Leaving

It's two days before I go now. Obviously I've been pretty slack here lately, but I have had a lot of organising to do!

Anyway, I've set up a new travel blog:

http://lindsaygoes.wordpress.com/

I'm not going to delete this blog but I won't be posting here.

Art Deco Scarf

When we went to New Zealand, I promised my mum I'd make her a scarf with some yummy possum/merino/silk yarn I bought there. I managed to do it without her seeing it (although the blocking part had me EXTREMELY nervous, luckily it was warm weather and only took one night). It ended up really nice and I'm sure she'll get a lot of use out of it once the weather cools down. I ended up with two left over balls so eventually I might make myself some fingerless gloves or mittens maybe.

It's an art deco scarf because we went to Napier in New Zealand, which is an art deco town, and zig-zags are a common motif in Art Deco style.

The pattern is Isobel, knitted with Supreme Possum Merino with Silk. Took about a month and a half of surreptitious knitting.

Looking Back at 2008

Looking back at 2008, it was a bit of a blah year unfortunately. We lost our darling Barney in February and I felt like I was working a lot. I think it was just the way my hours were set out that I felt like I didn't have big chunks of time to do stuff I wanted.

I've just been looking back on my goals for 2008 and to be honest, I didn't really go all that well on them.

1. Comment more on blogs/projects/images etc. Partly I don't do this because I read Bloglines at work, so I figure the more websites I go to the badder I am, but when I'm looking at stuff at home I'm going to make an effort to comment more. Most of it is just laziness really.
I didn't really do this. Looks like I'm shy on the net and in person.

2. Keep a creative journal. I'm not sure how well this one will go, I've tried it before, but I'll do my best. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself for daily writing or anything, but I think it will be useful.
Also didn't go very well.

3. Get a shower timer. I should stop assuming I'm having short enough showers and actually measure it.
Hooray, I did this one. Go me!

4. Complete some stuff I started this year - TAST, the 12 inch square CAL (only one of these to do and then combine everything). Also use some of the supplies I have.
Ummm...no, I guess that's part of the overwhelmed with work bit.

5. Challenge myself creatively. This may include large projects, new skills etc.
Yes, I did knitting and made socks, did cabling and lace. I'm pretty impressed with myself here.

6. Read another 15 books from my list (see previous post). Read over 100 books in the year.
I read over 100 books (180 actually, the last one scraped in just on New Years Eve)
Only 7 from the list, but I've read lots from other lists.

7. Make some plans for an overseas trip in 2009 and ask others to join me.
Definitely did this one. In fact I'm leaving in February, so not long now. I didn't actually ask others to join me, I was going to, and then they were talking about going overseas so I invited myself. I have done most of the organising though. .

8. Take a bit of time out to think about where I'm going etc.
Kind of, I'm going on a big overseas trip!

So what about 2009?

I'm finishing my job in mid February then making my way to the UK, travelling through India (5 weeks), Thailand (1 week) and Japan (2 weeks) on the way. Once I'm in the UK I'm going to work for a little bit (to make up the money I've spent in the first part of my trip) and then travel round Europe in between working. It's been something I've been wanting to do since uni and I'm so glad to finally be getting the chance to.

I'm going to keep blogging here until I go (probably fairly sporadically though) and then I think I'll set up a new travel blog but I'll see how I'm feeling before I leave.

Blog Break

I knew I hadn't posted in a while, but then realised it had been over a month. I've thought about posting but it's been feeling like a bit of a chore so I've decided to take a bit of a break until the New Year and then reassess the blog a bit.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone and I'll update next year.

Scrummy Yarn

When we were in New Zealand I bought some lovely yarn.

This is some gorgeous hand painted yarn for me (no plans yet)

and some merino, possum and silk yarn for a scarf for my mum. It has been started and hopefully it'll be done in time for Christmas (it takes much longer to make things when they are a surprise and you have to keep them hidden!). I've maybe done about 15cm at the moment and it's sooooo gorgeous and soft that I might have trouble giving it away once I've finished.

New Zealand Photos

Here are some photos from my fabulous trip to the North Island of New Zealand. We were only there for six days and it would be great to go back there eventually and see more, particularly the South Island, because what I saw of New Zealand was really lovely. I did take a lot more photos than these, but I couldn't swamp the blog with all of them!

We went to Rotorua, which has lots of thermal activity. We went to one of the thermal parks and saw a geyser which was really cool, as well as lots of hot pools, craters and other stuff. We also went to the Agrodome where we saw a sheep show, and I may have come away with some wool (but I'll show you those photos in another post).

We also went to Napier, where most of the town was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and now a lot of it is rebuilt in Art Deco style. There has been a lot of restoration and we went on a guided walking tour as well, and we really got a lot out of that.

It's Lamb Sock

I've been picking up a few nice pairs of socks for a little while now, planning to make a sock creature, and I finally got around to it. All hand sewn, but it really didn't take long and it's sooo soft and squishy. I didn't stuff it too firmly because I liked the feeling of squashing it when it was just plump but not too full.

I used the lamb pattern from Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves.