PJs and cats

The cats have been pretty happy this week. Not only do I act as an interactive toy, but I make a very comfortable heated mattress.















They have this little hammock thing in the cat tree that has plenty of space for two small kittens. They don't believe that they don't both still fit.

Aunty Ceels

I'm an aunty.

Wang

I didn't really see much to take pictures of in Wangaratta, but the drive from Stanley to Beechworth was eye opening.















And a little bit hopeful.



















We had a lovely lunch in Beechworth (but not at the "world's best" bakery (which was a travesty among bakeries). And a wander.















The yarn shop in Beechworth was underwhelming. The yarn shop in Wang was terrific but (usefully) I didn't even look to see what it was called (there was yarn out the front, we went in).
















We also stopped at Australian Country Spinners for yarn for a Babette, but I (womanfully) resisted buying any yarn. It actually wasn't hard. My stash, following the summit, sates any acquisitive urges before they even get off the ground.

Stupid holidays

So teaching is supposed to be all great because of the holidays, but I don't seem to be enjoying them at all. I like my work. I wish we had the 'regular' amount of holidays and the workload was a little less ball-busting.

I have been all tetchy today. I was supposed to go to Vancouver at the end of the year and work in the snowshoeing program and get married. But then the snowshoeing fell through and now I am wondering whether to just go anyway. Is it wrong to travel so far just because you are kind of interested in some guy? Maybe I should go to Bulgaria and look after sheep and ponies. Or maybe I should go wwoofing. Or maybe stay the hell at home and save up money to renovate the bathroom. I feel both set adrift and overwhelmed by choice. And tetchy.

But actually, I would rather be worrying about these inanities. This time last week my cousin died. I have just been looking at his MySpace page. I don't like how the internet holds echoes of the dead like that. How can someone have commented on his mum's facebook 10 days ago and be dead now?

It is dumb to be crying. I haven't even seen him for years.

I think I might go bake something.

Tapping on the desk -

I don't cope very well with repetitive noises. So, you can imagine, there are times when I go a bit spare in class. And there is always at least 1 persistent tapper per 10 children. Mostly they are gorgeous about it and will stop when you ask. For the inveterate tappers, my secret weapon is blue tac. Gives the kid something to fidget with and it is silent.

The day a kid in my class can do this is the day I let that kid tap as much as they want.

Red wrap -

I am trying to be semi project monogamous again. I am trying to only knit on this (I am using it to practice the harlot's technique, but in moss stitch), but I am also finishing the tibet blanket crochet and contemplating a start on the brooklyn hat.














It feels lovely and looks great. The signature needles are a dream. But it is very big and square and big.














A cat.

Growing stuff -

I am a keeper of toilet rolls. We made crackers out of them for Christmas once and I have been saving them ever since and, in another blow to my ever getting over my compulsive keeping of stuff, today I found a use for them.
















Some folding.















Some forgetting to label.















Some cat.

Impromptu Wear a Suit to Work Day -

I nicked this photo off my friend's facebook. You will notice that I am the only lady-girl-person wearing a suit. I felt a little silly. You may also notice what a fine, handsome bunch of boys I work with. Yup, my work place comes with a view.














And the suit, in all its glory (all day people kept looking at my legs and smiling).


















The best part? It totally freaked out the students. They went mad trying to work out why we were doing it.

Wannabe Wooster -

Plans -

The holidays start at the end of the week and I am just going to quickly jot down a few things. I always get to the holidays and can't remember all the things I was wanting to do when I didn't have time.

Make pumpkin and ginger waffles. Except I am going to have to find someone with a waffle maker. Find someone with a waffle maker.

Which puts me in mind of pumpkin pie. Make pumpkin pie.

The first thing I am going to start on the holidays is brooklyntweed's Beaumont Tam.

Grow corn and sunflowers.

Go to Wang (hee hee) (or Beechworth) with someone fabulous.

Finish spinning the blue fibre into yarn.

Teach the girl cat (now called Artemis [mis for short, which I think is bloody hilarious, but then I would]) to walk on the lead. Outside.

Bake cupcakes with fabulous icing.

Go see some films. (Up, Coraline, something with Boots in the title (or was that just a dream?) Che (o! Benicio, be still my heart) and the 10 Conditions of Love (if it is still showing))

Lie in the park under a tree and read a book.

Lie under a tree in my favourite part of the cemetery and read a book.

Hang out with friends I haven't seen in ages.

Cook extensively from the new books from Portland and include Broad Bean and Mint Salad with Asparagus; Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes; Cornbread Salad; and Red Lentils with Chaat Masala among the recipes to make.

Lis, don't look -

The kittens are still doing their growing thing. I can't convince them that they don't both still fit in their little hammock thing.














I am still taking a ridiculous number of photos of them.














Call me cat lady (I arrived at school to discover cat hair on my front this week).














Pan finally forgave me last night for abandoning him (yes, it took nearly as many days to forgive me as days I was away).


















He has been trying to balance on the back of the rocking chair with nothing resembling success.

The week that went forever -

At the start of the week I saw some great poppies on the way to school and I was all 'oooo, poppies! Spring!' only I didn't have my camera.

The next morning it hailed, so when I walked by that afternoon, no poppies.














But today, already, more had bloomed.














The weather is being good Melbourne spring weather. Hot and sunny followed by torrential downpour and freezingness, then a bit of hail, a bit of overcast, a bit of wind and some sunshine and rain at the same time.














I did this stupid stuff-up at work last week, then today found out that it barely mattered. With this huge load off my mind, I am hoping to make it through Friday and then have a lovely weekend planning adventures.

Something to admit -

There are four reasons why I will be eating a lot of lentils over the next couple of months. This is the second one.














They didn't have any sets left at the summit, so they sent them to me instead. Look, oh look, how shiny.














An extravagant over-indulgence? Why, yes. But the real killer is that, just like all new things, I have to go through a getting-used-to-the-idea-of-them period before I feel comfortable using them. So they are sitting, smugly, on the bookshelf. These are the smuggest knitting needles I've ever owned.

Knitting for Speed and Efficiency -

I bought two skeins of Dream in Colour Classy to do a practice garter scarf using the Harlot's Irish Cottage knitting technique. The one on the left is Flamingo Pie. Excellent name, delightful colour.














I think I am knitting at about a 1/3 to a 1/2 of my normal speed, but efficiency is winning. This method seems to be much less strain on hands and wrists. I am thinking a knitting belt or something would make it even easier on the arms.














And this was another excellent thing about the summit. I didn't attend the Harlot's class. Morag did. And then she taught me and Lis.

To a Poor Old Woman
by William Carlos Williams

munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand

They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her

You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand

Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her

Drop Spindle -

I took Abby and Denny's class at the summit and found that drop spindling made way more sense when someone explains it to you. Plus, the way that Abby took us through the steps of handling the fibre and experimenting with twist meant that our hands were learning all the way through.














I spun like mad for a little time every day and finished this ball on camp. I have started with some new fibre, but my passion has moved to learning the harlot's technique of knitting, so I haven't been spending as much time on it. And with two Bengal kittens about, a drop spindle is not the greatest idea at home.