Tuesday 24 May 2016

Place holder



Knitting has been happening.  As have Swedish classes, a flat inspection, work, general life and, last weekend, my nephew's christening.  So, blog posts have not been happening.  In the interim, I've been tagged by Jane to do one of these question and answer things.  So, onwards:




What is your favourite book?

I wasn’t sure I had one, but I think it’s the Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Watching the TV programme was a seminal moment in my childhood life; reading the book brings back memories of the TV programme. 


How long is your commute? 

About an hour – 40-50 mins on the train (depending on whether I come in to Charing Cross or Victoria) and then 6 – 8 minutes on the tube (ditto). This doesn’t include the time waiting to get through the barriers and on to a train – which is the principle reason I avoid Victoria in the morning. 


Tea or coffee? Why? 

Tea. Partly because I’m British, partly because I don’t like coffee. Plus, tea translates to other cultures. Black tea in Sweden, fruit teas in Holland, green tea in Japan? You’re talking my language. As an aside, did you know that tea was brought to Japan from China, to help Buddhist monks stay awake during their meditation sessions? That’s probably my favourite fact I learned in Japan. 


Who is the first person from the internet that you met in real life? 

I had to think about this on. Sal, who I ‘knew’ from Egroups (later Yahoogroups) and who I met at The Crucible Theatre to lend videos of Sam West cross dressing. 


How long have you been blogging? 

Since October 2000 as part of the H2G2 website, before it was taken over by the BBC.  (It's now been taken back again).


What is your favourite thing in the world to do? 

Travel. Failing that, sleep. 


Where is your favourite travel destination? 

Is this a serious question? Sweden.  Next. 


What is your favourite Disney film? 

Probably the Aristocats. I don’t watch Disney, but this If you can knit, what are you most proud of finishing? If you can’t, what would you like to knit? Probably the hats for my nephew’s Christmas present, as my sister said that I had skill – or the running hat that I made for myself, as I kind of made it up as I went along, and it turned out better than I’d expected. Please don’t tell my sister about self-colouring yarn though; it may spoil her illusions. The next things I want to knit are the sweaters I bought the yarn for (de-stash central) and socks, which are my knitting nemesis so far. 


When was the last time you changed your email password? 

The only way to find that out is to log into Gmail with the wrong password. I did change my work password this morning though, if that helps? 


Fruit cake or sponge cake? Why? 

To bake or to eat?  Probably sponge cake to bake, as it's a pretty easy recipe and can easily be varied.  Fruit cake to eat.  It has to be a good fruit cake, mind.  Sponge cake beats a bad fruit cake.


 X X X 

Andi at My Sisters Knitter usually ends her posts with a video - so I thought I would too.  I'm about twelve months behind everybody else with the Måns Zelmerlöw thing, but this has been on earworm pretty much constantly for the last week or so.  Apparently my lovely Swedish friend M (the same M who had to share Skype time with my knitting earlier in the month) was in the crowd.  Whilst you can't see him in the crowd - he's elsewhere on Youtube if you know where to look.



Sunday 1 May 2016

Work for the Workers


May 1st is traditionally Workers' Day; somehow it seems appropriate, given the amount of knitting I have on the list.  I'm still working on the Sick Day Pi Shawl.  It's now too big to take on the train as I only get two rows done per 40 minute journey.  The final section is a repeat of rows 14 - 19, which can be repeated up to fifteen times.  Now, as there's nearly 300 stitches per row, that's a lot to repeat.  I'm nearly at the end of the third repeat and was ready to finish it all off, before realising that I actually like knitting it, I still have yarn to use up and I've got a Skype call planned for Tuesday.  My friend M will have to share my time with the shawl.

Then there's the secret project A to be done for 13th May and two gifts I want to knit, the yarn for which I ordered yesterday.  Then there's the sweater I want to knit with the yarn I've bought recently-ish, plus another two sweaters which look amazing, but I don't have the yarn for.  That doesn't include the lace shawl that I'm halfway through, the project I finished a couple of weeks ago which needs weaving in and blocking, and the somewhat languishing socks in the WIP bin.  Or the red wrap which I've just remembered.

And, of course, after seeing my friend J's post I've cast on a Hitchhiker 

Hitchhiker by Martina Behm - Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball

This afternoon I've spent some time in the garden, now we finally have some sun.  I started re-reading my MA dissertation earlier this week, and it wasn't quite as hideous as I remember it being.  So, today I spent some time out with my favourite purple pen, making notes for the next draft.  Of all my purple pens, I find it odd to have a favorite, but I do.



Yarn - Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in the colourway Goldfish.  Something about being in the sun brought out the colours beautifully.



How did you spend May day? And was there knitting involved? 


Happy 2020

This blog seems somewhat neglected, but I promise I've not forgotten it.  Both life and knitting have happened, and plans are being made...