Our internet will be connected on 28 May, so I'll be back with a vengeance on that date.
(Disclaimer: this does not mean I have actually done much crafting recently, but I will have some mighty pretty pictures for you!).
Apologies for lack of contact until then, I know I owe a lot of emails...
Just a quick note to say I love my new job and I have a new house- the Most Awesome House I've Ever Seen(tm). Yes, I'm serious. It's really fricking awesome. It makes me feel like Scarlett O'Hara with its huge verandahs and- I kid you not- 3-4 bedrooms and a dressing room that is bigger than my old bedroom. Unbelievably, the rent isn't even prohibitively expensive! It's about $20 a week more than it would cost to share a two bedroom unit. We move in on Friday, "we" being myself and a lovely lass I work with.
Igor is still with my old housemate who is being so lovely to him that he will probably sulk for weeks when he arrives, because I am cranky and mean. Just ask him! Anyway, he should be arriving this weekend if all goes to plan. I guess it's probably not normal to say I miss waking up with a mouthful of cat fur, but then, I've never thought 'normal' is something to aspire to.
I don't generally talk about work, but I will make an exception to say that I wrote a story about alpacas, and my editor described it as "a nice alpaca yarn"- I couldn't stop laughing.
In conclusion: life is just darn peachy. hooray!
There will be knitting or otherwise crafty content here soon- would you believe I've been so busy I haven't even made it to the Spotlight yet?
So, the yarn's been put away, the clothes hamper is mysteriously empty, and packing boxes are out- yup, I'm moving again.
On Monday I start a new job in a Small-But-Still-25-Times-Bigger-Than-This-Place Town, where I know not a soul and will have to worry about my lack of parking ability. On the plus side, there are knitters, and there's a Spotlight! Huzzah.
The first thing I did when I discovered I got the job (after the Oh-Dear-God-Moving-Again! shakes had worn off) was to check Ravelry to see who else knits there. At last I won't be alone! I figured that even if I don't know anyone, getting to know the other knitters is a good place to start.
I've been pretty anxious about this new move, as it's going to be a whole new world of firsts for me. I'll have to deal with traffic, for one. I'm not as concerned about starting a new job as I ordinarily would be (ie, nervous wreck), but I think this is probably because all my nerves are focussed on worrying about where I will live, and whether Igor will be okay, and if my driving will pass muster in the NotVeryBig Smoke. To be honest, I'm just so sick of moving - four times in the past year, for crying out loud - that my brain just goes dead at the thought of it all.
On the plus side, I've been channelling all this nervous energy into something useful. Not as useful as say, packing, or cleaning, or finding somewhere to live, but useful nonetheless. I hereby present 'Mohair Yarn Reflux', so-called because it's not quite fugly enough to be yarnbarf, but it's only about one step away.
It's certainly very hair-bally. Igor decided to jump in front of the camera when I was photographing it, but as soon as he got close to the skein, he jumped about a metre backwards and ran off to hide under my bed. Since cats are supposed to play with yarn, and instead he was terrified by it, I'm reluctant to call this a successful yarn. On the other hand, it is at least identifiable as yarn, and the colours are pretty- in some bits!
It was 100% mohair -mysteriously-acquired-roving, definitely the hardest thing I have spun yet. It's navajo plyed, badly, because I am not sure whether I left my lazy kate in Perth or if it's in a box somewhere, and trying a new plying method seemed easier than finding out. I think the total length is something pathetic like 26 metres. It does have a purpose though- I'll use it to keep Iggy off my dressing table when I move.
Now, back to the packing...
Spooky stats, huh? Also, I have a story about accidentally felting my mum's dog's hair... while it was still attached to the dog. Who knew wet dogs felted so easily? Isn't that what their natural oils are for? It was not pretty. Moral of the story: don't pet wet dogs too vigorously.
If I were to receive the world's most accurate fortune cookie right now, it would say "Exciting changes are afoot. Also, you have too much yarn."
I'm not going into details until it's all finalised, but suffice it to say I am re-packing my stash. Somehow, in the five months I have been here, my stash has grown by at least a third. I really have no idea how this happened, because there's not a LYS in sight (remember when I got so excited to visit a Spotlight? Yeah...). However, I think this may have had something to do with it.
Recent acquisitions include:
L-R clockwise: Knitpicks natural sock yarn for dyeing adventures (thanks Michelle!), beautiful 'Stormy Weather' hand-dyed roving from Lapoli, Cleckheatons Angora Silk (from eBay), and 'Felicia' hand-dyed roving from Yummy Yarn (which I have not been wearing as a scarf. I would not do that. *ahem*).
I worked out the other day the balance of my possessions is sadly (?) skewed in favour of yarn. Bear in mind that I only brought absolutely essential items with me (which reminds me, why IS a dead camera and a remote control to God-knows-what essential?)... and this is what it works out to, by volume:
In case you can't read that text on the chart (I can't!), it's 25% clothing, 20% books, 15% incidentals (AKA 'crap'), and 40% yarn.
