2010 - Three months in...

We are one quarter of the way through 2010. How time flies! We’re also 13 months away from my wedding (and 25 months from my sister’s wedding!) which is very exciting.

Highlights of the past three months?


1. The highlight of January was getting engaged. In fact, that’s probably going to be the highlight of 2010 – and so close to the beginning of the year, how do we top that? (should I even try?),
2. Highlight for February would be publishing my first ever paid for pattern – Dangerous Socks For Boys - Click Here to Buy Now
3. Highlight for March is a tough one. I did enjoy our visit to the farm near FH’s parent’s, where they were lambing. Cute lambs! ,
4. Low point for the first quarter was definitely the car going bang (well, not exactly bang, but…) although the hire car was lovely!

Scrap-booking - Engaged

I have decided to keep a scrapbook of the run-up to the wedding, encompassing events from the day my Fiancé proposed to the day of the wedding (and maybe even a honeymoon page, if I have space!)

I've discovered, from my investigations into the craft world, that scrapbooking isn't simply sticking cinema stubs and train tickets into a big book (although it can be that); it's creating beautiful pages of memories to look back at in years to come. This appealed to me, not least because so many photos nowadays are destined for life in only digital form, they don't adorn the homes of their takers in photo albums or frames.

So, for me this project is as much about remembering all the fun (and possibly stress!) of getting engaged, planning the wedding, and getting married.

When we got engaged, FH (Future Hubby) and I took many some photos of the ring, both in the box and on my hand. I've printed a couple of these out, as well as some decorative writing (I know where my talents lie and handwriting is not one of them).
Then I thought it might be nice to include one, some or all of our engagement cards we've received from people (Thank you to everyone who sent us cards, they've been decorating our bookshelf these past two months!)
After some consideration I decided on just one card, which had a tasteful and beautiful picture of a couple dancing and kissing. (Well done Chris for having very good taste)

All of those items have now been combined into one scrapbook page celebrating our engagement.
Here it is for your enjoyment.

I'm pleased with my first attempt at scrap-booking, I'm sure I will improve over time and this book will also be a record of that.
If anyone who does this sort of thing has any hints, tips, recommendations for places to buy stuff, and all that jazz, leave a comment!

Excited!

I’ve been booking some dress-trying-on sessions for the Easter weekend.

I know roughly what I want. I know I prefer sweetheart necklines, I’d prefer a high-ish waist (I have a high natural waist) and I’d like some straps of some sort. I have some (many) pictures on my computer, and I’ll print out a few of them to take with me for inspiration for the dress shop clerks. I’m also taking my mum.

We’ve booked for one shop in Harrogate on Friday afternoon – after which we’re going for dinner at the venue we’ve tentatively booked for the reception. If the food is up to scratch and everything is generally good, I’ll be firming up the reservation. And then two more bridal wear shops on Saturday, hopefully with time for lunch in the middle.

Fiancé and Daddy will be coming with us to Harrogate – there’s a men’s section there too, and they have a good deal at the moment, so fiancé can try on a couple of (or more) suit jackets.

They’re going to finish (I hope) the kitchen on Saturday while I’m dress shopping with Mum. We might have time to go to monsoon or something for mum to look at outfits too.

Knitting Update!

It’s been a while since I posted any knitting, despite having finished a number of things. I’ve been quite busy though, between decorating and sorting out wedding things I haven’t had a lot of time to do much, and the time I find spare I either knit or sleep! I have finally taken photos of the second turn a square hat that I knit. I knit this one first: But it was a little on the small side for Fiancé, because of him having hair to squeeze under it. That one has now gone to my dad, who hopefully will get some wear out of it. And I knitted this one: for Fiancé. He’s happy with it (can you tell?) as it’s warm, big enough, and keeps the rain off too! it was a fun knit, and I got better at the jog-less stripe by the time I did this one! I’m considering making one for me too; though the weather is probably warm enough now to be hatless. That also means that the in progress phoenix (sorry about the PJ top there) will probably not be finished until it’s too warm to wear it. Boo. The other completed project is the socks for FFIL (that’s future Father in Law) – he is really pleased with them, both colour and fit. I’m glad. I’m thinking about making a pair for my dad next, well – after I finish the pair I’m knitting for Fiancé, and then finish the fingerless gloves I’ve designed but not knit. I’m going to get them tested as before, and they’ll be a free pattern when they’re done. The shawl is also well underway, I’m on the second half of the beaded (or nupp, as written) section. It looks really nice so far. I’m looking forward to blocking it and seeing how big it actually is. I’m also looking forward to wearing it! I’ll have to figure out an outfit to wear it with, perhaps on dress-down-Friday. Though it could be seen as quite dressy!

Poorly Car

Our car is poorly. Back in July 2007 you may remember me posting about our new car. The little Polo has been good to us for the past almost-three-years; starts first time, even in the snow. We had some work done on the breaks and the exhaust, but nothing unusual for a car that age (it’s an N reg).
But, on Monday night on the way home from knitting, as we got back to the street, there was steam billowing out from under the bonnet. Eek!

