Well, Janette was not joking when she said that my life would never be the same again - these blog things take up so much time frustration - (1) I can't load photos - a common problem according to the "Help Group". (2) It takes hours to browse around other peoples' blogs (because I don't have broadband yet) and (3) updating each day is time comsuming. Even worse is that I like writing the wretched thing! Perhaps I'll change to an "author only read" blog and just use it as a diary. But that still doesn't solve 1,2 or 3!
Thank you for your postcard Janette - the holiday sounds really good. And thank you Shelley for stopping by - I'd love to visit New Foundland one day - it's on my (long) list of places to go.
My "incentive list" has done nothing to curb my eating - I nearly called it the "humiliation list" as it is meant to go down, not up! I thought that logging my progress publicly might help my motivation, but guess what - it hasn't worked. Still, tomorrow is another day ... so long as it's not like today with a very long lunch with friends who cooked all sorts of yummy things including hand-made chocolates (and we all know it's rude to refuse to try things, don't we?)
Yesterday I managed to buy some more acrylic for the baby jumpers for Africa and finished the one on the needles. I think they'll be a constant companion this year. They are good mindless knitting for in the car etc. I've also done a few more squares for a blanket in Caressa yarn that I started in a vain attempt to make my stash look smaller. It's also mindless. Eloise is still bubbling along - I've nearly finished the second front and still have two sleeves to do. It won't take long. By the time it's finished I might be able to put photos up - blogs without photos are not much fun. I still haven't located the angora for the calendar scarf but might be able to do some of the loop stitch floral pins with the yarn that is findable.
Happy knitting.
Thursday 4 January 2007
Tuesday 2 January 2007
Day Two - Local Yarn Store (unabashed plug)
After an hour at the gym, trying to undo a month's solid eating before I see the dietician again, I called in to see Sue at my LYS. I worked there at one time and still spend a few hours there each week, yarning! and drinking coffee.
I wanted to show her my "2007 Calendar, Knitting -All New Knits by Paulette Lane & Friends". It's really nifty. If you haven't seen it, it's half price at Borders and Myer (Australia) at the moment and it is fun. A small (??) project for each day of the year and the box opens up to a page per day and is supported at an angle by it's lid - in front of me now as I type. (It also has blank calendar pages to record important dates - in my case BIRTHDAYS - I still owe Flea No. 3 (birthday September) and her partner (birthday October) part of their birthday presents.) The smaller projects will be handy as I knit for a fund-raising group which raises money for the local youth outreach centre. It's a thankless task in many ways as often people won't pay a price that even covers the cost of the raw materials. Fortunately we get a lot of yarn donated - quite often in the form of half-knitted jumpers that ?cats have been sleeping on!! -I've given up trying to use those and dip into my stash. Last year Sue of LYS fame gave me two large garbage bags of quality, novelty yarns that one of the reps didn't need anymore - I was tempted to empty them into the bath and roll in them! but discretion prevailed.
I'm already planning to knit the Day 1 project, a ruffled scarf, but need to disgorge the contents of the cupboard under the house where most of my stash is hiding while we're "open for inspection" so I can find the angora that I bought in a moment of madness on a holiday in Tasmania about 5 years ago. With a bit of luck the moths won't have found it.
For those of you who live in Sydney, my LYS is called "Cherryhills". It's at Pennant Hills - located next to Vital Health Gym (not the one I go to) in a little arcade that runs between Pennant Hills Road and the carpark behind. Strangely enough its address is Shop 6, The Arcade, Pennant Hills. Phone & Fax (02) 9484 0212. It is a great shop with heaps of imported yarns as well as the usual suspects. I have to admit to a lot of self-interest here - unless we patronise our local stores, they will close - we've already had one close in my suburb and another close a few suburbs away. And Lyncraft, another chain of craft stores that used to be in the local malls has also turned up its toes. For me, going to a yarn store is like visiting a book store - I love to see the colours, feel the textures (smell the new pages in bookshops) and spend hours browsing even if I don't intend to buy. The internet can never replace that.
We're off to the movies tonight to see "A Prairie Homecoming" or some name like that and because it doesn't start until 9.15 in a suburb quite a distance from here, we are having a rare treat of a meal out. We know that if we eat here we won't feel like going out - I'll have to remember that trick for future use! When Grandpa Flea retired about 5 years ago we intended to go to the movies once a week - but we can count our actual movie experiences on the fingers of one hand! (videos/DVDs don't count - in any case we'd only need half a hand for those).
Happy knitting.
