It's been a long week

I don't know if I'm coming down with a cold or something, but I've been feeling unusually tired this past week. Mostly, when I get home from work, I just fall asleep on the couch, so there has been very little knitting done. But I have some stuff to show you.

Last weekend I went home to my parents to help with tending their woods. About a year ago my grandfather suffered  a small stroke, and he is getting more and more senile since then. He still recognizes us all, and he is involved in conversations, it's just that he moves around very very slowly, and some stuff has disappeared for him. He's still more or less himself, but he can't take care of his land any longer, so my parents do that for him now. And last weekend it was time to plant new fir plants in the woods, and they asked if me and my sister would help. And we did. It was VERY hard work, and it was incredibly warm the whole weekend too, but we managed to get most of the plants in the ground.

I also finished the first of my House Targaryen socks while I was at home:

It is knit in Fibernymh Dye Works Bedazzled yarn, and I really like it. I offered to give the pair to my mom instead of the ugly and uncomfortable Carousel socks I finished a while ago, but when I told her that she needed to hand wash them, she opted out. I think I'll give her the Gördes socks instead, once they're finished. I have turned the heel on the first one, but I didn't bother to take a new photo of it as there is so little change since last time.

I have worked a little bit on my Parcel sweater too, but not enough there either to bother with a new photo. So far this year I've managed to finish three projects each month, but May might look like it will be less. I've only managed one project so far (the Carousel socks), and if I want to finish two more I really need to pick up my pace! Ideally I would love to finish the sweater, but I know I won't make that in a week. I think I'll aim at finishing the stripy socks and call it a day. Maybe I'll try to finish four projects next month...?

At the beginning of this week I got two very nice packages in the mail too. The first was the May shipment of the 7 Degrees of Kevin Bacon sock club from The Knitting Goddess. 

The yarn is 4 ply sock yarn (75 % superwash merino/25 % nylon, 425 m/100g), and the colourway is called Knit Me. I believe the inspiration comes from the Alice in Wonderland movie, and I have to admit that I find the colour a little boring. But that's ok, I have loved the other four skeins I've got in the club, and I think it's almost impossible to love all twelve skeins. The pattern that came with the yarn is called Vorpal, and they are pretty. Vorpal is apparently the sword that Alice uses to slay the Jabberwocky, if you were wondering (I was, and I had to google it!).

The other package I got contained books, the most important one being "NOS4A2" by Joe Hill. He is the son of Stephen King, and in my eyes he is almost as good as his father. I have read all his books so far (there are only four), and his comic book Locke & Key is the best comic I have ever read (possibly it shares the first place spot with Sandman by Neil Gaiman). And that book might also have something to do with why I haven't written here in a while. I finished it the other day, and it was super good!

The package included some other fiction, and also one knitting book. Or rather, a knitting box. I got The Little Box of Socks, by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott. It contains 20 patterns that are all printed on individual cards that you can easily bring with you in a knitting bag. The box has lots of patterns that will go very well with variegated and self-striping yarn, and I like it a lot.

Then Thursday was my birthday (I turned 33, so nothing very special), and on Wednesday my sister came here to help me bake some cakes to bring to work, and we spent most of the afternoon baking and chatting. She gave me the Gilmore Girls DVD box (which I had put on my wishlist), and we watched the first episode while we had dinner. I still love that show! And the cakes turned out really good, chocolate covered with raspberry mousse.

On Thursday morning Thomas gave me some gifts too, mainly some more books that I had wanted, by three different Swedish horror writers (John Ajvide Lindqvist, Frida Arwen Rosesund, and Mikael Strömberg). And believe it or not, he actually got me some knitting! I got a Knit Kit, with "Everything you need to knit your own Boot Cuffs". The designer, Louise Butt, is on Ravelry, but this particular design isn't. There are some other fun kits there though!

I think the yarn that comes with the kit is really cheap acrylic, but I love that he actually got me something knitting related! I'll have to knit them pretty soon I think, as I think they seem pretty fun. And fast! The kit includes two skeins of the yarn, a pair of straight 5 mm plastic needles, instructions for knitting and the pattern, and a HUGE tapestry needle.

As Thomas was working late on Thursday, we didn't really do anything special, so we're planning on going out for dinner tonight instead. I think we'll go to a Japanese restaurant, if I can be bothered to actually shower and put on clothes today :)

/ Jenny