On knitting

You know that parable about pulling a thread? I don't either but I think it goes "pulling on a loose thread = things will unravel". I did the equivalent yesterday and I unwrapped the skein of wool I bought from Estonia. And had a hard time figuring out how to wind it up again. So decided to knit it into a scarf. Bad move from the world's slowest knitter.

There's a story behind this scarf, and it hasn't even been born yet. Last year in September I went and visited my friend Janne in Finland (of Sielulintu fame). While I was there we (with his lovely wife Soili) took a day trip to Talinn in Estonia where we did some sightseeing and shopping. While we were sightseeing I lost my scarf (the one I bought in Muktinath, Nepal after I hiked up a bloody mountain). We tried to backtrack to see if we could find it, to no avail. Of course I was upset for a little while but it was a pretty romantic story, really - bought in Nepal, lost in Estonia. Anyway, to compensate I spent 51Kr (about $6) on a skein of Estonian wool, intending to give it to my mum to knit into a scarf for me when I got home.

So far this winter (I know winter officially started in June here but I could probably say mid-April) the wool has been sitting in plain sight in my room, screaming to be made into a scarf. Well, my mum started crocheting a blanket (and hasn't finished yet) so rather than wait three years (that's how long my current scarf has been sitting on 15cm) I thought 'right, I'm going to knit this scarf IN TWO WEEKS'. Although my speed has picked up considerably, I think I have RSI. I also find that I knit faster while listening to The Cat Empire and Red Hot Chili Peppers but not The Whitlams.

Other things chugging along at the moment: I started my new job last week. As far as first weeks go it was pretty good, I have to say. My workmates are amusing and the job itself is also interesting. Basically the company runs a website (not launched yet) of interactive resources for school students. I'm an education writer, which means I read textbooks and simplify them for whichever age students I'm given. Currently I'm doing Year 10 chemistry, which is a learning curve because I was never ace at chem and obviously at the time didn't think I'd need to remember it 10 years later.

This is all done in accordance with the syllabus so basically it means whoever subscribes to the site will only get applicable knowledge as opposed to the stuff that you might get if you trawl the web and end up trying to understand the quantum mechanics of an atom. Also, there's an animation department that creates content in relation to the text (they seem to have the most fun). Essentially we're hypertext-books.

It's a pretty young team. I'm about average at 25 - our managing director is almost 26, which gives you an idea of the way things run. It's head down, books open for the most part but everyone knows how to share a joke and they're really encouraging about taking breaks and having fun (they have a fortnightly 'best animation' comp for the animators, the prize being a case of beer; we in the secondary division are hoping to start a fortnightly quiz).

One person I do want to note is Roland who writes the maths section and is absolutely hilarious. He has an attention span of about 10 minutes, after which he'll walk around the area asking random questions of anyone who doesn't look like they'll bite his head off if he interrupts them. Once he asked me if raindrops were spherical - I had to reply that in zero gravity a raindrop would be spherical but because water is a liquid it loses its shape pretty easily. Anyway, he's an earnest chap who livens up the secondary section and the following quote from 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' comes to mind when I think about him; "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die." Hahahaha.

Pretty miserable weather this week - cold and rainy. Surprisingly, the rain barely stopped, which should have meant a rise on our dam's water level but no, hardly any of it was in the catchment area. We should move the catchment area, I reckon. To somewhere that gets a lot of water - like Finland. But finally today the sun came out and I took my dog for a long walk (which she loved) then washed her (which she hated) and then let her inside next to the heater to dry (which she loved).

Also inspected four potential future abodes on Saturday, only one of which was worth considering. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the whole place because the current tenants were there, hung over and sleepy, and the place reeked of cigarette smoke. The real estate agent had called them to say she was bringing people to see the apartment but ended up leaving a message. I think the 'hung over' part explained the 'not picking up phone' part. We'll try and make appointment for this weekend after they've moved out and the place has been cleaned.

Because today's a public holiday (Queen's Birthday - even though it's not her birthday), Greater Union ran a bunch of movie marathons last night. Sir, Ass and I went to see the X-Men trilogy, which was really good (I've seen the three films separately but it was heaps better seeing them together on the big screen). However, two things marred our night; despite Sir booking the tickets (and choosing the seats) online we were told AT THE DOOR that they'd scrapped the seating plan and that we'd have to fend for ourselves. Which sucked because we'd deliberately turned up on time (as opposed to extra early) and NOT joined the jostling line, 'knowing' that we had good seats booked. Sir will complain loudly. The other thing was TEENAGERS. Will they ever shut up?! Seriously people, if you've come to see three movies at least watch them! Do NOT talk incessantly and do NOT constantly wander around - especially if you're in the front row. If you want to do any of those things, please, don't let the movie distract you - save your twenty bucks, invite your friends over and GO HOME.

That is all for this week.