Space Craft

2008 update & the return of KnitCast

A little update on what I've been up to so far in 2008.

I spent some time going back and forth to Scotland this year because I was seeing a guy up there but that fizzled out. All the while I was also still looking at houses in Cardiff. I had started to look at the area in which I grew up because I had a better chance of affording a house with room for all my yarn there ;)

But then a few weeks ago after several reports about the fall in house prices I decided to look again at houses in the part of Cardiff where I've lived for the past fifteen years. I thought I'd have a better chance of being able to afford one there now with the market being so bad and my not being in a chain. So one week I started looking at houses and on the Friday of that week I saw a house I liked. A week later I looked at it again. Last week I put in an offer which was accepted. Now of course it's early days still because mortgages take a while to come through and it may not work out. But I'm trying to remain positive while still being realistic. And also while planning how I'm going to decorate!

KnitCast news now - the podcast will return in July and it'll be the edition that I recorded in New York last July. I figure that gives me enough time to settle in the new place and get into some kind of routine.

I've also been struggling with a nasty cold bug this week. I started feeling unwell about a week ago and then was very ill over the weekend. I was supposed to be grocery shopping etc. and see some friends on Sunday but I was just too ill. Even the thought of shopping couldn't tempt me! I'm still not a hundred per cent and also have a nasty cough but I hope I'll start feeling better soon. I think I've just been especially run down and that the stress of buying a house hasn't helped at all.

And so far I've hardly even mentioned knitting. That's because I just haven't been knitting recently. I do want to cast on again soon though. There's a ball of Kyoto by Art Fibers in Orchid on my coffee table that keeps calling out to me so I hope to knit that soon. I'll be casting my eye for patterns for summery cardis with cropped and short sleeves I think.

Back & Barcelona

Not the most original title but I am hopefully now back to blogging more regularly than I have been in a long time,  plus I am back from a trip to Barcelona!

Pics from my phone of la Sagrada Familia

Our hotel was only about ten minutes walk from Gaudi's famous church which after over a hundred years is still under construction, and which some say may never be completed!

It was only a short trip but it was still great to get away. It was my second visit there, the first time was over twelve years ago, and I saw more of the city this time. We took the open top bus trip which I'd recommend to anyone wanting to see the city since it's good value at 19 euros for one day or 24 for two days. But don't make our mistake and think that you have to buy the tickets before you can get on the bus and then spend ages looking for somewhere to buy the tickets! You can buy them right on the bus.  There are three routes, we took the red line first and went to Park Guell where I made my only purchase during the trip, aside from some duty free, a model of the famous mosaic dragon that greets you at the park entrance.

We also spent a long time in the Museu Picasso.

This was also one of the first times since I began to knit that I've been abroad and haven't bought any yarn. This was for a couple of reasons - number one being that I don't actually need any more yarn really and number two being that since we only had one real day there there just wasn't enough time. Maybe next time.

I'm serious about the no yarn buying though, these days unless it's for a particular special project, I rarely buy yarn unless it's really special. In particular the experience of moving house over a year ago taught me that I have a lot of stuff! I'm not going to cease buying yarn altogether of course, don't be silly!, but I do have to do some destashing.

Yes, I'm Ok! Really!

In response to a recent comment left for me, I'm fine just really, really busy! I still have things in my old house which I've not moved over yet, my house hunting plans are on hold because of the current market climate so I have no room to put anything! This means decluttering! And I'm a hoarder so that takes a long time!

I recently set a deadline of trying to get it all done by September. But a few days illness last week have held that up and in addition to that of course there's my day job, trying to fit in seeing friends and my beau of course. So all in all I'm very busy! I don't know when the KnitCast NYC special will be finished, I'm hoping next month but my packing takes precedence and I'm sure you're all understand :)

Back in Old Blighty

This is a bit of a whoops post, since I forgot to blog that I was back home! I arrived back in the UK on Saturday morning and have spent the weekend, Monday and today readjusting to British Summer Time. Tomorrow I'm back in work, ahhh the joy of the first day back after vacation!

I do have yarn to photograph and post, I just need to borrow a camera for the task.

More blogging soon plus an NYC edition of KnitCast in about two weeks time, possibly earlier depending on how I'm set.

Oh and I've finally updated my age in the sidebar! Had my 35th birthday on June 16th and yes I did have a yarn present! :)

Oh My, NY

Well it's my final night in NYC and I've had a fab time! far too much to write about right now since I have to pack my cases, but I've met some fab knitters and made some great friends.

This trip was quite a big deal for me since for one thing it was a much needed vacation, but it was also the first time I'd ever travelled abroad on my own.

Tomorrow is my last day in the city and I fly back in the evening arriving back in the UK early Saturday. I still hope to get some shopping done tomorrow though :) including another visit to the Japanese bakery that Stacey introduced me to. I have to pick up some chocolate covered green tea cakes...

I walk the earth...

Well not literally but I feel like I did today! I met up with StaceyJoy Elkin and we walked and we walked and we walked! Apparently I impressed her with my stamina but by the end of the night I was knackered!

We went to a couple of Japanese bookstores including Kinokuniya followed by the Minamoto Kitchoan bakery.

