Quotes

I seem to be spending a lot of time getting quotes at the moment.   The chap from Skyline garages just left, got one from Fair Dinkum for the kitset only already, and another 2 being worked on as well.   Haven't heard from one place, but hopefully with 4 it'll be enough to get things underway.    Have no idea on timelines for any of it yet, but I'll be jumping up and down again tomorrow.

I didn't go to spinning on Saturday, have a sore throat courtesy of youngest I suspect so decided not to go an infect everyone else.   Instead I helped get more stuff out of the garage so we've now got it to the point where everything in there is either junk or stuff that Thomas has to decide if he's keeping or not.
Despite not going spinning I didn't feel too bad about that as I finished the first lot of fibre on Friday night so the first bobbin is full!

On Saturday night we played Talisman with Thomas' mother and sister and for a wee while George joined in.  Between my turns I dizzed another 100g of the fibre I'm spinning so that it's ready to go as well.  We had a great time, that game is always heaps of fun, and I won!   First time I recall doing that.   I also started crocheting another dishcloth, this one out of Elann cotton, this one will go into a pile for later gifting seeing as I have plenty already.

On Wednesday it's the 1 year anniversary of the big quake here in Christchurch, I've decided I'll be remembering by pulling out the quilt I was working on that day and getting more of it done; I feel that's a better way to remember it for me than going to one of the public things.   There have been a few items on TV remembering and they're hard to watch but I've still watched them, and I've recorded them too.  I think it's going to be hard to watch them for some time yet, for me at least, but I don't want to forget.   Remembering is important to me.

Finishing on a happier note, I decided to try something new when I got the groceries.  Jules Destrouper Butter Crisps.  Horribly expensive, but they are incredibly yummy!  No preservatives or any nasty things in there, flour, sugar, butter, eggs, salt and baking soda.   Now I need a waffle iron that can do the really thin ones!  I am in love, but it's not something I can afford regularly.  Probably very bad for the diet too, but at the time I didn't care!

Things are slowly happening

I think the first update has to be on the Tom Cat. He got to the cat shelter and then escaped from his cage! He's not been fixed, they've set up loads of traps to catch him and I'll let them know if he turns up here again. He's a wiley wee sod, got to give him that. Apparently even if he doesn't get trapped over there he certainly won't be short on food.

On the garage front we still don't know what's happening; this is what it looks like at the moment.

We've got approval from insurance to put the stuff in storage; we are on a wait list for storage which will probably be around 3-4 weeks.  We'll have to wait and see.
I've rung EQC again, no response from the chap who came out to look, so rang the main number who have (I hope) referred it urgently to Fletchers.   I rang them yesterday, so I'll give them a week before chasing it up.   We were doing some measuring last night and Thomas leaned against the worst wall; he wasn't thinking, but it moved and you could hear it too.   Not a good thing to listen to.

I've not knitted much, but I have finished the crocheted dishcloth for Thomas' Mum.  It turned out quite well luckily, though I did have to add to the side edge as it was getting too long.

It's 100% cotton and I'm not blocking it as it'll be used for dishes.

I'm now about to get back to the spinning for a bit while watching Black Swan.  I'm still working on the same as last time, except the bobbin is almost full

 and I still have this to fit in there; don't think it'll make it, but I'm going to push it as far as I can.

Tom cat? I think not!

Yesterday a friend turned up with a cat-trap to catch the cat we call "Bastard Cat".   I've blogged about the sod before, he's the one who sprays in our house and bails up our kitties in the garage.  She set the cage up and showed me how to reset it for just in case a cat we weren't after went in, put some food in there and then left.   He didn't turn up all day, but we've been busy around the section and garage so that wasn't a surprise.
This morning I went out and could immediately see the cage had been set off and was really hoping it was him and not the resident hedgie.   Lifted the cover and I was immediately very happy!

As you can see he's a handsome beast, just not very nice if he gets inside.   He was not happy, growling was coming from the cage, and if he knew what was going to happen he'd be even less happy!   Tonight or tomorrow he'll be losing his balls and will no longer be the Tom Cat of the area.   If we're lucky he'll have a microchip and can be sent back home, if not he'll be released here but should be a lot less bolshy.   I am really, really happy!

Onto other news, we've got a fair bit of stuff out of the garage, most of what's left is not stuff that we'd weep over if it went.   I've put up a bunch of tarps this morning to help protect what is now on the deck and in the kids hut.

and the conservatory is full of stuff that can't live even under tarp such as the power tools and T's gaming figures

We have an aisle to walk through to get to the deck, but this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I tidied the conservatory initially.    At this point we haven't heard from the insurance company about storage, nor from EQC/Fletchers about a date for the garage to be pulled down.   I've heard that garage companies are taking a year or more to build atm and I'm really hoping it doesn't take that long for us; having all this stuff around with an autistic child is not what I'd call ideal.

On the knitting front, not a lot been happening due to all of the above, plus the colonoscopy, but I have stopped work on my Central Park Hoodie for a short bit and cast on another sock.   No photos yet, but I'm about 5 rows from the toe increases being complete.    It's Mandorla from the Vintage Purls sock club a couple of years back, using the yarn that was dyed for the pattern; really liking it so far but yet to decide if it's for me or Thomas.   Luckily there's a wee while to make the decision, but I know Thomas would love more handknit socks, so......

Wheels are rolling

In more than one way.   Today was prep for the colonoscopy and it's gone better than I remembered from last time so far.  Even managed to spend time with Thomas clearing stuff out of the garage.  We don't have any storage facility yet, but we've shifted some of the more important stuff into the conservatory and some non-important stuff under the covered deck and in the kids play hut.    I did have to take a few breaks and wouldn't have wanted to be away from home, but all in all bearable so far at least.

First thing I'm going to eat tomorrow is one of these:

These are our first tomatoes of the season and I'm snaffling two of them!  Then it'll probably be back into the garage; boys will be installed on the Xbox to keep them safe.

At the moment this is what the garage looks like:

7.6m by 6m full of accumulated stuff; not all of it worth keeping

North-west wall

South-west wall

Hard to see in this photo, but between the wood boards and cardboard boxes at the back is one of the areas where we can see through to the outside of the garage; this isn't the most unstable wall either; can't get photo's of that, too much stuff in the way at the moment.

Got a phone call from the EQC/Fletchers chap this morning asking me to put in a claim for the December event seeing as it's made the garage worse.   I did that so now have a third claim number and have let him know the number so now it's just a waiting game.   Hope we have time to get storage organised, but that has to wait on the insurance company.   There will be a lot of stuff in the red bin, and we may have to send some to the tip.   Hopefully some will go in the skip when the garage comes down, not sure what their attitude is on that though.

We had help today though, Ray was very interested in what we were doing

helping me take tomato photos.

Garage problems

Late last week I rang EQC and found out we shouldn't be using our garage, and they said they'd refer it for urgent action.   In the meantime I've contacted a couple of garage building companies to find out about replacing it plus adding a wee bit on and the first who got back to me suggested I visit the local Hub as the garage is a health and safety concern.  Considering Ian's lack of danger sense I had to agree so this morning I headed in there.
First problem, no sign of a referral on the Fletchers system.   They went to check the EQC system, no referral there either; I can't say I'm that surprised, but I am disappointed.  The lady at the front desk came back with a Fletchers guy who wanted to take a look at said garage and could be there in 10 minutes, was that ok?   My answer was for some reason a yes!   He arrived about 5 minutes after I got home, had a look around and confirmed what we thought; structurally unsound and needs to come down.   He said he'd be back to me and headed back to the Hub.  I dropped into work, and then came home and went for a bike ride (trying to get fit), 5 minutes after I got home another knock at the door; this time it was EQC guys.   They had a look too, same conclusion and agreed me treating it as yellow stickered building and they've gone back to get things moving.  If I don't hear anything in the next few days I'll be following up.  Waiting to hear back from the insurance company too and in the meantime this weekend we'll move what we can out of the garage and into the conservatory and deck areas.

Thomas has decided he wants to take advantage of it and add 2 rooms to the garage when it's rebuilt.   One for my sewing, one for his gaming so the total building will be 12m by 6m.   We will need resource consent; one set of neighbours has already said that's fine with them, just so long as it's not going higher (which it won't be).  There is one other set of neighbours to give permission, they have a huge hedge between them and us though, so hoping the fact that they won't be able to see the building will mean they'll approve it too.  Wish us luck with this process.   There will be complications, for a start all the power for the house is fed through the garage first; so we'll be without power while that gets sorted, hopefully only for half a day or so though.

The good thing is if we do get even one more room off the garage then the boys will have separate rooms in the house and we can stop using the Melatonin for Ian as he won't disturb George.   Hopefully this will result in 2 well rested boys.

+ and -

In many ways today and yesterday have been really good.    Yesterday was a wonderful yarny day and I'll post pictures down the bottom of the post as one lot could be considered spoilers for Morag of Vintage Purls wonderful summer sock club.
Today started really well, kids are at school, I went to a bloggers meet up at the Christchurch South Library which was really nice and got to meet a bunch of lovely ladies most of whom I've only seen pictures of on their blogs before now.   I handed over a ski jacket to one of them which means one less thing in my closet.  It was a really good ski jacket, but I never ski and now that I have my down jacket it wasn't being worn.   I washed it first and it came through really well; gotta love front loaders!
On the way out of the library I got a call on my cellphone, getting used to having Abba's Rock Me playing now so did actually answer it; the hair clippers were all sharpened so I could pick them up.   When I cut Ian's hair last week it sort of chewed through it, so having them sharp again will be brilliant.  Those things have saved us a huge amount of money over the years.

After I got home I decided to call EQC to check and find out if we could replace our carpet without it impacting on the Fletchers repairs; the answer to that was yes, which is just as well.   Our current carpet is down to the backing, and it won't be long before we've worn through that as well.   While I had them on the phone I thought I'd clarify the garage situation.   When it was assessed there was no mention of whether we could continue using it or not so we sort of assumed it was safe.   A few weeks back my brother-in-law pushed the north facing wall and the whole thing moved, which made me wonder.   I checked today, no, it's not safe and we shouldn't be using it at all.   I pointed out that we really do need that garage and asked what we could do; they've referred it as urgent to Fletchers.   In the meantime we're going to treat it as yellow stickered and just go in to grab stuff we need; otherwise it will be kept shut to keep the boys out of it.
Hope nothing happens, we've got a lot of tools in there and there is nowhere else to keep them.   Thomas is not happy, all his hobby stuff is in there too so I've told him he can grab stuff to paint, but he'll have to paint them inside or on the deck; it's just not worth the risk.   There are a couple of things in there we have to be able to get to, the chest freezer and the motor mower; so we'll shift them to just behind the door so easy access.

Right, back to happy things now; here's the yarn I got yesterday in the mail

Party Girl by Wandering Cat Yarns; I won this

Honeysuckle also won from Wandering Cat Yarns

Summer sock club; pattern is Demelza a shawl and the yarn is called Sunshine.  This will not be knitted up as the shawl, I see a pair of bobby socks in the chaussettes de beauxbatons pattern

Zauberball sock yarn, this came with the sock club and will be a shawl I think; not sure which one yet, but most likely a triangular one.

Oh, and finally, just found out Mum is reading my blog, so "Hi Mum"!

Birthday Bear!

Today was George's birthday; our eldest bear is now a big 9-year old!   It was a busy day starting with presents from Mum and Dad which I got photo's of, then the party (no present photo's there, was too busy organising).

His "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" boxset

Trying out the skateboard for the first time.

The party started when his first 2 guests arrived, then everyone started to arrive including our families.  My Mother-in-law had been asked to make fruit kebabs and instead she did this wonderful thing!

Fruit Caterpillar

I thought he was absolutely darling!   By the end of it he had a couple of bits of carrot and a grape or 3 left.   All the cocktail sausages went too as did the strawberries and most of the dip things too.
Once all the presents had been opened and the boys had had a chance to run around for a bit I started them on the decorating of the pillowcases.  We had too many as a couple of people didn't arrive in the end, but George's cousin Bradley did arrive and so did Mekhye from across the road after he'd finished his sports practice.   They all did a great job on their decorations.

George working on his self portrait

While I was heat setting them all they ran around playing with this wonderful thing that my Dad got at his work do

Enormous rugby ball; very cool

Once all the pillowcases were pressed to make sure the colour stayed put I took a photo of the masterpieces

The finished artworks.  George did top left and his cousin top right; the rest are our other guests efforts.

