I hate being sick!

Ok, these past couple of days have been a bit of a drag. I'm just going to tell you about it quickly, and then be over with it! Last weekend I woke up with a stiff neck, and could hardly move for two days. I was in so much pain that I had to skip Linköping Knitters' birthday party on Saturday, which sucked big time! Work on Monday was a bit hindered, but I managed.

Then this past weekend, I woke up - and I mean litterary, it woke me up - feeling incredibly dizzy. As soon as I moved my head the whole room was spinning. It didn't pass for two whole days, so yesterday I called in sick and went to the doctor's. Apparently, I have some loose particles that have ended up in my balance organs, that aren't supposed to be there (in swedish this is called Chrystal disease). It is treatable with physical therapy, as you need to do some movements to dislodge the pasticles and move them from the balance tubes to the ear instead, where they will do no harm. It is supposed to be very uncomfortable, and I've got an appointment with a physio therapist tomorrow to do it. At least this time I have a real diagnosis!

Now on to some more fun stuff! I actually have a finished object to show you! I finished the Wanida socks, and I'm really happy with them!

They actually work pretty well with the yarn, and they are really soft and comfy. I've worn them once already. I haven't really done much other knitting (last weekend I was in too much pain, and this weekend I was too dizzy), so I have nothing else to show you. I can tell you that I'm working on a secret Christmas project though, so you'll have to wait a month before I show it to you.

We also had our kitchen redecorated the other week! I don't have any really good pictures of how it looked before, but it was pretty much all white. 

White cubbord doors and white benchtops. It wasn't really completely white any longer though, as white has a tendency to stain. And all that bright white made the room look pretty sterile and impersonal. So we decided to change it, so now the cubbord doors are oak, and the countertops are black!

It looks so much more warm and cozy! A real incentive to actually keep it clean (which we're horrible at), and so much nicer to be in. We love it!

Other than that I haven't really done much but work. The coming weekend (second in Advent) I'm going to have some of my girlfriends over for a day of yarn dyeing and general fun. It's going to be a blast (if I get to stay healthy, that is...)!

Did you wonder about my novel writing during the NaNoWriMo month? Yeah, I gave up on that one almost from the start... I managed to write almost 3000 words (out of 50 000), lost my mojo, and decided to put the book on ice for a while. I don't have any energy when I get home from work, mostly I just fall asleep on the couch, and I didn't feel like stressing it out during the weekends. There will come a time when I finish it, just not right now!

And finally, this is what I see when I look out through the kitchen window:

Yeah, that's snow (and no, we haven't put away our garden furniture yet!). About half a meter of it. And it's -12 Centigrades today, so it looks like it's not going anywhere anytime soon either. Yay...

/ Jenny

Busy busy busy!

Yep, it's been a couple of busy weeks lately, but I'm going to start by telling you the most awesome news: I got offered to stay on at a permanent possition at my job! YAY! I was so excited I even forgot to ask what the pay would be, I'm just so glad to have a permanent job! Especially since I love the job, and I love my co-workers, and I couldn't be happier.

Yesterday I went on a shopping trip with my sister, Sanna, and our friend Anna. We were out for about five hours, and I finally managed to find a new winter coat (and you won't see it modelled today, as I'm still wearing my bathrobe and yesterday's make-up).

I've had a brown one for a couple of years, and I can't for the life of me remember why I bought it in the first place. It's too tight, it's got a very unflattering fit, it's pilling, and it's BROWN! So it's going into retirement (I think I'll give it to goodwill), and tomorrow I get to use the new one. We've had our first snow these past two weeks, but it's more or less rained away this weekend. But it's still cold enough (barely) to warrant the winter coat.

I've also been doing a little bit of knitting, with emphasis on little. I'm now up to 560 stitches on the Evenstar shawl, and every row takes me forever. It's continually growing though, although I doubt I'll finish it this year (can you believe it's Christmas soon!).

I'm also working on the Wanida socks, and I've almost finished the first one. The yarn is working great with the pattern, and I really want to wear them, but I'm usually too tired to knit when I get home in the evenings, so I rarely knit on them. I'l get them done though. Probably this year too :)

And finally I'm knitting on the Paper Dolls sweater, and it's coming along nicely. I've finished the waist decreases, and I've almost finished all the increases too. It's looking really good, and this one is probably the one I'm working the most on. I'm working on it at the coffee breaks at work, so I usually work a little on it every day. I know that the ribbing fits this time, but I think I'll have to try it on soon again, to see that the waist is ok this time.

Oh, and I'be bought myself some new books as well! I first picked up a copy of the new Cookie A. book, Knit. Sock. Love. (Ravelry link). I LOVE this one! Cookie must be the most talented sock designer there ever was, and I want to knit ALL of the patterns! Too bad I've still got lots of patterns in the Sock Innovation book left to knit, as I want to knit ALL of those too! 

I also bought the Brave New Knits book (Ravelry link), and I have to admit that it was mostly for the new Ysolda Teague pattern, the Orchid Thief Shawlette. However, this book is a real gem, with lots of mini biographies about all the designers. And there are lots more patterns I would definitely consider making for myself other than the shawlette too, which is really nice. I think I'll read it all through once I'm done with what I'm reading right now (I'm getting to that in a minute).

I also got two books with amigurumi crochet patterns: Välkommen till Virkligheten (It's rougly translated as "Welcome to the Crochet Reality, but it's a pun on word in swedish that doesn't translate) by Annika Messing, and Virka Roliga Amigurumis (Crochet funny amigurumis) by Mia Bengtsson.

These are both swedish books, with lots of cute patterns in. I own the first amigurumi book by Mia Bengtsson too, Virka Amigurumi - Söta Små Glädjespridare (Crochet Amigurumi's - Cute Little Joybringers), and I just need to find the time to actually learn how to crochet properly...

I also picked up some fiction literature, the first being the new Stephen King book, Full Dark, No Stars. I finished it today, and boy was it good! I know, I'm a bit biased when it comes to mr King, but this one was actually a lot better than the last couple of books he's written. It contains four novellas, all dealing with how ordinary people deal with different kinds of catastrophes. I particularly love how mr King writes character descriptins, and these four novellas all contained some pretty awesome character portraits. Just an Awesome book.

I started a new book today too, a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman. I think I've told you before that he's my second favourite author, after mr King, and I LOVE that he does comics as well as "normal" fantasy fiction. The book I'm reading now is Marvel 1604, which is a story about what it would have been like if the Marvel Heroes (X-men, Fantastic four, Daredevil and lots of others) had lived in the 17th century England. I've not gotten very far yet, but I like it so far. Bear in mind though that I've not read any Marvel Heros comics before, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I finally bought the newest Discworld novel, by Terry Pratchett. It's called I Shall Wear Midnight, and I haven't started it yet. But so far I've loved all of mr Pratchett's books, I think he's hillarious with just a bit of edge to the satire he writes, so I'm really looking forward to this one too. I read somewhere a year or two ago that mr Pratchett has gotten diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and it will be a huge loss for the literary world when he quits writing. Hopefully it won't be for years and years!

Now that I've been on Ad Libris (the swedish book site) looking for pictures of all the books, I just realized that there are TWO books by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son, he's almost as brilliant as his father) that I don't have yet! Maybe I'll just have to place a new order tonight...

Today has been a really lazy day! I've just been sitting on the couch reading and having a very nice skype chat with Anna and Sarah! I wonder if anyone knows if you can have a video conference with more than one person at once on Skype? We couldn't find that function, so we've just had audio chats today, but it would be fun if we could all see each other as well. I don't think it should be impossible, right?

Now I'm going to pick out my food from the oven (fishsticks and french fries, nothing healthy for me tonight!), but I'll try to be back next weekend with a new update. I hate that it's been two weeks since last!

/ Jenny