Fyrewitch's Knitting Adventures

Friday Round Up

This week has been completely nuts. I've spent more time in waiting rooms this week than I care to think about (don't worry, everything is fine), and my house looks as though someone has broken into it and turned it upside down. Today I need to do some serious cleaning, before I even think about picking up a hook or the needles.

Speaking of which, all the knitting I've done in uncomfortable chairs has assisted me in doing my shoulder in, so I will have to hook probably for today at least. Tomorrow I'm hoping to spend some quality time with the stole I'm making for Gabby at American Yarns.

The time I have been at home this week, I've set up my new astrology web blog. You can check it out here .

Also, I've just joined Plurk. I'm sure I need another social web site the same as I need another hole in my head but hey, it looks like fun.

I promise I will be more loquacious over the next few days. Thanks for bearing with me folks. :)

Cowling around

I must apologise for my silence the last few days. I've had a sick witchlet (who must still be ill, it's nearly 7 am and she's still in bed fast asleep), and I haven't been doing too well myself. At times like this my knitting always gets me through, and I've been concentrating on a couple of little projects.

 

These are both the Pretty Thing cowl pattern from the Yarn Harlot. Above it's worked in Red Hot Chocolate from Needlefood, and to the right, Camoflage from Lorna's Laces.

I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off instead of the pattern instructions, and it worked very well.

I'm a tad taken with cowls at the moment. I'm wondering if they would be better for the homeless than scarves. They are less chunky, but still very warm, and so small they would be easy to scrunch up and stash when not in use. Hmmm, will ponder that a bit more.

In other news, I'm going to be launching another blog soon, focusing on astrology. Stay tuned!

The Week of Casting On

So finally my must do October knits are out the way. Now I can get onto my must do November knits. To my dear Pay it Forward people from all those months ago, I haven't forgotten you, and this will be your month.

This week I've cast on:

The Pretty Thing pattern from the Yarn Harlot. We had our ups and downs initially resulting in two lots of frogging and starting over. I'm well into the pattern now, and enjoying it thoroughly. And it is certainly very, very pretty. It's not for me - no use for cowls in sub-tropical Queensland. I hope the recipient will be happy. I'm doing these on my new Addi circulars. They are great, but my one complaint would be that they aren't quite pointy enough. Unlike Knit Pros, which you could use as a weapon if you really wanted.

A stole that I'm doing for Gabrielle from American Yarns in a gorgeous blue baby alpaca.

Not quite casting on, as it's crochet, but I've started a blankie for my cousin's oldest son. I think I have the perfect teen boy colours, so I hope he likes it. His mother will love it because it won't show the dirt.

I probably shouldn't mention the blanket I've started but not finished yet, or the two pairs of socks I still have on the needles. I probably should also not mention that I'm planning on casting on another pair of socks today - which will be a gift for the same lucky person who will be getting the cowl.

Have I mentioned that I would really love a clone? Or maybe the power of super speed. Hmm, the needles would probably catch on fire!

Stitches and Craft show

I'm freshly home from the Brisbane Stitches and Craft show.  It was quite amusing as it was easy to spot the crafty people on the way there on the train. Mostly older women wearing eccentric handmade garb, or carrying handmade bags. I was astonished at the number of women trailing those bag-on-wheel things. I hope they managed to fill them up!

Funnier than that were the number of husbands sitting outside with a coffee and a newspaper, waiting for their wives to emerge. I do kinda feel sorry for crafting husbands, they seem to have limitless patience.

The show itself was good, not a whole lot for knitters, which suited me (and my budget). I did, however, find a pair of Addi circular needles in the size I was after. I also decided to have a little splurge on this.

Arucania Ranco Multi. Boy is it pretty. I could have spent a fortune at one stand, but managed to control myself.

The show itself was mainly geared towards quilters, scrapbookers and beaders. There were lots of very pretty sparkly things to look at. I ended up losing my mother and her friend (after they spent about half an hour in the first stall and I got tired of waiting for them) and wandered round by myself. It was a lovely morning. If you're a quilter, you'll need all day!

I knit, therefore I'm sane. Ish

Stephanie Pearl Macphee aka the Yarn Harlot, posed an interesting question in her blog the other day. How do non-knitters cope with stress? Or, is it that knitting attracts a certain type of person who needs maximum stress management?

As someone who suffers from an anxiety condition, knitting makes things tolerable for me. I can knit on public transport, which allows me to remove my focus from the crazies I'm on the train or bus with. It was particularly valuable on a day etched in my memory when an unwashed loonie got on the train, sat next to me and then said "baaaa" at regular intervals until we got to town (a good 20 minutes). My knitting helps me deal with being outside my comfort zone. Or, if I'm feeling particularly stressed out knitting helps bring me down so I can successfully interact with other people. It also helps me wind down at the end of the day. I can almost knit myself to sleep with that soothing repetitive motion.

How do other people deal with these situations? Alcohol? Drugs? I know that some people use video games to reduce stress and anger. Some also completely crack and use weapons. It's a fair bet that people who go on shooting rampages have never sat down for a quiet spot of knitting when they are feeling tense. Ditto for the people who express themselves with "road rage" - a grown up tantrum where steering wheel locks are used to settle things.

Would the world be a different place if kids were told to go do some knitting when they got cranky or stressed out?  

Knitters - how does the craft assist you in times of stress?

Non-knitters (I know you're out there) how do you deal with stress? (No really, please share, I'm curious).

Under the weather

I was hoping to be able to entertain you with tales of a gorgeous wedding today. Unfortunately I have come down with a particularly evil and badly timed stomach bug.

I can always gauge just how ill I am by how appealing (or otherwise) knitting is to me. I've done about 4 rows in the last 2 days.  My angelic witchlet has been behaving admirably, entertaining herself while her mother lies like a vegetable on the couch. I did make it to the shops yesterday afternoon (driving very slowly through the back streets) to get her a barbecued chicken as a treat.

This bug has cramped my style in the following ways:

• I couldn't get to Tina and Tim's wedding. :(
• I've been unable to venture out to get the brushes I need to practice my face-painting skills
• I've had my poor kid trapped in the house all weekend
• Knitting slump! I'm seriously behind on one of my projects.

I'm hoping I'll be better tomorrow so I can visit my sister and my dear nephews. I'm sure they will be terribly excited to have their aunt paint on their little cherub faces, even if it's not up to scratch.
Here's to tomorrow and being on a more even keel.

Frank, you're a bloody idiot

I'm not much of a sporting person, as I've mentioned in previous posts, but one of the sporting faces I've had respect for over the years is Frank Farina. Up until now.

One of the things I've always found odd about Australians is the way we tend to treat our sporting heroes like rock stars. The various football leagues have had lots of trouble recently with their players misbehaving badly off field. These incidents are generally followed by the individual appearing dutifully remorseful for the cameras. For some reason, our sporting heroes are allowed to behave like unruly teenagers on their first night out on the town. Except teenagers have to stop drinking a lot earlier because they run out of money a lot more quickly than these men getting paid obscene amounts each year because they can kick a ball.

There is an anti drink driving campaign which runs on our television networks which states "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot."

Mr Farina is a bloody idiot. He was charged with drink driving for the second time in two years. This time, he was pulled over early in the morning (reports I've seen have reported times as being between 7 and 10 am) with a blood alcohol reading over twice the legal limit.There is no excuse for this behaviour for any member of the public, let alone a well renowned soccer coach.  Not only does Mr Farina deny that he has an alcohol issue, he is planning on suing the Brisbane Roar club due to their decision to terminate his contract because of his behaviour. Apparently, not driving while drunk was not a part of his contract.

Excuse me?

I am astonished at the suggestion that a sporting club should have to specify that a coach or player to not drink and drive. Should it also specify in a person's contract that they should not get drunk and beat up their partner? Surely if an action is considered an offence by the local laws, it should be taken as read that these behaviours won't be tolerated.

Sporting figures need to start taking responsibility for their actions and not expect that all will be forgiven because underneath, they are really top blokes. Grow up people, you are not that special.

I congradulate the Brisbane Roar club for taking such a stance and showing zero tolerance for such anti-social behaviour.

Oops!

I had such a full on day yesterday I completely forgot to blog! I hope the blogtober fairies won't smite me for this indiscretion!

The reason I had such a huge day yesterday was that I had a job interview/try out kind of thing. Now it's a rare thing that you come away from an interview looking like this.

The other night, I hit up the lovely Lesley from Chameleon Face Painting for a job. Yesterday I had a get together with her, and tried my hand at some face painting stuff, including completing someone's face (thanks again Lousie!) It was awesome fun, and Lesley has agreed to take me on and train me as a face painter.

I'm very excited. The idea of returning to a desk job was anathema to me. This is perfect. I'll be working with kids - and occasionally adults - and playing with pretty colours. Plus the witchlet is incredibly happy as I'll have to practice on her. She's been begging me for face paints for two years.  As soon as I'm a bit more skillful, I'll have a face painting party for her friends, so I will have a heap of little canvases to practice on.

This is a great opportunity and I plan on embracing it with both hands.

On another note, it's one more sleep until Tina and Tim's wedding. Good luck kids! Hope you manage to get some sleep tonight!

Happy Wednesday!

Today I'm officially stumped for a subject. I have no events to comment on, no one in the media has made me cranky and the witchlet hasn't done anything particularly cute - apart from wanting to make me endless cups of tea since I let her make me one for the first time a couple of days ago.

I did finally finish Nellie's wavy blankie. I'm very happy with how it's turned out. If her birthday wasn't so close I'd keep it myself - it goes perfectly with my couch. Just kidding Nell.

I'm just over halfway with my mother's birthday socks.

Working with these wonderful dark, rich colours has made me realise something ... I'm getting old. Hmm, I've been having a few wakeup calls about this recently.

Both of these projects have been hurting my eyes.  I initially thought it was allergies, but when application of appropriate drops did nothing, I dug out my reading glasses (unused since prior to the witchlet's birth) and they have made a difference. The old eyes are wearing out. Even sitting here at the computer, I think I should probably be using them.

I've had reading glasses since I was fifteen. I figured out pretty early that continually using the glasses actually made my eyesite deteriorate as the muscles didn't have to work as hard. I've only really needed them for intense study periods in my past, or when I was studying philosophy and had to read a tonne.

Something else I'm going to have to start carting around in my knitting bag ...

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Birthday Brisbane!

I was lucky enough today to attend a special shindig in City Hall celebrating the 150th anniversary of Brisbane's birth. The Lord Mayor invited descendants of those who signed the original petition to make Brisbane a municipality to come and celebrate. 

I realised when I stepped inside City Hall that, in spite having walked past it many times over the years, I had never actually ventured inside.

 

The ceremony itself was wonderful, with a reenactment of the election of Lord Mayor Petrie and speeches from Queendland's Govenor, current Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, and Ms Grace Grace, speaking on behalf of the Premier. This was followed by a lovely morning tea of traditional Aussie fair - lamingtons, tiny pavlovas, and Anzac biscuits.

It was interesting to hear the issues that those first city aldermen put forth. As Ms Grace observed, "the more things change, the more things stay the same".  Water, sanitation, roads and preserving the wilderness were all issues then, just as they are now.

Happy Birthday Brisbane. Here's to 150 more.