Route 1 and a trip to market

/ wolfberryknits

The sun peeked through for a trip to the market last Sunday. This is the drive to the Southside markets at Gympie, all taken on the go through the car window. Zoom zoom, life is too short for stopping apparently! It’s a bit of a drive, so we left at 6:30am.


Mango farm in our road


Macadamia nut farm at the end of our road.



Views over town


Court house


Lots of old miner’s cottages in Gympie.


Straight ahead you can make out Gympie hospital, and just to the right with the steaming chimneys is the Nestle factory, producing International Roast coffee. 😬


Over the river


And the market.
It’s a pretty good market. In the past I have purchased furniture, puppies, chickens, a kindle, fruit and vegetables here. This trip we just got sweet potato, a picture and a woollen coat.

So far in this oddly warm winter we’ve only had two wood fires. Atticus, for one, clearly enjoyed them. Toasty feets…


And speaking of toasty feets, more socks of course. Another boring grey pair for M that I didn’t bother to photograph, and a chocolatey pair for me. I’m putting some little flowers around the tops of these.


I’ve never purchased sock blockers as they seemed expensive and pointless. But when you’re constantly photographing socks, they begin to have some appeal…so I asked M if he could make me some. He said ‘draw a picture’, so I did. 20 minutes later he emerged from his shed and handed me these, out of recycled Perspex sheet.


What a legend. 🙂 He wanted to put holes in them for faster drying, but so far that has proven unnecessary. 
So then, in the spirit of pushing my luck, I said…you know what I’d reeeeeeally like? An e-spinner. (For the non-spinners, this is an electronic spinning machine, very handy if you have bad joints). They are expensive (very). And M said ‘show me a picture’. So I did. 
‘I can make you that’, he said. ‘Okay,’ I said. Yay!! I will keep you posted. 🙂
I’ve been spinning a lot, and I do mean a lot. Inspired in part by the acquisition of a pair of Majacraft wool combs, which make fibre preparation so much more fun than boring old carding. 


😀 SO FLUFFY!!! 


Practising two ply, 3 ply and chain plying. 


I also finished my Route 1 by Norah Gaughan. This is the second of these I’ve made, it’s a free pattern, a quick knit and a useful style for in-between weather. The yarn is Bergere de France’s ‘Recycline’.


Year of William Morris update: tapestry has resumed with the assistance of adjustable tapestry stand that means I can now lounge and stitch at the same time. 🙂


But for now, back to the wheel! 
B 🙂

34 thoughts on “Route 1 and a trip to market”

    • 🙂 Hahaha thanks Mary I will pass that on…(you know there is a pottery studio here built into the rocks with a metal kick wheel and a small kiln-type thing, plus a box of glazes and stuff…I daren’t even look at it for fear of taking up another hobby…not for the first time, I wish you lived closer! 😦

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  2. I would love to have someone in my life whose stock response is “draw me a picture……” How clever is he!! I had one of those embroidery stands in your last photo – I gave it away during one of my clear outs 🙂 The sweater is very attractive and I am still on standby to make a pair of socks – but first I’m about to whip up one of your 2-hour shawls 🙂

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    • Thank you Pauline, yes he is scarily clever sometimes, I feel very lucky 😊😊 I do love that embroidery frame, the old one was prettier and handmade, but this one saves my aching back. Hope your shawl making goes well, and still very keen to see your socks! 🙂

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  4. You really are a knitting/crafting demon, aren’t you! And, imagine being teamed with a bloke who says “Draw me a picture” and then he produces some wonderful piece of equipment. Hang on to each other.

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  5. Thank you for sharing the car trip to the market, I just love seeing your part of the world. So nice. I adore the old miners cottages! 🙂 And the yarn you used for your socks. Looks perfect. Nice to see the kitty again, enjoying the fire. Winter here to, so loving it.
    Great projects, and I really like your tapestry.
    Enjoy!!

