You know how you can try really hard at something for a long time and be sorta okay at it, but then you introduce someone else to it and they’re a friggin’ natural, and then you’re torn between being happy for them and being frustrated that it’s so hard for you? Yeah, well that was this morning ALL OVER. The Snook went out this morning for a run with the Nike kit while I did my workout DVD. I sorta knew he was faster than me, but since we almost always run together I never knew just how much faster. Folks, he finished his 5K in, like, 27 minutes AND posted an eight-minute mile! I HAVEN’T RUN AN EIGHT-MINUTE MILE SINCE HIGH SCHOOL. So on one hand, yay, go Snookums, you speedy Gonzales, you! On the other hand, I’m starting to feel less like a training partner and more like an ANCHOR. (No, I didn’t upload his run; if I did I’d never hit another Personal Best!)
Month: November 2006
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Thanks, Paula!
Thanks, Paula!
I went out for my third(!) run tonight with the Nike + iPod kit. I ran all the way down Harris Street through Pyrmont, then around under the ANZAC Bridge by the Sydney Fish Markets, and back up Wattle Street to home. It’s almost exactly 5K, which worked out pretty nicely. I’m still trying to build my fitness level up again so I wasn’t pushing too hard. I’ve set myself a goal of running twelve times in four weeks, so I’m going for frequency more than anything. Anyway, as I got back to the house tonight I hit the button to end the workout, and I was surprised to hear a strange British woman’s voice announce: “Hi, this is Paula Radcliffe. Congratulations on your new Personal Best time for the mile!” Sweeeeet. Granted, eleven minutes is pretty darn pokey by most of y’all’s standards, but it’s within sight of my ten minute goal! -
How to Piss Me Off
How to Piss Me Off
Me: So I was talking to this guy at knitting the other day–
Jerk: Was he gay?
Me: Excuse me?
Jerk: Was the guy gay?
Me: Why in the world is that relevant to the story?
Jerk: I’m just curious!
Me: Well, how in the world would I know if he’s gay?
Jerk: Come on.
Me: As I don’t plan on having sex with him anytime soon, I consider it to be NONE OF MY BUSINESS.What is it with people? Am I the only one that thinks this question is one of the rudest things to ask somebody? (Unless you’re trying to pick them up, that is.) I wouldn’t ask a new acquaintance how much money they make or how much they weigh. Why is it socially acceptable to ask who they sleep with? GAHHHHHHH. (Not to mention the implication that all men who knit are homosexual. DOUBLE GAAHHHHHHH.)
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Another Baby Surprise
My sister is, like, officially a week overdue now, and I’m getting nervous. I haven’t had any word from the family this weekend so presumably we’re all just playing the waiting game. (UNLESS SHE’S HAD IT AND THEY’VE ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME. Sometimes I get expat-paranoia.) Anyway, I used my day off today to put the finishing touches on the baby outfit I made her (buttons on the jacket and elastic in the pants) and to finish off another of the Baby Surprise Jackets. This one’s in Zara, which is an 8ply and therefore makes the whole thing a little bigger. Hopefully my little nephew will be able to wear this one through the winter! I also changed the button band to be moss stitch instead of garter stitch, mostly just because I was bored. (Pattern note: I just managed to squeeze this out of two balls of the Zara.) -
Movember – Lemmy
Movember Update
It’s officially ON, folks! Unbeknownst to me, the Snook decided today was the day to finally do some manscaping. I had the day off so I sleepily kissed him goodbye this morning without even noticing. He was home a good fifteen minutes tonight before I did a massive double-take. Yes, he decided to go with the Lemmy. We’re both in agreement that it would look better with a mullet though… -
Australian Idol
