contrary to the majority of the rest of the two legged fauna on this continent, i try to hibernate during summer. the only time i ever liked summer was when i was a kid, up till i was about 12, and free to ride my bike around my half wild- bush cicada and christmas beetle infested neighbourhood, and get smashed repeatedly onto the shore at wanda beach. these days, im scared of the sun, having had a BCC removed from my face a couple of years ago, and am mostly ideologically opposed to the outdoors rednecked culture of australia-major. yes yes gross sweeping generalisation, and there is lots to love about australia in the summer. the smell and feel of salt air (this is why i could never live inland again), sand in everything, melting icecream, the joy of a cold shower after a day in the sun, the fantastic fresh produce, mangos, seafood, outdoor cafes, all that. but its getting hotter out there, and the beaches are more crowded, and the outfits getting skimpier, and well, im not 12 anymore. and its so hard to WORK when its that hot. i guess thats the clincher for me. summer means holidays. how are you meant to get your head into gear when you work in front of a computer in a non air conditioned building with a workmate who doesnt want the ceiling fan on? (trust me, it got turned on).

so i feel like i have been in a bit of limbo for the last month or so, really struggling to get my head and feet moving. the feet havent had a lot of choice, kept moving a little at least by being home alone for most of the summer and needing to take the dogs for runs. today is my last day of that, and i cant wait for it to be over. not that i dont like living on my own, i actually really enjoy it, although i do start having conversations with the dogs after a while and they look at me like im quite mad.

maybe i am. its a strange living arrangement we have here, me and my ex of fifteen years living together as friends! its not always easy, and sometimes i think its a terrible mistake, but most of the time we get along better now than we did when we were together, and its just too hard to separate the dogs, and hes quite handy about the house, and if you have to share with someone it might as well be someone you know well, right? plus, im getting a lot of joy out of watching him realise his dream of going to law school. he comes back tonight after a summer in canberra doing a government cadetship, and to be honest, im very happy about it. looking after the house and three dogs by myself, plus trying to work full time, has been much harder than i thought it would be, and with things about to ramp up at work, the timing is perfect.

i’ve been in a bit of a holding pattern at work during the academic summer, but the last week has seen that shift, with a project ive been working on unfunded getting the official stamp of approval and a large sum of money from the uni. i get to hire minions now and will be travelling to perth and melbourne, and working pretty hard this year. im hoping it doesnt cut into my knitting time, which is all about the ‘in progress’ since girasole was finished (thank you everyone for the wonderful comments!). im trying to get my not-shurtugals finished by the end of february

and i just started the heel on the second one last night

so these should meet the deadline for the ss62011 first installment. im enjoying the knitting-to-deadline part of a sock club, and its nice to know i might actually have some knitted socks this winter. i am hoping to have a couple of new cardigans as well, i was left in awe last saturday at guild by missfees amazing cardigan output and i came home thinking i needed to rip what i had done on the leaving cardigan because it was so daggy and old fashioned compared to her modern snappy things. but i did some more on it

and fell in love with it again. the pattern panel up the back is really lovely,

and works beautifully in the madtosh pashmina. and anyway,  i have a whole heap of lovely black berroco alpaca to make into something a little more ‘trendy’ when leaving is done.

and we are about to start on a whole round of flyball comps as well, which means the hibernation is nearly over, and the year is really about to begin. lets hope its a good one!

kxx