Where does time go?

I was going to post today about the excitement of having a new iPhone. However, said iPhone would not allow me to write a post (I could put in a title and labels, but no actual text). If no-one is reading this, it wouldn't actually matter, but since I delude myself that people do occassionally read my ramblings, it seems only fair that I should ramble.

In my last post, I talked about going to buy yarn for the sweater that I was going to work on in the 'Sweater Fitness' class at KnitNation. Well, KnitNation (and the class) have been and gone - it was fab - and the sweater has been knit. I made some fairly significant modifications to the pattern along the way but it does fit pretty well. I would like to try to do a v-neck version (with a not quite so wide neck line) but that is a project for when it isn't the run-up to Christmas (yes, I did just say that at the beginning of September!).

In other news, I tried to make plum jam yesterday. I had about a pound and a half of plums, so I wasn't expecting huge quantities. What I ended up with was two and a half jars of plum toffee, and a preserving plan with a very burnt bottom. I did eventually get the plan clean, but whether anyone will ever succeed in getting the toffee back out of the jars is another matter! Today is planned to be mixed red berry. Wel'll see how it goes

Back from the depths

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry I have neglected you. I didn't mean to - but real life seems to have taken over somewhat in the last few months. But today I am back, at least for now.

Being a bit (!) mad, I chose the hottest day of the year to mosey on in to London to buy lots of worsted weight yarn. My trip was somewhat delayed by a power cut; I was online this morning checking yarn requirements when the power went off. While the lovely Mildred continued to work, the interwebs went off, so I had to wait until the power was back to check precisely where it was I was trying to go.

First off I headed to Loop. I never went to the old shop, but the new one was certainly lovely. Really light and airy, and set in a great buzzy part of town. There I bought 7 skeins of Cascade 220 (some of it heathered) to knit Astoria.

My pictures are uploading properly today (and the colours didn't come out right anyway!), but it is three skeins of navy, three skeins of pacific heather, and one skein of neutral. I am taking the Sweater Fitness class at Knit Nation and for this you need to know what sweater you want to knit, and have the yarn so that you can swatch in the class - so here we are!

I also went to All the Fun of the Fair - which is more central. I bought two skeins (which I hope will be enought!) of Blue Sky Alpacs Dyed cotton. These are to make a Tulip Cardigan for my new niece or nephew who is due in October.

I also went somewhere and bought some bits for another project - but I will save that for another post (if it works...)!

Lace Tunic

On Wednesday evening, I was speaking to Hubby and discovered that he was due home the next day. This was quite a surprise as I thought he wasn't due home for another week. So, he came home on Thursday but now he has gone again: off for a course in Austin. He's due home again on 4 February and then has a week at home before he goes back to Algeria. It's rubbish and so I am probably going to eat junk and mope for the rest of the day - oh, and knit ;-).

On the knitting front, I have finished the Lace Tunic from Debbie Bliss's Summer. I have come across a couple of tricky points with this. Firstly, having blocked the back, front and first sleeve, I realised that there was no way in which the sleeve was going to fit into the arm hole. The problem was that the bind off on the sleeve was waaay to tight. So, I unpicked the cast off and the last row, and re-worked using a superstretch bind off on needles several size larger. It was a bit of a pain then to set the sleeve but it did fit. Secondly, having pressed the neck band, it was poking up in a strange manner. I have fixed this by threading elastic through the edge. So here it is, modelled by Hermione:

The colour is actually a sort of duck-egg blue - which I couldn't capture, even outside. It has to be said that I wouldn't have been taking Hermione into the garden for a photo shoot if Hubby was still here!

Talking of whom, he has just called from the airport, apparently in order to check that I have got the first load of washing out of the machine (I haven't) and then to tell me that I would need to take the water softener tablet out of its wrapper before I put the second load in. How does he think I cope when he's away?!

Productivity

I have had a very productive day - which means that there is something to blog about. This morning I decided to write a list, and I managed to cross everything off it. I...

• tidied the kitchen;
• tidied the living room;
• tidied the bedroom;
• put away the rubbish that had been accumulating in a basket on the stairs;
• did three loads of washing;
• sorted, photographed and updated my stash;
• packed the christmas decs away ready to go in the loft (they were down but not away);
• put away piles of clean clothes;
• watered the house plants; and
• went shopping.

The result of this is that I am knackered! I have also done some knitting. I am working on a lace tunic made out of Debbie Bliss Prima. The last garment I made from this stuff grew to ridiculous proportions within a week of completion. So far I have finished the back, front and one sleeve. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as though the sleeve is going to fit in the hole designed for it. No-one else on Ravelry has knitted this garment, so I'm a bit stuck now - will just continue with the second sleeve in the vain hope that it will all work out!

While typing this, I am watching Bridget Jones - during which the parallels with Pride and Prejudice are becoming more obvious than previously. Hmm - looking aroud me, it seems that I need to have another go at tidying the sitting room. It has been said before, and it continues to be true - I'm good at tidying up, but not at being tidy.

Happy New Year

I am not a great one for resolutions. However, at this time of the year, it's difficult not to start musing on where you are, where you have been and where you are going. A little while ago on one of the Ravelry groups that I belong too, Claire mentioned the idea of having a word for the year. At that time, it was Samhain, the beginning of the pagan year, and therefore, various of us took that as the beginning of the year, and chose a word.

My word was - and is - grace. Grace is something that I have thought about alot over the last couple of weeks as I have been going through some tough times. Grace is also something that I have needed and doubtless will continue to need. It seems that grace is not something that I am capable of achieving on my own - I can be remarkably ungracious at times, which is why I chose it in the first place. But in God's strenght, I am learning that I can be gracious. It also seems that it is sometimes easier to be gracious in the big things than in the little things (will I ever complete a journey to work in the rush hour without yelling at someone?).

And so my prayer for the new year is for increased grace to help me deal with the things that life throws at me:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to
change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

God, grant me grace.