After lunch we went out, the plan was to check where the Oral Health Centre is at the hospital for Ian's appointment on Monday, not much warning as it was due to a cancellation.   I think I know where it is, but wanted to be sure.    We went to Comics Compulsion first to get some Christmas presents, then Peterborough St to Knitworld.   Knitworld is open for those who were wondering and although not using the full building at the moment they do have a decent stock there and I might have come home with some Mithral and some John Q for the stash.
If you're in Christchurch and need/want yarn do pay them a visit; I suspect with where they are they're probably not getting as much business as they used to and we really don't want to lose such a valuable resource.

Definitely open, the door is around the back, fairly inconspicuous, but has the Knitworld sign over the top of it.

A selection of yarns, this is the heavier weight section and you can see the Brother and Singer sewing machines

My favourite section, sock yarns.  The one second from left on top is one I came home with; Merino/Possum recycled.

Needles including Knitpro; my favourite brand that they stock

Pattern books and more yarn.

The lighting in the back of the store isn't great, but blame that one on Feb 22nd, it's not their fault.   They still have the couch in the middle of the store so you can sit and knit or peruse pattern books.   Outside the store there's a lot of empty lots and damaged homes.  One looked fine from one side, then you went down the road and looked back to see no side wall; the brick firewall had gone completely.  It's very sad.  I did take some photo's but I might post them tomorrow; really tired after today and just want to sit and blob, or maybe knit.

Speaking of knitting, I've done 29 rows on my Baby Surprise Jacket and I'm loving the way the handspun yarn is looking in it.  No photo of that yet, maybe later.

Christchurch buildings

I've just watched a film that Breville have put up; it's only available to NZ and Australian viewers and only for today (Friday) and tomorrow.    It's about a guy who went on a juice fast for 60 days and it is truly inspirational.  I've saved it for later viewing, but for those of you who can access it....
juice fast

For some reason it won't let me imbed the youtube video; possibly because blogspot is not NZ based.  I don't think I'll do the 60 days, but I'm going to start juicing at least once a day after the next grocery shop, and might try a shorter fast.

2nd thing, the other day Thomas and I went into town to pick up his bike; that didn't happen due to parts not having been ordered yet, but I did get a couple of photo's using the new camera's telephoto lens.    I think I need one that zooms even further; but that's a long way in the future.
Here's the Hotel Grand Chancellor as it looks now; it's the one on the right next to the tree

Its roof has come off now.   The building to the far left I took a shot of too:

There was a pigeon on one of the beams on the far side, not something you see in most places; pigeons yes, but not like this.   I took one last photo of the street further down on the right; a whole lot of containers there to stop the facade from falling into the street and maybe give them a chance to save it:

You can't actually get down there, the street is blocked off just past that orange sign; still incredibly dangerous in the red zone and I found out today that the bus tours are now all booked up, so my procrastination means I won't get in there.

On to more positive things, I've done some more knitting on T's sock:

Really pleased with them so far, just 36 more rows to go!   Might even get them finished at the guild meeting tomorrow.  Speaking of the guild, our Christmas lunch is on Sunday and as well as the fibre challenge (I made Sheepie for that) the theme for the year was containers.  Yesterday I hooked myself a container for my cellphone, slightly too big and then felted it!

This was using  a remnant of some worsted weight felted singles I had from a now defunct local yarn business.  Lovely to work with and it's perfect for my phone!  I'll show it off at the guild lunch; didn't think I'd have anything to show for that, but I saw a need and luckily it fitted with the theme.  I used an online tutorial for inspiration, but really did my own thing; it's in double crochet (English terminology, single crochet for the Americans reading this)

Tomorrow I might do a review of the latest Interweave Knits that arrived today; some gorgeous vintage looking items in there, a couple I don't like so much, but still worth getting in my opinion.

Taking the good with the bad

I've got good news and bad. Good is I got an email this morning from EQC and they're paying out our contents! It's not in the account yet, but I'm hoping it'll be there tomorrow.  Still have some bills to send them for emergency repairs too; really should get that done.  In fact I'll do it today and post it tomorrow morning.

Also good is George is now discharged from the eneurisis clinic as he now wets once a month or less often at night!  Bad is Ian has gone backwards and now wets 2-4 nights a week, so have now asked them to put him on their wait list; going to take him to Dr Sharon our chiropractor next week to see if that helps as nothing has changed at home or at school as far as I know.  Other bad, Ian has a really nasty cavity in a back tooth that I'd not spotted; half the tooth is gone so I suspect it'll have to get pulled on Monday when he goes into the dental service. I'm feeling like a bad mummy for not having spotted it and also for letting him brush his own teeth . Also his front teeth are starting to move forward due to the thumbsucking. I've just ordered a thumbguard to stop him from sucking his thumb as he has no great desire to stop; hope it works and doesn't cause behavioural problems

Last night I cast on Ian's next jersey; this is something I'll do a bit on from time to time as I'm finding the yarn quite hard to work with; hopefully it'll get better when I go to the 4.5mm needles which are a little smoother than the only pair of 4mm needles I have.  The yarn is basically a softly spun wool with 2 binding threads holding it in place; looks a bit like a boucle; but isn't a true one.   Ian loves the colours though so I will keep at it.

I'm thinking I might change the pocket to a kangaroo style pouch; just have to work out the maths for that one.

Oh, and while I was writing this there was a call from the front door; my friendly local courier was there with this:

I wasn't expecting this till tomorrow, but it means I can get it set up tonight all going well and hopefully then remove a lot of stuff from this pc for the boys.   Don't tell them yet though; till it's all done they won't know

A very busy day

EQC this morning, we're more than likely going to be a managed claim.  Most of that is due to the garage damage.  They couldn't see if the back wall is damaged (too much stuff) so whether it can be repaired or rebuilt depends on that; which Fletchers will have to decide.
No knitting today, what with EQC and work there wasn't any time.  So much for our anniversary, lol.  19 years if I calculate correctly; no mean feat in today's world, especially considering we still love eachother despite health issues and ASD children.
Speaking of ASD children today was their first day of soccer; George really enjoyed it, well he did up till Ian tackled him (wrong game Ian) and then bounced up and down on George.   It was a hot day so that combined with Ian's bounce and a lack of afternoon tea resulted in George being unwell.  He's fine now luckily.  Ian stopped playing near the beginning, but was persuaded to try again by a very pretty teenage girl (he likes girls) and had a great time!

Oh, and before I forget, we have a laptop coming to replace this computer so this one can replace the boys computer which is dying.  It's not brand new, it's a reconditioned one that 1-day.co.nz had up today.   Thomas has always wanted a laptop and this is a quad core one which should well and truly do what we need.  It has a slightly slower CPU than this, but the quad core should be better than a dual for what we do.  Gaming is not something we do at all on the PC anymore now that we have the Xbox.

No photo day

Not much choice on the no photo's thing.  Thomas has still got the camera at his wargaming thing.   I've almost finished the Dalhousie mitts; 21 more rows to go and then they're all done! 
I'm all done in though; spent the morning doing things like washing, dishes (which T didn't have time for this morning) and gardening.   Still, the veges are all in aside from spuds; the weeding is closer to done and all I have left to do tomorrow morning is to do a quick once-over with the vacuum cleaner once the boys hit school.
Ian's got swimming at school next week; T will be going in with him for at least the first morning; I'm not allowed in the pool within 2 weeks of an IBS attack so I can't.   If things go well tomorrow and it turns out Ian's ok without T in the water then he won't keep going, his teacher aide is all set to get in the water on Wed and Thurs, but it's a different person the rest of the week.    I'm going to suggest he meet them at the pool so he can leave as soon as the swimming is finished and he's dressed.

Only one more day left in Blogtoberfest; hopefully tomorrow I'll have some idea of where we stand for the house with EQC.  Might not though, our neighbours didn't get given any indication when they got assessed last time and that was 2.5 months back; they've just had a letter to say it's a managed claim.   They would have preferred if it was under the 10k; but we don't always get what we want.

I've got a list for the EQC guys, I'll be following them around to make sure they pick up what I already have and asking if we're over or under the 10k.  Got copies of insurance (though it's last years invoice) and rates; plus can show them the insurance payments going out of the bank account if there's any issues.  I tried to ring the insurance company to get a more recent copy of the invoice, but after 20 minutes on hold I gave up in disgust.  Even if it's over 10k I'll just be glad to have moved along in the process just one more step.  Should get paid out for the contents next month too, then that money can go against the mortgage, originally the money for the washing machine would have gone on the mortgage so things will even out aside from interest.  Wish us luck!

A multi-fibred sheep

I'm going to do today back to front I think.  I've just this minute had a call from EQC, we have someone coming over on Monday next week to do our inspection!   Have to have a copy of the house insurance and the rates on hand; that shouldn't be a problem.  Back to cleaning I guess.   Had been planning more sewing and knitting and spinning, but cleaning has a higher priority now.  I did get rid of more fabric this morning to the Salvation Army. 

Started my sheep knitting today too, had to ball the yarn up first; for some reason a real ball seemed right.

I love the rustic qualities of this yarn, and so far it's looking good knitted up too:

It won't be a bumpy sheep, but I love the way it's knitting up.   Might end up changing to DPN's though, much as I hate them, this is not working well on the fixed circular I have.

I've done some sewing too, my circle skirt is almost done; just hanging for 24 hours before hemming.

I pinked the seams for a sense of vintage authenticity.

This morning I was on my way to the Salvation Army shop and realised that my Warrant of Fitness for the car had expired (29th September, whoops!).  A quick check in the phone book I keep in the car and I headed for the nearest VTNZ, joined the queue and went to pay and the lady next to me offered me a coupon to save $5 as I didnt' have one and she had two!   That was a wonderful RAOK; thank-you, it was greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow was going to be a few things, now it will be cleaning and the car rego which falls due tomorrow (at least that one's not late).   Almost hoping there's no work to pick up tomorrow, would make things rather easier!

6 months on

Six months ago today our complacency after our first big earthquake was shaken off it's foundations.   Our first earthquake was big, unexpected but free of deaths and although damage was done to buildings, it was in most cases repairable.  Not quite so in Kaiapoi, but the government was talking about land reparation so that rebuilding could happen.

22.02.11 at 12.51pm we were all doing what we normally did.  I was sewing a quilt, Thomas was on the toilet at his 6th floor building in Cathedral Square and the boys were at school.   One moment all was well, the next the world moved; literally.   All our power went and I knew it was big simply because of that.   I didn't go down to the school immediately simply because I knew they had to evacuate the classrooms and I'd not be able to find the boys until that was done.  Instead I stopped to clean the hot chocolate out of the computer keyboard, shut off power points and check for hazards at home.   I texted Thomas to see how he was, I heard back from him 2 hours later; he got my text well after he sent his.
My neighbour checked on me, I think we were both on autopilot, he was lucky to be home for lunch so all his family was there with him.
After that I went down and picked up the boys, Ian's bike was left in the bike sheds; he's not ridden it to school since then, probably afraid he'll lose it for 2 weeks again.   I made the boys wait in the garden while I double checked the house to make sure it was safe and then I let them inside.   No power, no water and no Daddy.   We luckily had everything else we needed though; a radio to listen to which told us eventually how bad town was.   Thomas eventually got home and we cooked up baked beans and spaghetti for tea on the single gas burner.   Early bed that night, no power so no point in staying up once the light went.   Some used candles, but I wasn't about to take that risk with the continuous aftershocks.
We came through fairly well, some nighttime wetting from both boys showed they'd been affected even if they didn't show it, but we all stayed calm and I think that helped.
Unfortunately this time there were deaths, too many deaths and many of our historic buildings are lost permanently.  Life will never be the same again, we will always remember and mourn what was lost on that day.

6 months on though, many things are getting back to normal.  We have all our modern conveniences again, and have done for a while.  No-one in our family has lost their home, all back on full sewerage.  Most of the shops we frequented are also back, though many have shifted to Papanui so I don't go to them any more.
The boys are no longer bothered by quakes and most of the time we just sit and wait to see if it'll get bigger, it did in June, but even that wasn't as scary for us as February.  Things are quieter now and we hope they stay that way.   Unfortunately many are not in the position we are, homes lost, loved ones lost and things will never get back to normal for them, not the old normal anyway.   There will be a new normal, but not till EQC has finished paying out and the rebuild is done.   In many cases people can't rebuild where they were and have to decide whether to accept the government offer or insurance.  There are some exciting plans for the city, once it's all finished it will be beautiful again, but it won't be the Christchurch we remember.

Some good things

wI've been thinking about the many things we have to be grateful for in the midst of our local disaster.  The fact that our house is still mostly fine, my wonderful family, both those who live with me and those who don't.
My youngest turned 7 yesterday, that is something of a miracle considering the number of times he gave us heart attacks when he was younger!   He is getting a principals award next Friday; how cool is that?
My eldest sees things in black and white which has caused him some problems at school, today his teacher rang me to talk about how to make things work better for him with his classmates; we've agreed for his classmates to be told he's on the Autism spectrum which is why he thinks differently from them.   She's going to run what she's doing past us before she goes ahead, we want it done sensitively and don't want the teasing to escalate as a result.

Been busy this week with work, another thing to be thankful for; no matter whether I enjoy it or not  I have a job I'm good at in a climate that means more than normal don't have jobs.  The fact that it's busy will help us pay for the new washing machine which is good.  EQC still haven't paid on the contents claim, but I'll chase that up next week.

Today Thomas bought me my Birthday/Christmas present, it's very early, but it'll keep me warm this winter.  Isn't it gorgeous?   I love the colour, it's a duck-down puffer jacket.   I really feel the cold, it was $199.95 down from $399.95 and well worth it.  Everyone seems to have black ones but black is not a good colour for me; this works well.

Tomorrow I go into Mitre 10 and spend even more, though this time it's not going on the credit card.  We've put aside $300 and are getting a motor mower.  Our current push mower is broken and has been for some years; it's getting harder to use and takes over 1.5 hours to cut our lawn.  This will make it much easier!

Also today my new glasses arrived, the yarn I need still hasn't turned up, so I can't start my next project; but I love these glasses; $27NZ with my prescription.

Love the colour and shape.  I recommend Zenni Optical, fast and the photo testing for frame shape worked well too.   They do frames ranging from $6.95US and up.

Onto the knitting of course now, my citron has been worn and admired.  Here's a modelled shot

It's lovely, the shawl pin was part of the last fibre swap I took part in, works beautifully on the shawl.
George's mittens finished as well, should be dry for wearing tomorrow, he can't wait.

My own design, not quite perfect but I think all in all pretty darned good.
While I'm waiting for my yarn to show up I'm working on my handspun socks; the pattern is Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush

The yarn is handspun Merino-silk, I overspun and overplied it deliberately to get some extra wear out of the yarn when it's turned into socks.  This is the third pattern attempt and it's working quite well.  Fine for lace, but it doesn't do cables well or Barvarian twisted stitch.
It'll go back on hold when the yarn does get here.   I'll have limited knitting time over the next week so I'll be concentrating on the next shawl to ensure it gets finished before the end of Camp Loopy.

Finally, Interweave Crochet arrived the other day so I'll do a quick review.   So far I have to say I'm not feeling in the least bit bad that this is my second to last mag; no plans to renew.

Interweave Crochet:  Summer 2011

Nantahala Tunic: This is shapeless and somehow manages to look slightly obscene.  No shaping and I really can't see any reason why you'd want to wear it; it's not a cover-up, it's not enticing; it's just plain ick.

Swannanoa Skirt: Looks ok sitting down, would have liked a standing photo.  I'd probably go for a darker shade; cream's not the best for staying looking good past small boys, oh and longer; my legs aren't quite what they were in the past. 


Botanical Pullover:  It's kind of pretty, but I've still not really got any clue why you would make something so see-through.  It might be nice over a bathing suit, but it doesnt' really work over the dress under it in the magazine.


Freewheeling Jewellry:  I rather like this, it's simple but attractive and I might actually give it a go sometime.  Not a bad way to practice your crochet flowers


Pinecone Top:  Love this!  Lovely shape and the lace at the bottom is lovely.  I think a t-shirt bra might be required though unless you like your nipples showing of course.


Unicycle Vest:  I like the back of this, but the front only works till it flares.  My hips and tummy are big enough without adding further width.


Zipline Shell:  Like the Pinecone Top this has a nice fitted shape and a nice neckline too.  Once again a t-shirt bra required.


Azalea Bowls:  Pretty and washable too which would be good!  Not sure if I could be bothered as we have plenty of bowls


Swift Eddy Tablecloth:  All I see when I look at this is caught fingers and paws and the tablecloth coming off suddenly.


Fiddlehead Basket:  I think this could be quite a handy basket, possibly not as good as an expanding one, but still useful.


Owlivia and Little Livvie:  How cute is this?   I love owls, I'd want to add the horned owls ears to it, but aside from that it's perfect. Amigurimi can be nice or nasty, this is definitely nice.


Mandolin Top:  If I had a wee girl I'd be pulling out the hooks right now.  This is very sweet and innocent, while still being practical.  Would work for a girly girl in pink, or a tomboy in a more unisex colour like the green they've used.


Early Girl Dress:  Also sweet, but not quite as nice as the top IMO.  I think the yarn doesn't have quite enough drape for the pattern.


Arboretum Cardigan:  This is ok, but nothing stunning.  I like the flowers though, might use them on something else.


Banjo Bag:  Once again nothing special, it's basically a granny square bag, but still really useable bag.


Grove Park Tank:  I like this a lot, I would use a darker colour on the collar part to make it blend more.  I feel that it being light, doesn't quite work.  It's still pretty though.  Might have to lose a bit of weight first though.


Galaxy Wrap:  I think this is really pretty, but it's hard to tell with the varigated yarn.  Would like to see it in a plain yarn on a white background. 


River Walk Wrap:  Also pretty, but I prefer wraps that aren't rectangular for some reason.  Would be lovely for a wedding though.


Trillium Tunic:  It's ok, but nothing special, yet another purely decorative top as you can't wear it without something under it for modesty's sake.


Buy it if you want, but I'd rather spend the money on yarn.

Have fun knitting everyone, see you next time!

Another large aftershock

Today's been a rocky one.  A magnitude 5.5 earthquake at 1pm and then at 2.20pm a 6.0 magnitude quake.  The 5.5 was bad enough, but the 6.0 resulted in the school sending all the kids home when their parents got there; bags left in cloakrooms again just like February.   Both boys seem ok, apparently Ian was on the monkey bars during the first one and was most upset about being required to get off!   He found it quite exciting.
Not sure what's happening with work, they were fine after the first one, but no reply after the second to my email so I suspect they might have closed for the day; will have to find out tomorrow as all the work I have is urgent and there's more to be picked up and done; being an international order the time constraints are a little greater than normal.
The 6 was rather scary; I was sitting working and picked up my hot chocolate so as not to get it on the keyboard; the peach trees outside were dancing and we could hear stuff smashing all over the place.  Funny thing is we can't find what was making the noises; nothing broken as far as we can tell!
Family all ok, though my In-Laws were without power and water last we heard and FIL had lost a good guitar.  My parents are fine as are both my sister-in-laws.  Assuming my brother is, haven't heard different and with power being out over there I won't be able to get hold of them. 
As usual we're being told to stay off the roads (if work's open tomorrow I'll have to go in).  My usual route home won't be available, big cracks in the support for the bridge I go over so it's closed; kind of glad of that!

On a brighter note, I got to go to the guild on Saturday where my Citron shawl was given much admiration.   It's now blocked and has grown 30cm in width. 

I wore it all day today too, photo's a little blurry, but I'm really pleased with how it looks and feels.  Lovely and warm and it was commented on positively at school too, and then again at work.

I'm very pleased, isn't it lovely?

Also today my DellaQ needle case arrived; it's for my interchangeables and also my fixed sock circulars; no piccie yet as I haven't had time to open it with the urgent work.  I have taken time to look at the new Interweave Crochet (review to come) and the latest Spin-Off.  Spin-Off is my last, I've not renewed the subscription as I don't feel I'm getting any new material, so for me it's not worth continuing to get it.

Still no sign of Ian's birthday books, really hoping they arrive before Sunday's party.  Also no sign of my shawl yarn which I need for the Loopy Camp.  Fingers crossed for both of them.