Taking a moment out of the Day

Its just past 10.

Though this wont get finished until later.

This would be unremarkable for most people, but for me it means I’ve been going for five hours already.

The project here on site is to build a dam (I always want to do the Bart bit from the Simpsons episode where they are dressed as beavers “the Dam door!” and Marge scolds him for swearing but I digress…) and we start the working part off (this is after eating breakfast and packing our lunch) with the morning Safety meeting, reminding people of the hazards involved in their workplace (50tonne dump trucks vs the rest of the world) and looking for a focus for the day.

 Yesterday was seatbelts.

Why people cant put on a seatbelt as soon as they get  into a car is beyond me.

And the holders of the Mine lease we’re working on are putting their foot down. And quite rightly too.

Today our focus is separation between vehicles.  Dump Trucks have a max speed here of 40ks. But 50tonnes doesnt exactly stop on a postage stamp.

Trying to encourage/enforce at least a 50metre distance between them, let alone stay clear when they’re going up a ramp is not as easy as it seems.

You only have to watch a Dumpy start to slide a little to realise that things could turn to custard in a hurry, and thens not one thing you can do about it.

 So to take time out I took some photos this morning. 

This is the best one for shrinking to a size that doesnt kill people’s bandwidth.

but still makes you say “wow”. 

 Yep – thats the view from the window here.

 On the Crochet front however…

I have literally turned the corner on the Gown’s bodice. Last night I joined the underarm points together and the rear split and then two more rows of DCs which go so much faster when theres only 316 of them and we’re now back into the puff stitches. 

I have found the Irish Crochet motif that I want for the front: a spray of flowers with leaves. It has some cord/circlework so it will be in keeping with the fineness of the merino.

I am looking forward to getting through the next six rows that make up the border part before getting onto the Skirt..

No. Really.  I am.

Tell me why – I dont like Mondays

There are some songs that stick in your head, and that is definitely one of them.

It is Monday but I’m not thinking of the song because of my animosity for the start of the week (even if my alarm does go off at 0440) but because I was watching The West Wing – Season Four again and that moment in the second episode where Tori Amos is singing and Toby and Josh are soaking wet, watching the news of the pipe bombing is one of the most emotional bits of tv I know. Its stuck in my head…

Its a terrible thing that I watch The West Wing from start to finish ( I mean Season one through to Season Seven) so often but the tv in Darwin doesnt really offer that much edifying viewing and I can concentrate on the crochet.

I drove back to Kakadu last night – fortunately not hitting anything. Last time I did the drive I ended up with a bat sprawled, dead across the grille. Ick factor was HIGH. REALLY HIGH.

Once I was settled and reunited with Toothbrush Three, I took hook in hand and worked on the Christening Gown a little more.

Yes, my friends, I am, I believe : insane (but most of you already knew this) to be attempting a project that is designed to be 80cm long when I’m turning out 4mm per row. I am already doing the quantitative surveying that you do whilst working: 

Each side started off with 50ch.

The sides grow 4dc each row.  I’m now at row 23. Thats 92+50 = 142 stitches per side.

 568 stitches around.

In two more rows I will join together under the arms which means I only have two rows of 150 dcs to work.

In laceweight merino, using a 1mm hook.

God Help me.

but I am starting to get the buzz from the project now.

You know it : the jitters when you have to be away from it and you want to keep working – just one more stitch… one more row in order to see how its growing. I want to be choosing the colour for the ribbon (mint green I think) and making the Irish crochet roses and leaves to decorate it…

I will also give it credit – its one of the more easily portable projects I’ve ever had. Two balls of yarn, 120gms total, a hook and it all fits into a ziploc bag with a photocopy of the pattern.

I am a bit afraid of keeping it clean out here in the Red Centre (and thats not a euphenism at all) so I wont be sitting outside chatting with the boys at night this week!

Enough for now. Some pictures later this evening!

hope to hear from some visitors too – I know you’re there!!!

Every Saturday is Christmas

I know there are people who celebrate Christmas in July, but thanks to the fact I only have mail (eBay!!!)  delivered to one of the toothbrushes, Christmas happens every Saturday morning here!

