Friday 9 September 2005

SP6 Questionnaire

  1. Are you a yarn snob? Yes I guess . I prefer wool and cotton to acrylic mixes. 100% acrylic is a no-no.
  2. Do you spin? Crochet? I do spin and love it! No crocheting.
  3. Do you have any allergies? Lavender, bio washing powder.
  4. How long have you been knitting? Can you knit in the womb?
  5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? No sorry.
  6. What's your favorite scent? Vanilla
  7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes! But no bits of nuts in the chocolate. I'm not allergic - I just don't like the combination.
  8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I make stitch markers with wire and beads. Love spinning too. Have tried most things.
  9. What kind of music do you like? Nothing in particular - all very random. I listen to lost of audio books of old style detective stories.
  10. Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? No.
  11. What's your favorite color? I love red. Most colours are good apart from dark blue.
  12. What is your family situation? I have a boyfriend. No kids, yet! No pets either although I do love cats.
  13. What are your life dreams? That office politics ceases to exist!
  14. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? Soft, chunky cotton.
  15. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? None - apart from acrylic. Well - cat/dog hair too.
  16. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? Making pom poms although I don't have a pompom maker yet. Hint hint!
  17. What are your favorite item/s to knit? Socks maybe? Blanket sqaures as well. One day I'll have the biggest afghan ever!
  18. What are you knitting right now? Kaffe fasset v-neck, socks, blanket squares, cardigan...yes, I have one or two things on the go.
  19. What do you think about ponchos? No, no, no.
  20. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? I am in love with my denise needles. It's double points that I loathe.
  21. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Not fussed.
  22. Are you a sock knitter? Yes - but on two straights. have tried all other methods and prefer this one.
  23. How did you learn to knit? Mother
  24. How old is your oldest UFO? Started it about 8 months ago - still gets a few rows done every now and again.
  25. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? Cats! especially Mr Tinkles from the film 'cats and dogs'
  26. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas although I'nm not religous at all.
  27. Is there anything that you collect? Everything, according to my boyfriend!
  28. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? Interweave and am sorting one out for Vogue. I don't like the UK knitting mags.
  29. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on? Have just bought one online - can't think of any although I do love detective stories.
  30. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another?? Nope...I am a bit obsessive about patterns. I hoard them but hardly ever knit from them.

But seriously folks...

I was going to post about how I'd been to VV Rouleaux yesterday and got dissed again by the sloan ranger on checkout. But then someone sent me this link. (TURN DOWN SOUND OR WEAR HEADPHONES). I followed another link and ended up at this blog.


This guy is amazing. A really good writer (he seems to be a journalist) and thoughtful etc - I'm very taken with it. He's prompted me to order Tim Collin's Rules of Engagement and to look up the text of the speech he made to his men before the Iraq war started. Now I'm not a political person - I like my life to be easy and full of wool. But I have really enjoyed reading this guy's current posts and it reminds me that getting dissed by a sloan ranger is just so petty and boring. They're silly expensive anyway - much better to wait for ally pally.

In general I have been having a very boring time but am off to Mum's for R&R this weekend so won't be posting. Pooch has made her promise to let him watch cricket the whole time. I have my alphabet blanket although I'm still on the same letter. It's a xmas present so can't tell you which one but it will spell their name.

As evidence of my boring life (and in an effort to hold true to Nickerjac's rule about not posting without having something to show....behold my office.
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This is the view from my corner. Note how I have highlighted the sheer volume of Samir's hair. I mean, is it actually illegal to take pics of people in your office without telling them? Anyway, to continue...
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This is Vishanti. She's not actually hurt we were just mucking about with the old bandages they were throwing away from the first aid packs.
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This is my desk, containing the essential tool for living - a slinky spring. That thing keeps me going, seriously. But wait....what can this be.....
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Believe me, this is the only fun thing about my job - the electric stapler dad 2 bought me about 4 years ago for xmas. Quite possibly the most useful present I have ever received.
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Don't worry almost done. This is Hannibal. Because I also love it when a Plan comes together. He and I share a joke every now and again (and this is with me taking the pills). There is also debbie mcgee on another wall who is my icon for public understanding work - if debbie mcgee would understand that sentance then it's fine for public consumption etc etc. She is wearing a nice blue dress and silver shoes. And finally..... the view from my window.
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My Director actually came down here this morning and asked me whether I thought we needed new blinds. I don't know though - if they were good enough for this desk owner 40 years ago should I really be criticising them in their off milk paleness now?

Wednesday 7 September 2005

Oooo yeah

So there I was at NWKnit tog last night with that accursed teva durham cardi pattern and I'm at the point where it says 'after 1/2 an inch start to divide for sleeves' at which point it says 'join another ball of yarn'. JOIN ANOTHER BALL OF YARN????? I'm already knitting with 2 balls of yarn and this isn't intarsia, it's all one colour. So Teva wants me to have FOUR BALLS OF YARN enagaged at the same time. Yeah so I'm obviously carrying another two balls around with me.

You know what? I hate that cardigan.

It is afterall knitted with the drunk yarn. Which incidentally is shedding all over me. I hate it. From this day forth that is a ufo and I'm reclaiming my denises from it and putting it on a holder.

So instead I have inpetuously begun an alphabet blanket in the merino aran I got from coldspring. I won't forget that loop d bloody loop thing though.

Sunday 4 September 2005

my name is byrne...and i am funky

Hat finished and though I say so myself it looks rather fine as well as extremely mental.
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In fact, it looks like my good self aha tra la. Now some people will tell you, the blaggards, that I only loathe dpn's because I can not use them. Aha, not so. But it is true I will avoid using them because I HATE them. Look at the suffering they cause me when I am forced to put them to work.
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Have had a good but busy weekend. Pooch and I have a new flat sorted. Got it on Saturday and it's near Canada Water in docklands and even bigger than the current one. I went to Barnes to see Nikerjac in the afternoon. I know I keep saying it but I do love it down there. She also thinks that it is an actual wedding (the cast off thing) with the two named individuals who's names I can't recall actually tying (or perhaps 'knitting' fnah fnah) the knot. My flower garland yarn should be waiting for me at work today. Other things waiting for me are a hellishly busy day and news of the new job as the deadline was Friday.

Yesterday was a momentous occasion but to understand quite how momentus I need to prepare you with a little history. Mum and Dad divorce when I am 4 - Dad goes off with his secretary and in due course have 2 kids. The eldest is Freddie (female, 17), the youngest is Piers (male, 13). Alex and sister spend alternate weekends with Dad up to about age 14 maybe? Then Johanna (secretary) and Sian (original sister, 25) fall out big style and no more home visits allowed. End to seeing Freddie and Piers who has just been born. Piers seen once when 3 weeks old when accidentally bumped into them. Skip forward 12 years (last summer). Alex goes mental big style and is hospitalised, gets out and starts campaign to see siblings basically in case she tops herself big style in the near future. So...phew... meeting takes place on neatral ground between F, P, me, Johanna and dad. Is extraordinaryly wonderful and mentions are made of a visit to their house for bbq's and whatnot. Skip forward a year to a month ago. Me reminding dad big style that it's been a year and no visit has happened. Skip forward to yesterday and there is a nervous me plus the reassuring prescence of Mr Pooch heading down to Canterbury to visit the house they've lived in for about 10 years for the first time and to spend a family day with my extended family.

IT WAS WICKED! I had such a good time. Freddie I have seen a couple of times recently and she was on good form doing physics summerwork as school starts again today. I was running round their gorgeous garden making plane noises and Pooch was lapping up the gorgeous views. We had lunch, sat about and chatted and then Piers, who had been umpiring some cricket, got home with Johanna. You know those strings of firecrackers where you set one off and then the rest catch and you get a series of explosions. That's kind of like Piers. I have no experience of teenage boys so I don't know if this is normal but he is SO energetic! Pooch was running round the garden as well after a while and there was lots of playing catch and stuff. And then there was a bbq which Piers and Pooch cooked between them. That was lovely too with gorgeous salads and the 6 of us all sitting round the table in the garden. Ooo I can't really describe it but it was so so wonderful. It may have taken decades to come but it well, I was going to say it was worth the wait wich it wasn't but then it did go someway to making up for it. I just hope it continues - I'll need to keep up the momentum with Dad. I love my Dad x