Melbourne -

Have I mentioned how much I love the light at this time of year?















This is in the morning light.

Poetry Cats -

I think I have settled on a name for the new kitten. So now we have Pangur Ban, named from an Irish poem written in Austria. And (with help from a friend in Canada who suggested 'siren'* (the same friend who suggested Pangur Ban) and a friend in Germany who suggested this name in particular) Lorelei, from a German poem.















I am getting pretty fond of them.

*Her: "What is new kitten's name?"

Me: "I can't decide. I was going with Digby before I met her. Jekyll was winning there for a while when she was swinging between 'get the f$%#k away from me' and 'oh ah, pat me, i love you'.
She has a distinct 'S' shape on her side - so I was thinking Sun Yi or Silk. Now I am thinking Magrat Garlik, with Maggie for when she is being particularly endearing and Rat or Maggot when she is being particularly foul."

Her: "Hmm, I like all of those. "Silk" is a particularly great name for a kitty, I think, though it doesn't really have the two-facedness angle covered.
What about Siren? Lovely to admire, but get too close and she'll rip your f*&$ing face off. "

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Moccasin Socks 

Arch-Shaped Stockings 

Ethnic Socks and Stockings Lecture 

Spindle Spinning Basics

Luminary Panel 

I got in to the Barbara Walker class - but the server lag meant that I got timed out - and they were gone by the time I got back in. I am trying not to be sad panda about it - I will get to meet Meg Swanson and Pricilla Gibson-Roberts

Granny Squares -

Actually, there are a few granny squares in my life, at the moment. I did these while I was home with the first part of the nasty cold that took out May. I listened to Tamora Pierce on audiobook and just went round and round and round. I have been thinking about a blanket like this since I got home from Tibet last year - inspired by the windows in the monasteries.














One of my friends told me she was going to stop reading my blog if I kept posting kitten pictures, but I am blithely ignoring her. (It is not that I don't love you, L, it is just that I think they are so damn cute. If it helps, you could think of them as puppies - they do play fetch after all).














They are growing so big. They are now as big as the cats we had when I was growing up and they are only 4 months old. I mean I read that Bengals got big, but reading about it and lifting them up... totally different.

Granny Square -

My single minded devotion to knitting, that lasted all though the hot summer when normally I turn to embroidery, has finally fallen and it can't get up.

In the last two months I have knit one baby jumper and have been otherwise entranced by what is now the biggest granny square I have ever seen. It is using up yarn so fast - which is the type of stash-busting exercise I need right now.














It requires no brain and keeps me very warm while I am making it. I am starting to feel like I might have forgotten how to knit...

The new girl kitten is settling in. Digby doesn't suit her at all. I contemplated Jekyll and Hyde, given her behaviour towards me. Sun Yi is the latest idea. She has a rather distinct superman S on her side, so an 'S' name seems suitable.














So I need a good 'S' name for a girl cat who sometimes snuggles me, some times tries to rip my arm to shreds.

Cough Cough etc -

Well, I seem to have been sick for most of May. Every time I've walked to work, the cold has settled into my lungs and I have gone backwards a little. So I've been driving to work and looking at the fog each morning thinking about how romantic the cemetery must look.

On Friday I walked and it was totally worth it.














I love this time of year. The light is so beautiful when the sun is out and foggy mornings always make me unreasonably happy. They remind me of being a little kid and walking down to catch the bus to school, stamping on the iced-over puddles and making dragon breath in the air.














Often the bubble taps would be iced over and wouldn't melt until morning recess. I love the cold.

A cat called Digby -

The last four days have been monumental. I feel like a couple of months have passed since the start of this week.

Digby has replaced Maisie and, apart from a few minor mishaps, has slipped easily into my life and has a firm place in my heart.














They are a soothing balm and bloody useful seeing as I *still* haven't got around to getting a heater.

Pippa May Cook -

Work has taken on a nightmarish aspect this semester.

I decided to go to a cafe I read about on breakfast out and try and catch up on work this afternoon. I was feeling so emotionally drained and sore of spirit that I thought I'd read Frankie and crochet for half an hour first.

The crochet blanket is slavish imitation of cosmicpluto and the food at Pippa May cook was sensational. I had the sweet breakfast crumble and, with a pot of bonsoy chai, it was eight kinds of delicious.















I am much revived.