We’ve called a mechanic. He’s (so far) proven to be a nice man. He’s going to pick up the car and then have a look for us. The current thoughts (both from him and my dad) are that either there’s a coolant leak, (I’m sorry captain, we cannae go to warp, there’s a coolant leak in engineering), or the head gasket is broken. I don’t know what a head gasket is, but it sounds expensive. I’m told that in order to replace one it takes a lot of work and taking the engine apart a bit. That also sounds expensive. I hope it’s a coolant leak, and an easy to fix one at that.

The pattern for my lacy mitts design is ready for me to start test knitting. Unfortunately, because all of my knitting stuff is “in storage”, I only have one set of sock needles which I’m using to knit some socks for Fiancé. All that this means is that he’ll get them super fast! I bought some lush yarn (neither photographed nor in my Rav stash yet) to make them with (because all my yarn is in storage), a Violet Green merino silk blend, in a lovely dusky red. It’s not a solid colour entirely, but has lots of hues of dark red and dark pinky red. It’s lush; I really can’t describe it and do it justice! I’m pleased with the pattern so far. If there’s yarn left over I might make another one of my lace bag too.

Designs and Decorating

I always have ideas for new designs clamouring for attention while I do other things. Even while I’m knitting I’m thinking of new knitting designs. Or when I’m at work, so many ideas appear!
There’s a school of thought which says you should write them all down. Every single idea you have. I’m a bit disorganised, so the chances of me having an appropriate notebook to do that is slim. However, I believe that an idea which is good enough gets lodged in my brain! I have a bunch of ideas which I haven’t written down for things which will eventually be made. Or, as in the case of the wedding invitations, I’ve designed them in my head, and even scribbled a sketch on the side of some meeting notes, but not actually made them, or really done much towards making them!

-oOo-

We had quite a productive weekend, my folks were up and we did some painting, some cupboard building, and cleaning. (I say we. I’m afraid with the cleaning Mum did pretty much all of it, while I did some ineffective tidying. I’m rubbish at that sort of thing!)
We’ve also bought some paint for the bedrooms. If I’m honest, they’ve needed a lick of paint since we moved in. The walls are magnolia, just magnolia. Which isn’t interesting and means it looks a bit “rental”. We’ve not gone miles away from magnolia though, I’ve bought warm magnolia for above the dado rail. In an effort to make it look a bit more chic, I’ve bought some warm beige for below the dado – kind of a milky coffee colour. (Photos to come, eventually!)
We’re going to do the same colour scheme in the back bedroom, which is currently also magnolia. I have to re-paint the ceiling in there too. I’ve also got the woodwork to paint in both bedrooms too. Nothing too fancy, we’ve got some matt wood paint (rather than gloss) in a colour called cotton white.
I’ll try to remember to take some photos this evening (or set my fiancé on doing so while I’m at knitting!) of the paint, and the painted door! the bathroom door needs sanding down now, and another coat of paint is required. it has already made a big difference to how the bathroom feels when you’re in there – though we can’t shut the door at the moment as there’s no handle!

-oOo-

Of course, that meant I got no knitting done! I do still have two weeks to finish the socks I’m knitting, and I’m well on the way with those. I want to try them on again; I’m getting close to where I need to start the toe. I’m aiming for a shoe size larger than I wear, so I’ll start the toe a few rows later than I normally would.

Dangerous Socks For Boys

So, I heard back from Knitty, and though it was a lovely email, it was a rejection. However, for the small sum of £2.50 Dangerous Socks for Boys could be yours! Just click on the link below and (hopefully) you'll be able to download the PDF. It's via paypal, I believe. Just click the link: I wanted to create some socks for my boyfriend that were manly enough for him (no lace, nothing too fancy), comfortable enough to wear in slightly warmer weather and most of all interesting enough that I didn’t get the dreaded second sock syndrome!
I also wanted a pattern that I could knit while on the move – something I could commit to memory easily. Thus, the Dangerous Socks for Boys were born, though the only danger is that you might want to keep them for yourself rather than give them to another boy in your life. The cuff ribbing is designed to flow into the main pattern, though it can easily be replaced with k2p2 rib. The central ribbing flows down the heel flap, helping it to hug the heel when worn. The blue sock is shown with k2p2 ribbing, the brown sock is shown with patterned ribbing.
(Click to see larger versions) So go on, treat the boy (or man) in your life to some dangerous socks!

Not (quite) an epic fail

Well, sort of. I heard back from Amy, the editor at knitty.com. She told me that, as I suspected, I had only sent her my headshot and not the rest of the pattern details. However, she has asked for me to resend the details, so I might still be in with a shot! Woo!

-oOo-

We spent last weekend moving all of our superfluous stuff from our house to the house of some friends in a large van. It was a long wheel based high top something or other! It was pretty big anyway. I didn’t drive it because I couldn’t reach the pedals and we couldn’t figure out how to move the seat any further forward! We also took a van-load of things to the tip, so we have much more space at home.
Now the real fun begins (sarcasm) because we have to tidy, sort, throw away some more things, tidy some more, sand, paint, dust, sweep, Hoover, tidy, stick down, cover up and generally make the place look like it should.
I want to get it on the market by the end of March – with some luck we might even be able to get people round to see it over Easter that way. Perhaps that’s ambitious, but we’re so close to being ready, all it needs is some commitment, elbow grease, and me not to get ill or injured!

-oOo-

The shawl I’m knitting at the moment is coming along, although I’m not spending enough time on it. Lately I have been watching a bit of telly in the evenings, which isn’t conducive to lace knitting for me. So I’ve been mostly knitting some stockinette socks I’ve been making. These are a surprise gift for someone, who fortunately has feet a similar size to mine (one size larger, so should be an extra few rows before I begin the toe!)
To add interest (and, as it turns out, speed) I’ve been knitting two at a time on one circular needle. (I think I mentioned that already!) Which is working well for me!

Epic Fail?

On Sunday I went to a vintage wedding fair. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed, though I don’t know what I was expecting, I think I expected something larger. Anyway, there were some lovely things there, and I consolidated my desire for a fifties style wedding dress. I like the way A-line skirts look on me, and the masses of underskirts. A long time ago, not long after I met my fiancé, we went to a fancy dress party. We decided to go as “fifties kids”, so he wore tight jeans and a checked shirt and I wore a circle skirt and a fitted v-neck cardigan.

(You can’t really see the coolness of the skirt in that picture!) I love dressing up!

There’s a chance that I’ll find something in a traditional bridal wear shop, so I’ll be doing the trek around those at some point. Probably with my Mum. It should be fun, though perhaps a bit daunting. I’ve managed to find pictures online of the sort of thing I’m looking for. The other thing I’m considering is getting something made especially. That would be cool.

The main thing I’ve changed my mind about is the colour. I was thinking about having a green dress (after seeing this knitted one on Rav) but I’m not sure that they’re wedding-y enough for me. While I want something practical-ish, it should be obvious that it’s my wedding day – right? So I’m almost certainly having something white (unless I change my mind again) – though I’m also hoping to have an accent coloured sash (and possibly shoes…)

-o0o-

We’re continuing to pack up things in the house. He’s ordered a van for us at the weekend, and we’ll be using that to ship some stuff to our friends’ house – they’ve kindly agreed to store some stuff for us. This also gives us even more reason to sort ourselves out as we can’t trespass on their hospitality forever! We’re also going to take the opportunity to get rid of some of our larger items that we no longer want/need. This will cause some fun in the interim, as we will not have enough sofas for visitors! That said, I’d rather that be the case than for the place to be a mess!

-o0o-

I’m still getting a fair amount of knitting in amongst the chaos! I’ve been working on the two-at-a-time socks for FFIL (that’s Future Father In Law) and I’m about a third of the way down both heel flaps. It’s going quite well, considering. I’m a bit apprehensive about the picking up of the stitches around the heel flap, but I think I know what I’m doing. I am kind of making up as I go along, which is fun.

I haven’t heard back from Knitty about my sock pattern. I have a suspicion that I had a bit of an epic fail with my email submission, which may mean that I can either (1) submit again for the following issue or (2) self publish and submit another pattern another time. I’ll be sending a note to Amy of Knitty before I do either! (I have done that)

The cardigan is going slowly. When I’m knitting at the moment it is mostly the socks, or the swallowtail shawl that I have on the go. Because it’s a triangular shawl that means that each pattern repeat takes a little longer than the last. I’m quite excited to get on to the next section though, for the beads! I’ve got two options on the bead front

Image not mine,

borrowed from e-beads.co.uk - an excellent business

who shipped my beads really fast a

nd didn't charge the earth

for either the beads or the postage!

On the left, metallic iris purple, on the right, silver lined amethyst.
Both are very pretty, and remarkably similar! I’m not sure which set I’ll pick yet, but I like both! Both sets match my yarn too!

Still Slow

I have still not found my "tidy house" mojo. I say this surrounded by various bags of stuff I've tidied up, and I think that may be the cause. I have two big old bags of clothes, unopened toiletries and handbags which I guess all need to go to the charity shop. There's also a bag of stuffed toys. Yes, they're finally going. I have gone through my t shirts (includes vests, t shirts, some tops for work in summer) and split them into piles. Some went in to the charity bags. I've packed the 13tog duvet and all the spare pillows (except those for the futon, as we'll need those to dress that as a bed) into a "jumbo" vacpack. Here it is waiting to be hoovered. I've packed all of the yarn from my yarn chest, well that which I'm keeping, into two "large" vacpacks. I have a lot of yarn! Since I'm not buying any yarn now, until after we move, that's all of it - except for the in progress stuff. I still have yarn to knit available! Other than that, I've filled two smaller bags with yarn which is going to knit-night on Monday with me for destash. All of the lace and sock weight full balls have been claimed, but I still have some unclaimed DK and Aran, and a box of leftovers of varying amounts. I've been doing some knitting too. I'm knitting something for Fiancé's mum, for her birthday. I do intend to show you the second turn a square hat that I knit for him too. The first one, which I mentioned before, is fine, but not quite big enough, and not really his colours. So, I cast on another. I may see if my dad is interested in the other. I have also cast on (and frogged, and cast on again) the swallowtail shawl, which is quite a pleasant knit. Here's how far I have got: I love the yarn, it's Violet Green, 2ply merino. She doesn't do this particular one any more. The colour is called "peonies" and the picture on my screen looks just like the yarn! (I love the macro setting on my camera!) Back to the gym tomorrow. We were going to go this morning, but we were out last night. We weren't out that late in the end, so we probably could have managed it. I didn't want to get up that early, and after about 10am the gym and pool are mentally busy on a Saturday! I bet early Sunday is nice and quiet, so all we have to do is get up! I think I'm at the end of my fourth week, which means I should be switching to the next phase of the program from next week. That's fine if I have the time - the new programs always take longer! I am enjoying the current program though, which is important to me. The lack of cardio is really a good thing! And, the laid back approach to diet is nice, though I am being more laid back than I should, which may tell in tomorrow's measure/weigh in. Well, I'd better consult my plan to see what I aught to be doing in the scheme of tidying the house. Staying out of the way of Fiancé while he finishes the kitchen is definitely up there!

Slowly...

I know, I haven't posted much lately. I am sorry. As you know, I got engaged, so some time was spent ring shopping. I've also had a short spell of being unwell, some hectic work time and a general desire to just curl up away from it all.

Anyway, I've posted a couple of times over on the diet blog, as my training is going quite well. And I've been on facebook rather more than I care for.

I've not done a large amount of knitting, and what knitting I have done I don't have much to show for. I've been working on some socks for some time now, but I'm not really enjoying knitting them and they're not really fitting right (gauge swatches may occasionally be of use!) so they're currently hibernating, waiting to see if they learn their lesson. I suspect I may frog them.
I've started some more socks though, this time not for me. I'm doing two at a time magic loop, to see if it's any easier to finish a pair that way!
I've also cast on a small gift for FMIL for her upcoming birthday.
And I've been itching to cast on some more lace (which is funny because I have lace on the needles, just it's a scarf and I'm apparently incapable of completing scarves!) so I'm all ready to go on a Swallowtail shawl. Except I've frogged it twice already. The first time was going well, but I thought I'd lost a stitch and I'd made an error at some point prior to that, so whoosh; off it went. Second time I found I'd lost two stitches, which probably meant I'd missed some yarn overs or something. So it's ready to cast on again now. Tomorrow.

Otherwise, we're going to be house hunting soon. Currently we're trying to get this place up to scratch so we can sell it. We've got to finish the kitchen (I say we, but I mean he) and there's an unimaginable amount of tidying to do. I've filled two charity bags and one bin bag and I'm only about half way through the bedroom! I've also used some JML Vacuum Bags, which are surprisingly good! I got two of the large size and have packed away all of our spare linen and towels (like beach towels etc) and all of our holiday clothes (except for the trousers from the diet blog) into two of them and they take up much less space now I've sucked all the air out!
Wish me luck, there's one-and-a-half chests of drawers, two wardrobes and some random stuff to go through yet, plus then the back bedroom...

And I keep spending time looking at wedding dresses (I've concluded that I don't really like many of the commercial ones at all) or at shawls.

Announcement

Boyf and I got engaged.

Haiti

You must all have seen the news about Haiti (more here).
Read this blog from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot).
Then click here to donate something to help if you can (UK Link).

I have some news, but it can wait.

Start-itus

I don't know if it's the new year, or the amount of stuff going on at the moment, but I have a terrible desire to start new projects at the moment.
I've knit a new hat for Boyf (pictures soon) using Jared Flood's Turn a Square (Rav Link) using some lovely DK yarn I got in a swap a while ago. I'm pretty pleased with it!
However, this hasn't sated my desire for more new knits. And it's not like I don't have enough on the go already!
However, I did work on the Elephant today, one ear completed - that leaves just one more ear, eyes and blocking to go.
I've also turned the heel on my first welly sock.
But none of it calls to me. You know, that feeling that you want to get home to pick it up, that you could stay up for just ten more minutes...
Well, then there's the cardigan. I'll get back to that soon, I do like the yarn, I love the pattern I've created, it's fab - it's just a bit cumbersome, and I'm not a fan of the needles I'm using to knit the sleeves in the round. (I could switch to some circs, but my gauge might change)

To combat this, I've been doing a spot of appliqué, on a quilt that NotMIL bought me a couple of Christmas ago. It's lovely, and will eventually have chickens on. Currently it has one heart on it.
I've also been doing a spot of beading. After the success of the bauble, I've made myself a necklace. It needs fastenings attaching, but I'm pretty pleased with that too!

The gym-going is going well though, we made it three times this week just gone, and I've done both programs all the way through now. It's an hour worth of stuff though! The diet is pretty easy to stick to as well. It's all a combination, the food, the gym, and ignoring what everyone else says.
I don't care if you think the diet is too complicated. I don't care if you think that just giving up beer is enough. Not for me it's not. I want more than just to lose a couple of pounds. I'm going to be that woman that you see on the beach and think "Bitch" - almost as if to say "how dare she look good when I don't?" Well I intend to look great. I've seen what I can do with weights - I bought some size 12 jeans at Gap the other day. I've not worn a 12 for over a year. Okay, so my weight hasn't gone down, but looking back at my Diet Blog from this time last year I've dropped some fat %! (Wicked!) I'll be keeping some track of stuff over there, unless it goes the way it clearly did last year!

Well, perhaps I have earned the new sports bra I've just paid for...

One more thing 2009...