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    • Thank you so much, and ditto, always love seeing your part of the world too as so much is strangely familiar, plants, houses, climate, despite the ocean between us!! (Plus the cute little dog of course, can never see enough of the dog :))

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  7. Steve will be most pleased to know that International Roast is produced here. He used to drink it as his beverage of choice when he lived in Auld Blighty. When he emigrated we discussed the merits of him living in the house “with” decent coffee compared to his current consumption of floor sweepings whereby he would have to live on the compost heap. Glad to say he chose the decent coffee ;). It must be a man thing by the way as I see things I would love to get out and photograph but we “don’t have time”…Not entirely sure why where we are going is SO much more important than the Minion mailbox I just saw but apparently we women are not in the know about time or the repercussions of stopping and smelling the roses. “M” just made up for his haste with those sock blockers and the promise of an electronic spinner. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with. Might be a good money making sideline if he can do it? You should personalise his sock blockers somehow and sell them in your shop. We just had the big garage sale trail here and we both woke up and decided not to go this year thanks to the flu. We saved money, energy and petrol. Won’t stop me going next year though ;).

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    • Hahaha you do make me laugh narfie, I want to see a minion mail box!! Oh man, that international roast, I believe most of Australia’s requirement is made here, it makes for an ‘interesting’ odour in town when the wind is blowing the wrong way, but still better than the smell of the coffee in my opinion! My dad used to love it too, but even he has graduated to a pod machine now. I hope you’re feeling better after your bout with the flu, sounds as if staying home was a good idea. We missed the show this year and saved the money for other stuff instead…always satisfying, and there’s always next year! 😀

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      • I will go for a drive myself and take a photo of the minion mailbox. It is seriously excellent. We have Boag’s brewery in the city that smells like Weetbix when they are brewing their mash.

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  8. Thanks for the tour. I have never seen a macadamia nut or mango farm. Your winter looks like summer. As for M, you could hire that man out! I love that you can get things made so easily. Your sweater is lovely. Perhaps you could knit a sweater for Atticus!

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    • Thanks very much Lisa, yes this is meant to be our dry season, but so far, not so much! Very green and very warm for this time of year. I think Atticus would love a sweater (and possibly booties and a hat)! I’m always scared he’ll get his claws hooked and get all messed up though. He would have to be supervised…(ten different designs now running through my head…) hehehe

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  9. Two talented people in a beautiful part of the world…mango and macadamia farm??? I wonder what that would look like! And aaaaaawh for the kitty, too cute really. Hmm, a wood fire: it’s so hot here and we have tornado warnings. Oh fall…please come quickly ;O) xo Johanna

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    • Thanks so much Johanna 🙂 mmmm, we have an ice cream here called a weis bar which is mangos, macadamias and cream….yum yum yum!! Hope you avoid the tornadoes, and that knitting season is upon you quickly 🙂 xo

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  10. Gympie really does look lovely – and lucky you for having a mango and macadamia nut farms on your road – yum. Great to see William Morris tapestry coming along nicely and your beautiful yarns along with the very talented M’s sock blockers – brilliant!

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  13. Oh wow, so much new stuff! First, I have to ask… are those hanks of yarn before the pictures of your sweater your own spinning? Because I honestly can’t tell if they’re home made or professionally spun! And of course I’ll have to join everyone else in singing M’s praises… what a handy guy to have around 😀 I also enjoyed seeing a bit of Australian winter… funny, it looks a lot like Irish summer!

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    • Aw thanks so much Helen, yes that’s my spinning, I’ve been on a spinning bender lately in the cooler weather, currently spinning up my first sock yarn….a bit of a challenge but fun nonetheless! 🙂 haha yep I noticed the similarity between our winter and your summer too, although normally we’re much dryer this time of year and it is quite brown, but not this year!! Looks so gorgeous over there at the moment, definitely on my bucket list to visit the Beastie birthplace! 😀

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      • Fellow knitters always welcome 😀 And it seems like new yarn and fabric shops are popping up all over the place here at the moment! I’m in awe of your spinning skills – I tried it myself when I was a teenager, and I know that it’s much harder than it looks. Your finished yarns are so even! Enjoy the cooler weather, hopefully that rain will stop soon 😀

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    • Hahaha aren’t they! 🙂 wow, 17, that is amazing!! Atticus always sits like that by the fire but never anywhere else, we think he likes the warmth on his belly 🙂 (I’m really glad to find you again as you are another that WordPress deleted from my feed, grrr!)

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      • Somehow you had disappeared from my feed as well?? Bizarre! Glad to read through all the old posts and catch up! I love all the wildlife photography! A sleeping cat is as wild as things get at my house 🙂

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