This morning started out looking like this :

Cold, damp and blowing a GALE.

Which really didnt encourage anything but….*gulp* housework.

In the interests of stash taming I tidied out three cupboards. I made a pile of clothes and things to take to the Salvation Army. I made another pile of rubbish to take to the recycling section at the tip. I packed all the glass bottles (ok.. I like wine …) into a box to take to the NT Craft council http://www.territorycraft.org.au/darwin/index.html  to give to my friend and the artist in residence Natalie Jenkins to be recycled as platters and jewellery. I also fished a couple more bottles out of the building’s recycling bin for her – she likes the more blue range. We were in luck – there was an empty Sapphire Gin bottle!

And I made a pile of stuff to be listed on eBay…. some yarn (being very hard hearted here) and some magazines and some clothes with tags attached I’ve never worn.

So I merrily beavered away, listening to The Corpse Bride while I worked, I love that song “If I touch a burning candle I can feel no pain”.

By the time it was light, and I had made more of a mess than was there before, I decided to do some work on The Gown.  If you read the Crochetville forum, you may have read my post wondering if I was insane to consider making a christening gown from Laceweight merino.

Its progressing somewhat slowly. But here are some new shots – and it has grown another six rows since my last post!

 you can actually see how the trim will work now.

And once its finished (Hah!!!!) and blocked it might look ok!

Its just the math of 4mm per row really really really scares me.

Something else which scared me:

I went to the Post Office to collect my parcels:

You  see – there is such a thing as Santa – he just wears an Australia Post uniform.

And then had the fun of opening them:

The gorgeous Rowan Spun is going to be a shawl – I think. The flowers are to have on hand as they are almost impossible to buy up here.

I’ve pottered around all day, tidying the house and reading my new book in between:

 

This is going to be a very quiet weekend, just me, the STASH and TV One. Before I head off to visit Toothbrush Three for the week…

Sick CATS and I get home to see what the Stash has been doing…

Sometimes a problem is so massively horrible that you just know theres not a lot you can say.

This morning started badly : I fell asleep whilst crocheting last night and I woke up in my very own lace weight merino coccoon. 

That is not a good sign.

Normally – I come to work and the morning looks like this:

 

Which is really fabulous.

But this morning – the world looked like this :

 

Which is so far from fabulous, you’d have to pack a lunch to go find it. 

And my heart sank…

Because as the Safety Officer I knew….

Something bad was going to be around the next corner.

And …

I was right.

One very unhappy CAT…

55tons of unhappy looking Dump Truck

Which was made even worse by going around the next corner (I use the term going very loosely – I couldnt move forwards in the mud so we were going sideways)  and finding this:

Another CAT with problems – this time : 2 blown tyres.

The Boss was somewhere between bewildered and bloody furious.

Mr Bridgestone however was thrilled.

Each tyre is worth $9,500 – we needed three new ones.

So I spent my day trudging through the mud and my boots ended up looking like this:

Apparently I was inches taller!

At the end of the long and wet day, which improved not one little bit,  I got to drive home and fortunately didnt add anything to the ever increasing tally of roadkill ( I feel so guilty when I hit something)and discover that THE STASH is now completely beyond control:

  

So my weekend is going to have to involve some serious yarn wrangling!!!

Will keep you all posted!

Day Two – In Which I Report My UFOs

UFOs.

 Not everyone has seen them.

But every creative person has them.

So therefore, I am not talking about the eerily lit aliens-have-landed type space ships capable of intergalactic travel only to come here and get panked on by someone with a large command of witty one-liners.

Un – Finished – Objects.

Those crochet (or indeed, any) projects that you just HAD to start and have either been seduced away or become too frustrated for words to finish.

You know what I’m saying…

That new bundle of yarn that you just had to start with right away (to the detriment of the other items in the basket), sometimes you even bought a new hook so you could start in the car on the way home.

Which in turn gets superseded by the latest cant-put-down-wool or hurled at force when it just doesnt work out.

Part of my job description (which doesnt exist in hard copy… or soft copy for that matter) includes running errands – being the only person on a Mine site who cant drive a Dump Truck ( I can, its just not part of my job description. Which doesnt exist.) I’m the one who gets to drive up and down the highway (130k speed zones rock!) to do “things”.

