greenolive

an alphabet of blood tests

R – metal signage outside MYER building in town, Melbourne.

9.45am Saturday morning found me sitting at the local pathology lab waiting. Waiting for 1.5 hours before they could see me. Waiting for them to draw four vials of blood so they could run a whole alphabet of blood tests.

Then I found out I had an ECG too. Lucky I showered.

Just so you know I'm not exaggerating, here's the list of tests: FBE; E/LFTs; ESR; TSH, t3, t4; fasting glucose; fasting cholesterol; hdl, ldl, trig, b12, floate, vit d, iron, levels, resting ecg.

I should have taken my knitting, I would have been able to whip up another lavender pillow while I waited. Instead all I had to distract me was a selection of six-month-old trashy mags. They kind of lose their appeal when you know that yes, JLo IS pregnant and that NO Brittney is not getting married again. Oh, I almost forgot, Katie and Posh were planning a double pregnancy, conceiving in November 07, after the Spice Girls tour.

After fasting for 14 hours, waiting for 1.5 hrs, having 4 vials of blood drawn and the surprise of an ecg (nude from the waist up!) I had to console myself with a spot of yarn shopping. I found some fabulous wool and soy bean yarn, more on that later.

I've been feeling a bit under the weather, not quite 100%. Headaches, sinus, pains, lethargic, can't get out of bed in the morning. Couldn't be the underactive thyroid because after 3 years on medication we have finally got the dose right. Why don't we do some tests?!

I also had a lung function test the afternoon before. Not much fun when some skinny young technician is urging you to breathe out, breathe out, breathe out as far as you can and you start coughing violently because you have no breath left to breathe out! I can guess those results. Sub-standard lung capacity.

Back to the doctor this Thursday for the results. I can't wait...

catherine wheel completed

finally!

At long last my crochet Catherine Wheel scarf is completed!

I'd finished the crochet awhile back, but weaving in the ends – my least favourite crafty chore – meant it sat waiting patiently for me to get my act together. The recent cols snap has spurred me into action.

Some of you already know the recipe for this scarf and might also remember the first time I attempted this stitch pattern. It seems a merino/silk blend is a more suitable match than cotton!

I can report that I LOVE this stitch and also this yarn, called Sublime.

I have some more of it in three shades of blue...

the creative process

is a bit mysterious isn't it?

The creative process. One of life's great mysteries. Happens when you least expect it. And in the most odd places.

Case in point. We have a very healthy lavender plant. (Lavender being one of my favourite plants and smells.) And Mr greenolive (he being the one with the greenthumb) announces he wants to cut it back this weekend.

I protest: It's flush with lots of lovely purple flowers.

Ok, he reasons, you can cut them all off first, then I'll cut it back.

Ok, I say in my procrastinating tone he is very familiar with.

Now!, he says.

So Saturday morning (a few Saturdays ago), armed with my cup of tea and still in my pyjamas, and competing with at least three bees, I cut off each lavender head, one by one. This takes quite a bit of time as you can probably imagine, so while I was loping heads I got to thinking.

What could I do with all this lavender? (And all the other lavender I had salvaged from previous cut backs.)

Lavender bags! I'd need some loose-weave fabric so the smell could waft through. Darn. As I mentally went through my fabric stash I realised I didn't have such a fabric.

I kept thinking. (In real life all this happened in like one nano second. But I can't write that fast and you can't read that fast.) Ok, I need open-weave fabric. I can knit something using some lovely linen yarn. Linen and lavender, perfect!

So after taking about one second to get the idea, it took several hours to bring to life.

I tried crochet. Too dense and too busy I decided.

I ended up going with the simplest stitch of all, good old garter stitch. And a button on the back to so can refill the pillow whenever you like.

Lavender, linen and garter stitch. A match made in heaven. Looks and smells divine if I do say so myself.

168

A photo of me and Mum taken in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens circa 1970. This is probably the best I have ever looked in shorts!

