Category: The Life of Lara

It’s all here. Adventures in extreme knitting, the house of poop, and suburban permaculture. You may also find rants about politics, ecology, humanitarianism, responsible living, toe floss, and other topics not covered here. Expect profanity and irreverence. You have been warned.

Tuesday, humpday

Ordinarily, Wednesday is hump day. The day that sits squarely in the middle of the week, dragging, and sitting obstinately between you and the weekend. Typically, the longest day of the week. After Monday of course.

This being a short week, Tuesday is now humpday. And I feel a cold coming on. I’ve been sniffling all day, and my brain is about two steps behind.

Today was my first appointment with the osteopath recommended by Mary-Helen, and she was great. I recounted my litany of complaints, and she confidently told me that she had seen worse train wrecks, and that she would be able to help.

Apparently, most people who feel pain get something done about it within 2 years. The fact that I have been suffering with pain for such a long time has done some damage, and it will take some doing to fix things, but I can be fixed, and I should be able to live without pain eventually. It was pretty emotional for me, and I felt that a good dinner was in order. I wandered up to Wagamama (in some pain, but that is to be expected), and had a lovely meal. Vegan too – unless you count the wine.

Catching the train there and back gave me some long missed knitting time, and I am within 10 repeats of finishing the main body of the Melon Shawl. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up some more yarn on sat at R+L (any idea how much yarn I’ll need for the border compared to the body?), and the right needles for the border. With even more luck, I’ll be ready to start the border on sat, while there are plenty of gurus there to help out if I get stuck.

Speaking of gurus, Sally has just started a blog, Pom Poms. Do pop over and welcome her to the wild world of blogging.

And lastly, many of us find therapy in our knitting (even those of us that are in pain if we knit too much), so it’s wonderful to see someone take the therapeutic aspect of knitting seriously. Check out Stitch Links for more information.

Have a great (short) week, I may miss a day due to tomorrow being my third wedding anniversary. Plans are afoot!

Another crazy animal rights activist…

This kinda slipped under my radar in the last few weeks, but apparently the media was whipped up into a frenzy because some German animal rights activist wanted to put down a polar bear that was rejected by his mother.

Which isn’t exactly true. It would appear that the mans comments have been taken out of context, and he he was made to sound like a monster. Sound familiar?

This man had been to court to save the life of another bear cub, in another German zoo – but had lost the case, being told that it was against the animal protection laws to keep the animal alive. He merely pointed out this fact when interviewed by a journalist, and now has received death threats from all around the world. Made a great story though – many news outlets have increased circulation with this beat up.

Read the full story here.

And a very cute photo essay here.

Full transcript of the Mediawatch interview with Frank Albrecht here. Sounds like a reasonable man to me, but then, I am a crazed animal liberationist myself 😉 .

A very useful post

For anyone familiar with “The Elizabeth Percentage System“, you may be interested in this post over at Zimmermania.


Also, over on the Sydney Morning Herald, I came across an old article about possums becoming endangered due to large numbers getting killed by cars. I hate seeing wildlife pizza of any description, but particularly possums, and particularly ringtail possums. The ringtails just look like the cutest creatures possible, and it breaks my heart to see them squished on city roads.

A Family Weekend

Apologies for a picture heavy post, but there hasn’t been many pictures lately.

Saturday morning Mark and I went to Ikea. Wednesday is our third wedding anniversary, and we’re buying a new bed to celebrate. We’re going to splurge on a decent (latex) mattress, and get some cheap furniture to go with it – the theory being that the mattress should outlast the furniture, and we’ll be sick of the furniture after 10 years anyway. Also – by going with Ikea furniture, we’ll be able to buy a whole room full of furniture for the price of a “good” bed frame.

This is going to be our last major purchase until the big one – the house. Hopefully, with us both on decent incomes (Mark signed a contract last week – he’s full time!), we’ll be able to save a deposit in less than two years.

Saturday arvo, we went to Adam and Sarah’s to hang out with TBA while they did some garage decluttering. He was pretty good – Sarah warned me that he wasn’t sleeping much in the daytime, and that he would probably be a bit grizzly.

He’s been suffering from too much wind (must run in my family), and was a little bit unsettled, but we talked and walked, and I managed to get him down for two short naps. I hope I passed the auntie test. Though I am not a big fan of the baby species, I think this one is pretty special.

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Here he is with his dad, having dinner.

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And here he is in the hat I knitted before he was born.

Sunday morning I drove mum to visit Aunty Emily, my grandmother’s sister. Emily will be 89 in June, and though she thinks she looks “like I’m ninety”, she has perfect skin and an agile mind. Short though.

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This is Emily with mum, and her son, Thomas.

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And this is Cocky.

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And here is some awesome street art I saw on my way home from S’nB today.

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And a detail.

I’m In!

In the Knitters Treat Exchange of course!

I couldn’t commit to the whole Secret Pal thing, but I found this thanks to Kate, a kind of SP lite…

Questionnaire Answers

1. What’s your favourite type of yarn?

A Soyslik/Cotton/Microfibre/Lycra blend. No, it doesn’t exist, but I can dream.

2. What’s your least favourite type of yarn?

Silk, Possum, and anything else that requires the death of the creature that produced the fibre. I’m not keen on angora bunny because of the conditions the poor wee bunnies have to live in, and I care very much about the quality of life of the creature that provides the yarn. Let’s talk about mulesing 😉

3. What’s the first thing you do when you visit a new yarn shop?

I find the brightest yarn and start fondling it, of course!

4. What other crafts do you do / would like to do?

I have my grandmothers spinning wheel, but am not an accomplished spinner. I have a few crochet hooks, but can’t follow a crochet pattern. I have a sewing machine, but I have no patience for process. I cook, when there is time, and I love my poor neglected garden.

5. What magazines do you currently subscribe to?

Interweave Knits, Yarn, and Yarn Forward.

6. Put this type of magazine in order of preference:
Knitting / Food / Garden / Crochet / Home / Other Craft / Fashion / Celebrity Gossip

7. What items do you like to knit / crochet?

I’m on a bit of a lace kick at the moment, but I want to do more garment knitting. I want to learn all I can about garment construction and design, because I have some things in my head that need to get out! I also have a growing collection of sock yarn that needs to become socks….

8. Are you allergic to anything?

I have pretty bad asthma, which is set off by strong chemical smells, dust, hard work ;), and many preservatives. Though I love perfume and scented candles etc, I have to be very careful.

9. What do you like to smell of?

I love citrus and vanilla – citrus for energy, and vanilla for comfort.

10. What’s your favourite way to relax?

Hanging in my home with the bunnies and my knitting, a sci fi series on DVD, and my hubby by my side. Knitting of course!

11. You’re stood in front of a Victorian style sweetshop, an Italian cafe, an old fashioned bakery and a dainty tea room. Where do you go first?

Italian cafe. No contest. I love savoury treats (I deeply regret having to give up anchovies when I gave up meat), and would much rather have bruschetta and a glass of red wine than ice cream and biscuits any day.

12. What do you come out with?

Um. Bruschetta and red wine? Arancini, salad with balsamic dressing, and maybe an espresso coffee with soy ice cream if I really need something sweet.

13. Where do you go next?

I’ll stay in the cafe.

14. Any other words of wisdom for your pal?

I like to think of myself as an ethical person, with limitations. I sometimes feel that people think I am a bully and impose my views on others, but that really isn’t the case (I hope!). I do like people to be educated about the choices that they make, but I certainly don’t expect everyone to agree with me! Difference is what makes the world an interesting place 🙂

Make Mine Chocolate

As Easter is coming up, it’s time for me to spread the word about bunnies, and how a bunny is not an appropriate Easter gift. A live animal is hardly ever an appropriate gift, but most people already know that, right?

Though bunnies have a strong link with Easter because of their prodigious powers of reproduction, these powers of reproduction make them difficult people to live with. Once desexed, rabbits make charming companions (I am writing this tucked up in bed with Custard asleep on my chest), but they require as much, if not more work than a dog or cat. Bunnies can be charming, and playful, and affectionate, and obstinate, and many delightful things – but they are not the passive soft toy that you may imagine from popular culture. I can show you the scars.

This Easter, show your admiration for rabbit fertility with chocolate.

And if you prefer our native Bilby (a very appropriate substitution), just make sure you read the label. Some chocolate bilbies are sold by a foundation that claims to protect bilbies in the wild – instead, they fund research into newer and nastier versions of myxo to kill rabbits. I don’t pretend that rabbits haven’t had a terrible effect on our country, but killing them with horrible slow acting viruses isn’t a humane way to deal with a problem that was created by us humans.