my week

Monday: Woke up feeling poorly. Wrote up a language observation. Went to class. Made cream of broccoli soup.

Tuesday: College. Lunch at Bright's with girls from college. Answered lots of questions about America and shocked them with the realisation that I am "almost 30!" Class dismissed early. Locked out of house. Afternoon spent in coffee shop. Book group to discuss The Pickwick Papers.

Wednesday: Did Laundry. Used Microsoft Access for the first time in IT. Made play dough. Class dismissed early. Knitting group.

Thursday: Out on placement. Built lots of spaceships and had a picnic in the house corner. Knitting and audio book in the evening.

Friday: Out on placement. Trip to W5. Was a shop keeper in Tesco for much of the trip. Knitting and audio book in the evening. Still feeling poorly.

Saturday: Interview at McDonald's. Ran errands. Went to market. Knitting and audio book. Watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Sunday: Feeling a bit better. Church. Lunch with friends visiting from England. Prayer group. Church.

recent projects

I was rather hurried the other day when I posted my yarn along picture. (Hence the not so great photo quality... well especially not so great as the lighting in my house, not to mention the state of the carpet, leaves a bit to be desired.) So I wanted to write a longer post about my recent knitting projects. First of all I organised my stash, such as it is. I've only been knitting for about a year and don't have much of a stash to speak of. Everything I do have was purchased with a specific project or person in mind and it's just been finding enough time to get it all made. My poor mother hasn't received anything except a little crocheted snowflake. Anyway, as my local stitch 'n bitch group (I kind of hate that name) had a yarn swap in December and I came away with some lovely things I decided it was time to get organised. So here is my stash:

Open basket for the prettier skeins. Current project bag holding the lovely Ishbel. Medium sized covered basket for notions and doodads such as baby shampoo for wool washing.

Large covered basket for large and not quite as pretty skeins. Small covered basked for all the little ends of skeins I can't quite bare to get rid of. I'm sure they'll come in useful for little bits of colour work and/or granny squares at some point.

And there they all are by my pretty little fire place. Again, please don't mind the horrid state of the carpet. My needles are on the mantle above which really deserves it's own post as it is, in my own humble opinion, quite lovely.

Now, on to the actual knitting projects. Just a couple presents I've made recently.

Two more little mice. I called this pair Emil and Lucinda. As Lucinda was taken to show and tell by the little girl she was made for I think they were a hit. Still have plenty of yarn to make a couple for myself at some point. Just too cute!

And here are my latest attempts at the Tea Leaves Cardigan. The grey blue was my sister Lacy's birthday present. She specified the extra long sleeves. Knit with Berrocco Vintage which I love! The attempt below was for another sister Emily's birthday. It was knit with Donegal Aran Tweed which is a lovely yarn as well. Despite knitting a gauge swatch it came out too big and I had to shrink it. I was so nervous and definitely erred on the side of caution. Unfortunately there is an ocean dividing Emily and myself and I do not have her measurements. So I sent it on with careful instructions of how to shrink it further if needed. I have this yarn to make a Tea Leaves for myself and am now a bit nervous to start. I'll go down another needle size or two and hope for the best. It's a lovely shade of red and I will love it, if it comes out...

PS, tinking is a term I just learned this week. It's knitting backwards. Literally. Isn't that clever!

two of my favourite things

Today I am participating in my first yarn along! That means a post which combines two of my favourite things, knitting and reading. Currently I'm reading Pickwick Papers by Dickens and loving it. I should be finished already as it was for my book club which met to discuss it yesterday. I didn't quite make it although I'm less than 100 pages away. I'm knitting Ishbel by Ysolda Teague which is my first foray into lacework. So far I'm loving it, although I've discovered that it isn't the best project to bring along to stitch and bitch. Tinking sl1, k2tog, psso is not a very fun thing. This is definitely a knit while alone project. Audio books anyone?

Ode to Saturday Morning

How do I love you? Let me count the ways:

I love you because I do not have to beat the Sun out of bed.

I love you for scrambled eggs and toast and tea, eaten leisurely.

I love you for impromptu dance parties as the day begins.

I love you for blog and flicker perusals in my pyjamas.

I love you for Uno tournaments and Pickwick Papers.

I love you for knitting and online TV.

I love you for all the cleaning and tidying yet to come.

And when this weekend ends I will but love you better Monday morning.

couldn't resist

I shouldn't being doing anything more than window shopping right now as I have yet to find a job. But I saw this on Etsy (for a good price even with international shipping) and I absolutely couldn't resist. I haven't bought any new clothing for months and months. And it's so gorgeous and wearable and very, very me. Thank you Sally Jane Vintage! I'm already planning outfits!

i have a crush on this guy...

... just thought you should know. He's pretty awesome.

new stuff

Um, I kind of hit the ground running this New Year and somehow totally forgot to post a link to the new 24-7 Ireland website. We have started our year of prayer for Ireland and this Sunday are having our first of what will be monthly gatherings. I'm so excited about this!

spread the word

I need work... badly. So on top of the job hunt that continues I've decided to widen my babysitting advertisement audience. Today I made this flyer and this week I will be canvasing my neighbourhood looking for places to post it. Also, I learned how to take screen shots on my computer today, yeah!

the books of 2010

Here they are, in no particular order, the books I read in 2010. It's not quite as many as I usually manage, but considering all that's happened in the last year, that one of them is War and Peace and that I'm studying I decided that 47 is a perfectly respectable number!