The last 168 hours have been pretty busy for me.

I haven't done any blogging or flickring of my own, or visited yours either for that matter. Feeling a bit disconnected. My flickr photos haven't seen any action for over a week. Hope to get back to normal real soon.

So why so busy?

I'm glad you asked...

1. My Mum decided to visit my sister and I for Easter and arrived last Tuesday

2. Lots of effort at work to get things finished before I took an extra day's leave over the Easter break

3. A lovely day spent with Mum visiting Como House

4. A sleep over with Mum and my sister

5. Two days of cleaning and consolidating the house before Mum came to stay with us

6. Lots of beading, for Mum and sisters, and lots of crochet – baskets of course!

7. A drive to Mt Donna Buang to see the rainforest, collect some spring water and see a Lyre bird if we were lucky – we weren't!

8. A walk along the Yarra at Wharburton

9. Making two yummy cheesecakes with mum from her special recipie

10. Babysitting Jack again over Easter – Jack the dog that is

11. Setting up a wireless network at home so I can surf, blog and flickr on the laptop anywhere in the house – Mr greenolive set it up, I just bought the hardware and made reassuring noises when they were called for!

How has your Easter break been then?

putting faces to names

meeting Melbourne's crafty community

Sunday morning saw me up early and off to the Stitches and Craft fair to participate in the Living Creatively stand.

I was part of the informal demonstration area which meant I was able to show off some greenolive goodies – Pieced Fabric Scarves, Stripy Things, Ribbon and Felt flowers – and be "crafty" at the same time.

Needing something portable and light to demonstrate, I decided to do some crochet baskets. I've decided I really like them...they may be the answer to my piles of stuff lurking on any flat surface and a few uneven ones too!

Basket made from kitchen string and another one in blue in progress.

Apparently there is more than one way to hold a crochet hook and my way was quite different from a lot of the ladies who stopped by. However, I managed to impress them with my ergonomic crochet hook. They are all going to rush out to Clegs to buy one!

At the stand I was able to put faces to several familiar names: Bianca from Hollabee, Fiona, Amelia, Angela, Cathy, Jenny from Amitie and Angela from Living Creatively. I'd met Fiona and Ameila before so it was great to see them again.

I got some good feedback on greenolive goodies, some visitors wanted to buy the scarves right there on the spot, and have some possibilities to promote them via the Living Creatively website.

Oh, in the last week I've also finished my product information sheet, managed to get a stockist up here on Mt Dandenong and have an appointment tomorrow with a up market boutique in Toorak. Aunty Shabby set that one up so a big thank you to her.

All in all, a very and productive busy week. I am so looking forward to some knitting, crocheting and sewing over Easter!

pop in and say hello!

Living creatively – why not whip up a crochet fruit bowl after dinner?

If you are at a loose end this Sunday why not pop in to The Stitches & Craft Fair at Caulfied and come and visit me at the Living Creatively stand?

I'll be there with lots of other local crafty ladies doing lots of crafty things.

I almost didn't make it, being the procrastinator I am. Amelia suggest to Angela that I might be interested in participating. I received the email and sat on it for three weeks. It was only when Amelia tracked me down at work and left a message that I got my act into gear. (Thank you Amelia!) I contacted Angela and was able to get a slot doing a demonstration in the informal area on Sunday morning.

I'm quite excited and at the same time not quite sure what to expect. But I am looking forward to meeting lots of you in the flesh, putting faces to blog banners and posts. I wonder if you will all be as I imagine you to be. And, will I be what you imagined greenolive to be?

In other news, I'm also pleased to announce that I have called all three of the local Mt D retailers I had identified and I have an appointment late Sunday afternoon to show my wares. Waiting to confirm the others.

And I'm about 30% of the way through developing the buyers info sheet I mentioned in the last blog post.

