Chinese Charm Bag: Part II

And she's finally done!  Though I have to give my sister even more props, cause this thing was HARD for me to put together.  I can't remember the last time I sewed anything - I think I might have been 8 or so (I sewed my own barbie clothes.  I'm sure they were fabulous.) and this required me to sew together the lining and then sew it into the bag.  I had to do it all by hand, but I think it turned out OK.  Not great mind you, but I think it makes it look more handmade (or so I'm going to tell myself).  And, since its a present for my future sister-in-law, and she has been very well raised, she'll probably flatter it enough that I'll walk away thinking its a work of art.  

But then I'll always have this post to look back on to bring me back down to earth!

Anyway, without further ado, here is my version of the Chinese Charm Bag - TA DA:

And in other news, I made Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake this weekend.  And boy was it good.

So good in fact, that this is all that is left....

It goes without saying that I haven't been on the scale this week.  **Sigh**

Marathon

I completed a marathon yesterday....

A sleeping marathon.

I slept for 12 hours.

It was.......AWESOME.

3 cheers for semi-retirement (and Australia's incredibly slow visa approval process).

The World According to Chops and Tilly

1.  Even one little patch of sunlight is enough.

2.  Vegetables are good!

3.  Anything can be a toy.

4.  You might fight with your family....

5.  But you love them anyway!

Saturday in Sydney

[Early morning, at the homestead:]

7:15 am:  Wake up to a dog laying across my face and pawing at my pillow.  Try to move dog over only to find that I have accidentally moved my face into dog tongue range.  Sputter and gasp as wet dog slobber drips down my neck.

7:17 am:  Realize that if I don't get up right now I will soon be lying in another type of dog fluid. Roll out of bed and curse at dog that there is a reason we put in a doggie door.

7:19 am:  Wonder if I can go back to sleep.

7:20 am:  Realize that is impossible.  Yell at JL to get up right now, the dogs need to be walked.

7:25 am:  Grumble because JL wants to take a shower(!) before heading to the dog park. Cleanliness is next to godliness, only on Sunday, I say.

7:45 am:  Complain because JL is taking the garbage out when we should be leaving to take the dogs out right now.  Am surprised by JL's negative reaction and his assertion that at least he is taking the garbage out.  Like that's any big whoop (he does it every day - what, I'm supposed to jump up for joy every morning?).

7:50 am:  Finally leave for the dog park.  Apologize to JL on the way over.

[A little later, back at the homestead:]

10:40 am:  JL suggests that he leave his work for a little bit to take me to a shop I've been wanting to go to so that I can get some Christmas decorations.  I happily accept.

10:45 am:  Get annoyed because JL has to go to the bathroom before we go.

11:00 am:  Leave for shop that I want to go to.  Yell at JL because he missed the turn and now its going to take an extra 15 minutes to get there. 

11:01 am:  Wonder if I should up my meds, but quickly shake that off.  This is clearly not my problem.  I was not the one that took the wrong turn.

11:15 am:  Arrive at shop.  Apologize to JL for being short tempered.

[That afternoon, at the grocery store:]

5:25 pm:  Walking down the aisle in the grocery store.  Notice JL glance over at the batteries and slow the cart down - quickly give him that look because there is no way we need more batteries and why does he always have to stockpile them; batteries and light bulbs - he could start his own dang hardware store.

5:25 and 15 seconds:  JL sees look and immediately steps up the pace.

5:30 am:  Apologize to JL and tell him that he can buy as many batteries as he wants.  One can never have enough batteries (but still feel at bit smug because for once we are going to get out of the store without any more batteries).

[A little later, still in the grocery store:]

6:10 pm:  Am breathing a sigh of relief because we are finally in the dairy aisle which means we are almost done shopping.  Ask JL if we should get cream to serve with the chocolate cake that I am making for lunch with friends tomorrow.  He says that he doesn't need it.  HE DOESN'T NEED IT.  Totally lose it and say that I didn't invite these people over - he did!  And now he has to work all weekend so I have to do all the cooking and the cleaning and all I want is a little dialogue (yes, I said dialogue) about what we should serve HIS friends that HE invited over, and really, IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK.  JL looks at me like I've got a head full of venomous snakes (i.e., fearful, very fearful) and carefully apologizes.

6:15 am:  Apologize to JL for overreacting.

6:21 am:  In the checkout line.  Unloading the groceries I find that another package of batteries HAS SOMEHOW MANAGED TO FIND ITS WAY INTO OUR SHOPPING CART.  Look at JL and find that I am plenty satisfied by the fear of God in his eyes.  Wonder to myself what could possibly have caused that?

Whoops I did it again....

Yes, I have.  I have done it again.

In pure K-style, I have once again almost cut off a finger....I'm totally cool like that.  Luckily JL rushed home from work to assist me (in stopping the bleeding) and now it just looks like this:

On the up side, I didn't have to cook dinner after that (we got take-out Thai....yummmm) but it has made me even slower in both the typing and knitting arena.  But don't you fret yourself - I'm forging ahead as usual.

I think JL may be putting a moratorium on my use of sharp implements, especially since the great New Year's blender incident.

In other news, I am officially a Ravelry gal now.  I've already used it to find other knitty types that live in the lower north shore of Sydney so I'm pretty psyched.  Oh, and no, it does not escape my notice that I am psyched about something that involves yarn, but there you have it.  Frankly, I think I just like the excuse to sit a lot....

And FINALLY, there is good news on the visa front.  Everything has been put in to the immigration department and there are high hopes that I might be able to start work on Monday.  It'll be good to be getting a paycheck again, but I have to say, I'm going to miss all the time at home.  Not that I do much that is worthwhile but I have got a decent amount of knitting done, I get to spend a lot of time with the dogs, I learned to sell stuff on ebay (I'm getting that durn wedding dress if it kills me!) AND yesterday I made these:

Sweet.  

Oh, and I totally recognize that Halloween was like, ummm, a week ago, but for those of you that have been the lucky recipients of my Christmas cards....in February...you know this is actually quite timely for me.  Plus, they are so ARTFULLY RENDERED it really isn't important when exactly they were made (hahahah....sheesh).

And just for fun....here is my very artistic rendition of JL.   I call it "On the Weekend".  Love the polka dots/stripes combo baby!

[Apologies for the fuzzy photos.  I'm a very good photog too, doncha know.]

She might be cute, but she sure ain't smart

JL and I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday night to find this:

[My knitting wrapped around the chair legs]

[Yeah another view - how is this possible?]

[Oh, I see now.....]

Chinese Charm Bag: Part 1

Two Christmases ago, my little sister gave me a lovely hand-knit bag.  It was from a pattern in "Stitch-n-Bitch - The Knitter's Handbook".  I loved it so much, I decided to make one for my (future) sister-in-law for Christmas this year.  It was really easy, just a simple garter stitch knit in the round.  So easy in fact, that I cast on yesterday, and bound off today!  And I loved loved loved the yarn, so it was pretty fun too (which is always a good thing).  I still have to put it together (i.e, put on handles, and a lining), and today I found an online shop that sells Japanese silk remnants.  I got a whole load of beautiful silk fabrics for so little money (but now, of course, I am going to be knitting Chinese Charm Bags for like the next 9 years)....

Anywhoo, here is Chops modeling the completed knitting portion of the bag (doesn't she look happy?):

Pattern:  "Stitch-n-Bitch - The Knitter's Handbook", p. 169, Sylvia Mahoney's Chinese Charm Bag

Yarn:  Noro, Silk Garden, 1.5 50 gram skeins

Needles:  US10 circular

As an aside, I just got back from driving myself to and from the doctor's office - BY MYSELF!  And I didn't even hit anything!

Don't forget to scrub behind your ears!

As you can see, I finally finished my facecloths (washcloths if you are American).  I don't think you can tell in this photo, but the brown Debbie Bliss yarn (being a little bit thicker than the Jo Sharp yarns) made a slightly larger cloth so they could possibly benefit from blocking.  But eh....they're just for us so I won't bother.  (Plus they are made to get wet so what's the point anyway?)  I do love the way the colors turned out though.

On a slightly related note, JL and I have been on a bit of a home improvement kick.  It all started with a new lamp for the bedroom.  Once we got the new lamp, the room (of course) had to be rearranged to show it off to maximum effect.  Then my shoes needed to be organized (because, the closet is right next to the new lamp, doncha know), and then my jewelry and pictures, and then the madness seeped into the office and the bathroom.  Next thing I knew I was buying a fake plant for the bathroom counter.  Its pretty cute though if I do say so myself.

The lamp that started it all.

The new bathroom plant - yes, I'm now that girl.

And on a totally unrelated note, check out this week's flowers from JL**!  The yellow was just what I needed to brighten my mood!

**For those of you that don't know, my lovely fiancee gives me flowers pretty much every week.  Just one of the reasons I'm the luckiest gal in the world!

Totally Uneducated Post on Politics

JL has been quoted (on numerous occasions) saying "You are the most well educated person I have ever met that knows nothing about politics."  

Rude!

But totally right.

I really don't know anything - and worse(!), I honestly don't care.  Yes, I know what that says about me.  I know it is my right and responsibility to take part in the political process, to take a stand where a stand is needed....but frankly, I just can't get up the energy.  It is a terrible fault in my genetic make-up...which makes me think I really must be the daughter of the milkman.  My family cares a lot.  

Now don't get me wrong, I am terribly thankful to all the people out there that do educate themselves, and do care, and do go out and try to make a difference.  But the whole thing makes me feel a little bit sick to my stomach.  The amount of anger that goes into the process is frankly terrifying.  So I guess you could call my politics, the I stick my head in the sand party.  And hey, it works for me.

And I know (I really do know!) that this is a bad bad thing.  I completely recognize that.  And I have no excuse.  Period.  But there it is.

That being said, I absolutely ADORE Australian politics.  I am totally enamored with the whole thing - and again, because I know nothing, I can just love it without feeling too invested!  

To me, an American, everything seems twisted up and backwards here.  Australia is both a federation AND constitutional democracy.  The "Liberal Party" is actually right-center.  You don't vote for the Prime Minister - you vote for the party and then whoever is head of the party becomes the PM.  Oh, and the PM LIVES IN MY TOWN!  (And you can go tour his gardens every September.)  It is a sweet world over here.  Plus everyone calls the PM (Kevin Rudd) Kev.  I love it.  Good ol' Kev.  JL and I are going to send him a little note inviting him to lunch - he is our neighbor after all!

Summer in Sydney

It was a gorgeous summer weekend here in Sydney. 

Saturday morning we took a long walk down to the harbour with the dogs.  Around McMahons Point there is a huge Mulberry tree right along the water.  It had been picked pretty clean, but we were able to get enough (semi-)ripe mulberries to make a tart(let).  The dogs had a great time running on the beach, and climbing in the dirt near the Mulberry tree.  No pictures as I unfortunately forgot the camera - but I did get a shot of the Mulberries.  Yummmm.

And after such a long walk, we then had to have a rest in the garden.

Sunday, JL and I went to Balmoral Beach.  On the plus side, it was great beach weather, not too hot and not too cold, with a bit of a breeze.  On the minus side, my butt got severely burned and I'm in a bit of pain today.  But super loose velour pants make it all ok....

[Knitting update to come later today!]

Why I Love Him

Conversation in the car with JL:

K:  There was construction on this street earlier.  Traffic was pretty much stopped.

[Pause]

K:  But I don't see any workers now.

JL:  Yeah, they must have hung up their butt cracks for the day.

Sssssshhhh....they're finally asleep!

Tasmanian Devils, Pademelons and Cradle Mountain

JL and I recently had a long weekend in Tasmania.  It was probably poor planning on our part since we left a gorgeous summery weekend in Sydney for a gloomy, rainy and freezing weekend in Tasmania - but it was a good way to say goodbye to winter!  (Hallelujah!!  And "nah nah nah" to all you poor northern folk!)

We went to Cradle Mountain and stayed in the Cradle Mountain Lodge which was totally FANTABULOUS.  We had a wood burning fireplace in our room and no TV (which was shocking, but great).  Even though it did rain almost the entire weekend we still had a great time.....

Playing with wild-ish pademelons outside of our room (a pademelon is a type of wallaby - I, of course, called them Patty Melts because, well, because I'm that cool).

Going to the Tasmanian Devil sanctuary.  Regardless of what you think, T-Devils are pretty cute - they look sorta like huge rats, and really, who doesn't like a huge rat.  But they do have a super creepy growly scream thing going on.  

And they scare the crap out of me when they eat (and they eat those cute little Patty Melts!).

We hiked around Cradle Mountain, which was gorgeous and rainforesty.

We ate yummy food.

And we saw some amazing views.

All in all, I loved it!  

As an aside, this trip was JL's birthday present from me.  Aren't I nice (notwithstanding the fact that JL has already been here before, and hiked Cradle Mountain and seen T-Devils and Patty Melts, while I hadn't - it was still ALL about him, doncha know)?

K-nitting 98

When I was in college, I had to take Math 100 my freshman year.  For those of you non math-dummies, Math 100 was essentially a high school math class - you know, for those of us that didn't do quite as well on that portion of our SAT's, or couldn't get through Algebra II.  Yeah, that was me.  It wasn't even Math 101...nope, you had to have a certain level of number literacy for that class.  

So how did I become a finance lawyer, you ask?  Well, if you can figure it out I'd love to know - I ask myself that every day.  

But to get to the point, I was recently looking at a knitting how-to book - you know one of those "knitting for idiots" type books - and I realized as I flipped through it that even this one was too complicated.  Seriously.  I'm the girl who had to look up how to do a garter stitch the other day (but in my defense, why don't they just call it knit stitch?  I mean, really?).  So I'm in the market for Knitting 100.  Anyone seen one of those?  If not, I might have to write it myself.  But then I'd have to call it Knitting 99 or 98, i.e., how to just ignore dropped stitches (which I am superbly talented at by the way).

Anywho, just like I didn't let my complete dysfunction in math stop me from becoming a finance lawyer (just cause I can't balance my checkbook.....), I certainly did not let my total inability to remember what a simple garter stitch is stop me from knitting.  

So here it is!  My first sweater....well the back at least... [insert round of applause here]

Thanks to my fab model....Chops.

I'm also starting on a set of wash cloths, with a chevron pattern no less.  We'll see how they go.  I got some beautiful Jo Sharp yarn and I'm on my way.  

And thanks to fab model #2 - Tilly.

Fine, fine, not that far along but who's counting....

Oh, and just to be clear, I've been knitting for a long time.  Well, at least 4 years.  No, not steadily, but still.  And, to rub salt in the wound, my sisters are amazing knitters.  They can do socks!  I'm still scared of two needles, let alone 4.  But do you know what I have??  Perseverance (and a lot of crappy knitted projects!)!

Love, K

The K-nitting 98 Goddess**

**Self-titled moniker.

[Update - for those of you who are interested, the sweater is The Garter Stitch Jacket by Jo Sharp, page 26 of Knit Issue 6.  The yarn is Posie (also by Jo Sharp).

The wash cloth is from a free pattern by Terri Lee Royea (which you can get here) and the yarn is Debbie Bliss cotton dk in coffee and Jo Sharp in bisque and orchid.  Yummy!]

Thank you JL

Oil painting of me and Lucy in front of our Soho, New York apartment.  Thank you JL.  I've never received a sweeter, more thoughtful gift....

The Amazing Death Predictor

Well, we're all going to die someday, but this website can tell you exactly how.  In case you're interested, I'm going to die at the age of 74, being shanked in prison.  Sweet.

•At least I'm not JL who is apparently going to die at the age of 59 when his head explodes after being exposed to Britney Spears for 36 consecutive hours.  Yikes!  I might just keep that little tidbit to myself.....

6:51 a.m. and all is well!

I'm officially an adult.  I know this because it is 6:51 a.m. on Sunday and I am up, have fed the dogs, took them out for their morning constitutional (i.e., to pee in the garden) and have read through my blog roll....already.  Sadly, I think my ability to sleep until noon on the weekends, is gone.  And I don't even have kids yet!

So now I'm going to watch Contact and knit while watching my dogs chase each other all over the house.  Ahhh, Sundays.  Gotta love them!

Tilly

Say hello to Tilly!  Our new cocker spaniel puppy (and the provider of an endless amount of dog pee clean up).

Get off the couch you lazy cow!**

I am in early retirement.  Well, just for a month while I wait for my new visa to come through so I can start working again.  I keep having dreams of shiny chain links (as opposed to the old rusty ones that used to tie me to my desk at my old job).  So yeah, I'm enjoying retirement #1.

You probably think that I've been spending my time catching up on my finances, or finally organizing my apartment, or even walking the dogs.  But you would be wrong.  The fact is, I don't do anything.  I don't mean that in the sense that I don't go to work and bash around an office for 8 hours.  I mean, that I get up, walk to the couch, and pretty much don't leave it except maybe to go to the toilet (and yes, I am working on holding it and getting pretty good, thank you very much) or until a half an hour before JL is expected home from work.  Then I just might rush around brushing my teeth and putting the dirty dishes (from breakfast, yikes!) in the sink.  Yeah, that is it folks.

I have to admit, its pretty great.  Embarrassing, but great nonetheless.  But today (which you can measure as (1) the 12th day of unemployment or (2) 8th TV movie day or (3) 10th episode of Murder She Wrote day or (4) 53 cm knitted on my Jo Sharp sweater day - take your pick), well, today, I think even I am reaching my Lazy Limit.  And trust me, its high.

So in addition to reciting my personal mantra 12 times (one for each day of couch inhabitation) in a hand mirror (picked up on my one trip to the toilet this morning and carried to the couch for use), I've gone ahead and made a list of things I would like to accomplish in the next two weeks.  Since I know you're interested, here are the highlights:

1) Recite personal mantra 12 times (Done!  Woo hoo! I'm so going to be able to do this.)

2) Get off the couch.  (Still working on this one.  In case you're wondering, the laptop is all set up for couch use.  I don't even have to move to plug it in when the battery gets low.  Now that is convenient.)

3) Housetrain new puppy (just yelling from the couch does not count).

4) Clean up dog pee from non-housetrained puppy.

5) Finish fabulous Jo Sharp sweater (sitting on the couch during this one is OK, but in actual clothes and not just PJs from last night).

6) Forget about dropped stitch 11 rows down on fabulous Jo Sharp sweater (you're not going to fix it so stop obsessing about it).

7) Organize office in house including filing for last, ummm, three years.

8) Do laundry and then actually fold it and put it away when it's done.

Whew!  I AM exhausted (from making the list).  So I think I'll take a little nap here on the couch before tackling anything else today.

** New personal mantra.

Things I am good at

Keeping my dogs from killing each other:

Cleaning up dog pee:

Sitting on my knitting needles:

Making bread: