Tuesday, July 31, 2012
I'm still technically on vacation so I don't want to spend too much time in front of a computer, but I had to tell you how AWESOME it was at Girl Geek Sydney tonight. I was worried that my talk on "geeky knitting" was a bit too twee and non-technical, but everybody seemed to love it! I got to go last and I do feel like the evening ended on a high note. And having my Mom there made it all the more special! Thanks to everyone who left lovely comments on Twitter and elsewhere. And huge thanks to the members of the Australian Knitters group on Rav who helped with suggestions. My slides are downloadable here with annotations for each example. (I've tried to credit each one I used, but please let me know if I missed any.) And feel free to leave a comment with any questions!  Monday, July 30, 2012
 The Cool Dudes Club looking for whales at Smoky Cape Lighthouse. Powered by Webstagram Sunday, July 29, 2012
 Who's up for a chocolate-coated frozen banana on a stick? Powered by Webstagram
 Playing catch with dolphins. Powered by Webstagram
 Honey latté at The Honey Place in Urunga. Powered by Webstagram Saturday, July 28, 2012
 Me and Mom after a lovely lunch in Nambucca Heads Powered by Webstagram
 Morning tour of the Snook homestead. (I'm going to wring the rooster's neck.) Powered by Webstagram Friday, July 27, 2012
 The Cool Dudes Club enjoy the sun. Powered by Webstagram Thursday, July 26, 2012
 Picnic at Bronte Beach. We eventually made it from Bondi to Clovelly... Powered by Webstagram
 The Cool Dudes Club holds a meeting at Bondi. Powered by Webstagram Wednesday, July 25, 2012
 Me and Mom, watching the boys climb the Bridge. Powered by Webstagram Tuesday, July 24, 2012
 Joey has an encounter with some local wildlife. Powered by Webstagram
 Everybody wants a rock to wind a piece of string around. Powered by Webstagram
 Visiting one of my favourite paintings by Grace Cossington Smith. Powered by Webstagram Monday, July 23, 2012
 My brother Joey and I at the Lego Colosseum. Powered by Webstagram
 Airport pickup success! Me and my Mom. :) Powered by Webstagram Sunday, July 22, 2012
 Ten-year-old Moët... LIKE A BOSS. Thanks, @tvpk ! Powered by Webstagram Saturday, July 21, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
 Here's @barbercraig85 cutting the cake!  I made @barbercraig85 a Union Jack cheesecake for his last Friday at @sitback . Powered by Webstagram Edited to add: The recipe for the cheesecake is here, if anybody is interested. It's a no-bake cheesecake, which mightily offended the Snook at first. But it's a deliberate choice; if you baked the cheesecake the top likely wouldn't be as white. It's very quick and simple to make, and everybody loved it. I used frozen berries and they worked just fine.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
 Paper DollsI should properly document this one, huh? The pattern is Kate Davies's Paper Dolls, which is a short-sleeved pullover with a fairisle yoke. Since I can't do anything simply, I decided to convert it to a cardigan. I bought the main wool (green Rowan Felted Tweed) nearly three years ago at the Wool Inn in Penrith. The brown and cream contrast colours are Grignasco Tango from Miss Fee. I went up a size or two to get some ease through the body. I still knitted it in the round, adding a 6-stitch steek up the middle (and making that the start of all rounds). For the sleeves, I simply made up the increases making sure I finished on the right number of stitches for the yoke pattern repeat. When it was done, I did a crochet steek with hand-stitching for extra reinforcement. Then I cut it open. I had originally intended to put a button band on it, but once I tried it on I realised it wanted to be a jacket with a zip. So that’s what I did! I did an i-cord edging along the fronts and then hand-sewed in a zipper. I love it! (More photos over on Ravelry.) Monday, July 16, 2012
If you follow me at all on Facebook, you're probably sick of hearing about the damn kitchen. I don't blame you! But not everybody's on Facebook, so it's time to do a big photo round-up for everybody else. We kicked off the renovation at the end of January and it's only just now finished. Big thanks go to both of our employers, who were really accommodating about letting us work from home on days where we had contractors in. While most of the work was done by others, we had to do a lot of packing, cleaning, painting, cleaning, unpacking, and more cleaning ourselves. We were without a kitchen for a total six weeks, and I never want to go through that again in my life. If you want to see all the details, just go here. And now for the glorious Before and After... 
The big day has finally arrived, and I can now spill the beans. For the past several months at Sitback I've been working on a top secret new project: the launch of the Subaru BRZ sportscar, which is - we think - the first new car the world to be sold exclusively online. It's been amazing to work on such a high-profile, top-secret project. I am not a Car Person, and I knew very little about the automotive industry when I started. I've had the opportunity to learn a LOT about how cars are sold and financed in Australia. I wrote hundreds of pages of documentation and got to attend meetings with high-level stakeholders (including a day trip to Melbourne just for a meeting!). A couple of weeks ago we demoed the site to the Subaru top brass, and as a special treat they brought the car for us to check out. I even got to drive it. It was pretty sweet! And then today was the big launch. These things never go smoothly, and it was tense through the afternoon. I had no idea what kind of reception the site was going to have. I hoped that maybe we'd get a couple people to place orders? Instead we sold out! What a crazy, crazy rush. I got to see this project alive and doing what it's supposed to. Subaru got heaps of publicity for their new launch. And less than 200 lucky people actually got to order the car. Looks like everybody's kicked a goal... :) Sunday, July 15, 2012
 I made a thing. Tomorrow is a very big day at work. Powered by Webstagram Edited to add: If anyone wants the recipe, these are No Bake Crispy Corn Flake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. And it was only the Snook and social decorum that kept me from eating the entire batch myself, they were THAT GOOD.
 With the final painting touch-ups done, it's time for the Veuve Clicquot. Kitchen is finished! Powered by Webstagram Saturday, July 14, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
 Broke out the Cheesylove vest today. One of first garments I knitted! Powered by Webstagram Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
 Most people picked my baby photo at the shower pretty easily... Powered by Webstagram
Paper Dolls finished! World's fastest, bodgiest zipper installed with 20min to spare... Powered by Webstagram
Saturday, July 7, 2012
 Dolsot bibimbap FTW. I wish you could hear the sound it makes! Powered by Webstagram
Friday, July 6, 2012
 Three cheers for hand-knit cardigans with zippers! (Suck it @drkknits .) Powered by Webstagram
My Grandpa died yesterday. I only found out he was in the hospital the day before. This is the first grandparent I've lost. These things always suck, but man does it suck when you're far from your family. I talked to my Dad this morning and he said he doesn't want me to worry about getting there for the funeral. Obviously I want to be there, but it's hard on such short notice. You want to know something weird? The obituary is online - and I just realised that Grandpa Hubert had the same birthday as me. I never knew that in my whole life. How did I not know that? It's such a neat connection. I wish I'd known. I'd have made sure to call him on it. Edited to add: Mom's just confirmed that the date is wrong there. His birthday was March 16, the day after mine. I'm a little disappointed, but it makes more sense that I didn't know! Thursday, July 5, 2012
 Wishing I could give hugs to all my family back home on this sad, cold night. The cat will have to do. Powered by Webstagram Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Siouxsie and the Banshees's Once Upon a Time is #44 on RS's list of Greatest Albums from "Women Who Rock." I don't think I had ever heard any of these songs before. It's not really my thing, but I like the rhythms. The "Christine" song freaked me out when I heard my own name being repeated.
Taylor Swift's Speak Now is #45 on RS's list of Greatest Albums from "Women Who Rock." While I'm sure there are those rolling their eyes, I really like Taylor Swift. She's a pretty, pretty princess, she plays the guitar, and she writes catchy songs about liking boys. There's nothing wrong with that!
Salt-n-Pepa's Hot, Cool and Vicious is #46 on RS's list of Greatest Albums from "Women Who Rock." Unfortunately Spotify doesn't have it available, so instead I listened to their Greatest Hits compilation. I wasn't a huge hip-hop fan in high school, but I did like SNP. (I remember vastly preferring them to the annoying TLC, who many girls in my class liked.) I had the CD singles for "Shoop" and "Whatta Man" pretty much memorised. I liked their sense of humour and their politics. "Let's Talk About Sex" is just such a perfect bit of early 90's music and activism, isn't it?
Monday, July 2, 2012
 Butternut Squash Soup with Star Anise and Ginger Prawns. Powered by Webstagram
Lucinda Williams's Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is #47 on RS's list of Greatest Albums from "Women Who Rock." I'd heard of Lucinda Williams but never really listened to her. After going through this album a couple times, I'm kicking myself. I need to listen to it about 50 more times until these songs become a part of me. So good.
Bonnie's Raitt's Give It Up is #48 on RS's list of Greatest Albums from "Women Who Rock." My only experience with Bonnie's discography was her later Top 40 stuff, so this early blues was a revelation. She sounds so young! It's definitely not what I expected, with some of the songs having a Dixieland feel to them. (Snook: "How can it be 'rock' when it was a clarinet solo?!") The album inspired me to read up on Bonnie, where I learned how respected she is as a slide guitarist. The Snook informs me that there's even a Unix utility named after her. (Me: "What does it do?" Him: "Identify bottlenecks." Me: "Heh.")
Sunday, July 1, 2012
 Paper Dolls (Jacket) blocking. Might need to stretch the yoke even more... Powered by Webstagram
The Breeders' Last Splash is #49 on RS's list of Greatest Albums from "Women Who Rock." I discovered the Breeders when I happened to catch the video for "Cannonball" late one night on MTV (maybe "120 Minutes"?) in high school, and I was hooked. I bought the tape and I still know all the words 19 years later. I remember being amused at "Drivin' On 9", because I actually had to drive to high school along State Road 9. I also bought a Breeders T-shirt that I have carried with me across several continents, and that I only just reluctantly stopped wearing (because it's full of holes - don't worry; I'm making it into a quilt). The Breeders are also the only artists on the list who I've actually MET. The day Kim and Kelley Deal wandered into my knitting shop in Sydney was seriously one of the coolest days in my whole time there. Rock on, Deal sisters. |
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"Moblog" refers to posts and images posted directly from my mobile phone.
"PW Blog" refers to posts recovered from my very first weblog, which dealt with news related to my college dorm. |
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