Too much of a good thing: All the books I ever wanted to read

Last Saturday night I discovered I could reserve books online at my local library. And that they were no longer charging any fees to do so. So I decided to take the opportunity to reserve all the books I could never find at the library because they were always out (like anything by Jodi Picoult) or were located at another branch. I may have gone a little overboard.

By Sunday morning I had an email telling me that 2 of the books were available for collection. I went in and picked them up - a Jodi Picoutl (Vanishing Acts) and 'Pretties' by Scott Westerfeld, the second book in a fantastic trilogy about a futuristic society recovering after the Rusties (that's us) have destroyed the world with a man-made oil bacteria and beautiful white orchid that has become a weed, preventing the growth of other plants. It's kind of an updated Brave New World written for teenagers and it is fantastic.

I finished 'Pretties' on Sunday.

By Sunday evening I had another email from the library. A further 14(!) of my reservations were available for collection, including the 3rd book in the Scott Westerfeld series. Monday morning I had an email, advising me that 2 more books were available for collection.

I finished a mystery-thriller by Jonathan Kellerman (Devils Waltz) that I had borrowed from the library before these reservations, and began 'Vanishing Acts'. I was too late to collect any books from the library (which closes at 6pm on Mondays) but was able to return my 2 completed books.

Today I logged into my email to discover there are now another 2 books waiting for me! I can go to the library tonight (as it is open until 9pm) but how am I going to face the librarian picking up 18 books? Even worse, how am I going to carry them all home on the tram? And read them by all by the due date? I can only keep the books that someone else has reserved for 3 weeks.

And there are still another 12 books on my reservation list that haven't even come in!

I feel a little like I do when I have over-indulged buying excessive amounts of yarn and am facing the credit card, or have eaten an entire block of dark Lindt chocolate on my own. A little sick.

There can be too much of a good thing.

Edited to add:
I went to the library tonight and nearly died of embarrassment. I sorted through all the books that arrived and divided them into two piles. I took out 9 of them and then asked the librarian to return the other 9 to the stacks. I also cancelled all my other reserves in the queue. A total of 12 books over the next 3 weeks may be almost manageable.

Cashmere Island ZigZag modular scarf

Isn't this blog so much better with pretty pictures! I've finally worked out how to use the new camera and have got myself organised enought to blog from home where I can upload photos (I can only send words and a few hyperlinks when I blog remotely).

Above is the ZigZag modular scarf I am making out of the Noro Cashmere Island yarn I acquired in May. It's the project I drag around in my work bag and occasionally knit a few rows on. I love the pattern and yarn but it has been a very slow knit, always being put aside for another more pressing project or book to read on the crowded tram.

Stash acquisitions and even some knitting

I've been doing a bit too much comfort shopping, acquiring new stash. Highlights include:

Black Bunny Fibers DK 'Pop Rocks'

Zara Baby Print

Naturally Merino Cashmere

Lots of 8ply/DK wool in a variety of colours bought at the Clegs sale.

This bright orange is for a beanie for my friend Phill. Phill is a volunteer with Victoria’s State Emergency Service. Amongst other things, he goes out on the coldest, windiest, wettest nights of the year to help clear trees which are blocking the road or have fallen onto people’s homes. And he doesn’t earn a cent for this community work. So when he asked for a beanie in SES colours, of course I was happy to contribute what I could.

A half-knitted SES hat
(note I am using the new stitch markers I received from knitingjo in the Australian Ravelry swap)

Swap stash

Thank-you to knittingjo for this lovely package I came home to as part of the Ravelry Australian Knitters' 'We've got you covered swap). The most gorgeous fingerless mitts in my favourite colours (purple and pink), some really cute handmade stitch markets in a handy little tin, Grignasco Bambi Merino 4ply yarn, and a new sci-fi book to dive into (great for all my public transport travel).



Funnily enough, I ended up having knitingjo as my downstream partner also. My attempts to replicate some Star Fleet issue mitts turned out a bit wonky - must have been a problem with the power couplings. Still, a fun knit. I'm a bit nervous as she hasn't yet posted that she has received her package yet - hopefully it made it safely to her.

OMG - Photos!

Fingerless mitts and hot water bottle cover knitted for the Aussie "We've got you covered" Ravelry swap. I still intend to try and incorporate a Star Trek theme somewhere - I've charted the Starfleet logo.

The mitts were a really easy and fun quick knit, very cosy and a great stash-busting project - I will definitely make a pair for myself. As for all the colours - my partner said she liked lots of bright colours all mixed together and I've tried to oblige.

ANZ rewards for stupidity

I'm very conscientious about paying off my credit card on time, mainly because interest rates on the card are now over 20% - more than twice that of home loan rates and nearly 3 times what the banks will pay depositors parking their money in a term deposit.

I keep on thinking I should change, especially as ANZ Rewards just aren't what they used to be.  We now have to spend $1.50 to get one point (it used to be 1:1).  And one has to wonder about a bank that can't event do basic mathematics.

For 2,660 points, you can get a $20 Myer or David Jones gift card.
For 13,320 points, you can get a $100 Myer or David Jones gift card.
For 13,300 points you can get 5 X $20 Myer or David Jones gift cards

OK, it's only 20 points but that's an extra $30 on the charge.

Do they think their customers are as dumb as they would like them to be?

Believe it or not, this is a massive improvement on their previous "offer" where one could save over 100 points by cashing in for two $50 gift cards instead of one $100 one.

It's also a bit of a scam given that you have to charge close to $20,000 on your card to earn a $100 gift card.

20-year school reunion

A few weeks ago I went to my 20 year school reunion. Aside from the girls I came with and who I have met up with regularly a couple of times a year, I only recognised a handful of people.  I didn't even recognise many of their names.  Yet there they were in the Year 12 photos, so I know I must have worked and studied alongside them for four years.

Then there were the stuck-up bitches that I did remember - and can report that they still are.

As one friend said, the reunion proved that we had kept up with whom we wanted to keep up with and once every 20 years was more than enough time in regards to the others.

Yet that wasn't quite true either.

I've lost touch with some lovely people who didn't attend the reunion, and there were others I would have been fascinated to see where they have got to.  The internet tells me that Catherine got her well deserved doctorate and has worked in several major universities but now she seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.  My friend Preethi has also vanished after moving to LA with her husband and doing a fellowship at UCLA.  And what of those girls who would never rock the earth but are the sort of people who ensure it keeps on turning.  What are they doing now?  Where are Michelle and Sarah now?

Many of the girls had their babies in tow or pictures of young kids on hand.  For the most part , girls in our year partnered later in life and had children in their late 20s and 30s.

I was very disappointed to learn that the school brain - we were all smart but she was on another planet compared to the rest of us and was the person we all thought would win a Nobel Prize and change the world - who did attend the reunion, was now working in HR.  What a waste of her talents.  Yet another girl who I had always dismissed as being very silly had clearly found her feet and was in a job managing a department of 70 people!

The most tragic stories belong to a former classmate who committed suicide a couple of years after graduation, and one who had ad either a stroke or some kind of acquired brain injury and was now confined to a wheelchair.

Most of us, however, had muddled through life with some degree of success in academia, careers and/or family.  We didn't all achieve what we had set out to do - but most of us have had a pretty interesting journey along the way.

Good health, so-so knitting, bad blogging

Health
My insulin levels have dropped from 40+ (very very bad) to 6 (very very good) over the past 4 months.  I guess there is something in that resistance training. 

