Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Day 31: A Ghostly WIP Wednesday


The sky today is overcast and the light is glarey, giving all of the photos I took from WIP Wednesday an odd ghostly cast. This seems strangely appropriate for Halloween! 


I am pleased to report that working on a few WIPs at a time is doing wonders and I have not one but two projects blocking at the moment. As you can see the Herbivore is growing slowly but surely and I've pulled out the secret socks from the naughty corner in an effort to get them finished before my anniversary on the 14th. Both of these black projects need to be done by the second week of November so I'm going to focus on just these two for the next week and hope I can at least get one of them knocked off by next week. Yay for focus, GAAK and getting things done!

Today is the final day of Blogtoberfest. I have really dropped the ball over the last few days. This is exactly how I finished Dry July (I had a glass of wine on the 31st) so I think I need to start committing to daily stuff in the *shorter* months.  Regardless of my total lack of endurance, I am pretty chuffed with how I have done. I've written 28 posts, only a few of which were about my cat, discovered some great new jobs and attacked my WIP problem head-on and with great success. Most importantly, I really enjoyed myself. Once I've had 10 months to get over the stress of thinking of things to post every day, I may give it another go next year :)

Maybe...


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Day 28: Sunny Sunday




This afternoon was beautiful and sunny and clear, so I took the opportunity to take my new $24 Target dress for a whirl. Yes, the photograph is terrible but I am fifteen different types of love with the dress. It's so comfortable!


There were birds in the cafe and pelicans in the water and it was a lovely day. The skywriter who just did a straight line was a bit weird, though. People are very strange.



 I hope you all also had a lovely Sunday.

Day 27: Yarnbombing: lazy edition

Spotted in a lift at my university on Friday:



Thursday, October 25, 2012

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012)


It was with great trepidation that I started reading Gone Girl. I have had a bad run recently with really not enjoying books that everyone else loves (All That I Am, I’m looking at you) or just hating the recent books from my previously favourite authors (Sweet Tooth, why did you have to suck so much?). It seemed like everyone whose literary opinion I respect was raving about Gone Girl and, if I’d hated it, I would seriously have considered giving up contemporary fiction in its entirety and just read classic literature for the rest of my life.
Fear not, booksellers, because after finishing Gone Girl in one long sitting, I am back in the contemporary literature fold. The book opens on Amy and Nick Dunne’s fifth anniversary. She is making in crepes for breakfast and the hatred and unhappiness in their marriage is clear from the outset. We know they loved each other once but now that love has been replaced by something else. It’s bad, but what exactly is it? By the end of the day Amy has vanished and Nick is involved in a missing person’s case that quickly develops into a possible homicide.
The book alternates chapters from Nick and Amy’s point of views and one of the things it does really well is use this alternation to play with the reader’s sympathy and identification. This book has been accused of being both misogynist and misandrist but in my view is neither. The discomfort that leads to these accusations comes from the allegiances the text draws with each character and then rapidly undermines. Is Nick a horrible man and husband who neglects and doesn’t appreciate his brilliant, beautiful bride or a victim? Is Amy horrible unappreciated and taken advantage of or a manipulative genius? Admittedly as the book gets closer to the end it does veer on the border of unrealism and excess but by the time I reached that point I was enjoying the ride so much that I didn’t care.
Much has been written about the twists and turns of Gone Girl. I don’t think any of it is particularly twisty or unpredictable but it is very enjoyable and lots of fun to read. Thanks to this book, my faith in contemporary fiction is restored and I can read new books again without apprehension. I give this book four stars.
Cross-posted at Here I Read

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Day 24: WIP Wednesday

Last week in an effort to wrestle my WIP pile into some sort of order, I decided to pick just two projects and concentrate on them. It worked! One of those pairs of socks is effectively finished (dear weaving in ends, why do you suck so much? love me) and the other one is almost complete.

