Warmer

Strange day here in the UK.

Temperature has been low, the electrician will be returning on Thurs morning to fix the overhead florescent lights which buzzed out over the weekend. And, the heating guy certified my boiler as kaput. A new one is on order. Meanwhile, I have two small electric space heaters on loan.

Funny thing, that. I had been doing ok without them. Not great, you understand, but ok. I had convinced myself that wearing four layers, sitting under comforters, and burying my hands with knitting wool was a completely normal way to live in the evenings.

I now have the heater running. The temperature has reached 16°C (a balmy 60°F for some of you) in the bedroom and my nose is no longer frosty at the tip.

Knitting update

Ok, there are four things on the needles right now.

The two vests both have backs completed; fronts are now cast on. I think I might wind up ripping out part of cul-de-sac and reknitting because my gauge isn’t quite right on the one side.

The other (only three incidences worth of frogging and re-doing because of cable cross problems) is fine. If I had realized how lovely a knitting yarn this was, I certainly would have snagged all the rest of it that was on sale while I had the opportunity. 6.00 mm needles also spells progress….

Then there is the diamond shapes pullover has two sleeves to be attached while on which I completed one of the lacking 4 quarter diamonds.

Finally, the garter square cardigan needs the steek cut on the front and sleeves finished prior to completing the bottom panel. I now have four 3.00 mm needles dangling from here or there which can make it a challenge at times.

I am thinking that the green vest should be the fastest finish followed by the garter diamonds. Then, I might just take a break and knit myself a winter hat or two. I just happened to find a couple of wonderful patterns and I have this lovely alpaca yarn …..

Books

In my effort to decrease the reading pile – in paper version, I finished Thai Die by Monica Ferris, Whisper to the Blood by Dana Stabenow and The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint. All were rapid reads. The Kate Shugak novel does require familiarity with the series, Ferris has pushed the series far enough and the de Lint was a bit different than his other books.

Not that I am really complaining since it meant that I could race through all of them in an afternoon while waiting on the heating guy.