My morning was once again disrupted by the TasNetworks team parking across the entrance so they could prune the neighbours' trees. Once again I went out and pointed out the desirability of asking if they could do so and providing me with an opportunity to get the ute out before they did so. Once again they failed to apologise. Once again I called their headquarters who assured me they would call back 'shortly' and once again I am still waiting. Time for a letter to the Mercury I think. Grrr.

Thus disrupted I failed to grab a jacket or change into a warmer jumper before going into the History Room. Not that the weather (forecast or fact) showed any indication it was going to go to custard, but it did. So despite having all the relevant parts for the spinning wheel it was too darn cold to be mucking around out the back.

I did get a large sheet of card and, having printed out my ballerinas, cut them out and traced around the outline onto the card. And that's about as far as I got on that one as I could not decide whether to use pastels or watercolour pencils. I think the latter, and will play with them on Thursday. I also picked up a garden tap from Roberts (which will be re-used on the bottom tank later in the renos so is not a wasted purchase. I also decided that some crystals on fishing line will be a good idea to represent the drips from the tap.

I had two sets of visitors today - one to say hello to someone who was not there, and the other two to seek directions and advice on road conditions on the Interlaken Road (several times, despite me saying i had not been out that way since i was a girl).

Also had a call from I-Select which is a service that helps you find the cheapest option for NBN connections (free service - the provider pays). They told me we had two choices here - Telstra or Dodo. Telstra offers 100gig at 24 gps for $80. Dodo offers unlimited download for $59.90 per month. Both on a two year contract. Guess which one I opted for.

Home once again to find further evidence of neighbours' chooks in the back yard (despite a week of asking them to lock them up). I have given them till Thursday to sort out their act of explain themselves to Council yet again, but as usual they are going to force my hand. I have no idea what they imagine they are 'proving' by their unhelpful approach.

Knitting is progressing slowly but surely.

Exhausted and it's only 3 in the afternoon!

Trotted off to the Mens Shed this morning with a few minor projects to deal with. First off the ranks was the soldier for the History Room spinning wheel. Now constructed, and hopefully with the right screw hole sizes. Not a problem if they aren't as there is a small workshop out the back where hopefully I will be able to find any spare parts required. They had also made the turned maiden for me, so that will also be going in with me tomorrow to see if it works (seems the right size etc).

Before I headed out I sent off emails seeking quotes for painting and for sheds. The first shed quote is back as is the first offer of a quote for painting. Also the plumber rang and has finally come up with a quote for the roof - he should start in two weeks  or so, pending confirmation of availability of support workers. That was $3000 less than the high end of my budget range, but I have remembered since that he did not mention birdproofing the gables and insulation under the gutter tray, so it may go up a wee bit.

Still at the Mens Shed I remembered I was due to provide an art work for the Community Centre based on the theme of domestic violence. The basic concept is a crucifix with a garden tap attached at the cross-member with images of ballet dancers and shoes - one side light and free, the other frayed, damaged, dying swan sort of positions. The garden tap will have some cardboard drips to represent the dripping tap of emotional violence. Sounds good in theory - execution may need work. On the plus side, the crucifix is now finished.

Builders bog into the finials at long last, and the first coat of paint on the first two sides. They will be going back into place when the roof is done, so it is important to get them done. Phew.

Also three loads of washing done and dry (including the winter quilt which is now back in the warming cupboard for storage till next time.

So, yes, tired. And a bank to clean yet, not to mention putting away the washing, sigh.

Somewhat chilly day today - rose to around 10, but the feels like never made it past 2.2. And it will be minus four tonight apparently! So much for summer bedding. I think I will have a stand-by rug on hand before bedtime.

Despite the low temps and overcast skies I did a couple of loads of washing (not so much I would be overwhelmed if it didn't dry), and managed to get it all in before the dew came down. So I still have some clean clothes to climb into in the morning - always a good thing.

Also popped into the Lucky Ewe to pick up my custom-died wool from Rowena. It is lovely stuff, with lengths of deep reddish purple, mauve, teal blue, you name it. Will knit into the batwing jumper beautifully.

Tomorrow will be similarly chilly but sunny as well, so when the water starts running once more, I will do the rest of the week's washing, as well as head into the Men's Shed to collect the turned maiden I asked them to do for me, as well as make the soldier to keep her company.