Since this plan was so successful, I've decided to expand it to four projects and work only on those:



The Barefoot Dream socks are my new handbag stockinette stitch sock. They need to be done by December for my mum's birthday, so no hurry. The mitered square blanket now has nine of the 12 blocks joined. It's being held up because I need to unpick and restitch the first three blocks I joined and, I know it's childish but I just don't want to! The Rainy Day socks are almost done. These are the quickest and easiest socks I have ever made. I keep them next to the computer and pick them up and do a row or two whenever my computer or I am thinking and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, these are almost done. I have to start making more socks on 2.75mm needles!

The final project is the Herbivore that I cast on for during CAST ON MANIA then promptly forgot about. The yarn that I'm using, the completely divine Madelinetosh Pashmina in Thunder, was a gift from my friend Christian. I'm seeing Radiohead with him in three weeks (woot woot!!) and I'd love to have this finished by then. The last Herbivore I made only took me about five days, so it shouldn't be a problem.

I love watching the list of of WIPs get smaller and smaller in number...

24 down, 7 to go.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Day 23: Tartes Aux Pommes al la mode

Today's post is one of my all-time favourite super-easy unbelievably delicious desserts - 
Tartes Aux Pommes from Nigella Express, served a la mode.


Make as follows:
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees celsius.
2. Defrost one sheet of puff pastry. With a knife, score a mark two centimetres from the end of the pastry.
3. Slice two large or three small Granny Smith apples very finely without the core but with the peel.
4. Sprinkle one tablespoon of castor sugar on the pastry.
5. Place one slightly overlapping layer of apples on the pastry.
6. Place one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan. Heat until bubbling gently and cook for two-three minutes until brown. Pour caramel mix over apples.
7. Cook for 20-25 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
(Note: I added cinnamon which made it even *more* delicious, although it still taste divine without it if cinnamon's not your thing. I know that looks like a fly in the middle of the pastry but it's just a burnt bit of caramel that had dripped off onto the tray.)
8. Eat the entire thing that is supposed to serve 6-8 people between two.

Voila!

23 down, 8 to go.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Day 21: WIP Madness

Last WIP Wednesday I realised I had 17 projects on the go. Seventeen!! That's completely insane. I finished one of them last week but that still leaves 16. Still ridiculous. 



But a bit better in pictoral form...

22 down, 9 to go. Yippee!

Day 21: Clearly struggling for content...


Lucy, my bed hair and my ridiculously point chin would like to wish everyone goodnight. Sleep tight, y'all!

xx

Friday, October 19, 2012

Day 20: Lucy has the right idea...


Happy Saturday! May your day contain a sun-warmed bum and a relaxing afternoon :)

Thursday, October 18, 2012

FO Friday: Snow-capped mountaintop socks (2012 FO #14)

A couple of months ago I was looking through my stash and I noticed that I have heaps of partial balls of sock wool of between 30 to 50 grams. Now I need between 70 to 90 grams for a pair of sock so these partial balls were no good for a full pair of socks unless they were striped or used as contrasting colours for heels, cuffs and toes. Clearly, I am not opposed to a stripy pair of socks but it seems silly if that's the only way out of a partial sock yarn ball situation. 

Then, I had a great idea. What if, instead of striping the socks, there was a six or eight-row transition between the two colours? That way, it not only would keep it interesting, it would mean the transition could be anywhere. 


You could do the cuff in colour A, a transition stripe in colour B, back to colour A for another transition stripe and so on and so forth. The world is your oyster and it's multicoloured and filled with partial balls of sock yarn!


What a brilliant idea! I could design this sock and sell the pattern. If I use a short-row heel then the pattern can work either toe-up or top-down, maximising every bit of scrap yarn. It was serious genius. It would change the way that people approached their stash!


Then, I hit a snag. Firstly, it's a real pain in the arse trying to design six or eight row transition patterns that don't create long floats. Next, I realised that if I did design this sock I have to write it up. Writing up patterns is hard. Then I realised that if I did succeed in designing and writing up the pattern and sold it to a magazine, I would have to knit multiple samples in multiple sizes using different types of yarn. I don't want to do that!


When I realised that while knitting my prototype pair despite having knitted at least 100 short-row heels in my time I'd managed to mess the heel up on both of the socks into a discussing hole-y poorly fitting mess, I decided to throw in the towel.


I'm going to leave designing to the designers and this pair of socks in an unloved pile. Anyone want a pair of vaguely Christmas coloured socks with a poorly knitted heel in size six? They're all yours.

The vital statistics
Yarn: Paton's Bluebell and Bendigo Woollen Mills 5ply crepe.
Needles: 2.75mm

19 down, 12 to go. 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Day 18: The miracle of life

 On Sunday when I planted new seedlings and seeds, I also fertilised the chilli plants who had lost all of their leaves over the cold, wet winter. At the time they resembled nothing more than greeny-brown sticks stuck into pots of dirt, so I was ecstatic when I went outside today and saw this:


New leaves and the buds of chilli flowers. Nature is amazing! It seems like magic to me but it's just the natural world going about its everyday business. 

The fertiliser must have also done something to the seeds I planted in the pot last year that never came up because I noticed this peeking through the dirt.


Unsurprisingly, Lucy was unhappy that I was taking photos of objects that weren't her and decided that the plant must die (look at her foot about to squash that tiny seedling!)


Lest anyone think I am all of a sudden a decent gardener, after saving the seedling from Lucy I promptly knocked the pot over, spilling the fertiliser gems all over the paving and murdering the seedling whose life I had just saved. 

Black thumb 1: miracle of life 0.

18 done, 13 to go.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Day 17: WIP Wednesday

I should actually start calling this the WIP Wednesday of Shame because according to Ravelry, I have 17 projects on the go at the moment. That is a million levels of ridiculous! How did I reach this place? The worst thing is that six of them are actually finished and just waiting for the ends to be woven in. So I'm both lazy and suffering from the knitter's version of ADD - what a winner.

I'm trying a new strategy. This week instead of working on All Of The Projects, I'm just going to focus on two. Firstly, the Rainy Day socks:


The finished sock is divine. These are probably the least durable socks I have ever made but they're like feet clouds - my toes were purring during this shot. I cannot say enough nice things about this combination of yarn and pattern.

Next, the boring Regia socks.  Look at them being boring.


Boring boring boring. Bleurgh. The odd random stripes of neon yellow can't save the acres of boring boring brown and green. But these will soon be finished! (I hope)

17 down, 14 to go.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Day 15: Out on a school night

Tonight at Moat Bar at the Wheeler Centre I learned that stemless champagne glasses are now a thing. It's a good bar despite the fact that if you want to use the lift you need to get escorted, which I actually think would actually be more annoying for the staff who need to do the escorting as it is for any patrons who want to use the lift. It was strange. The bubbles were delicious, though, and the ambience was very nice with at least one famous important person there at the same time as me (famous important people = bonus ambience. Always).   


I then saw Lily Brett speak at the Wheeler Centre. She did a reading from her new book Lola Blansky then had a chat onstage with Kaz Cooke. Lily Brett is the author of two of my all-time favourite books You've Gotta Have Balls and Too Many Men and I love how she combines the saddest, most tragic truths of human existence with honest, dry and very funny comedy. Sometimes when I read her books I feel as if she's written words that have a direct conduit to the part of me that feels and it's an exquisite and beautiful sensation. 

Ms Brett was fabulous and hilarious and I enjoyed the evening immensely. Also, bizarrely, a young and handsome whippersnapper *winked* at me. Is that now also a thing? I was perplexed but amused and I shall look forward to going to the city again soon to see if it happens again. Although maybe he just had something in his eye? IDK.

I have Lola Blansky right next to me and as soon as I post this I'm going to start it. I can't wait.

15 down, 16 to go.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Day 14: Waving Lace in Recycled Wollmeise (2012 FO #13)

I am very excited to finally be able to share with you my finished Waving Lack socks!


This yarn was originally used to make a Triinu which I photographed, wrote about on Ravelry and for some bizarre reason never blogged about. The scarf was really lovely but I just never wore it and I didn't want to waste the gorgeous Wollmeise on an unused project, so I unravelled it and knit it up again.


One criticism of Wollmeise is that when you knit with it it feels like cotton and can be quite rough to work with. That was totally consistent with my experience from knitting the Triinu. However, once this yarn is soaked and blocked, it really softens up and it kept that softness after being unravelled. Knitting these socks with washed and recycled Wollmeise was a completely different experience. 


The stitch definition of these socks is incredible and the finished socks feel comfortable and warm. I have previously stated my love for Wollmeise as a shawl yarn and now I am a Wollmeise sock convert as well. These socks are divine.


One important note: count your repeats accurately! Don't be like me. You can see that one sock is a little bit higher than the other one but it's only really noticeable if you look hard and who really looks hard at other people's feet? If you do, stop it, it's weird.

This pattern is from my new favourite book, Favorite Socks. It might sound crazy but I think I actually want to knit them all! There's only 25 - I can totally do it. Although I also kind of want to knit at least another three pairs of this pattern, so maybe it's not a realistic ideal...we'll see.

Hope everyone is having a happy, fun and relaxing Sunday. Sunny Sundays are the best!

14 down, 17 to go.

Day 13: A New Beginning

The saying goes that hell is other people. I think that hell is other people at a Bunnings on a sunny Sunday afternoon, especially when quite a few of those people are younger than five and have been supplied with miniature shopping trolleys to gallivant about with. My poor calves! But there is something about beautiful sunny weather that inspires you to plant things and be part of the regeneration of spring! Even when the evidence of what happened when you planted things last spring on a gorgeous sunny day is in the very pots that you're using this year... 

Death and destruction of last year's plants in the pots on the right, hope and dreaming in the pots on the left.
Clear evidence of humans' great capacity for cognitive dissidence.

I bought rosemary, basil and coriander seedlings and thyme and dill seeds, which I planted in pots. And with the seeds, by "planted", I mean cut open the packet and poured onto dirt in several different pots until there were no seeds left in the packet. I then noticed that there were 750 dill seeds and 1000 thyme seeds in each packet!  Oh well.


This is one of last year's chilli plants surrounded by coriander and basil.


And more coriander, basil and about 300 seeds each of dill and thyme.


I have a good feeling about this year!

13 down, 18 to go.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty (2011)




The eponymous chaperone in this book is Cora, a 1920s Witchita housewife who agrees to chaperone the beautiful but rebellious and wild Louise Brookes in New York for a summer. While in New York, Cora embarks on a journey of self-discovery with unexpected results. Also, and this is repeated a lot of times in the text so it must be very important, women wore corsets and they were very uncomfortable. Repeated many times, a very clear indication that an author doesn’t think very highly of her audience.

I’m a bit late to the game on this one – The Chaperone was a Christmas 2011 stocking filler, and it’s easy to see why. On holiday is the perfect time to read this light-as-a-feather book, preferably borrowed from the library because it’s definitely not worthy of a second read. The problem with this novel is that it doesn’t really know what it wants to be – is it a woman at the end of her life recounting an eventful summer? Is it the story of an ordinary woman’s life and loves and the New York trip is an introduction to the tale? Because of the lack of clear motivation, the structure of this book is fatally flawed. For me it felt like the book should have finished once Cora returned to Witchita but it went on and on and on in an increasingly unlikely series of events, ending in one of the most improbable conclusions I’ve ever read in a novel. As I mentioned earlier, I also felt that Moriarty has a fairly poor opinion of the intellect of her readers – over the course of the summer Cora is reading The Age of Innocence. Moriarty doesn’t want anyone to miss the references to the book so makes explicit multiple times why it’s relevant that Cora is reading that text, turning a literary reference that should enhance the reading experience into a series of really irritating moments that jarred the reader from the story.

The verdict: Three stars. This book is not particularly good but it’s not awful either. It’s very middle of the road, just like its main protagonist.
Noteworthy: Wichita is a really great name for a town. More books should be set there to give me a chance to say “Wichita” more often.
Similar but better: Margaret Atwood’s Booker Prize-winning The Blind Assassin.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Day 11: Brrr!!!!

This post is one day late because yesterday was absolutely bloody freezing (the coldest October day in Melbourne for 40 years!) and there was absolutely no chance I was going to head outside to take photos. Today is marginally better so I rugged up and braved the Great Cold Outdoors (i.e. I took the five steps from my back door to the herb garden) to take a photo of my latest project:



another Henslowe in Wollmeise. I needed a new project that I could mindlessly knit without paying attention but all of my other projects are in stages where I have to look at what's going on. Hence, a new project was required. So that my number of WIPs is kept under control, before starting this I frogged my merino lace socks. The socks were fine and the Bearfoot yarn is delicious but I think its buttery exquisite softness is better suited to a scarf than a pair of socks. Maybe another Henslowe? How many times does one need to make the same project in a 12-month period before one officially has a problem? Hopefully not four...

You'll notice in the background of these photos my parsley bush. Apparently parsley is a bit of a masochist because it loves the horrible-lovely-horrible-lovely-horrible weather cycle we're having at the moment and has gone completely wild. It is enormous.  Seriously - just look at it.

11 down, 20 to go. Over a third of the way there!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Day 10: Old, cranky but still able to sit on my bum with the best of them

Today's post is brought to you by Kids These Days (TM) and being old. Today I tried to work in the dedicated silent study space at uni but couldn't because of the dance music coming from the grassy area in the centre of campus (dancing and drinking during the day on a Wednesday? What is this world coming to, really). I tried to ignore the steady bass rhythm but it got inside my brain and I couldn't concentrate on anything I was doing, so with a loud inconvenienced sigh I packed up all of my things and left. However, as I was walking away from my office I couldn't help notice that absolutely no-one else cared about the music at all and (ironically) my harrumphing was more distracting to these young and sprightly Gen Ys than the beats that were resonating through the floor. I am so very very old *shakes cane in air, groans theatrically*

Just in case you thought I left the library empty handed, I did manage to pick up some viewing material:


I don't watch a lot of TV- in fact, I never ever 'flick' just to see what's on. I record the shows I want to watch and then I watch them at a later date so I can fast-forward through the ads. It's not only a more efficient way to watch television (efficiency ever being the watchword at Chez HereIKnit!) it means that I don't suddenly realise that I've spent an hour flicking between re-runs of Boston Legal, Sex and the City and an ABC2 doco on polygamous relationships. However, I do watch a lot of movies, both for work and pleasure. This lot should last me a week or two and features many of my favourites - the Fass (phwar!), the Pfieff (sigh), a gorgeous young Bob Redford (phwar, again) and a few early Woody Allens. A lovely way to pass the time and I don't have to listen to 'down down, prices are down' once.

10 down, 21 to go.  

Monday, October 8, 2012

Day 9: I think this sock may be knitting itself

A mere 20-minutes of work on the go and it's doubled in size from yesterday.


It's like magic - gorgeous warm soft knitterly magic :)

9 down, 22 to go.

Day 8: Oopsie!

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that the reason I didn't post yesterday was because I forgot. No excuses except for plain old absentmindedness. I took photos, planned some words in my head, uploaded the photos to my computer then got so caught up in reading my new book (Feminism at the Movies, if anyone is interested. It's great, and theory-lite so very accessible) that I never got around to actually posting anything...oops!

Mind you, I didn't have anything super exciting to share anyway. I've noticed that this time around, Blogtober is turning into a 'this is what I did today' journal. Yesterday I had an appointment on campus so I decided to spend some study time in the library beforehand.  I gave my poor crooked back a rest and (for once) didn't lug the contents of my entire study to the library with me. Vital ingredients for study: pen and paper (I did not see one other person using a non-electronic device to record information in the entire packed library. I am clearly a dinosaur), water (important to stay hydrated), Blistex (using Blistex is like smoking - you should never start and once you do, it's almost impossible to quit) and knitting, for sanity purposes. 


