Swap package for me!

A few months ago Maepress and I decided we would put swap packages together for each other. So I knitted and felted a little loony lobster for her and skatergirl and sent some funky kiwiana stuff that I hunted out a various gift shops. Today I received mine in the mail! I got oodles and oodles of kool-aid (for dying fiber and yarn) and kitchen cotton, that I requested (neither are available here). Some books! (which are quite "dear" here), some great stickers - including that fantastic one of Barack, a deery-lou lougage tag, AND a much needed and appreciated handmade tote in my favorite shade of poop brown!Skatergirl (she is 5) had a few questions about New Zealand 1) are there cats in New Zealand 2) do people have pets in New Zealand?
I would like to answer both of those questions with a photo of our neighbour's cat that I took this morning (she of course refused to look at the camera or was moving every time I took a picture). Also, that is a frozen dish of water (or simply a dish of ice) that she was licking at.

As any good sconnie girl would...

I much prefer winter snow to winter rain so this weekend was a wonderful break from the rain! We headed up to Hanmer Springs and played in the snow above Jack's Pass. The original plan had been to head all the way to the summit of Mt. Isobel, but the weather didn't look like it would hold too long and we ended up just scooting up a few snow covered hills. Snowshoes and gaters would have been helpful. We ended up getting a bit wet. The snow, especially in the lower elevations, was really wet and we kept falling through the snow, sometimes past our knees! It was fun and basically just some big kids playing in the snow!
Funnily enough Blue and I realized that the last time we were in Hanmer was almost exactly a year ago. There was considerably less snow and the weather was warm and spring like then.
I didn't build this little guy, I just added a little snow hat.

1 plus 1 is 2

I've been knitting a little lately, but mostly it has been spinning and acquiring spinning wheels. One of the women I spin with offered me one of her wheels at a very reasonable price (the little peggy in the foregroud) and later that same evening I won an auction on trade-me for another (similar, but different ;) wheel for very cheap as well. Had either one of them been much more expensive I would have had to choose, but now I get to learn on 2 different wheels. And although they look very similar one is a double drive and the other is a single drive (meaning that they have different personalities). I obviously need to master both! Plus now when people come to visit me from the states they can learn how to spin (without hoggin' my wheel), yeah I'm practical like that. So come on over statesiders, we'll spin together!

I also finished spinning and plying some wool I was working on the last time I posted. The colors still aren't "me" but I think the yarn turned out pretty well nonetheless.

Since I spun the orange second, and my spinning is obviously still being refined, it turned out a lot thinner than the multi fiber. The varying thicknesses show up in the skeins too which I thought was pretty interesting, but not that surprising. Anywho, so I had quite a bit of orange left over after the plying so I decided to use the remainder to learn how to navajo ply. It was very awkward at first, but I got the hang of it. Now I just have to work on my technique.

I now have about 7 pretty good sized hanks of my own handspun yarn... maybe I should think about knitting them sometime soon... I still haven't knit anything that I have spun which I find pretty amusing.

In nonfiber news (there is such a thing?) it is still rainy and cold here in New Zealand. A few days of intermittent sunshine snuck in last week, but nothing substantial enough to satiate those of us longing for some warm weather. It snowed last night with some sleet and rain mixed in. The hills above us look beautiful with their dusting. I love when it snows here because it never last longer than a day and is usually followed by sunshine. Maybe tomorrow we'll get a warm sunny day?...

spin spin spin spin spin spin spin

I'm thinking that I may need to change the name of my blog... in order to incorporate my newest passion (passion makes it sound a bit lusty, which I guess it is), spinning.

Over the weekend I took a spinning course. It was full, but I was lucky and got in due to some drop-outs. It was taught by a world renowned spinner and weaver, Anne Field. Before I even heard of the course I had picked up some of her books at the library. The class was really neat. Instead of learning spinning techniques we learned about different sheep fibers and how to spin them appropriately. We spun raw fiber which was new to me, carding each individual lock out is pretty time consuming and it's harder to spin for me compared to the roving and sliver I have been using. The lanolin did ooze from the fiber though coating and moisturizing my hands!

Here are my little sample skeins illustrating the 2 different fibers we worked with.

And because we didn't work on spinning techniques at all I have been using my evenings this week to hone my skillz on the wheel. These are the 4 hanks I spun in the weeks before the class. The 2 on the left were made and plyed on the drop spindle and the 2 on the right were made on the wheel. The green one has a nice novelty yarn look to it, but I'm not sure how structurally sound it is. I will have to learn the proper way to make thick and thin because I know for sure that wasn't it!

And this is the yarn I have been working on this week. I picked it up from a local woolery. The color choices weren't exactly to my taste, but I thought I would work with it. They are romney slivers. Romney have nice long fibers making them an easy option for beginners. So the plan is to spin up the orange stuff and then ply the 2 singles together. I think they will look nice together and maybe tone down the purply color in the multi ply (yuck to purple says me).

Other than spinning, not a lot is going on over here in NZed. It is raining for the second straight week in a row, but it isn't too cold out. I am hoping for some warm and sunny days soon. I haven't been on my bike all week!

Over and out.

Ruh-roh kids, I'm hooked

I had my first taste of spinning with a drop spindle less than a week ago. Having mild success with that, and really enjoying it, I have made some steps towards becoming a spinner. I attended a meeting at the weavers & spinners guild on Saturday (to see if I could test my luck at a wheel).

The members of the guild meet every Saturday at the Art Center in town. There is a room full of spinning wheels and a room full of looms. From 10 - 2, the women trickle in, each with their wheel and set up in a circular formation around the room. They greet each other, catching up on the events of the week, and checking in on each other's progress and new projects. Many people come to spin, but others choose to work the fibers they have created and sit and chat while knitting.

I didn't bring anything and chose to observe and learn about the process. After taking in all that I could, I had one of the women show me how to spin. She picked me out a traditional ashford wheel and grabbed me some of the 'learner's' fiber (it was a beautiful brown with flecks of grey). She adjusted the wheel for me and off I went. It wasn't perfect yarn, but it was much nicer looking than my first attempt on a drop spindle (see left). It was relatively even and skinny! I filled up a bobbin in less than an hour so I'm thinking I'll have time to do the same next week and learn how to ply the two together.

Oh and after having a go on the wheel I picked up my own drop spindle and some more fiber. I put all my newly learned techniques to use on the drop spindle and my yarn product was greatly improved (see).

This page is a nice basic intro to drop spinning (and the pics of the old lady are pretty great too).

Thick 'n Thin

Sometime in the last week I got it in my head that I needed to try the ancient art of spinning with a drop spindle. So my friend Deirdre from stitch n' bitch offered to bring her's along with some roving to the meeting this week and she even let me take it all home! I explained to her that I was pretty sure I needed to be in the frustration of my own living room to truly give the spindle a whorl. After thinking about spinning all day at work I came home and tried it again. The result isn't very pretty, I'll be the first to admit, but practice practice practice. With all this practicing, I hope I have time to knit!

genisis

One thing is for sure, commercials here are better than back home. They are generally less annoying and man are there some catchy jingles! But they are also played too loudly here, I hate having to turn the TV way down during commercials. Anyway this here one is one that gets turned up cuz it's just that great.

Keepin' it warm

Last weekend I finished my cabled wristwarmers. For me this project served 2 purposes, 1) to keep my little hands warm while I compute and knit 2) to try my hand at a cabling pattern. The got a big thumbs up from me on both accounts. I have been wearing them on the daily.

Blue was also quite taken by them. He was impressed with my cables and jealous of the warmth they provided me. So I made him his own pair (dashing), designed for "him." I had to rework the pattern since the first go 'round with the original didn't work.

I also finished up some felted slippers (that are still drying) and a baby sweater this weekend. It has been rainy and cold all weekend. Yesterday we didn't even leave the house (that's how I was able to be so productive in my kniting).

new FOTC video (makes me smile)

Hurray for mixed tapes!

Thanks to stitchkommander for another fun toy!

more icelandic crazies

Last week we were watching the news and at the end of the broadcast the anchor said, "and now a new song an video from the icelandic band sigar ros." Then they proceded to play this video of naked people running around the forest. I turned to blue and said, "well that would never happen in the states." Then we giggled.

It was on again tonight on our version of Mtv (C4). I think I may like the song, but I can't tell because the nudies are so distracting. I looked them up and they have a free download of the song on their website where you can also watch the video (you're welcome).

stitch n' bitch

I attended a local stitch and bitch last night and the girls were all geared up for international knit in public day, which takes place this Saturday starting here in NZed (since we live in the future and all). It was a nice night out for me: wine, stitchin', bitchin'. Anywho someone designed this for the event and I am trying to find out who... I think it's perty.

Oh and the meeting place in town this Saturday is one of the (few) places in town that sells yummy local beer. But I'm thinking, Sat 11am + bar = one bloody mary for me.

Snowflake, just before it melts

Balanced Snowflake, originally uploaded by SusanNobleSmith Photos.

It snowed here last night! I find this exciting while others find it annoying. But it isn't like back home when the first snow fall is a reminder of all the cold snowy months to come. Here it is a fleeting novelty that will be gone probably within the hour. We didn't get much accumulation here, but apparently in more western parts of the city it actually accumulated. We did get those big beautiful wet drops of snow though, the ones that look like 100 snowflakes stuck together.

Having no good pictures of snowflakes, I went to flickr to find this cute snowflake hanging out on a cedar.

The Game

My creation
Originally uploaded by mmm gin

Thanks to stitchkommander my morning was really productive... She posted the method (and her results) on her blog.

FO's fo sho'

palette scarf and banana
Originally uploaded by mmm gin

Here I am tossin' around my little knitted banana with my new favourite scarf before I got all my hair chopped off.

It isn't that I didn't like my long hair, I actually did (more than I ever thought I would like having long hair). But I was sick of it, sick of having to dry (at least part of) it every morning. Sick of having to tie it back all the time and then having that annoying ponytail bump when it got so painful I had to take it out. Sick of catching myself unknowingly playing with it while I worked at my computer. I didn't (and don't) want to be one of those girls that plays with their hair all the time. So for all of those reasons, it got the chopped. Plus everyone in my family and my husband have said that when they picture me in their heads, I have short hair (I may as well have short hair then!).

Moving on to more important things, knitting. The palette scarf that I finished a week or more ago was knit with some local (New Zealand anyway) merino wool. It is worsted (or 8 ply as they call it here) weight. The pattern called for fingering (or 4 ply), but I couldn't find any that I liked so I adapted the pattern. Instead of casting on 31 stitches, I think worked 27 instead. Then I just worked the lace pattern as normal for the length that of 2 hanks (that I hand rolled into balls - liz).

(old) gossip in the knitting community (gasp!)

As I have mentioned, I have been on a knitting streak lately. Thus I have been collecting patterns and adding them to my 'to knit' queue. Tonight I decided to stop by magknits. To my great surprise, it was not working and there was a cryptic little email address instead of knitting patterns. You see magknits was always there for a wwwandering knitter. Every month there were new patterns. The quality and layout wasn't as good as those found on knitty (which is only updated 4 times/year), but there were a few gems, like the jaywalker socks. Anywho I guess some unhappy knitters were trash talking the woman that ran the page on a forum called ravelry (which coincidentally I recently joined), so much that the woman up and closed the thing! She had hinted in the past that magknits wasn't going to be around for the long haul, but apparently too much trash talk on an open forum was the straw that broke the camels back. Gossip on the subject can be found here. Oh and this happened over a month ago so needless to say I'm not really on top of knitting gossip. I'm not even good at being a knitting nerd...

And because I am currently rocking out to the ramones, I have added their pic. Oh and I am enjoying a delicious G&T in celebration of finishing my scarf! 

license to mac (probably lost on those not haling from lincoln high)

I've been trying to upload this photo for 3 days now! My little macbook is a bit cranky these days. I tried to 'repair the disk' but apparently need my 'startup disk' to do so... I don't think I have seen my startup disk since I pulled this puppy out of the box. Mom, I'm guessing it is in your basement somewhere. If you come across it, please send it in the next load ;) There aren't a whole lot of maccers around here and 2/3 of the ones I know are on 'baby leave' at the moment (and the other one does not have the disk). So it may be a while before my mac is running a full speed again. 

On the other hand, my knitting is revving back up to full speed again and I am nearly finished with the palette scarf. In fact after I finish this post I am going to knit the last few rows and bind off so I can wear it tomorrow.

... and knit.

garden... finished?

garden... finished?
Originally uploaded by mmm gin

The weekend hail storm didn't finish the garden, but the frost over the last two nights certainly has! Yesterday we scavenged the garden and harvested what we could. However other things didn't make it. Good-bye lettuce, good-bye spinach, good-bye basil (I think he took it the hardest), good-bye brussel sprouts (that never produced). The cilantro and green onions are still hanging in there, but I doubt that will last much longer if these cold temps keep up. Last night it got down to -3 C, 26 F (that is cold for people in a country without double glazed windows or insulation or central heating...)

On a positive note, all this cold weather has got me a knitten with some New Zealand merino wool - oooohhh so soft. I need many more hats and scarves!

Baby Legwarmers

This pattern was inspired by some baby legwarmers my cousin's little boy had. She said they were the best thing to add an extra layer and keep her little one warm.

Materials

Yarn: Karabella aurora 4, colour 06, 100% extra fine merino wool

1 ball is enough to make a few pairs

Needles: US 3 circular (a longer length circular works best)

Size: Designed to fit a 2-3 month old baby. Pattern has ribbing on both ends so it can be easily cuffed if they are too big.

Pattern notes: I prefer to work the magic loop method when knitting in the round (on small items like this), but if you would rather work with double points or the 2 circular needle method, it is easily transferable.

I learned how to use the magic loop method from here, but knitting help has a video too.

Pattern

Cuff: CO 32 stitches

Divide sts evenly between the 2 needles.

Join to begin working in the round, careful not to twist.

k2, p2 rib, repeat for 2.5 inches

work stockinette for 2 inches

next round, increase 4 stitches evenly across (k8, inc 1, repeat 4 times)

work stockinette for 0.5 inch

next round, increase 4 stitches evenly across

work stockinette for 0.5 inch (there should be a total of 3 inches stockinette now)

work k2, p2 rib for 2 inches

bind off (loosely)

Make second legwarmer exactly the same.

photo cred goes to sweatergirl, props for making the model too :D

*this pattern has now been added as a free pdf download on ravelry

3 months later...

It's been 3 months and neither blue or I have seen  hide nor hair of little arm man... until today.

Apparently he was on sabbatical or something. He was back at the gym tonight and up to his old antics and hogging the same bench that I wanted to use! All I could do was giggle.

sunrise in queenstown

sunrise in queenstown
Originally uploaded by mmm gin
Mornings in the mountains are always a treat. Over the long weekend blue and I headed down to Fiordland to check out Milford Sound and the beautiful scenery. We got a late afternoon start on Thursday so ended up stopping halfway in queenstown for the night. We woke up to the sun creeping over the mountains and the moon still high in the sky. There were also lots of great little low clouds in the valleys and over the lakes. I made blue stop several times so I could take photos.

anzac biscuits

Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and anzac day is April 25. Not to generalize, but it is kind of like Memorial Day in the states (not to be confused with Labor Day ;). It marks the day of first major military action by Australia and New Zealand (in WWI, btw that sentence was totally plagiarized from wikipedia).

Anyway anzac day is great for 2 selfish reasons. 1: I get the day off work. 2: anzac biscuits.

These delicious little gems are little more than oats, sugar, butter and coconut. mmmm... I added some sultanas (slightly different from raisins) and chocolate buttons to half. I worked from two different recipes: eating out loud had one up and the australian government did too (I figured they would know what they are talkin' 'bout). There are only very slight differences between the two.

needles, of the nonknitting variety

Last week all (most) of us staffers at work went to the student health services and got our flu shot. It was weird getting a flu shot in spring, but it isn't spring at all. It's fall and feeling more and more like winter, which is depressing. The days are so short now. It's 5:30 now and already dusk! But back to the flu shot... So the department shouted (they say that here when someone else picks up the bill :) the shots for the staff (at the STUDENT health center), but per usual left the students to fend for themselves. Not that blue would get one anyway, but the fact that the benefits offered to the student's at the university seem to be continually downsizing is disconserting. I haven't been here long enough to know if conditions were ever that great for the students; all I know is they are way worse than they were in so' cacalaca (aka south carolina). That being said, the support from professors is way better. 

Moving right along to nonknitting needle number two. I got acupuncture today! I've had an issue with my hip ever since I slipped on some ice and gave myself the bruise of a lifetime. After several bouts of physio (aka physical therapy) both in the U.S. and here, it still ails me. So I decided to try something new. It was pretty interesting, but not scary at all. The needles were very small, I didn't feel them go in. He then sent electrical pulses through them to loosen up deep tissue (electro-acupuncture). It was a relatively relaxing experience and I hope it helps. So far it feels a little better...

unthrown flowers

We just got our photos back from the photographers and are really happy with them. This is my beautiful bouquet that turned out just how I envisioned. I avoided the tradition of throwing the bouquet for a few reasons. But now my bouquest is dried and the white flowers have turned brown :(

For my sisters (bridesmaids) I wanted pommanders (aka flower balls). I was also very happy with how they turned out.

Simple green hydrangeas for the men. For blue's buttonhole I had a koru (fiddlehead) added in. The silver fern is a national symbol here in NZ and koru images are very prevalent in Maori culture where it symbolizes new beginnings, rebirth and all that jazz (We also had a koru on our invites).

Sconnies in New Zealand

who knew...Burger Wisconsin!
Originally uploaded by kirsteng117

Families and friends have come and gone and now we are left with fond memories and great pics! (and still a few scattered family members traveling the country) I can't believe how fast the last few weeks have gone. We have been running around like a bunch of crazy people trying to help people navigate around NZed, getting (or trying to get) organized for the wedding, and trying to enjoy every minute. Sometimes that was hard (the enjoyment part). We had a few minor debackles, but things turned out pretty well all and all.

Now I have time to breathe and enjoy my new husband :D
Coming soon: more updates on wedding near-catastrophies and good stuff too!

Knitting for babies

It seems that everybody is procreating as of late. So all of my knitting has been for babies. The great thing about knitting for babies is you can afford (and feel compelled) to use nice yarn, baby things tend to be quick knits, and since the items are so small, they always look cute! 

This particular set was knit for a work colleague's baby girl - Sophie Kate. I hope she appreciates the little pink bows I added for that feminine touch (I even sewed them in place - mostly because I was afraid they would come undone before the presie got unwrapped).

The hat pattern is Vine Lace Baby Hat free from knitting daily.

a kiwi dictionary excerpt

In preparing for family and friends to arrive for our big day, blue and I put together a few lists that will help them to ease into New Zealand culture. Below is a list of definitions we came up with:

Dairy - a convenience store
Bach - holiday home (not usually very fancy)
The ditch- the Tasman Sea
Sealed/unsealed road - paved/unpaved road
Footie - Rugby
Pavlova - special new zealand cake
Smoko - break
Togs - speedo
Tea - dual meaning: 1) literal translation, tea 2) a less formal meal (dinner)
Torch - flashlight
Fush & chups - fish and chips
Chippie - fish and chip shop
Chips - fries
Crisps - potato chips
Jandles - japanese sandles (aka flip flops)
Biscuits - cookies
Bonnet - hood of the car
Boot - car trunk
Breakie - breakfast
Entree - starter
Main - entree ;)
Jersey - jacket, sweatshirt
Swede - rutabaga
Courgette - zucchini
Aubergine - eggplant
Lollie - candy (any kind)
100s & 1000s - sprinkles
Plaster - band-aid
Chemist - pharmacist
Tomato Sauce - ketchup
Z (pronounced zed) - Z
Long Black - similar to an americano, but stronger and much smaller (can be ordered in larger sizes or with extra water)
Flat white - strong, small coffee with steamed milk (no/little froth)
Fine (referring to weather) - nice/clear
Kona coffee - drip coffee

Koala cuddles

Koala 1
Originally uploaded by blue442

Blue just put up a few pics from our trip to Oz (just click on the image to access).

Thieving pilot jerks

Remember that amazing helicopter ride I went on? Well it turns out that the pilots (both the guy that took us in and the guy that brought us out) are jade thieves. Jade, also known as greenstone here or pounamu here is sacred to the Maori people of New Zealand. They are not Maori and have been stealing and selling it for years. Check out the story and their sketchiness here.

Surfs Up Dude!

Back from Oz and back to work :( But while we were there we had a great time! We flew home Sunday evening, so we took full advantage of the morning/early afternoon and took a surfing lesson! I'm not gonna lie, the waves were no tubes like the one pictured above. All-the-same Blue and I were able to ride some in. Along with the waves, we also caught some knarly sunburns. Bummer dude. At least it was on the last day of our vacation, dude.

Oz (I'm not sure if that is a british or a kiwi term, but it means australia. I'm pretty sure I never heard it until we moved here, but I like it) was pretty great, once it stopped raining and the sun came out! It's a big place with many many things to see and do. We kept our trip pretty coastal and even took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, my first snorkeling experience, can't say it disappointed. I hope to put up some pics soon, but for now I'm trying to catch up on laundry and put things away.

On a knitting related note. I took the socks I am working on, on the plane. No trouble getting out of NZed. Getting out of Oz however was a different story. They told me that knitting needles were a big no-no because they are a long pointy object! Surely not my turbos, they could never hurt anyone! Plus I have called (only in the U.S. of course) about knitting needles before and given the ok, nor have I ever had a problem flying with knitting needles. So the security guy was consulting security guy #2 and thankfully they decided that my beautiful little turbos were no more dangerous than a pen - phew! So I didn't end up crying like I thought I was going to. I don't think they sell turbos here (plus it was 2 pair) and they are just too expensive to replace. They are safely resting next to me now. From now on they are going in checked luggage which is too bad 'cause I usually only end up knitting on the plane.

I.D.

While at the local library, I.D. magazine caught my eye. On the cover was a hand-crafted wedding gown (out of recycled plastic). Being in the midst of planning my own wedding, I added it to my stack. I finally got around to thumbing through it the other day and found everything in it interesting; the pictures, the articles, even the letters to the editor. Being a scientist and not an artist, I had never stumbled across this bad boy before and am ever so happy I did. However, their webpage does not even remotely stack up to the magazine itself (or at least the issue I checked out).

Happy Waitangi Day!

This is a video from the helicopter.

Need. To. Vent.

So there is this guy at the gym that always hogs the stations, machines, benches, basically anything and everything you need to use, at the same time! I commented to blue about him one time and he says, oh you mean little arm guy? Me, I'm like, wha? He has a little arm, I never noticed, I'll have to check that out. So I filed that away until my next encounter, sure enough, he does have one short arm, whaddayaknow.

Anyway, today was no different than any other day in little arm guy world, he's hoggin' again. Two sets of free weights were sitting on the bench I needed to use so I chipped away at the usual exercises, checking back to see if the weights have moved and to confirm that indeed it is little arm guy. Well time kept ticking away and I got through everything except for the few exercises I do on the bench in the free weight area. Check, weights still there. And I says to myself, "self go move those and get on with it, he can't be hoggin' all the time like that, it's a small gym after all. What does little arm guy thinks he's special because he has a little arm? or perhaps for another reason unknown to you." So I go over and move the huge weights, one at a time, with two hands for each. Sure enough, as soon as I get them down to the ground, little arm guy runs over to let me know he was just about to use that. And I say to little arm guy (in my nicest voice ;), ok, but could you please not just leave your weights here to "save" the bench (no I didn't do air quotes). And he tries to rationalize with me, like I don't know he does this all the time while he goes on multiple other pieces of equipment, he tells me that it is OK to go and have a drink of water and then come back. So of course I have to say, "but you don't just go have a drink of water and come back, you go and use other machines. It's a small gym and other people may want to use the equipment you aren't currently using." And he says, "yes they may."

So I put the weights back that I was going to use, realize that I would just have to stand there and wait some more for little arm guy in order to complete my workout, and I leave. I hate confrontation, but I'm not afraid to use it necessary situations such as these.

On an up note, I went to yoga today at lunch and it was lovely. Blue's advisor was in the class and it took me a while to compose myself (aka not giggle myself into a stupor).

Helicopter, helicopter, over my head. I pick the color and the color is...

Although the helicopter ride was short, it was sweet. When we got dropped off, it was cloudy and cool so the views weren't too great. But still, I was in a helicopter flying over the rainforest in New Zealand, so it wasn't bad.

After the drop off we worked for 2 days at the treeline and then had a day to hang out before the helicopter's scheduled pick up. Luckily the weather on the day off was great. We ended up taking a short trail from the hut up to a ridge where there was a nice lake surrounded by boggy forest. It was very much like being home on Lake Hildebrand. The species were a little different and it was a bit smaller. All it needed was a few rafts and a pier ;)

Urchin

I made this hat from knitty last night. Unfortunately it didn't turn out as cute as expected. It's a bit big on me and if I pull it down in order to actually keep my ears warm it looks like a big puffball. If I made it again I would probably use smaller needles or make size small. Luckily for me, it's summer so I don't have to worry about pulling it off or not.

I'm off to work in "the bush" for the week. We get to helicopter in. HURRAY! Hopefully I'll get some great pics to put up.

I've been knitting again

And I want to make this now! My friend L says, "haven't you already knit an elephant?" The answer is yes, yes I have, but it isn't here in New Zealand with us so... I obviously need to make another one, plus this one is different, way different.



I went back to blond earlier this week. No more mousy brown for this gal. Funny thing is, it doesn't really seem any different to me. Nobody else seemed to notice either, but my hair has been blonding up more than usual this summer (thanks to that hole in the ozone that hangs over this part of the earth).

R.I.P. Sir Edmund Hillary

PENGUINS!!!

Over the xmas break blue and I got in our little red car and headed out on an unplanned adventure. We had some ideas of places we wanted to visit, a couple of guide books, and a tent. This image from google earth, with my crude drawing of our route is a pretty good representation of our journey.

We headed north first, over lewis pass to the west coast. We did an overnight hike up a mountain in some old mining territory and had some beautiful views. Then up the coast to see the pancake rocks. And at night we went and saw glow worms in a cave!

The next day we meandered down the coast to the glaciers which were beautiful.

There were a lot of mountains to see (when it wasn't cloudy and raining) and waterfalls too. One observation we made in our travels and nights at various campgrounds is that most of the campgrounds on the west coasts were predominately inhabited by german tourists. As we passed back over to the east side of the southern alps range, the german tourists dropped out and the french tourists appeared. Not sure why...

Anyway after a truly amazing evening in a campground filled with kiwi-hicks holidaying, we set out early (our earliest start on the whole trip) to the east coast in search of penguins, and we found them! 2 different species! PENGUINS!!! up close, tuxedos and all. It was the highlight of the trip for sure. The species pictured below is the yellow-eyed penguin, it is the rarest penguin species. We saw several pairs nesting on the rocky shores and even saw a chick getting fed about 1 m away! (although mostly obscured in a bush) Man, penguins are sweet! We also saw 180 little blue penguins (the worlds smallest penguin species) coming ashore to nest at night. We had to pay for the experience, but it was worth it. They are about 30 cm tall and they are soo cute! The wouldn't let us take pictures though :( Blue has some up close and personal pics of the yellow eyed up on his flickr.