No, it has nothing to do with my birthday yesterday - I reached 50 last year.
I'm soon to be a mother-in-law! That's right: our one-and-only child, DD, became engaged earlier this week. All the relevant people have been told so now I can make a public announcement:
My baby's getting married! Isn't that exciting?
Saturday 26 April 2008
Friday 25 April 2008
ANZAC Day
Today is the day when we commemorate Australians and New Zealanders [ANZACs] who have fought in wars, particularly those who have fallen.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:Lest we forget.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Thursday 24 April 2008
Used stamps
Does anyone know of a charity in Australia that collects used stamps as a fundraiser?
Shoulder update
Still undergoing physio, slightly more mobility but still having to take it easy, hence short post!
Shoulder update
Still undergoing physio, slightly more mobility but still having to take it easy, hence short post!
Tuesday 22 April 2008
No knitting! Again?
The pain of the cortisone injection is fast becoming a distant memory but this pain won't go away so quickly:
Physio: Limit your time on the computer. No knitting or crochet, or anything like that!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
Physio: Limit your time on the computer. No knitting or crochet, or anything like that!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
Monday 21 April 2008
Cortisone injection today - right shoulder
Involuntarily screamed during the procedure [usually I have a high pain threshold] - it made me cry and then I got into trouble for moving! Most painful thing I've ever experienced, including childbirth! Doctor didn't inject any fluid at all - my shoulder couldn't handle it!
Sore arm, stiff, will post when feeling better later this week!
Sore arm, stiff, will post when feeling better later this week!
Sunday 13 April 2008
We're off!
DD and I are leaving soon for beautiful Bingara on the north-west slopes and plains of NSW [where my parents live]. Thursday night we'll be staying with my sister in Tamworth and on Friday we'll take a detour to Nundle Woollen Mill on the way home.
Behave yourselves while I'm away!! LOL
Behave yourselves while I'm away!! LOL
Saturday 12 April 2008
Happy Birthday DD - 22 today
Where have the years gone?
Picture taken last year on friends' property
Picture taken last year on friends' property
Tuesday 8 April 2008
The entrelac saga continues
I looked at the 120cm square I had knitted. It's not a good size for a cot blanket. Besides it's too dark for a toddler; it's knitted in blues and purples. Not only that, because I had not made the decision to stop when knitting each square, there are 'live' stitches on the needles; so, I've changed my mind again.
I'm going to finish the blanket to the original size. However, I'm taking the pressure off myself to have it finished by 18th April. That way, I won't feel like I have to knit for hours on end; you know, "just one more row...". To preserve my shoulders, I knit for half an hour then go and do something else. When I feel ready I come back and knit for another half an hour. I'm on holidays so I have that freedom.
As the tortoise said to the hare, "Slow and steady wins the race!"
I'm going to finish the blanket to the original size. However, I'm taking the pressure off myself to have it finished by 18th April. That way, I won't feel like I have to knit for hours on end; you know, "just one more row...". To preserve my shoulders, I knit for half an hour then go and do something else. When I feel ready I come back and knit for another half an hour. I'm on holidays so I have that freedom.
As the tortoise said to the hare, "Slow and steady wins the race!"
Monday 7 April 2008
Entrelac blanket progress ... or is that "conclusion"?
You may remember that I attended an entrelac workshop last month. To put my new found skills into practice, I decided to make a blanket for Wrap with Love in an entrelac style - squares of 25 small 10 stitch x 20 row squares in garter stitch alternating with plain 50 stitch x 100 row squares in garter stitch. That, dear blog friend, is a total of 140,000 stitches [as is normal for the Wrap With Love afghans - 28 squares or a total of 70in x 40in].
I set myself a goal to have the knitting finished by 18th April, when we have Part II of our entrelac workshop at the Knitters' Guild meeting. So far I have knitted 80,000 stitches, so in 12 days I have 60,000 stitches to knit [or 5,000 stitches a day]. I'm on holidays - unless TAFE calls me for some relief work this week - but it's still a big ask!
Yesterday, I knitted 9,400 stitches and my shoulders are a bit stiff today [don't tell the health professionals who are looking after my shoulders]. Actually, my right shoulder is really sore. I was using a KnitPicks cable needle so the weight of the blanket was on my lap and on my legs. I have a very close knitting style; I keep my elbows by my side and can knit easily on crowded public transport. But, believe it or not, knitting is hard on the shoulders; partly because knitters tend to slouch [especially me] and partly because the muscles attached to the shoulders [biceps and triceps, for example] are involved in the knitting, whether it seems like it or not. I've been told this on separate occasions by my sports medicine specialist, my physiotherapist and my massage therapist; all of whom tell me to limit knitting to small amounts of time! Sometimes I just get carried away!!!
The blanket is growing but, of course, it's getting heavier and heavier and so every stitch seems slower and slower. I have learnt to knit in both directions so that I don't have to turn the work around - that's okay when doing purl garter stitch; my knit-in-reverse [left to right] is slow but okay. But, it's sooooooo slow when doing knit garter stitch - my purl-in-reverse is painfully slow! Sometimes I push on, especially on the short rows, just to get the practice and therefore build up speed, but sometimes I just get jack of it and turn the work as needed - usually on the 50 stitches rows!
It's better for me to be able to knit in the future [I clearly remember five weeks of no knitting!]. I cannot knit today and it's my own fault for knitting for too long yesterday. The weight of the blanket, in spite of the cable needle, is pulling me down. Not knitting today means that I will have to knit even more stitches every other day to reach my goal in the given time frame - a super-human effort. So, today I made a decision; a cot-size blanket [120cm - 40inches - square] is useful and will save my shoulders! Now, there's a load off - figuratively and literally!!
All I have to do is sew in the myriad of ends that come with entrelac knitting.
