• 100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

    100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About. The one that made me laugh was #92: “Writing a check.” Not in the NSW Knitters Guild! I swear; they’ll be the last cheque-requiring holdouts in the country. The Snook and I finally killed off our cheque account a couple months ago, since it was costing us $10/month and we wrote maybe three cheques a year. Of course, that came back to bite me in the ass when I needed to send in a new Guild member’s registration form last week. Instead I had to make a special trip to the post office to get a money order, which cost me $4.50. It’s ridiculous. We pay all our bills electronically now, and there’s still this one organisation requiring me to send in a bit of paper.


  • Shared today on Twitter

    Whoa! Message from @AusVintageGrrl. Customs House evacuated for fire alarm. Not sure what that will do to the scheduled knitting workshop!


    Going to the boxing gym. Not surprisingly, I am REALLY looking forward to punching some stuff.


    Chicken Kiev, garlic beans, and sauteed parsnip and carrot with honey and rosemary glaze. Bow before my domestic goddess-ness!


    @redambition @bellsg I blogged the carrots and parsnip recipe. Very recommended!


    Now it’s time for tea, knitting, & Battlestar Galactica. Only thing marring this peaceful scene is the truly disturbing object I’m knitting.


    @Ezzles Google “Bokaclava” or look it up on Rav. And don’t say I didn’t warn you!


    @Ezzles And no, I’m not putting it on an effing tree. πŸ™‚


    @mirvettium Nah, balaclava in the style of a demon from Dr. Who. Google “bokaclava”. πŸ™‚


    Okay, but it’s not my fault none of you will be able to sleep tonight. Behold… Bokaclava: http://bit.ly/Q8VAt


    That’s the designer’s. Mine is in navy. Just sewing it up now. Still need to make nose, mouth, & horns…. http://bit.ly/1buB0O


    @Ezzles It was an Extreme Knitting Challenge by a guy at work. In exchange he’s going to design my Halloween invite this year. πŸ™‚


    Front and back of demon head have been sewn together. Did I mention this thing will be on the slopes of Perisher this weekend?


    So sore from punching yesterday. (I needed it though.) Now let’s see if I can actually manage a run…


    Just completed a 4.37 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/18jyyu #RunKeeper


    This is so weird. They’ve knocked down a couple walls in the office, and now there’s all this SPACE in my peripheral vision.



  • Shared today on Facebook

    Now it’s time for tea, knitting, & Battlestar Galactica. Only thing marring this peaceful scene is the truly disturbing object I’m knitting.



  • Sauteed Parsnips and Carrots with Honey and Rosemary

    The star of tonight’s dinner: Sauteed Parsnips and Carrots with Honey and Rosemary. YUM! We had a couple parsnips rattling around the bottom of the veggie box that I needed to use. The Snook isn’t a big fan of roasting them, so I found this recipe. It was great! I followed the advice to put crispy bacon on top too. Highly recommended.


  • New Zealand Tourism Posters

    New Zealand Tourism Posters, as seen on Murray’s office wall in Flight of the Conchords. I’ve got no idea how the whole Australian-New Zealand antagonism storyline plays in the States, but it sure cracks up me and the Snook (who found the link).


  • Box Pouches

    How to Sew a Perfect Box Pouch. Awesome! I think I might have to try that out. Looks like it would make nice little gifts.


  • Shared today on Twitter

    Any of you use Evernote? I’m trying it out to see if it can tame the beast that is my scribbly work notebook. Tips appreciated.


    Always fun to find people tweeting mean things about you, as opposed to talking/emailing like human beings. πŸ™ @bendbeanies @deadlyknitshade


    In positive news, I’ve invited AU knit graffiti artist to SnB Thurs. She seems really cool & promises lots of info/gossip from NGA exhibit.


    @Ascasewwen Ahh, but did you steal it? Of course not. You’re not a sociopath.


    @codepo8 See, “punny baby t-shirts” & “something to blog about” are far too high on my list of Reasons to Have a Baby. Hence, no baby. πŸ™‚


    Old guard of the Guild think I’m hell-bent on destroying it from within, while the “punk” knitters think I’m a stuffy Grandma! Too funny.


    Thinking srsly about starting guerilla scrapbooking movement. Will involve public use of hole punches. I DON’T EVEN CARE IF I GET ARRESTED!


    Left work an hour early for Dr appt, only to find he’s running an hour behind. On the plus side, might as well kill time with a massage!


    Hmm. Graffiti MacramΓ©? My wonky owl-shaped plant holders will speak of urban decay, Western decadence, & shocking lack of fringe in society.


    @crumpet I knew you’d like the owl reference! My grandma had one like that, and it was awesome. πŸ™‚


    I got antibiotics for bronchitis. And my massage? SHE WALKED ON MY BACK. That was new.


    @mrs_sockvictim Whatever gives us the best chance of a book deal and/or talk show appearance!


    @deadlyknitshade Thank you. I did think the phone booth showed a lot of work and creativity!


    @venks79 Um… even with your newly skinny self, I’ll still go with the 40kg tiny woman, thanks! πŸ™‚


    @witty_knitter I actually used that at the Dr tonight: “See, I caught this cold 2 wks ago that has devastated the Syd knitting community..”


    @mrs_sockvictim Ok, you have to make that for Halloween. Except evil. SO AWESOME.


    Guerilla Latchhook: turning the world into one giant shag rug, one bus stop at a time. (I can’t stop! Actually, I really like this one. Hm.)


    @redambition Dr. Chin knows not to bat an eye at my eccentricities these days. I really need to knit him some socks.


    @redambition Dr. Chin knows not to bat an eye at my eccentricities these days. I really need to knit him some socks.


    @Justacogitating You should find them and start wrapping them around stop signs. You can be the second subversive in my movement!


    @crumpet Me too! I think they must have some automated bots. Must be very quiet now. (DON’T MENTION THE HOLE PUNCHES!)


    Very happy to say that Dr Chin was thrilled with my weight loss (and inches lost around waist). No charts or lectures this time!


    @knitterjp Day 3 was the worst of it for me. (You should skip the knitting workshop and rest! They’ll survive.)


    I sold yarn to Kim and Kelley Deal last year at the craft shop I worked in. (Oh wait. That was actually really cool!) #lameclaimstofame


    @redambition Huh. When I went to Myer for a makeover, I looked like I’d been hit by Homer’s makeup gun (set to “whore”).



  • Massage… WITH FEET!

    Another unusual massage…
    Tonight I left work early to see Dr. Chin at Broadway. I was due for my monthly allergy shot, and I wanted his opinion on my lingering cough. Well, half of Ultimo was backed up in his waiting room so I had a lot of time to kill. I headed next door for a massage.

    My masseuse was a deceptively tiny Chinese lady. She noticed my stiff lower back and right hip at once, and I explained about seeing the physio for this running issue. At this point I was expecting the dreaded-but-usual ass massage. Instead she put a towel on my back and began drawing the curtains around the table. (Very unusual, since this place is in the middle of a mall. Hardly a private spa!) Then I heard her kick off her shoes and climb on the table. “You’re…uh… Goin’ up there?!” I asked. “Is it okay?” What the hell. So I finally had the mythical massage where the tiny lady WALKS ON YOU. For reals. I was torn between being weirded out (because you know I have a thing about feet) and reveling in one of the Best. Massages. Ever. Seriously, it was good. She mostly balanced one foot on my sacrum/lower back and used the other one to work my spine and knots. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t experienced it. It’s definitely only for those that like a strong massage though. Now we just have to see if I can actually move tomorrow…


  • Knitting Tribes

    Knitting Tribes
    The situation would be comical if it weren’t so depressing. One week I’m fielding drama from the “old guard” of the NSW Knitters Guild, convinced that I’m intent on destroying traditional knitting from within with my radical ideas about “email” and “the Internet.” The next week I’m copping it from the “punk rock” guerilla knitters, accusing me of being a Granny and Communist (yes, really) for saying that I think most knitted graffiti is a waste of time.

    Obviously the issue is that a lot of people identify really, really strongly with their particular niche hobby community (be it knitting, Star Trek, or the Dallas Cowboys). Saying you dislike an aspect of that community is tantamount to personal insult. They all take it so deathly seriously. I just don’t get it. It’s just sticks and string! I’m not offended by people who don’t like knitting. It doesn’t define me as a person. I don’t take it as a personal insult when someone says they don’t see the point in knitting socks. Sometimes I take it as an opportunity to try to sway them to my side, but I’d never use it as an excuse to insult and demean them. If you think that someone saying they dislike your preferred style of knitting project (or your favorite band or TV show) is equivalent to them saying that you are a bad person, then there’s really no way to have a rational discussion or debate about it.

    The only way to win is not to play, really. Militants (whether of the Old Guard or the New Subversives) really suck the fun out of everything.


  • Masterchef and the Snook

    Masterchef and the Snook
    For the record, NO, the Snook will not be auditioning for Masterchef next season. Why? “Because they want people who want to run restaurants. I don’t want to run a restaurant. They said they want people who want to change their lives. I like my life how it is!” And there you have it. His superior cooking skills will remain mine and mine alone to enjoy!



ABOUT

My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.

No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.


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