Busy resting...

Can you guess what this is??



I've been meaning to crochet this blanket for the longest time - I went for my first lesson over a year ago, promptly forgot my skills through lack of practise which meant that I had to have a refresher at Flib's's hooker party. Now that I have an infinite amount of time on my hands... waiting to hear about auditions and the results of castings I have attended, the best way to temper the idleness, boredom and anxiety is to keep my hands busy. It's been tough learning to read the patterns and I started out with a few practise squares...



The middle one is particularly 'special' but given that ALL the squares in this pattern start with that tricky first round, I thought it best to get it right. It's been slightly easier thanks to Ravelry but it is still hard to understand these instructions without the help of someone to physically show you. I even tried drawing a diagram to visually map out the stitches but it was still confusing



I think I'm getting there though,.. have a look at these. (Note to self - do not use variegated yarn when you are trying to figure out unfamiliar crochet stitches!)



Another result of being unemployed is that it affords you the luxury of gratuitous yarn buying... especially irresponsible as I ended up going to Liberty's three times during this last summer sale week.



Guess I'd better crank up the de-stashing!!

Curtain-up & curtain-down...

You pooter along in disenchantment and then life suddenly takes a dramatic turn. The curtain goes down on one life and comes up on another one with the promise of new beginnings.

Back at the end of April, I was asked to audition for a small, fringe play. It did not initially take my fancy as I assumed it was just another profit-share (i.e. unpaid) production. This turned out to be unfounded and when I was offered the part, I traded in my soul-destroying albeit well-paying city job with a mixture of glee & trepidation to join the ranks of terminally under-employed actors.

Rehearsals started pretty much the same evening as my last day in the office and it has been a complete roller-coaster of a ride. In the midst of my elation, the news of Tash's death plunged me into the depths of grief.



It's been almost a month now and I still feel acute stabs of sorrow at the loss of such a beautiful light. It felt as if we had all become part of some crappy chick-lit story with the C-word providing some kind of lousy plot device. Tash we miss you so much!! You always loved it when I gave you a shout-out on this blog of all the good times you'd been able to facilitate and been part of.

If you hare able to get wi-fi signal up there in the great yarn-shop in the sky Tash - I want you to know that despite your physical demise, you are still very much alive in our hearts and minds. I was so chuffed when the knitting possy came to my show last Wednesday, yet your presence was so sorely missed. In any case, you'll be glad to know that I was mentioned in our Time-Out review and duly got pissed last night to celebrate.

P.S. We...