Wednesday, September 17, 2008

In Praise of Spring!

I know, I know. It’s been a week. The weather’s been cold and mainly rainy and I haven’t taken photos. It’s been school holidays. I’m still not human (I sound as if I’ve been smoking 5 packs a day and 20 cigars – and I haven’t smoked for 7 years). Mind you, it’s a pack a day if we’re talking tissues. I’m feeling mainly better and haven’t taken nightime cold and flu tablets for nearly a week, so I’m basically drug free.

I bought some de-stash. I tried to buy yarn from 3 different places today and COULD NOT actually buy from any of them, despite my attempts. So today is obviously not the day to buy yarn. One place didn’t have the quantities I wanted, and then told me I didn’t qualify for the free shipping, at the next the shipping was as much as the yarn and the third kept throwing me into another site and not letting me log on. It’s a sign – and I’m am paying attention.

No yarn for me today. On the up side I did get my Rowan (finally), my Interweave (twice – finally), a new book (Custom Knits), my Wollmeise sock club parcel (mmm – pretty!), and Flair is likely to be finished tonight – and I will have a full skein of sunshine yellow Malabrigo left over!

I frogged both Wicked and Juliet, so will cast on (long after the KAL and general frenzy have finished) the February Lady Sweater. In green Malabrigo from the Wicked.

I am still loving work, and have lured my boss to the dark side, by showing her the forbidden delights of Ravelry, Knitty.com, and waving the Rowan 44 under her nose until she caved. She is in charge of costumes for a local production of Dad’s Army, so Pikey’s garter stitch scarf lives at work and we knit on it while waiting for things to upload/down load or people to call back.

The children are generally childish. The Princess is on an excursion to the northern Captial today (God help them) and Destructoboy has been trying to spell ‘rice’ using Scrabble tiles. For most of the morning.

We all had an excursion to the same northern Capital on Tuesday, mainly for the purposes of shopping. The Princess has suddenly decided that she either a) hates everything in her drawer; or b) that none of it fits her. So she was equipped with 4 long sleeve and 2 short sleeved tops and 3 pairs of legging things, and 2 pairs of shoes. The Accountant has needed new shoes for nearly a year, so he got kitted out. I bought 2 $50 tops reduced to $9.95 on a whim, and trotted into the Doomlight of Spot in the hopes of picking up cheap Jet. Instead, they actually had nice buttons and I bought 3 sets of 6, and 10 balls of Yarn Bee aran bamboo/cotton in a dark olive-y green. This is for ‘Hey Teach’ and as a project has been nominated it does not count as stash.

I’m about to tidy up, wash up, finish the second load of laundry and put on the dishwasher. I hate the fact the Aussie dollar has gone from parity with the US dollar a few months ago to less than 80 US cents today. It means I have to think a lot more before buying things from over there. Probably good for my carbon footprint and my wallet – but it does take a lot of fun out of it.

I’m slowly catching up with all the blog posts. I’ll get there eventually – probably by the end of the weekend. Or maybe not, as my weekend job is currently editing Amy Lane’s new book, Bitter Moon 2 – which is an absolute cracker and a great read. I managed (amongst the ironing, cooking, washing, washing up, children, gym and shopping for food) to get nearly 300 pages done last weekend. I will try for some more in a minute, before going to the library and collecting Princess.

Enjoy life. But don’t write too many blog posts about it – I’m having a hard enough time catching up as it is!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you are feeling (if not sounding) better Tink. You could always head over here for a spot of R & R!
Take care of you, k?
Agreed, the imbalance between the US dollar and our dollar bites very hard. Not good :-(
xoxo

Rose Red said...

Yeah, the dollar thing sucks hey! Wish I'd bought a whole heap of stuff back when it was almost one for one. Oh well.

Really want to get the Rowan anniversary mag - am jealous! And hurrah for Wollmeise finally arriving!

Bells said...

Because you need more yarn, Ceri....*snigger*

I'm gonna do Hey Teach at some point too!

Michelle said...

Oh yeah, the dollar thing does suck. I'm 1 cent away from re-pricing everything in the (USD) Etsy shop, I think.

nice work on the Wollmeise!

Amy Lane said...

I'm glad that mucusfest is on the wane--nasty time for a cold. (On both sides of the planet--getting colder here and warmer there.) I have so much yarn right now I'm nearly spiritually bankrupt, but if I find a project I MUST do, I will fall off the 'no stash' wagon in a minute and a half.

(I'm SOOOO glad you're enjoying Bitter Moon--I'm such a complete disaster during this phase:-)

Alwen said...

It's the start of cold season (both illness-wise and temperature-wise) here. Then our wireless internet antenna went out, so I am right there with you, trying to catch up!

Geek Knitter said...

Well done on recruiting your boss to the dark side!

catsmum said...

Get well soon kiddo - btw have I ever told you that you have my dream job?
Always thought I'd do well as an editor - having proof read lots of theses etc in my day.
One of the editors who has worked on my stuff at AP&Q once said that she has never had to edit anything of mine, ever - which I took as a major compliment.

DrK said...

oh so busy! with so much yarn to distract! i got my yarn 11 finally and loooove the sock pattern long time, itching to cast on....

knightlyknitter.wordpress.com said...

You shouldn't have told me about the VIP sale at Spotties - I discovered a mysterious bag on the front seat of my car on the way home yesterday, which apparently holds enough soy/cotton to make a cardigan, plus a few random balls of bamboo/cotton for shopping bags and swatching. I don't know what the voodoo that you do is, but it works! (one and a half swatches into the bag...)

MadMad said...

I'm doing my part to help you catch up on blog reading... Happy to hear your on the mend!

Donna Lee said...

Yay for being cold medication free. That stuff can cloud up your brain something fierce. I feel the same way about ordering from Europe. The dollar is so deflated right now that it's not worth it. And let's not talk about grocery shopping here at home. It's too depressing.

2paw said...

I hope you are all feeling better soon. I love the Aloe Vera tissues. NOT a luxury when you have a cold.
Oh You Stupid Boy Pike!!
The Yarn Goddesses have spoken but I am glad your magazines and other things have finally arrived. I am not a very patient waiter....
Boo hiss to the $. Wow, a good get at The BSODL! I went there today and bought zips. That's all!!