Must reboot brain..

Went to the Christmas market last night. It's fan-fecking-tastic, and so blog worthy, and naturally I forgot my camera. I did manage to bring the case though.

I had roo burger (and my first wheat in a month) and wandered about and got some things for meze tonight. Picked up some fantabulous tea, a pack of which is on its way to the US of A, seeing as I finally finished and posted my tea swap package.

Landlord is on his way to sort out the smoke alarms. Boomer managed to wrangle the upstairs one out of its holder-thingy on the ceiling with some determination, brute force and a sweeping brush. Even when he managed to take the battery out and chuck it down the stairs in frustration, the thing kept beeping. It is now confined to the press under the stairs until said landlord appears.

Sleeve of neverending cardigan is going well, and should be done over the weekend. Huzzah.

Photos will follow.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the States. May your trousers have elastic waistbands, and the eggnog flow freely.

Mmmmm nog....

A little bit of Gitmo at home

Who would have thought that in the last 24 hours, I would be driven to the point of gnawing on the bannisters because of a little piece of plastic.

This piece of plastic.

Our upstairs smoke alarm. It has been beeping loudly every 3 minutes since Sunday evening. The landlord and my darling other half are currently trying to fix it, while not plummeting over the landing down on to the tiles below.

Wine. Wine helps the pain.

Lots of wine.

Tumbleweed

Stitch and bitch last night was the quietest ever.



So having waited around til nearly 6pm, and having consumed what was possibly the nicest tea ever (made all the better by the freezing wind outside) while looking a bit like a crazy lady who brings potted herbs to talk to, I made for home.

Not without making a 10 step detour from my bus stop first. Ah, the things I do for my readers!


This is Belfast City Hall, and this photo shows perfectly one of the reasons I think Belfast should get an award for most fabulously illuminated city. While standing in front of it, you can't see the spotlights, and you're not left temporarily blinded by one while walking past either.

What's that, you say? What's that, peeking out of the corner? Could it be...?

Why yes! It could!


This is the Belfast big wheel. More like London's Millenium wheel than a 50 cent ride at the local fairground, this beautiful piece of engineering will be around til New Year. The booths, up close, look like horse-drawn carriages, without the wheels.

Or the horses.snort

I am so totally going up in it at some stage. I'll probably hang on til the Christmas markets open at the end of the month, also in the grounds of the City Hall. Can't wait for that.

I love late November into early December. Everything is starting to get decidedly festive, I can wander around cinnamon-scented markets and drink eggnog latte til I go up a dress size. Knitted items get worn as soon as I can get them cast off. For at least a week, everyone seems to bask in the glow that is knowing that they have a week off to eat, drink and fornicate be merry in the not too distant future.

Then the panic sets in.

I have seen otherwise dignified, fully grown women have fights in toyshops over the seasons "must have" chunk of overpriced plastic. I have myself been elbowed out of the way as the fingers of my outstretched hand grazed the last box of chocolates on a shelf.

It's 'effing ridiculous.

The stores close for ONE FECKING DAY PEOPLE!!!!!
Try explaining that to the man doing an impression of a rugby player (or an NFL player) as he sprints to the checkout with a Furby clutched so tightly to his chest that it may require surgical removal.

If money and my vacation balance for the year were no object, you know what I'd do?

I'd hire some plush cabin in a beautiful mountain area for the two weeks covering last-minute shopping, Christmas and New years. I'd hold up in there with my nearest and dearest, without a computer, mobile phone or cable connection. I would cook and bake, and do crafty things. Go for long walks and come back to an open wood fire with hot whiskey and talk until the wee hours. Watch old movies on dvd. Play board games.

And forget that most of the world around seems to have gone batshit crazy.

Happy feet!

It seems that I've been knitting more than ever over the last few weeks, but nothing has been leaving my needles. It's like the black hole stage of knitting, where you measure something, and it's 7 inches long. Then you knit for what feels like eleventy billion lines, and you still have 7 inches. Or 7.25, to be really annoying.

I seem to have defeated that today.



I haz warm toez nao ^-^

Real live blogger

Yup, I am one. Just erratic is all.

Last week was turned into an entire week of reportage, and eating chocolate. If anyone is still around to read this, I appreciate it :)

So..what have I been up to? Well, the knitting and stitching show happened for starters.


There were a few cool bits and pieces at it


but mostly it was rather disappointing, to be honest. I think there were six stalls in the whole place selling actual yarn, and one of those was entirely fun fur and ack-rylic. No massive bargains like last year, and the presence of several stands of QVC-wannabes selling irons and lint rollers and mini vacuum cleaners was like nails on a blackboard.

It was great to catch up with the girlies, a few of which allowed me to snap them


It was also great to see lots of groups of young teenagers at the show, though they were balanced out by a huge number of members of the purple rinse brigade sitting at one big stand, with those battery powered massage cushions on full blast. I really should have taken a photo of that, in hindsight.

I did really enjoy the guilds section upstairs, and the actual exhibitions were fab (and didn't allow photography of any sort). I managed to come away with a few goodies, most of which were from two yarn shops that I go to whenever I'm in Dublin and Galway. Considering I was hoping to melt my credit card though, I was a bit bummed. I mean, if you're going to something called the Knitting and Stitching show, you expect to come away with more than two skeins of sock yarn!

Those two skeins were, however, Colinette Jitterbug. Yummo! I also got myself a felting kit from the (surprise surprise!) feltmakers guild, and picked up a crosstitch for £2 (or $4). Rocking.









Books, which I have been lusting after for what seems like an eternity, were also added to the collection.

Time for some lunch I think, and further adventures in walking around the house in a manner that suggests that I have no ankles. Breaking in new boots is less than fun.

Sneaky sneaky

The weekend happened, and it was good (and I did not eated it).

Must do evil end of month report for work, then shall get to the serious blogging.

Boo!

Just wanted to say "happy Friday!" to everyone.

That, and show off my lovely pumpkin


I am shameless, I know.

I'm off to the knitting and stitching show tomorrow. Huzzah!
I've brought my shopping bag with the nice thick shoulder straps, so hopefully no dead fingers this time around.

My act of random yoink-age for today is this


one of our squares for the UK Stitch and Bitch blanket.
I don't have a pic of the other one, but will try to harass one of the girlies for some thing.

I'm hopped up on eggnog latte, and raring to go. This weekend will be fully documented, as I've remembered my camera batteries. Go me.

Have a great one everybody, and I'll blog til you're all sick of me next week :)

Episode 56 star alpha

In which my cat looks more whacked-out on catnip than usual (even for a Saturday night)


and my tiny wickle bwain goes pop, and decides that handknitted socks are all that lies between me and hypothermia this winter

Universal toe-up sock in Cherry Tree Hill "greens and blues" supersock. Yes, I have teeny feet

Seriously though, it's pretty cold. Not cold enough for snow, but the wind is coming down from the Arctic every damn day, which makes your outsides want to become your insides for warmth.

This was not made easier by the arrival of an email from a certain long-coveted sock club in my mail box this morning. I now have to decide, by tomorrow, if I'm going to go ahead and sign up, even though it's damn expensive, or hang on to my few pounds for loading up on goodies in New York.

There's also the Knitting and Stitching show this weekend. There's no way I'm coming out of there empty handed either.

Hrm....a conundrum.

Last night was Halloween, or Samhain, or "another hallmark sponsored evening", depending on your outlook on things. I had a lovely, quiet halloween. I went to SnB, cooked proper dinner, drank wine and watched Monster House to the glowing light of a carved pumpkin. We got a few trick or treaters, but I think those started to tail off as soon as we were found out to be a sweets house, and not a pocket change house.

Naturally, I forgot to charge my camera batteries, so have no pictures of the lovely pumpkin. It shall be lit again tonight though, so I'll grab one then.

Dead batteries are also the reason why I have no other photos of my weekend, despite having gone to a convention. Gaelcon rolled around again, and was much fun. I missed it last year, as my back decided that standing, sitting or breathing was not allowed. This is also the first year that I've been to it and not been on either committee or staff. Very strange feeling of "shouldn't I be doing something" occured on more than one occasion.

I was also invited to a bra party in Dublin on Saturday evening, which I'm going to try to get to. It's impossible to get good bras in larger sizes that don't a) look like they were made for nuns b) cost an arm and a leg and c) require a team of dressers to secure them on the wearer.

Hehehe....I'm going to have a yarn bra weekend....

Yes, it seems that I am easily amused.