On the subject of knitting, I have I ever told you how much I love knitting socks with 5-ply yarn and 2.75mm needles? I have basically just looked at this project and waved my arms in its general direction and it's already a third of the way up the foot! After the black never-ending socks of doom, this sock is a minty-green fresh breath of air. Although, disturbingly, how puffed up and deformed does my foot look in this photo? It looks normal in real life, I promise.


For an update on the mitered square blanket, I have finished all the vertical seaming of the blocks and now I just need to do the horizontal ones.  It takes me one episode of Big Brother to join two squares (I know! Don't judge me) so I figure by the time the next two housemates have been evicted, I should be ready to start the border. The only thing is that with the first blocks I did (the column to the far left) I used a different technique to the other three and so it doesn't look as good as the others. I'm trying to work out if I care enough to unpick and re-seam those squares. My perfectionist instinct says yes but the realist in me reminds myself that it took me five years to get to this point and that if I lose momentum it may be another five years till I get it back again...


In case you were in any doubt as to whether this photo is authentically mine (the consistently shitty unedited quality of the photo not begin enough), please note not one but two cat toys placed carefully between the blocks. Welcome to my house!

Eight posts down, 23 to go.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Day 7: Never learning from the past

Just as I predicted yesterday, I woke up this morning feeling a million times better than I did yesterday. Sometimes having a good night's sleep, along with some ibuprofen and a really nice glass (or three) of white wine, can make all the difference.

One of the five socks of shame is now finished, which is very exciting.  I was incredibly stoked to get one of the pairs off the needles and get down to four, but then I started thinking... The needles looked so lonely and bare, I've got the yarn from this failed hat rewound into gorgeous soft mint-coloured balls just waiting to be made into a pair of weather-topical Rainy Day Socks (seriously, what the hell is going on with this weather. I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West and if I get rained on one more time I will actually melt), I love the feeling I get from starting a new projects and who doesn't want more happy when it's cold, grey and dreary outside. And, well, the rest is history.

I have five socks on the go right now. Clearly, I never learn from my mistakes.

7 down, still heaps to go.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Day 6: I'm having a bad day

A few minutes ago my cat came in, curled up on my lap, started purring and then farted. Powerfully. Since that about sums up my day (cold! wet! dreary! lacking in colours other than grey1) I've decided to bid adieu to Saturday the sixth of October. I'm taking my laptop, some Woody Allen DVDs, one of the five socks I'm working on at the moment, a glass of white wine and the Amazing Farting Cat to bed.  When I get up tomorrow, the weather will be better, one of the pairs of socks will be completed and I will be ready to approach the world again.

Until then, I hope your Saturday nights are more fun and less aromatic than mine :)

6 down, 25 to go!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The guy sitting next to me at the library will not stop sniffing and I want to bop him on the head to make him stop but since that is socially frowned upon I am going to leave the library.

I hate people sometimes.

Day 5: Review - The House of Memories by Monica McInerney


I have had mixed opinions of Monica McInerney's previous books. I liked The Alphabet Sisters, loved Those Faraday Girls, thought At Home with the Templetons was interesting but uneven and hated Lola's Secret (dear publishing gods, please spare us from any more books that centre on wise, all-knowing elderly women who know how to use technology and are able to use their wisdom and all-knowingness to communicate with young people. These women are unsufferable and make me want to throw things - ie the book I'm reading that features these irritating protagonists - at the wall. Thank you.). With this varied history, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. McInerney has a nice, easy writing style, so I figured even if her new book wasn't great it would be a relaxing way to spend a few hours away from the high stress levels of my everyday life ("CAPS LOCK IS HOW I FEEL ALL THE TIME, RICK!"). Boy, was I wrong.

The House of Memories opens with a chapter detailing the childhood of Ella Fox/Baum/O'Hanlon and the special relationship she has with her uncle, Lucas. After we wade through the standard broken-home childhood tale (parents divorce, remarry, step-brother, new baby, jealously, et cetera cetera et cetera) we get to the crux of the story - Ella's baby has died. The book then separates into chapters told from the point of view of different characters, with some (very annoying) email chapters and others alternating between the first and third chapter.