Idol Blather: And then there were three. I was recording the show as usual but decided to switch over and watch it live (since the Snook was cooking and I had the remote). I clicked over just in time to see Holden on his feet, Marcia actually crying, and the whole audience having a Damien-gasm. “WHAT THE HELL?” So we went back to the TiFaux to watch the recorded version. Huh. Opera. I give him full props for the Italian, but weren’t some parts of it in English? The whole thing was just so reminiscent of Callea doing “The Prayer” that I found it hard not to feel manipulated. You can’t argue with a hat-trick of touchdowns though, I guess. As for Jess, I know a lot of people are OVER the whole Mariah/Whitney thing, but as a person who – CONFESSION! – actually owns the Prince of Egypt soundtrack, I thought she rocked that song. Here’s the problem: She’s just too good. She makes it all seem easy, so it doesn’t look like she’s trying as hard as the people straining for the big notes. Dean: Eh. He’s pretty but I’m really over him. That first song? Was ridiculous. (Me: “Is he actually scatting? This is the first South African EVER TO SCAT.”)On to the second song… And I really wasn’t sure what Damien was going to go with. I mean, I couldn’t actually think of another syrupy, soaring “easy listening for the older ladies” ballad (with a falsetto section) THAT HE HASN’T ALREADY DONE. And then he did. Unchained friggin’ Melody. Again, he rocked it. But here’s a question for the ages: Is it actually possible for anyone to sing that song anymore and NOT have it sound like karaoke? I don’t think it is. It’s too clichéd. He turned into the Wedding Singer for me right there. I still think the contest is his to lose, but I’m just finding it a little boring. I brightened when I heard Jess was going to be singing “To Sir With Love,” but I cringed as soon as she admitted she didn’t know what it was about. (“Don’t you remember the Lee Harding/Green Day debacle, Jess? NEVER ADMIT YOU DON’T CARE WHAT THE SONG IS ABOUT.”) Predictably, Holden jumped all over her for it. She gave a lovely performance though. I just wish she didn’t sound so giggly and stupid in her interviews. Dean’s final performance was actually one I enjoyed quite a lot. How could the judges not know that song? I’ll Be was a big Top 40 single at home, I seem to recall. (I also recall it being on the Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. How many embarrassing confessions are we up to know?) I was distracted throughout the song though, by my mistaken belief that he was screwing up the lyrics. I thought it was “I’ll be the greatest MAN of your life”, and he kept singing “FAN” instead. (Turns out he was right. Sorry, Dean.)
So where does that leave us? I predict that the Final is going to be a battle of the boytoys, with Damien representing for the over 25’s and Dean rocking the tween vote. That doesn’t stop me from voting for Jess fifty times in the next 24 hours though…
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Sticks and String
David Reidy is “an Australian bloke who knits” and he’s recently launched a new knitting podcast. Mary-Helen‘s a fan but I haven’t had a chance to give it a listen yet. To be honest, I was put off a little bit upon meeting him at SSK yesterday when he made a snarky joke about how expensive my shop is. I wasn’t sure how to take it. He’s apparently doing a bit of a local industry media blitz though, and Chrystalla reported that he just turned up to drop off a business card. She also said that he’s a weekend regular and has done several of our classes before… so maybe I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
Later: Well, now I feel a bit silly. I just had a great e-mail from David where he apologised and explained everything. I’m sorry to have put him on the defensive. As I said in my reply, it sometimes gets awkward and difficult for me at knitting events to separate myself from my position as “Tapestry Craft representative.” I mean, I was going to SSK for a full year before I started working in the shop. I don’t think we’re perfect and I don’t want people to think they can’t bitch about it in front of me. It’s just really hard for me not to take complaints personally. But I’m happy to admit I completely misunderstood David’s intent, and I apologise completely for calling him out. And besides, it turns out he’s a regular… and the customer is always right!