Ok I'm now too tired to type much more! So I'll finish this tomorrow!

What time is it?

I really hate time differences. I'm very good at working out what time it is in various countries but when I experience the differences myself they always throw me off! So yesterday I arrived at my hotel, took a little break and then went to get some dinner. Came back, fell asleep and awoke at 1.30am EST! Now I have to try and see if I can get back to sleep again.

Today I'm meeting up with the lovely Staceyjoy Elkin of Red Lipstick Boutique. I was supposed to call her last night but slept through.

Something I have realised is that I won't be able to do everything that I'd like to this week. It's very hot here and I don't fare too well in the heat, so I have to pace myself. Plus it does leave things to do for the next visit :)

It's about 2.30am now will see if I can sleep!

KnitCast Update!

Head on over to KnitCast and download the new update mp3. It's only a short file but a listener eons ago suggested that I record one so that people who only subscribed but didn't read the blog knew where I was.

I realised a couple of days ago that I couldn't remember when I'd last picked up my knitting. I've not been able to make the time or energy for it recently plus other factors have got in the way. For example, I need to wind a skein of yarn so that I can continue on a top down raglan but I can't get into my knitting/spare room full of all my boxed crap into order to unpack my swift.

With another top down raglan, the lovely Art Fibers Kyoto one, I've become stuck on the  sleeve decreases of the final sleeve. That's right, all I have to do is finish the last sleeve, sew in ends and a button  and it's done. But I forgot to make a note of how many stitches I decreased to when I knit the first sleeve and everytime I've looked at it I've been too tired to figure it out. I think the answer is to just look at it in daylight one day. I would like to finish it before New York.

I've been trying to decide what to take to knit on the journey and I'm not sure. It can't be a sock, and I don't want to take anything too big but I'm also a bit tired of scarves. Of course I do have to organise a way into the yarn/crap room so that I can look through my stuff.

However before I can do that I need to organise some of the other rooms in my house. I'm still renting, I decided to take a break from house hunting since I wasn't finding anything I liked. So now I'm trying to get some semblance of order at home so that it does feel more like a home and less of a place to store boxes!

Such A Bad Blogger...

I haven't blogged in over two months! Oh lots of reasons why, mainly due to lack of time, and that's also why KnitCast is late. The Welsh general election has kept me busy at work and sorting through my various hoardings, desperately trying to downsize has kept me a little busy too.

Last weekend I sorted through twenty years worth of clothes. Yes. TWENTY YEARS! I actually had stuff from far back as 14. Hannah helped me and joked that she could see the various stages I'd been through in life, including the extended Goth period. Which never really went away entirely. I gave 99.9 per cent of it away to charity, Hannah and others had some too. I feel really good about it because now I can buy more clothes with impunity. Ummmm....can't I?! :)

Now onto KnitCast. That's mainly been delayed because I haven't quite made the switch from editing audio on a PC to editing audio on a Mac. It's a bit ironic considering that I am Mac mad and rather evangelical about them! A certain Mac friend of mine is probably laughing at this! Although Macs are superior to PCs, don't crash as often, don't really get viruses etc. they also don't have as many software programs written for them. So my main bug bare is that Nero Wave Editor which I used to use to edit is not available for the Mac. I can't edit quite as finely with Audacity as I'd like and anyone who's listened to Knitcast will know how I love my editing. I think though that I may have to worry less about editing since I would like to get a podcast out before the end of the month.

And speaking of podcasting, I'm hoping to record some interviews when I go on holiday to New York in July. I'll be there for the first week of July and I have some ideas for interviews and I'll be contacting people soon about those. However I do want to leave the majority of my trip for shopping! It'll be my third visit to NYC and my second trip to the Garment District. I'm really looking forward to it! Let's hope I don't go over my baggage weight allowance on the way home!

I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to blog about today but Jeni has tagged me so I'm going to finish with the Seven Random Things About Me...warning they are very random!

* I love Woody Allen films, although I tend to prefer his earlier, funnier ones! (in joke!) My favourites are Manhattan and Annie Hall. I can never choose between the two and have watched both far too many times to count.

* I've wanted to live in America since I was a kid. I intend to fulfill this dream one day :)

* Madonna - I've been a fan of hers for nearly twenty two years! I still have lace gloves from my teenage years!

* Spring is my favourite season. I love seeing the bulbs come up and trees blossom after a cold winter.

* Nature makes me feel very spiritual. There's something godlike almost in growing things from seed and I also have a quiet fascination with how numbers appear in nature. However I'm crap at maths!

* I love order but somehow always end up in chaos. I'm incredibly untidy!

* I'm really into astrology. Well ok, I do read several horoscopes each day and pick and choose which bits I like, but I do think there's more than an element of truth in them.

Now I have to decide whom to tag...I'll have to think about that and update this later

If You Missed Wales in Stitches

You can still hear it online on demand at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiowales . Just go to Listen Live or Listen Online on the page, click one of those links and then scroll down until you find Wales in Stitches. It should hopefully remain there until Wed 21st March.

Just a reminder again that the programme is available via streaming Real Media, not as a podcast, so you'll need Real Player to hear it.