And so the days are filled...

End of summer

2008-03-21T14:12:00.002+11:00

It was a long summer for cricket tragics. The test series was marred with controversy, and the positively memorable moments were scattered very few and far between. (I will always be proud to say I witnessed Sachin's century at the SCG; I will be less proud to say I jumped to my feet and cheered at the fall of Ishant Sharma's wicket two days later.) The 12-match one-day series that followed the test series seemed to drag on and on, and continued to be marred by whinging, mudslinging from both Australia and India, and too much cricket in the headlines. It got to the point where I rejoiced when the footballers started getting into the papers for all the wrong reasons, yet again.

Such is the ebb and flow of the seasons. For sports fans the onset of autumn is more than just the extra hour of darkness at the beginning of the day and the extra chill in the air (at least in the shade) - it's the thrill of seeing the four big sticks erected at the local oval, and the excitement of the *whump!* sound made when a boot connects with the pointy ball. AFL is finally back and, thanks to the annoying antics of the Australian cricket team, I couldn't be happier. (Though I must put on record that my faith in cricket was somewhat restored by attending Day 1 of the Sheffield Shield final between NSW and Victoria. A bunch of mostly unknowns, quietly going about their business and doing a good job of it. That's what cricket should be about.)

The impending beginning of autumn and the AFL season this weekend caused me to realise with some alarm that I had not yet finished my Geelong Memorial Witterings Hat. Cast on during last September's grand final match between Geelong and Port Adelaide in what happened to be Geelong colours (by accident, not intention). I finished the knitting in a fit of summer-heat inspiration on a visit to Queensland in early December with visions of a new summer hat to wear to the cricket dancing in my head.

The instructions for finishing Witterings were clearly to be followed to the letter. This is an interesting design in that the detail of it, mainly the finishing, result in a knit that is worthy of High Street more so than most of the knits I attempt (which, well-finished though they may be, rarely result in something looking anything but hand made). I wanted to pay special attention to the tubular cast off and go about the final processes of blocking, applying millinery petersham to the crown, and inserting a cord into the tubular cast off in order to strengthen the brim. A sunny day presented itself, perfect for blocking. I didn't have a form to roughly match the size of my head, so my blocking efforts concentrated on evening out the brim, which had a somewhat segmented look, due to the regular, rapid increases which formed the brim.

People seem to have had trouble sourcing millinery petersham for this project. I simply salvaged some from a vintage hat I'd had sitting around in the 'donate-to-Vinnie's' area of the spare room for about 18 months now. The hat wasn't in good condition and it had served its purpose with me long ago as part of a costume to a fancy dress event. The petersham was easily smipped out, handwashed, dried in the sun, and ironed - ready for insertion.

More difficult was finding an appropriate cord to thread through the brim. The designer recommends cotton laundry line. In the end I opted for a length of elasticised cord I'd had hanging around in the craft box, salvaged from an old mosquito net which had been thrown out years ago. The cord was the right diameter, but its construction - a number of smaller elastic cords held together by a nylon casing - made it very difficult to thread through the narrow tube which forms the brim. The threading through took me several attempts until I found a method which worked. Because of the cord's construction, I couldn't simply put a safety pin through the end and guide it through the tube, because the safety pin kept pulling out of the cord. Finally I settled on wrapping some strong thread round and round and round the leading few centimeters of the cord, attaching that thread to a safety pin, and then pulling the cord through. Even once I'd settled on this method, the pulling through took a few evenings in front of the telly.

Exhausted by these efforts, the hat was then cast aside for later joining of the cord, closing of the last remaining opening in the cast off brim edge, and finally application of the petersham. Fast forward about 3 months to earlier this week when I suddenly learned that Geelong would, once again, be playing Port Adelaide, nearly 6 months since the grand final, in round 1 of the 2008 AFL season.

The two ends of the elastic cord, of course, refused to be sewn together - again, due to the construction of the cord. In the end, I dipped the two ends in Elmer's glue (my old craft glue favourite, brought back to Australia from my last trip to America several years ago and only used for special occasions) and let them dry. I thought I would then be able to sew the two ends together but in the end found that they overlapped by only a centimeter or so and just left the ends free inside the tubular cast off to do what they want.

I then used a rough approximation of mattress stitch to close the gap in the tubular cast off and wove in a very long end, threading a good 10cm of the tail into the tube of the brim in case I need to reopen this gap and adjust the cord situation in future.

Trying on the hat, I was pleasantly surprised that the negative ease at the crown promised to keep the hat firmly on my head in any windy conditions, because if there's anything that gives my heart a sudden panic it's a hat threatening to blow off. Because the actual diameter of my crown and the actual diameter of the hat were so disparate, I decided not to sew in the millinery petersham. I may one day, if the hat stretches to the point where it requires something to stabilise it on the crown, but for now the petersham is quietly rolled up back in the craft box.

Now that autumn has begun (and Geelong, again, has beaten Port Adelaide), this very summery hat has had one ceremonial walk in the dog park before it will be gently folded up and put in the summer clothing box to await what will hopefully be a splendid summer of cricket. By then, I'm sure, all the footballers in the paper for all the wrong reasons will have turned me right off AFL.

For more:
Ravelry link
Pattern link

On the booker - another rant

2008-02-29T16:49:00.003+11:00

Maybe this happens to you - I resist blogging until I feel I have something to say. A post bubbles around in my head for a while until I decide it really needs to be said. There is no timetable to the process, or even any clear rationale. Lately I've been meaning to close off my 2007 Booker Prize discussions with a review (or rather non-review) of the final title on the shortlist - Darkmans by Nicola Barker. But I didn't really feel the need to write about it until those crazy Booker people went and did something irritating again... (at least they are reliable in their behaviour)

Fifteen years ago, on the 25th anniversary of the prize, the Booker mob announced that they would have a 'Booker of Bookers' prize in order to honour the so-called best Booker prize winning book since the beginning of the prize in 1969. A panel of judges selected Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (which won in 1981).

Now, call me a cretin, but I just cannot stand Salman Rushdie's books. I know there are stacks of people out there who do love him and I am not making any kind of comment about those people, their literary taste, or their intelligence. All I am saying is that for me, Rushdie just doesn't cut it. I have read Midnight's Children and cannot think of many experiences which were more excrutiating. I have even read others of his books in a vain attempt to discover what it is that make people rave about his writing so much - all to no avail. Life is short, so I'm cutting Rusdie off the life reading list. There are plenty of fish in the sea and I don't need to torture myself trying to fathom Rushdie.

Now, fast forward a mere fifteen years and the Booker mob have come up with (for the 2nd) time - a startling idea! A 'Best of the Booker'! Quelle surprise! How novel! This is in aid of their 40th anniversary. Again, all previous winners of the Booker Prize are eligible to win. (I am not sure whether there is actually a prize, other than the acclaim and publicity.) Again, most of the pundits are saying that Rushdie's Midnight's Children should win. (Though, hearteningly, Life of Pi is the bookies' favourite at 4:1.)

What does this mean exactly? That in the past 15 years there are no books which have won the Booker which can hold a candle to Midnight's Children? Wouldn't the judges and their idiotic choices (for many of those 15 years) be somewhat accountable for this dire situation? When will contemporary literature be able to move on from this supposed high water mark of Midnight's Children? I suppose I just want to scream from the rooftops: Get over it people! Go and read one of Rohinton Mistry's three shortlisted books! (one of which at least should by all rights have won - in 1996)

But leaving aside personal preference for a moment - the real innovation that the Booker mob have thought up this time is not to have a panel of judges to determine the winner of the 'Best of the Booker' prize - rather, this time it's open to public vote. That's right, public vote. The Booker people have finally caved in to all the complaints that their judging panels are out of touch with the world's readers (as demonstrated by their pitiful choices in past years), and have put the Best of Booker up to the person who can click for their favourite the most number of times. (Though a panel of judges will select a shortlist of 6 books for punters to vote on. And I wonder if the judges will be reading all 41 of the previous years' winners before choosing that shortlist...)

As much as I disagree with the judging panels from year to year, I hate to see the Best of the Booker determined by popular vote. The whole point of the Booker Prize, love it or loathe it, is that it is not decided by popular choice. If it is now opened to popular vote for this once-off prize, why not let us vote for a People's Choice award each year?

All in all, the Best of the Booker prize seems to me to be a pathetic grab for media attention in the dark half of the year when the Booker is inconveniently out of the limelight. Last year's prize has been decided and the furore has died down... it's too early to pick this year's shortlist and even the longlist announcement is months away. So in a desperate bid to get some headlines, the Booker people think 15 years is enough time to have elapsed between the 'best of' prize and launch it again. I for one will not be voting.

Of course I will keep pursuing my life goal of reading all the Booker Prize winning books and maybe the short and longlists too. Here is a handy little reference sheet for those of you have have similar inclinations.

Now, about Darkmans. This is the last book from the 2007 shortlist which I have still not read - however, I have a review of sorts for you. My father has been visiting lately. He is semi-retired and has been on holidays in Australia for a couple of months. So he can very easily be identifed as Someone With A Lot Of Spare Time. So I gave him a copy of Darkmans. I figured he could read it first and if he liked it, then I would finish it. (I got about 100 pages in last year before having to put it down because I was disliking it so much.)

In summary, my father's reactions in the course of reading amounted to a great deal of eyeball rolling, snorting, and exasperated sighing. As he was getting close to finishing the book, I asked him occasionally to read out a passage to me. The selections nearly always seemed inane - an episode where a bird shat on a fellow's head, that sort of thing. I was looking at this 800+ page book thinking perhaps the bird poo could have been edited out, if it didn't contribute to the story. That's the thing. I now have it on reliable advice, from someone who has actually read and finished the book - IT IS NOT ACTUALLY ABOUT ANYTHING.

Sure, there are plenty of highbrow reviewers out there who will tell you it's about this that or the other thing. But in actual fact, nothing happens. There are a bunch of characters. New characters get introduced a few dozen pages from the end. There is no resolution, nor is there anything to be resolved. It is just a big fat book about nothing.

Suffice to say, I will not be reading it. I will be marching straight down to the 2nd hand book shop with my copy of Darkmans and freeing myself from the burden of even looking at it on the bookshelf. I have considered just putting it in the recycling bin so I do not inadvertently cause someone else to waste the precious hours in their life by reading it. But somehow that seems a bit harsh.

So there we have it. 2007 Booker Prize consideration closed. Reading for 2008 will commence shortly. Peter Carey has a new book out, called His Illegal Self. As I read somewhere, Peter Carey + New Book = Booker Prize, so we shall see. (His last book was shortlisted but did not win, though I thought it would have made a credible winner.) Other possibles include Tim Winton's soon-to-be released Breath, and another favourite of mine, Murray Bail, is due to come out with a new book early this year. Geraldine Brooks, a previous shortlister, has a new book out which has received mixed reviews. I am not a huge fan of Brooks, so I think I will wait and see if her latest is shortlisted before reading it.

In the meantime, I admit I have not knit a stitch since mid-January. There are myriad reasons for this, chief among them that I just don't feel like it. I'll be sure to get back to you when I have something more to say. Until then, possums...

What's next then

2007-12-31T16:16:00.000+11:00

My mum tells me that among the first 'coherent' syllables I uttered as a babe in arms sounded something like "wet mouse". She liked to think I was asking "What next?" It does seem to be a question I love more than many other of life's imponderables.

While the 'what next' question hardly ever gives me pause when thinking about books, I find that with knitting, it is something I can ponder until the cows come home and still enjoy pondering some more the next day. I know I'm not alone - last month Theresa asked what project her readers were enjoying most right now, and many of them said 'The one that's still in my head'.

For me, the project in my head is often the most enjoyable because
1. I haven't had a chance to stuff it up yet
2. I haven't had to put in any hard work with a calculator rejigging numbers
3. It fits perfectly while it's still in my head
4. It doesn't take any time or commitment
5. It doesn't cost any money

The past week I've been trying to consciously look at what factors influence my knitting what-next questions. Here's what I've been considering.

Season & climate
Is it better to knit in advance of the current season? Should I cast on now for something I'll wear in early autumn? Or should I knit for the current season because chances are the current season knits require materials which I can cope with in the current climate? Or should I knit for the climate which dominates my wardrobe? If this is the case I might knit 1 wool sweater a year and no more, in favour of cool cotton summer tanks, light tops or wraps for chilly evenings.

Company
As the old saying goes, knitting loves company. Sometimes it's compelling to cast on for something just because there's a KAL, or because your friend wants some company during the journey of a particular pattern. Sometimes it seems like everybody's knitting something so I should either a) get cracking on it now before I'm left behind or b) leave that pattern well enough alone because everybody and their dog has made it. I hardly ever succeed in completing KAL commitments (Forest Path Stole knitters keep quiet! And I'm sure the Hanami KAL people have blacklisted me forevermore. I never even cast that one on.)

Categories
Should the knitting basket have a consistently balanced series of projects representing all the relevant categories? Just when it seems I've come up with reasonable categories, they shift. And categorising knitting tends to keep me from trying new things outside the categories. Should there always be a sock, a sweater, a lace project, and a colourwork project on the go? Or should the categories run along the lines of mindless, some attention required, and atten-SHUN!

Mental space
I'm far less likely to be able to successfully and mindfully start a project if it's been a busy week at work or after 7pm. That said, some of my spur-of-the-moment decisions have turned out well. Projects that seem a little daunting tend to get put off until I am in a relaxed mental space. For example, I bought the pattern and yarn for Morrigan back in July. I swatched for it during a long weekend in October. And I had mentally always been setting aside this Christmas holiday to properly cast on. When I looked at it again this week, I changed my mind about needle size and that just seemed to put everything on hold for me. If I'm constantly putting off things that seem a little bit hard or challenging, when will I face up to the hard stuff which ultimately is the most rewarding?

Upcoming travel plans
I am planning on spending January 2nd - 7th at the cricket ground and it is a truth universally acknowledged that one must have a sock to work on at the cricket. Luckily I have Nutkin on the needles - but it'd be good to finish Nutkin #1 before the cricket starts so I can re-wind the remaining yarn and have less to carry around with me during my daily cricket ground triathlon. So maybe I should just forget about starting anything new and just focus on Nutkin?

Obligations, real and perceived
With Christmas out of the way I thought I was in the clear with gift knitting. But then there was a friend's pregnancy announcement last week so I really 'should' get going with that baby knit and have it out of the way early so it's not a last minute rush...

The stash
Should I approach what-to-knit-next on the basis of the most 'mature' items in my stash? But what about that stuff I just bought? It's way more pretty and exciting...

The 'hankering'
There is that little feeling deep down which seems to set the course. Last year there was a hankering for lace, colourwork, and a Hex Coat. Nowadays the hankering seems to be directing me toward things like blankets and cushion covers and cozy home like things. Cables keep drawing my attention. Knitting Nature still calls my name.

In the end what I usually do is cast on for everything that takes my fancy in any given moment and set each object loose in the Darwinian order of my knitting bag where the fittest, or most interesting, survive and the weakest end up keeping the Forest Path Stole company.

What about you? What's coming up on your plate and how do you come to a decision?

Gifts finished, given, frogged, and postponed

2007-12-28T11:34:00.000+11:00

I thought you might like a little run-down on the gift projects I mentioned last time.

The Icarus shawl was made for my mum's birthday with yarn left over from my wedding stole (Jaggerspun Zephyr). She really liked it.

This Montego Bay Scarf was made, as mentioned previously, with a skein of Knitpicks Gossamer I won in a contest and I am really pleased with how it came out. I have a few more single skeins of variegated lace weight Knitpicks yarn I've received from various places and would not hesitate to make another similar Montego Bay Scarf as another gift or for myself. It's easy to make and looks much more complex than it really is.

I don't have a good photo of the Montego Bay Scarf I made for my family gift exchange this year but here it is draped on our Christmas tree. I think it was appreciated by the recipient, who promptly put on the scarf (it was unseasonably cool for Christmas this year and the recipient tends to feel the cold) and she wore it the entire day.

I also finished and dispatched prior to Christmas a pair of Log Cabin Socks for a friend's birthday in early January. The yarn is Naturally Sensation which has a blend of angora and merino, and it was something I just had to buy one day when I happened to wander past the LYS in a shopping mood. I had nothing in mind for the yarn, and was very pleased how it worked for the Log Cabin Socks. Each sock in the women's size used just under one skein, and I have another 2 skeins left over to make some more socks for myself. Or something else. Who knows. I love it when you buy something on a whim and then find something good to make with it, most unexpectedly.

And finally, the frogged & postponed mentioned in the post title - some mittens intended for my father have been frogged once and re-started and now I think must be re-frogged. I have thus postponed the intended occasion for gifting these mittens to late February, the recipient's birthday. The problems with the first incarnation was my fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants design approach, and the problem with the second incarnation is size.

v.2 - a bit too small

v.1 - the corrugated ribbing was too pretty to rip out entirely

The yarn is custom-dyed for me by The Knittery in Fremantle Dockers colours - what a fabulous service!

Now that all these gifts are off my plate I've managed to face casting off the Witterings Hat (it took 3 sessions of cricket to finish it) and will now being searching for the millinery Petersham and cotton laundry cord required for the finishing. Here it is looking a little ruffled around the edges, an effect which I will hopefully be able to block out in due course.

Also I'm enjoying the Nutkin sock in some STR 'Jingle Bell Rock' (how seasonal of me) and am mulling over what comes next. Until then!

Daysfull Digest November volume 1

2007-11-27T17:08:00.000+11:00

You know those photocopied inserts you get (or send) in your Christmas cards telling you what fabulous things your friends have been up to in the past year and promising that we should all get together soon and happy holidays and so on? I thought something like that was in order here. So here's the skivvy on the latest goings-on.

Ravelry.
I have been playing around in the big ol' Ravelry and it is heaps of fun and admittedly the fun of maintaining a blog has been a little lost amongst the sand castles, pails, and shovels of the Ravelry sandbox. But I think I'll try to stick with this here blog for a while, if intermittently. Where else will you get reviews of Sydney's finest lavatories? Where else could I publish said reviews?

Knitting.
That's what you're here for, I won't pretend otherwise. There have been a few
projects simmering along with all good intentions, most of them are of hush-hush status. However, I do have one thing to show you, my Geelong Memorial Witterings Hat, so called because I coincidentally cast on for it during the 2007 AFL Grand Final in September(which Geelong won) and it is in colours which convincingly approximate Geelong's team colours. I'm not a Geelong supporter (and I was even barracking for the underdog, Port Adelaide, in the Grand Final. Nevertheless, their season was an amazing one and so I'm happy to honour them with a hat (even if the hat is more likely to be worn to the cricket than the footy.)

I didn't bother counting how many stitches I ended up with when the brim was a satisfactory width but it sure is a bl**dy lot of them. The tubular/sewn cast off was frankly demoralising after only 1/8 of the stitches were done. So I cast it aside (rather than off) where it patiently awaits a more patient finisher. Curses batman! And I so wanted to finish that hat in time for Melbourne Cup!

As much casting off as I could handle...

Melbourne Cup.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting this fine horse recently, so there's even a horsey photo for you! This year in my office sweep I drew Railings who, at $201, was the bookies' least favourite to win. I wasn't too upset because at least my office sweep pays $2 for the wooden spoon, aka last place - which means you get your money back and you get some bragging rights. But my dumb horse came in second last. Last place was the early leader, Tungsten Strike, who obviously could not sustain his early pace. Oh well, at least Fiver drew the 2nd place winner so we haven't lost the farm yet.

Christmas knitting.
You're doing it, I'm doing it, everybody's doing it. This year we have four projects on the boil. I'm fairly sure none of the recipients can get past the gatekeeper at Ravelry yet, so here's links to the goods for the initiated:
1. Secret project #1. Finished.
2. Secret project #2. Finished 50%.
3. Secret project #3. Only just started.
4. A Montego Bay scarf for my brother-in-law's girlfriend (who definitely does not read the lavatory reviews, book rants, and occasional knitting updates chez Daysfull). Recently started and going quickly. Here 'tis:

The yarn is Knitpicks Gossamer in the Sunrise colourway, which I won as a prize in the Knitty Professor's 'Name This Puking Animal Creamer' contest. In addition to this skein, plus another skein of yarn, my prize included my very own Puking Animal Creamer, which you can see above. Who knew such a thing existed?! Certainly not me. Now I am enlightened. Thanks Michaele!

Cricket.
It's my favourite time of year, the cricket season. In honour of this, I have started up a group on Ravelry for cricket tragics, Knit Before Wicket. Please come join us! There's no sledging allowed and even fans of England may join.

Books.
I recently finished another 2007 Booker shortlisted book, Animal's People by Indra Sinha. It was a challenging read and very enjoyable. I thought narrative voice (a fellow called "Animal") was a literary achievement unrivalled by the other contenders this year. I had the opportunity to purchase a copy of this book prior to the shortlist being announced and turned it down because of the cover image and the short quotation featured on the back cover, which made it sound like a human-child-raised-by-wolves kind of story. In fact, this is far from the case and just goes to show (everybody together) "You can't judge a book by its cover." However, you can probably sell more books if you have an appealing cover.

I have just started Darkmans, the last one of the shortlisted books from 2007 I have yet to read. It is a hefty tome of over 800 pages I don't expect to finish it anytime soon. First impression? The length is gratuitous. But I'm giving it a red hot go.

Movies.
A new Australian film called September is in advance release. I had the opportunity to see it last week. It is fantastic and I recommend it highly.

