So that’s why I’ve been grouchy!

The sun is shining and the sky is blue for the first time in over three weeks. And suddenly my funk is gone – I’m feeling cheerful and hopeful even though my back is still quite painful.

Hmm.

I’d never considered myself to have seasonally-affected moods before. Turns out that I do, though. Damn.

In other news, Best Friend in America flies in tonight for a visit! Woo! I am rather ridiculously excited about this. It’s so good to have the weather behaving this weekend so that I can show her my new home at its best. Right now, I’m considering having a road trip along the coast on Saturday and mooching around the city on Sunday. If I can arrange it with work, I’m going to leave early tomorrow so that we can go for a walk on the beach and then have supper at my local seafood place.

It’s going to be so much fun

The Tour continues to be thoroughly enthralling. Someone yesterday commented that this is the most exciting Tour since, er, 2005 (Lance’s last) and that it seems like Armstrong’s presence has livened up the peloton a lot. While I don’t want to attribute the recent problems in cycling to Armstrong’s retirement, I have to admit that this Tour has already had more drama than the previous ones and none of it has been related to drug busts. No, I don’t think that it’s entirely down to Armstrong being there but I am willing to admit that it’s a factor in the level of excitement in this year’s race. Cavendish would be the other factor

Problem is, I don’t really know how we combat that. All the riders that have got me really excited over the last few years have been arrested at some stage in the race for failing dope controls. On the one hand, the sport is catching the cheats. OTOH, it’s been getting hard to continue being thrilled and excited about riders when you’re just waiting for them to get busted. I’m really hoping that the new, young riders that are starting to come through will reverse that trend.

In other news, I bound off a sock last night and it actually fits This is particularly exciting because it’s the first pair that really do that – fit, I mean.

I’ve gone down a needle size to 2.25mm, which has produced a denser, firmer fabric. I’m a pretty loose knitter at 2.5mm needles were not working well with the very fine sock yarns that I like. I also re-measured my feet and discovered that I’d been working to the wrong measurements for all these months. Those two factors combined have produced a sock that fits beautifully and feels really great. Yay me! I shall cast on the second one in the pair tonight and probably work on it while I wait at the airport.

My lacy sweater is proceeding well. In fact, it’s proceeding much faster than I’d anticipated (all those hours of Tour watching are a help) and, after a week, I’m already most of the way up the back. It’s entirely possible that I’ll finish it by the end of the month. Weird feeling.

In cat news, I have finally figured out where Annie goes when she disappears in my office. My wireless router sits on a shelf, hidden by the hutches over the desks. Annie has discovered that she can lie on the shelf with her head and front paws pillowed on the lovely, warm router and take a really comfy nap. Silly kiten. I am onto her now!

See? I must be feeling better because I just babbled extensively. Heh.

Yay, cycling!

It’s that time of year again, so most of this weekend has been spent with the Tour de France. Woot! After the disappointment of trying to find decent tennis coverage, it’s a relief to find that I get rather excellent Tour coverage complete with my favourite commentators.

In fact, I got rather more coverage than my parents yesterday – the coverage started with the first guy out of the start house while my parents came in with around 40 riders yet to depart. Heh.

*sigh*

Every now and again I start to get cocky and seriously consider not moving into an apartment further into the city when my time in this house has to end. I start to thinking about staying in the Passage, in my little community by the sea, because it’s beautiful and friendly here. With the right help to manage the big jobs (mowing, ploughing, repairs), I could buy myself a little house and be happy.

Then I try to get a contractor out to help with those big jobs and I realise the futility of this plan.

Right now I’m waiting for a guy to give me a quote for lawn care. He said “later this afternoon”. If he shows up at all, he could turn up any time before around 9pm when it will be too dark to see my lawn for the quote. I’d been sort of hoping that later this afternoon would be before 6pm.

Um.

