And following on from the last geek conference entry, I've found a permaculture introduction course being offered in October in Brighton! I'm not sure what price I'd get - I'm a student, but I'm waged. Tricky. And by then university classes will have started again. And I really shouldn't start trying to learn about even more stuff.

No good. Need more hours in the day...

There is this conference in November, see? The Future of Mobile. I don't think I can get work to pay for me to go, and it's only £60 for a student. And it's an area that interests me, because after all we (almost) all carry these little phone things and they could be much more useful/easier to use.

This month I've been a little bad on the spending money front. Normally (owing to part-time student status and correspondingly low wages) I try not to buy too much stuff, but we got a little bit of a bonus this month and that seems to have been all the trigger I needed for a bit of a blow-out. So along with the new bike shoes and a nice replacement for the £15 green raincoat from the army & navy store, I also bought a couple of books on permaculture: Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield, and The Permaculture Way by Graham Bell.

I bought them because I'm intrigued by just how much food I could produce on our small patch of garden, and how to make best use of the land. Permaculture seems to take organic one step further, and I'm all about using natural alternatives to me working hard (e.g. creating the right habitats for slug predators rather than me having to collect and kill them manually...).

Of the two books, I preferred the tone of Permaculture in a Nutshell. It is a little less preachy. But it is a small book. It's a great overview, and I would definitely recommend it as a way in. The Permaculture Way then allowed me to get a (marginally) more thorough read, so that worked well. I think a slightly preachy tone may go with the territory! I'm definitely interested in doing further research, but I think I'm going to join the library to try some books before I buy any more - that bonus only goes so far...

The geek factor comes in with the resonance that the descriptions of permaculture design had with the user-centred design process I've been exploring in my degree course. A strong idea that the people who used the systems must be deeply involved and understood comes through, along with the importance of understanding the requirements from the system. It could be very interesting to see what could evolve out of merging both approaches...

My trip to work this morning was not good. It started badly with being woken at 5.10am, but I overcame that to sleep until 7ish, then laze in bed until 7.30ish. Then I missed the second bus by about 4 minutes (I think it was a little early - or our clocks are slow - and I was a little late), which lead to missing the train by 11 minutes. Then I tried to be clever and use an alternative route, but that connection didn't work out, so then I nearly missed the train I would have got had I not tried to be clever. 35 minutes late to work.

Since then, things have not got any better. So, in an effort to distract myself with pleasant thoughts, have a knitting update.

First up I have a project that's giving me hand-ache.

This is knit in Knitpicks Telemark in Alpine Frost, on 3mm needles because I wanted a nice dense fabric. This is supposed to replace a much loved but now very ratty Lands End jumper. But I had to make it a little more complicated, and add the cables down the shoulder. These have been 'borrowed' from Jodi Green's Durrow, but I made them go all the way up the shoulders. This is my stay at home and knit in front of telly project, but our telly's broken and I don't seem to have been at home a lot recently.

Next we have a baby jumper:

This is the Pea Pod sweater from Interweave. I've got a little further on it, but not a lot. I'm knitting it in Sirdar Luxury Soft Cotton double knit in Ruby Red, on 4mm needles. I like the pattern, but I got distracted. Better get back on it though, because the baby it's intended for has made his appearance... Good job I went for the 3 month size.

Finally, I got totally distracted by this wool:

I used the justification that I needed a really simple, no looking knitting piece for both county champs and cricket week to start on a v-neck tank top for me. This is Twilley's of Stamford freedom Spirit, 100% wool. It's lovely. It's also very sticky. This is the thing I was knitting that inspired the knitting fool entry. Frogging it is not easy. This is good, because I've decided to try steeking on this project. Right now I've got it finished, I just need to be at home and feeling alert enough to do the sewing and cutting part. Eek. I'll post before and after shots, of course.

I think that's all I've got actively on the go at the moment... Not all I'm dreaming up though. Loads more of that...

There. I feel better already.