So I have this ball of pink cotton yarn that I got from my mother that I think was meant to become some wristlets for me with pink fluffy ribs but instead is now beoming this pretty but simple lace scarf instead.

Pattern mods: I only cast on 38 stitches and I am using MUCH smaller needles but when I first went with the 4mm (already smaller than the suggested but what I normally use) it just wasn't coming out like I wanted it to. The 3mm needles have tightened it up nicely so that it is coming out exactly how I wanted it too.

I showed it to my mom and she quiped that I should just rig up the Empisal Knitting Machine I have and I would already be finished but I am enjoying the hand knitting and also the machine can't do the garter-stitch edging that will stop it from curling.

Ravelry Project Link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/magependragon/checkerboard-lace-scarf
Ravelry Pattern Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/checkerboard-lace-scarf
Direct Pattern Link: http://www.purlbee.com/checkerboard-lace-scarf/

The new style of knitting definitely improved my speed - now I just need to get over the distraction factor so I can more done. :D

It is finished though and I am very pleased with the result. I did do the single crochect around the edge because my tension on those edge stitches sucks but it came out beautifully. Definitely going to be a nice warm scarf to wear come hockey season next winter.

Ravelry Link
Pattern Link

So. New Years Resolutions. I've never done this before, always dismissing New Years resolutions as silly and pointless, for people who aren't satisfied with life. Not this year. This year I am setting myself a few goals. And by the end of the year, when I have achieved them (and oh yes I will), we shall go out for Obama burgers and margarita's, and we're getting a taxi home.

The inspiration is the movie Julie & Julia starring Merryl Streep and Amy Adams. She sets herself a time limit of a year to make all 5 hundred and something recipes made by Julia Child. So I am giving myself a year, obviously, to achieve these few goals. And my progress shall be recorded right here, on LJ. So here goes. Wish me luck.

1) Get fit and get healthy. The fitness is necessary for my hyperlaxity and so that I don't end up in a wheelchair by the time I'm 50, as I have been warned. The get healthy is to deal with my insulin levels, which will then give me more energy. It is possibly the most cliched New Years Resolution in the history of time (ok maybe in the history of Hollywood)but please note: my resolution doesn't say LOSE WEIGHT. It says, get fit, and get healthy. I'm sick of being sore, I'm sick of being tired, and I'm sick of thinking that I can't. I've been to a dietician. She gave me the most unrealistic and rediculous diet plan ever, but I've got the general idea. I'm going back to her in January to tell her that she's a anorexic Nazi and to tell her that for me, a lifetime without ribs, coke and potatoes is a lifetime without meaning (insert hysterical sobbing here).


2) End up with 78% overall for psych. This is going to take every ounce of effort I own. But I HAVE to get into honours because my life will cease to have meaning if I do not. i can't imagine NOT being a psychologist.

3) I want to be a psych tutor. If I'm not accepted now then I will keep trying and goddammit, I will be a psych tutor. Silly thing that began in first year when the thought went "oooohh look at my shiny psych tutor, oooh look how wise they are! They must know all there is to know!" So I wanna be up there. :)


4)I want to be a better bellydancer. I used to be pretty good and I want to be there again. It's a passion of mine and it's prettyful and and. :)

5) It's cliched but I want to tell people more how much I appreciate them. It's the most important thing I can do.

And then a goal for the future, not for now, is to be more confident. To the point where, after 3 weeks of being in Joburg for the holidays, I am still the person who I was before. Because after being seperated from my people, I stop smiling, I stop talking, I stop laughing. All I do is small talk. I feel depressed. The kind where I don't want to go anywhere or do anything. It's bad. Very bad. And pathetic. I need the confidence to be myself, to not care anymore and to be my own crazy self, irrespective of the company. But I know this is going to take a while. And it's not going to happen when I'm here, in Joburg, and absolutely everyone I know is away. Only Mary and Robyn are in PTA, and that involves me borrowing my Mom's car, and then driving there, avoiding traffic (miracles) and then avoiding driving alone at night. But I will be doing this asap, for the sake of my sanity.

So that's me. Only 21 days and counting.

Ever have one of those days where there is something you are wanting to do, actually WANTING to do, but you find yourself putting it off for a myriad of other insignificant things (read: Facebook games)? I'm having one of those days. I really want to finish the purple Exchequered scarf I have been working on. I only have about 30-40 rows left and then I'll check the crochet border I am inclined to put round it to keep the edges neat as my tension on the last stitch is never even. I want to finish it so I can move on to a new scarf - this time a lacey cotton one for summer. My knitting speed has improved dramatically so I know it will only take me about an hour or so to finish the scarf once I sit down and do it but I am somehow just not getting there. (Maybe after this post?)

In other seasonal news, I got a Limited Edition Black Wii for Xmas from my dad and some embroidered purple towels (incl. bathsheets FTW!) from my mom. I also received a new large coffee mug from my mom's friend who we had Xmas lunch with and an awesome batch of fudge (with a lesson in how to make it) from a favourite person. (He got home-made biscuits from me.) I also bought for myself the Wii Fit Plus and oh boy is this good fun. But I'll post about that later as it needs a post of its own.

Now just one more FB app to check in with and then off to knit the purple scarf and watch Being Erica (for the first time!)
Off to the boot sale with the folks for some fresh air.

I can't believe it! I'm actually working on my own writing for a change. Granted, my copy editor is probably sharpening knives with my name on at the moment because I've been sitting on this batch of edits for quite some time already.

Problem is, with all the crap at the newspapers, I simply haven't had time to do everything I set out to do. Only now, at the eleventh hour am I making headway. I feel guilty working on my own MS when I've other authors I'm playing copy editor for.

At the end of the day it has been a case of putting out the most important fires first, and I'm having loads of fun working on my own material now. It's like inviting an old friend out for tea and having them spike your drink with vodka.

And I had such a LOL at one comment Jamie made: "I'd f*** me." He says that while seeing a pic of himself in a magazine. With thanks to Beth for spilling that one out, I'm not sure where she referenced that one from but it caused no end of amusement for myself and Thomas.

A friend of mine just finished Khepera Rising and she thoroughly enjoyed all Jamie's pathetic wangsting. Yes, I consciously went out of my way to create a character who was just... pure wangst. He redeems himself in the sequel.

Which brings me back to my next conundrum. I need a new title for the sequel. My editor has suggested something also with "Khepera" at the start to continue the theme. I don't want to do the obvious by doing "Ascendant" and so on and so forth.

So far I like the following:
Khepera in Shadow
Khepera Hunted
Khepera Redeemed
Khepera Dreamhunters

Which all follow the themes... Just I was kinda fond of The Dead of Night, despite it being cliché-ridden.
So, if you've an idea, let me know. Ta. Oh, and tomorrow's the big day. Khepera Rising releases worldwide: www.lyricalpress.com/khepera_rising

The baboons rampaged through our neighbourhood again. I don't blame them. The dustbins usually provide rich pickings over the weekends, and it's the silly season, so people tend to be wasting more food than usual. The folks living diagonally across the way from us had a few of the primates going through their wheelie bins so it was high drama in the glen, with people rushing about brandishing bull whips and thunder flashes. Two baboons scrambled onto the roof of the house in question, with the wife screeching like a banshee and throwing rocks at the animals.

Then another lady ran up, and I think she's the local representative of Baboon Matters and once the baboons absconded after dislodging some roof tiles a shouting match ensued, which provided some free entertainment for those of us not involved in the proceedings.

Home owner yelled, "Why are the baboons here every day?" (Meaning to insinuate that the baboon monitors are not doing their job.)

I felt like saying, "Well, because their baboons."

Really, we have to learn to live with the baboons. They're going to do what they do and there's very little anyone, baboon monitors included, can do to control them all of the time. Kees and co. will do what they do and while the monitors do help to keep the troop moving, they are only human and can't scramble up near-vertical roofs to dissuade their charges from romping through properties.

What do we do to stop our bins being raided? We recycle. Any organic foodstuffs get thrown into the compost pot outside and I couldn't care if the baboons scratch through that save that our dogs do a very good job of deterring said primates from our yard most of the time. We separate our recyclables from the actual garbage that gets collected and we keep the bags inside our house. Because we rinse out tins and food containers, they don't stink up the garbage so it's no real big deal. We're not the folks who sit with massive suppurating bin liners over the festive season.

Yes, we've had some scrapes with the baboons having altercations with our dogs but on the whole it's a case of live and let live. We live next to a national park. There are only about 350 chacma baboons in a scattering of troops here in the south peninsula. We should be proud that they're here and make every effort to co-exist. After all, we're the ones who've taken their land.