I’d had plans to have a bath and then cook supper, which will be chicken wings and salad. But he’s not here yet. I definitely can’t do the bath thing until he’s been. I’m starving now (skipped lunch without noticing) and I’m contemplating supper, except he’ll probably turn up around 5mins before the wings are cooked and I’ll either get cold, partially cooked chicken or totally burnt chicken. Yet if I don’t start cooking, he’ll turn up around 8.50pm and it will be too late to do anything about supper or baths by the time he goes.

This, of course, all depends on him turning up. So far, the company that originally promised to do this hasn’t turned up or returned any of the phone calls and email messages that haven been left. It’s starting to feel a lot like winter with the multiple plough guys who flaked out on me and the dozens of contractors who wouldn’t even contemplate coming out because I live so far (ten minutes’ drive) from the city centre.

If I don’t have anything sorted out in the next day or two, I’ll get the mower out and do it myself. Except there have been two knee dislocations in the last month and I’m reluctant to risk another one when I’m supposed to be doing a gruelling journey following by a huge wedding at the end of the week.

Why is it so hard to find reliable contractors?

ETA: He turned up ten minutes after I started cooking the chicken but he turned up! He quoted a fair price, warned me that the first cut will be more due to the state of the lawn, and wants to bill me at the end of each month. This all gives me a good feeling about his potential reliability. Er, I might have vented unnecessarily above But my track record with contractors turning up and doing the work isn’t good so…

And now I can have supper, bath and some time with the Primeval DVDs that I’ve borrowed from the library. Shut up, I know everyone said I should watch it ages ago. I’m slow on the uptake. Loving Abby already.

Tunic progress report (and other non-knitting things)

OK, the shoulders of the tunic have been shaped and bound off. I’ve joined one shoulder and knitted on the garter neck border. This involved picking up 112 stitches. I *hate* picking up stitches. It’s the only thing I hate more than knitting button holes.

Wanna know what I get to do now? Down each side of the front and back of the tunic, I have to pick up 188 stitches to knit garter stich edging. That’s 188 stitches four times. So in total, for this tunic, I’m going to have picked up 864 stitches. I may well hate picking up stitches, but I’m going to be good at it by the end!

To give you an idea of how many stitches that is, each border needs to be squashed to fit onto my 32″ circular needles. Yowch.

Thing is that I can’t just not to do. The tunic design has vents at the bottom that will look quite terrible without those nice garter borders to neaten up the edging so I’m going to be doing it regardless. My plan right now is to get that all done and the tunic seamed before I leave for Denver. I had been cheerfully planning to take it before remembering that I still need to knit the belt for it and there’s no way the belt will be done in time. Not with all that stitch picking up to do. So it’s not going with me to Denver. Hopefully it will get debuted soon after, though.

Last night I was putting the yarn away for the blueberry hat and happened across the yarn for my next project. I’d forgotten just how pretty the shade of purple that I got looks – now I can’t wait to start that! The good thing is that the only stitch picking up will be around the neck. So perhaps 100-200 stitches, rather than 800+. Although it does have a lace pattern…

In other news, I’m starting to see why Roger Mortimer betrayed the king. He stuck with Edward II even through the worst of the Gaveston affair, but the Despencers are interferring with the government of the realm and removing capable men to replace them with their own cronies. Mortimer had just spent a couple of years wresting Ireland back from the Scots, law and order were being re-established and everyone in Ireland agreed that he was an excellent governer as well as military commander. Removing Mortimer from that position was an utterly stupid move and it was all done because the Despencers were out for vengence against his family. Yes, I can see why he sided with the 90% of barons who revolted against Edward II at that point.

The frustrating thing with the book I’m reading is that, although he’s explaining a lot of things really well, he got very vague about the Despencers. I know from other reading that there is the Elder and the Younger – father and son. The Hugh the Younger is Edward’s favourite (whatever you want to read into that) and Hugh the Elder is Hugh’s father. I honestly cannot remember which of the two it was that married one of the Gloucester heiresses and attempted to buy himself into the Earlship. Problem is that the book doesn’t make this clear. For a large part of the last chapter it was “Hugh Despencer” this or that, without making clear that there were two of them. Then there is occasional reference to it being the younger that did something while his father did something else and then we’re back to one Hugh. For anyone with no knowledge of time (although why anyone with no prior knowledge would be reading a biography of Roger Mortimer is beyond me, I admit) or only hazy recollections, this is incredibly confusing.

