Sydney!

About to take a taxi to the airport to get a flight to Auckland and then onwards to Sydney tomorrow morning. So the next update should be exciting!

The last week, in pictures...



The knitting commission I've been working on - 2.5 days for a cardy and hat. I'm trying to
subsidise my yarn addiction by taking payment for baby knitting.



The knitting bag I picked up at KAN - never without it in my handbag.

Took a walk on my day off in between watching 3 films...

Stopped at Oriental Bay to read my book before being scared back inside by the wind

Dinner at work - Black Doris Plum cake with Plum and Creme Fraiche ice cream...mmm



Buquebus has picked up an annoying habit of tearing up cardboard boxes.




I spent an afternoon at the zoo with my favourite one year old. The lions were soaking
up the sun too.



My neglected mess of a vege patch - it's taking off with all this sunshine.

September knitting...

A few pictures of some knitting I've done this month...

 

 



ABs vs Pumas

I'm finally catching up on some posts from earlier in the month. My sister flew down for the night to come along to the Pumas vs All Blacks match. We had great seats tucked up under cover, out of the wind and rain. As it was the windiest day I can remember for a while, this was really welcome! My sister's plane had to circle a good 30 minutes before it could land - and it was apparently quite a bumpy landing.

 

I was so excited to see my favourite Puma playing. I've been a big fan of Juan Martin Hernandez since the 2007 World Cup. It was a great game - the Pumas put up a good fight - their defence was outstanding. Of course the ABs won in the end which was the result I was after (I am a Kiwi first and foremost, despite the blue and white facepaint).

 

While my sis was down we also went out for a yummy lunch at a Taiwanese restaurant. She's big on Asian food having travelled through China. I know pretty much nothing about Asian cuisine but I'm always up for trying something different! I had hot and sour soup and she, sweet and sour pork, and we shared dumplings and a hot of traditional tea. Tummies stuffed, we watched Moonrise Kingdom in the afternoon. And when I say watched, she watched, and I had a siesta having seen it already the night before and not having had to pay for my ticket.

 

It was a really fun weekend.

 

Just another day...

I forgot to bring my camera into work so still no holiday post...the wee hours of Friday morning it'll have to be (and I really need to get my lap top fixed).

I forgot today was the day I was closing at work and then opening the next morning (so 7 hours between shifts) so I got up early to do some exciting house cleaning, knitting, killing aphids in the garden, baking bread and making Sally Lunn. Luckily I have 24.5 hours (excited much?!) between the next shifts to catch up on some zzz.

This afternoon I had my friends' baby over for a couple of hours. All three of us flatmates happened to be home and it was a gorgeous day so we headed out to Lyall Bay beach to play on the playground and have coffee at the Maranui Surf Club.

Here's me and the little one rocking her hand knits. I mainly snuck this photo in to show off her hat again and to show off my hair - how long is it getting?! That's 17 months of growth now and it's almost down to my shoulders.

I've been making a conscience effort to get up and do something before work each day and it's doing wonders for my happiness levels. One morning this week I got in 2+ hours of knitting before a midday shift. My aim for this week is to work in daily exercise so it starts to become a habit. I was getting pretty darn chubby there earlier this year but thankfully 7kg of it has somehow melted away without me noticing so by making a conscious effort I'm sure the same again will come off without too much trouble. I even started wearing jeans again after a year of not wearing them due to fear of muffin top.

Right it's getting really really late so I'd better hit the hay. Apologies for the rambling post but my brain stopped functioning several hours ago.

P.S. Just realised it's 3 weeks and 1 day until I head off to Sydney and the Blue Mountains. Cannot wait!

Still here, still knitting...

Well I've tried to update quite a few times, with photos, over the past couple of weeks but haven't had much luck with the computer. Hopefully tonight will be different.

It's Sunday so I finished work nice and early at 7-ish so I was home in time for a great night in of TV viewing - Nothing Trivial followed by Offspring. I have a glass or three of bubbly and my flatmate cooked me curry so life is good.

Once this is typed up I'll be able to get into some knitting. I've got quite a bit done this week. I'm working on a whole lot of teddy clothes, mostly of my own design, for a couple of special little (and not so little) girls' birthday presents. They look rather hilarious, in a cute kind of way, and at least I'm using up all of the yarn scraps lying around the house.

