Monday 21 April 2014

Best laid plans / hey, where'd Monday go? / a couple of FOs

I had such glorious plans for this bank holiday weekend. I made A List. Here it is:

[ ] Finish makeup pads [ ] Basin [ ] Bathroom floor [ ] Laundry: towels [ ] Loads of Reiki [ ] Nails [ ] Shower (clean!) [ ] Sort out bathroom cabinet [ ] Toilet [V] Finish cardigan [V] Look at size 16 jeans for fat betches & equivalent in men's [V] Buy 2 more baseball caps [V] Order more Argan Oil [V] Laundry: cottons [V] Laundry: delicates [V] Cleanse Amazon wishlist [V] Change bed [V] Finish 1st long sock [V] Hoover [V] Tidy room

The 'v's are ticked items. Except for 'finish cardigan', which I think I thumb-ticked by accident. Or maybe I was trying to make myself feel better because last night I 'finished' the first sleeve of said cardigan and It Don't Look Right, not at all. It's only elbow-length, not 3/4, and it's just, well, kinda short & goofy & not right at all and I'm very depressed about the whole thing. As with all projects that start to go wrong in mysterious ways, the whole thing's now sulking in a bag down by the side of my desk until I've mulled (obsessed?) over it long enough to think of a plan to fix it. At the moment I can only think of finish it & donate it to a charity shop, in a town I'll never visit again, but I think I'll be able to feel more +ve about it & come up with a better solution once I've had a bit of time away from it. 

It's Monday evening and I feel like I haven't achieved anything. I had these lovely plans that I would feel like I'd cleared through some of the backlog of half-finished WIPS and all I've got to show for it is a sock and a bunch of WIPs. Of course, this is because I was over-ambitious with the original plan, as always, but I still feel a bit down right now.

So. 'Finish cardigan' NOT achieved. And I was so determined not to start another new project, even though it'd make me feel better, that I went back to the reusable makeup pads. These will never be 'finished' as a girl can never have too many reusable makeup pads and the more I have the longer I can hold out between laundry days but I decided to stop at 24 (6 each of 4 colours) and call that done for now. No. 24 will be finished tonight then it's just 24x2 ends to weave in, pop them thru the washing machine (gives me the heebies that, what if they shrink / fall apart / turn into chocolate Easter bunnies & melt?) & I can declare another FO.

I have a couple of FOs to show off though.

1st: from a couple of weekends ago & this is a lousy photo but I need to record that I've achieved SOMETHING, the nested baskets:

I'm actually dead chuffed with these as I've loved making them & seeing how the structure of the stitches fits together to make something 3D. I have Absolutely No Idea what I'm going to do with them or who's problem I'm going to make them by giving them away. But apart from that I'm pleased with this FO.

2nd: the 1st Long Sock! YAYYYYYY! I'm so pleased with this, very very pleased. It's held together brilliantly, the wool makes me happy, especially the colours. Knitted up the fabric feels a bit scratchy but I'm sure a couple of washes will put paid to that. And it fits and it looks like a real sock & I'm generally chuffed! 

The challenge now is to make the 2nd Long Sock the same size as the first one. Mm-hm, that's a challenge. I've made what I hope are precise and detailed notes of the round-counts etc so I'm feeling confident but still slightly trepidatious.
+ I'm not allowing myself to start The 2nd Long Sock until I've cleared the current project list a bit more. Sigh.

OK, I feel slightly better about my lack of productivity and anyway it's nearly time for ebd or I'll be all grumpy and tired tomorrow! 


-x-

Sunday 6 April 2014

Sunday

Weather: grey, chilly, breezy, dry.

Mood: OK

Watched: Huddersfield vs. St Helens, The Musketeers & a couple of Dollhouse Season 2

Music: Lizzo

Reading: The Bridge by Iain Banks - still awesome!

On my hook/needles: finished earbuds bag, dead pleased with it + got past the heel of the 1st Long Sock, not without some stress. About halfway down the foot now.

-x-

Saturday 5 April 2014

Saturday

Mood: low

Weather: grey, bit windy, chilly

On my hook/needles: 1st Long Sock - I've got to the heel & boy is it giving me trouble! Decreases for the heel flap were fine but sorting out what to do next has been a headache. The pattern says to pick up stitches from the sides of the heel flap, slip the top-of-foot stitches off the stitch holder and then start knitting in rounds. It's taken me a while & a bit of interneting but I now think this means I should pick up but not knit the stitches from the heel flap, which I've now done. Still getting my head around the next stage ...

Music: Muse, lots of, loud.

Listened to: I've started The News: A User's Manual audiobook by Alain de Botton. 

Reading: I've also started The Bridge by Iain Banks, one of his that I hadn't read before he passed away last year & his own favourite, according to The Times. It's awesome so far. I've decided I'm going to try & finish it in a week. I'm worried that I'm not reading enough & my brain is going to shrivel up & I think setting myself targets and making sure I get through books at a reasonable pace is the way forward.

Watched: 1st half (!) of Return of the King.

Toodle pip!

-x-




Friday 4 April 2014

really?

I haven't posted since last Sunday? Really? Funny, feels like I have.

I've been working a fair bit, almost up to what a normal person would call 'full-time', and yes, I'm still voiceless and not really feeling very fabulous. Although to be fair the last two days I've felt quite close to normal, except I still haven't got my voice back. I'm starting to think that this croaky hoarseness is My New Voice, which is actually kinda OK as my Old Voice sounded like a five-year-old on acid, at least I sound like a grown-up now!
I'm still struggling to get through a day without feeling washed out by the time I get home but I am definitely better, not worse or even the same. It's been 2.5 weeks so bloody should be getting better, quite frankly.

What else?
Had an impromptu night in the pub on Weds, did my voice/cold the power of good (no, really it did, this is the most contradictory illness I've had in forever).
We had a film crew in work today, a proper one with lights & stuff, a change from the normal humdrum for sure! (they did NOT film me)

this is the film crew, a couple of examiners and a couple of students, none of whose permission I have to publish this picture, so soz!
This evening we went to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, it was fairly entertaining but mostly it was gorgeous to look at! Better than watching TV.


And on that note, today:

Mood: good

Weather: grey, humid this morning, bit chilly this afternoon, clear starry night for the walk back from the cinema.

Music: Game of Thrones soundtrack in class (I put it on for a laugh & then the students begged me to leave it on!), tUnE-yArDs on the bus (my newest discovery, although I'm not entirely sure tbh)

Reading: I finished Red Earth & Pouring Rain! It's very good but not very enjoyable, one of those kind of books. I'm deciding, with no small amount of glee, what to read next, very probably The Bridge by Iain Banks ...

Watched: The Grand Budapest Hotel, please see above.

Listened to: Radio 3 Arts & Ideas podcast about leadership, a bit but not much.

On my hook/needles: nothing today, haven't had time. I've done quite a lot on the 1st Long Sock this week as well as starting a little bag for my earbuds last night.

Here's a random picture of some pink spring prettiness from my walk home from the bus today:

 
 See ya!
-x-