Shiny newness

There's something new around here. What could it be? *g* Nothing all that exciting actually, except a little bit to me in a geeky way: I finally got around to upgrading to Movable Type 4.1. Which is nice. You can't tell much difference from here, except that the Blogroll didn't upgrade and so now all my links are a horrible blobby mess. There are a couple of ways I could sort that out, but the quickest might be to go back to using Blogrolling for now.

The actual reason I finally did the upgrade is that I've been spending a lot of time playing around on Facebook (and I really do mean playing: I've installed a load of irritating page-heavy apps so I can play silly games. Sorry, Facebook flist!) recently. One of the things I installed was the 'Blog It' app, which should let me crosspost to various places including here and my LJ, as well as update my Facebook and Twitter statuses. I know, spammity-spam-spam, make me stop. Anyhow, even though it's a Six Apart developed app, it doesn't want to work for this MT blog... and still doesn't even after the upgrade and me trying a billionty different things. Ah well. So much for that. For now. :-)

If you want to friend me on Facebook, by the way, I should be searchable. I'm using my usual email for this site over there as well, and if you can't find me with that, drop me a line or a comment here and I'll send you some more details.

What else was I going to say? Oh yes: it's WWKIP Day tomorrow, and I'm going to the event in Brighton. Hopefully Ms Charlotte is coming down too. Knitting-wise, I've reassessed what's a current project and what's hibernated, and I've cast on for the February Lady Sweater (actually a cardigan). It's the first time I've tried top-down all-in-one-piece construction, and I'm very excited. No, that's not sarcasm - I really am! There will be no seams! I might actually finish it relatively quickly instead of finishing the knitting part and then stuffing the parts in a bag to languish for years! Poor poor Chunky Jacket and Menace Jumper. I will finish you one day!

Project 365 #2, Day 7-11: 16th - 20th Jan

Here are the next five days of my Project 365 photos. If you want to see all the photos so far, click on the Project 365 category link, or check out the Project 365 folder in the photo album.

On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):

Day 7 - 16th Jan 08

It's Torchwood day, hoorah! So I changed my desktop wallpaper and icons in celebration. Not the best pic ever... I'm not really sure what the best way to take a photo of a monitor screen is, and it probably didn't help that I took this in the evening either. I'm really loving season 2 so far, by the way (3 eps in at time of posting). And it looks like James Marsters' character will be back, too. Iiiiiiinteresting....

Day 8 - 17th Jan 08

Xandermog, finding being upright by his food is just Too Much Trouble. Lazy beast! And look at that gut. Can you tell why he's on a diet? *long suffering sigh* (To be fair, I think it was his supper time, and I took Too Long to get to the kitchen, so he was having a bit of a lie down waiting for me. Or perhaps he was soooo starving hungry (hah!) he could no longer stand. He does make me laugh.)

Day 9 - 18th Jan 08

My "Fireworks" sock in progress. I'm knitting this with the Yarn Yard club yarn from November, and I'm using the contrast skein for the cuffs, heels and toes. So, I decided I'd try out a different heel technique while I'm at it. I'd got Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks, Warm Feet book last year, and although I hadn't started out using a pattern from that to knit the sock, I was able to jump in at the heel part of the Timberline Toes. So as you'll see, my needles are halfway through the garter stitch short row heel in this picture. I've finished the heel now - I enjoyed working it, and it feels like it'll be wonderfully cushion-y to wear as well - and I'm working on the foot.

Day 10 - 19th Jan 08

Another photo of Xander being his large and daft self. He was laying there for ages with his tongue stuck out like this. He's so dopey and cute. I also really do like how this close-up shot of his head came out. Obviously I'm biased, but I think it's a lovely picture of his big handsome face. N'awwww.

I couldn't resist including this one as well. Even though it's technically not what I was wanting or intending with the light reflection in his eyes, I just love the colour the reflection came out. It shows up better in the full sized photo where you can see the real iridescent quality of it.

Day 11 - 20th Jan 08

This morning, I went into the bathroom and discovered I had yet another little beetle-y visitor in there (there must be some hibernating in the wall or something, and waking up because of the heating because I've found about 10 with various markings and colours in the last few weeks), going round and round in circles on one of the window knobs. So I grabbed my camera and took some snaps. With some difficulty, because the cat litter tray is in the way and that part of the window is just above my line of sight. I like this one, though. You can see its little face. And wee little legs and stuff (I'm so scientific). Bless.

This one came out quite well too, and gives a better view of its shell. You can also see the wings poking out from where it had just been fluttering them about (maybe it was getting narked with me taking pictures and the flash going off at it). These photos also remind me that I really need to clean the top of that window. What with it being above my line of sight, I hadn't realised how grubby it was. Ooops!

Reconnected.

Oh thank .... well, whoever that guy was in 2nd line support who finally figured out what the problem with my internets was. Which was that when BT had done some work at my local exchange on the day I lost my connection (Sat 26th), they had either deleted or not re-added (depending on what they'd been doing) my ISP's domain to the list of ones that are allowed to connect. I spose no-one else uses that particular domain for their log-in round here - either that or it's specific to each broadband enabled line. Actually, that would make more sense. Anyway, they've now put it back on the system and voila, I can connect. It's liek magic, only with teknolegdgy *nods* I told them it was an authentication problem the first day it went wrong, but it took 10 days to get someone to figure out exactly where the trouble was. To be fair, the fact that BT were doing work on my exchange threw them off the scent so I had to wait for all sorts of tests and then a BT engineer to come out because everyone thought it was a line problem that just looked like an authentication thing... oh well. All better now!

So anyhow, I should probably get on with uploading the many many photos I have to put up, both for Project 365 and for my knitting progress. Which there has been lots of! I finished the Hedara socks and I've taken my Bigga jacket out of hibernation and begun the sewing up of that. Plus I'm still plugging away on the Chevron scarf of DOOM. Scarf in fingering weight = Never Again, as I think I've said before. But anyway, that's all for another post really. I'm off to bed.

SP11 Package #1! :-D

So! My first SP11 package came! .... A week and a half ago. I'm a bad blogger and totally failed to post about it til now, but I did email my pal and gush a lot. *g* Also... I now, totally accidentally, know who she is! It's because (a) she's on my blogroll and Ravelry friends-list, (b) she really doesn't live very far away from me, so even though all she put for a return address was a postcode, I recognised which town it was.... and (c) my suspicions were aroused because her real name was written on the little card that came with the scrummy hand-painted yarn she'd got me. So I asked her, and yes, it turns out she's Janey. It's kind of hilarious, because I was having such fun with the mystery aspect - not that knowing who she is has spoiled anything. But it's fairly ironic that all those factors came together like that and gave it away. *g* Especially since I'm a relative newbie to the knit-blogging community and don't know all that many people!

But anyway, on to the best bit: the PRESENTS! *mercenary* ;-)

I like the anticipation almost as much as the opening them up, so I took the box into my bedroom and sat on the bed to open it. When I opened it up, the gifts inside were beautifully wrapped in purple tissue paper and ribbon. So I carefully prodded them for a little while, and then took them out of the box and laid them on the bed...

Oooooo, exciting! Then there was some more prodding, and eventually, I started opening them. *g* Of course, the Xandermog had to come and investigate.

But there wasn't anything edible for him, so he soon lost interest ;-) So, what did I get?

From the back: Thorntons fudge (omg yum: that didn't last long!!). A wibbly-wobbly pen... because it has purple hair and therefore made Janey think of me! Thorntons strawberries and cream toffee (once again, yum!). Two balls of Debbie Bliss SoHo, because she'd noticed I haven't yet tried any felting projects - and I do want to, so yay! A skein of gorgeous black and purple hand-painted sock yarn from Gemini Knits. A dinky little sheep notepad (cute!). A set of 2.5mm Brittany birch DPNS!!! An absolutely charming book of sheep pictures and verse. And last but certainly not least (except in size *g*), three of the cutest little sheep stitch markers in the WORLD. As you can see, they're tiny - they're for small needles too, so perfect for sock knitting. Yay! So here's bigger pic of them. Look at their little faces!

Isn't that awesome? I don't know what I love the most... the yarn, the sweets, the stationary / sheepy things are all brilliant, and the sock yarn just couldn't be better colours for me! But I think perhaps the adorable stitch markers, and the DPNs which were on my mental luxury wishlist (and which I admit, I've spent an awful lot of time just stroking!) have to come out on top. Just! Janey, you're the best pal ever - THANK YOU!! :-D

I'm back!

I did say I was going, didn't I? I've been off in Manchester at the TRA Meet-Up 2007, which was the best con evah. Seriously. Actually, it was more like a pilgrimage than a convention - it wasn't the kind where several hundred fans are packed into a hotel for a weekend and queued past actors. Which, hey, I've been to plenty of and enjoyed very much! But somehow this was better: there were just 50 or so of us, and we visited various filming locations, "met" the Camberwick Green puppet of Sam, and got to sit in the Cortina! So yes. Pretty much the best Life on Mars geekfest possible. There was even a party with fab 70's style buffet food (and a pub quiz) on the Saturday night. The girls who organised it really went all out and made it a seriously memorable weekend for everyone, plus I met some lovely lovely people. Whee!

I got back down from Manchester on Wednesday evening at.... late-ish. I had to hang around in London for a while to avoid the rush hour - I did think about braving it, but I didn't really fancy possibly standing all the way to Hastings with my backpack on. I was wiped out when I got home, so I kind of fed the cat and fell into bed at that point. Since then I've been (a) recovering and (b) working. Or is it the other way around? Nah, maybe not. ;-) I'm just in the process of ploughing through my email, so if you're expecting to hear from me... I may be gone some time! Oh alright, I'm being over-dramatic. Hopefully I won't take very long - at a quick glance I see I have mail from my SP to answer *waves*.

In knitting stuff, I did get a fair bit done on the train journeys, which was nice. I made my second Fetching, and a good start on my first Hedara sock. More about those later when I have photos to prettify the post. Listened to plenty of knitting podcasts, too, which enlivened the whole travelling thing. Hoorah!

I got my Yarn Yard club parcel yesterday, too. :-D I don't think I mentioned last month's, which I loved as well. This one is scrummy - I won't describe it just yet in case there's anyone reading (is there anyone reading? At all? *g*) who's in the club and hasn't had theirs. But it's bright and delicious, and there were sweets in the package as well! Yum!! I think I definitely do want to use the accent quarter skein for toes and heels this time. I'm just not sure whether to make plain stst socks or do something with a little bit of a pattern / texture. I'll think on it. And post photos in a couple of days when I've taken them.

Right now, though? Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Die Wolle!

Also! Ich kann nicht gut Deutsch spreche, aber wolle ich für einer blog Eintrag es versuchen. Ich habe aus BockstarkKnits einen Preis gewinnt! (And really, me writing this in German is silly, since the fab Kris who runs the site is actually an American expat.) Letze Samstag, es kam mit der Post: eine handgemacht strickendes Projekt Tasche, und ein schön Strang das grün Sockenwolle. Klasse!

So, yeah, if you didn't get that, or are still in hysterics over my crappy grammar (please feel free to correct me, because I know I'm rubbish but I'm trying to re-learn!), what I'm trying to say is that I won this fabulous sushi-pattern handmade project bag and a skein of German indie-dyed yarn (from Tausendschön) in Kris' last competition on her site. They arrived in the post last Saturday (yes, I know, I'm slow at posting about it!), and I love them :-) So hey, here's a photo:

I love the contrasting lining of the bag... and it's kinda cool to have a fishy one, because woe, I can't eat sushi (or any kind of seafood) because I seem to be allergic to it. But at least now I can look at it! Also, check out that lovely green yarn. I don't know if Kris knew this before she sent it, but I loooove green, and this is a particularly yummy shade.

So in conclusion - yay! Thank you Kris! Vielen Danke!

And....

I'm done!

Thank you and GoodNIGHT.

(Extra speshul thanks to my sponsors and Lisa - *HUGS*)

Oh! Excitement! I won!!!

Duh, I know what I wanted to say! I AM A WINNA! And stuff like that. To my huge excitement, I won the prize draw that Kris ran on Bockstark Knits for a handmade sushi pattern project bag (kind of ironic, since fish makes me ill, but I'm quite happy to look at the stuff, after all! *g*) and a skein of German indie dyed sock yarn. Bweeeee!

I am a happy bunny. Tired. But happy!

Group blog duty!

I've just posted a "ficlet" to the Fandom Helps blog at Livejournal, so I think I'll have to make that my post for this half hour. If you're interested, it's Doctor Who, and spoilery for the end of this year's series. You can find it over here.

Brain: unravelled.

Ravelry has completely eaten my brain. And my life. LJ went down the other day, and I totally didn't notice. I used to live on that site. Not any more!! Seriously, it's because I'm going through all the setting up part - once that's done, it won't be so time consuming. Not that I'm not having fun, because I am! *g* Plus, I'm getting organised at the same time, which is always good.

Anyway, it's Blogathon day tomorrow, so I'm off to bed to get plenty of sleep in! I shall try and stop by tomorrow morning to do a sort of preparatory post.

Also, I have to remember to go and pick up some new batteries for my camera. It'll kind of scupper my plan to take and post pics of my knitting throughout the 24 hours if the camera is dead, won't it?...

Speak of the devil...

Well, what do you know? A mere few hours after I posted my Ravelry queue status here, my invite popped into my mailbox! Just like magic!! Um, where magic = having worked my way to the top of the queue. But anyway! I'm now all signed up and over there poking around right now. I'm on there as soulstar, so come and say hi if you're signed up too :-)

Ravelry

I just found out, via the Posh Knitters group, that if you're waiting for your Ravelry invite you can now check your status in the queue on their site. So I did! And....

"Found you!

* You signed up on June 3, 2007
* You are #6286 on the list.
* 72 people are ahead of you in line.
* 12965 people are behind you in line.
* 32% of the list has been invited so far"

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! Only 72 people in front of me! Soon! Soon I can go and play ;-)

(But for now, I'm off to continue reading That Potter Book. I'm trying to take it slowly and savour the thing...)

I went to the animal fair

So, once again I've been mainly too busy to knit, as I've had my friend staying (we had a brilliant time), and then my aunt sadly died (she had cancer), so there was her funeral in Blackpool to go to - one of those bitter-sweet things where it's not an occasion you want to be happening, but it is nice to be with the extended family. *sigh*

Once I was back from that, I was working on Purdyshop.com, which is an online store for handmade designer glass jewellery, belonging to one of my best friends. We got that finished and open on Friday - hoorah! There will probably be a few small tweaks needed, but all in all I'm pleased with it.

So, that means I have time to do other stuff again. Like knitting! In fact, as soon as I've finished writing this entry I shall be parking myself on the sofa with an mp3 player full of knitting podcasts, BP, and the Monkey socks. Yay!

BP needs a sleeve sewn on, then I have to pick up again and knit the edging. So, nearly done! At long last!! As for the Monkey socks, I've just finished the first one, so I'll be casting on No. 2 once BP is finished. I really enjoyed the first one - I made a couple of slip ups due to not paying attention, but nothing disastrous. I'll post pics of the process soon. I was going to do that tonight, but I'm impatient to get back to the actual knitting, so they'll have to wait. Oh, except I already do have a photo of the first sock uploaded to the photo album when it was only a few rows 'old'. I'll put that in here then - here you go:

And I'm off. TTFN!

Jobity!

I forgot to mention - I have a job! :-D As of tomorrow, I start as a freelancing / contractor web designer. Woohoo! So, er, I'm off to bed in a mo, since I have to actually get up in the morning at a specific time. Wheee. Yes, I'm a little excited. *geeeeeeeek*