(My brother just pointed out this chart is wrong, because I forgot to include my CDs, DVDs and laptop... whoops. I think that'd be about 5% in terms of volume, cos I got rid of most of them when I moved from Perth).
As you can see, my life is totally balanced right now!
The thing about having a blog is that you're supposed to, you know, write in it. And put in pictures. And stuff. I'm a pretty average knitting blogger in that case- since I last posted, I used my new wheel to spin up some lovely bluey/grey-y mohairy merino roving which has been in my stash for about two years. I can't even remember where it came from, but I've been saving it for a special project.
The colours worked beautifully, and it was holding together really well despite being pretty uneven, but I didn't want to ply it because I'd have ended up with about three metres of usable yarn. So, I just skeined it and started knitting...
I knit it up into a beret (no pattern, I made it up as I went) which even I was impressed with. I'm my own worst critic, apparently- although SpiderKnit and LupinBunny come a close second when it comes to criticising my work... at least they're constructive about it!*
* I mean this in the really nice, appreciative way. Their criticism has helped me improve my knitting tenfold, and their advice has weathered me through many storms! ♥
I'd made the beret for the lady who gave me the spinning wheel, as it was her late mother's and she said she'd love to see what I create with it. She was delighted, so I was all happy too... until I got home and realised I hadn't taken photos of any of this.
Boo. So, you'll have to take my word for it- I spun. It was good! I knitted. It was also good! I gifted... and lo, it was good. I promise I'll take photos next time.
I was discussing the veil issue with my mother ("it's just not practical... you remember how practical I am, right?"... never ask your mother this question- you will not like the answer) and she kept on insisting I had plenty of time to knit her desired veil.
"Mum, you know what work is like at the moment! And things like that take ages even if you're not working completely stupid hours!"
"Well, why don't you crochet it then? It's just a double, then a treble, then a chain, then a..."
"... Mum, are you telling me you can crochet?!"
"Yes, what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing... nothing at all. You've just never mentioned it. Even when I was whinging about how I can't crochet and need someone to teach me."
"Oh. Well, I'm quite the dark horse then, aren't I?"
The upshot is that she will not teach me to crochet ("remember what happened when I tried to teach you to cook/drive/hang out the washing properly?"). But she has agreed we could try and buy some plain black netting instead. I think she still has her heart set on the knitted veil, but at least now we have another option.
My mum is, for some reason, very proud of my knitting. Considering I haven't actually finished anything since, oh, 2005, I'm not sure why. Anyway, every year she puts a huge amount of effort into her outfit for Race Day. She won it last year, and this year she has been selected as a judge, so of course she must be out-do even last year's pink, lacey, rococco dress suit. (Yes, it really was unusual.)
So in an effort to outdo all others, she has asked me to knit her a black lacey veil to go over her hat. For an event which is just a few weeks away. Riiiiight. I probably wouldn't even be able to get the yarn necessary for such an endeavour before the big day, but my mother is not to be dissuaded.
Mother: "Can't you just use black thread?"
Me: "Um... no."
Mother: "Why not? It's fine enough."
Me: "It's too... uh... springy."
Mother: "Springy? Oh, well... could we iron it flat?"
Me: "... No."
Mother: "Don't you want me to look fabulous?"
Me: "...."
What can I say to that?
So, unless I can come up with a viable alternative which is available in this tiny town, I will be knitting my mother a lace veil with polyester sewing thread. Yay!
I finally drove unsupervised!
There was a fishing competition at a dam about 30km out of town, which I had to go to for work purposes, so off I went... and you know, it really wasn't as bad as I thought! Luckily, out in the sticks here, you don't really have to contend with traffic. I think I passed about ten cars in the trip there and back. The only tricky bit was when I had to reverse out of my parking spot, and I kind of got a bit stuck. Did I mention my car is m-a-s-s-i-v-e?
I kind of sat there for a bit, moving about 5cm at a time, trying to work out how to get out without dinging the car next to me or backing into the one behind me, when the guy who'd parked behind me took pity and got up to move his car. Kind of embarrassing, as I'm sure I probably would have had plenty of space if I'd been smarter about it, but there ya go... I got out alive, and without injuring people or property.
I think today I will go and practice reverse parking in an empty car park somewhere. I'm very tempted to go to the SlightlyBiggerTown down the road to practice, because it seems like everyone in this town knows I haven't driven before, and I get really self-conscious about who's watching...
(Yes, another bad pun.)
So, it appears I may have been on the crack when I was measuring the gauge for Snow White. Not sure how I got "yes, that's definitely 4 inches" one day, only to find it measuring nearly 5 inches the next day. Seriously, I think it grew overnight. Either that, or I didn't stretch the ribbing enough.
So once again, the Grignasco Tyrol goes back into the stash. Anyone know what else I can do with more than 1000 metres of bulky-weight purple yarn?
