Project 365 #8, Days 52-67: 1st - 16th March

Stiiiiiiiill catching up: here are days 52 to 67 of my Project 365 photos - the first half of March. I'm going to post them in chunks of half a month at a time until I get caught up, now. 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. Or for the most up-to-date version, try my Flickr set.

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

Day 52 - 1st Mar 08

The "Mother's Day Mitts" fingerless gloves I made for Mum (for, uh, Mother's Day), just waiting to have the ends woven in. The centre-panel cable shows up better in person (and in the larger version of the photo, if you click) than it does here.

Day 53 - 2nd Mar 08

Mum presiding over the enormous Chinese takeaway that we had for Mothering Sunday. Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Day 54 - 3rd Mar 08

Hoorah, it's shopping delivery day! I shall not starve in the next month. Always good news, that ;-)

Day 55 - 4th Mar 08

The Conquest Hospital - I had to go up to get a blood test done. I have such a rock and roll lifestyle!

Day 56 - 5th Mar 08

OMG YUM. It's like a whole bar of Wispa. Gaaaaaah! Chocolate heaven.

Day 57 - 6th Mar 08

My hat, scarf, coat and sunglasses slung over the back of the sofa - I'd just come back from charging up the gas and electricity keys. Once again, check out mah rock 'n roll life! ;-)

Day 58 - 7th Mar 08

My Jacobean sock in progress (pair #1 for the Sock Knitters' Pentathlon). This was my first toe-up sock, and it was going very well. Plus, I was using Posh Yarn Emily, which is utterly gorgeous.

Day 59 - 8th Mar 08

There's a hole in my heel turn, my heel turn, my heel turn; there's a hole in my heel turn, my heel turn, a hole! Damnit!! ;-) It was my first stocking stitch short row heel, and things didn't go well. But I persevered (that is, I ripped and re-knit a couple of times!) and got there in the end.

Day 60 - 9th Mar 08

My bed, which I had just got out of. Hence the crumpled-ness and the dent still in the pillow!

Day 61 - 10th Mar 08

The smoke alarm in my kitchen, dripping water from the leak that's been causing a lot of annoyance to me and my neighbours upstairs. It's happening because their bathroom isn't properly sealed and apparently it's a stupidly big job to get it fixed. However, since it was dripping down through parts of my flat that have electric wiring (including that smoke alarm which hooks up to the main fire alarm for the building), I think that sped it all on. At any rate, I haven't had any probs for a while.

Day 62 - 11th Mar 08

The house at the end of my block - were those ever windows, I wonder? If so, why fill them in? If not, why put blocked in non-windows there in the first place? Aaaaaah!

Day 63 - 12th Mar 08

I live here! I love this huge front door with the big pointy lintel and scrolly bits. The paintwork is a bit grubby again now, but it was redone a year and a half ago, or thereabouts. Oh, and that window right above the point? That's my kitchen. Yay!

Day 64 - 13th Mar 08

Had to go and buy some more food to top me up until the next 'big' online shop. So I thought I'd plop it down on the front steps outside and take a photo of it there, rather than indoors like before. Ta-da!

Day 65 - 14th Mar 08

The Xandermog graciously receives his portion of adulation from Mum. I'm not sure whose expression is funniest ;-)

Day 66 - 15th Mar 08

C came down to visit for the weekend, so of course we had to go out for a slap up meal at Cosmo, which does a Chinese buffet menu. Yuuuuuuuuuum. We ate til we were ready to go pop!

Day 67 - 16th Mar 08

One of Xander's favourite sleeping places is under my computer desk. Of course, this means I sometimes accidentally kick or tread on him.... oops! Still, it's safer than when he sleeps right behind my computer chair. Daft mog :-)

Lesson Learned

Note to self: do not turn a sock heel late at night while watching telly and not counting properly. It will only end lopsidedly! Ah well, back I go!

This is, by the way, the third pair of socks for the Sock Knitters' Pentathlon - the Rattlesnakes. I'm loving the twisty twiney cables, I really am. I'll do a proper update soon and post a photo.

Part of the reason I've been so quiet recently, by the way, is that I'm not sure I'm getting on well with this version of Movable Type. Still, if I don't use it I can't get used to it enough to be sure. But the design templating system...hmm... I need to find out more about it. Because right now I'm getting more and more tempted to change the whole site to run off of Wordpress (not just the blog). I think I can do that with MT as well, but I already know how WP works, so. I spose it all bears more looking into, and 1am isn't the time to do it! I'm off to sleep on it again.

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 #7, Days 45-51: 23rd - 29th Feb

Still catching up! Here's the rest of February: days 45 to 51 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 45 - 23rd Feb 08

The King's Head pub, where the Battle Knit & Natter group meet up every other Saturday.

Day 46 - 24th Feb 08

Horses, don'tcha know? This horsebox 'lives' just down the road from me. There's a ... sort of large shed set back from the road. I don't think any horses live there, though.

One Mother's Day Mitt, in progress. You can't see the cable on the back terribly well in the picture, but it shows up much better in person. I was knitting these from sock weight yarn, because Mum has ouchy tendons in her wrists, and the fingerless gloves I made her for Christmas have been helping that, especially if she wears them overnight... only they're made from aran weight angora, so she needed some lighter weight ones for the spring.

Day 47 - 25th Feb 08

This is one of those sci-fi classics that I had bizarrely never read. I've known the name of it for ages, and the vague synopsis, and I'd always meant to read it, but I never did until I happened across it on the inventory of someone I was getting another book from on BookMooch. So I grabbed it as well, and have now read it. And loved it. And must get the rest of the series Right Now!

Day 48 - 26th Feb 08

The spire of one of the churches that's down the road from me. In fact, it's one that I can see from my flat window. So here it is from right below it, on a lovely sunny (but crisp!) day.

Day 49 - 27th Feb 08

Urk... there is leakings from my ceiling again. This is a really irritating recurring problem: irritating for me and for my neighbours upstairs, because they can either (a) never use their shower, or (b) re-seal round the bath every few weeks. It wasn't done properly in the first place, and it's going to be a major job to sort out, apparently. Gah.

Worst thing is, the leaks either come through the fire alarm system, or down this wall and over the lightswitch. Couldn't be somewhere that there's no electrics, could it? Nooooo.

Day 50 - 28th Feb 08

This is Xander's new favourite hidey-hole: under the coffee table that's by the sofa. Trouble is, he only ever goes half under it...

See what I mean? Daft mog :-)

Day 51 - 29th Feb 08

And this is when I was in the middle of winding up possible yarns for the Sock Knitter's Pentathlon which was starting on 1st March. Posh Yarn Emily in Ripen is the green one on the left (that's the one I used in the end) and on the chairs / ball winder is The Yarn Yard Bonny in Shelter.

Rebel rebel

My second pair of socks for the Pentathlon is underway. For this one, I think the main challenge is in the preparation (there was confusion over which translated version of the pattern and which chart was most accurate), and since it's a 16 row lace pattern where the stitch count increases and decreases a couple of times, you have to keep your mind on what you're doing. I'm not finding it too much of a problem though. Not mindless telly knitting, but fine for watching something where I don't want to have my eyes glued to the screen the whole time and so can keep count.

However, I have rebelled a little ;-) The pattern recommends using solid or semi-solid colours, and I... have not. I was going to: I said in my last post that I was intending to use a solid red. But the lace pattern is a leafy sort of thing, and I just didn't want to make it in red. It would probably look lovely in the Yarn Yard September Club yarn:

.... but much as I think that yarn is beautiful, if I make yet another pair of green socks right now I might lose the will to live. ;-) So that one was out.

Then I thought, well, it's a really pretty pattern. (In fact, if ever a pattern said "knit me in pastel pink!" to me, it's this pattern, but that's never going to happen. Sorry pink, but I'll never wear you. Ever.) It's lace, but I'm not sure that a multi yarn would obscure the pattern completely. And the Yarn Yard Feb 08 'Art Deco' club yarn is really really pretty: light blue, chocolate powder brown, cream, pale yellow, a hint of soft green. Really springlike. And I could use the minty blue-green contrast skein for the cuff, toes, and maybe the heels. So, that's what I've cast on with. And I was right, this yarn is really pretty. However, so far I'm not entirely sure if it's knitting up as a pretty lacy sock, or a small woolly pizza. Below is a photo of the cuff and first lace repeat. Any thoughts, anybody:

Anyway, here are the project stats as they stand at the moment:
Pattern: Berlin Muster by Kristin Benecken [Ravlink]
Yarn: The Yarn Yard Bonny (previously Sock) in Art Deco (Feburary 08 Sock Club yarn)
Needles: 2.5mm DPNs
Ravelry Project Page: Pentathlon Pair #2

If I do decide to change the yarn, I'll definitely stay with Yarn Yard Bonny as it's just perfect for the project, and I think I'd either go for the solid bright blue from the November club yarn or persuade myself that three pairs of green socks in five months would be fine, and use the above August one. I'm hoping that the Art Deco will work out alright, though. Not least because I've set myself the goal of coming in within the first 100 this time...

Project 365 #6, Days 35-44: 13th - 22nd Feb

Since I'm still playing catch up, here's yet another picdump: days 35 to 44 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 35 - 13th Feb 08

The Fetching-esque scarf that I made for Mum to go with her Fetching mittens. This was a really quick knit. Must get the pattern written up properly soon!

Day 36 - 14th Feb 08

The Xandermog demands an explanation for this woolly invasion!

...but decides that pretending to ignore it is the best policy (while sneakily laying on the stitch holder to make sure it doesn't go anywhere without his say-so).

Day 37 - 15th Feb 08

Xander likes his little mouse (a present from my SP11 pal, Janey). But eww, I really need to hoover out his cat bed!

Day 38 - 16th Feb 08

Yay, new telly!! New to me, anyway: my old one went kaput last year, and I've had a 14" portable on loan from my brother ever since. Now my Mum's bought herself a shiny new flatscreen, so I've inherited her old one. Awesome! Now, name that show.

Day 39 - 17th Feb 08

Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooes! The blue screen of death strikes again :-( I'm going to have to reformat soon, I think. Meanwhile, also visible in this picture: handcream, glasses cleaner (on its side), the very top of a Dalek, sundry notes to myself, and a little woolly sheep.

Day 40 - 18th Feb 08

Everything that I'm going to need to knit Mum a present for Mother's Day. The pattern is Kyla, the yarn is from the Yarn Yard sock club, and I called them the Mother's Day Mitts.

Day 41 - 19th Feb 08

I actually put the yarn down on the floor to take a photo of it so I could put it up on my Ravelry stash, but of course I'm not allowed to do that without supervision ;-) I love the way he's giving it that "what's that doing in the way of my tail?" look, when it was there before he came and plonked himself down...

Day 42 - 20th Feb 08

My desk, covered with things for posting stuff (books that had been mooched, I think it was) out, plus other various stuff. My mood chart for example - that's the coloured sheet at the back. And my rings are on the top shelf... I always arrange them in that triangle formation when I take them off. Wonder what that says about me?

Day 43 - 21st Feb 08

One finished Damson glove, woohoo!

Day 44 - 22nd Feb 08

It's a teeny tiny beetle. I don't know what it is, but it was in my bathroom, and this is it on the inside of an envelope. The fact that I've zoomed right in doesn't give any real sense of scale, but it was smaller than my little fingernail, and I have pretty small hands.

Progress from last week.

Last week, I bribed myself by setting a list of goals to achieve before I could have my "carrot" of casting on a lovely new pair of socks. Sooooooo, how did I do?

- 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);
-- Done! And oh, I love them. They're scrummy and squishy and now fit perfectly. LOVE!

- Finish one repeat of the WFS edging;
-- I now have several repeats done, which is sort of good. But not ideal, since I passed my deadline for finishing the thing. D'oh! I'm still plugging away and enjoying it, though.

- 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;
-- DONE. Why do I make such drama in my own mind over things that really aren't that terrible (such as sewing up one tiny bootee)? Dear self: stop it!! I'll make another post soon with some pictures.

- 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);
-- I've pretty much managed this. In fact, I'm not even going to post a short list. I think I'm going to use some YY sock in bright red "Shelter", since the guidelines say that a solid or semi-solid is best, and light - medium and/or bright colours are suggested. Plus, I already have that one wound into a yarn cake ;-) I'll make my final decision when the pattern comes online late tonight.

And my prize? Wheeee, I've cast on for the lovely Bracket Fungus socks. My version are the Bracket Fungoths, because I'm using YY Hot Pink Goth yarn as the multi colour and I never can resist a good (bad) pun. As I promised myself, I've only done the cuff so far because the WFS has to take priority for now, but here's how it's looking so far:

Yay!

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.

Catching up

Whoops, I've been absent for a bit, haven't I? I've been down with an attack of the April's, you see.

I don't know why exactly (although I've got a theory: it could be bunnies*) it happens every year, but starting in April, I always go through a depressive period. The joys of spring tend to be less than joyous. Not every day, for every thing, because there are lots of things that objectively I love about this time of the year. But mentally, it's not one of my best times. Some years it's lasted for months, getting worse and worse until I've been in a right state. Others, it's been better, and it's only really since I've been diagnosed with the bipolar that I've been keeping proper track anyway. But since then it's depended on my medication, my own and others' awareness of my mental state, and how soon it's picked up on and started to be dealt with.

*or seriously, something to do with stuff that happened when I was around 18 which I won't bore you with now, but was at this time of year. And btw, name that fannish reference!

This time, I only had about a week (or maybe 10 days... it blurs) of not being able to move out of bed / eat / etc. After that, there was a thankfully quite short period of getting myself back into a more normal routine again, and now I'm feeling a lot better. Hoorah! Interestingly (to me anyway *g*) getting back to normal once I'd been able to recognise and start coping with the depression as depression just took about three or four days. Before I got really low, I'd been struggling with a wonky sleep routine and lack of motivation for a good couple of weeks, and I was frustrated and annoyed with myself for not being able to sort it out. Now, I can "forgive" myself for all that because now I realise it was the start of the low mood swing. I'm not quite sure if I could have done anything at that time to head the low off... perhaps that's something to talk to someone (doctor? CPN? counsellor?) about.

However, like I said above, there are things I do love about this time of year, so it certainly hasn't all been doom and gloom. I haven't got out and about as much as I'd like of course, but I did get to enjoy the snow at my Mum's house, the sun in my flat (I have huge windows and my bedroom is a sun-trap), and the sea-air down on the seafront once or twice as well. And of course, being inside so much, I have got some knitting done, and a lot of reading. I did sleep most of the time when I was down (and I do mean most of the time: generally 16-20 hours a day!) but when I was awake, I was at least able to do those things.

What did I knit? Well, I'll talk about that more in another post, but I finished my Pentathlon socks (yay!), I'm making two pairs of baby bootees for Ally's little 'un (who is due next week - the 23rd), and I'm working on Mum's birthday present (also 23rd). Things are going much faster now I'm feeling more myself again, of course. Which is nice :-)

I'm behind on Project 365 of course - there are only so many photos I could take of the inside of my flat anyway *g*. What are you sposed to do when you miss some days, I wonder? Just skip them, or fudge it and fill the gaps with spare shots from other days? Is there a school of thought on that?

Project 365 #5, Days 25-34: 3rd - 12th Feb

More catching up! Here are days 25 to 34 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 25 - 3rd Feb 08

My brother and his lovely girlfriend got engaged in the autumn last year, but since my bro is currently a poor student and they wanted to find the perfect one, they took a bit of time over getting the ring. But here it is at last! Pink sapphire - preeeeetty!

As I stalk the embarrassed happy couple, trying to get a good shot. Mwahaha.

Day 26 - 4th Feb 08

I was having a hurty-head day.

Day 27 - 5th Feb 08

Sausages! The ones that were left to go in the fridge after I'd had the other two for my dinner. Mmmm nom nom nom. Actually, these are fake sausages - quorn and apple bangers. I really like them.

Day 28 - 6th Feb 08

This was a shopping delivery day, so the fridge was stuffed full of foooood. Can you tell that I like stir fries?

Day 29 - 7th Feb 08

The inside of my large bag, ready to be taken out. There's the stuff for the volunteer training course I was going to, a notebook, my purse, my umbrella (the orange thing with the sheep on *g*) and a hairband. Also in there but out of sight would be my inhaler and a pen or two... probably some other bits and bobs as well.

Day 30 - 8th Feb 08

The knitting is finally finished on the Chevron Scarf of DOOOOOM ;-) And so here it is laid out on the floor, ready to have the ends sewn in and the blocking done.

Day 31 - 9th Feb 08

Meanwhile, I was in the process of sewing up the shoulders of the Bigga jacket so I could then start picking up for the collar (and get it off the table which I needed for the scarf blocking!).

Day 32 - 10th Feb 08

Since it was so long and I'm short on space, I blocked the scarf in three sections. Worked out pretty well :-)

Day 33 - 11th Feb 08

Aaaand having finished the scarf and being on the sewing up part of the jacket, I needed something else to be my knitting current wip. The Damson Gloves were it: this is the first glove, knit up to me being about to start on the little finger.

Day 34 - 12th Feb 08

Ta-daaaaa! One completely finished Chevron Scarf. It might have ended up feeling like it was never going to end when it was on the needles, but I do really love how it's turned out. Yay! Let's just hope my sister-in-law-to-be (there has to be a shorter way of saying that) likes it.

Finally, just for fun, here's my effort at a rolled-up scarf photo. Erm. I think it went a bit wonky, but you get the idea!

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.

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!

Project 365 #1 - Day 1-6: 10th - 15th Jan

I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking about doing Project 365. A couple of days later I decided that if I was going to do it, then I'd better just start before I started thinking about it too much. So I did.

Which means that I will, all going well, be posting a photograph for every day from 10th January 2008 to 9th January 2009. I'm planning to make a post every five days or so. In actual fact, I might post more than one photo for some days - this is to stop myself getting mired in indecision! I've set up a specific folder in the photo album for the set of photos to go in, as well. I won't be putting them on Flickr or adding them to any group sets there, though I have joined the Ravelry group for 365-ers, and I'm intending to join the webring.

Anyway, that's enough rambling on the theory. On to the photos (click 'em for the full size versions):

Day 1 - 10th Jan 08

This is me trying to take a decent modelled photo of the socks my lovely SP11 pal, Janey, made me. Tucking my jeans up? Oh dear, won't be trying that again! Don't worry Janey, I think I managed to get a better view in the end! Also, look (you might need to click through to the full size pic): among the mess in the background are my faithful DMs, the box for my shiny new webcam (xmas pressie), and the bookshelf that I have my back to when I'm at the computer. Can you see the wee dye-cast TARDIS on the top? *unashamed fangirl*

Day 2 - 11th Jan

Xandermog, faaaaaast asleep on the sofa. Awww :-) See, I said this would all be yarn / knitting and cat pics, didn't I?

Day 3 - 12th Jan

This is actually fairly indicative of my day. See, I was all ready to go out: I had all my stuff in my bag to go to Knit & Natter, and here are my shoes ready and waiting to be put on. Only, they stayed right there. I came over kind of woozy and didn't go anywhere at all. Bah.
This pic also gives you an idea of the layout of some of my living room: it's a pretty large room, so I have it kind of split up into areas. I took the pic from the doorway, so you can see through to the computer, and also the back of the sofa which makes a division into the 'telly / music' bit.

Day 4 - 13th Jan

Ah yes, the reason for the previous day's wooziness. The oncoming storm. "Hi I can't sleep and everything is HYSTERICALLY FUNNY!!!!" mania. I would say I was five, except even at five years old I was generally a serious child with my nose in a book. On the plus side here, I wrote it down on this mood diary sheet and later recorded it on the chart thingy I have, and I was able to be online and talk to some friends, which grounded me somewhat until I came over tired enough that I conked out. (Taken w/ the webcam)

Day 5 - 14th Jan

I was still riding the mania, but I had had some sleep during the day and I'd come down enough that I could be productive... although I wasn't able to actually make a decision about what to do! Luckily, my friend suggested that if I wasn't going to be able to sleep that night, I should use the time and sort out my paperwork. So I did! This is me about half done. About 2/3 of the paper ended up in the recycling (orange bag) - hoorah!

OH NOES PAPERCUT!!!! See, sorting through all that paper has its dangers. I sliced myself right on the web of the thumb, and it kept pulling as I was still sorting stuff out, so I needed to bung a plaster over it... and of course, the only one I could find was this unnecessarily large thing. Typical.

Day 6 - 15th Jan

Once I'd sorted the paperwork, it all got neatly filed away. Isn't that nice? Although, this photo also tells you what a packrat I am. There's still all my stuff from uni in there, for heaven's sake. And in fact, that Tigger folder was my school folder when I was doing GCSEs. Oh dear...

Of course, I can't do anything without the mog coming to check up on me. Dreadful nosy beast! (And, why yes, that is the box for a Laser Screwdriver down there on the right. The bro gave me one for Christmas to go with the Sonic Screwdriver he got me a couple of years back. Hee! (See above re. *unashamed fangirl*) Mmmm, John Simm.)

Really, he's a very good cat, but his one main vice is shredding my furniture. And walls. Quite often while pretending he's not really doing it at all (hence him not looking at the door or me in this pic). *sigh* And while he hasn't shredded the inside of this cupboard door, he's now decided that the outside of it is his new favourite scratching post.... :-/

And that's that for now. Next five days coming soon...

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!

Composing Knits

I've discovered something kind of interesting. To me, anyway. You see, I'd decided I wanted a hat to go with my Fetching wristwarmers. This meant applying the stitch pattern and cables used on Fetching to a hat. Well, with a couple of small variations - aren't there always? What I've discovered is, I approach knitting designing in the exact same two ways I have of approaching music composition.

Usually when I make a hat (or scarf or bag or whatever), I almost completely improvise. Often, I don't even swatch, I just rely on the fact that I know that I'll get this approximate gauge with those needles and that weight yarn, and base my number of cast on stitches on that. I'll keep to approximate guidelines - just like staying within a key (or its relatives) - but otherwise I'll wing it from there... sometimes even in terms of stitch pattern, although not always. If it works out well, I might go back and record what I've done on paper later on.

This time, I used what is actually my other method of writing music: I take a motif that I've worked out on an instrument beforehand, then decide on a key, key sig, and orchestration, and write everything else straight down onto paper out of my head. I'm pretty sure I know how it's going to sound, but there's sometimes the odd surprise *g*. Along very much the same lines, I started the design for my "Tête à Fetching" hat by taking the motif of the Fetching wristwarmers cables / ribbing which I have already knitted and therefore am familiar with the look of it. I swatched, I calculated, and I wrote out the provisional pattern on paper, including variations which didn't occur in the original motif. Now, I'm knitting it:

I'll let you know how it goes, and with luck put the finished pattern up when I'm done!

Mid Sock Syndrome?

You know, it's funny. I don't tend to be struck down with Second Sock Syndrome. I don't always cast on a second sock the instant I've finished the first if I've got other projects on the go that I want to work on before I go back to the sock knitting. But by and large, my second socks seem to knit up faster than the first ones... probably because I already have the pattern fixed in my head. What I do get, though, is 'Mid Sock Syndrome'. Is it just me? I start a new sock (so far I've only knit top-down, so I can only talk about that) and the ribbing, if there is any, might feel relatively slow, but once I get onto the main part of the leg: zoom! Before I know it, I'm at the heel flap. At that point, time grinds to a halt or something. What's really weird here is, the various parts of heel flap, heel turn and even gusset decreases don't seem to take all that long. But somehow, all together, they take an age. And then there's the foot. For some reason this didn't happen for the Monkey socks - the foot of those flew by - but in general, the foot takes for EVAH. Which makes no sense, because my feet are small and therefore the foot part of a sock is much shorter than the leg.

Perhaps it's that I've gone past the point of being interested in the pattern because it's new, and also past the gratification of having learned it, so it starts knitting up faster. Is it sock fatigue? I seem to constantly be checking the foot length to make sure I haven't gone too far, and seeming to still have miles before the toe decreases start. Don't get me wrong, I still love the sock knitting. But I suppose by the time I get to that part, I just want the flipping thing to be finished! I guess I'll just have to be grateful that starting that second sock makes it all new and exciting again.... :-)

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.........