I ain't dead

Well, I’m still here. I’ve still got no internet, but the boys from Fast are on the case, BT have been advised and hopefully things are moving. I hope so, I miss Ravelry (the intertoobs at work filters it out can you believe!!!) I spent last night unscrewing phone sockets and poking in them, I now know more about my telephone wiring than I really wanted to. Mind you, if I feel like a career change, I could always go for BT engineer I suppose :-)

I’m finishing the one job today, and hopefully start the new one on the 4th August but I’m still (!) waiting for confirmation of that. Wish they’d hurry up…what this means is potentially no internet for a wee while, I don’t know what the new job’s internet access is, at this rate I will be resorting to the local library. Mind you, that’s not so bad, the librarians are very nice and yesterday we were having a nice chitchat about how good Jeffery Deaver is. They need to get some knitting books in though. I might have a word with them about that.

So what’s new? Well, *touch wood* the cooker is fixed!!! *happydance* Of course I’m now away for a few days so I won’t be there to use it, but at least when I get back I can eat proper food again. Mmm, stew, casseroles, roasts, stir fry, baked fish, VEGETABLES oh god I miss vegetables SO MUCH. I swear I’ve got scurvy.

Fibrey news:
I’ve stocked up on the New Lanark Mills’ aran in Woodland for the Must-Have Cardigan. I just hope I noted on my Ravelry entry what needle size I used, otherwise I’ll have to swatch again (curses!) I’m ploughing on well with the Sonnet cardi, although I had to pause to dye some more yarn to match. I need buttons for it, which I might get this weekend, and once it’s finished I think I’ll cast on for the Must-Have. It’s about time I got my head around cabling I think. I might do a little practicing first. I’ve just bought the Cables Untangled book which is very good by the way, loads of nice stitch patterns at the back and some attractive projects too, and I think it will be quite helpful. I’ll probably do the “cabling without a cable needle” thing though, I find maneuvering the cable needle a pain in the butt. The wool is “sticky” enough to hold the stitches in position.

The whole cabling thing is part of my Fearless Knitter thing for this year. I’ve been eyeballing it for ages, and I reckon it’ll be like using DPNs – not nearly as complicated as it looks. I’m trying to challenge myself a little bit with my fibre work and expand my repertoire. At the minute I’m a pretty basic knitter, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s stuff I want to be able to do so I need to get off my backside and learn. I thought I’d note them down here and see where we are at the end of the year. I’ll probably have forgotten about this list by then, so remind me will ya?

• Cables
• Lace
• Colourwork – intarsia and Fair Isle
• Knitting a sweater in the round and steeking it (oh, the terror)

The other thing I really want to do is learn to spin. I must try and get a class or something. I’d be happy with a drop spindle, though I would like to learn how to use a wheel as well.

On a slightly different fibrey note, I have been fighting a tremendous urge to make a quilt. I don’t know what triggered this, (but it may be Jane Brocket’s fault) but I’ve resisted so far, mainly because I don’t have a table to work on or any fabric – or the spare cash to splash on either. I’m also worried about taking time away from knitting and crochet. The itch isn’t going away though, so I’ll have to scratch it sooner or later.

I’m thinking about renaming the blog as well. I’m not sure why, but the name doesn’t sit as well as it once did. Any suggestions? I’m basically waiting for inspiration on this one…

I’ve been drawing (a bit) – I need to do more, the flow isn’t there yet but it felt good putting pen and brush to paper again. I really need to work on my confidence in this area and start making work that makes me happy, without worrying about the opinions of others. I’m still very “down” on my work, not really happy with it or where it’s going (same with the ceramics) but I think the best way out of that place is to draw my way out. The more I draw the better I get, I’ve noticed this before, so I just need to get my head down and do more of it.

Something I also need to do – declutter. Big time. I’ve been following Laurie’s progress with curbing her consumerism and sorting out her life with great interest and sympathy. I need to do something similar. A good while ago I had a big rethink about what I spent money on, and now have a much reduced scale of spending (not that my Dad believes that, but actually it’s true.) I’ve had to spend a fair whack on the house, but I’m keen now to not fill it with junk. (By the way, yarn and books do NOT count as clutter.) I won’t be going all minimalist and Zen anytime soon – I love my books too much for that, but I don’t want it to be a total tip either. So I’ll be down at my Mum’s going through boxes of stuff and unloading all the bits I don’t want or need onto her so she can have a pick through. Anything she doesn’t want will get carted to the charity shop. I’m going to be fairly brutal as well. It’s possible that even books may be parted with, which is virtually unheard of. I have a rake of books on art and related subjects, some of which have never been opened. Generally I picked them up for a song, and they were on my Uni reading list or are standard texts. I’m thinking I might isolate these in one area, and if I haven’t read them in six months time, out they go. I do something similar with clothes, and it’s about time for another serious sort-out. I ran out of coathangers, which is always a bad sign…

Well, that’s all folks, for now. Not sure when I’ll get chance to blog again, but I’ve not forgotten I owe you lots of pictures. Mind you, my Ravelry is so far behind it’ll take me a week to catch up my projects and reorganize my queue, and that’s first job as soon as the internet starts working.