Knitting
My favourite four-year old rejected the Cash Island hat on the basis that he has plenty of hats, much to his parents' horror.  Got to love the honesty of kids!  I'm trying to work out if it is worth unravelling.  The ZigZag scarf in the same yarn is progressing nicely.  I alternate between knitting it and reading on the trams.  So far, reading is winning.

The official recipient of the pink merino supreme wool hat didn't turn up to the final sessions of our group.  I ended up donating it to another girl whose sister is going through chemotherapy.  I then felt obliged to knit another hat for the girl who missed out on her kris kingal gift - she is a red head, so pink wasn't suitable.  I have made a nice browny tweed beanie out of Cleckheaton Country Silk.  Both J and another male friend are eyeing it and she didn't sound too thrilled about brown, so the question is, can I be bothered knitting a third hat in green.

I've started a nice brightly striped hot water bottle cosy for my Aussie Knitters' swap pal using 8-ply yearn from my stash!  Yay.  I still want to do something Star-Trekkie but am not sure what exactly.

I have been admirably restrained during the Clegs 10% off all yarn sale.  I bought an extra ball of the brown Cleckheaton Country Silk (to make a second beanie) and two balls of Naturally ME merino/cashmere in green.  I won't mention any purchases that may or may not have been made at the Tapestry Craft sale that may or may not have involved 30 balls of discontinued black merino supreme wool...

Blogging
I haven't been doing too much of this.  Still having trouble uploading photos.  But that's no excuse for not writing.

Exercise
Now that the Big Girls' Group is over, I need to ensure I keep effective exercise up.  I'm walking with the girls once a week and trying to get to the gym 2-3 times.  I did a BodyStep class last week which was pretty full on; I did half of it off the step but at least I kept moving.  I've bought a fit ball and pumped it up; now to exercise properly on that!

Some completed projects (knitting and otherwise...)

Well all my resolutions to sit down at home and upload photos onto my blog were thwarted by Blogger last night , which steadfastly refused to accept any pictures.  So until I can get myself organised and Blogger in a cooperative mood, myself, the bots and anyone who stumbles onto this site is stuck with mere words.

Projects completed:

The Patchwork Scarf - which has also been given to its new owner, only six weeks after her birthday.  I have photos of both the scarf and the approximately 5 million yarn ends that had to be sewn in - fortunately this could be done while watching several episodes of Star Trek Voyager.

A 2X2 ribbed hat in pale pink Merino Supremo (80 stitches, 5mm needles).  This is a gift for one of the other girls in the program at Royal Women's Hospital.  It's all drawing to a close this week and we are doing a "Kris Kringle" style gift giving ceremony tonight.  We had to choose a gift costing $10 and explain why we chose it for that person.  I was lucky; my nominee sometimes wears a pale pink top and the very first time I saw it, I thought "I have some yarn exactly that colour in my stash".  The Merino Supremo usually retails for $7.95/ball but I obtained mine for half-price as the yarn is being discontinued (I don't know why; it is so soft and luscious to knit with).  Anyway, I had exactly two balls plus a few scraps of pink Merino Supremo and I've noticed that nearly everyone has a use for a woolly beanie at some stage.  My nominee also catches a lot of public transport and we are heading into winter now.

We had an "unofficial" gift-exchange on the weekend.  One of the girls organised an Intimo lingerie party on the weekend with a consultant who specifically caters for larger sizes.  I ended up buying a matching pewter-coloured bra and undies set.  Plus received a free pair of beige - or honey as they call it - knickers.  I was really sceptical as to whether there would be anything in my size but they seem to go in for vanity sizing  - everything is cut at least one size bigger than is usual - I wasn't even the largest size.

A few of us had also cleared out our wardrobes of anything that was either too big or too small or that we just didn't wear but was still in good condition.  One girl had a huge suitcase full of clothes in sizes 14-26 due to a hormonal condition that led her on a roller-coaster experience of body sizes.  I brought a regular shopping bag full of mostly unworn clothes, all too big, and some still with tags.  I wasn't expecting to bring anything home but ended up with a jacket, 2 jumpers, a cardigan, a couple of tops, 2 skirts and some pants.  Many were in styles I would never have considered buying for myself but were quite flattering.  It wasn't until I was trying on item after item of clothes in sizes 16-20 which fit me - and had to discard several lovely tops that were just way too big for me now, that it finally dawned on me that I must have lost some fat (I won't say weight as there has not been much movement there).  I had already noticed that more than half the clothes I had bought recently at the MySize sale were a little on the large side but it wasn't until this weekend that I appreciated that I really and truly was a "new" size (albeit one that would be considered way too large for comfort by most but who cares).

I had my "end of program" blood tests also this weekend and am really curious to know whether they will show any improvements.  I've decided I won't be too fazed whatever the numbers are because, after all, they are just numbers, and I feel so much fitter and healthier anyway.  I was just very relieved I didn't have to do a glucose tolerance test for diabetes (where you drink a huge revolting sugar drink and have blood taken over a three hour period to see how your body responds to it).

I wrote some feedback on the program but am not sure whether I will post it on this blog.  Overall it's been great but I could see a couple of places for improvement; while most of the staff were fantastic and focussed on empowering us so we could take responsibility for our own health and work towards being as happy and healthy and active as we can, a session with one of the doctors who focussed only the negativities of being overweight without any of the information that I know is out there about the benefits of making small incremental changes was very depressing and negative.  Rather than inspiring us to make positive changes, we then had to (again) fight against the "there's no point even trying; I can't loose 40kg" feelings that exacerbated many of our weight issues in the first place.  I still haven't lost that 40kg but I know I am much healthier and more active now than at the start of the program.  Which was actually the point.

Trekkie knitting

I am so excited.  My partner for the 3rd Australian knitters swap is a genuine Trekkie.  In her "information about myself blurb" she talks about knitting her way through 5 years worth of Farscape over an eight week period (while waiting for her son to be born).  And that she thinks Captain James T Kirk is a hot spunk.

I have twice now knitted my way through 5 years worth of Babylon Five watched over a very short period.  I think I've been granted a kindred spirit.

So I've been downloading Star Trek graphics and am considering how to turn them into knitting charts.  I know this is one partner I can make the perfect knitted gift for without spending a lot of dosh.

I really enjoyed the first Aussie Knit swap; with the second I think neither myself not my recipient was overly-enthused with what we received (I still have to rid my house of the novelty yarn sent with the crocheted bag) and I was umm-ing and ah-ing about whether to join swap number three.

I'm glad I did.  If I can work out a decent pattern of a communicator or the Star Fleet insignia, I will put it up for other fans to play with.

And we will all be very very happy.

In the beginning... there was an original and thought-provoking novel

I heard New Zealand author Bernard Beckett being interviewed on ABC National radio about his novel, Genesis, and knew I had to read it.  I have always loved good, speculative "what if" science fiction that forces us to explore who we are in a universal sense of the word.  And this sounded like an excellent example.

I was not disappointed.  The nearest comparison I can make is John Wyndham or Ursula le Guin.  I don't want to write what it is about because I could not do justice to the story, nor do I wish to give away any of the twists and turns.  This blurb is as good an introduction as any.

Genesis is a thriller that asks the big questions: What is it to be human? What makes a soul?

I am not surprised that the novel won the Young Adult Category in the 2007 NZ Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults. In 2008 it deservedly made publishing history when the UK publisher Quercus Books offered the largest advance ever put forward for a young adult novel in New Zealand. I am delighted that the novel, also published in Australia, is to be released in the UK as two separate editions: adult and young adult, and is also to be published in the US, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Canada, and Finland. 

It deserves a wide audience.

Temptation

Aussie dollar hits 24-year high

The rising Aussie has doubled in value against the US dollar in seven years, consistently defying expectations of a levelling off....

The Age, 19 May 2008, 12.02pm

Plus

Knitting New Scarves: 27 Distinctly Modern Designs

Including FREE international shipping

The Book Depository, UK

I hate eczema

I don't know whether it is the chemicals on the machine washable wool, a slight cold or the change in the weather but my eczema has broken out again.  This time only on my right hand, on the thumb and three middle fingers.

I have lost so much skin that my thumb surface is cracked and bleeding.

After trying a range of expensive over-the-counter and prescription creams I have discovered that the best treatment is the relatively cheap (less than $10 for a 375ml pump bottle) Vaseline Intensive Care aloe vera replenishing moisturiser.  It has so few active ingredients that even the supermarkets can sell it.

J is insisting that I put aside my knitting until my hands heal, which is a sensible suggestion.  However I am a knitter and not always sensible.  I have put on bandaids and discovered that knitting with the expensive cashmere blend yarn is not aggravating my hands.

I knew there was a good reason I should buy it.

Knitting butter

Now I know what other knitters mean when they say cashmere is like butter.  Noro Cash Island is 30% cashmere and it is the softest yarn I have ever encountered.  Knitting it is like sinking your fingers into rich, high quality butter.  Minus the greasy oily feel.

There is very little stitch definition - I suspect cable and lace stitches would be lost in this yarn.  I'm also interested to see how hard wearing - or not - the fabric turns out to be.

I tried knitting the Head Huggers Spiral Knit Cap as I thought it would showcase the colour changes of this yarn.  I should have followed my instincts that said that casting on 30 stitches was simply too few to make an adult-sized hat.  I can just squeeze the hat over my head, but it is really child sized.  I am also far from impressed by the look of the asymmetrical join.  I will be passing this hat onto my favourite four-year-old who will not appreciate the yummy expensive goodness of this yarn but will hopefully enjoying wearing it in all its soft glory.  At least I only used up one ball of yarn!  (Pictures to be added later)

If I knit this style again, I will probably cast on about 45-50 stitches and knit about 100 rows.  I'll use a provisional cast-on and join using the Kitchener stitch.

My next use of this yarn will be for the ZigZag modular scarf.

Materialism gone mad

No pretty pictures today but lots of links (I'm blogging remotely).

I'm still working my way through the patchwork scarf.  It looks great but I'm dreading weaving all the ends in.

As usual, I am acquiring yarn faster than I can knit it.  I obtained 5 lovely skeins of Noro Cashmere Island in the purples/greens/greys/black colourway from www.yarnandfiber.com  A strong Australian dollar combined with free international shipping made this one bargain I couldn't resist.  And then I couldn't resist buying 5 skeins of a royal blue/purple Noro Cash Iroha that were on sale on eBay.  Damn Ravelry and all the users who point out all the yarn bargains.

Last week I went to Sydney for work, so of course I had to visit Tapestry Craft and see it in its yummy tempting best.  I managed to keep my purchases to a mere 2 balls of purple Zara (are we seeing a colour theme here?)  It turned out that I could buy the same yarn, even in the same colour, for $2 less a ball in Melbourne (at Clegs) but I met the lovely beckar who's on Ravelry.  One must be polite - and at least this is one souvenir I am confident of using.  Or at least petting and looking at  with pleasure.

Speaking of Clegs, I went in to buy some 4.5mm circulars (40cm and 80cm) for the Noro yarns and somehow a few balls of Cleckheaton Machine Wash in discontinued colours (pinks, blues, greens and brown) fell into my shopping basket.  They were only $2.50/ball.  And I really have to knit another jumper for my favourite four-year-old boy.

I had just resolved to STOP SHOPPING when news broke of a 30%-off clearance sale at MySize.  I forwarded the news to all my size 14-26 friends but unfortunately they hadn't cleared out the store by the time I arrived.  I found my favourite hot pink tops reduced to $15.95 each (from $50) - so I bought all 4 in my size); 2 black dresses that were 80% off and actually fitted me, and an assortment of other pink, black and purple tops.  In the end I spent $221 and bought 11 items.  They were genuine bargains and clothes which I would actually wear (in fact I'm wearing one of the new pink tops today) and I did resist buying some other items that I wanted but didn't need.

At home I decided it was time to toss out all my old clothes that were so scungy that I didn't even wear them as 'slobbing around the house clothes'.  It felt so good to bundle them up in bags and replace them with lovely comfy new clothes.

On Ravelry I received a message from another knitter who wanted to trade for the 11 balls of Merino Spun that I bought earlier this year and then regretted, because although it was a great bargain, it was far too bulky for a jumper for me.  I'm getting 4 100-gram skeins and hand-dyed DK yarn in return.  At the very least it will take up less space.  And I am more likely to actually use the yarn.

I'm dreaming of a white May...

Believe it or not, this photo was taken at noon in suburban Melbourne, Australia on Friday 2 May 2008. It's hailstones, not snow, from a fairly severe thunderstorm. Being Melbourne, within an hour the sun was shining brightly and the hail had mostly melted away.

Learning to trust my own instincts

One of the reasons that I am doing a special healthy living program at the Royal Women's Hospital is that I tick a lot of boxes for potential health problems as far as the medical profession is concerned - particularly Type 2 diabetes and its associated complications .  I am significantly overweight, my mother died young (58) of a diabetes-related heart attack, her mother (who was underweight but had a cholesterol reading of 12) died suddenly of a heart attack (in her early 70s), my dad's mother died young (58) of breast cancer and I am hoping to have children despite being over 35.

Yet - and this is the good thing - I appear to have relatively few indications of physical health problems.  Both my blood sugar and cholesterol levels are well within the normal range, I have no problems exercising regularly and, as far as can be seen, I appear to be ovulating normally.  The only signs of potential problems on the horizon are elevated insulin levels which indicate a very early step on the way to diabetes - but one which can be still nipped in the bud with proper diet and exercise.

Last week I attended a seminar on Type 2 diabetes and heard about some very interesting research from overseas.  A group of people who were considered at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes (like me) were encouraged to undertake some lifestyle changes.  Of those who did the following, none developed diabetes (compared to nearly half of a control group).

• Lost 5% of body weight (from whatever point they were at - it made no difference if they were 80 or 100 or 200kg to start with)
• Exercised moderately for 30 minutes a day; it could be in 3, 10-minute lots (say from walking to and from the public transport between home and work)
• Ate at least 15 grams of fibre (2 fruit, 5 vegetables plus wholemeal grain bread each day does this easily)
• Obtained less than 30% of their daily calories from fat and less than 10% of them from saturated fats

Without knowing about this research I did all the previous last year.  And I haven't developed diabetes either.

I'm also willing to bet my insulin levels are back under control as I've been feeling healthier and more energetic since starting the program and beginning simple weight resistance training (with 600 ml water bottles) - but I have to wait another month for the confirming blood tests.

I have to learn to listen to myself and trust my own instincts.  I obviously know what is best for me.

Doing this program has been so positive - although not necessarily in the ways I expected.  I haven't lost anywhere near the amount of weight I hoped to but I've made other, less tangible but still important gains.

I may never see size 12 again, others may continue to judge me on my appearance, but I know I am much healthier and smarter than I ever gave myself credit for.  Understanding this and accepting myself for who I am his probably the most important lesson of all.

Patchwork scarf

I'm knitting the ZigZag scarf pattern from Iris Schrier's Modular Knits book. It's great fun. I’m using a different colour for each segment. It’s a great stash-busting exercise. The actual pattern is very easy, only knit stitch, yet far more interesting than a regular garter-stitch scarf.