I realise that I did miss out something fun at the end of the year. My 2009 knitting show-and-tell!
Enjoy

No Purl Monkeys	My shawl for the Feb wedding
Baby Jacket for Baby JJ	Funky socks for Xmas
Little Shrug for cold shoulders	Corsica, frogged now
Death!	Jaywalkers from Wendy Happy
My new favourite shawl	Handspun mitts
Pretty Thing Cowl	Martini glass dishcloth

Trek, Work, Stuff

Dear boyf bought me the "good" Original Crew Star Trek Movies for Christmas, and we've been watching them. (For those not in the know, that's 2: Wrath of Khan, 4: The Voyage Home, 6: Undiscovered Country)
I'd forgot how much I enjoyed them! Especially Voyage Home, there were some class moments in that movie! Anyway, he also got me the Generations box set on BluRay for my birthday, (how much does he love me?) which we'll be getting through too, AND the new Star Trek movie (the one with Karl Urban in as Bones, and Chris Pine / Zachary Quinto) so I'm pretty Trekked up this year!
So, that's been taking the edge off working this weekend. It's actually not the weekend working that's the trouble, it's when we get to Thursday and it feels like Saturday because I've already worked 5 days... Plus, they've re-jigged the parking and while I used to have a space from November-February, now I don't have one at all. I'm not going to go into car-parking politics, but suffice to say I either get on a bus (and double my journey, not to mention getting to the gym...) or we might have to think about paying for parking, which sucks so much. Bah.

Anyway, enough work woes.
I got some lush yarn at Xmas too, though I'm not sure what exactly I'm going to do with it. I also got some lovely knit picks interchangeables (knitters go: oooh) - just the introductory set, but they are lush! I'm itching to cast something on to them, and to have a stab at magic loop with my new long addi needle. And I want to make Perdita, which is beaded! Heck, I wish I had time to do some knitting!

Anyway, with working the majority of my waking hours this weekend I'm pooped, so I'll be off to bed early. I'm hoping to get myself along to knitting group tomorrow, so I'd better make sure to have some knitting of some description in my bag! Annoying that after a week and a bit holiday, I feel like I need a holiday!

I bought myself one of these fashionable long chunky knit sweaters, which makes me look like a Romulan. (I'll get a photo if I can) The geek in me loves it. And the Trekkie. And the part of me that likes to be warm. So sod everyone else, I like it :)

Happy New Year

As the new year starts on the first day of my next year I am often tempted to make several rash resolutions, which I know I will not (and can not) keep.

I set some goals for myself last year. Here’s what they were:

1. Double my squat weight COMPLETE! Yes, I managed to go from squatting 25kg to a magnificent 70kg at my best. Brilliant. More on weights later.
2. Lose Girth Sadly, not complete. If anything my girth is as big now as it was when I wrote that. Still, all is not lost.
3. Spin enough yarn to make a pair of socks Also not complete. I haven’t done much spinning, really. I did spin enough yarn to make a pair of mittens though.
4. knit myself a jumper Technically complete. You see, I completed Corsica but I was unhappy with it, so I frogged it. The yarn is now becoming a new cardigan, slowly!
5. Find a new job Not complete. Given the state of the economy, I’m pretty happy just to have a job, but that’s not really good enough. This time last year I was under way too much pressure and that hasn’t changed. I need to do something about that at least. Getting a new job though? That’s a step too far at the moment. I earn enough, at the moment, and have other things I want to sort out. Perhaps I am approaching it in the wrong order, but we will see.

So, what’s different this year? How am I changing my approach? Well, I think I need a plan. (and we need a plan, the boyf and me)

I’m heading out to buy myself a diary, not for future events but to keep a note of how I feel, whether I slept well, what I’ve eaten and drunk and what workout I have done. I think that self image is very important, if you feel like a failure then you will fail.
I was given a book for Christmas called “The Female Body Breakthrough” by Rachel Cosgrove. (I asked for it, this wasn’t someone being cheeky!), I’ve read it once already. I need to read it again, and fill in some sections. Anyway, one of the things she suggests is to write down the things I mentioned above. This is partly to make myself accountable (to myself, sounds odd, but I get it) and to help keep track of the things which “trigger” my bad eating behaviours.
The other thing that I (we) want to do is move house.
I’d like to have space for my crafting that isn’t the guest bedroom; I’d like to have room to keep some chickens. I’d like there to be some cover for Boyf when he’s sawing or whatever for DIY stuff. (A garage, large garden and at least 3 bedrooms) But it’s also important that we don’t overstretch ourselves. So we need to get a good price for our current house, we need to save up for all those fees (such as stamp duty, yey).
Planning. We need to make plans for these things, and we need to stick to them. The body stuff, I have a pre-made plan in the book. All I need to do is make it happen. I’ve got to decide which days I’ll go to the gym on, but otherwise it is possible. (I can use my diary for that too! Or perhaps not, maybe I also need a planner of some sort.)
Planning for the house, that’s a different kettle of fish. But we do need to do it. Somewhere I read If you fail to plan, then you should plan to fail.

Happy New Decade! If I see half the amount of change in my life this decade as last, who knows where I will be in 2020!

Briefly

I'm not going to continue my "tradition" of blogging about my 28 achievements of my 28th year, because it's getting silly.
I think it's been a pretty good year, I've learned lots of new things. More importantly, I've got a plan for the next year. You'll get more on that soon (possibly tomorrow) but there's a life/health plan in the making.

