Weekend WIP

I was so desperate to have this finished by the end of this weekend! But, sadly, work got in the way.



As you can see, I am very nearly there.I finished the first sleeve on Saturday, sewed in all the ends, and sewed the collar down, so it is just the second sleeve to go. I think I probably have 60ish rows left to go.

The colour looks pretty good in this picture, particularly where the sun hits it. I think the little bits of pale yarn in the stitchwork look a bit like little waves out to sea. Perhaps it needs a new name, to reflect ocean instead of lake.

It's been very economical with the yarn. This is under four balls' worth of jumper. I am taking from two skeins for the sleeves, because one of the skeins was extremely patchy (grr) but I reckon I will have more than a skein left over, which makes it less than 900m all in. Not bad at all.

In fact, this opens up a world of possibilities for all those four-skein lots of Lorna's Laces I have...

Crafty Photo Scavenger Hunt: October

This month's participants, along with me, are Emma and Rachie - please go along and peruse their pictures.

Something I Made

Well, it has been autumn, after all - so here is some of my gigantic stockpile of apple chutney.




Inspiration

Great big acres of blue!



I wanted something this month that reminded me of the summer holidays, which is why I started knitting the blue jumper. This is the lake it makes me think of.

Colour: Orange



I really love this colour of Cascade 220: so vibrant, so much going on - it's a real multi-layered orange. I bought and wound this to knit some pumpkins, last year. It hasn't happened yet; I am afraid the vibrancy will be lost when I felt. It might make it even better though, I suppose, as often seems to happen with Cascade when it is felted.

Motif: Cherries

I saw this shower cap in a shop window on my drive home from work some time last term. It was in an awkward place to get to, and I almost never drove past it when I had any time to linger or when it was open. Then it closed down! Boo. But luckily it reopened nearby. Hurrah! Then I went in and thought it had been sold, boo. But then I saw it was on a polystyrene head by the counter, HURRAH!



It is gloriously kitsch. I have held out against buying a shower cap for a very long time because I wanted one that was perfect. I think this is it.

Now that I have examined the label, I see that I could have bought it online, and any variety of other beautiful creations, from Dilly Daydream. 

Cosy

Costa's spiced hot apple drink:



I must admit to being a bit disappointed that the "hot" was provided by a top up from the boiling water tap, and that it smelled very strongly of apple squash, but it was tasty and warming nonetheless. It made me feel very cosy when I poured it into my own mug and curled up in my chair with it. It's no Pumpkin Spiced Latte, but as long as Starbucks continue to be seemingly unaware that there is life and coffee drinkers outside of city centres, it is the best available option.

October Goals Round Up

Go to the gym/a class/some exercise thing more than 15 times (thus beating September's total)

Yes. SIXTEEN! Still more than last month!

Lose 10lbs
I think I did. I have gained a little back this half term, but I'm pretty sure I got to 10.

Finish the Christmas jumper, aka "don't let the colourwork put you off"
Yes. It is finished. Looked great until I blocked it. Now looks like a festive tent.

Make a start on something else - gloves or socks or some kind of Christmassy thing. I have it in mind to knit the wreath from the latest Debbie Bliss magazine, and I want to make some more Yule trees
Yes - but none of those things. The blue jumper, instead, which I will hopefully have finished in time for a weekend FO post.

Do grandaughter duty, by phone or in person
No, I did not do this. Bad grandaughter.

Clear out the spare room
Sort of. I tidied it up. I found stuff I had unpacked from Lisbon, which I had forgotten about. It tends to be the room where I tip out my suitcase and then ignore the contents until I need them. There were still clothes from my summer holiday in the suitcase in there....but really, who needs summer holiday clothes in their real life? And who cares if I'm a slob? Really?

Visit Ikea for boxes and possible a sofa bed
 Yes. I bought boxes, but no sofa bed, for the time being. Really I have to finish clearing out the spare room so there is space for the sofa bed, and so that I can arrange for someone to take our single bed away without being too embarrassed to let them in the room.

Something worky...hmm. The stuff from last month will defo have to be done this month so it feels like cheating to put it on there. Instead - plan the New Exciting Project I have conceived; find some sixth formers to run it and do the paperwork.
So, I did make a start on the New Exciting Plan but I need to chase up my collaborator who needs to get back to me before I can continue. Embarrassingly, I still haven't done the stuff from last month, and it's even more urgent now.  I really did mean to do that in half term, too. Oh well. I'm greening it anyway because I did actually do the goal I had set myself.

A successful month, on the whole!

Fave Friday

A bath product, to celebrate the return of the long hot bath.



This one is a Fizzbanger, by Lush. They reckon it smells like toffee apples but don't let that put you off (I know toffee apples are luscious but I don't know many people who actually want to smell like one). It's a much more subtle perfume than that to me, a bit reminiscent of one of their old Be Never scents, Love. Or, more precisely, the accompanying Love Apple bath product.

The thing I like the most about this one though is that it lingers. I wash my hair in the bath when I use this and then I get a swish of the scent every time I flick my hair about the next day. Which is a lot, because it smells good. It becomes a bit like this -



Except, obviously, I am not surrounded by adoring stares, but annoyed children, stuck with their work and unable to attract my attention.

Happy Hallowe'en

...and happy 14th birthday, blog!

I liked Yo! Sushi's quite subtle Hallowe'en decorations today - check out their pumpkin koroke (defo can't spell that).

We begin a marathon of blogging now, sorry. I intended to blog every day in November, as before, but if I want to get to 127 posts by the end of the year I have to blog daily in December, too. If you need to stop reading for a while, I will understand.

Today I wish I was...

...able to enjoy a martini and some olives over a good book at 5pm every day of the week, not just in half term.

I also REALLY wish someone at Google would write a decent Blogger app for Android. Or even iOS. This is my second attempt at posting this from my phone. If WordPress can manage it there really is no excuse.

Tuesday Ten

Great timing, for half term...

Ten Things I Love To Do On An Extra Day Off

1. Sleep. Definitely in my top one. I could always do with a little extra sleep and if it's a bonus day off, I don't need to feel guilty about taking a daytime nap, or sleeping in.

2. Knit. Endlessly.

3. Make chutney. This is usually my favourite thing to do in October half term. I haven't done it yet this week, but I have all the ingredients ready to go. On a day when it's not autumn this might say, instead, "make cakes".

4. Drink gin. When a fellow teacher told me she was taking eight sets of books home to mark because she had nothing better to do over the holiday, I advised her to develop a gin habit. She laughed. I wasn't joking, though.*

5. Reorganise and gloat over my stash, like Smaug sitting on his huge pile of gold and gems.

6. Watch films I have already seen before, that therefore take no mental effort. Today, for example, I watched Angels and Demons.

7. Have a long daytime bath.

8. Go and see a friend for lunch and/or coffee. I am doing that four times this week.

9. Go and catch an unusual class at the gym. It's a whole different set of gym users during the day rather than the gossipy clique who frequent it during the evening, and there are all sorts of fancy classes that sound really fun until you do them and then you can't stand up straight for two days, yes I mean YOU, Fitball.

10. Go to the cinema on my own. I haven't done this for a very long time now, but it used to be that I'd go to the gym early and catch a film before 11am, when it was a little cheaper. Hmm, what's on? Maybe I'll do that on Friday.

List prompt from Carole, as usual.


* Alright, joking a bit.