I found out some sad news on the weekend. The Corinella colouring competition that has appeared in the Herald-Sun each Saturday morning for the past 90 years, is no more.

This made me feel terribly sad. Not just for me, but for the future of kids, creative kids.

I don’t know where I would be today without Corinella. As a kid, I wanted to be Corinella! I even tried to get work experience in their office at high school (ok so I was a big kid, I went to a Sunbeamer Annual Party in my retirement year, I was 15, I’m sharing a lot here).

Whilst I have my dream job now, the door has closed on the fantasy of one day being Corinella! Maybe I need to start a petition…

Growing up, we didn’t have a lot. Corinella gave me the opportunity to win some FUN things. Things that kids with slightly wealthier parents could afford to buy them. Instead, I won those things. I got better at colouring and then when my older sister taught me about ‘tone’, that’s when the winning really started happening. Corinella made me competitive. It made me excited about colouring, and boy did I love colouring. Did I mention, I won a lot? I had at least half a scrapbook filled with paper clippings of all my wins. 

When my sister handed down the news, she looked at her husband and said “Corinella’s the reason we were having kids”.

It’s the end of an era. Nothing ever lasts… and I don’t want to believe a word of it. I am thankful Corinella was there for me. I had something to look forward to each week. And when there was a delivery, I was ecstatic! It has definitely made me who I am today, just ask my mail guy at work.

 

My birthday celebrations have reached their conclusion today, with cake. Most years I’ve manage to stretch out the festivities for the month of April, but I’m happy to call it done this year with a visit from my siblings and kids this arvo.

Sadly the excitement of my siblings and kids scared the bejesus out of Purl who relegated herself to under my bed for the duration. But not before everyone commented on how fluffy Purl’s tail is. We don’t normally have a truck load of visitors at once, she’s not used to socialising yet. Do you think Purl’s tail is really big and fluffy?!

I know I should be knitting on Still Light… I know I really should be, seeing Louisa is once again back in front! (and it’s going really well). But, babies don’t wait. Yesterday I cast on ‘Latte’ a sophisticated baby hoody for a colleague at work. Of course she’s in her final weeks at work, and I finally cast-on, it’s not like I didn’t have an notice or anything. Never fear, it’s chunky 12 ply plus. It’s nearly done…

I’m calling this year the Year of Babies, just saying. I see a lot of fun baby knits this year 😉

I’ve been holding out.

No yarn purchasing. No fibre purchasing. Knitting on just one project. And the heater repair man has not been organised. I’m doing it rough. On the up side, I’m wearing woollens inside the house. More opportunities to wear wool is a very good thing.

Poor Purl, she’s more afraid of the vacuum cleaner than I am. It’s like I’m using up one of her lives every time I pull it out (don’t worry it’s not every week). I’m hoping she’ll get used to it soon, I have no idea where her new hiding place in the living room is. I’m terrified she squeezed herself into an especially tight place. Only a ‘treat’ coaxed her out.

Still Light is still going… I’m almost at the division of the pockets. This excites me as it will mean significantly less stitches to knit in the round very soon.

I had a great birthday, spending the day with my husband. No official yarny gifts this year, the first time since I began knitting seriously. But then NY did just happen…

These arrived at work, the day before my birthday. The biggest surprise of all. Yep, my husband still has it.

I went away this weekend, with my ‘other’ group of girlfriends. Of course each group of girlfriends are the ‘other’ group. It is very funny, and I like to joke about it, but whenever I spend time with my friends, each of them, I think how lucky I am to call them friends.

Once again we went to Daylesford, spa country. But this time we selected a different house to our usual as the house has gotten more popular and more difficult to book at a moments notice.

I had to take photos of this house, so that you would believe me. Karen described it as an MC Escher drawing! Stairs, random steps, nooks and crannies, she wasn’t far wrong.

From the outside, it looks like a regular Daylesford home…

Inside was another story…

I got heaps of knitting done! I took 3 projects and only knit on one. Still Light has progressed!

Much eating was done, lots of chatting and a ton of laughter. I even had time for a relaxation massage. I can’t wait to do it again.

This past week I’ve caught Purl doing this whilst she sleeps. She makes me laugh, she’s hilarious…

Visiting New York and being utterly cold has provided a bit of inspiration for our winter season of woollies.

Damian has chosen his yarn from my stash for this years winter set.

He doesn’t ask for much does he?

This will become some fingerless mitts (with half fingers) and a beanie (hopefully), I’m also going to be making a scarf with something to match.

I think I’ll be making my winter set out of the malabrigo I got from Seaport yarns.

Spending the last 4 days with Purl has brought me to one conclusion. She sleeps a lot…