The scarf for Mum was the Branching Out pattern [Ravlink], and I knitted it in a lovely Merino / Tencel blend that I spun on the wheel – the first time I’ve knit with my own handspun.  I just left it as a single, and it worked really well (imo, anyway!) and I like the way the colour repeats came out.  Mum says she really likes it too, which is the main thing!

I also joined two Christmas swaps, one through the Limegreenjelly group, and one through Plurk.  The post was / is still being less kind where those are concerned.  It seems to have eaten the parcel from the latter altogether, but I have now had my LGJ parcel from Cal, and a fabulous one it is too:

Two braids of LGJ fibre (one Merino/Silk, one Merino, yum!), a beautiful skein of Posh Yarn Elinor, an Orange Blossom perfume stick which I think is from Lush, mini Green & Black’s choccy bars (om nom nom!), a set of Knit Pro interchangeable needle tips and a cable for them (which spookily I’ve been wanting for ages), and an adorable Lego keyring. :-D  I just hope she likes her gifts from me as much as I do mine.

Other than that, I’ve also been (still) working on the “Gap Year Travels” Travelling Woman shawl… and I can’t remember if I mentioned this, but I’ve called my particular version of it Gap Year Travels because the colourway of the yarn I’m knitting it in is called Byron Bay.  Which is somewhere I visited while travelling in Australia on my gap year.  Anyway, I’ve nearly finished the shawl – ten rows or so to go, and I don’t think I’m going to have enough of the yarn left.  Fortunately, I do have some solid blue that goes with it well enough that I can use it to finish off.  I hope!  If that doesn’t work, well, I put in that lifeline, so it’ll be easy to rip back without dropping any stitches.  If a bit of a nuisance.  But then I’ll definitely have enough yarn to finish off the edging chart.

In other news, marmite rice cakes are delicious.  That is all.

Anyway! Even though the package arrived at the beginning of December, it was all Christmas themed and wrapped. Hee!

Not that I let that put me off opening everything right then, of course. I did think very briefly about saving it all for Christmas, but… nah. So what was inside all that shiny wrapping paper? The best SP package ever, that’s what!

So, from back-to-front and left-to-right, what we have is:

- Some utterly delicious all-butter shortbread (YUM), two little boxes of Lindt … truffly things that were also utterly yummy (one milk chocolate, one chocolate orange, nomnomnom!), chocolate money (hee!!) and a Christmas card!

- The letter Janey sent me with the parcel, A DROP SPINDLE AND FIBRE OMG!!!!!!!!!! (I may have bounced up and down and squealed with joy when I opened this – thank you SO MUCH, Janey! Seriously, this was the absolute top thing on my craft-y wishlist, and I’m so so chuffed with it :-D ) with instructions for getting started spinning, two skeins of Colinette Banyan in Fruit Coulis (which is one of my top three Colinette colourways) which Janey sent me because I’d been wanting yarn for summery socks – this is going to be ideal. Then there’s two balls of SWTC Karaoke (50% soy silk, 50% wool) in Bluezzzz, which has tints of purple in the blue. It’s gorgeous stuff, and since Janey suggested I make one of my hats with it, I’ve been pondering on designing something cool. I have some ideas :-) Finally in this ‘row’ is the one book I’d been really really dying to own – Interweave Knits’ Favorite Socks. Oh, it’s fabulous! The next pair of socks I cast on has to be from this book – I want to knit them all! Wheeeee :-)

- And at the bottom of the photo are the brilliant socks that Janey knit just for meeeee (yes, there may have been more squealing and bouncing, I’m not ashamed to admit it!) which I’ll babble about more below, two adorable Christmassy pencils which are still in my desk tidy now in defiance of it no longer being Christmas, and last but not least, a fantastic booklet on Magic Loop technique – this is something that I’d mentioned (in my SP11 questionnaire, I think) that I wanted to learn, and I’d totally recommend this little book (by Bev Galeskas, pub. Fiber Trends). The instructions are really clear, and it includes patterns for wristlets, and for both top down and toe up socks. I haven’t yet tried socks using this technique, but where I was totally intimidated by the very idea before, now I’m really looking forward to it! (I just don’t have any 2.5mm or smaller circs, so it’ll have to be for socks that I’m using 2.75mm needles up!)

So in conclusion…. THANK YOU JANEY!!! You’ve been the best secret pal I could possibly have imagined, and I hope we keep on staying in touch. In fact, I hope that since we live not so far away from each other, we’ll be able to meet up some time. That would be lovely :-)

And here’s a close-up of the fab handknit socks that Janey made me. They’re Basic Cabled Socks by Brainylady [Ravlink], and knit in Opal Uni in my absolute favourite colour. And they fit perfectly. Whee :-) This was the first pair of handknit socks I’ve tried with short-row heels (I spent a ridiculous amount of time peering at the construction and ooo-ing and aah-ing over the stitch pattern etc etc before I even tried them on. I’m such a geek) and they inspired me to try short rows for my Fireworks socks that I’m knitting at the mo.

To round up, doing SP11 was a brilliant experience. I met two lovely pals and I hope I’ll be keeping in touch with them both, I got some wonderful gifts (more than I ever would have expected, in fact!) and had a great time sending stuff to my downstream pal, Katie… although of course I do feel bad that I haven’t been able to send the final things I have for her over yet. Stupid money, grrrrr! But on the other hand, that means she’ll be getting a surprise package at some point. Mwahahaha!

Will I be doing SP12? No, I don’t think so – not because I didn’t have a good time, but because of the current money stuff. A future SP exchange, certainly. Perhaps the UK Swap one on Ravelry. We shall see :-)

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!

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

Look at all the sweeties!! In the letter Janey sent with the package (which I read after I’d opened everything), she explained that the mini-theme of the parcel was Childhood Memories, and she certainly hit the nail right on the head with every thing that she included. I really love all those kinds of sweets, and I actually don’t know why I hardly ever have them any more! I mean, OK, too much sugar = bad. But… are they better than chocolate? They seem like they are. But regardless – yum!! Anyhow, I then scooped all the sweets out, put them in a pile to the side, and then took out the various wrapped things. At this point, the mog came to see what I was doing.

It was actually quite handy to have him there, though: as you might be able to see from the label, that little one down at the front was in fact for him.

Inside was a fab little purple and green toy mouse – it’s so dinky that I’m not sure if it’s knitted or crocheted! (Janey, did you make it?) Although, being Xander, he didn’t really know what to do with it…

I know, I’m evil. He’s such a good boy – he lets me do anything with him. And no, Janey, he doesn’t attack my yarn! My Mum’s cat used to when I took my knitting over there, but he’s as good as gold. However, he has been playing with the mouse now that it’s with his other toys (behind the sofa). Not that I would know, of course, because I’m not allowed to look when he’s pouncing on things. I have to be sneaky ;-)
But back to the presents! Here’s my fabulous haul:

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…

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

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….

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

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

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

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

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

Yup. Think that covers it. *thud*

Anyway, here we go:

Each question has two answers, ie, chalk or cheese, just choose the answer that comes to mind first…no thinking about your answers!¹

Do you drink……………………………..Tea or coffee?
Neither! Well, technically I sometimes drink herbal tea (camomile and lime flowers for preference). But in actual fact my main hot drink is hot lemon squash: I don’t like ‘real’ tea or coffee, and I only occasionally drink hot chocolate (usually in a coffee shop rather than at home) or malted drinks.

Do you choose…………………………..Bath or shower?
Shower. Mmmmm, power showers.

On toast………………………………….Butter or margarine?
Margarine. I like skimmed milk, too. I know, I’m a freak.

Which colour……………………………..Green or purple?
Purple. Have you seen my hair recently? *g* Purple’s been my favourite colour for aaaages, with green as more of an accent to it (I painted my bedroom in my flat in London lilac with lime green woodwork – it looked brilliant). More recently, green has moved up into being a fave in its own right, but purple is still the one for me!

What TV………………………………….Dr Who or Torchwood?
Dr Who. It has to be, even though Torchwood is awesome and aimed more at my age group (although next season, less with the graphic shagging all the time, please! ….However, more of the Jack/Ianto snogging wouldn’t be bad. Ahem!) and, hi, has Captain Jack. But Dr Who… I’ve loved it my whole life, and even though parts of this new series² are so aimed at the target child-friendly audience that they make me wince a little with the cheesiness… dear lord, when it’s good – which is 90% of the time for me – it’s fabulous. I just love it madly, no matter what. Seriously, you should have seen me at the Dr Who exhibition in Manchester last weekend. There was bouncing and (quiet) fangirling… and it was OK, because there were umpteen other people in there who were exactly the same! Alright, I’m going to stop now, because my fangirling is supposed to be confined to my livejournal, and if you really get me started on the ways I love Dr Who, we’ll be here all year.

Seasons………………………………….Summer or Winter?
Winter, of those two. I just don’t do heat. The sun, it burrrrrrns.

Which do you love best………………..Cat or knitting?
My mogboy! Of course I love my knitting and mmmm, yarn. But next to my snuggly purry furry boy (are you sorry you asked yet?), there’s no contest. He’s big and daft and the best natured cat I’ve ever known, and when I’m sad he comes to see if I’m OK and lets me squish him and cry on him if need be. Also, he never attacks the knitting, which is a definite plus. Even if he does get his fur all over it. Oh well!

Food………………………………………Sweet or savoury?
S…..avoury. Huh. I would have expected myself to say sweet, but honestly I think savoury is my preference overall. I wouldn’t want to be stuck without one or the other, though. My all time favourite food is actually Sweet and Sour pork or chicken, so you can see how decisive I am on this one really!

Which is best…………………………….Rose or Martha?
A year ago I never would have thought I would give this answer, because I loved the character of Rose, and I think Billie Piper is a great actress. But it’s Martha for me, now. She just rocks! I loved everything about her. She kicked ass and took names, and even though she had the whole unrequited feelings thing with the Doctor, it never took away her dignity, and she didn’t let him get away with blocking her out. And, whoops, you got me started on Dr Who again. Stopping!!

Takeaway………………………………..Chinese or Indian?
Chinese! Like I said before, sweet & sour is my absolute fave, but really, if it’s not fish (which makes me ill), then I lurve it.

Which one………………………………..Posh Yarn or Yarn Yard?
……….And that frying noise you just heard was my brain shorting out! OMG, I can’t decide that! If you gave me specific yarns or colourways to pick between, I could probably manage it. Probably! I seriously do not have a gut answer for this one. Let’s see if I can reason it out…. I love both of them for the colours, so I don’t know if I can pick one over the other for that, especially since both have a lot of one-off colours that aren’t repeated. I completely adore Posh Yarn Sophia – that’s 100% cashmere, and utterly gorgeous. However, I’m not sure that’s it’s going to be ideal for socks – I don’t know how it’ll wear. I just made the 6-ply version into some Fetching gloves and it was brilliant for that. The other Posh Yarn sock weight yarns… I think Emily is my favourite, but I love the Yarn Yard Sock just as much. Maybe even a little more. The YY Merino Sock, too. Price-wise, the Yarn Yard is better by a pound or two… But to be honest, I generally choose by colour. So I suppose if you gave me a choice of PY Emily, PY Sophia 4ply, YY Sock and YY Merino Sock (or the new Merino Tencel, which I haven’t tried yet) in the same colour, and I was going to make socks out of it, I would probably pick one of the YYs. Overall, though, I can’t make a choice between one shop and the other because they’re both brilliant and run by lovely lovely ladies.

In Bed…………………………………….Duvet or Blanket?
Duvet.

Socks……………………………………..Knee high or ankle socks?
Knee high. I like socks that (a) come over the top of my DMs comfortably, and (b) keep my legs warm when I’m sitting still at the computer for hours on end! I do sometimes wear ankle socks to the gym, but that’s it.

Eggs……………………………………….Scrambled or fried?
Scrambled! For a start I do like scrambled eggs better, though thinking about it, I probably eat fried ones more often. But mainly, they remind me of my Dad. He made awesome scrambled eggs. When my brother was born and Mum was in hospital with him, I clearly remember Dad feeding the two of us on scrambled eggs. Possibly at the time it was pretty much all he could cook, but he did them well! :-)

¹Well, she didn’t say I couldn’t elaborate, did she? *hides* I did give my snap answers for all of them, I really did. I just then rambled a bit. I can’t help myself! Part of it must be a natural tendency, but you have to remember that I had it drummed into me for, what, 17+ years of education that you should always show your working / justify your reasoning. It feels totally wrong to me not to do that!

²It’s been too long since I’ve watched any of the classic series to judge the relative cheesiness of that. I certainly do remember the dodgy special effects etc etc, but plot-wise I’ll have to wait til I’ve rewatched to be able to say. However, the silly effects never made me love it any less then or now, so that’s redundant.

Alright, that’s it! I was almost brief with some of the answers, at least. Go me!