Yarnivorous

G'day all! I'm running hot and cold today. Tomorrow it will be all cold unless I can get the hot water heater lit again (I've never managed so far). It is really hard to get the dishes washed when the hot water has to come out of a kettle. I have no idea why the water heater has stopped heating water but I have an idea that the pilot light has blown out again. Of course this has happneed when Nathan is not around and he has the knack for relighting the thing. I sadly lack the knack. I am not going to live for a week without hot water! You might be most pleased to know that the batteries charged for the camera. I took about 20 pics of roses then came inside to download all the pics, got them off the camera and the batteries died! Like what is with that? I only got about 20 minutes use out of them! So I don't have any craft pictures, again, cos I don't have charged batteries. Grump. Stupid batteries. Maybe it is the stupid battery charger. I wonder if I c...

G'day all! Well I've seen Nathan off at the airport, I've driven to my sister's place 300km away, totally failed to see any of the things I wanted to see on the way up there (but did get to see some really nifty plants in a roadside stop on the way up and flogged past a heap of other good stuff, promising myself to get pics on the way back...). He arrived in Bristol safe and sound, but his luggage got left behind in Frankfurt... Just as well they gave him a toothbrush in the plane. He didn't take a spare pair of anythign in his carry on luggage though. So obviously not a girl! So I wandered to my sister's place, we shopped for a dress for my niece, found THREE in the last shop we looked in (typical), then the rain set in. Bored bored bored. I almost finished the baby singled for E's baby - the knitting takes about two hours and the duplicate stitch takes about four. Scuse me, Cheshire is destroying the house by crawling all over stuff, looking for Nath...

G'day all! It is only a week until my last birthday in my *mumbles* before I hit *mumble mumble* Eeek! So remember, the first Saturday after the 3rd of November next year (that is Saturday the fourth of November 2006), BIG partay my place! We should be in our own home by then. YAAAAAAAAAY! Put it in your calendars, save up some $$ or whatever your local currency is and come on down! Coincidentally, today was a workmate's 50th birthday and it would've been the parental 54th wedding anniversary. Tomorrow Nathan goes to Bristol. He has to catch three different planes cos he is going to Singapore then Frankfurt then Bristol. Generally people sit on the one plane on the six hour flight to Singapore and then another 15-16 hours on the long haul to Heathrow. I hope his luggage keeps up with him. By the time he is laden with gifts for people in the UK, he won't have much space for his clothes! Anyway, I will be a mimbulus mimbletonia, or at least I will be mimbling and...

G'day all! Well it is a total rollercoaster ride here at Weedhaven. Nathan doesn't want to go to England and is behaving very erratically, househunting is annoying is a really good way to go UP and down, and my ankle hurts. Plus until 2 minutes ago, literally, I couldn't find Nathan's tax details and tax returns have to be lodged by next Monday when a certain someone will be in England. Whether he likes it or no. Whether I like it or no. So we have a day to get Nathan's tax done and also to get him some new tshirts and shoes and a decent sweater and stuff cos his clothes are getting a bit tired. Plus Cheshire chucked all over the most threadbare bit of carptet. We picked up a copy of the contract of sale for the house we are interested in today. This is all the stuff that tells you what encumbrances the house has, where the easements lie, whether it has had any planning permits issued, etc. We are looking at maybe buying number 9. So why is 75% of the info ...

G'day all! The weather in Melbourne has been rather unusual for over a week now. Last week started off sunny and clear. Then as the week wore on, it became more and more humid. For the last five or six days, we have had afternoon thunderstorms. The wind has been from the north west, when there is a wind. We did have a sea breeze on a couple of days, admittedly. This is WRONG, people! WRONG I tell you! This is Melbourne, in Spring! Melbourne in spring means four seasons in one day. Hot, cold, moderate, sunny, windy, rainy, hail. Not this constant humidity and thunderclouds rolling in. We haven't had a cold front go through for nearly two weeks. I've been able to wander around inside the house without wearing socks, let alone shoes. I had four days wearing sandals. We haven't needed to use the heater once. That is plain not normal! Admittedly we are getting little dumps of rain, which is excellent for the garden cos we have not had a lot of rain so far this O...

G'day all! Well my week off work is up. I still have the weekend but where did my week go? I think I know the answer to that. Travelling into town only to find out my passport stuff is unacceptable. Dropping off nineteen skeins of yarn at the guild, and having to weigh and price them all after labelling them the night before. Of course I got some bits and pieces at the shop whilst I was at it.... Talking to a home loan mob and finding out we can borrow enough to buy a house whilst remaining comfortable. Looking at houses online. That has probably taken up about 10 hours of my last two days. Finding out that I have to buy a place in Noble Park cos we are about $50K-100K short for the areas I'd like to live in. Could be worse. I could have to live in a place that is 1.5-2 hours one way commute each day. This will be about a one hour one way commute, or not much more than now. That hour or two a day makes a big difference. Given a choice of having a new place on a tiny ...

G'day all! That is what the first lender is very happy to offer us as a home loan. They said they could offer more, but we said no, thanks, we don't want to live on baked beans. The offgassing would be horrible! We would probably blow the house up.... Resale value = possibly more than with a house on it, actually. LOL Now there isn't too much in our current area for under $270,000 so it looks like we will be going further out (for amusement value you can look at www.domain.com.au and search for post code 3174, Noble Park). Lots in the Noble Park area that are well within our budget and are close to the train. The train is important. anyway, I have to do some bits and bobs, so I'll be back later to show you what I've managed to get done on my week off from work so far. Not a heck of a lot, to be honest! anon!

G'day all! Since this meme is doing the rounds, I decided to be a copycat and do it myself. Google "(your name) needs" This is what I came up with that amused me: Lynne needs to explain to Ted that she will not be influenced by threats Lynne needs to look into other less expensive alternatives Lynne needs relief And she needs it soon Lynne needs to be given a chance, a lot of people have judged her too soon Lynne needs to hit rock bottom again in order to find inspiration Lynne needs two men to testify that she is indeed single. (hmm, considering I am married, this will be interesting!) Lynne needs to go to Dodge City to attend a suffrage conference (I'd prefer to go to Rhinebeck or Maryland, if it is OK with you) Lynne needs _______ 6. I want to ______ Lynne 7. Lynne is like _______ 8. Without Lynne, I would _______ 9. if I was trapped in a room with Lynne, ... Lynne needs a lot more support Lynne needs to grab hold of her musical schizophrenia Lynne needs a good sp...

G'day all! Well I don't have a lot of knitting news or even spinning news tonight, though I have done some of both. Nope, this post is an excuse to close some of the tabs that are filling up my computer and making it load screens more slowly. Remember the "hobbits" found on the island of Flores in Indonesia? Well it seems that they may be a bit more primitive than first thought. The Princess Bride the musical? (I admit, I would consider calling a boy Westley) (no, I wouldn't call a girl "Buttercup") (Who else freaks out when Vader says "As you wish" to the Emperor?) I saw these rovings and I lusted, not quite as much as over the pink, green and blue bag. After all, I'd have to pay for them but the bag was free! I am sure you have seen that the Ignobel Prizes have been awarded for 2005. We Aussies should celebrate - we have both Nobel and Ignobel prize winners this year, both in physiology! OK that helps a little with the 20-odd...

G'day all! A couple of weeks ago at Gardening Australia Live, I saw many people wandering around with a "green bag" that wasn't green - it was sky blue, lime and hot pink. I wanted one of those bags so badly. I wanted so much! I LUSTED after a non-woven polypropolene bag. I even got Nathan to ask a random stranger where they came from. I didn't get one. I missed out. They had run out of them by the time I found out where they came from. I whinged. I moaned. I sniffled. I wanted one of those bags. I couldn't get one. I was heart broken (but not for days). At lunchtime today, I just so happened to walk past the City Square. Guess what they were giving away there? Tomato seedlings and some gardening samples in LIME, HOT PINK and SKY BLUE bags! The bag of my dreams! Of course I now have one :-) Stuff all those other wants and "needs" - my life is now complete because I have me a nongreen green bag :-) Well my life is complete for the time being...

G'day all! I was over at Smatterings * today and read about her problems with finishing garments. (* a couple of weeks ago my friend K confessed a girlie crush on the lead singer of Garbage and I thought how silly, a girlie crush. I am long past them! Then on the weekend I read all of the posts I could on Smatterings' site. *blush* Oh how I want a place with a big garden and a nice view and some places to grow all the plants I want to have, the vegie patch, the orchard, maybe all done permaculture way.... make some time for dyeing yarn and do more spinning.... be abe to go for rambles in the local bushland and keep it weed free.... have a pond or lake or fat lazy river nearby, or the sea) Anyway, back on topic. I confess freely that I HATE and ABOMINATE finishing. I hate seaming even if it is going well. I HATE HATE HATE weaving in ends - I mostly weave them in as I go but then there are still the odd threads that can't be woven in on the way, like the ones on the t...

G'day all! I've just placed a couple of order with Amazon and Knitpicks. Lots of money spent, but I've put in orders for a friend to so we can combine shipping. I feel so naughty! Thanks to the lovely J for giving me a US shipping address for Knitpicks - much appreciated! :-) Today for your delight, I have a random assortment of photos. I am time poor now after spinning a bit of merino/flax, packing away half a bookshelf (and discovering that it is now fashionable to make cardboard boxes that don't seal, but instead have whopping big gaps in the middle that about half a hundred books could fall through....), and wrangling the Knitpicks site into finding the yarns I wanted to order, along with Amazon which doens't let you tick boxes by things in your wishlist you now want to purchase. Instead I had to do it all one at a time.... I give you bubby galahs in a box (the front two were begging each other for food): A triangular multidirectional scarf made of my hand...

G'day all! I am amazingly behind on my pics. Let's have a look at what I got from last week's S E X. 100g of merino/soysilk blend to dye and spin or spin and dye or whatever, whenever: Some silvery mohair locks - obviously to play with in spinning but I don't know what I'll do with them, there was just a big fistful for $3 so I bought them: 50g of merino and flax in my favourite sort of colourway - lots of colours and all pretty! I've never spun anything with flax before so it should be interesting. 100g of Wensleydale in the same colourway as above. This Wensleydale is quite coarse especially compared to the merino and polwarth I am used to spinning. It is coarser than the corridale I've spun and about the same as the other umm erp, golly, forgotten what it is... something that felt a bit wiry to someone who spins with merino mostly. Some stuff I am assured is natural rayon - I thought it would be fun to play with, maybe cut up and spin up into some st...

G'day all! This is a post of links. I have too many links I need to get off my Firefox tabs - only 28 tabs open on *this* window, then there are three other Firefox windows open, and then I wonder why it goes so slowly when a fancy page opens up. Then I lose the lot when some really badly scripted page crashes my browser, so I'm passing all of these on to you instead! Next time I'll have pics - they just have to be edited and uploaded. Just wait until you see the pretty we found in the greenhouse - she is loaded up with babies and ready to pop! The new science of feeling good , with some interesting stuff about how they are finding going back into the past and analysing things doesn't necessarily make people better - indeed it tends to screw them up more. Apparently I am a very long and bright sock (I knew I'd have to be colourful!): Wow! You would have been a pair of socks as long as it's possible for socks to be before they're tights - and all multi-c...

to those who are sending to my inbox 2-3 copies of coke vs pepsi, google vs yahoo, my JC Penny (whoever they are) confirmation order number, Foot Locker confirmation order number, Starbucks, Pizza Hut and all the other "free" junk food and coffee joint vouchers EACH DAY, along with all the other spam just GO AWAY The rest of you, you nice ones who read my blog and occasionally leave me a comment, can stay :-) I'll be right back with you. I have an FO, well once I tie the ends in she is finito! Except for the blocking. OK, it is not a very FO at all - it is an AFO. Almost Finished Object. For the nonce, these might amuse if you haven't seen them. Knitted ahem sculpture . Angora pants . Check out the reallllly special ones below the longjohns with feet. Like pants with feet are special but fluffy pants missing other bits are even more special! A radio station knitalong A yearly get together for umm for want of a better word automotive enthusiasts in the Nevada d...

G'day all! Do you ever stumble out of bed in the morning and into the shower pretty much on automatic? This morning I wandered out of the bedroom, heading for the bathroom when something impeded my progress. My little toe was stuck on a wire thing. My foot couldn't move forward. Hm, what is going on here, I thought to myself groggily. My foot is stuck and won't move. Why won't it move? Very odd. My toe seems to be caught on something.... And YOWZA! My TOE HURTS! My toe is caught on the frame for a supermarket bag rubbish bin and it REALLY hurts! Amazing how pain clears away the morning brain fog. I have no idea if it is ok - it still hurts but it isn't enormously swollen or anything. It moves like the other little toe, though it hurts a little. And I ain't taking a picture of it cos I have lovely corns and all on this poor little bent hammertoe. It is not pretty! Nothing to see here, move along, move along.... Now where were we up to... Ah the fibre ...

G'day all! I really have the feeling that what you want to see is YARN! And knitted stuff. Not hear anything about my whinging and moanings about having to move. Well, you'll just have to deal. Or not read, only look for the pretty pictures. That is easy enough! Ah, I must remind you. You have thirteen months until a Big Event happens. I am not exactly sure what I will be doing for the Big Event but I definately will be doing something. After all it isn't often that one turns mumble-mumble. Of course it isn't often one turns mumble-mumble-harrumph either - indeed I've noticed that birthdays technically seem to occur once, but I got stuck on 30 a while ago. Anyway, you are invited to the big event, as long as I have some idea who you are. I'd love to see you! Heck, if there were lots of you, we'd hire a bus and do a tour of all my fave places here and be tourists (I used to call it terrorising places but now that is not at all PC). So Saturday, yes...