitting for too long at a time so they need to take several breaks.

Because this is such a busy week not one stitch has been sewn in the sewing room.  Tomorrow is not looking good either......neither is Saturday, and Sunday is booked too......perhaps by the middle of next week there could be hope for a seam, or even two......

This morning I joined the local chapter of U3A!  They have a ukulele class on Wednesdays so I will check it out, because too much music is never enough.  There may even be other activities which appeal.

"Idleness a source of misery.
Perhaps the greatest cause of misery and wretchedness in social life is idleness.  The want of something to do is what makes people wicked and miserable.  It breeds selfishness, mischief-making, envy, jealousy and vice, in all its most dreadful forms."

That's pretty strong stuff, isn't it?  I, for one, am doing my best not to be idle.

Enjoy your days!