Month: October 2010 (page 3 of 5)

Steeking Workshop

Knitters Guild
Saturday was my penultimate Knitters Guild meeting as Convenor of the Inner City group. I’m really looking forward to “retirement.” I’ve had a lot of fun working with Rosemary and Geraldine, and I’m proud of what the three of us have accomplished. But at the same time, it’s like hosting a party every single month. Eventually you want to just go to the party and have a good time like everyone else! So we’ll definitely be celebrating after next month’s AGM.

Me, Rose, and Geraldine

Our October meeting featured a steeking workshop taught by Mary-Helen and Sandra. Earlier in the week I’d stuffed up by spending an exorbitant amount of money on colour copies of the course material, but in the end it turns out that was a Good Thing because the projector in our meeting room was broken. So that worked out nicely. I took several photos during the meeting which are now up on our website. (If anybody has others to contribute, please send them through!)

After the meeting, I hung around to help with our monthly “Learn to Knit” workshop. We taught 7 women of varying ages how to knit. I haven’t been knitting much myself lately, so it was nice to pick up the needles again. At least I can teach others to get enjoyment from it!

Smell Like a Monster

“Anything is possible when you smell like a monster!” I love Grover.

Free Scoop Friday!

Our office won Ben and Jerry’s Free Scoop Friday! We got like 50 pints of ice cream! Best. Friday. Ever.

Ben and Jerry's   Ben and Jerry's

RunningBlog: Week 40

Week 40
Kind of an up-and-down week. I was just so TIRED at the start. It may have been related to Daylight Savings, or to all the physical work we did on Monday on the house. At any rate, Tuesday and Wednesday I just felt like a giant slug. This morning I had a great run though, and I’m starting to feel a little energy return. I’m really looking forward to our Sydney Worldwide Festival of Races event on Sunday!

Oct. 3: 7.01km
Oct. 5: 2km
Oct. 6: 5.92km
Oct. 8: 6.56km
Total this week: 21.49km (13.4mi)
Total in 2010: 754.46km (471.5mi)

To meet my goal of running 1000km in 2010, I should be at 769km. So I’ve got about 15km to make up yet…

SUCK IT, GERMAINE.

“People who care about biodiversity don’t keep cats,” says Germaine Greer. OH SUCK IT, GERMAINE. What utter trolling. I am Australian. I have cats. I care about biodiversity. My cats don’t go outside and they don’t reproduce. Problem friggin’ solved.

There was a stray – with a collar – who spent several months visiting our garden and scaring away the birds and the skinks. We couldn’t catch him, so we called the rangers on him and they took him away. The skinks and the birds are back. SEE HOW IT WORKS?

Shared today on Google Reader

Shared today on Google Reader:

You can follow me on Reader here.

Kimchi Shortage

KIMCHI SHORTAGE?! Yikes!

dailymile

I finally caved and signed up for dailymile. Man, so THAT’S where all the runners are! I’ve had like 20 people friend me already. Craziness.

Curtains and art! Oh my!

Curtains and art! Oh my!
Early Saturday morning, I invited the Snook to come over to Broadway with me to pick up my contact lenses. “Oh, and we can check out the new Reject Shop that’s opened up,” I suggested. Do you know about this place? IT’S MY NEW FAVORITE STORE. It’s a $2 shop that’s actually clean and organised! We ended up buying a giant roll of bamboo fencing for our passionfruit to climb. I also picked up a number of frames because I had a growing collection of stuff to hang on the walls. That got me thinking… “How about we go to IKEA tomorrow and look at curtain stuff?” We’ve been living here for nearly 3 years without curtains. For some reason he said yes, so Sunday we fought our way through the crowds and emerged laden with curtain-related paraphernalia. And on Monday, we put it all together. Over the course of about 8 hours, I learned how to use a hammer drill (our walls are made of brick) and we covered the place in dust. Have I mentioned how I impressed I am with my handy husband?

Living room curtains

Curtains! Curtains in my living room! We went with the DÄMPA fittings, and luckily we didn’t need to cut any. The curtains are the HENNY RAND. (Yes, I know they’re way too long. You’re meant to let them hang for a while before you hem them.)Dining room curtains

We used the same curtains for the dining room sliding doors. They have large metal grommets at the top so they’re very easy to slide back out of the way.

Bedroom curtains

The bedroom curtains are ALVINE STRECK. My original impulse was to hem them short to match the window, but I think they look cooler long. Thoughts?

Snook's Office

For our offices, we decided to go with a simple ENJE roller blind. (We may still put curtains over them some day.) The Snook’s is dark grey.

My Office

Mine is light blue.

Alice in Wonderland print

Art! I wanted something interesting and dramatic in this spot by the bookcase because it’s the first thing you see when you come in the front door. This is one of the Alice prints that were done by my friend crumpet. She actually gave this to me! That was so nice. (If you want some of her art, you can buy it too.)

Opera House nudity

And here’s the final photo from our nude Spencer Tunick adventure at the Opera House.

Clock

My clock. I have been coveting the PUGG clock for years now. It reminds me so much of the clocks in my elementary school. I love it.

Bamboo fencing

And lastly, the bamboo fencing we put up behind the passionfruit vines. They’re going gangbusters and had long since outgrown the little stakes we put in the pots for them. The bamboo has lots of little bits for their tendrils to cling onto.

And that’s not even everything! We still have two more prints framed and ready to go up on the walls, as soon as we can work out where best to put them. Stay tuned…

The Norton Project

The Norton Project

This is a story about how my brother and I stole our fathers 1969 Norton Commando, had it restored and then gave it back to him for Christmas. He had no idea.

It’s BRILLIANT. It made me think of my own Dad, and how I’d love to do something like this for him someday. I dare you to watch it and not get a little teary.