Library Girl Knits!

Ugh, yet another cold (the second in 3 weeks, but a special different styled one – my boss has had exactly the same sequence of illness on the same days, so I suspect it is just a really nasty strain). That means even less gift knitting, and large quantities of easy eating (although today I successfully avoided toffees and choccy at work – yay! But consumed large quantities of throat sweets and blackcurrant medicine which is ok), and using all my time to shop for last minute stuff (done!) and try on pretty dresses in Monsoon in preparation for the wedding. Oops! But they have such beautiful dresses. I nearly bought one actually, but decided to refrain seeing as the size I thought I’d have to get now was actually a little big on the bust, which is a bloody miracle 😀 What a way to make me feel better 🙂 I’m hanging on, seeing as Monsoon always have beautiful clothes for occassions, and should still have some pretty things lurking at the end of next month, and as their dress sizes have given me hope. Did some wrapping tonight too, in preparation for some exchanges tomorrow at the last day of work.
The last day of work of the year is always good. We open at 8.45, and close at 12 midday! By the time we have opened up, cashed up, done all the daily jobs and wished everyone happy holidays, it is time to close up. Everyone who comes in is pretty much full of holiday cheer, even when they are stressed and rushing around to get stuff done with us while they can, and people sometimes want us to stay open all holiday. We won’t finish work on time, but that’s ok, as we will all go to the pub for lunch together, exchange gifts, and go home full and tipsy. Yay!
Ok, so I can read over DB’s shoulder that he is planning to tag me for this, but the lovely Modelwidow tagged me first, so she gets all the credit :p Lets see if I can think of 6… DB has far more interesting things to say in his ‘didn’t want to know about me list’. Maybe I’ll cheat and incorporate some (to all those librarians who get bounced here from my man – it’s legal as long as it is less than 5% ;D).
1) I am always always right. It’s a family trait. It doesn’t matter what it is, I AM right. And I thought of it first too. Therefore, I thought of this meme first, and even contemplated posting it and starting the chaing going looooong before Modelwidow tagged me, but decided it was all a bit too much like the other memes really. But clearly I am very innovative. And I am right.
2) DB is an ex-indie pop star. Kind of – the band can make a tasty sum as their vinyl goes for a nice price second hand 🙂 (that word count is less than 5%, and it isn’t an exact copy anyway. HA! See? Number one is so damn accurate and you know it). That makes me the Trudie Styler of the library world. What is particularly weird about this is that I truly believe it and use DB’s status in pub conversations frequently.
3) I won’t often look you in the eye – I’ll look all over the place in conversations and look like I’m not listening, but I am. That means that people often tell me secrets/think I’m not listening when they are spreading juicy gossip near me. Whether this is a good or a bad thing yet I’m not sure.
4) I imagine sometimes what would be the perfect soundtrack to what I’m doing according to my mood. Like walking to work in the dark, or coming down the stairs from the loo (the latter would involve the song Sir Digby Chicken Cesaer sings in That Mitchell and Webb Look 9 times out of 10).
5) The 10th time from above would be to Head over Heels by Tears for Fears (a la Donnie Darko).
6) I like to watch a full sequence of series of my fave TV shows. For example, I can happily watch the entire run of Friends over a couple of weeks while getting some knitting done (it was also my fave background noise for studying for 3 years – I have to have background noise while studying).
And if I could have a 7th, to make it lucky, I would point out that I heart the Simpsons far more than is healthy, and would like to think that I’m like Lisa, but really I’m just a combo of Ralph and Gill. And maybe Mr Pinchy. But I sadly never got the opportunity to attend lobster academy. And I’ve never been cooked.
Tomorrow afternoon there will be a finished object. Long finished, but I figure I should have some knitting content seeing as I haven’t had much to show with it being secret/semi-secret for gifts. If I remember I’ll ask Cherry to take pics of her socks tomorrow. Or, if her hubby is reading (yes, she told me 😀 *wave*), he might ask her. And he might like to know that there is such a thing in Japan as Hello Kitty toilet paper.
Next week, more stupid facts about me and my shite sense of humour.