I wanted to show her my "2007 Calendar, Knitting -All New Knits by Paulette Lane & Friends". It's really nifty. If you haven't seen it, it's half price at Borders and Myer (Australia) at the moment and it is fun. A small (??) project for each day of the year and the box opens up to a page per day and is supported at an angle by it's lid - in front of me now as I type. (It also has blank calendar pages to record important dates - in my case BIRTHDAYS - I still owe Flea No. 3 (birthday September) and her partner (birthday October) part of their birthday presents.) The smaller projects will be handy as I knit for a fund-raising group which raises money for the local youth outreach centre. It's a thankless task in many ways as often people won't pay a price that even covers the cost of the raw materials. Fortunately we get a lot of yarn donated - quite often in the form of half-knitted jumpers that ?cats have been sleeping on!! -I've given up trying to use those and dip into my stash. Last year Sue of LYS fame gave me two large garbage bags of quality, novelty yarns that one of the reps didn't need anymore - I was tempted to empty them into the bath and roll in them! but discretion prevailed.
I'm already planning to knit the Day 1 project, a ruffled scarf, but need to disgorge the contents of the cupboard under the house where most of my stash is hiding while we're "open for inspection" so I can find the angora that I bought in a moment of madness on a holiday in Tasmania about 5 years ago. With a bit of luck the moths won't have found it.
For those of you who live in Sydney, my LYS is called "Cherryhills". It's at Pennant Hills - located next to Vital Health Gym (not the one I go to) in a little arcade that runs between Pennant Hills Road and the carpark behind. Strangely enough its address is Shop 6, The Arcade, Pennant Hills. Phone & Fax (02) 9484 0212. It is a great shop with heaps of imported yarns as well as the usual suspects. I have to admit to a lot of self-interest here - unless we patronise our local stores, they will close - we've already had one close in my suburb and another close a few suburbs away. And Lyncraft, another chain of craft stores that used to be in the local malls has also turned up its toes. For me, going to a yarn store is like visiting a book store - I love to see the colours, feel the textures (smell the new pages in bookshops) and spend hours browsing even if I don't intend to buy. The internet can never replace that.
We're off to the movies tonight to see "A Prairie Homecoming" or some name like that and because it doesn't start until 9.15 in a suburb quite a distance from here, we are having a rare treat of a meal out. We know that if we eat here we won't feel like going out - I'll have to remember that trick for future use! When Grandpa Flea retired about 5 years ago we intended to go to the movies once a week - but we can count our actual movie experiences on the fingers of one hand! (videos/DVDs don't count - in any case we'd only need half a hand for those).
Happy knitting.
Monday 1 January 2007
Day One of the New Year
... and I hope it is a happy one for you. I am not making any New Year's resolutions this year because I ALWAYS break them. We had a quiet New Year's Eve and are following the same pattern for today - other than a potential buyer for our house arriving with ten minutes notice - the very day I hadn't made the beds, done the dishes from the night before etc etc. - you've never seen anyone move so fast!
I have just tried to post a photo, but that seems to be a problem - maybe because I have a Mac. Does anyone out there have an answer? I've looked at the" Help" section but it seems to suggest I need a Google toolbar which is not compatible with a Mac. I'll keep fiddling with it.
I did quite a lot of knitting on Eloise last night, and just a little frogging - mainly because I was watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and forgot to stop the ribbing and change to reverse stocking stitch; ditto with the first buttonhole. I still like to watch my knitting and only look at the TV at critical moments. Grandpa Flea is well trained and gives me a running commentary to alert me to things that I need to know eg "he just slipped poison in her drink".
Roxie, your comment made me laugh - what does a 62 year old's blog look like? It reminded me of a Michael Parkinson interview with Sally Field - when he said she didn't look her age - she replied "well, that's what 50 looks like these days"! How true. I guess if you're not an Aussie you're not familiar with the Ginger Meggs comics (rather old fashioned these days). Ginger's mother was a large round woman, rather busty but shapeless with it and always wearing an apron - so like my grandmother that the artist could have used her as a model. But that was how grandmothers looked then (some of us still do!) - largish and shapeless or rather thin and angular. At least that what my memories are. Grannies (who crack the glass ceiling) these days seem to run corporations and wear designer suits. And if we can believe the TV ads (ha ha), after they have moved into a retirement village, they also ride Harley Davidsons and have romantic liaisons on the beach at sunset, champagne flute in hand. Aah - QUICK, I hear you say - book me into the nearest retirement village - NOW!
