jenwren's blog

Ishbel Finished

2010-02-18T09:57:09Z

School has been all-consuming since restarting. Adding to the busy-busy has been Year 7 Camp - a week of preparing the lessons for my classes in my absence, a week of rain and Sun and tents and too much heat and humidity, and a week spent chasing my tail trying to catch up to how things should be. That would be this week. Throw in a few storms, blocked storm water pipes, a lawn that desperately needed mowing - I could go on and on here, but I'm sure you get the picture.

Calli had to go into boarding for the week. I was away from early Monday morning to Friday afternoon, but the cattery hours meant she had to stay Saturday to Saturday. I finished Ishbel quite fortunately at knitting group on the Saturday afternoon after dropping her at the cattery. So I was able to block it on Sunday in her absence. No wrestling the blocking wires from her or messing with the T-pins or sitting on the knitting I'm trying to block.

Of course, lace looks awful before blocking:

While blocking:

I left it to block while I was on camp, so there was no "is it dry yet?" bother. I forgot all about it until my return. Since then it has sat around waiting for an opportunity to photograph it in suitable light. After work today, I finally found a moment to take a photo I'm happy with.

One thing I can share from what we did at camp was to make bracelets and necklaces from twisted reeds. I understood the principle of what we were doing straight away from spinning. It was quite flexible when wet, but is stiff and has shrunk a bit on drying. I was very happy with my beaded bracelet.

Calli didn't like boarding. She's over it now, thankfully, and it won't happen often. I missed her on the nights I was home but she was not. She might get to stay at my sister's in future - sadly Oscar, her cat of 16 years, passed away the day after Calli went into boarding.

I had a little knitting time while on camp, but virtually none since getting back, so the latest baby blanket is progressing slowly. The dyeing was eventually completed, but the story behind that will have to wait until after the gifting.

Hot Socks

2010-01-10T06:25:11Z

It is too hot to be wearing sock, but I finished these Jaywalkers this morning.

I have also been spinning the Angorino, filled a bobbin and chain plied it. I'm very happy with how it is turning out - I'm after long stretches of colour. They show up well on the bobbin:

But the skein looks very different.

About a third of the fibre is spun. I would have done more today, but the wheel is being temperamental and I find the best way of fixing it is to come back tomorrow!

I have also been dyeing more cotton this morning. The particular colour (which I won't name as it is part of a surprise) is one of my dyes I haven't used before and I underestimated its strength. So 546 grams (2 cones Bendigo 8 ply plus one ball of Lion cotton) of yarn are consequently much darker in colour than I wanted. I'm waiting for it to dry before I decide what to do next. Partly because colours are always darker when wet, and partly because I have run out of soda ash and can't do any more dyeing until I've got more.

I have a week and a half before I go back to school. It is too hot to do half the things I ought to be doing!

New Zealand Trip days 12-14

2009-12-24T06:05:53Z

If you'd like to start again at the beginning, I have updated the previous posts on the trip with more photos and links. (Navigation to the next post in order is down the right side.)

Christchurch - Sydney

Sunday started off clear and sunny and I headed into the city to the Arts Centre for the Sunday Markets. They were not as busy as the Nelson Markets had been. As well as the market stalls, there are many shops, galleries and studios. The Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners have their guild rooms here. I am jealous.

At Wool, Yarn and Fibres (downstairs in the same building as the guild) there was an awesome range of fibres and yarns as well as made garments. Two lovely ladies were in charge of the shop and I had a chat to them as I decided on what to buy.

They had some lovely merino fibre, but I have so much Aussie merino... I came away with some natural grey alpaca blended with silk and merino. I browsed at a lot of jewellery and woodworking shops, but nothing 'must have' came my way. I had two hours on a parking meter, and when that was up there was little parking nearby to be had, and a parking ranger was busy booking cars. A cold change with possible hail was forecast, so I decided to grab some lunch and head back to the hotel. I spent a lazy afternoon doing little and watching the weather become wild outside.

On Monday the weather was fine, but it was windy and cold. It looked like it could be 20 degrees outside, but it was nine! I drove to Hands Ashford for a look around the shop. They had a good range of yarns, though it was still small. Lots of other crafts were also represented. By this point I feared being able to get everything in my suitcase and wasn't willing to buy anything much.

