National Frog Day

Today, in case you hadn't heard, is National Frog Day here in New Zealand. Because, of course, it's Leap Day, and we're not afraid of using a ban pun as a reason to celebrate our endangered frogs.

Did you know we also have a National Frog Week every October?

God I love this country!

So here is a picture of an Archey's Frog (our most endangered frog), and Happy Frog Day everyone!

Will knit for books

This morning I called on one of my favourite bookshops, Time Out, and found their whole front window was devoted to books on quilting, sewing and knitting. After I dribbled down the glass for a while, I suggested to the owner that she needed quilts and knitting alongside the books, and I offered to lend her a quilt (made by my brilliant and creative friend Raewyn) and said I'd knit a few rows of nothing much to throw in there (like ten rows of garter stitch, you know). And because she is a truly lovely person she said she'd give me this:

Which is why I spent my lunch hour and any gaps during the afternoon (hey, what are red lights for?) doing this:

Very silly, but I got a little carried away.

Now the big question: Is it more worrying that

a) I got so involved and excited about a project that is destined to sit in a window for a week and then get thrown out; or

b) I was prepared to use my brand new merino/possum mix in a project that is designed to sit in a window etc; or

c) I had everything I needed for this (including a wide selection of needle sizes) in my car?

Answers on the back of a ball band please.

Eclair asked about the Sunrise Circle Jacket (which I still haven't got back to). It's Country Silk from (I think) Cleckheaton - 85% wool, 15% silk and very yummy. And it's not nearly as pink as it looks in the picture - more a winey red.

In the meantime the lilac acrylic lace proceeds apace... (I'm so not doing photos!)

Lazarus

I have no idea what is going on with this machine. Once upon a time I sort of understood computers (boy, this'll date me): I could write programmes in basic on my TRS-80 (in fact, I probably still could if it weren't for the fact that it went for landfill about 25 years ago); I could store those programmes on cassettes; and I could modify them - often using a pencil and paper. It was cool, and I felt quite technologically adept and competent.

Now I have this evil lurking presence in my house that I can't help but believe possesses some kind of demonic intelligence and any pretence of being even slightly au fait with its workings is long gone.

Anyway, our chants, rituals and sacrifices have obviously worked again, and it's prepared to co-operate for another day. So I've printed out reams of patterns and other stuff, and I figured I'd better blog while I could!

I've been doing a fair bit of knitting this weekend: my lovely partner has just become unemployed as of yesterday (the company he was working for went under) and while he is anxious and feeling very down, I have been rubbing my hands together gleefully behind his back, going 'Yippee! I can go to knit rangers!' I never claimed to be an especially nice person ok? But you can't turn up to a knitting group without knitting, and my getting-back-into-the-swing-of-knitting project is not fit to take out: I let Katie choose the pattern and the wool, and I am currently halfway through a lilac, lace, acrylic shrug, which is quite possibly the ugliest thing I have made. Call me shallow, but I don't want to meet people for the first time and have them remember me at the woman with the ugly purple acrylic! And the sunrise circle jacket is just way to complicated to knit in public - I'm having problems breathing while knitting this, let alone talking. So I hauled out some absolutely gorgeous bamboo in orange and pink that I bought in Whangarei last week (before I knew we were going to be a one income family - also bought a luscious merino and possum mix and a few other bits and pieces, which I may have to cook up and feed to my children - d'oh!) and began a scarf. So pretty. And then, of course, I thought to check whether Knit Rangers was on - and of course, this is an off week. You ever feel like the universe is conspiring against you?

Anyway, the lovely Eclair wanted to see the Sunrise Circle Jacket (I have explained that this has been sitting a while haven't I?)

How it's supposed to look is this:

Nice hey? But how it currently looks is:

Hmmmm.....

Back to the acrylic for now... (I'm saving the bamboo for next Sunday!)

Well Call Me Cassandra

Ha!

Did I not say that posting on my blog would be tempting fate?

The computer is dead again - I have snuck on here via my work laptop which I'm pretty sure is against our seventy-three page IT policy.

So it may be a while before I blog again (of course the damn thing may wake up tomorrow morning and be fine - does tempting fate work in reverse?)