Ok, so this is one of those self-motivational posts. The scarf I needed to make for tomorrow is almost done, but will need a press under a damp cloth to make it presentable. I have some cards to write, but lets face it, they won’t get done till tomorrow night seeing as last post for first class is Tuesday 😉 I got my Christmas pressie today from DB’s parents – a subscription to Craft magazine 😀
So I need to get things done. BUT, I also have to remind myself in between all these things that I have to watch what I eat for both my intolerances and to lose weight for February the 10th. That’s when Sue gets married 😀 I’d like to buy nice things in the sales after New Year. I don’t mind paying full price though if it means it is a size smaller than early January would get me 😉 I feel pogged right now, but the only naughty thing I’ve had is dry roasted peanuts and a really small slice of wheat free (and, may I add, almost fat free) ginger cake, so that makes the peanuts the worst thing. Everything else was pretty good. And for those people who have food intolerance issues, J B Bussink stem ginger loaf is the most moist and tasty wheat free cake I’ve ever had – a really good sub for Christmas cake may I add, and only 2 ww points for a big slice for those interested. And DB and his parents liked it, and they know cake well. I have yet another Christmas do tomorrow at work, so hopefully that won’t be to indulgent (you know, it being work, and therefore not really the same as going to a fancy restaurant). Ugh. Well, there will be about 7 weeks after new year before the wedding, which is quite a long time if I’m really good. Hahahahah!
You see? I can motivate myself to complete a degree while working, therefore I can motivate myself to lose weight and be good and everything, especially given scary photo opportunities… Now, that is motivational. 😉

Jax tagged me for a blog party 😀

Here I am, damp and shabby after being caught in the rain, with added fun from the evil mobile phone camera 😉 I was just checking my blog after a looooong day at work and our Christmas meal (at Lounge 68 in Huddersfield for those who fancy one – just delicious!), feeling sleepy, and considering bed. I may have been slow at responding to the invite, but blimey, you are soooo lucky that I saved that photo Jax ;D
So now I have to tag some people to participate 😀 Sooooo, I invite Leah, Necia, Aileen (if she has time, bless her. Go give her a cyberhug), and the lovely Brenda who has only just entered the world of blogging, but trust me, she knits good. Ok girlies – if you participate, take a pic as soon as you’ve read this ‘ere post and tell us all what you were doing at the time.
Oh, and gift knitting is totally taking over my time outside of work. I have so much to do! Gah! And an extra gift to knit! But I have got a little further in all of them. That means that no knitting AT ALL has gone on for yours truly. Bugger. But the general concensus about the cardi/jumper issue is definitely moving in the jumper direction. What is worse is that in the meantime I had cast on for Rowan Chrissie… Whoops! But as I say other than that, nothing pour moi.
Time to knit more for my mates…

Two posts in as many days? Good grief!  Please note that if you experienced any problems with the blog recently, our hosts moved the site to a different server without telling us, so there may be some missing comments and funnies…  Many apologies!
But anyway, I need help. And don’t say you already knew that…
This week we had a delivery of new stock at work, and a wonderful fellow knitter colleague (who sadly isn’t adventurous enough to undertake much of the patterns in the book) brought me the gift of a request on Knitting Nature I had this on my Amazon wishlist, but now I’ve taken it off – too many mad things and duds in the book. However, there are a couple of things that have caught my eye, and I figured I’d take advantage of the long Christmas loan period to see if I can knock out a nice garment from it. Now, I can’t justify purchasing any more yarn right now, and I have a big pile of lovely Knit Picks Andean Silk which I think could work really well as the simply delicious Rams Horn Jacket (one already made is here, and I think it looks lovely on her). It is either, if a swatch works out, this or the original purpose of the Glampyre Simple Knitted Bodice pattern at Stitch Diva. I actually hate to say it but I think the jacket would be more useful… Let me know what you think while I think about swatching.