I took a bus into the city and returned to the Arts Centre to finish off seeing some places I hadn't had time for on Sunday. I visited the exhibits on Sir Ernest Rutherford in Rutherford's Den, then made my way across to Canterbury Museum. There were many families at the museum since the school holidays had started and the Great Museum Santa Search was underway. Various toy Santas, big and small, had been hidden among the exhibits, and the children needed to locate all of them. One, among the bird exhibits, was quite obvious, as was the one over the North Pole (I think it had a sled too) on a globe of the Earth. I spotted another within an environmental education exhibit that was a bit more tricky, but I wasn't really seeking them out.

By lunchtime the weather outside was a little more pleasant and I ate my lunch by a pond in the Botanic Gardens. I then strolled across the city (actually further than I thought it would be) to get to Knit World, a knitting chain store (I also visited the one in Dunedin). This place was large and had the biggest range of yarns of all the places I had visited. I nearly bought some Zealana merino/possum/cotton lace weight yarn, but the possum content put me off (I don't like possum fibre much). I took a bus back to the hotel and set about packing my suitcase and finishing off the last of my cherries.

Tuesday was a nice day and having squashed all my things into my suitcase and backpack (it would have been very hard to have got more in), I checked out of the hotel. My flight home was not until the afternoon, so I went to Riccarton House and Bush to kill some time. The fragment of bushland here is surrounded by a fence to exclude predators of the native birds and animals and you had to pass through an elaborate double-doored enclosure to enter and leave. Having almost always lived close to bushland in Sydney, I find it bizarre that the tiny remnant of bush at Riccarton is the only native vegetation left in all of Christchurch.

The Kahikatea trees are impressive and the bird life was prolific. After the short walk around the bush I spent some time with the ducks by the river. They were very hopeful that I was going to feed them.

After some lunch I headed to the airport and returned the rental car. I was very pleased to learn that as I'd paid the extra excess-reduction amount for the car, the damage to the windscreen would not result in any charge.

The flight home was much smoother than the flight over. And I finally got to see those pesky mountain peaks that had been hiding in cloud for so much of my stay.

The flight landed early and Customs and Quarantine were both almost empty. Quarantine didn't even want to see all the fibre I declared.

Some Statistics
The total distance I covered by car was 2680 km.
Total number of 'stash enhancement opportunities': 28.
Total stash enhancement: 6 skeins of yarn: 900 grams; 4 bundles of fibre: c. 1.56 kg.
Miscellaneous purchases: assorted beads/jewellery, silk skirt, hat; chocolate fish; DVD box set (and yet my suitcase was supposedly only 2 kg heavier, which is not possible).
Photographs taken: 258 stills, 4 videos on Sony camera; 93 stills, 2 videos on Apple iPhone.

New Zealand Trip days 10-11

2009-12-21T00:00:07Z

Nelson - Christchurch

Friday was fine and sunny - the warmest weather of the whole trip. I took a walk around town and visited Fibre Spectrum - an excellent shop run by a cooperative of local fibre crafters. I didn't end up buying anything though.

I then went to the World of Wearable Art and Car Museum. No photography is allowed in WOW to protect copyright so I can't show you how stunning the garments were. If it had not been for the video displays of models wearing some of the garments on the catwalk, I would not have believed they were wearable. I'd like to know how hard it is to get dressed in a dress made from wood...

Later on I went to the Bead Gallery in Parere Street (there is more than one gallery). Here, they encourage you to pick out some beads and make something on the spot for the cost of materials only. I ended up being in the shop until not long before closing time, putting together a necklace and matching earrings.

Saturday is the day of the Nelson Markets in Montgomery Square. I got there quite early, and at 8:30 am I heard a stall holder comment that the crowds were like 10 am already. I bought a muffin and Chelsea bun to have later, a bag of cherries and a packet of fudge. I also bought a ring and a silk skirt. I came away with the smell of hot nuts and waffles still lingering all the way back to the car. Mmmmmm!

Then it was time to leave Nelson and drive back to Christchurch via Blenheim and Kaikoura. The weather varied from misty rain to sunny and back again. I stopped to see the seals at Oahu Point. For afternoon tea I had an icecream at Cheviot and was amused by two boys - one on a tricycle powered by a small engine towing the second on a skateboard. I was too slow at getting out the camera for a photo.

On arrival at my hotel in Christchurch, I dragged everything out of the car and to my room for the first time since Dunedin. I have until Tuesday to make all my purchases fit either in the suitcase or my backpack or be mailed home. Some just needs squashing the air out, like the lamb fleece. Some is food that will thankfully be eaten by then!

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Zealand Trip days 8-9

2009-12-20T02:33:37Z

Dunedin to Nelson

Back on the road again, heading North. I stopped at the Moeraki Boulders, where the tide was out and there were tourists all over the place.

At Oamaru I stumbled across Enterprise Beads and bought some strings of beads for knitting and some spinning wheel charms I will make into earrings. Nothing else terribly interesting on this stretch, since I'd visited Ashburton already coming South. On Wednesday night I stayed in Rangiora.

The Jaywalker socks reached the turning of the heel.

Thursday morning was clear and sunny. I made a last minute decision to take Lewis Pass to Nelson and return on Saturday by the coastal route, rather than the other way around, because the weather forecast for Saturday was not looking good. Mind you, the mountain tops were still hidden by cloud (it's a conspiracy against me!) and road works prevented my stopping at one scenic lookout.

At Brightwater I visited Hallblacks - another supplier of natural coloured fleeces, but she has also got a good range of commercial yarns, and, if it's your thing, lots of novelty yarns including some I've never seen before (maybe that's not hard since I don't usually look for 'dead muppet').

I chatted to Mary, the owner, for quite some time as she is a former English teacher and we were discussing education systems (among other things). I bought a prepared half fleece from a Lincoln lamb by the name of 'Curious'. Apparently the other half of Curious's fleece was purchased by a Melbourne chorister.

After a quick visit to the Visitor Information Centre, I checked into my hotel in Nelson. From my room I had a lovely view of the Church spire.

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Zealand Trip days 6-7

2009-12-18T10:09:16Z

Dunedin

Monday morning in Dunedin I took a walk down to the Octagon and Visitor Information Centre then visited some (rather forgettable) yarn shops. Then I headed to Otago Museum.

I had the most decadent caramel slice and latte for morning tea at the cafe, to defrost from the cold outside, before looking around the museum. The museum exhibits were excellent and included odd measuring instruments on the stairwell, exhibits on Maori and Pacific Islanders, geology and natural history of the area, as well as travelling exhibits such as on Charles Darwin and a rather interesting one on dinosaur eggs. The museum has lots of hands on stuff for kids. I spent well over two hours and could have easily spent a lot longer there.

While back at the motel for lunch, the rain changed briefly to small pellets of hail. Once it stopped, I headed to South Dunedin to suss out a few more (again, forgettable) yarn shops and a Spotlight, just to see if it was much different to Aussie ones (it wasn't). Then there was more hail. I had a fantastic lamb burger and kumera chips from Velvet Burger for dinner. And it hailed some more. The hail in Dunedin was small, but further north at Timaru they had golf-sized hail that destroyed crops.

Tuesday's first activity was a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. This included climbing many stairs, eventually reaching about mid way up that purple tower, inside which we had to yell 'chocolate' loudly to trigger a fall of liquid chocolate to be released. Splattering chocolate everywhere - erk! I bought a hat and lots of chocolate fish in the shop. I love chocolate fish....

After lunch I took a drive to the Otago Peninsula. First stop was Clifton Wool n Things, which was down a ghastly steep gravel driveway. It started hailing again, and I wondered if I would manage to get the rental car back up to the road. It was well worth it though as the shop had piles of yarn hanks, fleeces and sliver as well as garment and so forth, all of natural coloured wool. I would have loved to have taken home some sliver, but it had too much VM for me to be confident of getting it through Australian customs and quarantine. So I came away with three hanks of 8 ply in 'Gull Grey' and a shade card.

I successfully negotiated the driveway back up to the road (it helped that it had stopped hailing) and continued on to Taiaroa Head. I photographed penguins and other bird life in the rain and enjoyed afternoon tea in the Albatross Centre.

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Zealand Trip days 4-5

2009-12-15T10:25:23Z

Te Anau - Milford Sound

Saturday was an easy day after several long days of driving. I had just 120 km to drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound through Fiordland National Park. However, the day started with pouring rain. It cleared after a while and I set off.

I stopped frequently to admire the view and to do some walks.

At the Homer Tunnel I went for a walk into the alpine vegetation and took some photos. Driving through the tunnel was a bit of a shock as I felt quite claustrophobic inside it. Mercifully, the tunnel is shorter than the Sydney Harbour Tunnel. Once past the tunnel though, the weather closed in and I had to abandon plans for more walks. I went on to Milford Sound Lodge, my accommodation for the night, and checked in. The rain stopped for long enough for me to do a walk along the foreshore of the Sound. I had a roast pork dinner at the Blue Duck Cafe and then spent some time knitting my Jaywalker socks in the Lodge lounge, much to the amusement of the trampers who made up the majority of guests.

I didn't get a good sleep that night because the rain varied from hard to torrential and made a dreadful sound on the roof. At times it sounded solid - hail or sleet?

In the morning I was told it had snowed overnight. None of it remained at the level of the sound, but the peaks had a nice fresh dusting - when they were visible. It continued to rain. I went on a cruise of the sound out to the Tasman Sea and back that was awesome despite the rain.

Milford Sound - Dunedin

The remainder of Sunday was spent driving across the South Island to Dunedin. Unlike the slow trip on Saturday, I didn't stop on the road back to Te Anau since it rained the whole way. The weather was better from Te Anau to Balclutha, but then the rain returned.

I made one stop before Dunedin, at Milton, to determine if there really was a mill shop there. Yes there is a mill shop, and I knew it wouldn't be open on a Sunday, but I would have still been out of luck if it had have been a weekday as it was after 4:30 pm (Opening hours are 9 to 4 on Mondays to Thursdays and 9 to noon on Fridays). Tantalisingly, the sign in the window stated that they have hand knitting and weaving yarns and Merino and mid micron sliver for spinners and felters. Something to remember for a future trip.

I reached Dunedin at about 5:30 pm, pleased that longest stretches of driving were over with.

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Zealand Trip days 1-3

2009-12-13T11:12:28Z

Sydney - Christchurch - Te Anau

Wednesday started with a 5:30 am walk to the railway station for the trip to the airport. I've done the trip to the domestic terminal many times, but not the international terminal - I haven't been out of the country since 1999! The flight to Christchurch was fine until it hit turbulence over Arthurs Pass. I didn't enjoy that bit at all! Christchurch airport was busy with a ginormous queue and Border Control NZ were filming (the looked like they were following some issue with a couple that looked like they had done something the authorities didn't like). And my empty passport remained empty as it wasn't stamped at either end of the journey.

I collected a rental car at the airport - a Hyundai Getz that I don't like very much. It is red but does not go fast. I also picked up a local sim card for the phone so I could keep connected without the high cost of international roaming.

The motel I stayed at was great and I cast on a Jaywalker sock in Kaffe Fassett Regia yarn.

Thursday started off rainy. I drove south, first stop Ashburton, home of Ashford. You can't miss the big spinning wheel on the main road. There are three big wheels in total.

I first visited the Ashford shop, and after much browsing, chose some Alpaca/Gotland fibre and some silk/Merino fibre to come home with me.

I also browsed the shops in the craft village and hit gold in the Eastside Gallery with 500 grams of natural chocolate coloured Corridale sliver. Yum yum!

At Geraldine I visited The Giant Jersey and the Alpaca Centre but didn't buy anything except some cherries from a street stall.

More driving - a rock thrown up by a car at Lake Tekapo cracked the windscreen of the Getz. Cloud prevented any view of Aoraki (Mount Cook). I stayed at Omarama for the night.

Friday started with better weather. First stop was viewing the Clay Cliffs just outside Omarama.

Just before Cromwell I made a detour to Clyde to visit Touch Yarns. Here I bought a skein of undyed fine kid mohair - merino laceweight yarn, a skeing of natural coloured alpaca boucle and a hand-dyed skein of merino boucle.

I doubled back to Cromwell, continued to Frankton near Queenstown (where I stopped briefly in 3G coverage to catch up on emails and tweets) then continued on to my next stop, Te Anau. Here, the rain started up again. I was in another good motel and had a lovely roast lamb dinner at a local cafe.

- Originally posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ribbons Blanket finished

2009-11-28T05:20:27Z

Fourth term is moving at a fast pace, as it must being a short seven weeks long. But for my HSC (2010) class, the same amount of work has to be squeezed in... One week remains, then two staff days, then I'm jetting off to New Zealand for two weeks. Can't wait.

Two weeks ago, the Ribbons Baby Blanket looked like a big blob, and I had no idea if I was going to have to do a fifth colour sequence of stripes or not to reach the desired size. I was hoping not as each round was taking at least 45 minutes, and it would have meant not being finished before my colleague went on maternity leave.

I tried adding a second circular needle so I could stretch out the knitting and measure it, but couldn't get the length I needed (I had some Knit Pro cable connectors on order, but they hadn't arrived). So I put three sides of the blanket on scrap yarn, leaving the fourth on the needle, and stretched it out on the spare bed.

Calli came to see what I was up to, and immediately sat on the blanket and tried to doze off. It had the Calli seal of approval. And the blanket was big enough too. I finished that stripe then started the edging - a sequence of 2 rows of garter of each of the four colours, then the first colour again, then cast off. Throughout the blanket I only changed colours on a knit row so that all the colour changes were crisp on the right side - so the first row of each reverse stocking stitch stripe was knit. At each corner, the yarn overs on every second round were knit/purled through the back of the stitch on the subsequent round to close them. There were two stitches between each increase at the corners, but in the border they became 4, 6, 8, 10 and then 12 stitches apart, resulting in a more rounded corner. Here's the right side:

And the wrong side:

The cast off took about three hours over two nights. No special cast off. I'm amazed I got it so even and the right tension first try, but I was careful as I had no desire to rip back and cast off c. 700 stitches a second time. Then there was another evening spent weaving in the ends, then it was washed and dried. It gave off a little dye - nothing too bad and not more than I expected (the skeins were not washed to the point of no dye coming off them straight after dyeing). The finished product:

Done with six days to spare, the finished blanket was gifted on Thursday to my colleague, and was very much a surprise.

Wouldn't you just know, I have to start another blanket after Christmas? Since this one isn't what you could class a "surprise", I am concealing all details (colour, design) until it is gifted. I will only say that the cotton has been purchased... I do not foresee more than this one further blanket in the near future. I hope.

Not sure if I'll blog again before going away or while I'm away. I've just downloaded BlogPress for my iPhone to give a try. Next weekend will be busy with visiting my parents, who will be Calli-minding (they love having their "grandcat" visit). I may tweet some "postcards" while I'm gone and maybe some posts, but otherwise, I'll post about the trip when I return.

Modified Mr Greenjeans Finished

2009-10-27T06:25:03Z

The house is finally resembling some sort of order both inside and (amazingly) outside now, so I have the chance to update my knitting progress.

I have plodded away on the "not Calvert" cardigan since April, putting it down while I finished a baby blanket, picking it up again in the July break, putting it down again while I packed and moved, and finally picking it up again and plodding on to the finish line in the middle of the school holidays just gone. A trip to All Buttons Great and Small in Newtown and an afternoon at SSK sewing on four perfect buttons finished the job.

I have been wearing the finished product off-and-on over the last two weeks with Sydney's changeable weather, and I'm very happy with the resulting garment. The yarn, Sublime's extra fine merino 8 ply, was not cheap. I bought more than I needed for Calvert, being unaware that Berroco add an extra margin to their published yarn requirements. So I had added an extra extra margin. So I had 18 balls. I used 14 balls, but not very much of the 14th. The leftovers will make a child's jumper somewhere down the track. The yarn was well worth it though - beautifully soft, it holds stitch definition well, and is pilling only very lightly (I expect this will settle down). Ripping out Calvert and starting over was a very good decision.

The pattern I based the cardigan on is Mr Greenjeans. I changed the cable and rib to 'Double Lace Rib' (p129 The Harmony guides Lace and Eyelet Stitches Erika Knight ed.2007), and it is this feature that seems to generate the most positive comments. I made the neckline a tad wider than it perhaps should be and the V-neck is a bit lower than I would have liked, so if I wear the cardigan over a summer shirt, it tends to slip off my shoulders a little. No problem with my winter tops which seem to grab the knitting more, preventing this.

