What I did on my holidays.

Not much, really, which was the aim of the exercise!
I got a bit of wallpaper off, but there's still some wall area left that needs the glue washed off it. I'll leave that to Peter though, because just peeling the paper off has left me with very clicky shoulder joints.
I got some of the skirting boards sanded back. Still more to do, but it's not too hard.
I got some mending done that had been sitting around for over a month.
I played around with Ravelry a lot. Still haven't got it quite as I want it yet.
And I got a lot of sleep! I'm a pretty poor sleeper, so it's good to catch up.

It's been a very relaxing 2 and a bit weeks. I'm almost looking forward to going back to work.

Almost.

Photies wot I have done.

So, time to post some photies of The Knittery 4 ply Merino Cashmere Sock yarn goodness makings:

1) Vinnland socks

This photo shows off the dyejob pretty well. The Knittery doesn't have the right green, so I got a skein of undyed yarn and dye-Y-I'd it with Landscape. First I made a yellow (Wattle) dyestock, then added Marine Blue to it until it was the correct green (using coffee filters to check colour). Then I added dyestock to the slowly simmering dyebath, reserving a little stock, and put in the skein. I gave it a gentle swirl, then randomly squirted on more dyestock with a 5 mL syringe, and left it alone for a bit. While it was cooking, I made up a very small amount of black (Currawong), then squirted that on with another syringe. Total cooking time was about 30 minutes. The dye gods must have been smiling on me that day - nearly all the dye was exhausted, the colour is perfect, and the yarn came out ever so lightly variegated. I'm sure it will never happen again!

2) The Socks Which I Call "Normal Histology"

Daphne at The Knittery is giving $5 from every skein of this pinky yum sold this month to breast cancer charities. So I thought I'd do something experimental, with a norkular theme. If they're any good, I may write them up.

So far, the pattern is a toe-up, box toe construction, with one gusset inserted at the top of the instep rather than one each side of the heel, short-row shaping at the back of the heel, and bog-standard eye of partridge heel flap.

The keen of eye may also notice that the gusset is reverse stocking stitch, with some sort of lines and bobbles thing happening. All will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Three hours of my life I will never have again.

And it was worth it.

Yay! Got my Ravelry invite today - I am craftyscience!!! Added 2 of the 4 things I'm currently working on, plus one finished thing. Must backfill with photies tomorrow.

And I have signed up for Southern Summer of Socks! Been approved, just awaiting the invite.

Sleeps time now.

Happy birthday to me!

And what have I done with my day? Not a lot - yay! Day Of Rest!

I'm halfway through two weeks' annual leave. I'm spending it readin' crime novels from the library, knittin', shoppin', and strippin'.

Strippin' wallpaper.

Ugh.
This half-way-there pic shows all three phases of Ugliness - the ugly wallpaper in question (beyond the arch), the papery backing stuff left behind when the plastic w/paper coating is stripped off (above the arch and above the door on the left) and the crappy paint job that was behind the paper after finally washing and scraping the glue residue off.


What it does not show is:
a) the amazingly bad job whichever set of previous owners did in hanging the wallpaper;
b) all the cracks in the plaster that had been papered over*;
c) how hard it was to get the backing paper off - my wrist is still a little swollen from all the scraping, hence today's Day Of Rest; or
d) the large numbers of black hairs that had been papered to the wall. Ewwww.

(* When we started stripping the placky coating, we had the amazing good luck to hit the only part of the house to which the paper had not been attached by Superglue. It came off in nice sheets, just like in all the books, and so did the underpaper. Then we hit the tough glue, and the cracked plaster under it, and I had a truly scary nightmare in which we finally got the underpaper off, and the house fell down around us.)

Remember, kids, if you must wallpaper your house, choose something that's not pig-dog ugly, use a plumb line, and start from the middle of the wall and work out. Not the other way around.

On crafty related themes, I'm debating whether or not to do Southern Summer of Socks. I'm not really a Joiner of things, but meeting new peeps is always nice, and I have a tentative pattern-ette floating around in my brain for using some of this. The Knittery's merino cashmere sock blend is a lovely yarn, buttery soft and good value. It can be a little splitty though. I highly recommend it! And if it doesn't come in any colours you like (as happened to me the first time I used it), it dyes really well. Evidence to follow, when said socks are dry and on my feets.

O dear ....

Two things about which to say "O dear":

1) it's been a month since I last posted anything. And I can't remember much of note happening in that time - except I'm on annual leave for two weeks, yay! But much more importantly,
2) I forgot The Kitten's birthday two days ago. I thought it was this Friday coming. Not so bad - he's not going to remind me, after all - except my birthday is one week after his to the day.

So not only am I a Bad Cat Parent, I'm a week older than I thought!

Went to S'n'B Albert Park today (which is where/when I remembered about Hobbes's Big Day). Got my contraband yarn - 2 skeins of it - and will work up an appropriate patterny thing for it in the fullness of time - something yarn-subject-appropriate. When I got home I balled it up, and I balled up some others while I was in the swing of it.
I've also been trying to turn the mess that is the craft storage area into less of a mess. Photos will follow, if I can ever learn to take good pix.