The Innocent Abroad

I had to tighten the belt today.

I'm such a noob at role-playing that having to interact with an NPC gives me the willies.

I'm seriously doubting I'll finish my Ravelympics shawl.

I miss my friend E who moved away.

I love my Mac.

I want to travel more.

I need a personal trainer to drag me to the gym and make me exercise. Or a serious dose of willpower.

P.S. I want a Magnificent Flying Carpet so bad that I actually dropped herbalism+alchemy on one of my active alts and learned tailoring instead.

New day, new week and I am feeling better. I've rang to book a time with a doctor, but I haven't heard back yet. I want to know what the hell happened and how can I avoid it in the future.

I've mentioned Pratchghan before, I made two squares, one representing Death's realm and an 'I' for the phrase I aten't dead. The Pratchghan was presented to Terry Pratchett on Saturday at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I'm still a bit stunned that my favourite author actually owns something that I made. (Insert starstruck expression here.)

Shirley (cherryred on Ravelry) who presented the Pratchghan was the one who collected all the squares, sewed them together and added the backing. She did an amazing job and it was really fitting that she got to meet Terry in person. She has written about the progress on her blog, go check it out for the whole story.

This week sucks. I usually don't post any negative things that happen because I figure no-one wants to read bad stuff. Whinging is boring. Today I am making an exception because this week has been ridiculous.

Monday: my heart was broken. Remember those exiting developments in my life I hinted at? Gone.

Tuesday: almost threw up at T-Centralen on my way to work. The nausea passed and I made it to the commuter train station, but decided that perhaps I should go home instead. So I did.

Wednesday: I'm staying home, someone wakes me up by knocking at the door and says that he needs to come in and check my drainage pipes. They are renovating the space below and will need to shut down the water on Thursday. He leaves promising to post a note with the time when the water will be shut.

Thursday: still home because the stomach is giving me trouble although I am eating only the most boring foods imaginable, like boiled rice, pasta with cheese and oatmeal. There is no note and the water hasn't been shut off. By late evening I am freaking out because I'm convinced I let a thief scout in. Rang my friend S who had some good ideas. Can't sleep because I'm worrying.

Today: I haven't gone out since Tuesday morning. Have a massive headache and no pills to take for it.

On the positive side: my weight is 69.1 kilos and the management replied that the guy on Wednesday was legit. I hope that the weekend will be better than the week has been.

I've finished another languishing WIP: Daisy for my friends' baby. I began knitting it last year before the baby was born and put it aside to deal with the aftermath of the breakup.

I picked it up this spring, but the baby had outgrown it by then. Now they have another baby in the way and this time, with the help of Ravelympics, I've actually finished.

I went to shop for the buttons with S and she spotted the shiny fish ones. They are absolutely perfect!

There's another project I finished earlier for the baby #2:

A lacy crib blanket made with the same yarn as the Lemon/Lime Blanket. The colour is a bit untraditional, but it was OK with the parents.

Here's a detail of the colour gradation and the lace.

I had to shoo off the cats to take the above pictures. They absolutely must check out whatever I am doing and obstruct any pictures I am attempting to take.

There is an event on Ravelry called Ravelympics. It lasts for the duration of Summer Olympic Games and we are supposed to knit/crochet/spin/etc. something challenging. Participants can belong to a team and take part in events if they so choose. It's great fun.

I belong to two teams: Team Ankh-Morpork Knitters Guild and Team LSG. I chose to take part in WIPs Wrestling for Team LSG and events Shawl Relay and Laceweight Longjump for Team A-M Knitters. The shawl I chose for these events is Seafoam Shawl, a free pattern accessible on Ravelry only at the moment.

I must have cast on for that shawl at least 7 times before I got it right. It's not that the pattern is complicated, but it does not have a diagram. I am very visual and need to "see" how it's supposed to look. I graphed the pattern yesterday and have made some progress.

I finished two of my WIPs (works in progress) for Team LSG when I took breaks from starting and ripping out the shawl. The first one finished is a baby raglan sweater for my friends' baby.

The light was fading and the photo came out worse than usual.

Here's a detail of the sleeve, the colour is more accurate, it is dark chocolate brown.

For each completed item the participant gets a special Ravelry avatar and a medal. Here's mine:

I finished seaming and weaving in the ends of the green baby jumper after the sun had gone down, so there are no pictures yet. I also need to find buttons for it before officially crossing the finish line with it.