We don’t have show and tell in the UK, or at least we didn’t when I was at school many moons ago, but here is some hot knitting show action, plus all the other things I haven’t posted piccies of recently 🙂

Oh, before I forget – DB posted a comment with a link to the photos from Rome in Flickr, so go looksie 😀 For those who can’t be arsed, they can be found here:

Rome pics

Not many pics of us – DB seems to hate putting pics with him in, and the only two with me alone are hideous cos I was knackered on Monday morning and looked rough 😀

Anyway, we had a fabby fabby time at the Knitting Show last week, and I made the following purchases:

3 hanks of Knitshop silk merino blend. I say this again and again, but I am damn choosy about how comfortable my yarn is. There is no point paying good money for yarn that is not nice to the touch. Price is sometimes considered (i.e. I will not make a sweater out of this, or out of anything that costs more than I’d pay for in the shops for something I really loved – usually about 50 quid if I’m feeling flush, more if I save up for something special). But this really is soft and gorgeous – it passes the cheek test with flying colours, and makes me want to roll in it. Cross your fingers for me in the hope that it breeds while I finish knitting my Christmas gifts (yeah, I don’t have long blah blah blah, but I am being selective about who gets them). *sigh* I’m such a yarn whore.

Next up some yarn I’ve wanted for a while. UK Alpaca were there, and I’d actually gone with plans to buy their alpaca silk blend, but found this and fell in love over it. This is their baby alpaca merino blend and is softer than the alpaca silk, which I never thought possible. It is destined for mittens with a snowflake motif I think. Oooooooooh baby I can’t wait to get my needles into it.

At the same stand I bought some good value alpaca and blue faced leicester fibre to spin up. I’ve been practicing with merino and doing a bit of a poor job (although I haven’t tried since I came back from my hols). I wanted to use my fibre to play with before I spun up my Sockret Pal Gwen’s gift fibre so that I didn’t ruin it or anything – I’m so not ready to spin to knit yet. BUT, I read somewhere that merino can be really tough to spin up. This stuff is about the same price as the merino – it cost 2.50 per 100g as opposed to Texere yarns’ £1.50 per 50g and it feels gorgeous. I won’t be too afraid to spin it up this way, and I’ve got plenty to play with, and can order online if I want more. And I love this wintery tweedy grey. I’m hoping that I’ll get good enough to send some to my sockret pal (so don’t say anything to her ;D), even if it is just a tiny amount. I’ll be having some spin time tomorrow hopefully, now I have no nasty interview stuff to interrupt my crafting 😉

Here is some stuff I’ve had for a while, but have never had time to post pics. First up, the wonderful Socks That Rock 😀 I have so needed to buy this and ordered it long before I finished my coursework so that I’d have something lovely to look at. Ooooh boy. I ordered a hank of lightweight Jasper, and midweight Highway 30. Both are delicious and I want to play with them. I also have a hank of Sweet Georgia, but the colourway escapes me for now. I’ll save it for when I feel like a quick knit, but it might work well with a couple of sportweight patterns I have. And the other?

Piece of Beauty Robe and Bowl. I may have already posted pics of this. I don’t care. It is lush. Know how I said I could roll around in my yarn? Maybe I could if I piled all this up… Hoorah!

I’ve also invested in some of the new Colinette sock yarn, Jitterbug. A hank is for my sockret pal (so shhh!), and a hank is for some gift knitting. I’ll let you know how it goes, but winding it up and the looking at the colours so far, I’m quite pleased. We’ll see how it is once knitted up… 🙂

Ciao baby!