And it’s frustrating because in all other areas, the author explains the people and policies so well. Gah!

Anyway, I’m getting a better picture for how loyal Roger Mortimer eventually came to help overthrow the king. As I suspected, it’s partially thwarted ambition but largely because Edward II was the worst king in the history of English monarchs. That really says something about him when he has King John for comparison.

Tonight my knit group is going for sushi. I am already very excited and really want my make, nigiri and tempura yummies *drool*

Knitting and other news

I’ve finished my lace shawl! Hooray! Bound off last night using a nice, stretchy K2tog bind off that was new to me but worked a treat for this project I need to block it, so that’s a nice evening project later this week, but it’s done with more than a week to spare and no mad knitting sessions required.

For the interested, I’ll take before, during and after shots of the blocking process.

In other news, I’m becoming increasingly bemused by the expences row. Jaquie Smith (sp?) is now stepping down? And the Chancellor is ruined, according to one news source? Seriously?

Um. I am boggling.

Canadian politics is largely boring, but at least we don’t have the rest of the world boggling about arguments over comparitively small amounts of fudging the books compared to other countries where politicians make off with millions. Hey, ho.

I am currently reading a biography of Roger Mortimer. Leaving aside the fact that Alison Weir provides the front-cover blurb and is coincidentally mentioned on page three (historians incestuous? Never!) it’s very interesting. I suspect that there is a certain amount of bias going on, but so far he’s not actually the monster that history paints him. He apparently loves his wife (well, they had 12 surviving children and she travelled with him more than many medieval wives), he’s actually a good military commander and so far he’s stayed sensibly out of most of the politics and squabbling surrounding Edward II.

I’m interested to see how all of this changed later because so far he’s coming across as one of the more decent, sensible people in a terrible, chaotic time. And, um, Edward II still comes across as a total louse and possibly the worst king England has ever had. I’m not sure that anyone can redeem him.

Bleh

I have a migraine. There’s been a thunking headache for the last three days (tiredness, I suspect) so I toddled off to church as normal thinking it would just stay as a headache and started to feel nauseous during the sermon. Taken Migraleve (I’ll need to get Mum to bring some over in the summer) but lying down hasn’t helped.

So I did the neck/shoulder shaping on one side of the tunic to relax me a bit. Now I’m in the main house with all the (screened) windows open and the screen door adding to the breeze. Nausea is, at least, starting to recede and the headache is down to thunking rather than blinding.

The cats are thoroughly excited and can’t quite decide which window is best, so they’re running from window to window It’s quite sweet. They run away from open doors (the outside might get them!) but they love open windows. Thank goodness for screens here.

Anyway, after a miserable foggy day yesterday the sun is out and there’s just enough of a breeze to keep it nice. If I were feeling better, this would be an afternoon to blow off everything and go to the beach. Bright sunlight isn’t my friend right now, though

Perhaps I’ll go to the beach after work this week?

I’m seeing this Doctor Who-ish thing around

Annie woke me up by clawing the door again last night. Not impressed. At least I’ve worked out who it is now: she did it while I was doing my physio in my room yesterday afternoon and I opened the door just to see. And then I continued to ignore it once I knew which bad cat was doing it. Hopefully she’ll grow out of it – anyone have any suggestions if this behaviour continues? Right now I’m ignoring and hoping that she’ll stop when she realises that it’s not getting her anywhere.

Anyway, I’m completely shattered. To the extent where I felt sick when I realised that my bread rolls were soggy and had to ditch them, necessitating crackers for lunch rather than egg salad rolls. My back is also very unhappy with me, which I think is due to the exhaustion. For the first time in nearly a year, I’m actively contemplating buying some caffeine tablets. I need to do something to stay awake during my drive tonight!

