autumn in case you missed it

today began in the dark, again, at the ungodly hour of 6am, catching an early train to meet a contractor at one of my sites, who then DID NOT TURN UP TILL 1030. not that i'm bitter or anything. really.

it got a lot better as i knocked off at 1230 for a half day (or 3/4 when you start at bloody 6) to go meet h in canterbury and have a lovely drink-sodden afternoon. which we did. i had a bit of time to kill on the way home and nipped by canterbury cathedral -

and my favourite - the west gate

i know - blurry (see alcohol soaking, previously) but imagine seeing those gates closed against you as a pilgrim , having walked for weeks. the weather would have been much the same, i imagine.

canterbury looks good in the fog.

and in case you ever wondered - 

well indeed.

jamming

n and the boys are practising tonight in the living room so i am holed upstairs this evening. it’s quite fantastic in many ways. proximity and boredom have forced me to undertake several tasks i have been putting off for some time. i have reduced the clothing mountain on my chest of drawers to a few paltry mis-matched socks. generally i find it saves a great deal of time to simply put the clothes on top of the drawers rather than into them. that is, right up until the time when you have four minutes to get out of the house before you’ll miss the train and you can’t find your navy cardigan/bra/white tshirt etc etc and you rummage hopelessly through the clothes mountain swearing to yourself that tonight you will put these away like a normal person and get up ten minutes earlier tomorrow in the bargain if only please for the love of god you can find that cardigan/bra/tshirt. it is at this point that the whole thing literally falls apart.


not only that, but i have put away the (little worn) summer clothes and pulled out the heavy duty wool jumpers. the cardigans never even got put away this year – for once out of necessity rather than idleness.

i decided upon my winter mitten plan of attack (5 pairs before christmas will require a plan not to mention fortitude, determination, and a high boredom threshold. no problems there then *cough*).

and best of all i booked lunch at a swish canterbury restaurant next week for my friend h and i. we have decided we will be restrained and chose the four-course tasting menu (with wine). on a tuesday. i’ve booked a half day. i love being a contractor.

this all has gone some way to making up for a crazy-pie day at work. it’s just so busy it’s hard to know where to start. i know i must be missing so much i should be doing but i just don’t have the time. by the end of october i will have worked 5 out of the last 6 weekends. for every email i delete/archive 6 more come in. it’s carnage.

yet somehow what needs to get done gets done and i am still above water, for now at least. and at least tomorrow i will be able to find my cardigan.

faith

so i finally listed out all the knitting projects i want to get done before christmas, with approximate guesses of time required to knit them. as long as i start in august everything should be just fine.

some fo's*

* finished objects in knitting land. there are wip's (works in progress) and fo's.

and two more different projects probably do not exist.  first up - bam! pow! these are for the most awesome geo. when i saw the pattern i knew she had to have them, even if i am still learning colourwork and my technique is, well, a bit ropey in places. good practice and super fun to knit

the second is my first attempt at lacework. well, second attempt really as the first incarnation of this got frogged (it was for the best) (haha - it's still on the sidebar!! seascape. ergh.). i swore at this more than anything else so far, and i think i probably knit the whole thing about three times for all the ripping back i had to do. it is unlikely you will ever see anything like this here again, but - but - oh the wool was beautiful - a cashmere/silk/merino blend, hand-dyed. and by the last quarter, i wasn't ripping out quite so much and (don't tell anyone) sort of kind of liked it a bit. we'll see. it's a gift as well - it should be arriving to its destination soon.

 lace is amazing - as you're knitting, the project looks like a packet of dried ramen noodles. you think, i am expending this amount of mental energy, sweat, and tears for spaghetti junction? then you block it (soak it in water, very carefully squeeze dry, and pin out into shape). the pattern pops out, angels sing, and you are hooked. it's a dirty world, knitting. don't say i didn't warn you.

cutting it close

the amount of wool left over from my latest baby jumper project: