summery crop tank

You guys, I finished another project. I'm so proud of myself! Actually, I still need to block it, but it's otherwise done. I used a cotton yarn Jody sent me ages ago. (Was it last Christmas? Can't remember.) I had just the right amount. Again, it's a Girly Knits pattern, called Blossoming Beauty.

Here is a picture of it in progress.

Rather than get the blocking out of the way straight off, I just decided to put it on. And now I've been wearing it all day. haha! It's nice and HOT today, but the cotton isn't too warm, and the tank doesn't cover much anyway! haha!

(Ignore the Pillsbury Doughboy belly...)

It has a racer back. I took a selfie of that, too, but the angle made my shoulders look giant! I made Hugh take a picture of me earlier pretending to be a gangster. I had my overalls down and his gangsta Mariners cap on and I was making gang signs (so politically correct), but he deleted it immediately after showing it to me! I was totally gonna post it on here, even though my tummy looked even wider and pastier than above, but I guess he thought it was just too horrendous to share. I suppose you all owe him your gratitude.

(Also, can I just say that while I've been writing this post, my wonderful boyfriend has been making me a skirt?! How awesome is that? He is totally free-handing it, no pattern to speak of, and it has taken him about an hour and a half. What a peach!)

straya day swimming

Australia Day was last Sunday, and we got Monday off in lieu. (If a national holiday falls on a weekend, you get a weekday off, so you don't get cheated out of the day off. Isn't that lovely?)

Australia Day is a bit controversial. Some people call it Invasion Day (granted, a minority of people). It's similar in theory and execution to the Fourth of July, but marks a slightly different event. It doesn't mark the day Australia became a sovereign nation. It marks the day the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Harbour and raised the flag of Great Britain...so really it should be "British Australia Day" or something like that. "Invasion Day" works, too. So the day is a bit controversial because a) it marks the beginning of a drawn-out genocide of the native people, and b) it doesn't really celebrate much of anything anyway. Here is an Australian's much better description of the inner struggle many Aussies feel on this day (from Pip at Meet Me At Mike's).

But it was a day off, and that's what mattered to me! Actually, what really mattered to me was that it was almost 100 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course). I decided days in advance that I would go swimming. So I dragged Hugh out of bed and made him drive me 80 miles to the start of the Great Ocean Road.

Thing is, I wasn't the only one with clever ideas of swimming on Monday. The entire rest of the state had the same idea. And a good portion of them were headed in the same direction as us. And I think there were some roadworks. And the air conditioning in the car is broken.

Things got a bit dicey for a while there. A 1.25-hour journey became a 2-hour journey. I wasn't sure Hugh would speak to me for the rest of the day.

But it was all good! I picked a lesser-known beach, which was brilliant, because all the usual beaches along the ocean road were PACKED! Ours was a bit secluded and had a few families, but plenty of space to spread out and relax. It was good fun. Yay swimming! I never really stay out for long (which makes the long journey a bit wasteful), but I enjoy it sooooooo much. Here is me being happy.

I am working on my surfer 'do.

And here is us on Sunday, when we met our friends, E and J, for Straya Day dinner and drinkies. We had Malaysian roti at Mamak for dinner, and drinks on the rooftop bar of Goldilocks. We thought we'd be able to hear the fireworks at dusk from there, but alas, we could not. We did hear some live music from a neighboring bar, though.

(haha Hugh has the funniest camera face)

journaling

I got quite behind in my every-day journaling after Christmas! Is anyone surprised? If my blog is anything to go by, I'm not great at keeping things up.

I was keeping up my journal really well during our lazy days in Adelaide, but then I stopped for about a week and a half. I've been journaling almost every day since, but I've been struggling to fill the delinquent empty pages. I'm making progress, though.

I got a bit of inspiration from Portlandia.

 But I forgot to put a bird on it, so I added one.

new hair

I forgot to post about my new hair! But I did email pictures to my family and post pictures on Instagram, and that pretty much covers every last person who reads this blog except Izzi and Tim, so:

Izzi and Tim, look at my new hair!

I've never colored my hair before. But I wanted a change (I always want a change when it comes to my hair) but I didn't know what to ask for. So Hugh asked if he could take charge, and though he has previously said I'd look good with Marilyn Monroe hair, I trusted him.

We went to his usual stylist in Adelaide, his friend, Noelsy. He told her I wanted to look like a surfer girl, which is true! I've always wanted to be a surfer girl. Never mind that I'm sort of afraid of things in the water killing me. Anyway, we decided on some blond highlights.

I had a minor panic as soon as she started painting the goo onto my hair. Partly, I had a sudden panic that I might have a horrible allergy to the chemicals, that they would burn me! And another part of me was terrified that I'd end up bleach blonde, with my thick, dark eyebrows standing out in the middle of my face.

But no. It's all good. And I quite like it.

Still hot, but less so

As a follow up to yesterday's post, apparently the electricity companies have been struggling with the heat, and loads of people have been losing power. So no air conditioners! Poor things. We got an email today saying that the main campus of the university I work for lost power this afternoon. Because of heat! How crazy is that?

Now, maybe it's silly of me to expect Australia to have special train tracks, but surely the power companies here should have special insulation to protect their, I don't know, grids? Circuit boards? Whatever it is that's overheating.

it's hot, man!

Oh my word, it is hot. Very, very hot. 43.6 degrees (110.5 Fahrenheit), to be exact. I've been in the air conditioned office all day, where my coworkers' offices were so cold, they had to put on sweaters. (My office is far enough from the blowers to be a bit warmer). But now I'm catching the train home and it is intense. Generally, the trains that run to Melbourne in the afternoons are older trains, and the air conditioning on them is fairly appalling. I was sweating head to toe by the time I got home yesterday. Today, though, they've done us a huge favor and sent one of the newer trains. Ah, air conditioning! We'd all probably be dead without you!

When it gets this hot, the rails expand and become dangerous, so trains have to run much slower than usual.

As it is summer, the schools are on summer break for the moment, but when it gets this hot during term-time, they will close schools. Can you imagine that? Instead of snow days, you get heat days? It's funny, I never really expected Australia to struggle to cope with heat. I thought they'd be so used to it. But on the coasts, it only rarely gets this hot, and their cities are built with the same materials as any other city in the world, so I don't know why I assumed that! Did I think they would have developed better technologies for train tracks than the rest of the world? Probably. I mean, they developed polymer money! Why not special, heat-immune rails?

Here is my coffee and ice cream treat (an affogato)

a finished project!

I made this bralette. That's right, I actually finished a project! I know, I'm amazed, too. I started it in July so it only took me six months to finish.

I absolutely love the colors in this wool! I might have to go back and buy more. And I love the pattern, too. It's from Girly Knits, the "Pretty Little Knickers" bralette pattern.

mail time!

Yay! Lovely mail from Tim and Izzi!

my knitting goals

While we were in Adelaide, I was thinking about that sweater, trying to figure out what to do with it and generally frustrated with my overall knitting uselessness. It doesn't help that Hugh laughs at me for never finishing anything and always ripping up mostly-finished projects.

And then I remembered what my original intentions were when I taught myself to knit: I never expected to be good at it. In fact, I knew I'd suck at it. The highest goal I set for myself was to one day be as good a knitter as Mrs. Weasley from the Harry Potter books. Her sleeves are always different lengths, the colors are hideous, nothing fits right.

I've totally reached that goal! I am at least as good a knitter as Mrs. Weasley. If I manage to make anything halfway wearable, I've surpassed my own expectations. So I have to give myself a break. If I hate everything I ever make, that's okay! I guess. Hm, if only I didn't spend so much money on the wool.

Well, anyway, I shouldn't get frustrated. I should just keep barreling ahead.

help!

I've been knitting this sweater for the past few weeks. I really love the pattern, but I'm realising this wool is all wrong for it. I got to the bottom if the sweater just before Christmas, tried it on, and decided I hate it.

The pattern is called Narragansett, by Thea Colman. Hers is really pretty!

We were in Adelaide for about two weeks over Christmas (such a good holiday!) I had planned on taking my knitting, but I was so frustrated with this almost-complete sweater that I put knitting out of my mind for two weeks. I can't seem to make anything that I actually like!

So what should I do with this?

The first problem is that it's a bit loose around the top, then goes tight over my rotund middle bit. (Too many McDonald's cheeseburgers.) What with those horizontal color stripes, it is NOT a flattering look! So do I forget about the pretty Narragansett pattern and try to knit a looser fitting sweater? The pattern doesn't really work with this wool anyway.

Do I turn it into a cardigan?

Do I make several hats, scarves, and cowls out of it (there are five balls of wool!)

Do I finish it and gift it to someone I don't like very much?

Or do I rip it up and donate the wool to the Salvation Army so I never have to think about it again?