On getting things done (with Little Spare Time)

So I finished another thing, this time including buttons! Lovely quiet day of nothing and a bit of knitting. As you can see, Bubs was in a hurry to get things done though! 

The pattern is Little Spare Time by Terry Kruse (link to Ravelry) and the yarn is Cascade Elysian which I purchased in a Tardis slash home-away-from-home and not-quite-Local Yarn Shop called Fibre Circle in Farmersville, Texas. Buttons, a shawl collar and pockets, this pattern has it all. It was a quick knit, a lovely pattern and I really recommend it. Bubs decided he needed to wear it and wouldn't stand still for a picture just in case I'd take it from him...

WIP Wednesday: Stunned and Floored

After last week, the topic of online friends seems to keep popping up. For instance, Ravelry did a piece on how to make (better) use of their friend option. And as of today, you can find more than 2 million friends on Ravelry. 2.000.000 members, can you imagine? We could populate a country with that!

After a few years as a member, I can't imagine what my life would be like without that community of crafters. I wouldn't be able to knit the things I'm knitting, I wouldn't use the yarn I'm knitting with now. I wouldn't be spinning, or knitting with my handspun. I wouldn't be able to give the gifts I'm making my loved ones, and I wouldn't be able to survive on the ideas my head keeps having while waiting for the world to catch up with my needs.

I wouldn't have met a number of interesting people, learned new techniques or even thought about sending a fabric postcard to the other side of the world.*

If you have any interest in fibre arts and crafts, sign up here and prepare to have your mind blown.


Imagine this blog without the existence of Ravelry... oh 't would be a barren place...


So much for the Stunned part of this blog post. On with the Floor...

Last week I've spent mostly feeling like a wet dish cloth** not quite ill enough to call in sick, but miserable enough to be exhausted from blowing my nose and coughing up bits of lung with only a hint of a raised temperature, some of the time. Too tired to knit, but not tired enough to nap, if you know the feeling... Just blegh, is how I describe it. I tried spinning

But I didn't get very far. Bored, restless, floored. 

I knit an entire Tomten the Third sleeve. It's a baby jacket, in baby size. Short arms and such. I did one in 3 days. That's it. 

I managed to take a few pictures of it. Those will have to do. 

If you need me, I'll be on the floor, recovering. 

*not got my head around that one yet. Give it time...
**a Dutch saying.

WIP Wednesday: Friends

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.

Scottish Sundays, and shamelessly inserting some holiday pictures

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!

As promised

An update on how the day was weird, and turned out to be tiresome indeed.

It all started with not being called to wake up. Well, before that, my dad was prevented from waking me up at 5:30 by brother and mom. I'd said my goodbyes to brother yesterday evening before going to sleep, not seeing the point in waking up in the middle of the night, murmuring a 'don't jump the plane unless you have a parachute' comment and go right back to sleep. Or, with my luck, be awake for the rest of the night and having to do all of today on 5 hours of sleep. So, we said goodbye, safe journey and all that good sobby stuff before going to sleep. Dad did not wake me up.

DH on the other hand, can be trusted to call at any time in the early morning before he goes to sleep. Never after 8:00, or he knows I'll get on to him for not going to bed before midnight. He doesn't 'do' clocks and never checks the time during the evening, right until the moment he decides he's getting tired. That didn't happen until 1:30 his time, which is why he called me at 8:30 in the morning, when I was no longer around to answer the phone.

Mom didn't call me from the airport, as I had told her repeatedly that I had set the alarm, and that between it and DH, I would certainly be up before 8:00. Which is why I frantically called her at 8:20 to ask what time I was to have expected the first batch of kids to show up, right after the father of the first batch finally got to leave for work.

At 8:13, I woke up, screamed a little when I checked my watch, jumped into my clothes and down the stairs to open the door to two slightly undercooled kids and their father, holding his phone from when he was calling the house phone, wondering if anyone was there. Well, I was. As it happened, just as I was zipping up, the alarm went off. 7:15 Winter Time. Gods I felt stupid and inadequate. Luckily they were the first batch to be expected, so none of the other fathers needed to know. In between arrivals I managed to brush my teeth and put on socks and shoes. Not a great start of the day.

Of batch #1, 100% has a cold of the running snot type, followed by 100% of batch #2. Batch #3 was snot-free, and assured me she had eaten all of her dinner the night before, and even finished her yoghurt after. Believe me when I say that's quite an accomplishment, as she only ever does that here, and only after much power-struggle has been overcome. At 9:00, one child was removed from the flock to sleep. Which he did, blissfully, for 90 minutes. By 10:30, after Tweenies, Tubbies and King Koos, breakfast and a coffee, the parental unit finally returned from Zaventem, having gotten themselves lost in Antwerp in search of that really cheap gas station. Left the house for a few minutes in search of cheap fabric, and returned to find much snot, unhappiness, and a 2 year old trying to get a feel for where my boundaries lie. Corporal punishment is so last century, but I can sometimes see the point of it. By 14:30, I was ready to leave the house but had an instant soup instead. Colds never help, and I was clearly tired and grumpy, but dear Gods, we can start our own "stop procreating" lifestyle group just with the 4 of them there. Just before soup, the most rational and least demanding one (who sleeps in my room) farted in her sleep, filling my room with sewage-grade stink. Mom transferred my 'wages' which is really kind of her.

Book club book #1 has arrived, so I can go pick it up anytime. I was late responding to the Ravelry position, but they got over 1500 applications, so it wouldn't have been any use anyway. Looking at the NHTV job site made me feel incredibly inadequate again, being in the place of under-over-qualifiedness. Will call about it tomorrow regardless. I would quite like to be a lecturer. I'd be a quite cheap one too, I imagine. They should hire me. Also applied for 3-month in-house translating job to be done in Germany for Gaming company, which will surely come to nothing.

Lovely Laura interrupted this posting, with more and new job openings in the Midland area. Sweetness, found lots more in the DFW range, which is currently slightly more convenient. Still, thanks bunches, sent them all on to DH, who is out, doing important expensive stuff.

Tonight the Screnzy starts. Actually looking forward to it, even though it won't be good, make no money or won't help with the future one bit. Still, it's something to do of an evening, when there's nothing on the telly.

For now, still working on the Blue Mariyam Bag, almost done with the crochet bit, and managed to score some fabric today.

Life isn't all bad, but I'm having that wine anyway. Bottoms up.


PS. Laura's cats are adorable little tigers.

The added joy of a Pretty Coffee.

Today, the girl whose name I'd almost forgotten, Anne, made an Effort on our coffees. Apparently she's reading up on Pretty Coffee on the internet. I say go Anne, keep up the good Work!



We managed to keep dry all morning, something which just couldn't keep up all day. A flash rain which lasted about 5 minutes fell on me the second I stepped outside (duh) of the practice after therapy today. As soon as I put the key in the lock of the back door, it stopped. In good news, I'm getting a haircut in the morning. Most of tomorrow will be filled with prepping for Ron's leaving party (sure, we're happy not to see him for 6 months. Ha!) and the party itself. Hope to have some time to myself in the midst. I've got a few things to attend to myself. Like #1, though it's Saturday. Mustn't forget to put in for Ravelry. I'm a Bamboo, y'know?

#1 Find a job.
One more option going at the moment, after another one 'pulled out.' They sent me another option, but I guess I'm not going hungry enough to work outbound callcentre yet. Sorry.

#2 Ti bag
Starting over was a good plan, I'm much happier now. Here's what it looks like.



Like I said, much better. Haven't managed to find liner fabric, as I've got the original one in my other stash, far far away. Hope it won't become a big issue.

#3 Book club book
Not going so well. #1 hasn't showed up yet, #2 is still part of a big stack of probably not very important mail, and this is the situation of pre-book club book.



Extra points for finding the book in there. Will take it along for haircut, always get to read some there. As long as I stay away from the gossips I'll be fine.

#5 Screnzy
A few days left until fade-in. Plenty of ideas, Bionical Eye Man, Loser Man, and apparently I already forgot one. I guess two short scripts will have to do. Argh! Someone already did Lost in Translation, so I'll scrap that thought. Hmpf.

#5-#6 Make 'stuffs'
Work has begun, but I've seen the wisdom in single-layering jeans fabric. Wish I'd have seen it before it did the bulk double-layered. Much cursing followed. Shirt is going mildly better, as I've almost finished (part of) prepping. Would say that it'll be finished first.

Concluding, I'm in more pain than before I started therapy, and what's with these unstable shoulders? Seriously. I'm not watching as much TV as I have previously, which means I'm now up-to-date with my TROS Nieuwsshow podcasts. Just in time for tomorrow's edition. Battling on with OVT. Many, many more to go.
For tonight, it's comfort TV and crochet. You wouldn't think a day without screaming kids could still be this tiresome. And yet, I don't feel like sleeping. It'll come, just like mentioning sleeping got me back Screnzy idea #3. What does sleep beckoning look like?