Its not my fault!

…That I haven’t been around.  Honest!  Blame it on Ravelry, my new online home.  If you knit, crochet, spin or weave and aren’t a member yet, you owe it to yourself to go check it out.  you’ll be glad you did.

http://www.ravelry.com/

So, let’s see.  Our flatmates moved out and we had a few weeks of bliss with the house to ourselves – until the extra rent payments started to bite.  Now we have ONE new flatmate, who is actually a friend of mine from work who is a peaceable guy.  Early days yet, but i think it will work out ok.

I may be getting hearing aids (at the age of amost-40.  Sheesh!)  i got tested and do have a mildish hearing loss, plus tinnitus.  I could just carry on as I am and NOT fork out thousands of dollars, but I’m a bit sick of saying “what?” to people, nodding and smiling and hoping that was an appropriate response, and never hearing the kitchen timer.  So my audiologist is putting in an application  for government funding, which will take a few months to come through; but even with the funding it is still going to cost about 2.5k for a pair.  Which is not good for our savings account.  I’m a bit bummed about it – I’ve been wearing glasses since i was 12, and now hearing aids….what’s going to go next?  Still, I’m not deaf and I’m not blind, so i suppose i shouldn’t complain.  It could be a lot worse.

I’ve been crocheting like a mad fool.  I’ve also just booked my bus tickets to go down to the Hamilton Quilt and Craft show on the 19th; none of my crafting friends were going this year, so I’m off on a little adventure of my own!  I feel a bit guilty to be doing that on the day that my SO is getting a vasectomy…but as he says, it isn’t like I could go hold his hand or anything!  I’m just grateful that he recognises that it is his turn to be responsible for contraception, and that he is prepared to go through with it.

ok, more some other time.  Some photos of recent crochet projects…

Nosferatu

Crochet hook case. yarn is made from recycled saris!

Work in progress (wip) - a bobble handbag

 

INFO 525-related post

Ok, so this is the post that i have to write on “A topic related to INFO 525″ for my assignment.  A bit of a stretch, this will be (she says in her best Yoda-speak), because the last exercise involved making what was essentially a podcast – again on a related topic – and i managed to ramble on for over 5 minutes, so i’m not sure i have much left to say!

INFO 525 is the MLIS paper on Digital Technologies, and is in total contrast to the previous paper i did, INFO 520, which was all theory.  This one is all practice, which is, by and large, great.  A theory person i am not.  Do, or do not; either way, don’t spend hours sitting in an armchair analysing your actions (or lack thereof) and their wider ramifications.  (Not the kind of motto you can put on a t-shirt!)  I’m told that there ARE people who enjoy theory, though i find that hard to imagine.

Anyhow, for this paper we have been doing very practical things like the podcast exercise, where we learnt to use Audioforge, and making Powerpoint presentations, resizing photos; in other words it has been all about getting down and dirty with a range of software, and also getting familiar with newish technologies such as IGoogle and RSS feeds.  So that’s all surprisingly interesting.  My only complaint so far about INFO 525 is that the lecture notes and course material approach digital technologies somewhat from the perspective of a senior information manager who has to make decisions about which technologies to purchase and/or employ for their organisation.  Fine if you want to be a manager – but, like (i suspect) some of the others on this course, i have no interest in a management role.  Ever.  I’ve seen the desks of the senior people at the library where i work – paper mountains.  I’ve seen the hours that they work and some of the stuff they have to do, the level of responsibility.  No thanks.  I just like books, ok?  I like handling books and I don’t ever want a library job where i spend all my time in committee meetings, conferences and paper mountains and the book-related things all happen several floors away.  That all sounds too much like living in the Theory Armchair for me.

But that is my only niggle about this paper so far, and it is a minor one i guess – it just means that some of the readings for class are dealing with concerns that i sincerely hope will never have to concern me.  Which doesn’t encourage me to DO the readings.  Ahem.

I think that is probably enough – apologies to the people who have to read this as part of the assignment.  If you’re REALLY bored you can feel free to read the non-525 related posts as well.  It will probably help if you like crochet and don’t mind people complaining about their lives.

 

I’m baaaack!

