Skip to main content

About




About the Author

Hey! I'm Barbara, a Jane-of-all-trades, all 'round wool-wench, human rights loving expat currently living in the Sydney area. I enjoy (among other things) hiking, rock climbing, dancing, and meeting new people. (You will notice that long walks on the beach is not included in this list. I'm not the biggest fan of sand between my toes. Yes I realise the futility of this given where I currently live - the land of beaches.)

Originally from Seattle, Washington (USA), I'm a travel and coffee junkie! (Seriously, I've lived in 5 countries, worked in 3, and need only to visit Hawaii before I can say I've been to every state in the USA.) I moved to Australia to pursue a dual Masters (International Relations/International Communications) found love in my personal and work life, and decided to stay. These days I can be found making crazy things with string, drinking lots of coffee, and helping raise my stepdaughter, affectionately known as Youngling.

If you're enjoying the blog, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi. It takes a lot of yarn and caffeine to make this happen. ;)


  Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Here, hold my beer...for the sake of fibre

I hate spiders Last night I woke up with a start. I thought at first it was because I had fallen asleep with an audiobook running and it had come to a, rather loud, theatrical skirmish. I blearily turned off the book and rolled over onto my back, only to stare straight up at a gigantic huntsman above my head. Let me take a moment to remind you lovely readers that I live in Australia, and in Australia spiders range from microscopic to the size of your face. I'm aware that generally the poison level is inversely proportional to the size of the spider, but that doesn't stop me finding a spider big enough to smother me in my sleep terrifying. Also, I did not grow up here, so I inherently have a -5 resistance to local spiders. Since moving to Australia, I've tried to sort things with the spiders myself. I have tried to reason with them; applying to their sympathies by pointing out that I, too, spin and therefore we should be able to live amicably in respectful cohabitation...

It's. Not. Happening

Baby, you're doing my head in! I mentioned last year about this blanket (at least on Twitter and Instagram, if not here, too) – it's the Stuffed Animal Blanket by Amanda Saladin. I made one for my best friend last year and I was blown away by how easy it came together, how quick it stitched up, and how I remarkably didn't feel like setting the entire project on fire at any time during its creation. (I don't find crochet relaxing, though I do agree it can make some beautiful things.) That  version of the blanket came out  looking like the cutest, dopiest koala and everyone I showed it to wanted to give it a cuddle. THAT  version of the blanket came together in one go, no frogging, no worries. This one? Well... I'm on attempt #5 in almost 10 months and it's still giving me trouble. I should have known I could only get away with crocheting something once before the universe realigned itself. I'm pretty sure it's the yarn. See, it's a silk...

The Knitter vs Monday

Sometime last year Liebling and I were jokingly tossing around ideas for what one would need to make an epic fantasy story with yarn and knitting as a central feature of that world. It was one hell of an awesome several of hours of world building, let me tell you. Out of that evening, along with an even stronger desire to knit my geekboy all the amazing geeky things I can get my hands on, I got some major inspiration to try writing some short stories about yarn and fibre in a more fictional setting. I mean, what if you could have something like The Dresden Files, but with YARN? I think that sounds pretty damn cool and I'd buy it. I dabbled and dabbled and knitted and dabbled and eventually came up with a collection of stories about The Knitter. Here is one of these short stories. This is my first try at fictional writing since...erm...high school, so please bear that in mind when you read it. Also, if you like it, let me know and I'll share more. ;-) The Knitter vs Mon...