Hello all 😀 We are back from our wonderful holiday in Rome, and are busy catching up with all the stupid boring stuff that going away on our holidays brings, like doing the washing, realising that there is no fresh food in the house, and avoiding thinking about going back to work on Monday… And blogging 😉 Cath has been prodding me to blog cos I am a bad person 😀
Rome was amazing. There are no photos ready yet – DB took about 500 on the dig cam and is busy not uploading them to his website (instead he is busy rediscovering his love of the Dungeon Keeper games). They are on the PC, just not online 🙁 We arrived at the hotel about 9pm Rome time on the Sunday, so all we could manage that day was to dump our stuff and go find somewhere to eat. Rather nicely, we found what is supposed to be one of the best Pizzeria in Rome round the corner – Pizzeria Ivo 😀 I was good and had a risotto which was YUM, but DB had a big yummy mushroom pizza. It was vvvvv nice. The hotel is lovely, based near the Piazza di Santa Maria, but has no soundproofing on the windows (they are beautiful old ones with shutters on either side of the glass – you’ll see when I get the pics link), so while the building was quiet, the streets were not – apparently Italians go out in style on a Sunday (we didn’t leave Ivo until about 11pm and people were still piling in), so we had strange noises, loud boisterous Italians and scooters until about 2 or 3 am 🙁 Monday we were rather sleepy when breakfast came, but luckily Italians think lots of food is good. After scoffing we headed out to a park in Trastevere near where we were staying, and climbed to the top of the Janiculum hill to Piazza Guiseppe Garibaldi and a view over the city to get our bearings. Just stunning – you could see right from the Vatican to the Colosseum (yes I can spell it now ;D). We headed down towards the Vatican but couldn’t go in as the Italian president was there with the Pope, so we stared in awe for a bit then headed down to the Castel S. Angelo (where the midday cannon took us by surprise), which was closed, but stunning to look at… By this time we were feeling a bit knackered, so we wandered along the route we wanted and had a nosey round for a nice trattoria and found one that was almost totally empty on a back street. This sounds really daft, but I had the nicest salad there, but it was simply thinly sliced mushrooms with HUGE shavings of parmesan and some lemon juice on it. Really simple but delicious.
After that we wandered around some of the Piazza, and found our way to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is just awe inspiring. It totally struck me down. You really can’t appreciate it until you see it in real life – the dome from the inside makes you dizzy and the hole in the centre just seems to add to the vastness of the dome (I think it was about 9m wide, if that helps put any pics in perspective). Even the huge bronze doors which must have been over a foot thick, and the simplicity of the columns just take your breath away.
We made our way from there to the Trevi Fountain (made even more famous by La Dolce Vita) which again is incredible. I forgot to throw a coin in but I think we may still find our way back to Rome some time 🙂 and we managed to take a pic of ourselves by it too! It is definitely a place to go to – it seemed miles busier than most of the other places we saw on Monday, including the Pantheon (but only by ratio of people to size, if that makes sense – the fountain is smaller but has not much space around it, and it was jammed full of people taking pics and admiring it). By this time we were pretty shattered so we went back to the hotel and zombied for a bit before heading out for some dinner. We went to a Pizzeria on the other side of the river but still not far away, called Remo, and is apparently THE best in Rome according to locals. Simple decor, but excellent food. We had no idea how big the pizza would be so we ordered 2 portions of fries, which came in a huge dish as a starter. When the pizza came, it was falling off the plates – at least 15″ wide, and we’d ordered two (my treat for naughty food while away 😀 How could I go to Italy and not eat pizza!?). Delicious! All that, a litre of water and a litre of white wine for less than 20 euros 😀 After that we found our way to a lovely little bar back in Trastevere called Caffe Della Scala, where they pour measures by eye and are rather generous with it too… YUM.
