All a bit too much

Sometimes living on my own just plain sucks.

On Saturday I was trying on a dress I haven't worn for a while when the zip got stuck. I couldn't do it up the last inch or two or pull it down at all. Luckily I decided to wear it out anyway and then somehow managed to get it back off without having to cut it off later that night, but it would have been handy to have someone to help.

Then yesterday I had stinking hangover from hell. Now, I am of the opinion that a hangover is fully self inflicted and therefore deserving of no sympathy. But it would have been amazing to have someone make food for me (and maybe give me a little sympathy).

And today, I have just seen a spider on the wall near my back door. Spiders I can mostly cope with (I ignore them til they go away) but this one is roughly the size of my foot. It is at least as large as the tarantulas I've seen in the zoo. I'm not happy about this and I want someone to come over and get rid of it for me. Not kill it, just get rid of it. Instead I shall pretend I never saw it.

Also, I feel really quite ill. I almost never get indegestion - if I'm going to get ill it's going to be a cold/run down/headachey. But I've had a horrible stomach ache all day and it's just getting worse. Goin to curl up in bed and wish that today never happened.

Bah!

Was going to do a whole post about blocking but instead, I am going to sulk. And whine. And complain.

Why?

Because I just run out of burgundy Cascade 220 4.5 rows from the end of the sleeve. Four. Point. Five. Rows.

Bah.

Lucky Shopping

I've trodden on something sticky which is now on my slipper meaning wherever I step I'm leaving little sticky patches. Unfortunately I didn't notice this until after I'd put the washing machine on.

I've been feeling a bit 'meh' this weekend. Kind of despondent and unable to pull myself out of it. But I went shopping today and bought a new suit jacket which is a size smaller than the size I thought I was. Plus I tried on a pair of trousers in the smaller size and could get them up, do them up and didn't have horrid fat rolls (though sitting down would have been an issue). It's funny - I know I've lost weight - apparantly more than I thought - but I don't see it when I look in the mirror...

I also went into Primark intending to get some socks and came out with some socks and a winter coat. It's very pretty - purple grey and black checks.

And now I'm updating this while watching Criminal Minds and with a purple face. This is because I'm wearing face mask, not because I'm ill or angry or similar.

These things should make me happy.

My lack of motivation to do anything that needed to be done this weekend has resulted in me finishing and casting off the Echo Flowers shawl. I will need to do the sewing in and blocking this week. Then I picked up the stitches to finish the last sleeve on my February Lady Sweater and now only have 14 rows of garter stitch to do. I'm worried about the amount of yarn I have left though, it might not make it.

See, ven when I'm unmotivated, I manage to get lots done.

Napping

For the past week and a half I have, except for Tuesdays and weekends, been coming home and having a nap for an hour or two, then getting back up to do whatever evening activity I have to do. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Obviously a better solution would be sleeping more at night, but there's so much to be doing. It's quite nice to be able to sleep for an extra little while, but I am very bleary when I get back up - probably not a good state to be driving in!

In other news, Echo Flowers is progressing at a still slightly slow rate. I've completed the ten repeats of the flower chart I had planned to do (the pattern calls for eight repeats for the shawlette version and thirteen for the shawl - I'm going for somewhere in the middle, but I think I may have more yarn than I thought and probably could have done at least one extra repeat) and am just over halfway through the border chart (row 11 of 16). Should be done by the weekend I think. Hopefully.

Work got a little challenging this week. A student had a meltdown in front of me on Monday - it was a very emotionally fraught situation to be in. I ended up with a bottle of pinotage, but still stuggled to sleep that night. I've spoken to the student since though and they are doing ok now.

The weather is definitely on the turn - it's cold in the mornings, the evenings are drawing in, the leaves are starting to drop and the spider webs are clogging up my garden path. I typically love autumn, it's my absolute favourite season. From starting to wrap up in hand knits, curling up in front of the (fake) fire with a hot chocolate listening to the wind whistle around the house, stomping through the crunchy leaves like a five year old and the colours. Oh the colours are some of my favourites too. After Echo Flowers is done I have a plan for a Muir () stole in a chocolate brown, and I have a skein of autumnal coloured Touch 2Ply yarn which I haven't decided what to make with yet. Unforunately so far, this autumn has just been wet. Very, very wet.

Still, I'm curled up with a blanket and a decaff coffee. Almost there...

Craft Night

Friday night is our craft night. Last night was no different - I packed up my Echo Flowers Shawl and headed over to Lisa's house. I managed to forget my camera, but I did have my phone with me (ahh, the joys of smartphones...)

This was where my knitting was at when we started*:



After liberal application of this:



and some of these:



(courtesy of Lauren's awesome baking skills).

And this was the state of my knitting when we called it a night:



I guess there are some evenings when excellent company and a glass or two of wine is more important than even knitting is.

*You can tell this is a mobile picture, especially when I point out that the yarn is slate grey...

Things I have learned from work...

1. The first day back of a new school year is not the day to break in a new pair of heels. Especially when you normally wear flats. Like 'everyday' normally.

2. Work really cuts into my knitting time. During the holiday it was a bad day if I managed to only do one repeat of a 8 row repeat. Since Monday I have managed to do three rows. And that includes the purl rows.

3. In order to function properly at work, I should not stay up late raiding. However, staying up late raiding is more fun than being fully functional at work.

Hopes

I've spent a good portion of the day thinking about how I would like to take more pictures of random things. Friends and gatherings, baking, knitting, random things. I tend to only take pictures of my FO's and I should change that.

For example, on Friday I baked peanut butter cookies. They were tasty. Then I took most of them (I say most because obviously you cannot offer food to people without tasting it first) to a friend's house and fed them to people. While we crafted. It was good, but I have no pictures.

Knitting-wise I have taken to making shawls. I'm really enjoying lace work in general, it's very satisfying and mostly quick.


Like Annis, a crescent shape shawlette, knit from the bottom edge up using short rows and a lace and nupps border.

Using Madelinetosh Sock Yarn in Terrarium, a beautiful foresty mix of greens and browns, it was knit up in about five days.

Taking quite a bit longer was Aeolin, but in fairness this shawl is about five times the size.

This was my first attempt at nupps and was mostly successful. It's such a huge shawl, I wear it as a hip scarf for my belly dancing. The beads are a matt size 6 seed bead from John Lewis which are a slightly darker shade than the yarn.

At the moment I'm working on Echo Flowers in a slate grey merino and silk mix from BC Garn. Pictures to follow when I break my camera out more often.