nablopomo jun10 – Enchilada Sunrise

And I’m Done

Woohoo, I’ve completed NaBloPoMo for June. I shall give myself a pat on the back… and maybe check if there’s a “winner” badge or something. No big deal if not.

I’ve also been seeing how I can do on the Monthly Scavenger Hunt on Flickr. This is my first month, and I didn’t get something for all twenty items, but I managed to do sixteen, so that’s not a bad start!

1. Abandon hope all ye who enter here, 2. Smile Though Your Heart is Breaking, 3. Call the fashion police!, 4. Veteran, 5. Bubbly, 6. Reflecting, 7. Mad, bad and dangerous to know, 8. Nightlights, 9. Prized Possession, 10. Belly up, 11. Desolate, 12. Walkabout, 13. The north wind doth blow, 14. Microcosm, 15. An elephant in the room, 16. Born to be wild?

So, what next on the blogging front? Now that I’ve managed to maintain blogging through June, I don’t want to just stop again. The Tour de Fleece is coming up, so I think I’ll plan to post an update on how I’m doing each day of that… which will mean it’ll be very spinning-centric around here for a couple of weeks. I dare say I’ll ramble about other things though. I can only say “today I span such and such a thing, here’s a photo” so many times!

Z is for Zips

Even though I haven’t started sewing up the Menace jumper [Ravlink] yet, I’ve been thinking about the other Unfinished Object that’s been sitting around for ages and ages, and that’s my Chunky Zipped Jacket [Ravlink] which is knit from Sirdar Bigga yarn. The main thing that’s keeping me from finishing this is the zip, although I’m also not quite sure whether to sew the seams with the Bigga yarn (which is “Super Bulky” weight), or with a thinner yarn of the same colour. I do have a thinner yarn, and that would make the seams less bulky, I think. But would it show up or be less stable, too? I don’t know! Help! I also suspect that this might not be the best project to try attaching a zip to, when it’s the first time I’ve ever done that. Again, the bulkiness is an issue. What do I sew the zip on with? Thread or yarn? This stuff is hard. Time to get advice from wiser heads, I think. I’ll cart it along to KnitJam next week.

Otherwise, today has been more of a knitting day than a tidying up one, though I have got some of that done. But good news! I’ve finished my Clapotis [Ravlink] at long last. I still have to weave in the ends, and block it (probably… I might leave it, I haven’t decided yet) but otherwise I’m done. Woohoo! Pictures will be coming soon.

Y is for Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!

The hot weather is continuing, and now it’s got to the point where it’s really too hot to sleep at night. Not so much fun. Especially with a cat who’s determined to plaster himself against you! Ugh. I didn’t even go out today, but stayed inside knitting (my Clapotis is very very nearly done, yay!) and doing housework, all while listening to podcasts.

I was really quite productive though, which is good. I’m tired now, yes, but the house is clean, and I’ve managed to file away (or recycle) a whole load of paperwork that had been lurking. I can even use the dining room table again – it had been covered in said piles of paperwork. I have every intention of covering it up again, as I want to finally sew up my Menace jumper. Now that I’ve got started with the filing, I’m planning to carry on tomorrow. Because yes, there is more. I need to go through my files, too, and shred all the older stuff. I should ask Mum to bring her shredder up when she comes over to help me consign stuff to charity donations. My filing cupboard definitely needs some paring down. Hah, so much for spending more time on the beach – I’m thinking up excuses to stay in out of the heat. I get a lovely breeze blowing through my flat most days. But I really must get out as well. Maybe later in the week. Too tired to think about it now. Zzzzzzzzz.

X is for X Marks the Spot

I can’t remember if I blogged about this already, but there’s a Pirate Day as part of Old Town Carnival Week at the beginning of August, where they’re trying to get as many people dressed as pirates gathered together as possible, with the goal of breaking the world record. I intend to to along and join in – should be fun! There’s going to be other piratical stuff going on as well. Food, and music, and so on. And of course a Treasure Hunt, though I suspect that’s for kids!

Of course, I’ve got to find something appropriate to wear. I understand there are certain dress code rules that you have to follow to be considered one of the official pirate crew, though I don’t know what that is yet. I must have some basics that I can wear, though. I’ll have to have a rummage through my things. I need to have a clothes sort-out anyway, and send some stuff off to the charity shop. I should call my Mum and find out if she’ll be free to come and give me a lift over there so I can take all my donations at once.

W is for Who!

Doctor Who, of course – today was the season finale. No spoilers here, because I know it doesn’t air in the US (and Australia, I think) for another couple of weeks, but I will say that I loved it! The solution to the cliffhanger of last week, and the arc that’s been on-going all season was wonderfully twisty and just right. And oh, there were just enough little hints dropped that I really want to be able to see next season as soon as possible now, too. Evil, evil showrunners! It’s six months til the Christmas Special (and if that’s what was mentioned at the very end, then hee!), and about nine months until season 6. Aaaaah! I’ll just have to keep busy until then, won’t I?

V is for Volunteering

I’ll be starting some voluntary work at a local library soon, helping people on the computers and internet. I’ve got to go in for a sort of induction day and an interview, but as I understand it, they’re trialling a tutorial programme to help people who aren’t used to computers, and my role would be to support them using that, and then provide refresher info and help afterwards. Sounds like fun! (No, I’m not being sarcastic, it does.) I’m looking forward to it, and it’ll be good to have something else regular in my schedule.

This evening I’ve been working on my Clapotis [Ravlink] while watching the Glastonbury coverage, and I’ve now tinked back so that I have one repeat of the straight section less, and therefore hopefully enough yarn left now to finish the project. I’d better have, because I’ve started on the decrease section again! Actually, I haven’t got very far into that… maybe I should pop a lifeline in just in case? Better safe than sorry.

U is for Uninventive

Which is how I’m feeling today. I think it’s the heat – lovely as it is, I’m starting to get lethargic. I could just go for a nice snooze right about now! And I’m only just back from Knit & Natter at Carisbrooke House. I think I’ll go and find something relatively mindless to do that involves me moving around. Housework should do the trick! Not exciting, but necessary.

T is for Tan (or lack thereof)

I spent most of today on the beach, which was marvellous – the weather is warm and sunny, but with enough of a breeze to keep it comfortable. I sat and knitted, listened to music for some of the time, the sounds of the seaside for the rest of it, and generally enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. I went and got one of those folding chairs that come in the carry bags, but I actually only ended up using it (still in the bag!) as a lower back rest.

Hastings Beach 23-06-2010 — On the beach, Hastings, 23-06-2010

It was really nice being down there. I really must go more often while the weather is good. I don’t have a garden, but with the beach only 5-10 mins away… well. Silly not to go.

I was working on my Clapotis [Ravlink] and got very near to the end… when I realised that I wasn’t going to have enough yarn after all. Argh! So I’ve ripped back again and I’ll start the decrease rows one repeat earlier. That is, I’ll have one repeat less of the “straight” section. It’ll still be a good length. I should still have it finished this week, too, since the decrease section obviously gets faster as you go.

One thing that had completely passed me by until I got into town and heard all the people in the pubs was that it was the England v (er, someone) World Cup match. We won, didn’t get sent home, and there was much rejoicing. Including a group of blokes parading along the seafront singing the national anthem and then other assorted songs (Mysterious Girl? What?).

Oh, and although I was in the sun all day long, I’m still not tanned at all. Or not enough to notice. Being v pale, I slapped on the Factor 25 – I forgot once last year and got really bad sunburn, so I’m not going there again. Still, if I keep going out to the beach, and the weather obliges, I expect I’ll gain some colour before the end of summer. Even if it will only be noticeable by comparison with my watch mark!

S is for Spinning

I can’t believe it’s come round again already, but the Tour de Fleece starts again on 3rd July. Which means I shall be spinning along with many many others for the duration of the Tour de France bike race. I probably won’t be actually watching the race as I spin, because I have other things I want to watch and listen to that interest me more. I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to be spinning yet, but I think “as much as possible” covers it fairly well.

Happily, I’ve solved the missing post button (and tags and categories areas) problem in the edit screen. Of course I went and did all the standard things first, like disabling all my plugins. And then it occurred to me to try changing the screen back to the default 2 column view, instead of the 1 column I had it set on. Oh look, there were the missing areas. I’ve now rearranged and reset it back to the way it was, and all is well. Hoorah!

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!