I hope you all had a good year this year, 2009 has been interesting, here's to 2010 being a great year! I hope you are successful in all that you plan for.

Testing testing 123...

So, I have not yet tried blogging from my iPhone. This is it. So far, blogger is not hard to use on the small screen.
It seems that I can drop out of my mobile browser easily to use the address book too, which is nice.
I don't know about pics though, that might be a wish too far.
I can't find anything to let me blog a photo through iPhone. Oh well.
TTFN

Making things

I have been making things, I promise! Just some of them have gone off in swaps, some of them are still ongoing, and - if I'm honest - I've been too tired and busy to bother taking any photos. Even these which I'm about to share aren't great! I took them with my iPhone, which isn't why they're bad, but doesn't add to the brilliance either!
I made a beaded bauble - easier than it looks. I ran out of the cord in the kit though (despite it being a kit for two baubles, I only got one small bauble out of the cord they supplied. Not pleased. I used cotton for the rest, but it tangles pretty badly...)

I've also made a cute beaded bracelet. I'm adding it to my slowly growing inventory of things I will try to sell on etsy when I finally get some nice photos taken of the stuff.

And lastly, some mitred squares for the blanket I'm making. I actually made two more of these squares, but I gave them to the hamsters as bedding!

So, there's some making for you. Now I have to go tidy up a bit so that I can clear all the books off the bookshelf and then move the bookshelf to a slightly different location. I've decided that moving the room round right now was a bad idea, but we're half way round now, so I either finish it or put it back. Neither is appealing, but at least finishing it would come with some sense of having achieved something. What I will have achieved other than driving myself nuts is questionable, but hey ho.

Beginning to look back...

It's getting close to the end of not just a year, but the end of a whole decade.
Where on Earth have the last 10 years gone?
What was I doing 10 years ago?

The above photo is me and my flatmates in halls at the University of Westminster. I know this is probably November/December 2000 because I'm not wearing my own school tie (I picked it up over Christmas for later School Nights)

Something else I know - I didn't have a digital camera until just a couple of years ago, so unless I scanned the photos in (as I did with that one) they don't exist online. Which may be for the best.

I still love my iPhone, even though when I said "play Britney" it decided I meant "Call Rich". I was talking through my scarf at the time, so I forgive it!
I am trying not to be an iPhone bore though. There isn't an App for that.

Otherwise, Team Christmas Event tomorrow. The morning will be general info/messaging - there may be a quiz, but then again perhaps not.
Speaking of quizzes, I'm due to create one for my team meeting (last one before Christmas) so I should go do that.

I'm hopeful I'll blog again before Christmas!

There's an app for that

Thought for today:
It isn't what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it's what you eat between New Year’s Eve and Christmas!
(From Rachel Cosgrove’s Blog)


Mum and Dad were up at the weekend. I had a good time. Mum and I left Boyf and Dad to turn around the door to the kitchen (it’s much better now, despite a minor plastering issue we now have) and we went into town.
It was very busy, but nonetheless we got some shopping done. I got a new dress shirt for Boyf, as his old on had curry on from last Christmas’s Christmas Curry, some gifts for the boys in our lives and…
Drumroll please…
An iPhone!
I wanted one of these when they first came out on O2, but there was no way I was going back to them after the poor customer service I had a few years back. Orange have always been very good to me, and I get free broadband with them. So, I was very excited when they announced that Orange was getting the iPhone. Excellent!
I’m really pleased with it! The only (minor) issue that I had was regarding ringtones. There is a function in iTunes where you can turn a song (mp3) into a ringtone, but it’s only available in the US. Frankly, Apple, I expected more of you. However, I downloaded a (free) program which can do this for me, and so I’m now happy once more with my Imperial March ringtone, and Captain Scarlet for the Boyf when he calls. Woo!

Now I just need some more nice apps. I have one game, a Wallace and Gromit comic and the Orange apps for Orange Wednesdays and Orange online billing.

What a weekend!

I’ve had a really good weekend. (As you can tell, since it’s now Wednesday and I hadn’t posted yet!)
Firstly, my new boots arrived in the post last week.

Aren’t they fab?


Anyway, I wore them all weekend and had toasty dry feet despite the weather.


On Friday we went to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. This is the third year I’ve been there. There wasn’t the variety of stands that there were last year, I really had to hunt around for some things.

Here’s my haul


1. Sublime, 2. Debbie Bliss, 3. mug, 4. Pretty Fabric, 5. Buttons, 6. Needles & Kit

Then, at the weekend, Boyf and I went to London. We had quite a nice time. I only took photos when we were in the dinosaur section of the Natural History Museum. It was good fun. They have an animatronic dinosaur, a T Rex, too.
We spent the night in a hotel just round the corner from our old University, and because the Metropolitan line was out of use, we accidentally went via my second year house in Wembley! Whoops!
It was good fun though, even though the bus journey was far too long. Next time we do London we’ll do it on the train! It wouldn’t be as bargainous, but it would be a darned sight better travel wise!

At knit night on Monday one of the girls showed me how to knit with beads, so you can look forward to some pretty beaded knits soon!

I have cast on for something for the NotMIL, but I’m probably not knitting anything else for anyone for Christmas.

A word (or several)

Over the weekend we cleared out the shed. I say “we” but really, I mean “he”. In fairness, most of the crap in there was the boyf’s and not mine. It’s much tidier in there now. I even managed to get a space on the shelf for my few plant pots and tools. I’m not very green fingered, but I am enjoying trying!

So, after we (this time I do mean we) took all the crap from the shed to the tip (everything from bike tyres to cardboard boxes) we made a start on the living room cum dining room.

You see, we live in an old Victorian terraced house. Once upon a time it would have been two rooms downstairs, but at some point (probably in the 70s or 80s) the owners decided to knock through and make it into one long awkward room instead of two small dark rooms. While I can see the logic, I’m not a fan of knocked-through. It was one of the things I compromised on when we chose this house. I’m going to be less easily swayed this time, I promise.

Anyway, for the last year or two we have had the “dining room” end at the front of the house and the “living room” end at the back. It works well that way round, except for the wiring issues.

However, we’re thinking about selling the house and moving somewhere with a little more space, preferably a drive and/or garage, space for chickens and possibly further livestock*, out-buildings would be nice, or more rooms than we need inside.

Of course, there’s no way we can afford a house which has all of that, and is in a fit state to move in to without much work, and so we need to consider that. After the nightmare** that fitting the kitchen has been, I’m not especially keen to do it again. However I’m not enamoured with new-builds because they tend to have very, very small gardens.***

Anyway – where was I? Oh yes, the room. So since we eventually want to sell the place we’re going to put it back to the “conventional” way around. Or rather, we partially have, this weekend. It’s not so great at the moment because we’ve only moved the sofas, computer, fridge**** and dining table and chairs. This has not worked because there’s a big old bookshelf in the way of where the sofa should be, and therefore the sofas overlap in a bit of a mad way at the moment. We can live with it until we move the bookshelves, DVD shelf, CD shelf, Hamsters and the Welsh dresser. (Indeed).

Yeah, so not content with the chaos we had, we’re making more.

On the up-side, we have made an appointment with our mortgage lender and our bank to talk money, because if we can’t borrow what we think we need, we’re not going anywhere for now.


I’ve a lot planned for the next few weeks, it always gets a bit hectic around this time of year.

Firstly I’m off to Harrogate on Friday for the Knitting and Stitching show. This will be my third year there! I’ve given myself a much smaller budget this year than last, mainly because I already have quite a lot of yarn^, but also because of my next point…

Secondly we’re going on the work “London Weekender” trip. Mainly because the overnight stay is in our old university town of Harrow (well, almost – it’s in Kenton) – the boyfriend and I met at uni, and have fond memories of Harrow especially. We’ll probably do some free stuff in the day, like visiting the Natural History Museum^^. I’m also thinking about going to one of the London LYS, but I’ll check if they’re open first.

Monday next week we’re at the mortgage people.

Wednesday we’re at a party/dinner/charity thing.

Then, the weekend after that my folks are visiting to help turn the kitchen door around, to take away the fridge (and hopefully some of the tools) and such. I also plan to buy an iPhone that weekend as we will have been paid.

And then!

Christmas party: 4th Dec (before which I need a haircut)

Two whole free weekends pass before my Team Christmas Lunch (on a Tuesday), then Mum and Dad are visiting for Mum’s birthday – we’re taking her to Betty’s.

After that there’s just One Week until Christmas!^^^





*Potentially including goats, sheep, rabbits, ducks and/or geese. But probably not a cow.
**Okay, so it hasn’t been that bad, but being without a kitchen for a time is not fun, I get fatter and don’t get to cook (which I enjoy), and we spend too much money on takeaways.
***Not that our yard is that big, but I don’t want a six bedroom mansion with a garden the size of a postage stamp.
****So we have a new fridge in the kitchen, but I promised my Mum she could have the old fridge freezer, so it’s standing in the middle of my “dining room”.
^Now, I’m not going to suggest that I have enough yarn, or dareIsayit, too much, but I do have a lot.
^^If we actually make it there, since this will be at least our third “trek” to Kensington, and we’ve not made it into the museum yet!
^^^closely followed, six days later, by my birthday. No it’s not a cool day to have a birthday on. Most people I might think of inviting out to do something (usually a quiet meal, depending on if I’m working on the 1st Jan^^^^) are already doing something to celebrate the New Year, and I don’t like hijacking parties%.
^^^^I know, I picked the wrong job. I sometimes (every year for the past 5, maybe 6) have to work on the 1st January. Last year I was out drinking til about 5am. Even a gourmet burger on the company didn’t help much with that hangover. Boo.
%Especially not parties with people “singing” to SingStar (srsly, I thought I was not very good at singing, compared to these guys I’m Pavarotti!), and trying to have “incidents” involving areas of Newcastle that I don’t fully understand but know that one is bad…

Organic Veggies

Ok, so my own home grown veggies haven't been so successful. (Except the beans, I have enough runner beans to last til this time next year)

However, we can get an organic veggie box delivered to our door.

We chose the "mini" box, and here it is:

It contains courgettes, broccoli and cauliflower,

And shallots, and what's that? An Avocado? Amazing.
Oh, and carrots, potatoes, chard and a lemon.
I can't wait to see what's in the next one!

