I've just been on hiatus, I guess ;)
It's been over 6 months since I last posted - I'm sure no-one's still subscribed, but here I am anyway lol!
I totally lost my knitting mojo over Christmas and winter. I just couldn't think of anything I wanted to knit. And whenever I did try something, it went wrong - like it would be too big, or too small, or too... something. My stash was totally hanging over my head - I would stare at the bookshelves of yarn, and wonder just what on earth I could do with all of that yarn! And some things, I had plans for, like pullovers and clothing items, but I was having (mental) issues with my body too, and just felt like nothing would fit or look nice, or if it fit now, what would happen if I ever managed to lose weight? Or what if I put on weight? What was the point?
So I dropped out of knitting for a while. I sewed a little bit - made some fabric flowers and bettered some of my hand-sewing skills. I didn't go anywhere near blogs or even ravelry - there were just all these pretty, amazing objects taunting me with their makeability. So I spent months reading books, playing video games, or just sat on facebook. Which is full of all my bellydancing buddies and that's fantastic, but I still missed knitting.
Slowly, I seem to have come out of my knitting slump. I started with some small objects - fingerless mitts mostly. You can't go far wrong with them :) And now I'm back to knitting sweaters! I've crept back onto ravelry and my queue has started expanding again - it appears that so many amazing patterns have come out while I've been away! And now I'm going to slowly get back to blogging and reading other people's blogs. :)
I rearranged my blog reading layout - I used to use blogger to keep track of all the blogs I read, but it wasn't really a good layout at all. And then they changed it while I've been away and it's even more convoluted! So I've dragged all my fave blogs to a toolbar folder on firefox, and I can just scroll through that instead of having to open another program, or go to a specific page, which I was just forgetting to do. Soon I'll be back to commenting on them all, but I'm taking it slow this time - I don't want to burn myself out again by jumping back in too soon. This social networking stuff takes a lot of energy, and my levels are just starting to rise again! :)
I've also decided to stop beating myself about photographing all my knits. I kind of felt that they should all be photographed in lovely natural light, with fnacy bokeh effects and everything. This kind of hung over my head too, because in Scotland in the winter - this isn't really possible without big fancy photography rigs and tons of spare time to take 100 photos of every object from every angle. So I was beginning to feel like there was no point in taking photos if they weren't totally professional quality. I know, totally dumb, right? And I had this big thing against using the flash on my camera, when sometimes it's just the right thing that needs to be used... I'm so strange. From now on, I'll just try for the best picture I can get. With flash or without, indoors or outdoors depending on the weather and light, it doesn't really matter. A crappy photo with flash in front of a mirror is better than no photo at all, right?
I've been thinking a lot about my expectations for myself, and what I do. For this whole blogging thing - they were far too high. I'm not sure what I wanted my blog to be - a big professional looking site full of gorgeous pictures, and a tiny thin version of me in beautiful handknits posed on an Icelandic beach or something. Um, that's not my life?! So I'm going to endeavour - not to lower my standards or expectations for myself, but to make them reasonable, and realistic.
This is a good plan, I think, and I'm going to slowly work on it. And maybe I should apply the same thinking to other areas of my life... Actually, seeing that last sentence on the last paragraph written out - it makes so much sense. Why have I not been thinking like that already??? So, to repeat:
I'm going to endeavour - not to lower my standards or expectations for myself, but to make them reasonable, and realistic.
Gosh, this post has been all therapeutic and stuff! I'm really excited about getting back to my online knitting life now! :D
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Friday, 30 September 2011
It's been a while...
but I'm back :D
I disappeared from knitting for a while. My mojo just up and disappeared all of a sudden :( I actually hardly knit anything for a while, and even stopped listening to knitting podcast. I even, gasp, didn't go on ravelry.
I'm blaming it on two things. First of all, I was quite ill over the summer there. I was having problems breathing, and couldn't sleep at night without waking up out of breath, then I got a cold/flu which turned into tonsilitis. It really sucked. On the bright side, out of it all, I *finally* got diagnosed with asthma, after having these symptoms for the past few years. It's aggravated by hayfever for me, so in the summer it gets worse. Which explains the chest problems I've had for the past 3 summers :/ But I have inhalers and anti-histamines galore now, and it's great. I can actually sleep all night through! You wouldn't believe what a difference that has made. Sleep seems like such an basic thing, but when you're waking up every 3 hours and your sleep is interrupted to such a degree, it's hard to focus on anything through the day, and my energy levels were going right down. But now, I feel good. I have energy - even my metabolism seems a bit speeded up and my weight is easier to control over the past month or so of having these meds.
I'm also blaming my lack of motivation on deadline knitting. I went to my cousin's wedding last month, and had to knit a shrug for it. I also had a couple of other things that had to be knit quickly, and my appetite for knitting just disappeared because of it. :( The shrug turned out nice though - here's me in my "going to a wedding" outfit:
You can't see it that well because it's black, but it's another Two Tone Ribbed Shrug (pattern by Stephanie Japel from the book Fitted Knits). I made it from Debbie Bliss Rialto DK on 4mm needles. It's the third time I've knit that shrug. It's a very flattering shrug and I love it, but having to knit it quickly just put me right off :(
I'm getting my mojo back - I've been listening to podcasts again and have been queueing patterns on ravelry, and even been knitting too!
These are the Deep In The Forest Mittens by Tuulia Salmela. I've wanted to knit these for ages! I spun the yarn myself - merino, to just over a fingering weight, and then knit them this month as part of the Harry Potter Knit And Crochet House Cup over on ravelry. It was good motivation, and I'm really enjoying colourwork just now! I've even spun up the yarn for my next pair of colourwork handspun mittens already!
I modified the pattern so that the picture would be the same on both hands on the front and back. I did this just by working the chart from left to right on the right mitten, and placing the thumb on the other side of the front. I also reversed the braided edging on the right mitten so that the arrows on them would both face “inwards”, by reversing the two rows on which the braiding is worked.
I'm so pleased with these mittens! I love making colourwork out of my handspun! I'm still a bit put off knitting anything else at the moment, like hats or pullovers or anything like that, but I'm really enjoying the process of spinning and knitting mittens, so I'll just go with that for the time being :) I hope to get even more back into it soon :D
I disappeared from knitting for a while. My mojo just up and disappeared all of a sudden :( I actually hardly knit anything for a while, and even stopped listening to knitting podcast. I even, gasp, didn't go on ravelry.
I'm blaming it on two things. First of all, I was quite ill over the summer there. I was having problems breathing, and couldn't sleep at night without waking up out of breath, then I got a cold/flu which turned into tonsilitis. It really sucked. On the bright side, out of it all, I *finally* got diagnosed with asthma, after having these symptoms for the past few years. It's aggravated by hayfever for me, so in the summer it gets worse. Which explains the chest problems I've had for the past 3 summers :/ But I have inhalers and anti-histamines galore now, and it's great. I can actually sleep all night through! You wouldn't believe what a difference that has made. Sleep seems like such an basic thing, but when you're waking up every 3 hours and your sleep is interrupted to such a degree, it's hard to focus on anything through the day, and my energy levels were going right down. But now, I feel good. I have energy - even my metabolism seems a bit speeded up and my weight is easier to control over the past month or so of having these meds.
I'm also blaming my lack of motivation on deadline knitting. I went to my cousin's wedding last month, and had to knit a shrug for it. I also had a couple of other things that had to be knit quickly, and my appetite for knitting just disappeared because of it. :( The shrug turned out nice though - here's me in my "going to a wedding" outfit:
You can't see it that well because it's black, but it's another Two Tone Ribbed Shrug (pattern by Stephanie Japel from the book Fitted Knits). I made it from Debbie Bliss Rialto DK on 4mm needles. It's the third time I've knit that shrug. It's a very flattering shrug and I love it, but having to knit it quickly just put me right off :(
I'm getting my mojo back - I've been listening to podcasts again and have been queueing patterns on ravelry, and even been knitting too!
These are the Deep In The Forest Mittens by Tuulia Salmela. I've wanted to knit these for ages! I spun the yarn myself - merino, to just over a fingering weight, and then knit them this month as part of the Harry Potter Knit And Crochet House Cup over on ravelry. It was good motivation, and I'm really enjoying colourwork just now! I've even spun up the yarn for my next pair of colourwork handspun mittens already!
I modified the pattern so that the picture would be the same on both hands on the front and back. I did this just by working the chart from left to right on the right mitten, and placing the thumb on the other side of the front. I also reversed the braided edging on the right mitten so that the arrows on them would both face “inwards”, by reversing the two rows on which the braiding is worked.
I'm so pleased with these mittens! I love making colourwork out of my handspun! I'm still a bit put off knitting anything else at the moment, like hats or pullovers or anything like that, but I'm really enjoying the process of spinning and knitting mittens, so I'll just go with that for the time being :) I hope to get even more back into it soon :D
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Things Need Updating...
I think my spring-clean fever has extended to the blog. I was looking through it, looking for a post, and I discovered how out of date it is. Apart from the fact that I hardly seem to post any more, my sidebar links are sooooo out of date. I listen to about a million more podcasts now, read another million more blogs, some of the ones listed don't even exist any more, I think. Also, I look at other blogs, and they have like, pretty pictures in the background, and fancy lettering, and all sorts of neat gizmos. I'm so 5 years ago with my basic blogger page, lol!!
My first update is the blogoversary gadget doo-dad thingy.
You can get your own here.
Actually, getting that gizmo reminded me that my blogoversary is in only 11 days!! My blog will be 4 years old! I'll have to think of something cool to do for it :)
I don't think my updating/spring cleaning will be happening today - I've got a ton of stuff that needs doing, and no matter how long I spend on it, it never seems to get done. Maybe tomorrow, but probably not. Again, those neverending tasks.
Hmm, just a thought, I've got a bunch of free time on Saturday. I think maybe it'll be getting done then. Till then I can indulge in my other favourite pastime and write lists of what needs to be done, so that I can feel really good about myself when I check them off. Yay, sounds like a plan!
My first update is the blogoversary gadget doo-dad thingy.
You can get your own here.
Actually, getting that gizmo reminded me that my blogoversary is in only 11 days!! My blog will be 4 years old! I'll have to think of something cool to do for it :)
I don't think my updating/spring cleaning will be happening today - I've got a ton of stuff that needs doing, and no matter how long I spend on it, it never seems to get done. Maybe tomorrow, but probably not. Again, those neverending tasks.
Hmm, just a thought, I've got a bunch of free time on Saturday. I think maybe it'll be getting done then. Till then I can indulge in my other favourite pastime and write lists of what needs to be done, so that I can feel really good about myself when I check them off. Yay, sounds like a plan!
Friday, 2 July 2010
Happy July :)
Hiya! I've been away from here for so long... :( I've been a bit ill for the past month or so (depression/anxiety) and just haven't been able to get focused enough to write anything. My mood always goes down in the summer, I'm sure last year I had a bit of a blip in blog-writing too. I'm so weird, everyone else goes up in summer and down in winter, I'm the reverse. Now that the summer solstice has passed, I'm feeling quite a bit better, and hopefully I'll be able to catch up on this blog and on reading everyone else's blogs. I've really missed this place, but just wasn't feeling up to being on it. I'm glad I'm back :)
It's been a whole month and a half since I last posted here!! I've been continuing to knit and crochet during my hiatus, and I learned to spin as well, so I've got tons to talk about. I finished my poncho that I talked about in my last post, so many weeks ago.
I really like it, and I'm totally converted to ponchos now! I know, they're so five years ago, but that's how I am I guess. I can never like anything at the same time as anyone else ;) I have some lovely artesano alpaca in my stash in a beautiful jade colour to make another crocheted mesh poncho - I must get a photo of it, it's a gorgeous colour, I'm very excited about it.
I've also finished a couple of projects for my IntSweMoDo2010, a pullover and a cardi at least (it's been so hard to keep track without updating this blog!), but they'll get their own special posts :)
I also made the Etain shrug from Inside Crochet Magazine #7:
I loved this pattern as soon as I saw it in the magazine! I love the way it sort of has that diagonal line at the back. I made it out of a red wool that I had (and still have tons of!) in my stash, but I want to make more of them from softer, more lovely yarns. It was a good mindless crochet project, lots of back and forth, just what I needed at that time.
I've also had a serious case of startitis during this past month and a half, and have a ton of projects in various stages of completion that need photos and blogged. But now I'm feeling like it just might be doable, and am quite excited about getting it all done. Yay for getting the longest day over and done with, my life can get back to normal now!
So, to wrap up I'm super glad to be back, and I'll be popping round all the blogs I normally read, and catching up, both there and here. See you all soon!!
It's been a whole month and a half since I last posted here!! I've been continuing to knit and crochet during my hiatus, and I learned to spin as well, so I've got tons to talk about. I finished my poncho that I talked about in my last post, so many weeks ago.
I really like it, and I'm totally converted to ponchos now! I know, they're so five years ago, but that's how I am I guess. I can never like anything at the same time as anyone else ;) I have some lovely artesano alpaca in my stash in a beautiful jade colour to make another crocheted mesh poncho - I must get a photo of it, it's a gorgeous colour, I'm very excited about it.
I've also finished a couple of projects for my IntSweMoDo2010, a pullover and a cardi at least (it's been so hard to keep track without updating this blog!), but they'll get their own special posts :)
I also made the Etain shrug from Inside Crochet Magazine #7:
I loved this pattern as soon as I saw it in the magazine! I love the way it sort of has that diagonal line at the back. I made it out of a red wool that I had (and still have tons of!) in my stash, but I want to make more of them from softer, more lovely yarns. It was a good mindless crochet project, lots of back and forth, just what I needed at that time.
I've also had a serious case of startitis during this past month and a half, and have a ton of projects in various stages of completion that need photos and blogged. But now I'm feeling like it just might be doable, and am quite excited about getting it all done. Yay for getting the longest day over and done with, my life can get back to normal now!
So, to wrap up I'm super glad to be back, and I'll be popping round all the blogs I normally read, and catching up, both there and here. See you all soon!!
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Spam :(
Just a quick comment to say that I've had to change some of the settings on my blog beause I've been getting a bunch of spam comments recently. :( I've put word verification on, and I changed the people allowed to comment to "registered users (includes OpenID)". So what I assume that means is that people won't be allowed to post under "anonymous" any more. But I'm not entirely sure, so if anyone commenting has any problems, please email me at the address in the top of the right sidebar, and I'll try to sort it out.
Seriously, I don't get the point of spam. I mean, does anyone reading a blog post about knitting or dancing seriously read the other comments, and think "Wow, top meds???? I need me some of those!!!" and proceed to click the highly suspicious link? No, I don't think so. So what's the point? Sigh. The internets can be strange...
Seriously, I don't get the point of spam. I mean, does anyone reading a blog post about knitting or dancing seriously read the other comments, and think "Wow, top meds???? I need me some of those!!!" and proceed to click the highly suspicious link? No, I don't think so. So what's the point? Sigh. The internets can be strange...
Monday, 4 January 2010
The Obligatory New Year's Resolutions Post
Well, it's that time of year again, when we all start to think about what we want to acheive in the coming year, and when new goals and resolutions are born :) Some die pretty quickly (last year's quest to lose weight? Yeah, not so much!) but I still feel obliged to make these goals. I figure in the pursuit of them, something will happen that will be good. I'll at least be a little closer to what I wanted to achieve.
Last year I resolved to learn to knit colourwork, and I did. I can now do stranded knitting and double knitting. I didn't do as much of it as I thought I would at the beginning of the year, and that first fair isle sweater is still some way off, but I'm happy with what I did manage to achieve.
This year, I've joined the IntSweMoDo2010 group on Ravelry, which has the goal of making 12 sweaters in 2010 (InstSweMoDo stands for International Sweater a Month Dodecathon). So that's the first goal, to knit or crochet 12 sweaters. I think that should be do-able, so long as I don't have a big knitting flump in the summer like last year.
Secondly, I want to knit my way through all the socks in the book Favorite Socks (rav link) This one is just me, no group behind it, I just love all those patterns so much! This one is probably do-able, but I'm not sure about it all being done in a year. But hey, even if I only make a few, I'll still have some pretty cool socks!
That's it for the knitting goals. There's the usual lose weight, get fit, dance more type of resolutions. The bf's giving up smoking, so that should be fun over the next few days!!
Oh, and I also want to do project 365 this year, and take a photo every day for a year. I've managed the three days so far, go me!! (I'll do a seperate post for that) I've joined the project 365 flickr group, and the project 365 ers group on ravelry, so hopefully that should keep me motivated.
So I'm definitely going to be busy over the next year! It'll be interesting to see how far I get with each of these goals!
Last year I resolved to learn to knit colourwork, and I did. I can now do stranded knitting and double knitting. I didn't do as much of it as I thought I would at the beginning of the year, and that first fair isle sweater is still some way off, but I'm happy with what I did manage to achieve.
This year, I've joined the IntSweMoDo2010 group on Ravelry, which has the goal of making 12 sweaters in 2010 (InstSweMoDo stands for International Sweater a Month Dodecathon). So that's the first goal, to knit or crochet 12 sweaters. I think that should be do-able, so long as I don't have a big knitting flump in the summer like last year.
Secondly, I want to knit my way through all the socks in the book Favorite Socks (rav link) This one is just me, no group behind it, I just love all those patterns so much! This one is probably do-able, but I'm not sure about it all being done in a year. But hey, even if I only make a few, I'll still have some pretty cool socks!
That's it for the knitting goals. There's the usual lose weight, get fit, dance more type of resolutions. The bf's giving up smoking, so that should be fun over the next few days!!
Oh, and I also want to do project 365 this year, and take a photo every day for a year. I've managed the three days so far, go me!! (I'll do a seperate post for that) I've joined the project 365 flickr group, and the project 365 ers group on ravelry, so hopefully that should keep me motivated.
So I'm definitely going to be busy over the next year! It'll be interesting to see how far I get with each of these goals!
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Happy New Year!!!!!
I hope you all had a wonderful time over the holidays!
My Christmas was very nice. On Christmas Day we had the bf's family over. That was good, it meant everyone was there all at the one time, the living room was stuffed full of people! The bf had a cold so I had to make the dinner "so he wouldn't spread his germs" :D I got him to stand behind me and tell me what to do though - he's totally the chef round here, not me! But I made roast beef and potatoes with onions and mustard, and it all went well, and tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself!
I got lots of lovely things for Christmas. I got two games for my DS - Professor Layton and pandora's Box, and Chrono Trigger. I really enjoyed the last Professor Layton game that I got last year, and I really like old style RPGs like Chrono Trigger. I also ordered Harvest Moon - Island of Happiness with some money I got for Christmas :)
I got two bellydance belts:
and I also got lots of warm things to snuggle up in, which turned out to be just the thing I needed in this weather! I got pyjamas, slippers that look like bunnies, and a slanket!! I am now officially a slanket owner! ;)
Those turned out to be doubly useful since I caught the bf's cold just after Christmas. I spend most of the time between Christmas and New Year sniffling and feeling sorry for myself. Honestly, it was such a bad cold! I went totally man-flu on my bf and moaned at him the entire time. Poor him! I spend the actual New Year's night in my bed, because my nose would not stop running, and I just felt awful. So I texted everyone early, switched my phone off and went to sleep. I woke up for a while when some fireworks went off, but there weren't as many this year as last year. The snow must have been too much!
Speaking of which, we got another two inches here overnight!! This is what it was like at my parents on Boxing Day:
and this is it here now:
I'm feeling a lot better now, whatever bug it was seems to have pretty much sorted itself out, and I actually feel human again, if a little sniffy and coughy. But I can't tell you how great it feels to be able to breathe out of my nose again!! Such a little thing, but it makes so much of a difference!
I hope 2010 is a great year for everyone out there! Happy New Year!!
My Christmas was very nice. On Christmas Day we had the bf's family over. That was good, it meant everyone was there all at the one time, the living room was stuffed full of people! The bf had a cold so I had to make the dinner "so he wouldn't spread his germs" :D I got him to stand behind me and tell me what to do though - he's totally the chef round here, not me! But I made roast beef and potatoes with onions and mustard, and it all went well, and tasted pretty good, if I do say so myself!
I got lots of lovely things for Christmas. I got two games for my DS - Professor Layton and pandora's Box, and Chrono Trigger. I really enjoyed the last Professor Layton game that I got last year, and I really like old style RPGs like Chrono Trigger. I also ordered Harvest Moon - Island of Happiness with some money I got for Christmas :)
I got two bellydance belts:
and I also got lots of warm things to snuggle up in, which turned out to be just the thing I needed in this weather! I got pyjamas, slippers that look like bunnies, and a slanket!! I am now officially a slanket owner! ;)
Those turned out to be doubly useful since I caught the bf's cold just after Christmas. I spend most of the time between Christmas and New Year sniffling and feeling sorry for myself. Honestly, it was such a bad cold! I went totally man-flu on my bf and moaned at him the entire time. Poor him! I spend the actual New Year's night in my bed, because my nose would not stop running, and I just felt awful. So I texted everyone early, switched my phone off and went to sleep. I woke up for a while when some fireworks went off, but there weren't as many this year as last year. The snow must have been too much!
Speaking of which, we got another two inches here overnight!! This is what it was like at my parents on Boxing Day:
and this is it here now:
I'm feeling a lot better now, whatever bug it was seems to have pretty much sorted itself out, and I actually feel human again, if a little sniffy and coughy. But I can't tell you how great it feels to be able to breathe out of my nose again!! Such a little thing, but it makes so much of a difference!
I hope 2010 is a great year for everyone out there! Happy New Year!!
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Borders UK in Administation :(
Probably most of you know of this already, but the book store Borders has gone into administration (at least, the UK division has, I don't know about other countries) :( Another casualty of the recession, I suppose.
I didn't actually hear about it till last week, and I didn't actually believe it till I went down to my parents house and passed the Borders store in Glasgow and saw all the closing down sale signs. It made me feel really sad. Whenever I go to my parents house to visit, it involves a long bus journey, and I have to change at Glasgow. So I would always pop in when I passed, and more often than not, buy a book (usually a knittng book) or a magazine or two or three. ;)
I went in to look at the sale, and it was so sad to see all the half-empty shelves. I felt like a total vulture looking round them all. The knitting and crochet section, which is where I went first, was totally decimated.
I bought a couple of books in the Glasgow store: Favorite Socks from Interweave Press, and Wrapped in Crochet by Kristen Omdahl. I'd been very interested in Wrapped in Crochet for ages, but it hadn't actually been on the shelves in the Glasgow store till then (I'd been looking for it specifically). Favorite Socks, well that was a bit of a vulture purchase. I'd seen it before, but hadn't been that interested when I flicked through it. But I figured with 30% off, it would be worth it. Then I looked at it more in depth on the bus home.
OMG, I want to make everything in that book! Seriously. I think next year I'll be doing my own Favorite Socks KAL - I guess it's not really a knit-a-long if you're the only one doing it though ;) and knitting through all the patterns in this book. I think this is the first book where I've actually seen the potential in all the patterns. Even with Cookie A's book, I love most of the patterns but there are a few that I'm not so interested in, or just plain wouldn't wear. But with Favorite Socks, I think I would knit and wear all of them.
I went to the Dundee store with some friends as well, and bought some other books, but they're not knitting or dance related. One was about lighting in photography, something that I'm realising I need to understand much more in depth. One was a book with Japanese patterns, and one was a book on Japanese death poetry. I thought the bf would like that for his Christmas ;) Yep, he's almost as weird as myself!
Anyway, Borders shutting down made me think about how different the high street in the UK looks compared to ten or even five years ago. There are almost no cd or record stores now. There used to be about 3 in every town that I can think of. There was space for HMV, Our Price, Virgin and loads of others to compete. And the pattern of them closing and being replaced by online stores seems to be repeating with book stores. It's really sad. I know that online stores like amazon have a lot more choice, and cheaper prices in general, but it's still sad that the options for high street purchases are rapidly diminishing. Sometimes it's good to just go into a store and look about to see what catches your eye, but that's becoming ever more impossible. I think you can stumble across some really interesting things in brick and mortar stores, that you just wouldn't come across on the internet. Of course, that argument works both ways, you can come across interesting things on the internet that stores just wouldn't stock, but I think it's important to have choice.
I guess what I'm saying is: whenever you can afford it, please buy things from brick and mortar stores. I buy a lot of things online because prices are cheaper, some things are easier to find online, and it's convenient. But is convenience a good reason for encouraging losing choice? I'm beginning to re-evaluate my own shopping behaviour, and I think I'll be changing some of it soon. For instance, Woolworths used to be the main store to buy a lot of household items, and now that's gone, I find I need to buy a lot of small things from ebay sellers because they're just not in the stores. Sewing equipment for example. So whenever I see something online that I could buy from a local store, I'll be going to the local store, if I can afford the increased price at that time (and the increased price isn't too much more)
To be honest, I'm not sure if anything can slow down this trend of high street stores closing, or if it's just a natural consequence of the internet. Things do change in life, after all, and maybe this is just the way shopping in a capitalist culture is evolving. But I do know that I think choice is important, and I think I'll have to look at my own behaviour to see how I can encourage choice.
I didn't actually hear about it till last week, and I didn't actually believe it till I went down to my parents house and passed the Borders store in Glasgow and saw all the closing down sale signs. It made me feel really sad. Whenever I go to my parents house to visit, it involves a long bus journey, and I have to change at Glasgow. So I would always pop in when I passed, and more often than not, buy a book (usually a knittng book) or a magazine or two or three. ;)
I went in to look at the sale, and it was so sad to see all the half-empty shelves. I felt like a total vulture looking round them all. The knitting and crochet section, which is where I went first, was totally decimated.
I bought a couple of books in the Glasgow store: Favorite Socks from Interweave Press, and Wrapped in Crochet by Kristen Omdahl. I'd been very interested in Wrapped in Crochet for ages, but it hadn't actually been on the shelves in the Glasgow store till then (I'd been looking for it specifically). Favorite Socks, well that was a bit of a vulture purchase. I'd seen it before, but hadn't been that interested when I flicked through it. But I figured with 30% off, it would be worth it. Then I looked at it more in depth on the bus home.
OMG, I want to make everything in that book! Seriously. I think next year I'll be doing my own Favorite Socks KAL - I guess it's not really a knit-a-long if you're the only one doing it though ;) and knitting through all the patterns in this book. I think this is the first book where I've actually seen the potential in all the patterns. Even with Cookie A's book, I love most of the patterns but there are a few that I'm not so interested in, or just plain wouldn't wear. But with Favorite Socks, I think I would knit and wear all of them.
I went to the Dundee store with some friends as well, and bought some other books, but they're not knitting or dance related. One was about lighting in photography, something that I'm realising I need to understand much more in depth. One was a book with Japanese patterns, and one was a book on Japanese death poetry. I thought the bf would like that for his Christmas ;) Yep, he's almost as weird as myself!
Anyway, Borders shutting down made me think about how different the high street in the UK looks compared to ten or even five years ago. There are almost no cd or record stores now. There used to be about 3 in every town that I can think of. There was space for HMV, Our Price, Virgin and loads of others to compete. And the pattern of them closing and being replaced by online stores seems to be repeating with book stores. It's really sad. I know that online stores like amazon have a lot more choice, and cheaper prices in general, but it's still sad that the options for high street purchases are rapidly diminishing. Sometimes it's good to just go into a store and look about to see what catches your eye, but that's becoming ever more impossible. I think you can stumble across some really interesting things in brick and mortar stores, that you just wouldn't come across on the internet. Of course, that argument works both ways, you can come across interesting things on the internet that stores just wouldn't stock, but I think it's important to have choice.
I guess what I'm saying is: whenever you can afford it, please buy things from brick and mortar stores. I buy a lot of things online because prices are cheaper, some things are easier to find online, and it's convenient. But is convenience a good reason for encouraging losing choice? I'm beginning to re-evaluate my own shopping behaviour, and I think I'll be changing some of it soon. For instance, Woolworths used to be the main store to buy a lot of household items, and now that's gone, I find I need to buy a lot of small things from ebay sellers because they're just not in the stores. Sewing equipment for example. So whenever I see something online that I could buy from a local store, I'll be going to the local store, if I can afford the increased price at that time (and the increased price isn't too much more)
To be honest, I'm not sure if anything can slow down this trend of high street stores closing, or if it's just a natural consequence of the internet. Things do change in life, after all, and maybe this is just the way shopping in a capitalist culture is evolving. But I do know that I think choice is important, and I think I'll have to look at my own behaviour to see how I can encourage choice.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Melting . . .
It is so freakin' HOT here! I'm totally melting in this heat! I'm not sure what temperature it is, google says 28! The sun's not even that bright, but it's very humid and sticky, and I don't like it! I'm definitely more of a cool weather person. Everyone I complain to says I'm mad, and all the neighbours seem to be outside getting sunburnt as I write, but I'm just hiding in the shade of my house, trying not to dissolve into a big puddle of sweat.
I can't concentrate on anything recently, partly because of that cold I had, and now that I'm getting better, I can't concentrate on anything because of the heat! I've got that big list of things I want to make, and my brain is just incapable of focusing on any of it. I finished my sister's socks though, so I've got one xmas present out of the way already! Got to keep thinking positive! :D
I'm busy just now printing some of those patterns out, so that when I can concentrate on actually knitting, I'll have it all ready. For the past two days, I've just been staring at my yarn, thinking how great it'll all be when I'm knitting it up, and what creative potential it all has. Hopefully this heatwave will break soon, and I can get back to my normal routine!
I can't concentrate on anything recently, partly because of that cold I had, and now that I'm getting better, I can't concentrate on anything because of the heat! I've got that big list of things I want to make, and my brain is just incapable of focusing on any of it. I finished my sister's socks though, so I've got one xmas present out of the way already! Got to keep thinking positive! :D
I'm busy just now printing some of those patterns out, so that when I can concentrate on actually knitting, I'll have it all ready. For the past two days, I've just been staring at my yarn, thinking how great it'll all be when I'm knitting it up, and what creative potential it all has. Hopefully this heatwave will break soon, and I can get back to my normal routine!
Monday, 11 May 2009
30!!!
It was my birthday on Saturday. And yes, as you probably guessed from the title of this post, I'm now 30 years old!
I feel like I should finally be officially an adult, but to be honest, the inside of my head still doesn't feel very adulty :) I was a bit worried in case I'd feel terrible about turning 30, but I actually feel more excited than anything else, about having a whole new decade to do new things in!
