Another thing that I’ve decided to let go of is taking strict part of the Sock Knitter’s Pentathlon ’09.  I haven’t been knitting very fast this year, and I’d ended up knitting nothing but those socks and still not finishing them.  It all got a bit too much like hard work!  So even though I love the patterns for the first two socks, and I really like the look of the third one which has recently been released, I’m not going to start #3.  I do intend to finish the first two socks, but not as my most immediate projects.  Instead I’m going to go back to my other knitting works in progress and try to get those finished off.  They’d been pushed back while I was knitting just socks.  That’s meant that I’ve now almost finished the shawl I’ve been making for Emily (I’m casting off at the moment, but that’s deadly boring so I’m just doing a few stitches at a time then putting it down again *g*).  And I’m really looking forward to picking up the projects I’ve been neglecting and making some real progress on them.  Hooray!  I don’t even feel like starting something new, because my old projects are almost like new ones by now.

I’m also thinking about giving in using Coppermine for my photo album software.  Yes, I’ve been using it for years on this site, so it seemed like a more sensible decision to keep using it and integrate it with WP rather than migrate to something else.  But there’s a good photo album plugin for WP, and the integration plugin for Coppermine doesn’t do precisely what I want it to do – it’s a great plugin, and it’s probably perfect for everyone else… but I’m picky!  Also, I do have to do some tweaking of the source code every time it updates because of the way I have my Coppermine set up, and… well, in the long run it might just be easier to change to using something more integrated with WP.  It’ll mean not having to theme Coppermine to match WP, too.  I’m going to ponder it a while more, but I expect I will change over.

Why am I mentioning this, when no-one but me cares?  Because it kind of fits the theme of the rest of this post: I’ve been hanging on to some things that I should have gracefully given in on a while back.  Letting go and making a few small changes will make things easier.  Note to self: change is good, and giving up on something doesn’t necessarily equate to failure.  There we go, that’s my deep personal insight for the day.  Now I shall stop rambling, let go of this post and send it into the big wide world (= hit the publish button)!  TTFN.

Finally, finally finished and pinned out to block on my bed.

Saying his bedtime prayers?  I have no idea why he sleeps like this sometimes, but it’s cute!

The set-up rows and first couple of pattern repeats for the Forest Canopy shawl I’m making for E as a Wedding shawl.

The only completed Salida sock I managed for the first SKP09 pair.  Oh well!  I wasn’t going to get the next one done, so I gave up and decided to see how I could do with the second pair when it was announced on 1st April.

Mum cut my hair for me, and made this interesting piece of “art” on my kitchen floor with the chunks she chopped off.

Sadly, no sheep on the actual tissues, but isn’t the box cute?  Sheeeep!

That great big daft Xandermog, once again sleeping with his tongue poking out.  And look at those enormous great feet.  He stomps on me with those, you know.

…and some tree tops.

Taken late-afternoon in Mum’s garden.

Part of my computer desk.  That’s baby H’s dummy – must remember to call Ally and give it back!  I should probably give my desk a spring-clean, but I know where everything is on it at the moment even if it looks messy!

I really should finish this glove so that I have a pair to wear for the winter.  I was going to do them for this winter just gone, but… oops!

UKStevieB on plurk (hi Steve!) asked for photographic proof of my haircut, so I thought it’d be interesting to measure the amount I’d had chopped off in the first ‘cut’ (before it the tidying and trimming part).  It was rather more than the 5 or 6 inches I’d thought!

Banoffee Pie is my absolute favourite desert in the world, ever.  But shop-bought Banoffee Pie isn’t always quite right: sometimes it has banana mousse (what?!) or something daft like that.  But this one was just right! Actual bananas, toffee and cream.  Yum!

Another lovely day: spring has definitely sprung.  I really like this view of Mum’s garden too.  Possibly because of the bench – I’ve always loved that bench!

Anyway, because I’m posting two week’s of pics, I’m doing these as thumbnails.  I’m not sure whether to keep on going like that, or to post the medium size and have the pic titles and some exposition below them, like I did last year.  Thoughts, anyone?

PS – I think I’m going to give up on using Live+Press for crossposting to LJ for now… there are two main problems with it for me.  The first is an actual bug which should be fixed with the next release (though I don’t know when that is) – if I save a draft post in the WP posting interface, it posts it to LJ, which means I keep accidentally posting half-done entries.  And also, I’m not sure if this is related, but I have to re-select the “No Synch” option (the only way to get round the early posting) every time I open the draft: it’s not saving that option, and it won’t default to it either.  That wasn’t the second issue though – that is an actual feature of the plugin.  I have no way to stop it from crossposting tags into LJ.  Which I do in LJXP, even though it has far fewer features otherwise.  Oh well, no being able to choose my userpics and moods from here, then.  I may change back later, we’ll see how it goes.

Day 68 – 17th Mar 08

A local moggy, mooching around a garden.

Day 69 – 18th Mar 08

Pay-as-you-go gas meter. I have to put far too much money on this thing. Pesky fuel prices!

Day 70 – 19th Mar 08

One mostly-finished, rather bright (and PINK!) baby bootie. It was originally intended for Baby H⁽¹⁾, but he was too big for them, so they went to Baby H⁽²⁾ instead!

A treeeeee. And some houses and general urbanness.

Day 71 – 20th Mar 08

When I got this book from Bookmooch, there were two cards inside… one business one with writing on the back, and one playing card with “I hate you” on the bottom. I have not taken this personally….. ;-)

Day 72 – 21st Mar 08

A slightly overcast day at the supermarket.

Day 73 – 22nd Mar 08

Not the usual driver… I hope!

Hello doggy!

Day 74 – 23rd Mar 08

Great big blobs of snow! Eeek!

Day 75 – 24th Mar 08

Taken on the way back from a trip to the vet to pick up the mog’s medication.

Day 76 – 25th Mar 08

Checking my delivered online grocery shop is all there. I might have to do this bit, but it’s so much less hassle than going to the shop myself!

Day 77 – 26th Mar 08

Lots and lots of yummy fruit. Needless to say, the bowl didn’t stay that full for long.

Day 78 – 27th Mar 08

I love the look of this tree, all bare of leaves against the late afternoon sky.

Day 79 – 28th Mar 08

Food cupboard, all stocked and actually rather tidy looking!

Day 80 – 29th Mar 08

A bushy-hedge type plant in flower. I know sooo much about flora!

Day 81 – 30th Mar 08

Trees and flats. I like the middle section of those flats, but you can’t actually see it very well here. Oh well, maybe in another picture.

Day 82 – 31st Mar 08

A slightly soggy street not far from the seafront. Ah, alliteration, I just can’t help myself.

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 :-)

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.