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My Nike + iPod Hack
My Nike + iPod Hack
I went over to Newtown today to meet Lara and pick up my new Apple gear. (Lara works at Total Recall in North Sydney, and I am officially giving them a plug.) I got a beautiful pink 4GB iPod nano (I have named her “Kylie”) and the Nike + iPod kit. As soon as I got home, I started charging her up in preparation for our first run. The big problem, of course, is that I don’t have the special Nike shoes with the hole for the sensor. My original plan was to use this popular hack, but within seconds I discovered that my stash of velcro is the sew-on variety (i.e. not sticky). Shoot. But hey, I’ve got a sewing machine gathering dust in the closet, right? So I decided to roll my own. It worked out pretty well! (More photos and instructions after the jump.) With that sorted, it was time to try the sucker out. The Snook and I headed over to Victoria Park to do our usual 5K route. (We used Google Pedometer a while back to determine that four laps is just about 5K.) We started the workout and we were off! Halfway around, I hit the center button to trigger the verbal feedback. My song faded while a pleasant female voice announced our current distance, time, and pace. Sweet! (To my surprise, the pace calculation doesn’t simply divide your distance by the time; it actually calculates your pace at any given second. That’s nice.) I was hurting during the third lap so it was time for my Power Song: Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” (Boring and obvious, I know. I need suggestions!) It gave me a really nice lift, and afterwards it switches right back into the song you were listening to previously. As far as accuracy, this thing was pretty much spot-on straight out of the box. I didn’t bother to do the calibration and our 5K distance was accurate to within about 20 feet. That’s good enough for me! As soon as we got home, I plugged Kylie back in so I could upload my run data to the Nike website. To my surprise, I have the eighth fastest 5K time for Australian females in my age group this week! (Proof.) Of course, my time was SLOW AS so I’m sure I’ll drop once the pool of runners gets a bit larger. Anyway, you want to see the details of my shoe hack, right?The basic idea I had was to make a tubular pocket of fabric just big enough to slip the sensor down inside and long enough that I could weave it through my shoelaces and velcro the ends together. For extra waterproof-ness, I slipped the sensor inside a tiny snaplock bag to keep it dry. Here’s a picture of my shoes as currently laced (by Joe at The Runner’s Shop in Clovelly):
There’s a nice gap between the laces just about the size of the sensor, so that’s where I thought it would sit. I decided to make the pocket about three times as long as the sensor, so the ends would wrap around and join up. Here’s what the finished tube looks like:
I’ve folded it like that so you can see that the two bits of velcro are on opposite sides. You can also see that my sensor (wrapped in its little baggie) just fits in the open end. Here’s what it looks like on my shoe (without the ends fastened):
The sensor is sitting in the middle section between my laces. (Make sure you put the flat side with the Nike logo on top!) Now I just need to stick the ends together:
Voila! It’s snug as a bug and doesn’t shift around at all. Works like a charm.
How to do it:
Here’s a really, really basic diagram. You want your tube to end up being about 13cm long by 3cm wide (which, since it’s folded over, is really 6cm). So cut your fabric a little bigger than that. I went with about a half-inch seam allowance so I’ve suggested you cut it something like 15cm x 9cm. (The blue area on my diagram is the seam allowance. It might be helpful for velcro placement if you actually draw the 13cm x 6cm box on your fabric.)Now’s a good time to hem the top edge, otherwise the open end of your tube will fray. So fold over one of the short sides a little bit and sew it down. (I did this by hand after the fact, but if I were doing it again I’d use the machine at this stage.)
Now you need your velcro. Cut two pieces about as big as the sensor itself and sew them down vaguely as shown on the diagram. They should be about half the width of the tube and a little less than one third of the length. You have to put them in opposite corners so they end up on opposite sides when you sew it together.
Which you should do now. Fold right sides together and sew as indicated by the red line. Then trim your seam allowances and turn the sucker right-side out. (Be patient when turning it. The tube is small and the velcro can be stiff, so just take your time.)
And that’s pretty much it! Slide your sensor in the open end and position in the middle of the tube. Weave the two ends through your laces, fold over, and stick together. That sucker’s not going anywhere!
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Jenny Kee
Damn! I just discovered that Jenny Kee – Australian fashion icon, John Lennon’s “first Asian conquest”, and designer of some of the most iconic Aussie knitwear ever – is going to be speaking at the Newtown Festival tomorrow at 1:00. And I agreed to work at the shop. Double damn. I could’ve gotten my book signed!
