The One About Inori

My very very best friend, Janice, who I’ve known and loved for 12 years, is here to visit!

Her trip to Malaysia got canceled so she decided to hop onto the next flight to come visit us instead!

This is her first time in Australia and definitely the first time being baked in the oven. If you don’t already know, we suffer from temperatures as high as 46 to 48 degrees here. (When she touched down yesterday, it was 46 degrees. What a welcome!!!)

It’s hot today also so we’ll be doing some window shopping later in the evening when it’s cooler.

I may not be able to blog as regularly now that she is here (and plus, the heat really gets me down). Do send prayers to the victims of the bush fires over in Victoria. It’s very tragic. Many people have died and lost their homes. Towns have been wiped out completely by the fires.

I’m planning to help out by sending some toys for the kids and some winter clothes in the next few months. I won’t be doing that now because I’m pretty sure they are overwhelmed by the help already pouring in and their priority is to get accommodation and the basic necessities. But help for them has to be continual – not just in this period of time. So have decided to wait a few months before sending stuff over east.

Meanwhile, I will pray for them.

Pictures as promised!

Pictures above were taken by my Nikon D70 (the 2nd picture is out of focus though). Pictures below are taken with my mobile phone camera. Huge difference eh?

Name of project: Toddler Moc-A-Sox

Yarn: Heirloon 8ply cotton

Needles: Knit picks 2.5mm and 2mm

Cast on date: 19 January 2009

Cast off date: 08 February 2009

Learned: Nothing.

Modifications: None.

Mistakes: None.

This pair of booties are made for my friend’s baby boy. Hope they like it!

Warning: Literary Diarrhoea ahead.

It’s now 4am. I’m suffering from something which can only be cured in about 11 weeks time for me – pregnancy.
My sleeping times are haywire. I had insomnia when I was pregnant with Sunshine. I remember the nights where I would lie in bed and yawn and toss and turn and tears would flow down my cheeks (from yawning, not from depression!) but I cannot get to sleep.

These nights are back. When I go to bed before midnight, thinking that the rest would do me good, I cannot sleep. I would toss and turn and tears would flow down my cheeks and I cannot get to sleep until at least 3am.

Then I would be awaken by Sunshine somehow, tossing and turning due to the heat. That, or she would wake up in the middle of the night and start slapping me awake. She got an earful last night for doing that.

Then, I would wake at 8.30ish to 9am and get started on housework – i.e the never ending pile of dishes left to soak overnight, the never ending pile of laundry once a week or so etc. And of course, chasing Sunshine around the house, screaming when she does something she’s not supposed to (which is 99.9% of the time).

Then, I would crash with her at noon for about 2 hours.

After that, toddler management duties continue. Including her lunch, my lunch, teaching her, reading to her, amuse-ing her, being amused by her etc.

In between that, trying to sew or knit.

You’d be surprised how fast time flies by just by doing all that.

Sigh.

I have tried to cut down tremendously on internet usage and I’m glad to say that I have been able to avoid using the net during the day time except for checking in on my online store for orders. I haven’t ‘seen’ my usual msn friends for quite a few days. But then I got in return, more knitting time, more time to think about designing stuff, more sewing time and more time for Sunshine. So it’s good.
I just have to figure out how to keep myself away from the computer at the wee hours like now. Argh.

When I’m on, I surf the net for more knitting and sewing patterns. I have SO MANY of these to last me through my life. I don’t know why I’m still downloading them (other than the fact that they are free….hehhee).

I sometimes wish I can be content being just a knitting and sewing housewife forever. Perhaps design a pattern here and there, publish a book, sell my work from home etc… but no. My brain itches for more challenging stuff. Not that sewing and knitting isn’t challenging! By challenging I mean like…… being a brain surgeon. (I’m not even kidding.)

I have a very bad appetite nowadays. Especially dinner time. I eat a heavier lunch now to compensate for the lack of dinner. I’ve been eating biscuits, cereal and fruits for dinner nowadays. I get heartburn quite often too. EVERYTHING IS OUT OF WHACK! Give me back my appetite!

I hope I don’t cause any damage to Chubbs by keeping irregular meals. Last night Nad cooked chicken curry and I would normally love to eat it…… but I ended up thinking of it and felt like puking. Sigh.

On another note, to aid my going back to school and to regain the momentum, I’ve started Japanese classes on the weekend at TAFE. I’m doing a Cert III course and hope to do Cert IV next year and go on to do the diploma the year after (that is, if my foundation studies AND kids don’t drive me batty).

I have not been practising much and am definitely rusty.

The first class went really well. Sensei taught us to sing the theme song to ‘Gake no Ue no Ponyo’ . I thought that was really cute and a change from the usual classroom activities I am used to. We also learned about the Japanese traditions and cultures in addition to all the usual vocab/grammar/writing. I love the class! (And I also have the song stuck in my head!)

I’ve been trying to convince Nad to allow me on public transport to class. The school is only 5 minutes walk away from the train station and it’s only about 4 train stops (the train stops are at least 8 to 10 mins apart from each other here) away from the station nearest to my house. So commute time will be about an hour, including waiting for the transit bus.

THINK OF ALL THE KNITTING TIME I GET ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve got some ideas to sew a sling bag as well as a pencil case to use in school. *Excited*.

On yet another note, (I told you this was literary diarrhoea…) I’ve casted off the Toddler Moc-a-Sox! Will try to weave the ends in today and get Sunshine to model it for me before sending it off to its recipient.

I’ve casted on a lace smoke ring cowl for someone (I can’t say who!) in the purple yarn I dyed in the previous entry. It’s coming along nicely. Well.. 3 rounds so far… (would have had more rounds knitted if I wasn’t suckered into this black hole of the internets…..)

I hope it’ll be a quick knit because I have a lot of projects in mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay okay.. it’s 4.39am and I better go to bed. It’s too unhealthy to be up at this hour. It’s weird – they should make pregnancy hormones to make you do healthy things instead of stupid things like bad tempers and insomnia and bad appetites…. because pregnant women really need better lifestyles for a healthier baby!

Ok. The heartburn is getting worse. Even though I haven’t had anything to eat. *Rolls eyes*.

Bye bye.

I finished sewing this bag a few days ago and put the eyelets in yesterday:

Pattern: Amy Butler’s Betty Shopper

The fabric is also Amy Butler’s (Damn expensive and overpriced!!!)

My only gripe is that I didn’t make the pockets sturdy enough. I have to get some stick on Velcros (I have sew-on ones but it’s too late to sew them on now) to attach to the pockets so they won’t flop around in the bag.

I don’t really know what to do with this bag. Hahahha. Maybe will use it as my hospital stand-by bag. Will pack in Chubbs’ blanket and cardigans and booties etc soon.

On another note, I dyed some yarn for the Aussie Favourite Colour swap.

It’s more purplish than pictured (my phone camera doesn’t do purples very well). I was amused when I wound the yarn into a ball because it kept its center ‘hole’. Maybe because it was still slightly damp. (Yeah I know.. I couldn’t wait for it to dry! Impatient me!) The yarn is 55% silk and 45% wool in 2-ply lace weight. Can’t wait to knit it up!

Here is another skein of the same colourway:

Yummy~ I wonder who the recipient is?!??!

Sorry about the sound quality. You can’t really hear her at the beginning but she did say the words.

She also knows more words than this but is usually reluctant to ‘perform’. This is especially so when there is a camera pointing at her. -__-

There are many other babies out there who can read more words than Sunshine at 16 months of age so I don’t think Sunshine is a genius or talented. In fact, I know of a few babies who could read at 9 months!