Blue Monday

The sky in Llandudno on Monday evening, with a pink wispy cloud in it. It got very cold once the sun had dropped but it seemed to make the sky bluer.

This was the end of a long and exhausting day delivering training and it should have been the beginning of a straightforward train journey home, but since Transport for Wales seems to have it in for me (remembering being stuck in Shrewsbury almost overnight last time I travelled home this way), there was an accident on a level crossing outside Ludlow and my train was delayed by 90 minutes, which added a total of two and a half hours to be journey once I'd waited for the connection in Newport, which by the way was crammed with metal fans on their way home from what appears to have been the world's sweatiest concert. I never want to smell anything like that again.

It could have been worse. The man in the accident had to be cut out of his car by the firemen. A two and a half hour delay and half an hour standing among sweaty metal fans seems like a fairly good deal by comparison.

But, consequently, I did not arrive home on Monday to blog about this, although the picture and intention were both there. I'm therefore backdating to the last possible minute of Monday.

Selfie Sunday

I've had a lovely day today, swanning around Conwy Castle and its sister attraction, a Tudor house, featuring a coat of arms incorporating the three severed heads of Englishmen. Welcoming. I fed some crows, admired some walls, learned some history, bought a Christmas present and ate a scone. 

The weather didn't quite hold, though. 

Weekend WIP

Trees, trees, all the trees. I have completed four more tree segments since this picture was taken, which makes four complete trees and one top cone. I have a fair bit of the pine green left so will aim to make a middle or even bottom section for the extra top cone. It's a bit curious, this - for some reason that green was wound in two halves. One had been done on a ball winder, the other by hand. I assumed I'd used a portion but it seems to be going further than the khaki green. The hand-wound ball, though, has been wound very tightly - I must have been in a mood when I did it - so the yarn looks thinner as it leaves the ball. I wonder if maybe my gauge is a bit tighter as a result, hence the yarn going further; but I can't compare as I'm not at home. And maybe I'd used a bit of the khaki. I do recall an ill-fated attempt at knitting holly leaves for a wreath - as I remember, I knitted two of the suggested 80 required and then got bored.

Anyway. As I think I said yesterday, I have about half a skein of mid-green as well, and then the trees will be done. Maybe on the train home tomorrow? I do have nearly 40 sixth form essays that need marking, though. And the new Vogue. It's got these very fashionable jumpers in it this month, which are listed as 'embroidered' or 'distressed' but are actually just inside out intarsia without the ends woven in. I kind of get it. I get distressed about weaving ends in, too. I'm on board with the idea of making this into a feature.

I definitely don't own the copyright to this - it's Calvin Klein. I quite like the backwards element of the intarsia, but as a knitter, the loose ends just look lazy to me. I know, high fashion, blah blah. I think if I had this jumper (in an alternate universe where high fashion was available in plus sizes) then I would probably weave them in myself.

Nobody mention my tree ends by the way - they're being felted so I'm just going to cut them off after.

Strictly: My Dance of the Night

So look, I know he went all kinds of wrong but I really loved Danny John-Jules's quickstep. It actually made me pick up my phone and vote for the first time this year.



I didn't notice what the mistakes were the first time round, though it was clear he went out of time with Amy a few times. But I love a quickstep, he has some killer style in there, and he sells it really, really well - Bruno said this in the feedback. I half wish they end up in the dance-off so that he can have another crack at it, but then, I wouldn't want him to go up against someone else that I want to stay in.

Special mention must be made of Kate's dress, which might be my favourite outfit ever on Strictly. I love this combination of bright blue and red. Hopefully when I am famous enough to be on Strictly, I hope they give me an outfit that's very similar.

I can't find a good picture of it. Here's a good one, but curiously, in a lot of them the red belt is missing, which makes it much less amazing imo. I guess these were maybe posed before the live show.

I love the red lining and the shape on the neckline.

Here is a bad picture of it with the red belt.

Weeknote: 3/11

Knitting:
Trees. So many trees. I have made my way through almost two skeins of green Cascade so far, with another half-skein or so to go. I'm hoping to finish that up during my time up here in Llandudno, or at least on the 5 hour train journey home, so I can get started on Mother Hand's purple hat and possible a cardigan I;ve found for the leftovers from my lopi project. It's always tempting to knit up the bulky wool - quick to complete and takes up so much space in the stash.

