Thanks for the get-well wishes– it took several days to get rid of whatever was bothering me, but I am feeling my best once again. (Helping greatly is the upcoming weekend off- yay!)
To make myself get better more quickly, I bought some lovely yarn. That logic works, right? Well, I’ve been drooling over photos of wonderfully cosy crochet blankets (see this one over at {Peppermints & Poppies} and this one from {Little Tin Bird}… both using Rowan wool) for some time now. And, having used Rowan yarn before (kidsilk haze & little big wool), I knew it was worth the splurge. You know, to make sure I got better.
I bought five balls, in five different colours… just to get started. It is Rowan Pure Wool 4ply, and the colours weren’t my favourite to beign with– frankly the yarn store had a very small selection– but when I played around with some combinations, this one fell into place. And made its way to the counter, where I subsequently purchased it.
The colours sort of reminded me of the inside of a shell, pearlescent pastel-y mother-of-pearl-ish colours.
I’m working slowly, as I don’t want to run out of yarn too soon and have to buy more… it was on the expensive side, and while nice for a treat, not the most practical of purchases.
Here’s where I am so far– nine squares complete. I’ve been joining-as-I-go, and was highly inspired (when am I not?) by the latest blanket at Attic 24.
Today I’m taking a sick day and spending an entire Saturday enjoying the comforts of home. Especially lovely is the sunny November light pouring through the windows this morning. If I have to be sick, I’d prefer there to be sun– gloomy days make me feel even more ill.
No worries, it’s not the FLU. It is in fact a rather stubborn cold which is doing bad things to my sinuses & throat. I shall sip many cups of tea and enjoy some more of The Office (season 5), and hopefully I will be all better in time for my 3-10 shift tomorrow afternoon (a girl needs some cash flow, people).
Sometimes I enjoy wandering around the apartment, sort of taking in all of the little things I sometimes miss in my usual rushing around before work. Weekends, particularly sick days, are an especially good time to do so.
This ceramic deer is something I rescued from our apartment building’s laundry room. People drop off various commemorative mugs and things they don’t want/need anymore, and if no one takes them I’m pretty sure they’re all trashed. I felt that I couldn’t let that happen to this particular deer. So I brought it home.
I put these glass hearts in a bowl for Valentine’s day like four years ago, and then I liked how it looked. So I kept them.
And this is my new Work Mug, which cheers me up and allows me to drink tea at breaktime. I’ve been hooked on this kind called “green & black”, which is a mixture of the two. Sometimes I find green tea to be a bit bland, and adding black tea was a nice solution.
Anyways, excuse me now while I do some general tidying-up around the place. If that sounds crazy for a sick day, blame it on the illness. My head isn’t quite right. I find that sometimes when I’m not feeling well, I just want everything around me to be clean, shiny, and tidy. It’s not like I’ll be dragging around a vaccuum cleaner or anything. Enjoy the weekend- I hope everyone is having such lovely weather! (In NoVEMber!)
PS: Does anyone know what to do with a crazybones kitten who jumps on everything and knocks objects off of shelves, tables, countertops, and all surfaces of the house? Seriously, she is trouble.
I love getting mail– other than my credit card statement and various money grabs from the government (i.e. income tax notification of money owing… yuck). And I was ever so happy to open the mailbox today! Because in the midst of a Quizno’s flyer (they now deliver! for a charge of $3 not including driver’s tip!), an ad for our provincial MP, and a pamphlet giving me advice on preventing swine flu (wash your hands! don’t sneeze on other people!) I found this!
A wonderful packet of lovely surprises from Jenny, over at Stitcher and Scribbler. Now, she had asked a little while ago for any volunteers to send some stamps to fill her journal, and in exchange was offering the most adorable handmade stamp badges. And despite the fact that the post office man had nothing more exciting than a Vancouver 2010 Olympics stamp for overseas delivery, she sent back a whole bunch of papery goodness!
Some of my favourite little things were:
- a postage stamp from Poland (I’m part Polish! And I’m sure I never mentioned that before!)
- a little button sewn on some ribbon
- some adorable bunny paper
And, of course:
My heart stamp!! Yaaaay– thank you super-much, Jenny!! This type of hand-sewn sweetness, along with the sneak peek into Cath Kidston’s new book (in Country Living this month), really really makes me want to learn how to sew. I mean, more than just sewing a button back on, or sewing up a spot under the sleeve of a sweater that ripped when I tried to take it off. You know. Good sewing.
