Until May anyway. Yes, I have had to take the fateful step of handing in my notice on my beloved, if chilly, cottage. There's little to be gained by staying any longer, sadly. The job market here still seems terribly depressed, and I'm having no luck with applications south of the Tartan Curtain either - maybe my location is putting people off? I don't know.
So, unless a miracle happens and I get offered a job in the meantime, I will be off back to Staffordshire. My parents have very kindly said I can stay with them until I can get back on my feet financially. Well, I can stay as long as I want actually. It makes sense, as even if I can't command the sort of salary I've been used to, my bills will be reduced to just the car, mobile, investments and internet, rather than the £1000 or so I'm shelling out now each month on rent, tax and utilities.
It's going to be hard though. I will have to put a LOT of my things in storage, and go from a three-bedroomed semi-detached house to one 11 foot square room. Gulp. How long do you think it will be before I get cabin fever? I am determined to make room for the stash, a goodly selection of books, the computer, Caroline the spinning wheel and my rigid heddle loom though. Even if it means throwing out half my clothes :-)
The privacy and peace is going to be a factor as well. Here it is tranquil, the only regular noise (apart from next-door's grandson when he's visiting, who sounds like he is wearing size 10 army boots most of the time) is the sheep baa-ing, the buzzards mewing, an occasional hoot from a coal train and a very distant sound of the A78. Occasionally you can hear the hum of the power station, or the faint sound of their tannoy. At the parents', although it is much better than it was, there are other houses each side, and a main trunk road right in front. The TV is always on, and my parents are both retired so are usually at home. Aargh. There are no snowy mountains to gaze upon, or a beach to stroll on either. Sigh.
It would play hell with my sex life, except I don't have one any more. Le sigh.
There are upsides. I won't need the potassium iodate tablets Ayrshire and Arran NHS dropped round a few days ago (for use in the event of a release of radioactive iodine from the station grin) I won't have to cook unless I want to, I imagine, and there are shops and a pub and civilisation within walking distance. I have good friends down there too, and of course the family, even though I might curse them sometimes :-)
So that's where I am at the moment. I'm still crossing my fingers that a job comes up before all this becomes a fait accompli, but it's not looking too promising. Well, hope springs eternal, right? :-) I would love to get back on the railway if I can. Yes, sad I know. I like trains. No I'm not a trainspotter. I just like the whole thing with trains and stations and all the possibilities they offer. Also I like big, mechanical, noisy smelly things. I should have been a mechanic :-) I enjoyed working on site, although I never went on track. (I don't have the tickets for it.) Shame, cause I'd find it really interesting trackside I'm sure, if a little nerve-wracking - 125mph train right past your earhole :-) Okay, there were times when it sucked, but find me a job that doesn't suck sometimes!
Anyway. I have been knitting:
The Serina shawl from Yarn Forward magazine, done in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4-ply in "Little Foxes" colourway. I'm actually up to the knitted-on edging now, which is of course taking a frigging eternity to finish.
I did some spinning:
This was some left-over-from-plying singles, mixed up with odds and ends in my fibre box. Mainly merino, some Jacob, silk, BFL, Shetland and synthetics. About 200 yards of something approximating a 5-ply / sportweight. Ish. Maybe a DK. I've not tested the WPI yet, it varies a bit through the skein. Which is a good thing. I like my handspun to LOOK like handspun, you know?
Next up I want to work up some Scottish Tweed Chunky into a top-down sweater, maybe a cardigan. I also want to do another shawly-scarfy thing, maybe Ysolda's Scroll Lace, maybe I will design something. Don't know yet. I want something that isn't a standard triangle, more of a stretched-out one, so that it will wrap round my neck better and not have loads of fabric all dangling about. Suggestions gratefully received :-) Also I got "Socks from the Toe Up" by WendyKnits and now want to knit about a zillion pairs of socks.
I wove a poncho-thing! Using stuff from my Berber Jacket, and a pattern out of "Intertwined" by Lexi Boeger, I wove a longish piece of fabric, cut it in half (aargh that was stressful) added a bit of commercial fabric and poof! A poncho-thing. It's not quite finished yet though. It needs something, I just don't know what. Yet.
That's it in progress. Crazy warp. Good fun.
That's me for now. I need to go wash dishes and clean the bath - the landlord wants to bring someone round this afternoon who might move in after I've gone :-( Apparently I don't need to clean or tidy or anything, but I don't want to appear a total sloven :-)
~*~
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