A Tale of 2 Rugs & 2 Beach Houses


Hi Fellow Knitters,

Ferg and I have just delivered two hand knitted blankets to our daughter's holiday home at Valla Beach NSW. They have been renovating it over the past two years and at last it is fully furnished. We look forward to many relaxed holidays there with both family and friends.

When he was younger, Ferg helped his father and brother build a holiday house (beach shack) at Airforce Beach, Evans Head NSW. From this beach house, one only had to cross the dead-end road, follow the track through the sand hills and you were on the beach. Holiday heaven!

When I joined the family I loved that each bed in this beach house was furnished with a hand-knitted rug, made by Ferg's grandmother who lived with them after her husband died. Many of these rugs were made using pre-used wool, garnered  from unpicked jumpers. Sometimes his grandmother knitted with two strand of yarn - one old, one new. The stitches were mainly basket weave, garter stitch and ribbing.

 Easy Entrelac hand-knitted blanket.

I am reviving this tradition by adorning most beds in the Valla Beach house, with their own hand-knitted blanket specially designed to match each bedroom. I am really enjoying tailoring each blanket to its bed.

Textured hand knitted blanket

Log Cabin knitting samplesCurrently I am experimenting with a Log Cabin design for the bunk bedroom at Valla Beach. I was inspired by a photo on Facebook, but no pattern was available. Each grey square had a centre of red or yellow. I am keeping with the colour scheme with Bendigo Bloom in Golden Hues and Red Skies and two shades of grey, but I am using Moss Stitch in the centre instead of Garter Stitch as in the photo I saw. I am still working on the proportions. I think I need more grey and less red and yellow, but then I may change my mind after knitting a few more samples.

It's great when one finally settles on a pattern and then it's full steam ahead with the project. Are you happily knitting in the middle of a project or are you casting around trying to decide what your will knit next? Perhaps you are one of those people who have a few projects on the go at the same time. Whatever your style, I hope you enjoy Sipping, Knitting and Yarning with your crafty friends.