I'm a bit under the weather, so I need this sort of brain-dead project.

Gob-smacked

I just about passed out in shock yesterday when I was perusing the 'Nuts for Noro' forums in Ravelry, where people were discussing what to do with one skein of Noro (something I have often pondered).

heathermione from Texas had written:

I've made about 5 hats using the Noro Ribbed Hat pattern from MargB. It's a really simple pattern, and it looks pretty amazing in Noro Silk Garden. I've actually gotten an entire hat from a single skein of Silk Garden, as well (though a little more than a skein makes a longer hat with a wider roll-up brim, and so makes a toastier hat).

Nearly every time I wear one, I am asked to knit another!

The message was posted on 12 January this year, my birthday. What a lovely belated present to stumble upon!

The closest 'bricks and mortar' yarn store to home, Sunspun, recently announced that it was selling Noro Kureyon at a new low-price of $12.95 - this is definitely the lowest price I've seen in a non-online store in Melbourne - glad someone is finally passing on the benefits of our record high Australian dollar.

Then I foolishly started searching online. Kureyon s available for US$7.90 at http://www.yarnandfiber.com - even with shipping added it still works out at well under AUD$10/ball.

Then I discovered Noro Cashmere Island. It's 30% cashmere, 60% wool, 10% nylon and available in amazing colourways (I'm very partial to colourway 6 in purples, greens, grey and black) and works out at 'only' AUD$15/ball including shipping from the US.

Yarnandfibre offer free international shipping on many items - including, as I discovered - Noro yarn. I couldn't resist - I put in for five skeins of Noro Cashmere Island. With free shipping is comes out at about AUD $12/ball - cheaper than Kureyon in Australia.


No wonder we addicts call it Noro-crack!

The only problem is working out how I can afford to take advantage of such great bargains, given the mortgage, food and petrol have all sky-rocketed over the past 2 years. Last night it cost $65 to fill the petrol tank of our car, a Toyota Corolla. It wasn't so long ago that we couldn't squeeze more than $35 into it.

When in doubt, knit a hat

Yeah, I've been a bit slack with the blogging but I'm back now.  I just kind of lost my mojo for a bit. 

When in doubt, I knit a hat.  I did one in a forest green 50:50 Panda Woollable yarn.  Top down in the round, plain stocking stitch except for a ribbed brim; 120 stitches, 8ply yarn, 3.75mm needles. I don't normally knit something with that much acrylic in it but the lovely shade of green was perfect for a work colleague and it was only $1.50/ball.  Normally I regret these "bargain" buys but not this time.  I'm now knitting a ribbed beanie out of the same yarn.

I've put my name in for the 3rd Australian knitters swap on Ravelry; judging by what everyone (including me) is asking for, I'll probably be making fingerless gloves or mitts.  Whoo!   I received a pretty pink and blue crocheted bag in the last swap - pictures may eventually come.  It was stuffed full of fun-fur style yarn which isn't exactly my thing.  Nearly every single person (including myself) is posting that they don't like novelty yarn or acrylic on the swap forums, so I think I will pass the yarn onto the local op shop.  Maybe they can get a few cents for it. Or maybe, like everyone else I know, they will sigh and wonder where they can pass it onto.

I'm a bit addicted to the Australian Ravelry swap board; it's a way of being materialistic without spending too much money (although postage can be a killer).  I obtained Iris Schreier's Modular Knits in return for a bag full of 8-ply pink and white yarn (12 totally unused balls).  I was doubly-glad to do the swap as it has patterns for doing all those cool multi-directional scarves.  Yes, there are patterns on the net (although sadly one of the best ones for the short-row ribbed diagonal scarf disappeared with MagKnits' demise - I managed to grab a cached copy before it disappeared entirely into a cyberspace black hole) - but it's not the same as a nice solid book.

The whole demise of MagKnits has reinforced the importance of printing out patterns on the net because they can quite literally disappear in a puff of cyberspace. I had saved the PDF of  The Top 5: The Best of Interweave Knits Readers' Choice Awards but hadn't got any further in the process with one of my new friends that I met through a health program I am doing kindly presented me with a full-colour printed out copy.  I was quite gob-smacked by her thoughtfulness.

This health program I am doing is probably the best thing I have done in a long time.  I am definitely improving my fitness, losing a couple of kilos and hopefully am improving my insulin levels.  I've also met some really lovely people that I would probably otherwise have never interacted with.  It is also putting my own health issues in perspective.  Most of my problems can be solved with diet and exercise and some commonly-prescribed low-risk medications. I am fundamentally healthy and my body basically works how it should.  For many other people, it's a lot harder.  We are also all learning from each other how to better navigate system to get the medical and other care we need and are entitled to.

Trekking Circus Socks

Because 3 projects on the go are never enough and I was intrigued to see how the Trekking Circus yarn I had picked up in a swap would turn out, I started ANOTHER pair of socks.

This time, it appears that the 2mm needles are the size required for this particular 4-ply yarn.

Have you see how small 1mm is? How can 0.25mm make such a difference???


Now I know why this colourway is called circus. All I can think of are clowns.

24-stitch figure-eight cast on, toe-up socks, 68 stitches around... will probably rib once I get to the leg.

I think these socks will go to a friend whose family seems to compete in giving her the most unsuitable birthday presents of all time. This year, one member bought her a single ticket to a charity dinner (she has a boyfriend) that is overwhelmingly attended by the rich and snobbish people she has spent her life avoiding. I've already promised to shout her and the boyfriend a dinner at her favourite Japanese restaurant as both a birthday gift and an apology for bursting out laughing when I heard about this year's family present.

I hope these socks will also raise a smile.

Long time, no posting...

I've been hiding on Ravelry, knitting and dealing with various boring health issues (I'm OK now).

The stash-busting is going well. I found a stray skein of Noro Kureyon (colour 139) which I turned into a top-down ribbed beanie. I love the colours but have plenty of Noro beanies already. I probably will send it off as my contribution to the Ravelry International stash-busting exchange.



I finished the Lollipop top-down beanie. In the end there was only enough yarn for a baby beanie but I'm sure it will go to a good cause.



I also finished and felted the Messenger Bag for the Australian Bag Lady swap. It was another project that didn't work out quite as intended but I think in the end it was ok. My original plan was to make the straps adjustable in length but they ended up felting into a sort of fat roll that could not take a buckle. So I decided to make the strap into a "design feature" by sewing the two ends as loops - I checked with my swapee as to the exact length she wanted the strap. I secured the loops with jeans buttons and also used these buttons to add interest to the flap.



I found two skeins of of grey and black Paton's Patonyle that I remember buying on sale at Cleggs some time last year. It took me a while to get these socks going; it was a very Goldilocks experience. Initially I tried to use a 2mm circular needle but it was too small and the tension was too tight; then I tried some 2.25mm and 2.50mm DPNs but they were too fidgety to get going properly with and I decided that I preferred knitting socks using the Magic Loop method. I had read lots of good things about the Knitpicks Harmony needles and Tapestry Craft were having a free-postage sale, so I ordered two circulars - 2.25mm and 2.5mm. The 2.5mm was too big and the tension was too loose but the 2.25mm needle turned out to be just right! Considering how small a 1 mm is, it's amazing what a difference 0.25mm makes.

I have to agree with all the positive reports of the Harmony needles; the points are a nice shiny hard wood which is neither too slippery nor too grippy, and the connecting cable is very flexible, with no snags.



