Judith goes USA (or Scotland)

WIP Wednesday: Friends

2012-02-22T22:29:00.000+01:00

I had been thinking about the topic for this week's WIP Wednesday post. When I thought of all the pictures I had taken in advance of my knitting, there could really only be one: Friends.

For the last 8 years I've probably spent more time participating in online communities than most people. Maybe you're about similar, as you're reading this, and I suppose you must have been active in some online community to have found me here. Anyway, most people I meet on a day-to-day basis spend hardly any time on their computers outside of work. Sure, they check their email, tweet and facebook, do a little Youtube browsing, but all of that is much like reading the newspaper with your morning coffee.

It started with a game. Its demography was varied, and so there was a variety of characters to go with that. I still like to call a few of them friends I'd like to meet (again), and of course there's the Photographer that I kept from that time. He's lovely, and a friend as well. After that came other games, insane writing contests and finally I stumbled upon the knitting community. All of these have a variety of people in them, but it's so much easier to avoid the ones you don't get along with than in f.i. an office environment. And yet, friendship can be found there as well.

What pleases me most is when the two worlds collide. I find it easier to be the extravert me* online, while I sometimes find it more difficult to protect the introvert me in real life. So when I met The Lovely Louise (remember the MEMEME-show?), that was rather awesome. Not because she's semi-celeb, but because she's a wonderful person who shares her passion and collects people around her who share the same passions. Today I found this in the mail.

Handmade notebook

competition lanyard for keeping track of small scissors**

She didn't need to do this, so I'm very touched (and blurry-eyed) that she went through the trouble of sending me a pick-me-up. I will keep trying, Louise.

It's nice to know these things don't just happen to internet celebs. I've seen it happen more than once before. People, who really have no reason to know each other, from all over the world, band together to help their virtual friends.Sometimes this help fits into the space of 140 characters. Deep down, we know we're all more than 1's and 0's. So if you're reading this and you need a little support, consider yourself virtually hugged. Patted on the back. Hand held. I'll go as far as to pinch your bottom if that's what you need to feel better right now.

While I'm writing this, I received an e-mail from Teresa of the CanaryKnits blog. I answered a question she posed, which was easy enough for me to answer, and to thank me she gifted me some of her designs. She didn't need to do this, but how wonderful is that? You should totally go visit her blog now. Knitters*** are the best.

I'm not doing a lot of selfish knitting these days. I put some time into Tanit's Jacket when I ran out of gift knitting yarn. I got this far with Tomten the Third...

The Future Women's Gift-gift knitting has proceeded to be this...

When my back gets over itself, I'll continue spinning Tardis for the Photographer. I've prepped...

I worked on another gift, one Which Can Not Be Shown. Yet. But I'll show you this...

Even with all that knitting for friends, there is always time for some for me. Tanit's Jacket, of course, but I skeined and measured and took pictures of my 170m skein of Celebration yarn.

I am after all my own friend too.

Be good, Play nice, Compliment. Touch wool.

*tests have shown this

**Mom won't let me wear scissors around my neck

***Knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, you know what I mean.

For your viewing pleasure, some pictures that didn't make the main blog post.

WIP Wednesday: Say it with Colour

2012-02-15T23:00:00.000+01:00

Maybe I'm tired of winter, or maybe I'm just craving a little colour in general, I don't know, but colour is what I worked on this week! You may also have noticed I picked a new colour scheme for the blog. Much more inviting to the new season, which seems to be on our doorstep now the frost has gone. However, it only rains now, so it might as well be Autumn still.

I spun and since n-plied this bobbin full of wool, I started a third Tomten cardigan for a friend's sister's soon to be born baby*, once more did not read the book club book by Paul Mceuen (Spiral), burnt a few candles. I had a lovely lunch and found a trigger and food for thought, knit some more on the never ending Tanit's Jacket, and listened to some podcasts.

Celebration

Dutch Wool Diva

Tomten the Third

Elizabeth Zimmerman

Tanit's Jacket

Gudrun Johnston

Colour Swatches

by me

The Photographer celebrated his birthday and promptly soiled his new Kindle by putting a picture of me on it. I (re-)established some priorities. I slowed down.

Float on the good stuff, or sink.

*follow my project here

Tough Tuesday: Slowing down

2012-02-14T23:21:00.000+01:00

Odly,

Today seems to have been a day of stress, loud people being louder, energy sink holes attaching like leeches and more such things. I found great quiet, watching this TED talk about slowness. I forgot who linked this, but thank you, dear Anonymous.

As you can see, it's an older talk, dating back to 2007. Seems like a world away. I wonder what slowing down as a society would do to us, at this point in time. I know they're not advocating it in my office...

38

2012-02-12T22:18:00.000+01:00

Toes not quite in the water, ass definitely in the sand...

Happy birthday darling, one of these days I'll tell you to your face.

WIP Wednesday: Frosty

2012-02-08T21:59:00.001+01:00

Brrrrrrrrrr

I thought it was cold last week, but little did I know*
Doubling up on leather gloves *and* wool mittens, fleece cowl *and* hand spun hooded scarf *and* wool hat, jeans *and* leg warmers and a comfy wool/cashmere coat, I kept unsurprisingly warm while cycling back and forth to work this past week. It's a good thing I don't have to commute by car, since that has been frozen shut (not even the locks, the doors themselves) for almost a week. Well, it's too cold to fill it up anyway...

So, inside I've been, drinking my coco, staying warm, knitting away...

I love yarn cakes. They look so pretty, don't they? Just before they collapse... And there are only two ways to make them look like that. Pull the yarn from the centre just to make it look pretty, but I prefer to pull it out and make something at the same time. Something, like a finished Damask shawl...

Seems more practical, doesn't it? It's even more gorgeous** in real life, which is a bit of a relief. I'm working on an outfit to match it, so I can show it off on Saturday Lunch With The Girls. Where else to better show off a really, really nice shawl, right?

After all that knitting, it was time for some spinning. I finished the first braid of Tardis BFL and transfered it to a bobbin I can't use on my one working spinning wheel. It looks prettier this way anyway, so that's a bonus!

Taking a break from that blue now, and had to do some serious thinking about what to do next. Such pretty spinning fibres came in the post this year. I just had to subscribe to another quarter!

Frostbite

Mixed bat

Borealis

BFL/silk

With all that, the current weather, still not sleeping enough, and oodles of knitting around, I find it very difficult to get up and dressed and out the door in the mornings. However, it does bring a little happy to the gloom of every day dragging on like nobody's business. We seem to be in the midst of another round of everyone feeling "very sorry about the situation" and needing constant explaining that nothing has changed in any direction for the last 3 years. I know I don't need to explain myself every single time someone asks, but every once in a while it does feel like I need to defend the choices we've made, so I do, vigorously.

I do count myself lucky to be surrounded by friends and family who don't need explaining, who understand the reason for the decisions we've made, even though they don't always understand the decisions themselves. Friends who help keep me grounded and lead me back when I wander of into the deep dark forest of Maybes, pretty and treacherous as it is... So it's a great pleasure to do something back. Which leads me to the last and final (duh) picture of this post.

I'm playing with colours! Tomten the third, you're about to be cast on! In a few days, maybe... I have until April on this one, unless baby decides to arrive early, of course.

Until next time, dear reader. Keep warm.

*More proof that I could be a weather women, just like the next person (kidding, but only if you're a meteorologist reading this)
**And I do say that myself

WIP Wednesday: Purple

2012-02-01T22:03:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone,

Good to see you again. Are you cold?

Light a few candles, wrap up warm in a shawl and some mitts, and have yourself a nice cup of tea. That's what I'm doing anyway.

Gosh it got cold. I'm looking at cycling to work in the morning, when it's a balmy -12C according to some weather forecasts. Within 2 days the skin of my hands has given up on being able to handle it. Wool is my friend, my friends. A thick, long wool coat, handknit socks, cardigan, scarf, hat and mittens, none of which are colour coordinated, are part of my daily wardrobe. Right up to the moment I enter my office, where the heating system seems to think subtropical is the way forward. No wonder everyone at work is sniffling and coughing...

Last week wasn't so much busy as it was tiring, with a few things that should *give* energy surrounded by energy sink holes. Now that they're behind me, I'm still battling to keep my eyes open at work. The bottom of the pile of 'no thought required'-files is finally in sight, and soon I get to use my brain again. It's really difficult not to drift off in thoughts about plans and challenges....

On the bright side, I'm quickly catching up on podcasts I had a huge backlog of, like Hoxton Handmade, otherwise known as the Electric Sheep. While an otherwise very enjoyable and popular podcast, the adventures of the Sheep and it's band of.... I don't know what to call them... fellow... adventurers, are the best bits and make people look at me funny. A heist, a flying bathtub filled with Molotov chickens... Seriously funny. Go listen!

There has been some knitting when I wasn't working or otherwise engaged. I passed the halfway mark on my Damask (I did the numbers) so it's downhill from now on. Bottom Up shawls always take a while to get started, but the good thing is that rows only get shorter, and shorter, and shorter.... until there's nothing left! Right now, I have 7954 stitches left to go. This means I've already done 14468 of them. That's putting row 59 of 143 into the right perspective, isn't it?

Fortunately, one of the energy sink holes did allow some time for some knitting. In amongst a lot of musicians, at least a few recognised the craft of knitting... One of them asked if I planned to finish a sweater before the end of the day. I presume she has little sense of scale, since what you're looking at is the top of a bootee. A baby one. Stretchy though it is, I can't fit my freakishly small hands through them...

The young lad sitting next to me was mesmerized by the magic of the magic loop. Which was good, it's nice to show that a traditional craft can still be cool and technically interesting. Then again, the thing that impressed him most about the moment, was the very, very long sleeked back hair of the 12 year old pianist. the only thing missing from the outfit was a Count Vlad outfit. To each their own, and it takes a special kind of guts to be that young man. Power to him, I say.

Anyway, I'm working on it, even if it isn't very fast.

Right, I've got an hour left to knit a few swatches, so I'm going to start them now. Babyknitting for a friend's sister is fun, even though said friend can't decide on colours... This just means I have 11 of them to play with before she decides!

Clearance and Sales, the second part.

2012-01-29T20:11:00.000+01:00

I seem to have yet another cold. I'd put it up for sale but I fear there won't be any takers... I'm having oranges instead.

Lack of sunlight and a decent night's sleep probably don't help. I've been told I need another challenge. So far, 2012 sounds quite a lot like 2011, doesn't it? Well, not quite.

Clearance has expanded to include the old hard drive that's keeping this laptop going. I debated, and debated and debated. What if I remove the things I have backed up from the working hard drive because I have them on the back up hard drive, and then the back up hard drive breaks down? What if?!?

I've been dealing with that question for years, to the dismay of the Photographer, who has to deal with the "no room on this hard drive for your thousands of .ORF files you managed to take in a week"-message. A lot. Again I cut off at 2010. Every picture from before that (except the folders I consult for this blog) has been backed up, and now resides only there. I hope that thing lives forever, or at least until I manage to backup the back up drive.

Squeeeeeeeeeee!

I'm *in* the perfect sweater workshop. That is all.

(A challenge, knit something that actually fits me). I might also sign up for the steeking workshop during the next Breidag, 'cause that *sh*t* scares me senseless. Excuse my language, but have you ever considered cutting your knitting? I have. I was away with the faeries just thinking about it. A workshop might be a plan, as steeking is another challenge. Thanks for confirming that, Stacey!

A challenge that will be a leeeeeetle *insert squeaky voice* bit more difficult is one that's been swimming around for a while. I'm not really worried about the knitting challenges above. I'm really good at following instructions. That's why I never have any bits leftover after a long day of IKEA construction.

The challenge lies in the making of the instructions themselves. And obviously, I don't want to do half a job, so besides writing down the pattern for the adapted HEMA bootees, I want to figure out how to do basic publishing. I'm watching all kinds of videos, which have told me how to make a new document, and do something with columns. A template would be nice, wouldn't it? Anyway, I'm working on stuff.

Will I get tired, what with all these challenges? You bet. I'm going to rest myself on an island for a week.

I received an invitation for Pinterest by the lovely Martine from the iMake blog and podcast and it looks like I can invite some of my friends as well! Pinterest is a place where you can share your favourite things with you friends and the world by 'pinning' an image to what I can only describe as a huge, digital pin board. it's a great way to discover new things, get some inspiration, and create your very own mood boards. Drop me a line on Ravelry or Twitter (or my email, if you have it) if you want me to send you an invite!
If you're already on Pinterest, you can find me here. I'd love to see what interests you!

Earlier this week I bumped into this lovely project called FLOCK. You can join the FLOCK by adding a wool pompom sheep to their collection. I can't think of a better reason to try out my new pompom makers...

I've had enough of writing and trying to put buttons on this page, so I'm calling it another night.

Stay calm,
Cast on.

Note to Stacey: Sometimes you have to liberate a knitting needle when it's been hijacked by the project of doom. So I did. I'm now using my 4mm to knit Damask, together with the other people who are doing the #damaskkal. Martine from iMake and friends of the podcast are organising the thing.

WIP Wednesdays: Clearance and Sales

2012-01-25T23:07:00.001+01:00

This week, believe it or not, has been all about clearing out.

It started with liberating the 4mm needles. It all snow-balled a little from there...

I went from 1792 to a mere 814 unread e-mails, just by deleting everything from before 2010. Yeah, I know. Still working on 2010. Scanning through pages of unread newsletters, I stumbled upon a few things I forgot about, like contact information, and the wedding sermon. Sort of significant stuff, not to be lost in the deep deep cracks of the gmail account. Everything else had to go, so it went.

Going by the amount of relief that gave me, I went through my list of tweeps. If I'm no longer following you, it's not because of you. It's because of me and my incompatibility with your tweets. I should let a few more go. I'm working on that, but for now my curiosity wins.

To continue with this, I said goodbye to a few feeds in my reader. I don't quilt, but if I pick it up, I'm sure I'll find a few lovely people writing about it. Life blogs turning into lifestyle blogs also had to go. I just found myself not reading them, and then there's no point in letting them add up the unread numbers, is there? I wish them all the best, it seems mostly with living a blog-free life. Many of them are getting out of the blogging rat-race. Who knew?

I don't have the illusion that anyone will notice my clearing operation, other than me. But the numbers are down, and that is good for me. Me, me, me. It's me I need to pay more attention to.

Sleep more, take care, achieve goals. Dare to fail.

Having dealt with technofail for most of the evening, the sleeping thing means that this blog post will be published incomplete. I'll return later this week with some things that caught my attention, and explain the Sales part of the title of this post.

Lady Gift

section 4

Tanit's Jacket

row 40

Damask

Knit-a-long

row 19

Tardis

close to 1/6th spun

I'm setting myself the goal of working on the looks of this blog. Expect some changes in the near future!

WIP Wednesday: WIP Galore!!!

2012-01-18T22:18:00.001+01:00

Ahhhhhhhh. A WIP Wednesday with some actual WIP's! (and tools, FO's and near FO's, and secret WIP's)

Yes, well, here we are. I promised you a daylight picture of the thing that The Photographer and his brother made for me as a Christmas gift. How special is that?!? It makes a little noise, but I figure I can get rid of that somehow. I'll ask, before you ask.

I used it to skein 276 meters of a light fingering weight yarn I made out of Dutch Wool Diva's September instalment called Doctor. Not the, the other one*

It took a while to spin, not just because that's an awful lot of 3-ply out of 1 bat, but also because the gift knitting got in the way. It was so nice to get back at the wheel!!! I'm now working on the BFL by Dyeing for Ewe which I finally managed to get my hands on. Colourway: Tardis. I need not say more. It shines.

Last year I spun some DWD mini bats and some Zwartbles I was gifted by Louise of the CaithnessCraftCollective. Both remained a little under the radar ever since, and they've turned into a something. I'm not sure what it is about it, but it isn't quite a thing yet. I've decided it needs pompoms.

Knitting is taking place, some of it on this start of a cardigan. I've loved it ever since it was published by Gurdun Johnston a few years ago, but it never got made. Attempt #3, with a new yarn. Love the stitch, but it moves along so very, very slowly. You're looking at 26 rows. That's right, 26. On 4mm needles. I suspect it will be finished indefinitely.

This one's twin is now almost off the needles, which means I get to carry on with the twin of my own mitten, remember the cameo mitten in blue and cream?

Another WIP I've got going right now is a future gift to a female. The female is not yet been determined, although I am fairly certain of the continent she resides on. I'm not on it right now.**

There's also a perpetual sock. It'll be another one.

Once I get a thing off the needles, I'll have some needles free to join a KAL. Recruit me while I'm not yet otherwise engaged!!!

Oh, and Donna said yes. Hi Donna!

*House

**Guess

WIP Wednesday: a year unplanned but in progress

2012-01-11T23:32:00.001+01:00

It's not too late to say Happy New Yarny Year is it?

No?

Well, in that case, I wish you all a Happy Yarny New Year!

I spent mine many miles away from where my mobile phone provider thought I was (the Isle of Man, really?), and even further away from where I am right now (as home as home can be, when one is away from one's home, or one's heart). I got to spend it with my love, some old and some new friends. Yes, there was a little alcohol involved. However, and I cannot stress this enough, I did not have a hangover in the morning, epic or otherwise. Ha! Whether it be age or wisdom or both (or an upset stomach in the middle of the drinking) I can't claim to know, but hurrah!

I managed to meet up with some wool I had delivered, and delivered some jelly I had made earlier this year. Both were well received. My love and my BiL made me a most wonderful tool in the shape of a swift, of which I did not get any pictures in the sun. My camera took some shoddy pictures while my other camera made some difficult ones...

I visited new places (Cooper, twice in a day, twice!), met some new people (the best bar-keep of the week, nay the year! (2011, for 5 minutes) I'm just saying!), found some family not as I left them (Ehm, what happened to your chest area? It has bumps!) and left some family not as I came in (street-walker lipstick, the newest rage amongst toddlers).*

I found my shoes but not my kettle, a LYS and the bottom of my wallet, more bad but oh so good food (cheesy tots and a banana shake, unless they're out of banana at 4pm. Really?) and a potato pouch.

We travelled many more miles than we expected and did not see the Atlantic Ocean. We'd seen it already. We did go see Shiner though...

2012?

A work in progress. Let's all assume it's about moving onwards and upwards and maybe the universe will start believing it. (All together now!)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go meet up with my jetlag...**

PS. Nell, Heidi, how does February sound to you two?***

*Remind me to get those pictures off of MiL
**getting older
***yes, I'm trying to plan a meet-up through my blog. Why does that surprise you?****
****also, thank you Donna, for the potato pouch! Planning some sweet potato soon!*****
*****does Donna even read this?

Super Saturday: the silence before the storm

2011-12-24T18:34:00.000+01:00

Hi there folks,

Writing to you from the Unites States of American Bedroom, while the Photographer is doing some last minute shopping with his brother. Having spent most of yesterday in between in the two in the front of a far to narrow truck to hold 3 people in the front, I'm just fine with not tagging along. I'm to understand this is a good thing, as this last minute shopping might be to my benefit.

Just as well, because I'm not done wrapping yet!!!

I'm covered in fibre-fill, bits of yarn, wrapping paper and tissue, but I can make it!!!

(I've also only had half a cup of weak coffee.)

Just. Need. To. Bag. A. Few. More. Things.

And block another gift, fill a few more gifts and, and, and... then I'm going to sit down and have me some Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you all, thank you for reading! Stay safe, be good to the people around you and may the goddess of Yarny Goodness be with you, always.

Love,
Judith

Something or Other Wednesday: Where am I again?

2011-12-14T21:37:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, oh, dear.
Didn't mean to not be here, but you know, life happens. I'm slowly adjusting my routine to not go and feed a cat that's not longer there. I'm also no longer tripping over a litter box that's not there either. Life goes on, but it sure is quiet.

Tomten 2 was finished and delivered to lovely Yke and his parents, he can surely use it in this foul weather.

Please excuse the horrible pictures, I forgot to take any while there was natural light during the weekend, and I don't see daylight on working days. This time I used some ladybug buttons to brighten up the green cardigan.

With some bright flash-age, the picture doesn't really improve, but you get what it looks like, right? I created a faux-button band by purling the first and last 4 stitches of every row. Next baby may or may not get a tomten.....

Last Sunday we sang, or rather, had a sound battle with a musician-of-sorts who managed to muddle up just about every carol we sang. Still, we didn't do bad, and people seemed to like it. We get another chance this Saturday, when we get to sing inside two small churches. No electrified accordeonists there, ha!

For this picture, I gathered a few of the young gentlemen in my choir to be in the picture with me. Seriously, if you're near Breda, tenor/baritone AND below the age of 50, you're most welcome...

Have to run now, I'm not nearly done with Christmas!*

*Please send help.

This is the End

2011-12-05T22:51:00.001+01:00

Beautiful Friend

This morning at 7.25 am our Flip had his third and final stroke.

At the tender age of 21-ish, it was enough.

I'll miss you.

Fibre Friday: things are getting a little hectic around here

2011-12-02T19:06:00.001+01:00

Ah yes, December.

Every year I'm ready to not do it. Again and again. And again. And then it's December and it sounds like a great idea to try out that one pattern, for that one person. Only it's never just that one person. Luckily, this year it's only 2 persons. People variety persons. No biggie, just oodles of stitches, and no measurements received yet. I'll just have to guess.

Today I tried to organise recipients, as A Large Family Gathering is not when we expected it. Recipients organised, gift sets planned out and some frenzied shopping this morning means that I'm actually feeling a little prepared. I just planned a little bit more knitting in. Whoops.

As a result, I hope to have the time to make the second Jane Austen Mitten the travel project, but come to think of it, a long circular cable might be tricky to get onto a flight. Anyway, I've only to graft and finish the thumb on this first one. 'T fits.

There really isn't time for spinning. Not when December Is Upon Us!!!!! (really, I'm okay. I can do this). Slow progress, but I'm still working on it, since it calms the soul. And lowers the heart rate and blood pressure.

In good news, I finally managed to take a few snaps of Goodale, the cardigan I knit this summer. I spun the yarn this spring.

So far it's only making bits of fluff, so I have to put more twist in the next yarn I spin for a cardigan. I do learn something sometime...

I have to leave it at this, more knitting to be done!*

* the busy is in my head. In times like these I'm somewhat thankful I don't also have to juggle a family and run a house as well. Massive respect to those who do.

Scottish Sundays: Drifting towards a goal

2011-11-27T20:51:00.001+01:00

As any knitter will tell you, it's very difficult to move purposefully towards a goal when there's a lovely soft skein of yarn eye-balling you from the top of your stash. I *know* I should be more structured about planning, lists, setting goals and sticking to them. Startitis is really just a symptom of an underlying problem: lack of finishitis or fear of the unknown.

Even though this is not a WIP-post, any progress towards any sort of goal has been delayed by some cashmere/angora/lambswool mix, some Shetland and some random other things from stash.

I made a list of things to do. I could have done some things on the list, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. I'm not sure it's all just me, but I dare blame the weather and lack of sunlight a teensy weensy bit as well. I just can't be bothered to leave the house, to "go and do" or to be torn away from my craft area, my podcasts and my yarns. I've more or less prepared a few things I can do during lunch break at work (like taking the expensive leather shoulderbag to the mender's again, or getting the battery of my watch replaced) because I'll be around there anyway.

Instead of finishing off some to-be-sent-off SWAP thingies, I'm in the process of re-knitting the Mystery KAL (halfway there). I tidied, some. I laundry-ed, some. I started another Christmas Knit. All stuff that needs doing at some point, just maybe not exactly now.

Instead of striding towards a goal I'm more or less drifting towards it. I'm hoping for some rapids to be honest...

In pictures this week, some boats we encountered in Bonny Sunny Scotland.

I know exactly where I took this picture. There's a little harbour near the Gaelic Whiskey Distillery on Skye. The sun was out, as you can see. As you will also have spotted, this boat is sitting on the grass. I'm not entirely certain it's still in use.

I mentioned this boat in the last instalment of the Scottish Sundays: the turn-table ferry that takes you from a tip of Skye over to Glenelg. I try to take it whenever I can because I adore the thing. It's a lot like being taken onto a play toy, with dogs running around where they shouldn't and if you're lucky a seal or two popping up out of the water to check you out. It's not really breaking the bank, and it takes you to an area of the Western Highlands I love. What's more to want? Oh, right, there's only one of them left in operation, so I don't mind spending some of my hard-earned money on it. There appears to be a donation button on their website, so if you're looking to spend some cash, you might want to think about the Skyeferry. It even has a blog!

Couldn't leave you without a picture of Scotland's! Only! Floating! Pub! ('t was the sign that took us onto a side road). The Eagle Barge seems to have a Facebook page which makes this floating pub even more impressive. It's situated by the Laggan Locks. Locks always intrigue me. I think they are wonderful things, and I think I want to experience one from inside a boat once. I'll put that on my bucket list...*

Anywho, must get on. I think I'll treat these lists like I treat candy. Eat it all in as few sittings as I can so it's gone the next day. Hats, balls, etc.

* we all know by now how Great I am at following lists... Any tips welcome. Or you can come and finish them for me.**

** ultimate wish: someone to finish my lists for me. All applications welcome.

WIP Wednesday: Frogs*

2011-11-23T19:27:00.001+01:00

[insert sad face here]

Oh yes, I took some pictures. Some essential knitting got done, and some more knitting got messed up.

How sad is that? My lovely dear Chawton mittens by the quite impressive Annie Bee** which appeared in Jane Austen Knits by Interweave Press (she blogs about it here). Not quite gone, but also not quite as great as they were. I had to give in and admit that either my gauge was enormously off (even at a smaller needle size) or my hands are freakishly small compared to a normal medium sized mitten wearing hand. Either way, I was going to end up with a lot more mitten than my hands can fill, so I gathered up courage and devised a cunning plan. As this isn't an organic sort of piece, there is rhythm to the colours. All I had to do is go back to a similar repeat and start the cameo there. I'll probably end up with a giant sized thumb either way. We'll see.

You would think that would be the end of the misery. No such luck. In my effort to hurry along the mystery KAL hat B by Woolly Wormhead***, I figured "almost 3.5"" would be just as good as "exactly 3.5"" in order to create a slouchy sort of hat. I haven't frogged it back yet, but that's just a matter of time. It barely covers my ears when I pull it down. No amount of blocking will save that, and it's not really acting like the shape I see in other samples of the species. I daren't even show you a picture, even if I had one I liked. More later, as they say.

In good news, I love knitting the zwartbles. No more progress pictures on that though, as there isn't any actual progress as such.

I will leave you today with some pictures of a finished thing!!!

Okay, breathe. yes I finished a thing. I knit my cousin an arm warmer for her birthday. It looks a bit like this, but with her hand in it, rather than my freakishly small one.

It is made out of handspun 2-ply fingering weight grey Shetland wool and unspun, undyed silk mawata's (or hankies). I knit it inside out, or rather, liked the inside so much I prefer it over the outside.

It is 1x1 twisted, so there is a lot**** of stretch in it. While sitting snug on my freakishly small hand, I could insert the other freakishly small hand and have room to spare. I witnessed her trying it on, and it seems to sit okay against the skin. Hope it keeps her warm.

The outside, now dubbed "inside", appears less interesting to my knitting eyes. I'm rather pleased with the final result actually. A fitting object! Unfortunately it has left me, and my muscle memory, with a distinct dislike of 1x1 ribbing. Twisted or not.

I would end on a high note, but I've just found out that one of my knitting podcasts, CaithnessCraftCollective by the lovely loopy Louise, is not yet publishing a much anticipated section. In good news, it means the rest of the episode will load faster. Small blessings. In the mean time, I'm catching up on multicrafting Martine of iMake fame's back catalogue of podcasts, so all is well. You should check them out if you're that way inclined!

*no actual frogs were hurt during the making of this blog
**not an actual Bee
***not really a head of Worms
****an enormous amount

Scottish Sundays (or mondays): On the Road Again

2011-11-21T22:23:00.001+01:00

On. The. Road.

There was a time when I explored Scotland on foot and by train, under water (unplanned) and by postal service. These days I see a lot more of the country, because I get to drive on little country lanes which are too far away to reach by foot or train and possibly even by postal service. Even better, I get to choose when to travel and when to stay. I know it's not the best thing for the planet as a whole, but then again, I camp, leave no litter and inject what little I have to spend in the communities I reach by this mode of travel. Plus, I really like driving through Scotland. Open roads, mountainous tracks, glorious skies, I love them all.

Whenever the Photographer and I get to spend any amount of time together, a large proportion of that time is spent in a car. In a month's time, I'm off on a road trip, as it happens. This road trip will not take me very far, only about an hour and a bit, if traffic allows. I will then continue my journey on foot, by plane, some more footing, and a "bit" more flying, even more footing and a 2 hour road trip. After all of that I get to collapse on my own bed. I haven't slept in that bed for 2 years. It'll be an experience...

As this trip is in the future and I *still* don't own a Tardis (HINT, Photographer, HINT), I can't show you any pictures of it yet. Instead, some images from our last Big Scottish Road Trip.

Ah yes, roller coaster road. Twist and turns and ups and downs. Absolutely the best way to drive all the way up to the north coast, drive wise. Also probably sunshine wise. And a soft verge to land in.

Why yes, that IS the late Queen Mum's royal car park. Sort of. It's the car park at the Castle of Mey. Which happens to be the late Queen Mum's castle. So what I'm a little obsessed with it? There was a basket of sample balls of yarn for HM the late Queen Mum at the entrance. Sheep!

You might recognize the view from a movie. Highlander. Filmed in, you guessed, the Highlands. They probably left the road out though. I'm sure it wasn't there in the times they were trying to depict. We got muddy and climbed up a hill for that, you know?

The Cuilins, creating their own weather system. Just because they can. One of the great landmarks of the Isle of Skye. If I were an old God of some kind, I'd pick that as my home. Totally.

On the way to the little turn table ferry, I think that might be a distant view of the Five Sisters of Kintail. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. Lovely road to drive on, as the ferry can only fit a few vehicles at a time. A maximum number of vehicles coming towards you. Not counting the locals....

A better and positively certain view of the Five Sisters, taken on the road to Ratagan from the little ferry. I walked around there once, it's a stunning place. Also quite muddy at times...

Not, I repeat NOT ROAD KILL.

There, I hope you enjoyed a few of our road trip pictures.

Next month's road trip will look a little different, but I'll make sure to show you then. In the mean time, let me know:

What's your best road trip ever?

Placeholder

2011-11-20T22:23:00.001+01:00

Due to Blogger being rather silly about pictures uploaded through Picasa3, tonight's allocated blogging time has been consumed by re-uploading last posts' pictures. Please enjoy the bird until this bird works out how to make orf's into jpg's more quickly. Or tomorrow, whichever comes first.

Thank you for understanding

Regular Schedule Interruption - A Message of Importance

2011-11-17T22:43:00.000+01:00

Would you?

I would, have and will.

Thank you Sweetie, for 5 of the most wonderful and weird years. Ever.

WIP Wednesday, fibery, knittery, but not so much finishery-ed

2011-11-16T21:44:00.000+01:00

Or how I knit a lot of stitches but didn't *actually* finish a thing.

Above, Sangria. Last week I posted pictures of the 3 plies, and this is how she spun up. A lovely 3-ply, and I'm almost certain of what she might be. Mittens. Possibly. Or maybe a hat. I need more hats, my ears get cold on the way to work each morning. I blame the glasses, and the freezing temperatures. Wasn't it just last week we got to prance around in shorts? (not really, but close enough)

Above is one half of the next instalment of the Diva Dosis Fiber Club, called Doctor. (House, md) It is in the process of being turned into a thread of yarn, together with the other half. There is an amazing amount of yarn in this batt.

Ah, yes, the Shilasdair luxury 4-ply. It's turning into a Mystery Knit-A-Long Hat, which means I can't show you. Ha. I'm on schedule with this one.

Louise gave me some zwartbles when I visited her, in exchange for some alpaca that I appear to be allergic to. The coloured bits are Dutch Wool Diva minibatts, spun in colour sequence. Together they are turning into something else.

Manu, earlier this year. Still not done. Weather commands I finish it soon. Maybe.

This has turned into a short sleeve cardigan. Can't actually find a picture for it. I know I put it somewhere...

Same with that. Lovely fingerless mittens, I wear them a lot. I just don't have a finished picture...

Next week should be all about finished things, with actual pictures of the finished items. Maybe... Maybe I'll even get to terms with this new camera. Maybe...

Scottish Sundays, not so very wild

2011-11-13T15:37:00.000+01:00

As you *might* have gathered, I'm a bit of a fan. Of Scotland, I mean. I've never managed to be a fan in the way my friends at school were. I managed to cut up magazines and glue pictures into a folder, but I was never all that enthusiastic about it. Come to think of it, although many conversations were centered around New Kids on the Block, I manage to only remember the Wahlberg dude, because his brother went on to become an actor. I fear I must've given away my age, but that's ok. A few weeks ago I celebrated two threes. Yes, I dare say it out loud, I'm 33 years old. Already. What happened?

Anyway, back to fan-dom. I'm sure I only get to see the nice bits of Scotland, and that's why I love it so much. But, I did wander around in mud and snow, I've slept in freezing conditions (indoors, would you believe) and I've been rained upon a number of times. I've taken unexpected dips, pushed myself beyond my limits to reach mountain tops and driven the deathy road of deaths and lived to tell the tale. I have outrun, swathed and screamed at millions of midges. And I still love being there.

Today, I thought I would share a few pictures of animals we took on our last trip. The Photographer happens to also like Scotland a lot. Which is why I like him so much. Duh. He also took most of the pictures.
We didn't spot many or any deer or seals or otters or interesting birds this year. I'm not sure if this is because of our locations or the time of year, as we went a little later than usual. We did catch a few more 'garden' animals as you can see below. And before you ask, yes, those are the late Queen mum's Angus'.

Over the next weeks I'll pick some pictures with a different theme. How would you like to see a mountain create its own weather system?

WIP Wednesdays, or how I didn't forget...

2011-11-09T22:30:00.000+01:00

...Though I would understand if you thought I had.
As it turns out, I didn't forget. I just happened to be living in a parallel universe for a while. Glimpses of that universe turned up here, and then it went quiet. No more of that, I'm back!
I'll tell you all about that odd place I lived in for almost three months in a later post. Mostly because any visual proof is stuck on an external harddrive in a format not supported by the Internets. You can blame the Photographer for that.

Since being back on this planet, a herd of newborns has arrived as well. Hence the boots below. There's another Tometen in the making, it only needs finishing and buttons really. There has also been some spinning. What there has not been is the finishing of the elusive Manu. Three pocket sides, armpits and ends. Truly a never ending cardigan. I hope it fits...

I'll be back with more, later. It's good to be here

Roughing it

2011-08-25T22:06:00.001+02:00

It was going to rain today, but this is what the morning looked like. Sure, we had a few sprinkles, and got wet to the bone while searching a cache, but otherwise, sunshine and midges!

Scottish Saturdays : life can be very hard indeed

2011-08-21T09:13:00.001+02:00

Sun.
Scotland.

Also : midges

French Fridays: not going home.

2011-08-05T21:29:00.002+02:00

yet, anyway.

Everything is in place to get moving. Immunoglobine treatment is finished, dad is basically released from the hospital to travel home, but the insurance hasn't actually secured a way to get home. Be it flight or by ambulance, nothing happened today.

Hopefully tomorrow they get to go home and start looking forward to a full recovery. The more I read about the disease (Guillain Barré), the more I realise my dad was very lucky indeed. Having spent hours and hours on the phone with the insurance and ANWB (tripleA), the more I realise having insurance is a great thing.

I'll have to stop now as the mozzies are mightily attracted to the laptop screen, so I leave you for now...

French Tuesdays

2011-08-03T15:44:00.001+02:00

I realise that it's Wednesday now but I started this yesterday, so there you go.

Last Saturday the camera man and I spent a late afternoon and early evening getting paint off a rail and wood on a ceiling at Heidi and Sjoerd's place. We got home about 9ish and my phone was empty so I made it charge while we took a hot shower to warm up. If I didn't know the date, you would never convince me that it is summer.

27 hours later we found ourselves in the south of France, in the dark outside the gates of an unknown campsite.

To spare you the details and me the annoyance of typing this on a phone I'll give you the short story.

My father is diagnosed with a disease called Guillaum Barre (sp?). They got to him quickly with the correct diagnosis as only 1 in 100.000 get it. This means that the possible complete paralysis was avoided and he is slowly getting the feeling back in his legs

He'll get off his drip on Friday if all goes well and they will move him home that day if they possibly can.

Eventually, the world will stop spinning so fast.

Tour de Fleece

2011-07-26T21:55:00.000+02:00

all 1966 meters of itzzzz.....

Tour de Fleece - Stage 18

2011-07-21T23:41:00.000+02:00

Just a few more days... must. hang. on.

(I can totally do this)

Tour de Fleece - Stage 16

2011-07-19T23:44:00.000+02:00

More Blue.

Scottish Sundays: Tour de Fleece

2011-07-17T23:58:00.000+02:00

too tired to think, too late to care (much).
maybe some actual blogging later this week. for now: enjoy the fibre!

Tour de Fleece - stage 14

2011-07-17T00:40:00.000+02:00

Spot the odd one out

Tour de Fleece, Stage 13

2011-07-16T00:40:00.001+02:00

160m fingering weight.

Tour de Fleece - Stage 12

2011-07-14T23:10:00.002+02:00

Must. Do. More.

WIP Wednesday: Tour de Fleece

2011-07-13T21:49:00.003+02:00

I'm not doing a lot other than spinning at the moment. I finished the Tomtom jacket and took it to Stijn's mom and dad for them to keep until he'll fit into it.*

I've done some knitting on the Cami which I still haven't really named. Other than that, I'm not sure of anything at all, as I don't quite sleep enough to keep my brain functioning acceptably.

1 week and 6 sleeps to go until the airport drive, and only 4 weeks and 5 sleeps before I get to take a holiday. I'm hanging on. I'm quite well trained at that ;)

*Tomtom turned out to be slightly larger than Stijn-sized.

Tour de Fleece, stage 10

2011-07-12T23:45:00.000+02:00

Tour de Fleece - Stage 8

2011-07-09T23:24:00.001+02:00

Progress...

WIP Wednesday: Tour de Fleece.

2011-07-07T22:05:00.003+02:00

Progress...

Less than 3 weeks and counting...

Scottish Sundays: Carried Away

2011-07-03T23:00:00.002+02:00

I do get over-enthusiastic sometimes, who would've guessed?
While I have trouble sticking to vague deadlines, I seem to be ok with working my socks off for non-important self-imposed mass-participation deadlines. In the past I've rather pitifully wrote 50.000 word novels of eternal crapdom* just because thousands and thousands of others were doing the same. Now that I've found other, more rewarding hobbies, like Spinning** someone has figured out that we can make en event of that too. They named it the Tour de Fleece, and it lasts as long as the Tour de France. The goal is to spin every day, and rest on the rest days. No amounts or distances, that's all to your own liking.

So I've spun too much already this weekend. I'm not allowed back on tonight, it's already past 11pm!

So to keep this short, we went to the local Estate "Wolfslaar" which was celebrating its 500 year anniversary. It's a pretty building, erected in the 1800's which has served many purposes amongst which housing a school for midwifery. At the moment it's a Michelin starred restaurant, set in a stunning setting

It has been lovingly restored so if you want to, you can even have your wedding here.
However lovely it is, it was built as a family home, but no one has lived here since the 50's.

In an unfortunate turn of events, we caught a cat lurking around our nest earlier this morning. When we got back, it seemed like our lovely blue-green eggs were carried away. The nest is empty, the blackbird has returned to the nest a few times but never stayed. There is no sign of the eggs or possible hatched babybirds at all to be found. This makes me sad.

In better news, a baby was born and the Photographer and I are discussing possible camping trips. 3 weeks 'till touchdown.

*yes, crapdom, they were never edited, so they can't in all reality be good as they are
**oh the Spinning...

WIP Wednesdays: it's all about the due dates

2011-06-29T23:01:00.004+02:00

Oh I know, I do go on about the local baby boom, don't I just?

Don't be so fast to judge, there may be more to it... Remember this? Back then the blackbird nest was very much Under Construction, with very real Mind Your Head This Might Collapse warnings all around it.

Turns out our building team is quite good at construction, because it ended up looking like this!

Mother Blackbird is usually on the nest, so I grabbed the rare opportunity to take a snapshot from above to see if there was anything in it. Obviously, no Empty Nest Syndrome here!

At least 4 perfect little eggs of a strange blue green hue... I'll have to mind they don't poop out the side of the nest... I walk past there thrice every day!

Obviously, there was also some knitting. I finished, then frogged the bind off and refinished the Jeweled Cowl, which goes by the name of Silkie on Ravelry. Which reminds me, I should update that. Normally, finishing one project means I get to start a new one, but there's another Due Date looming. Someone else is about to drop a little bundle of joy in about 2 weeks, so I've gone back to Tomtom because it needs rapid finishing! Just 7 more 8-row repeats on this sleeve, and it's downhill from there. Just as well because there's another Due Date!

You might not care, but I'm signing up for the Tour de Fleece this year (not to be confused with the TDF, which I follow diligently on the radio and tv, but nowhere else...). I believe there will be a lot of spinning involved, so that should be good. I have this single to finish, park it and ply some linen for mom, and when that's finished Navaho-ply the singles before moving on to the package we got from the Landelijke Spindag last year. I may or may not be able to go this year, because of another Due Date!!!*

The Photographer (remember him?) arrives just after the TDF is finished and is staying for a whopping 3(!) months this time! Due to changes in circumstances, he's able to stay the maximum allowed, and will do so unless the job calls and tells him he's needed and they will actually pay for his effort. Now I just have to convince him to pick my camping trip idea for our camping trip and everything will be as close to perfect as this year could get. Almost.

For now, I'm due some sleep and a good ponder about my next project...

*Yes, another one

Scottish Sundays: Back to School

2011-06-26T22:50:00.004+02:00

As the mailbox is filled with shop folders promoting the latest in School Fashion, the summer holidays are just around the corner. In my day, you know, last century, we started looking for agenda's, notebooks and pens mere weeks before school was about to start again. Apparently, there just so much to choose from, we have to start looking months in advance. It doesn't affect me, but it leads to another subject I wanted to talk about.

Learning.
Yep, I said it. How much did you like to go to school when you had to? And, admit it, be honest, how much did you long back to those days once you started real life?
Real life, I call it, as it's such a stark opposite to the mythical days in which maths was the bane of our lives, or even when writing a 30 page paper on The Idea of the Self in Modern Literature (modern, as in early 20th century Modern) seemed like an unclimable hill. The days of sleeping in when a class was cancelled or sleeping on the bus for an hour while whizzing past traffic on the way to uni.

We may not like to admit it, but we all learned skills in school, or I wouldn't be writing in English here. Graduation comes as a relief from all that learning, and we vow to never go back. After a certain period of being a computer drone, we may, just "may" be ready to challenge ourselves again. Maybe you start learning a new language (hello Spanish, long time no see, como estas?). If we're that kind of person, we start 'expanding our self' to become more aware, or if we're honest, we jump headlong into a quarterlife/midlife crisis of our own making. African dancing, Jembé or pottery, while all having their own merits, call up an image of a certain kind person. If we're still being honest, and lets say that we are, we all have the image of a slightly voluptuous lady of a certain age who likes the sense of natural fibres close to her skin and who dies her hair with henna when we think of African dancing, Jembé and pottery.

Now, if you could let go of these projections and look at the idea itself, we might see something else. We live in a time of affluence. Most of us don't have to spend the larger part of a day on finding food and shelter. This leaves us with time to let our minds wander. And with that time come the questions.
Imagine having to live hand to mouth. Would you care what colour to paint your bedroom walls? Probably not, because asking and answering that question wouldn't make your stomach rumble any less.
When we live on a small budget, we let ourselves be led by our budget when we decide on the colour scheme of our bedroom walls. And most of us do. Only when we can afford to pick whatever we want do we have to ask the question:

What is it that I want?

Inevitably, this leads us to question if what we have is, in fact, what we want. E presto, a crisis has magically appeared.

Some will turn to materialistic things to answer that question and compare the merits of one portable device against another until they see blue in the face. Others, let's call them our earth mothers, might enter a course of African dancing to bring them closers to themselves.* Whatever you do, do something that fits you.

I fit a toy wheel around a piece of dowel rod, and attached some fibre to the hook i screwed into the top of it. Eventually, that led to this:

During the 2010-2011 school year, I thought myself how to spin.
Next year, I'm learning how to play the Oboe. Neighbours, beware.

Are you challenging yourself?

* or fencing, or race car driving. Why not?

WIP Wednesdays: Summertime and the living is... windy and wet

2011-06-22T22:45:00.005+02:00

Does this look like summer to you? Well it doesn't to me. However, this is the view through my window tonight, so there we are. This is what we have. After a rainy weekend, it's supposed to be nice again, just in time for everyone to be back at their offices.

Luckily, amidst the doom and gloom of office life and low-hanging clouds, I've been working on this lovely example of a Jeweled Cowl, even if I do say so myself. Handspun Bfl-Silk/Silk and beads, what's not to like?

Nothing, I hear you say, there is nothing not to like!

Even the beadless bit is a wonder to behold. I like it anyway.

Little spinning happened this past week, but that's ok. Slowly but steadily, I'm working through the lush greens, blues and purples and eventually, I'll get to the plying bit once again. Maybe not today.

On a last note, I tried a group session of Mindfulness on the recommendation of a friend who benefits from them. Since finishing therapy, I've let myself slip a bit, stressing out about the job thing. Very uncharacteristic, I know (oddly, so very true and also so very untrue), but something had to be done. While I'd already figured out the source of all the unrest and duly dealt with it, I already found myself inquiring after a trial session. Nothing hurt, I figured, so tonight I drove off to find it in an odd industrial, office-y type area. It was good, relaxing, slightly odd and whoozy. I left feeling good about it, having more or less committed to taking up 6 sessions and see where that would lead me. And then I sat down in the car and said NO. Exactly like that. Weird, right? The mouth says Yes! and the mind goes Hell No. Does anyone else ever get that?

I'm taking up Oboe Lessons instead. There. Committed. (just have to enter...)

Scottish Sundays: No rest for the wicked

2011-06-19T21:55:00.002+02:00

Hebban olla vogala nestas hagunnan hinase hic enda thu.

No I haven't lost it. Those are the first Dutch words written down EVER (that still remain). Roughly it means something like "All the birds have started their nests except for you and me". If you look around... that's kinda true. Big bellies are popping up all over the place, and I think I've mentioned that before. Never mind that, look at this picture!

This past week, a female blackbird (I'm guessing) started ripping bits off of our vines and flying in tufts of moss to build this nest! How weird, it seems rather late in the season to start building. The nest has grown in size since then, but I haven't spotted anything in it. Yet.

Nothing much has happened this week, apart possibly from the fact that my job got extended for another 2 months. In spite of that, some more job applications have been sent. Luckily I had already decided to stop stressing out about it, as there isn't much point to it. Something will come up, eventually.*

So, while I was procrastinating this weekend, I got the pictures off my phone and stumbled upon this, which shall be the Scottish picture of the week. It was taken at the Ullapool Golf Club. it includes DH, who, I've decided, needs a nickname like every other DH mentioned in blogs. From now on, he shall be called the Photographer. He doesn't often appear in pictures because he hogs the camera.**

I want my summer back. With sun and time off. No more of this nonsense.

Back to knitting warm cardigans it is for now. I hope that bird can swim...

* So I've been told
** He will deny this

WIP Wednesday: I'm Blue ladadee ladeedaaah

2011-06-15T22:45:00.004+02:00

You must be so grateful that this is a written medium, without sound. Or, not to put myself down, you will wonder forever what that sounds like coming out of my mouth. Well Ladeedah to you!

Blue is still "the thing to be" if you want to be a thing that's made by me. Just look at these pictures. I can't get enough of it.

Rock Island, or the Rock 'n Roll project turned out nice after blocking just a few hours with mom's new blocking wires! Such an addition to her set of tools (that I get to use)!

And one more, just because I can, obviously.

Tomtom needs just the last sleeve, an i-cord border and some embellishment. We can do this in 4 weeks. Baby, take your time, because I need some.

Just another picture of goodness, this yarn has now been named Storm in a Teacup, because it refers to the shop I got it at and my ability to turn a midge into an elephant. Clever, no?

Last but not least a guilty pleasure... Starting something you shouldn't is such a joy, don't you think? A cowl I ask you, do I need one? Not really, but as the summer solstice is supposed to be a 16C day (that's Celcius), I might want one. It won't be finished on time for that.

If this wasn't enough, I read a book the other week (Fistful of Feet - Jordan Krall) and got about 200 pages into Bill Bryson's At Home so far. Both great reads for very different reasons.

Scottish Sundays: of ripples and refocussing

2011-06-13T20:35:00.003+02:00

If nothing else, the past year has led me to learn that life will probably never be completely without ripples.

So, this glass lake does not represent life. Bummer, because wouldn't it be nice if it were like that even for just a little while? Sometimes smaller ripples would make things a lot easier, but I guess the point to it all is to build in such a way that any ripple can be easily absorbed.
Last week was a bit of a struggle, what with too short sleep, hormonal challenges, job sillyness and a lovely DH reaching point of explosion all at the same time. I let myself be led down the path of the unwanted career-thing, while I'm not even *that* worried about there being something, or being able to get by on benefits for a while if we had to.
With life twisting and turning and not settling on any direction at all, some things seem like better plans than others, but none of them seem to gel with the Big Plan, whatever it may be in the end. Not a full time job being scared out of my mind before even starting it. I'm fairly certain that is not the plan. Part time, maybe. I need to send an application tonight, and instead I'm blogging. It'll be all right, I can do this, you see? It's all for practise anyway. Apparently, it doesn't have to be perfect in one go. Someone should tell my head about that.

Dear head, please take this advise from the people who write on Scotland's roads, and SLOW DOWN. Thanks.

WIP Wednesday: In with the New, while the Old is still lingering...

2011-06-08T20:52:00.003+02:00

With life turning increasingly Craptastic(!), crafting gets increasingly more important to help with my sanity. Having found my Office-Away-From-Home, I've noticed that a week without it quickly turns more and more annoying. Tomorrow I get to go again (stupid Jazz festival*) so sanity might return. Eventually.

As I'm not really capable of commenting on non-crafty things without covering you in verbal blubber I'll stick with things with pictures.

Some of the fibre I got at the Breidag in early April, which has since turned into 360 meters of Navaho 3-ply, with much, much more to come. I might have enough for a garment! Also, I should note, I've mastered the art of Navaho plying. It's not that hard once you look it up on youtube.

The Babyknitting is coming along, just sleeves to go, and finding something to brighten it up with. This Zimmermann** woman is really onto something here. (Love, I shrink in her brightness)

If you recognise this, you've been through as many repeats as I have. Stunning result, but this garter stitch baby cardigan is less boring to knit. Getting someone else to buy blocking wires, because I'm not tackling this baby without them.

Ah yes, Manu.
As soon as I have a need for something warm, I'll finish it, promise. It's too warm to even look at it. Still only needs pockets and blocking.

Not sure I've shown this before, but it still needs all the digital work to it done. I can't quite find the energy to battle software to give me neat-edged cable symbols. If you know how to select/cut line sections in Illustrator, please please help me out...

Tomorrow, I'm taking some of that sock yarn I'm using for the baby knitting to try out something that's in my head. It'll help figure out what I want to do, while I try to make a decision on the yarn to use for it. I'm leaning towards cascade heritage sock, because just about everyone can have access to it and it won't quite break the bank.

See you back Sunday. Unless I implode before that. I hope you won't have to witness that...***

* Ok, it was a bit of fun, specially when we went to see Mr Pink with a pretty amazing impromptu drummer. He owns my microwave oven, he wore my dad's socks. It's a long story (not really)
** Elizabeth Zimmermann, of Tomten-fame
*** thinking good thoughts, chocolate, puppies, bacon, more chocolate. etc.

Scottish Sundays, of milestones and how they hurt when you loose your balance.

2011-06-05T23:22:00.000+02:00

Yes, still alive. Hai. Let's move on.

Last week I was confronted with my goals and wishes as they were when I started therapy about 9 months ago. There was little more to do but laugh about them and how they relate to now. I get to go on without the training wheels.
Oddly, it feels like hard work now that I'm officially declared sane enough to be left to my own devices. It's been a lot of Me Me Me Show* which I suppose is a necessary thing to deal with the Not Me Not Me Not Me Show** of the last years. Now it's more or less dealt with and every day has become more about NOW and how to make that work instead of the What If's of yesteryear, and about finding balance... Right.

Balance is not my best quality, which you would be able to tell if you were behind me at leaving the cinema last friday. No alcohol involved, just relative darkness etc. It's not something I possess in oodles, but something one can aspire to, can't one?

Anyway, during the time I just really didn't feel like blogging much, I've been trying to get out of the dip left by the high of the night of the performance (the higher the high, the lower the low?) which was great fun, and led to much hurt and drunk idiocy and trying to fit in without my wing-lady. It hurt the head and the soul, but dear therapist, who we ran into at the bar, said I looked really in my element. So, obviously, drunk and surrounded by relative strangers is where I really come into being me.***

Also during the non-blogging, 1 baby was born, a set of twins wasn't, and still isn't yet born, and then another baby. Are they handing them out for free or something? So including the twins, 4 are still to be born this year. Unless someone still has a surprise to tell me, I think that's quite plenty. One can only do so much baby-knitting in a year, can't they?
On a more serious note, the inevitable baby boom one encounters at this age does reinforce the notion of living life through others. People all around are getting settled, or at least have started a long process of doing up their dream home in order to get settled there. They are doing things that, I can only assume, make them happy in their being. So when those around us are taking the steps that some of us can't just yet, it is sometimes a little difficult to deal with those who don't appreciate what they have. While I'm very happy for people to vent their peeves (after all, that's what this blog is for sometimes) and make their own decisions about their lives, I'm often left baffled by the level of complaint and the decisions that are made. I'll have to go by the assumption that's just me not understanding others and their choices and remain silent in my bewilderment.****

Anyway, it's not all doom and gloom. Fancy me, being annoyed at not going out on an evening for feeling horrible? Uhuh, it happened, and again the next evening. I am still a bit bummed for missing the concert, but everything hurt, so sitting outside in the cold was not the best thing to do.
On my list is start Oboe lessons in the new school year, finally digitising a pattern, reading a few books and one day, maybe, book DH a ticket. You know, nice things. For now, I must continue knitting.

with this, for one of them unborn babs. 5 weeks to finish, or thereabouts. Oh, and send a bunch of postcard which have been sitting on a shelf for weeks. You know, now my head's out of my ass?

Disclaimer:
Due to the nature of my dwellings I encounter a lot of young parents, as well as in my personal, online and professional lives. My disbelief and bafflement can be contributed to all of you and no one in particular. Please assume I am talking about someone else. I probably am.

* Copyright to Louise J Hunt.
** No one in their right mind should want to own copyright to that.
*** Not really.
**** These things end up on the please kick my butt list

Placeholder

2011-05-29T21:36:00.002+02:00

Witty blog post with undetermined subject matter to appear here when author has pulled head out of arse.

Normal broadcasting will resume shortly.

Scottish Sundays, nothing to see here

2011-04-25T22:33:00.004+02:00

Soooo,

Yes it is still Sunday. The second day of Sunday even. By law, no less.

We celebrate a second day of... a few things over here. Christmas, Easter and Whit Sunday. So today is the second day of Easter, a public holiday. Last Friday, Good Friday was another day off at work. Due to not sleeping, I took a few hours last week, at the end of the day, and sat in bars (don't judge me) working on clearing out my head. Seems I found me a spot, so I'll be returning there regularly. They don't look at you funny (much) when you whip out a stack of paper and a pencil and start scribbling and doing weird things with symbols.*

On Friday I got some help clearing cobwebs from a dear, slightly loony friend. Hefe Weissen is our mutual friend, and the bill was loads smaller than last time, so that was nice as well. I'll be taken a course in house renovation with her, free of charge, hurrah!

Due to this course, and me enjoying my... socks off (too warm for April), Scotland has been put on hold. It's all about feeling good about what you're doing,** and I've been having a bit of a good time lately, so I'm just going with that. I'm sure I'll get some kind of response on that later this week.

Anyroad, while I wasn't hanging around in bars or out eating or knitting a stranded sock, I finally finished the bfl/silk/silk 2-ply. 650 meters of it. It stunk when wet.

This will be a weird week, with today off, a short day on Wednesday because of tri-weekly appointment, and then a short Thursday to be un-rushed before the Big Night. To boot, the folks will be in Japan, and I'll have Friday to recover. Looking forward to it!***

* drawing charts. Stop that thought.
** it is, isn't it?
*** not the recovery bit, the bit just before that.

WIP Wednesday, a full head's worth

2011-04-20T19:09:00.004+02:00

Ha!

You thought I'd forget again, didn't you?

But I didn't, did I? It's just too warm to carry on knitting a heavy wool cardi, as that's what Manu feels like right now. We're having a bit of an Indian Spring, if such a thing exists, and it's just so darn nice out there. I'm also still not sleeping more than 6 hrs a night and have just entered the 4th week of doing so. My brain is slowly turning to mush, so ehm... have patience with the getting on with things, will ya? (addressed to self, don't worry).

So do I have some WIPs? Indeed I do. Manu

Pleats and the beginning of a poofy pocket

Bea hasn't been sitting still either, having some lush silk added to the twine, but due to being silly, the silk single is being drop spun on this supposed Thai spindle. The yarn had better be nice.
Also in this picture, bits occupying my brain. Not really, they're out now. Harhar.

Must be off again, singing some more Queen bits. Hurrah!

Scottish Sundays, in Black and White

2011-04-17T19:20:00.003+02:00

It's not often I get to use my shoes as a way to describe my thoughts, so here they are! Black, heeled and oh so purdy. White, somewhat comfy and wearing the wrong laces.

I wore the black shoes this Saturday. They went well with my black dress, the one which seems to be the costume for singing the serious stuff. Singing was serious yesterday, even though it's quite joyful in parts.
Some of it is massive, other bits are very subdued, but all of it is beautiful and very unlike our usual repertoire. Of course we're not the first (or the last, beating Eindhoven to the post) to perform this, so youtube provides some great performances, like this one, which is Movement I of the Queen Symphony

I wouldn't dream to suggest I could sing to that level, but not for lack of trying. Trying is made a lot easier because of the enthusiasm and, dare I say Charisma (such an awful word, but quite correct here) of the people we're working with. The fact that the choir conductor was pleased(!) during practise can be called quite a miracle, as he never seems entirely happy at regular choir practise. There's always room for improvement, quite a bit of room to be honest... After the try-out he still seemed quite pleased "with some bits which turned out quite beautiful" which may possibly have been the bits we didn't sing. I'm not sure he specified. Anyway, we'll take the sort-of-compliments when we can, won't we?
The other conductor, who is actually in charge of us all seems to radiate joy in what he does, it's quite addictive. He got me thinking about having so much joy in what you do that you infect other people with that positive energy... Be honest, how often do you get to experience that? I don't, not often.
Are you that person? I'm not.

I moan a lot about a job which does little more for me than pay the bills and keeps me from not leaving the house. The people around me moan about their jobs too, because we share the same lack of enthusiasm. My mentor finding joy in his latest nickname "Rain man" isn't quite the same thing. He just remembers a lot of useless facts and can do numbers in his head.
Anyway, if you've been keeping up, you know that enjoyment doesn't come easy these days but I try very hard, which brings me to the other side of the coin.

Before, I unconsciously decided that there was no point in starting new things because it meant there was only going to be more to say goodbye to. And since I had very little going on, that worked, kinda. For a while, until it didn't any longer. So now I enjoy a lot more things, allowing the entire experience to "enter my head" (which is not a medical term, obviously, ahem). But oh boy, trust my head to bugger it up again. Besides having the best of times singing and experiencing and quietly enjoying the fact that I still think this conductor is my DH's long-lost-twin-brother-from-another-mother (I've got people agreeing with me, I'm not crazy), there's this nagging little voice in the back of my head reminding me it's going to be all over in 2 weeks and nothing is going to replace it. Besides that, I'm moving to a place which seems to be a bit of a cultural black hole (no offence, really, it's a numbers thing) so even in the very far of future, there won't be anything like it. Granted, there is a music hall in Dallas, but lets be honest, I won't be singing for Jaap van Zweden, if he's even still there.

So, in order to stop this voice from nagging, plans have to be made, once again. All this energy has led to me plans 1004 through to 1006. Ehm yeah, not really counting, I just make a lot. But, piano lessons aren't so hard to come by, and maybe even some voice training? Who knows, but music is good for the soul so why not, eh?

On to the white shoes...

We did this one today at a shared concert with another local choir. The general feeling lacked a teensy bit of enthusiasm. Only a little bit, honest. It's just not quite the same, is it? Hilariously, we managed to get the number of chairs wrong again, which I might just blame on the little gnome sitting in the row in front of me at the Queen stuff. She turned up with a chair she brought in, which might possibly have come from the selected stack which was painstakingly counted out up to 3 times before we needed them. So what do you do when the awfully loud music combo is not where it was supposed to be and therefore in your way with fewer chairs than bums to fill them? Uhm, I'll leave it to your imagination to come up with the answer.

Instead of being bummed out, I did manage to enjoy the day, grinning at the valiant attempts of our own conductor to stay awake (he didn't leave the try-out after-party until 2.30 am, rockstar that he is), being happy with the outfit I didn't feel much for at first but turned out to be much more me than many others, and my red fingernails! Hurrah!

What does this have to do with Scottish Sundays, or even the lack of WIP Wednesday earlier this week, I hear you ask!

Quiet down, even you in the back of the class! (I still imagine people actually read this). I've been going on an average of 6 hrs sleep for about 3 weeks now. This article explains what that does with your brain. For now, I'm happy with my language centre working, somewhat...

Now, please excuse me while I keel over. (If only)

Scottish Sundays, a 4-horse race

2011-04-10T22:12:00.004+02:00

I was told this week that I didn't have to have everything solved before visiting the one person there to help me solve the problems.

For once, you do your homework thoroughly and still it's no good. Uhuh. I'll take it as a compliment anyway.

This Scottish Sundays thing was started a little while back to help me focus on an achievable goal. Something to work towards for the time that the main goal, share continents with the hubby (or even states, county, dare I say address?), is held back beyond my influence. This secondary goal, being where I love to be, is something that I have influence on, something that isn't quite unimaginable as much as you would think.

Right.
Now that we've got that clear, let me explain what my head does with that information.

*insert Munch-like scream*

That's it, no really. And then it runs around like a headless chicken, bumping into all kinds of useful ideas that could help sustain me during this new adventure.

I ask you, what would a headless chicken do when it runs into a splendid idea?

Really think about it.

A bit harder.

Exactly, that's what I thought (and know, this is MY head after all). There isn't much a headless chicken can do, is there?
This head of mine ran into a few decent ideas, but rather than acting upon them, it would run right on into the next one, only to stumble on to the one after that.

The hubby goal seems to be on the move much like tectonic plates move. You need expensive and complicated instruments to measure movement, and once in a while it makes a big hoohah and upsets everything. Only when tectonic plates do it, it's not just my little bubble that gets shaken.*
So whenever this tedious work-thing finally moves into place (maybe in 2 weeks, maybe in 2 years, who knows?) we get to see what happened to the visa application. I don't even want to think about what that means.

Anyway, the Scottish thing got a strange reaction earlier this week. A Welsh girl in my book club said (and I try to quote here):

"What do you want to go to Scotland for, no one's happy there, it's miserable!"

So ehm, yeah. I'll happily stay in my tent for a few months, the thing is, I need to be able to afford that. Queue Plan 2a, 2b and 2c. As I haven't assigned them yet, I've been working on one of them this weekend. The secret knitting got sent of to its little recipient, after I figured out what I did with the cast-on. A pattern has been started, Illustrator has been beaten into submission (for now), and my little baby (the knitting, not a real one, obv.) is now gone, never to return... *sob*

Something to cheer you up

Spring is here, you can tell by the blossom (not only in Japan, ha!). This happens to be our neighbours' plum tree, but tress are doing their flower thing all over the place now. Not the big tree that lived at our other neighbour's house. It got the chop last week. the light, oh the light! It burns, even though the sunscreen lotion.

As this is still Scottish Sundays until further notice, here is a picture of me, taken a few years back on Skye.

Some of you might recognize the backpack, only it's being used properly here. These days it only comes out when oodles of fibre-goodness needs to be carried around (ahem). But, this picture might help to explain the blue-green obsession I've had going in crafting these past few months.

The latest thing on the bobbins is much like that. Blue, green, and yellow for the backpack. Cunning, isn't it? I'll have to get my maps out to name this one...

*have you done your bit for Japan yet?

WIP Wednesday, Singing Too Much

2011-04-07T22:27:00.003+02:00

Yes! I know!

It's Thursday, yes, I am aware. I was too busy singing yesterday to be posting you crappy pictures of fluff I got last week to play with. Enjoy them anyway, while I try to figure out this Illustrator thing*

*working on a pattern, yes**
**everyone is doing it these days...***
***not really

Scottish Sundays, and a Glorious Day of Knitting

2011-04-03T20:14:00.005+02:00

I'll start you off with a Glorious Day of Knitting, which could also have been named "Day of Frantic Driving, Intensive Estonian Knitting and Utter Exhaustion" but that doesn't really get people to buy tickets. So they went with Brei- en Haakdag instead. This being a Dutch event an'all.

After some well placed advise and misplaced sense of direction, we reached the event with 5 minutes to spare before the course started. Our frantic re-routing by way of a 80km road didn't leave us much time to breathe, let alone stop for coffee or a bathroom break. You get the picture as we reached the venue. I should add at this point that we were not the last ones to get to class. Minor triumph, but only that.

We took the Estonian Colour and Lace Knitting Course from the Dutch Knitters. They started out by telling us that this is normally a 3-day course, crammed into 3 hours, and to be honest, it did show. At the end we were rushed to finish the Lace instructions because the next class was waiting, while at the start we were shown a large collection of books we might be interested in. I'd think they might want to turn the order of events around, as they kindly provide a list of interesting books with the written instructions. That aside, I learned a lot.

Lace practise

Since I've already made the Laminaria, Aeolean and the Echo Flowers Shawl in the past, I'd met the lace techniques that were in the course already. This came in handy when my neighbours had a question, and at least I got my knitted cast on corrected, as I knew I was doing something wrong with that. We started with the colourwork, and this is what I came for!

Estonian braids

Don't you just love the different braids? Not all of it is great looking, I got the tension and the order of the tails wrong a bit at the start, but wow, I love it! the best thing is that I caught most of it from the instructions, so I'll be able to reproduce them all.

After the class ended we went down to the fair part of our day, and spent some time oggling and coo-ing some lush yarns, but I managed to keep to my wish list and only get spinning fibres. Obviously, the Belgians had some nice things so I scored a 500gr hank of yarn that is to be dyed, and two cones of merino, one black, one magenta.
It was lovely to find some new yarns and a shop I knew of but hadn't seen before, Penelope Crafts.They stock Cascade which I love for a 'simple' yarn. Mom got a cardigan's worth of blue and matching sock yarn so she can make a set ;)

As far as the Scottish Big Plan goes, boy is it ever so hard to keep going. When the rug got pulled it didn't just take away my ooomph, but also quite a large chunk of the base I was working from. With the buffer gone, this is turning into a very different sort of game. Wrong decisions start looking attractive all of a sudden, which is to say that one should be content with what one has, and not aspire to have what one needs. I've got my job until the end of May and quite likely beyond. It feels wrong to not want to have it, but..... oh go on, I need to stop myself from moaning about it. Now, if only I could find that little bit of Oooomph back, that would be nice.

Secret Knitting

One part of the Grand Scottish Plan (it goes by many names) was to find something to do that could be exported along with me. Something to do regardless of my position on the globe. The Secret Knitting is to be sent off this week, so I better get on with writing down the pattern, the instructions, and teach myself how to do layouts etc.

Meanwhile, I'm spending quite some time rehearsing for the Queen Symphony that we'll be performing on the 28th with Harmonie Cecilia Princenhage for their jubilee. Today was the first rehearsal with orchestra, and I've decided that the director is DH's long lost older twin brother from another mother. Makes it a lot easier and pleasing to the eye to keep focus on his directions. Ha! It's not even close to what we usually sing as this is a project (with 140 singers), and I hate to say I love this so much more. Next time there's a classical project and I'm in town, I'm definitely joining in.
During breaks, I'm making lists for the other big huge plan of bringing dyeing, spinning and knitting to the not-yet-yarnies. Oh boy.

PS. I don't know what happened to last week's pictures, or which they were or I'd put them back. Ehm, sorry 'bout that.

WIP Wednesday, Spring Is In The Air And In My Head

2011-03-30T21:33:00.003+02:00

...and it's making me feel a bit like this. Clouds, cotton buds, (snot) filtering everything going in and coming out, so it's all a bit fuzzy around the edges. I believe every tree in a 10 mile radius around my head is doing its pollen thing right now, and boy, it's hitting me hard. I've already keeled over twice this evening, and it's not even 9.30pm yet.

You may have noticed that there also wasn't a Scottish Sunday. I have one prepared, but I don't think I'll put it up here. Karma keeps trying to kick my butt, and this time it came armed with an administrative person with little common sense or sense of duty. You know the types, they sit and put in just enough effort to keep the job, but do little towards thinking *with* the client (i.e. me).

Well, they did enough to pull the rug of progression out from under my feet (very abridged version of original post) but I Shall Not Be Defeated by the powers (or lack thereof) of the (insert very nasty name-calling which shall not be repeated to the unwitting public) person who is in a way a colleague in another office.

I sincerely pity the people who do not have the wit, the ability or the knowledge to stand up for themselves. This is a bureaucratic beast in which are many dis-functional little cogs which don't stop it from running but make it unloved by the general public nonetheless.

Combine the rug-pulling with the copious amounts of snot being produced in my head, and there you have it, no WIP Wednesday pictures. However, I shall be going to the Breidag (Joyous Day of Knitting) and I shall be Learning New Things! and possibly find a few cheapeaux things to bring home. No more Yarn, spinning fibre only. I can make my own yarns, thankyouverymuchindeed.

Lets hope I catch me some of that wind to blow out the cobwebs so I won't forget to take pictures of our Estonian Knitting course!

Finally, for your entertainment (and mine), please listen to Louise Hunt's CaithnessCraftCollective, because her podcasts are Scottish Sundays and WIP Wednesdays all rolled into one! (and then some).

I'll report back soon, promise, with new pictures of pretty knitting?

WIP Wednesday, onwards and upwards

2011-03-23T20:22:00.004+01:00

I don't know what to tell you about the missing Scottish Sunday. I had ideas to write about, but then they made my head 'splode and now they scare me a bit. Don't worry, I'll tame them soon enough, one way or another.
In the mean time, lists are being tackled, jobs are not lost (yet) and old projects are picked up again.

I've been spinning one of the Dutch Wool Diva batts, but it wanted to be a lace single, so I've been going for weeks now and the end isn't near yet.

Through no fault of its own I'm not too happy spinning it, as it's slow going and the colour doesn't quite meet my lust for greens and blues. It is very nice, so I'm trying to rush it so I can put something green on the bobbins instead and come back to it when I feel better about it. As a single, it has a tweedy feel to it, adding shades of pink, magenta and pale blue to the charcoal base. I actually have some Harris tweed waiting to be sewn in the same shade of magenta. Next winter will be colourful!

Manu, sleeve 2

As you can tell, more Magenta-ish for next winter. It's rather nice these days, so I don't foresee a return to woollen cardigans any time soon. Or maybe for those chilly mornings. Anyway, I returned some attention back to Manu, which is at least halfway done, with one sleeve already attached to the body. It requires a lot of finishing so as far as time goes, I might not be on the home stretch yet. At least it'll be more interesting than the large stretches of stockinette I've already finished.

It'll be so worth it in the end...

In short term knitting, I'm working on this scarf-ish creature. It has an unexpectedly nice cast on which needs some re-doing to make it perfect, but for now I'm hurrying along so I might wear it to the Breidag in Nieuwegein next week. It also needs a name...

I also need to attend to working out the pattern for the secret knitting. It's been getting s few oooh's and aaah's from the few people who've seen it. Unfortunately, they all love me, so their judgement might be tainted ;)

First, I have to clear some space on this computer before I can install the software. I'm sure I've said that before...

** as the camera is out with its rightful owner, pictures are taken on my phone. Not bad, but not great either, I know **

WIP Wednesday, on a positive note

2011-03-16T22:13:00.005+01:00

Since my last post, nothing much has changed in the Tokyo-having-my-brother-in-it situation. He is now with his boss and some others from work, and even though they briefly toyed with the idea of leaving, they haven't and won't if things stay the same.

I know a lot of people have left, and I am glad for them and their loved ones at home (quick wave to Annie Bee's sister, who is about to touch down). I understand that enough is enough and you just want to get home. However this is not something I want for my brother, who has really come into his own during the last few days. Starting out panicky on the phone during the weekend, he gave a sublimely down to earth interview on the Wereldomroep, a Dutch radio station that broadcasts worldwide. He gets that from me, by the way. Ahem. I think we're all clear on one thing: if he were to flee now, it would be very difficult to return. The risk of an earthquake is always there in Tokyo, nothing has changed that, even with the nasty powerstation-thing. No, he's made a decision which wasn't the easiest one, but the best one for him.

If I were a sentimental person I would start a weepy story about how proud I am of my little brother, but I'm not (a sentimental person, proud I very much am). This is WIP Wednesday after all!

Unfortunately, I have nothing to show you!
Peaks Island only needs a few ends tucked in, and the secret knitting is blocked and ready to be written up. It's still a secret, so no pictures yet!

I've started and am about to frog what I knit of a silky scarf, because I'm still not quite liking the cast on yet. It has Estonian flowers and shiny beads though. I have a few bad pictures on my phone, but for some reason they won't find their way unto this blog. It will have to hold... and either way, it's about to be frogged.

So instead, for your delectation and delight, some happy pictures of a happy place.

SCOTLAND, I WILL BE IN YOU ONE DAY!

So now that you've looked at the pretty pictures, tell me, have you donated yet?

Scottish Sundays, suspended

2011-03-13T23:15:00.003+01:00

As you may or may not know, my brother lives in Tokyo. He is doing fine, or as much as anyone can be doing under the current circumstances. As far as I know, his friends are safe. There's something to be grateful for. It could've been much different.

You can read about his experiences here if you read Dutch.

Many, many people are not so lucky. They've lost their house, maybe their relatives and friends as well. They need our help.

Please donate what you can miss to the International Red Cross or organisations like Shelterbox who provide basic provisions like tents, cooking gear and items which are specifically needed in the current situation.

When you've done that, stop, breathe and think about what would be the worst thing that could happen if you were in Japan at the time of the quake. Cherish whatever you come up with, because you were lucky enough not to have lost it.

Please give with your heart.

WIP Wednesday, feeling blue

2011-03-09T19:53:00.003+01:00

Hahaa!

fooled you!

i'm not blue, i'm just detecting a theme in there pictures here. i may be just a little inspired by these blue skies we've had. they're gone now, but there's no harm in recreating blue skies on the wheel or the needles, is there?

leftovers

this is what is left of the yarn that made the secret project. i got a little nervous towards the end as i-cord is a yarn-consuming way to bind off, but it's so worth it in the end. i'm blocking the project this weekend and cleaning up the laptop to make room for some software that will help me do the pattern. much anticipation towards that...

stormy skies*

this is the first yarn i spun from a (3) bat and i'm so sorry it's finished. there's a lot of enjoyment in finding out which colour is next and what the combinations will make of it. again, a fairly thin yarn, so apparently that's my natural size. i'm thinking of investing in a magazine, Spin Off, which i keep hearing about. any thoughts?

leftover storm

as usual, the two kinds of bats didn't give me the same length, so i plied the leftover bits of the storm single on itself, creating a small skein. it makes me happy i plied it with clouds as i like that final yarn a lot better with the white in it.

i've been staring at it every time my eyes catch it sitting around somewhere. it gets moved with the light that plays off the angelina in the clouds part of the ply and i know it made me late(r) for work at least once this week. it's also very nice to come home to as it catches the last of the sun at the end of the afternoon. i think i'm having a little crush on it....

to get myself away i'm playing with the angel yarn i got at the Handwerkbeurs the other week. i've had a ling skinny scarf idea in my head for a while now, and this might be it. not like i don't have other things to do than play with baby alpaca, cashmere and silk...

*bats by Storm op Zolder

Scottish Sundays, WIP wednesday's pictures

2011-03-06T22:24:00.002+01:00

This week hasn't been a great week for dreaming.

Two big events had quite a bit of impact, even though neither actually touch me in the current situation. DH had a serious bereavement at work and our step-son managed to throw in the towel before even getting started at his last real chance of making something of himself.

There's no better way to realise the distance between me and home (aprox. 5000 miles as the KLM flies). My brain took the week off to deal with that.

In between that mayhem, I did manage to send out a job application to the RSPB to most likely no effect. Before Tuesday, I need to send out another. No, I didn't actually work on that this weekend because I was too busy being tired while having sushi on Saturday and mom's birthday party today. Lucky me, I got to explain the situation once (twice) more to my cousins and other various guests at the party. Just what I needed.

Anyway, not to complain, we're all still alive and in (questionably) good health. That has to count for something. The glass being half full and such things.

In my last sorry-excuse-for-a-blog-post I did mention the absence of pictures. Well, here are some.

Storm Clouds

Because that's what the colours of the bat reminded me of. Both bats had greens, blues, whites and grey in them, making for a stormy outlook. It's plying quite interestingly, more on that on Wednesday.... (fingers crossed)

Suikerspin

The final object, not quite. But this is what I gifted, so it's no longer up to me what it becomes. It sure is sugary sweet though...

Eventually, this part of the blog will become less gloomy, promise. I tire myself out.

Glass. Half. Full.

WIP Wednesday, No Milk Today

2011-03-02T23:20:00.002+01:00

My love is... well, you know.

There's something about meeting a deadline applying for a job you're not going to get that makes time slip away from you like milk through your fingers. (har har)

Between work, voting, trying to write a half-decent current job description and staying awake, I didn't have enough computing power to remember to offer some pictures of Works In Progress.

Maybe later. I need natural light this week.

Scottish Sundays, brighter pastures

2011-02-27T21:59:00.002+01:00

Today my sort-of-stepson Ryan is off to start Basic Training so he can be a wheeled vehicle mechanic in places where people might shoot him before becoming his friend. I've decided not to worry about this too much until I have to. Good luck to him, and well done for sticking with his decisions. It won't have been easy.

Anyway, brighter pastures.

It wasn't too long ago that I emerged from the latest Big Dip, so to be complimented was a minor triumph. Apparently, I've made a few new strategies and gained some insights into how my brain works. Practically, I've found 3(!) vacancies to apply to, one of which closes on Thursday. Some urgency required, obviously. RSPB and Historic Scotland, you can expect applications by me and I strongly urge you to at least look at them before tossing them out. Thanks in advance.

How awesome is my tent?

Can't wait to be back.

Craft Fair Zwolle, softly softly

2011-02-26T23:54:00.003+01:00

Oh my....

Yesterday, I had a well-deserved days off and managed to let myself be tempted to go the Craft Fair in Zwolle. It's a good (really?) thing I brought the big yellow backpack that I usually only use for hiking because we managed to fill it up with yarny and fibery goodness.

In this image you will find Angel Yarn by The Natural Dyestudio, Noro Kureyon Sock (both from Wereldwol), several bats by Dutch Wool Diva and some from Storm op Zolder, Evilla artyarn twice (Astrid's Dutch Obsessions) and some Ashford spinning stuff I needed some extra from for Mythos, you know the Unfinished Object

Please find which is which yourself... All I can say at this point in time is that some of it is already being spun. If you have a soft-fetish, my stash is where you want to live.

Anyway, the Fair was super busy when we arrived around noon. Miraculously, we found a parking spot real easy right by the door. This was explained later, when I saw a sign "parking for vendors" as we left. Oops. Free parking though, well done Zwolle!

No lines to get in, but then we were stopped by the mass of people in the hall. Once we fought our way through to where most of the knitting and fiber stalls were, it was a little more civil, so we never moved far from there. Mom loaded up as well, getting some nice Mission Falls for a pattern I gifted her last Christmas. We weren't just spending all day, mind you. We brought bread rolls and drinks. Probably saved us enough to allow some of the yarn we got ;)

Amazingly, there were a great number of fellow ravelers to be recognized, as there were buttons to be used. It's nice to be part of an online community (hello, marriage, anyone?) but it's always nicer to meet a great bunch of creative people in real life. As by appointment we met with Dutch Wool Diva, whose actual name I don't remember, and Marieke (?) from Wereldwol. Unfortunately, the tweetup with Aafke didn't happen, but that's really not so strange. There were thousands in the hall at one time, and if you don't look exactly like your ravatar or Twitter pic, there's a good chance you'll be missed.

In the end, we had a great day, and made it home before dinner. It was nice that traffic kept itself to our agreement, there was hardly any in our direction. It'll be another month until the next Fair, I wonder if we can control ourselves until then...

WIP Wednesday, dyeing to be me

2011-02-23T20:31:00.005+01:00

Oddly, I wasn't as off-track as I thought I was. I just didn't know so I felt *a bit* down about it. Did you notice?

Back to the good stuff: I dyed. As it's mom's birthday soon, I figured I'd use my awesome spinning skills (spin thin, ply, awesome, right?) for a special gift this year. So on Saturday we set up the kitchen and I prepared some food dye while mom played around with colouring pens. Together we dyed half of my stash of white Shetland top in two sittings. The first came out a bit... light

White with a hint of colour

So I put a lot more dye on the second try. It worked!

With all of that coloured goodness drying, it was time to get the brown Icelandic off the bobbins. So I finished it in one sitting that evening. If only you set your mind to it, apparently, you can get things done.

On Sunday, I spun the lightest top and it just screamed out its name. Now since it's still a gift I'm not showing you the bobbin up close, that'll just have to wait. You will have to take my word for it, if ever I've seen spun sugar on a bobbin, this is it, so that's what it will be.

Suikerspin, brown Icelandic and the remains of skein #2 of the Secret Project

In other news, I'm not fixing O.W.L.S.. Apparently, it doesn't want to be fixed or it would've been by now. Instead, I'm frogging back to where it went wrong. It's such a fast knit, I might even get some more use out of it this winter. We had a small (short?) flurry of snow today and I've been freezing my butt off this weekend. Spring isn't here yet...

Tonight I'm spinning some more, knitting a bit and sleeping early, as I'm off to the Handwerkbeurs (craft fair) in Zwolle on Friday! This means a 2 hr drive there and back, in Friday traffic. I better be rested...

Scottish Sundays, misplaced mojo

2011-02-21T22:56:00.003+01:00

No, I didn't forget.

Not really anyway, it just slipped my mind. Trying hard to keep on track, and applying to more underpaid jobs at organizations I know and appreciate. It's not easy to keep the enthusiasm levels up all of the time. I had better do it quick too, because I'm not getting any more positive about them over time.

In the mean time, I'm turning down teaching gigs I can't and won't do. Just the thought of it fills me with dread, and that doesn't seem like the way forward.

I know it's the me being tired to the bone who is typing this, but in many ways it feels as if I'm back to where I was, only a bit more aware of it.

Yes we're hoping for things to work out soon, which means me making plans for me is futile. It's not futile, I know that. We've been hoping for almost 2.5 years for things to work out soon. Going by the assumption (the truth) that things will change at their own pace (making a snail seem F1-like), I need to make plans for me.

The fact is that my current job will end by 31-03-11. That is in 6 weeks. As the sole earner in this family, this means I need to find another source of income and I need to find it soon. And then, in 4 months, I'm supposed to be in Scotland, where I think I belong and need to end up. Right now, all I'm finding are jobs I'm hopelessly overqualified for, jobs that disappear from websites and jobs that would suit me, but "please send your cv next year."
Previously mentioned by-lines and side-tracks have been abandoned as fast as they were conceived, going downhill with the positive vibe. My sorry attempts at designing knits are not far behind.

I can't believe I felt positive about all this just a few weeks ago. I wonder when I'll get it back. I'm running out of time...

WIP Wednesday, unfinished business

2011-02-16T23:07:00.003+01:00

Oh dear, oh dear.

As it turns out, I get a lot less done now that I'm more or less back to full time work (surprise!). Choices to be made, which means many things do not get chosen. Think: kid-who-gets-picked-first, instead of last-to-be-picked-for-the-team.

The secret knitting project which was last started received a little pepper to put up the proverbial arse, so it's getting most attention these days. There may or may not be a group willing to test-knit. I better have something to test, won't I?

basket of unfinished goodness

So there are 4 WIP's that got started this year and none have been finished. Peaks Island is probably 75% done, and has been for a while. O.W.L.S. is waiting, but I'm dreading to cut it so I can fix it. The spun yarn for the birds'omasomething has been decorating a pillow for weeks. It sure looks pretty, but it can't stay. I might one day need that pillow for my head.
The first-picked WIP is at least at 50%, because that is how much yarn I have left. More or less. I tried to do the numbers, but maths and excel sheets are not my strong point after 18.00 (after 15.00, but don't tell my boss).

Somewhere, Manu is still waiting, Mythos is in hiding, I have only 1 Manolo sock and the Spot Check Socks have been frogged because I needed the needles for the Favoured Secret Project. I'll try again sometime, on my new short circulars. It might go a lot faster now that I've mastered the art of two-handed stranded knitting. Hurray for the internet! The other Secret Project won't make it to its recipient in time to do any good. Sorry.

I promise not to start anything new, and to finish something soon.

Deep Breaths.

PS: the underpaid nifty job-people sent a reply to this extent: "this job would be great for you, but we're not actually hiring due to re-organisations, so send us your cv next year please." Which seems awfully useful, trying to find a job soon. Big strike through this one then...

Scottish Sundays, on the road (sort of)

2011-02-13T21:06:00.003+01:00

Dear reader,

I'm afraid this is another blog post with lovely pictures but not a lot to say for itself. Scottish Sundays was called into this virtual world to keep me on track, to have a reason to work on achieving my goals. I have to say, it hasn't been easy to stay on track as it's so easy to stray. Straying means doing things I truly enjoy, but which can only be a by-line, at least in the foreseeable future.

However, in an attempt to keep on the road, I did manage to find a job opening that sounds mightily exciting, hopelessly underpaid, but seemingly satisfying. I've sent enquiries. Fingers crossed, light a candle and help me hope.

A narrow road, not very travelled

Anyway, I think too much. And I do it often. Often, it doesn't do me a lot of good. I sure hope this thinking does, for once. Also, if you have any advice on sticking to the road, it's very welcome!

Not my Thinking Face

Sometimes I think not the right thing, but I'm working on that. I bought a book.

Message of International Importance

2011-02-12T10:23:00.002+01:00

Dear reader,

If you see this man, do not step away before giving him a hug and a kiss (or a firm handshake) because it's his Birthday today!

You make me laugh and you make me cry and sometimes you make me laugh so hard that it makes me cry. You chase away my demons and you're my rock when I need something to cling to. I love you with my little toes, my tummy and my Heart. One day we'll make our dreams come true and it'll be better than we could ever imagine. Until then, please make do with this message. You're a difficult one to shop for.

Much love, me

WIP Wednesday, in which the main road is once again left in favour of a dusty ol' sidetrack

2011-02-09T21:51:00.003+01:00

Oh, hai!

It feels as if I've been super productive, but in the end, I don't have a lot to show for it. Does that have anything to do with not going by the earlier designed Grand Design? The answer, my friend, is a solid yes. After frogging for 3", which is to go back on your knitting for 7,5cm, earlier this week, I'm now slightly ahead of where I was.

(Dear DH, please send me my software so I'll be able to carve this in CS4 so I won't forget Things I've thought up...)

Anyway, quite a bit of knitting went into it, and this is what's left of a 300mtr cake. Only 2 more to go after this one.

I can't believe I haven't touched Bea the orphaned wheel this week. I've been such a bad mother. As punishment for my lack of attention, I haven't been able to keep my legs still for over a week. I have great plans for this weekend. Can't wait to stop twitching my feet.

Instead, I've been playing around with some felt and hot glue. A few more a ready for glue and then they only need some finishing. I see a few more things in my future, and they will involve glue! I can't believe I haven't hot glued before. It's so much fun, if you can stand the constant glue burn. (or if your fingers come with Teflon built in)

I think I might cover myself in them on V-day

On Saturday, I finally put to paper what's been floating around my head for a while. It might appear somewhere soon...

Have you been crafty this week?

Scottish Sundays, a work in progress

2011-02-06T23:34:00.004+01:00

As you can tell, this blog looks a tiny bit different than it did before just now.

That's because I made sure to reserve some time with the DH this weekend, and asked (made) him help me out with the sizing of Things. Right now, I can only show you this One Thing, and it is quite late (he also told me to go to sleep).

Just know that Things are afoot after a good kicking of the behind. Stay tuned for some exciting news* later this week!

Goodnight, good night.

*involves glue

WIP Wednesday, and we're back

2011-02-02T19:51:00.003+01:00

Sooooo...

Thanks to some soul-searching, a good session and some retail therapy (no chocolate or actual spending of money involved!) we're back. 'Twas a bit a of a Big Dip, so much so that I didn't even get chastised this week (minor triumph, in a way). But, as they say, one comes out the other end a bit wiser and a bit older (do they say that?). Either way, ideas aplenty, and never enough time. Yadda yadda, heard it before.

I poked myself in the chest carrying this secret knitting around to take a picture of it so I could show you. The things I do to put up a half-decent picture for you, eh? It's all out of love! (told you it's better now)

I did spin a bit throughout the Big Dip, and this is some black Icelandic. It's nice enough when plied, but it wasn't a joy to work with. Seems to be a recurring thing with the darker versions of a sheep breed. I've started the brown, and it's much nicer and less hairy. Updates next week!

I did learn something non-Dip-related during the Big Dip. When in a Big Dip, it's not a great idea to start designing. The birds thingymawattums was knit to 3" about 7 times and frogged as many. After 3 I remembered to put in a lifeline. As it is, it's not reconstructed, but there are Ideas! Something will come out of it, I'm sure. Above, design #6, discarded.

Some books I'm enjoying, some newer than others, collected gifts. I like how, leafing through, I recognize patterns and stitches used by some pretty famous designers. It's like having a peek in their kitchen. It also helps with the idea that it only takes a good idea and perseverance to make something pretty. Stay tuned. (scary!!!)

Ehm, no, he's never been tumble dried. He allows us to use it, sometimes. Since his stroke he's not been able, and now not allowed back to his old sleeping place on top of the washer. It seems he just really likes being off the floor, so one night he crawled into the drier. Another night, it was emptied so he could go to bed, but one of the ridges was in the bottom so he tried the washing machine that night. It wasn't a success (Cat later told me it was like sleeping on an old mattress with the springs sticking out).

We now take care to have His Majesty's bed turned up by nightfall. As one does.

PS. Peaks Island Hood is coming along. Yippie!

Scottish Sundays, roughly so

2011-01-30T21:12:00.004+01:00

This past week has been a bit rough. Sleep seems to be elusive like sunshine on a rainy day and this hasn't helped my Being at all. In fact, although it has been quite nice, most of last week have felt like I wandered around with a cloud above my head.

Much like this one, actually (Outer Hebrides)

Road to nowhere, anyone?

I'm not a very pleasant person when I'm in this state of mind, so I mostly try to avoid people. I was going to enjoy my day off on Friday and devote it to Scotland and to designing. Instead, I dealt with the remains of a 2-day headache and read a book. It's a nice book, and it makes me laugh. It started with the title: Blood Sucking Fiends (amazon link). Enough to extract a smile, and it's pretty amusing for a Vampire Book.
The rest of the weekend I've spent ripping out (re-)knitting, watching tv, and finishing a skein of Black Icelandic wool, which wasn't a pleasure at all. In a sense, I felt pretty stuck in where I am right now.

Very Stuck Standing Stone, Callanish

In an attempt to grab myself by the scruff of the neck, I've been doing some job hunting with the Scottish Arts Council, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage. Unfortunately, I'm not qualified as a ranger or an estate manager, because how wonderful would that be? On the other hand, I'm not quite ready to go back into retail, as far as being a tourist trap shop assistant. At least not for a while yet.

So another week passes with no answers but more questions. At least there is still my awesome mother, who did my laundry so I can have clean clothes while I drag myself to work again in the morning. I promise to be more upbeat soon. I just need a bit of good news, the old good news has worn off.

WIP Wednesday, only it's Thursday

2011-01-27T21:54:00.004+01:00

Uhm yeah, so all plans were out the window yesterday. Apparently, that's where all of my plans live. I can only assume it's getting crowded out there and it is quite cold, so maybe some will drift back inside. One can always hope.

No essential work was done in the end, but I made back ups (long overdue), updated my phone's software (so the reminder could stop draining the battery) and lots of annoyance with the one camera in this family was more or less solved today.

All of this happened so I could show you some lovely pictures of some new projects. Yeah I know, I have a few (a lot) on the needles already, but sometimes it just feels good to start something new and exciting. (Startitis, much?)

Exciting, no?

Last weekend I cast on for the Peaks Island Hood, which has been in my list for over a year. The Hysteric Yarn is nice in places, and a bit over-twisted in others, but who cares?

I don't

And then for the piece de resistance (in French, obviously) I figured I could design something myself. It worked out alright in the beginning, the size was just what I calculated but I didn't quite like the way it lacked 'widening' after the brim. So I frogged. And decided I didn't like the edge anyway. I came up with another one, and spent all evening watching progress bars move slowly and knitting a 180 stitch picot edge. This afternoon, I re-read Alice Starmore's Fair Ilse Knitting, and decided to change the k1mc,k1cc colour edge as well to a k1mc,p1cc.

I moved on to larger needles this afternoon, after the brim so for the first time, I could tell the actual size. And now it fits 2 heads.

Pretty though, isn't it?

or 4 yarncakes, if stretched

Guess what, I'm frogging again and abandoning the picot edge. The k1mc, p1cc can stay, after I measure again.

It's not all doom and gloom, today at work we learned that not one, but two girls found themselves another job so no one is sent home (yet). Next elimination planned for the end of March. I'm not over the moon about it, though I guess I should be. The best I can do right now is "meh"

WIP Wednesday, postponed.

2011-01-26T22:49:00.003+01:00

Due to epic technological failure including emergency back-ups (laptop), essential updates (phone), SD card breakage (camera, not mine) and 2(!) empty camera batteries, there will be no WIP Wednesday this Wednesday.

All being well, there will be a WIP Wednesday on Thursday. Unless the sky falls down. There's always a chance.

Scottish Sundays, Confusedly Yours.

2011-01-23T22:26:00.002+01:00

You're never too old to learn, so if I go by my age and the average age of my Grandfathers (not my grandmothers, that would not serve my purpose), I have a lot of things to learn still. One thing I've learned is that you must make time to find some tranquility within yourself. I've learned some exercises and my spinning helps me get there, but the trick is in the Doing (as ever).

Take a pebble beach, a tranquil sea, and Feng Shui! A Quiet Head!

This Quest For Scotland, however, is not as easy to follow. While the idea is starting to stick, with the sticking comes the worrying about how to execute this Quest. If I had my way, there would be no more worrying about money and how to pay the bills, but that's just not realistic. The road to IF is very treacherous and will lead to the Bridge Of Doom if you're not willing to stray from it. And you know you won't have the correct answer to the question. Aaaaaaaaaaargh!*

It doesn't hurt to travel along it for a while...

IF there was no worry about how to pay the bills, THEN I'd love to live in my tent for a while. I'd take the big one, the one with room to move around, and stand up. I'd take it to my most beloved sites, and some I haven't visited before. I'd take my knitting and my Bea*** and my laptop, and I'd design and people would love me and offer me odd jobs around their business, their hotel or whatever. I'd make a commitment to walking at least an hour a day, and because of this, I'd finally reach a size that leaves me room to expand a little again, whenever I get back to having access to fall-of-the-bone-ribs. I'd do some tech editing or translate patterns to bring in enough to buy food and petrol when I need it, and the world would be OK.

However. The world is not made of IF (unless you're offering ;)), but of NOW.

The Windy Road Of Deathy Deaths, or NOW****

I've traveled that road a fair few times now, and it's mesmerizing, scary but with that sense of excitement. And sometimes, I find glimpses of excitement but they disappear so quickly into the Fog of Doubt. Would anyone else be interested in walking and crafting to free the mind? How would you find these people? Where would you go and where would you stay? Would anyone buy into this silly idea of mine?

This Quest is scary and driving me back into IF and into worrying, and it's really up to me to fix it, but it would be silly not to ask for Help. If you, dear reader, have an opinion or ideas, please leave them below.

It never hurts to remind yourself that the Windy Road of Deathy Deaths sometimes takes you here. Life ain't bad on the Harris/Skye ferry.

*Note by Geek: Blue**
**I probably got that wrong.
***Bea, the Orphaned Wheel
****Yes, that one, again

WIP Wednesday, does not contain enough sleep

2011-01-19T22:49:00.004+01:00

Hi there,

yes you, lurking in the corner. Hi, you can come out, I won't bite. I'm too tired, it's too much effort. On the other hand, I'm bursting with creative frustration adrenaline!

Below, find O.W.L.S.

Looks alright, doesn't it? Almost finished, wouldn't you say?

Well it's not. I carefully calculated gauge, did the numbers as instructed, and when my row count didn't end up matching my calculations, I Just. Went. On. Anyway.

And now I'm stuck with an INCH of surplus boob-room. Believe you me, that's quite something to have spare if you're me. Also, let me tell you, I'm not ripping back, I'm not. I'll do some shaping when it's done. It's just fine otherwise. It fits an' all. (It just has extra room for a set of regular sized boobs)

White Shetland, 203 mtr, light fingering

Now this is much more pleasurable. It's what I've been doing when I wasn't working on a job or flinging myself at brick walls. It's soft.

Grey Shetland, 221mtr, light fingering

This was last week's skein, and it's also lovely and soft and squooshy (how do you spell that feeling of yummy softness when you squeeze a skein of yarn?)

All of the colours I want to use are spun now, so all that's left is to soak and let dry so the twist can set. I really hope to be trying it out next week. This is them, together.

I should sleep and be more, so I've just started reading Eckart Tolle's The Power of Now. Will keep you posted...

Scottish Sundays, and shamelessly inserting some holiday pictures

2011-01-16T22:54:00.005+01:00

The past week wasn't one to write home about. That would be silly. I spent quite a bit of it at home, so it would at least be a waste of a stamp. No I'm not in the business of keeping TNT Post alive, as long as they pay me my pension if and when I reach 67. In the last WIPW post, I've mentioned that my diary seems to be clearing, and that trend has only kept going.

Quite understandably, my students have put their NT2 lessons in the fridge, while he travels around the world for work for the next few months. While it does make very little sense for them, it does blow a hole in my finances. At times like these, I have to keep hold of my mantra.

Something Will Come Up

It hasn't helped with being more productive but I'm getting there. I ingested some alcohol on Friday, which didn't help either, but it was good for the soul. (not for the head. or the liver). Since then, I'm trying to pick things up, while not forgetting the Big Project of getting me Across At Least One Sea by this Summer.

Oh no, I've done some thinking. Tonight, my thoughts seem to have re-enforced themselves while I watched Lark Rise to Candleford. It's a period drama set at the end of the 19th century. Many of today's issues get incorporated into the series. Last week, for instance, a honorable man lost his business and his possessions because he took out a loan he couldn't pay back. Sound familiar?

