Blogathon – Page 5 – Enchilada Sunrise

R is for Reciprocity

Today is the first day of June’s IComLeavWe, the comment-leaving equivalent of NaBloPoMo. Well, sort of – the aim is to leave five comments, and return / reply to one, every day during the week of the 21st-28th of the month. So it’s an equivalent in that it’s a daily goal … thingy. I know what I mean, anyway. You can either leave comments on the blogs of the other participants, and/or any other blogs you like, really. It’s more a self-monitored thing, I suppose, since unless you list all the places you’ve commented back on your own blog, there’s no central record. Anyway! The point is, it’s a cool way to find new blogs and meet new people and all – many of the blogs on the list are ones I wouldn’t normally read. Although I am going to try to make an effort to start leaving comments for the people I do habitually read again. I’ve been rubbish about it, really. Perhaps I should have a try at a little double thing – five comments to the IComLeaveWe bloggers, and five to people on my own blogroll. Could be fun!

In other news, there seems to be a bit of a hitch with this new version of WP… or at least, there is for me. Something has disappeared some of the sections from the Post page (the one that I’m writing in!), including the all-important Post button! I can get around it because there’s a draft-save mechanism, and then I can post from the edit screen, but still. That’s not right! I may have to disable some plugins and see what happens.

Upgrading

(Or, Non-alphabetical Post The Third)

WordPress 3.0 is out – has been for a couple of days, actually – so I’m going to do the upgrade soon. Probably not tonight, but most likely tomorrow morning. I’m glad I hadn’t got too far with the redesign I was working on, in terms of coding, so now I can incorporate anything new to the theme. I’m not sure if there is anything, but if there is, I might as well include it. It’s all good practise, after all.

Doctor Who finale (Pt1)

(Or, Non-alphabetical Post The Second)

I’ve just watched the first part of this year’s Doctor Who finale, “The Pandorica Opens” (and then Confidential, and then Casualty, but never mind that). Wow, that was awesome. And coooool, just like bow ties are coooool. I really loved the pre-credit sequence, the way it tied in so many of the episodes from this season. And it just all got more epic from there. I have to admit, I’m feeling a little smug because I’d guessed the purpose of the Pandorica, but I hadn’t guessed exactly why, and I loved that twist. I have no idea where it’s going to go from there, but I have a feeling it’s All About Amy. Somehow, however impossible that seems. After all, it doesn’t seem like there’s any way out. It felt more like a full stop of an ending than a comma. Still a cliffhanger, but… well, if this had been the last ever episode of Doctor Who, even though it would have been a tragic one, I’d’ve been OK with that. I do hope next week lives up to that!

Q is for Q&A

I haven’t done any of the NaBloPoMo prompts for a while, so I think I’ll have a bit of a catch-up:

Do you owe an apology to anyone? Why?

Hmmm… not as far as I can think of. I hope not!

You’ve just been given a million dollars. You are not allowed to keep it or give it to anyone you know personally. What do you do with it and why?

Well, first of all I’ll convert it into pounds ;-) Or assume that it’s the correct equivalent amount already. I’ll then donate half of it to charity – preferably a Bipolar disorder one like the MDF. The other half I think I’ll do something fun with. Like going to the local supermarket and paying for everyone’s shopping, or at least picking people at random to do that for until I run out of money. Which could take a while, actually, so maybe I could buy some big purchases for places or people that need them. I guess the ‘rules’ leave me room to do something like buy a minibus for an old people’s home or something, as long as there’s no-one there I know.

If you could go back in time and meet your 16-year-old self, what three things would you tell yourself?

1) Break up with your boyfriend asap – really, you’re better off single. 2) When things start to go really weird in your head, yes, you should go to the doctor and no, the doctors are not part of a conspiracy. You’re not well, it’s not your fault that you need help. 3) A Levels. Do some work for them. You’ll get better grades.

P is for Projects

I had a sudden bout of startitis today (the urge to cast on new knitting projects) but I’ve managed to restrain myself! Why did I do that? Well, for the last… oh, good while, I’ve been resolved to finish the projects I currently have on the needles before I start anything new. I’ve got a lot of things that have been meandering along for a long time – I have started and completed other projects in the mean time, but I haven’t finished these others. So I’m making an effort to do that now.

The thing that’s helped me the most with doing that is that I decided to pick a “WIP of the Week” every Friday, and concentrate on that project for the next seven days. I’m not forbidding myself from knitting on my other WIPs if I feel like it, but I’ll be focussing on the one that I’ve picked and hopefully be doing the most work on that. I haven’t kept that up completely all the time, but it’s certainly helped before so I’m going to try it again.

When I first started it, it worked like a dream – I finished my first three picks very quickly that way. At the moment, I have two – the Menace jumper, which is a UFO (I count something as a UFO rather than a WIP if it’s been hibernating and not worked on for ages) and now only needs seaming, and the Clapotis scarf which is somewhat more portable. By the end of this week, I intend to have finished the straight portion of the scarf, and made a start on the jumper seaming. Although if I haven’t managed that, it doesn’t matter – I’m not aiming to finish the projects within each week, just to get as much work done on them as possible.

So, the current WIP(s) of the Week will be at the top of the “Currently” section of my sidebar. Below them are my Ravelry-powered progress bars for my In Progress and Hibernating projects. The hibernating ones are greyed out and italicised (and if you want to know how I got it to do that, drop me a line – it involved some code wrangling that I’d be happy to share with anyone interested). The links go to the Ravelry project pages, so I’m afraid if you’re not a member you won’t be able to get in unless I remember to set them as ‘open’. Or at least I think that’s how it works. Although if you’re not a member and are a knitting/crochet/spinning fan, I’d definitely recommend you go and sign up – it’s a fabulous site :-)

Anyway, I thought I’d do a round-up (with pictures) of my current lot of WIPs and UFOs. And project details for those I haven’t mentioned on here before.

Continue reading “P is for Projects”

O is for Oh Dear

Ugh, I’ve lost almost all of today – I made the mistake of vegging out on my bed this afternoon to read… and apparently fell asleep at some time not long after lunch. Actually, that was probably why. Shouldn’t have laid down on a full stomach. Anyway, I’ve only just woken up. Or rather, I’ve just been woken up by a rather annoyed, and very persistent, cat. He wanted his supper. Actually, he probably wanted to go out as well, but he’s not getting that because it’s almost midnight and I’m going to go right back to bed and hopefully sleep a bit more. Will I manage to sleep til morning? Probably not, but I don’t want to stay up all night now because that will put me upside-down again. I’m already annoyed because I’ve missed going out to knitting tonight; I don’t want to miss anything else by being asleep during the day again if I can avoid it. I can’t remember right now if there’s anything else I’m supposed to be doing this week, but getting into bad sleeping habits is never a good idea. So, quick sandwich, then bed. Goodnight!

N is for Nothing Much

I seem to have hit the mid-month blogging slump. Although on the plus side, I’ve also reached the middle of the month and I’ve blogged every day. Hooray!

Today I went to the Bipolar group / course. Looks like it’s going to be good, and a nice group of people. It’s a sort of self management and education course, rather than a support group. There is one of those, but it’s down in town on a Wednesday evening – that clashes with KnitJam some weeks, and anyway there aren’t any buses after about 6pm. Which is a bit rubbish. So anyway, I haven’t been along to that, and I probably won’t. I’d rather be knitting ;-)

I still haven’t quite solved the problem I was having with the Ravelry progress bars, but it’s near enough so I’m going to stop being so picky now and leave it. Time to go back to knitting, I think, or possibly spinning. Although right now, I’m off to bed.

M is for Markup

Which is a twisty way of saying that I’ve been working on a few tweaks to the new theme that I’ve applied to this site. I’m not entirely happy with my Ravelry progress bars. I dunno. I’m going to carry on poking at it, which is why this post is very very short. ;-)

L is for Lazy Sunday

I really have done pretty much pants-all today. I should make some kind of effort to at least get ready for doing things tomorrow – put the sheets in the washing machine so they’re ready to go, or something. We didn’t have dinner over at Mum’s today as we usually do on a Sunday, because we’ve met up twice this week already (and are therefore sick of one another ;-) ). I think the only other thing I really want to do this evening before I go to bed is catch up with yesterday’s Doctor Who episode. Also, I just realised that Casualty was on. I’d thought it wasn’t on because of football, but it seems I was wrong. I expect it’ll get cancelled at some point during the world cup, though. But anyway, that’s another show I have to catch up with at some time this week. I love a bit of cheesy hospital soapudrama.

I’ve also been thinking about changing the design for this site. I could just plonk a new theme (by someone else) on for a while, while I’m coding up my own one. It’s an idea. One which I shall have a think about! Some more. Yes.

K is for Knitting in Public

So, today was World Wide Knit in Public Day (or at least, the start of WWKIP week) for 2010. We had a little meet up and knit in Princes Park in Eastbourne to mark the event – there were just four of us there in the end, but we had a good time. Or I did, anyway. I hope everyone else did!

We were there from 11am to 3pm, and as well as getting on with knitting and crochet of our own, the heel section of BigSock was cast on! A mere 500 stitches at its narrowest point, should be a doddle. Hah!

Of course, I didn’t get any of my jumper done… and what I did get knitted of my clapotis is probably going to have to be ripped back because I seem to have gained (or lost) a stitch somewhere! I’m out one, anyway. Oh well.

J is for Jumper

I’m not very good at knitting jumpers and cardigans. Or at least, I’ve knitted them, but them completely failed to sew them up in two cases, and in other cases I’ve just not got very far on the knitting itself. I do keep seeing patterns I like, but frequently they’re in the American ‘worsted’ weight, which is half way between the DK and aran weights more commonly available here… which leads to so much indecision on what would be best to know them in that I never get started at all! I don’t know, it’s all terribly stressful ;-)

What I do want to finally finally do (although I’ve been saying this for some time) is get those two that I’ve got all the knitted pieces for, sewn up and finished. Those are my “Menace Jumper” and a big chunky cardigan from a Sirdar pattern. That one’s going to be cosy come winter, assuming it still fits me! It has been a while since I started knitting it, after all. Like, what, four years? Whoops! Maybe I should take one of them with me tomorrow to World Wide Knit In Public Day – if it’s going to be fine, I’ll have space to spread out more. It could be a plan! I’ll let you know how it goes in tomorrow’s post.

I is for Identification

Not ID: that which establishes the identity of a person; but: to identify with. I finished the first book of Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season series yesterday and started the second one, and I find myself surprised to find that I am identifying more with the ex-Djinn (this is urban fantasy, roll with it) protagonist Cassiel than I do with Joanne, the human protagonist of the original Weather Warden series that Outcast Season has spun off from. Is that weird? I think that may be a little weird. But the thing is, while I like Joanne – and liked the glimpse of her we got in Undone (OS#1) through Cassiel’s eyes – she’s just too girly for me, I think. Joanne refers to shoe brands and car models that mean about as much to me as they probably would to Cassiel. Perhaps because more things have to be explained about Cassiel’s perspective on the world (whereas the reader is already assumed to have a common starting point with Jo?) as having been an “Old Djinn” who’d never even bothered before to take on a human shaped body, it’s easier to get inside her head. At any rate, I like her logic, and I like her developing relationships with the Rocha family. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of this series.

H (I knew I’d think of something later on) is also for HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! My brother is celebrating his 30th today. Yaaaaay! That’s 30 whole years I’ve managed to go without “accidentally” shoving him off a cliff. Our parents raised us right. Seriously, I love my little bro and think he’s all kinds of awesome (it probably helps that we have more in common than apparently looking rather alike). We’ve celebrated once this evening, and are doing so again at the weekend. I hope the weather is going to comply, since it’s supposed to be a barbeque…

H is for Help, I Can’t Think of Anything!

I’ll probably come up with a really excellent topic for the letter H in a day or two, but right now I can’t think of a thing. Well, maybe I’ll be inspired while I’m writing, you never know! And if I do think of something in a few days time, I can always slot it in as the next “extra day” entry.

Well, since I don’t have anything specific to talk about for this, I might as well have a ramble on about life in general. I’ve been over on goodreads.com updating my booklist. Rather annoyingly, since it’s only been three weeks (and where did that time go?!) I have a gap of about a week where I can’t remember what I was reading, but I’m sure I read something. At least one more book, in fact, because I remember thinking that I’d had another one to count into May’s total right on the last day or two of the month. Maybe I can ask my Mum or brother if I mentioned reading any book in particular around that time. It was definitely something I finished, too. Hmm. And probably something I had on my Palm already, not something recently loaded on, since I know which ones of those I’ve read. Gah, frustrating! Did I re-read something on a whim, which is why it’s not sticking in my head as something new? I don’t know!

In terms of reading, I think I need to make an effort to finish some of the eight (!) books I’m part way through right now. That’s just too many. I bet I can finish at least one before I go to bed tonight. I’m more than half way through several, or they’re not that long to start with. Or I could read one more of the short stories in the David Weber anthology. The doorsteppers will necessarily take a bit longer, but I keep putting off reading them in favour of other books. I need to start treating them like I am my knitting: no more casting on new projects / starting new books until I’ve finished the ones I have on the go already. And talking of knitting, if I listen to more audiobooks (including finishing the one I have in progress), I can do the both at the same time!

Book club beginnings

(Or, Non-alphabetical Post The First)

I’ve just got back from the first meeting of the new book club I was invited to, and I had lots of fun. Hooray! There were just five of us to start with, though some others might come along later on. So far, we have a tentative name, and we each suggested a book and drew them in random order which means that we’re reading Fight Club first! I probably wouldn’t have got around to reading it otherwise, so I’m glad about that, because I think I will enjoy it. Now I just have to track a copy down…

G is for Gallery

I broke the photo album / gallery on this site ages ago, and since fixing it is going to be a long and arduous process, I haven’t done it yet. But I’m going to set myself a(nother) challenge for this month, to get that finally sorted out, so I can have access to my photos on this site again. Which, you know, would be (a) nice, and (b) useful.

Basically what happened, as far as I can tell (and as if anyone but me really cares), is that when I installed a WordPress gallery plugin (NextGen Gallery) to have a look at, it violently disagreed with my already installed gallery software (Coppermine), which had a bridge WP plugin so I could easily access my already existing photo galleries from there when I was writing blog posts etc. Coppermine had been installed for years, long before I’d been using WP as my blogging platform. Anyway, I don’t know what exactly caused it all to have a hissy fit, but I do know that none of my photos now show up, despite them physically existing on the server. Marvellous! I tried uninstalling NextGen Gallery, but since that didn’t help, I’m now going to move everything across to NextGen instead, and drop poor old Coppermine. It’ll probably be easier in the long run, and I won’t have to be maintaining two databases etc any more. But moving it all across is going to take a while, and be a pain.

If I do it a little at a time, though, it shouldn’t be too bad. I think I’ll try to spend maybe an hour a day on it. Surely that way it should get done pretty quickly?! And also I’ll know for sure how long it does take me, rather than it just feeling unending. I think giving myself permission to stop working on it after a specific period will help, too. Let’s see how it works out.