WIPs

Before getting started on new things I've been trying to get some of my WIP pile cleared. Several projects had got put on one side because I didn't want to sew them together whilst moving, or I didn't have anywhere to block them whilst moving. But I've been steaming ahead with some finishing.

I started this tea cosy way back in March, intended for a friend's birthday in April. Fortunately I haven't seen her yet and we'd only just exchanged our previous year's birthday and Christmas presents as I ran a little late with this one. But now it's finished. I realised once I was going that this is Fair Isle! The pattern is Terrific Tea Cosy from Rowan Classic Home and used almost exactly 3 balls of space dyed DK from Wentworth Yarns (as acquired on Skip North back in 2006!).

I finished off the Rib Fantastic socks, in Regia Designline Kaffe Fassett 4ply. I like the way the colours have worked out in these.

And I finally finished off Dylan's tank top and got it posted off to him. What a failure of an Auntie. Although I shouldn't think he's too bothered as he seemed much more interested in the wooden car transporter I sent him for his birthday than anything knitted. This is the basic vest pattern by Ann Budd, made in Peaches & Creme cotton.

Want to see some more of the house? This is my study/the spare room, which Monkey shares with Claudius my laptop, and quite a lot of yarn. Sometimes they let me in there too.

I've also finished a couple of books. Last month's reading group book was "The vanishing act of Esme Lennox" by Maggie O'Farrell. This is the first book in ages that I haven't been able to put down - it's totally compelling. Bizarrely at reading group all the women loved it, and the one man hated it! I loved the way it jumped backwards and forwards, allowing you to piece the story together from various recollections and accounts. Some parts felt strange - what was the significance of Iris' relationship with Alex, for instance? But on the whole it worked extremely well. It was also chilling to think about how easily a woman could be locked up in an asylum in those days, basically for doing very little other than not wanting to conform to society's expectations.

I was not as impressed by "A walk with Jane Austen" by Lori Smith. I found this very odd. It wasn't so much about walking with Jane Austen as about the author's own problems - I spent half the time wanting to shriek "get a grip" at her. Especially when she spends half the book mooning over "Jack", a relationship that never even comes to very much at all. Whilst it was interesting getting an American's view of a trip round England (and very amusing in places) some things didn't really add up for me - such as why was she being so energetic if she was really feeling that bad? The faith and Christianity parts also didn't fit at all well - there was nothing on the outside of the book that mentioned anything to do with religion and I found that these parts mostly really grated (and I'm a Christian!) - and might be a shock for many readers?
From the front cover: "A modern woman's search for happiness, fulfilment and her very own Mr Darcy" make it sound quite light-hearted, maybe verging on the chick lit, when it isn't actually at all! It's got mixed reviews, including someone who thinks it would be perfect for a "young woman's" reading group. Hmm. Yeah.

Ah well, August's reading group book is "The reluctant fundamentalist", which I'm currently reading... and it's already proving better than walking with Jane Austen.

Twitter

So, there I was, reading blogs, when I stumbled over the Yarn Harlot talking about Twitter. Now I'd read about Twitter, but mainly in incredibly dull librarian things that don't inspire me to go and investigate further. But if the Yarn Harlot's doing it it's got to be cool, right? So I investigated and discovered exciting things like several other online friends using it, plus Stephen Fry, plus the Today programme and Greenpeace. Then I joined in myself.

I don't think my updates have changed the world. Was anyone actually interested in my desperate hunt for paracetamol in the event of Extreme On The Blobness Galloping Gut Rot? Or the headache-that-turned-into-a-migraine? Or the fact that I'd arrived at work and it was raining? Probably not. But I like other people's updates!

In other news. I've just started reading "Everyman" by Philip Roth, for reading group, although I'll miss the meeting for this one as I'll be on holiday. Ironically the only copy left was the large print one, which caused great hilarity among the other members, almost all of whom are a good 40 years older than me! When do you read books? I'm trying to keep the time I get to bed for reading books, and to keep reading newspapers and magazines to other times, but I always seem to end up with a backlog at the end of each week!

Most of my files are now on Claudius, although a few remain on Caligula, and I haven't tackled Nero yet... I haven't worked out how I want the file structure to look yet, so things are in weird places. Knitting pics seem to have ended up in a variety of folders, so I'm having trouble finding things!

I've unearthed the pics of White Lightning (but in green):


finished for a swop before Christmas. A quick and also fun knit! I used 2 skeins of Debbie Bliss Cathay, which feels lovely.
Just before Christmas I discovered Folksy (thanks to Nic!) which is like Etsy but in the UK. I bought a bag like this as a Christmas present from Nic's shop and have since been stalking various other exciting items!

New laptop!

I haven't disappeared. I've been trying to buy a new laptop and finally succeeded on the third attempt, after spending a week with a fraud alert on my bank account (as the Man at the Bank said on the phone, "you don't normally spend several hundred pounds with Dell computers, so it looked like suspicious activity"!!) Presumably if I bought a new laptop every month it would have been fine...

Then there were a few problems with my bank address (home) not matching my delivery address (work) but finally Claudius (the new laptop) arrived on Friday! I am half swopped over from Caligula (the old laptop), as I haven't had time yet to sit down and sort out which files are going where, or install the software for my printer, phone and scanner, but soon I will be embarking on a wonderful new world of being able to access my email and Flickr at home, able to post pics onto Ravelry without everything crashing and other similar exciting activities.

I'm waiting for a swop parcel to make its way across the Atlantic to its recipient before I post pics of the finished item(s) so I'll leave you with pics of the two wash mitts I made as Christmas presents: