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 :-)

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.

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...

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.

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...

SP11 Package #1! :-D

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gratuitous Catspam! (And SP11 things)

Xandermog! So! Cute!!

In SP11 news, I've been having lots of fun. Both my upstream and downstream pals are lovely (*waves to Miss.Teri*) and I'm told that my first package should be with me tomorrow. *bounce* I really hope my downstream pal likes her package. I really did enjoy putting it together, though I felt like I should have put something handmade in... but then I had a last minute brainwave and put a little something together. :-) There are a couple of other things that sort of count, too, and I do have plans for the next two parcels. I don't really do any handicrafts other than knitting, so that kind of limits me there. But my plan is to play to my strengths - I may not be able to sew well, or anything, but there are creative things I can do. Like, um, stuff. And things. Oh well, I'm sure I'll think of something! But like I said, I'm happy with the first parcel so with a bit of luck my pal will be too. :-)

Now, I shall go back to knitting, and plotting parcel no.2. Mwahahahah....

Is it just me...

... or are we all feeling rather like this now?

Soggy Moggy

You know how I said earlier that I'd left the cat out in the rain, and was going to be in trouble? Well...

Oh crap!

I left the cat outside! It's chucking it down with rain. Ohhhh, I'm in trouble now.

Ow

I think someone wants my attention. Notice how he's not looking at me, though: that means it's not *really* him sticking me with his pins!

Still, it is time for him to go out. I'd better go and shepherd him downstairs...

Completed Regia socks

I'm only just getting around to uploading my photos, but I finished these socks... um... a couple of weeks ago now, I think. You will notice that the cat refused to get out of the frame - see below for an even better example of that. *g*

Anyhow, these were made in Regia's 'Mini Ringel Color' shade #5217, which as you can see is nice and bright! I made them with 2.5mm DPNs using a basic sock pattern that I got free with some Opal yarn ages ago, although slightly modified since I made them longer (to the top of my calves) so they'd go well under my DMs. Therefore it needed to be a bit wider at the top - I actually cast on 6 extra stitches and decreased further on down, but I think in future I should just start with larger needles. The finished socks are a bit stiff feeling... not too tightly knitted, but the yarn itself. I think they'll soften up after they've been washed though, as my Opal ones certainly have.

In other news, this time I'm trying posting using w.bloggar - let's see how it goes...

Now back to the sock pics:

Xandermog shows me how beautifully he can pose for a photo.... when I don't want him in the shot. If I did want him there? He'd have got up and wandered off, of course. But when I'm trying to take a pic of my feet, he comes and flops down under them. Feline perversity triumphs again!