Two days without posting

I've officially broken my trend.  I had blogged pretty much everyday since I began, until this weekend... and there's not even a proper reason for it.  I went to Bristol, and finished the socks as documented in my previous post.  And then I made Harry's hat, the only model for which was me:

Another delightful pic of me taken (mainly due to laziness) with my webcam

I crocheted the hat.  It look about a day - I'd forgotten how absolutely simple this pattern was and how quickly it came together.  So I was really happy about that.  I've made this pattern for Harry about 4 or 5 times before, and I think that he's managed to loose them all along the way - not sure if he'll ever learn, or me for that matter, I do keep on making them!  I had to be a bit inventive this time.  He wanted a thinner wool (pattern calls for bulky/chunky) so I went for an aran weight and increased the pattern repeats, and actually managed to get it right, first time!  So yay for me, about adventurous as I've ever gotten with modifying patterns!

And now I'm on to making the wristwarmers for Ru.  I haven't got very far, the pattern uses a chart, something I've never done before, and I had a few queries about it, and obviously had to trawl the net for answers as I didn't bother bringing The Knitter's Bible.  Looking forward to the challenge.

Work on Saturday was about as exciting as I was expecting.  I was bored out of my wits, and got glared at and made to do menial, non-essential things when I dared get the crochet out (despite the fact they were all surfing the net and checking hotmail!).  So I took the hint and sat around staring off into space instead.  Oh well, I was at work after all, so it's bordering on being cheeky to sit there crocheting.  The times I've knitted have all be night shifts, so I obviously can get away with it more then!

Sunday was a bit of a write off.  I really wanted to get up and go to one of the local churches, but switched my alarm off and promptly feel asleep again... oops.  But I've been so tired, I've not been getting amazing sleep in here at Cheltenham, so it was definintely a case of catching up on it all!  When I did eventually get out of bed, I decided I'd go have breakfast (well, brunch!) at the local cafe, so I could sit with the free wi-fi and focus on finishing ranking my jobs.  Which I'd almost done when my laptop run out of juice and I didn't have anywhere near my table to plug in, and changing tables wasn't an option since they were packed (in fact people were kinda glaring at me for taking up a four seater table!).  So I ambled home and finished ranking there.  So glad to get it out of the way.  Now it's just a case of waiting about three weeks and I find out what jobs I have.

Then following having Harry and Claire round briefly so he could pick up the hat (and very generously pay for the yarn - yay, so it was guilt free wool shopping!), I decided to follow up on an idea that Sarah gave me last week.  I roasted a chicken, and had a lovely roast dinner, something I generally don't get round to doing as it's such a waste when I live alone.  And now I've got loads of leftovers to do stuff with.  I had a jacket potato with lemon-mayo chicken, I'm going to do a salad with the other breast, and then make up some soup with whatever's left over.  I may yet be able to get another meal out of whatever other meat is left over before I make the soup.  It was a really good idea - it works out quite cheaply (even splashed out on an organic/free range chicken), I have meal plans for most of the week, and I had a nice easy to think up shopping list.  So it really ticks a lot of the food rules boxes.  So thanks very much Sarah.

And then a quick dish wash and back to Cheltenham.  Had a really busy day today - 9 to 6.  So absolutely knackered right now.  It was a fairly good day.  I was with the consultant who had lead our ethics teaching last week and pretty much the first thing he said to me was that I had had a lot to say last week... I guess I was memorable!  Lol!  Not that I had several arguements or anything like that during ethics!  Lol!  He's quite a nice consultant and made sure I got to see lots and get a bit involved with the team.  In the afternoon, we spent time in the radiotherapy session, which was cool, as it's something I hadn't done before, and I was able to see all the stages.  I like to do things like that, then if I'm ever asked by patients, then at least I can have some grasp of what goes on. 

The most exciting thing to happen this weekend was when I got "chatting" to someone on Ravelry about the socks, and I had a look at her stash, and man did it make me lust.  She's got this huge stash of absolutely gorgeous yarns.  So I complemented her a bit and then we got chatting a bit about where to get wool.  And then she randomly asked for my postal address so she could send me some of her hand-dyed alpaca.  I'm so touched by the kindness of strangers.  She was so gracious about it, and wants absolutely nothing in return.  Can't wait to get back to Bristol and see what it is that she'll send. :)

And here I am... ready for bed.  Not a very exciting weekend, so I'm hoping for a better week!

