Sunday, May 30, 2010

Chronal Stasis, In A Pair Of Manolos

I haven't seen Sex & The City 2. In fact, I didn't see Sex & The City (the first) either. In fact, the chances of me seeing either film (voluntarily) are somewhere between the likelihoods of me officially* becoming the future Mr(s) J Gyllenhaal and completing a conversation without the word 'actually'. That slim, actually.

So it was initially with a modicum of feigned interest that I became aware of the fact that Sex & The City 2 is in fact a science-fiction movie. And then I read the article and it's total genius.

It's the shoes. The shoes hold all the cards.

* Because dreams don't count.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The World Has Gone Mad For Yarn

At least that's how it felt today.

Yesterday I pulled a 12 hour work day, getting ready for our annual Winter yarn sale at work. We finally crawled out of the store at 9 o'clock last night, tired, a little sore (all that up and down ladders is telling on my middle aged bones) and a lot exhausted. By the time I battled the wintry night, and a drunken Friday night crowd on the train, I was well and truly ready for bed.

Except, as often happens, it took me until midnight to unwind enough to actually go to bed.

So today I was already feeling a bit worn when I arrived at work, and that was before the onslaught. Our Winter Sale is always busy. Winter for knitters is like Christmas for kids, the source of much anticipation and excitement. And socks (except in this case they're not a disappointing present from your Nan).

OMG. Busy doesn't even begin to cut it. We took our in store record for the biggest opening day of the Winter Sale and we smashed it to pieces. From 9am we didn't not have a queue at the counter. In fact at times it stretched through the store to the back door. Everyone was unfailingly polite and friendly, which made a crazy day that could have been horrendous quite fun instead. People queued, they were gracious when we apologised for the wait, they even helped each other out and let people in a hurry with small purchases go ahead. Meanwhile I was stunned when I put through a sale for over $1,600 (OF. YARN.) ad then I saw one of my co-workers put one through for over $2,000.

We officially close at 4pm on a Saturday, but we only closed the door at 5.45pm.

By the time I walked out into another cold and wet night I was completely and thoroughly knackered. Bed soon methinks.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I'm Gutted

Sad face. One of my favourite Masterchef contestants Philip Vakos was just sent home.



Phil reminds me of a number of the Greek boys I went to school with; handsome, masculine, yet sweetly gentle and emotive. But he makes dinner.



Yes, I have a crush.

[Inside Voice] Outside Voice

To set the scene, I spent all of today on my own in the new (net yet open) store putting stock on the shelves. With the iPod in my ears. With occasional sing-along/bop-along action.

...:::LOUD KNOCK:::...

Me:
["Who's that?"] "Um. Can I help you?"

Unknown Woman:
"Got any mohair?"

Me (pointedly looking at the papered over windows with COMING SOON signage):
["Oh, GREAT. a) rude! b) are you serious? c) anyway, "got" is a lazy word*] "Sorry, we're not open yet."

Unknown Woman:
"I thought you'd want to sell me some mohair."

Me:
["You would think I'd WANT to, wouldn't you?"] "We'll be open in a week... or two."

Unknown Woman:
"I'll be gone by then."

Me:
["Good riddance!"] "Um, okay"

*To this very day I hesitate to use the words "got" and "get", courtesy of one of my better High School English teachers who dubbed them lazy. "Acquired", "received", "bought"... any word that was more specific and more of a stretch of vocabulary was preferred.

Happy Birthday

...little blog of mine.



For today you are 6!

(Which means it's also time for a birthday shout out for my brother-from-another-mother Michael Guy!)

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Accidental Penis

Freakgirl posted this recently, and I've been giggling ever since.

45 going on 13, apparently.

Knitting Weather

After an Indian Summery start to Autumn, suddenly it's all rainy and dark and it feels like Winter is just around the corner. As I write this it's bucketing down outside, so hard that I've had to crank up the volume on the teev just hear to Russell's machinations on Survivor. (Sorry, Evil Russell I should say). Now I'm wishing that I was further along in the jumper I've been knitting!

Speaking of knitting, remember the piece I designed and knitted for work? I discovered today that yesterday someone was so in love with the window sample that they bought it right out of the window! We do sell our shop samples but they are really expensive. By the time we've paid a sample knitter for their time to make it, plus added in the cost of the yarn (in this case 12 balls of yarn that sell for $10.90 a pop) you're looking at an expensive garment.

In one sense it's almost a pain to sell the samples, because we have to find an available sample knitter to make another and in that time the sales of the patterns and yarns for that item usually grind to a halt. I'm dead chuffed that someone liked it enough to buy it though!

Meanwhile, back to the knitting. That jumper won't make itself.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

With Heurisitic Intentions

These days my regular work week in the yarn store is Tuesday to Saturday, and one of my semi-regular Saturday afternoon gigs is to teach the knitting classes. I figure that now that I've taught my third Beginners Knitting classes, and one Intermediate Knitting class, I can accurately describe myself as a Knitting Teacher. I teach, therefore I am (one, that is).

It's tiring, as the class is 3 hours of being 'on', but we limit the class to 10 people and that's much more manageable than trying to teach a huge group. I get to spend plenty of time with each person and demonstrate the techniques one on one. Bringing the Magic of Knitting into their lives from my evangelican pulpit.

I used to teach people how to use bookkeeping software years ago, and enjoyed the one on one tutoring, but I was a little hesitant to start teaching a group. Despite indicators to the contrary (ie: blogging) I'm not normally one who enjoys the spotlight. (I prefer the Left of Centre to the Centre of Attention.)

But I'm loving it. We hand out feedback forms at the end of each class and my students have been most generous in their praise. Sometimes it pains me to see that some people struggle to get it, but hand/eye coordination is just not some people's bag. It become obvious that some have never attempted anything creative before, and are not brilliant with the fine motor skills that come with any form of art or craft.

On the other hand the rewards can be amazing. I taught my first intermediate class last weekend and 3 of my students from a previous beginners class were there. (Puffed up with pride would pretty much cover it.) Then today I had a really fun group that included one young woman who was intellectually disabled (her own description).

I met her during the week when she dropped in to show me some of her first attempt at knitting, and to discuss whether I thought she'd be able to do the class. Today she came along and she did brilliantly. She already knew the basics of the knit stitch, but I taught her how to cast-on, purl and cast off. At the end of the class she must have thanked me at least half a dozen times, and she couldn't wait to get home and show her family how much more she'd learnt.

Actually it's her I needed to thank, because it made for one of the most rewarding afternoons I've ever had at work.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

13 Inches Of Joy

I've been a bad blogger lately. Largely absent. Patchy in my performance. (Frankly, at this rate it's like I'm turning into one of any number of bad ex boyfriends.) However, recent events should change that!

Meet my precious. A new 13" MacBook Pro. So not only am I back in MacLand (after the older MacBook I was given by a friend packed it in), but most importantly when I get home from work I can pour a wine, plant my arse on the sofa, flick on the tv and surf The Interweb. This is modern living. It also means that the iPod Nano I scored as a very generous gift at Christmas time is doing what an iPod should.

Have you heard of these "iPod" things? Trust me, in my estimation they might just catch on.

I still have the desktop pc that James no longer required and very kindly gave me, but having the laptop facilitates Wine Time and Web Surfing without the need to miss my stories. It's an embarrassment of riches.