All in all, a very productive week. And its only Wednesday night!

getting serious

Some nice felt flowers to brighten up your day and denim jacket.

The effect of the unblocked chi still hasn't worn off.

Who would have thought sorting through nine grey archive boxes would have had such an effect? Not me. If I did, I would have done it months ago.

This weekend I was a woman on a mission – to get greenolive stocked in a store near you. Well stores near me to be precise, but since Mt Dandenong is such a tourist mecca, that's probably ok.

Saturday morning I worked out what needed to be done. Two mind maps and a to-do list later it all seemed very do-able, broken down into small chunks and tasks that I can accomplish and cross off quickly. I even have some dependencies and milestones in there. (Sorry, this project management gig is really rubbing off on my personal life!)

The list includes:

• taking more product photos (see above)

• making more stock (37 felt flowers in one sitting)

• making a buyers info sheet with photos, info and prices (to make ordering stock a breeze!)

• sorting out my wholesale prices (you can never get what your hand made work deserves)

• finalising labelling/packaging (so it looks professional)

• working up some nerve/confidence (so I can "sell" my stuff).

The confidence got a bit of a boost last night when Anna emailed me to say I was on cuteable! See the post of 8 March and scroll down to the clinks section. There you'll see pink bubblegum. Maybe I should start selling the baby blankets...

pink bubblegum

After four posts on life and the curve balls it can throw at you, you are probably ready for a nice crafty post. (I would be if I was you!)

So, how about pink bubblegum?

Pink bubblegum is the name I've given this lovely hand-spun, hand-dyed wool I got from Calico and Chintz. The wool has a thick and thin texture and the colours range from very pale pink, almost white to a very bright bubblegum pink. Perfect for a Baby Girl.

When presented with an opportunity to knit for a new baby I tend to go for the Baby Blanket option.

Two skeins of pink bubblegum, one set of long bamboo needles, several nights of crap television, endless cups of tea and several rows of garter stitch later you have Pink Bubblegum, Baby Blanket #5.

The texture and weight of the wool makes this a very light and soft blanket, one I hope will be perfect to snuggling in to or tucking her up nice and warm in the pram. And when she grows a bit bigger she can put it on her bed.

I hope she and her Mummy like it.

tagged

A close up of the Sun motif in a recent painting by Myles. See fact #1 below.

Is there an expiration date on being tagged? I hope not.

Stephanie tagged me in February, and I am only now getting round to writing the return tag post. That's the technical term for it, isn't it?

So here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. (Done)

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. (See below)

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. (I've already tagged almost everyone I know out there in blog land, but if I haven't tagged you, please consider yourself tagged and follow the rules...)

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. (See above)

The random and weird:

#1: I have a favourite nephew. Now I know you aren't supposed to have favourites, but the sad fact is I do. His name is Myles. He's 7, lives in Brisbane and is on the Blue Team like me (blue eyes). He thinks I'm really cuddly and is impressed by my ample bosom.

#2: I love typography. Kind of expected when one trains as a graphic designer. I appreciate the shape of letters and numbers and some of my favourites are: M, lowercase g and r, S, Z, T, 5, 8, 2.

#3: I'm a cardi kind of girl. With that ample bosom and broad shoulders, cardigans are a more comfortable choice than jackets. And I like that cardigans are classic (think Grace Kelly). Much less uptight than a jacket. I haven't counted my cardis lately, but I'd probably have 30 of them. And about a third of them are twinsets.

#4: I don't read books. I'm not sure why, but I'd much prefer flicking through magazines or non-fiction rather than reading a novel. I used to read a lot as a child but not so much now I'm an adult. I do read an occasional book, or rather start an occasional book, but the pile on my bedside table is magazines rather than books. Short attention span perhaps...

