I should have taken a back-up after I posted yesterday. I should have known. But silly me, I didn’t. So the entry I did post is gone, eaten I assume by the server move that’s happening with my web host at the moment. It didn’t help that I was having computer troubles the same day.
My livejournal feed did manage to grab the entry before it vanished again, so I can tell you that it was posted at 23:57, the post id is one which doesn’t exist in my current database, and the excerpt text (whyyyyy did I never change to full text feeds?!) says:
“Oh dear, my computer hasn’t been firing on all cylinders today. I’m pretty sure the problem was with my virus checker since it all started after a change to that. I’ve run a ‘repair’ thingy on it, and hopefully everything …”
… and then I continued on to say that all should work now, fingers crossed etc, the end. That LJ feed will only stay there for 10 days, I think, so it’s not a permanent record. Bah!
I hope the mods are OK with counting this for yesterday’s NaBloPoMo entry, considering I did post, but it vanished. I shall drop them a line to check, I think.
Well, sort of – I said I would post pictures of the finished shawl today, and I haven’t got around to taking and uploading them yet. What I do have is a sort-of, half-finished, almost new blog design. Yeah, I know, but it’ll do for now – there will be many more adjustments to come. It’s a fork of the Thirty-ten WP child theme. Pictures by me, some things (like the Rav bars) not working yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Hooray, I’ve finished my Gap Year Travels shawl. I cast off in a different colour, which was totally a design feature and not because I ran out of yarn twice (if you believe that, etc etc), ends are sewn in, and it’s currently awaiting blocking – I’m going to leave it pinned on the table overnight, I think. I do believe I’m quite pleased. Pictures tomorrow!
Since I’m extremely tired today (I have new medication which is making me drowsy, hopefully just for the adjustment period, and every time I sit down somewhere relaxing I drop off!), I’m not going to say much again. I haven’t managed to finish the shawl yet, but just have the cast off edge to go. I’ve been setting the twist of some of my handspun:
Setting the twist
(excuse the rubbish photo), and also marvelling over how the Xandermog can go from FULL ON PESTER mode to fast asleep, you-can’t-wake-me in under five minutes flat. Still when the result is this little face:
Today has been a day of variety, which has been nice! I started out by going up to the Christmas fair for Mum’s church – I got there quite late on, so I helped clear up and carry the remaining stuff back up to the church. I got a few nice cards and nick knacks for gifts, so that was a worthwhile trip. Then I walked with Mum back to her house for a drink and then a lift home.
On the way up to Mum’s place, I stopped off and did a geocache that was en route. It took me a bit longer than I’d planned due to me being disorganised with my stuff, but it was still a speedy one. Not a micro one this time, but a still small one. So not big enough to put the travelling monkey into, yet. Poor monkey! I’ll move him on soon, by hook or by crook!
After visiting at Mum’s for a while, we came back here and had dinner – stir fry followed by cupcakes! Then Mum went home and I’ve been knitting and watching Strictly Come Dancing. I’m still working on the Travelling Woman, but hopefully I’ll be done soon. Maybe tonight? Maybe tomorrow.
And then I’ve been playing with Blip.fm – I’ve put a widget linking to my account there in the sidebar, and I think it’s possible to play some tracks directly from here? I’m not sure, I’m still figuring it out. That’s not what I’m using it for, anyway. Mostly I’m listening to the songs my friends have playlisted. Is that even a word? Probably not, but I know what I mean, and I’m sure you do too. Anyway, I thought I’d put the widget up here because in the first place I can, and also because I’m trying to get all my web stuff better linked together. Integrate my web presence. Oh how pretentious. ;-)
Today is my lovely friend Noxie‘s birthday, so much love and happy returns to her! We originally met through both being fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and are still friends twelve years on! Isn’t the internet grand?
As for me, I’ve spent the day plying and knitting again – some progress made, nothing finished as yet! Hopefully I’ll have more to report tomorrow.
I have no blogging inspiration today, so let’s have a meme instead! I’m going to fall back on the Friday 5, which is always fun when I remember to do it!
Friday 5 for November 5: Packing
How far ahead of time do you begin packing for a weekend trip?
Planning, 2-3 days beforehand, depending on where I’m going. Actual packing will be the night before. I am little miss last minute!
What was your most recent purchase of a six-pack?
Technically yesterday when my groceries were delivered, including a couple of six packs of Pepsi.
What do you look for in a good everyday backpack?
Comfy straps, at least two pockets with a couple of small compartments for things like my mp3 player etc, waterproofing, and in colours that I like!
Among people you know, who’s the worst packrat?
Me, I think. Ooops!
How do you know when it’s time to pack it in each evening?
When the cat comes to demand his supper, or when I’m starting to doze off, if I don’t have anything in particular on the next day. If I have something on, then it depends on what time that is, because if I don’t get a good night’s rest I’ll never get up in time for it.
When I’ve not been out (Tuesdays is the day I volunteer at the library) or on the computer today, I’ve been industriously knitting away on my Travelling Woman shawl. I’m determined to finish it soon! I am a little worried that I won’t have quite enough yarn, but I put a lifeline in so that I can rip back to the middle of the previous patten repeat (if you know the pattern, this is the logical place) if need be. No pictures yet, but there will be once I’ve finished. Go go go!
I have no time to make a the post I’d planned tonight (knitting & spinning related)… although it serves me right for leaving it so late. I’d planned to have a nice bath, then post and be off to bed. But no, fate intervened. Or my Downstairs Neighbour did, by hitting the fire alarm for the second night in a row and setting it off (then hiding in his flat until the rest of us banged repeatedly on his door). Luckily I was just out of the bath and decent again! However, now I’ve had to get out of my PJs and dressed again because in all the drama, our neighbour from the garden flat is locked out – he was asleep when the alarm went off, and left his keys in the inside of his front door. Downstairs Neighbour didn’t hit the alarm on purpose, btw – he’d probably had a few and made a mistake. But there’s a £40 call out charge to get the thing fixed. Luckily we had a glass panel so could do it ourselves this time, but… argh! I really hope he doesn’t do it again. But now I must get back downstairs and see what progress has been made Garden Flat Neighbour getting back into his place…
[Half an hour passes]
… Yay, go us! Thanks to a group effort, Garden Flat Neighbour is now back indoors. As are we all, warm and dry out of the pouring rain. It took my ladder, Upstairs Neighbour’s Son#1 (to wriggle through GFNs bathroom window), and GFNs torchlight and assistance in getting Son#1 over the garden wall. And now I’m going to dry my hair, and get myself to bed.
The last, oh, while, I’ve been feeling quite determined to finish off all the knitting projects I have sitting around partly done. Which is good! Right? Right. It feels like I’ve done more knitting this year than I actually have in terms of finished projects (though the Knitting Meter in the side bar tells me that I’ve knit 2023 yards in the last year… and I’m only putting entries into that when I either finish a ball of yarn, or a project). But maybe that’s because I still have seven projects on the go.
I had planned not to start any new ones until I’d finished several of those I had lurking. But well, best laid plans and all that. Mum asked me to make a couple of things for her, and then I finished my basic “portable project” socks, so I just had to start another pair for that purpose, didn’t I? And now Christmas is fast approaching… eek! Still, I am feeling more organised and purposeful about the whole thing. My knitting, I mean, not just Christmas. And bizarrely, I think a lot of that is because I finally made the decision to (temporarily) frog my Ishbel and restart it – probably after Christmas – on larger needles. I checked my gauge again, and I had 23½ sts / 4″ where I should have had 20sts. No wonder it’d come up so small, and the knit fabric was probably a bit too dense. I shall swatch again with 4.5mm and 5mm needles and see how it goes. Whether I’ll end up running out of yarn again I don’t know, but I’ll give it a try, anyway. I’ve weighed the re-wound ball, and it’s as it should be, so I assume the yardage is correct too. But the best thing is, I feel much better – obviously that one had been hanging over me without me even realising it!
Now, I know I’ve said this a thousand times, but I’m going to knuckle down and sew up my two “UFOs” – the jumper and the cardigan. I’ve decided that the pieces of the mohair jumper really do need blocking before I sew them, since mohair is so floaty, but at least now I have the table sorted out and ready to sew on.
So my plan is to finish my Gap Year Travels shawlette / scarf (which frees up the needles for whichever cardigan I go for, I believe), and also my Menace jumper (block, sew, crochet, block again). Then to start my Christmas knitting and… just keep knitting until I have finished stuff! I reckon that’ll work.
Originally, I made the title of this post “Cardicisions”, which looked like I was trying to choose a vehicle, and then “Cardecisions”, which looked like I don’t know what. So in the end I decided to discard all unclever word mushing and be a little more clear. There! Aren’t you glad?
The point of all this is, I’m trying to decide on a cardigan to knit – I just lost my favourite one (shop bought, never fear, but still!), and even though it was a very plain v-neck raglan in fine yarn, I’ve decided to knit a replacement rather than buy one. Needless, I hope, to say, I won’t be knitting a direct replica! I have:
A kilo of black 100% wool DK. I’m not sure what the yardage is, but I would hope it’ll work out to “plenty”.
Rowan #40. There are also lots of free patterns on Rav, but I’d like to actually make something from a mag I’ve paid out money for!
a size 18-20 upper bod (so don’t want anything that’ll make me look even chunkier!).
Unless anyone knows any free DK-weight patterns that are knit in one piece1 and have some kind of interest to the fabric2, I’ve narrowed my choices to either Lichen3, Sadie4, or Autumn Leaveswithout the applique leaves, because, wtf?! Orrr, there’s Celtic, but my Mum thinks it needs the tweedy type yarn and the cables would be lost in plain black. Opinions? I also completely adore Juno, but I’m not sure if it’d suit my body shape, and hadn’t been planning on making a fitted cardi this time. Maybe one day!