After trying and frogging several patterns I decided to stick with my favourite plain toe-up ribbed socks because in the end this is what I like to wear.

Stash-busting exercises

I'm using up the last of the Lollipop 6-ply yarn making an adult-size roll-brim hat. I used a figure 8 cast-on, casting on 8 stitches and knit from the top-down, casting on an extra 8 stitches every second row.


I'm using up my pink-purple 12-ply Naturally mohair creating a messenger-style bag for the Australian Bag Lady swap. I'm a bit nervous about throwing it in the washing machine to felt, which might be part of the reason I'm delaying finishing off the strap.


I've also joined the Ravelry Stash Busters stash-swap which at this stage may or may not get off the ground. The idea is that we knit something (from stash) and send it and another ball of yarn from our stash to our swapee.

I've continued to post yarn (as I find it) into my Ravelry stash pages. I was disconcerted to note that some of my most recent acquisitions are already in my 'will trade or sell' page. I am hoping this will help me refrain from acquiring more 'bargains' that I neither want nor need.

Health update

Although I've been doing reasonably well in my healthy eating and exercising programs, I have decided to join a specialised program run by the Royal Women's Hospital.  Despite my successes, I still have a long way to go and time is ticking away.  And I tick all the boxes for potential problems in the future.  My mother had diabetes and both she and her mother died of sudden heart attacks (my grandmother, I might add, weighed only 45kg when she died but had a cholesterol reading of 12, which shows that weight isn't everything; I'm overweight but have a healthy cholesterol reading).  Despite my weight, I'm quite healthy at the moment but I want to give myself the best chance in life.

So for $300, I get access to a 4-month program which includes twice-weekly exercise and educational meetings and the support of a team of dietitians, counselors, nurse practitioners and doctors who specialise in women with weight-related health problems.  I still have to do all the work, but it looks like I'll have a lot of extra support along the way.

At this stage, I would like to say a special thank-you to the private specialist I am no longer seeing who over the past 4 months only had to make one phone call or print out one letter to hook me into this affordable program but never did, despite telling me at every consultation that I needed to lose weight and despite her practice supposedly being an official partner in this program.  Her over-worked and under-resourced colleagues in the public sector - who had never met me before last Tuesday - went out of their way to address fill the gap in care. 

I don't know if I've just been lucky, but I am constantly being surprised by the level of professionalism and genuine care I've encountered from health professionals randomly assigned to me in the public sector, despite obvious shortages in both staffing and resources.  And I've been disappointed by the attitude of some of the private sector specialists I've encountered. They may be technically competent but I sometimes wonder if they actually care about their patients, or at least me.  I'll take a doctor who gives a stuff working in a dilapidated consulting room any day, over one who's obviously in it for the money but offers architecturally designed furniture.

Anyway, as part of doing this program at the Royal Women's I had to do a glucose tolerance test (check for pre-diabetes) over the weekend – one of the most nauseating experiences yet to date.  I came out from the dietitian on Tuesday with a little booklet that said, amongst other things:

• Never skip breakfast
• Avoid sugary drinks
• Have a glucose tolerance test

To do the test I had to fast (ie: skip breakfast), then drink a revolting syrupy lemonade-type glucose drink (ie: as high sugar as they come), then have blood samples taken every hour. OK…

By lunchtime, I was feeling giddy and nauseous from the sugar and lack of real food and just wanted a nice multigrain roll to nibble on.

"Given that most people who take this test are at high risk of diabetes, aren't you worried they might end up in a coma?" I asked the nurse as I gagged on the glucose.

"That's why we do a urine sample first," she explained.
 
The test itself was bad enough, but it wasn't helped that we had almost a revolt in the pathology centre due to the queuing system getting mucked up.  Those of us doing the glucose test had been there since 8.30am and had to have samples of blood taken at pretty strict time intervals, leading to accusations of queue jumping every time the nurse took one of us in as we didn't have queue numbers (instead we each had a personal alarm clock that could be heard half a suburb away to announce when the next blood sample needed to be taken).  Then there was the sheer joy of having to listen to every single elderly person bringing in their bowel screening samples checking with the nurse that they had done their test and packaged it properly…

Apologies to anyone who thought that last point was way too much information.  I totally agree.

I should have the results when I next see the doctors on Thursday.  Meanwhile I shall knit away.

The making of a bag lady

I'm a little nervous typing this as I don't want to jinx anything but I spent the weekend knitting with mohair for the Australian Bag-Lady swap and my hands are still free of hives, rashes and eczema.  I will post a picture when I have a chance - our internet connection is a little dodgey this week due to a husband who shall remain nameless somehow managing exceed our very generous download usage allowance for January; as punishment our ISP has throttled our broadband connection to dial-up speed until 7 February (I still prefer this option to that of ISPs like Bigpond who instead charge an astronomical rate for excess downloads).  So things are slow around here.

Minus the rashes, I can now appreciate why I bought this pink and purple mohair in the first place.  It is a truly gorgeous colour.  But it sheds like anything!

I'm making up the pattern as I go along.  My swapee has limited mobility and has requested a bag that can be slung across her shoulder and worn below her hip.  So I figured a messenger-bag style would be the best way to go.  If it works, I'll post a pattern. 

I'm in two minds about the strap.  The easiest thing is just to knit a long garter-strip and hope it felts to the right length - and I'm not even sure what the right length would be!  I'd love to do a long strap that is adjustable in length and have been busy studying my bra straps to see how they work.  But can I trust myself to visit Cleggs or Lincraft for a buckle and ring without buying any more yarn?

Admitting a problem is the first step towards a cure

Last night I began the slow process of starting to catalogue my yarn stash on Ravelry. By this I mean I opened the door of the spare bedroom, pulled the nearest half-dozen representatives of my yarn stash out and realised that this barely touched the surface of my collection.

BUT I figure that even if I only photograph one yarn a night and list it on Ravelry, I will eventually come closer to my goal of acknowledging what I have and working out what I want to do with it all. Knitting from the stash instead of buying more yarn, is probably a good first step!

While photographing the yarn, I made another discovery. Our clunky digital camera which was state-of-the-art five years ago, has less resolution than the average pre-paid phone camera today. Now I know a poor workman blames his tools and I don't think anything will make me a great photographer but I've resolved to put aside the money I would otherwise spend on yarn towards a new, slimline and more powerful digital camera. Standards keep rising and new technology comes out every day, but I think it is time to update.

Catalogued to date:

• 1 skein/50 grams purple Bamboozle (bamboo/cotton yarn) received in tea cosy swap
• 1 skein/100 grams purple/green Noro sock yarn bought via the Australian Knitters' Board bulk order
• 1 skein/200 grams Russet (reddy brown) 12-ply Bendigo Rustic wool received in exchange for a ridiculously long Addi needle that I never used
• 11 skeins/1100 grams Petrol-coloured (greeny blue) Cleckheaton Merino Spun yarn bought at Cleggs sale last week ($3.95/ball - down from RRP $7.95)
• 6 skeins/300 grams purple/pink Mondial Bizarre yarn bought from Tapestry Craft clearance sale ($5/ball - down from RRP $13.85)
• 15 skeins/750 grams dark green and white fleck Cleackheaton Snowlflake - gift from non-knitting friend
• 2 partial balls (maybe 80 grams) blue and white fleck Cleackheaton Snowlflake - gift from non-knitting friend

Stashdown:

• Melbourne goth/emo scarf using 200 gram hank of JJ's Montage wool in Blackberry. 31 stitches in mistake rib (Every row *k2, p2* repeat to final 3 stitches, k3) on 5.5 mm needles. Unfortunately the colour ran a bit so my bamboo needles have a dirty grey tinge to their tips. Great colours, though!
  

Deafness is no impediment to knitting

I really haven't had a good last couple of months.  I've just spent most of the Australia Day weekend dealing with a major ear infection.  J took some really gross photos of the yellow stuff coming out but I won't inflict them upon any readers who stumble upon this blog.  The good news is that the antibiotics seems to be finally winning.  The pain subsided in time for me to enjoy a traditional Australia Day BBQ - complete with gourmet lamb and rosemary sausages - with our friends.  The bad news is that I am still completely deaf in my right ear. I'm assuming this will be only a temporary inconvenience.

In knitting news, I did a test knit and felt with the New Zealand mohair yarn.  I was a bit worried as it was only about 80% animal product but it seems to have worked.  My test swatch (knitted on 7.5mm needles) shrunk about 18% (after about 3 cycles in the washing machine), which was less than I expected, but at least I have a fair idea of what to expect.  Now to decide upon a pattern.

I've knitted just over a metre of the Melbourne goth scarf; it's been a very easy knit and if anything the yarn has softened with use.  It's not merino-soft but it's certainly fine for a scarf.  I've been advised that true Melbourne goth colours would be blood-red and black, but last time I looked there were plenty of black and purple-clad white-faced black-haired youngsters hanging around Flinders Street Station.  Maybe I should rename it the Melbourne 'emo' scarf. Whatever*

Speaking of merino, somehow 11 balls of 'petrol' (dark greeny blue) coloured Cleckheaton Merino Spun jumped into my backpack at the recent Cleggs (no website) sale.  It was a great bargain ($3.95/100 gram ball, marked down from $7.95) and I love the colour but I'm already wondering about the wisdom of the purchase.  It's a very bulky wool (recommended needles are 6mm), so while it will be a quick knit, I don't think it will make a very flattering jumper for someone of my size. Also, while it is 80% Merino wool, I'm not so sure about the 20% acrylic.  I guess I'll knit a sample swatch and try out a few stitches before deciding what to do with it next.

Belated resolution for 2008. Catalogue my stash on Ravelry.  Hopefully this will help reign in my yarn-buying tendencies.  And I might even be able to flog off some of the unwanted stuff to other knitters.

*Gen-Y speak for 'Bite Me'

Melbourne goth scarf

I was never a goth (too blonde hair and too fond of daylight hours, although I do have the white skin even without make-up) but I've always secretly loved goth fashion. It's timeless. The goths in Melbourne today dress exactly like the goths I knew back in the 1980s who apparently dressed exactly like their 1970s counterparts.

Earlier this year I purchased some Blackberry JJ's Montage Wool at Tapestry Craft's 20% off everything sale. The colour is very goth and very Melbourne - rich dark purples and blacks and greys. The wool itself is a little tough and scratchy but I decided it would be fine for a scarf.

From experience I know there is little point doing cables on dark variegated yarn - all the detail is lost. So it's just a very simple, 'mistake rib' pattern, perfect knitting for my travels to and from work. (31 stitches on 5.5mm bamboo needles; Every row: *k2 p2* repeat - k final stitch).

Tempted as I am to keep the scarf for myself, I will probably pass it onto a friend who even though she is in her 30s and a mum still clings to her black and purple clothes and make-up. It would be cruel to deprive her. And I wouldn't want to wear the scarf myself if it was covered in her drool.

Lollipop socks finished

Yarn: Opal 6-ply
Needles: 3.0mm Addi DPNs
Own pattern: Toe-up; 56 stitches, plain foot, 2X2 ribbed calf.

In retrospect, I made these too large for my feet - but they are warm!

Giving in to temptation

I am going to have to ban myself from the knitting social network site Ravelry; it is seriously detrimental to my financial health and is sabotaging all my attempts to declutter and resist materialism.  There is too much temptation as every single yarn sale in Australia (and beyond) ends up being posted there.  I can't knit as fast as I acquire yarn. I bought another six balls of Mondial Bizarre (regularly $13.85, on sale for $5 at Tapestry Craft) yesterday – with the encouragement of J.  The most mind-blowing thing was when I googled for images of the yarn (because I wanted to see larger pics of the colourways) the very first image that came up was a scarf I had knitted up last year out of the yarn.  I couldn't believe the picture on my little blog was ranked ahead of the company's own website or the many stores that carry the yarn.  It kind of freaked me out.

So anyway, I bought 6 balls of the purple/pink colourway which undoubtedly will become a hat/scarf set for me.  If I ever get to it.  Firstly I have to start (and finish) the Bag Lady swap bag (and no I haven't yet done a test knit/felt...) and then I have a couple more started UFOs to consider. The good news is that I am one cast-off row from finishing the Lollipop socks, thanks to some determined focussed knitting in front of the TV/DVD player and at lunchtime at work.  Pics to follow shortly...

Back to normality...

The temperature has dropped below 35 degrees, I've returned to work and the gym this week and re-discovered how to turn a sock heel.  Life is back to normal.  I like it this way.

I would like to say that my blogging slackness has been due to an excess of knitting or even vast amounts of time spent of Ravelry.  The latter is a little true, but the biggest time waster has been a deceptively simple "match-three" computer game bought over summer.  (Google 'Big Fish Games' if you are interested in cheap, addictive computer puzzle games; you can try virtually all of them for an hour for free before deciding if you want to buy; I spent more than six months just playing free trials before deciding to part with some cash).  I reached level 99 last night - I'm hoping once I crack the final level, I will no longer feel so compelled to sit at the computer clicking away.

I am now over half-way through my second Lollipop sock - the heel is properly turned with no holes - in fact I think it is the best short-row heel I've knitted to date.  I now have the tediousness of ribbing K2P2 the entire leg.  I hate ribbing but for me at least it provides the best and most comfortable fitting sock and the pattern is so simple that I can't stuff it up; I know I will love wearing these socks once I've finished and I know have less than one half a sock to go and because I'm knitting in one of the self-striping yarns it is fun to play the game of knitting "just up to the end of this patch of colour... well maybe to the end of the blue section, etc".

After I finish the sock, I have to start on the bag I am committed to making for the Ravelry Australian Knitters Bag Lady swap.  The organisers have kindly matched me up with someone else who also likes purple and I STILL have a heap of purple/pink mohair in my stash.  So providing the eczema stays away, I'm thinking of  doing a test knit/felt swatch with this (hey, there is a first time for everything). 

I don't get it...

Imagine you were in charge of an island that was home to a world-famous little penguin colony, the largest seal population in the Southern hemisphere (that has been rescued from the brink of extinction) and an important koala conservation centre. Hundreds of thousands of people visit each year to enjoy these features plus pristine beaches catering to both families and surfers. What do you think would be a good attraction to augment these features?

Some idiot decided that this would be the perfect location for a motor racing circuit...

Fortunately there were no races on when J and I visited; however the tacky discount souvenir shops and Grand Prix merchandising stores have moved into the main township of Cowes.

J & I were staying at the opposite end of the island at a gorgeous B&B. Smiths Beach was mere seconds from our back door, a short walk down the dunes. It was a bargain 'last minute' accomodation deal from wotif.com; 5-star views and location for a 3-star price. We had a great time doing all the usual touristy things (penguins, seals, koalas, walking on the beach, eating...); the perfect end to my 5-week break from work.

ADHD Knitter

I've been a bit all over the place in terms of my knitting the past few weeks and slack with my blogging. Nothing particularly wrong; just the holidays and the lack of structure that comes with them as well as Melbourne's foray into the very hot summer climate territory (we hit 40+ on a few days). I can't seem to concentrate on anything.

The above is a partial demonstration of what I've achieved.
1/ Cast-on and managed 1 1/2 pattern repeats of the Swallowtail Shawl (the hot pink yarn). Have ripped back the next row at least 3 times. Will try again when I have enough sleep and it isn't so hot.

2/ Cast-on and began second lollipop sock. All went well until the the heel-shaping where I seem to have forgotten how to pick up the short-row stitches without creating holes. Need to re look-up technique but can't get up enthusiasm for this at the moment.

3/ Purchased a "Frilled Lizard" sock kit at the Sunday craft market at the Arts Centre. Wool is unbelievably soft, very lightly spun, 95% merino/5% angora and totally unsuitable for socks. Spend half-an-hour on the internet working out how to convert grams to ounces and discover that yes, I have enough yarn to make the February Baby's jacket in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters Almanac. (The fact that none of my friends are pregnant at the moment is irrelevant; the jacket will eventually be put to good use). Cast on but lose enthusiasm once I reach the pattern section. I can't seem to focus on even the simplest pattern without mucking up at the moment.

4/ Reading. Yes, I can still do this. Receive and read my copy of Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair in one sitting. It is easy reading, it is well-written; it is compulsively page-turning; it is a combination of funny and gut-wrenching sad (but ultimately triumphant). It has also been edited to within an inch of its life which means (on the plus side) it tells a coherent story following a normal time line but it loses some of the spontaneity of the blog.

I also read It's My Party and I'll Knit if I Want To which J picked up on the $5 discount table at Angus and Robertson. Again it's easy reading, a light-hearted, well-written personal but also well-researched look at the re-emergence of the knitting craze in Australia in the early 2000s. I enjoy it as I recognised many of the shops, groups and even individuals mentioned, but it is already slightly dated and probably of limited interest to anyone living outside the Melbourne-Sydney-Canberra triangle.

I've been doing a reasonable amount of non-knitting reading including Sophie's World, which is basically an accessible guide and summary of the history of philosophy. I wasn't expecting to find the book as compelling as it has been. But it is a slow read.

5/ Spending way too much time on the internet, particularly Ravelry. At the last minute I decided to join the Australian Bag Lady swap, which means I will have to finish at least one project this year. I also put up some unwanted acrylic yarn and two very long (150cm) Addi needles that I never use on the swap page and was surprised to find them snapped up in exchange for Bendigo rustic yearn, Opal sock yarn and some bamboo yarn.


J and I are off to Phillip Island tomorrow, so it'll probably be another week before I post again.

Medical notes (part 2)

The one thing you don't want to hear when you are being wheeled in for an operation:

"We aren't ready for her. We need to test the machinery; the first lot wasn't working."

Not surprisingly I sat up and told them to take as long as they wanted to test the machinery because I wanted it working perfectly before they started operating on me. I may have got a little bit on the hysterical side and they decided that it would be a good idea to sedate me while they were testing their machinery.

Obviously I have lived to survive the tale. Apparently my gall bladder was packed with stones. Unfortunately they couldn't give me the contents in a little jar due to infection control policies but I was assured it was an impressive sample.

They certainly turn you around quickly in our hospital system. Within 24 hours of being put under a general anaesthetic and having part of my insides ripped out, I was discharged and waiting to be picked up. Lord knows what happens to those people who don't have family and friends to care for them in the days after an operation. Plenty has been written about the problems of Australia's public hospital system; my experience was both better and worse than I expected.

The doctors clearly believed I needed my gall bladder out and scheduled my operation within a week of diagnosis, which is very impressive for an 'elective' (non-emergency) procedure. It made sound economic sense - if I'd had another attack of pancreatitis, I could have easily been back in hospital for another week using up scarce resources - but there are plenty of examples of people having to wait months for so-called elective surgery. The strain on the hospital resources, however, was evident every step of the way. I was originally booked in as a public patient but on the day I was admitted I was strongly encouraged to sign in as a private patient. "It's a way of fundraising for us," a rather desperate-sounding ward clerk told us. "We bill your health insurance company instead of the government. We waive all the gap fees, so it won't cost you anything or make any difference to how you are treated but it helps us out A LOT."

Well, as long as it wasn't costing me anything extra... and they weren't kidding about not being treated any different to the public sector patients.

I felt like I was on a well-organised but over-stretched conveyor belt, moving from one docking station to another. Every part of the hospital showed signs of wear and strain but the staff were unfailingly professional, knowledgeable and capable. They just didn't have the capacity to provide anything - time or resources - beyond exactly what was needed. The bean counters would have been proud. It was just terrifying to consider what might happen should something go wrong, should a staff member fail to turn up to work or a piece of equipment fail - there did not appear to be any capacity to cover any gaps.

A cynic might suggest that the post-operative ward was designed to encourage people to return home and not linger beyond their absolute medical need. 16 beds for patients of both genders - divided by curtains - with one toilet, one shower and two nurses for all to share. The nurses were kept busy monitoring our vital signs and dispensing medication. Most of us were on drips and sedative painkillers, which made even the simplest tasks a challenging process. At one stage in the middle of the night I was standing on the side of the bed with my drip somehow tangled in the side rail, desperate to pee and wondering if I should press the nurse button because I could see how stretched they were. (In the end I untangled myself but needed to call for help to get back into bed.) And I had it much better than most patients - my husband was there during the day and was able to help me change into a clean nightie and walk me to the toilet but he was not allowed to stay the night. I found it hard to believe the nurse who said I would be fine to go home by 10am the next day.

The next morning, the nurses unhooked me from my drip, gave me another dose of strong pain killers and showed off my scars to the consultant surgeons. Before I knew it, I was in the discharge chairs, waiting for J to come and take me home.

The doctors gave me a script for Panadine Forte, which left me sleepy but helped me control my pain for the first few days. J channelled his inner Yiddishe Mama and made me home-made chicken soup and jelly while I was recuperating. I alternatively slept, ate chicken soup and watched Babylon 5 on DVD while contemplating some very simple knitting.

A visit to my local GP confirmed that the scars were healing well although I had a very slight surface infection that we should watch. But even that appears to have cleared up now. I am feeling much better today, although I still cannot lift anything heavy.

J, however, has picked up a nasty cold that he is blaming on the visit to the hospital. Lucky there is some of his left-over chicken soup for him.

Stash busting projects

I've been a bit naughty, buying myself some early birthday presents including a lace-blocking kit and some 2-ply silk/wool Zephyr from Yarns Online (I am definitely going to try a shawl next year, maybe the Swallowtail Shawl) and ordering Knitting from the Top and Crazy Aunt Purl's book from Amazon. Then an old colleague sent me two huge bags of yarn for Christmas (mostly a blue wool blend from a Spotlight sale several years ago). The stash is getting way out of control, so I decided that while I was resting up from the op and needing some very simple knitting to keep me occupied, it was time to engage in a couple of stash-busting projects.

Item 1 - roll-brim hat

An adult-sized roll-brimmed hat knitted from some rainbow variegated yarn in my stash. Maybe 80 grams? Slightly thinner than 8-ply, knit on 3.75mm needles. I had no idea what my gauge was or how many stitches to cast on so I knitted this from the top down, using the figure 8 cast-on. I ended up with 112 stitches all around. It fits me well but yellow is not my colour. It will probably end up as a gift for a friend.