Holidays.
Fiver and I took our gorgeous Guinness to a dog-friendly guest house in the Snowy Mountains for a week last month. It was Guinness's first trip to the bush and it is with some consternation that I report his new-found love of all things wombat, particularly wombat poo. We had a very stinky dog for most of the holiday.

Here's HRH Guinness admiring his identical twin in the window of the Criterion Hotel in Gundagai, where we also took in the Dog on the Tucker Box.

There really is snow in the Snowy Mountains. It was heaps of fun to reacquaint myself with the flurry stuff after about a decade of snowless existence! Here is Australia's highest peak:

Clearly no sherpas were required to reach this peak.

In Jindabyne, one of the main towns in the mountains, we were thrilled to discover this local landmark -

Leo Barry Park?!

If you can't see the sign, it says Leo Barry Park. We could only conclude that the park was named in honour of the Sydney Swan. I took about 10 photos of Fiver trying to re-enact "The Mark" with no success. Other than about 10 hilarious photos.

The Garden.
Through very little effort of my own (and a lot of effort by Fiver), we actually have some things flourishing in the garden! The miracle of life occurs in the front garden, where we have a real live capsicum growing!! This is just a total marvel to me!

Don't tell it we're going to eat it...

And in the back garden, I don't think it's too early to get excited about this little bud (and promise of several more) on the passionfruit vine.

What did the big flower say to the little flower?
What's up bud!

I think the technical term for what our garden, and particularly this vine, has been doing the past month is 'going berzerko', thanks to healthy rainfalls and of course Fiver's careful ministrations.

Conclusion.
Hey! We should really catch up again before the silly season sets in!

Shock / horror

2007-10-17T07:38:00.000+10:00

Anne Enright's The Gathering has won the 2007 Booker Prize.

True to form in recent years, the judges picked my least favourite (scroll down) from the shortlist.

I'm off to go try and remember why I bother with the Booker!

Two more shortlisted book reviews...

2007-09-28T16:40:00.000+10:00

Finally after several disappointing reads, I hit some paydirt with the last two Booker Prize shortlisted books to cross my path. I highly recommend both of them.

Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones is narrated by a girl in 1990s Bougainville who is introduced to the Charles Dickens book Great Expectations by a whitefella living on the island who becomes the local schoolteacher. At first this book travels merrily along and all seems right with the world despite the backdrop of civil unrest and social fracture which is hinted at but not detailed. I began to think that this book would be taught in Year 8 schools in the near future as a companion piece to the teaching of Great Expectations. I guess I should have known that things would get more dark and foreboding (it is the Booker prize after all), and it quickly does, when the civil unrest arrives in the village of our heroine.

It is a book written with great clarity on the scale of the individual. I am tempted to talk about the setting of the book as a microcosm, but I think I prefer to think of it as a place unto its own, not symbolic or allegorical. But despite its remoteness from my life or anything I have ever experienced, I found lots of ways to empathise with the main characters which I suppose reading and finding a love of reading is all about.

Likewise, I loved how the narrator in The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid) asserts his understanding of and empathy for the ‘listener’ [reader] right from the first sentence. The entire book is carried on as a monologue, with the narrator addressing an American visitor to Pakistan over the course of tea and a meal in a tea house in Lahore. Although this narrative construct fell flat for me a bit (interruptions of the narrator’s tale to ask his visitor why he’s looking worried, or would he like to eat now came off a bit like “What’s that Skip? There’s a fire in the old mill?”) I thought it was an admirable experiment and for the most part worked for me. I had a good friend at uni who came from Pakistan, so I applied his face and personality to the narrator, and as a result, found a way to identify with some of the experiences the narrator goes through as a Pakistani student at Princeton and in the early months of his finance career in NYC.

Some of the reviews I’ve read on line of this book seem to get tied up with the depiction of 9/11 in this book and some seem to see it as yet another offering to the fundamentalism vs secularism debate. These reviews frankly put me right off reading this book until of course I had to because it was shortlisted. I am pleased that I did read it in the end. I found it a really engaging book, which has given me lots to consider in the days since finishing it. Not really having spent any time in America since prior to The W taking office, I understand there have been many changes to daily life there which I have trouble reconciling with my memories of the place. In a way, I think reading The Reluctant Fundamentalist as an outsider (albeit with a bit of inside information) made it a little more enjoyable for me than those readers who might be a bit closer to the action. It’s hard for me to explain and it’s probably best discussed in person over a coffee – but in any case I recommend this book highly.

Unfortunately, it looks like that’s all of the shortlisted books I’ll get to read before the winner is announced on 6th October. What few copies of the two remaining books on the list, Darkmans (Nicola Barker) and Animal’s People (Indra Sinha), were available in Australia got snapped up the minute the shortlist was announced, and no – the library was a bit too slow on the uptake. They ordered the books at the end of August and no sign of their arrival yet.

This weekend… the AFL Grand Final (nothing to see for the Swans fans but I’ll still watch anyway.) And a new project… not knitting, Bollywood ! I'll fill you in soon!

Knitting for weddings and then some

2007-09-21T17:57:00.000+10:00

My immediate group of friends have all recently been bitten by the betrothal bug. I like to think Fiver and I started the trend! I have three weddings to attend in three months. What's a girl to do for outfits? Certainly I'm too cheap to buy a new frock for each one. So I knitted, naturally.

Wedding number one:
We have already been introduced to Butterfly. She debuted at a wedding in August. The auto focus on the camera didn't seem to want to co-operate so I have no in-focus photos of this dress yet, but when I get gussied up in it again, I'll be sure to get some more shots. All I have to show you at the moment is the bottom hem, which is quite lovely if I do say so myself:

I wore it over a chocolate brown slip with brown boots, as you can see. Although I was worried that the dress would sag once I sat down in it, I luckily had blocked it over the slip I intended to wear it with. As the slip fit well and was an unstretchable fabric, this meant that the frock was blocked to a size and shape where it wouldn't have to stretch no matter what. I only realised this in the taxi on the way to the wedding, and let me tell you it was a huge relief.

Over the course of the day, I noticed that the straps (which I made in i-cord instead of the called-for garter stitch) lengthened just a bit, even though I thought I'd stretched them right out when attaching them - so the top of the dress ended up somewhat lower on my body than initially intended. Of course as I was wearing a slip this did not present any fashion faux pas, but I will probably make adjustments before I wear Butterfly again.

All in all, I managed to wear this dress for several hours straight, and even dance in it, and no disasters occurred. I must admit, I was a little bit worried that disaster might strike - what if I'd dropped a stitch and hadn't noticed and the whole thing unravelled? what if I snagged myself on a passerby? what if someone tried to put their shopping in me because of my resemblance to a string bag??? And I was a big hit with the mother of the groom, who had also made (sewn) her own very stunning outfit. Otherwise I don't think anyone even noticed that I might have made my own frock. Ho hum.

Wedding Number Two
For this wedding, I picked up a great skirt of shot silk at an op shop for a Very Good Price. The skirt showed a myriad of colours in different lights ranging from dark rose through to gold and pink. I figured I'd just wear it with a simple black top and be done with it. But such a crazy skirt needed an accessory, and I suddenly remembered that I'd picked up some Kaalund Enchante 2ply silk recently, in the colourway 'Nectarine' which perfectly picked up the colours of the skirt. So I made a Sarcelle to go with the skirt.

This was a great pattern - easy to memorise and quick to execute. The whole thing took about 3 weeks start to finish. I made it only 5 pattern repeats wide because I was worried about yarn quantites. I had just 2 balls of nectarine, measuring about 600 metres. The original pattern used just over that amount with 7 pattern repeats of width. As it turned out, I had enough yarn - almost. Luckily I had also picked up some of the same yarn in a 'Silky Oak' colourway which was basically gold and matched one of the colours of the Nectarine quite satisfactorily. I only needed to use the Silky Oak skein right at the very end, for the last 20 or so rows. It's hardly noticeable at all.

I hate to do this to you but I am going to refer you to Ravelry to see the project details for Butterfly and Sarcelle. I have never done very well at keeping track of details in my blog and I think that's because I'd rather just show the pictures and ramble on a bit. If you aren't on ravelry and are really keen to know what size needles or how much yarn, please drop me a comment or an email and I'll give you all the nitty-gritty and then some.

Oh yea! I'm finally on Ravelry! My username is Daysfull. Please come and find me. In my first flurry of excitement, I managed to find and 'friend' several bloggers I follow - but I haven't found everyone yet so any help is much appreciated! And although previously I simply did not understand everyone talking about taking photos of their stash to put on Ravelry, I now find myself irresistibly drawn toward just such an activity. It's true I do not have a perfect mental catalogue of the stash so I think I'm going to take photos and organise it all on the big R. Goodbye weekend! (Luckily the weather forecast is bad, Fiver has a home brew to put on, and - unluckily - the Swans are not playing. So I've got plenty of free time for pottering around on the computer...)

And now for something completely different - remember the contest?

I don't want to give away too much but, there's a toe...

And there's a cuff...

And there's two of each! Your socks are on the way Polly...I hope you like them! And maybe they'll fit?! (But I don't want to push my luck too much.) More details on these once the surprise has landed at its home.

Booker prize rant 2007 #1

2007-09-11T17:31:00.000+10:00

Breaking radio silence to say

Hello
How are you?
I'm sorry I have not been commenting on your blogs. You all are making and doing such amazing things!
I have mainly just been reading.
Unfortunately, at this stage, I have no books to recommend.

Yes it's sad but true. I have spent the entirety of the past month working on the Booker Prize long list only to be completely disappointed by each and every title so far. If you want to know more, see my rants below. If you're here for the knitting, come back for the next post. I have finished a Sarcelle stole (yeah, you haven't ever even heard me mention that one before!) and it is blocking as we speak.

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

Looking back, it was the excitement of the Booker long list announcement which made me choose this one, one of the longest selections on the long list, as the first cab off the rank. It's a first novel and dear reader it shows. The beginning of the story is set in the immediate pre-WWII era in Penang, an island off the town of Butterworth in Malaysia. I spent several happy days there on holiday a few years ago, so I enjoyed reading a historical novel set in a place I already had a mental picture of. However, the main character at the start of the novel is only 16 years of age. By the time war breaks out and Penang is occupied by the Japanese, he has 'grown into' the voice of the character at age 18. The thing that really bugged me was that there was no growing up evident. This 16 year old was quite confident representing his father, an important business man, at parties and functions, and just so happened to know which houses on Penang Hill had telephone service. I thought it was a bit odd.

I also initially took a great dislike to the book because I had read in the author's biography that he was interested in aikido and the preservation of historic buildings. Aikaido plays a big part in the story. And, unsurprisingly, the main character is, in his later life, involved in the preservation of historic buildings. The historic buildings interest negatively affected the author's descriptions of places. Most of the scene-setting descriptive text could have come out of a National Trust listing card for these buildings. I work in this field so I read and write these descriptions every day. Let me tell you, they do not make good literature. So the place descriptions fell a bit flat.

The above problems aside, I have to tell you that this is my favourite of all the Booker prize long list books I have read so far. The short list has now been announced and I was not surprised to find that this book was not shortlisted - it doesn't come across as a Booker Prize winner - however it is the book my mind keeps returning to. I've been enjoying revisiting the characters in my mind. I also enjoyed the perspective on WWII events in present-day Malaysia, and how the various ethnic groups were affected by the British abandonment of the colony and the Japanese occupation.

The Welsh Girl Peter Ho Davies

Another book set during WWII. (Was it all the anniversary stuff of the past 2 years which directed writers' minds to the war as a good setting?) Another first novel. I found the style of writing in this book to be more to my taste than The Gift of Rain, however, the plot line was infuriatingly contrived. Several stories which happened to mingle by virtue of a connection to one Welsh town. Like The Gift of Rain, I enjoyed the perspective of the nationalist Welsh and their views on the 'occupation' of their land by the English. But I found the main story line, and the actions of the Welsh girl for whom the book is named, to be flippant and frustratingly predictable. In short, I was not convinced. I love historical fiction, but I think the author failed to transport me fully to another time and place.

Consolation Michal Redhill

Finally, a book not set during WWII! Although the premise of this book - the widow of a dead academic takes steps to verify her husband's theory that a cache of historically important photographs is about to be uncovered by a major excavation for a new building - appeals to me, the book failed to delight in even the tiniest way. The narrative was split between the present day search for the photographs and the 1870s story of the making of the photographs. I found the modern day characters to be ill-developed, they were always angry and there wasn't enough explanation of their deep-seeded anger to make me feel in the least way sympathetic toward them. Although the 1870s characters were a bit more likable, I thought the historical content of the book did not take us very far beyond the basic facts which the author (or his researcher) collected in the preparation of the book. In other words, I didn't feel as if I was reading a story set within and amongst an imaginatively painted historical backdrop but rather a story that was weakly propped up by a few meagre historical facts. Like The Welsh Girl, Consolation failed to convince me.

Just to prove that I'm not always whingeing about historical fiction and its failures - I do heartily recommend two selections from last years shortlist. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (my review is here) is a WWII period fiction which evokes the era so well you can almost taste it. And The Secret River by Kate Grenville (my review is here), set in the earliest days of the New South Wales colony brilliantly pulls together historical research and imagination in a completely captivating novel.

The Booker Prize shortlist was announced late last week, so I have now turned my attention to those books.

The Gathering Anne Enright

While this is a very finely written book, it was all a bit too introspective for my taste. A typically harrowing modern Irish story (remember Carry Me Down? It's not quite as harrowing as that), I can't really fault this book for its structure, the narrative, the development of characters (all the things I normally find fault in!) - but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I just don't really care to know all the details of the first-person narrator's life and loves.

I've now moved on to Mr Pip by Lloyd Jones (the current favourite of the bookmakers) but I will reserve comment until I've finished it.

Please let me know what your thoughts have been on the books you've been reading lately!

It's that time of year again - get reading!

2007-08-13T16:00:00.001+10:00

I'm not sure how this news passed me by, but nearly a week ago, the 2007 Man Booker Prize long list was announced! My annual raison de lire!

In case you've just joined us, the back story to my obsession with the Booker Prize can be found here .

August and September normally find me all a-flutter trying to read at least all the shortlisted books before the announcement of the prize in early October. If I can get a good head start with the longlisted books, chances are I might be able to get through the shortlist. (Though I still have not attained the Holy Grail - to have read all of the 5 or 6 shortlisted books in time to place an educated bet!) At least in the end I've read some good books and have something to talk about at dinner parties for the rest of the year.

This year's long list contains thirteen books, almost all of which are by new-to-me authors. Here goes:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
Self Help by Edward Docx
The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
Consolation by Michael Redhill
Animal's People by Indra Sinha
Winnie & Wolf by AN Wilson

The only one I have read already is On Chesil Beach, which is an eminently beautiful composition, but which is garnering some media attention over the question of whether it's a novella (which would make it ineligible to win) or a "short novel" (as the publisher describes it). Currently the bookies are giving it 3-to-1 odds to win.

For the record, last year I managed to read 4 out of 6 shortlisted books prior to the announcement of the prize (a tie with my previous best record in 2005), and have now read 12 of the 19 longlisted books (including all 5 of the shortlisted books) and am currently reading my 13th from the 2006 longlist.

Time to look forward to some Booker prize book reviews to come, and why not check out your local library or bookshop to see if you can't get your hands on one of these titles this week! (But not if your local library is the City of Sydney, I bags all those books for myself first.)

We have a winner!

2007-08-08T20:44:00.000+10:00

Finally, my TdF KAL project gets its victory lap around the Arc de Triomphe... the Hex Coat is finished!
I couldn't be more pleased with the result. The fit is practically perfect and having the weight and coziness of a knee-length hand-knitted jumper flapping round your knees as you go about your daily business is simply incomparable.
I finished it up late last night so I could wear it to work today. These photos are from an early morning, pre-commute, pre-coffee no less!, photo shoot. I had a bit of fun glamming it up in the kitchen.
Here are the specs:

Pattern: Hex Coat from Norah Gaughan's Kniting Nature. Honestly, every time I look at this book I find something new I want to make. I think next I'll make the Phyllo Yoked Pullover. There are numerous mistakes in the patterns in the book though, so it's worth checking the errata. This pattern was pretty free from mistakes, apart from the back armhole shaping.

Yarn: Tasmanian-grown Corridale, milled on the mainland, natural colour. Purchased from the Salamance Arts Centre, Hobart, on my honeymoon. (Collective ahhhhhhhh) Here is a photo of the ball band:
What is the significance of the 'IJ' on the sheep? Was my sheep called IJ? Is that what letter in the alphabet my sheep can recite to???
I used just about exactly 900g of yarn, and have about 100g leftover.

Needles: Addi's, 4mm for cast ons and 5mm for the body. 4.5mm for the hexagons.

Modifications: Instead of knitting a few rows of ribbing at the sleeve cuffs and bottom of the jacket, I cast on with 4mm needles, knit in double moss [aka moss] stitch for two inches with 4.5mm needles, then switched to 5mm needles. The ribbing seemed pointless (especially at knee length!) and double moss stitch doesn't curl, so I thought I'd simplify. Another slight modification, instead of dpn's I used circs and magic loop method for making the hexagons.

Project tip: I read a good tip on the Knitting Nature KAL which I used - for the two fronts, I placed a stitch marker 8 sts in from the edge to help me keep track of where I was with the increasing and decreasing. It doesn't make sense when you read it here but when you actually knit it, this tip makes perfect sense, trust me!

Start and finish dates: Apart from one sleeve (which I'd prepared earlier, celebrity-chef-style) the entirety of the knitting (and blocking!) was completed during the Tour de France, from July 7th to July 29th - 22 days. At about midnight on the 29th as I was furiously weaving in ends, I had to admit defeat. I'd enver finish all the seaming by the end of the Tour. The pieces sat around for a week until I decided I should finish within the month - so this project was completed on the 7th of August.

I still pinch myself in disbelief that I managed to knit all of this as well as blog daily on the Tour de France KAL. I didn't participate in the Knitting Olympics, so I had not really experienced the feeling of knitting to a schedule like this. It's fantastic! But now that it's over, I'm happy to return to my lazy approach to projects, nothing new has been cast on yet, but the thought process in advance of starting something new has been fun. In the meantime, I have my Deep-V vest to work on, and a Forest Path Stole to put out of its misery...

And now....what you've all been waiting for, the results of the blogiversary competition!

Firstly, thank you to everyone who entered. Of course I expected most of the stalwarts would put up their hands when I offered a prize, but it was fantastic to get to 'meet' so many new-to-me bloggers! I'll be sure now to frequent your blogs! I am trying to reply to everyone who commented but it might take me a few more days so please bear with me.

This evening over soup and toast, Fiver drew the winners names out of a hat. They were:
Lurkers prize: Mazhalai
Stalwarts prize: Polly

Congratulations!!

Interestingly, as I have described previously, Polly is largely responsible for my entree into the blogging world. For those of you who are already friends at All Tangled Up, you will know that knitting socks for Polly is a bit daunting - last year she managed to complete 52 pairs of socks!! (it was a race to the finish line to rival the Stage 19 time trial in the Tour!) I'll be inspecting Polly's FO galleries to see if there is a single sock pattern left on earth that she has not made already!

And to finish, a couple more gratuitous shots of the Hex Coat...

There's a pair in there

2007-08-01T13:33:00.000+10:00

Today my blog turns the big TWO.

And in honour of this fact, I have decided to hold a little contest.

I am offering two prizes in this contest, one in each of two categories, as follows.

Category #1: The lurkers prize
In recognition of the importance of lurkers and relative newcomers to the blog (and because I love finding new blogs I might not already know about), I will give one skein of merino sock yarn from The Knittery to someone who leaves a comment on this post who has previously commented between zero and three times on this blog in the past year. If you are not sure how many times you've commented, don't worry, I have ways of finding this out.

Category #2: The stalwarts prize
Some of my favourite people I met through my blog and in recognition of what you all mean to me, I will knit a pair of socks for someone who leaves a comment on this post who has previously commented on this blog in the past year more than three times. If you are not sure about how many times you've commented... same goes as above.

Terms & Conditions (I cribbed these from Jacqueline)
1. To enter you must leave a comment on this post.
2. Only one comment per person. Any duplicates will be excluded.
3. Winners of each of the above prizes will be chosen in a random draw, which will take place on Wednesday 8th August.
4. Comments for this post will be closed off sometime over the weekend.
5. No late entries will be accepted.
6. Your comment on this post does not count toward the number of times you have previously commented on my blog.

Special Terms & Conditions - Stalwarts Prize
1. If you have commented more than three times but don't particularly want a pair of socks, say so in the comment. I might consider knitting you something different. Or you can just put the socks in your 'to-be-regifted' box.
2. The sock yarn I use for your pair of socks may or may not come from my stash. I will discuss with you any particular requirements you may have regarding fibre content.
3. The sock pattern will be chosen by me but I will take into account what I know of your taste before making a decision.
4. I am a sock knitter of average skill and below average speed. The socks will be an expression of my gratefulness for your friendship and readership. But they might not arrive next week or even next month, and if you are a sock knitter extraordinaire they might not measure up to your rigorous standards. If that is the case, please just be nice and tell me you like the socks. In reality I don't care if they end up in your 'to-be-regifted' box.
5. You will need to provide some essential foot measurement details prior to commencement of sock making.

OK, the comments are now .... open!

