In the recent school holidays we embarked on an exciting trip to Tasmania. Usually we opt for an “escape the winter” holiday (even though winters in Geraldton are very mild), but this year we decided to really embrace some glacial weather in all it’s glory. None of us had any winter gloves, so instead of investing in pieces of clothing we were unlikely to use much again, I decided to make the girls some mittens from some old woollen jumpers.
I was really happy with how they turned out (although I made a few mistakes along the way), so have decided to share the DIY on here. It’s a really simple project that reaps generous rewards. You can either use old woollen jumpers or sweaters (if you’re American) as they are, or felt them by washing them or tumble drying them at high temperatures. The turquoise jumper I used was felted, but the tangerine one was as is. Some patterns encourage you to use the sleeves, but unless the gloves are for a toddler, they will be too small. I used the waistband of the jumpers for these gloves.
Firstly, you place one of your hands on a double layer of the jumper with your fingers together and your thumb in the natural position in which it sits when your hand is flat. The bottom of the waistband should end at your wrist. Draw around your hand and then add a seam allowance plus a couple of centimetres for wriggle room. Cut out your mitten and use this one to cut another identical mitten. Sew right sides together on your sewing machine, turn right side out and then it’s done! Easy peasy! You can now have some fun embellishing the mittens with a bit of hand embroidery. Some pitfalls to watch out for : I made the turquoise ones too short in the wrist, hence the need for the extra cuff and the tangerine ones were too tight in the wrist, necessitating some unpicking and resewing.
This holiday was the first time our kids got to experience snow, so there was great excitement! Some pictures of the mittens in action to follow . . .
Our first stop (and quite close to our accommodation) was Harvard University. We made a quick stop here to look at the buildings and to check out the medical school, of interest due to Murray being a doctor.
The 1824 built Airbnb house pictured above (with Murray and the girls in the foreground setting out for a day exploring), is where we stayed in Chester, Vermont. Such a classic American beauty! I’ve always wanted to stay in a grand house like this (and yes, we had it all to ourselves). One of the highlights of the house was playing hide and seek with the kids. The house had a basement (very foreign to us in Australia), and two separate attics accessed through trapdoors and hidden staircases. Something I’ve only ever read about in Famous Five novels!
It was nice to take a break from driving long distances, even if just for the day. All too soon we were back on the road again, heading this time for Maine. Before we left Vermont we made a quick pit stop at a nearby village for a maple creemee – a delicious soft serve ice cream made with locally farmed maple syrup. It was totally delectable and is something the kids still speak reverently about or try to recreate by mixing up maple syrup with their ice cream!
This amazing natural phenomenon was not high on our list of must sees, but since it is so famous and we were going right past we included it on our itinerary. The falls are incredible and very beautiful, but equally as amazing is the fact that huge high-rise buildings are built almost literally around the edges of the falls. Most of our waterfalls in Australia are tucked away in remote and reasonably inaccessible national parks, so to visit here with all its urban infrastructure was quite eye-opening. We chose to stay on the Canadian side as the views of the falls are better and it was fun to visit another country, even if for only one day!
This is the breathtaking view from our hotel, which we booked solely for the views. The reviews of all the affordable hotels with fall views were disappointing, mainly due to being constantly crowded with huge queues for the elevators and the included breakfast. This was certainly our experience, but it was a small price to pay for the luxury of being able to see the falls from your bed! They are spectacularly lit up with fireworks every night at 10pm throughout the summer.
It’s unanimous! The whole family agreed that visiting this island in Lake Huron, Michigan (which is so big, it’s like an inland sea), was the highlight of our trip. I was inspired to visit here by reading a post on Mackinac Island by 
There is an eight mile circuit road around the island which is incredibly fun to cycle. The weather was quite overcast and rainy on the days we visited, but even this did nothing to dampen our enjoyment. The girls and I completed two circuits, we loved it so much! There are also very intriguing roads going off through the heavily wooded interior of the island. The boys went off exploring here on a mission to find the skull cave in the afternoon. There is nothing quite like the freedom of riding a bike with the wind in your hair (something we’ve largely lost in Australia due to our draconian bicycle helmet laws). Heck, you don’t even need to wear a helmet to ride a motorcycle in the US!
It was a dream come true to visit Mount Rushmore and it did not disappoint. I was amazed by the scale of it and the likeness to the four presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln). The Americans have a real reverence for their past presidents that is both touching and quite foreign to us as Australians. I was also inspired by the vision and nerve to take on a project like this and succeed.
We also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is still a work in progress and when finished will depict the Sioux leader on his horse pointing to the horizon saying “My lands are where my dead lay buried”. The memorial is a moving tribute to the Native Americans’ dreams and plans for their land and their country prior to colonisation. Dreams which now will be difficult to realise.
As we were driving through the Black Hills a very loud flash flood warning sounded on all of our devices simultaneously and was repeated at five minute intervals. It was so loud it sounded like it was coming from a loudspeaker! This was very alarming as we had no idea how we should react to the warning. Should we stop the car or keep driving and where would we go? Not knowing what else to do we kept driving, except when the hail became so heavy we had to pull over!
The hail was so heavy and fell so fast that it looked like snow lying around everywhere. We were very glad we didn’t wash away in our car and managed to get back to our base in Rapid City safely!
