Fridays

It's been a tough week. Not work-wise, as I haven't had too much on. I've had some really interesting work come in actually, from one of the partners I haven't really worked for before. I've managed to impress her so hopefully it will keep coming. Although, I have been a little low-motivation at work lately. Hopefully the new and interesting work will change that.

What I find really hard though is finishing work every night at 6, or after most nights, and then having to go out again. Usually I have at least one night at home a week, but this week I haven't had any. I've been very very tired. Also, cold.

Last night I got home from teaching a dance class and it was raining. I thought "great! I won't have to defrost my car tomorrow morning!" I was right. However, I got to my car this morning and one of the windows had been smashed in. Glass everywhere. What with the tiredness and general malaise, I just about had a meltdown. Thankfully Mum came to the rescue and we took it to the glass place and then Mum dropped me off at work, only 1 1/2 hours late... Thankfully they had a window in stock, so then I had to leave work early to pick it up. I came back intending to do more work (my billable units are at an all time low today!) but ended up drinking instead. I've had 1 1/2 glasses of wine and feel SO drunk.

They did a fantastic job on the car though. There's not a trace of glass left, hurrah! I'm very relieved and feeling better.

ALSO I met a friend for lunch today and sat OUTSIDE and it wasn't too cold and the sun even came out for a few seconds to recharge our batteries.

AND I am going away this weekend! It was doubtful for a while because the house we booked had frozen water pipes, but now we've secured another house so it's all on.

"We" is me and a couple of guys from my salsa class. There will also be 6 other people in the house who I don't know! The house is in Hanmer Springs, a little mountain resort with great thermal pools, and there will also be salsa dancers from around the South Island congregating there this weekend. Much dancing will be done! As well as relaxing, playing in the snow, hot pooling, etc etc.

Now, I must run and meet the same friend for dinner! It's nice having someone who likes the same food as me! And who is easily persuaded!

Project queue

I have finished the vest, although it turned out a little shorter than expected so I'm tossing up picking up stitches around the bottom and making the ribbing a bit longer. No photo sorry as my camera's out of batteries, and I haven't seen my charger since I last moved!

The elephant is progressing nicely and I'll probably finish tonight or tomorrow. For once the book didn't lie - it's a nice, quick project, possibly even shorter than the 6-8 hours the book says. It's taken about 3 so far I think and I've done the arms, legs and body. Head, trunk, ears and kerchief to go!

I also did another pair of baby booties in the weekend. Sadly there will be no photo as I've given them away already. Gosh I've been a knitting factory lately!

So the question is, what do I do now? I have a mini-Clapotis that I've done about a third of, so I should do some more of that, but I think I need another project on the go to mix it up a little. I'm going to work with what I've got here, which is:

• 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in a lovely green colour. I was thinking maybe the Fad Classic vest, but that would only use about half of the yarn, so maybe I should do something bigger? Any ideas? Or maybe I should do the vest and swap the leftovers... I already got the yarn in a swap!
• 8 balls of Rare Yarns Coccoon (alpaca/merino) in a natural dark brown (no dye!). This is slated for the Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (which is turning out to be my most-used book so far). This was given to my mother to knit but I've now confiscated it back after several months with no progress! I would like to get it done this winter.
• Two balls of a nice blue, heathered sock yarn which was going to be the Erte Cloche but I've gone off that project now. Dare I say, I might actually be considering knitting socks with it! This is your chance, dear readers, to convert me into a sock knitter! I've never seen the attraction before but right now my feet are cold - recommend me a good pattern and we'll see from there.... (something with lace or cables would be nice I think)

That's not the extent of the stash but I'll review the rest after I've gotten those three items out of the way - by then it should be time to think about spring knitting!

Lazy Sunday

I managed to get the phone cord on my laptop to reach up the stairs, so I'm lying in bed right now! In fact, who needs wireless? I can actually take my laptop anywhere in my apartment because the cord is 10m long and my apartment is small!

I'm watching Pukana on TV, it's a rather silly Maori childrens program, but I'm hoping that eventually I'll learn the language by osmosis or something. Actually I'm just waiting for my guilty Sunday pleasure, the Home and Away omnibus, to come on.

I'm also trying to finish my vest because I told Cetigrrl I would do a knitalong of the elephant toy from Last Minute Knitted Gifts with her. I am already behind, and I really want to start!

I stuffed up the cables on my vest a bit... if I was going to do it again I would do a practice version first before starting on the expensive yarn! Oh well, hopefully it will look ok when I'm done. I've nearly finished the back and then I just need to do the neck and arm bands.

Photos this afternoon, maybe!

sneaky post from work

I just had to open a new packet of paperclips. Now, I don't know about you, but if paperclips had just been invented and I had the money to invest in that kind of thing, I would have passed up on paperclips. The things are re-usable! Theoretically, once the world reached paperclip saturation point, there would be no demand for new paperclips. When I send paperclips out into the world, I expect to get an equal number of paperclips back. I call it the Theory of the Worldwide Chain of Paperclips.

Yet here I am, opening a new packet of paperclips. Somewhere down the chain someone is throwing paperclips out, I tell you! And my Theory has been completely debunked. I feel let down.

Now that I have your trust, here is my investment tip of the day: vegetables! Now that you can put them in a car to make it go vroooom, the prices are going way up! Soon we won't be able to eat, but at least we'll still have motorised transport.

babies = cute knitting

Our first work baby (ie baby due to someone at work) is due today (maybe he's been born already - let's hope so!) so I took one ball of the "cashmere luxury yarn" Girl Gone Mod sent me and whipped up this little hat and bootie set. It's wonderfully soft and everyone knows how much I like green! I hope it suits the baby and I really hope it all fits. I love baby clothes, they're so quick.



This little guy's going to be well kitted out - he is already the recipient of the denim pants from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I wanted to knit something that would fit right after he was born though. The pants will be great when it's a bit warmer outside.



The weather's still horrendous - no wonder he hasn't been so keen to come out so far! I went out to Mum and Dad's on Friday night and this was their lawn, five days after it snowed. And it's due to snow again tonight.


As for other knitting, I think I mentioned the vest I started in the merino/cashmere blend. I'm still in love with the yarn, it's behaving beautifully and even though I'm completely winging it, the vest's not turning out too badly. In hindsight I think I would probably choose a cheaper yarn for any future ad-libbing, but we'll just see how it turns out. No photo, it just looks like a black blob currently and therefore wouldn't photograph very well at all! I'm up to about the waist. I've been doing some shaping as I go, so I think I'll knit straight for a few rows and then start increasing for the bust. And I think I've worked out what I'm doing with the neckline, so yay!

dinners continued...

Monday dinner: Chili & corn soup
Tuesday lunch: Would have been leftover soup but I cheated and ate it for morning tea. Went out for lunch with the girls (so I broke the rules but it was important!).
Tuesday dinner: Stirfried oyster mushrooms, tofu (from frozen - makes the texture quite interesting), snow peas and various other veggies in (homemade) black bean sauce on brown rice
Wednesday lunch: leftovers from Tuesday dinner!

Not doing toooo badly so far!

Snow!

It was snowing heaps this morning - I looked like the abominable snow-woman by the time I got to work!

Here's the depressing part though - since this morning the wind chill has dropped to -6 degrees C. TOO FREAKING COLD to snow!!

Argh, now it's -9!!!!!!! Looking sleety out there though so maybe it'll start up again.

Did I mention I WALKED to work? What are the chances of me managing to get a taxi because I sure as heck aren't walking home!

Yummiest dinner ever!

So after Friday's excesses (if you don't know, then you're the only person in the world I didn't send a drunken email to) I am determined to start treating myself well again! I spent $60 at the supermarket today on fruit, vegetables, tofu, feta cheese and berry juice (the kind that's good for you, with no added sugar etc). The goal is to eat it all by the end of the week, which means NO EATING OUT! I will cook every night and take leftovers for lunch every day.

Tonight's masterpiece of healthy eating is this:




Green tea noodles with snow peas and agedashi tofu. And I made it! It's not from a restaurant! Doesn't it look authentic? Ish, I know the Japanese are waaaay better than me when it comes to presentation. It tasted soooooo good. There's more for lunch tomorrow and some tofu in the fridge for snacking on at some stage.

ETA: to hold me to my pact, I think I'll try and post piccies of my dinner every night this week!

Cabled hoodie

You've seen my first FO, now for my latest: the Cabled Hoodie from the Paton's Street Smart booklet. The Must-Have Cardigan from the booklet was the thing to knit on the internet there for a while, but I never really understood the obsession with it myself.

You can even see a little bit of my apartment in the background, for those of you who have been dying to see what it looks like!

And yes, my bottom IS that small. Not a trick of photography AT ALL.

Ahem. Back to the hoodie. I love it! I know this sounds weird coming from a knitter, but I've never had a big woolie jumper before. It is so unbelievably warm. I'm not used to being so warm, it's weird!

Stats: yarn = Patons Classic Wool (100% merino) in cream, 7 balls
Pattern size = small (would have been a medium, but the pattern has a lot of ease and I wanted to compensate for that)
Pattern changes - I did a tubular cast-on for the ribbing, which I'm very happy with. Apart from that no changes. The sleeves turned out a little short though - I can't roll the cuffs back, and I don't by any means have ape arms! I like them rolled down though.

Teddy Pongo

Since I mentioned him in my last post, I thought I'd introduce you to Teddy Pongo. See his jumper? My very first FO.

Teddy Pongo's been with me since I was ten days old. This makes him the most important man in my life!

hello

I figured I would start this new blog on a high note.

I've had a really good day. It started on Sunday, really. I went shopping and bought a fantastic pair of pants. These pants fit so well and make my legs look so skinny they must be magic. I wore them to work today and my whole day went well. See, magic! They're like the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants pants but I'm not sharing them ever! Ok, maybe it wasn't the pants, but for the first time in a long long time, I finished the day feeling satisfied, without worrying whether I'll have enough time to do everything I need to do tomorrow.

Now I'm relaxing at home, I've has a glass of wine and a bowl of warm pasta and I'm watching Lost. Correction, I just finished watching Lost. Nice cliffhanger!

I should explain a little more about myself. I am three things first and foremost: a dancer, a knitter, and a lawyer.

I dance salsa, and also teach the odd class. I've been dancing for seven years now and it's my passion. I've also done many other kinds of dance, but salsa is my first love. I like all styles of salsa, but at the moment I'm into New York style On 2 (or On 1, I'm not too picky). I've also been getting into Rueda again lately, so I'm not completely ignoring the Cuban.

My second passion, knitting, was introduced to me by my Mum when I was about six or seven. I knitted a jumper for my teddy bear, Teddy Pongo, which he still wears today. Sadly after that though I didn't knit anything else until I was about 22. I love knitting all kinds of different things and learning something new with everything I knit. I'm beginning to develop an alarming preference for luxury fibres (alarming for my bank balance, that is). I'll probably post a lot about knitting, so I'll elaborate more in future posts! I haven't been bitten by the sock knitting bug yet, however. It's my final knitting frontier.

I am a lawyer and have been since I was admitted to the bar in July last year. I still find it a little strange. I think more than other jobs, it really gets into you and becomes a part of who you are. Or maybe because this is the first job I've had that is actually a career. It brings with it a certain way of looking at things. You never really stop being a lawyer either - it's what I am for life now. Just like I'll always be a knitter and a dancer.

Finally, I'm a New Zealander. I'm also a Brit, but I've lived here in New Zealand for all of my life (apart from brief stints away). However I think the dual nationality is worth mentioning because I've certainly been heavily influenced by my parents' culture and language.

That's probably long enough for a first post! Welcome to my new home!