Lately it seems that I’m stuck in a little box, and I can’t find the scissors to cut out the peepholes. Two problems, really. The main being that I’ve been feeling so sick for the last 5 weeks or so (I know that there’s worse out there - please don’t hate me for complaining). It’s almost certainly the Lithium – excruciating headaches, tiredness, nausea and vomiting, stomach pain, tremor and weakness. The locum doctor, in the face of the No Psychiatrist Situation, suggested that I should just change the dose myself: “you’re a responsible person, just take one tablet instead of two a few nights a week. Try something else the next week. As long as you stay within the therapeutic blood range, no-one need ever know”. I’m glad I’m “a responsible person”, because he clearly isn’t :-S . The second is that work is really getting me down, and I just heard that I still have a long, long wait until becoming permanant. That means more time being underpaid in my role and not having paid sick/holiday leave. Hurrah!

[And my neighbour, who REALLY cannot sing, has a new PlayStation SingStar game. Ragh].

The upshot is that my pens and pencils and colours have been left alone in their little tins for quite some time. I found some inspiration today though: Keri Smith’s The Guerilla Art Kit. I love it – especially the various leave-behinds (and the idea of hijacking the little men and women on bathroom doors – I’m envisioning grass skirts and all sorts of fun). Most appealing at the moment are the eye-stickers. Look-o-Look! You cannot be even a little bit sad after these:

There are more here!

And here are my rather abandoned socks.

Perhaps I will finish them when watching the awful yet compulsive EUROVISION. I will be disguising myself in my shame as last year’s Ukrainian entry (aka the Tin Man who’d been given a makeover by Timmy Mallet and Edna Everage). No-one will suspect a thing.

Geez. What a week. Work, health, life… pah. And I even got my period. Enough said.

All this means that Hedera has foxed me – angry/grumpy/sad people cannot count to twelve very well, I have discovered. In an effort to redeem myself, I’ve frogged and am starting on these pretty things instead. Hurray for the pattern finding joy of Ravelry! I intend to start work first thing tomorrow so that I can show them off to my friends at this weekend’s Knitpic. Fingers crossed for sunshine!

I had a happy find in the charity shop today. Thrift shopping has really turned into part of the weekly routine (you know how it is when you get a paycheck and you want to spend – only my paycheck won’t quite cover ‘real’ shops). Anyhow, I found a dusky pink handknit bolero in what seems to be a wool/cotton mix. Needs a new ribbon, but is otherwise in pretty good shape:

The crappiness of the week was finally overcome by these pictures by Geneviève Castrée, which I stumbled across at Inside a Black Apple:

Look closely at the textures and you’ll see what I mean! [Disclaimer: bit of a geek about illustration].

So now I’m left with two tasks for the next week:

1) Find a cinema showing Persepolis – I’ve been hooked on Marjane Satrapi for ages (the funky postcards you get when you order from l’association may also have fed my enthusiasm…)

2) Find a psychiatrist. Practically impossible, even though I work with (literally) about a hundred of them. I wonder how much it would cost to go private *sigh*.

Maybe it’s wise to add another few:

3) Make a decision about jumping ship at work…

4) Think of calm things. A lot.

Bon ski, bon snow…

Hello, weekend!

 

 

Starting with the excuses, I didn’t mean to be such a crap blogger. Something’s amiss at the moment and my self-esteem is at absolute zero, so I didn’t feel like inflicting myself on anyone. I don’t know where it came from (and it hasn’t entirely left yet). My guess is that it’s work – not that I’m too busy, just that I’m working in a gloomy place with far too much bullying going on. In any case, it totally sucks. Advice welcome.

I’m coming over all crafty at the minute. On the needles is a black Phildar bolero with three-quarter sleeves, to use up a bad purchase of Rowan R2 Fuzzi Felt. It was a bargain (sound familiar?) at 7 balls for £3.50 but doesn’t have a recommended gauge/needle size… fun. Neither does it like to be frogged and reknitted. The make-up is nylon, merino, acrylic, and alpaca – is it just me, or does this sound like all the bits they swept up from the floor whilst they were making everything else? 

Also on the go are some pale blue-green Hedera socks in Rowan 4-ply. The pattern can be found here at Knitty. Photos to follow when they begin to look slightly more like wearable items…

 

In other news since last time:

1. Called in at the China Design Now exhibition at Liberty’s. Not thrilled, apart from the photography by Michael Wolf.

2. A visit to Mother Meera . Regardless of religious/spiritual beliefs, this was a lovely, peaceful experience. Seriously recommended.

3. I learnt how to do this.

 

 

I figured I could avoid actually writing the first post by posting up some photos instead, by way of an introduction. A few minor difficulties, however.

1: have lost camera.

2: can’t work phone camera very well.

3: bluetooth phone, no bluetooth receiver.

This means you’ll have to take my word for it that there was cake, and that I didn’t eat it all myself (there’s time for that later). Until then, my friends, I leave you with this little gem:

I don’t know what it is, but you can’t possibly be disappointed.