treading water

or flailing about...pick your image.

i dont feel right not blogging more often, but i dont feel right blogging sans pictures, and i havent had time to take any pictures. i want to show the groovy new heel i tried on the knittery socks, and i wanted to talk about how socks have ruined me as a knitter. i am now, it seems, incapable of doing anything more substantial. lily, clapotis, and the red shetland wilt away in their respective baskets while i am consumed with the construction of one sock after another, to the point where i am itching to start on a THIRD pair so i can try this idea i have for my own design.

this is really the equivalent of imbibing only mills and boons and calling yourself a reader, and i am ashamed of myself.

i am also rather put out by the whole two-jobs thing which means i am basically working full time and i do not like it, no i dont, not one little bit.

will try and manage pics tomorrow

k xx

history has computers*

what is going on with the time-flying-by thing?! i thought life was going to slow down a bit for me now but noooooo

so we went to albury on the weekend where we got the dogs to do some of that flyball bizo, they had fun, the team came second (losing only to our perennial rivals the national record holders) so a good result. it was really fun actually, we have not travelled for dog stuff for ages and it was great to be with everyone and eat cake and knit in a big tin shed while dogs barked their heads off and the humans huddled around scott's tiny little camp heater that wouldnt stay alight.

i did get lots of car knitting time, and have finished sock one of trents jitterbug thujas:

this colourway is copperbeach and it is divine! i have never knitted with wool like this before, the spin on it is so tight that it makes this perfectly rounded stitch that looks like something other than plain stocking. i am greatly looking forward to knitting myself a pair in this (i have that gorgeous red vatican pie colourway) and am going to knit plain with a picot edge to really just let the yarn do all the work.

when i finished this one i started a pair of rib socks for myself:


these are the madder rib socks from vintage socks in knittery merino/cashmere in midnight colourway. hmmmmm knittery.....hmmm cashmere....this yarn was a gift from george and i love it. speaking of which, we took a little detour to canberra on our way to albury and paid a visit and i held little grace for a very long time and only let her go when she screamed about something. food i think it was. she is gorgeous, and mum is looking pretty good too. trent took some great photos of pj as well, i think he will be flickering them at some point?

and do you see that little bag that the knittery socks are in? yes thats a buttontree lane exclusive and i love it to death. i had to catch the train up to sydney on thurs night last week and it sat beautifully on my lap and even held my ipod. noice. i have commissioned some more.

and in between all that, i officially started my new job yesterday. i am blogging from there right now, as i got here early to try and avoid traffic. i have some pix - this is the lawn outside the library. whats with the 'passive recreation' thing?

this is my building:
this is my corner of a large shared room which no one else has appeared in yet.

yes thats right, this is where all the history action happens. when i got here yesterday there was no computer, and i spoke to a school manager who yelled at an IT manager who suddenly appeared with a very groovy little machine. (*hence the post title, which was trents response to my first email from said computer). they are very civilised here, itunes, streaming radio, everything you need really....

here is the view from my window if i lean over my desk and look backwards:

here is the other view if i push my chair back, thats botany bay in the distance (takes me an hour to drive around it to get here. sigh.):

anyway, i had better actually go do some work now. i am trying to get around to reading everyones blogs as life is not about to get any simpler with teaching starting again next week (i am doing two days at wollongong again for what will be my last session there). time flies....

k xx

gifts

i have spent a lot of time in blogland bitching and moaning about the horror that was the final stages of the pensky file. it helped me a lot to be able to do that at the time, and although i havent forgotten the terrible times i had, i am also aware of how amazing it is that little old me, with all the skeletons in my closet, yesterday was admitted into one of the highest levels of academia. (dont get me wrong, i am not interested in all that elitist status stuff, but it means a lot because of where i have come from and what it took to get there!). so now this hangs on the wall:

i have been very lucky. i couldnt have done it without a whole lot of support, and i had a great day yesterday celebrating that. trent took some great pics of the actual ceremony with me giving my Vote of Thanks speech (which everyone seemed to like) and having fun at lunch afterwards.

and as if the gift of the phd and the company of great friends was not enough, i got given some lovely presents. i am not usually a label queen but i am a little excited about these two:

and the most stunning flowers:

and of course love, support and friendship. despite the horror, it has already been worth it. i hope trent starts to realise its all over now. there will be no more. i promise! now its his turn....ha ha ha....

k xx

no cards up this sleeve

i am slowly recovering from the lurgy, i have not been knocked around so bad by a flu in a very long time. i am sick of being sick. enough already.

while too weak to do anything except cough, i got a long way on the lily cardigan. here is where it is at (finally approaching end of first skein):


how much do we love our knitpicks options? the pattern says to put all the bits on different bits of waste yarn and to knit the sleeve in 4mm DPNs but i dont have any of those, so i took my knitpick points off and put the cable on one of those holder things, and the first front bit just on a stitch holder. seems to be working. i cast on too many extra for the sleeve, i have been a bit worried about size, but its bigger than i need so i am decreasing rapidly-ish. i am pretty happy with how this is shaping up, but i dont know whether its exhaustion or drugs, but the endless rounds of stocking stitch make me very sleepy.

meanwhile i technically started my new job today. i moved boxes of files from one uni to the other, coughed my way through my HR induction and started setting up the new office which has no computer in it (dont you love uni admin?) and have to go back briefly tomorrow to hand in more forms - we had kind of agreed that i wouldnt actually start work this week as Il Papa is in town and they are busy setting up the stage at the racecourse right next door to my entry gate. there will be no access at all later in the week. they are trying to bring in some new laws where people can be arrested for offences such as 'annoying pilgrims'. does this mean if i am irritated by someones god-bothering i can have THEM arrested? hmmm.....

on my way home tomorrow i am going shopping for a new outfit with a skirt involved as it is graduation on wednesday and i have to give my little speechy thing. i wrote it last week, it is short and sweet and not overly political, hence the powers that be have 'approved'. i decided against a three word speech (vive la revolution) as i did not wish to be dragged off the stage while the chancellor had a heart attack.

maybe next time.

oh wait, there wont be a next time! thats right, no more studying for me. not ever. i swear.

then friday we are going to albury for our first flyball comp in ages and yes, we are taking a little detour via The Can to go say hi to someones ex-bump that is now an FO. cant wait.

k xx

ps did you see these? so gorgeous....i already bought stuff!

under attack

people warned me when i finished the phd that i could expect to get sick. they did not tell me that my body would become the site of some apocalyptic germ warfare. a couple of small colds were followed by the gastro-from-hell, and now i have been hit with the flu-from-hell. usually i only get mild bouts of flu, in fact, i dont think ive had a serious flu in the 5 years of doing the phd. but im paying for it now, big time. its annoying more than anything. i am happier, less stressed, eating well, doing more exercise, than for the entire last 5 years, and here i am moaning on the couch with flu. aaaaagh! and all the drugs in the world dont help either:

i have another week before i start my new job officially, but i do have a pile of owed research work to finish that i can not think straight enough to look at. however, i am not so weakened (as i was by gastro battle) that i cant knit. lily is coming along nicely:

i am almost at the part where i divide the sections and do the sleeves etc, im pretty confident about the sizing so far, and it is kind of cool with the top down thing that you can just keep making modifications until its wide and/or long enough.

and i am very impressed with the wool, its knitting up so light and airy and soft, like cashmere, and i have made all this with about half of one skein

and i had four skeins to start with, so i dont think im going to run out anytime soon.

anyway i must get back to the couch before my head implodes.

k xx

what conference?

i was in melbourne all this week just gone to launch the book i co-edited. the conference at which the book was being launched was for the asian studies association of australia, so it was pretty big. it was called 'is this the asian century?' my cynical colleagues and i looked at each other, said yes, and repaired to the bar. this was the view therefrom:

i did get out a bit, to the espy quite a few times, i must confess:

found some decent coffee in this little lane:

and a cute shop or two:

the markets were pretty cool:

someone told me to try the bratwurst man and it did look good but it was only 1030 in the morning so i refrained:

i did schlep all over town looking for a little shop that was supposed to be quite near my hotel:

not. cute little village tho:

i didnt buy wool, just some odds and ends to replace bits i borrowed at knitting camp:

i did actually get quite a bit of knitting done, started this just before i left and came home with a turned heel:

and i am now humming along on Lily after getting some excellent advice on how to lengthen the bodice without ending up with 600 stitches. thanks girls:

i quite liked melbourne, the architecture and the dinging of tram bells reminded me of europe, but good lord it was cold. am glad to be home, another busy week ahead.

k xx