Archives for May 2006

Web communities

May 31, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

Ever since I discovered the internet I’ve been fascinated by the communities that have sprung up as a result of the internet.

When I was at uni in 1995/95 the idea of web or online communities was pretty new but I looked into it in the form of a Usenet group. It was a mini research project, for assessment, of mine.

Now there’s heaps more online communities and groups around. Weblogs is an obvious choice and I’d say that most, if not all, webloggers read others weblogs and participate in them in some way and get to know the weblog authors and therefore form their own communities.

There are another online types of communities around too, and that’s Flickr groups. Anyone can create a group that’s public or private and post pictures to it. Being a community, you can be invited to the group or you can just join depending on how the group has been setup.

What caught my interest was the Graves, tombs and cemeteries group. I’m not morbidly fascinated by death, but it interests me to look at gravestones, particularly old ones and try to figure out or imagine the story behind it. While I haven’t posted anything to this group 16,432 photos are there already from just over 2,500 members.

Some other Flickr groups:

Knitting accessories

May 30, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

Now that the cold weather has pretty much settled in for the season, and it’s not even officially winter yet, I’ve got my knitting needles well and truly out.

I decided after I finished my last cardigan that I wouldn’t bother knitting a jumper or cardigan again as the last jumper and cardigan I knitted took 13 years all up to finish both of them. Like many projects I do, knitting or otherwise, I start all excited about what I’m doing and very quickly get bored. Therefore I decided that I will only knit things that take a relatively short amount of time.

Last year I had a beanie knitting frenzy and I’ve since knitted a beanie for my son and for a friend’s birthday. I’ve run out of people to knit beanie’s for so I’ve started knitting scarves for myself.

I’ve already got warm woolly scarves so don’t need to knit any more of those so I thought I’d turn my knitting needles to more fancy, dressy type ones that will still keep my neck somewhat warm in winter.

Not having a pattern hasn’t really deterred me. I thought I’d start by finding something I want to knit up. I popped into Lincraft the other day and had a look around. Lincraft are pretty organised compared to say Spotlight with their layout of knitting materials and suggestions for what you can knit.

An aside, after reading about Spotlight offering new workers two cents an hour extra in return for them losing their penalty rates and overtime rates I’m inclined not to shop there right now. And their shops are quite messy. I guess if they’re offering their workers shit conditions they’re not inclined to keep things tidy anyway.

Back to Lincraft. They had a scarf knitted up with ‘Mega’. Using size 11mm needles, cast 20 stitches on and knit up one ball of Mega in garter stitch. Their scarf had fringing on the ends also so leave some aside to do this.

I haven’t started this yet but figure it will be a very quick one once I do.

I also bought some acrylic (thought it was cotton – it looks like cotton) as I liked it and am using 6mm needles and about 33 stitches and knitting up in a rib (1 stitch purl, 1 stitch knit).

It’s not looking too bad and should turn out okay I think.

Once I finish these I have some more friends’ birthdays coming up so they might be getting a scarf each.

Kiddley.com

May 27, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

The 37 or so week pregnant Claire Robertson has started a new blog Kiddley with her husband Phil. Their blog is about every day ideas for you and your kids. Let’s face it when you’re not a crafty or a very imaginative person, when it comes to amusing kids, this website is a godsend.

I find it hard to get inspired to write in my own blog sometimes but when looking at their website I had a light bulb moment about kids clothing on a budget. I submitted the idea to Kiddley. They thought it was great and decided to serialise it over the next five weeks starting today. Mind you what they’re planning for the last week’s budget clothing for kids idea is strictly Claire’s domain – ‘Making clothes for your kids’. I don’t do that stuff. I don’t have time for that stuff. But the other ideas are all mine.

After I submitted the idea I thought, darnit, I should have used that idea to write a blog post on my website but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of exposure from a well known blogger. I actually have run with my personalised version of what Kiddley will be expanding on this week and the next three weeks about clothing your kids on a budget. See it here.

I might expand on the budget theme here in the future. I’m planning for my son’s fifth birthday party and I don’t do expensive kids parties with a $250 party clown. I don’t know if this is how much they cost but I’m sure they aren’t cheap. I want to do something a bit special as it’s his fifth birthday and he will soon leave his comfort zone of childcare and start in the public schooling world. Therefore I want to invite kids from childcare, friend’s kids, mother’s group kids etc etc and make this a biggish party before he starts school.

Crochet

May 25, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

Crochetslacks I’m wishing I remembered how to crochet so I could make this outfit. Pattern is freely available via Cleckheaton site (PDF file). If I did make these slacks I would definitely find somewhere to wear them (with leggings or something underneath).

Things I’m liking about Adelaide at the moment

May 24, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

A couple of things I’m liking:

I love that a farmer’s market will be starting down in the city for us city folk in a few months. I’m so excited!! There is currently one all the way at Willunga but that is too far to drive to justify buying local produce. I occasionally go there with a friend who lives locally if I happen to be there on a Saturday morning.

It’s only recently that I’ve started to become more aware of the benefits in using fresh produce and buying things in season and would like to do this more. Therefore buying locally produced, fresh food that hasn’t had mountains of chemicals used in the growing process can only be a bonus. Even more of a bonus for me is that it will be happening not too far from my house.

I also like that when catching the tram this morning that I was able to get a seat. I’ve just started taking the tram once a week into the city when my son goes to the local kindy. I drop him at a local childcare on this day whereas I normally drive into town with him.

The first week I caught the tram I thought it was quite crowded, that is standing room only from my stop which is less than half way into the city. After asking somebody if that was normal they said yes. It’s obviously been a long time since I caught public transport in peak hour times.

This morning, though, a tram went past me and I never knew there was an express. A couple of minutes later an old red rattler stopped and it was practically empty so I got a seat. Mind you by the time we got into town a good ten minutes late it was jam packed so perhaps the tram people got wind it was going to be an extra busy morning. I will be interested to see what happens on my next tram catching day.

UPDATE: I think the empty tram was a one off. Hope I’m proved wrong.

And one more thing I like about Adelaide that I can look foward to is the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. I’ve booked tickets to go to two shows. It’s a bit risque booking tickets to shows before booking babysitting but I figure it will be all right on the night. Instead of having a Tight Arse Tuesday night, they have a Wowser’s Wednesday (my term) where you can buy two tickets for the price of one. All you need is a friend to go halves with you and I’ve managed to find a friend to do this.

Children’s clothes on a budget

May 23, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

I initially thought of this idea (children’s clothes on a budget) when I had a look at Claire Robertson (Loobylu) and Phil McKluskey’s new website Kiddley and emailed them about it. They’re runing with it in a serialised format and I’m running with the extended, personal mix.

I’ve been a sole parent since the birth of my son nearly five years ago and I don’t get one cent of child support for him so consequently I don’t have loads of money to spend. One area that’s a potentially large area for spending lots of money is on clothes. Babies and children grow very quickly and as any parent knows, there is an ongoing sorting through of clothes and putting aside clothes that are too small.

Because my budget is fairly limited and because I don’t want to spend loads of money on something that my son will wear for one season, I’ve found ways of being pretty thrifty in this area.

So here’s my tips for not having to spend too much money on clothes.

Hand-me-downs

Spread the word that you’re in the market for hand-me-downs. When I was pregnant I was given quite a few babies clothes for my son and I’m glad. Some of these were 0000 size and as JJ was 9lb6oz (4.25kg) when he was born he was in this small size for about one minute so I’m glad I didn’t spend the money on these. Most parents are glad to offload the clothes their child has grown out of so you will be doing them a favour.

I continue to be given hand-me-downs for JJ and he’s not worried about it at this stage. I dread the day he becomes too fashion conscious to wear pre-loved clothing. The only thing with this now is that that long pants aren’t handed down quite so much because the knees get worn through.

Op-shops (thrift shops)

I love shopping in op shops for my wardrobe so since JJ came along I keep an eye out for him also. I’ve picked up some great stuff like a pair of Osh Kosh B’Gosh long pants the other day that are in almost perfect condition and were only $3. I’ve also found dressing gowns, safari suit jackets (just in case), and long flared pants that are still new from the 70s. He may never wear these when he gets big enough as they might not be cool, but as they were relatively cheap it doesn’t matter.

The thing with op shops, if you’re fashion conscious for your child, is that fashions are cyclic so something that was fashionable 20 years ago is probably fashionable again now.

I’ve found there are more babies and toddlers clothes available in op shops because they haven’t had the chance to be worn out as easily as older kids clothes and if you are brand conscious and have a bit of time to scout around you can pick up some good stuff and good condition.

Specialty second-hand clothing shops

The other option in second-hand clothing shops is the specialty clothing shops for kids. Usually you can take in your pre-loved items of clothing and get some money for them and you can buy pre-loved clothing there as well. This clothing is a bit more expensive but still cheaper than buying brand new.

Buying clothes on sale

Buying clothes on sale at the end of a season. There are always sales on at department stores and other shops and I browse through these to find clothing for my son to wear for the next season. Obviously I have to guess what size he will be there but that’s fairly easy to gauge.

Also there seem to be more and more sales these days. And sales like the end of financial year ones toward the end of June allow you to buy winter clothes more or less at the beginning of winter.

Buying clothes on Ebay

This is great opportunity for buying clothes without having to leave the house. There are a plethora of childrens clothes available on Ebay. Like browsing through second hand shops it may take some time to find a bargain but it can be worth it.

Selling clothes on Ebay

Again, if you have the time, this is a great way of getting rid of the clothes that are too small for your child and a possible way of making some money as well. I haven’t actually done this as I’ve passed my son’s old clothes along to friends.

It’s caught up with me

May 22, 2006 by Jen at Semantically driven

It’s Monday morning and I should be at work but I’m not. I finished filling in for my boss last week and the next day I felt ill. It’s manifested as a sore throat and a general feeling of tiredness so I’m taking it easy today.

I haven’t had a sick day for myself for just over six months and I wish I wasn’t sick now but a quiet day at home will work wonders I’m sure.

Daytime tv beckons!