I went to my parents on the Thursday, and came back on the Friday. On the Saturday I went to my dance classes same as usual, because I figured what else would I be doing? I'd just spend the entire day on Ravelry :) And I had a bollywood performance at night, which was actually a really nice way to spend the evening. Most of the class went, and we did our dances, which went quite well, and then we all had fun dancing to bollywood and bhangra. The performance was at a charity event for empower the children, a really worthy cause, so I didn't want to be a grump and stay home. I just celebrated my birthday on the Thursday with my family, and the Friday with the BF, who, now that I'm 30, should really be called the OH or "him indoors" or something :D
I got loads of great presents, I was quite awed by it all really. I got a new camera,
which I love! I've been experimenting with it since I got it, and it's so cool how having more features means my pictures can change. It does great video too, which I wasn't even looking for in a camera, but is a wonderful bonus! (Dance vids, yay!)
My lovely sister got me a digital photo frame so I can see all the photos I take, and the OH (see how I slipped that in!) is getting me a tattoo, well, paying for it. I decided what I want, and I'm making the appointment tomorrow. I've checked out the studio and everything already, talked to the artist, I just need to phone and get it all confirmed. I'm very excited!
I got some knitterly presents too (I know that's what you were wanting to see!). I got The Knitted Odd-bod Bunch by Donna Wilson, and some yarn, which is probably going towards a belt for my tribal style dancing.
Lovely colours, all purple and pink :) I got a couple of other books: bead knitted bags by Julia S. Pretl and fabulous flirty crochet by Katherine Lee
All in all, I had a wonderful time over my birthday. Turning 30 was fun! :D
I feel like I should finally be officially an adult, but to be honest, the inside of my head still doesn't feel very adulty :) I was a bit worried in case I'd feel terrible about turning 30, but I actually feel more excited than anything else, about having a whole new decade to do new things in!
I went to my parents on the Thursday, and came back on the Friday. On the Saturday I went to my dance classes same as usual, because I figured what else would I be doing? I'd just spend the entire day on Ravelry :) And I had a bollywood performance at night, which was actually a really nice way to spend the evening. Most of the class went, and we did our dances, which went quite well, and then we all had fun dancing to bollywood and bhangra. The performance was at a charity event for empower the children, a really worthy cause, so I didn't want to be a grump and stay home. I just celebrated my birthday on the Thursday with my family, and the Friday with the BF, who, now that I'm 30, should really be called the OH or "him indoors" or something :D
I got loads of great presents, I was quite awed by it all really. I got a new camera,
which I love! I've been experimenting with it since I got it, and it's so cool how having more features means my pictures can change. It does great video too, which I wasn't even looking for in a camera, but is a wonderful bonus! (Dance vids, yay!)
My lovely sister got me a digital photo frame so I can see all the photos I take, and the OH (see how I slipped that in!) is getting me a tattoo, well, paying for it. I decided what I want, and I'm making the appointment tomorrow. I've checked out the studio and everything already, talked to the artist, I just need to phone and get it all confirmed. I'm very excited!
I got some knitterly presents too (I know that's what you were wanting to see!). I got The Knitted Odd-bod Bunch by Donna Wilson, and some yarn, which is probably going towards a belt for my tribal style dancing.
Lovely colours, all purple and pink :) I got a couple of other books: bead knitted bags by Julia S. Pretl and fabulous flirty crochet by Katherine Lee
All in all, I had a wonderful time over my birthday. Turning 30 was fun! :D
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Some Springtime Loveliness
The weather here has been a bit drizzly and damp the past few days, so to brighten things up, I thought I'd post some pics of flowers and plants from my garden :)
A wallflower plant that my bf planted from seed last year, and this year it's really blossomed! It smells really nice too, but it makes me sneeze :( Stupid allergies! I really love the colours though :)
I planted some tulip bulbs last year, but they weren't terribly succesful, only one came up this year! But it's very pretty, and I'm quite proud that I managed to grow that many. I usually kill plants just by looking at them!
Here's a pic of the leaves of an acer tree that I planted, this came already grown, that's why it's even big enough to have leaves - I didn't have anything to do with it!
And I planted some bamboo shrubs along the side of the fence. They're just small just now, but they'll grow big soon! I took a pic of my troll toy hiding behind a clump.
Now if the weather would just brighten up, I could go out in the garden and enjoy all these plants for real! :D
A wallflower plant that my bf planted from seed last year, and this year it's really blossomed! It smells really nice too, but it makes me sneeze :( Stupid allergies! I really love the colours though :)
I planted some tulip bulbs last year, but they weren't terribly succesful, only one came up this year! But it's very pretty, and I'm quite proud that I managed to grow that many. I usually kill plants just by looking at them!
Here's a pic of the leaves of an acer tree that I planted, this came already grown, that's why it's even big enough to have leaves - I didn't have anything to do with it!
And I planted some bamboo shrubs along the side of the fence. They're just small just now, but they'll grow big soon! I took a pic of my troll toy hiding behind a clump.
Now if the weather would just brighten up, I could go out in the garden and enjoy all these plants for real! :D
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Finding Motivation
I've been dealing with my lack of motivation and general lack of energy recently by taking projects just a little bit at a time. Even if I only get a little bit done of the things I need to do every day, it's still better than nothing!
Today I took photos of all my knitted a
nd crocheted FOs, and WIPs, and am in the process of uploading them to ravelry, if you want to go have a look, my profile page is here. I'm still not ready to write about them all here yet, but I will soon enough :)
I've got 4 projects on the go just now, and am switching between them. That seems to be keeping my interest going. Normally I get antsy if I have more than 3 WIPs, and want to finish them all, but I think I'll probably end up casting more on just now! But it's cool, because whenever I go through a period of startitis, there's always a finishing period afterwards when I feel like loads has been done, because it's all finished at the same time!
Boring things like housework are also suffering because of this lazy, unenergetic feeling. I've started making a list of chores to do every day, and even if I only weed a bit of the garden, it's still less weeds than there was before. Must just keep repeating that to myself - I have a tendancy to get stressed, and want to finish everything all at once, then get annoyed when it can't all get done in the same day. Breaking tasks down into manageable chunks seems to help. I can make a list of all the smaller tasks, then I feel encouraged to do the rest of the job after I've ticked the first pieces off.
I reckon it must be the start of summer, and the change of the seasons that's causing this feeling of ennui. It always sets me off, the sun makes me feel like I should be a hundred times more productive and prolific than it's actually possible to be, but at the same time I just want to lie around and be lazy too. I liked Zu's idea that she left in a comment on my last post of crocheting small projects in the garden! That way I can combine both feelings at once! :D
Today I took photos of all my knitted a
nd crocheted FOs, and WIPs, and am in the process of uploading them to ravelry, if you want to go have a look, my profile page is here. I'm still not ready to write about them all here yet, but I will soon enough :)
I've got 4 projects on the go just now, and am switching between them. That seems to be keeping my interest going. Normally I get antsy if I have more than 3 WIPs, and want to finish them all, but I think I'll probably end up casting more on just now! But it's cool, because whenever I go through a period of startitis, there's always a finishing period afterwards when I feel like loads has been done, because it's all finished at the same time!
Boring things like housework are also suffering because of this lazy, unenergetic feeling. I've started making a list of chores to do every day, and even if I only weed a bit of the garden, it's still less weeds than there was before. Must just keep repeating that to myself - I have a tendancy to get stressed, and want to finish everything all at once, then get annoyed when it can't all get done in the same day. Breaking tasks down into manageable chunks seems to help. I can make a list of all the smaller tasks, then I feel encouraged to do the rest of the job after I've ticked the first pieces off.
I reckon it must be the start of summer, and the change of the seasons that's causing this feeling of ennui. It always sets me off, the sun makes me feel like I should be a hundred times more productive and prolific than it's actually possible to be, but at the same time I just want to lie around and be lazy too. I liked Zu's idea that she left in a comment on my last post of crocheting small projects in the garden! That way I can combine both feelings at once! :D
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Where's My Motivation Gone????
Lately, my motivation has disappeared. Even knitting became a bit of a drag for a while there!! I think it's cos I was working on two projects that sapped all my knitting mojo away. They're still not done :( but I don't really hate them or anything. It's just that it required more energy than previous things, so they're "resting" just now.
One is an actual garment that I'm trying to knit without anyone else's pattern, essentially designing my own. It's not even difficult, no hard shaping or anything, but when it got to the bit where I had to work out measurements, and think about maths, my brain just melted, and it went into the corner beside the couch, where it seems all the "resting" projects go. I'm definitely going to finish it, but I'm taking all the measurements and maths bit by bit, and doing it slowly. That way it'll actually get done.
Writing this, I can hardly even believe that it sapped so much energy. It's not even difficult!!!!! That's it, I'll start working on it again soon! Very soon :D
The other project is a Baktus scarf using a ball of self striping opal sock wool. I saw the pattern and thought that the self striping wool would work perfectly with it, and it does! But, I only have one ball, and my weighing scales are rubbish! (I need digital ones!!!) First of all, I did the pattern wrong, and increased every 2nd row instead of every 4th, and only discovered the error when I was half way through and went to decrease. So I ripped that out, and did it again, but I've got to the end of the ball, and I've still got about 6 inches left to do because I estimated the halfway point of the yarn wrong (see, that's why I need new scales, so I can get it exactly). So it needs ripped out, but all that ripping and garter stitch really sapped my energy. I actually didn't knit for a few days because of it! I know, hardly the end of the world, but I felt like something was seriously wrong.
So the baktus scarf is also in the corner beside the couch, and will be ripped back and reknit from the real halfway point sometime in the future. I cast on a couple of small projects to help get me back into the rhythm of knitting. I knit the two-tone ribbed shrug from fitted knits, all in black, and I think that helped. The pattern and yarn had been in my immediate queue for ages, so it was an easy choice to pick up and get into, no thinking involved. It's actally finished now, but I can't get motivated to take pics either!! I have so many FOs waiting to be photographed. So that's why I'm writing this post, I'm hoping it will motivate me to take photos and then I can show you all!!! :D
I also haven't done a round up of March yet, and it's the middle of April already!! I'll have to do that tomorrow. I like doing lists of what I've achieved in a month, it shows me that I actually do a lot more than I think I do, and it's good for self-esteem. My brain keeps enough lists of bad things, it's good to have written records of good things!
Another post I have to write is about Jewel of Yorkshire. I went to the April event from the 3rd to the 5th, and it was fantastic!! Definitely need to write all about that!
Sorry for teasing y'all with posts that have yet to be written, but I figure writing out a list here will make me motivated to write them. It's all spring's fault - I just want to laze about in the sun :)
One is an actual garment that I'm trying to knit without anyone else's pattern, essentially designing my own. It's not even difficult, no hard shaping or anything, but when it got to the bit where I had to work out measurements, and think about maths, my brain just melted, and it went into the corner beside the couch, where it seems all the "resting" projects go. I'm definitely going to finish it, but I'm taking all the measurements and maths bit by bit, and doing it slowly. That way it'll actually get done.
Writing this, I can hardly even believe that it sapped so much energy. It's not even difficult!!!!! That's it, I'll start working on it again soon! Very soon :D
The other project is a Baktus scarf using a ball of self striping opal sock wool. I saw the pattern and thought that the self striping wool would work perfectly with it, and it does! But, I only have one ball, and my weighing scales are rubbish! (I need digital ones!!!) First of all, I did the pattern wrong, and increased every 2nd row instead of every 4th, and only discovered the error when I was half way through and went to decrease. So I ripped that out, and did it again, but I've got to the end of the ball, and I've still got about 6 inches left to do because I estimated the halfway point of the yarn wrong (see, that's why I need new scales, so I can get it exactly). So it needs ripped out, but all that ripping and garter stitch really sapped my energy. I actually didn't knit for a few days because of it! I know, hardly the end of the world, but I felt like something was seriously wrong.
So the baktus scarf is also in the corner beside the couch, and will be ripped back and reknit from the real halfway point sometime in the future. I cast on a couple of small projects to help get me back into the rhythm of knitting. I knit the two-tone ribbed shrug from fitted knits, all in black, and I think that helped. The pattern and yarn had been in my immediate queue for ages, so it was an easy choice to pick up and get into, no thinking involved. It's actally finished now, but I can't get motivated to take pics either!! I have so many FOs waiting to be photographed. So that's why I'm writing this post, I'm hoping it will motivate me to take photos and then I can show you all!!! :D
I also haven't done a round up of March yet, and it's the middle of April already!! I'll have to do that tomorrow. I like doing lists of what I've achieved in a month, it shows me that I actually do a lot more than I think I do, and it's good for self-esteem. My brain keeps enough lists of bad things, it's good to have written records of good things!
Another post I have to write is about Jewel of Yorkshire. I went to the April event from the 3rd to the 5th, and it was fantastic!! Definitely need to write all about that!
Sorry for teasing y'all with posts that have yet to be written, but I figure writing out a list here will make me motivated to write them. It's all spring's fault - I just want to laze about in the sun :)
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Making A Deal With Myself
Hi!
I noticed something weird the other day while scrolling down my blog page. In both 2007 and 2008, I wrote exactly the same number of posts, 64, without even intending for it to be the same! Spooky!!
I haven't been knitting anything in the New Year that I can write about, really. I'm in the process of designing something, which I had to do a lot of swatching and ripping back on. I'm nearly finished the actual item, but all the swatching really took it out of me. I've had to make a deal with myself, no more video games till the knitting is done! Which is quite an incentive actually, since I'm playing Breath of Fire on my snes emulator, and I'm quite far into the game. I'm also playing Prof. Layton and the Curious Village on the DS (I got that game for xmas), and I'm obsessed with working out all the puzzles! But my knitting was falling by the wayside, so I'm going to keep knitting this project till it's done, then I'll be allowed to play games again!
I noticed something weird the other day while scrolling down my blog page. In both 2007 and 2008, I wrote exactly the same number of posts, 64, without even intending for it to be the same! Spooky!!
I haven't been knitting anything in the New Year that I can write about, really. I'm in the process of designing something, which I had to do a lot of swatching and ripping back on. I'm nearly finished the actual item, but all the swatching really took it out of me. I've had to make a deal with myself, no more video games till the knitting is done! Which is quite an incentive actually, since I'm playing Breath of Fire on my snes emulator, and I'm quite far into the game. I'm also playing Prof. Layton and the Curious Village on the DS (I got that game for xmas), and I'm obsessed with working out all the puzzles! But my knitting was falling by the wayside, so I'm going to keep knitting this project till it's done, then I'll be allowed to play games again!
Friday, 2 January 2009
Christmas 2008
Hey, now I've written the New Year posts I wanted to write, I can finally get round to writing about my Christmas!
We just had a quiet Christmas Day at home. My bf's mum came round and my bf made roast beef with roast potatoes and onions. Yum! (He made it for New Year too!) Tupac was very excited when the beef came out of the freezer to defrost, and even more excited when it started to cook. He actually sulked when it dawned on him that no, he wasn't going to get the yummy chunk of raw meat :) He went over to his bed, and lay down looking really unhappy, and wouldn't even go for his teddies when they were thrown! He cheered up a little when he got the leftovers from the plate, but then decided he wanted the rest of the beef that was leftover and that we were going to eat later. He wouldn't eat his own food, because he was determined he was going to get this beef. He got a little, but not as much as he wanted. Poor dog! :)
I went to my parents house on Boxing Day, and we opened presents and had another big meal, gammon and pineapple, potatoes, sprouts, peas, everything you could think of! Then we sat about and watched some of the DVDs they gave me (lots of Stephen King movies, so we had a scary boxing day watching The Mist. Good movie, with a totally f-ed up ending.
The day after, we went to my aunties house. I got to see my cousins little baby (she's nearly a year old now!) and we played with all her toys. She's so cute! She's at the stage where she can almost walk. She can walk across the room if you're holding onto her, and is obsessed with anything shiny. She wanted to play with all the decorations and totally took her chance to point them out to these new-ish people to see if we would give them to her. My Dad actually held up a shiny decoration for her to touch and she was well chuffed! She has some cool toys too! I love playing with kids toys, cos I'm just a big kid myself at heart. I'll have to resolve to go and see her more often. Last time I saw her, she was really just a little baby and she's grown so much over a year!
I got some knitterly things for Christmas. I got Knitted Icons by Carol Medlrum, which is very cool. I totally want to make Godzilla and King Kong first and fight them against each other! :D I also got some yarn from my parents, and the drop spindle I'm getting next week is actually part of my Christmas too.
After all that I came home the next day, totally exhausted! It was a nice Christmas, quietly busy, and with lots of nice time with my family. And lots of nice presents too! :)
We just had a quiet Christmas Day at home. My bf's mum came round and my bf made roast beef with roast potatoes and onions. Yum! (He made it for New Year too!) Tupac was very excited when the beef came out of the freezer to defrost, and even more excited when it started to cook. He actually sulked when it dawned on him that no, he wasn't going to get the yummy chunk of raw meat :) He went over to his bed, and lay down looking really unhappy, and wouldn't even go for his teddies when they were thrown! He cheered up a little when he got the leftovers from the plate, but then decided he wanted the rest of the beef that was leftover and that we were going to eat later. He wouldn't eat his own food, because he was determined he was going to get this beef. He got a little, but not as much as he wanted. Poor dog! :)
I went to my parents house on Boxing Day, and we opened presents and had another big meal, gammon and pineapple, potatoes, sprouts, peas, everything you could think of! Then we sat about and watched some of the DVDs they gave me (lots of Stephen King movies, so we had a scary boxing day watching The Mist. Good movie, with a totally f-ed up ending.
The day after, we went to my aunties house. I got to see my cousins little baby (she's nearly a year old now!) and we played with all her toys. She's so cute! She's at the stage where she can almost walk. She can walk across the room if you're holding onto her, and is obsessed with anything shiny. She wanted to play with all the decorations and totally took her chance to point them out to these new-ish people to see if we would give them to her. My Dad actually held up a shiny decoration for her to touch and she was well chuffed! She has some cool toys too! I love playing with kids toys, cos I'm just a big kid myself at heart. I'll have to resolve to go and see her more often. Last time I saw her, she was really just a little baby and she's grown so much over a year!
I got some knitterly things for Christmas. I got Knitted Icons by Carol Medlrum, which is very cool. I totally want to make Godzilla and King Kong first and fight them against each other! :D I also got some yarn from my parents, and the drop spindle I'm getting next week is actually part of my Christmas too.
After all that I came home the next day, totally exhausted! It was a nice Christmas, quietly busy, and with lots of nice time with my family. And lots of nice presents too! :)
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Looking Forward To 2009
This year I have a few resolutions about being creative.
2009 is going to be my Year of Colour, I've decided. I'm going to learn how to do proper stranded colourwork, and I'm going to do lots of it :) I think starting with small projects will be best. There's some mitten patterns I want to try, and scarves. I can't go too wrong with those, surely :) Heh, refer me back to this page later in the year, when I'm sure I'll be whining about how hard it is, and how I messed it up!
I want to get good enough to be able to knit a full colourwork sweater. The sweater might not actually get made this year, but my aim is to improve my skills so that I would be able to, if I wanted. That sounds just vague enough to be acheiveable! :)
I also want to do more drawing. I was looking at some of my old pictures last night (yeah, I'm such a party animal!!), and I realised I haven't actually drawn anything for at least a couple of years! I like drawing and I have a ton of art supplies, so I want to draw at least a little this year.
It would be good to improve my sewing.
I want to do more things on my 101in1001 list, but that's kind of already resolved, so it doesn't really count :)
I also want to improve my photography, and to get a new camera. I think I mentioned yesterday that I'm taking a class later in the month about digital photography and photoshop. I don't know yet if I want a digital SLR camera, or just a fancy point and shoot one. I don't really know enough about cameras to know if I would need all the functions on an SLR. I think I'll need to get digital cameras for dummies and swot up!
Oh, nearly forgot! I also plan to get a drop spindle (hopefully next week) and start playing about with making my own yarn! That should be fun and interesting!
But yeah, the main resolution is to knit more (any!) colourwork. I'm a little sick of thinking it's beyond me, so I want to kick colourwork's bottom and learn to do it.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2009 is happy, productive, and full of good things for you all!
glitter-graphics.com
2009 is going to be my Year of Colour, I've decided. I'm going to learn how to do proper stranded colourwork, and I'm going to do lots of it :) I think starting with small projects will be best. There's some mitten patterns I want to try, and scarves. I can't go too wrong with those, surely :) Heh, refer me back to this page later in the year, when I'm sure I'll be whining about how hard it is, and how I messed it up!
I want to get good enough to be able to knit a full colourwork sweater. The sweater might not actually get made this year, but my aim is to improve my skills so that I would be able to, if I wanted. That sounds just vague enough to be acheiveable! :)
I also want to do more drawing. I was looking at some of my old pictures last night (yeah, I'm such a party animal!!), and I realised I haven't actually drawn anything for at least a couple of years! I like drawing and I have a ton of art supplies, so I want to draw at least a little this year.
It would be good to improve my sewing.
I want to do more things on my 101in1001 list, but that's kind of already resolved, so it doesn't really count :)
I also want to improve my photography, and to get a new camera. I think I mentioned yesterday that I'm taking a class later in the month about digital photography and photoshop. I don't know yet if I want a digital SLR camera, or just a fancy point and shoot one. I don't really know enough about cameras to know if I would need all the functions on an SLR. I think I'll need to get digital cameras for dummies and swot up!
Oh, nearly forgot! I also plan to get a drop spindle (hopefully next week) and start playing about with making my own yarn! That should be fun and interesting!
But yeah, the main resolution is to knit more (any!) colourwork. I'm a little sick of thinking it's beyond me, so I want to kick colourwork's bottom and learn to do it.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2009 is happy, productive, and full of good things for you all!
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Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Looking Back on 2008
In 2008, I knit and crocheted 65 finished objects!
The highlight of my knitting year had to be getting my arka pattern published on The Inside Loop! I've been getting my designer hat on this year, and to be published was a great honour, and a good impetus! I've got a few other designs on the go :) As a (slight) aside, when I was at my parents over the holidays, my Dad had printed out the pattern and took it to show my relatives! I take it that means he's happy too!
I learned to read crochet patterns and be a "proper" crocheter. I've taken to crochet quite well, I think. I actually find it easier to adapt crochet patterns than knitting ones, if I need to make something smaller or bigger for example, even though I've been knitting since I was about 5 or 6! Maybe I don't feel as constrained by the "rules" and following the pattern, since I've done it for less time, or maybe crochet is just intrinsically easier to adapt, I'm not sure. But I definitely love it. Actually, 30 of my FOs this year were crocheted! (wow, I hadn't realised it was so many!)
I danced 5 solos with Isis Wings, one in a windy field at a local gala day! Let me tell you, if you're doing a Isis Wings dance outside, do it on a day when it's not windy! :D I danced Bollywood at a few charity events with my friend, and went to 5 haflas (I think, I may be forgetting one!) I even taught some school kids Bollywood, that was fun!
I learned in my Tribal class how to dance with a sword! I've done one performance with it, hiding at the back of the class in case my sword fell off my head, but I did it! Sword dancing is very cool, I'd definitely like to get better at it!
I opened a flickr account, and started thinking about photography more seriously. I've signed up for a digital photography/photoshop class in the New Year, and I think Tupac is getting seriously sick of the camera appearing!
I took a sewing class, and although that has kind of fallen away for a little while, I can now use my machine, and do some very basic sewing!
Wow, I seem to have achieved a lot this year! Looking back on it and picking out everything I've done was really interesting, who'd have thunk I'd been so productive I think there's a tendency to focus on the negative things in life, so trying to find all the positive creative things I've done was quite an eye opener!
What have you achieved out there this year? Here's something fun, think of all the things you've learned or done, or anything, and post them on your blog, or in the comments here if you want. Leave me a link in the comments if you do post on your blog, so I can go read! Let's be positive as we go into the New Year!
The highlight of my knitting year had to be getting my arka pattern published on The Inside Loop! I've been getting my designer hat on this year, and to be published was a great honour, and a good impetus! I've got a few other designs on the go :) As a (slight) aside, when I was at my parents over the holidays, my Dad had printed out the pattern and took it to show my relatives! I take it that means he's happy too!
I learned to read crochet patterns and be a "proper" crocheter. I've taken to crochet quite well, I think. I actually find it easier to adapt crochet patterns than knitting ones, if I need to make something smaller or bigger for example, even though I've been knitting since I was about 5 or 6! Maybe I don't feel as constrained by the "rules" and following the pattern, since I've done it for less time, or maybe crochet is just intrinsically easier to adapt, I'm not sure. But I definitely love it. Actually, 30 of my FOs this year were crocheted! (wow, I hadn't realised it was so many!)
I danced 5 solos with Isis Wings, one in a windy field at a local gala day! Let me tell you, if you're doing a Isis Wings dance outside, do it on a day when it's not windy! :D I danced Bollywood at a few charity events with my friend, and went to 5 haflas (I think, I may be forgetting one!) I even taught some school kids Bollywood, that was fun!
I learned in my Tribal class how to dance with a sword! I've done one performance with it, hiding at the back of the class in case my sword fell off my head, but I did it! Sword dancing is very cool, I'd definitely like to get better at it!
I opened a flickr account, and started thinking about photography more seriously. I've signed up for a digital photography/photoshop class in the New Year, and I think Tupac is getting seriously sick of the camera appearing!
I took a sewing class, and although that has kind of fallen away for a little while, I can now use my machine, and do some very basic sewing!
Wow, I seem to have achieved a lot this year! Looking back on it and picking out everything I've done was really interesting, who'd have thunk I'd been so productive I think there's a tendency to focus on the negative things in life, so trying to find all the positive creative things I've done was quite an eye opener!
What have you achieved out there this year? Here's something fun, think of all the things you've learned or done, or anything, and post them on your blog, or in the comments here if you want. Leave me a link in the comments if you do post on your blog, so I can go read! Let's be positive as we go into the New Year!
Friday, 26 December 2008
Happy Christmas!!
Tupac hopes you all had as exciting and happy a xmas as he had, and are all worn out and happy. (And that you all got lots of presents/teddies too!)
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Snow!
Out the back garden at 8 this morning. (The sun had only been up half an hour)
Macro snow on a buddleia plant.
Tupac liked the snow :)
Let me out to play some more!!!
Exhausted after all that fun!
Friday, 12 September 2008
Retail and Pattern Therapy
Wow! Thank you all so much for the lovely comments on my last post! They really help make me feel better, thank you :) I'm seriously thinking about printing them out and making a don't-pay-attention-to-mean-people card to look at whenever I feel them getting to me. :)
I really think it must be a control thing with these people, who feel the need to put others down so they won't get ideas above their station. I've had the exact same experience with other people throughout my past, where they invoke the People Who Will Laugh in order to stop me doing something. They've used exactly the same words as this person last week, and that really shocked me! I think I must have a pattern picking out these sort of people unfortunately. :( At least I recognise their behaviour (only took me 30 years, lol), so I can try to ignore it. My strategy really is to turn it into a sort of battle in my head. Someone says I shouldn't do something, well I'll just have to force myself to try twice as hard. It always seems to surprise me when it happens though, and I start feeling bad about myself regardless of whether I know what they're up to. Stupid emotions ;)
So anyway, let's talk about something nice and ignore the meanies! Yarn!!!!!
I kind of had an expedition to my LYS ;) I bought some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply for a shrug, which I'm knitting up just now. I also stumbled on the sale basket, oops! I bought 6 balls of Debbie Bliss cotton DK, which I'm thinking will also become a shrug.
I've also been buying lots of patterns (emotional purchasing, moi? Never!)
I have queued a lot of patterns from these mags! This is the first interweave knits I've ever liked the patterns enough to buy. A lot of people don't seem to like the newer issues of Interweave Knits, but I really like this one, whereas I didn't like previous ones that other people liked. I'm contrary like that! I really like the Estes Vest in particular.
I bought the Debbie Bliss mag from Web of Wool online, and I must say I'm very impressed with their service. I ordered on Wednesday night and it was here Friday morning! I'll definitely buy from them again. The mag itself is lovely, lots of nice patterns. It has that very definite Debbie Bliss style. And there's a recipe for scones! That made me laugh.
And I bought the pattern for Faux Bois from Twist Collective.
Ever since I first saw that scarf it's been stuck in my head. I wanted to buy it immediately, but then I read that it has steeking as well as colourwork! I got a bit scared and left it for a while, but it won't go out of my head! So even though it's scary, I'll have to give it a go.
Oh, and the fall Knitty came out! Drool! I'm really liking Camden, Retrofit and Baroque. I've queued others, but they're my favourites. My rav queue is getting beyond ridiculous now, over 1500, and they just keep bringing the great patterns out!
So that's my retail and pattern therapy. :) With the length of this post, I think I'd better leave it till the next one to list what I've actually been knitting!
I really think it must be a control thing with these people, who feel the need to put others down so they won't get ideas above their station. I've had the exact same experience with other people throughout my past, where they invoke the People Who Will Laugh in order to stop me doing something. They've used exactly the same words as this person last week, and that really shocked me! I think I must have a pattern picking out these sort of people unfortunately. :( At least I recognise their behaviour (only took me 30 years, lol), so I can try to ignore it. My strategy really is to turn it into a sort of battle in my head. Someone says I shouldn't do something, well I'll just have to force myself to try twice as hard. It always seems to surprise me when it happens though, and I start feeling bad about myself regardless of whether I know what they're up to. Stupid emotions ;)
So anyway, let's talk about something nice and ignore the meanies! Yarn!!!!!
I kind of had an expedition to my LYS ;) I bought some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply for a shrug, which I'm knitting up just now. I also stumbled on the sale basket, oops! I bought 6 balls of Debbie Bliss cotton DK, which I'm thinking will also become a shrug.
I've also been buying lots of patterns (emotional purchasing, moi? Never!)
I have queued a lot of patterns from these mags! This is the first interweave knits I've ever liked the patterns enough to buy. A lot of people don't seem to like the newer issues of Interweave Knits, but I really like this one, whereas I didn't like previous ones that other people liked. I'm contrary like that! I really like the Estes Vest in particular.
I bought the Debbie Bliss mag from Web of Wool online, and I must say I'm very impressed with their service. I ordered on Wednesday night and it was here Friday morning! I'll definitely buy from them again. The mag itself is lovely, lots of nice patterns. It has that very definite Debbie Bliss style. And there's a recipe for scones! That made me laugh.
And I bought the pattern for Faux Bois from Twist Collective.
Ever since I first saw that scarf it's been stuck in my head. I wanted to buy it immediately, but then I read that it has steeking as well as colourwork! I got a bit scared and left it for a while, but it won't go out of my head! So even though it's scary, I'll have to give it a go.
Oh, and the fall Knitty came out! Drool! I'm really liking Camden, Retrofit and Baroque. I've queued others, but they're my favourites. My rav queue is getting beyond ridiculous now, over 1500, and they just keep bringing the great patterns out!
So that's my retail and pattern therapy. :) With the length of this post, I think I'd better leave it till the next one to list what I've actually been knitting!
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