My lovely new espresso machine has been leaking rather alarmingly for some time now, with the result I have had to have a sponge and basin on hand whenever making a cuppa to avoid flooding. I have been putting off dealing with it, as to do so would require finding the receipt which could be anywhere, including the local tip. But on Thursday night I was clearing out the clutter in my wallet and I found it! Amazing stuff. Turned out that today was the anniversary of the purchase, so a trip to Hobart was inevitable. I did it yesterday since I had nothing better to do, and returned triumphant with a new machine (different brand). I had girded up my loins because we hear so many bad stories about Harvey Norman, but the lad was lovely. First he took it off me and tested it and told me it didn't leak for him. I asked him if he had tried to make a cup of coffee, and he discovered the truth of my tale (I was fairly sure it was a seal that was failing under pressure). Turns out a little seal was missing in action, so rather than requiring me to wait weeks while they sent off for a replacement one, they simply gave me a new machine. I demurred at first as I was unsure how this would affect my warranty if the new machine failed also, but it's all OK! So a lovely new machine, and I made my first cuppa this morning. Will have to get used to its peculiarities and since I had little milk in the house, perfecting the frothing will have to wait till tomorrow morning, but I am a happy camper.

I decided to use the trip to also call in to see the chaps who designed and quoted on the shed for me, so see what the process is. Turns out that despite me specifically asking them to quote for slab and construction, they only gave me the price for the kit. Eeek. The difference is rather alarming, so I will ask around a few other suppliers. They do, however offer an excellent service which is good. Since i am still waiting to find out a price for the roof (apparently 'Thursday' is a bit like the last plumber's 'week or so', and have yet to get a costing on the painting of the house, I will have to once again defer a decision due to having to factor in a rather greater expense than anticipated.

Meanwhile I had two cottages to deal with today, and on my way home by a slightly circuitous route spotted an open house at the old police residence next door to the Gaol in Oatlands. It is a rather cute weatherboard 1920s cottage, and is a bit of a tardis once you get inside, with four bedrooms, a nice open plan kitchen and comfortably sized loungeroom (bathroom and laundry out the back also quite large). The key feature is a spacious scullery off the kitchen with original shelving. It is up for auction, but no guide price given. I might trot along to the auction and make a cheeky low bid and see what happens.

I am feeling a bit off colour at the moment - nothing serious, just tired without any major exertion.

The NBN chappie had some great offers - 25gps download speeds, 100Gb limit, for half the price I am presently paying for 15Gb and next to no download speed! Now I have to use my present crappy service to find out what other service providers have on offer. The good news is that I have a line-of-sight to the tower from the skillion, so can proceed even before the new roof is installed. Installation is apparently free! So excitement!!

 A feast of photos - first the wall paper (terrible photo, sorry) which, as you can see, is dainty feminine and entirely suitable for a bedroom (if not, perhaps, me). With antique white furniture and mantel, green walls and some new curtains it will look fresh and clean (at least till the dog vomits on the carpet or whatever).

Here is the wool I bought on the knitting trip which will be converted into a fair isle jumper with the addition of a little light brown wool to finish it off.

 The retaining wall at the bottom of the garden. The curve at the left will form the side of a ramp or wide shallow steps from the upper level created to bury the Septic, down to the natural ground level. The two tyres hide a sheoak and a native hop, the foundation of the little bush glen I will be creating. The right hand one is about a metre off the side boundary.

 This is what they look like - the hollow ones are the lower courses and the one with a solid bottom is the top course to provide a capping. As you can see the lugs on the bottom of the block slot into the hole of the one below it, forcing you to provide a 'batter' (slope) on the wall, and also providing some lateral strength.

 This is an extremely bad photo of the counter top I bought. Between late afternoon sun and the plastic coating on it, the phone's camera simply couldn't cope. But you can at least get the idea.

And here is a slightly earlier version of the aran jumper (actually now about 8 inches long). Once the first six rows had been re-knitted about six times, I found it easy to anticipate the pattern and now only have to reference it very rarely. Though I forgot to create one of the bobbles on the right hand side, so it is good it is the back of the jumper and down low.

My second trip to Hobart located some vinyl floor covering and the nice man came to measure up yesterday and provide a quote. This will not be going in for at least six months (I need a room to relocate the furniture in the kitchen/bathroom/laundry and that will not happen till I have the shed up and functioning). But the nice man has set aside my choice in floor covering and the quote (which was well below my budgeted allocation) holds good for 12 months so no pressure.

Plenty of time spent in the History Room due to the absence of one of the volunteers, and I was excited today when they delivered a notification of the NBN arriving soon (so soon, that the Telstra team will be in town tomorrow to sell us products ahead of the opposition). I will head in tomorrow to get the lowdown as while Parattah was mentioned on the flyer, none were delivered out here.

Today was spent building the first two courses of the retaining wall. Somehow the silly girl at K&D got confused and sold me 8 metres of walling instead of the four I asked for. Turns out it was a good thing as I was able to complete the lower wall. Not quite as it happens as I realised as I was building it that a bit of additional retaining would be a good idea for the longevity of the pipes running down to the Septic. So I now have a nice serpentine retaining wall, with nothing behind it. It occurred to me that it would be good to incorporate a drainage pipe for the  rainwater tank, and from there I moved onto the idea of having a small rock-lined depression for it to empty into so overflow water could seep more slowly into the ground in wet weather.

It also creates a little semi-enclosed part of the yard which I think I will plant into a copse of natives as I already have a native hop and a sheoak into it. Later. It will enhance privacy from her next door as well as giving frogs a place to live. I'm rather pleased with the result. photos later, for obvious reasons.

I had some  nice photos to share with you today but it seems my service has been slowed due to a small overdue amount that I was ignoring on the principle it would be paid in the next four days. So not only do you miss out on the photos, but you will not be hearing from me for a bit.

Today dawned in frozen splendour with minus three overnight. Tonight, in contrast will be 8 degrees...... My day in the History Room was quiet in the extreme - only one visitor all day and she entertained herself quietly. I got to work on the spinning wheel  but have concluded it is damaged beyond redemption - the hub of the main wheel has split at some point and been glued back together, bunging up the holes for oiling it (ok, you can still oil down the sides, but those holes do make a heck of a lot of difference to the effectiveness of an oiling as I discovered when I oiled my own machine. Also, once the leather bit was installed, a single rotation of the wheel resulted in the fracturing of the soldier. I have taken it and the maiden home with me with a view to making replacements at the Men's Shed, and will suggest we use the wheel for display purposes only, sigh.

I also got some knitting progress happening, and am now back to line six. As the pattern is now working well, I was able to spot an error immediately in line six and unpick only a few stitches (phew), so perhaps when I get back on track I can finish the thing!

Tomorrow's forecast is for rain all day so all plans are cancelled. I have also decided not to go to town to get the benchtop as I remembered it has a bullnose on all four sides. Cut off a straight edge and suddenly it is no longer 600mm wide, so not useful for a bench top. I guess that is why they are on special - a dud order.  I will, however go to town to get cat food, cat litter, dog food and have a look at tiles, since the perspex splash back I priced is ridiculously expensive (over $700 for the sheet, then you have to buy special saw blades to cut the stuff!)

The wardrobe company finally got in touch and they will be coming on 31 August to have a look at the scene of action, so I have my fingers crossed for an affordable price from them (I will install it myself to save money).

The last of the concrete blocks are now out of the ute, I realised once it rains I would no longer be able to get the ute close to the dump site, so made the effort this evening when I got home.

Over the weekend we had some unruly guests in the cottages - they booked for two people but used all the beds in the main cottage and broke into another cottage to provide additional space for their friends. They broke open a beanbag (not provided by us) and scattered the beans all over the front garden (gravel in the main), and inside the house. Broke a venetian blind, smashed bedside lights, scratched the television screen, broke the glass in one of the pictures and goodness knows what else! You have to wonder about people who do that sort of thing when you have their credit card number ...... I guess they will get a surprise at the end of the month!

Some of you have probably been wondering why I don't have a shed built yet, or indeed made terribly much progress on a whole lot of things on my bucket list. The main reason is that each and every activity requires some preparatory work, and I have not had the materials to progress this work. The key item is a retaining wall which needs to be in position before I can start digging a hole to put the new tanks in. That is because when you dig a hole you need somewhere to put what you dug out of it, and that somewhere is the intended location of the new shed. This is a bit of dirt accumulated last time I dug large holes in the ground for the septic tank etc. It starts out level where the tank stands at present, and slowly peters out as you progress down the yard. I had not realised just how large the distance was between the height of the existing tank and the natural ground level. So great it would require a retaining wall higher than one meter which in turn requires me to get all manner of complicated, not to mention expensive, engineering approvals. So that problem had to be resolved before I lashed out and bought retaining wall components. I finally worked out that I could build it up in two sections - one two courses high to create a platform for the tank to be moved to, then another, probably three courses high, to provide a platform for the shed. Of course the cost of retaining wall components blew up out of all proportion in my head so I was pleasantly surprised when I went to Bunnings and found out it is only $17.50 per linear metre. So the back of the ute was laden with 0.6 tonne of concrete blocks on the trip home - sufficient for the first platform. I chose sandstone colour, but am now thinking the bluestone will be better for the taller wall as it will not show up so much - not that it matters as I can't see it from the house, but it would be nice for it to look nice from other angles.

Unloading that much concrete in one go seemed ambitious when I still had to clean the bank so I hauled off about 30 blocks and the rest will come off on Saturday (or Friday, depending on my mood, how far I progress with ditching and laying and the weather). I have left the blocks closest to the ute cabin for balance and also because they are the hardest ones to reach. Fortunately the ground was dry enough to get fairly close to their destination so I didn't have very far to carry them.

My other surprise purchase today was wallpaper. Decorama seems to have a new store (or I have never seen it before) in Moonah which was having a sale. The paper I liked at Bunnings is $50.00 a roll, so it was nice to find something acceptable at Decorama for $10.00 a roll (or part roll, actually but sufficient for my needs). It is a creamy white background with occasional sprays of faint flowers in blue and pink with greenery. The paper itself is textured like slub silk and has a slightly opalescent glow to it. Suitable for a bedroom, coordinates with the second-hand curtains I found, and since it will effectively only be on the front of the chimney breast (the sides and flanking walls being due to be covered with builtin wardrobes)  it should not be too overwhelming or intrusive. The wallpaper was so cheap in the sale I was tempted to get enough to do the whole room as a cheaper alternative than painting, but sanity prevailed.

While at Bunnings I also found they had a special on countertops of a particularly luscious nature, but I couldn't remember how deep my current counter tops are so left that there. Frustrating, and a poor choice, but perhaps they will still have some when I go back. Since I have no chance of matching the existing countertops and really only need enough to do the return from the corner to the stove, and the top of the 900mm counter on the other side of the room, it would have been nice - a warm reddish brown oiled (fingerjointed) mahogany colour. Would have looked good with the matt black of the existing. Sigh.

The main reason I was at Bunnings was to match up the springs in the spinning wheel maintenance kit with cheaper versions at Bunnings, but I forgot to do that too. Blonde moment as I still had plenty of time, but I was distracted by kitchen fittings and builders bog.  That is another item that has thwarted progress - I needed it to finish off the finials, and also to stop up some gaps in my front door that are barely noticeable until the wind is from that direction. I  will have fun playing with that too.

The Wool Shop had the maintenance kit I needed, but not the Maiden, so I bought the fitting for the maiden and will pluck up my nerves to face the lathe again (after a 40 year gap having been deeply traumatised by the one at Ag college). Meanwhile, however, I can get on and do a few things with the wheel at the History Room, and my own wheel here. My challenge is that not all the knobs and dials shown in the diagrams exist on either wheel, and neither is there any trace of them being present at any time in the past. I expect I will work it all out eventually.

I think I will head down to town again on Saturday, now I think about it, and see if those benchtops are still there, get the springs I need, and pick up cat and dog food which I didn't buy this time as I frightened myself with my spending activities! Despite them all being perfectly legitimate and in the budget allocations.

For a day in which I achieved nothing I have been very busy. It was History Room day so I set off in a timely manner, picking up some lunch en route and arrived to find the workers busy down the side sorting out the leak. Lovely. Lit the fire, got the signs out and flag flown and donations box in position and Ron arrived. Ron is a volunteer - pushing ninety, deaf as a post and seems unlikely to have been a bright student, but he loves watching other people work. So he set up house, popping out to watch the excavator then using his usual silent approach (in which he speaks for the first time when two feet away from you) from time to time. Then Joan arrived at around 11:30 - another elderly person - she used to get meals on wheels until they catering was taken away from the local hospital and the food became mush. Joan lives alone and talks to herself, and was working through something that involved numbers while she waited for the team from the ABC to come and do an interview 'early lunchtime'. They finally turned up at 1:15, popped their head in the door and announced they were going to lunch and would be back in 20 minutes. I suggested that since they had kept Joan waiting so long they should take her and buy her lunch. They looked a little taken aback.

At 2, Joan gave up and went home and they turned up 15 minutes later with not so much as an apology. I advised them she had left and pointed out in ungarnished terms that a little consideration for other people might not go astray. Once again, no apology, not the slightest, and they left. Shortly after Ron came back in to chat and sit again, until it was time for me to leave.

This was all rather frustrating as I had taken my knitting in with me, and as I have already mentioned, it requires a lot of concentration. I begin to think that cream wool is jonahed as not one of the garments I have started to work on with it has succeeded. I first started to knit it up five years ago while in the flat in Hobart. I was using a free aran pattern I had downloaded from the internet and after five failed starts had concluded the pattern had a fundamental error in it (the error appeared at the same point every time). So it went into a basket and was ignored, with bits of wool occasionally used for other projects like the cream pattern on the blue jumper I recently finished. Having messed up the left hand side of the knitting last time I had unpicked it down to the basque, and have now unpicked it two more times due to interruptions as I tried to work today. Grrr.

Home finally I took the dog for a walk, messaged the boss to say I am going to Hobart tomorrow unless he lets me know if I am working, exchanged lengthy texts with him, and now I might just possibly have a chance to get some dinner on, I hope.

As Fran has spotted the bobbin brake is missing - on both wheels. Not knowing about bobbin brakes, I had already ad-libbed a length of wool from the hook to the knob which worked in a manner of speaking. I was watching videos today and observed, not only the technique they were demonstrating, but also the features of the wheels.  I did a little spinning last night (OK, I am impatient) and ended up with something that looks like I have been wearing my hair in dreadlocks and cut them off to wind around the bobbing.

The thin nicely spun bits happen when all goes well and the flier keeps going round and the bobbin stays still. The rest happens because when I pinch the wool, the flier stops. Poo. I suspect this is slippage on the wheel, but adjusting the tension doesn't seem to make any difference. So I will go to Hobart and get a repair kit from the local dealer which will fix one wheel, and let me see what is needed for the other one so I can get the pieces from Bunnings as I will have something to compare it with.

They also assure me they stock spare maidens, but I suspect height will be an issue as there are many different models of this wheel. There is a time-line on the website so I now know mine was first manufactured in 1975, and the History Room's model dates to 1965 - who knew! They change the details from time to time, presumably to update it all and respond to identified problems (and new materials - the more recent models have more plastic in them).

So that was a fun way to pass the day, and it all exhausted Esther who has discovered a new use for the wheel that I doubt the manufacturers had in mind.

Well many thanks to Fran for all the instruction - it is going to be a bit easier to work out what may or may not be missing on the History Room wheel now, as I have a traditional wheel to do a compare and contrast with. Mine. It was on Gumtree for $80.00 so I rang up and got it. En route I called into the Lucky Ewe and picked up a bag of tops which is nice clean, ready-carded wool arranged in long swags. You break off a metre, split it into smaller widths and away you go. Or at least away I will go when I work out how to stop the bobbin from spinning at the same rate as the flier. I suspect there is a bush missing or something similar. But hey, it works in a general sort of way and will be a good thing to learn on before I head into more expensive territory.
This is the top I bought - it is a natural fleece (undyed) and still has some grease in it.

I also managed to get two loads of washing done and in dry despite the gusts of strong wind. Of course it didn't include the sheets - I prefer not to compromise the clothes line by turning it into a mast.

Sorry to bore non-spinners with this lot. And many thanks Fran for your offer of help.

 This is the image from the manual showing what the pieces are supposed to look like.









And this is what we have. As you can see one of the upright features is missing. I suspect it's the one designed to be removeable.









Here is a different perspective showing the hole where it is supposed to be.

 All the other removable bits are there still as far as I can tell.

 The treadle seems OK, apart from a bit of lifted ply, but the downpiece from the centre of the wheel has a split at the bottom where I am guessing someone screwed it too tightly at some point. With a new bit of leather that shouldn't be a crisis I hope.

Apart from taking photos in at the History Room (which also included bringing in wood and lighting the fire for the elderly volunteer who was planning to shiver her way through the day), I laid down six rows of the cable work which have subsequently been pulled apart. Not sure what is going on with my knitting, the left hand end of the last two garments has gone to custard. Right number of stitches - I know the pattern works as I have knitted it before, but the left hand side was not running properly. I will try again tomorrow. I do know that cable is not a job for watching telly (at least till I get the pattern established and work out what result to expect from a TB or a CR2L or whatever. Add to that, the Abbreviations is at the head of the pattern which turns the page at row 6 (of a 25 row pattern repeat). I will photocopy it. Oh, and the back page just fell off the pattern book which is annoying but not critical as it does not contain anything more than a pretty photograph unrelated to the contents.

 The wind has just picked up once again, so I imagine it will be another breezy night.

I woke up this morning (somewhat belatedly) with my bedroom completely redecorated and looking gorgeous. Then I opened my eyes. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. Those built-in wardrobes will certainly help to reduce the clutter. Thus inspired I contacted a company down in Hobart to see if they can give me  a quote. Still waiting to hear from them of course.

That done I was on a roll so I contacted one of those sites that canny tradesmen use to find work, and desperate homeowners contact to find someone to do their work. Within minutes I received a call from a roofer who not only knew where I lived, but was available to do a quote today!! Astonishing. Of course, he turned up an hour late while I was out walking Seb who had become desperate for a walk, but we did manage to hook up, and once he was re-educated to the idea that it was the whole roof, not just the internal gutter we got along just fine. He has said he will back in touch with the pricing, so fingers crossed.

Apart from that, not terribly much happened here today, dog walking, wood stacking, that sort of thing. And now I have cleaned the bank and fitted the new vacuum cleaner head to the machine there, I am home with my feet up and waiting for my pizza to cook for dinner. Some pate and water crackers have staved off the hunger pangs so I will manage to wait a little longer.

 This is the start of the jumper I aborted last night. As you can see, some major losses of concentration in terms of row count, though this is the better end of the garment (despite the unintentional row of yellow stitches) as it has no holes. Having pulled it off the needles I did a count of skeins of the cream wool and concluded that after all I would use it for an aran jumper. As you can see, the colours work fairly well, albeit being a bit summery, but I will leave it till I am feeling more patient I think. The Aran will keep me busy in the mean time.

Last time I knitted this pattern I did it in a mid-steely blue and wore it for years. This time it will be cream like an aran is supposed to be. The wool has an unusual twist which will add further texture to it - I know when I knit it in stocking stitch one side of each stitch is slightly raised, giving a shadow effect, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Today I was at the History Room again, if a little late in arriving as I had a cottage to deal with. I brought the spinning wheel down to the light to see if I could work out why it was not working properly. The peddle was not attached at any point, so that was soon worked out with the aid of a couple of screw drivers. There was a short length of leather hinging that to the wheel drive and that was perished. Once I finally got it into the appropriate slot and a screw through it, it snapped on the first attempt to turn the wheel (which moves freely). So I will have to see if I can source another bit of leather locally (plenty of saddlers around the place). But the main problem lies in the absence of an upright that supports the bobbin. This is a turned piece and looks as if it also should have some hardware on it to socket the thingy that holds the bobbin. That could be trickier. I have taken photos and will see if I can track down the manufacturer to find out if they carry spares (it is only a 1970s wheel, so they probably still carry the parts with any luck - it's not like the design changes that radically). It also needs new cord to transfer the movement of the wheel to the bobbin, but that should be pretty easy to find locally as well. It was an interesting exercise as I have never examined a wheel quite so closely before and I enjoy working out how things work, so a useful fiddling exercise.

Yesterday at the History Room was less than conducive to concentration. They had started work on the drain down the side to address the flooding we had had a few weeks back. The expectation was that there would be a large crew of volunteers turning up, so an equally large team of women turned up with food for the troops who failed to appear. One chap on a digger was hard at work so we fed him regularly and otherwise stood around engaged in desultory conversation. Then most left and I started to shut up shop, managing to get the flag tangled on the eaves and utterly irremovable. I will take the ladder with me tomorrow and see if I can get it down (weather permitting).

I say tomorrow as the Thursday person is away at present and I have said I will turn up - work permitting - and open up. As it turns out I do have to work tomorrow, but  not for long and I should not be too late to open up the History Room.

There I will be re-knitting the new jumper. A combination of over-enthusiastic sizing and challenges encountered in dealing with a pattern that changes colours every six stitches has resulted in despair. Basically, to deal with the colour changes, I have been cutting shorter lengths of wool, which works well in preventing tangles. But it also means you are continually having to join in new lengths and knitting in the ends of the last length. Some of the 'knitting in' has failed miserably and left large holes in the garment. I would simply sew them up if it were not for the fact that the garment is clearly going to be way too big. But the graph that the pattern is on turns out to be a pattern as well - I am accustomed to the pattern being in words, but this is depicted graphically - so I will follow that, which contains rather fewer stitches across, and will make it easier to know where in the picture pattern to start doing what colour etc. Overall it looks rather good, so I will persist.

I have discovered the documentaries on SBS, so am present watching the death of Hitler - fascinating stuff.

The day has been remarkably grey and nasty looking, but failing to deliver anything in the way of weather until after dark. Now it is windy and with occasional rain. Staying inside seemed a good idea, so the dishwasher had a thorough cleaning (running vinegar through it did the trick, then a quick wipe down of the more stubborn bits, followed by a load of dishes) and I did a bit on the new jumper. This is the stepped V Kaffe Fasset Jumper that took me forever to get the right combination of colours. It seems to be working well, though it will be a little brighter and summery-er than the weight of the jumper seems to warrant - I expect it will cheer up sorry winter days.

I have laid down the foundation rows of colour, none of which runs for more than 8 stitches. For those who knit it is called entarsia knitting (I think). As a result of the long stretches between repeats of a given colour, you stop and start again when next you get to it, instead of carrying the wool across the back like you do in Fair Isle. So the back of the work looks as if it is heavily fringed. I am knitting in the ends as I go or I would be forever stitching them in once it was done, but it still looks like a knotty tangle. By having shorter pieces of yarn, I can just fish the length out of the tangle as I need it and work fairly quickly, though now I have done the first four rows, and the next four will include the 'step' part of the stepped V, I will wait till tomorrow when my brain is clearer before I begin that one. Since I will be in the History Room that will not be too difficult to accomplish, as long as I remember to take the scissors.

Seb and I walked to upper Parattah this morning using the track Council built for the purpose. When you get to the top of the hill it just stops, but then so too does the track that comes into Parattah from Oatlands. Clearly the concept of connected trails remains a mystery to our local Council workers.

Seb enjoyed the new smells along the way, and I enjoyed the antics of the newborn lambs in the paddock alongside, so not all was lost.

The weather has been horrid for some time, so I descended into a knitting frenzy, finishing the jumper I started three weeks ago - sorry to have alarmed you - I suspect you are going to have to get used to this!

 This is more of the wool I picked up at bargain prices several years ago and have sat looking at ever since.

Progress was severely impeded on Thursday when the remote control for the telly stopped working. I replaced the batteries to no avail, so had no option but to get a universal control. Ransacking the local shops failed to produce a result, so, since I had one or two other things on my list of 'things to do when I go to Hobart next' I headed south.

Got home and put the batteries in the new control and it didn't work either. So I headed back to Oatlands, bought new batteries, and voila, the old control works too. I will keep the new one as a spare. Sigh.

The last three days, on the other hand, have been glorious. Sunshine (albeit severe overnight frosts) and still. Loads of washing dry (though not quite put away) and a couple of days out in Oatlands.

They had 'organised' a whole town celebration, but forgot to mention it to local traders (so typical!). A local farmer has a team of bullocks which he harnessed to a wool cart, and took it down the High Street, to the Park near the Mill where an astonishingly large collection of horse/ox drawn vehicles were on display. Various traditional crafts were also on display, a farrier, shearer with hand clippers, spinners, weavers, knitters, sewers, lacemaking, leatherwork and lacemaking - it was all there.

 Here's the wool cart, looking very picturesque with the Georgian buildings in the background, and the team looked most impressive (though gardeners, profitted from their presence due to various prolonged stops along the way.

The local Market was also on today, though nothing tempted me.

I am afraid this knitting business will make me a little less reliable on line in future, so don't fret. The weather goes to custard again from tomorrow afternoon, so I expect I will be busy!