Flu, Flu GO AWAY!

Ugh. I seem to have caught whatever dreaded lurgy J. had last week. But because I’ve already got the muscle pains and general ickiness, I tend to fill way worse than I remember the flu being. And the flu is miserable, even if you’re a triathlete. And not to mention that it’s exacerbating all the new stuff that I don’t know how to deal with yet. I have another week on my test results. Send clear fluids and a whole lotta tylenol.

This means that my plan for today has gone completely out the window. I like plans. I hate it when they go out the window. So what you would have seen here if the dreaded lurgy had not decided that I was a good target:

• Seraphim is done. It has also been washed and is drying. It is emphatically not being blocked for two reasons: 1) I don’t have enough floor space to block it and 2) I didn’t want it to get much bigger. It did, of course, but nowhere near as giant as it might have been had I pinned everything out properly.
• The Chevron Scarf is done. The Plucky Knitter Merino Sock + KPPPM = LOVE.
• I got 2 balls of Sublime Extra Fine Merino DK from Rachel (I know a lot of Rachels, but you know which one you are). It is being knitted up into a squishy scarf with a few changes. When I say changes, I mean mistakes. With this pattern you are supposed to alternate the cables on the sides every certain number of rows but I sort of lost track while watching highlights of Mark Ronson vs Duran Duran on Channel 4. (An aside: So cool! Also, Simon is sex on a stick.) So now the cables cross whenever I remember to do so. I quite like the effect.
• I got an order I placed at The Loopy Ewe about five weeks ago (it got stuck in customs and I had to pay a whoooole lotta money to release it) and find that while I love half of it, the three skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy in Into The Mystic need to go back. So not my color, so not the sort of thing I am thinking would look good in the pattern. Which is a bummer because I don’t get that darn customs charge refunded and I have to pay shipping again. This is the problem with having no decent yarn stores nearby.
• Last night I had a cool dream.
• The Pink Contest stuff: Package 1 deadline is now closed. Tomorrow is package 2 deadline. Winners will be announced on Friday as I expect this dreaded lurgy to last about that long.
• I owe a bunch of people emails. Will get to them as and when I can.
• Swap stuff is going to be mailed Friday.

And that’s about it. I’m going to drink a lot of water and take some tylenol as soon as my stomach lets me.

Please excuse any spelling or word oddities, my brain is lurgy filled mush.

 

Geek Love

Meet Brains, my Macbook. We have sorted out the wrist digging in issue and how to use the apple key instead of control. I am quite smitten with Brains.

However Brains is white. And made of soft plastic. Brains is fragile. Brains is not a Timex. Brains needed a new bag.

Praise Etsy!

Brains is a happy puppet genius now.

Weekly Thing:

Something Good: I have lots of books. I have a new Ravelry icon. (When I told J. about it he laughed. You probably will too.) I can’t help it, I am feeling Simon-bereft.

Knitting: Seraphim, Chevron Scarf No. 1 Million, No Purl Monkeys.

Reading: The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I’m up to On The Banks Of Plum Creek at the moment.

Watching: The Blue Planet - I love me some ocean stuff.

Writing/Crafting: Worked a bit on a plot diagram for a new story. Creativity is a struggle right now, between recuperating from the concert and life stuff, things are very desert like. You know, like there’s water there but it will take an awful lot of digging.

This Week’s Plan: Not a thing. Rest up and see about finding my way of this creative drought.

You?

 

Fatigued Grumplefish

That would be me. With a carb headache (I had pizza yesterday) to boot. We’ll stick to pictures today, shall we?

First there’s that Flickr Game going around:

1. dark phoenix rising, 2. .: Cute Tamales .:, 3. Shhhhh….., 4. When Waves Collide, 5. Free kick to Romania, 6. 143 Thai Ice Tea!, 7. Paisaje ártico - Arctic landscape, 8. How I love thee, creme brulee!, 9. one would., 10. For my dear friend Joy C.!, 11. Dreaming…………., 12. bad hair/good mail (117/365)

Click for the rules and my notes.

And then there’s yarn:

Sunshine Yarns Sock in Zen from a swap with B. Yellows are tricky on me but this looks about right.

