New Job
First up, big news of the week, I got a new job. Some of you might remember I went for a job last month, around the time of the Easter Show Girl debacle, and I missed out. Bummer. Turns out the guy who got the job had to withdraw before he even started, so it was offered to me today. Of course I said yes. It's another Government job but it's got a few things going for it including a slight pay increase and it's only a 20 minute bus ride from home, oh and it sounds like it'll be more my style of work - talking to people, organising inter-governmental stuff, communicating. It's in the city too, which has all sorts of convenience issues I'm happy with. Looks like I'll start in about three weeks, pending discussions at work tomorrow.
Wednesday night fun
Lots of you will have figured out by now that Wednesday is the big Bells Gets to Knit and Drink and Watch TV night in our house. It's probably what ensures I make it this far without losing the plot.
So here, in photos, is a description of what I've been doing tonight. Am currently taking a break between the cooking shows and the comedy shows.
Sean cooks on Wednesday nights. Sometimes he takes requests. I wanted his Asian marinated pork ribs tonight. While the marinade was on the stove turning into a reduction, I had to take a photo.
Check the colour of that. The photo is pretty accurate in terms of how red/black it is. I'm going to make him write this one down because it's a bit different to what he normally does and quite frankly, it rocked. It's a thick, sweet, slightly salty molasses-like substance all over juicy, thick pork ribs.
That's a bloke's dish, isn't it? Not the kind of thing I'd cook but God i'll eat it any day of the week.
Next, I thought I'd take a photo of what my little space by the couch looks like when I've been happily planted there this evening.
There's a new monkey sock, beside Julie's Purple Trainwreck. I'm not allowed to knit with it right now (self imposed new-sock knitting ban here at the moment) but I like to keep it close for motivation to get through the other socks.
And there's the second of two drinks. The first was the minuscule remainder of a bottle of chardonnay. The second drink was a white port with soda and lime.
Does anyone else think this blog would be more accurately named if I called it The Lush Knitter? Or Tipsy Knitting? Or what about BellsDrinks?
The Joy of Swatching
I'm ripping off that title from an article that Julie wrote for Knitty. I'm an utter convert to swatching, I decided this evening. Look at this:
I have garments I didn't swatch for and I see now I should have. Never again will I set sail on a major project without taking the time to swatch!
It's my second swatch this week for something I'm making with Jejune and her daughter Othlon. Because there's no such thing as too many projects on the needles, we all hit upon the idea of making the somewhat controversial Mariah from Knitty and having our own little knit-along for three. It's a slightly controversial pattern because lots of bloggers complained about the inaccuracies of the pattern and it seems a fair amount of discussion occured about how well Knitty patterns are edited. Anyway, the pattern was eventually edited, post publication and we're gonna give it a go.
I think swatching is like falling in love. You buy the yarn (I bought this ages ago so it's definitely an exercise in de-stashing), you dream about it for a while, you find the project and then, while you're knitting up the swatch, you're starting to get to know the wool just a bit, discovering how it feels in your hands, the way the stitches look, how the colour appears once it's beginning to take shape. Definitely an early stages of a new love kind of experience. Unless you hate the wool, in which case, it's like that guy you should never have gone out with in the first place and you want to move on fast.
Anyway, enough of that. Jejune, Othlon and I will be showing off our Mariahs over the next little while. They'll all be just a little bit different but will have one thing in common - they're all going to be made from Bendigo wool or alpaca. What fun!
Steeked Jacket Update
Look! Look! Evidence that I am actually very, very close to the armholes.
I measured it this evening against the purple mohair cardigan which is exactly the length I like a cardigan to be. It's close. So close I'm almost tempted to stay up really late tonight to get there.
I love this project. I really do. But I'm desperate to get to the next stage.
So why am I about to cast on a cardigan? Because I want something to work on that isn't about stranded knitting or tiny DPNs. Something just normal. Is that so wrong? Really? I don't think so.
That said, Jejune tells me the cables in the arms are a bitch. Well, she didn't say that exactly, but I *think* that's what she was telling me.
Right, off to work on the jacket now.
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