Lou-quacious Yarns
Got back from Knit Jam a short while ago. Hi Jo! Hi Lesley! Hi Leila! Hi everyone else! And there are lots and lots of everyone elses now that we’re meeting at Aardvark. I suspect the scrummy cake has something to do with it! I really hope it carries on with this many people in the new year :-)
Anywho, I got a good chunk of knitting done, but there’s still more to go, so I’m off to slave over some pointy needles for a little while more before I go to bed. Not for long though: I’m tiiiired!
I’m not having very good tooth-luck at the moment. It’s just the one tooth, really, but I broke a chunk off of it (I had an encounter with a rogue popcorn kernel) a couple of weeks ago. Then yesterday, I finally had the dentist appointment to get it patched up – they sort of stuck filling amalgam to the side of it. Which still didn’t cover up the sharp edge completely, but I have another appointment to go again next Monday that I think is to add another layer or something. The trouble is, despite having followed the instructions not to eat for 3-4 hours after the appointment yesterday, and not even having had anything crunchy or hard to chew… the filling fell out again this evening. D’oh!!!! I s’pose I’d better call the dentist tomorrow and see if I’m still to go in on Monday or what.
Other than that, today I have mostly been knitting and listening to podcasts. Which is good, as I have lots of both to get through! Oh, and I also went to the Carers & Families coffee morning at the Hastings Resource Centre with Mum. I’m having a Christmas dinner there tomorrow too. Nom nom nom!! :-)
You know, I haven’t counted down to Christmas like this since I was little. It’s only because I’m doing this blog thing and it’s making me more aware of the days passing! Anyway, I have re-organised and updated my list a little:
I also bought my own Christmas present from Mum today. I was already out because I had to go to the dentist, so I thought why not and jumped on a bus down to town instead of waiting for the one to go home. And the first bus that came was even the one for the Old Town, which was where I was heading. Clearly, it was meant to be, because I now have not one, but two pairs of boots. One pair bought for the awesome factor, one pair more for practical reasons. Both comfy, though, which was the main thing. I had meant to get something more… well, not girly, but less unisex, but I really like both of these. It’ll be tough to turn them over to Mum for her to wrap! *clings to them*
I need my fingers for knitting! Can’t even show you a photo of what, since it’s a Christmas present. I shouldn’t have spent so much time fiddling around starting to get WordPress to work exactly how I want yesterday. (In case you’re wondering, the installation is lurking in a password-protected directory on the server until it’s ready to be moved across to the site root and go live.) Anyhow, back to the knitting I go….
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!
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’m still playing catch up, here’s yet another picdump: days 35 to 44 of my Project 365 photos. If you want to see all the photos so far, click on the Project 365 category link, or check out the Project 365 folder in the photo album.
On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):
Continue reading “Project 365 #6, Days 35-44: 13th – 22nd Feb”
Last week, I bribed myself by setting a list of goals to achieve before I could have my “carrot” of casting on a lovely new pair of socks. Sooooooo, how did I do?
And my prize? Wheeee, I’ve cast on for the lovely Bracket Fungus socks. My version are the Bracket Fungoths, because I’m using YY Hot Pink Goth yarn as the multi colour and I never can resist a good (bad) pun. As I promised myself, I’ve only done the cuff so far because the WFS has to take priority for now, but here’s how it’s looking so far:
Yay!
Even though I have…
I’m still really wanting to cast on a new pair of socks. Specifically, Jane’s Bracket Fungus socks [Ravlink]. I have everything ready to go for them, and I have done for ages. Yarn balled up, pattern printed out and tucked into a plastic sleeve, and all popped in a project bag with the needles and a row counter. But I have all the other things to do first, and now they’re starting to feel like chores because I want to jump to the new and exciting thing.
So, here is my bargain with myself. The carrot I’m dangling in front of my unmotivated nose! If I can…
Then I am allowed to cast on for the Bracket Fungus socks and knit up to the first bit of the leg, before I should go back to Mum’s birthday present.
Although, I should probably go shopping at some point as well. Heh. I’ve sold some of my yarn and a Rowan mag, so I’m going to be taking those down to the post office. And didn’t I also need some of that… what’s it called…. oh yes! Food. I’d better write a list.
Whoops, I’ve been absent for a bit, haven’t I? I’ve been down with an attack of the April’s, you see.
I don’t know why exactly (although I’ve got a theory: it could be bunnies*) it happens every year, but starting in April, I always go through a depressive period. The joys of spring tend to be less than joyous. Not every day, for every thing, because there are lots of things that objectively I love about this time of the year. But mentally, it’s not one of my best times. Some years it’s lasted for months, getting worse and worse until I’ve been in a right state. Others, it’s been better, and it’s only really since I’ve been diagnosed with the bipolar that I’ve been keeping proper track anyway. But since then it’s depended on my medication, my own and others’ awareness of my mental state, and how soon it’s picked up on and started to be dealt with.
*or seriously, something to do with stuff that happened when I was around 18 which I won’t bore you with now, but was at this time of year. And btw, name that fannish reference!
This time, I only had about a week (or maybe 10 days… it blurs) of not being able to move out of bed / eat / etc. After that, there was a thankfully quite short period of getting myself back into a more normal routine again, and now I’m feeling a lot better. Hoorah! Interestingly (to me anyway *g*) getting back to normal once I’d been able to recognise and start coping with the depression as depression just took about three or four days. Before I got really low, I’d been struggling with a wonky sleep routine and lack of motivation for a good couple of weeks, and I was frustrated and annoyed with myself for not being able to sort it out. Now, I can “forgive” myself for all that because now I realise it was the start of the low mood swing. I’m not quite sure if I could have done anything at that time to head the low off… perhaps that’s something to talk to someone (doctor? CPN? counsellor?) about.
However, like I said above, there are things I do love about this time of year, so it certainly hasn’t all been doom and gloom. I haven’t got out and about as much as I’d like of course, but I did get to enjoy the snow at my Mum’s house, the sun in my flat (I have huge windows and my bedroom is a sun-trap), and the sea-air down on the seafront once or twice as well. And of course, being inside so much, I have got some knitting done, and a lot of reading. I did sleep most of the time when I was down (and I do mean most of the time: generally 16-20 hours a day!) but when I was awake, I was at least able to do those things.
What did I knit? Well, I’ll talk about that more in another post, but I finished my Pentathlon socks (yay!), I’m making two pairs of baby bootees for Ally’s little ‘un (who is due next week – the 23rd), and I’m working on Mum’s birthday present (also 23rd). Things are going much faster now I’m feeling more myself again, of course. Which is nice :-)
I’m behind on Project 365 of course – there are only so many photos I could take of the inside of my flat anyway *g*. What are you sposed to do when you miss some days, I wonder? Just skip them, or fudge it and fill the gaps with spare shots from other days? Is there a school of thought on that?
Right now, I’m feeling the urge to run all the way to Dublin and physically cling to my webserver. Oh yes. You might have noticed that my site disappeared for a while there. As did most of my email. The old server crashed and died, and it took quite a while to determine that it was dead forever, and then transfer everything to a new server. It probably doesn’t help that I have multiple domains on here. And once the data was restored, I had some work to do at my end, recreating database usernames, cron jobs, email accounts, resetting file permissions. But at last, here we are: I think I have everything back except for some of the photos in the album. And those, I can re-upload, no problem. Yay!
So, er, Christmas was good! I had a lovely one, although I was a bit zonked out today. My knitted presents went down well, although I didn’t manage to finish Emily’s Chevron Scarf – I showed it to her so far. I probably would have got it done, but I’ve been having ouchy-finger-joint issues. Bah. However, Mum liked the Fetchings I made her, and the scarf – a sparkly gold one – that I gave her as well. Pictures soon!
I’m planning to go to the gym with the bro tomorrow (assuming he’s remembered I said I’d go too!) and get my new year’s resolutions underway early. *g* I haven’t been over there for a while, although I do belong, and I need to get back into the swing of it.
I’ve been having a really good clear-out over the last few weeks, and I’m starting to feel less mentally cluttered as well already. I’ve even eBayed more of my yarn. I know! Can I really be breaking my hoarding mentality? Well, no, not if you look at my bookshelves (MY books *clings*) and, uh, the remainder of my yarn stash. Not to mention the contents of my wardrobe and drawers… and a couple of suitcases… However, I am going to eBay some more stuff. Not yarn this time (although I might be able to persuade myself to part with a couple more skeins), but things like my spare Palm cradle (never used) and serial cable (not used since approx 3 computer upgrades ago)… oh, and I’m sure there are some other things. I have also sorted out more clothes and knick-knacks etc to go off to the charity shop. I think I still have more to do there, though!
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!
OK, I know I said I wouldn’t moan any more about this… but I’m going to anyway. I fail at being ill. I’m officially rubbish at it. Because both lying down and sitting / standing up have their different discomforts, I’ve been yo-yo-ing between one and the other… which has meant not much sleep until this afternoon when my body apparently decided enough was enough and zonked out. Of course, now I’m awake again.
Still, I’ve loaded up my mp3 player with podcasts, I have soup and hot squash (and I’ve taken all the right vitamins and painkillers, etc), and I have my knitting and my Palm which is loaded with books & also there in case I have inspiration to crack on with NaNoWriMo*. I’m Going To Bed!
* Yes, like a fool I signed up for NaNo. I haven’t tried doing it for a few years… and of course I have to get ill at the start of November, so I haven’t even started yet. However, I’m not going to stress. I’ll start when I can and just see how much I can get written over the month. I was going to do NaKniSweMo instead, you know, but then I realised I have my gift knitting – that really needs to take priority. Maybe I should see if there’s a Gift Blitz KAL. If there’s not, there should be!
I finished my Tête à Fetching – woohoo! Here’s the project info:
Pattern: Tête à Fetching by Me (inspired by Cheryl Niamath’s Fetching gloves, from the Summer 06 Knitty).
Yarn: Posh Yarn Sophia 6-ply (100% cashmere) in Mute – approx. 1 skein.
Needles: 16cm 4mm circular; Set of 5 4mm DPNs.
Size: Medium (22″ head)
It looks a smidge larger on Angelique-the-Head than it really is, due to her being slightly scaled down. However, it’s easier to take photos of hats on her than on myself, so there we are. Point is, it fits me perfectly, and I love it!
What’s more, I’ve even written the pattern up and uploaded it just in case anyone else fancies knitting it themselves. I knitted it in DK weight, but like the Fetching gloves, you can use an aran weight to get a thicker, warmer fabric.
PDF download – left click then save:
Tête à Fetching ( downloads)
I’ll link it on Ravelry as well, because I can. And hey, if anybody else does have a go at this, let me know – I’d love to see what other people might do with it. I might be making another one for my Mum for Christmas, this time in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk aran. She wants a pair of Fetching (Fetchings?), you see. I should have enough yarn to make either a matching hat or scarf (post on that coming soon!) to go with them, I just have to ask her which she’d prefer. I don’t think I have enough for both, unfortunately. Luckily, since she asked me for the gloves, I can check back with her about a hat / scarf. This is not her Sekrit Xmas pressie!
Anyway, do let me know what you think of the hat – any problems, issues, vast donations of wealth…. ;-) This is the first pattern I’ve put up, so constructive criticism can only help any future efforts! Encouraging “I like it” comments are also, of course, extremely welcome! Thanks :-)
Oh, ick. I’ve been somewhat under the weather (physically… my mental health is still good, hoorah) for the last few days, and I thought I had a cold. But now I have the sneaking feeling that it might be something that’ll need antibiotics. Blech. I have that weird hollow-yet-tight feeling in my chest, I haven’t been able to breathe properly for a few days, and every muscle in my chest and upper back hurrrrrrts. *whine whine whine* And now I have that swollen-gland thing going on. There’s probably no point in going to the doctor just yet – I’ll wait a few more days and see if it goes away on its own. Although this has reminded me that I should get my flu jab done!
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
Continue reading “Under the weather…. but presents cheer me up!”