Getting back to it

So, I was sick a couple of weeks ago, and I only went to the gym one day last week due to car and boyfriend things.
That means I’m a bit out of practise. Or so I thought! I’ve actually done pretty well this morning. I made some reasonable lifts, and I think I can go heavier on some of them. Here’s today’s workout:

• Warm up
• Bench press, 8x20kg, 8x23kg
• Squat, 2 sets 8x60kg
• Upright row, 2 sets 8x15kg
• Bent over row, 2 sets 8x15kg
• Shoulder press, 2 sets 8x15kg
• crunches with 5kg weight, 2x15
• treadmill (eep) random elevation, 8 mins at 6.6kmph, 3 mins cooldown

I don’t really like the treadmill, but looking back to when I was running, I looked pretty good.

Though in that pic I was struggling to run – too hot! Hence the red face. But that was back in August 2007. I’m not as slim now as I was then, but I am stronger and more toned – or I think so anyway.
I am really enjoying the weight training, but I think a short burst of running might help me to feel more like I’ve worked out. I’ve been reading Rachel Cosgrove’s blog, she talks about not feeling as toned when she’s training for running events (Iron Man) as when she’s doing her normal regime. Hopefully I’ll get her book for Christmas.

In other news… the car needs some more work. Yey. We had a new exhaust fitted at the service and it seems it’s been done wrong. The result of this is twofold – one is that we don’t really trust the local garage any more; the other is that we need to get it fixed because the exhaust is “blowing” and that’s not very efficient. We also have to get the fuel filter fixed because it’s leaking. So we’re going back to VW by the looks of things. The prices they quoted for those things aren’t bad, so I don’t mind too much.

On the knitting front? Well, my sock design is now being test knit. No pictures because I’m hoping to publish it. The sweater is also going well. I’ll probably have that test knit before I self publish that. Quite exciting!
I’m going to have to try to get through some of my outstanding knits, I have quite a lot on! There’s the toy for a friend’s baby’s First Birthday, the mittens which I may or not finish. Booga bag just needs a photo to stop being a WIP. The hat for Boyf might have to be frogged; the pattern calls for DK and I’m using Aran and it’s not really working for me, it’s just too stiff. The bag I crocheted on the plane needs lining, Boyf’s socks will remain a WIP until published or rejected. The rare pillow is a nice easy knit, I just need to get on with it. Phoenix (the jumper) is half way down the first sleeve. The two lace scarves… well, I plan to finish the one from VLT, but I’m umming about frogging branching out. I’m not sure I like it enough to finish it, I fancy making something a bit more interesting – not that I dislike the pattern, but it’s not memorise-able (for me) so I end up having to read the instructions each time…and the yarn is lush and should be made into something nice. And Boyf’s cloth just needs the ends weaving in and a photo taking! (Oh, and a quick wash and dry to neaten it up).

Boris and Felt

This article about how Boris Johnson Saves the Day made me smile this morning. The mental image of Boris wielding an iron bar, whilst cycling towards a gang of “hoodies” is brilliant.
It’s also great to see that he isn’t all talk and no trousers. When someone genuinely needed assistance he stepped in, probably without considering his own safety. He showed he has principles, and guts. Something which many politicians are sadly lacking.


Now, I feel I should share my recent felting experience with you. There isn’t an FO photo yet, though I’ll put it up when there is.
I decided to make a Booga Bag for myself from South West Trading Company Karaoke yarn. I used my 6mm circs and made the big old bag (pre-felting).
The pre-felting dimensions were: 4.5 x 10 x 13 inches and the i-cord was 97 inches long.
I bunged it into a pillowcase, and stuffed that into the washer with some old jeans. I washed it on the hottest cycle (which I thought I did last time I felted) and let it run for the shorter cycle. When I took it out of the washer I was a little surprised.
It turns out that Karaoke yarn felts really well at 90 degrees.
So here is my bag, blocking on two light bulb boxes (to give you an idea of scale too!)

It needs a shave too…
So, measurements after blocking: 3 x 5.5 x 4.75 and the i-cord is now 33 inches.
The bag is now 66% x 55% x 36% of its original size, and the i-cord is just over 33% of its original length. Whoops!
I had envisaged a knitting bag – something big enough to put a small project, some wool, some tools (scissors, crochet hook etc) and a pattern in. I might be able to fit a sock project in, if I don’t mind it sticking out the top.

Oh well, it’s a cute bag!
I think I did it on 60 last time! I’ll try felting by hand next time I think!

Cowl, not Simon.

I haven’t shared my latest knitting with the blog.
So, here it is:
It’s called “Pretty Thing” and it’s a Yarn Harlot pattern. You can get it here.
It’s lovely. Here’s the knit down:
Pattern: Pretty Thing Cowl, from Yarn Harlot
Yarn: Violet Green Mulberry Silk & Merino 2ply Lace Yarn
Needles: 3mm circs
Modifications: Extra pattern repeat due to the finer yarn and thinner needles than suggested.

I like it. but I already need something warmer! I might have a go at something similar with some of the naturally dyed yarn I dyed a while ago: It’s a heavy DK, approx (I haven’t tried a swatch or done a WPI measurement, we will see...)