R-O-C-K

2007-07-17T19:08:00.000+10:00

I've long suspected that beneath the thin dainty and crafty veneer of the knitblog community there lurked a whole bunch of rockers and the latest wave of naming rockin' girl bloggers (link via another rockin' girl blogger, Donni) confirms this. Hege thinks I'm a rocker and who am I to disagree? I have woken up with a sore neck from headbanging at a concert. Granted, that was about 18 years ago - but once a rocker always a rocker.

And so without further ado, I would like to name the following people as Rockin' girl bloggers:
Ailsa - rockin' the 'gong (just try and top that scathing wit)
Bells - rockin' the canberra crew (partying in the nation's capital gets kicked off by Bells on a wednesday and the rest of the country follows suit on the weekend)
BrownPants - rockin' the sydneysiders (just look at her profile image and tell me she doesn't ROCK)
Jacqueline - rockin' the Yarra (the second time I ever met Jac she invited me to a punk concert. Enough said.)
Kat - made me a rockin' Sound Swap mix which has been rockin the itunes non-stop of late. And she rocks a camera like Mike D rocks the mike.

Here's the track listing so we can all aspire to rock like Kat (and now, me)!
1. Chan Chan (Buena Vista Social Club)
2. Sympathique (Pink Martini)
3. Carpet Crawlers (Genesis)
4. The Harry lime Theme (Anton Karas)
5. I'll Be All Right (Jorma Kaukonen0
6. What Do They Cal This Drink? (Don Was)
7. Hesitation Blues (Hot Tuna)
8. Sobabamba (Udokoteia Shange Namajaha)
9. Pilentze Pee (The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Choir)
10. Dance of the Cuban Cigar (Entrain)
11. Princess Nicotine (Big Lazy)
12. Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley)
13. Take Five (Dave Brubeck Quartet)
14. Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) (Us3)
15. Darshan (B21)
16. The Back Door (Dewey Balfa)
17. Cattle in the Cane (Grapevine Canyon Ranch Band)
18. Funky Ceili (Black 47)
19. Good Dog Ska (Bim Skala Bim)
20. This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof (Brian Setzer)
21. Love Potion #9 (Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass)

While I'm on the subject of ROCKIN', I've finally found a podcast that I will regularly tune into. I just haven't been able to get into the whole Podcast thing. I guess if I'm going to listen to someone taking in my ears I'd rather they be reading me a book. 1 Hour of Music in 20 Minutes is a podcast through Dig radio. In each episode, our hostess Hermione Gilchrist selects about 20 tracks on a particular theme and plays about 1 minute of each track. Hence, you get a little taste of lots of different tracks, some new, some happily nostalgic, all selected and introduced with care and insight. Check it out if you're so inclined! (There's also a blog.)

While I've got you here, let me report on my Tour de France Knit Along progress. It's not been too shabby:

That's 2 sleeves and 2 fronts done. I'm working on the quarter-acre-block of the back now, with a daily quota of 40 rows (98 stitches per row) in order to finish the back by next weekend. That will leave me a week for knitting on the hexagon border, blocking, and seaming. Wish me luck! Now, I'm off to work on those 40 rows...

C'est fini

2007-07-07T14:42:00.000+10:00

Here is Butterfly, fresh off the needles. Not exactly finished - ends need to be woven in, it needs to be blocked, and - most importantly - the full ensemble needs to be assembled - but at least the knitting is done, just in time for the Tour de France knitting to commence!
Yes it's going to be a feverish dash for the month of July. I am probably setting myself up for failure by choosing Norah Gaughan's Hexagon Coat from Knitting Nature as my green jersey / sprinter's project for the Tour de France Knitalong. But why not take the opportunity to give it a red-hot go anyway!
Now not a peep out of you lot claiming doping or drug cheating - but I have actually finished one sleeve of the jacket already, and here it is (a little rumpled from its hibernation in the WIP basket). I have run this past the race officials and they say that one sleeve is an appropriate time bonus, given the scale of the project overall.

I can't promise there'll be anything but double moss stitch and more double moss stitch (that's for you Jac) for the next 22 days. But to see if I'm still able to string a sentence together after all that double moss stitch and staying up overnight to watch the Tour, you can look for me over on the TDF KAL where my lovely co-host and I will be attempting to entertain the knitting world with our witty banter about the cycling world.

And naturally, I'll post modelled photos and project details of the Butterfly once the final ensemble has been determined, je promets. (And don't be alarmed by the length of the straps, I want to be able to tailor the fit to whatever I choose to wear underneath it, so I made the straps a bit longer than necessary and will adjust them accordingly.)

Congratulations SOH!

2007-06-29T18:05:00.000+10:00

I've often wondered about the uncanny ability of Jorn Utzon, who is Danish, to express so fully another nation's best hopes for itself.

We've talked before about what it's like to visit the Sydney Opera House, the only building which has ever moved me to tears. Today, the Sydney Opera House was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Though I've debated with colleagues and friends for years about whether it should be World-heritage listed (usually I argued the negative side quite vehemently), I cannot help but feel an inexplicable joy that this building has been recognised as something which contributes to the human experience and consciousness in the deepest possible sense.

In all the media announcements about the listing, I was most struck by a quote by another architect I admire, Louis Kahn, who said of the Opera House, "The sun did not know how beautiful its light was, until it was reflected off this building."

While I drift away in an architecturally-induced bliss, please entertain yourselves over at the Tour de France KAL!

Meg will be baaaack soon

2007-06-23T17:58:00.000+10:00

Meg's asked us to let you know she's been away visiting us in the wilds of northern Tasmania for the past week and that she is slowly catching up on her bloglines and Tour de France related important business. While she's thawing out from the sub-zero temperatures she was subjected to, why not hop on your bike and check out the antics at the Tour de France KAL!

Allons-y!

2007-06-16T09:57:00.000+10:00

Bonjour everyone!

If you, like me, have a love of many things French, including French food, French wine, French style, French people, high school French language skills, and the movie Amelie, then you might already be getting tres excited about the upcoming Tour de France!

This year, I've roped in the assistance of the tricoteuse et cycliste extrordinaire Debby to throw a big Tour de France party for all the knitters who share our love of the Tour, or who might not yet share our love of the Tour but are keen to find out what all the fuss is about!

So why not pop on over to the newly-launched Tour de France Knit Along and see what it's all about!

See you there!! Merci!

Public Holiday Monday

2007-06-11T12:31:00.001+10:00

I love how on a public holiday Monday, the street outside is still and quiet, with the occasional exception of a dog barking, and the clock seems to creep by, and the pages of my book seem to turn themselves...
As often happens on long weekends, this time I'm celebrating it at home on the lounge nursing a fluy coldy thing. How does it know that now is a perfect time to strike? It's uncanny. I'm sure I'll feel a million dollars by the time the alarm clock goes off on Tuesday morning.
Anyway, I am taking comfort in my latest warm and cozy winter woollen companion, the Hourglass Sweater, and have dragged myself off the lounge long enough for Fiver to take some photos for your sympathy (as it's looking a little crushed in these photos). The jumper has been finished now for a while - long enough that it has worn off the sheen of 'brand new handknit' and can quite acceptably be worn with trackie dax and uggies in sick-mode, an instant favourite jumper.

Pattern: Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Cleckheaton Nature 50% alpaca 50% wool, Colour 11 (grey) - exactly 10 50g balls (I think this yarn is now discontinued which is a pity.) Lana Gatto Feeling (left over from this project) for the trim.
Needles: Addi's, 4mm
Start and finish dates: Still not that organised.

And just so you don't feel too sorry for me, let me show off something that arrived in the post for me last week - a Lotus Blossom Tank hand knit for me, for no special occasion, by my mum (and newest reader of my blog)! Isn't it magnifique!
I think it's mum's first attempt at lace - she did a marvellous job!

mystery and random clues!?

2007-05-28T17:58:00.000+10:00

Could this CD be winging your way to YOU??? If you're in on the Sound Swap then the answer could be YES! Sharpen your pencils, Sherlock, you've got some sleuthing to do!
Seems I'm the last to do the Seven Random Things List. Debby kindly tagged me, so here goes:

1. I hate fireworks. I think they are a huge waste of money.

2. Although I laugh easily and frequently, stand-up comedians just don't do it for me. I think the last time I laughed out loud at a standup comedy routine was Abbot & Costello's Who's on First? (heard on a cassette, not live, of course.)

3. I gamble twice a year, at the Melbourne Cup and on ANZAC Day. Otherwise, I never gamble, but I am completely fascinated by the old fashioned bookies at Wentworth Park (where greyhounds race) who still calculate the betting odds manually on a chalkboard. I'd rather watch them all night than the dogs.

4. I didn't learn how to play chess until I was 21. I am still not that good at it.

5. Recently, I was at great pains to explain to Fiver just how Americans could eat over 150 million hotdogs during the Fourth of July weekend. (This fact was reported in our local paper.) Quite frankly, I couldn't really work out any good reason. The mind boggles.

6. While on the subject of American holidays, I have to admit that, even though Halloween was one of my favourite holidays while growing up, celebrating it is something I've quite easily given up since moving south. Last year we were caught out when a cute little group of monsters and fairies and the like knocked on our door in the evening hours of 31/10. The only treat I could rustle up in the house was individually-wrapped herbal tea bags. The trick-r-treaters were girls in their tween years and seemed quite thrilled with the herbal tea actually. I know I was really interested in tea at that age.

7. I have never broken a bone or even sprained an ankle so badly I needed crutches to get around; however, as a child I desperately wanted to have crutches, so much so that playing with my best friend's older brother's crutches (which were leftover from a prior ice hockey playing injury) was heaps of fun to me.

Retro Rib socks

2007-05-20T09:44:00.001+10:00

These socks brought me the happy realisation that I can actually enjoy knitting socks - just not on my daily train commute.

I never minded knitting socks but they just didn't give me that certain frisson of excitement that, say, a scarf or a sleeve or a jumper gives me. I have to admit I never really understood what all the fuss was about. But in an effort to avoid Second Sock Syndrome, I cast on the second sock of this pair one evening at home and before I knew it, most of the leg was done - in the one session! This was a complete shock. Up till then, I'd knitted socks in 10-minute spurts a few times a week when sitting on the train, only when the current book-in-progress wasn't winning the battle with the knitting for my attentions. Of course I had to carry the sock-in-progress around with me everywhere just in case I felt like working on it - which only made me resent the sock and its occupation of valuable space in the bottom of the handbag.

So I have turned over a new leaf and will no longer be commute knitting. I feel so liberated, I can't even tell you.

My new-found joy for socks has even led to a bit of a splurge on sock yarn! Yes, I bought some yarn! Jac was putting together a shipment of Opal from some European place (I glossed over the details, I admit) so I signed up for five 100g balls. That's a lot of socks. Shipping is by surface so it will take three months. In the meantime, I'm looking at my winnings from Dave and trying to decide which to use first and what pattern. I'm thinking the Sundara and Monkey - what do you reckon?

OK OK, now, here are some project details since I got into terrible strife with certain well-organised people for not including them with other projects in the past.

Pattern: Retro Rib Socks by Evelyn A Clark in Interweave Knits Winter 2004
Yarn: 2 skeins of Wildfoote in the 'Jungle' colour which I received in a swap from the lovely Donna at a tea party which we really all must do again one day soon.
Needles: 2.5 mm addis
Start and finish dates: Nup, still not that organised!

And now for something completely different - Claudine tagged me for a 'five favourite blogs' meme. And since it is impossible to choose five favourites I thought I'd link to five new-to-me blogs that I've been enjoying lately!

Jen sure manages to get a lot of lovely knitting done After Eight!
The Krafty Kuka telling it like it is in Canberra!
On the aptly-named Who Needs Gauge blog, Steph makes beautiful knits which double as witty tour guides!
Jackie at Ply and Burl is bi-lingual - she speaks knitting AND math! (check out her stashquation which made her famous!)
Another Jacqui (careful on the spelling), a.k.a. The Purler has just finished a gorgeous cardigan in ten days, proving her nom de plume is dead-on!

Please go clickey-clickey and check out some new blogs! And if you have been secretly adding blogs to your blogroll, why not share a few names with the rest of us?!

Up next: a finished Hourglass Sweater...if only it would dry. It's been blocking since last Monday...

a second in sydney - the future is in good hands

2007-05-10T12:59:00.000+10:00

"A good city is like a good party - people stay longer than they planned to because they are enjoying themselves." - Prof Jan Gehl

I'm tickled to see that the City of Sydney Council has engaged the man who is responsible for this urban planning gem to investigate and advise on Sydney's public spaces. Good things ahead... might just have to wait around until 2030 to see them.

Regularly-scheduled reviews of Sydney's public amenities will recommence in due course!

Cheer cheer the red and the white

2007-04-28T15:08:00.000+10:00

Finally my Anemoi Mittens are finished, just in time for Round 5 of the AFL competition...It's supposed to get down to a chilly 19 (66F) tonight so I think I'll even get to use them at the game this evening to cheer on my beloved Sydney Swans!

Thanks to Hege for all the lessons on colourwork!

All I need now are red & white socks...

I can't stop looking at them!

They seem to work just fine for clapping.

Hat hankering part two

2007-04-15T18:23:00.000+10:00

Remember previously I mentioned that an inexplicable hat hankering had come over me?

Here is the product of obsessive hat knitting number two. The Short Row Hat designed by Veronik Avery from the Winter 05 IK (pattern available on their website here [pdf]).

I'm shy.

Since the called-for yarn sounded exotic and unavailable, I've been quietly googling it to see what other people had used. I'd pretty much settled on substituting Karaoke after seeing Cheryl's version here, and put that on the mental to-buy list. (It's a short list, no need to write it down.)

Meanwhile, through a series of strange events, Jennie accidentally wound up in possession of an object of mine (sounds mysterious, doesn't it! OK, explanation starts here and ends here) and when she mailed it back to me she very generously threw in a skein of Malabrigo (colour: Frost) which immediately begged to be made into this hat I'd been hankering for! (With service like this, I must organise to have my possessions accidentally land at Jennie's house more often...)

I loved making this hat. I started and finished it during my Easter break. I will definitely make it again, because there is an imperfection I must rectify next time:
The pattern calls for a provisional cast-on, then K1 row, then the short-row pattern begins. At the end, we are instructed to do a 3 needle bindoff of the live sts and the provisional row. This results in a rather unsatisfactory ridge of bumps along the back of the hat. Next time I will cast on and K2 rows so the short-row pattern starts on the flip side of the work. (At least I think that will work. I have to have it in my hands to figure it out.)

Just in case you want to substitute Malabrigo to make yourself a short-row hat, here is the low-down. I used size 8 bamboo needles, sentimental ones, from Crystal Palace, my first ever mail-order knitting purchase, made in 1997. I had to work an extra repeat of the four pattern sections to get a suitable circumference, and instead of picking up 32 sts to shape the crown, I only picked up 14 because the hat was already tall enough and then some. I only used about 80g of the 100g skein so there's probably enough left over for some small wristies to match!

Forest Path Stole: Tier Five

2007-04-12T13:49:00.000+10:00

A technical revolution...

Now big enough to cover a dining chair seat!

Finally I heeded the little voice in the back of my head which kept telling me I knew perfectly well how to knit and purl backwards and I should give it a try despite the fact that this was lace and 20 stitches per row as opposed to stocking stitch at 8 stitches per row the last time I knitted backwards...

This revolution probably falls short of comparison with the conversions from scroll to book (thanks Hege for the humour), from bronze to iron, from 8-track to cassette... nevertheless, it has made sitting down and facing my Forest Path Stole a much more palatable option of an evening. It has been languishing, I admit, right down the very bottom of the WIP basket - but the KAL has been a great thing for getting me motivated. Lots of people are getting to the 10 or 11 tier mark and pointing out that they're 'halfway there' - which made me realise (whilst stuck on Tier 4 4/5ths) that I was nearly 'halfway to halfway there'. So keep on knitting KAL-ers, I'm behind you, happily riding in your slipstream!

Ecoutez et repetez

2007-04-09T13:55:00.000+10:00

Not going away for the Easter holiday doesn't mean France can't come to me. Bells has been treating us to a few salient points on the difficulties of photographing oneself recently and I think this is the main reason these two FOs haven't graced these pages yet; both were finished in February or March I think!

The first Finished Object, of course, needs no introduction:
My lace weight Clapotis, made with 2-ply merino on 3mm needles, yarn procured from Marta's Yarns for me by the ever generous Jacqueline.
The finished dimensions are obviously much narrower than the original pattern, but I did extra repeats of the straight section (about 50 repeats I think, I lost count) to make up some length. It wraps easily around my neck three times. This is the kind of scarf a girl needs in Sydney - light weight but warm when you want it to be.
I haven't blocked it nor do I think I will. I've read so many bloggers mentioning that they like their Clapotis less when it's blocked flat. And I prefer the purl side as the right side. (Remember, I have a penchant for likes and dislikes.)

And a Clapotis needs a bon ami, n'est-ce-pas?* How about a beret? Voila, FO numero deux:
This was the result of a day home sick from work. I'm not sure what made me think to make this, but I've had a hat hankering coming on lately. I chose the Tweed Beret pattern from the Winter 06 IK mainly because it matched, roughly, the gauge of the yarn I intended to use (more salvaged Vinnie's jumpers - this is left over from last year's fiery bolero).
I was pleasantly surprised by this little detail to shape the brim - it hardly shows up at all in the photo in the magazine (nor does it show up very well here). The stocking stitch is broken by little diamond shaped sections of rib, which create the fullness and hide the decreases at the brim.

I must admit when I first tried it on when I finished it, I was distinctly unenamoured with it. So I tossed it in the knitting basket where it languished, unblocked and ends unwoven, until I thought I'd take some photos and post about it. I think I like it a little better now... it just might see the light of day this winter, we'll see.

While I was out in the back yard taking photos of myself and my French knitwear, Fiver was inside cooking up a French feast - Gigot de sept heures (7 hour roast lamb) for some friends who were coming over for dinner. My contribution was a Tarte aux Pommes - here it is before baking:
It was served flambee - what with the excitement of the fire safety announcements and blue flames licking my fresh apple tart, there was no chance for a photo after baking. But it was tres bon, biensur.

* Please forgive the wanton use of my half-remembered high school Francais.

Thursday night

2007-04-05T18:56:00.000+10:00

Coffee
Maybe some Thai take away later
A double episode of West Wing on video
The beginnings of some simple stocking stitch knitting in the round
No plans for tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after, or the day after
Welcome long weekend

PS If you feel a hankering to expand your musical horizons, check out Jennie's sound swap - hurry, numbers are limited!

Swans paraphernalia, past and future

2007-03-28T18:39:00.000+10:00

A couple of weeks ago, when we made a trip to North Sydney Oval to see the Sydney Swans' annual pre-season friendly match (this year against Collingwood - boo hiss), I took the opportunity to take out the old Swans scarves and give them a good wash and an airing before the weather got cold enough to necessitate wearing them. (As every good Sydney Swans fan knows, you gotta wear the scarf even if it's 30C out!)

A balmy night at the beautiful North Sydney Oval

While hanging the scarves out to dry, I noticed that Fiver's knitted Swannies Scarf of 2005 (the one that made the Swans win the premiereship for the first time in 80 years, of course) is not faring too well.
A warning to Cleckheaton Merino Supreme knitters! This stuff fuzzes and pills like there's no tomorrow! (when subjected to heavy wear - I think Fiver wore this scarf every single day from May to September last year.)

Comparing my boring old machine-made, Vinnie's-bought Swans scarf (with the name 'Perkins' written on it in black texta -- who ever said I was a cheapie?! I spent $2 for that scarf!) made me think I need a hand made Swans accessory for myself. And thus, my lust for some red and white Anemoi Mittens was born. And a woeful tale ensues... (it's long winded, but there's a happy ending!)

Claudine has used my favourite yarn, Grignasco Bambi, to great effect in making the Endpaper Mitts, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to use up some red Bambi I had left over from my mum's Ene shawl (itself, coincidentally, knitted during the last weeks of the 2005 AFL season). All I needed was some white Grignasco Bambi. Too easy!

My LYS (Champion Textiles, 47 King St Newtown) did not have any Bambi in stock at all. This was a bit of a disappointment as I'd bought it from them in the past. I turned to the website of LYS #2 (aka, the expensive place). Their website claimed they had 70 balls of white in stock. A trip to the shop one Thursday evening revealed, however, that these 70 balls were kept in the mystical 'warehouse' somewhere. I placed an order in the shop for 2 balls to be brought from the warehouse, and was told they'd be in by Monday.

When no phone call came one week later, I followed up. After some to-ing and fro-ing, my order was located and I was told 'Albert's looking into this one and it should be in by Monday.'

I was very patient and waited until the following Thursday. Still nothing. (Meanwhile, the lovely Jacqueline was busy ringing every yarn shop in Melbourne to find me some white Bambi! No luck!) So I ordered a different white 4ply merino from The Knittery. Of course The Knittery managed to ship this stuff to me interstate overnight (the people at Tapestry Craft were probably still looking for the car keys to drive to the warehouse across town at this stage). Unfortunately, the white was not the brilliant bright white that a Swannies fan needs to go with her brilliant fire engine Swannies red - but Daphne, the proprietress was very kind and agreed to accept return of the goods. She even refunded my money the same day I emailed her to ask if I could return the yarn! Score: 5 shiny stars for fantastic customer service!