And there’s yarn in a cool package:

I love decorative tissue paper. And look! A wee stitch marker.

And some See’s Candy. It’s quite funny really, I haven’t had any See’s for years now but having little sweets like this (which Mr F will eat, not I) is a bit of home.

That’s Dream in Color Classy in the Cool Fire colorway. Which is going back to the shop because it is seriously bubble gum pink. I’ll try out Beach Fog instead. Plan to make Gretel (R) out of it. And I took a picture of it before sending it back because… because it’s yarn! I love photographing yarn. It’s pretty. *nods*

That’s Dream in Color Smooshy in Deep Seaflower. And it is completely the right color. It’s for the Woodland Shawl (R). I think. Watch, I’ll make another Clapotis (R) out of it.

There’s some Wyrding Studios goodness:

As I said on Flickr (which is the place to keep up with me when I’m not posting), I have wanted this pendant for months now. WS lowered their prices and Mr F saw it and said I should buy it and I did. And I love it. I also love the WS neckvine I bought to go with it. You would think that twisted wire would not a comfy necklace make, but it does.

And there’s some rain:

Because June or no, this is England.

Admin notes:

1) For the month of June there will be little to no WIP Wednesday. I meant to do WIP Smackdown but since I’ve only managed to knit once in the last two weeks… Basically, things are slow going. How many time can I take a picture of the same (slightly bigger) stockinette tube anyway? More importantly, how many times do you want to see the same (slightly bigger) stockinette tube?

2) No more On My Desk Wednesdays. My desk is either covered in stuff or completely bare. It’s getting boring.

3) Inspired (like everyone else, it seems) by Crazy Aunt Purl, three months of no extraneous spending began yesterday. Why three months? Because at the beginning of September it’s off to I Knit Day to see the Yarn Harlot. Hopefully by then the not spending habit will have kicked in and I won’t feel like going mad. That’s the hope anyway. Also? Weekly writing sessions at Starbucks are not included in the ban. Nor is swapping yarn. But shipping does get expensive so there’s a balance to be found on that.

4) Starting this month it is Operation Declutter here at The Green House (icky green paint job, if you were wondering). Mr F dislikes this immensely (his family are pack rats like whoa). I dislike it too, only because of how many times you can scour something like a bookcase and ALWAYS come up with something else you don’t need, like or want.

I love (sarcasmsarcasm) how this is my only free week for the next month and I’m filling it up with plans.

Have a good weekend?

 

How To Have Fun

Since life’s been push-me/pull-you recently, Mr F and I decided to go do something today. Out went all the plans and in came something rather silly that turned out rather good.

Ingredients for a Fun Day:

1. The FA Cup Final on with a local team in it. And the city organizing ways of local people watching the game (which was held in London). Which in this case meant one huge ass tv on Southsea Common.

Southsea Common with Spinnaker Tower in the background. The guys in the day-glo jackets are the police.

That’s a ferry headed to France in the background.

2. Said team scoring in the aforementioned final.

3. The ocean.

4. Fish and chips. (There was also pie.)

5. Great music for the drive home. (Although I seem to need more Ani DiFranco.)

6. Coffee.

7. Peppermint tea. (For all the overloading of good - but rather bad for you - food.)

8. Coming home and putting on comfy sweats and basically vegging.

Today’s Blogs: Today’s theme is joint blogs! Canadian joint blogs.

Friends Knit Together: This is Adriana and Heather. I know Adriana. Adriana is commenter extraordinaire and handyer of my next color on Rainbow Socks. Which is why I’m trying to pick up the tempo on the red socks.

Team Knit!: This is Jen and Julie. I know Julie. Julie is… well, Julie is awesome. She knits and is currently taking a self portrait a week. Which is inspiring.

Tomorrow, more local views. And now, mindless knitting. I am determined to knock out these red socks already.

 

Friday Afternoon Miscellany

Here’s a music meme I found over at Pancakes & French Fries. This one is actually pretty hard because I am darn near shameless when it comes to music. I find I am quite selective in my music love and can easily block out the fact that someone I’m not too keen on is singing a great song. But there are a few I have to explain when they come up on my playlist. (Embedded videos ahoy.)

Share 5 songs you are embarrassed to admit to others you like and tell why.

1) Thunderbirds Are Go by Busted.

Ok, Busted suck. They have that baby-voice-heavy-guitar thing going on that just doesn’t float my boat. But! I love the Thunderbirds. I adore the old tv show, love the film (Bill Paxton is in it!) and think this song is fun. Fun, fun, fun. Fun! And it does look cool when spaceships come out of the pool. Although my favorite bit is when all the palm trees flatten out of the way so Thunderbird 2 can take off. Yes, I’m a geek.

2) Why Haven’t I Heard From You by Reba McEntire.

I don’t like country music. I went to highshool in a town where country was ALL there was to listen to. That’s where I heard this song. The music is quite good but the lyrics crack me up.

3) Footloose by Kenny Loggins.

Raise your hand if you saw this in the theater. *raises hand* I was five or six, I think. But I remember dancing like an idiot to this song. During recess at school we’d put on little shows (singing the Kids Incorporated theme was one of our favorite ones) but this one was popular too. Oh, the memories.

4) Waterloo by ABBA.

Back when Eurovision was actually turning out hits (Nena’s 99 Red Balloons won Eurovision too). I got really into ABBA at university. My mom worked at the school I went to and we carpooled. One day I dropped her off at her building and she got out of the car as one of her coworkers walked by. ABBA was blaring out of the car and my mom pointed at me and said “it’s her music, not mine!” I mean, that’s a rarity, being able to embarass your mother. Douze points!

5) Don’t Stop Movin by S Club 7.

Just laugh. It’s ok, I’m laughing too.

What cringeworthy music do you love?

 

Cowl-o-rama

I am cowled out.

Well, that’s not entirely true. I am still loving the cowls.

But I am so mind numbingly tired of the Palette that if I had a bonfire handy, I would chuck the 2000+ YARDS I have left of the stuff. Unfortunately it’s not in big enough chunks to cowl any further. And while I could do crazily colored hats, I don’t wanna. Palette and I had a little fling. I’ve come to my senses and it is so very over.

But what do I do with all this yarn? Anyone want some? No, seriously. Who wants some. It’s threatening my sanity now. It needs to go.

So now I have five cowls, a tenuous grip on knitterly sanity and absolutely no patience with Windows Vista. (Mr F’s computer is having problems. Since I can get on my laptop, I am IT at the moment. Damn you boot loader problems! An aside: Mr F doesn’t remember how to use DOS. I think that’s funny.)

Thanks to everyone who shared their concert memories. So many great bands! I definitely envy some people bands that aren’t even together anymore. I used to love going to concerts but I will admit that getting around LA was a LOT easier than getting around London. Especially if you don’t drive and don’t do the walking so well.

But yes. Palette and I are calling it quits. I am very relieved.

Social Commentary:

I don’t do much of this because I am not the persuasive type. If you want to dress like a llama and vote for Boogie the Disco King, go ahead. Just don’t tell ME how I have to dress like a llama and do the same. I have a friend who sums up how she feels about other people’s views in such a succinct way that I’m borrowing it: your kink is not my kink. Insert religion, politics, sexual political views, choice of tv shows, etc for kink in that sentence. You wanna do it, go ahead. But don’t a) make me do it or b) tell me I’m a bad person because I don’t.

Re: The Open Source Boob Project. My opinion can be bascially put forth to agree with this. It’s an interesting challenge of social norms, the social aspect of personal space and how we welcome people into it. Or not. Not to mention the sexual politics surrounding the female form. But I think that it’s got a spectacularly huge chance of going very, very wrong.

For the record, my opinion is as follows: I have fibromyalgia. That means that any touch is registered as pain. And I do mean any touch. A loose hair tickling my cheek is painful. Getting my blood pressure taken is an exercise in torture. If you touch me without asking in ANY WAY, I will usually a) jump b) yell and c) get away from you as fast as I can. You also run a great risk of being hit or injured. DO NOT sneak up behind me. Don’t even try to hug me or put your arm around me without asking. Not to mention anything that gets my adrenaline going results in a crash. Crashes are bad. Personal touch for me depends on pain levels as much as comfort levels with the person wanting to do the touching.

