Wedding daze

Well, I know it has been a month, but I figured that no one really needed to be reading about such fabulously interesting topics as Auntie Mary's digestive problems (aka menu planning), paper (70gsm vs. 90gsm. discuss!) and spray tan (aka avoiding looking like a tangerine).

I'm currently sitting at my desk in the Dublin office. It's completely covered in balloons, and I'm being forcefed cake. Apparently it's good for me, cos it's carrot cake.

Nope...I didn't buy it either....still eating it though!

Given that next week will involve many hours in trains and busses, and the picking up of cakes, dresses and suits, I won't be blogging til I get home from honeymoon mark 2. I shall have a full report on yarny goodness from Paris though, so it'll be worth the wait.

Take care everyone!

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...

Here comes the...

Last night, I met Pook after work, and we went and had a nice dinner out. Proper grown ups, we are. Then I got to finally find out what his big surprise was. Stall tickets for Pygmallion at the Grand Opera House. I may have squeed a little loudly. And bounced some.

The play was fantabulous.

Today is a little odd.
It's so strange to be writing the date on paperwork while sitting in the office.

If circumstances were a little different, I'd be having my hair done about now, and trying not to smudge my nail polish while eating toast and putting on mascara simultaneously. My mother would be fussing that she'd never be ready in time, and my dad would be trying to remain stoic while grappling with his bow tie.

It's a world of "what if", isn't it?
I know that things are only postponed, not cancelled.
I know I have a million things to be thankful for.
My dad is alive,and well, and getting stronger by the day. Four months ago, I wouldn't have been able to say that. Four months ago, we didn't know if he would ever wake up again.

I feel petulant and silly and more than a bit selfish that I'm being all misty-eyed about things today. There is, however, nothing in the world that can stop that little voice in the back of my head reminding me that today was to be my wedding day.

Next Wednesday, I shall not be sipping cocktails and doing things that people on honeymoon do.
I shall celebrate my birthday with shopping, cake, and stitch and bitching.

I will remember that walking, breathing, the ability to wiggle our toes and scratch our itches are things that we all take for granted far too often, and that laughter and knitting make the bad times a whole lot more bearable.

Mission accomplished

Wahoo! Scarf done!

I'll see what I can do about getting some pics up tonight or tomorrow.
I think it looks rather funky, but I may be slightly biased.

This means that I'm back to one on-the-needles project, which is the cardigan.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm still as enthusiastic as ever about the wonderfulness of Twilleys yarn, and the pattern is something that even I can manage without too much trouble.

I was actually doing really well with it until I ran out of yarn and cast on the scarf.
I love the cardigan, even though it involves endless rows of moss stitch, the sloooooowest stitch in the world, ever. I don't mind that it's going to be weeks upon weeks before I get it done, because it's going to be really nice - I hope.
The thing is that the scarf was just so damn fast (once I actually got some knitting time sorted)!! Probably 10 hours from cast on to finished product, including weaving in the ends. It's ginormous, and shiny, and I now have "completed project buzz". If I had a caramel machiato right now, things would be pretty perfect.

I guess the poor cardigan is destined to be on the back burner for a bit, destined to be ignored apart from weekends and train journeys and other times when I have a couple of hours of potentially uninterrupted knitting time available. It's just too damn big for carrying around in my handbag like other projects, waiting for me to do a few lines while I'm on the bus, having coffee or waiting for a movie to start.

Next up then should, if I use the rational part of my brain (as opposed to the bit that makes the squeeeeee noise around yarn) is to get the first of the wedding wraps cast on.

This is the yarn I have for them, except they'll be black. The whole lot is currently in two ziploc bags in my knitting "tidy". I can't remember whether the pattern calls for 5mm or 5.5mm needles. I don't think it matters that much, it being a wrap and all, but I'm sure my lack of 5's would be the perfect procrastination tool. Should I be so inclined....and stuff....

Apart from ordering the rings, I haven't been doing anything wedding-related of late. I'm not consiously avoiding things, I just always seem to find something else to do instead. I guess there's just a little part of me that's completely terrified that my dad won't be able to walk me up the aisle come autumn.

So should I remain in denial (it's not just a river in Egypt, folks!) and possibly end up blocking the wraps the day before the wedding, and start on something else now, or should I get over it and start them, hoping that by the time I get them done that all will be right with the world once more?

I have to admit, that "something else" is looking awfully tempting right about now.

Hrmmm....

Well it appears that my darling other half took those useful connect-camera-to-pc cables to Belfast with him when he moved the pc. So I lugged my laptop home for pretty much zero result last night.

I did find a handy pic of the yarn I'm using for the cardigan though, just to inject a little colour in here - ain't I thinky?


It's Twilleys of Stamford. Spirit in Air. Gorgeous, gorgeous yarn to knit with. So much so that 2 of the 4 scarves I knitted as Christmas gifts were made from it. Different colourways, though. Can't have us all in matching knits. Far too Brady Bunch for my liking. The yarn itself is so soft, it feels like clouds. Or how I imagine that clouds would feel, if I were 5 again and hadn't reached that bit in the science book yet.

In other news, my dad is still in hospital. The chest infection is refusing to go without a fight, which is completely killing his recovery time.
Still, we knew our mantra for this month would be "baby steps", and we have to remember that.

Wedding bands have been picked and quoted for, and will be ordered tomorrow.
I must admit to being more than a little excited about that.
They match my engagement ring, which is a bonus, considering I have teeeeny fingers and thought it would be a nightmare to get something that fitted and that we both liked.
Here's my one:


Pretty, no?

Rain, rain, go away

So the rain has started again. I should know to expect it at this stage, it being Ireland and all, but no, the weather here is still more-or-less a constant surprise.

After the weekend of sorting stuff out, I am PC-less.
My room feels a lot more like a room and less like a storage locker, now that the PC, tv and hamster now live in Belfast. The PS2, assorted games and dvd's, and my box of breakables have gone as well. It's a good start, but I'm in limbo land at the moment, which is making me fidgety.

The cardigan is still progressing, slowly but surely.
I need to order myself a pair of those nice needles in 5.5mm so that I can cast on my mohair sweater. Though really, I should do the shawls for the girls first. I don't think they'd be as enthusiastic as me about a finished sweater, no matter how cool, if I had to do an all-nighter before the wedding to get their stuff finished.