Yarnivorous

G'day all! As a born and bred Melburnian, I reserve the right to: whine about the weather happily (or not depending on my team 's winning status) discuss footy whine about the weather have the weather be the major topic of conversation lust after things I can't get in Melbourne (though it is a city of about 4 million people, we don't get the things that Americans take for granted and of course we want, ignoring our own local versions of said things) moan about the weather I think you get the picture! Earlier in the week, it was lovely and warm, if a little windy. On Wednesday storms pushed through. Yesterday was windy but not too bad (as long as having things blowing away in the wind is ok). Today? It has not stopped raining all day. We've *only* had nearly an inch since 9am but OMG! Over it already! Tanks are full, rain rain go away, come again some other day! (Haha, since I wrote this, it has stopped raining. The sun of course went down an hour ago.) I...

G'day all! Alas still no pics of my knitting! If I had laid it out today for a pic, it would've been blown away and I'd never see it again! It has been (and is) amazingly wild and woolly outside - if only there was fleece blowing around but sorry, just wind. And it is c-c-c-c-c-c-cold! (North Americans will laugh when I say 10C without wind chill is c-c-c-c-c-c-cold but it is cold and a little damp and the wind chill brings it to fridge temps. I've had the little heater on all day and it has barely managed to get things warm - I've got on a singlet, a tshirt, a long sleeve tee, a fuzzy jacket, my rain coat, a pair of trakky dax, my flannel(ette) leisure pants and socks and slippers, plus woollen hat with cotton liner and I'm only just managing to stay warmish.) I am rather looking forward to a short break in Sydney, where it will be sunny and around 18C. That will feel very warm to me! Sydney is warmer in winter than Melbourne (hello! We are further south...

G'day all! I have news! But I am not going to say what it is until it is confirmed. It is good news though. Any guesses? We are still throttled on our internet connection so I still do not have pics for you. Also it has been FREEZING (not literally, at least not where we live though it feels like it has been!) and I don't have any pics of anything modelled or even sitting on the crappy old couch outside. Yesterday it blew a gale, even though it was sunny, and temps didn't even reach 10C, today has been windy and rainy (wind still coming from the northwest though, sorta unusual for a rainy day) and again it hasn't even reached 10C. 9C and it feels like 5C - almost as cold as a fridge. BRRRRR! Plus it is still raining on and off after raining for something like 8 hours earlier in the day. The couch that I often use as a background for various items of clothing, etc, is soaked as the rain is coming from the north. Plus yesterday's wind was so ferocious anything...

G'day all! Tis the season for me to hibernate! It has been rather cold here these last couple of days. A strong cold front came through and brrr! (OK, this is to say that it is getting down to about 10C/40-something F overnight and only reaching 17C/60?F during the day, with a rather strong cold SW wind. Yesterday was the first day since December last year when the temperature did not reach 20C.) So here I am, sitting at the computer (as I have been for a greater part of the day) whining about being cold. I've found I can keep my hands warm if I put them on the laptop cos it is warmer than some things around the place. I have a silk/bamboo cap on, a lovely little shawlette knitted out of handspun boucle silk given to me last year, handknitted handwarmers, luscious handknitted socks, four layers on my top (and I've got the hood up on the fleecy top over my cap), the ORBQ quilt on my lap and I am still barely managing to keep warm. And apart from the things in pairs, no...

G'day all! We are back from our trip and recovering from driving from U-tah! in two days via a rather circuitous route. There are some mountain ranges that I would like to have a few words with.... We drove over 2000 miles in a week. Doesn't sound like much but it sure cut into my knitting time cos I drove. All. The. Way. So, I got hardly any knitting done - half a sock and the first (ie easy) 25 rows of a top down raglan cardi were my knitting triumphs. I managed to read most of one small book. I read through a book on the southwestern states of the US. We saw gobsmacking scenery. DH and I took over 2500 digipics - that'll take a while to edit out the good ones, which will mostly appear on my travel blog . Now I am back into shopping at the farmers' market, cooking, cleaning, clearing the car out, doing the clothes washing, all that sort of boring stuff. And dying of heat exhaustion. We went from this: (Wednesday, Grand Canyon, embiggen the pics to see more ...

G'day all! The madness continues here. The place is in a total state of disruption. I have half sorted stuff out and we've gotten rid of a heap of stuff. The packers come tomorrow and take our stuff. But why am I going to die? We land in Calgary on Wednesday evening. That night Calgary is expecting MINUS THIRTY-TWO DEGREES CELSIUS. Yep, -32C. OK that is including windchill but I am going to die! I won't be able to breathe. I'll have to muffle myself in about 5 gazillion scarves. My fingers and toes will go numb in seconds and I shall probably set a new world record for frostbite setting in. I don't deal with cold very well.... O holy cow, why did Calgary have to be the place with the available visa appointments? Why did it have to be the coldest large city in Canada (mebbe with exception of Edmonton or Winnipeg)? Why not Vancouver, where I would have a chance of surviving? I am so getting me on a bus or plane to Vancouver once those visas are issued, ass...

G'day for the umpteenth time! I bring news, my lord (s and ladies!). We have a place to stay in Calgary (the youth hostel which is 400m from the consulate), tickets are booked for the trip up there and our Amtrak stuff on its way. I hope. Thank you all again for your good wishes. I think you need a little something other than my stress flaring at you. How about a little sock action? An actual finished sock! Yes I still do knit. (Lenore pattern in the Raven series from Blue Moon Fiber Arts - you don't know how hard it is to type fiber, center, etc, instead of fibre, centre, etc. Plus the second one is on the needles! Me making a pair of socks! Unthinkable! Inconceivable!) Interesting how the plying on the yarn makes those columns - I've seen that on Zarina and a few other yarns with a high twist angle. Some more yarn pr0n? Oh yes indeed you better believe that the yarn I've been showing you was not all of what I bought for me for my birthday. *blush* (But I di...

I'd be halfway to the US by now! (argh, our host is down, so no pics today! Dang, cos I have THE BEST shot linked below.) G'day all! Tomorrow morning we get up at an ungodly hour and head off to the airport. We have to be there by 8:30am, which means slap bang in the middle of peak hour. Plus after our recent tunnel fire traffic will be chaotic. I had thought we had to be there by 10:30 but because we've just lost daylight saving and you guys have just gained it, it changes the flight time by 2 hours. So I am faffing around flapping instead of getting anything done. I have bagged up some fleece that is finally dry and tossed it back into the fibre room (yep, literally tossed). I have located the tops someone in the US is buying from me - they are coming on the plane. I have not yet done my washing but Nathan's clothes are all clean. I need to get my only two decent pairs of pants washed. I am hoping that I'll get a chance to go shopping in Fort Collins - I need ano...