Author: Kris

  • Depressing customer.

    I had a lovely little old lady in the shop today who just DEPRESSED THE HECK out of me.

    She came in at lunchtime and wanted to know where the Feathers was. I showed it to her, and then answered her questions about how many balls she’d need to make a couple scarves. As we walked back over to the counter, she happily told me that the scarves were a special request from her niece, who was going over to Italy soon. She thought it would be a nice idea to take some handknitted scarves to the Italians who were hosting her. “That IS a great idea!” I agreed. But – “why not use a merino, or one of the natural yarns that’s actually from Australia? I’m sure her hosts would love to see what we produce!” She agreed with me, but added, “Oh, but that’s so much more expensive.” She was so nice – and so excited to be fulfilling her niece’s request – that I couldn’t really bring myself to argue with her. So I sold her her $30 worth of novelty acrylic and watched her head out the door. Sad.

    I apologise in advance to the people of Italy, and I’d like to add that while Feathers scarves are indeed a fair representation of what Australians have been knitting in the past five years, they’re in no way an example of the finest knitted garments this country can produce.

  • Opera in the Domain

    It’s just less than 4 weeks til this year’s Opera in the Domain event, so I thought I’d get the ball rolling on planning. Last year there were about a dozen Sydney knitters who got together beforehand to knit and enjoy the sunshine before the performance. I think this year, with advance notice, we can do even better!

    Where: The Domain, Sydney
    When: Saturday, February 2, 8pm

    Let me know if you’re interested in coming and I’ll fill you in on the details closer to the date. Or if you’re on Ravelry, just leave a comment on my post about it over there…

  • Food movies.

    Food movies. Mmm, food. (Superficiality and hedonism being my only defense against the fear of one’s own mortality.)

  • Brigita.

    Oh Jesus. Longtime readers of this site will no doubt remember frequent commenter “brigita,” a fellow blogger and ND graduate (not to mention Purple Weasel). She stopped blogging earlier this year when she had her first baby, the little girl I made this outfit for. Tonight I got excited when I saw B’s blog pop back up in my RSS reader. I was hoping for a baby update. I got a bad shock. I just don’t understand. Cancer isn’t something that happens to us, to people our age, to people who take care of themselves and who just had babies and who DON’T DESERVE TO GO THROUGH THIS CRAP. I’m scared to think how I’d react if it were me. I think I’d have crawled into a dark place and never left. I… I don’t know what else to say.

  • Progress Bars

    Sweet! I just got my Ravelry progress bars set up. They’re down there on the right. I managed to get them working myself, but I needed the Snook to do the fancy CSS stuff to make ’em look pretty.

  • Best of Bootie 2007

    Sweet! The Best of Bootie 2007 CD is available for download…

  • Now we are seven.

    This website is now seven-years-old. Wow, that really crept up on me! I remembered late in December that the anniversary was coming up, but somehow it slipped my mind over the holidays. It wasn’t until I saw M-H’s blog birthday post this morning (Hey, we’re twins!) that I realised the big day had arrived. So, just as I’ve done the past few years (2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003), I’ve compiled some fun statistics to celebrate 2007…

    There are a few interesting trends there. Many of the top 10 commenters are new to the list, and most of them are bloggers themselves. Actually, most of them are people that I’ve met in real life. And while the majority are female, I still had several male commenters not far below them. Also, it seems that the longer I do this, the more the focus of the site seems to change and evolve. I don’t have that many “ZOMG! LOOK AT THIS COOL INTERNET THINGY!” posts anymore. There’s a lot more about my life, my family, and my interests. I spend more time on external sites (like Ravelry and Ask Metafilter). I can’t wait to see what 2008 has in store…

  • One More Resolution

    Okay, Reecie has one of the best New Year’s Resolutions I’ve ever seen: “Continue being hot.” LOVE IT! That one’s totally going on my list.

  • 1:1000

    Amy just asked me about a vegetarian place in the city, so I was trying to find the name of a yum cha restaurant I’d heard good things about. I was searching through my Gmail chats when I found this exchange from a few months ago. I was debating with the Snook whether we should accept a yum cha lunch invitation from Eva or spend the morning looking for houses.

    Me: we hve to decide one way or the other on yum cha or houses.
    your vote?
    I’m honestly ambivalent.
    I mean, the chances of us finding something we end up getting are like 1:1000
    And if we missed something good, we probably wouldn’t even know we did
    but we’re supposed to rsvp tonight
    Snookums: That sounds like a vote for yum cha.
    Me: that’s me being ambivalent
    i could easily be swayed if you want to make the argument that looking at houses is the responsible thing to do
    Snookums: Like I said, I wouldn’t mind going to that auction, because that place is something I think we’d consider (one of the best fits so far, I think)
    Me: okay, so houses then
    Invitation declined.

    The auction the Snook wanted to check out? That’s the one where we ended up riding in an elevator with a helpful woman who told us about a house she wanted to sell… and four months later we’re living in it. 🙂

  • Nieces and Nephews

    Last weekend I managed to finish off two small knitting projects that had been languishing. The first is a matinee jacket for my yet-to-born niece (assuming that she does, in fact, turn out to be a girl). The pattern is from Debbie Bliss’s Baby Cashmerino book, and I substituted Sirdar Snuggly DK for the yarn (going up to a 4mm needle). I just need to get a bit of ribbon to go around the waist.

    Matinee Coat

    Pirate Vest

    The second item is a vest for my three-week-old nephew Isaiah. I spoke to my brother on the phone the day of the birth, and I said I wanted to make something for the baby. “Do you think you guys will want to dress him traditionally?” I asked. “Or would it be okay if I did something more modern, like something with a skull on it?” “I think that would be pretty bad ass!” my brother said. Sweet. This vest is based on the “Pirate Jumper” in Zoe Mellor’s Adorable Knits for Tiny Tots. I just used random 8ply wool from my stash. I think it’s pretty appropriate, given that the baby’s dad works at a Harley Davidson shop!

    As always, more details are over at Ravelry.