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.

Quick Note...

Just a quick note to celebrate the fact that I have finally finished my Reading Mitts fingerless gloves. I've been working on these since about September, and they've been almost finished since October, but other projects kept getting in the way. Now they are finished, which is good as it's very cold outside!

In other news, I am learning how to crochet! So far, I can do the basic chain stitch, a double crochet stitch and a triple crochet stich, but now I'm a bit stuck as the resource I bought only has these sitches in and I need more before I can even think of trying the most basic patterns. Plus I haven't yet found a pattern I want to make.

Title-y

So I haven't updated for a while. But in fairness, I've had good reason. Half term was not the excitement I was hoping for and something bad happened and I haven't felt like updating.

But I have been knitting. I finished my Colour Swap 5 project with a little time to spare and it appears to have been loved by it's new owner which I'm grateful for. She has certainly been kind in her praise anyway.

Since then, I have made:
- a stole using Zauberball in reds, golden browns and ambers which is very pretty and was worn to my work's Christmas do.
- three dishcloths for Lisa's Christmas present - including a Dalek one.
- a hat using the Cascade Rustic I received in Colour Swap 4.
- a scarf using Arucania Ranco in peacock colours which is stunning and sort of goes with the hat.
- started on a triangular shawl using another skein of the Ranco yarn.

But I have still not finished the fingerless mitts.