Anyway, this week, it was about industrialisation and old crafts being replaced by factories. One of the characters, Queenie, the old wise woman of the village, can no longer sell her bobbin lace to the Pratt sisters who run the local boutique. They've gone over to factory-made lace, which leaves Queenie in a sorry state of loss. In true Lark Rise tradition, her setback returns her to the true nature of her craft, the art of making instead of the lost goal of selling. In a truly heart-wrenching scene (or stomach-turning, whichever your sentiment) the younger sister Pratt turns around and learns the art from old Queenie, who never had a daughter to teach.

In a side-line, Laura learns that winning is not the object either, but the wish to create great writing, and recently bankrupted Gabriel learns about his wife's true motives for marrying him. All in a day's work, dear writers of Lark Rise. If you don't already know it, the entire series has a hue of rich honey mead, but I like it. The costumes are quite stunning, and the story lines are really not all that bad as I'm making out here ;)

The point I'm trying to make, is that they actually chose this subject, the loss of great crafts. It's just one signal of the interest for the handmade that is growing on an international basis. Not long ago, Ravelry, a forum for anyone interested in fiber, knitting and crochet, reached 1.000.000 members. Yes, One (1) Million (6 zeros) members. And not all of them are over 50!

In the UK, there is special interest for the wool industry, with sheep running around Savile Row and over here, a very successful YA writer is starting up some super knitting club for teenagers.

Just a few examples here, but there seems to be a genuine interest in getting back to the basic of things. We've all seen it with food, Jamie Oliver grows his own veg, the slow-food movement gaining momentum (slowly, ha!) and we all want to know where our food comes from, as long as we're able to pay for it. Search Amazon for a few minutes and you'll be flooded with titles on how to grow your herbs in a city dwelling to starting your own dairy business from scratch.

And now, knitting is hot! Museums all around the world get Yarn Bombed, bridges get wrapped on every continent and new designers turn into Bright Young Things at the snip of a fiber-wrapped finger.

Which leads me back to, well, Me. I'm not a designer (much, yet), but what is keeping me? Time, too many WIPs and the bad excuse of not having the correct software installed. I don't see myself as the next Ysolda, Gudrun or Kate, but they're great examples and inspirations. Talking of which, wouldn't you be inspired by this?

I know I need to be more organised with my time. It should help with going forward instead of stalling in the faux-safety of a job that only gets me to the other side of the city-canal. And that's Not A Sea.

Road of Deathy Deaths

It's a windy road, but I'm sure it will take me somewhere. Plans are starting to hatch, but uncertainty about the how and the 'will people be interested' bits still find their way into my head. That's okay, these questions need answering.

For now, all I'm happy to say, is that it might involve demonstrations, or 'doing things fiber-y' with kids. Or tourists. If you like someone to spin in your business, your castle or on a lonely beach, I'm sure it'll attract some people. I'll be needing a spot to put up my tent ;)

I might be going potty, but at least I'm going somewhere!

WIP Wednesday, and a diary clearing itself

2011-01-12T22:50:00.003+01:00

I had a lovely clean diary for a little while, but mostly around Christmas. The Texan was here for such a short time, it just didn't seem right to fill that time up with driving around the country to meet up with people.
Anyway, there I was, getting used to the 'no practice, no teaching' regime when all of a sudden the year changed, fireworks went off, and my diary was full.

During the first 3 weeks of 2011, I was to be out of the house 4 out of 5 weeknights, while also trying very hard to get used to increasing working hours.

Big Meltdown.

That's what happened...

And then I spun, because that helps. Yep, that's definitely something I've learned over the past months. Spinning makes the short circuiting in my head stop. It has something to do with the repetitive movement, the soft buzzing of the wheel as I make it turn (now that orphaned wheel Bea is sitting on a towel) and the drafting I now seem to be able to do by touch. The last few yarns I've made are to be together in a project, so I'm trying to get them as similar as I possibly can so my rhythm is more or less *Tread Draft Tread Slip (repeat from *) and then ply *Tread Tread Tread and Feed Tread Tread Tread Slip (repeat from *). So far I've only fallen asleep at the wheel 5 times this week. No major accidents reported so far. I've been told I'm Not The Only One who does that.

Unfortunately, my diary started clearing itself. A number of the good and fun things seem to have canceled themselves, some for very sad reasons. All of the annoying things remained, like going to work every day. Such fun ;)

Luckily, I've managed to knit some and spin some. This week's goal is to finish the O.W.L.S. sleeves, and one is already part of the big Unit. The other, well, see below.

This picture is (was) on its side.

27 rounds to go before I can add this one too, and then on to the actual owls. This means I need to start collecting buttons. So far, I've decided on 2. These are very much on the psychedelic part of the colour spectrum, and now I'm undecided if I want to keep the others quiet or go all out.
Either way, when this is done, I'll return to some secret knitting, and then some more secret knitting, and some designing and Manu. I feel like I've neglected my sweet soft Manu for too long now. Soon...

Black Shetland, 199 mtr

I spun this over the weekend, when I should've been doing something else. The something else was started, so at least that's something. I've found that the black shetland was far coarser than the moorit I spun before, and the grey I am working with now. Odd, or maybe not.

Here they are together, sitting on a vague colour swatch sort of thingy.

They, and below and some white shetland that I haven't touched yet are going to be one of the designing thingies that I'm planning. No pressure.

Grey Shetland 2-ply light fingering

So I've been busy, sort of. Some things are crossed off the list. One day soon the rest of it will be as well. So far, I've even stuck with my one and only resolution for this year...

What have you been up to this week?

Scottish Sundays, an Introduction, reposted

2011-01-09T20:54:00.003+01:00

I'm terribly sorry people, what with my confusion, but it seems like anywhere I could spread the word about the Scottish Sundays will only let me import 1 RSS feed. That means it'll be very difficult to drag you all in to both blogs, so I guess Scottish Sundays will reside here.
Please find below a post I published earlier today

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my newest blog, Judith goes Scotland, sister of my other blog Judith goes USA. That one got started because I was spending a lot of time either in the USA, or trying to go there on a more permanent basis. This, alas, has still not happened, and while I'm waiting it has been decided that The Big Wait* could take place anywhere I want it to.

Why not here?

The "where" question is easily answered. Ask me where I've felt happy, and I'll tell you it's in Scotland. Luckily, my passport allows me to go there quite easily. The trip itself is easy and affordable. Getting there is pretty much figured out.

While I am a highly trained (young) Lady Who Waits, I wouldn't be happy just waiting around so I must find some way to occupy myself. It would be even better if this occupation helped with those basic things we people seem to need. Food, a roof over one's head, clothes on one's back and fiber to play with. Alright, maybe not the last bit, but that's just something that makes me happy. Anyway, I have a tent, which makes for a roof, and I'm not lacking in the clothing department. While I'm carrying some reserves around the waist, food will become an issue very soon.

The point is, bills will still arrive in the post, the car will still need petrol and my body will want some fuel to burn. In order to deal with these tedious things, money will have to come in one way or another and that's why I started this blog and the Scottish Sundays.

This blog is here to help me organize my thoughts, my abilities and my wishes. My questions and hopefully some of your answers. And then, in the end, this will have helped me find a way to make this happen, I'm sure of it.

Goals!
Goals are good to have, because without them, what would I be aiming for? Here are some that I've thought of so far
- Start every day with a walk
- Do something creative and share this with other people
- Find someone to talk to every day (or go mad)
- Be within reasonable distance from wifi (can't post without it!)

Skills!
To help achieve those goals, I need some skills. Here's what I already have

- I am good with people of many a persuasion, be it young, old, male, female or other
- I love driving in Scotland as it takes me to places where I'd never walk to. I have my limits!
- I am not afraid of working. I find this helps
- I knit, I spin, I sew and I love it
- I navigate with a map and a compass, which is a good thing, since I don't have a GPS and I love maps

So far, I'm not quite certain how these skills will sustain me just yet, but this is just the start of the adventure and not the end. If you, dear reader, have any ideas, please leave them below. I'm also quite good at accepting help!

That's it for now. Even though it's Sunday, there's always something to do and it won't do itself. I'll be back next week, hope to see you here!

* The Big Wait: time spent waiting for stars to align in favor of me joining my dearly beloved husband of 4 years. Imagine anything that could possibly go wrong with that, and it probably already happened.

WIP Wednesday, hysterically yours (and an announcement)

2011-01-05T20:20:00.006+01:00

Hold on, it's not me. I saw you thinking "did she finally realise?"

No, I didn't. I'm still trying to hang on to a smidgen of sanity, and according to my therapist, I AM. So there.

(mind you, by the time you finish reading this, you might reconsider)

No, last week, the Texan went home (I did mention that, did I not?) and I spun some hysterically colourful yarn. I love it so much, that I took some more pictures of it, for your pleasure only (and mine)

Since then, there was a lot more knitting. O.W.L.S. is moving along like a high speed train, only more soft and wearable! The short row option of making it fit seems to be working out, find the instructions I used here at knotions. Unfortunately, it only shows up as a black blob in pictures when I'm not wearing it, and since it's not done, I'm not wearing it. I'm up to the part where the arms get added to the round, and I've got half an arm done, so there. Not too bad for a week's worth of knitting.

I did do more spinning, the results of which you can see below. The first two are the same skein (duh) which added up to 183 meters of moorit Shetland wool, in a light fingering weight. It's lovely to work with and squishy and soft.
The last picture is of 63 meters of Corriedale I received for my birthday from Japan (and Ashford), and I find it a nightmare to spin with. I'm not sure if that's the sheep's fault, but there you go.

Finally, an announcement!
I can't keep using my appointments as the only reason to Do Something Significant About My Future (she won't be there forever because my insurance just won't cover), so as an incentive to have Something Significant to say every week, I'm starting a second blog this Sunday. Judith not only goes USA (sometime, surely), but also Scotland (achievable, and sometime soon). I'll be inviting you to help me out with that quest. You'll not disappoint me, will you?

Christmas 2010, with extra snow on top

2010-12-29T21:59:00.003+01:00

As promised, the post with actual pictures...

The Texan came over for christmas this year, so we got to treat ourselves to a little getaway (I love chasing down cheap lodging) as soon as he arrived. The destination: a small village not too far away, close to a nature reserve. The snow held off until we made it safely inside, and we didn't even get stuck in the mud when the navigation turned us into the shortest but muddiest route possible.

At least I didn't turn right into a ditch...

Anyway, East Brabant had snow, as you can tell and yes, I hugged a tree. Live with it!

We even found the narrowest tractor ever!

A while later, when we got back to the house, it snowed more. Is it a myth? I'll leave it to you to decide...

WIP wednesday, a week of finishing and starting all over again

2010-12-29T21:57:00.004+01:00

This week, the golden oldies are still where they are...

My scarf got a little work done on the way back from the airport, but I slept most of the time, so I'm still not half-way done with the supposedly superfast scarf. The last secret Christmas knitting didn't gain a stitch, but that's ok. (I'm being nice to me!)

I did manage to finish the pink monstrosity I posted about last week and even made its blue sister in time for the plane they needed to catch, neatly stuffed into the Texan's hand luggage.

The dreaded kilt hose were done on the second day of Christmas, so technically, that was on time as well. I'm just a little proud of the way they turned out!

After the Airport Trip, I finished the last bits of the therapeutic spinning, and plied all together into 500 mtr of coloured goodness. It'll probably become a Peak Island Hood (announcement for future WIP)

Since I didn't want this winter to pass by on unfinished projects, I started another one in a bulky yarn. O.W.L.S. Oh yes. Just this evening I finished the 2x2 ribbing (2") on 128 stitches in the round. So far, I'm loving the speed of it, but not the fact that the picture I just took refuses to sync from web albums to Picasa proper so it's not blogged this week.

In spinning news: I'm already trying to work out how to combine natural colours of wool into a Fair Isle project I haven't started yet... Oh dear

remember what I said about the laptop?

2010-12-23T20:09:00.001+01:00

Oh yeah. At least that frees up the phone so I can play Angrybirds

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

WIP Wednesday, back again

2010-12-22T23:04:00.003+01:00

Last Wednesday, a week ago, I didn't do a WIP Wednesday. There were 2 reasons for it, the main one being that not one project got itself finished or even close to finishing. To be honest, none of them are very inspiring at the moment. This is bad, because it often leads to startitis. Instead of casting on more unwanted projects, I chose to buy more yarn. Yeah. Whaddayagonnado? It'll become an O.W.L.S. which I hope to finish before Spring.
The other, non-secret Christmas knitting thing that was going on last week was a full agenda. Yeah. again more of the same. Increasing work hours, therapy, teaching (being taken out to dinner to practise "ordering in a restaurant") and tidying meant there was little time left on the computer. The next day I got to get up at 5am to drive to the airport, drive back home after standing at the gate for over an hour with a Texan in the passenger seat. The day after that looked a little (completely exactly) like this from our hotel window.

On Monday it was back to work (such fun), and back to work on projects that will not be finished in time. Hurrah!
So now, another Wednesday, I've stolen the laptop back from the Texan for 30 min so I can post this, the newest secret WIP.
Don't smirk, it's a present and needs to fly on Tuesday. So there.

So now I just need the Texan to put last weekend's actual pictures on here and make this laptop speak with the printer. There might be a chance I won't go ballistic before the weekend, but I'm not making promises. I just wish I could spin all day.

WIP Wednesday, or can I have mulligan please?

2010-12-08T22:56:00.004+01:00

We all have them. Weeks that start out badly, and never recover from it. It's only Wednesday, and I would really like to go back, throw my dice again and start over. (minus the one day, obviously)*

The past 8 days haven't tried their best at making themselves memorable in a good way. Memorable, certainly, in a screwed-up admin-y insurance-doctorish way, and it's best to just ignore everything that went wrong and pretend all is well with the world. Like the fact that just about every female I know, who is in a relationship and in my age-bracket, seems to be pregnant. Including Annie (follow her here) and myself, I can still count the number of non-preggers on one hand!

Annie has just pointed out that this means Options! Buy stocks in baby related items, start a daycare, or become the world's best loved aunt!**

There is a bit of a downside to this situation. There will be many more secret projects that can't be shown here. In fact, all of my own half-done projects have been patiently waiting in their respective plastic bags*** for weeks while I work on secret things for other people.

Tired and grumpy, I finally gave in to one of the few basic rules I've learned these last few months, and did something for me. Initially, it involved a lot of swearing. I attached some of the fiber I got from "the Belgians" to my leader and all was well until I stopped to guide onto another hook. Breakage, and more breakage until there was hardly anything left on the spool. After a bit, I gave up and spun some rough merino I had sitting around, in shocking pink.

If I run into you this week and accidentally bite your head off: I'm sorry and I'm working on it. Now if only I managed to get some sleep....

* If you don't need explaining, you must be a... person who hangs out with the kind of people I hang out with.
** Yes, I'm claiming all your unborn children
*** I am fixing this. I'll have actual project bags soon!****
**** Hurray!

WIP Wednesday, the secret edition

2010-12-01T21:46:00.004+01:00

In which not everything is as secret as the title suggests. About 25% of it is "out there" in the public domain.

Like this, my superfast Snelle Jelle, after a design by Jen Reilly, who blogs here

Snelle Jelle is to replace an old scarf I made almost a decade ago, and which should be retired. That said, I might just wash it and see what happens...

In a while, a few people might get to recognize these pictures as their newly unwrapped presents. I'm not telling you who you are.

(muahahahahaha)

(that is my super secret evil laugh)

(I'm also stroking a cat)

I'll see you around next week, when it will be only 1 week until the even eviller DH arrives. There will be more secrets....

Wouldn't you like to be a teacher too?

2010-11-28T19:01:00.002+01:00

At this school, anyway...

Dad works for ROC, a vocational college, who organize an outing every year. As I understand it, they have been doing the same thing a few years now, which is to take all (6000!) employees, spouses and children/grandchildren to the Efteling... So I got to come too!!! (sorry , I was a bit excited)

Me and Pardoes

To those of you who are not familiar with the Efteling, here's a short history:

Starting before 1952 as a recreational and sports area, it opens in that year as a sort of permanent carnival for families with children under 12.

There is a steam-driven carousel and a 'floating' pagoda which gives you a view of the entire park in just one ride.

The steam train goes around the old park, with stations North, West, South and East. I remember this being one of the attractions with a long long queue...

The fairytale forest is one of the highlights for the little ones, and everyone will recognize something from bedtime stories. Here is Little Red Riding Hood about to get into trouble at her grandma's...

Eventually, bigger and more exciting rides found their way into the park, starting with the Python, with its corkscrew turns one of the most scary rides, once upon a time. One of the newest is the Flying Dutchman, which was great!

Later on, I got to accompany a 6-yr old, because his grandparents didn't dare to go on Joris en de Draak, vaguely based on the legend of St George and the Dragon. Unfortunately we had a few small children in our ride, so our combined weight made us (Fire) slightly slower than the other ride (Water). It was amazing anyway!

The ice ring was reserved for the ROC-visitors and it was set up with Koek en Zopie (cookies and... well, hot drinks) and Stampot en Rookworst was there for the taking. So was the hot wine, hot chocolate and hot coffees.

Uhuh, rookworst... nom nom nom

Lightly frozen parents...

And how's that for a grand entrance? It's no wonder this park was voted "Best of Europe" and "Best of the World" once upon a time...

WIP Wednesday, or not?

2010-11-24T22:54:00.002+01:00

My unstable arm is acting up again, which means it clicks and clunks and misbehaves in general, since I sort-of-slipped on wet leaves while trying to mount my borrowed tiny bicycle. Apparently I still can't make a sudden move without being punished for it.

All of the above a clear message: grab that long piece of pink elastic band and use it for good, not evil. (I'd have to find it first...)

It doesn't make for perfect crafting conditions in any case.

I'll tell you what I've worked on (some) this week: nothing but secret projects. I knit and I dyed, but just in case someone's watching, I'm still not showing. Maybe next week...

Meanwhile, enjoy some blogs I like...

Visit the home of Saz, who makes pretty things, lives in Bonny Scotland and keeps hens. She keeps finding interesting things around her new house.

Reading about mariajhmom's life I'm reminded I'm not the only one... (who goes a bit loopy over all things fiber-y)

Annie Bee knits, and does a lot more than just that!

If you don't mind I'll sit on some of my other favorite blogs. I might some more filler next week!!!

WIP Wednesday, projects that just go on and on and on...

2010-11-17T22:02:00.006+01:00

You get it, right?

I have a few works in progress that just never seem to end. Working is all dandy and such when it comes to the expansion of the Mighty Stash, but it sure doesn't help with tackling it to the ground. As any good fiber hoarder will agree, things do tend to build up if you can't spend every waking hour trying to turn the mountain of yarn and unspun fiber into pretty things to wear and give away. However, you're not going to learn about them today. Nuh uh. You see, I forgot to take pictures when there was light and I was too busy about cake and flowers anyway. Some pictureless projects instead then...

In the Springtime, I brought some lace home which was in desperate need of dyeing. Since then, I've spun lace, and more lace, and all of it was turned into lovely shawlettes for me to wear (see here) and the bland blank skein of lace just sat and waited....

I can safely say it is now a lovely colour, which I can't show you because it's the trial of something secret!!! The trial is coincidentally also my first ever attempt at designing something myself, if you don't count Alexia's mittens, also here.

A while back we got some baby merino in white to try out our first dyeing experiment. I went all out and got 10 balls when that turned out to be fun! Some of those ended up in the mittens, others are now slowly turning into another secret project, of which I can tell you nothing!!!

I can't leave you without a picture, so as it's our 4th anniversary, I'll leave you to enjoy this lovely couple...

I can't believe it's 4 years already. It feels like yesterday and a lifetime away...

And she asked if I ever got round to finishing anything...

2010-11-10T15:11:00.004+01:00

So instead of starting a new feature WorkInProgress Wednesday, or WIP Wednesday, I thought I'd start off with some Finished Objects, or as we like to call them: FO's. (a little bit of jargon there).

As you can see, I have been busy since summer, although possibly not with anything that is going to help with anything but the fast approaching winter cold. I promise you, I'm working on getting better, in more ways than one.

Below, find Marnie Maclean's design Tolovana, in lush Shilasdair luxury 4-ply. An absolute joy

Next, Echo Flower Shawl, by Jenny Johnson Johnen in my first ever handspun single ply

Next up, Pea Vines, by Anne Henson in my first handspun 2-ply lace, which is much greener really. Shame I can't get the colours right on this new camera.

A quicky Icing Swirl hat, by Ysolda in a chunky Noro that Ron kindly brought me from Japan

An finally, a hat and mittens for my littlest cousin Alexia, a quick knit and simple design by My Head*

I hope you enjoy this, there is more to come, next week...

* The head on my shoulders which is known to work, sometimes. If you would like to visit, please let us know in advance so we can drag it to attention...

edit: re-loaded some images

Things left unmentioned...

2010-08-15T21:32:00.007+02:00

...don't just go away.

Especially when a cat keeps kicking you.

You'll remember (or scroll down a bit) the adventures of my cat, Mop, this last winter in the snow. It was his 19th winter, and sadly it was his last. A year before those pictures were taken he lost a lot of weight in a dramatically short period of time. The vet diagnosed him quite easily and got him on some pills which kept him on weight, though didn't put a lot back on. He was 18 at the time so there wasn't much to expect. In fact, the vet gave him a few months back then. A year and a half later, his predictions came true during a horrible Ascension weekend, which is a long weekend off over here.

On the Tuesday before, his long-time bully/housemate Flip fell off the washing machine where they both sleep. It was the second time in a few months that he did that, but this time, he didn't get up. I was at work, so my dad drove him to the vet on his own. Diagnosis: a stroke. At the tender age of almost 18 not something he was supposed to recover from.
The next day Mop lost control over his hind legs so off we went to the vet again. He got a steroid shot and some fluid injected under the skin, in order to carry him over the weekend and give him a fighting chance to recover from this. We weren't ready to lose two cats in the same number of days. That night he lost all the fluids and he never touched his food or drink again. After watching him slowly slipping away we decided to give him a nudge in the right direction and took him back to the vet's on the Saturday morning. The pet cremation people sent us back a lovely card.

In the mean time, Flip had struggled back to his feet. We shouldn't laugh, but it was hard not to when he ran across the room sideways. The stroke affected his right side so in order to keep himself upright he was making good speed until he lost momentum and fell over again. After all the drama it was quite relief that he at least seemed to still want to go on.

Months later, he still has a bit of a funny walk and he's stopped looking for his long-suffering co-cat. He lost a lot of weight but seems to be as eager to eat as before. As I'm writing this he's kicking out in his sleep, and these spasms seem to be the worst he's still going through.

He's still packing quite a kick for a disabled old cat...

Besides the dull dull drudge called a job, the translation thing which lurks at the back of my mind and the teaching (scary! much freaking out! badly organised!) I manage to occupy myself well, if and when Flip steps away from the plastic project bag...

In personal achievements, I'm proud of my felted and now being knitted single ply lace, hand spun on a home-made spindle

I've turned the bulk of 200 grams of merino/silk mix in 2 colourways into singles and it's slowly turning itself into a 2-ply, light fingering at a guess. So far I've plied 186m, which means I should have 1000m or so by the time I'm done with it. Next comes the question: what to do with it?!? When I bought the above roving/bat, I got another 100gr roving in blue, which is slowly and "rustically" turning into a Navajo 3-ply. I'm actually a little proud of what I'm getting done on my own lonesome self.

Besides that, I've almost finished an Audrey in Unst. Just the length of a sleeve, a buttonhole band and the collar to go and she's done! And looking quite splendid!
Next projects are already lined up, but choices need to be made. And difficult they will be...

Clearing out the attic

2010-07-25T17:35:00.005+02:00

As the summer temperatures lowered to something more acceptable, and frankly, something more familiar, I took the opportunity to clear out some attic space.
Some of you might be aware that I actually 'live' in that attic, but it's also the place where years of Stuff has been put into every little spot available.

It is generally known that when I finally move my things out of the attic, the house will rise by a good 5cm (that's 2"). Today, we've moved a few boxes of Stuff that belonged to another life that got left behind about 7 years ago.

That's a good rule to go by: if it's been boxed for 7 years, you probably don't need it. Of course the 7 years happened because of Circumstances, but nevertheless.

The car is now filled with a few boxes of things I won't need or want in the next life, which should happen sometime in the next 10 years. We're taking this marriage thing slow, you know ;). Just a single box of glassware and bowls got to stay, as they are things I would buy back if I threw them out now. They were specially chosen, or in the case of the Foofer mug, a reminder of times now long gone. 3 boxes got turned into just one, and someone else will be happy with the plates, mugs and beer glasses that are going to Kringloop (recycle centre for all your unwanted goods).

In and amongst the pots, glasses, bowls and cans, we found a box of picture albums we lost track of a while back. One of them was mine, where mom stuck all the pictures that were taken of me in 1989. The highlight must be this

This picture was taken just moments before a school bus stopped and the beach filled with Spanish school kids ready for a dip in the Atlantic.

Something else we found has great sentimental value, and will most likely never ever be used again. They'll never go though. My very first pocket money (probably a number of weeks worth) got spent on these beauties

My very last pair of roller skates...

Is it Summer already?

2010-07-11T19:39:00.004+02:00

Well 'tis, and I'm not quite sure what happened to Spring.
I've discovered that the 40hr/week job drains much more out of me than just those hours. Even with the 10 min travel time to/from work, it takes me hours to recover from the self-inflicted monotony of doing the same thing a large number of times. This does mean that there is much less thinking involved (I only have to solve a problem once) but still my head seems to be nothing more than a large container for cotton balls while I vegetate in front of the TV until about 9pm.

You'll understand this leaves me far less time for doing the things I like, and then there are the small but important matters of "The Other Job" (which needs the brain to work) and "Getting Enough Sleep." In between Vegetating and The Other Job and the occasional illicit Crafting, Getting Enough Sleep doesn't happen often enough.

So, in order to deal with this, I got the DH to come over for 5 weeks (what was I thinking?) which was fun, but didn't help too much with the Sleep thing until I also took time off of work. DH has since left and work starts again tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to less Craft/Sleep time, but I guess the "Magically Appearing Money" in my bank account is a good thing.

For now, enjoy some of our pictures. I know I did.

Driving through London at 3am Wednesday morning. The only time to do it.

We ran into some hefty traffic near Plockton, or "Those make big dents"

ring ring

2010-06-19T21:32:00.001+02:00

from the phone, i feel so modern! here's what i did today

Mr Mop investigates...

2010-01-30T14:30:00.004+01:00

Hello folks,

I'm your special reporter as today we have launched an investigation into the unknown substance that seems to have landed in our garden during the night. As I went out, I recruited a random photographer to supply you with images of this dangerous but interesting field trip.

As you can see, the stuff seems to have landed on everything...

I did look in the corners, and they look untouched

We tried to look around the corner, but something scared us off, and there wasn't much to see anyways. We will continue on the other side of the garden.

Indeed, it's paw-high here as well.

In a risky bid to uncover the truth about the cold white substance in my own garden, putting myself in grave danger for the sake of you, dear reader, I sniffled the substance, and got some on myself. It was then that I discovered the true nature of the white stuff.

There is SNOW in the garden. I therefore conclude that it must still be winter.

We like to thank our special reporter for risking his life to uncover the truth (and dragging us along to take the pictures). He is now warming his paws over the central heating unit. Apparently his lack of thumbs prevents him from doing the posting himself. Whatever.

After the Naughties, do we call it the Teens?

2010-01-11T21:49:00.004+01:00

You must, yes you simply must have noticed it's a new year. A new decade even. Time for reflection? You bet. Sorry.

Lots of things happened to the world over the last 10 years, and to people too. Since You've all witnessed the big things yourselves, I'd like to share my little things instead.

I met a girl called Annemarie, who led me to the start of A Great Love Affair, for which I have to thank her.

Then there was A Tragedy, and the forging of a great Friendship, which lasts until this day, and which, if I have anything to say about it, will last until the end of time (or we all die, whichever comes first).

At last there was the Even Greater Love Affair which came attached with the Great Unknown and Some Little Ones.

There was a Personal Conquest, which came with a title.

There were trips, and good times were had. Another Great Tragedy followed, and the sharing of the Great Love Affair with People Who Matter.

In no particular order, and with much omitted, but You Are What Matter. Just so you know, 'n stuff.

In little things, there were great discoveries
- The digital camera, and the fact that I can take a picture I can enjoy
- The great community of people that can grow from a silly online game. You Are All Also Important, but I don't keep your pictures around (much). (that you know about).
- I do finish what I start, most of the time anyways.
- The blogosphere and Ravelry, with tons and tons of creative people who make my head spin with the possibilities offered by a scrap of yarn, a square inch of fabric and a zipper (or a button). You're all McGyvers, the lot of you.
- I can wear dresses. No really, I can.
- You are better at life than you think, and
- Life isn't always what you plan it to be, but that doesn't mean it can't be better than you imagined.

Traditionally, I don't make new resolutions, mostly because I forget and then would forget the instant I'd make one up. There's really only one thing to do over the next ten years. Just Keep Going... (works for me)

Confession time...

2009-11-29T18:51:00.002+01:00

...yes, it is that time.

To my regret I have to admit to giving up. This is not something I do often or without much thought. I strongly believe that if you commit to something and put in time and effort, you are obliged to follow it through until the end. Not so this time.

I lost Nanowrimo.

There, I've said it. My usual strategy of using the fast approaching deadline for gaining some creative energy has backfired on me in a bad way. In earlier editions of the Nanowrimo challenge I did not have a full time job to compete for my time with, or the brilliant idea of knitting a gazillion presents for the in-laws and various other family members (spurred by a lack of funding for big gestured gifts).

In earlier editions, I would trust on the last week of November to write write write, but this time I've just been tired, tired and more tired. Be aware that I don't feel sorry for myself, because I could just have done the daily word count one hour every day and be fine and finished by now, but that's just not how I roll. Apparently, I have limitations too. I have made a note of this, and will probably completely forget this by next year, so feel free to remind me.

The good thing about giving up (I even consulted my far-away-brother, who said "errr, I dunno") is that there was now an unexpected 'free' weekend to help me stay on track with everything else.
I managed to knit almost 1 sleeve of the DH jumper, and some on the D-i-l-GF Laminaria, and we almost have Mom's costume for Amusing done so we can do mine all of next week(end). Luckily, Dad just fits my long black coat so he's mostly taken care of now.

There are just a few things planned for next week, including costume making, knitting like a mad-woman, choir practice, the dreaded hospital visit and to top it all off, hopefully a dinner @Eindhoven (followed by an early morning appointment at the hair dresser's, ugh). Oh, and work of course.

In other news, dear darling Heidi has a job!!!

(the same job she's been doing for 3 years, but it just became indefinite, instead of 1 yr contracts!!!)

We are very proud of her; the boss-man had very little choice but to hire her on permanently. She's awesome!

If you are a boss-man and reading this: I know a lot of awesome people, all ready to be hired on permanently. Please contact me for details, TYVM.

I will be back with you soon, hopefully with some pictures of all I've been doing (apart from work, we don't take a lot of pictures there) in various stages of readyness.

Why knitting matters...

2009-11-05T21:38:00.003+01:00

...to knitters at least.

I ran across this blog a while ago because I really like this Mary's patterns. And she puts a very entertaining blog together too!

I copied the following from her blog. Things to love about knitting.

1. Small Carbon Footprint
2. Low-Calorie
3. Social, or Anti-; depending on your state of mind and physical locale
4. Never wonder self-consciously what to do with your hands
5. Yarn will never stand you up for a meeting it scheduled with you
6. Noise it makes seldom annoys others (self-satisfied clucking or moans of ecstasy excepted)
7. Never run out of common interests with your cat
8. Always available for snuggling
9. Awkward explanation for where you were last Sunday afternoon not required
10. Knitting never gets upset if you fall asleep (either before OR after)

Knitting and writing, I love you both, but I must write write write!!! 'Tis November after all, One Must Simply Write!

#2

2009-10-19T19:13:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I finished project #2 on the Christmas list. Several more to go, especially since the mother decided this is what she wanted as well.

In the mean time, I've had to make an appointment with the doctor. Therapist-boy decided what I was fearing for the last couple of weeks. This shoulder isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing. I don't think it's my lack of effort (much) that's the issue with it, but every time I move the arm in a reflex sort of way, it takes forever for the entire area to recover. I can still feel losing my balance on the way home form work. almost 4 weeks ago. Something tells me that just isn't right.

So, doctor first thing tomorrow morning, and then on to the hospital to make an appointment with the specialist. Therapist-boy decided upon one who's supposed to be really good at this failing shoulder-thing, but I've since found out first opportunity for an appointment will be januari. By which time I'm fearing more deterioration. I'll probably settle for the fellow under this specialist.

Then again, I've just found out that my dad-in-law's lady friend offered up her house for Christmas so my parents can come over as well. I may need more time knitting. Doctor, you must wait some more. Or maybe not. This thing hurts...

Foggy Friday

2009-10-17T15:14:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was one of those days when Autumn makes sure you know it's there. Not exactly "there" so much as "THERE". Rain with some sunny spells, dark grey clouds, fierce winds and temperatures that make you go "wish I'd put that big old comfy winter jumper on" while you're trying to look stylish in tricot. Brrrrrr. At least this is the appropriate season for it, not like these pictures, taken in July. JULY, I tell ya...

Feelgood Friday

2009-10-09T20:26:00.001+02:00

Two wee girls too cute for words

Care Bears watch out! Competition on the horizon!

Lovely hidden bit of Scotland, right by a house with gates... I wonder who lives there...

Sunset on a beach is overrated. Try enjoying it on a boat instead.