This afternoon/evening I’m driving my aunt up to her son’s graduation, 100km away. It’s the first time any of her children have graduated from something (he’s graduating college with a diploma in social work) so this is a huge deal for her. I’m just looking forward to seeing my cousin in his silly hat and robes Must remember to pick up some spare batteries for the camera.

Tomorrow I am sleeping in. Annie can trying to dig her way to Australia for all I care, I am not getting up until I’m good and ready. So there.

And now onto Doctor Who spoilers…

Ooh, decisions

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on my tunic, and it isn’t from the train Only three more inches of moss stitch and then I do the shoulder shaping and bind off. Then it’s some garter edging, seaming and a ribbed belt. This is one of the exciting bits in knitting: the bit where I’m nearly there and I have all this new energy for the project because I can see the goal-post getting closer by the moment. In fact, there is good reason to think that I could have a cute new tunic to wear within the next couple of weeks. Yay!

The lace shawl is also getting there: 12 rows (four of them plain knit) and then bind off and block. It should be comfortably ready for it’s intended recipient.

And then, for the first time in a long time, there will be no WIPs. I am ignoring the second sock syndrome on my Fountain Foxgloves. They will get finished (one day).

So I’ll have to make a decision: what to cast on next?]

I have a skein of Ranco Multy that had been bought with the intention of socks but the Ravelry comments makes me leary of that idea. But I have seen a nice, simple lacy stole that would be perfectn and I don’t mind having to be careful in my washing of a lacy stole.

I want to knit up my KnitPicks Felici into a pair of amazingly soft socks.

There is my sister’s replacement cardigan in DK Rowan Cashsoft. I love the yarn and the pattern was a simple, fun knit.

I want to make my Trillium in Rowan Fine Milk Cotton, which will be pretty but has a lacy body so may be a little complex for TV knitting. I’d need to have a second, simple project on the go for knit night and relaxing TV nights during those sections.

Where to start?

I think that the socks and the stole will be next, due to the immediate gratification side of a simple, fast knit. The cardigan and the sweater are bigger projects and not so transportable. Either the socks or the stole will be going to Denver with me.

The big debate is whether I get my sister’s cardigan out of the way first, leaving me free to knit selfishly for the rest of the year, or gratify my want for a pretty summery sweater and still have my sister’s cardigan hanging over me. Hmmm….

Maybe I’ll defer that decision until I actually get to it!

In other news, I am shattered beyond belief and being woken up by Kate in the middle of the night scratching at my door didn’t improve matters. I’ve got a round-trip of 200km tomorrow evening to attend a graduation ceremony so I suspect that a lot of coffee will need to be consumed during the journey. Unless I can bribe my aunt to drive!

The facilities guy came around and got my fancy new mouse/wrist-rest thingy to fit onto my keyboard tray (turns out the wrist-rest on the tray is detachable with a screwdriver) so I’m now test driving it. So far, I’m favourable impressed particularly as it puts the cursor controls right where my hands fall naturally on the keyboard. I’ll try to sneak the camera in for a photo soon

Spoke to Best Friend in America and she’ll be picking me up from the airport in Denver – phew! So that makes things a little easier, especially as I just realised that I have her address at her old apartment but not her new one. Must rectify that! She sounds a little frazzled about all the wedding plans – it’s turned into a full-time job now, apparently – which is why a weekend in Belize with no ability to call or email anyone is apparently exactly what she needs! I suspect that when she gets back on Sunday, she’ll be even more frazzled.

I’m really looking forward to seeing her and being there on the biggest day of her life.

Other than that, I am quite boring and looking forward to catching up on my sleep at the weekend. I’ve got a few small bits to do, but mostly the weekend will be about recuperating.

Well, that’s just gaaaaah

This morning I started out tired, grouchy and achy. I seriously contemplated just staying in bed for a while, but forced myself up and out.

You can imagine how impressed I was to discover that parking barriers have been added to my work car park and the design is so good that everyone has to get out of their cars to swipe their cards. Gah! I cannot get my car close enough to have any hope of reaching it, nor can anyone else, and I can already tell that this is going to be miserable in the rain or, even better, in the winter with snow and ice everywhere. The traffic jams at busy times will be awesome.

I swear to god, I shall deliberatly fall and dislocate something if the barriers haven’t been changed by winter, just to prove what a stupid idea the design is.

Anyway, I was so pissed off that I sent a note to the director of corporate affairs who had the misfortune to have sent an email about our beautiful new parking barriers last night. Nothing will come of it, but I have to try…

Yesterday I got a headset for my phone. The OT has gone a little overboard in sending me equipment – I get perhaps two phone calls a week. Yes, I do tuck the phone between shoulder and ear so that I can type and talk, but for one or two calls a week? Anyway, I’m quite excited and just waiting for someone to phone me so that I can use it. Come on phone, ring!

Today another new piece of equipment arrived. It was a little less successful. The basic idea is genius: a wrist rest that incorporates a roller bar and buttons to act as a mouse. Genius! My arms need never twist in awkward directions to get to my mouse again! Er, except that I can’t have both it and my keyboard on my keyboard tray at once. It’s going to go back and they’ll get me a trackball instead. I need something because my keyboard tray does not make mouse usage easy, but as brilliant as this contraption is (and it really is brilliant, I must say) it’s not quite practical with the keyboard tray that the OT requested.

Still, it’s quite nice that her recommendations are being followed up. Wonder when my new chair will get here?

Finding my knitting groove

I have the horrible feeling that I’ve finally worked out what kind of knitter I am and it’s not the nice, easy kind of knitter who works on small projects in chunky yarn.

My mum is a cable knitter. She doesn’t mind what weight the yarn is (although she prefers aran or DK), but she wants cables in her patterns. The more complicated the cable, the happier she is. Hats, mittens, sweaters, it’s the complexity of the cable that gets her interested. Currently she’s bouncing about the gorgeous cable jumper that she’s working on, the one that I took one look at and vowed not to even consider.

I can cable, I’ve done my fair share of cables and I wouldn’t automatically run from a project with a tiny bit of cabling in. It’s just not something that I like to do a huge amount of.

My sister is still working out what she likes, having worked mostly with thinner yarns and lacy patterns so far but also having some thicker yarns queued to play with. I’m quite enjoying the seeing the process as she develops her style.

I’m coming to the conclusion that I’m a sadistic knitter who enjoys making large items from skinny yarn. Yeah. I’m happy to tackle complicated lace (in lace weight) although I don’t think that’s my ultimate favourite. That stuff requires sealing myself away from all distractions and even then my mistake rate is high. What I really like is beautiful drapey fine garments, possibly with a pretty stitch pattern although I’m almost finished with a tunic in moss stitch and I’m still really enjoying it. Yes, even after several billion rows of moss stitch.

My next project is another fingering-weight thing with a lacy pattern that looks like it should be easy to memorise. I’m actually really excited about it.

At knitting on Thursday someone let me look through Knit So Fine, a book filled with beautiful patterns done in fingering-weight yarn. This, for the uninitiated, is the weight of yarn that I use for socks. Anyone remember the socks that I was making at Redemption? Yes, that weight of yarn. I want to make three-quarters of the book, it’s been added to my wishlist and the only trouble will be deciding which thing to make first.

I do have an aran wieght sweater in my queue that I plan to tackle for the winter and I’m sure that I’ll love making it, but apparently it’s the fine knitting that I really get excited about.

That’s me. Sadistic knitter. Or is it masochistic knitter? Whatever. My mum will be cheerfully cabling away in one corner while I’ll be cheerfully knitting sock yarn into sweaters, tunics and halternecks on 2.5mm needles while my more sensible knitter friends look on with horror.