Month: January 2009

Spudds

Spudds
Earlier this week an email went around the office announcing that the weekly gym sessions would be starting up again. Huh? It turns out that the company pays for an employee circuit training session every Wednesday afternoon at a local boxing gym around the corner. Neat! Not wanting to be the conspicuously absent new girl, I packed my gym gear this morning and tried to look like I knew what I was doing. At 1:15 about half a dozen of us walked over to Spudds Gym on Crown Street. It’s a tiny terrace that has been converted into a WORKSHOP OF HORROR. “Spudds” (aka Mark Carroll) is the proprietor, and I soon found out that he was a former Rugby League star (and afterwards bodyguard to Russell Crowe!). Spudds started me on a bike in the “hot room.” This tiny room at the back of the gym actually had heaters running to make you sweat MORE. Every couple of minutes we rotated through the equipment, each of us eventually taking a turn in the ring throwing punches at Spudds’s pads. Then we had to run around the block. Then we had to do it all AGAIN. By this point I was feeling… not great. Yeah, I’m not in peak shape at the moment, but even when I was my abilities were better suited to endurance than short bursts of power. So when we started the third circuit, I hit a wall. I was supposed to be doing squats with weights in my arms while balancing precariously on half a medicine ball. (No, really.) Suddenly my legs started shaking, and I felt like I was going to faint or puke or cry (or all three). I grabbed my water bottle and waved at Spudds. “Need… air…” I gasped. I stumbled out the door and down the street towards the East Sydney Hotel. I really felt awful, dizzy and shaky. I knew I should walk but I just couldn’t. I sank to the pavement and leaned back against the hotel wall. I sipped my water and tried to get my breathing back. A few minutes later, the fog finally lifted and I could think straight again. I walked back to the gym and offered an apology to Spudds. “Hey,” he said, “you’re doin’ great! Now give me a 100 sit-ups.” So I pulled out my mat, sat myself down, and did the best I could. I guess that’s the best you can offer, right? It’ll be easier next week.

Knit Graffiti

Knit Graffiti
Oh good grief. “Knitted graffiti” is in the news again. I noticed a few months ago that somebody was putting it up on poles around Newtown. Look, I thought it was an amusing idea like FIVE YEARS AGO when I first heard of it. But “growing global movement”? Sorry, SMH. FAIL. I bet there have been maybe a dozen people in the entire world who have actually done this in any systematic or legitimate fashion. The rest are just imitating something they saw on the Internet in the hopes people will think they’re creative and kooky. (Sorta like the whole “zombie flash mob” thing, which I am similarly bored with. Do I sound annoyed enough? Come on, it’s Hump Day.) Anyway, I also think I may have actually contributed to this article. There was a journalist at the TC SnB a few weeks ago, and he asked offhand about knitted graffiti. I tried to impress upon him how NOT A MOVEMENT the whole thing was, but he was not to be swayed. So I gave him Miss Helen‘s contact information, knowing that if anybody knew the identify of Newtown’s “tagger,” she probably would. So really, if I’m irritated by the story I only have myself to blame.

Hilariously, several different non-knitters sent me that link this morning. It’s like they think of me as the official spokesperson for the wacky world of non-traditional knitters.

Australian Knitting Events Calendar

Prompted by a Ravelry discussion this morning, I’ve set up an Australian Knitting Events Calendar. You can view it at that link or subscribe in your preferred calendar application via ICAL or XML. I’ve added the major craft shows already, and I’ve started listing stitch and bitch groups. If you have particular events you’d like to see added, please email me. (Alternatively, if you’d like to be in charge of adding events for your region, let me know and I’ll give you admin rights.)