I have no problem with having multiple narrators, even if (as is clearly signposted in this book ALL THE TIME for the benefit of those who have memory problems, I imagine) these narrators are unreliable. I have no problem with epistolary writing - The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society is one of my favourite books. What I do have a problem with is books that are so predictable that, after reading the third chapter, it is possible to plot what happens in every chapter until the end. There is pleasure in reading genre fiction - it's nice to know that the right couple will get together in the end in a romance novel, for example - so I understand that books can be about the journey rather than the destination. But if both the journey and the destination suck...step away from the book. I strongly advise you - step away from this one.

I am a bit bummed about contemporary fiction at the moment. Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth was a massive disappointment. I started Zadie Smith's new book NW but abandoned it because of the stream-of-consciousness writing style. This book completely sucked. Am I picking bad books, or has the standard of published works dropped recently? I'm about to start Gone Girl, which has received great reviews. If that sucks as well, I might stop reading anything published after the turn of the century and stick to books that have passed the test of time!

5 down, 27 to go.
Cross-posted at Here I Read.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Day 4: Fixing what's wrong

I am halfway through the foot of the black socks and I have reached the stage that when whenever I pick them up instead of knitting them I want to stab myself in the eye repeatedly until the socks magically go away (die, socks die!!), so I figured it was time for a break. Well and truly time for a break!

I took the failed Waving Lace socks outside so I could get my daily dose of Vitamin D while fixing them (efficiency being the watchword at Chez HereIKnit). I laid them next to each other to make certain I was shortening the correct sock...


..and I cut off the toe, unravelled half a repeat and picked up the untethered stitches (i.e. all of them).


I then started knitting the toe as normal, praising all of the gods above (who I don't believe in) that I'm working on something that is not soul-sucking soul-destroying black and never-ending.


I would like to take this occasion to share with you my favourite pair of at-home working pants. These are without a doubt the most comfortable item of clothing I own - the bottom half of a pair of winter PJs I got from Target half-price. They have snow bears with hats and scarves on them! I heart them completely. Their only disadvantages are a: pyjamas are not generally considered appropriate daytime wear, so I have to change before answering the door every time it rings and b: I suspect that if my clients knew I was working on their documents while admiring my toasty warm and fashionably attired polar bears, my professional cred would decrease. I don't care - I'm wearing them anyway! Although never in front of another person...

4 down, 28 to go.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Day 3: All Socks All The Time

Anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows that I am partial to knitting socks. I knit a lot of socks - I love that they can be complicated, with cables and fair isle, or pretty, with panels of lace and texture, or just a mindless simple stockinette tube. I love that they are so very comfortable and keep my toes toasty and warm. Socks are the best!

But, sock-wise, things are a little out of control Chez HereIKnit:


(look who figured out how to use a new feature on her computer)

FIVE PAIRS OF UNFINISHED SOCKS! Disgraceful.

I think the most embarrassing thing about this is that four of the socks are 75% completed. So clearly I start a pair of socks and then power  most of the way through before losing interest and starting another pair of socks.  Apparently, I will continue to do this until all of my sock needles are used up. It's insane behaviour and I really need to stop!

I probably won't, though. It's an illness.

3 down, 28 to go. Woohoo, 10% done!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Day 2: Mitered Square Blanket Time

Blogtober is a big commitment (31 posts!!) and it's only fitting that a big blogging commitment should be joined by a big knitting commitment. So last night I dragged my mitered square blanket squares out of the tub they've been sitting in for the last 12 months and laid them out on the floor to organise them into a design that shows them all to their best advantage.


What do you think? The picture is a bit shows the colours as darker than they are IRL. I tried not to have any sections are the same colour next to each other and to avoid any areas that are dominated by light or dark areas and I'm actually pretty happy with it. Tonight I'll start the (many hours of) seaming that are required and *fingers crossed* by the end of October I'll have a lovely new warm blanket to snuggle under.

According to Ravelry, I started this blanket on 1 October five years ago. It seems fitting to finish it in its anniversary month.

2 down, 29 to go!