You can never have too much

The sale at Liberty started yesterday, and the reason that this is so exciting is that they're a huge stockist of Rowan Yarn. I'd been into the store on Monday as a birthday present to myself (which are usually the best kind) and had been told to get there as soon as I could, otherwise I was unlikely to get much choice. Well, thinking to myself 'How bad can it really be? I mean, if I get there at 11, that'll probably be fine, right?' I didn't call in sick, and instead did the responsible thing and came to work, asked my boss if I could take a slightly long lunch, and got to the store at 11.

And the woolpigs had beaten me there.

I'm calling them woolpigs only because I didn't make it there first, and only because even if I wanted to there was no way I could have afforded a stack of wool that is as high as I am. I am not even kidding. These women, clearly more organised (and feeling no guilt at having called in sick to work so they could arrive the second they could) than me, sat around chatting with their life-sized piled of wool. I saw the wool I wanted, and it was in their pile. I felt like going up to them and saying 'I just want to make a top. Just one. Really, you don't need that bit of blue, do you?'

Except that, and this is difficult for the non-knitter to grasp, yes, yes you do really need that blue yarn. And the pink, red, brown, green, black, varigated, and fluffy one that you have no idea what you'll make with it but you NEED THEM to the core of your being. When I told Matt that I was going to the sale, and maybe I should say that I had a doctor's appointment so I could get there earlier, he looked at me. Then looked at our bookshelf, which is starting to become slightly fuzzy from the wool. Then looked at me. Then looked at the 8 skeins of sock wool I'd bought myself as a birthday present to myself. Then looked at me. Clearing his throat, he hesitantly asked, "Um. Do you really think you need more wool?"

The answer is always yes.

Painpainpainpain

I went paintballing - for the first proper time, when we all had guns and were dressed in proper boiler-suits and everything - this weekend. And it was a blast! One of the nicest surprises was that I was not the only person in possession of a rack there, and this is fairly huge because I'm usually the lone female drowning in the testosterone. We ran around outside in the rain, slipping in mud we couldn't see because of the "anti-fog" goggles that lied, tripping over branches as our geeky soft bodies got pelted with very hard small things coming at us very fast. I'm so going again.

However, Monday? Oh god, the pain. The guys I was getting a lift back to London with decided that although I was hurting 20% less than them (higher pain threshold) because I was a woman I got to complain. Whereas they, being all testosterone filled, had to sit there poking themselves in the spectacular bruises that were appearing while grinning like idiots and secretly whimpering. Ah, sometimes being a girly is a good thing.

Gotta knit a little more...

I think that the knitting bug has well and truely bitten, as I've now moved off socks and onto the 'hard stuff' - in addiction, cost, and difficulty level!

I decided to make my first actual garment, that will require me to actually care about my gauge and mistakes. I'm making this:

Askew, from the new Summer 2007 Knitty.

I'm very, very, excited. Me being me, of course, I'm using a totally different yarn (the only info I can find about it is that it's a Rowan Classic blend with 50% merino and 50% wool, which used to be on the GetKnitted website), and I've also changed the straps because I thought that they looked too big when I was staring at them. The yarn is fantastic, and I'm definitely going to have to work more with silk/silk blends in the future...possibly for this. Which may or may not be next, depending on how Askew goes.

I would show you a picture of my beautiful yarn, and the half (YES! HALF!) of the top that I've finished but...my camera is still sulking, for what reason no one can tell, and still isn't working. However, I'm going to have to bring the top into work to block (oh, the good things about working in small offices. All those bizarre behaviour patterns are just, you know, normal!) as I have No Room in my tiny, tiny studio flat. Also? The ancient hoover just isn't up to cleaning the floor properly, so that's out, and Matt might get a tad bit pissy if he has to sleep on a wet bed due to knitting. So what this means is that I might be able to take a picture of it with my work camera so that all of you can revel in the beauty that it will be.

Well, as long as I've done the evil maths right, and it actually fits, and doesn't fall apart, and, and...many things. Aren't you So Excited?? I know I am.

That's it, the headphones are going on

I can't stand it any more. I'm being driven insane.

Those of you who know me know that, generally, I am a social person. I like going out with people, I like staying in with people, I like talking to people, and (although I have not yet succumbed to speaking with random strangers in queues [lines] at the supermarket) I would consider myself a fairly chatty person. But I'm turning into this freaky hermit person that arrives in the office at 9, plugs herself into some internet radio, and only takes the headphones off to go to the loo and when she goes home.

I attempt not to talk much about my job, as dooce is a great illustration of what happens when you blog about work, but the problem is that I have one extremely loud coworker (who also swears constantly) who drags my other quiet coworker into her loudness. And I simply can't handle it any more. So I wear my headphones all day.

All. Day. Long.

Which, honestly, is beginning to make be feel a bit like a hermit. But, on the other hand, I'm finally getting new music. So not all is lost.

How to have a great weekend

Me: "So, (sneeze) then we went (sneeze) down to the (sneeze) basement (sneeze) and there was (sneeze) this fantastic (sneeze) basement (sneeze) bar (sneeze) and they (sneeze) serve (sneeze) the best (sneeze) cocktails. (sneeze) Seriously, (sneeze) we should (sneeze) go there (sneeze) sometime. (sneeze)"

A: "Um...are you okay? Because I'm scared you're going to fall over soon."

Me: "(sneeze) Kind of. (sneeze) The pollen (sneeze) has been (sneeze) laying siege (sneeze) for several days (sneeze) now, (sneeze) and I think the walls (sneeze) have finally been (sneeze) breached. (sneeze)"

Heatwave a-comin'

This Saturday it was warm enough, at 11 p.m. that when I walked from Borough to Russell Square (it takes about an hour) in a tank top and summer skirt, I was still sweating. This does not bode well for the temperatures over the summer. London becomes a scary place, full of not-sufficently-clothed fat people and german tourists wearing socks with sandels, in the summer.

In other news, I have learned some knitty lessons.

Knitty lesson 1: It helps to make both the socks the same length. Really, it does. That way, you aren't forced to use them as funky hand-puppets.

Knitty lesson 2: Really stripy yarn is not good for fancy lace patterns. Use something that's all the same colour, or solid.

I'd show you a picture of my wonderful Fibretrends Leaf Lace socks, but my camera has decided to pack it in and head for the border.