My general motto for the world at large: no touchy. Look, I’m a llama!

 

Cowls

Firstly, ‘Song is holding a raffle to get her daughter to summer camp. I’ve donated a few pieces and there’s a ton of really cool stuff. Info here.

Here’s a cowl (I cut my hair again - not bad if I do say so myself),

There’s a cowl,

Cowls, cowls, everywhere!

Things I Love Right Now:

• Starbucks’ Skinny Lemon Poppy Seed muffins (Skinny = less sugar which is of the good)
• cupcakes
• forest wallpaper (when I was a kid my mom worked in a doctor’s office with forest wallpaper and I have loved it ever since. It seems to be making a comeback.)
• where the rain bounces back up from a puddle in a big rainstorm
• the colors yellow, bright spring green and duck egg blue
• 1940s inspired blouses
• vintage sideboards
• surfing
• this video:

And now the weekly thing.

Something Good: A few things: No one made fun of my geeky fandom post. I like my new haircut. It’s Friday.

Knitting: Cowl #2, Sleeve #1 on the Phyllo Yoked Pullover

Reading: Vanity Fair (still)

Writing: outlined a new story idea, working on Big Writing Project Book 3. Also thinking good and hard about how Book 3 is most likely actually book 1 and that everything before book 3 will be relegated to backstory. I don’t like the idea (at all) but it seems it might be so. Also need to tackle one of my favorite projects that has lingered because I don’t have any clear cut plan for what to do with it once it’s done. Which, yes, I know is stupid. Nothing will get done with it if I don’t bloody write it!

This Week’s Plan: Fibro support group on Monday, various errands on Monday as well. Otherwise, writing, test review and knitting. Maybe some jewelry making if my hands are up to it.

How about you?

 

WIP Wednesday

Phyllo Yoked Pullover

So far I’m really liking how the Silky Wool is knitting up. I’m a bit wary of the impending yoke because as written the pattern has you knit the back to 16″ and the front to 14.5″. I wonder if putting some short rows in the back would work. Or whether it’s even necessary.

I know the whole on my desk thing is not about being set up or pretty but today the desk is barely even visible. I will spare you the candid view of it.

But I do have an FO.

• Name: No Purl Orchid Monkeys
• Yarn: The Knittery Merino Cashmere (old) in Orchid
• Needles: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
• Mods: No purling, eye of partridge heel.

This yarn is quite fuzzy and because of the cashmere content, super soft and warm. I just hope they fit!

And the answers to the song lyric meme. I think this one far more interesting than the film one, it’s cool to see who listens to (or at least knows) the same songs as me.

1. Drinking In LA by Bran Van 3000
2. 32 Flavors by Ani DiFranco
3. Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode
4. Closer to Fine by Indigo Girls
5. Praise Chorus by Jimmy Eat World
6. Go West by Liz Phair
7. Legal Tender by The B-52s
8. This Is The Day by The the
9. Charm Attack by Leona Naess
10. Passenger Seat by Death Cab For Cutie

Just a smattering of my favorite songs.

It’s already Wednesday. Time just seems to keep slipping away in great galloping glumps. What is up with that?

 

More Randomness

Over the weekend we got Breakfast At Tiffany’s from the library and watched it. Mr F had never seen it and as usual for me, I spent most of the movie thinking how little George Peppard seemed to change between that and The A-Team. Him and his twinkly blue eyes. (I never really could pick between who was more attractive: Face or Hannibal.) And then Mr F said, “What are Crackerjacks?” (They don’t have them here.) And this started me thinking of a whole heap of random food that I miss from home: Jello. Vanilla pudding mix (I’m trying to find a decent homemade recipe). Key Limes. Marie Callender’s cornbread. Boston Market’s chicken pot pie. Conchas (Mexican sweet bread). THIN MINTS. Oh how I miss Girl Scout cookies. I was a Girl Scout for something like ten years, I miss my yearly Samoas and Thin Mints and those fantastic lemon creme cookies that never ever last more than a few minutes. Del Taco hot sauce packets and french fries. Taco Bell. Denny’s. El Torito’s tableside guacamole. Green salsa. Stove Top stuffing. Cheetos. Having an entire aisle of ice cream at the supermarket.

