better, worse, better, who knows?

I'm better than I was before but I'm still sick which totally sucks, partly cos being sick sucks and partly because I'm SO OVER IT!!!!!

Cooked dinner for my mum, which she & stepparental really enjoyed but I felt horrid while I was cooking it & couldn't enjoy eating it. Ho hum.

Today:

Watched: a hell of a lot of Dollhouse + some Stargate Atlantis (yes, yes, I know!)

Music: Disclosure

Weather: erm, probably sunny but I've been inside feeling crappy for most of it :(

Mood: grumpy

On my hook/needles: Long Socks - just got past the dec row so feeling pretty good about them!

-x-

another day late!

This is Thursday night's post on Friday morning. Did I mention IT'S FRIIIIIIDAAAAAY!?!
Good. 
I was on catering duties last night for Stepparental as mum was out. Then 

Watched: 3 (4? it might've been 4) episodes of Dollhouse on Amazon prime, cos I've got it free this month, I think. Should check that ...

Music: Invincible by Muse

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain

On my hook/needles: mum's necklace - after 2.5 episodes of Dollhouse I had to unpick a whole row as I'd miscounted the number of trebles - damn! It's slow going as it's a lot of stitches but I'm not frantic about it. Yet.

Weather: grey, raining when I came out of the hairdresser's, of course.

Oh yes, I went to the hairdresser. My hair looks exactly the same as it did this time yesterday but now I can run my hands through it without getting them snarled in the wire wool that my split ends had become + the fringe is sitting nicely because it's cut that way.

-x-

oops!

forgot to post yesterday, not sure why!

So, yesterday:

Mood: great!

On my hook/needles: started mum's mother's day gift, which is a necklace made of blue Anchor freccia (came as part of a kit) So far so good, I wouldn't wear it but I hope she'll like it (it's blue, always a good start w/mum & she likes necklaces so...)
I also ordered a bunch of leather iphone cases for her - they're so cheap on Amazon I got her three different colours so she can ring the changes (!)

Listened to: TEDTalk by Bran Ferran, what a lovely man!

Music: Fratellis & Wombats at work, Reiki music in the morning.

Because I had a Reiki treatment in the morning, which was awesome!

Weather: grey, great big looming rainclouds in the afternoon.

Watched: The latest episode of Shetland + an old episode of Doctor Who that I hadn't ever seen.

-x-

the eye of the storm?

Today I felt utterly horrible although if you'd asked me to list my symptoms they would've been exactly the same as the last 6 days (yup, that's how long I've been voiceless & in pain). I 'gave up', came home early (4pm) got in my pjs, played about on the computer for a bit, then lay in bed & did Reiki/slept. When I got up for dinner, I felt MUCH BETTER!
How weird is that? Not that I'm complaining, feeling much better is awesome, I'm still croaky & it still hurts to swallow, but I feel kinda, normal.

Either I had to mentally admit defeat & declare myself poorly in order to make a recovery or this is the eye of the storm & I'm only feeling better because there's worse to come! My money, optimistically, is on the former.

I must apologise for all the detailed illness updates I've been posting these last few days. In my defence:
- I really am feeling pretty poorly!
- I haven't got much else to post about!

Meanwhile:

Mood: defeated & poorly, followed by optimistic!

On my hook/needles: Long Socks (hibernated ages ago, reawakened on obtaining decent 4mm sock needles, now going well) I 'finished' katahdin a couple of days ago, freeing up the lovely new 4mm dpns, although I kinda ballsed up the fastening off & it's sulking on my desk while I summon the courage to figure out if it needs doing again or not + it needs blocking ...

Music: students requested Guns N Roses Sweet Child O'Mine - what an awesome trip down memory lane!

Reading: nothing, head hurts too much!

Listened to: Start the Week podcast

Watched: Hot Fuzz - we were talking about this film at work & I ended up thinking "I have to see it again" so I ordered it from Amazon - perfect lying-in-bed-feeling-a-bit-ill viewing!

Weather: grey

-x-

company again

Still basically voiceless, slightly less pain, but not so's you'd notice really. (& yes, I am sick of it now!)

Company for dinner tonight so not much other action.

Music: The Eurythmics on youtube at work (dunno why) + Gone by Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight 

Listened to: (can't really remember!) Week In Politics podcast, What the Papers Say podcast ...

Watched: nothing, see above.

On my hook/needles: nothing, see above.

Weather: Cold, occasionally sunny, cold.

Mood: bit grumpy but mostly happy to sit back.

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain (56%!)

-x-

[whisper]

My voice is still mostly absent and my throat HURTS!!! :(((

I'm getting out of breath as well, got up today, showered, changed the bed, had a rest, cooked dinner (for the parentals, who were at church all morning) (sausage casserole), had a rest, went to the shops for more shampoo, had a rest, did some more laundry, had a rest ...

... decided to move furniture around in my room!!








Idiot!

I've got this lovely big room at the top of the house with two windows - a dormer & a velux - (and a cute little en-suite) and I've had it set up as a bedroom + an area to sit, crochet, read, watch stuff on my laptop, work, blog, etc.
It looked like this:
(photos taken from the bed!)

 

I loved the way the room was split & I love my sitting area (mum calls it a bedsitter, which is cute cos I don't think anyone's talked about bedsitters since the late 1950's) buuuut, I keep feeling like I never see the outside world. I know it's winter and all but I also figured it's cos when I sit at my desk, all I can see is the wall/ceiling.

Or this:

 

 So today I swapped the desk & the chest of drawers, kind of. The desk is now under the window, so if I look up I can see a lovely patch of sky and the branches of a couple of trees (really looking forward to watching their leaves come out) and birds & so on. The chest of drawers is fine under the ceiling where the desk was, in fact I can't help thinking it's better there. 
Not very happy with the 'sitting area' now tho, it needs work

Meanwhile:

Music: Radio 1 Live Lounge TV + Childish Gambino (wow! where has this guy been all my life?)

Listened to: Commentary of the T20 World Cup and More or Less podcast.

Watched: nothing yet, Super League show on iplayer when I finish this post.

On my hook/needles: nothing yet, plan to finish katahdin tonight.

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra, 50% now!

Mood: chilled out, when I don't feel like someone's trying to cut my throat with a rusty chainsaw!

Weather: well! Sunny + squally showers (inc. hail)

-x-

Day, er, 12? I have no idea!

Mood: bored & a bit grumpy. Also, sore throat & no voice all day. :(

On my hook: a Moebius cowl, finished!

Listened to: lots & lots of Fool Moon by Jim Butcher.

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain

Music: Hurts

Weather: sunny but cold earlier, now pouring.

-x-

Day 12

I'm losing my voice, which isn't much of a problem on a blog but makes the rest of life a bit tiring.

So I've started hooking a plain, anthracite mix treble crochet moebius cowl to keep my voicebox warm!

-x-

Day 10: colour for the CAL blanket - update

A while ago I agonised for ages over the colours for this blanket, in the end I decided & even posted about the colour scheme. Ordered the yarn. It arrived.

"ooh", thinks tilliemint, "that's more browny beigey colours than I remember including, ho hum."

Also, I counted the balls & there are 14 & I'm SURE I decided to order 12 colours. Hmmmmm.

Anyhoo, in a burst of efficiency I decided to get all the yarn into my ravelry stash before I started using it & it got too late (cos that's never happened before, oh nooooo)

I got in a bit of a muddle about the colours so I went back & found the email confirming the order from the wool store (actually, www.woolwarehouse.co.uk).

Now here's the thing.

I spent a while deciding which yarn to order, I was caught between DROPS Karisma & DROPS Lima. In the end, it got late & I needed some sleep so ...

I popped 1 colour of each yarn into my shopping basket, saved the basket & went to bed.

A few days later I went back to the basket, decided to go with DROPS Karisma as it has a better range of colours, spent aaaaaagggggeeeeessssss matching the colours with the scheme I wanted to use (see previous post), ordered the 12 colours I'd decided I was allowed (me & 6's) paid for them, sat back to wait for a woolgasm to arrive in the post.

Spotted it?

Yup. The 2 balls I'd popped in the shopping basket to remind me which 2 yarns I was deciding between were still in the basket. 

So I have a ball of DROPS Lima in a lovely purple, which is absolutely fine as I'm all about DK weight socks now I have some nice 3.75mm & 4mm dpns (same order - I really went to town!) so that's lined up for that, although of course 1 ball won't be enough ...

And I'm about the check that order again to see which of the 13 shades of Karisma I've got wasn't actually meant to be there (one of the browny beiges, I hope!)

-x-

Day, erm, 9?

The thing is, I have been posting, but on my private diary-blog, which may not count.

Anyhoo.

Music: Butcher Boy, The Mummers, Mumford & Sons.

On my hook/needles: nothing yet but planning to work on Katahdin in a minute.

Watching: nothing yet but planning to finish 37 Days after this post.

Reading: a bunch of stuff about learning styles for a lecture I gave this afternoon.

Listened to: Full Contact Rugby podcast and Weekly Politics.

Mood: emotional, but mostly in a good way!

Weather: sunny - students very skittish as a result!

There are loads of tiny green buds on the trees & bushes I can see from the bus, they make me feel so happy! I can't take pictures through a fast moving double-glazed window so you'll have to take my word for it!

-x-

2 minutes of Day 5 left!

Mood: relieved

Music: Reiki music

On my hook/needles: nowt, company in the evening.

Listened to: Today in Parliament

Reading: Red Earth & Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra

Day 4

It's nearly Day 5!