Just when you thought I was gone for good!  Of all things it is my MLIS study that has brought me back – the paper I’m currently doing is about digital technologies, and has lots of practical exercises, one of which is to start a blog.  But why do that when i already have a perfectly good (if much neglected) one?  So, expect a couple of vaguely academic-sounding posts on Issues Digital for my blogging exercise…and then I can go back to talking about the things that I’m actually passionate about.  More to follow very soon – I triple pinky swear promise.

 

Not a rant this time

I don’t quite know where that last post came from, it wasn’t what I sat down to write about at all! However, pms probably contributed, and the fact that it is assignment-writing time.  I spent the whole weekend working on the damn thing, so I feel entitled to be grumpy about being stuck in front of a computer when everyone else is lazing around.  I’ve also discovered that assignments and diets don’t work so well together.  Weigh-in time again tomorrow with yet another new set of scales as the last new pair turned out to be totally inaccuraate.  I just hope that i’m still 5kg down, that will be enough of a victory at the moment!

The SO and i went to see Indiana Jones IV last week.  I gather it has had some mixed reviews.  I think the key is not to have huge expectations – just go along to enjoy seeing Indy again and you’ll have a great time.  There is no doubt the plot is all over the place, and I thought Cate Blanchett over-acted horribly, but hey, its Dr Jones in a new adventure and there’s a lot of humour.  I suspect i will have to go see it again on the big screen.  We went on opening night, and on one side of us was “I can’t possibly go half an hour without texting somebody, so I’m just going to keep my phone flipped open so the screen glare can get in your eyes” woman, and on the other was “I’m slightly mad and will talk to myself all the way through the movie and laugh at not-funny things that no-one else is laughing at” lady.  Which is the sort of thing that explains why i don’t go to the movies very often any more.

This weekend is a long weekend for us, for some reason we still celebrate the Queen of England’s birthday which isn’t even in June, go figure, but a holiday is always good, so Happy Birthday your Majesty.  HOPEFULLY I will not have to spend all of it studying…I accidentally bought a book of animal crochet patterns by Amy Gaines from Spotlight (accidentally because it wasn’t what i went in for), and i’m dying to get started on Chaos the Cat and also the Pirate panda. 

Here’s my last completed project, done with a 1.5 mm hook and DMC embroidery cotton.  I bought the pattern online and am reasonably pleased with the result, especially the Fimo nose which is something I haven’t tried before.  However I did find that the decrease stitches ended up creating holes in the fabric, which is not what you want for an item that has to be stuffed.  no doubt I need to refine my technique, and maybe try using an even smaller hook for the decreases, but if anyone has any tips about this please do share!

Anyhow, this is BonBon.  I think hes is quite cute but he does look like he would rather be an elephant, and I can see just how to alter the pattern, so look out for an elephant sometime soon.  I wonder…if i take someone’s pattern for a bear and turn it into a pattern for an elephant, will i have changed it sufficiently for it to be considered an original that i can sell?  You’d think as a librarian i would know everything there is to know about copyright.  Sigh.

 

 

 

To thine own self be true

Is what i plan to get written on me for my next tattoo, if i can just find the time to pick out the font that looks best and decide where to put it.  The quote is from Shakespeare of course, though i’m not sure which play, and i probably wouldn’t have read it anyway – but i don’t think that matters.  It is pretty much the basis of my life, that quote.  To me it means “be who you are, not who society thinks you should be, even though it may be tough sometimes.”  Therefore i have given myself permission to be unfeminine (i don’t wear dresses, skirts, makeup, high heels), unsociable, interested in nerdy stuff, not act my age if i can help it, not have children, love cuddly toys and be more interested in crafts and video games, robots and aliens than politics/business/current events. 

Sometimes it is a lonely life and i don’t have many friends, because i’m not good at talking to strangers and getting to know them.  I just HATE “polite conversation”.  Why ask someone how they are when you don’t really want to know the answer?  Why ask them about their hobbies that don’t interest you at all?  Why sit in the staff room and listen to people wittering on about what happened on Coronation Street last night when you could be on your computer exploring the net and talking online about things that you are passionate about with people you will never have to meet if you don’t want to?  I’m an introvert and its about damn time that all the “I’m really bubbly and and I’m always cheerful and I talk mindless drivel constantly” extroverts learned to respect the introverts of the world.  So there.

 

Gosh has it been that long

..since I last updated?  I’m sorry for my inconsistency.  Three weeks. Wow. Ok.

