Starting the year with Plan D

You really don't have a plan unless you have a backup plan. Well that's what I've learned over the years. I've never begun the year with Plan D however.

Earlier in the year hubby and I decided we'd go on a little adventure. We packed up our house and moved north to tropical Queensland, to Cairns. There were many reasons which I've alluded to before so won't go into again. Suffice to say it's now time to head back to Sydney and get on with a few things. Implement a range of plans at varying stages of A and B and some which are just plain emerging.

One of the highlights of our adventure south was to be a roadtrip, down the coast mostly and including visits to my cousins in Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Brisbane amongst other stops. What a trifecter! All under water at some point in the last week. Yes, well, slight hiccup with that plan, rain. Lots and lots of rain.

By New Year we were starting to monitor the roads hampered by floods quite closely, changing our route according, at one point considering the drive back via Alice Springs - just for a laugh. By the time water levels in Rockhampton hit the 9m mark it really was time to go to Plan D - Fly home.

That adventure will have to keep for a while. Probably by the time donations to flood relief begin to have a tangible impact - cleanup is going to take a while. Give what you can I say - here's a link to the flood donation appeal.

Travelling Woman and The Colour (Purple) Turquoise

Aka a study in turquoise.
Its become my 'summer purple' this colour of the sea. Heavily enabled by some glorious colour as amateurely photographed underwater (by me) in the Coral Sea while snorkelling - my own Liquid Light show

Travelling Woman Shawl in Kaalund Enchante 2 ply silk (Left unblocked, right blocking).
I think it's the light in the tropics that's drawn me to a broad spectrum of blues, especially turquoise.

The recently completed Travelling Woman shawl really has been travelling all over with me. To a wedding in Perth and a visit to Sydney and she's booked on the trip to India in February. My next lace shawl project will be 100% wool, rather than silk as I was a little frustrated with it by the end (a little splitty), even though it shines so beautifully and on wearing I vowed to work up the Silver Sword Silken Thread care of Knitabulous sometime soon.

I've always had a thing for purples and deep reds, but not really blues. They 'belonged' to my younger sister. I was always the one dressed in reds. I also developed an aversion to navy and most blues care of my school uniform. I mean you wear similar colours for 13 years and you kind of get over it. Maybe that's why some of the nuns became nuns, or folks joined the Navy - they liked the colour.

It's possible I've hit on turquoise recently as its just the next natural step for me and my personal colour cycle. I started with blue for school, red at play, white and yellow were told to go make friends with someone else. I moved to black for work (and everything else) when I left school. Turned the purple corner and hung out there very comfortably in all its shades for many years. Had a brief affair with bright orange, which fizzled as quickly as it began. Fell out with brown and burgundy in the winter of 1998 when we over did it together. Was drawn to silver and grey more than ever before shortly after, or perhaps as a result of, the millennium partying, plus it was 'critic preventing' black. Default purple and black again.

If you've read a recent post you'll see I've had a bit of a pink thing going on, which is fairly limited to strong, dark pinks and fuscia's, especially when they go near intense oranges. Some green and teal crept in through a Wollmeise loophole and that's when I think the greens morphed into good strong teals, which became the recent turquoise obsession.


In this Turquoise Gallery of Delight: Travelling Woman Shawl, recently started Lace & Cable socks in Koiggu, complete with home made butterfly stitch markers (more on butterflies another time), sewn double pointed needle holder with pretty Japanese fabric button in turquoise and a touch of left over pink Koigu icord, earrings and bracelet made by a local designer (she's at Port Douglas & Cairns markets, I've just lost the tag) and some fabric stash just to add to the tropical challenge dresses that conspired with the Wollmeise earlier in the year.

But wait there's more: the yarn line up photo helps me document the turquoise creep and now I see that it started 2 years ago...with some very humble Peaches & Creme Cotton and without sounding too much like Miss Helena from Romper Room (in which I appeared when I was 5 year old!) there's Rowan Kid Silk Haze in Mist, All Hemp6 in Deep Sea, the Koigu, Kaffe Fassett Regia, Knitabulous Mumbai Skies (really says "take me to India" doesn't it?), left over ball of Kaalund silk, Woolorganics, Caraibes Bouton D'or cotton, Cascade 220 in Caribbean Sea, Madeline Tosh Sock in Oceania and Cotton Fine in Caribbean - definitely a theme here.

I wonder what's next for me in this colour cycle and what will 'suddenly' have taken over my wardrobe in 2 years time?

you know November Has Come, when it's gone away

Apart from my recent obsession with Gorillaz, its been a pretty full month.

A birthday celebrated with lunch at Hanuman's in Cairns (Indian & Thai cuisine) and a bit of Monkey Bay to go with it.

I just realised the completely unintentional and overwhelming primate theme here...when I get obsessed I really go OTT! New charm bracelet, lippy, cook book, yarn, nail polish and Sanskrit learning cards.

