Today Friend P, the Lovely Goddaughter and I went to the Bus Depot Markets for their 'Celebration of Wool'.  We got there early which was just as well, because it was very swiftly awash in Women Who Make Things.  There was some really lovely stuff, but I was very restrained and bought only a $10 dyeing kit, which included 100g of sock wool, and a ( Read more... )

About 14 inches off the bottom.  Which feels very short, but is less than a handswidth above my waist.  It's all part of the plan to grow out the permanent colour so it will eventually be grey.  It also has the advantage that it's now short enough and tidy enough that I feel comfortable with it in just a ponytail for work, or with the top bit held ( Read more... )

I think I need to add myself to the list of people with compromised immune systems.  Please, if you have a cold, particularly of the chest cold variety, let me know so that I can keep away.  These things hit me a lot harder than other people and take a lot of getting over, particularly as I'm allergic to a lot of antibiotics.  I'm now in a position ( Read more... )

Cadbury Dairy Milk will be fair trade by Easter.

Now I know that CDM is fairly plebeian chocolate and that many of my friends have more refined tastes, but frankly I'm a chocolate pleb and I prefer milk chocolate to dark (which once you get above 65% cocoa mass tastes like burnt cardboard to my troglodyte palate).  There are plenty of nice fair ( Read more... )

In an update to yesterday's post, there has been a response to Stilgherrian's criticism of Tikatok's copyright policy. Read all about it here.

From the point of view of a sometime activist (or perhaps, more accurately, curmudgeon), it's a useful reminder that it's sometimes worth making a fuss when something isn't as it should be.

From Stilgherrian, notice about the truly dreadful copyright situation on the kids' creative website Tikatok here. Copyright is one of the things I feel very strongly about (it's one of the reasons I don't use Facebook), and I think that taking children's copyright for their creative work sucks pus.

I've just heard that Edward Woodward has died. He was a fine actor, particularly in Breaker Morant, but I'll leave it to others with more knowledge of popular culture to write his obituary ( Read more... )

Well, just unrelated things really.

1.  After spending the morning feeling a bit unwell, headachy with tummy cramps, it finally dawned on me why and I took my medication.  Der.  And then it dawned on me that as of yesterday, this has been happening for 31 years, regular as clockwork, so you'd think I'd have figured it out by now.  Apparently I'm not ( Read more... )

You go to a party and the hands on  your bottom are inevitably those of small children.

And you leave at 8 because your lift's going then, but you're perversely pleased at being home in time for a night of crime on the ABC.

In an effort to plan better, I am recording how long it actually takes me to do things.  This morning a modestly full basket of ironing took 4 hours.  The bulk of the time is not actually spent ironing per se, but removing cat fur and other fluff.  I suspect that it might take less time if I did it more often.  I did also iron vast quantities of ( Read more... )