Day two was spent on the other side of Rome for the most part. We started by head towards the Vittoriano and the piazza behind it. Romans apparently despise it and find it totally hideous, but I think they are being a bit cruel. Yeah, it is a tad over the top, but you get excellent views from the top, and if it had been built 2-300 years earlier, it probably wouldn’t have been as hated (it was only finished in 1935, and is used as a war memorial for the unknown soldier). It is pretty damn big though 🙂 Then we headed past the Palatine to the Colosseum. Here’s a hint – don’t even pay for the tours that are being touted outside there – the queues for getting in are huge (and even when we were there and it was relatively quiet, they were an expected time of 45 mins waiting before getting in), and their main selling point is that going with the tour group will get you in without queuing. Just head to the ticket booth at the Palatine entrance a couple of minutes away up the cobbled road opposite (near the arch) and buy a ticket there, and then come back to the Colosseum and jump the queues with your ticket. You can get an audio tour too (but you need to leave ID for it) and it works out much better value. Once inside we wandered round the exhibit based on Homer and the Iliad, and then went into the main arena for a look round. I don’t think photos can ever demonstrate just how MASSIVE the place is. The only way you can gauge it is by looking at the size of the people wandering around on the higher tiers opposite you. The arena itself is quite small, but as the building expands to accomodate the seating it just seems to grow and grow and dwarf you totally. And it has many cats sunbathing in it 😀 We were pretty knackered again by this time, so rather than walk back through the Palatine, we decided we’d have another go at the Vatican to see if we could get in, and took a route so we could pop into the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and see the Michelangelo sculpture inside of Christ bearing the cross. The church also has some rather interesting design on the ceiling, and is the only gothic church in Rome. It is also home to the headless body of Saint Catherine of Siena – her head lives in Siena still, but they managed to find a skull to make up for it which sits on top of a small reclining figure in one of the chapels of another saint (whose name I am sorry to say I currently forget). Catholicism never fails to fascinate or intrigue me…
By the time we reached the Vatican it was starting to get dark and we realised that thanks to completely mad opening times, we’d missed entry by about 3 hours or something else very silly indeed. We did manage to make it into the square this time though, and to the Tomb of Popes. Most of the area was quiet till we reached the most recent – John Paul II. At this point there were nuns and monks, and a lot of catholics coming to pray and take photos and leave items for him and requests for help. Some people had items touched on his tomb, and one teenage boy with his mother was clearly not too excited and had to be pushed to his knees to ‘pray’ by his mum 🙂 I can’t deny that, in spite of not being particularly religious (I should add that I am spiritual to a certain extent, but don’t particularly lean to a faith) and certainly not catholic, it was incredibly moving to be there. The peace that you are required to maintain, and the obvious love and awe from the visitors around you make it worth a visit alone. We came out of the tomb area feeling strangely tranquil and peaceful, regardless of our very achy feet and the extremely amusing looking Swiss Guard hanging around near the exit.
At this point we were totally shattered, so we headed back through Via Della Scala again, for of all things, a Chinese (but a bloody good one – dare I say that Italians do Chinese better than Brits?), some Limoncello (which is the best drink ever) and some dark chocolate with chili in it (best choccy ever too).
Then Wednesday we came from the beautiful no-jacket-required weather (it was a bit nippy at night, but we went round the Colosseum with no coat while Italians were around in scarves and winter jackets :D) to almost black sky and pissing with rain 🙁
Luckily I had the Knitting Show to look forward to. But that’s for another post 😀 I’ve wittered too long, and have lots to do today before going back to work, including making up those prizes for my blog winners, and posting out the yarn Leah won (but has yet to find out what colourway I’ve bought for her – it arrived last weekend petal just before we left :D), and preparing for some more interviews this week :S Oh, and DB tells me he has a Flickr account and has so far added 18 pics to it 😀 Oooo! I just checked now again, and he has 60 (including some ace pigeon/statue action ;D), but mostly without details of where they are – and I bet he’s missed the one off where we are both at the fountain… I’ll wait to post the link till he’s added some info!

1) I like knitting (particularly when I order a hat on sale from KimHargreaves.co.uk and Kathleen Hargreaves emails to say that I live so close they thought of bringing my order round instead of posting it, but thought I might not be in. I pick it up from the post office tomorrow).
2) I like getting lots of well-wishing – thanks so much guys for your support and putting up with my annoying moans
3) I like getting the occassional bunch of flowers (although sadly never from DB), especially ones from my work colleagues, like today’s big bunch of gorgeousness (orange and gold gerbera with lilies yet to open, big green luscious leaves and a beautiful mauve cabbage heart), even if it makes me tear up and cry just a little bit. Ditto to them about the moans and stuff.
4) I like getting an email before lunchtime from my tutor telling me the board agreed a fair score for my dissertation was 5 (out of 6) and thus will be awared the MSc.
Hoorah! I have tons to do tonight to prepare for tomorrow, but that is one less thing to worry about (only 3 things to go now). After tomorrow I can think about packing and getting Euros and checking the weather forecast and how much money to save for the knitting show and yay.

Several things. I’ve had wine and chocolate covered dried raspberries from M&S as a treat while DB is away, and I am still sweating from the tension of waiting for news that may not even arrive tomorrow, and will be fine because my tutor has been good and told me I’d be fine if I just altered cosmetic things. I’m a Celebrity… is on and that is making me even more scared. Toby Anstis a celeb? David Gest famous because he married Liza Minnelli, and poor little Jason Donovan starting to look a little folically challenged, and camera work during the bungie from the helicopter closely matching that of Sir Digby Chicken Cesear. I don’t know which is worse – waiting for tomorrow, or watching Faith Brown screaming like a hagard ancient harriden and Tony Blair’s sister-in-law looking slightly confused, as if she set off for the chippy and ended up here.
Bloody hell. Jason D just said a very rude word indeed. Several times, in several variations. Oh and he has kids apparently. Ooooo. Yeah, I’d have had his kids. Probably. But only if he wore his stockings and corset – the dreamcoat just isn’t technicolour enough to do it for me.

Ugh, what a week. I have three interviews coming up, two of them internal, we need a new fire because ours has given up the ghost, and we’ve been preparing for our trip to Rome. I have finished things, and started new things too, but I just don’t have the time to take pics 🙁 And I have stash to show off still. And in less than two weeks there is the knitting show. And DB’s parents are coming over tomorrow, so the house needs supercleaning. And I have to make some lovely things to send out for prizes still. DB goes away for a conference in a couple of days, which might help me find time to do some crafty gifting stuff, but blimey, I’m not going to rest this weekend, so it is vvv good that I have a holiday soon…

But, to keep you entertained until I can sneak in some newsworthy pics and some loveliness, go and play this: Kingdom of Loathing. It entertains me 😀 Be warned, it is quite addictive.

[edited to add] Oh and my dissertation results are due this week. The board meet on Tuesday. 3 inteviews, diss results… Am now officially kakking it.

Well, Cherry decided, after great deliberation and difficulty, on some winners 🙂 I would like to add that she was presented purely with comments without any idea who any of you were and thus no bias, not that she reads knitting blogs 😉 Prove me wrong Chezza!
Here is my lovely friend, demonstrating her passion for yarn and all things woolly in the staff eating area at work. See the stack of trays and the vending machine – all ours folks!

Ahhhh! The love between Cherry and KSH is great.
She ponderously pondered, till she could ponder no more, and increased the potential for forehead wrinkles in the process. You see what pains she went to to be able to help you all out?

Ach, the agony of the deciding!
So who are the winners?
Well, in reverse order. Dudududududuudduduududududuudududududuud
3rd place: Brenda with the Eunny Jang Bayerische socks!
2nd place: Roo with her suggestion for intarsia Miffy socks!
And in first place?
Dududuududududduududududududuududududududuudududududududuud.
Leah with the Red Herring socks!
Congratulations to you all! Cherry applauds you and your pattern selection capacity.

I will email you all and arrange for prizes and addresses and stuff to be sorted out – I’m hoping to get stuff in the mail before I go on my jollies, so I want to work quickly and make sure my order for yarn is put in soon.
To the rest of you, thank you for all the ideas you had – some of them I’d seen even before learning to sock knit, and loved them, but forgot about them. I’ll probably make a large quantity of the list, so thank you thank you thank you. Hoorah for sock yarn!