What I've been up to

I haven't been doing much crafting of late, so my blog has been abandoned for quite some time. I just lost my enthusiasm and motivation for a while, but I think it is on its way back.

I have been knitting this cabled top, the pattern for which was in the latest Better Homes & Garden magazine. Although I love the look of handknits, I am not a very quick knitter, so I very rarely finish any big knitting projects I start. This one knits up super quick though, so even though I only started this on Monday, I just have the sleeves to go now and they are short so they'll only take an hour or two.

I'm using the specified yarn which is Moda Vera Shiver. I kind of wish I hadn't. It is acrylic for one thing (I'd never buy an acrylic jumper!) and quite pill-y so I can't imagine this top is going to look new for very long. Also, the pattern called for 12 balls, so I diligently bought 12 balls. I was wondering why it looks as though I am going to have 4 or 5 balls left over and double-checked the pattern - it called for 12 x 50g balls. But the yarn comes in 100g balls so I have twice as much as I need. And my last whinge is that, unlike most patterns with a cowl or long neck, the pattern doesn't reverse so it shows on the fold-over, it is meant to drape naturally so the outside is still the outside. My neck is a bit big and floppy (the top neck, not my neck!), and making it drape right takes some care. If I were to do it again, I'd probably change to smaller needles for the neck to make it a firmer, tighter knit. Still, my fingers are crossed it is going to turn out ok! And one good thing is, I also overcame my fear of circular knitting needles in this project.

While I was at Spotlight looking for the yarn for this top, I also splurged on these bright and cheerful rainbow coloured spot fatties:

I am thinking something simple and quick and colourful. Maybe chunky four patches or nine patches with bright white sashings.

But my project for this weekend is going to be my washcloth and tea towel for Jewell's Easter Swap. I have been fiddling with ideas for weeks now, making false starts, becoming discouraged with ideas half-way through. I'm now running out of time, so I think I am going to be doing something wth these bits and pieces:

In the last week, I've changed my mind completely about taking a redundancy and accepted an ICT Project Manager job at my place of work. I realised I was only planning on rejecting it and leaving to make a point and to stand on my principles - which eventually were not good enough reasons to make myself unemployed. I officially start next week and will be moving to a new office and have been told they've been waiting for me to make up my mind as they already have about 10 projects that need managing that will be landing on my desk next week!

I've also said goodbye to my faithful old Suzuki Swift and welcomed this Toyota Corolla into my home:

I think it will take a while to get used to. It drives and feels so different. I had the last car for 10 years and knew it so well parking and everything was a breeze. I have no spatial awareness of the size of this car so it just feels weird and I have to concentrate and check mirrors etc to do anything and in the blind spots have no idea whether I am going to scrape against anything. I guess I'll just try to drive it as much as I can to get used to it.