I set myself a goal to have the knitting finished by 18th April, when we have Part II of our entrelac workshop at the Knitters' Guild meeting. So far I have knitted 80,000 stitches, so in 12 days I have 60,000 stitches to knit [or 5,000 stitches a day]. I'm on holidays - unless TAFE calls me for some relief work this week - but it's still a big ask!
Yesterday, I knitted 9,400 stitches and my shoulders are a bit stiff today [don't tell the health professionals who are looking after my shoulders]. Actually, my right shoulder is really sore. I was using a KnitPicks cable needle so the weight of the blanket was on my lap and on my legs. I have a very close knitting style; I keep my elbows by my side and can knit easily on crowded public transport. But, believe it or not, knitting is hard on the shoulders; partly because knitters tend to slouch [especially me] and partly because the muscles attached to the shoulders [biceps and triceps, for example] are involved in the knitting, whether it seems like it or not. I've been told this on separate occasions by my sports medicine specialist, my physiotherapist and my massage therapist; all of whom tell me to limit knitting to small amounts of time! Sometimes I just get carried away!!!
The blanket is growing but, of course, it's getting heavier and heavier and so every stitch seems slower and slower. I have learnt to knit in both directions so that I don't have to turn the work around - that's okay when doing purl garter stitch; my knit-in-reverse [left to right] is slow but okay. But, it's sooooooo slow when doing knit garter stitch - my purl-in-reverse is painfully slow! Sometimes I push on, especially on the short rows, just to get the practice and therefore build up speed, but sometimes I just get jack of it and turn the work as needed - usually on the 50 stitches rows!
It's better for me to be able to knit in the future [I clearly remember five weeks of no knitting!]. I cannot knit today and it's my own fault for knitting for too long yesterday. The weight of the blanket, in spite of the cable needle, is pulling me down. Not knitting today means that I will have to knit even more stitches every other day to reach my goal in the given time frame - a super-human effort. So, today I made a decision; a cot-size blanket [120cm - 40inches - square] is useful and will save my shoulders! Now, there's a load off - figuratively and literally!!
All I have to do is sew in the myriad of ends that come with entrelac knitting.
Thinks and Thanks!
I was going to call this post Monday Musings but I don't want anyone to think it will be a regular feature!
Blog Comments
Thank you to all who left comments on my 'sticky' post about blog comments. I have decided to follow your suggestions, dear readers, and continue as I have done - if there is anything I need to address publicly, I will write a second post about it.
Otherwise, I'll read my comments which are forwarded to my Hotmail account, respond directly if there's an email address or go to the commenter's blog and comment there. I have, of late, been pretty slack with this - my excuses are my frozen shoulders and the entrelac blanket; go here to read more about it!
Life would be so much easier if Blogger provided contact email addresses, wouldn't it? I'm assuming that when I comment on other Blogger blogs, my name also comes up as no-reply@blogger.com?
TAFE Teaching
Also, thank you to all the kind people who left comments about my new job doing relief work at TAFE. I am a teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages [ESOL]. I love languages, English in particular; though the more I teach the more I realise what a difficult language it must be to learn, particularly as an adult! So far I have had two days work but I've had a phone call offering me a block of work next term.
I'm a winner
Sally, of PomPom blog, had a competition to celebrate her first blogiversary. I have been reading Sally's blog since she started; I met her at a Blue Mountains Knitters' Guild meeting and was so touched by the story of the scarf she knitted for her dad. When she started her blog I read it enthusiastically. During March, Sally challenged herself to post every day for the month and she did! Well done Sally! I don't think I could have kept that up.
Anyway, all who commented on her blog during March were put into a draw to win a prize; one from Australia, one from overseas. I won! I was so excited. I have never won anything in blogland before, never been tagged for a meme, and never been given a blog award. [This is not a request for you all to start tagging me nor to give me a blog award - it's just a statement of fact.] So, it was doubly touching for me to win not only the draw but also to receive a very nice personal email from Sally. Thanks Sally and David [who drew out my name].
Blog Comments
Thank you to all who left comments on my 'sticky' post about blog comments. I have decided to follow your suggestions, dear readers, and continue as I have done - if there is anything I need to address publicly, I will write a second post about it.
Otherwise, I'll read my comments which are forwarded to my Hotmail account, respond directly if there's an email address or go to the commenter's blog and comment there. I have, of late, been pretty slack with this - my excuses are my frozen shoulders and the entrelac blanket; go here to read more about it!
Life would be so much easier if Blogger provided contact email addresses, wouldn't it? I'm assuming that when I comment on other Blogger blogs, my name also comes up as no-reply@blogger.com?
TAFE Teaching
Also, thank you to all the kind people who left comments about my new job doing relief work at TAFE. I am a teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages [ESOL]. I love languages, English in particular; though the more I teach the more I realise what a difficult language it must be to learn, particularly as an adult! So far I have had two days work but I've had a phone call offering me a block of work next term.
I'm a winner
Sally, of PomPom blog, had a competition to celebrate her first blogiversary. I have been reading Sally's blog since she started; I met her at a Blue Mountains Knitters' Guild meeting and was so touched by the story of the scarf she knitted for her dad. When she started her blog I read it enthusiastically. During March, Sally challenged herself to post every day for the month and she did! Well done Sally! I don't think I could have kept that up.
Anyway, all who commented on her blog during March were put into a draw to win a prize; one from Australia, one from overseas. I won! I was so excited. I have never won anything in blogland before, never been tagged for a meme, and never been given a blog award. [This is not a request for you all to start tagging me nor to give me a blog award - it's just a statement of fact.] So, it was doubly touching for me to win not only the draw but also to receive a very nice personal email from Sally. Thanks Sally and David [who drew out my name].
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