I'm now planning another cardigan in a lighter yarn (4 plyish) and open lace pattern for summer wear (I wonder when, since there is already so much on my mental to-do list!).

My current knitting is another baby blanket, for another expecting work colleague. The first one was so well received, it seemed somehow wrong not to do the same again. Well, not the same, since that would drive me insane (the zig zags were annoying me by the end of that last one!). The baby's sex is not known, so I decided on bright colours. Which meant dyeing up some Bendigo cotton. I couldn't find my dyeing records folder (and still can't!), but mixed up the colours and ran with it anyhow and am very pleased with what came out of the dyebath.

The "pattern" is the Ribbons Baby Blanket, though I haven't actually got a copy since it is pretty easy to work out what to do. I started out doing all stocking stitch though, and that didn't work - it wasn't going to come out as a flat blanket. So I had to rip back and start again in the alternating stocking stitch/reverse stocking stitch stripes. I changed my increasing method too, which is also helping make it more square. I'm back to the same stripe I was on last Thursday when I ripped back.

The big challenge will be finishing it before she goes on maternity leave - in six weeks' time. I couldn't start sooner because of moving house and really wanting to finish the cardigan. It will either be tight or not achieved. I can manage to finish it by her due date in early February though. I may regret working in the round - as I know from the pinwheel sweater, those rounds get *very* long!

Calli

2009-10-17T10:28:18Z

Three years ago, I promised myself a cat. I had wanted a cat before then, but had been turned down by my then-landlord. I moved back to Sydney, passing up the opportunity of a free Burmese kitten about a month before I moved. I asked the FLA and owner's corporation if I could keep a cat. The owner's corporation said yes. The FLA did the whole black hole thing (since I put it in writing) and I eventually got a 'no' (by email). So I became a naughty tenant, and got a cat anyway.

In the long time frame between deciding to get a cat and actually getting it, I decided I wanted a Burmese cat. I found my cat through the Burmese Cat Society of Australasia (their site doesn't appear to be working today). When I first met her, she was called Sally, but I named her Calli. When first I met her, she was a tiny thing:

She was the runt of the litter and was rejected by her Mum, so she was hand reared. Her Mum was not very big, and Calli has always been small - 1.7kg when she came home with me in December 2007, and now at 2 years and 1 month old, she is 4.2kg. She's been getting herself into all sorts of trouble from the start:

She jumped into my work backpack one morning after I put my phone charger in there. I got to work and pulled out the charger to start charging my phone... and found she'd chewed her way clean through the cable. She has since destroyed a USB mouse cable (these days I use a wireless mouse) and my work laptop power supply cable was damaged twice (the IT staff at work were not impressed!). The power cables were live, by the way, which is why I call her "Calli the Wonder Cat" (as in "wonder why she's still alive!"). She has plenty of toys I encourage her to chew instead, but thankfully she hasn't shown as much interest in chewing cables lately. Or yarn. She chomped her way through the leftover yarn from the Noro Scarf and the Earl Grey Tea Socks. Works in progress are always kept safely in drawstring bags to prevent her getting her paws on them and the stash is all cat-proofed.

Of course I've knit for her:

...but of course that photo was staged - she prefers the cat bed from the Reject Shop. Or lying on any of my jumpers. Or on my lap.

She is my constant companion, telling me when the heater should be turned on, when it is dinner time, when it is bed time, following me around the house. And, being Burmese, she can be very vocal about it. She always wants to know what is happening:

(The computer blows warm air out that side where she's standing.)

A few weeks before we moved house, she suddenly fell ill. She was in the Vet hospital for five days on a drip. Neither of us enjoyed it. The vets couldn't diagnose anything specific and labelled it 'gastritis'.

Due to her hospital stay, she couldn't go visit my parent's place for the week while I moved house (she loves staying at their house - her toys slide around better on the tiled floors and there is more sunshine). She found the house move fun. It gave her new vantage points:

She is very happy at our new home. At the old place, there were seven other cats living within 30 metres. She's an indoor cat, but was bothered by the other cats outside. Here at the new place, all the neighbours have dogs, but I saw a cat over the back for the first time today. She should be a lot less bothered by other cats though. She loves watching the birds outside and I have built an enclosure so she can sit outside but not try catching the birds. Now the chaos of constantly changed surroundings of mixed up furniture and boxes everywhere has given way to long expanses of cork flooring (rattle balls roll better and louder...) and glorious sunshine, she's a happy pussy.

The Ordeal

2009-10-15T09:45:47Z

It's a boring rant, but I need to vent, then I will move on.

I finally got the bond back on my previous place on Monday. I wasn't keen on posting about the whole ordeal until I had it.

A couple of issues simultaneously made living at my old place a nightmare. There is an issue with a tree (noxious weed species) in the back courtyard that drops berries for 6 months of the year, rendering the courtyard, and particularly the clothes line, unusable. I had been trying to get my former landlord's agent (let's call them FLA - no, I won't name the agency) to act on removing the tree for 18 months, but at the inspection I had in July, I was told to put it in writing. I pointed out that I had, *twice*. I got only a sarcastic comment in return. I would have thought a business dealing with written correspondence should provide a written response. Writing to the FLA results in a black hole. Oh, and don't bother ringing them, they tell you to put it in writing. The same day that this occurred, my immediate neighbour made a complaint about the tree (without knowing about the exchange I had just had) to the owner's corporation. Cue the FLA black hole...

The inspection also set off another chain of events - the FLA did not communicate anything to me at any time, but sent two tradesmen to make quotes on the carpet and replacing a vanity unit and the toilet cisterns. The complete lack of communication meant I had to come to the worst-case scenario of what would happen next - that the place would be put up for sale. This made me very uneasy, and it was at this point I found my new (current) place, but I had to wait a month before I could move. I ended up putting in writing to the FLA that no tradespeople could enter the property, since nothing had been communicated to me (to stall until I could put in my notice). That went into the black hole too - they didn't even communicate to at least one tradesperson what was going on, and I had to tell him.

Another issue that continued to grind away in the background was a particular 'problem' neighbour. She is legendary for her need to come over and 'chat' such that you cannot get rid of her for three hours. There's more to it than that, this is the short version. For much of the time I lived at my previous place, the blinds on the front window were permanently shut. Problem neighbour was causing more than average grief in the block near the end (and since I left).

There's all those little things that build over time - the place was impossible to heat or cool, received very little sunlight, I was knocked back on keeping a cat, the carpet was knackered, and on it goes. And the rent had risen steeply within the first 18 months I lived there. For the same money I was expecting the rent to rise to (now proven), I could have... exactly what I have now - a free-standing house closer to work.

The weekend before the removalists moved most of my belongings was very stressful. I discovered that the driveway was more of an issue than I had thought when I had inspected the place a month earlier. I could not get my car into the garage, and put a dent in the side of car to prove it, as well as putting myself and the car into a situation in which I was in fear of my life! My parents visited, and I had help from them in moving some of my belongings. My Father got their 4WD stuck half-way up the driveway at one point. It was not pleasant. Thankfully, when the removalists came in, it all ran relatively smoothly. The only damage was a dent in the microwave (which had been damaged moving to Armidale in 2003 anyway - Yay! I now own a dedicated dyeing microwave!).

I cleaned the old place out - leaving it cleaner than when I moved in, as usual. I had a professional carpet cleaner come in (despite suspecting the carpet would be ripped up) as I'm fairly certain FLA had the carpet cleaned a second time after the tenant before me. I did not have time to attend the final inspection as I was deep in exam marking that I was running late with. FLA sent a list of what they were not happy with. It ranged from items that were not clean when I moved in, to the petty (the toilet roll holder being dusty was my favourite!). They clearly went looking for issues (they picked up that I had cleaned the outside of the front window but not the inside - that was because of the 'problem' neighbour trying to 'catch up' with me!). I had no energy to either try cleaning what they wanted or to engage in argument, so I paid what they said a cleaner would cost to do it (especially as what was quoted was probably half what I thought it would really cost). Their final parting gift (or not, can't prove a thing of course) was to leave the last digit off my back account details so that the rental bond board was unable to return my bond (hence my only getting it this week). Charming. Pleased to be rid of you, FLA!