I couldn't have asked for a better selection of gifts, and really birthday's aren't so much about the gifts as to the thoughts others put in to them and do, create or find something that has meaning for you. My friends and family clearly know me well.

The yarn is Wollmeise in Campari Orange and Rosenrot, or the 'red of roses', destined for socks or a shawl in 2011.

There's also been a quick trip to Perth for my friend's wedding. It was a stunning day at Bluewater Grill overlooking the Swan river, seeing them married under a grand Eucalyptus tree. A few Singapore slings later (well that's where they currently live so it was only polite to indulge!), a great catch up with old colleagues and friends, fabulous food, music, dancing and lots of laughs. Travelling Woman also did me proud with the silk dress I wore.


We stayed with cousins which is always a laugh. Their 7 year old girl and 4 year old boy are lots of fun and sure do keep us on our toes.

When I'd seen them earlier in the year I'd promised to make our niece a knitted bag - just as well I did too, she doesn't forget a thing. I had a lot of fun making it, especially the lining, and the button - a tiny pink bag - was the finishing touch. It's a perfect fit for her DS, lipgloss, camera and other essentials every 7 year old girl needs!

Then back to Sydney, to prepare for the next quick trip to Sydney in December - where yes, I will go to see the Gorillaz perform!

"Well you know November has come when its goooone away..!"*

*Demon Days album, Gorillaz

Reflections on Sutra 1.8

1.8 viparyayo mithyājñānamatadrūpapratișțham

Misapprehension is that comprehension that is taken to be correct until more favourable conditions reveal the actual nature of the object

Like when you think you know who the actor is in a movie then look it up on google and find it was someone else. Or when you thought you knew what you were doing in your Trikonasana until you caught yourself in the reflection of a mirror or door and saw you version was looking a little saggy. Hang on 'favourable conditions', well that's not open to interpretation is it?? That could be good lighting (eg knitting, yoga, cooking), ambient temperature (eg knitting, yoga, cooking).

BKS Iyengar interprets this Sutra as "Illusory or erroneous knowledge is based on non-fact or the non-real". Further as ..."wrong knowledge is caused by error or misconception, or by mistaking one thing for another". Actually with my vision, I do this quite a bit. #1 favourable condition for me then: clean contact lenses (and snorkel when swimming in the Coral Sea).

Reflections on Sutra 1.7

1.7 pratyakșānumānāgamāh pramānāni
Comprehension is based on direct observation of the object, inference, and reference to reliable authorities

I have no debate with this sutra, I think it's fairly straight forward really and ironically doesn't require too much reflection on my part. I've always been one to delve further down the rabbit hole in search of information closer to 'the source'. More often I've had trouble remaining focused on the original enquiry and get lost in/on tangents. This was probably quite infuriating for my mother when I was young - she'd ask me to look up a recipe and I was gone for hours. I've always had discreet book collections, mostly reference material of whatever I was into at the time. I've usually been quite fortunate too, to have access to some fine authorities and mentors in relation to most of my past and current interests. In yoga there is high importance placed on knowing who your teacher's teachers are/were and to know your yoga lineage. I think this is a good approach to take with many other aspects of life. "Don't Believe the Hype", said Public Enemy. It's all part of having a credible source of information and a good reminder to seek out reliable authorities. Wikipedia can be a good start, but is not always reliable. Google is a pretty good modern guru, always ready with an answer or pointing me in a direction that may be closer to what I'm looking for. I've always liked the Sherlock Holmes stories with their lessons in deductive reason and logic.

This coupled with my own practice and experience has helped me fine tune my understanding of what I observe and what I can deduce, as well as what I don't know and what I need to learn more about. And if all else fails, as is want to happen with knitting projects, consult my Elizabeth Zimmermann's, or Barbara Walker's.

(isn't she) Pretty in Pink...

Molly Ringwald has a lot to answer for, for some of us growing up in the 80's, even if her career kind of collapsed afterwards (the curse of the Time magazine cover). Apart from showing you can do wonders with a sewing machine and a few funky bits of pink material, she also gave those of us with a fair complexion and reddish hair hope that we could one day pull off wearing pink! Hope should never be understated, Viva los Chilean Miners! I digress, this is actually about my very pink socks and how appropriate I thought the combination was of the sweet sixteen (candles) 'pinkyness' of the yarn with the sweetness of the Hearts & Flowers design. I am also fairly realistic and most pinks don't look good near my face - purples yes, but on my feet I can get away with anything.

They are made from Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM) 4 ply yarn (say that fast out loud 3 times), which is a delight to knit with, so soft and squishy. I used 2mm needles which are the thinnest I've ever used and I was frequently reminded of their fineness throughout when I stabbed myself in the fingers as a result of being quite a tight knitter. I started them on 2.5mm, then down to 2.25mm but I eventually capitulated to the pattern suggestion and picked up the 2mm. It was going to take me longer to knit them (took me 6 months to get around to finishing them anyway!) but I could see the result would be far more satisfying, and it is. It just took me a half a sock's worth of knitting to conclude this, hence I started knitting the second sock on the smaller needles and gave myself a break before ripping the first 2.25mm sock out and started again. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I've successfully turned a heel too, though it can be most frustrating when you stuff it up and have to rip it back a few times to 'get it'. It was at this point a few months ago my sock mojo soured and into the naughty corner they went.


Even though I don't find myself wearing socks much these days living in the tropics, I still like making them, so portable and not 'hot' in your hands. Lately, there's a day every couple of weeks when it gets cool enough for socks and handknits get to strutt their stuff on my feet. Even more enjoyable now that my 'sock knitting mojo' has returned. You see, I actually began these socks in February this year, after deciding to make them last October on the way back from Knit Camp and Webgoddess had begun her Sherie's Posies socks from Wendy Johnson's book, Socks from the Toe Up. It's a great book, I could happily knit all the socks from this book, if only I knit faster or didn't have so many other projects in my knitting pipeline. All the lovely patterns, and most heels are to be turned the same way reducing time spent on redo's. I do try to stop myself from starting the next sock project before I finish at least one of others on the go. Alas, I've already started winding the next lot of sock yarn (more KPPPM in blues) and it's only due to pattern indecision I haven't started them yet.

I was also spurred on to finished these in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month, taking on board all the recent comments about the commercialisation of 'Pink October' (ie. actually finding a cure and doing away with the need for it - same goes for Prostate Cancer Movember). Once upon a time it was hip to be Green. It's also Socktober...as well as Rocktober, Blocktober, Oktoberfest...

So Hearts & Flowers will come to India with me, along with my Shantarams and a few other choice articles if I can finish them in time for next February. In the meantime they will satisfy my 'Pretty in Pink' teenager moments and not make me look sallow, given they are far away from my face, certain yoga poses notwithstanding.

White Light....White Heat, aka Project India

I've booked myself on a 'Yoga Tour' of India next March. It begins in Delhi, then up to Rishikesh for a week at the Parmath Niketan Ashram for the International Yoga Festival. It then continues up north to various sacred sites and temples until we get to Dharamsala, hoping HH the Dalai Lama is in residence and concludes with a trip to the Taj Mahal. Of course I've begun planning my knitted garments for the trip. Some are already made courteousy of Knitabulous' Indian Summer Yarn Club I joined earlier this year. I have green Shantaram Socks and the purple Bollywood Shawl. I have a few other pairs of socks made and my nearly finished, very pink Hearts & Flowers. Any other socks I complete in the meantime will just be a bonus. Travelling Woman in Turquoise will no doubt be finished soon too. February Ladies Sweater in Ravelry Red Malabrigo Worsted is on its way down the Finished Object highway too.

But here's the thing, at the Ashram we are to wear white.

Anyone who knows me knows just how allergic I am to white, I'm far more comfortable and considerably less 'dirty' looking in black and other strong, dark colours. I reinforced this recently when I went to the movies and grabbed a (relatively newly purchased, hey, what can I say, I don't knit everything I wear and I just liked the lightness of the fabric and its drape - a circle with 2 cut out cicles for the arms) white wrap. Not for 2 hours could it stay clean after I dropped chocolate on it from my ice cream. How on earth will I cope wearing white 24/7 at the Ashram?? The tour operater's notes state that white cotton clothes can be purchased outside the gate of the Ashram for about $5 a piece, so there won't be any shortage of basic yoga wear (turmeric and saffron aren't exactly stain free) and I'll just have to try my best not to be needing a new set each day.

Its the knitted items that have me in a spin. I will endeavour to salvage my Shipwreck Shawl, even if I need to abandon the Madeira Lace and choose a stitch pattern that doesn't require 'jogging'. A suitable Lotus pattern perhaps.

I have New York Cardigan in my queue and I'm thinking the Margrite Karabella that's in my stash will be good for that one. It might be more cream than white, but I think it will pass the 'white' test. Its a lovely soft and squishy 80/20 combo of merino/cashmere and there's something a little poetic about taking a garment with cashmere in it 'back' to somewhere near Kashmir. This would be a good use of this yarn seeing as it's been hanging around for years after being a mistake purchase, when what I really meant to order was the red (pesky colour numbers instead of names!). This was the beginning of my current stash actually. Rosered may recall this as she ended up with the red without incident and was laughing at me being 'concerned' about having yarn in my house that didn't already have a designated project! How I've grown.

I also have plenty of white Debbie Bliss Eco Cotton (10&4ply) which could easily turn into something worth doing yoga in. I also want to try some reversible knitting and make the Flip Your Lid reversible beanie and Syncopation reversible headband. It will be Winter in India, which could mean anything, from cold to mid 20's celcius and I'll need to be prepared, or at least wrapped in hand knitted whites and plenty of white light...oooommmmm