if you live on the coastline of australia at the moment, you will know about the intense winter weather we are having. another east coast low sits out over the ocean merely 2 kms from my little house and we are getting soaked.
i love it though, i’ve been rewatching true blood from scratch, knitting, and staying away from the computer and smart phone. this weather is exactly how i remember winter before the 20 years of drought we’ve just lived through: grey and wet. i love the grey. there is too much goddamn sunshine in this part of the world. its not natural, or good for you. and im not just saying that because i’ve been in a bad mood lately. i dont know whether im just getting old, but im irritated by everything at the moment. stupid people saying stupid things, social media, inane ‘likes’ and comments, politics, patriarchy, racism, women who spend too much time and money on worrying about their looks and not enough on their brains or independence. and phonys. god im sick of phonys.
but then it occurred to me that maybe im just a bit on edge. its only a few more days before i fly to america for the conference in baltimore, and america makes me nervous. im not worried about the conference, ive done my presentations and i know my stuff, but im not looking forward to the enforced socialising. i hate networking at conferences. im not looking forward to the fact that its summer there, and hot. i may have already mentioned i hate sunshine. and i am not looking forward to the travelling. i am on that wretched qantas flight direct to dallas, 17 hours in the air, no stops. im hoping for decent movies at least.
but i am looking forward to exploring some of baltimore and i am looking forward to my little side trip down to NYC for one night (i dont want to talk about the fact that i had an apartment booked in the village for 10 days and had to cancel). the good thing about summer clothes is how light my packing will be and how much stuff i can bring home. i have a very carefully planned shopping itinery, which includes the village tannery, purl soho, strand books at union square and sephora. and im glad i’ve been there before so i know exactly how to get around, how to get in and out quick, and this time i might actually see some of central park from the ground instead of from the window of the cafe at the guggenheim because it was too damn cold out.
i have been a bit anxious about what to take knitting wise, and have decided the cardigan can stay home. ive been working on it monogamously this weekend and as a result its at the armholes.
there are a stupid amount of errata in this pattern. bad editing knitty. but ive worked it out and its making sense, starting to take shape. but its too heavy and wooly to take somewhere hot and crowded, so i will just take the colour affection shawl as thats all garter and in a wool cotton blend.
and i need socks for the plane, but im sick of the brown ribbed ones i was making for trent, so this morning i cast on a pair of self striping toe up socks for me, in the new regia erica knight design line.
perfect.
and now im going back to the lounge to enjoy whats left of this queens bday long weekend before my final two days at work. maybe when i get back safely i’ll be feeling a little more zen.
kxx
Good luck with the trip and hopefully the people on the gates will be more sensible this time round. The new socks look interestingly stripey – some of that “just one more row” type of knitting sounds like just the thing!
I would love to go to NY in summer! Even if only for a day. It’s not surprising you are on edge. It will all be fine, I am sure. And not all people are stupid or annoying etc. Well, not all of the time, anyway (even I am not perfect hahahahahahahaha!) life is just more interesting with them around, that’s all.
Good call on the knitting options. Now I want to make stripey socks with my Erika Knight yarn!
In the days when I travelled for work I hated the lead-up to going away when there always seemed to be so many things to be finished up and remembered before I left. You’re allowed to be irritable. But there’s also nothing like going away from work for a while to sort out what’s important to be done and what can be left. Once you get on the plane you’ll be fine and everything will fall into place. You know that.
Enjoy Baltimore. My experience of travelling in the USA is that the regional differences are always fascinating.
You sound on edge. I hope the plane ride goes well and you arrive feeling able to enjoy parts of the trip. Maybe you’ll get lucky and the rain will follow you. And I know you’ll wow them at the conference.
With all the stuff you’ve got going on I’d be on edge too, even without all the stupid people out there saying their stupid things. Enjoy the trip; enforced socialising/networking aside (I hate networking too) it will be fun to explore Baltimore and New York.
And I LOVE the stormy colours you’ve picked for the colour affection shawl, its going to be lovely.
Hope everything goes well with the trip and the enforced socialising. Networking’s the thing I most hate about conferences too (that said, I’ve never had to present…).
I like the projects you’ve picked for the trip. The colours you chose for Colour Affection are perfect.
I must be out of touch – I didn’t realise you were going so soon. Have a great trip!
I think that days of dull weather and rain can make you be on edge too. A little bit of sun makes me feel cheerier!!! I hope you are less on edge as the time for your trip draws nearer. Nice socks!!