Author: Lou

Geeky fangirl and knitter, owned by large black mog. Sometime web designer. Lapsed musician.

Toothy drama

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!! :-)

Ten Days to Go

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:

  • Write and send out cards of both types.
  • Knit like there’s no tomorrow (I’m not doing many knitted presents this year, but there are a couple I want to get done).
  • Put up tree and decorate.
  • Wrap presents.
  • Write christmas card list (e-cards and tangible ones)
  • Buy cards and stamps (tomorrow).
  • Work out budget for presents (tomorrow when Mum comes over).
  • Go present shopping – both online (asap) and IRL (w/ Mum tomorrow, prob also later this week). (Presents all DONE DONE DONE! HA!!)

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*

No time to type!

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….

Future changes…

I’ve spent most of today playing around with the new version (2.7) of WordPress with a view to moving this site and blog over to using it in the new year. I love it! I liked the previous versions, but this one is even shinier, and so much more intuitive to use than the newer versions of MT for me. Sorry, SixApart… I’ve been using MT for almost exactly five years, but it’s just not for me any more. I’m going to keep my LJ though, so I’m not completely decamping ;-)

The main trouble with the changeover is going to be preserving permalinks for my blog entries, and recreating my tags. Those, I can’t import. Everything else seems to go across fine, which is good. I’ve already imported the entries from my old blog to test it out, and installed a few useful plugins. Next thing is to create a design / theme. Whee :-)

Of course, I’ll also have to re-theme my photo gallery… I should probably upgrade the version of that, too. I wonder if it’d be easier to do that, or to use a WP gallery plugin and run it all from the one place. Hmmm. It’d muck up all the images on this blog if I changed the gallery to something new, though. Oh dear, the agony of choice!!

Progress…

I’ve made some definite inroads into my list – see:

  • Write christmas card list (e-cards and tangible ones)
  • Buy cards and stamps (tomorrow).
  • Write and send out cards of both types.
  • Work out budget for presents (tomorrow when Mum comes over).
  • Go present shopping – both online (asap) and IRL (w/ Mum tomorrow, prob also later this week).
  • Put up tree and decorate.
  • Knit like there’s no tomorrow (I’m not doing many knitted presents this year, but there are a couple I want to get done).

And since I plan to write my cards tonight, that’ll be another thing crossed off. Yay!

I spose I should add another couple of items onto the bottom though if I’m going to be thorough. Presents have to be wrapped, after all. And, um…. is there anything else? Well, if there is, I shall just have to hope it comes to me! My sieve-brain, let me show you it!

In more everyday type news, I also went to the psychiatrist today…

Continue reading “Progress…”

Pentathlon sock #5

Since most of what I’m knitting right now is shhhhh, secret, here: have a photo of something I can show you! It’s my fifth and final pair for the sock knitters’ pentathlon. Currently on temporary hold while I finish the presents I have to do, but I should get it done by the end of the month with no problem.

Photo of Sock Pentathlon pair #5 in progress

Pattern: Summer Olympics Medals Socks 2008 by FrauHugs [Ravlink]
Yarn: Posh Yarn Lei in Drizzle
Needles: 2.5mm, 80cm circulars (Addi Turbo)
Ravelry Project Page: Pentathlon Pair #5

(Almost) too… tired…. to…. blog

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!

Kill’d by shopping.

I’ve been Christmas shopping today, and now I’m utterly wiped out. Zzzzzzzz!

However, I did manage to make some progress on my christmas prep, as listed out yesterday:

  • Write christmas card list (e-cards and tangible ones)
  • Buy cards and stamps (tomorrow).
  • Write and send out cards of both types.
  • Work out budget for presents (tomorrow when Mum comes over).
  • Go present shopping – both online (asap) and IRL (w/ Mum tomorrow, prob also later this week).
  • Put up tree and decorate.
  • Knit like there’s no tomorrow (I’m not doing many knitted presents this year, but there are a couple I want to get done).

And as it happens, I actually managed to get pretty much everything present-wise today. There’s just the online shopping to do, and maybe a couple of other bits, and then I’m done. Well, I have to shop for the present that Mum is getting me (awesome boots), but I might have to go further afield. Still, I haven’t looked in that shop in the old town yet. I’m more likely to find something I like there, at least… but I might leave it until sale time. We shall see.

In the mean time, I think the next most important things are writing and posting the cards (and presents!) that need to go, and getting on with the knitting! So since I need some level of concentration for that, I’ll be off to bed now. With a reminder to myself not to loiter on the internets all day tomorrow, cos I have other things to do. Maybe I should stick a post-it note on my monitor with a reminder?…

Crimble Prep!

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:

  • Write christmas card list (e-cards and tangible ones)
  • Buy cards and stamps (tomorrow).
  • Write and send out cards of both types.
  • Work out budget for presents (tomorrow when Mum comes over).
  • Go present shopping – both online (asap) and IRL (w/ Mum tomorrow, prob also later this week).
  • Put up tree and decorate.
  • Knit like there’s no tomorrow (I’m not doing many knitted presents this year, but there are a couple I want to get done).

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!

Project 365 #9, Days 68-82: 17th – 31st March

Back to the catching up! Here are days 68 to 82 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. Or for the most up-to-date version, try my Flickr set.
On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):

Continue reading “Project 365 #9, Days 68-82: 17th – 31st March”

Still around!

Since I haven’t posted in a million years (or four months, which is the same thing in internet-time), I thought I’d mention that I am still here! Alive and kicking, and all that. Mostly accidentally kicking the cat, actually, but if he will sit under the computer desk, what does he expect? Aaaaanyway….

I think what I need to try and do is get back into the swing of regular posting. Even though it’s been years since I’ve actually been doing that. But I want to try it, so I’m going to do a sort of NaBloPoMo of my own… only starting today and running until 6th January. Which is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and even though it’s a coincidence that it works out like that, it feels kind of appropriate. So even though I’m not doing a calendar month of posting, I will be posting for a month up to the end of the Christmas season proper. :-) A festive BloPoMo!

So, that’s my end-of-year resolution! Now, I have to go and write my list of people I’m buying presents for and sending cards to. Do you think I’m running a little late? Well, let’s hope not! Which reminds me…

If you’d like a Christmas / holiday / whateveryouwannacallit e-card, drop me a comment including your email address (which won’t be published on the site) and one will be winging its way to you soon! If you’re in the UK and my budget allows, I might email you for your snail mail address so I can send a ‘real’ card out… let me know if you’d be up for one of those too. :-)

Project 365 #8, Days 52-67: 1st – 16th March

Stiiiiiiiill catching up: here are days 52 to 67 of my Project 365 photos – the first half of March. I’m going to post them in chunks of half a month at a time until I get caught up, now. 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. Or for the most up-to-date version, try my Flickr set.
On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):

Continue reading “Project 365 #8, Days 52-67: 1st – 16th March”

Carnival time!

It’s carnival week again, and I’m excited. Whee! I know it’s daft, but it does make me feel like I’m little again and it’s the summer holidays. *g* Not only that, but the Olympics starts technically-today (I’m going to bed any minute, really), which for me mainly means the Ravelympics. Which is like its own Olympic Games, only for knitting! No, really. I’m going to be having lots of fun with it anyway, and it might make me actually sit and watch some of the actual Games on telly if I have something to occupy myself with knitting-wise at the same time.

Since multiple affiliations are allowed, I’ve signed up to be in Team TARDIS (duh), Team Dog, Chicken and Aardvark (AKA the Brighton & Hove (and surrounding E Sx) Safari Knitters), and Team Posh Knitters. The ‘Events’ I’m doing are WIP Wrestling (because my WIPs need wrestling into submission very very badly!) plus the Handspun Heptathlon for Team DCA (yes, I’ve started spindle spinning, but no, I don’t have to do seven sub-events, it’s just a catchy title) and the Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss for Team TARDIS during which I’m going to actually try to crochet an Adipose. Well, it’s sposed to be a bit of a challenge, you see, so I thought trying two small projects in crafts that I’m a novice at would give me that and also give me a break from wrestling the WIPs so that doesn’t get to feel like a chore. There’s method in my madness! This time ;-)

Getting back to the carnival, there’s been various events going on all week and I’ve been down to a couple. I got well and truly drenched last Sunday, going down to the gig in the Old Town – elen_ancalima was visiting, so I was showing her the typical British summer seaside weekend ;-) Which of course includes sudden torrential rain! Anyway, I’m hoping to go down to a knitting exhibition thingy tomorrow afternoon, and of course to the main Carnival parade itself on Saturday.

Anyway, I think I’ll wrap this up now and get to bed. Zzzz. With a bit of luck, it should crosspost to LJ. However, I have now decided to change how this site works, so alterations to the look (as well as ‘my end’ of things) will be coming…. er…. some time this year? I have planning to do first! Night all.

Lesson Learned

Note to self: do not turn a sock heel late at night while watching telly and not counting properly. It will only end lopsidedly! Ah well, back I go!

This is, by the way, the third pair of socks for the Sock Knitters’ Pentathlon – the Rattlesnakes. I’m loving the twisty twiney cables, I really am. I’ll do a proper update soon and post a photo.

Part of the reason I’ve been so quiet recently, by the way, is that I’m not sure I’m getting on well with this version of Movable Type. Still, if I don’t use it I can’t get used to it enough to be sure. But the design templating system…hmm… I need to find out more about it. Because right now I’m getting more and more tempted to change the whole site to run off of WordPress (not just the blog). I think I can do that with MT as well, but I already know how WP works, so. I spose it all bears more looking into, and 1am isn’t the time to do it! I’m off to sleep on it again.

Testing Blog It crossposting…

So, after much faffing around, lets see if this really works. Can I post to both my blog and LJ (and Twitter, and the FB feed or status, not sure which yet)? And if so, hi LJ! I’m back!! Well, I’ll try to be at any rate. Obviously right now I’m over here on Facebook, and if you want to add me on that you need to know my real name.

Anyhow, I’m off to do some coding for a site that doesn’t explode my head before I go knitting this evening. So, not my personal site then. Which I really have to sort out, but zomg, trying to integrate the blog and the photo album and the links and all their various templating methods…. why did I think that setting the site up like that was ever a good plan? (Because I didn’t do it all at once, then?) Yet I’m reluctant to abandon MT & Coppermine & Linkster and the hand-coded pages for a single CMS that I’d have to import all that data into because eep, what if I lose something on the way? Oh, it’s all too much like hard work for me. I give up!