I have just returned from my latest hop to the halfway mark between our mine site and Darwin where I r’v’ed with someone else and took on a number of CAT parts.

I should clarify – these are bits for large trucks, not  paws and whiskers in a box.

Whilst on the drive I lapsed into that mental twilight (commensurate with safe driving however) and mentally catalogued my UFOs.

Therefore, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to share with you my list.

I apologise for the lack of photos at this time, but the Great Yarn Muster will occur this weekend and photos will follow..

We’ll start in the Lounge room where technically, yarn should not be lurking but it has infested almost every corner.

On the Dining table there is the sewing machine that does not work (SMTDNW) – I dont know why but its under warranty and when I have a free moment I will return it; but more importantly there are the Bear Bits. Three heads and two headless bodies awaiting the moment that I feel inspired enough to attach them.

One head per bear though – I’m not weird.

 The bag of Bear makings – scraps of yarn from my grandmother (Heather Irene Docwra Heaton who left us 15 Jul 07) and some  50/50 Mohair Wool – for the heads, just fuzzy enough is sitting in the opposite corner of the room though.

That corner is also home to A Large Pile of Mohair. A veritable ALP of Mohair.

Which turns out to be an almost finished Afghan in my favorite “basket” pattern – chain 15 + 3, HDC along, ch 2, turn 90deg left, 2 HDCs in end, ch 2, turn 90deg, HDC in opp side of chain and then commence rounds in dc, ch 1, skip, dc for 5 complete rounds, then a round of HDC, repeat, repeat until its big enough. Add tassels to suit.

Drink Vodka in celebration.

So that accounts for the large pile of Beige Elfin – a limited edition quite thick Mohair blend released by Panda, only available through Big W. Was being sold for 50c a ball at the end and was SERIOUSLY a Good Buy. I have it still in a black/white/grey x 18balls. 10 balls makes a decent size afghan.

There is also a pile of 30 Mohair rectangles (the first repeat of the Basket pattern) executed in a beautiful aquamarine, white, blue and grey mohair called Sentiments.  From the chain Spotlight – www.spotlight.com.au (who are my LYS – little competition in Darwin) and they are so very nice to me.  This is a fabulous mohair blend – drapes, good weight, gorgeous colours, nice and inexpensive. So at some stage the yarn needle and I have to make a date to get these rectangles together. 

Theres more Sentiments in the pile – this time in the darker purple and lilac mix. 26 balls and 8 rectangles left over from making an afghan for my grandmother’s nurse.

 And underneath this all is a box of assorted purple, beige, chocolate, lilac and cream yarns that I’m making up as a sampler rug for my good friend Juliet.

If you were to open the drawer of the TV cabinet, you will also find a tendril of golden rayon thread, that is surprisingly heavy. Its heavy because there is 26,000 glass and pearl beads threaded on to it. Its going to be a shawl.

Yep.

In pineapples with beads across each row and at the top, and on the fringe…

It will weigh a TON.

But be enormously beautiful.

On the floor in front of the TV is a rug that is the free range home to the most recent purchases courtesy of my eBay habit. Theres at least another 200 balls sitting on the floor at present.

Theres the two work baskets – one with mohair scraps and one with baby yarn scraps.

See – I AM organised. Although I’m fairly sure that if you were to fossick in the baby yarn scraps, there’s half a baby afghan in there.

Into the Study/Computer Room /Stash Pit – this where my yarn should live – and theres three baby afghans I know I need to finish. They are all acrylic which I know is easy care but … I just dont like it.

Theres the grey melange vest for my Dad – I started it based on the measurements my mother sent me. Using a Vogue pattern.

He came to visit (He likes Darwin. Specifically – the restaurants in Darwin) a month ago.

And I think my mother is slightly deluded.

Dad is not as fat as she thought he was. So I have the vest to frog and then remake.

ripit ripit.

I also have 9 squares of feather yarn that I have arranged to look like flowers which need to be joined with green chenille and mailed to a friend for her daughter.

I should point out I have been intending to finish this for 2 years now so it may have to go to the top of the roster.

