Lou-quacious Yarns
Since most of what I’m knitting right now is shhhhh, secret, here: have a photo of something I can show you! It’s my fifth and final pair for the sock knitters’ pentathlon. Currently on temporary hold while I finish the presents I have to do, but I should get it done by the end of the month with no problem.
Pattern: Summer Olympics Medals Socks 2008 by FrauHugs [Ravlink]
Yarn: Posh Yarn Lei in Drizzle
Needles: 2.5mm, 80cm circulars (Addi Turbo)
Ravelry Project Page: Pentathlon Pair #5
If I hadn’t decided to do this BloPoMo personal challenge, I wouldn’t be blogging right now. I’d probably be sleeeeeeeeeeeping. But if I gave in and let myself have a break ‘just for today’, then I most likely wouldn’t post again tomorrow either, and so on. So I’m cracking the mental whip! I can take 15 minutes to write something… even if it’s not very coherent. *g*
I’ve actually been pretty tired all day today… but I did manage to remember not to dawdle on the internets, and I got a reasonable amount of Christmas knitting done. Which I can’t talk about, you know, just in case. But I spose I can say that two of the things are relatively small and hopefully quick knits (or they won’t get done in time!) that I’ve actually only swatched for so far, and the third is a much larger and more fiddly project that I’ve been working on for some time… but again also might not be finished in time. Ah well. As far as that one’s concerned, if it takes a bit longer, then it takes longer. I’m getting there at least.
Plan for tomorrow: write cards, post cards, have lunch at C House, knit, knit, knit!
I’ve been Christmas shopping today, and now I’m utterly wiped out. Zzzzzzzz!
However, I did manage to make some progress on my christmas prep, as listed out yesterday:
And as it happens, I actually managed to get pretty much everything present-wise today. There’s just the online shopping to do, and maybe a couple of other bits, and then I’m done. Well, I have to shop for the present that Mum is getting me (awesome boots), but I might have to go further afield. Still, I haven’t looked in that shop in the old town yet. I’m more likely to find something I like there, at least… but I might leave it until sale time. We shall see.
In the mean time, I think the next most important things are writing and posting the cards (and presents!) that need to go, and getting on with the knitting! So since I need some level of concentration for that, I’ll be off to bed now. With a reminder to myself not to loiter on the internets all day tomorrow, cos I have other things to do. Maybe I should stick a post-it note on my monitor with a reminder?…
Hah, only the second day of my resolution, and I nearly forgot to post. Well done, me. And now of course I can’t think of anything to post about, even though I had lots of ideas for things to write about yesterday. Typical!
Maybe I’ll talk about crimble prep… of which I have done absolute none so far, other than writing that list of the people I’m going to get presents for. Therefore, I have Things To Do:
I think that’s about it… or everything urgent, anyway. Obviously there will need to be present wrapping in there as well. Eventually. Probably on Christmas Eve….
At least this year, I do have a budget to spend on presents. Or a more comfortable one than last year – since Mum has been acting as a sort of overseer to make sure I don’t have any more mania-fueled spending sprees, my finances aren’t so strained. Hooray! In fact, what my budget for Christmas will be is something she’ll help me work out, and knowing that I have agreed amounts for spending really helps me keep to those limits. Yes, I could decide on my own how much to spend, but I’d be bound to go way over the top. If there’s someone else I have to account for that to, it keeps me from going too crazy. There you go, that’s your thrilling life-with-bipolar fact of the day. I can theoretically work out budgets and accounts and whatever with no problem, but practically speaking it all goes out the window as soon as I see something SHINY! And oh yes, that so counts pretty pretty sock yarn. Or any other kind of yarn. Or DVDs, or books, or…. ;-) So since I’m twice as bad with that when buying for others rather than myself, a Christmas budget agreed with Mum is definitely needed to keep me within reasonable limits.
And do you know, because of that I’m rather looking forward to doing the Christmas shopping. :-) It feels so much safer this way… kind of like rock climbing while knowing that you have a harness on and someone belaying you at the bottom. It used to be much more like falling off a very high cliff (possibly while drunk) – complete with the horrible dropping sensation in my stomach! Not that I’ve ever fallen off a cliff, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, I’m not sure why I got onto that, but maybe I’ll write some more about manic spending and so on another time. It’s one of the more common things that happens with bipolar. But now I’m tired and this post is long enough, so I think I’ll be off to bed. Thar be shopping to be done tomorrow, after all!
Since I haven’t posted in a million years (or four months, which is the same thing in internet-time), I thought I’d mention that I am still here! Alive and kicking, and all that. Mostly accidentally kicking the cat, actually, but if he will sit under the computer desk, what does he expect? Aaaaanyway….
I think what I need to try and do is get back into the swing of regular posting. Even though it’s been years since I’ve actually been doing that. But I want to try it, so I’m going to do a sort of NaBloPoMo of my own… only starting today and running until 6th January. Which is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and even though it’s a coincidence that it works out like that, it feels kind of appropriate. So even though I’m not doing a calendar month of posting, I will be posting for a month up to the end of the Christmas season proper. :-) A festive BloPoMo!
So, that’s my end-of-year resolution! Now, I have to go and write my list of people I’m buying presents for and sending cards to. Do you think I’m running a little late? Well, let’s hope not! Which reminds me…
If you’d like a Christmas / holiday / whateveryouwannacallit e-card, drop me a comment including your email address (which won’t be published on the site) and one will be winging its way to you soon! If you’re in the UK and my budget allows, I might email you for your snail mail address so I can send a ‘real’ card out… let me know if you’d be up for one of those too. :-)
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!
And I raised a fantastic $199.66, which translates to £98.64 in real money, all thanks to my wonderful sponsors:
– Heather
– Ally
– Noxie
– Ramona
– Mum
– Carla
– hellolovely
– Anonymous
– Ambermoggie
– talesfromtheplain
– Liz
THANK YOU, guys. And thank you to my excellent charity, MDF, who sent me a lovely email and have invited me to submit a piece for the charity’s quarterly magazine about the blogathon and why I chose them as my charity. I’ll be sending that off to them shortly, so you never know, I might even get in print. :-)
I’d like to highlight a few of the posts I made during the ‘thon – the ones that got the actual content, really. It was amazingly hard to write what feel like ‘full’ posts to me for every one, because it just takes me too long! So there ended up just being a relatively small number of more meaty ones, interspersed by briefer comments. Anyway, the ones I wanted to point out are:
– Bipolar Disorder, and MDF: The Bipolar Organisation
– Fetching So Far
– Excitement! I Won!
– Forest Canopy
– My First Socks
– Loopylou and the Multitude of HP Scarves
I guess that’s all on the ‘thon until another year, then. Maybe next year, maybe not! It’s been three years since I did it last, so I’m not going to commit myself now. But I certainly do intend to do it again… and try to remember next time not to do pretty much a full day’s activity *before* I start, next time…
And now we return you to our non-regularly scheduled knitting posts!
I’m done!
Thank you and GoodNIGHT.
(Extra speshul thanks to my sponsors and Lisa – *HUGS*)
You might notice, if you look in my photo album (especially if you’re in the Finished Objects/2004 folder) that there seem to be a few Harry Potter style scarves knocking around. Well, yes. There are. There’s one in my WIP pile right now, too. See, it’s not exactly a hard pattern to figure out, even for a new knitter (it’s just maths and a bit of applied logic, after all). So I did just that, in a couple of variations, and for both styles that have been in the films. And then, just for fun, I worked out a wristband and a bag and socks, and… you get the picture. Or, you don’t get the pictures of those because I don’t think I have them uploaded here yet. Erm.
Anyway, once I’d produced a scarf for myself, other people started going “Hey, if I gave you the money, could you…?” So I did. I also made some as presents, and a couple for a local costume shop where I was friendly with the owners. I’m not quite sure now how many I have made, and for whom. It’s mainly been Gryffindor and Slytherin colours, though. I’m probably going to write up my version of this pattern and put it online, even though I know there are others out there already. But hey, one more won’t hurt, and I’ll most likely be putting the other bits and bobs (wristwarmers etc) out as well if I do go for it.
Anyway! Have some more pictures of my *fabulous* creations, darlings:
Continue reading “Loopylou and the Multitude of HP Scarves!”
I can’t believe that there’s only an hour to go, suddenly! Less in fact: 40 minutes! I have to make at least one more post with ‘proper’ content before I go. Eeeek….
Trying to decide which utterly stunning knitted object I’ll ramble at you about next ;-) Any preferences, anybody? Anything you can’t figure out what the hell I was thinking when I went and made it?
Meanwhile, have a podcast rec: Stash and Burn is put out by Jenny and Nicole, and frankly, it’s great. Funny, quirky, engaging, and fuuuuull of pepperyfibrey goodness, it’s very small and neat… no, wait, that’s a Finger of Fudge. But my point remains! Plus, it’s all about busting your stash (or trying to), which is something that I really need to get onboard with. So, if you’re not already doing so, you should go and sign up, and download those back-episodes too! Listen, laugh, and embrace your knitting fantasy life.
Ahh, my first socks! Aren’t they fab? I don’t remember exactly why I decided to knit a pair of socks – whether it was just the next thing I wanted to try, or if I saw the yarn and fancied having a crack at it. I do know that my friend Char was with me, and she’s a sock knitter. So she definitely had some hand in the proceedings! *g*
Anyway, we were in the Battle Wool Shop (an L-ishYS) and with help from Char and the lovely ladies who work there, I picked out this yarn and a set of 2.5mm DPNs, and was given Sue Morgan’s Simple Sock Pattern pattern free with the purchase. I went for this because, well, there wasn’t a lot of sock yarn available – what there was was either completely plain, or the Opal or Regia self-striping. Or at least, I think so – there might have been some more expensive yarn there at the time, but I wasn’t looking for that – I wanted to go for something that would stand up to my novice sock-knitter efforts! Anyhow, I know they do have Lana Grossa and Trekking in the shop now as well as Opal and Regia, and I’m not 100% sure what else. If they have handpainted lines, it might live with the other expensive yarn on the other side of the shop, and I haven’t looked over there recently – too much temptation!
But I digress. So there I was with my new sock making supplies…. but I can’t remember now if I cast on straight away or not. The picture on your right was taken in November 04, at any rate.
I knitted that first sock in fits and starts. The leg took quite a long time, though I was enjoying watching the pattern manifest itself. Then I blitzed the heel and foot gusset overnight in late December (pic below). The foot, again, took quite a while, and once I’d completed that toe, I have a feeling that the whole project hibernated for some time before I cast on for its pair.
Again, the second one was done in bits and pieces, but then in winter 05/06 I picked it up again and worked steadily until I was done! Whee!
More pictures are under the link!
Huge thanks to Ambermoggie! :-D
And that’s from the fairly-amber Xandermoggie too:
Oh dear, I’m sorry. I would say that you can see my posting quality plummet before your very eyes here, but it hasn’t been all that til now anyway. ;-)
However. Found via Lisa:
| You Are a Life Blogger! |
 If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible. |
On the phone to Ally now. Hi Ally!!
Q – Are we nearly there yet?
A – Yes!
Gah! Dozed of on the sofa. Right, let me try and make up a post…