Autumn Leaves cardigan
Celtic cardigan
Juno cardigan
Lichen cardigan
Sadie cardigan
Anyway, because I’m indecisive as ever, it’s poll time! (Or leave a comment, etc etc). I’m actually going to crosspost this entry to LJ and DW (I know! Crossposting twice in as many days! What is the world coming to?) so if you’re reading this there, you’ll have to come over to my blog to vote in the poll. Should you want to, of course. Participation entirely voluntary, refunds cannot be guaranteed.
[poll id=”4″]
All opinions much appreciated. I’ve got other knitting to finish, so I won’t be casting on straight away (probably). So I might even see if I can get this into the sidebar so it’s showing up for a few days.
ETA 7/11 – Eeeek! The lovely Noxie has let me know that non Ravelry members can’t see those links. Sorry about that – I thought the pattern info pages were open to all. So I’ve added photos of the various cardigans.
1 Because if I’m going to knit something from elsewhere then I want it to be for a really good reason. Like no seaming! Mmm, seamless construction… 2 Like I said, not a plain replica. I don’t want to pass out from boredom while knitting. Some kind of cables or texture. 3 All over cables might end up rather bulky, of course. I suppose I could always knit a (dun-dun-duuuuuh) swatch? 4 Maybe a bit lacy for the winter though? On the other hand, bound to be a faster knit…
For the first time in forever, I’ve made a post to Livejournal and Dreamwidth (the same one, crossposted). I’ve been meaning to for ages, but I kept stalling on how to divide things between there and here, and… oh, you know what, there’s no point in me repeating myself – I explained it all in the LJ-DW post. I’ll just leave the above link, and that’ll do (pig) for today’s post here as well. That was nice and easy!
On the right day for a change, my answers for this week’s Friday 5:
What’s something you know how to draw?
Hahahaha, not much! This is about the extent of my “talent”:
Baa-naby!
Who’s someone you could get away with impersonating?
Wow, um… I can’t think of anyone. Maybe my Mum on the phone?
Where’s the stapler?
Oh lord, I don’t know. It should be in the stationery drawer, but I think I have a stapler gremlin or something – I never seem to have a stapler with staples that fit in it. I should have a two staplers, one mini one and one full size one (I used to have two mini ones, but I’m not sure what happened to the second one… probably the stapler gremlin at work again!) and staples for both, but can I ever find the right combination at any one time? No, I cannot. I end up using paperclips, or just folding the corners of the paper together!!
Why will this be a great weekend?
Because there will be Chinese takeaway, NOM (or at least, I hope there will) and new Dr Who OMG can’t wait! And also Easter presents of some kind which will be nice too. It’s E’s birthday as well. Yay :-) Now if only the weather was going to be nicer!
When are you going to make that phone call you’ve been putting off?
I don’t actually think there are any phone calls that I’ve been putting off. Must remember to give Ally a call though.
What is your favourite fizzy, bubbly drink?
Pepsi! Or Coca-cola as a second – I don’t like the diet versions (unfortunately!), and I’m not keen on the non-branded ones either. They just don’t taste the same. Picky, picky me.
What is your favourite deep-fried food?
Um. I don’t really eat deep fried food. Oh, except for crisps I spose. So, crisps? And sometimes chips, but not if they’re too greasy.
What is your favourite hot beverage?
Hot lemon squash. Weird, I know, but I don’t drink tea or coffee, and although I do like hot chocolate I only have it as the occasional cold-weather treat. It’s too thick / sweet for a regular drink for me.
What is your favourite really messy food?
Depends what you call messy! Spag bol, maybe? Or maybe tortilla chips and dip because you’re bound to get dip on you at some point.
What is your favourite recipe for a blended or mixed beverage?
Not really sure what this means! Like a cocktail? Or a smoothie? If we’re talking alcoholic beverages, I like Archers, vodka and orange juice. If not, then banana smoothies are probably my favourite. The recipe for that when I make my own is one banana (chopped up into smallish pieces), either (a) a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or (b) a tablespoon or so of natural yoghurt (depends what I have), and about half a pint of milk… or maybe more than that, I’m not sure! I generally go by ‘feel’. Then I whizz it all together with the whizzing device. Add a bit more milk if need be to taste, whizz again, etc. Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Nom!
In other news, an actual knitting post should be coming soon! I’ve just cast on for the second SKP09 pattern, which is a pair of entrelac socks. There’s a new challenge right there – I’m just about to start the actual entrelac part and it’s all very exciting. And nerve wracking! Photos will be forthcoming… assuming I can make it all work.
My livejournal feed did manage to grab the entry before it vanished again, so I can tell you that it was posted at 23:57, the post id is one which doesn’t exist in my current database, and the excerpt text (whyyyyy did I never change to full text feeds?!) says:
