I got to meet Cath Kidston today. She's very cool, and had an excellent dress on. I have this major urge to take up sewing now, particularly after I randomly found a sewing machine in the loft. It would take up the spare three minutes I have in between spinning and knitting nicely! Especially as I now have a signed Cath Kidston Make book with lots of ideas.

I can't decide if this feeling of doneness about Christmas that I have is because I actually managed to organise myself this year ( I made lists, brought presents, and have wrapping paper, scissors, sellotape strips and stamps and everything is running to plan at the moment) or is actually a feeling of impending doom in disguise (being organised is a new thing for me). I hope I don't discover ten vital undone things on Christmas Eve!

Trying to be tidier and organised is going well. I don't often have that niggle of things left undone, or that vague guilt about not doing things now, and it makes life a lot easier. I just hope I can continue it into 2009!

Perhaps I'm easily overexcited, but I've been packing my bag for the Knitting Show at Ally Pally, trying to remember useful things like tickets and show guides, and the possibilities for shopping and seeing and touching and playing with things sends a tingle down my spine. Knitting has really brought out my creative tendencies. There are limitless options in colour and texture and style, and I can do anything I want with them. I never used to really think of myself as creative - mulling over GCSE options I considered GCSE Art or Design, or something like that, and I was literally laughed out of the room by the staff. But now I really feel much freer to experiment and try things out, and play with colour. Tomorrow will be a good day.

It'll have to be a fairly cheap day though. I've bought a lot of clothes in the last couple of weeks. The proliferation of black and purple has made me so happy, and there are some really well cut and designed clothes for the busty/hourglassy among us, particularly in Kew and Hobbs and Jigsaw. Never let it be said I have cheap tastes sadly.  I think I'll be doing a lot of shopping this season - the last year or two has been pretty poor for good stuff.

Splendid find in the Oxfam Shop today. Several early Joan Aiken proof copies. I have a soft spot for Joan Aiken, even if I don't always like some of her more popular Dido Twite ones. Actually, I like her in the same way I like Eva Ibbotson - some of her books are brilliant, some good, and some don't do a thing for me. She has a feel for places that really drags you in. I read Night Birds on Nantucket on Nantucket during a backpacking holiday, and despite the revisionist history it really did get the atmosphere of the island. I picked up The Shadow Guests, Bridle the Wind and The Teeth of The Gale. Annoyingly, there wasn't a copy of Go Saddle the Sea, which means I may have to wait to read the last two until I find one. I'm in the mood for the sort of book the proof of Teeth of the Gale lovingly describes as "brimming with historical detail and peopled with marvelous characters and superb villains". There's even a bit of swashbuckling on offer.

It's been a good day if you discount work. I got home to find tickets and the show guide for the Knitting Show at Ally Pally, which made me tingle all over. All those shopping possibilities. One of the Shetland wool people will have a stall there, and I'm thinking that the yarn for Venezia  (scroll down) will be hard to resist. Is anyone else going, particularly on Friday?

On the same road (Marylebone High Street, accursed place) in the space of a few hundred yards an innocent traveller might come across The White Company, Cath Kidston, Daunt Books, Monsoon, Brora and other such delightful boutiques.

I am not innocent. I also have no self control. See.



And I was only looking for the bloody Oxfam Bookshop yesterday!

Has anyone seen my Livejournal mojo? I think it got left behind in March. Maybe it's stuck in my head, along with two dozen posts that never made it to the screen. Alors.

I would like to be winning the Euromillions tonight please. Just because I have bought my second ever lottery ticket. Two lottery tickets in 26 years. And I won £10 last time! Winning would mean a lot of yarn. And a lot of books. And a house with a cat. But then maybe I'd be lazier than ever if I didn't have to get up and go to work.

One of the nice nurses at work has confimed that I definitely have a ganglion on my wrist.

Then I made the mistake of using Google. 

Google images wasn't too dire, but the main Google results? If anyone comes anywhere near me with a bible I'm running for the hills!

Alternative Uses for the Bible that don't involve translating it into LOLcat

Edit:

People who are have expressed an interest in bashing my ganglion and who are henceforth banned from coming anywhere near me with large suspicious heavy objects in their hands:

(1) My boss
(2)kerrilouise
(3) minniemoll, particularly with a hammer

You are all very vicious people!

Dear charity muggers on Carnaby Street,

If you dance around in front of me like that again, I will knee you in the balls . And I have a good aim. I said no politely. What more do you want?

It may be that I have some strange mental quirk (stop sniggering minniemoll) but I am unable to tweeze my own eyebrows. If it wasn't for the fact that I don't wish my brow to be considered a last resting place for a particularly hariy caterpillar I wouldn't do any more than waft one of those facial wax strips at them every so often as a last resort. I just can't deal with pulling out my own eyebrow hairs. I'll pay people to de-hair me, but I literally cannot do it myself. It hurts. And my eyes water. And I'm a wimp. 

It may just be that some people can do eyes, and some people can't. I'm not particularly good with mascara, am mildly perturbed at the idea of trying to put a contact lens in, and I'm not sure that I've ever successfully managed to use an eyelash curler. Maybe this should be part of my General Improvement Programme (Befriend Your Eyes subsection).

Anyway, because I have just discovered threading (it's marvellous! and hurts less than waxing!) and because I am a Nosy Nellie I wondered what you do with your eyebrow hair.

Cheap, Cheerful and Unbiased Poll (I need a paid account)

(1) I am a sadist masochist sadist I enjoy causing myself pain and pull my own hairs out with instruments of torture.

(2) I waft wax strips at myself occasionally  on a more or less effective basis.

(3) I pay someone to smear hot wax on my face and rip the defenseless hairs out with a piece of cloth.

(4) I am a Wookie

(5) Threading! Yay!

(6) I am proudly au naturale.

(7) OWIWEIC

I have just enjoyed a whole bowl of delicious mussels in a white wine sauce with lovely brown bread to mop up the juices. I managed to get lots of drips all down my front, but it was all very tasty indeed. Seafood lovers of the world unite!

I am going to continue enjoying life's litle pleasures by watching old episodes of CSI whilst finishing the last few rows of my Colinette shawl. Life is good.

<minor ick here>

Is it just me though, or is anyone else really annoyed by that add for stool softeners that keeps popping up during ad breaks. I mean, really, how many people do you know who carry stool softeners in their handbag and pull them out to show their friends during a lovely discussion about bowel habits. In a cafe no less!

</minor ick>

I also manged to get some decent pictures of my unfortunately increased Kidsilk Haze collection. Warning: woolporn under the cut.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row



Alas, for my yarn garden has grown. I have no self control and have resorted to the instant gratification of Buy-It-Now listings on eBay. 

Is it wrong to sit at home and stroke your yarn?

I am sitting in Golden Square and the sun is shining and there is free wifi and cranberry and raspberry cheesecake from Fresh and Wild. I am listening to The Cure. I have just spent a happy hour in Liberty's wool department choosing wool for a new project and talking to other knitters. I am very fond of London some days.

<self pity> At this precise moment in time my right knee is approaching a shade of red generally only seen at pedestrian crossings  Apparently some of the ingredients in Deep Heat do not agree with my skin. My skin is demonstrating this by changing shades and cranking up the heat level to 911. Hmmm. I wish it would take to using placards and loudspeakers instead. All I wanted was to stop my knee hurting, and it still hurts in the original way. :( </self pity> 

On the other hand, thanks to a day trip to France at the weekend I've been enjoying croissants all week. I managed to restock my supply of moisturiser and grenadine and, err, visit Sephora. I have a lovely box full of stuff. The star find though was something I've been searching for for some time. Why did I have to go all the way to France to find a black single breasted lightweight mac with waist shaping and a slightly flared skirt-style bottom? Not that I'm at all picky.

There are a few less pieces of mustard herring in the jar. Alors. I think I shall have to go back to Ikea more often. I mean, really, twice in two weekends just isn't enough. The Croydon store seems to be bigger than Lakeside, and to have a few different things. I managed to get more boxes and drawer dividers, so the 'streamline my stuff' plan is still going ahead. 

I built the Ikea mini drawer cabinet I bought last time, and have filled it to the brim with wool and boxed up a lot of the knitting magazines I'm not reading at the moment (this does include the 20 or so back issues of Vogue Knitting I imported from America. I may not have knitted anything from them but they're pretty). Pictures to follow. I also scaled the excitement of turning out my underwear and sweater drawers and using the new Ikea drawer dividers to resort everything I've kept. No pictures to follow as I can't think of any reason why anyone would want to see my M and S underwear.

Otherwise, nothing terribly exciting has happened. I've carried on with small successes in sorting, tidying and replying to things in a prompt manner, and being thwarted by small irritants such as work, and having to use public transport. And being thoroughly annoyed by Get Knitted, who seem to think that despite the fact that I placed an order 9 days ago, and they debited my account days ago, that the appropriate time to actually post the flipping order is after I've emailed them to ask where it is.  I resisted the urge to send rude and/or sarcastic emails asking what they'd have done about posting the order if I hadn't asked them where it was.  No explanation and no apology, except to reply to my query with a despatch note makes for shoddy service in my book. They go on the sh*t list now, which mostly consists of 'people I refuse to order from unless I absolutely have to' which is probably veering into cutting off your nose to spite your face territory, but does something to alleviate my bad temper.

Send chocolate please.

Our father, who created Ikea
Hallowed be thy name

Despite the fact that half the populaion of Kent and Essex seemed to be there, I was glad to get to Ikea today. Someone on my flist (Annoyingly, I can't remember who, because it was a very useful sort of post and I should re-read it) mentioned that they were thinking of having a big sort out because they were buying things that they already had, because they couldn't find/didn't know they already had it. I have a lot of junk and I thought this was a pretty good idea. In line with my general air of trying to think about and do things in the next month or so. A lot of stuff can be thrown out, donated to a charity shop or otherwise passed on, but I have a lot of free range knitting equipment and supplies and other bits and pieces that would be all the better for being coralled.

So, I braved Ikea with my mother, and despite the crowds and a shortage of time we both got what we wanted and didn't argue once. This augurs well for our Sicilian trip in April, which I was a little worried about. I generally get on well with her, but we can wind each other up sometimes. I got a narrow 6 drawer cabinet for excess wool, and a number of lidded boxes and magazine files for storage. Ikea also has a new style for the Alvine cushion range (emboridered cushions) so I got a couple of those too. Now I have all this new storage what I hope will happen is that over the next couple of weeks I'll manage to get a lot of stuff boxed and labelled so I have a better idea of where everything is, and my room will be a lot neater. What I think is quite likely to happen is that I'll ignore it all for a week, faff around moving a few bits the next week, and at about 11 pm one day in the next week get annoyed at myself for not doing anything and then try and move everything at 11 o clock at night. We shall see.

Also, in the interests of full disclosure. The number one reason for going to Ikea instead of The Pier, or Habitat or anywhere else? Pickled and marinated herrings. Absolutely heavenly. Even better than anchovies marinated in oil and lemon.

PPS, seen in Sainsbury's today - Champagne Marmite. Hmmm. I am undecided on this. Generally I'm not a fan of messing with the brown stuff, but it sounds so amusing. I may have to get some.

Every time I see the LiveJournal page that says x weeks since last post I feel a little guilty. I must have gone through fifty or more posts in my head, but none of them seem to have made it as far as the keyboard. I seem to have been living in a state of inertia and laziness over the last few months, but I'm not desperately surprised at this. I think I'm one of those people who needs a good poke now and again to get moving. Guilt at things left undone sometimes stirs me, but not always, and not often enough.

Anyway, I refuse to make any resolutions this month because I'll spend far too much time breaking them, making excuses as to why I'm breaking them and spending far too much time feeling guilty about breaking them than actually doing anything productive. But I am going to try and think seriously about a number of things this month. Even if I don't do much it will beat stagnating.  Number one is the job. I've been doing this job for nearly two years. It's underpaid, sometimes stressful, and can involve a two hour commute each way. I stay because I like the people I work with and I hate change. I really hate change. This probably explains why I am still living at home, when I should really have moved out a year or more ago. Annoyingly, prospective flatmate has been seconded to Scotland, which makes it a bit harder, but not impassable. I also need to go out more - and not to the same places I've been going to for the last few years. Sure, the easy option involves CSI/NCIS/Bones/L&O/Criminal Minds (do you sense a theme here?) plus knitting, or alternately the great Dorothy Sayers/Georgette Heyer/Janet Evanovich reread I've been enjoying lately, but I can't do that forever. I don't want to look back at my 20's and think, boy that was a great decade for television. I'm not planning on meeting Mr. Right, setting the career world on fire, or travelling the world, although all of those would be nice, but I want more than what I have at the moment.

