Not dead, just busy

[don't you think that should be a song title?]

Well, I am knitting, but its almost entirely baby gift stuff. And some of the giftees read the blog. So no posting before the gifting.

And, I am also terribly busy since I have it on good authority (from the very nice scotsman D, who is our building supervisor) that in approximately 2-3 weeks I shall have my very own house all completed! The joy! The delight! The relief!

Of course, we shan't be moving in immediately, since we want both floor coverings and window coverings in place before moving. But it is still rather delicious. I shall not be renting come October it seems! I shall have a KITCHEN and not a kitchenETTE. Those who know me in the flesh have all heard at length about my belief that my ETTE is my purgatory such that when having my kitchen I shall be truly grateful. In case you think I am kidding, I have just decided this second that a comparison is in order...

the ETTE:
dimensions. (I got weirdly silly about it and ran over and measured it)... 1.6m to 2.5m. That's room size - the floor size is smaller because of cupboards/fridge/sink etc is in that space.
photographic proof:
The KITCHEN:
dimensions. 3.55 x 3.98m
Photographic proof: (only the plan, don't have a good photo of the kitchen since the cabinetry is done).
What this means? As I suspected and have now confirmed. My current kitchen is smaller than the bench space in my new house. In fact, it is about 0.3sqm smaller than just the island bench!

See? Kitchen purgatory ;-)

Anyway, all this house-nearly-ready has meant we've been really busy pricing flooring and beds and so on. Oh, and work has been crazy busy too.

Good knitting mojo to you all....

Why I love Thursday Next novels

I am in the middle of the latest Thursday Next novel, First Among Sequels. For the uninitiated amongst us, Thursday is the heroine of a series of novels by Jasper Fforde.

They are kind of what would happen if Monty Python and the literature sections of your local book store had a series of love children. :)

I am loving this book, and have only torn myself away from it to prep for the work tomorrow (*sigh* work is stressful at the moment) and to make myself some more dhal for dinner.

Why do I love this book? So far it has time travel, travel within the world of literary fiction (the actually world that all novels exist within and all the things that the characters do when the story isn't happening to them), a ghost of an eccentric uncle, a reimagined husband, a mathematics genius teenager, cheese smuggling and knitting for naked dodos. And I'm only about a third of the way in.

See? My equal-favourite heroine knits. And I just know that the other (Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice) would too..

What does it say that some of my all-time favourite books are about books? (Another is The Club Dumas. Which is about as far away from this series as it is possible to get and still be fiction.)

Okay. Stalling over. Must go prep for tomorrow's training presentation :(

Clementine was right.

I should have known better. I mean, questioning the great Clementine?

She was quite correct, the lovely hand dyed my mum made for me is lost in the Baudelaires pattern.

But, I am what I am, and I needed to see it for myself. And now I know that when next picking a self-gift yarn I shall buy some yummy Zarina to knit a real pair. (In green. I'm on a green bent at the moment.) Both yarn and pattern are nice. But not together. Like friends you like separately, but could never date.

It's the same "thoroughness" in me (my man's description) that meant today, when selecting carpet for the new house I dragged the sample :

• under halogens
• under florescent lighting
• in natural daylight
• next to the wood for the hallway
• looked at it up close/underfoot
• looked at it from several meters away...

But now I know it will definitely work. (Or not, as in the case of the yarn). So the pattern will be ripped back and started over. It actually doesn't bother me. I have peace of mind.

I'm also fighting the desire to photograph every ball of yarn in my stash for Ravelry (I'm spiderknit. Naturally.) And hunting through it for potential baby knit-for-gift yarns. I know what I want to knit. But the called for yarn is pricey and not in the colour I originally had in mind. I ponder. But can't for too long - baby coming y'know.

I have finished the first pair of socks I ever started!

Not the first pair of socks I ever finished, mind you.

I bought this yarn a long time ago because it was good quality and on sale. Once I knit one and a half socks, I realised yes, I liked knitting socks. And that, as when I first laid eyes on the colourway... I disliked those colours together rather a lot. So I put them aside, and knit a new pair of socks in yarn I liked. For my daughter, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, here they are. I intend to over dyed them purple and if that doesn't work, black.

Let's here it for finishing extremely long WIPs! Now, if I can face the acrylic flecked scarf I have.... then reconsider the Jaywalkers.. I will have all my old WIPs done!
Oh and if anyone finds my remaining energy, let me know. I seem to keep losing it at work?!