My former immediate neighbour rang me on Monday. The vanity unit or the toilet cisterns were only installed on Monday - the tradesman turned off the water to the wrong unit - while she was in the shower! The carpet was replaced, the tree is still there... And despite my arrangement for any addressed mail to be collected by her (only unimportant stuff as I have a PO Box), the 'problem' neighbour has got hold of it! I lodged a mail redirection with Australia Post yesterday to end that!

I actually have sympathy for the owner of my previous home - I suspect she is not aware of what has been going on, particularly with the tree (the owner's corporation are unable contact her to deal with her directly), and is presently out of pocket at least a month's rent (and the place has been advertised for the past fortnight for a new tenant without success!).

It is much better now it is over. I'm loving the easier trip to work, the neighbours being a bit further away than right on top of me, and the cat is now legal. (Cat? She gets a post of her own. Next time.)

A bit quiet around here

2009-08-14T07:08:30Z

It has been a bit quiet here on the blog, and it is likely to be that way for the next month or so. As those who follow me on Twitter would already know, I am moving house soon. This has been a very long time coming. It has been about a year, on and off, as you may be aware from my post back in January. Several 'issues' simultaneously came to a head towards the end of the school holidays and spurred me into find somewhere to move to NOW without continuing to try schedule moving around school terms.

It is really quite crappy timing as I have lots of marking in this school term. And marking is almost always the part of my work I can never squeeze into the working week. HSC trials are in progress now (those exam papers will hit my desk on Monday) and Year 11 sit their exam the day before I move and Year 10 the day after I move (in about four weeks' time). Throw in a Year 11 task that I will have to mark this weekend, and a Year 7 task somewhere in between the rest, and life is anything but a party! But I shall survive - especially as I have found somewhere very nice to move to. Surprisingly, unlike the many houses I looked at before, it's a very normal house. And there is plenty of room for my ever-growing fibre stash and collection of books.

The packers and removalists are booked, time off work arranged, and just some of the smaller details are left to be sorted. It's just a matter of knuckling down and getting on with it. Sadly, this means no time for my usual weekend knitting groups for a while, since my time is taken up either with school work, or sorting my stuff and packing it, or the necessary cleaning that comes with ending a tenancy.

It will be so good to get to the other side.

Guild Open Day 2009

2009-07-25T06:44:25Z

Today was Guild Open Day. I was there for more than half the day. I was there when they were still setting up:

I spent some time on the Guild information table, meeting quite a few people as they arrived, but also some time eyeing all the lovely fibre. Below is Helen and Glenda from Waratah Fibres. I was eyeing off Helen's drop spindle from Petlyn Alpacas.

I met up with Sharre, Camee, and Eclectic Rose and we went around all the traders and bought quite a bit between us. Below is my haul.

Merino/Kid Mohair blend from Freelance Fibres, a mini niddy noddy from Sue's House of Wool and some milk silk combed top from Wooldancer (which came with a little badge). I'm now in a dilemma as to which fibre I should spin up first - from the stash or my new purchases?

Some Actual Finished Spinning

2009-07-20T23:00:00Z

It's always a long time between finished spinning projects as I don't get as much time as I'd like to spin. I've been working with the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo I purchased from Freelance Fibres at last year's Guild Open Day since May. Spinning just over 300 grams of fibre within about two months is much better than my average, but this fibre was a delight to spin, and I'm looking forward to knitting it into an Ishbel. The first skein was plied at the Craft and Quilt Fair but the remaining singles and three skeins were plied up last week.

There's about 800 metres all up, at about 18 WPI. So it will be a large Ishbel, unlike the small Swallowtail, since yardage is unlikely to be a problem. Completing this spinning project gives me an excuse to buy more fibre goodness this coming Saturday at the Guild's 2009 open day.

As for knitting, the latest socks are Leyburns in the DIC Smooshy 'Cloud Jungle' - an ugly grey at a distance, but really quite pretty close-up.

The 'blob', also known as "Not Calvert" or "Modified Mr Greenjeans" has descended below bust level and into the lace rib section. The rows are over 250 stitches long, so progress is slow. It still looks like a blob. I'm hopeful it will be less blobby and more cardigan-like before the week ends.