In which I am injured but heroically knit on

Last night I went to Opera in the Domain (open air opera) with some fellow Ravelers. We had a fantastic time knitting and picnicing before the opera started at 8. But there was one slight hitch. Who would have thought you could slice yourself up with a garden-variety picnic knife while cutting an avocado? These aren't steak knives, they're for eating picnic stuff like cold chicken. But I tell you what, they were bloody sharp. Literally.

So there I am with this deep slice in the tip of my left index finger, and it's a real bleeder. Bandaids one and two don't do the trick, so it's off to find some of the first aid folk wandering around. There is much drama, taking of details, swabbing of gauze, wrapping and taping and by the time they are done I have a pretty impressive bandage on my finger It takes three of them to do this, which makes it all look very dramatic (although I think they HAVE to go around in groups of three). Apparently it's the most exciting thing they've done all night (well it is Opera in the Domain, not the Big Day Out rock festival).

So we all settle back down, finish off the picnic (complete with avocado), and then as we're packing up Camee does EXACTLY the same thing with one of the knives. Yeesh. Luckily hers didn't bleed quite as badly so we didn't have to call the first aid folk back!

So my dramatically bandaged finger has put a bit of a crimp in my knitting speed, which is very frustrating, especially as I want to finish the Strawberries and Cream gloves by tomorrow so I can give them to the birthday girl. Typical. Oh well, at least I'll have a good tale to tell when I provide the excuse!

Yarn Raffle for a great cause

Just found an amazing yarn raffle for a very good cause. Ravelry member PeaceSoup recently lost her sister, who left behind a young boy to be raised by his father and grandparents. PeaceSoup wants to give him an amazing birthday present so she is raffling off a chunk of her stash and some beautiful donated yarn for $5 a ticket. And this woman has some serious stash!

The details are here. I’m hankering for the Elizabeth Bennett Apple Blossom - and even if I don’t win, it’s a fantastic cause.

In which I am suspicious

I have a horrible feeling that I am coming down with a cold.

I really cannot afford a cold as I have a 3-day conference this week, which I am also presenting at. It's going to be hardcore as I will be spending a lot of time at the CCH booth talking with conference goers, as well as actually attending conference sessions.

I have rugged up as much as one can for summer, and will be going out to the chemist later to pick up anti-cold meds like zinc and vitamin C.

In the meantime I am going to sit and sulk and knit.

This had better not be a cold. Please, please just be allergies!!!!

Oh. My. God.

I just spent AU$270 on a suit.

Never mind we are broke, it's the first payday after Christmas and we have credit cards and a holiday to pay off.  No, I am presenting at a conference next week which warranted the purchase of a suit that is a) good quality and b) actually fits.

But still....two hundred and seventy dollars!!!!!!

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Ah...the weekend!

First week back at work was huge, lots of really interesting stuff going on. I was so braindead by Friday night, I just got home and switched off!

But I am really looking forward to a quiet weekend pottering around, cleaning and trying new recipes. Plus big plans to watch Fellowship of the Rings on our big new TV and knit knit knit! And seam up that first glove....I hate seaming.

Holidays are over. :(

Last day of the holidays. I shouldn't be sad, there are lots of great things happening at work. But still, it's quite nice wake up whenever you want and do whatever you want. Lots of reading and knitting and shopping and mooching and I even managed to get a bunch of chores out of the way so I feel pretty satisfied.

The first cable glove is done bar the seaming, I am very pleased with how it came out and doing the thumb wasn't as scary as I anticipated. The blanket is also proceeding apace, I have worked out how the pattern grows which means I can work out where the yo's etc go without counting every single stitch.

Someone lent me the first two Twilight books which are definitely interfering with my knitting time. I've read them once before but from memory I was unimpressed with the second book and never bothered reading the rest of the series. Now it's such a big fuss with the movie and all that I thought I would give them another shot. The first was as good as I remembered, much better than the movie which doesn't quite convey Bella's acerbic and amusing narrative style. Just starting New Moon. The annoying thing will then be whether I can wait on the reserve list for Eclipse at the library...or cave and spend $20 on the book instead of the yummy Malabrigo yarn I have been virtuously resisting. This budgeting/saving business is hard.

Save me from the Boxing Day sales

No, not masses of shoes from Myer or even stacks of half-price towels and sheets (although I did get one set).

Yarn.

All of the Aussie online shops are announcing their sales, and it was just too hard to resist. Wired for Fibre won me over (poor Yarn and Kisses experienced a server move at the worst possible time). So I picked up some 4ply alpaca to make mum the socks she requested. And you may as well fill up the satchel, right? So I bought some merino 4ply as well. I talked myself out of some merino/silk laceweight, so there is some hope for me yet.

Better get back to knitting to justify my latest purchases!