Yarn porn!

As promised, I have a couple of photos.
I planned on having more, but it seems that I've lost my camera-fu, and with it the ability to take a photo that isn't juuuuust a fraction blurry and only fit to be discarded.

Knitty city tempted me like a harlot. It was only 3 blocks from my hotel, and the lovely people working there were so lovely that I made more than one trip. I staged this photo, which I think many knitters will appreciate the sentiment in.


That "come to bed with me" look that only sexy yarn can give

That bag was from visit one. By the time I got home and unpacked, I was left with this lovely pile of goodies:



Even though OH had been there and witnessed the large amounts of S.E.X. I had been having, there was still a bit of an effort expended in getting my inner knitter not to shout out "Oh, this old yarn? I've had that for ages!"

I like my stash. I really do. It's not the largest stash in the world by any stretch of the imagination. It's not even the largest stash in Belfast. The main problem with yarn is not the weight, it's the mass. Even the lightest, fluffiest alpaca ends up demanding an en-suite bathroom and a bigger tv after a while. Every time I even fondle yarn - even my own stash yarn - the sheer volume that even a few kilos creates both surprises and scares me. "A few" being the technical term for any amount of yarn that isn't actually enough to open a store with.

In one of those bizarre turns, as I wrote the paragraph above, the light in the house completely faded, and it was only when I turned on the lights, that I realised

IT'S SNOWING!!!

Not enough for anything resembling snowballs, but still! I feel suddenly that all my shivering and sticking to the electric fire is justified.

I'll attempt to take photos, but I can barely feel my fingers right now, so even if I manage to hold the camera, it may look like I was trying to break the world jumping jack record.

Seeing as I've been naughty today - nothing new there really - I should get some actual work done. The morning was mostly spend moaning about the weather and wrestling with MS Word. On the plus side, the wedding invitations are now ready to print, as template, font and exact wording and placement of words has been decided. They are not printing, however, as the printer doesn't like the lovely paper that I bought. Typical. I should really give the printer a name that reflects its personality - fickle, whining, and adament that it needs more paper and/or ink when there is clearly plenty left.

Best suggestion for a name in the comments gets a prize!
Funny stories attached to suggested names are encouraged :)

Back to spreadsheets so. Urgh...

Bless me father for I have sinned

It has been 3 weeks since my last post! 3 weeks!

I'm sure I've managed to successfully shed any and all readers at this stage. If there's anyone out there still hanging on, I applaud you. I also offer yarn (more on that later. Oh, the things I do to keep people hooked!)

On returning from NYC, which was a total blast, I tried to upload some bloggy goodness. The weather did not cooperate though, and was so cold that the contacts in the camera didn't meet those in the batteries! The camera now lives in the living room, which is many degrees warmer than the spare room/home office.

The house I live in is a red brick, mid-terrace 2 story, which was built in between World Wars one and two. It's not a big house, and though I realise that families with many children were raised in houses just like this, it seems hard to believe at times. The building has been added to, which gives us the teeniest kitchen in the world, and a bathroom. The back yard is the size of a large envelope, and would originally have been just for outhouse space and a washing line.

As I move from one rented property to another, I always find myself playing a game of "if I owned this house". Some places, I'd have put in soundproofing, or a back garden that wasn't just concrete, or killed the neighbours, but in this place, the magic word is insulation.

I don't think there actually is any, at present.
Certainly not in the built-on bit. If we go to bed and forget to close the bathroom or kitchen doors properly, we can see our breath in the morning.

On the plus side, we're not really bothered by bugs - we've never seen a moth - as they'd prefer to take their chances next door.

Erm....so yeah. Cold house is not good for electronics. Hence no photos. Hence my laziness slight apathy towards blogging.

To be honest, the thing that I've been doing most since I got back is wishing that I was in New York. I could really picture myself living there. In fact, about 6 years ago when I broke up with the big bad ex, I was all ready to get my paperwork together and apply for a greencard. I procrastinated for a year, to see if I could do more drama stuff here, ended up teaching theatre for 2 years, and then met a nice boy.

Ok, this post has to win the award for most rambly evah! (tm)

This possibly has something to do with the fact that I'm getting married in 8 weeks, 4 of my friends have announced that they're all going to give birth over the summer, and I'm facing the possibility of yet another move of house. It makes me far too sentimental, or thinky. Yes, thinky is a made-up word, but a rather good one. It's not as deep or impressive as pensive but it gets the point across nicely.

...and the blonde rambles forth.

I have been doing some knitting, in the course of all of this. I got not one stitch done on my trip, but I did manage to aquire some truly delicious stash - of which there will be photos later.
I skipped most of the big yarn stores, as I was so impressed in just two of them that I blew my yarn budget for.....well, I don't know how long, but I may not be buying any more this side of summer!

My first BM shawly stoley thing is finished. Not blocked, but at least it's off the needles. The second one has been started, and I'm still on my first ball of laceweight! At this rate, I'll have two balls left over, so I have to figure out something pretty to make for myself. After the wedding. After the wedding...

I'm running up some bootees for a friend who's about to pop out twins as some mid-shawl brain candy. They take no time, and are all garter stitch, which is the perfect foil to lace. I feel like I'm cheating by making them out of stash ack-rylik, but I figure that she'll appreciate the ability to throw them in the washer and dryer when she's got two to look after.

Still haven't finished the moss stitch cardigan.

Everything else is on a back burner til the shawls get finished. I should be casting off the second one at the weekend, but I guarantee that I'll still be running around at the last minute to get them done, for I do hate blocking lace. I'm seriously thinking of splashing out on some blocking wires to help me through things.

This might be a good place to stop for today, lest I keep babbling incoherently.

Bleurgh

We're home. Or, at least, in Dublin. Catching train to Belfast in just over an hour.

The jetlag hasn't even hit yet, but my brain is like peanut butter, and there's some starting to dribble out my ears. Technically, I've not slept since Saturday, and while dinner is being made in my MIL's kitchen, my stomach is demanding a bagel or some french toast as a carb-tastic way to start the day.

I also managed to foo up slightly. I thought I had tomorrow to recover and sit on the sofa in my jammies, drinking tea and clutching my head. Instead, due to a fabulous able-to-count incident, I'll be wading through 3 weeks of work that's waiting for me as we speak.

I may need some more coffee.

My pooter-fu sucks some days

Well I did try to update again yesterday, but the terminal I was using decided to do a windows update when I was a paragraph in, and ate my $5. I was less than amused, and didn't trust it enough to use again.

Thankfully, there's a nice ice cream parlour a couple of blocks from our hotel (everything seems to be a couple of blocks from our hotel) and it has machines that actually work and have passed health inspection.

I attempted to get to School Products yesterday, but having walked the entire length of Broadway to get there and find it closed, I am less confident of my "fu". Still, we're heading to Staten Island tomorrow, where I believe there's a yarn-tastic branch of Michaels.

For anyone in the neighbourhood (how I love being able to say that!!!) Knitty City are having a birthday celebration on Saturday, and I have it on good authority that there will be cake. Mmmmcake.

We decided to avoid Times square for new years, opting to watch it on tv and have the sensibleness of our decision confirmed for us instead. Plus, there was a rocking fireworks display in Central Park, which was visable from our corner. I do like the park. It has lots of crazy squirrels.

I know I'm leaving out lots of bits, but I'm on a time limit here. Not like when I'm working from home *ahem*

More to follow....there will be much, much yarn porn when I get home.

Malabrigo cures excema. Feck, it probably cures things that we don't even know exist yet.