#5: I'm a kinesthetic learner. A what? There are several different learning styles and that's mine. I discovered this in 2006 and I can tell you it has changed how I work. Or more accurately, I have embraced the way I always wanted to work, but had been prevented from doing so. Whiteboards, diagrams, pen and paper, colours, reading and writing and thinking anywhere but at my desk and hopefully lying on my tummy on my bed. Lucky my new boss understands and lets me work this way as much as possible. Why don't you see what you are?

#6: I'm a mac girl. Most graphic designers are because for a long time there all our software was mac only. I managed to escape the evil PC for 13 years, but have to use one in my job now. For the first few weeks I felt so disorientated. Don't let anyone tell you they are the same. They aren't! For one thing, macs are so beautifully designed. And their user interface is so much better! When I'm at work I still try and do mac keyboard shortcuts! Old habits die hard.

#7: I love vacuuming. We have a Dyson so that probably helps. (It's a design thing.) But even before the Dyson I loved vacuuming. It's my most favourite household chore. Closely followed by doing the washing. Washing the dishes is my least favourite household chore. That's why poor Mr greenolive gets stuck with it so often.

finally, letting go

of my old professional life

One of the many diagrams I created showing user groups and information access. (You had to be there!)

You know I'm not very good at letting go. I've told you this before.

Finally, almost 12 months after my surprise redundancy (surprise to me, but perhaps not to them) from the University of Melbourne, today I let go. Of the baggage, the memories and my feelings about that chapter of my professional life. I finally got round to sorting and chucking the contents of nine grey archive boxes that I packed when I left my office.

These boxes represent six years of my professional life. They represent my growth as a professional from a graphic designer to web manager to manager of a team of 12 to enterprise information architect. They also represent six years of our life (Mr greenolive and I), where we moved from our lovely flat in Toowong to start a new life in Melbourne, a city neither of us knew. He gave up a new job at the Brisbane City Council so we could move interstate for my new job at the University.

The boxes moved from my office to our house in Glen Iris, then to our house at Olinda where they lived in the dining room, stacked up, a permanent visual reminder of my "failure" and the end of my professional life.

At the time, and in the 12 months since, I have viewed the redundancy as a failure. Loss of job, loss of substantial income, loss of face, loss of professional identity. The fact that I couldn't find the right job for another five months compounded the loss, and added to the niggling doubt that I had "faked it", that I had been playing at being a grown up and professional.

The act of unpacking, sorting, evaluating and ultimately chucking the contents of the boxes today was very cathartic. I got a bit teary, but I also had tangible proof of all that I achieved and overcame during those years. I travelled through web strategy, web management, team establishment and management, communication strategy, stakeholder engagement, change management, communities of practice, knowledge management, content management, information architecture, content analysis, policy development, governance, information management, taxonomies, metadata, thesauri, document management, information management and finally enterprise information architecture.

I was reminded of all the conferences where I presented, the training courses I delivered, the strategy papers I wrote, the change proposals developed, the staffing profiles drafted, and the countless whiteboards I decorated and the diagrams I designed. The fact that whiteboards and markers, pen and paper are my tools of choice was reinforced. I remembered how good I was at my job and how I rose through the ranks of management hierarchy.

Then I was able to discard the stuff that was no longer relevant in this new stage of my life. I don't need boxes of physical stuff to represent my worth, skills and experience. I said good bye to all the crap and baggage I'd carried in the last 12 months at Melbourne.

I'm now able to realise that while my current job is utilising my skills, it doesn't really capatilise on my experience and knowledge. And that's ok. I'm in transition. I need breathing speace to regroup and realise what my passion is after sufferig emotional and physical burnout.

What I know now is I DON"T want to be a manager again. It is a thankless task that drains my energy and brings out some of my worst traits. Perfectionalist, controlling and unable to delegate.

I want a job where I can work as a consultant, internal or external. Where I can bring my skills, experience and knowledge to solve a problem for an organisation. Where I can focus my energies and attention, develop a plan, get endorsement, prepare for implementation and then, maybe, move on.

If you come across such a job, will you let me know?