I made a shawl

When I told the boy that I was thinking of knitting a shawl, he muttered something about rocking chairs and walking sticks. No surprise there, since that would be the expected response from anyone who isn't a knitter (donnasoowho, I'm looking at you).

Maybe he thought I should be more productively spending my knitting time on his surf pullover.

But I started my shawl, and wasn't able to put down until it was all finished and needed nothing more than a blocking.

And now it's finished. For your information, I intend to wear it around me like a big scarf - not like an old-lady shawl (which only the young and hip, or the old and hip-replaced,  could get away with).

Slightly more detail on Ravelry.

Help - caterpillars are killing our swan plant!

This summer we got a much bigger swan plant than the one we had last year, then covered it in plastic mesh to discourage monarch butterflies from laying eggs on it until it was nice and big.

By the time I removed the mesh, the plant had doubled in size and - to my surprise - there was already a fat caterpillar there.

Not long after that caterpillar went through its cycle and left the nest, about a billion tiny new caterpillars appeared! (More like about 20 - but still a lot).

And now they have devastated our plant. I tried laying bits of pumpkin about because my hairdresser say they liked it, but that's had very little effect.

I just hope they'll hurry up and make like a chrysalis already, before every single leave is chomped.

"It's easy" he said...

"...just press the top of the crack to turn it on or off, and press the bottom of the crack to get the disk out".

The boy has been trying to teach me how to use the new Playstation console, which he has hooked up to the telly so that we can play Blue Ray DVDs on it.

I'll freely admit that I'm not the geekiest person around, nor am I a total Luddite. What I am, is someone who suspects that someone is designing gear that makes us non-geeks look like utter fools.

Like, why the hell would you design a console with no visible buttons, unless it was clever enough to hear us tell it what to do?

Fingerless mitts for over-knitters and computer-bound folks

I made these for a work friend, who has OOS from too much computer use.

I'm always on the verge of OOS myself, because I spend all day on a computer and all my spare time knitting.  So I thought I'd make her these. She'll probably find them too warm though, because she lives in balmy Auckland.

The pattern is by kiwiyarns knits.

Relaxed

TLM knows how to relax, alright. As soon as she gets home, she takes off her socks and leaves them on the living room rug for as long as it takes for me or the boy to get sick of accidentally treading on them.

Sometimes it takes all evening. I just refuse to pick up other people's socks.

I guess I should be glad she has stopped taking off her leggings as well.