Because it's perfectly normal...

... to be taking pics of yourself at 4am!

Leaves and Snow

So here we are, 7 days to go and I tell you I am BEAT. Working 21 days straight on a night shift where you aren't in the time zone you come from or the even the time zone of the country you are in is damn hard work. Even when I get home early some nights (early being 3am) I am wide awake until about 5am. The things we do for sport!

All is going well in the land of pizza and pasta (can I say I don't think I have had a meal WITHOUT cheese and or bread in it since I got here. I never thought I would yearn for a plate of chops and vegies. Or even better, roast mmmmmmmm).

All is moving along on my maybe-a-silver-medal knit. Not quite halfway and thinking that the top podium won't be achieved. But I am getting better at the chart, not having to refer to it as much, which is what I wanted to achieve. Usually when I do a chart I rewrite the whole thing in long hand (yes I am a freak) as all the dots, crosses, lines and what have you send me crosseyed. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely.



Oh cool, it's snowing outside!! It snowed a week before we arrived and apparently that had been the first time it had snowed in 7 years in the town. So our hopes for snow while we are here have been low, but looky outside! Snow!! Sorry, all the pics I took aren't showing it. Pooey, hopefully if it selttles I'll get some pics of it later.

Bend the rules

What I am about to reveal may get me disqualified from the KO, but I think I have a valid reason.

I am going to start on my Knitting Olympics knit, Backyard Leaves, this afternoon.

I think that this is only fair since I will be working (on the Olympics even) at the time. In fact, my shift will not end until about 4 hours after the ceremony ends, so really I can do 4 hours of knitting before it starts? Right? (back me up here ladies). I haven't done ANY knitting since I got here, it is a crime I tell you.

So, Torino. Yesterday I had a pure European moment while eating in a cafe out in a plaza, with a Vespa scooter sitter nearby, eating a bowl of pasta drizzled in the most yummy olive oil (man they go nuts with the olive oil here), while Italians gestured vigourously around me and a man playing an accordion hovered nearby. All i needed was some old Italian men to be playing chess to make the picture complete. It's really a gorgeous place, I never fail to be humbled by the age and history of European cities, we really are such a young country in Australia. The buildings, with those quaint balconies, ornate railings and huge wooden doors are just so perfect.

And of course, the Italians attitude to everything is... shall we say... relaxed. Things are not quite ready. As an American I was speaking to last night said, they need another month to be ready. But another month they do not have, tonight is the night.

Here is a shot from my balcony. Yes there is some snow on the ground, it hasn't snowed since we got here, but it has been too cold for it to melt.



Ah, the weather. 4 degrees people. Hard to acclimatise when you have come from about 35 degrees. Helps that we have big coats, gloves, beanies, thick socks and hiking boots. We also have central heating. Mmmmmm.

Here's a shot I took this morning while waiting for my bus to go home. Half an hour standing in the freezing cold is not the way I like to spend my time, especially not at 3am.



It's the archway across the bridge that goes to the athletes village. Pretty funky huh. I can't quite place what I reminds me of, maybe something similar at an American airport? JFK? San Fran?

Off to get started on my controversial knit, shhh don't send the officials around.

26 hours

This is the approximate amount of time I will not be able to knit because needles are such dangerous objects.
Therefore, this will be a WASTED 26 hours (although I do hope to actually sleep during this time, well as much sleep as you can get with minimal leg room in a tinsy chair).

26 HOURS. WASTED.

That is all I will say about it, many others have gone before me in the grumbling about air safety discussion (see Stripey for my thoughts exactly). I did eye off some chopsticks in shops today...

So, believe it or not I have some finished objects!

First up, my International Scarf Exchange scarf. I'm pretty happy with it, I came up with the pattern myself (with the help of a stitch directory) and I think it came up a treat.



And looky here, my Go With the Flow socks from IK (Spring? I just put the mag away and can't be bothered going to check it). Done in Lorna's Laces 'Icehouse'. I likey alot.





(Excuse the bad photos, I ran out of time to take pics in the daylight today - probably due to the 25 odd people BBQing at my house.)

Something I discovered doing this, I was, er.... knitting it inside out. Don't ask me how, I managed to do the lace pattern inside out and the feet the correct way (ie, the correct side of the stocking stitch was on the outside). Who knows what kind of sleep deprived state I was in when I was reading the pattern, somewhere along the line the dots on the chart changed from meaning purl to meaning knit... Only talented people such as myself (ha!) manage this type of knitting magic (look you damn blonde follicles, if I've told you once I've told you a thousand times - STOP BURYING INTO MY SKULL, YOU ARE KILLING OFF THE BRAIN CELLS)

This could be my last post until I board the big steel object that will be flying me thousands of miles from home, but I will try and keep posting when I can and keep you up to date with anything interesting that may be happening around me (oh, you think the Olympics might be interesting enough?)

So ciao for now (sorry, I will try and keep the Italian to a minimum).