I can't believe I'm normal - although you did say "might be" - my entire world view will have to be reoriented if I accept that premise. Thank you for your faith in me - but just remember the old one about "all the world is queer 'cept me and thee"...
I'll spend the next few hours pretending that I'm normal and see if it feels comfortable!
Happy New Year.
I have just tried to post a photo, but that seems to be a problem - maybe because I have a Mac. Does anyone out there have an answer? I've looked at the" Help" section but it seems to suggest I need a Google toolbar which is not compatible with a Mac. I'll keep fiddling with it.
I did quite a lot of knitting on Eloise last night, and just a little frogging - mainly because I was watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and forgot to stop the ribbing and change to reverse stocking stitch; ditto with the first buttonhole. I still like to watch my knitting and only look at the TV at critical moments. Grandpa Flea is well trained and gives me a running commentary to alert me to things that I need to know eg "he just slipped poison in her drink".
Roxie, your comment made me laugh - what does a 62 year old's blog look like? It reminded me of a Michael Parkinson interview with Sally Field - when he said she didn't look her age - she replied "well, that's what 50 looks like these days"! How true. I guess if you're not an Aussie you're not familiar with the Ginger Meggs comics (rather old fashioned these days). Ginger's mother was a large round woman, rather busty but shapeless with it and always wearing an apron - so like my grandmother that the artist could have used her as a model. But that was how grandmothers looked then (some of us still do!) - largish and shapeless or rather thin and angular. At least that what my memories are. Grannies (who crack the glass ceiling) these days seem to run corporations and wear designer suits. And if we can believe the TV ads (ha ha), after they have moved into a retirement village, they also ride Harley Davidsons and have romantic liaisons on the beach at sunset, champagne flute in hand. Aah - QUICK, I hear you say - book me into the nearest retirement village - NOW!
I can't believe I'm normal - although you did say "might be" - my entire world view will have to be reoriented if I accept that premise. Thank you for your faith in me - but just remember the old one about "all the world is queer 'cept me and thee"...
I'll spend the next few hours pretending that I'm normal and see if it feels comfortable!
Happy New Year.
Sunday 31 December 2006
Every ending is a new beginning ...
So another year has passed - where did it go? But this year's ending is a first! - I decided some years ago to re-evaluate my many UFOs and WIPs once a year - they had become like monkeys on my back. So I ruthlessly (well, fairly ruthlessly) frogged everything that stood little chance of completion for whatever reason. It felt so good! But this year there is nothing that needs to be frogged! (apart from a few things that I hid earlier in the year so they didn't annoy me). maybe I'm learning some discipline at last - it's only taken 62 years!
Roxie, thanks for your encouragement - but I have to tell you that I'm the only person who could sew a school uniform kit together back to front, in a totally unsuitable smallest tension ever, spend hours unpicking it, in the process cutting the fabric which had to be darned later - and immediately doing the exact same thing! not once, but twice... maybe I'm not going senile after all - I was born that way!
Umma - your holiday sounds very restful - not! But it will settle down - now you've put your bed up - I'm sure! The weather in Sydney has been quite comfortable - overcast for part of the day, some sun and heat, and some RAIN- little children are hiding under their beds in fear and terror - the sky is falling! I'm looking forward to visiting Berry in July for the spinning and weaving day - I'll probably arrange another bus trip down there for the knitting group and the Guild if enough people want to come. The other thing I'd like to do in 2007 is a weekend workshop at the rag rug place down that way somewhere - do you have any interest? Have a great holiday - I'll see you at lunch when you return.
A very peaceful and happy New Year to everyone out there - if only we could wish the same for the world and think it might come true.
Roxie, thanks for your encouragement - but I have to tell you that I'm the only person who could sew a school uniform kit together back to front, in a totally unsuitable smallest tension ever, spend hours unpicking it, in the process cutting the fabric which had to be darned later - and immediately doing the exact same thing! not once, but twice... maybe I'm not going senile after all - I was born that way!
Umma - your holiday sounds very restful - not! But it will settle down - now you've put your bed up - I'm sure! The weather in Sydney has been quite comfortable - overcast for part of the day, some sun and heat, and some RAIN- little children are hiding under their beds in fear and terror - the sky is falling! I'm looking forward to visiting Berry in July for the spinning and weaving day - I'll probably arrange another bus trip down there for the knitting group and the Guild if enough people want to come. The other thing I'd like to do in 2007 is a weekend workshop at the rag rug place down that way somewhere - do you have any interest? Have a great holiday - I'll see you at lunch when you return.
A very peaceful and happy New Year to everyone out there - if only we could wish the same for the world and think it might come true.
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