Since I last posted I've finished a couple of other projects - an Aviatrix hat in newborn size which is so tiny and sweet, another pair of gansey booties in gorgeous alpaca, the black rib beanie for a Christmas gift (yay me, so organised!) and a dish cloth in the most tedious seed stitch that I never care to repeat (part of another Christmas gift). That doesn't look all that much written down but thatt was a fair amount of teddy knitting. I also spent a good number of hours (upwards of 10) trying to untangle the beautiful merino silk I bought off Jessicah of Spinning a Yarn at KAN so I can cast on a cowl. I can't believe how tangled I got it. That'll teach me to try ball up yarn on a bus. There must be a simpler technique but I haven't worked it out yet.

What else has been happening...? I got my wisdom tooth pulled which wasn't nearly as painful as expected but did cost me a couple of week's rent. My sister flew down to come along to the Pumas vs All Blacks game with us which was a lot of fun. I've babysat my favourite wee baby with another date with her this week - she's the most laid back and happy baby I've met in a long while. I put Buquebus on the scales to find he weighs a whopping 5 kilos - not a small bunny, that's for sure - I also bought him a dog harness to take him for walks but he hates it.

Of course I got up to lots while I was on leave but the photos are worth sharing so I'll make a point of using the computer at work after I finish in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to put them on here.

Right, time to get back to the knitting... :-)

Photos from Queenstown..finally

I'm off on holiday again tomorrow and have an early bus to catch so I'm pulling an all nighter. Because of that I thought I'd take the chance while I'm still at work and doing a bit of unpaid admin, I'd procrastinate a bit by posting pictures.

So here's a quick run down and pictures from when I was down south in June.

I took the bus from Dunedin to Queenstown to meet up with my parents and the first thing we did when I arrived was go to Ferg Burger. Their burgers are AMAZING. There's a lot of hype around them and they totally live up to it - every single mouthful. Here I am eating a venison burger. Mmm. Equally great is Ferg Baker - the best pies I've ever had. I had to buy about 4 to sample all the flavours...

The next morning started with a walk around the Bannockburn countryside, up past where they used to mine gold and past many, many, many rabbits. Despite it being quite foggy I thought the colours were gorgeous - purples, reds and browns...

The walk took us past old miner's cottages - the remains of them anyway. Here I am doing the Che at Machu Picchu pose in a door frame.

Of course we took a wrong turn (my sense of direction failed me) and so we walked the long way around to Bannockburn instead of back to the car park. Some of the old buildings are really sweet.

While Dad walked a few extra ks back to get the car, Mum and I had morning tea in a cute cafe. I had to try a local delicacy - the classic cheese and onion roll. Mmm.

All that walking built up more of an appetite than just for food, after all we were smack in the middle of Central Otago wine country. Pinot, anyone? I should have invoiced my work for visiting one of the wineries that we use. Of course it's not exactly a chore tasting all of these...

After a couple of cellar doors it was time for lunch. Not just any lunch but lunch at Mt Difficulty. Oh my god was it good. I had Mt Cook Salmon with cockles washed down with a glass of riesling. Their riesling is phenomenal.

The view wasn't bad either.

A couple more cellar doors and then to Cromwell to check out the old town, relocated when they built the dam.

Of course no visit to a small New Zealand town is complete without visiting whatever the local tacky statue is. In this case, fruit...

Ah Aurum. This vineyard was definitely a highlight. I took home a bottle of white port but if funds had allowed a bottle of the Mathilde pinot noir wouldn't have gone amiss.

The next day started earlier with a drive out to Glenorchy. Just look at that view!

Horse trekking was first of the agenda. More stunning views and river crossings. Such a awesome way to check out some truely spectacular scenery.

This is Paradise. You might know it as the paddock(s) in which many movies are/were filmed - like Wolverine, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit etc etc.

We'd booked on a jet boat tour up the Dart River. It included a short stroll through the beech forest.

I'm pretty sure this one needs no caption. Just stunning, stunning scenery.

It's kind of hard to take pictures from a moving jet boat but what a way it was to see the sights. The riverbanks were covered in snow. The beech forests, mountain tops, beautiful clear day. I can see why this part of the country is so popular with the tourists.

 On our last day we went out to cutesy Arrowtown for a wander. I could live there.

It would have been rude not to visit a few vineyards a little closer to Queenstown. I loved Brennan Wines. A bottle might have made its way home with me.

The gorge.

Scenic shot of a vineyard. I'd love to visit when it's all lush and green.