Blow me down with a feather!

G'day all!

Today I got off my lazy butt and rode halfway to Monash with Nathan. Only halfway cos the other halfway involves a big long hill and once I do that I have to sit down for an hour to recover.... By the time the riding has taken over an hour and the sitting after the riding up the hill has taken an hour, most of the morning is gone. So I rode halfway and then back home again, for a nice little ride.

I got home and realised (three hours later) that somewhere along the way I had lost the bike lock, which attached to the bike via a strip of velcro (stupid arrangement). Someone had already appropriated the lock which is *totally* useless without a key. You can't even lock it without the key.

$22 later we have a new bike lock that STINKS to high heaven of mothballs. I didn't smell anything wrong with it in the bike shop. Some of you might know that I am deathly allergic to mothballs. They make me quite nauseated and very light headed. The effects can last for hours and I find them rather distressing.

So - the lock is for the bike. The bike stays outside. Now I have to work out if I can ride the bike with a stinky bike lock on it.

This afternoon, the lady next door asked if they could use our back gate (which opens to the road) to get the sides of their new shed into their property. They can't get it in via their gate from the garage to the yard. Yeah, sure, I'll open it up. She then says, after I open the gate, "He just put a parcel in your letter box."

Uh, what?

So what do you think possessed a parcel mail delivery contractor to think that this letterbox can take a parcel this big?

I got over that quickly when I looked at the parcel. It was for me! Look where it is from!

Oo err! But I didn't order anything cos I don't have a job and can't order expensivos yarn.

Lookie inside - how lurid is that? :-D Doesn't it just sock you in the eye and scream LOOK AT ME?


Wonderful MrsPao sent it to me! She said it was for quitting my job - how lovely! Thanks, MrsPao. I will find something lovely to knit from it. Bounce bounce bounce :-) Blow me down with a feather!

I've organised my second interview for getting temp work. I also organised my superannuation from my old work place. I'm rolling it over into a different fund. After finding out all the details (I had to ring up the super fund), filling in the stuff for the first temping agency, filling in the super forms, etc I was knackered and sick of bureaucracy stuff. Why is paperwork so hard?

This evening my sister sent me a link to look up our grandfather's records from WWI. The link didn't work, so I had to do a search. Blow me down with another feather. Fascinating stuff. The vague stories I remember tally up with what I can read in his war record. He got courtmartialed twice - once for disobeying orders (he thought little of the officers) and for desertion. He was reported killed in action in 1916, but was only wounded. (Freakily enough, he died 60 years to the day that he was reported KIA.) The records were so interesting that I didn't start cooking dinner until nearly 9pm. Oops. Still, it gave me a much better idea of who my grandfather was - he died when I was 9 and still terrified of this tall old man who had a mop of curly white hair and a voice that came from a gravel pit (as a result of being gassed).

I've been doing a bit of dyeing recently. I've been trying to find a pink that I like. The raspberry colour that I really like is only good at full strength - weaker and it goes a harsh pink/mauve metallic icky colour, like these two balls of silk road aran show.


I decided to try a dye called galah.

Not bad. The 1/4 strength version is quite a delicate pink, not that you can see much of the weak stuff but it is quite a decent pale girly pink. The pink pink is very pink :-)

I bought some beige yarn with the idea of dyeing it and seeing what happened. I am pleased with the results. It was done with galah and clematis - see the stuff at the sides?

In the middle is white yarn cooked in the same dyepot at the same time with the same dyes. Blow me down with yet another feather. The brown based yarn is a lot richer in colour. Interesting, eh?

Finally I bought some self patterning sock yarn that is marked down. It is black and white, and I don't like black and white cos it is the colours of The Old Enemy (Aussie Rules Football team Collingwood). But white yarn can be dyed any colour you like! So I did some pink

and some purple/mauve. The purple/mauve is going to Purplexity as her prize for winning my blogiversary giveaway.

If you want some self patterning sock yarn dyed your favourite colour, let me know. AUD7 a ball, plus postage. Excellent quality, soft yet hardwearing, 80% wool, 20% nylon, technically non-machine washable but don't tell my socks made out of this same yarn that cos they regularly end up in the machine. Just no hot/warm washes, ok? Cold only.

I've just read this, Mim's description of how to add beads to your Icarus shawl. How cool is that? I'll have to start knitting mine again, if I can find the yarn for it - I have two different colours for it but I have NO idea where the plain colour is for the fancy lace edging.

My nephew, The Swimmer, has been competing in the Australian short course championships. He came 8th in the final of the 100m breaststroke and SECOND last night in the 200m. You go my nephew!

Who would've thought that a baby that looked like this (age 7 months) would turn out any good at anything? LOL ;-P Another feather please! Don't you love the potential of a baby?

Finally, this is waaay cool. It is a google map that shows where you would end up if you were able to dig straight through the Earth to the other side. If I dig from Melbourne, Oz, I end up in the middle of the north Atlantic!

anon!