Methera

I was intending to do one post a week when I started this - thankfully, I never said that, as it turns out this is the 4th post and we're 5 weeks into the year.

Happy Candlemas, everyone.

So - I crocheted (!) and I steeked.  (And did both at knitting group on Saturday.  People were very kind and let me wave the thing in their general direction, rather a lot.)

For those people who know me, the crochet was the scarier bit.  Every time I pick up a hook, it's a foreign object, and I take to it like a duck takes to football.  But I know I can do the double-crochet method Kate Davies favours, because I did it on a sample in a class with Jared Flood in 2010, and it worked this time.  Taking the scissors to the knitting after that was pretty easy.

Here's the front:



And because all the knitters here will want to see it, here's the back:



(I'll run that extra-long float in!)

And here's both, with a bit of the reinforcement thrown in.



I'm quite chuffed.

It's been a lovely week for meeting knitters I haven't seen for ages, too.  On Tuesday, Lixie and I met and went to the Murder in the Library exhibition at the BL, which is an A-Z history of crime fiction.



If you have half an hour to spare and you're in the King's Cross area, this is a wonderful way of spending time.  (We spent longer, but then we hadn't seen each other for 2-3 years and both review this sort of book quite a lot.) We both came out with a short reading list of unknown authors, and shared some we both enjoyed.

On Thursday, Knitdaisies  came to stay overnight before a conference in Cambridge on the Friday, and we stayed up way too late and ate soufflés and spelt risotto and giggled a lot.

And then on Saturday after knitting I bumped into SusieH and her family in the waiting room at Cambridge station, and had to haul out the new steek to show her...  I haven't forgotten we need to get together soon!

End of an era

This should really have been posted earlier - as it happened last Friday - but I'm on holiday this week between jobs and it's making me even more inclined to procrastination than usual...


About a month ago, when I first gave notice, I made the mistake of telling another cake-maker at work, Leah, that I'd thought of making a fairy-cake for each month I'd been working for the company, but then realised that would be 165 fairy-cakes which might defeat even our workplace's phenomenal appetite for cake... At which point Leah said it was her birthday the day I was leaving so she'd share the work... and a Plan was Hatched.



This slightly strange photo (taken without flash, so blurred - it looked as if the cakes were in a cave with the flash on!) is a first and last one of my former office with five of the eight plates of cake in situ... Maddy, on the left, is taking photos of the other three plates... From the front - poppyseed and apple-pie spice with lemon glace icing and choc sprinkles; coconut with coconut icing; cherry with rose icing and Barbie sprinkles; unadorned choc chip; vanilla with vanilla icing (Leah used a recipe from here, which was absolutely delicious...) By 4pm when my leaving presentation took place, there were a couple of dozen cakes left, and people were swooping in with sandwich-boxes to take some home to their families...


The speechifying and so on went better than I'd feared - nobody dredged up anything too horrendously embarrassing, I didn't burst into tears (just as well I left reading the very sweet comments in the card till the next day) or say something inappropriate. The colleague who did the gift-choosing was pretty inspired too... raiding my Amazon wishlist for this and this; when it gets to me, one of these; and then finding this lovely mini chest of drawers...





I'm still not sure whether he's seen me vanishing into The Pier every week and looking at their pretty things, but this is great. And I realised when I put it up there that it really reminds me of The Luggage, which I've always thought was more like a merchants' chest than the pirates' treasure chest in the Wikipedia illustration... I'm choosing to believe it has the rest of its legs retracted. Cadet is enjoying lounging around on the top of it for the moment, anyway...



Even the Bug got presents - Whittard now do a Catnip tea. Theoretically, you make the tea and give it to the cat to drink once it's cooled. But I couldn't resist just giving her one of the bags and seeing how long it lasted as a cat toy. Quite a long time, as it turns out. Here's a picture no dignified cat could be proud of...

... she is indeed pushing the bag as far up to her nose as possible using both front paws, and giving herself Mickey Mouse whiskers into the bargain... She still hasn't managed to destroy the first one though!

After work went to the pub, where lots of present and a couple of past colleagues came along... I know a few people from work read this, so thanks, guys, for everything...

Gloaming...

Favourite word, favourite time of day, favourite time of year... Bug seems to like it too...

In the coolness of the evening with the doors and windows open, it's easier to catch up on random things...

Went to the Sacred exhibition at the BL last Tuesday (15th) and introduced Jan and Kate (my cousin-in-law, or presumably belle-cousine in French, which is nicer...); you know you've done the right thing when you realise your presence is pretty superfluous to requirements by the time you get the coffee back to the table... Kate then took me out for a very lovely birthday dinner (I think this is probably the final one of the 40th) at Galvin, and it was fabulous. I have also been luxuriating in body sugar and shower wash from these people; thanks, Kate!.

Kate and my cousin Kevin are moving next Friday, estate agents and solicitors willing, to a very nice looking house in Hexham... and they're having a baby (various other powers willing) in August.

And in a segue worthy of Mike Reid at his breakfast-show best, I also got this via e-mail on Monday: look! a niecephew ((c) Franklin) -in-waiting, courtesy of my SIL! (names removed from this because I didn't actually ask them or anything before posting this...) Niecephew is due at the end of November... and brother and SIL are coming to stay here for a few days in June which will be excellent...

The needles are going to be burning this year. There may not be much knitting content on show here though; all parties have this blog address...

And just as a totally random photo, I saw this on the way into work today. Look at those colours...