This afternoon I went for a Reiki refresher as it's been about 10 years since my Reiki 1 attunement. It was LOVELY!!!

Mood: quiet 

On my hook/needles: nothing today - busy!

Music: Outta Sight by Piney Gir

Reading: The Guardian!

Listened to: TEDTalks audio by Ajit Nararyanan - awesome! The Infinite Monkey Cage podcast

Weather: very misty in the morning, gorgeous sunset!

-x-

 

Day 3

Hello again.

Mood: tired - that's not really a mood but still it's what I am!

On my hook/needles - nothing yet but plans for My First Cardigan or Katahdin later, while ...

... watching: The Musketeers & probably maybe 37 Days.

Music: Just tried a Spotify playlist by some chick called MO, only with the o crossed through, Scandi-style. Nice. Now Gregory Porter, also on Spotify.

Listened to: Full Contact podcast + fell asleep on the bus listening to a podcast called Escape Pod (geddit?) which wasn't very interesting, obvs.

Weather: not sunny, not hot, not cold. Meh. Nice sunset tho!

Reading: still sloooowly Red Earth & Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra

That's all folks!

-x-

Day 2 - just!

[yawn] it's quite late, and on a skool night too - I'm sooo dangerous!
Also, parentals had guests for dinner - yum! So I joined in & was all pleasant and chatty & stuff.

Hence, nothing on my hook/needles today + haven't watched anything or done any reading yet although I plan to read a few pages before bed.

Mood: OK as long as I'm busy, which I have been so OK.

Weather: grey + colder than it looks + HUMID feels like I spent all day in a sauna!

Music: Wild Animals by The Cat Empire

Listened to: (in no particular order) F1 podcast (yes, really), London Review of Books podcast by Andrew O'Hagan about Julian Assange (scary!), TEDtalk audio podcast by Annette Hauser about ratings agencies [snore] & just started Start The Week podcast on 'whether we are doomed to carry our history into the future' (fascinating) (but now I'm just showing off).

this isn't a doily, but it should be!

-x-

Day 1 (ish)

Weather: FAB!!!!

 

Music: Solid Steel podcast by Ninja Tune

+ Ben Harper on Spotify.

Listened to: dtw: Porcelain: The Trial for the Killing of Sophie Lancaster

while cooking (see below) - heart-breaking.

Watched: England beat Wales in the Six Nations :) & probably some more of The Fellowship of the Ring this evening, unless the parentals decide to watch Call the Midwife, in which case probably continue with 37 Days.

Mood: angry / sad / chilled out / busy (could be worse!)

Reading: Red Earth and Pouring Rain (Faber Fiction Classics) [Kindle Edition] by

Vikram Chandra (Author)

(only haven't done much reading today)

On my hook/needles: katahdin, + might have a go at My First Cardigan this evening

Also:

• dyed hair - light brown again (I think I'm the only person who can tell but it feels good to know I could pass for under 40 with the light behind me!)
• Cooked bobotie for the parentals as mum was working all morning and had to dash out this afternoon. Major falling out with food processor (still not speaking) but otherwise very successful - yum! :)
• Updated Ravelry - added stash yarn & some new hooks/needles, added to library & purged queue (mostly by adding to it but hey ho)

 -x-

hello, wow & oof!

Haven't blogged properly for ages so I'm gonna do a post/day for 30 days ...

So, yeah. Hello.

Wow = I've been looking for ideas for a crochet tablecloth, the desk I'm writing this on is old & not in a vintage, pre-loved way, just old. It's plain plain plain and has very sharp-looking corners so it's not exactly cosy. In the spirit of I Can Crochet An Answer To Anything, I've decided to crochet it a cloth for its top. This'll need to be about 1m x .5m and, because I do actually use this desk as a desk, I'd like it to be flat, not too lumpy-bumpy. I've been keeping an eye out on ravelry & pinterest and seen  some fairly good ideas, then today I found this pinterest board, and on it, this picture:

That, ladies & gentlemen, is the pattern I want. BUT. Of course, no pattern. I followed the link to the blog the pin came from, squinted at and semi-deciphered the French, followed another link and found the most enorme picassa web album of pages from 'Decorative Crochet' Magazines - about 30 of the magazines so goodness only knows how many pictures - wow!

Oof = Unfortunately I couldn't figure out which magazine the above picture came from so ...

... I looked at all of them!


Do you think I found the page I wanted?

...


No, of course I didn't!

Oof!

Anyhoo, I've just created a pinterest board for my tablecloth ideas - the above picture gets pride of place and maybe it'll serve as inspiration until I find the right one.

-x-

well, it's too late now

Here are the colours I've chosen for the CAL blanket, so help me.



Based on this gorgeous picture:


I honestly don't know how the turquoise got in there, except I like turquoise. And I'm not at all sure about the red or the off-white but it's ordered now so I'll just have to like it, won't I?

gulp!

-x-