Another year older and deeper in debt

...or another year older and deeper in yarn. Probably more accurate.

The Supah Mario socks are fully finished, and modelled while hanging upside down off the sofa. They're just that damn exciting, it seems!


Universal toe-up socks in Opal Hundertwassers

I'm quite chuffed with them. Also with the fact that I made fraternal twins, and am not itching to frog them because the stripes don't line up. The very enthusiastic receiver loves them that he has pledged to wear them as house socks so that he doesn't wear them out. Aww bless.

Considering that mens socks take for-bloody-ever to knit, this may not be a bad plan, at least til I can get around to making him a second pair. I only realised yesterday just how slow they were, when I cast on a sock for myself, and turned the heel while watching BSG last night.


More universal toe-ups, in Knitpicks Essential Volcano Twist

If I keep going at this rate, I might have a pair done in a week! Pretty good, seeing as I've had to sacrifice my daytime knitting to end of month reports and cold fingers.

Today, I'm not feeling any bit more mature. My hair looks like the proverbial haystack, I'm drinking tea from a Nightmare Before Christmas mug, and trying to skive off work. It's just not right for someones birthday to also be the day for submitting end of month reports. Bah and humbug!

Things aren't all bad though.
My mam and dad sent me a card, and I got the new Jamie Oliver cookbook, and some sterling to buy myself a winter coat with. Huzzah! My dad actually managed to hold a pen long enough to make a vaguely "Dad" shaped squiggle on my card...I nearly started crying.

My godmother (I mistyped that as "gothmother" the first time, for some bizarre reason) and my mams best friend gave me some euros, which will be spent on my other obsession, shoes.

This morning was utterly squee-worthy:




I've had the wonderous Nintendo DS for a month, as he couldn't go without giving it to me. I currently have FF3 in it. I shall now be brain trained as well. A birthday isn't a birthday without books and chocolate, which are well represented, and the dvd's of wonderfulness are My Neighbour Totoro (I am obsessed with Studio Ghibli) and the Hammer box set!!! 21 movies in a box!!!!!

I shall now be endlessly entertained on my travels every weekends.

Sensibly, he didn't get me anything yarny. The Knitting and Stitching Show is coming up, after all!

Right, need to go shower and tame the mane, so that I can drip dry before heading to down.

Shoppingshoppingshoppingshopping!!!

Coffee....please....coffee.....

No posting from me in a couple of days, due to it being a bank holiday for me. The first day off I've had in over 3 months to boot. Naturally, shopping was involved.

No yarn. Ain't I a good blogger?
I'm totally going to Bangor next week though! Hehehe

I got my nails done. Not something I do very often, but I smashed my hand into a door at the weekend and broke a nail at a painful and bleeding place. As I was there to have it glued together, I figured some new red polish would cheer me right up!

We didn't get too rained upon on our walk around Belfast, had a fab lunch at Cafe Vaudeville, which lives entirely up to its name, and I picked up a copy of the Sims 2.Which I then stayed up til 1am playing. I am not a well bunny this morning. I feel like I have a hangover, just without the need to throw up all the time.

Simpsons, wot used to be a yarn shop, and now mostly sells touristy stuff, was investigated for the first time in person. They have a great selection of buttons, some of which I now want to find projects to match. The yarn wall mostly consists of baby acrylic, and having gone for a rummage in the 50 pence bin and discovered dead spiders resting peacefully in several balls, I left yarnless.

The shawl is finally making progress. Score one for me!
I still hate the yarn. This was not lessened by my getting to the end of ball one and discovering that the heart of the thing was, essentially, just a giant tangle.




Through no fault of my own, I might add. I keep my yarn in a bag in my bag, so as to avoid tangles and the embedding of various objects like keys and small children.

Really, I've quite impressed myself though. Instead of hurling it into a drawer while profanity fell loudly from my mouth, I've done the grown-up thing and gone about taking the knots apart. Told you that I wasn't feeling well today.

I can't swear that I wasn't at least a little more determined having discovered that I don't have the correct needles for the project I had hoped to start today. I am no closer to finishing my moss stitch cardigan than I was last week. Still, it's ages til Winter, eh?

The running total of WIP's for me now stands at an all time low of 2.
This can't and won't go on. El Shawlo will possibly be too awkward to bring to SnB tomorrow, so I may just have to cast on something else. A nice quick knit, that uses stash yarn and needles that I have already.


Hrmmmm....time to go rummage through Ravelry, I guess.