Packing up Christmas, stash sorting and sock making

Another day of being effectively snowed in.  In fact, when I first looked at the weather report this morning, it claimed that the current temp was -7 degrees.  I found it a little hard to believe, but then again, I was inside under lots of clothes and blankets with the heaters firing up.  The snow is still lying around thickly (well for the little patch of the world that I could see out of my window).

Since I was skiving another day, I decided I should be pro-active around my flat.  I took down the Christmas tree (only a day late!) and it was sad in a way to be packing away everything that I had spent so much time making, but I'll be able to dig them out for this year's Christmas too.  And maybe make some more if I have the time.  So here they are, tucked away for now:

I had a bit of a desperately needed clean of my flat, unpacking my suitcase properly (only took two shameful days!) and did some putting away.  It's still a tip, and I never got round to vacuuming like I wanted, but ooohhhh well, it's nearly the weekend, and that means a little more time for these things.  I also had a good sort out of my yarn stash.  It's almost a little shameful to see what I have accumulated in just a few months.

pre-sort

mid-sort

the wool I brought on Monday in the sale, which I'm thinking of (eventually) making a lace shawl with

I also made a bit of an effort with my dinner tonight.  I was going to make some soup, roasting some sweet potato and butternut squash.  But as it was roasting, I had a change of heart, and I went for shoving it in some pasta with some pancetta.  It was very tasty and un-soupy!

And my final activity of the day (wow, it's been a fairly lazy day!) was to make a start on my socks, the first of which looks a little like this:

I'm loving the colours of the wool, a bit brighter than I usually go for, but it's so pretty and I love the combo.  Really excited about them :)

Highlights of a boring day

It was another one of those days where nothing special happened. So I have decided that I should reflect on the day and try to find the good things about the day.

- Waking up in a nice warm cosy bed - definitely a blessing, and one of those things that we take for granted, but we are lucky for.
- Tea - had lovely tea today. Nothing special, just my normal tea, but it was very good. And I do love my tea! Back to having dairy milk, and I think this is the first time that I've really enjoyed my tea in ages. Yes, I do realise that it is rather sad that I get so much excitment and joy out of something so small and everyday!
- Good health. Being round hospitals all my life, I sometimes tend to become a little indifferent to being surrounded by ill people. But good health is also something that we tend to take for granted until we no longer have it. And since I practically live in hospitals (I've been in a hospital of some sort every day for the last 10 days) this is something that I should be more aware of and conscious of. And I really shouldn't moan so much when I get a cold!
- Knowledge and curiosity - again, a huge part of my life. It probably the one of the things I treasure most about my chosen career. It's all so darn interesting and fastinating. I love learning and being challenged, yet I also love the fact that no matter how much I do learn, I still crave more and have so many questions. I think curiosity is one of the greatest human traits, regardless of age, and is something that should always be nutured.
- Homemade leek and potato soup. I'm so proud of my soup, I think it was the best leek and potato I've made. I kinda wish now I paid more attention to what I was doing, I can't really pinpoint what I did to make it so tasty! Probably just a fluke, but how lucky!
- My knitting. This list wouldn't be complete without my knitting. I'm loving the project that I'm working on at the moment. It's so different and querky. I still can't believe how much I'm enjoying my knitting. I'm still expecting to get bored of it, and pack it all away! But I'm getting so much fulfillment out of it. It makes my day to come home and enjoy my knitting and see the end products. So wonderfully rewarding.

So, yes, even in a day when nothing in particular happens, there's still plenty to be grateful for and to find joy and reward in. And now if ends as it began, with my bed, all warm and cosy!

Exploding potatoes!

Something very bizarre happened to me and my kitchen earlier.  I had a jacket potato for dinner.  I don't have a microwave, so they take ages in the oven, but always so worth it!  So I got my potato ready and poked it with a fork a few times and shoved it in the oven.  Then, when it looked done, I got a fork to pick it up out of the oven and pop it on my plate, and well, pop was the operative word here!  It exploded on me, creating quite a mess!  I couldn't believe it, I've never seen anything quite like it before.  It was a little disappointing as when I eventually got round to eating it, there actually wasn't much potato left in the skin.  Darn!  It looked a little like this, just in case you think I was exaggerating!

I got the extra wool today, and the present is finished.  So excited about it, I'm so loving that wool, and I can't wait to share it!  My next project (again a likely Christmas pressie if I get it done in time) is back to knitting and  is a good way of using up some scraps, and I'll give you a little teaser as to what's to come!