Your monthly blog post

LOL

G'day all!

Apparently I can no longer blog more than once a month.

Mea slacka, I admit.

So what's been happening here?

I've done a lot of knitting recently.  Ahem I may have bought a fair whack of yarn too.  So much for not spending money.

I've been sick as a dog this week.  Gah.  I haven't been really ill with a virus for years - last time I was this sick was six years ago.  Man that was a fun month, DH having lost his job whilst we were getting new visas in Oz for said job, having to pack up and move everything we wanted to keep from the States, sell off the car, get rid of stuff.... all with me coughing my lungs up.  And the lymph node that came up that I thought was from a chest infection actually being breast cancer...  oh joy oh bliss.

I even went to urgent care (the walk in, no appointment needed doc in a box that you see when your GP is booked out) cos I felt so crappy.   He confirmed it was probably viral and threw a heap of meds (not ABs) at it.  I had to sleep on the couch for three nights cos I couldn't lie down flat on the bed (my back and neck thank me...).  Anyway, I seem to be getting better now.  Still sick but I managed to walk 10,000 steps today and only coughed my lungs up from the tickle four or five times instead of half the day... but still I'm at the point where everything in my chest and guts and back hurts from the coughing.

If only I had a voice!  It went again and it's getting worse after the tickle coughing fits.  I can whisper more loudly and reliably than I can talk but they tell me to try to talk normally cos whispering is bad for my voice.  LOL  The tickle and the laryngitis are most likely linked.

I've not done much quilting recently - I've got a quilt on the machine at the moment but it seems that I'm more interested in knitting quick warm woollies for myself.  Me me and me only.  DH hasn't asked for anything.

I'm doing the current WestKnits knitalong.  Spoilers follow, though my pics are not up to date with my progress.  I'll be interested to see where the next two clues go from here.

The start was intriguing

The middle enticing
But by the end of clue one, I was ready for a rest!

My yarn choices so far are Madtosh Cosmic Wonder Dust and Coquette.  I have to add a third yarn to the mix, and am tossing up between an intense purple or a bright leafy green.

I'm also knitting Tin Can Knits' Harvest.  I've had some yarn sitting around for umm well I bought it in 2009 (Stonehedge Mill Shepherd's Wool in light turquoise)  and it is lovely and I've been thinking to do a cabled jumper in it but that is too much effort.  Instead, I'm making a simple, classic cardie in it.

Swatches of stocking stitch.  Pity I can't aim the
phone straight.  LOL

The shoulder

Front band

I've also been busy knitting other stuff, like these fingerless mitts and cowl in Knitted Wit's DK weight yarn in 12th Man.  Why yes, they are the local American football team's colours.  No I have not been converted to actually following NFL but a) I like the colours and b) if I barrack for any teams around here, it has to be the local ones.  I take an interest to see how their season is tracking cos it is important around here, very important.  BTW this yarn did not marinate in stash for years - I bought it and started winding it the same night and the things were done in less than a week.




I really need a modelled shot of the cowl but
I've been crook and look manky.



I also knitted myself a nice cowl in a week.  I need to weave the ends in and block it and get shots of it.  For the nonce, here's detail of it.  (Sweet Georgia DK in umm erp...I'll find the label at some point and Madtosh silk wool in Cosmic Wonder Dust)

Pretty. I guess I should make some mitts to go with it.

 
You might be noticing that there's not a lot of pics of the landscape.  I have a gazillion pics of autumn leaves that I've been sharing on google photos/G+ - anyone remember that?  I am sure to haul some out for you.  But I've been nowhere very interesting over the last month - we've either been busy or the weather has been lousy or more recently I've been crook.

Spotted these on today's stagger, ahem, walk


To be honest, the weather has done the usual November thing and gone pretty manky.  Today is the first nice day we've had in a while - it wasn't that bad early in the week but today we saw sun after three days of rain that dumped about 100mm on us.  November is a hard hit - not only does the weather go totally feral but we lose daylight saving on the first Sunday in November.  Sunset suddenly is before 5pm and oh does that cut down on the apparent length of time you have to do stuff during your day.  At least it didn't rain all day long on my birthday...

We're finishing up on these

And the leaves are nearly gone from most trees


It makes this the worst month of the year for me, following other months of frantic Oh No November is Coming as I realise the weather is slowly degrading into greyness and rain.  The days are under 9 hours long, if you get to see the sun which isn't guaranteed by any means at this point, and depressing.  Hence the frantic knitting of colourful and bright stuff and liberal application of vitamin D3 capsules.

The most gorgeous little Japanese maple

Who needs to go to Portland with this beauty here?


BTW, do yourself a favour if you are a geek and get along to see The Martian.  I have to say if my botany tutors had been like him I probably would've done botany as a major rather than doing it as a hobby.  (Yes, I see some guys as being attractive.)  After seeing the movie, I devoured the book.

The local bike path was lined beautifully

A lovely path at the zoo

Autumn leaves breaking hearts



The last month or so has involved a lot of dithering.  Dithering is boring, and gives no good stories to tell.  It's also annoying because I was not getting the information I needed to make a decision until DH stepped in and told the information owners to pull their fingers out.  Now I'm two months behind on something that is pretty important simply because noone bothered to give us a timeline (and still haven't, they've just given us dribs and drabs).


Sunset tonight.  First one in ages!

Note that I have not mentioned recent world events.  I don't tend to talk politics on my blog and this is politics at play.  I'll just say I would've thought previous guerilla wars would've taught vital lessons but maybe not.

Anyway, have a good week (or rest of your week since it's already Monday in most of the world), and

anon!

Comments

  1. Posting once a month sounds good to me. My posts are getting further apart too.By golly, you've been a busy knitter!! You'll be set with lots of colourful warm cosy things to wear when it gets cooler.The first photo looks like a moths wing. That firey maple is out of this world!! Thanks for the tip about The Martian, Phil's been wanting to see it but we haven't found the time, maybe we'll try this weekend.

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  2. Glad you are feeling better. Love the knit-along, but that is just the first clue?? Wow!! So many beautiful autumnal pictures, they are lovely. We have tickets to The Star Wars in the middle of the night, taking someone's niece and sister. Should be fun. Missed The Martian because I was poorly. Roll on the wellness everywhere.

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