And so my hunt for white Bambi continued. I contacted Claudine to find out where she gets all her Bambi - and she cleverly Googled it to discover that STYK used to sell Bambi, and an archived web page still existed to show that they stocked white! STYK is my local purveyor of Addi needles so I was thrilled at this discovery. I immediately emailed Janette, who told me she wasn't selling the Bambi at the moment, but she had some odds and ends sitting around, including 2 balls of white Bambi. Within an hour, she had put a web page up on her site just for me, so I could order the yarn.

Not surprisingly, given Janette's great track record with getting the Addi's to me in record time, the yarn arrived the next day and I was finally ready to begin my Anemoi Mittens. Score: another 5 shiny stars for brilliant customer service!

The punchline to the story - at least one full month after I placed my request at Tapestry Craft, I finally got the call that my "cream" Bambi was in for me to pick up! Thanks, TC, but I ordered WHITE! Not to mention that I've had time for not one but two different retailers send me yarn in the meantime, at a fraction of the price! No guesses as to how many gold stars I am awarding to Tapestry Craft for their appalling customer service! (The good news you've all been waiting for - my old LYS says they are going to stock Bambi very shortly.)

After all that, I have finally cast on for the mittens. Hereis the first one:

inside out on right, rightside out on the left

The lovely Hege has been my tutor, mentor, and spiritual guide when it comes to stranded colourwork. Thanks to her tips, it's been a relatively painless entree into the world of colour. There is only one thing I'm less than happy about with the mitten so far, the cast-on edge is a bit tight. The places where the dpn's switch is pretty evident in the knitting, but I'm not too fussed. Blocking will take care of some of that and we all know I'm no big perfectionist when it comes to knitting. I am a little concerned about knitting the thumb - I started it but wound up with a big gaping hole at the base of the thumb. I know I've seen a tip for this on someone's blog recently so I need to do some research before proceeding - anyone know what I should do to avoid that dumb hole?

The big question enquiring minds now want to know is - can I finish mitten #2 in time to wear for the Swans big first game of the season??!?

Taralga Show highlights

2007-03-16T16:50:00.000+11:00

Last weekend we stopped in to the Taralga Show, one of the district agricultural shows which takes place in the leadup to the big Royal Easter Show (highlights of last year's show described here). In the heart of some of Australia's oldest and best merino country, I was interested to see what the knitting category at Taralga would turn up.

Prize winning fleeces on display

I was not disappointed by this range of baby and child-size jumpers and jackets. All very finely knit on small needles, beautifully seamed and all the rest.

But look what took out the prize for "Best Knitted Article"...

Is that eyelashes I spy with my little eye?

More pennies to spend in Sydney

2007-03-09T13:07:00.000+11:00

The last time I posted about spending a penny in Sydney struck such a chord with you all, I just had to take photos of another remarkable public convenience when I happened upon it earlier this week.

Last time, I told you about some of Sydney's oldest public loos. Today we have one of Sydney's most modern amenity blocks:
I am told this one was designed by one of Australia's foremost architects in practice today, Rick LePlastrier. It is situated at Georges Heights (pdf), where an old WWI army hospital now houses the offices of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust.
Nestled in amongst the WWI buildings, themselves lightly framed pre-fab single storey timber and corrugated iron structures with a sense of impermanance and lacking in ventilation, this toilet block captures every cooling harbour breeze and evokes the feeling of a meditation hall of a centuries-old order of monks in a remote valley in some far-flung place while still managing to politely co-exist with its neighbours.
Water captured from the gutters is fed into the central garden where a green leafy plant reaches skyward and lends the place a sense of dignity and order which is rare, I think, in public loos. Cubicles occupy the four corners of the sqare pavilion, for men, women, accessible, and a shower.
LePlastrier is well regarded for his work in timber, and indeed the cubicles are constructed in a mystifying fashion: triangular section battens are cleverly positioned so as to allow light penetration and ventiliation, but to inhibit any peeking or spying. The arrangement just begs to be challenged - I tried unsuccessfully from every possible angle to look inside a cubicle (don't worry, the place was unoccupied).
This public loo is well off the beaten path, but worth a stop if you find yourself travelling down Middle Head Road for any reason. Even Alan thinks it's great - he thought it might have been the foyer of a Hilton!

Forest Path Stole: Tier Two

2007-03-01T19:22:00.000+11:00

I tend to be the sort of person who has strong first impressions and is quick to form opinions. This tends to get me into trouble. Hopefully I won't offend you with some of my loves and hates about the Forest Path Stole. OK, some of these are minor, trivial matters - why worry about them? Just humour me.
Love: Lily of the Valley
Hate: Birch Leaves
Love: the look of seed stitch
Hate: the mechanics of making seed stitch
Love: rectangles
Hate: triangles
Love: Even tiers
Hate: Odd tiers
Love: Centred double decreases
Hate: Directional decreases with no corresponding partner in the same row
Love: that K3 in between fronds in the Fern pattern
Hate: that K1, YO, P1, YO, K1 in the Birch Leaves pattern
Love: the issue of IK this pattern is in
Hate: the advertisement opposite the page with the charts
Love: SSK
Hate: K3tog (also hate K2tog but to a lesser extent)

Lest you think I am a well balanced person, with a hate for each love, here's a bit more love... remember last FPS report, I mentioned how much I loved my needles? So much so that they had 2 projects on them? Have a close look above, you'll see that Tier Two of my FPS is looking much more comfortable being the only project on the needles. Yep, Clapotis is off-the-needles. Love. I'll show it off once I've finished unravelling all the drop stitches (ok, ok. Hate unravelling the stitches.)

How's this for love:
Have to love any parcel that arrives with this label!

It was my award for being the 1500th commenter on Dave's marvelous blog, Criminy Jickets. Dave went out of his way to find sock yarns that aren't available in Australia - and didn't he do an amazing job! On the left is Koigu KPPPM, and on the right is some of Sundara's finest!
Or, to put it another way: foreground Koigu, background: Sundara
LOVE!!

felting takes the pain out of kureyon

2007-02-23T12:00:00.000+11:00

Regardless of what's in the WIP basket, I always like to have a simple stockinette stitch project on the go to accompany a good book.

This latest stst project is based on the Laptop Bag designed by Leigh Radford and published in her book Alterknits (and also reprinted in the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits). It seems long long ago in a land far far away that I made this impulse purchase on ebay. I was completely disappointed with the yarn when it arrived - the colourway was just totally unworkable. The only name I can think of that could adequately describe the colourway is something along the lines of "Mummy, the merry-go-round and all that cotton candy made me feel sick to my stomach!" So away the five balls of Kureyon were stowed, deep down in the stash...

Until a glimmer of hope appeared when I saw on someone's blog (can't remember where) that felting seemed to take some of the glare off Kureyon. And thus a plan was hatched.

Although this was meant to be a simple project I could do without looking, I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt (just knitting wide stripes from the ball as the colours presented themselves), nor my second attempt (alternating stripes from the start and end of the same ball), nor my third attempt (alternating stripes from two different balls), nor my fourth attempt (the Lizard Ridge pattern from the top and tail of a single ball), nor my fifth attempt (the Lizard Ridge pattern from two alternating balls). In the end, I realised this was meant to be something simple and easy that I could do virtually with my eyes closed, so I went back to alternating stripes from two different balls.

Here is the end result, with Dog for scale (and colour contrast). Warning - put on your sunglasses!

Felting, I am happy to report, did mellow out the colours entirely. Here is the finished bag, again with Dog for scale.

And another gratuitous photo of the dog and bag.

I liked the simplicity of the pattern - just knit a long rectangle, fold it over, seam it, hem off two ends to make a 'gusset' (seen below), use scissors to cut a handle into the felted fabric. My measurements didn't match those in the pattern and, although my laptop fits in, it's not the handiest way to carry the laptop (which rarely leaves the house anyway), but it'll be good for visits to the veggie shop or for carrying books to the library, or for toting around knitting projects.

Forest Path Stole: Tier One

2007-02-21T19:49:00.000+11:00

Tier One of the entrelac Forest Path Stole was finished without anything interesting to report, but I do have a bit of a silly situation my hands.

Agnes' question to the Forest Path Stole KAL blog today was: Are you knitting with the right needles?

Clapotis on left, Forest Path Stole on right. Move over bacon!*

I think I am. In fact, I like my needles so much, they've got two projects going on them. (either that, or I'm too cheap to buy another 3mm Addi turbo... no comments from the gallery while the judges are out on that one, please!)

The good news is, the project muscling its way in on my Forest Path Stole is nearly finished. It's a lace weight Clapotis and I have less than 10 grams of yarn left to knit of it. So soon my 3mm's will be free and together we shall pursue the path of the stole, all the way to Tier Twenty Three.

*80s Sizzlean ad

Let's talk about Leo

2007-02-18T14:05:00.000+11:00

Remember about a year ago, I was ~~falling asleep while~~ ~~boring you with~~ knitting Leo for my beloved Fiver?

For anyone contemplating making this jumper in the round, I have a few pointers based on my own errors in doing the same.

Kristi Porter, the designer of Leo (published in the Fall 2004 issue of Knitty), really thought about every single detail in designing this jumper, and paid particular attention to the detail of the armhole shaping. You will see the shaping note near the top of the pattern, which gives instructions that all decreases take place 3 stitches in from the edge:
On RS rows, decreases are worked: K3, work 2 tog tbl, work in pattern to last 5 sts, work 2 tog, k3. On WS rows, the decreases are switched accordingly, and the first and last three sts of the row are p3 instead of k3.

In order to establish this 3-stitch column of knit stitches along the armhole shaping on both sides (and, importantly, in order to centre a column of 5 knit sts at the exact middle of both the front and back of the jumper), the rib pattern for both the front and back is set up at the very beginning of the work as K3, (p3, K5) to last 6 sts, then p3, k3. It is important to note that the pattern is not simply 3x5 rib over a multiple of 8 stitches, it is actually 3x5 rib over a multiple of 8 sts PLUS 9.

This has ramifications for modifying the jumper to knit in the round. Normally, when converting a pattern knit back and forth in flat pieces to knit in the round, you deduct a number of stitches, usually 4, because you won't need those stitches for seaming. Then you cast on the remaining number of stitches and start knitting around. So, for example, if the front and back of a pattern require you to cast on 52 stitches each, you can assume (unless mentioned otherwise) that one stitch on either side of each piece is intended to be used in seaming the pieces together. Since you will be working in the round and not requiring a seam, you deduct one stitch at each side of each piece (2 sts for each piece) and cast on a total of 100 sts in order to work the front and back together in the round.

If you follow the same logic when casting on to work Leo in the round, you will not wind up with a multiple of 8 sts PLUS 9. You will wind up with a multiple of 8 sts PLUS 6.

Since I didn't realise this and just bolted off knitting away to my little heart's content, the centre column of 5 knit stitches on Fiver's Leo is off by a bit, as it is on the back. Also, more subtly, although I belatedly established the pattern of 3 knit sts at the edges of the armhole shaping, the column of 3 knit sts does not 'flow' out of the edge column of three knit stitches.

You can see here that the ribbing is not exactly centred on the neckline. (Compare to this photo on Knitty.)

This is the front armhole shaping. If I had followed the instructions, the knit stitches would have flowed up from the ribbing in the area below the armhole. Instead, I had to change a column of purl stitches to knit stitches for the decreases.

The back armhole shaping - here I ended up with too many knit stitches together on the shaping.

These are minor problems and I'm happy to live with them. Fiver probably has never even noticed them. But if you want to do things right from the start, I recommend the following procudures:

1. Disregard the deduction for seam allowance stitches and knit in the round with one column of 6 knit stitches where the seam would be at both sidese. The drawback to this is it interrupts the flow of 5x3 rib that you will otherwise be knitting. The other minor drawback is that the circumference of the body of the jumper will be 4 stitches larger than intended by the pattern, but in an all-over rib pattern such as this, there is enough give-and-take to make this a minor consideration.

2. Although I haven't thought this out in great detail (and it might not work, you might want to give it some thought before trying it), you could cast on a multiple of 8 stitches only, then start the front with p3, k5 etc, ending the front with a p3; then working the back starting and ending with a k5. As far as I can see on paper, this would result in a centered column of 5 sts for the front, but the back would not have a centred column of 5. If you went with this option, you could somehow 'borrow' 2 knit stitches on either side of the back for your column of knit stitches along the armhole shaping.

3. Disregard all this tendency to perfectionism and knit it with an off-centre column of knit stitches at the middle of both sides and fudge the armhole shaping detail, like I did.

4. Knit it flat. This might help break up the monotony of knit 5, purl 3 (because at least half the time you'd get to purl 5 and knit 3). Also, the side seam does have its advantages in adding structure and stability to a garment that otherwise will have the tendency to grow in length over time.

I hope this has not made Leo sound overly complicated. I found it to be one of the most rewarding knits I've done in recent memory. The all-over rib pattern tested my patience, but the end result is very flattering to the wearer, not to mention comfortable for him, which is the main thing!

life is like knitting in the round, and around

2007-02-11T21:43:00.000+11:00

These RPM socks are a fitting commute project. The round-and-round spiral of purl stitches reminds me of the seemingly constant home-work-work-home circuit during which I made this pair, the wheels on the train, the ticket turnstiles, the inbound scenery by morning unravelling as the outbound scenery by evening.

There were other fun commutes during which I worked on these socks, like the home-Christmas lunch-home again commute. And some of the saddest moments in recent memory were poured into these socks as well, when in December I commuted work-hospital-hospital-home during the last days of a beloved mate's life.

Debby mentioned recently the phenomenon of how much we come to associate certain knitted pieces with events happening in and around our lives. Her example was the camisole she was working on when Floyd Landis won Stage 17 in amazing fashion in the Tour de France. My Sunrise Circle Jacket is inextricably linked with the 2006 World Cup. The greens of my current Clapotis-in-progress will forever remind me of the vivid green pitches of the 2006-2007 Ashes test series.
And so life goes on... the next pair of commute socks (Retro Rib) have been cast on, and rows get added as the days progress. Wonder what the next pair will remind me of?

two roads

2007-02-07T17:40:00.000+11:00

Two roads are diverging in my WIP basket.

The first, Butterfly, I was determined to get to grips with prior to beginning the second, the Forest Path Stole.
"Get to grips" meant to get the edging done and a decent amount of the body done so that I could abandon it and return to it later having reasonably learned the lace pattern. As you can see, I've not really completed a 'decent' amount of the body - just about 6 rows - but what's a girl to do - there's more exciting lace happening over at the Forest Path Stole Knitalong!

The KAL officially commenced on 1st February. On or about that date I cast on for the seemingly endless 20 rows of seed stitch border. Progress was not hampered by being unsure of the tension of my cast on - I just whacked a lifeline into the cast on row and merrily went on my way.
Things got sidetracked, though, when I picked up David Mitchell's latest, Black Swan Green, (longlisted for the 2006 Booker Prize) last weekend. I decided I really wanted to just read and read and read (the book is so good) - so the Forest Path Stole was abandoned until I finished the book last night; then I finally completed the little foundation triangles. All I can say is, I can't wait to get started with some actual LACE now on this pattern! In case you are wondering, the yarn is the Misti Alpaca laceweight in Merlot (though it's more purple than red wine colour) foreshadowed here.

And thanks for all the commiserations about the new blogger. So far I am uneasily settling down in the new blogger abode, however about 20 of you have lost your site feed for this blog, as one of the feeds doesn't work anymore and doesn't seem to be fixing itself. This is about the ilmit of my knowledge of site feeds so hopefully you 20 will just subscribe to one that works from now on. (Of course, since you've lost your site feed, you probably don't even know I've said this!)

Venus

2007-01-30T17:38:00.000+11:00

Lest you think I've not been highly productive lately, let me show you my second origami FO for 2007.
This is a kusudama, from the 1990 book Kusudama: Ball Origami by Makoto Yamaguchi (one of my all time favourite origami books). Made for a sister-in-law's birthday on the weekend, since she always admires a similar one I made years ago for our mutual mother-in-law.
It contains 40 individual cone-shaped units which are joined by thread to form the ball shape. The resulting ornament has a very sturdy and pleasingly dense composition.

A rant starts here:
I have just been forced - FORCED! - to switch over to the new blogger. I didn't want to. Frankly, I don't care about all the new features, I was perfectly happy with my old features. I don't want to add labels! (Does anyone actually use labels? I never do - but maybe I'm a minority of one.) I'm perfectly happy using keyboard shortcuts for editing - I don't need no stinkin' drag and drop functions! But the main reason I didn't want to switch is that my so-called Google account log-in (my email address) is just so darn cumbersome. I hate having to enter the whole thing all the time and I don't like change and it's all too hard. Will someone please write and tell me everything is going to be ok, or maybe I should switch addresses, but that'll be even more change and I'm just not ready to face that.

Happy Birthday to Guinness!

2007-01-27T16:58:00.000+11:00

What a fine fellow he is!
We've had a big day celebrating the second birthday of Guinness, who is now lying in the corner wondering how he possibly ate all those treats?

His big present, which he's been asking for all year, was a roo tail. Here he is receiving it...
And here he is an hour later... mmmm, roo tail...nearly finished...
Not to be deterred by the full stomach of roo tail, he didn't hesitate to tuck into his 'birthday cake' - a plate of veggie dog treats (recipe here), containing two of his favourite ingredients - carrot and corn flakes.
The other cookies on the plate were a special treat for the adults attending the birthday party - Molasses Crinkles, similar to the ones here, but I used a recipe from a Moosewood cookbook.

No John, don't eat that, those ones are for the dog!

Everything's coming apart

2007-01-25T17:30:00.000+11:00

Sometimes it's nice just to unravel things. Recent success in the yarn-reuse category has left me pondering the jumpers in my stash awaiting deconstruction. I got on a big unravelling kick last weekend, spurred on by Fiver's donation to the jumpers-for-unravelling collection of a hemp cardigan. (Over the years, the cardigan had become too "saggy baggy" for wear.) I have been wanting to try knitting with hemp, now here's the perfect opportunity.
I managed to salvage quite a lot of yarn. I haven't gotten the scales out to weigh it, but there's probably almost 1kg here. Unfortunately I couldn't salvage the yarn of the two fronts because it appears they were constructed as one piece, then cut down the middle for insertion of the zip. If you look closely, you can see the rough edges of unravelling stitches along the zip seam. If I unravelled this, it would result in hundreds and thousands of short single strands - for which I know no use, so these fronts will go into the bin once I've salvaged the zip.
I'm sure it has not escaped your attention that this means Fiver's wardrobe is short a cardigan... any suggestions? Cambridge Jacket? The raglan from Last Minute Knitted Gifts? As for the hemp, I have no specific plans, and as I will probably have to use the fine yarn (about a 2ply weight) doubled, there won't be enough here for any substantial garment. Maybe a singlet.

I also finished a rather large and drawn-out unravelling project that's been going for nearly a year now. I snatched up this jumper at a market ages ago for just a couple of dollars, solely for the purpose of unravelling it - the fibre content is mostly angora with a smidge of nylon to hold it all together.

(Don't ask me about the kitchen utensils. My former photographer, Ashley, was having an expressionist phase the day he took this picture.)

Needless to say, angora is not the most unravel-friendly fibre out there, but I felt it was worth persevering. I like the colour combination and might use the yarn doubled in a small stranded colourwork type pattern. Or, I realised recently, the yarn might be suitable for those Wine & Roses mitts from the winter 2006 IK.
The stripes meant I got many many small balls of yarn as the strands of individual colours were not carried along the side but broken off. All put together, I think they look a bit like Easter eggs.
And finally, I bit the bullet and deconstructed my second worst knitting mistake ever. I wonder if I will ever be able to reuse this yarn? (The trauma of the mistake is still raw in my mind and unravelling the vest gave me an almighty allergy attack!) But I'll never reuse it if it's sitting around all knitted up in something I'll never wear. You will be able to see from this 'before' photo below that I accidentally used yarn from two dye lots for this project.
There's even more history behind this albatross in my craft room, which I will save for the date I actually figure out something to make from this yarn. I reckon if I make another garment (there's enough here for a vest like the Provincial Waistcoat from the winter 06 IK), I could group balls of yarn of one dyelot together on the front and the remainder on the back. Or possibly alternate rows with each dyelot? Advice is, as always, welcome!

Explorers of the New Century - Magnus Mills

2007-01-21T21:22:00.000+11:00

One of my very favourite writers is Magnus Mills. In my limited knowledge of the machinery of the literary criticism world, I reckon he is one of the most overlooked writers I know of. Although his first book, The Restraint of Beasts, was shortlisted (scroll down) for the Booker Prize in 1998, it seems to be the only one that has achieved any acclaim - a travesty in my humble opinion!

My interest in Mills was piqued when I read a review of Three To See the King in 2001. Even though I only moderately enjoyed that book, I sought out the rest of his works shortly thereafter (fortuitously my local library stocked all of them). Once I caught up on his back catalogue (except the short stories), I began to look out for any new works he published.

Mills' latest book was published in 2005 but I didn't find out about it until last week. Luckily, again, my library stocked a [pristine, unread-looking] copy, which I read over the past few days. Although it's not my favourite Mills book, it continues in his characteristic mind-bending, bordering-on-absurd vein which I have enjoyed in his previous works. While his completely straightforward writing sounds like the story could be set in any modern town, probably in the UK, containing everyday blokes as the main characters, his books always contain a little twist about half-way through that render the story timeless and placeless, always resulting in something seemingly allegorical that I chew over and savour for weeks after finishing one of his books.

This latest book, Explorers of the New Century, I particularly recommend to Aussies and others interested in convict history because it deals with the subject of Transportation (but not in any way you have read about in history books!) As with all Magnus Mills books, I can't really tell you any more of the story or else it'd be a spoiler!

Now, while we're on the subject of spoilers, what do you make of this. Here is the cover of the book:

It shows a tent, some bodies lying around on the ground, some boxes of supplies lying scattered round, and an explorer-type coming upon the scene from a boat. Usually I never pay any attention to the illustration on the cover of a book, and this time it was the same. However, about 4/5 of the way through the book, I happened to glance at the cover and, for the stage of the story I was at, the cover seemed like a probable outcome. I found myself a bit peeved with the publisher for giving away the ending of the story right there on the cover. Of course, I should have known that Magnus Mills would throw in another twist or two, and the ending of the book was completely different. In fact, the illustration on the book has absolutely no bearing on the story - it doesn't relate at all!

Was the cover designed to convey a 'boys own adventure' type feeling to the book, which, admittedly, is the overriding tone of the novel? I hate it when it seems like some artist was brought in to just make a piece of artwork that seems to 'go' with a story or title - maybe that's what happened here.

Anyway, back to clever Magnus Mills and not his publishing house. Unlike the critics, my very favourite work of his is The Scheme for Full Employment, but with the exception of Three to See The King (which is a slog) you really can't go wrong starting out with any of his books. One of his short stories is published here - why not give it a read and tell me what you think!

a pick-me-up

2007-01-17T14:20:00.000+11:00

Work is still keeping me on my toes so here's another short one today.

Whenever I feel like I need a chuckle or a new perspective on life, I visit Alan Waddell's Walk Sydney Streets website. Three years ago, Alan set out to walk every street in Sydney. The thing is, he's now 92 years old! He has clocked up more than 3,250km in 225 suburbs since 2003. Check out the FAQs to learn more about him!

The very best thing about Alan's site is his humorous take on the everyday, ordinary things he passes by (and his understated wit when faced with not-so-ordinary things). If you are unfamiliar with Sydney, or only have a short time to browse, I suggest you check out the Secrets and Surprises pages. Every time I read them, I end up laughing out loud (even at things I've read numerous times before)!

A warning - his trivia questions are TOUGH!

Metamorphosis

2007-01-14T20:13:00.000+11:00

Going back to work last week really took it out of me! But in the absence of my usual witty repartee, here are a couple of shots of Butterfly, finally coming out of its cocoon!

The front edging is now finished:

(Instead of casting off and making a back edging, I'll just continue knitting and make the body in the round.)

Here is a detail of the lace pattern in the edging:

2007 sydney stitch @ hart's

2007-01-07T15:07:00.000+11:00

Sydney knitters and visitors, please feel free to join us at the Hart's Pub (10-14 Essex St, The Rocks) for Sydney Stitch n Bitch on alternate Mondays from about 6:30pm - here are the 2007 dates:

8th January
22nd January
5th February
19th February
5th March
19th March
2nd April
16th April
30th April
14th May
28th May
11th June
25th June
9th July
23rd July
6th August
20th August
3rd September
17th September
1st October
15th October
29th October
12th November
26th November
10th December

If you would like to find out more about the Hart's SnB, or a similar group which meets in Manly, check out the Sydney Stitch blog, or email sydneystitch AT hotmail DOT com.

what i did on my summer hols

2007-01-07T11:03:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow I'll be singing hi-ho, hi-ho as I'm off to work in the morning. This means it's time to document what I did with my summer holidays.

Would you be surprised to learn that my alarm went off at 6am every day last week, at which point I jumped out of bed, packed a sandwich, made a thermos of coffee, took Guinness for a quick walk, and hopped on my bicycle at 7:30 to ride into town? All this madness in the name of cricket.

View from my favourite seat

For the past couple of years, I have been formulating a goal to attend every day of a cricket test. Normally a test goes for five days (and can still, as the old joke goes, end in a draw). This particular match only lasted three and a half days, which I was somewhat thankful for, as the daily routine is actually quite exhausting. But I am proud to say I was there for every single minute of the fifth test between Australia and England to witness Australia take the Ashes back in only the second 5-0 sweep of the Ashes, as any meeting of England and Australia on the cricket pitch is known, a series which originated in 1882.

In order to get seats in the members area of the hallowed Sydney Cricket Ground (which is unreserved seating) I needed to arrive by about 8am each day, even though play did not begin until usually 10:30. Have you ever watched that part of a triathlon where the competitors switch from the bicycle section to the running section? That was me arriving at the SCG every morning at 7:55 - helmet off, bike locked up, panniers hauled off rack, and a footrace to the entry gate. (The main difference between me and the triathlete - apart from the 'athlete' part - being the clothing - I did all this in a skirt, dressy blouse, and heels. The members stand has a dress code.)

Having secured a seat at 8am (ensconced between even kookier members, some of whom have been known to queue from 4am for seats), my day at the cricket would begin with a read of the newspaper, a cup of coffee, and a muffin in the lounge area. By about 10 I would be back in my hard-won seat, walkman tuned to the local radio commentary and binoculars hanging around my neck. Thus would commence approximately 7 hours of staring at a wide green expanse peppered by 13 players in white, interruped only briefly by lunch, tea, and the occasional patter of applause.

The bar in the members pavilion

Each day of a test match has its particular thrills. The highlights for me were as follows:

Day 1: The national anthems. The Barmy Army (the crowd of English cricket fanatics who follow their team around the world) very pointedly sang 'God Save Your Queen' to the Aussies, in a not-so-subtle reminder that we share a monarch. (It was comparatively recently that Australia adopted its own national anthem, Advance Australia Fair.)

Day 2: England's valiant captaion, Andrew Flintoff, out for 89, given a standing ovation by the Australian public as he left the field, in recognition of his being a jolly good sportsman. I like that about cricket, usually the spectator expresses an appreciation for anything well done, regardless of which team does it.

Day 3: Warnie's last ever innings at the crease for Australia, out for 71 but everyone thought for sure he was gunning for a century. I cannot possibly go into the legend that is Shane Warne (this is a knitting blog after all) so you can read about him in the sports pages.

Day 4: Although a clean sweep of the series was rarely in doubt, the final moments were spelled out like the ending to a truly great novel - the retiring Aussie batsman Langer joining his mate Matthew Hayden to put together the mere 46 runs needed to win the test prior to lunch. Langer was ushered onto the field by the English side, who had formed a guard of honour for him.

Would I put myself through this again? Absolutely. Next year we're playing India. But we have the whole Cricket World Cup before then...wonder what kind of knitting I can get done during that?

the year in preview

2007-01-03T22:32:00.000+11:00

Over the past couple of months, my wallet has creaked open on a couple of occasions, revealing generations of settled dust and releasing a few moths, and - yes - purchases have been made. Yarn purchases. Pattern purchases. I know, I know it is almost too much of a shock for you to take in all at once. But take a deep breath and read on, because here's what's in store for the next couple of months:
The first purchase began with a gift. (Isn't that what they all say?) The ever-generous Jacqueline and Kris sent me 4 balls of Kid Silk Haze (which I'd never seen in person!) as a combined birthday/wedding gift back in November. What's a girl to do but purchase Romantic Style in order to make Butterfly?

Then came news of an amazing sale. A sale offering free shipping within the USA. Free shipping which had just enough time to get to my mum before she came here for a visit. What's a girl to do other than make a purchase? How could I pass up this great bargain. So 6 balls of Misti Alpaca laceweight in the colour Merlot (destined to be a Forest Path Stole) jumped into my mum's suitcase for a little trans-pacific flight. Incidentally, the customer service at this place was fantastic. (And, Jacqueline gets extra credit points for finding the sale in the first place.)
And then, I went on a bit of a holiday. One must always have a souvenir from holidays right? So home I came with a kilo of some local Tasmanian Corriedale (well the sheep are Tasmanian, but the milling and spinning takes place on the mainland I'm told). And because I had a bit more time to kill while Fiver was at the Cascade Brewery Tour, I decided to purchase Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature to accompany my kilo of wool, to make the hexagon coat The wool is currently a natural beige clour, which I'm not sure about. The plan is to knit it up and dye it if I don't like the garment in the finished colour. The colour selection of natural tasmanian corriedale is as slim as it sounds.
And of course, one must not forget the patterns - Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy Shawl and Eunny Jang's Anemoi Mittens and Deep-V Vest have all arrived on my computer desktop in the past month or so, and all have yet to be paired up with wool. What can I say? It was a long year of trying hard not to spend too much money, so here's to starting 2007 with a full pantry!

bright starts

2007-01-01T23:40:00.000+11:00

Fiver keeps a collection of origami dodecahedra that I've made over the years on his desk at work. Tomorrow he's going back to the same workplace, but will be sitting at a new desk, doing a new job. So I thought I would send him off to his new beginnings with a new dodecahedron, and here are the results of my day's work.
A dodecahedron is a polyhedron with 12 faces, 30 edges, and 20 points or vertices. This dodecahedron is composed of 150 little strips of paper, using a construction technique by Heinz Strobl (called Snapology), diagrammed here. Although I suppose Snapology is considered a form of modular origami, the technique involves simple paper manipulation, and very little actual folding.
The diagrammed instructions for the Snapology method show how to built an icosahedron (a polyhedron consisting of 20 faces, usually all equilateral triangles). I took five of these individual equilateral triangles and made up twelve individual units or groups (shown above, consisting of 10 strips of paper each - 5 making up the triangles, and 5 'snapping' together the triangles), and then joined them up to form a dodecahedron, where each of the 12 faces is composed of 5 equilateral triangles. I suppose many others have used Snapology in exactly this same way before, but I haven't been able to find any photos of a Snapology dodecahedron yet on the web, so I thought I'd post these with a few details. (Incidentally, the icosahedron and dodecahedron are related geometrically in ways which are completely mysterious to me.)
As a mathematical 'proof', I made all 30 of the edges in white, so the pentagonal faces and the vertices where three pentagons meet can be easily picked out against the pattern and texture of the thing as a whole. I have failed to include anything for scale, but the size of this is about the same as a large plum, or a squash ball. The Snapology results in an incredibly strong structure; there is no glue used in this at all, and it is sturdy enough to toss around, drop on the floor, and squeeze (albeit gently).
Although most origami begins with a square, and indeed, Snapology can easily be done with strips of paper cut from any shape or size of paper, I took a little shortcut and used paper which is marketed for quilling - this meant I didn't have to fiddle about with cutting little strips of paper before even getting started. (It also meant that I got to use up some stash. yes I have more paper stashed than yarn.) The strips of paper used for the Han Ji stars (found frequently in paper shops and the like) would also work just fine, but might be a bit narrow and fiddly unless you are very dextrous!
Others have done some truly amazing things with Snapology. It's a method that's worth exploring more. If you give it a try, let me know - I would love to see what you come up with!

For the record...

2006-12-31T21:00:00.000+11:00

Just for the record, my new year's resolution (not that I make them) is (again) to read more. My 2006 total fell far short of my 2005 total, so I will again attempt to read more. Relatedly, I will try to let you know what I think of the literary offerings that cross my path, if you will suffer my foibles gladly enough...

And because I have always been a big fan of first sentences, here are my monthly first sentences from the past year:

January
I have really enjoyed reading all of the various new year's thoughts being posted about the place.

February
Despite taking 6 years of figure skating lessons, I was never destined to be an Olympic star.

March
You know how there was that Knitting Olympics thingy going on... how I didn't really consider myself a participant even though I did have a goal related to the Olympics timeframe... You know how I was foiled in the last official measurement and fell 1 inch short of my goal in the final stretch...

April
I didn't know this but apparently April 1st is the annual day to expose oneself (or at least one's stash) to the light of day.

May
Here is my completed Black Blob (OK OK, the actual name of the pattern is Fiery Bolero), looking a little less blobby since the last time you saw it.

June
The leaf lace shawl for my Mother Outlaw was finished over the weekend.

July
I know how she feels.

August
On a rainy winter Sunday evening one year ago yesterday, I sat down and started up this here blog, purely on a whim.

September
Just in case this blog is your primary source of Australian Football League news, here is a wrap-up of how the dust has settled on the 2006 season.

October
The announcement of the Booker Prize looms ever closer and I have crossed another two books off the short list:

November
I realise I haven’t posted in a while but it was Fiver’s querying the lack of any new posts which really alerted me to the gravity of the situation.

December
There have recently been a few queries as to whether or not I knit anymore.

Happy new year everyone!

lazy summer holiday

2006-12-30T07:53:00.000+11:00

While Fiver and Guinness enjoyed a lazy day's nap in the hammock, I sat down to finish my Sunrise Circle Jacket, which, as it turned out, really only needed hemming and seaming. It seems the end-weaving fairy had paid me a visit, because I don't remember weaving in all the ends myself?!

An afternoon passed and an instant favourite was born!

Little can be added to the many previous glowing reviews of this pattern, by Kate Gilbert for Interweave Knits (and kindly made available for free by IK here!). The construction is so clever and makes the miles and miles of stocking stitch not just bearable but exciting! I love finishing a cardigan with only three pieces, and working the sleeves and fronts together as one piece. The instructions are simple and clear, not overly complex, especially considering the really wierd shape of the finished pieces.

Here are some of my favourite details:

The raglan shaping

The high collar formed by the two front semi-circles overlapping

The stitch pattern created by increasing for the front

I tried to be painstaking about my hemming.

Looking back, I can see this project received nary a mention while it was in progress. I'm not sure why that is. I started it back in June when I needed something I could work on without looking during the wee hours of the morning staying up (or waking up specifically to see) Australia's World Cup matches. I continued to work on it without looking through much of the Sydney Swans 2006 season, but found I got a bit too stressed out during the finals series to knit. (But note that the jumper is a very appropriate colour to wear to 2007 Swans matches!) A couple of long train trips to Newcastle for wedding dress fittings provided the perfect excuse to finish the knitting off. And then it sat around till now.

The yarn is one of my more successful salvage projects. Originally it was a 100% cotton Gap sweater, men's size large, all red with a white stripe. I lost some yarn in the ripping, as the plies of cotton were at times very wayward. Miraculously no fiddling around with gauge was required. I was a bit worried about running out of yarn towards the end, so you can see above that I knitted the hem facing of the back piece in the white yarn. This turned out to be a good move, as I have less than 10 grams left (a golf-ball sized ball) of the red, out of a total 810 grams I started with! Of course, I resorted to the knit-faster method toward the end and disaster was averted.

As you can see here, my Sunrise Circle Jacket is currently buttonless. I rang my local button store and was disappointed to hear that they are on a short Christmas break, and won't re-open until January 2nd. I suppose they deserve a holiday too. But it's definitely finished enough to wear, and after a big day of hemming and seaming, there's nothing more rewarding than a nap in the hammock in your new jumper!

Edited to add more photos:
Now with buttons!

Here's the original Gap jumper which was recycled into this Sunrise Circle Jacket:

In cleaning out the scraps from the 'recycling bin' I found the original price tag- the jumper cost me only $3 ! (But the buttons drastically inflated the cost of the finished object - they were $8.)

A long piece of work

2006-12-27T20:38:00.000+11:00

Whenever I visit the Fabulous Knitabulous' blog, I like to ponder the Baudelaire quote she uses in her banner:
"There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start."

That may be all well and good, but I reckon old Baudelaire never made himself a Lady Eleanor Stole. Let me tell you, it is a l-o-o-o-o-n-g piece o' work, especially once it's been started.

looking over the Lady Eleanor precipice

First, how about some stats. You want length? You got length. Two and a half metres of length. (That's just over 8 feet in olde-speake). You want duration? This took a mere 14 months of my life. People have had babies, gotten university degrees, grown a tree from a seedling in this length of time! It's a heck of a lot of entrelac - 604 squares and 62 triangles, as a matter of fact. 58 centimeters wide. Although the pattern calls for 35 'tiers' to be knitted, I just worked till I ran out of yarn - 47 whopping tiers. (Despite perfect gauge and using exactly the 15 skeins called for in the pattern (with EXACTLY 1.57 metres of yarn left over) Go figure.)
Prior to embarking on the voyage of HMAS Lady Eleanor, I pondered the propensity of Lady Eleanor FOs to be photographed on clotheslines. Now I know why. It is impossible to photograph the whole thing. And yes, it appears Lady Eleanor's rightful place is on the laundry line.
I don't blame you for not recalling that the yarn for this project was a birthday gift from my mum - La Lana Wools Forever Random Blends. I would like to say it's divine. It's not. It is scratchy as. 60% Romney wool. For a gal more familiar with Australia's own merino, this romney is a bit of a rude and scratchy shock. Mixing it with 40% mohair does little to tone down the scratch. Lots of people have substituted Noro Silk Garden for this pattern. There are similarities - including the preponderance of vegetal matter one encounters spun into the fibres.
Despite scratchiness, the yarn contains beautiful lustrous colours, all dyed using natural products. Unlike the Silk Garden Lady Eleanors, which usually result in individual entrelac squares of distinctly different shades, the La Lana Lady Eleanor contains a clear predominance of one colour, in this case green, with some truly random other colours occuring at completely random points in the skein. No two skeins were the same when I made this. I actually quite like the overall colour effect.

The above two factors - scratchy but nice colours - led Fiver (ever the clever thinker) to conclude early on that this stole would be destined to be a wall hanging. He was quite taken with the entrelac. (Don't tell him, I think he thinks it's an awfully difficult technique. It is in actual fact quite straightforward.) Once I finished the thing and tried it on, I had to agree. Although I held out some hope right to the end that this might actually function as a garment once it was finished, a quick try-on demonstrated conclusively that
a) it is a completely unwieldy size and shape for a stole,
b) it is way too hot for any kind of weather we might encounter in the antipodes, and
c) the only place I could possibly get away with this fashion is on the set of Braveheart II.

Now please don't be offended if you've made a Lady Eleanor and you wear it everywhere. To each her own! It's just not going to work on me. So to the wall it will go.

The back is almost as interesting as the front

So there you have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Lady Eleanor Stole. Let me know if you are interested in seeing how Fiver manages to get it hanging up on the wall, because I sure am!

Christmas is upon us

2006-12-24T10:26:00.000+11:00

And in honour of the impending holiday, here are a few responses to the Christmas Meme that's been going round. There's actually some knitting content down the bottom of this post, just in case you're interested.

Egg nog or hot chocolate? Neither. Passionfruit punch or chilled white wine for me on Christmas day, thank you.

Does Father Christmas wrap presents or just set them under the tree? I think this is a pretty stupid question. Who gets presents just left under the tree?

Coloured lights on tree/house or white? I have been seeing this meme on a lot of blogs and everyone says white. Well I'm here to tell you that, growing up, it was COLOURED lights on the tree. Never any lights on the house.

Do you hang mistletoe? No.

When do you put up your decorations? Sometime in December.

What's your favourite Christmas dish? Hmmm, not sure. I'll have to think that over tomorrow.

Favourite Christmas memory as a child? As the only child in the house, of course it was my job on Christmas morning to sneak in to see whether Santa Claus had come, then wake up the adults with a shout of "He's been!" I remember that once I became a teenager and was more fond of sleeping than worried about getting a pre-dawn start on the presents, my parents actually came into my room to wake me up to go and see if Santa Claus had been.

When and how did you learn the truth about Father Christmas? I think it was reading the famous New York Sun editorial, 'Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus' which was reprinted in the local paper every year. I can't remember what age though.

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, this is the only Christmas tradition that has traveled with me to Australia, we always exchange a book on Christmas Eve.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? There is no tree, but some (white) lights and ornaments are scattered on the coffee table.

Snow! Love it or dread it? Don't mind it, but would be seriously concerned to see it tomorrow.

Can you ice skate? Yes indeed I can. I took figure skating lessons for several years as a child and am still an adept skater! Yes, this is a Little Known Fact About Meg.

Do you remember your favourite gift? I have been discussing this with Fiver and our housemate and I reckon my favourite gift must have been a 10-speed bicycle when I was about 11 or 12 years old. It had to be taken out for a spin straight away, never mind that there was a substantial amount of snow on the ground! More recently, I loved my Lornas Laces yarn from Fiver last Christmas. (See below.)

What's your favourite Christmas dessert? Traditional American Christmas cookies. The chocolate ones with the chocolate in the middle, shortbread, and snickerdoodles. We now spend Christmas with Fiver's family and I don't think they're too keen on the American Christmas cookies (being more traditinalists, with the plum pudding), but that doesn't stop me from bringing a box of cookies and putting them out come dessert time!

What's your favourite Christmas tradition? Christmas baking on Christmas Eve - I produce all of the above cookies, as well as a few salads to keep in the fridge so we can be utter sloths from Boxing Day till New Year's Eve and just wander to the fridge for sustenance without having to put any undue effort into our nutritional needs while the Boxing Day [cricket] Test is on.

What tops your tree? There is no tree.

Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving. And wrapping, especially.

What's your favourite Christmas song? I love ALL Christmas songs and listen to Christmas music for most of December, amazingly without getting sick of it!

Candy canes? I don't mind them, but I don't think I've ever finished one.

And now, for knitting content.

Normally, I wouldn't bother telling you that I finished a sock. But this is timely, and I'm pleased with it, so here you go.

ONE finished RPM sock in the Lorna's Laces that Fiver gave me for Christmas last year. Yes, it has taken me an entire year to produce a single sock, but not for lack of trying!

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Yes, alright, just a little bit more...

