Monday, January 14, 2008

after the storm

there was a cracker of a storm here yesterday, someone got zapped by lighting not 20 metres from our front door. oddly enough, we had left home about 10 minutes before this happened, trying to get the dogs to the dog park before it rained. it came over quite quickly tho and we got caught in it at the park and had to sit in the cricket grandstand and watch the lightning and rain and thunder while jem freaked out. i tried to get pics of it when we got home but this is all i got before the camera battery died:


i got some good knitting done yesterday, nearly at the heel of the THIRD contrasting contrast sock, i want to get this one done by thursday to give to its matching single for daves birthday.

and i also want to get them off the needles so i can start more lace. i am going to make the Fancy Silk Socks from Vintage Socks using this hand dyed spider wool:

i also want to make the long "Evening Stockings for a Young Lady" mostly because thats such a great name for a pair of socks. I am going to use the plain patonyle i got for that, it has a nice antique colour about it.

a quick note about stash enhancement while im here. a while ago you may remember i was going to the gym. it was fun for about 5 minutes. i hate exercise. always have. this is not however, good for my health, so i have taken other measures in this department that i dont really want to blog about because i totally hate when people blog about their frigging weight loss like its a matter of personal achievement or something. i dont mean to sound nasty, but seriously, its just a bit of fat and it doesnt make you a better person for having less of it. the demonisation of the overweight in society is very problematic, given i think its also related to class. not to mention feminism. but lets not go there. suffice to say that i need to look after my health so i have started swimming again (yay) and given myself the incentive of stash enhancement for particular goals reached. last week i achieved two of them in the one week, hence the patonyle. bribing of self appears to be working. does that say something about how stupid i am?!

anyway, i have also decided that the only pattern worth my polwarth silk is the shetland triangle shawl and i am just going to have to buy the wrap style book the pattern is in as one of my incentives. its only $14 on amazon at the moment, maybe next week!

in other news, i am working on the conclusion of the pensky file today. it will be finished tomorrow i think. then i have to do some work on the proofs of the book thats coming out in april, and then the list to finish the pensky looks like this:

add chapter summaries to introduction
put missing refs into theory chapter
fix up second half of chapter three
format bibliography
proof read entire thing
submit.

two weeks till that last one. two weeks and counting.

k xx

eta: i keep thinking that the friday before the aust day long weekend is the end of january, but in actual fact i think the 31st qualifies as that. so, in fact, i have 13 working days until that date, upon which i intend to submit (note the 'intend' there, there may be some, um, supervisory issues, to 'deal' with). so, 13 days and counting.

7 comments:

amy said...

I don't think needing incentives makes you stupid at all. While it would be wonderful if we all were selflessly self-motivated to do certain things simply because they are good for us, that's pretty idealistic. :) It's just positive reinforcement--simple behaviorism, and we all do it. If the end result is a healthier you, really, a bit of stash enhancement is a small price to pay.

Anonymous said...

Yay, you're so close to the end! Fabulous news.

I'm with you on the exercise thing. It is possibly one of the most boring and awful activities known to humanity. In my opinion at least. And you're right, it shouldn't be thrown about like it's something that makes you a better person. It does make you a healthier person, though. Sigh. It's all hard but what you're doing sounds like it's helping you right now. Go stash enhancement!

I know the shawl of which you speak. Excellent choice!

Caffeine Faerie said...

Good luck with that pensky file. Hope the intention goes through on schedule.

And yay stash enhancement. I'll get there... eventually. :)

2paw said...

Look how hard your little Mini You thingy is working!!! Get her to help and you'll be finished twice as fast!!!
Do the dogs like rain??? The Labradors do.
Yes, Fat IS a Feminist issue, I think. I like to just be able to fit into last year's clothes. That's all I ask really. Good on you for bribibg yourself. I can't. I try to, but I just give in to myself far too easily, I'm a pushover!!!

Michelle said...

I try not to think of it as exercise. Heaven forbid that I will actually work out that it is all good for my health!

I ride my bike to work and around the place because I like to ride. And it's fun. And I park my bike in the basement near the lift so I can see my pretty bike several times a day. Plus I swim because it makes my back feel better and dammit it's hot outside and I love water.

See? It's all in the mind! ;-)

Good luck with that pesky pensky file. Hope the next 14 days are full of words!

TinkingBell said...

I hate exercise except when I lived in Qld and I loved going to the pool for aquaerobics because it was cool and noone stood up the front with designer bodies and leotards.*sigh* - I think fit worrying is better than the other so I should - and if I can think of a sufficient bribe for myself - I would - good on you!

Rose Red said...

If you need a reward to exercise then do it, I say. Especially if it involves yarn. I keep wondering if I could ride an exercise bike and knit at the same time...I think I could, but the question is, would it be worth it. I guess it'd still be better than just sitting on my bum knitting...

good luck with the "p" file. You can do it!