 I guess I’m lucky – I live by myself, in a three bedroom flat. I dont have to justify my yarn purchases to anyone… I dont have to justify my Ebay habit to anyone…

Just wish I could find a way to keep The STASH under some form of control…

One Girl’s Crochet & Life Weblog

15 August 2007 – So What Happens Now?

Welcome to my Blog – I’ve finally got around to doing what I have had in the back of my muddled head for quite a while!

All the best stories start with “Once upon a time…” (except for “Call me Ishmael” or maybe even a description of how someone’s young tongue could not pronounce their name), even the ones with the impressive credits disappearing into space –  so I shall start my story with :

Once upon a time….

I realised it had been seven years since I slept properly.

That for five years I ‘ve been waking up with the words “you’re worthless” ringing in my head.

My so-called career looked like a what-not-to-do Powerpoint presentation, complete with exciting animations.

And my apartment had been taken over by The Stash.

So after a horrible three week period – I’ll tell you about that one later…

I packed up my crochet hooks (and spent a number of hours agonising over which UFO was most appropriate to take to my new life) and left what I knew behind.

Far behind.

what that was – is – again, something I’ll get to later.. 

Anyway here I am..

My life now has the following characteristics:

I have three toothbrushes.

One for each of the places that I sleep :

      a)  My apartment with the spectacular view that The Stash now firmly has claimed as its own. The Stash was given a room – that it shares with Computer One. However The Stash, being the amorphous creature comprised from Mohair, merinos (hey I’m Australian – we have to have some representation from the dominant species) and well – whatever else yarn I liked – has discovered there are no physical boundaries, only those arbitrary delineations between mine and thine, and stay out of mine or you’ll get thine..

Which is why I come home to find the rug in front of the Great Television God looks like a sacrificial altar – heaps of Paris Mohair here, a swathe of the 100% fine Merino (in two colours, peach and pink) there. Some isolated Thread (10# and 20#) maintaining its mercerised dignity amongst the Fluffed. And the UnFinished Objects staging a protest march – hooks bristling from their uncompleted bodies.

The Stash will NOT stay inside its room. And when it knows I’m coming home – it sends out its minions The Patterns to hide and set up outposts to commence the colonisation process in yet another room.

I love crochet.

 (I’ve just begun frequenting www.crochetville.org so I can talk to other people who try not to spit when what we are doing is described as “knitting”)

Its addictive.

But I do NOT know why on earth I have yarn in the Bathroom.

 Especially when its a bathroom I only see occaisionally.

Because my other two toothbrushes are not in that bathroom.

Toothbrush Two lives 185 kilometres south of Darwin, Northern Territory.

In a very little room, with Tv Two and usually Computer Two/Laptop One. The little room is part of a demountable four pack, hiding amongst rubber trees, wild mahoganies and other plants I dont know the name of scratching their living in the RED dirt of the Australian bush.

This is the quintessential Australia that people see in books here. The roads are graded red dirt. The Sunrises and Sunset would make any National Geographic reporter thump his photographer for missing THAT shade of mandarin shading to indigo with the black lace work of the gum trees shaded against it.

 It is old country here – you can feel that in the earth (which is my job now – moving dirt or at least, watching other people do it.) This part of the world has looked the same for aeons, and will keep on with its red red RED soil and scraggy trees.

The large yellow dump trucks?

 They’re just the newest form of dinosaurs on the block..

And Toothbrush Three?

Toothbrush Three lives in another four pack – not so glamourous or picturesque as the other one, but in a much Guccier location – Kakadu.

Only – I’m not there to sightsee.

I’m not there to crochet either but thats what I do in the evenings….

Anyway – thats enough for now, I have to do some more work with Hazards and Risks..

I will put some pictures up soon – if anyone is interested…..

If you are – leave me a hello!

Hello world!

Its ME!

Some websites and blogs I like…

fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com

www.televisionwithoutpity.com – I like episode recaps to read while I’m talking to someone dull-witted.

Of Course – www.yarnharlot.com

And a must-see  whatnottocrochet.wordpress.com

Anyhoo – I will load photos when I get opportunities so I hope you enjoy my life which revolves around safety boots and crochet.