Item 2 - simple ribbed mohair scarf

My eczema had cleared up, so I decided to take my life in my hands and use up some soft grey/blue mohair-based yarn in a simple 4X4 ribbed scarf on 5mm needles. I cast on 34 stitches, slipping the first and knitting the last stich in every row. There were about 2 1/2 balls of indeterminate weight and size, more than enough for a 150cm (60 inch) scarf plus fringing.

Coffee plunger cosy

Maybe it was the stitch markers, maybe it was my eczema calming down to mere dry flaky skin, maybe it was five days of bed rest, maybe it was many hours perusing Ravelry but I finally started knitting again.

I've been looking at all the tea cosies and thought I might use some of my left-over Zarina to make a second cosy. Initially I thought I'd send it to my tea cosy pal but it ended up too narrow and more blue-ish teal than green. So it's ended up on my own coffee plunger. I made up the pattern as I went; a few rows of garter stitch with eyelet holes; a cable twist, then ten blocks of basket-stitch pattern, a cable twist and the garter stitch eyelet border. A nice and relaxing return to knitting. I'm now using some other left-over yarn to make a beanie.

As with every swap, a lot of people are going over the top. We signed up to make one tea/coffee cosy and send some tea/coffee and bickies. The number of people sending extra skeins of expensive yarn, mugs, multiple cosies, chocolate, dishcloths, stitch markers and more is a bit overwhelming. I feel like the goal posts keep moving. I wish there was a happy medium between the people who go OTT and those who pike completely.

In my package I included the tea cosy pictured below, some Fair Trade Earl Gray tea, a tin of Oxfam Ceylon tea, a packet of shortbread biscuits and some Clover DPNs (from the promotion kit I bought earlier this year). So my pal shouldn't feel too ripped off. I also found a nice card featuring Labrador puppies which looks like her sort of thing.



I think I'll pass on the next Australian Ravelry swap (knitted bags) but I have until the first week of January to make up my mind.

Cute stitch markers

I returned from hospital to find a package from the UK. Crafty Librarian, one of the organisers of ISE5 had sent me the butterfly stitch markers as a prize for a competition she had run on her blog. I pinched the photo from her blog as every photo I tried to take of the stitch markers came out blurry. They are even prettier in real life. Thank-you Charlie!

Medical note

Apologies for the long time between postings but for once I actually have a decent excuse. I've been in hospital for half the past week.

The story began when I woke up last Saturday night (or rather Sunday morning, 2.30am) with the most excruciating abdominal pain imaginable. I was lying in bed when it came on really suddenly and it got worse and worse and I woke up J and said "I have really bad abdominal cramps and I think I have to go to the hospital." J tried to get me to drink some water but I couldn't even lift the bottle. Then he said "Can you dress yourself?" and I realised I was stark naked and couldn't go out even to the hospital like this. So I staggered around trying to find my baggiest underpants and my loosest top and skirt.

J drove me to the local hospital which fortunately was only moderately full for a Saturday night. I must have looked as bad as I felt as the triage nurse gave me a trolley to lie on right away. I listened to J filling in the admissions paperwork. The nurse asked me to rate my pain on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the greatest pain I could imagine. "10," I croaked.

It was a long night. Eventually I was pushed from the hallway into a little room in the emergency department. Various nurses regularly took my blood pressure and heart rate but it was a long time before a doctor arrived. I asked a nurse if there was any chance of getting any pain killers. Eventually I was given a couple of Panadine Forte for the pain and some other medication to settle my stomach.

The doctor when she finally arrived was nothing short of brilliant. She was so thorough that she picked up a couple of minor unrelated health issues, as well as diagnosing me with pancreatitus (inflammation of the pancreas). Once we established that I barely drink any alcohol (excessive alcohol consumption is one reason for this disease) I was sent for an x-ray and ultrasound. It turned out the pancreatitus was caused by gall stones and there are a fair few of them still in there. And the only way to get them out is to take the whole gall bladder out (it’s kidney stones that get laser zapped). The doctors claim that one can live a perfectly normal life without a gall bladder and the risk of complications from this surgery is much smaller than the risk of having an even worse and more dangerous attack of pancreatitus in the future if I don’t have my gall bladder out.

I spent the next day on a drip, eating ice, and two days on a clear-fluid diet to settle down my pancreas. Once the pain went, I felt fine. I slept and read and had visitors. J was fantastic, bringing me in fresh clothes and mint tea bags and ensuring I had a constant supply of reading material. And had my blood pressure and heart rate taken on a regular basis. To my great delight, I discovered that the few kilos I've lost this year and exercise have already had a profound impact on my health - I no longer have borderline high blood pressure; every single reading was well within the healthy normal range. On the fourth day I was allowed to have real food and when that passed without incident, I was permitted to return home to rest until the operation.

So on Monday I return to the hospital for the operation. It will be keyhole surgery, which means minimal scarring, and is apparently a very common and straightforward operation. Several people I know including my father-in-law and a close friend have had the operation and returned to a normal life. But any operation is scary.

I'm under strict instructions to eat a very low fat diet until the operation. The gall bladder stores bile which is released when digesting fat; It turns out that eating a slightly fatty meal after a month of eating a very low fat diet (damn J's birthday dinner!) almost certainly triggered the attack - as the bile was released, so was a gallstone. But with the number of gallstones I had, an attack was probably inevitable. I've had mixed reports about whether my diet will be restricted after the operation but to be on the safe side, I will stick to the low-fat regime. I need to loose the weight anyway.

So that's been my excitement for the week. I'll do another post about returning to knitting.

Indonesia's revenge

I don't know the real story behind Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee ($50 per cup!) made from coffee beans that have been swallowed and then excreted by the Indonesian Asian Palm Civet (for real... I couldn't make this up if I tried) but I would like to think it goes something like this:

One day a couple of poverty-stricken Indonesian locals were walking in the forest. They were particularly grumpy from a day of working in a hotel catering to rude Western tourists for a minuscule wage. One of them spots a pile of Asian Palm Civet excrement and says: "You know, I bet you that I can not only make those rich bastards eat shit but pay for the privilege too..."

EZ bargain

I'm very excited.  I received my copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac from The Book Depository today. This is an amazing UK company that ships free worldwide so I have no idea how they make any money.  But they are legitimate.  I had heard good things about them on the Melbourne S'nB email list so I swallowed my skepticism and placed an order.  Thanks to Australia's appreciating currency, the book came to less than AUD$9, which I suspect barely covers the cost of airmail from the UK. 

Three weeks later I thought I had done my dough as no book had arrived.  But the company responded really quickly to my email query, advising they had shipped the book by airmail 3 weeks previously and offered to send out another copy or refund my money.  I decided to wait until the end of this week to take them up on their offer as the post can sometimes be a little dodgey. And today Australia Post delivered!

So at least I've got some good reading until my hands are ready for knitting.

In other news, along with more than half of Australia I am celebrating the return of a Labor government that has already committed to repealing the most draconian of the workplace laws, signing the Kyoto agreement and apologising to indigenous Australians for ripping apart families and destroying their culture.  I hope they can make the next step of actually doing something to improve the health and life expectancy of some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in our country.

The election was so decisive that our former Prime Minister of 11 years actually lost his own seat.  The most senior Liberal in Australia is the mayor of Brisbane, Australia's third-largest city.  I'm glad the Liberals are out of power - this is the direct result of their own appalling decisions and governance over the past 11 years - but I'm not enjoying their self-implosion and decimation half as much as I thought I would.  I'm acutely aware that all countries, including Australia, need a strong Opposition.  We've put a lot of faith in Kevin07 Rudd.  Let's hope he can now deliver.