2006-12-13T17:40:00.000+11:00

"Yes, alright, just a little bit more" is a phrase you will probably hear me utter a few too many times this holiday season. But in the interest of seasonality, and because I couldn't stand the feeling of being left out of all the last minute crafting mania I've been seeing out there (does that even need a link?), I thought I might give in to the temptation to do a just a little bit more knitting. Here are the results.

Top, a Buttonhole Bag (left: unfelted, right: felted). Last year these seemed to be ubiquitous coming up to the holidays, lately I haven't seen a single one. This little number was about 24 hours in the making - cast on at 10:30pm last Friday night (yes it's an exciting life) and into the washing machine for felting the next afternoon. It's part of a Christmas present for my mother-in-law. (We draw a name out of a hat so she's my only gift recipient this year, just in case you were worried I might start felting for a cast of thousands on the basis of this one successful example.) The yarn is from my first recycling project, and was leftover from my first felted bag, the French Market Bag.

Bottom, a pair of Fetching (left: modelled, right: unmodelled). These are for a friend whose birthday falls in the week after Christmas. I always like to include a birthday present for her when I send her family their Christmas parcel, hence the rush (they're overseas. As it is I'm worried I left it too late. The post office was not exactly inspiring confidence today, what with the queues, the frazzled workers, and the overflowing mail bags behind the counter!) The yarn for this was left over from my Rogue - I probably used about 75grams and still have about another 25grams left over. Love de-stashing - don't do it much, should do it more.

And that's all the holiday knitting you're going to see here this year! Inspired by Polly's marathon sock effort, I have nominated a couple of projects which shall NOT progress into 2007. What about you? Finishing off some long-running bugbears or burning the candle at both ends to get all your beautifully hand crafted Christmas gifts under the tree?

Spending a penny in Sydney

2006-12-11T17:47:00.000+11:00

Museum Station is one of a pair (the other is St James) of train stations opened in 1926, Australia's first underground railway stations. The influence of London's Tube is plain to see:

Now located in something of a backwater in Sydney's rail network, it's a sleepy little station, even in the afternoon peak hour, when this photo was taken. Museum Station seems to have been set aside as the preservation sample from the halcyon days of elegant and streamlined travel by rail - even the 'old school' advertisements and platform benches are maintained.

One of the more interesting aspects of Museum Station to connoisseurs of this type of thing are the loos. Let's have a look!

There's little I appreciate more than a heritage loo. Here, I love the timber stall doors and marble dividers. Yes, marble! When was the last time you saw marble in a public toilet?

Although I think the sinks have been replaced, the tiling is original, and I reckon the mirrors are too. Check out the little attendant's cubicle in the background!

Sadly, heritage loos are a dying breed in Sydney. The nearby public amenities in Hyde Park have been closed for the past few years, despite several creative suggestions for their reuse - one suggestion was even to put a restaurant into them! The toilets in St James Station still exist at the concourse level, but are now closed off to the public in favour of boring old modern ones at platform level - a development which has occurred only in the last six months.

The Taylor Square public conveniences are earlier - 1907 (the ladies didn't get built until 1938!) - but are now closed to the public. Further reading? Here's an excellent article on the demolition of Sydney's Edwardian underground public toilets and the politics surrounding them.

We interrupt this knitting content to bring you two tea cosies

2006-12-08T18:00:00.000+11:00

Ever since Jacqueline posted her collection of tea cosies (and challenged the rest of us to post ours), I have been meaning to share these three tea cosies which, although they are not mine, have entered my life of late:

The Work Tea Cosy. We bring this out whenever we have people visiting the office we want to impress. It was crocheted by a former staff member as a gift. This occasion happens to be my birthday tea, and those funny blocky things next to the tea are Lamingtons.

Rebecca's Tea Cosy. This amazing table spread was the result of Rebecca's tireless efforts at throwing me the best Hen's Tea Party ever. Now that I've wowed you with her amazing ability to put together a gorgeous table spread, stop on by and look at the incredible cloth she pieced to adorn the table at the wedding ceremony! (And she will also reveal the source of the cupcake recipes!) (Of course it's difficult to thank someone enough for all this beautiful effort but I commissioned a gorgeous bag from Di that will go some way toward expressing my gratitude!)

The Thimble Cottage Tea Cosy. One of the highlights of the recent honeymoon was a stay in a cute little cottage in Oatlands (where we met the sheep) dating to about 1840 - three bedrooms, living room, kitchen, backyard - all to ourselves. We had lots of fun playing house. Fiver built a fire in the fireplace. That boy loves to play with fire. Of course the fact that the cottage came equipped with not only a teapot but a cosy as well - it was just perfect.

Menu du jour

2006-12-06T17:41:00.000+11:00

This month, Chez Daysfull is delighted to present the following menu:

Entree/Appetiser

To begin with, we offer something that will tantalise your senses - a fresh and healthy Lite Clapotis. This scaled-down, laceweight scarf version of the dish we all know and love will provide your palate with something to keep your mind off your growing hunger, while our chefs busily work in the kitchen to concoct the rest of your meal!

Main Course

Not quite Grandma's lamb roast, this woolly warmer is a winner in wintry lands and will keep you warmer than you will ever find necessary in Sydney's sub-tropical climes, be it deep mid-winter (which it's not) or all year round. Our chef is most likely to present this Lady Eleanor not in her usual wrap form, but in an unusual and bold combination of textile art and wall hanging. In this specially prepared dish, randomly spun wool fibres are woven and looped for over a year, resulting in a succulent and juicy stew. Don't disturb Chef, she's nearly 3/4 of the way through this delicate process!

Dessert

To finish off, why not try a delightful degustation of weaving in ends, seaming, and hemming? Give in to the luscious temptation of pure recycled cotton, carefully prepared and fully bound off, presented in tantalising overlapping semi-circles. Something to take the chill out of late spring evenings, this Sunrise Circle Jacket requires just a glance from you (and a few buttons) to be complete!

Doggy Bag

Too full? Can't fit in another bite? Well, here's a perfect little snack for while you're on the road on on the train. RPM is sure to tide you over until you get your appetite back!

All the highlights you'd ever want to see

2006-12-05T18:42:00.000+11:00

There have recently been a few queries as to whether or not I knit anymore. The answer is yes, I do, and tomorrow you will see the full collection of current knitting works-in-progress! But now it's time for the obligatory holiday slide show. Pull up a comfy chair and a cuppa, we're off to TASMANIA!

Tasmania is known as the Apple Isle. Here are some of Tassie's finest for sale at Hobart's famous Salamanca Markets. Fans of Princess Mary will be pleased to hear that she visited Salamanca Markets on this very same day. Though we saw her photographers, we didn't catch a glimpse of the royal personage, the one great disappointment of my honeymoon. Luckily this was the first day and we got over it quickly enough.

My favourite park in Hobart is St David's Park, where a number of gravestones from colonial (1830-60s) times have been preserved (though the park was "rejuvenated" in the 1920s and is now the location of the Supreme Court). This tombstone reads in part "She Landed in this Colony on the 21st Dec 1833 and died on the 31st of the same month Aged 35 years." I don't think Van Dieman's Land was much of a walk in the proverbial park for anyone.

Hobart is a cosmopolitan place, full of interesting shops. Here we are presented with the ever-challenging shopper's conundrum. Are those leather bags I see in the window?

Or are they earrings?

We also stopped by Antarctica. Ha ha, got you. That's the Sub-Antarctic Plant House in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hobart. It is kept at a relatively constant temperature of 8C, 98% humidity, in order to recreate the climate of Macquarie Island. As a big fan of penguins, it was brilliant to walk a few metres in their sub-antarctic neighbourhood. As a big fan of Norwegians, ditto.

Look like a postcard? This is the well-published view of Wineglass Bay in the Freycinet National Park. Hundreds of people brave a steep climb to this lookout, and while they're there, it looks like they share their food with some of the locals:

Here is a very tame wallaby at the Wineglass Bay lookout. It's the first live wallaby I've ever seen "in the wild" (there are plenty dead on the roads too) but of course I recognise this could hardly be classed as wild. Luckily I saw wallabies on two other less well-trodden paths during this trip, so I can firmly cross Wallaby off my life list of animals. Also an echidna - somehow Fiver spotted one wandering along on the side of the highway as we sped by so we got out and looked at it. This seemed to frighten it as it stuck its head under a rock, so we left it alone after a little bit.

Not satisfied with the Tourist Turnpike up the hill to the Wineglass Bay Lookout, Fiver and I persevered down to the beach itself. Here are our feet, enjoying a well-deserved break. Unfortunately the water was positively numbing, so there was no frolicking in the waves. Mmmmm, I like wineglasses.

Further on during our walk in the Freycinet National Park, we came across this lagoon, much shrunken from its usual size, and showing signs of drought.

Tasmania is also known for its old growth forests. We went to visit the four "White Knights" in the Evercreech Forest Reserve to see the tallest white gums in the world. They were located together in a little quiet grove, it was a lovely spot, not far out of the town of Fingal. One of my favourite places we visited.

After visiting the White Knights, we walked through some more lovely wet sclerophyll forest.

Later in the week, we travelled back to the beaten path and journeyed through the colonial towns along the 'Heritage Highway' between Launceston and Hobart. This gave us a chance to enjoy some nice pastoral scenery, and to meet some locals:

This fellow was grazing out the back of the cute little cottage we rented in Oatlands.

That's where I have to leave you for now - but if you have read this far, do not be sad, the little cottage in Oatlands will make another appearance in these pages in not too long...

The paparazzi have coughed up the goods

2006-11-24T12:40:00.000+11:00

Just in time, before departing for a one week honeymoon in the wilds of Tasmania, the paparrazzi photographs of the wedding have become available for your viewing pleasure!

We arrived by tandem bicycle to a glorious Sydney evening. Dismounting the tandem was not the most graceful move of the day... To those of you who are inordinately interested in footwear, I am sorry this is the best shot I have of the shoes at present.

This shot kind of shows the stole, as well as the lining of the dress and the cut of the back.

This shot demonstrates how much fun I had on the day! And there's Fiver, who's still a little shy about showing his face...

The eagle-eyed among you will see that the centre panel of the dress is printed with peonies, which were echoed in the bouquet I carried. My florist was Bloomey's (9360 1788) and I can't recommend them highly enough. Getting flowers with them was like having a psychic reading!

Thank you for all your congratulations and good wishes! See you in a week!

Sneak peeks!

2006-11-21T17:41:00.000+11:00

Here are a couple of sneak peeks from Saturday's festivities, just the photos I've managed to concoct with my phone. Hopefully sometime soon someone who took photos with an actual camera might be able to provide me with some better shots!

The stole, carefully folded and ready for donning.

The dress (and a cheeky grin), about to leave for the ceremony.

The cake mirrored the origami decorations Fiver and I made for the tables.

I'm published!! and a secret is revealed...

2006-11-16T05:15:00.000+11:00

Have you seen Yarnival? It's one of those blog carnival thingies.

I had never heard of the Yarnival until Cara called for submissions for issue 3 which she (so magnificently!) edited. And holey moley - my submission was accepted! My post about Fiver's Leo is included in the Features section, along with others who have faced the Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater.

So this seems an opportune time to come clean with you. That Baltic Sea Stole? The one that's finished, blocked, and carefully folded away and wrapped lightly in some tissue paper? The one I've NEVER shown you as a finished object? It's going to be debuted on Saturday afternoon when I will become the one and only Mrs Fiver in what promises to be the biggest coming out party for a knitted stole this town has ever seen!

I hope this explains a bit my recent lack of blogging and the introduction of lots of (gasp) non-knitting content here as of late.

And now that I've got your attention, please wander over and say hello to Rebecca, the one and only bridesmaid. She's been working her eyeballs out on some special wedding related things which are sure to amaze you.

After that, you can go grab a cuppa and read the rest of Yarnival !

This just in

2006-11-09T08:06:00.000+11:00

For anyone who's interested in some Royal Easter Show fun, the schedule of competition classes has just been posted. Entries close 20th December (but you have until some time in April to complete the knitting.) (And note, the 'lace knitting fibre other than wool' is a TOUGH category, take it from me!)

And here's a car that was attracting some attention last night.
Let's zoom in, shall we, and see what all the fuss is about?

Just in case you can't see the fine print, it says "I like to park across 2 spaces because I'm a"...
I take it the rest is easy to read.

Melbourne Cup Day Rant #2

2006-11-07T15:40:00.000+11:00

I realise I haven’t posted in a while but it was Fiver’s querying the lack of any new posts which really alerted me to the gravity of the situation. So I hereby bring you my Second Annual Melbourne Cup Day Rant. This year: Horses Who Do Not Have their Rightful Place in History

Australian history is full of famous horses. Ask any Australian on the street to name a racehorse and I guarantee they’d be able to come up with 5. But lots of horses don’t get the recognition I think they deserve.

A while back, I did some research on a lovely little pub called the Frisco, in Woolloomooloo. There has long been a story bandied about by the publicans at the Frisco that the hotel is named after a ship called the ‘San Francisco’ which crashed into Woolloomooloo Wharf ‘sometime in the 1880s’.

The first thing that rang alarm bells for me about this story was that the hotel only became known as the Frisco in 1892. Originally, from 1854, it had been called the Dowling Street Wharf Hotel. (Here’s what the original building looked like.)

I consulted with the foremost authority in Australia on ships and shipping and he told me there were two ships with ‘Frisco’ in their names around that time, neither of which ever appears to have called at Sydney. There was the American naval cruiser, the USS San Francisco (launched in 1889, commissioned in 1890, and flagship of the South Pacific Squadron for 18 months), and there was a Dutch cruiser called the John Willim Frisco, launched in 1886.

A comprehensive search of local newspaper indexes for the 1880s and 1890s revealed no mention of a ship ever colliding with Woolloomooloo Wharf. So this ship idea is looking pretty flimsy to me.

A Google search for Frisco + 1880 + NSW led me to the horse, of course. A horse called Frisco won the Sydney Cup in 1887, the premier distance horse race in NSW (3200m). Frisco was sired by one of Australia’s most famous horses, Grand Flaneur, who was unbeaten on the race track, and winner of the 1880 Melbourne Cup.

I found out from old bloodstock guides that T Sampson owned Frisco in 1887. Although I searched the guides for 1890-1895 for changes in ownership for Frisco, and I searched the race results for the same time period to see if Frisco ever did anything else noteworthy, I couldn’t come up with anything giving me a date of 1891-1892 to explain why the name of the hotel might have changed exactly then.

The next step is to find out who owned the hotel, whether it changed hands around 1891-1892, and whether, possibly, one T Sampson was a shareholder in the pub. But unfortunately, I had to leave the evidence trail here due to the inevitable deadlines. Someday I hope to follow up this lead, but for now I like to think that one lucky punter put down money on a long shot at Randwick Racecourse in the autumn of 1887, won big, went on to buy a pub, and name it after the horse who earned him his riches.

The publicans, however, like to stick to their story of the ship, and if you go to the pub today, you will see they have a bit of a nautical theme running throughout (see the anchor above the door?). This makes sense, they’re located near the wharf and prior to land reclamation in the late 19th century they were practically on the water’s edge. But after ordering your schooner, spare a thought for a little-known horse called Frisco, outshined by his dad, whose moment in the sun may or may not be immortalised by the name of a little local pub on a corner in Woolloomooloo.

And, for posterity, this year I drew Maybe Better and Mahtoum in the $1 office sweep. Maybe Better was tipped for a win by one Sydney Morning Herald writer, and Mahtoum is trained and part-owned by Kim Waugh, wife of Aussie cricketing legend Mark (who reportedly has a severe allergy to horses!) Incidentally, Mahtoum won the Sydney Cup last year!

Results - Maybe Better - 3rd place, my winnings =$4
Mahtoum - a respectable 6th

2006-10-27T13:16:00.000+10:00

There is something about a river that gives it a personality. This is probably best evidenced in all those famous songs about the Mississippi River in America, like 'Old Man River' in which the mighty Miss is personified as Father Time.

Australia's old man river, the Hawkesbury (seen from a train)

I grew up on the banks of another famous river which has given me cause to ponder many a time what that means and how it has made me. It wasn't an idyllic river where you would go swimming or fishing or even boating for fun. It was an industrial highway, a spine in the steel and coal industries, and probably would make you sick if you accidentally drank any of its water or ate any of its inhabitants. But there was still pride in our river, and a sense of awe when, even as an adult, I visited other towns miles and miles downriver and thought 'hey, that's my river.' I think it's the same for people anywhere who live on a river.

What's all this talk about rivers? Well, I just finished a magnificent book about one. I admit I was skeptical when I saw that Kate Grenville's The Secret River had been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The one book I'd previously attempted by Kate was thrown across the room in agony and disgust, unfinished. (I can count on one hand the number of books I've tried but not finished, so that's saying something.) But, as you know, I have this thing about the Booker Prize, so I had to read this one.

Some houses (probably weekenders) on the far side of the Hawkesbury

Let me say this first: it is not a Booker Prize winning book. I think the judges in the Booker tend to reward authors who are more artistic with their words, who dab words on a page in a carefully considered fashion like a pointillist painter would fill in their canvas with dots. You'll read a lot of great books when you follow the Booker, and usually it's the more challenging ones that win the prize, the ones that took you longer to read, that put you to sleep, or that nearly brought you to the brink of throwing it aside. The shortlist also always contains a few books which are bloody great yarns - and this is one of them. As carefully as I'm sure this book was crafted, its language is simple and flowing, its story told with a beginning, middle, and end - the result is a not-too-taxing book that will win heaps of literary prizes, just not the Booker.

Although the dustjacket will tell you The Secret River is about a man called Will, who is transported to New South Wales as a convict in the early days of the 19th century, the book struck me as being more about the Hawkesbury River, Australia's first breadbasket, and the scene of the earliest settlement in Australia of freed convicts. It is an exceptionally rich place, historically, and an exceptionally complex place, geographically. Kate Grenville opens up the mysterious reaches and bends of the river through her characters' eyes with a presence that history books always fail to deliver, and that historical fiction usually fails to achieve.

A mysterious reach of the Hawkesbury

The book made me ponder lots of things. What it means to make your living from a river. What it means to own land. What it means to be a forced migrant. Probably the best achievement of The Secret River is the telling of the story of early contact between the English colonists and convicts and the local Aboriginal people. Although I don't think early contact is something which is unexplored in modern day Australia, I don't know of any other attempts which tell the story so populated with believable, understandable, and identifiable characters like this book has.

I don't know any non-Aussies who have read this book yet (but I do know a few who will be getting a copy for Christmas), but I don't think it's a book that is unexportable. I highly recommend it to anyone who'd like to walk a few metres in the shoes of a transported convict and I would love to hear what you thought of it.

nearly 48 things

2006-10-23T08:03:00.000+10:00

"I guess it's my turn...
Originally I saw this post on Kris's blog and thought...hey I might just do that one. But then Jacqueline nominates me as the person most likely to respond. So stubborn me thought...no I won't, I'll show her. Then in the next line she says I am also the person most unlikely to respond! Hell what's a girl to do? Since I was completely confused by this stage, I thought I may as well go with my first instinct. So here you have it..." *

48 things you could care less about

1. First Name Meg
2. Were you named after anyone? Maternal grandmother
3. When did you last cry? Reading Di's description of her recent wedding. (I always knew I cried at weddings. I admit I was a little surprised to find myself getting choked up just reading a blog about a wedding.)
4. Do you like your handwriting? Yes
5. What is your favourite lunchmeat? I love cured meats of all types but I don't do them the disservice of eating them for lunch. They are better on their own with some olives and a glass of red wine handy.
6. If you were another person would you be friends with you? I couldn't possibly say. It would depend on what first impression I gave myself.
7. Do you have a journal? No
8. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes
9. Would you bungee jump? No, would you?!
10. What is your favourite cereal? This is a very open-ended question. My favourite cereal grain - barley (that's for Fiver). Favourite breakfast cereal - corn flakes.
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Only the ones with laces
12. Do you think you are strong? Well I do like spinach an awful lot (see 32)
13. What is your favourite ice-cream flavour? Anything soy
14. Shoe size? Depends on how cheap and how cool the shoe is. At Vinnie's, I have a very flexible foot size.
15. Red or pink? Red
16. What is the least favourite thing about yourself? My lactose intolerance
17. Who do you miss most? My former best friend, cheese
18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you? What is this supposed to mean? No. Just post it on your blog.
19. What colour pants, shirt and shoes are you wearing? Black shoes. Drab trousers. Red shirt with black/purple/red print singlet over.
20. Last thing you ate? Peanut butter and honey toast
21. What are you listening to right now? A little voice inside my head telling me it's time to go get a cup of tea to wash down that peanut butter and honey toast
22. If you were a crayon what colour would you be? I couldn't possibly say
23. Favourite smell? A library
24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? My father
25. The first thing you notice about people you are attracted to? Their vocabulary
26. Do you like who you stole this off? I hardly think I stole it, but yes
27. Favourite drink? Coffee, strong, black, no sugar
28. Favourite sport? That's like a parent choosing a favourite child - impossible to say! There are so many good ones. The top two for me are Aussie Rules Football and cricket.
29. Eye colour? Brown
30. Hat size? I'm not sure, I will have to ask these people
31. Do you wear contacts? No
32. Favourite food? Palak paneer, with a side serving of lactose tablets
33. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings. And if it was a scary movie with a happy ending, I still wouldn't watch it.
34. If you could live anywhere in the world where would that be? With Fiver and Guinness
35. Summer or winter? See 28. During cricket season - summer. During AFL season - winter.
36. Hugs or kisses? If we're talking about Hershey's products, definitely kisses.
37. Favourite dessert? Nothing finishes off a meal quite as well as a short black
38. Who is most likely to respond? Rebecca (the last time I sent her one of these I thought for sure she'd respond but she didn't. Turns out she hadn't made it in to work that day to get the email. So now's her chance.)
39. Least likely to respond? Rebecca, she has far better things to do with her time.
40. What books are you currently reading? Iris Murdoch's 1978 Booker Prize winner, The Sea, The Sea and 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature recipient Orhan Pamuk's Snow.
41. What's on your mouse pad? Just grey clothy stuff.
42. What did you watch on TV last night? Operatunity Oz
43. Favourite sounds? Since we're coming up to summer, I'd have to say my favourite sound is the cry of HOWZAT!
44. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Stones!
45. The furthest you have been from home? It depends on how one defines home. But either way, I'm now halfway round the globe from every where else I've been, so the answer is either here or there.
46. What's your special talent? Finding typos in anyone's work but my own
47. Where were you born? Really far away from where I am now (see 45)
48. Who sent this to you? The Serendipitous One

*Liberally quoted from Jacqueline.

Oscar the Rabbit

2006-10-20T13:04:00.000+10:00

It is really amazing how expressive animals can be. This bunny was really workin it for the camera today...

I have the death sentence on twelve star systems.

Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

We're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all.

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

You can't handle the truth.

I got this young nineteen year old country girl named Sheronda. I found her on a bus stop two days outta Georgia, barefoot, country as a chicken coop. I took her to my place in Compton, told her it was Hollywood.

That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.

A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Men of the West!*

Project: Bunny from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Odds n ends including Cleckheaton Merino Supreme left over from this and Paton's Powder Puff for the ears. Yes, this would fall into my category of so-called Novelty Yarns and was generously gifted to me by either Donni or Donna (sorry girls, all the novelty yarn gifts from that day have gotten a little bit confused in my mind!)
For: A coworker who is expecting a baby girl, but Guinness has also shown some serious interest.

ETA: Roll your mouse over each picture to see what movie the line comes from!

Socks and stoles, oh my

2006-10-16T08:22:00.000+10:00

I don't know how some people churn out socks - here a pair there a pair everywhere a pair pair. Not so on this farm!

These socks seem like they have taken me a decade to finish... (actually it's just under 4 months.)

They were mostly made during my relatively short train commute each afternoon. I enjoyed making them. And I see the merits of something small for train knitting. But I'm still not a sock knitter by any stretch of the imagination!

Of course they are the Pomatomus Socks by Cookie A from the Summer 2006 Knitty made in Sundara's sock yarn in "Mixed Berry" colourway for my mum. (Mum was given a number of sock patterns to choose from for Mother's Day and lucky for me, she chose the one I was itching to try!)

But that's not all the finishing going on round here!

Yes, that is me, binding off my Baltic Sea Stole! Fiver found the event so momentous, he grabbed a camera and started shooting!

I plan to give it a fairly agressive blocking, so I wanted a good, flexible bind off and found the 'Decrease Bind Off' described here to be just the ticket. I also think I'm a little bit clever for running a lifeline through the very last row before binding off - this allowed me to bind off in part, then test for flexibility. The first attempt was a bit too tight - but it was a breeze to just unzip the boundoff stitches and replace the live stitches on the needle from the lifeline. Now that I've bound off satisfactorily, the lifeline will stay in place for blocking, Harlot-style. (I use mercerised cotton for lifelines and blocking - seems extravagant but I got a box full of the stuff thrown in with some knitting needles at a market stall last year.)

Although I feel a sort of freedom, having completed the stole, I admit to feeling a little twinge of sadness when I'd completed the last lace pattern row, then another twinge as I completed the last plain row before the border... stay tuned for some post-block modelled shots to come later this month!

Literary prize update

2006-10-13T08:16:00.000+10:00

I was out with a friend last night and got out my diary to put a future event into it. Exclaiming over how small my diary is, she (cheekily) pointed out that I must not have very many appointments. I protested - only the most important things to remember go in my compact little diary!

Friend [incredulous, looking over shoulder]: "Does that say Booker Prize?"
Meg: "What, what are you talking about Booker Prize?"
F: "There, on the 10th. Oh my god, is that the day the prize was announced? You put the BOOKER PRIZE in that TINY DIARY?!"
M: "Doesn't everyone put the Booker Prize in their diary?"
F: "So who won, it was that young Indian woman wasn't it, I saw it on the news. I thought I might like to read that book."

[Meg scribbles mental note; birthday of friend coming up later in October; buy Kiran Desai's Inheritance of Loss for friend]

That's right. You heard it here first (or for the 475th time), Kiran Desai took out the prize. While it wasn't my favourite of the 4 (out of 6) shortlisted books I've read, it also wasn't my least favourite. And I must admit, since writing my ambivalent review last week, my thoughts have returned to the book repeatedly, to mull over certain passages, characters, and choices the writer made. It is a very fine book in that sense. Though maybe only my 3rd favourite of the 2006 Booker picks I've read so far, that still puts it in my top 5 or so for the year, certainly. And sometimes the very best books bowl you over weeks after you put them down. I like a good betel nut of a book, one you can mentally chew on all day long.

In other literary prize news, the Nobel Prize for Literature was announced earlier this week. Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk received the honour. My library, I am pleased to find, holds 4 of his novels in English, 1 non-fiction work, and additional copies in Turkish and Chinese.

A friend who specialises in training psychologists and counsellors in multicultural issues once told me one of his training activities - to test how aware of other cultures you are, have a look at the list of past Nobel Prize winners and see how many you've read. (Obviously this test will favour those who read!) It's an interesting exercise - you can have a go yourself, here's the list. I think I'm up to 28 but I must admit, those are nearly all writers from the USA and UK (and 2 Aussies), so I could do some catching up on my multiculturalism!

And to clear the literary to-blog topics for the moment, I must tell you that I read the Booker longlisted selection, The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr. It's one of these books set in a very small town where everybody's got a secret to hide and most of the townspeople have some tragic flaw or other. Does anybody know of a real town like this? Because there seems to be a lot of books written on this premise, none as fine as Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. This book was no Winesburg. The character of Raj in The Perfect Man was an absolute delight, but the rest of the book left me counting the pages until the (sickly happy) end.

Nothing says Get Going With the Baby Knits...

2006-10-09T17:20:00.000+10:00

Nothing says "get going with the baby knits" quite like dad-to-be's late night phone call: "We're about to go to hospital, would you mind dogsitting?"

Pantoufle Pines

Full of nervous energy and with a big sook of a whippet on my lap, I picked up this Pea Pod Baby Set (designed by Kate Gilbert, in Interweave Knits Summer 2006), which I had started as my knitting-while-reading last month during my Booker Prize longlist marathon. Twelve hours later, just as I was finishing off the little beanie (yes, I had gone to sleep for a while in the interim), new dad phoned to tell me the little tacker was born and that he was in fact a humongous baby (4.17kg - 9lb2oz to old fashioned folk). Fearfully, I asked what the head circumference was, but that had not yet been measured.

Pea Pod Baby Set

Mum and baby were presented with gifts yesterday. Although baby, still unnamed, is quite large, there was ample room in the beanie for his head to grow into it. Phew!

And for anyone following the unfolding drama of the Booker Prize - the big announcement will take place about 7am Sydney time tomorrow (~~Tuesday~~ Wednesday). I'm still in the library queue for one book, and the other yet to read is still on-order - so the 2006 effort has resulted in an even tie with 2005: 4 out of 6 shortlisted books read prior to the announcement. I have finished another one of the longlisted books, review to come shortly.

Two more shortlist reviews

2006-10-02T20:37:00.000+10:00

The announcement of the Booker Prize looms ever closer and I have crossed another two books off the short list:

Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland was exceedingly painful to read, but so skilfully written. I don't recommend it for anyone who reads novels for a bit of an escape from the grind of the daily life, but - take heart, those who are part way through - things do look up by the end, sort of. Sometimes when reading a book, even if I'm really enjoying the writing, the characters, the plot - there is something niggling in the back of my mind, something that just doesn't 'sit' right. In this case, I was constantly querying why this book was set in Ireland. Having lived in Ireland, I enjoyed recognising places, attitudes, tones of voice, and social circumstances in the book. However, I thought the author missed out on an opportunity to allude to some of the aspects of Irish society in the late 1960s which would have been distinctive to the Irish setting of the time - Irish laws about divorce and the pressure this would have put on the parents of the main character when their marriage falters, the power of the Catholic church, especially in the schoolroom, the lack of opportunity in a declining rural economy, the gathering pace of the Troubles (Bloody Sunday occurred in 1969) -- Hyland might not have set out to write the great social conscience novel of Ireland in the 60s, but I think reference to some of the context would have made more sense out of the setting. As it was written, the same book could have taken place in Scotland or England with very few changes.

That said, I think I might go out on a limb and make Carry Me Down my favourite to take out the Prize! The character study was masterful and unrivalled by anything I've read in any of the other shortlisted books so far.

I recently finished Kirin Desai's The Inheritance of Loss and found it to be a disappointment overall. Bravely ignoring the recommendation by Salman Rushdie printed on the back cover, I launched into this one with glee, the way I approach any epic novel set in India. However, successful epics need more character development and more compelling possible links between characters than I found in this book. About 3/4 of the way through, some really fantastic connections become apparent - like the Indian character eking out a living working illegally in NYC versus the non-Indian national who is deported from India after 40 years living there - but the author makes this connection only as if by chance. I would have been more satisfied if both characters had been developed more fully and if their opposite-sides-of-the-mirror experiences had been delivered in a more pointed way. The book's most intriguiging characters, adolescent Sai and her retired Civil Service grandfather, the judge, really don't take us anywhere, and the book suffers through too much attention paid to minor secondary characters, townspeople who populate Sai and the judge's lives. These characters should have been made much larger, or much smaller. As they were, they were just in the way, adding nothing to the storyline.

As for the remainder of the shotlist - I have moved up to 7th in the queue for Kate Grenville's The Secret River and the library has seven copies of it - so it'll be down to the wire to see if I can get that one read before the big announcement on 10th October. And the library does not yet have Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men, but I am assured that they've ordered it. In the meantime, I am still plugging away with the longlist and will let you know what I encounter there.

Things are getting hot for Sydney Swans fans

2006-09-30T09:35:00.000+10:00

Things are getting hot for Sydney Swans fans, especially if you happen to be a very furry dog with a NEW Sydney Swans jumper!

This was made for Guinness by his Aunty Rebecca, who cast on for it while watching the Swans beat the West Coast Eagles by 1 point in the first finals round a few weeks ago.

Nevermind that Rebecca's never been much of a footie fan - she duly showed up at my house dressed in as much red & white as she could find in her wardrobe, and with red & white knitting to work on, to boot. Isn't she an absolute legend!

Guinness absolutely loves wearing his new jumper. He will certainly be wearing it while sitting in front of the television watching the Swans take on West Coast again for the Grand Final today!

Shock shortlist!

2006-09-15T13:12:00.000+10:00

Since the late 1990s, I have taken an increasing interest in the Man Booker Prize. One's reading list is never too long and so I add all of the books shortlisted for the prize to my list, and have taken delight in the recent innovation of the long list, which now also gets added to my personal to-read list.

The Booker compulsion has grown and changed for me over the past few years. There was a time, once, when I would be satisfied to just note the winner and eventually get round to reading it once the queue for that book had died down a bit at the public library. That changed into feeling compelled to read the winner just after the prize announcement, even if it meant (gasp) having to buy the book. More recently, I have tried to read all the shortlisted books prior to the announcement of the prize. This has led to some very interesting conversations with my local librarian, who also follows the prize avidly. Last year was my best year to date - I had read 4 out of 6 of the shortlisted books before John Banville's The Sea grabbed the prize. (Unfortunately, The Sea was one of the two I hadn't yet read.)

This year, my compulsive reaction to the prize has changed somewhat. I've had a lack lustre reading year. I'm stalled on one title, and haven't greatly enjoyed many of the other things I've picked up. Three quarters of the way into the year (I keep my 'have-read' list by calendar year), I think I have been looking for bookish inspiration. So the day the longlist was announced, I went on a reading rampage.

My Rule #1 of reading - why buy it when you can get it from the library. To this end, I have strategically placed holds and recalls on about half of the books on the long list. Unfortunately, there are still about nine books which aren't available at any of my local libraries. But I'll just focus on the ones that are available for a start.

I usually can tick one or two things off as have-already-read when the longlist is announced, if I've been keeping up with my book reviews. This year, the only book on the longlist I'd read was Peter Carey's Theft: A Love Story. I am not a Carey conneisseur by any stretch, but I have read most of his books. Undoubtedly I think Theft is by far his best to date. There is one chapter in that book that I think may be the finest piece of writing on the modern Australian psyche ever written. (If I may be so bold as to say...)

The first book off the rank in my longlist reading frenzy was Nadine Gordimer's Get a Life. I admit I chose this one first because, of the two I acquired in my first 2006 longlist trip to the library, this one had the less embarrassing cover to be seen on the train with. I know that Gordimer is a well-established and well-appreciated author. However, I can't say I enjoyed the book at all. Her prose style was too loose, and lacking in fluidity. I had trouble concentrating enough to work out who was speaking when. I have also disliked most of the books set in South Africa that I have read of late, I'm not sure why. I thought the premise of the book was a bit lacking in vim. There was very little pulling me forward to read the book, other than my own desire to cross it off the list. Next!

Then I picked up Edward St Aubyn's Mother's Milk, the one with the nude painting on the cover. I had never read any of St Aubyn's books and was impressed with the first chapter of this one, in which a child describes his own birth. It was more than just a take on Dickens' "Chapter 1: I Am Born" - the characterisation of the narrative voice was fantastic and I couldn't wait to find out what happened. Unfortunately, the book was told from the points of view of 4 different family members and I utterly detested the other 3 characters. And the development of the character I liked only seemed to push him further to the background, while the storyline focussed on the 2nd child, who was frightfully intelligent, a bit like that baby in Family Guy. Overall satisfaction - very little.

Next up was Sarah Waters' The Night Watch. I have listened to two other books by Waters in audio format, and have always been completely spellbound by her tales. She does excellent historical fiction with a lesbian angle on events. While the other two books I've read were set in the 19th century, The Night Watch was set during and just after World War II - the main scene was London during the Blitz. I found it fascinating to think of London during that time, and I loved the portrayal of the way those who didn't go off to fight in the war banded together to keep things running at home. Waters' prose is so completely and effortlessly readable, her characters so fully developed, that her books end up feeling like nothing but a bloody good yarn. She doesn't use narrative tricks or gimmicks, she's a straightforward no-nonsense kind of writer. This is deceptive. Reading Waters, it's easy to forget about the incredible amount of painstaking research that must go into the development of her characters and scenes. I doubted while reading the book that it was prize-winning material, because it seemed so effortless - but now I'm nearly ready to put my money on it. We'll see.

Today I just finished the next in my longlist tirade - James Lasdun's Seven Lies. The narrative voice in this book was a bit too stilted for my liking, but the book is told in the first person by an East German emigre to the United States, and perhaps the stiltedness of the voice is intentional. There was only one point in the book where the prose really lifted to be vivid and engaging - the moment that our main character describes his arrival in New York City in 1982. Perhaps that too is intentional, the contrast between the drab eastern bloc existence of our character versus his new life in america. In the end, I don't think the character was well enough developed to justify the type of story it turned out to be, but I liked the premise - the number of lies engendered by the telling of one lie in order to make everything seem like the truth.

Today the short list was announced. I haven't seen any press about it yet but I think there will be a ripple of shock going through the Booker devotee world - The two authors favoured to win (Peter Carey and David Mitchell) have not made the cut. But even MORE SHOCKING is the fact that, thanks to my longlist stint over the past month, I have read TWO of the shortlisted books so far, not to mention that another TWO are sitting on my hall table, checked out from the library last week. The remaining 2 do pose a bit of a problem - I am 16th in the queue at the library for Kate Grenville's The Secret River, and my local library does not stock Hisham Matar's In the Country of Men (though another library across town that I'm a member of does have it...)

As has been pointed out on the Matilda blog (great source for people interestsed in Aussie literature and also home of a very comprehensive Booker Prize site), this appears to be a banner year for the Aussies (possibly the first time 2 of us have made it onto the shortlist), and a banner year for women (four of the shortlisted authors are female - bravissima!)

Here are the shortlisted books:
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai - on my hall table, about to be read
The Secret River, Kate Grenville - An Aussie! I'm 16th in the queue
Carry Me Down, M.J. Hyland - Another Aussie! I have this on my hall table too
In the Country of Men, Hisham Matar - hmm, must get my hands on this one somewhere
Mother's Milk, Edward St Aubyn - Read it, didn't love it
The Night Watch, Sarah Waters - Read it, loved it, depending on how the others pan out, my money's on Waters

What with all this reading I've had to put aside my Baltic Sea Stole a bit and work on some stocking stitch projects. Details to come soon!

Great Aussie wine labels #347

2006-09-08T16:12:00.000+10:00

Yes that's right, UNDER $2. It was $1.89, in fact.

As a consummate cheapie, how could I pass up the opportunity to taste a wine which, by the bottle, is even cheaper than a schooner of beer?

It had a full body, and a buttery palate. Lacking in tannins for a shiraz, which to me is not a bad thing. Strangely, very sweet but hardly fruity. Well rounded but probably not able to stand up to an onslaught of gastronomic delights. In other words, perfect with pizza in front of the telly on a friday night.

As the ruddy-cheeked man who sits on a crate chatting with the owner of my local bottle-o croaked, "We live in the lucky country."

What Guinness and I have in common

2006-09-08T13:01:00.000+10:00

Guinness and I recently discovered that we have something very important in common - we are both big fans of sheep products!

Of course my affection for sheep is directed mainly toward its hair products. Guinness, on the other hand, recently encountered the delights of the sheep's leg bone.

Fiver gave it to him last weekend. Of course I was on hand to photograph this event.

He carried it over to his little alone-time spot to check it out.

He eventually decided it was pretty alright.

Now my dog has a stash of sheep products, just like I do.

I wonder if I look at Fiver this way whenever we're in a yarn shop...

AFL standings going into September

2006-09-05T13:47:00.000+10:00

Just in case this blog is your primary source of Australian Football League news, here is a wrap-up of how the dust has settled on the 2006 season.

The 22 rounds of normal season play have now finished. In AFL it's not really about getting the highest ranking at the end of these rounds (though it's something of an honour), the important thing is to finish at least in the top 8, even better to get into the top 4. This decides your status for the all-important finals rounds. If you finish in the top 4, you have to lose twice in order to get knocked out of Grand Finals contention. Here are the placings as they currently stand:

1. The seemingly invincible (tell that to Freo!) West Coast Eagles
2. The indescribable Adelaide Crows
3. The underdogs, Fremantle Dockers (my dad's team)
4. Everybody's favourite, Sydney Swans (my team)
5. The much-maligned Collingwood
6. My second favourites, because of the honourable behaviour of one of their fans at a game earlier this year, the St Kilda Saints
7. My nemesis, because of the annoying behaviour of one of their fans at a game earlier this year, the aptly named Melbourne Demons
8. And another team with a lot of fans that I don't have an opinion on, the Western Bulldogs

For posterity's sake, let's also examine the bottom of the ladder:
15. Coming in second last, but at least not last, the Essendon Bombers (Jacqueline's team) (sorry to have to point this out Jac. But you have it coming!)
16. The troubled Carlton Blues

What is the relevance of all this? Well sorting through my photos, I discovered a whole cache of novelty & non-novelty yarn scarf photos I took for you at the Swans versus Essendon thrashing back in August which I had (gasp) forgotten to post!

The handmade scarf is a tradition of Aussie Rules football. Sydneysiders don't let our temperate climes get in the way of a good handmade scarf, oh no. Perhaps next year I will expand my coverage of handmade footie scarves to include interviews with their makers and wearers. For now, feast your eyes on these (there's even a hat!). Cheer cheer the red and the white!

If this whets your appetite for more Aussie Rules fun, check out Barry Hall Hall, centre of AFL Fan Education since 2006.

Novelty Yarn Scarf Survey 2006 draws to an end for the southern hemisphere

2006-08-31T13:38:00.000+10:00

The jasmine, mock orange, and lemon-scented gums have started wafting their beguiling fragrances past my window.

In honour of the last traditional day of winter, I bring you one last novelty sighting:

It's a stole.

