Ooops

Well, it's been a while. Sorry about that. Ugh, I need to clean my keyboard. Most of my key need a good bash in order to work, so apologies in advance for my spelling

What's new with me? Quite a lot.

I'm in a new relationship. I took a long time chatting to this one compared to my last one. Online dating does work, but it can be soul destroying. There's a whole new blog in that subject, I think. I dipped in and out of online dating for 2 years, talking to different guys along the way. Talked to some nice guys, some not so nice guys and received a lot of weird messages. I think the one thing I've learned is to be clear about what you want from a relationship, be realistic and figure out what's important and what's negotiable. Not an easy task at the best of times.

New guy is a fellow Welsh person, who is also living in the Midlands. Which is cool. We Welsh have a peculiar sense of humour and it's nice to be able to share that with someone. Things are going great.

I also did an intensive course in counselling. I did a course about 18 months ago over 10 weeks and although I got a qualification, it wasn't the right kind to go on with if I wanted to take it up as a career. My ex put me off doing the course, but after we split up, I took some time out to figure out what I really wanted to do (at the same time as I was thinking about what I wanted from a relationship), so decided that I wanted to become a counsellor.

I now have a place (conditional upon a reference from work, but that's a formality) at Uni on counselling course - Certificate in Higher Education in Counselling. It's a part time course over 2 years. If I pass, I can apply for another course, which is a Diploma which is another 2 years. The course starts in January Yay!!

I have designed a sock pattern, but I've yet to finish writing it up. I don't really like writing sock patterns (on the basis of this one pattern!). I think it's because I really enjoy knitting socks and can knock up a pair of stocking stitch / ribbed socks quite easily from memory. It's tricky to have to think about the steps involved when I do them automatically. I will try and get the pattern written up soon, but I can't promise it'll be any good or comprehensive though. I'm crap at following sock patterns as well, because although there are some amazing sock patterns out there, it means I have to deviate from what I like doing. Which is probably quite good for me actually :)

I am somewhat addicted to spinning lately as well. I really want to become a better spinner. For some reason I'm convinced I'm not as good as I could be so I've been trying to practise. There are spinners guilds locally, but they tend to be on far off little nooks of Leicestershire, or meet on a Saturday (and I work on a Saturday). I am spinning somewhere between laceweight and 4ply (the yarn gets thicker and thinner) and my yarn is still slightly slubby. Although it is getting more even as I practise. I notice it's dependent on which fibre I spin with too. BFL comes out lovely and smooth, while the Shetland and silk blend I spun with is more slubby (lumps of silk, usually) and fuzzy (that would be the Shetland then).

Think I need to check out some videos on youtube or something. Not now though as it's 1:30 am and my bed is calling me :)

Getting there,,,

I am now off work for 10 days (well 9, if you don't count today).

I have no initial plans really, I'm not going anywhere. It's just that in the run up to Christmas, I get a bit stressed out - especially working in retail, so I need a bit of me time.

I've been doing a fair bit of knitting for other people, what with Christmas and everything so I've been doing some knitting for me. So I have 2 scarves and a pair of socks on the needles. One of the scarves is a self designed scarf; the pattern will be coming soon!

I've been using the software that I got for Christmas and I must say, it makes things so much easier to write up. Mistakes are that much easier to weed out. I made a couple of changes to the way the pattern was written. It looked a bit silly to have the main design in stocking stitch and the edging in garter, so I have done the edging in stocking stitch as well. It will look amazing when it's been blocked.

A new yarn shop has opened in Leicester on Queens Road in Clarendon Park. It's a nice shop, but I think it's got room for improvement. They have some of the more unusual stuff there, which is tricky to get hold of, which is really good for an independent shop to have, but they also stock Sirdar and Debbie Bliss, which is available in pretty much any other local yarn shop. The stock is a bit sparse too. I expected to see a lot more yarn there and they could do with a comfy sofa where people can sit and knit - they even have that in John Lewis. They have the room!

I also noted a lack of stitch markers. I am going to make some up and take some down to see if they will have them on sale or return.

I have plans to complete my CV this week as well, plus I want to have a bit of a declutter. I'd best get on with it then :)

Buggeration

Damn.

I've been designing a pair of socks using a cable pattern I found in a book. I'd started and restarted these socks as I was struggling with them. Just as I thought I had the pattern down and was ready to start the heel flap of the first sock, this months copy of The Knitter arrived in the post.

In it was a pattern with the exact same cable. Granted, it was for a purse, knit flat, but still, I'm not happy with going ahead with designing the socks now. So yeah. Frogged :(

Ah well. I will look for another pattern, maybe a nice lace pattern for some socks. In the meantime I fancy designing a scarf.

In other news, I have been eating healthily and exercising on the Wii Fit, which is all good fun. I tend to find that with exercise in my routine, I seem to spend the whole day feeling hungry. I've upped the water intake, just in case it's thirst instead of genuine hunger, but I can guarantee that within an hour of me eating, then I'll be hungry again. I can work with this by drinking something, then having a small, healthy snack. Right now, I'm loving carrots, hoummous, rocket lettuce, corn on the cob, sparkling water and grapes. Not necessarily all together mind!

I'm also getting a tattoo tomorrow - woohoo! It's going to be a rose to symbolise the new me and also because you can't get something gorgeous like a rose without manure - and I've had plenty of that in the past, but it's all in the past now. Time for the beautiful things :)

Finished

I have finished the pattern to the gloves! Hooray!

I have someone doing a test knit for me at the moment, because I want the pattern to be as readable as possible. One of my bugbears is badly written patterns and I wouldn't like a badly written pattern to put people off knitting it. I can't spot any mistakes yet, but sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees!

Also, having realised that not everyone likes bobbles, I was thinking that they can be left out (and the stitch just knit) or substituted with a bead. As long as the bead can be thread onto DK yarn, then I'd say it's good. You'd need 44 suitably sized beads in total.

I also need a name for the pattern. I have to be careful because I have a penchant for odd names. I developed a fondness for the name Doris after watching Gavin and Stacey!

In other news, I've decided to move my etsy shop to folksy and undergo a bit of a name change. I've yet to sort through the jewellery I want to put on there yet, so today I will be going through a few bits and bobs and then taking some good photographs. Once I've got the shop up and running with some actual stock, I'll post again with an update.