A lot of this can be homemade but I just miss being able to go into a store and buy it. And I will never ever reconcile myself to the idea of a full English breakfast as the be all and end all of breakfast foods. For me it isn’t a proper breakfast if there aren’t biscuits and gravy. Most of the time this stuff doesn’t even enter my mind but occasionally my brain really craves something that I can’t get within a 3000 mile radius. Which sucks.

Knitting:

The Phyllo Yoked Pullover is coming along although I did order 3 more skeins just in case. The Orchid Monkey socks are coming along as well. Brompton is blocking but still needs buttons.

And another meme. Just like the movie one but with songs instead.

1. “I know that life is for the taking, so I better wise up, and take it quick.”

2. “And God help you if you are a phoenix./And you dare to rise up from the ash.”

32 Flavors by Ani DiFranco - Susan guessed the artist but not the song.

3. “Words are very unnecessary/They can only do harm.”

Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode - Rosemary guessed the band but not the song.

4. “Well darkness has a hunger thats insatiable/And lightness has a call thats hard to hear.”

Closer to Fine by Indigo Girls - guessed correctly by B. and Rosemary.

5. “Someone’s gonna ask you what it’s all about/Stick around nostalgia won’t let you down.”

6. “I’ve closed my eyes and my bank account/And gone west, young man.”

7. “Livin’ simple and trying to get by/But honey, prices have shot through the sky.”

8. “You’ve been reading some old letters/You smile and think how much you’ve changed.”

9. ” Watch out, he’ll charm you.”

10. “I roll the window down/And then begin to breathe in.”

Passenger Seat by Death Cab For Cutie - guessed correctly by Kat. 

And a picture I took this weekend. In the pouring rain.

Isn’t that the most cheerful graveyard ever?

Have a good Monday!

 

Randomness For A Friday

Welsh slate, money, and buttons.

I sometimes forget that it’s ok to just mess about. That spending an hour browsing on Flickr isn’t a complete waste of time. To be inspired and find inspiration is sometimes more important than the actual doing. I can write without inspiration but it’s never any good. I need the excitement and possibility to be there or the words fall flat. With photography, it’s much easier to inspire yourself.

And now, another FO:

• Name: Silk Mini-Clapotis
• Yarn: HipKnits Aran Silk in Duckpond
• Needles: US 8 Denise’s.
• Mods: Increased to 35 sts and then did about 10 straight section repeats. I could have gotten another repeat or two out of the single skein but the recipient is short so I didn’t think a super long scarf would work.
• Notes: This took two days. And it is my last Clapotis for a long, LONG time.

And a trip to the frog pond. Turns out that even the wool content in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece hurts my hands. Le sigh.

And now a meme. Because it’s Friday. And I can.

• Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
• Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
• Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
• Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
• Looking them up is cheating, please don’t. Some of these are pretty random so cheating might be necessary.

1. “I buttle, sir.”

Clue, one of my all time favorite movies. Guessed correctly by B.

2. “Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.”

Alice In Wonderland is correct. However this is for the Disney version and it’s the Doorknob that says this, not the Mad Hatter.

3. “As the producer, I can fire anybody I want, and I am fucking fired!”

Cradle Will Rock. Which is a fantastic movie but one I didn’t think anyone would ever guess!

4. “Sidecars are for bitches.”

Garden State.

5. “Nothing says ‘romance’ like a kidnapped injured woman!”

Stardust.

6. “Hit him again, Smitty!”

Roman Holiday.

7. “Most women use more brains picking a horse in the third at Belmont than they do picking a husband.”

How To Marry A Millionaire. I can never decide which of the female characters I like best, I’m a Marilyn fan but Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall are both great in it.

8. “Last night couldn’t have been more badly bungled if I had given it to parliament to do.”

9. “How did you manage to slip through the 50’s in red velvet?”

10. “When she jumped, she probably thought she could fly.”

The Virgin Suicides. I prefer the book but I also really like what Sofia Coppola did with it.

Nos. 2-7 and 10 were all guessed by Wendy.

Have a great weekend! We’re going to look at houses. Cross your fingers for us!