Snow Day FO

Pattern: Westbourne by Isabel Kramer.
Yarn: Fivemoons Sinful sock, which is a blend of superwash merino, goat mohair and nylon. It's got a bit of a halo. Plus a gradient kit from Moonlight Yarns.
Needle: 3mm and 3.5mm. I can't believe it has gone as quick as it has.
Mods: I increased to the next size up after the waist, obvs. I knitted the stripes three rows wide instead of two. I edged the bottom and the cuffs with four rows of garter stitch, instead of one purl and three knitted rounds.

I might yet pick up and stitch around the neck a few rounds, to pull it in slightly. It's very wide. I quite like it but I'm not sure if I will continue to feel this way.

It was a nice straightforward pattern and I am really pleased with how the colours come together. And just in case I forget - the Fivemoons label said handwash cold but I took a risk, since 80% of the yarn components were superwash, and put it in the machine on a cold wash wool cycle; it came out fine. Dried really quickly, too. All hail the 4-ply sweater. Maybe they are worth the effort after all (especially since this one was done in a little over a month).

Weeknote: 3/2

Knitting:
I doggedly finished with my last colour stripe on Monday, earlier than I had hoped, but it took me until Friday to finish off the grey and I'm still not certain the sleeves are long enough, though it's pretty much finished blocking so I will find out later today (before the FO post). Then I sewed in 100 ends. Well, I took a break in there too, to make a start on a colourwork cardigan for Mother Hand. I've just charted the colourwork across the raglan increases so I'm hoping to get onto that later today.

Going to:
On Tuesday I ran a history pub quiz with my friend Rich, at a nice little Bristol pub. It was a lot of fun but a very late night. Some of our questions were fiendish; I was quite proud. It was also nice to meet lots of people who I'd previously only communicated with on Twitter.

That was pretty much it for going out, though. Thursday was meant to be a parents evening but they cancelled it due to the snow forecast. It started snowing around 8pm, though Mr Z tried to conceal it from me for as long as possible so that it would be a lovely surprise. School closed on Friday. I went back to bed as soon as I'd had the call and slept until mid-morning, then spent the day doing all kinds of finishing off - jumpers, books, papers - which left me rested and clear-headed enough to tackle the marking mountain on Saturday. I've sat in Caffe Neros for a long time this weekend.

Baking:
I made a tunis cake, very late after Christmas, but I was in a terrible mood on Monday night and needed cheering up, so I baked. Yum. Half of it is still in the department office. I hope it has survived the weekend.

Entertained by:
It feels like there is a dearth of good entertainment on the TV, so I've been watching repeats of The Closer. I tried watching Reign but didn't make it past the first five minutes. I want to give Medici a go next. Mr Z and I watched They Shall Not Grow Old - very cleverly done. I finished reading a book, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. It painted a very real picture of Hurricane Katrina.

Feeling:
A little out of sorts and a little ground down. The work list does not seem to be going down, even though I am working hard on it. Two weeks until skiing, though! That's exciting.

January Goals Roundup

Since this is my goal-setting, I decided to extend January to the end of February 1st, since it was a snow day and therefore allowed me to make significant progress on my home goals.

Work
1. Finish the lesson planning job (eight to go. I should be doing that instead of this, you know...I'm two weeks past my deadline).
Yes! All done.

2. Write the worksheets to go with the lesson plans (around 60 in total. That is six per day).
No. A really big fat no. I didn't even do one. I really need to get started; my deadline was January 30th. Shame, shame etc

3. Write the exam papers - 1, 3 and 4.
I have written most of 1. In my defence, 3 and 4 are not due until the end of February.

4. Book all my meeting accommodations for the summer.
Done. This was a February 1st done, because they didn't contract me until February 1st, but I did it straight away. The choice of hotel was still very poor.

5. Apply for the fellowship I've had my eye on.
Done. A full day before the deadline. Then they extended the deadline...oh well.

6. School marking - sixth form mocks, 12H, 12P and 13H. 
I did 12P and 13H, and today (which I know is February 2nd) I managed half of 12H. I have to have the data in by Monday, so that really does force my hand somewhat.

Hmm, not bad, not bad.

Home
1. Get the floor man round to measure up the hall/stairs/landing for new flooring.
Done. Mr Z got him round on Wednesday night. I am awaiting the quote.

2. Choose new flooring and stair carpet.
Not done, but not my fault - I'm waiting for the quote before I decide what I want; and in any case, he said it would be best to get furniture built in before the floors are done so this may wait awhile. It doesn't get a colour. Null goal.

3. Put away the clothes I took on holiday.
Done.

4. Put away all the clothes over the banister.
Done. The wardrobe and drawers are groaning. I need to KonMarie my clothes.

5. Finish knitting Westbourne.
Done! A February 1st finish, but done nonetheless.

6. Wash the kitchen floor.
Not done. I decided against it, as I was so busy and anyway, it just gets dirty again.

7. Finish reading a book. I have about three that I'm halfway through - any one of those would be fine.
Done. Another February 1st finish, but I completed Salvage the Bones, a novel set around Hurricane Katrina, which was one of my gift books from the Mr B's fundraiser. It took me a while to get into it but then I found it compelling.

8. Do two exercise sessions apart from seeing Jenny.
I did one. I ran out of month to do a second.

Not too bad at all, overall. I only had 12 days but I managed more than half of what I wanted to achieve. I had the list written on my office whiteboard too, which made it very motivational. It's time for a new list.