One of the best things I think I can probably do is the exercise the phrase I can't do that, because....... from my vocabulary.There's actually a pretty good chance I can do that, but I just don't want to. Or am scared to do it. 

Anyway, talk, or type, is cheap as they say, but I hope that in a couple of months I will have done something that makes me feel good. Sure I'll probably still be at home and in the same job, but hopefully I won't have that ever present sense of things undone. And I really hope that there won't be that many unanswered emails in my inbox, or phone calls I haven't returned, because that's really starting to make me ashamed of myself.

Just so I can end on a lighter note, here, knit your own disturbing sweater. Electro music optional if you can hit the mute key quickly enough.

Where would we be without Ebay? I'd be without my priceless copy of the 1985 Vogue Knitting magazine, that's for sure. I bought it to read a couple of the articles, but it kept us in stitches at work all day. The only part that worries me? The fact that the same magazine that had me screaming with laughter in public is the one I am buying modern copies of today, with garments that I think are pretty stylish. What are people going to think of my taste in clothes in 20 years time?

One thing I do know. I will never, ever let my love of knitting get to the point where my jumpers start eating me:



I can't say that that's doing her body any good at all. It's certainly starting to make me wonder what my knitwear is planning.

I am now 25. Not so strangely this doesn't really feel any different from 24. I don't think it means I can do anything else exciting either, except maybe rent a car in the US with ease. Thank you for all your nice comments and emails though. I had many nice presents, including from my boss, who went above the call of duty and beyond to find the yarn shop in Vauxhall and buy me Lantern Moon needles. Well done that man.

This week I have mostly been engaging in buying stuff. From London (scary Jigsaw spending), the internet (way too many books) and France (Booze Cruise!, I don't drink, but there's always grenadine and fruit juice to buy.) I love shopping in France. There's just so much that's different and intriguing, and even the presentation is different from here. 


Try asking for that in a London shop.

I think August is going to be one of those months where I have to force myself to do things. Like post to LiveJournal. Lots of exciting things have happened, but I've had no urge to write about them for which I feel slightly guilty. It's like writing thank you notes and acceptances etc. I know that I should do them, I want to do them, and I know they'll make other people happy, but the actual doing of it seems so laboured. Why do some people have so much get up and go when I have so little? Que sera, sera!

Going to Avenue Q deserved its own post alas, but I shall just mention that it was terribly amusing, the puppet sex may have scared me for life, the bit about the English degree was very true, and I sincerely hope that LucyMe is not at all like Lucy the Slut. Also, am I the only person who has never wanted to search the internet for porn? Anyway, lastminute.com have BOGOF tickets still if you haven't seen it.

I'm spending my days surrounded by property websites and estate agent phone numbers and info sheets as D and I are flat hunting in earnest. We went to see flats in Putney and Southfields last night - both nice, but neither brilliant. We are both picky people so it may take some time. Probably as much as it will take for my work colleagues to stop suggesting that we look for a one bedroom flat. I want to share a flat, not a bed! We're going to see another flat tomorrow, It's over a Thai restaurant (hmmm) and about 20 doors down from a lovely wool shop (yay).

Random Interjection as I dry my hair whilst contemplating this post: Why, when I have lost inches of hair, does it take the same time to dry??

It's my 25th birthday on Monday, but thanks to my crap organisational skills I haven't done much about it. If anyone wants to meet up for frolickery in the next week or so (Not Tuesday, I'm crossing the Channel to denude Carrefour of wine and chocolate) let me know. (dozydormouse, pinkhebe, kerrilouise and ciorstaidh, I will be emailing you about dinner shortly). One of the sorrowful things about getting old is that birthdays seem to have less magic. Although my boss has given me a package that feels suspiciously like knitting needles. I will be gobsmacked if he really has gone into a knitting establishment.

I'm pleased with my free Penguin book, I got The Wall Jumper, which I've never heard of, but it sounds interesting. I always liked that period when I did A Level German, but I was rather scarred by being force read reams of information about Honecker et al in German every day. 

P.S, claire_wain, has the dress model arrived safely? Am crossing my fingers nervously about the state of the post!