tribulations

i have had a bit of rough time this week personally speaking but, as these things do, it has not killed me and has had some good consequences.

one is that i have a very good friend who offered to help me out with a gym membership - everything in life seems to flow more smoothly when i am exercising (regardless of the outcome) because i feel better about myself and less likely to take my angst out on those around me. i have lovely places to walk here now, and can still do that, but i think i need something more.

so, putting aside my pathological dislike of all things gym-related, i take my friend up on her incredibly generous offer and set off down the dark tunnel of exercise machines and lycra.

only to be thwarted at the very first door by the ubiqitous skinny blonde gym keeper, who does my medical history (which is very good really) and then takes my blood pressure with this little digital wrist thing. all of a sudden shes completely freaking out in the most ridiculous and unprofessional way because apparently its 'high'. i am used to it being low, but its been years since i checked and i think the day has come when i can no longer rely on the natural immunity of youth. so she wont let me join until i have a drs say so. have you ever heard such nonsense? if it was someone who didnt know better i would never go back there, but i know its all about their legal liability and nothing to do with my health at all, and then when i get home i look up on the internet and the pressure she got from me isnt even classified as high. in fact, its in the 'optimum' range although could come down a bit. silly skinny blonde bimbo woman.

so i am off to the dr this afternoon just to make sure, but it is a good thing to know because truth be told i have a pathological dislike for all sorts of vegetable matter, so in my last act of childish rebellion i avoid them wherever i can. however, there appears to be a reason why one needs to eat them so i went shopping this morning and spent more at the fruit and veg market than at the supermarket.

see for yourself:



yes thats both brocolli (which i really do hate) and tofu (which i heartily distrust). i will endeavour to cook something with both of these things.

sigh. what is life coming to when you voluntarily buy vegetables?

on a lighter note, the baby jacket front has two perfectly matching sides finally:



i need smaller needles now to make the sleeves. spotlight here i come...

and the spider socks are coming along:



and its sunny today, so one cant complain.

and can i just add, why wouldnt your blood pressure go up the second you even walk NEAR a gym? i mean, really....

k

EDIT: 5.36pm. Important Medical Update. Just so we all get some sleep tonight, thought you might like to know that my lovely doctor says my slightly elevated level of yesterday was still in the normal range and todays reading of 127/77 is higher than it was in my youf but still perfectly acceptable. so there, skinny blonde woman.

another east coast low

there are lows developing on several fronts in my world today.

one - the weather:



apparently there is another one of those not-cyclones coming. i dont see any great wind or surf just a hell of a lot of rain. anyone out there know someone called noah?

two - the knitting:


a wise woman once told me that the best way to avoid this kind of thing was to knit both fronts at once, on the same needles. did i listen? nooooooo. so what do i get? a complete debacle. now frogged. *sigh*

three - actual work:


now that i have finally finished all that marking and have one more examiners meeting tomorrow, i must return to the real reason for my actual existence, which is to embark on the final stage of the phd. i have to turn the paper i gave in italy into three things - a paper worthy of publication in the conference proceedings, a chapter in the book i am co-editting, and two halves of the last two thesis chapters. the first two things need to be done in the next week or so. the two thesis chapters should take me another 3 to 4 weeks each then its a revision of the whole thing, intro and conclusion. there is a light at the end of the tunnel but i cant say it makes me feel any better. rather it fills me with unease - unease because i am worried i wont be able to finish it (that is, all the words are in my head but will they actually come out in a logical fashion), unease at the thought of the imperfection of the finished product, and unease at the thought of actually finishing and it being time to move on. but to where? that way lies only madness.

much easier to go back to my bad knitting.

oh, two highpoints. one, the last sleeve on the wrap is finished, now its blocking, sewing up and knitting on bands. i will blog it when its blocked so you can see all the bits. another highpoint was the weekend just gone and running around a paddock with sheep again:


miss possum and i made major progress despite having the goal posts moved on us once again. learning to herd sheep is one of the most difficult things ive ever tried! no sooner do you think you know whats going on then you realise you know nothing. but we are so much improved that im thinking of doing another yard dog trial soon, maybe sept sometime.

now i really must get stuck into low front number 3.

k xx

worlds worst pattern reader

its official. i am it.

can someone explain to me why i can make perfect sense out of french psychoanalytic theory but i can not read the part in this pattern, circled:



that says to do a second set of decreases after the first? is it written in sanscrit or some magic disappearing knitting script? no, its right there for all to see, and yet i dont see it.

so i get to the required length, realise i have three more stitches left than i should have, and then have to rip it back.

its a garter stitch baby jacket for crying out loud, and im frogging it.

un. be. lievable.

k
ps. that was a rhetorical question. i know why i cant read patterns properly. i am impatient. thats why.

the morning after

dave said i should watch out for these:






'the sea was angry that day my friends' - george costanza (seinfeld)

berry picot part one

because i am marking essays (43 x 3000 words) and because they are all about heavy stuff like the stolen generations and frontier warfare, i find myself getting up every 5 minutes and wandering around the house. this is not helped by the fact that there is a major storm brewing, i heard it on the news this morning and i have been freaking out about it ever since. we might have a nice view from here but we are very close to the ocean if it wants to get wild. so i am a bit jittery.

so i am blogging again. at lunch time i got past the first row of eyelets to make the picot edge on the berry stripey socks. here is where im at, about to fold it over and make the actual edging:


i might not be alone with my difficulties in three needle cast ons (thanks guys) but i am finding the whole sock thing much easier with picot edges rather than ribbing which is surely the bane of any knitters existence.

and how gorgeous are these colours - its great to watch them change as they come out of the middle of the ball. nice work spidey!

stay safe
k xx

all about the knitting

enough about all that neighbourhood, life-in-general type stuff. lets get back to the real reason the blogosphere was created which is to talk incessantly about knitting.

first i have had to make a new knitting corner. here it is:


the big basket is the stash, the little basket is the works-in-progress. here are its contents.

one: the wrap.

bendigo rustic agate (8ply) on 3.75mm. the pattern 'lift and seperate' from BGK. have made the back, the two fronts and one and a half sleeves. still to go: the rest of the second sleeve, sewing together, knitting on the wrap around band. thoughts: difficult pattern to read but simple in actual design. loving the bendigo long time.

two: the baby jacket.


cleckheaton merino bambino in cream (4ply) on 3.25mm. the pattern patons 'quick and easy baby knits' crew jacket design 6a. have made the back and one front, just started second front. still to go: rest of front, button bands, sleeves, sewing up. thoughts: i love how soft the bambino is but this actually makes it hard to work with, slippery even. does anyone find this stuff strands a bit?

three: finally. berry stripey sipder socks.


made to order happy spider self striping sock wool in berry stripey. the pattern blackdog knits picot eyelet socks. have just cast on. still to go: the rest of the sock. i have made another pair of these without the second row of eyelets for the ribbon but these ones are getting the black velvet treatment. thoughts: why is casting on over three needles so freaking difficult or am i just a cast on retard?

its cold today and i am sniffling. lets hope its not a cold.

till next time
yours in knitting
k xxx

where i live now

bells and jejune have been taking their cameras for walks and documenting their local neighbourhoods. considering that i have moved i thought it was a good opportunity to take their lead and post some pix of my neighbourhood. except for one thing, which is that it's raining today, so my walk took me across the road and back and no further. it made for some nice photos tho.

so, starting from the driveway:


then to the end of the driveway, looking south:


and then across the road where there is a lot of sand that shouldnt be there because of The Storms:


the view to the south over towradgi beach (pronounced toe-rodgi):


and then a close up of wollongong city to the south:


and mt keira:


turning around to go home we see some ridiculous mcmansions which have done nothing but destroy the original character of this area:


we complained about it one time to the wife of the person living in the red and blue house and she said 'well thats progress' but i dont think so. our house is behind the little blue house, oh here it is complete with silly dogs standing in the rain wondering why they didnt get to come across the road with me:


here are said silly dogs, not happy with me for keeping them outside:

while inside i have the fire going:


here is another view of inside, you can see the bedroom to one side and then down the back of the house through the dining room is the study/spare room.


we are mostly unpacked but there are some boxes of stuff in the spare room etc that we dont have enough cupboards for yet.

and that is not the pile of marking im avoiding on that coffee table :)

k xx

after the storm

long time no blogging. i havent even had a chance to catch up with anyone else yet. it has been a series of storms, both literal and metaphorical, in my life lately.

starting with the metaphorical, there was of course the big move from canberra back to wollongong. the actual move went well although it was a lot to co-ordinate and organise, considering i had to do most of the packing, supervise the removalists and then stay behind to clean up and deal with real estate agent. a very long tiring day.

at least the next day trent took off work and was here to help unload the truck when it arrived and we spent that weekend unpacking and arranging things etc. it was trents bday that weekend too, so we had a little surprise party friday night when jo and dave came down from sydney with our favourite indian food from faheem fast food. hmmmm tandooooooooor....

we were here for only two days when we had to go queensland where various storms erupted - this being a public blog im not saying what but the next few months in dog sport world should be interesting. *sigh*

one good thing about that trip was the vast amount of knitting that got done, and the bendigo wrap is so close to being finished its scary! it has a back, two pieces of the front and one and a third sleeves. there is only the last bit of sleeve, the sewing up and band knitting to go. *holds breath*

the other good thing about queensland was that we missed the storms that hit the coast and hunter valley, we drove back through land that had been recently badly flooded and there was mud and rubbish everywhere, and i thought for a minute that our little shack by the sea might have got blown away but it was still here. there is sand all up on the street and down the driveway from the surf but of course my camera has no batteries till tomorrow when i go shopping so i cant show you.

the only evidence i have of our new life by the beach (which is actually our old life just come back again) is this crap pic from my mobile phone of the dogs frollicking up east corrimal beach. cute. they are loving it here big time.



and so am i, though i miss the frosty mornings in the can and i am yet to get me to a new SNB crowd here. will report back when i do.

hope all is well out there in blogland.

more soon.
k xx