Going to:
This week I've made a virtue of staying at home. I did pop into work on a couple of days to do some tasks that had been hanging over me, all of which were very enjoyable, even though it was so cold I could see my breath. On Wednesday, I am proud to say, I did not leave the house AT ALL. It has been a bit odd. I keep thinking I must go upstairs and do some work, but actually, there hasn't been any pressing work to do, so I have made myself relax.

On Friday I had breakfast with my friend Phillipa and lunch with my friend Kath, in Wells. We went for a wander around Wells after lunch, which is exceptionally pretty. We have vowed to go back and have a proper tour.

Today, after knitting group, I've headed north again to Llandudno. I'm doing some work here on Monday but I thought I'd come up a day early to have a nose around - a sensible decision, as it turns out, because there are no trains to Llandudno on a Sunday in the winter. Less sensible, because basically North Wales is now shut for the winter. However, I did find a bus I can get (thanks to a suggestion from somebody at knitting group) to the nearby castle, so I think I shall probably be doing that tomorrow.

Entertained by:
I used this week to catch up on the bits of TV I've recorded and not watched. One of these was the first seven episodes of Trust, the serialisation of the kidnap of John Paul Getty. It's a pretty tragic story. I don't know if I could say I'm enjoying it, partly because I went away and read about the individuals involved and they're mostly quite tragic. Because very rich in the 60s was not a good thing, I gather. And I'm overwhelmingly appalled at the idea that JPG was only 16 when this happened. 16! And already a Playman centrefold...how times have changed.

I've put off watching the second series of Snowfall because I found the first series so depressing. I've decided I don't enjoy concepts where the main characters profiteer off drug dealing/other people's misery. I think this might be a change in me because I think that's largely the plot of the Sopranos and the Wire, both of which I enjoyed (I never finished the Wire, though, because I didn't really want it to be over. Mr Z is exasperated).

Learning:
I've learned a bit more History this week, thanks to the extra exam board job I've been doing, checking coursework questions. I have to go away sometimes and read up to make sure it's a historically rigorous enquiry, which is joyful. I can be really geeky about it and it actually helps. Hurrah!

Obsessed by:
Lorna Syson Birdsong fabrics. They are so lovely. I found them in John Lewis when I was browsing for curtains. I stopped browsing immediately and ordered samples, then went back and ordered curtains yesterday, in the robin fabric. I keep thinking bullfinches would have gone better with our wallpaper but I loved the robins so much. With any luck, they should arrive at the same time as the new sofas and then the living room will be essentially finished.

Feeling:
Rested. The pain in my neck has nearly gone. I've been to yoga. I've had a lot of sleep.

Fave Friday

This year, the stars aligned and I was able to put together a massive batch of mango chutney. The mangoes turned up cheap at the green grocer as half term loomed, so I was able to buy them and then get the chutney going last weekend.

Because there were a lot of available mangoes, I made a double batch, so hopefully this should last us a good long while. 

Even though it makes the whole house smell of vinegar and spices for a couple of days, and my hand aches from pounding garlic in the pestle and mortar and grating endless ginger, it is a very satisfying job and quintessentially autumnal. I think I missed it last year because I was too busy to get the mangoes in at the right time. Hence, putting up with shop-bought mango chutney all year, which is nice but not in the same league. 

This reminds me that it must be almost time to start off a new bottle of lemon gin, which means it's almost time to open the very first bottle of lemon gin. We may have sampled it a bit at my birthday party. It was exceptional; when combined with orange tonic, it tasted of Lilt. Winner. 

NaBloPoMo

Well, it's November. It's time for the daily posting. Sometimes twice-daily. I'm going to look around for some blog prompts to give me some ideas for things to write about. I was musing last night that I have struggled for posts sometimes this year because work as taken over the majority share of my life; but then I think it's not that I have nothing to SAY, it's just that I haven't the TIME to say it.

Here's to making time for blogging my life. At least for the next month, anyway.


(Edited to add, I was horrified when I came back to my browser on Friday 2nd and found this post still sitting in the editor, unpublished. I really did write it on Thursday, promise. Forgive me.)