Yes, it's been a while...

Man, it's been ages! So much for my 'must post regularly to blog' ethos!

In my defence, it has been a strange strange year, one that has kept me muchly occupied (though still allowing for precious knitting and reading opportunities). In brief - really really sick, then a little bit better, then really REALLY sick, then major surgery, followed by many long weeks of recouperation. Oh, and I also moved house. Which brings us pretty much up to date, won't bore you with the details!

Fun lined up for this week (which I will do my best to comment on as I go) - tomorrow there's a lecture in the library in the Ilac Centre, entitled "Science and Culture in Victorian Dublin", sounds fascinating and will be doing my bestest to attend (details here). May also drop in to This Is Knit, god knows it's been a while, particularly ages since a decent stash of my stitchmarkers has been delivered!


I've made a lot. 59 to be exact. No, not 60, as I ran out of hoops. Perhaps if I hadn't spent the bulk of my afternoon beforehand making earrings and stuff I'd have gotten more done, (and had more hoops!) but what the hey! And no, my presentation isn't great, but I'm rushing here to get other stuff done, plus my camera skills are non-existent. But you get the jist!

Thursday sees the relaunch of This Is Knit and their fab new premises in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre. Lots of yarns, lots of peoples I haven't seen in ages, so really looking forward to this one. After that, I think Friday will be a quiet night in for me and my knitting!

Knitting-wise, I started on a variation of a half-Pi shawl a couple of days ago. Nice pattern, FABULOUS yarn, this will definitely be my 'go-to' yarn for all future shawl-knitting projects! (Thank you, Constant Knitter!). Was going great, til I discovered this morning that my stitch count is off. And I have no idea how or why. So I'm thinking some improvisation is called for, cuz there's no way in HELL I'm unpicking 311 stitches and many many rows!

Will keep you posted as to how it turns out... maybe...

So in summary...

Okay, so it's been a while since my original post, and, while I doubt that anyone's reading, I want to get myself into the habit of posting regularly!

I thought it might be an idea to maybe outline what I think this blog is going to be about. I initially started it thinking that it would be a blog about knitting and other crafty stuff, but not so sure now. Maybe it'll also be about what books I'm reading, what science I'm doing, an online diary if you will!

The big gap since my first post was because I was off on holidays. Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria, a lovely lovely place that we go to quite regularly. Just missed the volcanic ash cloud so flew out on time, but fun and games ensued when we got to our hotel and realised it was closed. For renovations. Until July! We had to find somewhere else fairly sharpish, as it was already late in the evening and the receptionists in most places were already gone home.

Finally did, got food, got sleep, and found an alternative place for the week the following morning. If anyone is going to Gran Canaria, I can most sincerely recommend the Corona Cedral! The staff were lovely (the owner was on holidays but drove in just to check us in and make sure we'd everything we needed), fabulous apartments (really clean & spacious), and a great big balcony, big enough for a table and four chairs AND two sunbeds! And for the perfect finishing touch, every morning a little bag with two fresh breadrolls was hung on our front door! All lovely, fabulous weather, and unfortunately now we're back home, successfully avoiding yet another volcanic ash cloud en route. I'll be honest, I was half-hoping we'd be stranded for another week! A little depressing coming back to the rain... though it is nice and sunny today (just as well, as I've two suitcase-loads of washing to get through!).

Normally I fly through a whole bunch of knitting and reading while I'm away, but didn't do too much this time. This could have been something to do with the fact that, while I did indeed pack my second ball of lovely sock yarn (Drops Fable), I kinda forgot to include to pouch that had the first ball. Which was attached to the started sock (just a simple sock pattern), which was of course attached to the knitting needles. D'oh! I had another project on the go as well, Spiral Cowl by Keri McKiernan, but I missed my socks. I always need a second project (short attention span), as this one got real repetitive real fast! Turning out very pretty though, a nice bright turquoise colour. Shiny too, courtesy of the yarn (Mirasol Tupa in Aquamarine).

Book-wise, I went for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but again, needed to switch books half way through the week, due to aforementioned crappy-ass attention span. Book Number 2 was Quantum, by Manjit Kumar. While I'm only a little way into this, may I say it is all kinds of wonderful so far! Even if you're not a quantum physics nut...
;o)

First ever post

Okay, so here it goes, my first post...

I'm constantly talking to myself, so figured if I can amuse or entertain with my ramblings, why not post them here? Wafflings on life, love, the meaning of knitting, creative ramblings, kitchen disasters, and my ill-spent free time. And other stuff.

(actually, being completely honest, I reckoned that posting such wafflings online might reflect better on my sanity than just talking to the wall)!

And with that, my noisy little brain has suddenly gone very quiet, and I can't think of anything at all to say... funny that... maybe later! Maybe for now I'll just sign off and go see what this post looks like on my brand-spanking-new blog-page thingy...

Laters!