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.

Craftyness

We’ve had a few kids parties recently, and due to the constraints of living on one income, I’ve tried to use materials at hand to make presents and cards that aren’t too crappy.

Of course, I love the end result, and would be thrilled if anyone made similar things for me, but I have to rely on people to appreciate my warped sense of colour and style.

Here are a few examples.

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Birthday card for James, Gouache on Paper, 2008. Collection of James, Granville, Aged One.

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Party outfit for Ursula, Cotton, Micro Suede, Lycra, Elastic, 2008. Collection of Ursula, Neutral Bay, Aged 7 Months.

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Library Bag for Josiah. Cotton and Acrylic Ribbon, 2008.
Birthday Card for Josiah. Gouache on Paper, 2008. Collection of Josiah of Granville, aged 1 year.

I also made a Library bag for Hunter, but some idiot forgot to get a picture.

Spam

Going through my spam folder tonight, I spied an email that started “Hi Lara, thanks to the nomination” – but I spied it just as I pressed the “Delete Forever” button.

So if it was you that sent it, please resend!

There has been some sad news Chez Discoknitter – Rhubarb the Macbook is in a coma. His power supply got really hot and melted, and it now no longer supplies power, so no laptop. I’ve moved the desktop into the front room, but it doesn’t have my news feeds, bookmarks, or passwords on it. Or my main email account. So bear with me while I struggle through.

In good news, the desktop is the one with the pictures on it, so prepare for some picture heavy posts.

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I’ve been tagged.

From Fe – The idea is that you go to your Flickr account (or equivalent) and find the sixth photo on the sixth page. And then (as Guera did) you go to your photo folders on your own computer and find the sixth photo in the sixth folder.

Kangaroo at Dawn, Emerald Beach

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One of a series taken for a photographic competition. Not particularly thrilled with this one, though I did get some shots I was happy with.

Progress

Joining date 18/10/08
Weight 118.0kg

Weigh in date 25/10/08
Weight 115.7kg
Loss 2.3kg
Net Loss 2.3kg

Weigh in date 1/11/08
Weight 117.1kg
Gain 1.4kg
Net Loss 0.9kg

Weigh in date 8/11/08
Weight 113.7kg
Loss 3.4kg
Net Loss 4.3kg

That’s 4.3kg in three weeks folks!

Who gets to decide what a woman does with her boobs?

Hoyden about Town has a great post about Salma Hayek, who is “still” breastfeeding her daughter at 13 months.

I always thought I’d stop breastfeeding when the kid grew teeth, I certainly never thought I’d still be breastfeeding when he turned one, and I never dreamed I’d be feeding him for two years. But that is what the World Health Organisation recommends, and it’s particularly relevant for kids with allergies in the family. It’s what the paed recommends, so that’s what we’ll do.

And I hope that my experience adds to the general acceptance of breastfeeding beyond 6 months.

Invitations

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In typical slapdash Lara fashion, I’ve just gone through my address book and facebook contact list, and randomly sent invitations. Of course, this means that I will have forgotten some important people, and there are also some people that I don’t have current email addresses for.

So if you haven’t received your invitation yet, leave a comment (and I’ll get your email address), and then I can rectify the situation.

Apologies in advance.

Loving the crochet

I’ve been doing a bit of crochet with some odds and ends from my stash – odd balls that are never going to make it in to a special project. But I’ve been fantasizing about a Babette blanket, or at least a blankie that I can make gradually, a couch project that I can pick up and put down without worry about pattern, gauge, attention span, sleep deprivation induced dementia…

And today I came across this tutorial, which shows how to make a hexagon fabric, and join new pieces as you crochet. Gorgeous, and with minimal finishing? Sold!

Now I just have to squeeze some yarn money out of our very tight budget.

Oh, and I think I might have slipped up, and offered to knit my dad a jumper like that guy on Time Team.

Melissa Etheridge Finds a Silver Lining

If I’m not entitled to equal rights, you’re not entitled to my taxes.

P.S. I do feel a bit stupid banging on about same sex issues, when I am clearly hetero breeder from the suburbs. I know my attitude to these issues probably irritates some people, but I think it’s important that we stand up for people that are being oppressed – whether or not we are personally affected.

And I do feel personally affected. I can’t explain why, it doesn’t make much sense to me – but every time I hear of people celebrating their love, I feel that I share a little bit of their joy. And when I hear about injustice and bigotry, I take it very personally.

The continuing adventures of Inigo, boy about town…

The favourite game this week, is flinging himself over, forwards, backwards, sideways, whatever.  Someone is ALWAYS there to catch him – he is a very secure child.

But sometimes, he gets distracted mid game, and forgets to fall over – and we see a few seconds of actual unaided standing.

This morning, he even took a step before the fling took full effect!

P.S. We popped in to the clinic this morning, weight ticking along nicely, head slowing down, another 2cm long, and “very advanced” verbal development. Apparently all that yelling is a good thing.