Who Am I?

It's a question that I've been asking myself a lot recently.

With a lot of changes in my life recently, I've felt a bit lost and confused. It showed me how much my life had become defined by things that were not me. Other people, material objects, where I lived, yarn, work. All things that made up the picture of me.

Then things changed. I do a different job now, I have different people in my life, I live in a different place. Those three changes happened pretty close together, so I feel like I'm flailing a bit. I'm not too sure what is ME any more, and what is me defining myself through something external.

I always have such trouble answering questions about myself - about things I like or questions about me and my personality. I don't know if anyone else has this issue, but I find it a little unsettling that I don't appear to know myself that well.

Time to spend some time contemplating my navel, maybe?

Echoes

It certainly has been quiet around here. (Sorry about that.)

Inspiration to write has been lacking. Inspiration in my crafts has been lacking. In short, I think I hibernated a bit this winter.

It's odd, really. Winter should be when i am crafting most - it's cold outside and generally conducive to staying home and all that, but rarely does it happen.

So once again spring is starting to come about, and I haven't finished even a little of what I wanted to achieve before winter (or the end of winter, if I'm not being picky.)

The cardigan I started in April? Still going. I have a sleeve to go, then I have to sew it up and edge it. Still no photos. It's just stocking stitch, so imagine a pile of stocking stitch pieces in this yarn and colour.

The Woodland Shawl I started... um... a long time ago hasn't really grown at all. It is next on the list of WIPs to complete.

Socks I was working on have been frogged and a new pair started. They haven't progressed that much either.

I did recently finish some spinning. VintageGrrl dyed some fibre and I got a hold of some Cool Breeze... and here is the resulting yarn:



(As always, you can clicky to biggy)

I am now spinning up some Southern Cross Fibre Polwarth in the colourway Hay Sunrise:



In keeping with the hibernation theme: the pink merino I've been spinning on my spindle hasn't gone anywhere.

mememememememe

I've been... *gasp* tagged!

Thanks to Miss Fee for the tag.

Ok - here we go:

What is your current obsession?
Being healthy. At the moment I am spending way too much much time thinking about what I eat and how much I am exercising.

What are you wearing today?
Earlier: Work clothes - shirt, skirt and kitten heels (I left the stilettos at home today!)
Now: Trackies, cotton top, hoodie and thick knit socks.

What's for dinner?
Chickpea and lentil patties with tomato relish, steamed mixed veggies and some mash

What did you eat for your last meal?
Burek! (Polish-style spinach and cheese pie)

What's the last thing you bought?
Coffee. Monday mornings can be tough.

What are you listening to right now?
Talkin Bout Your Generation on TV

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
A warm beach. It's cold and wet here.

Which language do you want to learn?
Francais, s'il vous plait!

What do you love most about where you currently live?
The house has an awesome bathroom.

What is your favorite colour?
Purple. And pink. And blue.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Currently it's my black pencil skirt

What were you doing ten years ago?
Probably studying!

Describe your personal style?
Part classy, part kooky, part just plain strange.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
I'd put it toward the new laptop I need.

What was your favorite TV show or book as a child?
Skippy was my favourite TV show.

What are your favorite films?
Amelie, Office Space, St Trinian's, Zoolander

What inspires you?
Things I see and hear day to day.

Who's work/designs are you inspired by?
Cross-media here: the Chemical Brothers, Rembrandt and Norah Gaughan

Your favourite books?
Terry Pratchett. Enough said.

Do you collect anything?
Wool, makeup, music, DVDs, books.

What makes you follow a blog
The person, and if it's a stranger, the writing.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Had a lovely cup of tea while relaxing after getting through a particularly hellish task at work.

Whats one thing you dream of doing?
Having all the time in the world to paint and craft.

What's your favourite music of the moment?
Bonkers (Dizzee Rascal). It's so annoying but it just earworms me every time.

The rules:1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own. 2. Tag eight other people.

I don't have a whole eight other people to tag... so: M-H, Tia, Lara, Jen and Donna... tag - you're it! :o)

Catch up and things made of awesome

For anyone who doesn't yet know, all my health-related and exercise blogging will now be done over at Operation Awesomeness - a blog I am writing along with knitness!

Things have been busy around here (what else is new??) so once again I am in a whirlwind. Yesterday was WWKIP (World Wide Knit In Public) Day, so after the guild meeting I was down at Darling Harbour with the crew causing fear and panic amongst the Muggles.

The day was fantastic - we had a total of 80 knitters turn up (I think the Bayside Lounge was a bit surprised about that) and I got to meet a few new people and catch up with others who I haven't seen in a while.

A very big thank you to Sally for being our wonderful organiser!

I'm off to go warm up as it is absolutely freezing today.

Weigh-in and update June 6

My first weigh-in went well. I have lost weight (quite a bit more than I thought I would, but at a guess it's just water weight), and I'm feeling a lot better.

I'm using a combination of techniques and ideas to help myself change my eating habits and lifestyle, some the same as last time and some new.

I'm waiting on a copy of French Women Don't Get Fat to arrive as I've been wanting to read this book since it was released, and as it's to do with living a healthy lifestyle and controlling one's weight and wellbeing I figure now is a good time to read it.

Onward to week 2!

As guilt free as it gets

Tonight I ate Hungry Jacks for dinner... pretty much guilt free! I did feel a pang for the large amount of fat and sodium in the food.

I spent today working in the warehouse inventorying some (ok, a lot of) stuff that has to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. It was heavy work. There was lifting and carrying. There was walking. There was moving gigantic pallets. (By the way, using a pallet jack can be pretty cool.) There was digging through boxes of ICT equipment that time forgot.

The upshot of around 8 hours of heavy physical work? It's pretty much exercise for me as a usual day is much less physical activity, and as such it increases my kilojoule allowance. Given that I had my usual breakfast, snacks and lunch I was way short. So I could easily eat that fatty meal from HJ's and still be in my proper allowance.

The best bit? I get to do another 4 hours in the warehouse tomorrow. Yay for another workout! I think I'll eat healthy though.

Hopefully this weekend I will get to do a knitting update post with some pictures. It's been a while since I've posted anything about knitting, and I miss making those posts.

New beginning

Early last year, I changed my lifestyle.

I quit smoking. I ate properly. I exercised regularly. I took care of myself.

I felt great and got wonderful results in not very long.

For the past 9 months or so, that has fallen by the wayside. I've fallen back into old habits. I started smoking again. I started eating badly again. I stopped exercising.

While I am nowhere near as unfit as I was when I started this the first time (and tonight's walk/run proved that), I am still very near the weight I was that prompted me to start it all in the first place. I should know, I weighed myself on my sickeningly-accurate scale tonight.

So, starting tomorrow I start taking care of myself again. The smoking is already taken care of - I pushed that aside a good month ago.

The goals and rules:

There will be 30 minutes of activity a day. On workout days this means proper exercise (couch to 5k program runs twice a week, bike ride or yoga once a week, boxing once a week), on rest days it means a 30 minute walk to help stretch the muscles.

Every piece of food I eat will be tracked in a food diary and I will be sticking to a calorie-counted plan.

Weigh-ins are on Saturdays. I'll post about my loss/gain for the week, but I prefer to keep the actual numbers quiet. I have a goal weight to reach, but I'm not sure if it's do-able. If not, I'd be happy to be a few kilos above it.

My motiviation? Well, first up I want to feel and look as good as I did mid last year. Secondly, I just bought 3 skirts that are all a smidgen too tight. I want them to fit me, and soon.

Here goes nothing...

Music rant

Why are two out of the three tracks that I really, really want to purchase not on the iTunes store?

It is most unhelpful to hear music on the radio, only to find out that it's not released yet.

Fleece Artist!

The lovely Sally ran a competition on her blog - any comments made during the month of March would go into the draw to win a prize.

I was shocked when I discovered that I had won the local prize! I never win anything!

I received my prize and I have fallen head over heels in love - I have some Fleece Artist BFL socks yarn in the delicious Ireland colourway.

Also included in the package was a pom pom maker (check out the URL of Sally's blog to see why!) and some yummy chocolates that didn't last long, as well as a lovely card. It really brightened my day.

It's perfect. Thank you, Sally! I need to put some pics up!

Can you believe it?

Me, the girl who swore she'd never knit a jumper is now up to the armhole shaping on the back of my first cardi.

It's almost magical how this item is taking shape.

Hiatus

I haven't posted in nearly a month. I'm really no good at this blogging thing.

Don't get too excited... I am only here to advise that blogging will now be put on a hiatus. Some things are happening in my life that I need to take care of - and for now, blogging seems like it's not important enough to be up there. I have finished items, I have formatting to do on here and I have WIPs that I want to share but at the moment I'm not really in a position to be spending time taking pictures and writing posts.

I must sound mysterious and exciting, but really what's going on is the opposite. Well - it'll still be mysterious for most who read this blog, but I can assure you all it's not exciting.

Hopefully within a month I'll be better placed to start posting again. See you soon.

Don't mention the Guild...

So I attended the NSW Knitters' Guild AGM this weekend. Oh boy.

I received a very warm welcome from the incoming Vice-President - I was amazed at how enthusiastic she was about the fact that I was there, and she really made the point that she was glad to see a young person... and how the Guild really wants to attract more young people to join.

That attitude seemed at odds with a lot of things that later transpired.

I got to witness first hand some of the resistance shown by members of the Guild toward changing things to make them more accessible - namely making information available on the web and leveraging the knowledge and skills of existing members who want to help with activities.

Questions were seen as personal attacks. There was no mention made of how members could get involved and help. It seems a sad thing that the Guild has members who can (and want to) help with things like enhancing digital photographs or properly storing and archiving the collection of knitted work, but these people are turned away or dismissed because those in charge want to do it their way.

The incoming Secretary was inaugurated but later resigned the same day - something which I was quite upset about as I know that she had some wonderful ideas for the future of the Guild.

I really wonder how the Guild will go about attracting and keeping new members if they are so resistant to embracing the things that will enable them to do so.

I'm considering trying to get in as Secretary... I am just waiting to try and find out some more about the duties required and I want to see if I can gauge the time I'd have to put in. If all else fails, I'm going for committee next year. there needs to be a serious shift in attitude.

Rain, rain, go away...

Not really, as we do need it. I am trying to use my psychic powers to send it to Victoria though. They could use it given that the bushfires are still burning.

Today was weather of the type that makes me want to cast on some cosy 8 ply socks for wearing around the house. My good old green socks have been keeping my feet warm tonight.

Instead of knitting, I did a tiny little bit of spinning and a whole lot of cooking. I now have a lot of little mini Mixed Bean Burgers in the freezer, ready to be defrosted whenever needed. I also brought out my small (1.5L) slow cooker and made a pasta sauce out of the tomatoes I picked up at the farmer's market last weekend.

It was my first time using a slow cooker, and I was very impressed with the results, as was the other half. The pasta sauce had a much richer flavour than my stovetop ones usually have - but whether that's because of the longer cooking time or the fresh tomatoes I am yet to find out. I do know that the first chance I have I will break out the large slow cooker and make up a big batch of pasta sauce using tinned tomatoes, and then freeze it in portions.

I'm trying to move toward using as few processed and pre-packaged foods as possible, so I need to get organised and start making more foods that I can freeze and keep on hand for later. It's funny how by not buying many convenience foods our grocery bill has dropped enormously. I expected it to stay the same (or possibly increase) because of all of the fresh ingredients I'd have to buy but that's not the case.

I'm now off to pack some lunches to top off this foodie day.

Just when I thought I had enough to do.. and loving thoughts

First off, lots of crossed fingers and toes for all of you who are currently being threatened by the current bush fire fronts out there. I am sending good vibes for the safety of you, your families and your homes!

There's two new things happening with me at the moment - Vintage Grrl and I have have gotten onto the Bento Bandwagon. We are both quite taken with the idea of packing Bento lunches for ourselves and people in our lives. I'm hoping that it helps to improve both mine and the other half's diet as well as saving us some money. I shall have to report back after I start packing these things!

Secondly, as if I didn't have enough artsy-crafty stuff to do.. I've taken to dyeing roving! Here's "Tutti Frutti" - some Polwarth.



I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Detox for free

I've been a bad, bad blogger.

Things have been busy lately - craft has been put aside and I am throwing myself into making my lifestyle healthier. (Let's just ignore this weekend... please?)

I've changed my eating habits (again, ignore this weekend. blip), started exercising again and now my body has gone into detox. My face has erupted and my tummy hates me - don't get me started on the fatigued sick feeling either.

I'm hanging on for dear life, knowing that I'll have to go through another week or so of this feeling and then I'll start to feel much better.

Just in time for Big Day Out. If someone knows where I can get a nice, healthy vegan lunch and dinner there, please let me know. I don't have to worry about alcohol because I'm the designated driver.

More dye!

I dyed this:



It will be a Woodland Shawl... my first lace. (See the previous post for link). I am pretty happy with it. I think it turned out well for food colouring!

I have also dyed this:



More pics once it's reskeined...

2009

I welcomed in the new year with many friends, much alcohol, Buzz and SingStar.

It was great.

Today I am feeling a little sorry for myself. I have been inspired by Vintage Grrl to start a Woodland Shawl, and I need to dye up some yarn to do it.

I'm thinking a gentle variegation. I don't want it to be too colourful, as it will overpower the laciness of the shawl. Blues, maybe?

Boxing Day

Instead of doing a clean out on the house, I went shopping at Spotlight (no crowds, woo!) and Bunnings today.

20% off everything at Spotlight... and I picked up lots and lots of stuff. Including a rolling pin, I realised on Christmas Eve while baking shortbread that I didn't have a rolling pin! Madness!

I have some more yarny goodness, some kitchen things, party decorations, more beading things and fabric!

Now I just have to clean the fabbo sewing machine Knittingand gave me so I can start stitching things up.

Today I made this:



It's swingy, which I like.

I've also tried making wine glass markers... not too sure on those yet. The memory wire is giving me issues... and the 24 gauge wire I have is no good... too malleable.

I also finished a spinning project! No pics yet, this one was a quickie.

Drama and new things

Christmas is nearly over (and what a dramatic one it turned out to be. Not in a good way, either.)

Here's Down the Garden Path, a neck warmer I made for my mother.



Here's something I tried doing this afternoon. Beaded stitch markers... This beading thing is pretty cool!



I'm off to rest. There's going to be a big day of house cleaning and re-organising tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

Yep... it's that time of the year where we eat too much, drink too much and spoil others rotten.

Merry Christmas everyone.