What I like about the Opera House

2006-08-25T13:39:00.000+10:00

Sydneysiders will probably find this post completely boring. However, I think it's worth the while to stop and take stock of one's surroundings from time to time. So, on a trip to see a concert at the Sydney Opera House this week, I took some mental notes about what I would want to tell my blog readers about what it's like to go to see something in the Opera House itself.
Growing up in America the Opera House was one of only two things (the other being 'Ayers Rock' better known as Uluru) I could associate with Australia. My first contact with the Opera House, fortuitously, was from a boat on the harbour. There have been only a handful of moments in my life quite like the first sight of it. I was short of breath and full of elation. An hour later, contemplating the building from the land, I was tearful. The biggest shock of seeing the Opera House for the first time was its visceral qualities - at once, images and ideas crowded my mind - bird wings, reptile skin, fish scales, sailboats, piano strings, segments of an orange...
Several years down the track, I've 'learned to live with' the Opera House. For 4 years I travelled past it on a ferry twice a day going to and from work. Most days I never even glanced in its direction. For Sydneysiders, I think it's something that's always there, but not something we stop to consider very frequently. We leave the spot to the tourists for the most part, enjoying the view from afar, or sometimes venturing as far as the Opera Bar. I'm not a regular concert goer, I probably attend something in the Opera House about once a year. But those times that I do go and experience the place in its role that it was designed for, I am reminded of what a powerful building it is.
The main approach to the Opera House these days is by foot. You can also get a taxi to drop you off, but security considerations, etc, mean that very few people can actually drive up to the door. The Opera House is situated at the end of a long promenade, and you can see the sails from the distance as you approach. You can enter from a lower level, where the taxis pull up, but that's a bit boring, so it's best to climb the numerous low steps up to the main entrance, enjoying the way the sails gradually arise above you as you gain in altitude.
Once up on the main platform, you take in the massive heights, the spiny ribs, the beak- or spaceship- like protruberances of glass. You take in the other iconic bookend of Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You watch the people scurrying (if they're late) or sauntering (if they're early, or tourists) toward the entrances. You look back toward the city, and east toward the mouth of the harbour. The lights give you the sense of the place as a cave, as if you're looking inside the mouth of a giant beast, or you're Jonah trapped inside the whale.
A narrow passageway, abutted by protruding stairwells to interesting looking but off-limits places, takes you to your seat. Once inside, you find yourself in the great chamber, like Carlsbad Caverns, or the inside of a prehistoric skeleton. You notice the ribs neatly organise themselves in their march toward the ceiling, and the hefty proportions of the bases to the stall seating.
It doesn't matter what you hear. You are there.

Double takes

2006-08-15T18:00:00.000+10:00

The current issue of Interweave Knits is a bit of a disappointment in the department of double-duty accessories:

Red haired girl in green mohair swaps strange hat... (what is UP with that hat?!)
for a strange shibori scarf: (Anyone know the old adage, Blue and green should never be seen without something else in between? Obviously Interweave's stylists are prepared to break new ground here - but at least she's not wearing the shibori AND the strange hat. That would be too much.)

And I suppose I can't be too upset about this issue's examples of doubling up because at least its just the one model wearing the same clothes in two shots, they haven't made the models swap around clothing like they have been doing.

Note our friend wearing a casual cardie over jeans and a t-shirt...
And now wearing a casual hoodie over THE SAME jeans and a t-shirt:

I suppose lots of models wear their own jeans and t-shirts to photo shoots - just how many of them get to keep them ON for the duration of the shoot, I'd like to know.

Another scarf is born!

2006-08-14T13:30:00.000+10:00

Looks like more than one knitter has fallen into the trap of knitting with yarn that one is also wearing that Di warned us about a couple months ago!

Spotted on this morning's journey to work:

Eye Meringue Friday

2006-08-11T13:59:00.000+10:00

In the spirit of Eye Candy Friday, feast your eyes on these little meringue duckies:

Thank you to everyone who gave me a little detail from their lives. It was such a pleasure to read them all. In fact, I think I will return to your comments again and again whenever I need a little pick-me-up (and the meringue duck just isn't enough).

The winner in my little contest is the very deserving and lovely Theresa! A parcel is winging its way to her now. Let's wish her fun knitting with mohair in southern California!

The devil's in the detail

2006-08-02T13:00:00.000+10:00

On a rainy winter Sunday evening one year ago yesterday, I sat down and started up this here blog, purely on a whim. I had been intrigued by the Stitch Ya Neck Out exchange which was then just getting started, so I thought I'd commence blogging.

I gave the blog a long name which was a mis-remembered quotation from an old favourite Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. (In retrospect, perhaps that's fitting.) I set out wanting to talk about all the little things that get added to work and sleep which fill out this funny life of mine. The adventures encountered on my daily commute, the observations made on my daily rambles, the things I make and do in the corners of my spare time.

So far you've seen lots of knitting, a bit of origami, a few random observations, and probably more sport than I expected to talk about. Massive thanks to you who took notice, who commented, or who left an artifact in the digital archaeology of this blog. It's been so good to know you.

This year, I still have no plans for the blog. You'll probably see a bit more knitting, origami, sport, and other random events and observations. I hope you'll keep tuning in.

And now, what you've all been waiting for - the CONTEST!!!

Since it's the little details of life that really make me happy - the cakes on display in the cake shop window, the gargoyles looking down from a sandstone building, the way Guinness can spend 10 minutes sniffing a single blade of grass, the homemade dill mayo on my favourite lunch cafe's tuna sandwich - I have decided to ask for blog-birthday presents from all of you.

In honour of turning one year old, please leave me a comment and tell me about a little detail in your life that makes you happy. It could be something you pass every day on your way to school or something you've just happened to notice once and it's gone. It could be an amazing design detail in the jumper you're knitting, or something you've seen in a picture somewhere. If you feel like making this into a post on your own blog, go for it! Give us all the details on your favourite detail. Just leave a comment here to tell me you've done it.

And what do you get for participating? (yeah yeah, calm down, I'm getting to the prize bit now.)

I have dug deep down into my teeny tiny stash and pulled out two skeins of very special yarn to give to one lucky winner. I shall enter everyone's name into a random draw in order to decide who shall be the lucky recipient of these two 100g skeins of JJ's Montage Collection Hand Painted Mohair in colourway Aubergine. This is a difficult colourway to appreciate in an online medium (see the shocking photo (and a few more details about the yarn) here!) but take my word for it, it's got lots of dark purples and black, struck through with reds, oranges, and blues. It comes from New Zealand, which is renowned for its colourful fibre animals.

So get cracking! I will be looking for all your devilish details to be submitted by Monday 7th August at 1pm Australian Eastern Standard Time!

Increasing social complexity in the Novelty Yarn Scarf world order

2006-07-31T13:25:00.000+10:00

Two more interesting Novelty Yarn Scarves spotted recently:

Alpha Female Novelty Yarn Scarf. Just look at the width of it and the banding across the bottom - one of the markings of authority in the novelty yarn scarf pecking order.

Sodoku Novelty Yarn Scarf. Just look at the pencil fly!

My own Baltic Sea Stole, revealed!

2006-07-25T17:32:00.000+10:00

Thank you for all of your encouraging comments about the Baltic Sea Stole. I was being perfectly vile when I taunted you will all kinds of links to other people's stoles but did not give any details of my own. Well - here it is! Your wait is over!
This photo shows the stole at 5 pattern repeats, lazily pinned out for your viewing pleasure. It also shows the cone, from which I am taking the yarn directly (without winding into balls first, thanks to those of you who provided advice about that). The cone contains a life-changing yarn. Yes, it's Jaggerspun Zephyr. I allowed myself to be persuaded to order a cone in cahoots with the lovely Jacqueline, and now I have her to blame for my new-found desire to only ever knit with yarn that is this beautiful. (Don't worry, the cheapie in me will return someday and I'll recommence ripping up Vinnie's jumpers.) As always, I don't think these photos capture the true essence of the colour, which is sage. It's a delightful colour, much lighter in real life than it tends to appear on the on-line colour cards I've seen, yet much more saturated than is showing up here. (Despite always missing out on important details like colour, digital photographs always seem to pick up on the undesirable details, such as the muddy paw print on the couch from when Guinness decided he wanted to have a closer look at this stole he'd heard so much about. Can you spot it?)

I have to apologise in advance because I'm mentally working in inches on this project. YES I have generally converted to the metric system for every day use (and YES I advocate the metric system to be used by EVERYBODY) but for some reason, certain projects just beg to be thought of in inches. Bear with me.

I would like the finished stole to be at least 60 inches long, and, depending on my stamina and levels of boredom or whatever other factors may come into play, would like to aim for it to be about 80 inches long. Each pattern repeat is giving me just over 3 inches. Some approximate maths would show that I will need to do between 20 and 30 pattern repeats. I have taken a leaf out of Blue Garter's book and am attempting to do 3 pattern repeats a week, which works out to 16 rows (1/2 pattern repeat) a day, with an extra day in there for good behaviour. Why the rush? This stole is going to be worn at a big shindig in November and I want to be sure to have it finished well ahead of time. I hate last minute like nothing else.
Above you can see some of the detail of the stitch pattern. I like the way the border is straight, yet the body of the pattern is wavy. The increasing and decreasing is clever indeed. I'm hoping some of the puckering evident in between the wavey lines will block out. Despite what others have said, I've found the pattern to be perfectly suitable for memorising and working intuitively, that is, you can always tell where you are by 'reading' the knitting. And although the repeat is 32 rows long, it essentially contains only 2 sections - sections without yo's/decreases (2 per repeat) and sections with yo's/decreases (2 such sections per repeat - one is a mirror image of the other). Aside from this, there is only the increasing and decreasing at the sides to keep track of, which is fairly straightforward.

So far I have not found myself getting bored of it. Perhaps it is the loveliness of the Zephyr that keeps me going. Perhaps it is my self-imposed goal of 16 rows a day (I have been making myself put it away after I finish those 16 rows, which I think will help prevent pattern burnout). Perhaps it really is just too early to say and the honeymoon period will come crashing to a mind-numbing and jaw-grinding end at some unexpected point in the near or far future. Who can say? For now I'm content.

Fiver seems to feel the need to point out occasionally that the cone does not appear to be diminishing in size at all. I don't see why he needs to worry - perhaps it is the magical bottomless cone and all my lace knitting needs will be provided for forever! Anyway, rather than take discouragement by the baffling ever-full cone (is your cone half-full or half-empty?), I like to think of it as insurance against having to weave in ends. And although transportability is a bit hampered by using the cone, my French Market Bag is working a treat for the job. I think I might become a cone snob. Some people describe themselves as yarn snobs. Why can't I be a cone snob? Sorry, dahling, I ONLY knit from the cone.........

Ah! sorry, I drifted off there in my cone-land fantasy. More excitement will soon be presented here on Days Full as a certain milestone is fast approaching! Sharpen your pencils, it's gonna be a contest...

Baltic Sea Stole - hard to find FOs

2006-07-19T13:07:00.000+10:00

I recently started a Baltic Sea Stole. The decision to make this particular thing was the result of a very long process of reviewing different patterns, making many agonised requests for advice, and gnawing over options with various trusted opinion-holders.

After I initially settled on the Baltic Sea Stole, I set about trying to find as many examples of FOs as I could. This proved to be somewhat difficult. If one googles "baltic sea stole" one gets plenty of hits. Unfortunately, most of these seem to be relating to the pattern being available for sale at the gamut of providores or listed in knitters' own decision making processes about things to knit next (most seem not to have chosen Baltic Sea Stole for whatever reason). Other FO references were buried deep down in the archives of blogs, and only by combing through posts, one by one, did a clear picture of the several different Baltic Sea Stoles emerge.

I thought I would provide a little tiny public service by giving a run down of links to Baltic Sea Stole FOs that I've found, in the hopes that, one day if you decide to make a Baltic Sea Stole yourself, you will find some assistance and inspiration here. And - a disclaimer - this list is probably not exhaustive, and is limited by my patience for surfing clicking and googling. If you have finished a Baltic Sea Stole and are miffed because I haven't got your stunning FO listed here, please send me a kind email and I will be sure to rectify the situation. The oversight was purely an oversight.

At least two knitters have made the Baltic Sea Stole to wear at their weddings (collective ahhhhhh):

Kate Gilbert needs no introduction from me. But have you seen her wedding photos (scroll down to the bottom)?! How beautiful! Little would one have guessed at the lengthy process of elimination she went through to decide on the Baltic Sea Stole. Read all about it here in her June 2004 archive. (Also check out her maths. Impressive stats for a stole!) She hit a few stumbling blocks in July. The potential Baltic Sea Stole knitter would be wise to read September's progress, in which we see the stole finally being blocked and we note the final number of stitches (in excess of 72,000). With the calmness of hindsight, Kate gives some technical pointers in October.

Blue Garter also made a Baltic Sea Stole for her wedding day. She was very smart and set herself a goal of one pattern repeat a week, and even managed to stick to it! Despite having to frog more than 1000 stitches 10 days before The Big Day, her FO is an absolutely stunning piece of bridal couture and she was kind enough to post a photo of it here.

The sheer number of stitches involved in the Baltic Sea Stole is commented on frequently by knitters-in-progress. Susan from I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can even held a contest (May 23rd) to guess the number of stitches she'd done so far. And Tocspaw reported on the total number knitted before having to frog and change yarns. As far as I can tell, neither of these has crossed the line into FO status yet!

Sandra reported that she thought the torture was worth it in the end (and her stole is gorgeous). Mari has a lovely FO in Rowanspun 4-ply and finished hers in 6 weeks! (A wise choice unless you want your Baltic Sea Stole to take over your life, it appears.)

And if all this has put you off the Baltic Sea Stole, JennyRaye has a comprehensive list of rectangular shawls which I think she updates from time to time.

Enough from me, I've got another 32-row repeat to work on!

Two exciting announcements

2006-07-18T13:00:00.000+10:00

The preview for the next Interweave Knits is up! (Thanks to Rachael for sounding the alert.)

I looked closely for skirt duplications, but did not find any. Tell me what you think of the projects - to me, the pickings look very slim indeed. Nothing that immediately jumps out as 'must make', much less 'inspiring'. The overall feel I have at the moment is 'why subscribe?' but perhaps I'm being overly harsh.

I would also like to take the opportunity to point you to the new Sydney Stitch n Bitch blog. Someone has gotten organised and I'm sure we'll all benefit. I have it on good authority that photo evidence from last night's Hart's escapade will be posted at some stage in the not distant future. My industrious little hands may show up, you never know!!

Because you're so patient with my novelty obsession

2006-07-13T08:05:00.000+10:00

Here's a pretty photo showing a Sydney landmark (the former Grace Brothers department store on Broadway) from an unusual angle:

Trying to keep up with all the novelty scarf sightings...

2006-07-11T17:09:00.000+10:00

And here's one from a reader!

italy 1(5)-(3)1 france

2006-07-10T13:04:00.000+10:00

stencil art in my neighbourhood reminds me not to foul anyone each time I walk by...

I'm $12 richer this morning as a result of pulling Italy's name out of a hat a month ago as part of the office World Cup sweep.
I can't say I'm altogether thrilled with the outcome. Not only do I hate to see the Italians win after the way they knocked Australia out of the competition, I don't think a win based on penalty kicks is a glorious win. In fact, my dissatisfaction with penalty kicks in general was the one recurrent theme in my thoughts on the World Cup. It seems like so many games were decided by penalties - either in the shoot-out scenario, or in free kicks given during regular time.
In a game as free-flowing but as low-scoring as football, I don't think the penalty kick should have as big a role as it does. It pits striker against goalkeeper, momentarily reducing one of the most complex team sports to a one-on-one face off, more suited to a game like tennis.
Sure, there should be a way to reward teams who are fouled. I would prefer a free kick be awarded from where ever a foul took place, with both teams being allowed to assemble their players, defensively or offensively, as they wish. In the case of fouls occuring in the penalty box, a free kick such as this would reward the foulded team with an increased chance of making a goal, but by allowing the opposition to defend the net, there wouldn't be the near-dead giveaway that a penalty kick offers.
And as a decider of a the world's premier football tournament? The penalty shoot out is just a complete anti-climax. The fact that so many of the 64 World Cup games finised in a draw or at 1-0 demonstrates that (in the World Cup at least) teams are playing too defensively - Three of the 8 games from the quarter finals to the final were decided either in extra time or a penalty shootout. 18% of the World Cup games (12 out of 64) ended 1-0 (5 of those in the knock-out stages). Only 28 games had a goal difference of 2 or more goals.
Bring back the sudden death extra time, I say, and force both sides to go on the attack, rather than sitting back and playing 2 more defensive periods of extra time in order to pin their hopes on the (relatively easy) penalty shootout.

poor jazzmine

2006-07-07T16:42:00.000+10:00

I know how she feels.

Post with no words: tragic story of a sock

2006-06-22T13:05:00.000+10:00

We interrupt the scientific research

2006-06-21T14:00:00.000+10:00

to bring you a report on the beautiful Mrs Beetons which have recently come to stay!
By now you may have noticed that Kris and I did a little Mrs Beetons swap. Just yesterday I received this lovely parcel with many extra goodies thrown in:

The Beetons are lovely soft and warm. They really do help to keep my little bell ringers* warm while tapping away at my desk.

The chocolate, of course, will be systematically tested and reported upon so that readers know exactly what to request from Kris when next she or another one of your Norwegian friends is in a situation to mail you something.

Here are the Mrs Beetons in action, reaching for some reading materials.

Oh look! The World Cup is on in June!

Here Mrs Beeton is assisting my right hand in carefully clipping my souvenir pinup of Socceroo, Harry Kewell.

* fingers

NYSS Specimens 0008-0012 (including a Very Special Specimen!)

2006-06-21T13:41:00.000+10:00

Specimen 0008
Date: 20 June 2006
Time: 5:25pm approx
Location: Bondi junction train
Description: The very first sighting in the wild of the birth of a novelty yarn scarf!! Researcher was careful to stay a safe distance away from mother and cub so as not to aggravate either. Thus very few other details collected. Say it with me, 'Ahhhhhhh'
Photograph:

Specimen 0009
Date: 20 June 2006
Time: 5:30pm approx
Location: Town Hall Station, platform
Description: Olive green, could be the 'Oscar the Grouch' variety referred to by other researchers?
Photograph:

Specimen 00010
Date: 21 June 2006
Time: 8:05am approx
Location: a local Sydney train station
Description: Dark mottled colours to match the grey-blue skies of this solstice morning.
Photograph:

Specimen 0011
Date: 21 June 2006
Time: 8:06am approx
Location: same local Sydney train station
Description: bright white scarf gleams in the pre-dawn light.
Photograph:

Specimen 0012
Date: 16 June 2006
Time: 8:25am approx
Location: Town Hall Station, escalator
Description: One that almost got away - hues of purple barely visible under dark jacket lapel
Photograph:

NYSS Specimens 0002-0007

2006-06-19T13:25:00.000+10:00

Specimen 0002
Date: 16 June 2006
Time: 5:25pm approx
Location: Redfern Station, platform
Description: pink and white 'feathers', garter stitch, unfringed, faux fur
Photograph:

Specimen 0003
Date: 16 June 2006
Time: 5:26pm approx
Location: Redfern Station, concourse
Description: Unusual specimen of black background feathers with red, yellow and green projections in a firework effect (explore possibility of rastafarian connection?), garter stitch, unfringed, faux fur
Photograph:

Specimen 0004
Date: 19 June 2006
Time: 8:30am approx
Location: City-bound train
Description: red and white 'feathers' with yellow/beige tints, garter stitch, unfringed, faux fur. Upon first spotting, indicated possible relation to the Sydney swans or St George Illawarra species noted previously. However, yellow/beige tints, not evident until viewed at close proximity, limit sports team applicability.
Photograph:

Specimen 0005
Date: 19 June 2006
Time: 5:25pm approx
Location: City circle train
Description: Unusual markings in a bright yellow/orange colour combination.
Photograph:

Specimen 0006
Date: 19 June 2006
Time: 9:00am approx
Location: Kings Cross Station
Description: ANOTHER spotting of Specimen 0004 yet in an entirely discrete environment. Unfortunately, close inspection was not possible.
Photograph:

Specimen 0007
Bagged by Rebecca.

Novelty Yarn Scarf Survey 2006

2006-06-16T13:05:00.000+10:00

In order to determine the health of a biological population, scientists often undertake surveys of particular species. In this series, Meg documents her winter 2006 survey to determine the health of the novelty yarn scarf population in Sydney. Has novelty yarn gone the way of the poncho and the pashmina? Or is there a healthy breeding population? Spread across the study area? Or confined to microhabitats?

Scientists will capture evidence of novelty yarn scarves using hidden cameras in the wild. Attempts will be made to quantify the results and it is anticipated a new classification system may be a result of the study.

And there is a facility for readers to report their own sightings! You can leave a comment on this post to tell us of any novelty yarn scarves you spot in the wild. Have a photo? Give us a link! (If you upload your novelty yarn scarf photo to flickr you can give it the tag "novelty yarn scarf survey 2006".)

Specimen 0001
Date: 16 June 2006
Time: 8:25am approx
Location: Redfern Station, city-bound train
Description: Due to glare and view impediment caused by position of scarf wearer, the only descriptors available are: multicolour (purples, blues, maroons predominant), garter stitch, unfringed, faux fur
Photograph:

Leaf lace shawl leaves lace race lacking

2006-06-06T13:16:00.000+10:00

The leaf lace shawl for my Mother Outlaw was finished over the weekend.

(More project details here. It must be said that I found this to be a rather uninspiring knit.)
Sadly this leaves me without a lace project at the moment and gives me the feeling that I'm cheating on the Amazing Lace. New lace candidates are being considered presently. It is likely I will make use of one of these beautiful yarns I received in the mail recently from the Stitch Ya Neck Out scarf swap organisers:

Above we see (at left) Garnstudio's Silke-Tweed (52% silke 48% lammeull) in colour 'Gress Gron', (grass green?) and (at right) Dalegarn Svale (50% cotton, 40% viscose, 10% silk) in a lovely slippery fish-flashing-in-the-sunlight kind of colour. Although I am completely undeserving of this giftie, the organisers sent it to me as thanks in advance for agreeing to make a scarf for one unfortunate person whose scarf never came through in the swap. Now, unfortunate person, if you are reading this, please send your yarn to me and do not feel bad about it as you can see I have obviously been repaid a hundredfold for my troubles!