Well, i got an A- on my first essay, which i was quite shocked about; but the lecturer said that other papers will mark us a lot harder, they tend to be gentle on us for this paper as it is the first study many of us have done in quite a while.  So, meh  :/  Whatever.  Now i’m starting on the 2nd assignment and am already freaking a little, but it is not due in for a month, so i have time to get my head together.

I have had a lovely cold for a couple of weeks which i caught from the step-daughter, so there was quite a chorus of lung-coughing-up going on for a while there!  We are better now though.  It has been really really wet the past few days (fine by me!) and it is definitely getting autumnal.  Stupid me, i believed the weather forecast this morning and have been cold all day.  Grrrr.

i am losing weight!  (again.)  If you’ve done the diet thing multiple times, you may have noticed that there are times in your life when you just can’t make it work, and then every once in while something goes “click” in your brain and suddenly you are very determined and focussed and prepared to make sacrifices because now losing weight is somehow Very Important?  That’s where i am just now. 

 I discovered the other weekend while looking for something else that i had THREE lots of Weight Watchers courses sitting around the place, and i thought to myself “I SO know how to do Weight Watchers and i have all the information i need right here, so why not just get on with it?”  Now with WW they place a lot of emphasis on going to the meetings for support.   Last year i tried going to meetings near where i work, and the year before that i went to some meetings near my house.  What they don’t really mention is that you need to click with the meeting Leader, and if you don’t (which i didn’t in either case) then the meetings are largely a waste of $18 a week.  So i am being such a rebel (lol) and going it alone!  I just finished my 1st week and lost around 1.25kg (that’s 2.5 lb for the Americans).  I say “around” because our crappy scales are pretty vague.  i am about to go and reward myself for this result by visiting my LYS and getting some yarn to make a scarf.  Not that i NEED another scarf, i have a lovely one that i bought a few years ago which is about a zillion km long and very soft and light in grey and black – but i want to wear one that i made myself.  You know how it is.

Life. Our house continues to have too many people in it (flatmates/stepchildren) and to be a tip because nobody ever cleans up except me and i’ve pretty much given up as well now.  My Significant Other continues to be mostly a very sweet and kind guy and i feel like i should probably appreciate him more, but just now all i can think about is that he drinks too much, needs to lose a lot of weight and start doing some exercise and that he won’t live long enough to grow old if he carries on like this, and i just want to slap him in the face and say “Wake up!!!” 

Last night when i got off the bus going home i saw one of our neighbours having a conversation on the footpath with some woman i didn’t know.  As i walked past them i thought the woman said something to me but i wasn’t certain (i don’t hear that well when there is background noise such as traffic) – so i walked past her.  Then i heard her say something along the lines of “do you not talk or are you just rude?”  Later we figured out that she may have been the neighbour’s wife, but i don’t remember ever seeing her before and i’m not in the habit of saying hi to total strangers.  GRRRRRR!!!  my SO said to say hi and be nice if i see her again.  I say, a) what are you doing taking her side rather than mine?  and b) i don’t why this bothers me, but it does and now i have a Grudge against her – whoever she is.

CRAFTS!  PHOTOS!  of the bag that i was working on and finally finished.  I’m really pleased with the colours and how it turned out, and really glad that i crocheted it in wool and felted it.  the pattern is available fror free from here

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=103&d_id=40&lang=en

 Now this pattern has been translated from Norwegian into English and uses UK terminology, so if anyone wants to make it bear in mind that treble crochet means US double crochet.  I really recommend making the bag slightly larger than the pattern and felting it, as otherwise it is pretty floppy.  Also, i made the strap in dc as per the pattern, but if you can be bothered i think single crochet would be better – less stretchy.  I might make more of these for when i have an Etsy shop someday!

 

 

 

 

Hi ho, hi ho….

Its Monday here, so off to work i go – and to update at long last!

I was finishing and handing in an essay last week – the first essay i’ve written in several years, and i didn’t try as hard as i could have, but i am reasonably confident that i will get a C at least, which is all i need.  And now it is mid-semester break, YIPPEEEEEE!!! lol  just had the bestest weekend, with no study hanging over my head, complete freedom to do whatever.  It was great.

What else has been happening?  Well, i got my tongue pierced on the 4th of April.  Piercing and tattoos are things that you either totally get or you don’t.  I totally do.  I had my tongue web done a few months ago (don’t know what that is?  Look under your tongue – its the flap that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth) which is a bit of an unusual piercing and quite fun to play with, but it is also really hard to keep clean.  So i got that removed and got a much more standard tongue piercing instead.  Yes, it hurts a wee bit, but much less than, say, biting your tongue by accident.  The worst part is really the aftercare, coz your tongue swells up majorly for several days and its hard to eat.  Fortunately i was well-prepared with mashed potatoes, icecream, soup and smoothies!  My tongue looks much more normal now and i’m looking forward to getting the bar changed and getting some acrylic balls (much less likely to damage your teeth/gums.)

Summer is finally coming to an end here, it was the best summer in ages for people who like that sort of thing – i am not a summer person myself, i like my computer tan!  In fact the sun here is quite dangerous, there is not much of an ozone layer over New Zealand so you get sunburnt really fast and we have high rates of skin cancer.  Stay inside i say!  …anyway, the air is getting cooler and we are having a proper wet and windy day today which is the sort of thing i just love.

i might write more later, but for now, FINALLY the photos of the Inebriated Bunny Hats!  The pink one is mine, and the brown one is he first attempt at my friend’s one that i did in the wrong stitch (hence the massive ears.)  The model is Mr Brown, who is a Famous Bear – if you ever saw that recent film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Narnia), you may remember the part where Father Christmas appears with gifts for the children?  And when he opens his bag of goodies you see a big teddy bear head poking out – well, that was Mr Brown!  I bought him from a teddy bear shop that i used to work at, and some folks from the movie set came and borrowed him from the shop to use in the film.  He is a very level-headed bear though, and hasn’t let fame affect him at all.  he is also huge and perfect to cuddle those times when you just need a hug.

 

 

 

I’m a busy little bee

OMG!  Study!  First essay due next week…so i know what i will be doing this weekend. (yay.)  So there’s that, and work, and a BIG relationship meltdown that had me up at 4am yesterday figuring out if i could afford to get a mortgage to buy myself a tiny little shoebox apartment (and i can, which is something.  But we are going to work on Us some more, for now - after 8 years or so you can’t just give up without a fight.)  And i shouldn’t complain too much… Geekgirl over in the USA is recently single, works, runs a LOT farther than i do, AND is studying multiple classes.  So hop on over there and give her some encouragement like you have me (and thank you very much for that, i will be visiting everybody’s blogs to say hi and thank you as soon as i can find the time.)

Yes, i have started a beginner’s running program, though i’ve already missed 2 runs (lol)…but today i am feeling more energetic than i have in weeks so i’m going to hit the gym shortly and pound that treadmill.

Now, more importantly, crochet!  Below is an in-progress photo of a bag that is now finished except for the straps. It came out smaller than i expected, but when/if i am able to go outside and run for 30 minutes straight it should be just the right size to carry a water bottle, keys, cellphone etc.  And i’m quite enamoured of the pattern (known as a catherine wheel.)  I’m working on another bag that i don’t have photos of yet, but which i am doing in pure wool in the hopes that i can felt it once it is done.  AND, sooo excited, i just bought some awesome patterns for Undead Dolls from NeedleNoodle’s shop over at Etsy which anyone who is into crochet should absolutely check out. If the undead are not your thing, she also has great crocheted food patterns (have to admit i don’t quite get this food crochet trend myself – i mean yes, an entire crocheted sushi platter looks very cool but what do you DO with it?!)  I can’t wait to get home and print the patterns out.  This very talented person also has a book coming out soon, “Creepy Cute Crochet” – you can check it out on Amazon.

Ok, gotta dash.  Must find more time for writing blogs, not essays!

 

I’m still here!

Just to say hi really.  i seem to have had a bit of a melt-down the last week or so,  with really bad insomnia and still struggling with the hyperventilation thing; frequently feeling upset/panicky/wanting to cry, tired and not thinking straight; some days more than others.  On the plus side, i have also gotten some crochet done over the Easter break and wanted to share some photos, but the Bluetooth connection with my computer is playing up.  Hopefully later in the week!  Today is the last day of the Easter break for me and i have spent most of it studying.  :/  Gosh but i’m good at feeling sorry for myself! lol  Hope everyone else has had a good Easter break (if you get one)   Did you eat too much chocolate?  Good for you!

 

Quick update

Just to say that my SO’s dad passed away last night.  R.I.P. Ron.  Have a safe journey.