Author: Kris

  • Farmers’ Market in Chippo

    The farmers are back! There will be a farmers’ market in the Chippendale Peace Park this Saturday. Too bad we’re still overloaded with vegetables.

  • Poutine

    I want to try poutine! Unfortunately the closest I’ve been to Canada in the past ten years was the Canadian Pavilion at Epcot Center. (We actually asked one of the Canuck workers there, but she shamefully confessed they didn’t serve it.) It looks simple enough to make, except for one thing: cheese curds. What the heck are those, and where do I get them in Australia? Do I have to make my own?

    Update: I bit the bullet and asked Metafilter.

  • Child’s Play Drive 2008

    I just noticed that I’ve had some hits from the Colony of Gamers Child’s Play Drive 2008 post. Greetings, gamers! I got contacted last month by Dana from the In-Game Chat podcast asking if I’d be willing to knit/craft something for this year’s raffle. All the money raised goes to support Child’s Play, a gamer-supported charity that donates toys, games, books, and cash to children’s hospitals around the world. I agreed, and I’ll be knitting a custom pair of these Space Invaders socks for the winning Aussie ticket. (Special thanks to the designer Aija Goto for giving me her blessing.) So if you’d like to support a great cause and possibly win some super-cool socks, please go PayPal them a few bucks.

  • Blockhead

    BlockheadBlockhead
    I just realized that I forgot to properly document my most recent Finished Object! “Blockhead” was designed partly as a Halloween costume and partly just as a jumper I thought the Snook would like. The pattern itself is from Wendy leaflet #5101, which is the exact same one I used for the Long Sleeve Cotton Polo. Because the zig-zag would be done as intarsia, I couldn’t knit the body in the round as I normally do. So the front and back were knitted separately to the armholes; then the whole thing was joined up on one circ for the yoke and collar. The yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% merino) that I ordered direct from the mill in the US. It was ridiculously cheap (luckily I got it before the Aussie dollar collapsed) and I used less than 7 skeins for the whole jumper. The yarn was wonderful to knit with, much less splitty than the Jo Sharp cotton, and I think it’ll be a good weight for our climate. Snookums actually graphed the zig-zag for me (after much analysis of the comic strip) and it’s available for download as a PDF here. Now all I need are some buttons and it’s done!

  • RunningBlog

    It’s been awhile! Following the Melbourne Half-Marathon last month, I took a couple weeks off completely from running. Now I’m slowly starting to build up again. Tonight I decided to run/walk home from North Sydney, which was about 7km all up. It took me just short of an hour. I’ve been reading Runner’s World and starting to think about goals for next year…

  • Keith Olbermann on Prop 8

    Keith Olbermann talks about Proposition 8. He admits that he doesn’t have a horse in this race; he’s not gay, nor is anyone close to him. I thought it was fascinating. He’s such a great speaker. I mean, yeah, it’s fun when he goes off on a righteous rant, but that’s not what this is. For him, it’s all about love.

  • HSM3

    Last night…
    Snook: There’s something going on in the city tonight that you’re going to be mad you missed!
    Me: What?!
    Him: They closed off the George Street bus stops in front of the cinemas because of a special event
    Me: Ooh, a movie premiere! Is somebody famous in town?
    Him: Teenage girls EVERYWHERE.
    Me: Oh, man! It can’t be Twilight yet…
    Him: Nope. But you’re close.
    Me: OH! High School Musical 3??
    Him: Zac Efron is here.
    Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

  • Defective Yeti reviews Twilight

    Hahahahaha! Defective Yeti reviews Twilight. He actually does a really good job of describing the book. I can’t believe I read the whole thing (and 2.5 sequels) either…

  • Letter from a Veteran

    Letter from a Veteran. Lovely blog post from my old roommate Eileen about her grandfather, who served in WWII. Her aunt recently found a letter that he had written home to his parents and Eileen’s posted it on her site.

  • DNA evidence in your ‘baccy??

    Oh neat! I was telling the Snook about that “Craig’s List bank robber guy” the other day and how he’d apparently been caught thanks to some DNA evidence. But what I didn’t know is that the DNA sample they used to match him came from his chewing tobacco spittoon-cup! Gross, yet fascinating.