Carnival time!

It's carnival week again, and I'm excited. Whee! I know it's daft, but it does make me feel like I'm little again and it's the summer holidays. *g* Not only that, but the Olympics starts technically-today (I'm going to bed any minute, really), which for me mainly means the Ravelympics. Which is like its own Olympic Games, only for knitting! No, really. I'm going to be having lots of fun with it anyway, and it might make me actually sit and watch some of the actual Games on telly if I have something to occupy myself with knitting-wise at the same time.

Since multiple affiliations are allowed, I've signed up to be in Team TARDIS (duh), Team Dog, Chicken and Aardvark (AKA the Brighton & Hove (and surrounding E Sx) Safari Knitters), and Team Posh Knitters. The 'Events' I'm doing are WIP Wrestling (because my WIPs need wrestling into submission very very badly!) plus the Handspun Heptathlon for Team DCA (yes, I've started spindle spinning, but no, I don't have to do seven sub-events, it's just a catchy title) and the Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss for Team TARDIS during which I'm going to actually try to crochet an Adipose. Well, it's sposed to be a bit of a challenge, you see, so I thought trying two small projects in crafts that I'm a novice at would give me that and also give me a break from wrestling the WIPs so that doesn't get to feel like a chore. There's method in my madness! This time ;-)

Getting back to the carnival, there's been various events going on all week and I've been down to a couple. I got well and truly drenched last Sunday, going down to the gig in the Old Town - elen_ancalima was visiting, so I was showing her the typical British summer seaside weekend ;-) Which of course includes sudden torrential rain! Anyway, I'm hoping to go down to a knitting exhibition thingy tomorrow afternoon, and of course to the main Carnival parade itself on Saturday.

Anyway, I think I'll wrap this up now and get to bed. Zzzz. With a bit of luck, it should crosspost to LJ. However, I have now decided to change how this site works, so alterations to the look (as well as 'my end' of things) will be coming.... er.... some time this year? I have planning to do first! Night all.

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!

Alive, alive-oh

D'oh, I zoned out for a while there. I wish that would stop happening. My next psych appt isn't until July, either. It was s'posed to be April or early May, but it got put back. :-/ Still, I can phone them if need be, so it's not that bad.

Anyway, I haven't been completely unproductive (read: asleep) over the last few weeks. I've been reading (I keep meaning to write reviews... I really will do that. Eventually), and knitting, which I shall talk about a bit more in a moment, and doing a bit of work on a fannish website project with Sann. And over the last couple of days I've been gradually putting some knitting / crochet books and some more yarn up for sale on eBay. I might even get the non-knitting things I have to clear out up there, if I can get around to taking photos and working out postage. I need a better pair of scales!

Actually, talking of scales, I may or may not have lost weight recently, but I have been eating more healthily. And without having to think about it too hard, either - it's becoming more of a habit, which is really good. As well as that, I'm going to start doing more exercise again. I had meant to before, but I as part of the whole zoning out thing I was mainly stuck indoors. However, this morning I'm planning to either go for a walk in the park if I can get hold of Ally in time, or go to aquafit and then either the gym or just stay in the pool for a swim. I've got to get back into a routine where I've got something to get going for in the morning, and having something that I need to leave the house for is better. Otherwise I'm likely to faff around at the computer in my pyjamas until lunchtime! Quite possibly doing something productive, but still - I need that routine of being really "up and about", and being actually dressed is part of that.

Back to the knitting, anyhow. Let's see... looking back at those goals I set myself at the beginning of May, I'm afraid I still haven't finished Mum's present (I'm going to go and do some work on that in just a mo!). But as I said, I did finish the baby bootees, and I've also finished my second pair of socks - the Berlin Muster pattern - for the Sock Knitter's Pentathlon. I hit my personal targets as well: I wanted to finish in the first 100, and to improve my sock knitting time. Which I did: I finished as number 68, on 23rd May, so it took me exactly 3 weeks to knit them, doing an average of an hour or two a day. :-) Since then, as well as Mum's pressie I've been working on my Fireworks socks, and I've now finished the first one after a bit of a hiccup with the garter stitch toe the first go around (it ended up about twice as long as it should have been!). The second one of those is cast on and I'll now be slowly making my way down the leg whenever I want to work on a project that requires very little concentration for the most part. I don't have any pictures of that just yet, anyway, but I do have some of the finished objects. Want to see?....

What d'you think? Did the pattern show up well after all? Neither the colour or the pattern are what I'd normally think of as being "me". Too delicate / pretty - I just don't usually do pastels at all. But I like them! Surely I'm not moving to the light side? Noooooooooo!!!! Bring back the black! ;-)

Bargaining with myself

Even though I have...
- Mum's birthday present to finish;
- Nine other things in progress in one way or another;
- The next round of the Pentathlon starting in two weeks (and I need to choose a yarn... hmm...);
- And, ugh, housework and shopping to do
I'm still really wanting to cast on a new pair of socks. Specifically, Jane's Bracket Fungus socks [Ravlink]. I have everything ready to go for them, and I have done for ages. Yarn balled up, pattern printed out and tucked into a plastic sleeve, and all popped in a project bag with the needles and a row counter. But I have all the other things to do first, and now they're starting to feel like chores because I want to jump to the new and exciting thing.

So, here is my bargain with myself. The carrot I'm dangling in front of my unmotivated nose! If I can...
- Finish unpicking the cast off of the second Jacobean sock and re-do it with a tubular bind-off (first sock already successfully done, yay);
- Finish one repeat of the WFS edging;
- Do the finishing for the two pairs of baby bootees (which honestly isn't going to take long! I've just been procrastinating), which means: seam up the flat knit pair, make knitted buttons for both and attach them, make the button loops, sew in any ends;
- Stop mentally flailing over which yarn I should use for the next Pentathlon project because really, I can't choose properly until I see what the pattern is (although I'm sure I will be posting a short list of my possible choices here like I did last time);
Then I am allowed to cast on for the Bracket Fungus socks and knit up to the first bit of the leg, before I should go back to Mum's birthday present.

Although, I should probably go shopping at some point as well. Heh. I've sold some of my yarn and a Rowan mag, so I'm going to be taking those down to the post office. And didn't I also need some of that... what's it called.... oh yes! Food. I'd better write a list.

Project 365 #4, Days 17-24: 26th Jan - 2nd Feb

I'm still catching up, so I've put a few more days in at once this time. So here are days 17 to 24 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 17 - 26th Jan 08

A Saturday afternoon on Battle High Street. I took this when I was on my way down to the bus stop after Knit and Natter. I rather like the sense of captured movement from the chap in mid-step on the crossing to the cyclist disappearing into the distance on the left. But mostly I like the framing, from the stop sign centred in the Abbey gates and outwards from there.

Day 18 - 27th Jan 08

The really rather pretty sunset, as taken from my bedroom window.

The leg and heel turn of the second Hedara sock (note the progress from having started the leg just a few days before!). I was on a roll!

Day 19 - 28th Jan 08

The vet's surgery. I was mostly doing indoor stuff on this day, so my little trip out to the (very nice) vet to pick up the cat's repeat prescription was about as exciting as it got! I've actually managed to make the road look quite flat in this picture. Don't be fooled: it's on a hill. Most of this town is hilly.

Day 20 - 29th Jan 08

And today's trip out was to.... C. House, also known as The Together Centre. This is the drop in type centre just down the road from me that provides all sorts of support and services, from internet access to meals to advice to plain old social contact, for those of us with mental health issues. It's a lovely friendly place. They've been a big help to me and I can't praise them enough.

Day 21 - 30th Jan 08

The second Hedara sock has got to the end of the patterned part of the foot and is ready to start the toe decreases. Woohoo!

Day 22 - 31st Jan 08

The last day of January was a fantastic windy, rainy one. So of course, I went down to the seafront to take a few snaps. I couldn't choose a shot, so what you've got as a result is a kind of 360° view. First of all, to my left and out to sea, with the lower prom at the bottom, and a wave splashing up the breaker. That dot is a seagull. Honest!

Now to my right and out to sea, and along the prom. In the distant right is the Marina building. I like the way the lines of the railings travel. I intended to get the top of the post in shot like that, but the rest was pure chance!

This one is to my right and behind me as I was standing before; back along the prom and road. There's a giant puddle right where that white car is.

And finally back to my left again, with the pier in the far distance.

Day 23 - 1st Feb 08

So what do you know? The very next day, we had beautiful blue skies and sun. This is taken from one of my living room windows. If you look closely, you'll see there seem to be lots of smudges on the picture. That's because I took the photo through the glass, and living near the sea, you get salty rainwater marks all over the windows...

Day 24 - 2nd Feb 08

It's a router convention! This was taken during the time that my broadband service was down, and I tried every broadband-capable modem and router that I could dig out, beg, borrow or steal (ok, not the last one) to try and figure out if it was a problem with my hardware or set-up. It wasn't, but I got the cables at the back of my computer ever so organised!

Project 365 #3, Days 12-16: 21st - 25th Jan

Still playing catch-up with posting these, 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 12 - 21st Jan 08

There's an albino squirrel that lives somewhere around the back of my house. I was coming indoors when I saw it in the garden from the stairs window. Unfortunately, these aren't good pics - I zoomed right in, which means the digital zoom as well, and that's really affected the quality. Still, it's a lesson learned! I like the way this one is framed with the fence and the shed in the background.

Action shot! The caught-in-motion nature of this picture appealed to me - (s)he's zooming up the piece of wood that my downstairs neighbour has bracing the fence, and it was a pretty quick zoom as well. It was chance that I caught this one!

Another action shot, this one even more so... I think it gives a bit of an idea how quickly (s)he was zooming along. I swear the squirrel was in the middle of the shot when I went to press the button!

Day 13 - 22nd Jan 08

This is the table that lives beside my sofa, and has my evening entertainment essentials on it. At the time this picture was taken, that meant the remotes for the telly and digibox, my knitting notions case (the sheep pencil-case: used to be my school one actually), scissors for snipping yarn (mended with gaffer tape when the handle cracked), my mp3 player and AAA batteries, the first Harry Potter book (in German), a pencil, my knitting notebook (currently open to the stitch pattern I've written out for my Damson Gloves), current knitting project (said gloves) and pattern book, and a row counter, cable needle and stitch markers. Oh, and on the floor you can see the bag that my current sock in progress is in, as well. See, everything I might need while parked on the sofa of an evening. Although to be fair, there usually is a drink on there as well. :-)

Day 14 - 23rd Jan 08

I popped into C. House today, and since I was the only one in the sitting room, I took a snap of two of the guitars. And huh, I don't know quite what happened there, but there seems to be a ghost guitar in the picture as well..... *spooky music*
Then I went back to practising the chords that P had taught me. G⁷, C, ad nauseam... (until I reverted to my usual one-fingered picking out of various tunes *g*)

Day 15 - 24th Jan 08

This is the vase that sits on my dining table. It used to have a bunch of fake sunflowers in, but they're now, um, sprouting from the top of my didgeridoo. But anyway. Instead, it now houses these sparkly things which I originally bought as Christmas decorations, but decided to use all year round instead. I like shiny things!

Day 16 - 25th Jan 08

Finally, here's my second Hedara sock as it was on this day. I decided to start my "WIP of the week" plan, and picked the Hedara as the thing to concentrate on, starting on this day. I'd already had the ribbing done, so off I went with the leg section. I really love this pattern.

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.

Where was I?

Both figuratively / mentally and literally.... um.... yes. My train of everything is well and truly lost! Let's try and get back on track, shall we? This is probably going to be a massively long post, I warn you now! There's also going to be a fair bit about mental health stuff, so feel free to skim :-)

So, starting from when I vanished back in December... well, for the three weeks leading up to Christmas I was pretty much knitting constantly. So much so that I cramped up my shoulder and ended up with an ouch-y left index finger joint! But eek, I had to get the Christmas knitting done!!! Well, as I already mentioned, I didn't quite succeed, but I did get Mum's Fetchings done, and I had a scarf finished that I gave her as well. Also within that time, I went to visit C for the weekend, and having been manic not too long beforehand, I think I 'overworked' myself, because once I got home again, I when I wasn't knitting, I was sleeping. Zzzz!

Then, this site was down from 17th - 26th-ish December because of a server crash. It took the hosting company a while to be able to recreate the accounts and then restore the files. The flat files were about 6 weeks old but the databases were all up to date, so I've been able to easily restore the things that were still missing (photos, mainly). So that's all good. Of course, during that time I had a million posts I wanted to make, and now I don't remember what they were about ;-)

After Christmas, I crashed like a .... crashed out thing for a good ten days. Everyone tends to, I think, but annoyingly I can't do anything by halves, so I hit a depressive slump with it: didn't get up or eat or anything really. I slept, or I read - I got through about 15 books, actually. But mostly I slept. Luckily, I'd arranged with Clara, Ally & co. for them to come over for New Year's. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have done anything for that... and if I'd been up to phoning them to cancel, I probably would have. But as it happened, Clara rang me and just asked me what time they should turn up. I don't think she knew I was down, but that really is the best way to deal with me when I'm like that. Don't leave me room to get out of things! So I pulled myself together, tidied up, and sorted out some nibbles and the like. We had a good time - just a chilled out evening, chatting and playing with little M. :-) After that, I was still down for a few more days, but I started to pull up again at the weekend after C helped me with a plan to get me firing on all cylinders again. Hooray!

Since then, I've posted my resolutions, which I'm doing OK with in general, and I've started Project 365. Mentally, I've cycled into a more manic phase, but overall I've been mostly within 'normal' parameters. I've also done something that I'd been sort of putting off for some time - I've gone and registered with the drop-in centre down the road. I think I was resisting it because part of me felt that only people with a "real disability" needed to go to somewhere like that. Or perhaps with a more severe disability than I like to perceive myself having, I don't know. Ah, denial! I thought I was over you, but no! Anyway, it's a really nice place, and I can go there as often as I want or need, to use whatever facilities I want to. Mainly, I think it'll be useful for me to have somewhere to pop in when I know that I'm starting to slide one way or another and need to just be around other people to ground myself, and also it's good to know that the support and advice services are there if I need them. And I have to admit that it's a huge plus that it's literally a minute's walk (or less) from my front door. They do food too, very reasonably, so if I can't cook, I can eat there. And I got to chat with three other people with bipolar while I was there, and it's just kind of nice to have that face to face contact with others in the same boat. So yes. I'm going to keep that up.

Hmm, I think that kind of covers it. I've been working away on my WIPs, but I'll talk more about that in a different post (with progress pics, whee). Oh, and I seem to have my sleeping pattern back to normal, so it's back to the gym and everything this week as well. I missed Knit & Natter the Saturday before last, but my friend M is coming over tomorrow, and I'm planning to go this coming weekend. Now all I have to do is stick to the plan, but also not overdo it!

It was. Only. A dream!

Sitting on the bus this afternoon, I suddenly remembered a dream I'd had last night. In which my skeins of sock yarn were just so irresistibly yummy that I just had to chew on them*. Nom nom nom! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarn!!! This is the point where I should probably be saying "I think I've finally cracked". Only, whoops, too late! ;-)

* They weren't bad tasting, either. Not that I ate them. That would be a waste! Just stuffed them in my mouth and gently chomped down a couple of times. Erm. Hi there subconscious. Something you want to tell me?

ANYWAY! Hi, Happy New Year. Here I am! I've been pretty zonked since Christmas, and I was rushed off my feet before that (plus my webserver was down for over a week, grr), but I'll elaborate on what I actually got up to in the other post that I'm writing. This is going to be a looking forwards post. Well, and a 'currently' one as well, I guess.

So, let's have some resolutions for 2008. I have general ones, and knitting-related ones as well:

General resolutions:

1. Get back into a regular day-to-day routine and maintain my sleep hygiene regime
2. Remember to take my meds (I've been doing well with this for some time, but it never hurts to reinforce it!)
3. Related to #1, go to the gym / gym classes regularly and often.
4. Eat proper!
5. Get back to work, but take it slowly and don't overdo it!
6. Keep a cap on my spending and improve my money situation overall.
7. Have a thorough clear-out of the flat and charity-shop or eBay anything I don't want or need.
8. Be a more reliable and prompt correspondent! I'm pants at replying to emails and comments, and I really want to get on top of that. Feel free to help me out by prodding me if I should be mailing you and haven't. I'm not ignoring you, I'm just a bit rubbish!

Several of which can really be summed up as "Look after myself", but since detailed lists help me plan, that's what we've got. :-)

Knitting Resolutions:

1. Two words: Yarn Diet. This is strongly related to #6 above, since I can't now afford to buy any more yarn - woe! But I'm not exactly yarnless, so I'm not going to repine. I haven't decided on my exact goal for this yet, but I want to join the Stashalong thingy. Piglottie has said she's not going to buy any yarn in 2008 at all. I'd like to say the same, but maybe I'll start with a 6 month commitment and then revise / renew it from there! I feel that I should leave myself some wiggle-room just in case, and there's still sockclub. So. I'll post more about it when I've figured out how I want to work it.
2. Knit from my stash. You know, since I'm not going to be buying anything new. But even if I was, I have a ginormous stash that needs some serious busting, and what's more, it's yarn I really want to knit with! I have plans!
3. Those two UFOs that have been needing sewing up for the last couple of years? FINISH THEM! Damnit. At least one, if not both, by the end of February.
4. Never have more than 8 WIPs on the needles. Preferably less, to leave room for 'OMG must start that right now' syndrome.
5. In the short term, finish all my current WIPs by the end of March (Hedaras, Damson Gloves, Ruby Scarf, Clapotis, Fireworks socks, Chevron Scarf, WFS, Spring Sprung scarf, and SAHWWJ Cardi) with a possible waiver on the cardi because I'm happy enough for that to be a relatively long-term no-rush project.
6. Do some more stash clearing / yarn selling. Which sort of counts as stash busting, but not exactly. Also advertise those knitting books and magazines.
7. Get out the knitting machine and make up some stuff to sell. Like HP scarves and so on. I've got the yarn, after all. Stashbusting! Yay!
8. Spend more time on my Ravelry groups, and keep up with my blogroll links. And comment more! Oh, on the podcasts I listen to, as well. Par-ti-ci-pate. *nod*

I've also been thinking about joining Project 365. Or maybe I'll do the weekly variant that some people on Ravelry are doing. I'll probably end up with a stack of photos of the cat. And yarn. No change there, then!

Okeydokey, this post is long enough. I'll yatter about my current WIPs (with photos) more tomorrow or some time soon. Time for bed! :-)

Phew!!

Right now, I'm feeling the urge to run all the way to Dublin and physically cling to my webserver. Oh yes. You might have noticed that my site disappeared for a while there. As did most of my email. The old server crashed and died, and it took quite a while to determine that it was dead forever, and then transfer everything to a new server. It probably doesn't help that I have multiple domains on here. And once the data was restored, I had some work to do at my end, recreating database usernames, cron jobs, email accounts, resetting file permissions. But at last, here we are: I think I have everything back except for some of the photos in the album. And those, I can re-upload, no problem. Yay!

So, er, Christmas was good! I had a lovely one, although I was a bit zonked out today. My knitted presents went down well, although I didn't manage to finish Emily's Chevron Scarf - I showed it to her so far. I probably would have got it done, but I've been having ouchy-finger-joint issues. Bah. However, Mum liked the Fetchings I made her, and the scarf - a sparkly gold one - that I gave her as well. Pictures soon!

I'm planning to go to the gym with the bro tomorrow (assuming he's remembered I said I'd go too!) and get my new year's resolutions underway early. *g* I haven't been over there for a while, although I do belong, and I need to get back into the swing of it.

Zooooom

1. I've had THE most awesome final / "reveal" package from my SP11 pal, Janey. THANK YOU JANEY! :-D I shall write more and post pics later. And email Janey to gush a lot. Yes.
2. Due to Circumstances Beyond My Control, I haven't been able to send out my own final SP11 parcel to Katie yet. Argh. Actually, it looks like I won't be able to get hold of one thing I was looking for anyway, so I guess I'll have to give up and get it sent asap. Although asap might have to be next week, the way things are looking. I reiterate: argh! Sorry, Katie :-/
3. It's a year today that I was in that car accident (my car was hit). Therefore, a year since I last drove, since after that (a) my poor car was squished, and (b) I was put on meds that mean I'm medically disqualified from having a licence. Which in turn means I've got a free bus pass, so it's not all bad.
4. I was kind of under the weather again last week. Mainly, I'm annoyed. I have things to do! Therefore, I'm now running around like a... crazy running around thing. Pick your metaphor. Off to the shops soon. Hey, fresh air! That'll be novel.
5. Site revamp still not done. Well, it is. I just haven't applied it to the actual site and uploaded it yet. Yeah, not done.
6. What with the not-well thing, I haven't got as much knitting done as I'd like, either. I do at least have one FO, but everything else that's Christmas knitting? Um, not yet. Must knit faster.
7. I have sorted out pretty much everything (I think!) that I'm going to destash, however. Looong post all about that coming v soon.
8. Xandermog is poking me in the leg with his sharp pointy toes. Owwwww.
9. Aaaaaaaaaand the child upstairs seems to be banging something echo-y and metal on the floor. Oh, someone please make it stop!
10. I might just be having a bit of a manic Monday (haha, oh dear). Shall have to watch myself, and try to do some relaxing stuff once I've got the must-do things out of the way. Note to self: breathe.

Don't get too close to the screen, I'm infectious!

Oh noes, I have the interbets lurgy! It's true, I blogged about not being so well for the last (argh) three flippin' weeks... and gave it to both my Secret Pals and their kidlets! Eeep. Sorry, Janey and Katie, and anyone else who I've infected! ;-)

In actual fact, what was wrong with me was a chest thing that seemed to drag out because it gave me a bad asthma... thing. I don't usually have much trouble with the asthma, or I haven't for the last several years anyway, but I've now got a steroid inhaler again for a while until I can breathe proper-like. And in fact, that seemed to be doing the trick very nicely along with lots of vitamins and sundry druuuugs. Til I caught a cold. D'oh! So I've spent the last couple of days feeling like poo again, and I had to cancel the plans I had with my new friend M (who I met at Knit & Natter) to go over to hers to hang out and knit today. The group actually meets in Battle, but people from all over the area go... and M and I discovered that we only live a short walk (or an ever shorter bus-ride-and-walk) from each other, so we swapped numbers. We're going to sort something out for next week instead, when I'm less germ-y!

Anyhow, I am actually feeling better today than I did yesterday - I think I'm on the last day of the cold-iness. I've had a nice hot bath and everything, which helped. So hopefully I'll be well enough tomorrow to go to the beading workshop that I'm signed up for. Oh, which reminds me, must sort out my pack lunch for that.

Right, I'm off to watch Children in Need. Actual knit-y post coming later!...

Alright, that's *it*.

No more eBaying while under the weather for me. Clearly my brain just isn't working as it should, and I've completely embarrassed myself not once, but twice. Even three times, if you consider it that way. First of all I sold a Colinette pattern book to a lady... and failed like a big failing person to post it out: I sold several lots of yarn at the same time, one of which I was being paid by cheque for, so I didn't post it with the others. Neither did I notice that the envelope with the pattern book in was under that package, so I didn't pick it up with the others when I posted them. Obviously I found it in the end, when I went to take the paid-for-by-chq yarn to the PO, but I'd been telling the poor buyer that yes, I had posted it out, really I had! Uh, not so much.

And now, guess what I've done? I sold two lots of yarn - same stuff in different colours and different amounts. Posted them out on Monday... to the wrong people. I switched the addresses. Cleverrrrrrrr. One of the buyers has just been in touch to let me know. *headdesk headdesk headdesk* I'm such an idiot. I don't know if I put the wrong receipts in with them or not, but now I need to arrange for them both to be sent back so that I can post them out again. Either that, or arrange for them to post them to each other. Whatever they prefer.

I think I'll go back to bed. *gloom doom etc* ;-)

Autumnal Spring Cleaning

I've been having a really good clear-out over the last few weeks, and I'm starting to feel less mentally cluttered as well already. I've even eBayed more of my yarn. I know! Can I really be breaking my hoarding mentality? Well, no, not if you look at my bookshelves (MY books *clings*) and, uh, the remainder of my yarn stash. Not to mention the contents of my wardrobe and drawers... and a couple of suitcases... However, I am going to eBay some more stuff. Not yarn this time (although I might be able to persuade myself to part with a couple more skeins), but things like my spare Palm cradle (never used) and serial cable (not used since approx 3 computer upgrades ago)... oh, and I'm sure there are some other things. I have also sorted out more clothes and knick-knacks etc to go off to the charity shop. I think I still have more to do there, though!

Unfortunately, I've been a bit stalled on the whole thing because I'm still ill. Bleuch. I left the flat yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks (alright, maybe my mental health hasn't been ideal: being stuck indoors ill was threatening to push me into a 'down', but I think I've caught it in time) because I had to go to the Post Office, and stopped in to speak to the pharmacist on the way. She reckons I have bronchitis or a chest infection, and what with being asthmatic already, I've been told to go to the doctor tout de suite. I know, I know, I should have gone a week ago. I am Procrastination Woman. In this case, that's particularly stupid of me since it means I've been propped at a weird angle in bed for several days since I can neither sit/stand up or lay down normally and breathe comfortably. V annoying. Oh well. I have an appointment this afternoon. I'll be fixed soon. On the plus side, this whole thing seems to have sorted out my insomnia / wonky body-clock thing that I had going on: I'm now tired / sleeping during the actual night again, instead of being awake all night and tired or asleep all day. Hoorah!

In knitting news, I have got some work done on my WIPs. I really must remember to make a couple of posts about my current WIPs and recently completed FOs to spring-clean that off my mental to-do list. Mainly I've been working on "Mmm, Refreshers", which is a Christmas gift. Can't say anything else about it in case the recipient trundles over here. You never know with my friends and family *peers around suspiciously*. I've also done a bit of "WFS" (likewise, Christmas), and some of my Fireworks socks... which are for me me me, so there. Obviously I finished my Tête à Fetching (wore it when I went out yesterday), and I'm really chuffed with the response - some people have said they like it and want to make it, it's in a few queues (and one in-progress!) on Ravelry, and I even got a really lovely comment from Cheryl Niamath who designed the Fetching gloves. :-) I'll get the scarf pattern written up soon-ish as well, but I want to make a wider version of it for Mum first. Once I've finished something else, that is.

I actually think my WIP tolerance has been reached. If I cast on one more project, my head would explode. I can cope, just about, with the number I have going at once right now (8 plus 3 in hibernation) because I have a definite Christmas deadline for, um, three of them. Although I have at least two more things I wanted to cast on for gift knitting as well. Oh dear. But I'm not going to think about that now! The thing is, those gift knits are the ones which are taking priority, and the rest are pushed to the back-burner. Some more than others - I'm still working on my various pairs of socks (for me) every now and again, to give myself a break. It seems to be working. But anyway, like I said, I'll make a proper all-about-my-WIPs post a bit later.

I didn't find my gloves, by the way. So far I've been wearing my Fetchings or my Hurry Up Spring fingerless ones, but I've wound a skein of Yarn Yard Merino sock into a ball to make some new ones - I think I'm going to make cabled ones with that. And I did crumble and get ones of the glove kits, so I'm going to make a pair with that too.

Yay, gloves! I'm not allowing myself to cast on for them until I've finished a couple of my current WIPs, though. Preferably the Christmas gift ones, since those have a deadline!

Hmm, was there anything else I was going to say? I can't think... oh! I remember. I found a (the) Holiday Gift KAL-CAL. Just what I wanted! I have duly signed myself up. Um. Oh yes, and I've been working on my next (final? I'm not sure if I'll be sending one more package or if I'll split it into two - Katie, do you have any preferences?) SP11 package. Mwahaha. Etc. ;-)

Right, that's enough being upright for me for the time being. I'm going back to bed for a bit to listen to the radio / podcasts while knitting, then I shall get up again, have foooood, and get myself off to the doctor's. TTFN!

Ugh

OK, I know I said I wouldn't moan any more about this... but I'm going to anyway. I fail at being ill. I'm officially rubbish at it. Because both lying down and sitting / standing up have their different discomforts, I've been yo-yo-ing between one and the other... which has meant not much sleep until this afternoon when my body apparently decided enough was enough and zonked out. Of course, now I'm awake again.

Still, I've loaded up my mp3 player with podcasts, I have soup and hot squash (and I've taken all the right vitamins and painkillers, etc), and I have my knitting and my Palm which is loaded with books & also there in case I have inspiration to crack on with NaNoWriMo*. I'm Going To Bed!

* Yes, like a fool I signed up for NaNo. I haven't tried doing it for a few years... and of course I have to get ill at the start of November, so I haven't even started yet. However, I'm not going to stress. I'll start when I can and just see how much I can get written over the month. I was going to do NaKniSweMo instead, you know, but then I realised I have my gift knitting - that really needs to take priority. Maybe I should see if there's a Gift Blitz KAL. If there's not, there should be!

Under the weather.... but presents cheer me up!

Oh, ick. I've been somewhat under the weather (physically... my mental health is still good, hoorah) for the last few days, and I thought I had a cold. But now I have the sneaking feeling that it might be something that'll need antibiotics. Blech. I have that weird hollow-yet-tight feeling in my chest, I haven't been able to breathe properly for a few days, and every muscle in my chest and upper back hurrrrrrts. *whine whine whine* And now I have that swollen-gland thing going on. There's probably no point in going to the doctor just yet - I'll wait a few more days and see if it goes away on its own. Although this has reminded me that I should get my flu jab done!

Anyway, I'm not going to moan on about that any more. If I disappear for a few days, I'll probably be wrapped up warm in bed. Knitting, naturally. Hopefully it won't come to that, though (the having to stay in bed, not the knitting - the knitting will no doubt happen anyway). :-)

So, on to the good stuff! I got my second SP11 package!! Wheeee, thank you Janey! :-D

So, starting at the top left, I have... a really cute little ceramic trinket box with a fat cat sprawled on the top - hee! That's going to be just perfect for keeping my rings and the few pairs of earrings I wear regularly in. And as Janey said, what (little) girl doesn't love those - I certainly do! In fact, the only reason I'm not going to be using it for holding stitch markers is because I already have a couple of little tins doing duty there, which are more portable... and I don't mind them being tucked away with the knitting. This, I want on display. :-) Following on with the stitch marker suggestion, though, she had actually included two inside the pot - which she'd handmade herself. They're the little fried egg and cupcake that you can see in front of the pot. Aren't they cool?
Next to the pot is a fabulous hand-decorated notebook... which convinces me that Janey must be psychic. The last package had the very stitch markers that I'd been squeeing over the night before her parcel arrived, and this time, again only a day or two before this turned up, I'd decided that I really really needed a notebook to keep a physical knitting journal. Somewhere to include things like ball-bands and yarn samples: stuff that can't go on Ravelry or a blog. This little notebook is exactly what I would have picked if only I could have found one like it! It has gorgeous beaded yarn plaited through the spiral binding at the back, and little random decorations stuck in throughout as well as on the cover-page. I love it! (I'm a complete stationery junkie, you know. I can spend hours just wandering around WH Smiths looking at the boring stationery, never mind the fancy stuff. Janey, I know you said it was hard to find things to buy what with us both being in the UK (never mind pretty much the same county!), but you've done awesomely... and anyhow, I'm really not fussy! I'll enjoy the swap regardless of what I get, so promise me you won't over-stress yourself. I want you to have fun too!)
The next thing, and really the main part of the parcel, is (*drumroll*) a DIY KoolAid sock yarn dying kit! I squeed. This is something I've been wanting to try for aaaages, and this little kit has everything I could possibly need - the various flavours of KoolAid, rubber gloves, pipettes for trying hand-painting, several invaluable looking print-outs of tutorials, and of course, the undyed sock-yarn - enough for (at least, with my shoe size) two pairs of socks, unless I miss my guess! This is going to be fun! *vbg* I think I'll see if Mum or Ally want to come over to play at dying with me.
Finally, you can see the great big pile of sweets... which at the time of writing is a bit smaller than in the photo. (What?) And a better picture of Xander's toy mouse - isn't it cute? Hee!

So, thank you very much, Janey! It's a great parcel. I only hope my downstream pal (did I mention she knows who I am now, too? Hi Katie!) likes her second parcel as well. Which reminds me, I must email her! I fail at email, I really do. Off I go then...

Lost Gloves

It looks like I've lost my favourite pair of gloves :-( I mean, they're only shop-bought, almost certainly acrylic yarn ones. But they fit, they were black with cables on the back, and they were warm and comfy. They weren't scratchy or squeaky. They were my perfect gloves. Wah!

Of course, I have other gloves. Handknitted fingerless ones, which are lovely... but not quite the same as, well, gloves with fingers. And not go-with-everything black, either. Pleather (ie. plastic leather-looking!) ones: not warm or particularly flexible either. Cycling ones: v practical... if I had a bike right now, which I don't. Velvet ones, lace ones: all very pretty, but not much use for keeping fingers toasty.

No, I want my woolly gloves back. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I lost them out somewhere, earlier this year. Last I remember, they were in my coat pocket... and the next time I went to put them on, they were gone. I probably took them off and put them down, got distracted, and that was that. :-/ I'm going to have one last really good hunt through the bags that I don't use much, just in case. And then I guess I'd better buckle down and knit myself some new ones.

The next question is, what kind of gloves shall I make? Proper cosy wool ones, certainly. But shall I try to replicate my old ones as closely as I can remember, or shall I have plain ones? Black / one-colour, or variegated? Hmmm. Pattern suggestions, anyone?

(I am of course, rilly rilly tempted by Natalie's Glove Kits & Club, but I must not buy any more yarn yet. However, I spose I could have more than one new pair of gloves, couldn't I? *cough* After all, I have all that lovely sock yarn that I don't have to use on socks...)

Long Day

It's been a looooooooooong day... and why I'm not in bed already, I'm not really sure. I'm running on caffeine fumes, or something. It was my uncle's funeral, so we've been to Norfolk and home again (5:30am start, most of the day spent in the car.... ow my back). On the plus side, because I'm not allowed to drive at the moment, I got some knitting done. Um, yay? So yup, I have another couple of inches done of my Whitby sock. There would have been more, but I was pretty tired by the time we were on our way home, so I slept for a couple of hours. I feel a bit guilty about that, cos Mum and M were having to stay awake and do the driving. But then, I didn't sleep well last night because my brain was in 'oh no, what if I don't wake up in time' mode.

The funeral was fine, and it was good to see all my cousins, even if the circumstances weren't exactly great. I even met up with a cousin I haven't seen since we were both 2, and a couple of others that I might not have met at all. I have a lot of cousins. The ones who are all my age are actually my first-cousins-once-removed (the children of my first cousins) due to the generational wonk my family has going on. *g* One of these is my cousin B, who is great, and who I'm hoping to keep in touch with more regularly - we've been saying we will, but crucially this time we remembered to exchange email addrs! Hopefully I'll get the chance to go and stay with her at some point so we can have a proper catch-up.

Back to the knitting, I've been doing lots of other things as well. I finished my first Hedara sock:

And the kitty-face baby hat that I've done for a friend's expected new baby:

Aaaaaand finally I've finished off the HP Slytherin scarf I've been making for Sann for, oh, years (it was the weaving in of the ends that I stalled on). Hoorah!

Yaaaaay, finished objects! I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll now: I'm determined to finish one of the jumpers that've been lurking for years as well (see sidebar). I had resolved that I wasn't going to cast anything new on until I'd finished at least one project, and now I've finished two and a half... but... finishing one of those flippin' jumpers will feel like a real achievement. So that's my next plan, along with continuing with the other things I have on the needles, of course! I really must remember to post on here with pics of the other things I've done recently as well. But not tonight. Now, it's bedtime. Zzzzzzzzzz.........

OMG ded (sic)

Woah, I'm exhausted. Feeling a little bit spacey here, I can tell you. The four-year-old who lives upstairs from me is allergic to sleeping all night long, and I keep getting woken up by loud thumps. The crying I could sleep through - it's the intermittent bangs on the ceiling that do it. Nothing I can do about it, though, except be glad I'm not one of her parents! And possibly invest in some earplugs next time I'm at the chemist...

That's not the only reason I'm knackered, though. I've been up to my eyeballs in php, and learning all about Wordpress. Which have been fun, but once I start getting into the code and stuff, I forget to stop for, oh, food and breaks, etc etc. What, it's absorbing! I'm not going to be changing this site to WP - it took me long enough fiddling about getting MT how I like it, and if I went and changed to another blogging system I'd only spend a million years prodding the back end (my Mum thinks that sounds bad, but I have no other way to describe it) and not making any posts. Again! So this site is staying as it is. However, WP is a useful thing to know how to use, and it all meshes in nicely with the PHP I've been learning. Hoorah!

So my brain is a little frazzled from several days intense work at that. Good thing I've had my knitting to wind me down! I've started the two larger items of my Christmas knitting (and the other two I have planned aren't definite anyway) but I spose I can't talk about them here just in case. D'oh. I've also been working on the other projects that I started recently... that I still haven't mentioned on here, but deserve their own post when I'm less tired! I really need to make posts for my finished items too. Although actually, I can't post one thing because it's for SP11. Oh well, eventually!

Talking of SP11, that's the other reason I'm tiiiiired. Sort of. I went into town and shopped! Partly for SP things, and partly for other stuff that I'd been needing. I also bumped into C, which was nice cos I hadn't seen her for ages. And, um. Um.

Losing... ability... to... words... together... string....

$var="sleepyLou"
if(eyes!=open && brain==ded) {
function init(goToBed)
} else {
function init(CAFFEINE)
}

Yup. Think that covers it. *thud*

The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees, but what became of the monkey monkey monkey monkey...

I'm listening to / watching the Last Night of the Proms at the mo. Ah, Last Night, I luff you! One of these days I'll actually go in person. I've actually been a completely rubbish Prommer this year and not been to a single one. I was just too broke to get up to London. Next year! I'm determined. I've enjoyed listening on the radio and catching the odd one on telly, but it's not the same as being in the Hall yourself. I've loved the Albert Hall since I first sung there when I was 10. There's just no atmosphere like it for me. It's my all time favourite concert hall in the world, no contest. Even the Sydney Opera House, fabulous as it is, just doesn't have the same emotional attachments I guess. So yes. Go the Proms!

*break while I sing along to Jerusalem*

But what I was originally going to post about was my Monkey socks. I finished them! I like them lots. They're all comfy too. I'm gradually getting faster at the knitting of socks - I spose it's more that I'm picking the sock up to knit it more often rather than physically knitting them faster.

Did I mention that the foot was way faster than the leg? I think I did. I ended up with quite a lot of yarn left over - maybe even a third of a ball. Anyway, here they are:

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.

Whoosh!

I've been pretty busy over the last few days. Phew! But I have been knitting - I'll make a longer post all about that a bit later. Right now I'm in the middle of a massive tidy-up / clear out that was actually inspired by me deciding that I need to destash my yarn. As in, knit from the stash. Not (*gasp*) give it away or anything drastic. Well, maybe a skein or two as gifts.

But the point is, I need to declutter my entire life. Or at least my flat. So I've been doing that. I'm still not properly sorted out after the move in December. But now I'm on a roll, and I know what the major problems were (wardrobe in the wrong place, and not enough storage - soon to be solved). Whee!

You never know, once I've done the big stuff and made a trip or two to the charity shop and the tip, I might even get around to sorting out my filing. Ahahahah! Yeah, right.

Oh, and before I forget (because I'm rubbish like that), hi to my secret pal, "Miss Teri". *waves* I've had my own secret pal assignment too so I've been diligently stalking them. Mwahaha! I've bought them stuff already too. This is fun!

Not Dead!

Despite appearances, the blogathon didn't kill me. Hoorah! It did wipe me out for a bit there, though, and then I had to spend some time catching up on the things I'd got behind on while I was thus wiped out. But anyway, now I'm back and feelin' fiiiiine.

So!