This letter was really quite a nice surprise at the end of a rather tiring work day (someone off sick and the rest of us had to scramble to do both our job and hers). I do so love papery things… note paper, stickers, cards. Apologies for the lack of photos of every adorable thing, but WordPress was being cranky and kept taking forever to upload pictures, and giving me “IO errors” in angry red letters. (Which, let’s be honest, is a bit unfair, seeing as it’s me who should be talking in angry red letters when I am unable to upload photos). Rest assured that my paper-love is being satisfied.
I heart mail!
Phew; it’s been a little while since I’ve posted! (*blush*) I haven’t even truthfully been that busy or anything, so what the heck?
As you’ve probably noticed, it is October already (!!) … and I am actually enjoying the cooler weather for the most part. Usually I find fall a bit depressing, at least when it rains tons and the leaves all turn brownish. Just not really my thing. However– I love love love wearing rain boots, so… it kind of evens out. Mine are blue, with birds on them. But I sort of fell for these:
… as well as numerous ones I saw in the Cath Kidston catalogue (which miraculously got delivered to me, even though I don’t live in the UK! Woo!)
And then there’s jackets– I do love jackets. So I’ve also recently become obsessed with the idea of a yellow coat. Maybe it was this-
And I definitely spent some time examining one in the Sears Wish Catalogue last night. Not sure if it has something to do with the fact that I highlighted my hair, but I’m loving yellow for fall.
I’ve been regularly feeding my British magazine obsession, mostly with Country Living UK (where the above two photos were from), but also House Beautiful UK, and Coast.
We’re a bit behind on UK issues in Canada, but I managed to score the October House Beautiful the other day in the Coles in our teeny mall!
Also I’ve been working on a new crochet project– another (yes!) Ripple Blanket!
I realize I only just completed the previous ripple, but my hands were aching for the soothing repetition of rippling, and I found myself wanting a nice woolly fall project that I didn’t have to think too much about. This time I’m trying out Lucy’s Neat Ripple pattern, and I like how the ripples are a bit softer than in my last blanket. The grey yarns are from my stash; I was meaning to make a boy sweater with it, because of the amount I had, but I couldn’t face sweater knitting just now, and I decided to use the yarn up on something I’d enjoy. It’s subtle, but I do like it.
I have a new favourite tv show- well, it hasn’t taken the place of 30 Rock (which premieres tonight! Yaaaay!!), but it’s come close. It’s The Office (US version). But no spoilers please! I’m only on Season 4 (they’re currently airing Season 6), because I borrowed the dvds and am watching every episode in order so I don’t get spoiled by watching the new episodes. Hello? Awesome show. Just amazingly funny. I love it.
I have my heart set on a “The Office wall calendar” that we’ve seen at the mall bookstore. I saw the (unrelated) movie Office Space months ago, and it has a gift set you can buy that comes with an actual replica of the red Swingline stapler from the movie. I also want that, haha. Imagine using it at work.
Thank goodness for non-work weekends, because I was beginning to go a little nutty. Last Friday was the last of the half-Fridays at work, and we went to the beach!! It was the only time I’ve been this year, and I didn’t take a single picture as I forgot my camera at home. But it was perfect… the rock-hunting, the careful selection of oddly-shaped pieces of driftwood which we will try to put in the fish tank after cleaning them… the swimming (the water was awesome! So blue!)… the picnic (sandwiches, chips, lemonade)… and the lying in the sun with a book, and half dozing off. Loved it.
We brought home some neat rocks and driftwood-
I haven’t really had the chance to go through them yet, but just think of the vignettes that can be made!
Speaking of going through, I recently took the time to sort through my Jar of Random Buttons…
When I was a kid, we used to sort them by colour, size, use them as currency… etc. And I still enjoy doing that– although not many places would accept buttons as currency I imagine.
And in crochet news, I stumbled across Sarah London’s wonderful day-by-day mystery motif tutorial, and I made a doily! I found the tutorial after all six rounds had been published and I saw the end result before starting, but still, I had fun.
It is currently living in the bathroom, jazzing up the toothpaste holder:
Yay for brightening up random surfaces in the house. I love sneaking in teeny knit or crocheted things in every room and waiting to see when Himself notices. It’s lots of fun!
I also started knitting some socks, just simple ones from Interweave’s Favourite Socks book. They’re supposed to be a birthday gift for Himself, but I’m not sure they’ll be done by then, then being the end of this month. Haha, I’ve had the yarn since spring, I think, but sock-knitting feels so much more a fall activity.
Anyways, off to do some quick grocery shopping I think. Enjoy the weekend!
