Well the sledding for Sam is a go.
Henny flew out to Norway yesterday and should be setting off shortly (if she hasn't already).
The fundraising has so far been an enormous success (from an initial target of £3,000 the total raised stands at £6,953.97), but that doesn't mean that we're satisfied. If you haven't sponsored her already, then please consider throwing a bit of spare change her way.
So far, £3,000 has been released to the hospital and it's paid for a special wheelchair which can hold Sam's life support system so that he can leave the hospital and even go home for a day or two at a time, which is fabulous. The more money we can raise, the more equipment can be bought by the hospital - not just for Sam, but for other kids like him.
... and of course, I wouldn't have been doing my job as geekwhoblogs properly if I hadn't nudged her into setting up a blog for the trip, so if you're interested you can follow along with her progress at her shiny new blog.
Look at all the lovely Peanut Butter choccies my new Secret Pal sent me.
(and also the lovely cards - the cat is a total cutie and the postcards make me want to go visit Portland)
Thanks SP!
From two sides even (thank you Glenda and Gareth). Be rude not to really, and as we all know, memes are better than whinging.
If you haven't done this yet, consider yourself tagged. This means you, Rob.
1.
2.
3.
Because things could be a whole lot worse.
... kittens.
With thanks to adampsyche
I'm ok really. Well, not really, but nothing immediately fatal.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. With any luck it's not an oncoming train.
Thanks for all the concern. It's very much appreciated.
Sometimes there just aren't enough swearwords.
A braindump in random lumps (none of which are carrot).
Is in my local off-licence.
Buying booze for a party.
And the guy in the shop seems to know him.
Oh my god.
I wish I'd gone rather than sending Adrian.
P.S. he touched my Ben & Jerry's.
Because it's Friday, because I'm somewhat over-excited* and because I can, some nonsense.
From auntie beeb, at the end of a lengthy explanation of why the name of the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats is pronounced Mingis, comes this limerick:
A lively young damsel named Menzies
Inquired: "Do you know what this thenzies?"
Her aunt, with a gasp,
Replied: "It's a wasp,
And you're holding the end where the stenzies."
Which is so fabulously geeky it just made me laugh out loud.
(if you can't figure it out, I believe there are audio links available on the article)
* I just got word that I've got the go-ahead to go to @media this year (see my post about this year's resolutions), and I've got tickets to be in the same room as Richard Hammond this afternoon (muahahahahahaha!). Don't tell me you wouldn't be over-excited too.
It is 23:50.
I'm tired enough to want to roll over and go to sleep.
I am about to roll over and go to sleep.
On the same day I woke up.
This is the first time this year (and for a large chunk of last year) that this has happened.
It's a miracle.
G'night.
Yes, it's that time again. That time when anyone who doesn't give a monkeys about my obsession with all things yarn can completely skip this post.
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?
Three months further on from the last time I answered this question and I'm still all about the feel of the yarn. I've also seriously got over my early obsession with eyelash yarn and can barely stand to look at the stash of the stuff I have, even having offloaded some of it to various places.
Not a fan of the hideously artificial, but mostly, if it's got a nice texture, feels soft and looks nice, it's fine.
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
Both now. I've recently been learning to spin, and I learned to Crochet at Ally Pally and then went mad with it for a bit.
3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I keep my hooks, dpns and some small circs along with my notions in a fabulous clear pencil case thing my first secret pal sent me. The rest of my dpns are currently hanging over the knob of my knicker drawer and my straights are propped up in a corner of one of the boxes that holds my stash.
Not that organised really.
4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Since May 2005, and I think I'm still beginner/intermediate.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I prefer clean citusy, herby and spicy smells, so anything orange, lemon, lime, ginger, cinnamon, mint, rosemary that kind of thing.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I do, yes.
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Photography, although I don't know that that counts as a craft.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD).
Pretty much everything except Rap and heavy techno, but I'm always prepared to give stuff a try.
Yes, my computer can play mp3s.
10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I wear black constantly - probably too much, but can't seem to bear knitting with it. It's freaking me out. In terms of colours - rich intense jewel toned colours - reds, burgundys, purples, blues. Not so much of the greens, but mostly, think rich and vibrant rather than pastelly and pale and I'm fine with it.
I'm really not a fan of pastels or whites - I'm not a very girly girl, and also, I'm extremely pale (milk bottle white) and have dyed red hair, so pale colours just don't work.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Family is a bit spread out - I'm in London, sister is elsewhere in England, mother is in Scotland. Live with a lovely flatmate (although by the time you get round to sending things this might be plural because I'm going to be moving soon) and unfortunately don't have any pets.
12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Scarves yes. I have four, which I wear most often in this order: sari silk clapotis (knitted by me), silk curly whirly scarf (crocheted by me), black pashmina, black chenille fluffy scarf that's moulting and falling to bits.
Hats yes. I wear my first hat, and my 2 hour hat (currently unphotographed).
Mittens not so much, but I keep meaning to knit myself a pair of really nice fingerless gloves/wristwarmers.
Ponchos never. Not with my chest.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I adore Hipknits Silk. Love it to pieces. I also adore Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. I'm sure I'd love knitting with Lorna's Laces but I'm too scared to try because I don't think my bank balance can stand it.
Generally, I don't like knitting with toothpics, so anything that knits up on needles bigger than 4mm and feels dreamy and luxurious will take me way longer to knit because I'll keep stopping to stroke it as I knit with it.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Scratchy ones. Ones that squeak when you knit with them. Ladder yarns. Things that split when you wave a needle in their direction. Y'know, anything that's a pain in the ass to knit with and looks or feels like ass when it's knitted.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I haven't knitted a clapotis in two months now, which is progress. I knitted a few hats, but not so many that it counts as an obsession.
Good grief. I don't think I have a current knitting obsession.
This must be rectified immediately!
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Things that I can finish quickly - I'm all about the instant gratification right now.
I loved knitting the various clapotises (plural?) I've knitted. I also really enjoyed the wrist warmers I made for my sister over christmas - couple of hours for each hand and they were done.
17. What are you knitting right now?
A hat for Blethering Dan (almost done).
A scarf in hipknits silk for my lovely boss (started and frogged many times because the yarn can't decide which scarf it wants to be).
A scarf for my mum in Noro Silk Garden to match the hat I made for her before Christmas.
A secret present for a friend that she knows nothing about.
A sock using the sock yarn that my first secret pal sent me. It's almost at the point where I'm ready to turn the heel but I'm chicken.
I've also got a few rows of River on a set of needles but I think that's going to get ditched.
A secret project that I can't talk about yet.
18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I never have before, but I'd really love to.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I tend to use circs or dpns at the moment, because straights feel too long and unwieldy and are definitely not friendly for train knitting.
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo, wood or addi turbos. Don't like the other kinds of metal needles and really don't like knitting with plastic.
21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Not yet, but I'd like to.
22. How did you learn to knit?
My mum and granny taught me when I was a little girl.
Retaught myself via the web early in 2005.
23. How old is your oldest UFO?
A couple of months maybe? Nothing hugely long. Anything that was hanging around has been frogged, except river, but that's because I'm too chicken to try frogging KSH.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Don't have a favourite animated character, but I'm totally the crazy cat lady (other people's cats will shout at me as I pass and/or follow me down the street), with a smidgen of crazy squirrel lady, and an inexplicable fondness for puffins.
25. What is your favorite holiday?
One where I can relax, enjoy myself and take good photos.
26. Is there anything that you collect?
I think the only thing that can legitimately be called a collection is the collection of plectrums (plectra?) and setlists caught/blagged from various loud rock concerts.
I've got quite the yarn collection though :)
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I've subscribed to Simply Knitting, but I kinda wish I hadn't, because it's mostly rubbish. I also mostly buy Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting when I see them.
28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Like several other people, I'm dying to get my hands on the Japanese Magazine called Let's Knit Series Autumn & Winter 2004-2005 (ISBN4-529-04050-X) because it has an amazing crochet ruffled scarf in it that I've been trying to figure out but haven't quite yet.
29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I really want to get a handle on socks, and if I could learn to graft ribbing I'd be dancing like a fool with the sheer joy of it.
30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I'm trying, and in terms of foot size, I wear a UK size 5.
31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
31 August.
Black Rat tagged me with this, and I said I'd do it before really realising how difficult it was to do properly.
Seven Things to Do Before I Die:
Seven Things I Cannot Do:
Seven Things That Attract Me to Blogging:
Seven Things I Say Most Often:
Seven Books That I Love:
Seven Movies That I Watch Over and Over Again:
Seven People I Want To Join In Too:
Picture the scene:
It's Friday night (or more techncially, Saturday morning), and you're just getting home because you went straight to the pub from work.
Unfortunately, although you had a lovely evening, you didn't manage to get any food during it, nor did you eat any lunch.
In fact, the only thing you've eaten all day is a sausage sarnie.
As you walk along the street towards home, and bed, you spy the chip shop, its lights bright and inviting, and suddenly, you find yourself crossing the road, desperate for a battered sausage and chips (or, as we call them up north - a sausage supper).
So you push open the door, barely noticing the tall bloke standing waiting as your eyes fix on the cabinet, scanning... there must be... ah! yes! the holy grail, one sausage in batter left. Perfect.
The guy behind the counter smiles and asks how you are and what you'd like, and you can hardly be bothered with the pleasantries because there's a sausage there, waiting to be eaten, so before he's really finished asking what you want, the words "oooh, the battered sausage please" spill out, possibly not with as many spaces between them.
He pauses for a second and looks up, and exchanges glances with the forgotten other punter.
A moment passes.
You realise, that's his sausage.
Damn it.
Without realising it, the words "oh, is that your sausage" come out, with far more disappointment behind them than you intended, and then something magical happens.
He smiles, and says "nah, it's all right - you can have it", and I thank him.
He has a plain sausage, and I get my battered sausage, and the man behind the counter wishes me a good night and tells me to wrap up warm against the cold, and as I walk home burning the inside of my mouth on napalm filled chips, two thoughts pass through my mind.
1) Who says London is an unfriendly place?
2) I'm really going to miss living here.
Three dead mice.
See how they no longer run.
They ran across the kitchen floor,
(they won't be running anywhere now)
I hope I won't find any more
than three dead mice.
Drunk:
Jack Daniels
Port (2 different kinds)
Half a bottle of Campo Viejo Gran Reserva which I brought back from some trip or other and we were saving for a special occasion.
Diet coke (lots)
Water (half a pint)
Eaten:
Pizza
Smoked Salmon with cream cheese, lemon juice and black pepper
A sizeable portion of a box of Milk Tray
The best cheese on toast ever
Roasted Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Crisps
Pasta with bacon, cheese and yellow pepper sauce
A sausage sandwich
Three chicken kievs and some chips
Four Mr Kiplings Viennese Whirls
One celebration sized Milky Way
Conversed with:
Lots of drunk people in the pub where I saw in the New Year
Adrian
The blokes behind the desk in both Game and Virgin Megastores in Reading, expressing disbelief that no copies of Gran Turismo 4 could be found
My mum
Colleagues at work
Some strangers who may not be strangers for much longer
Eva
Two cats
Viewed:
One potential new place for me to live
Knitted:
Nothing. Not one thing. Haven't even picked up the needles. Yes, this is surprising to me too.
Slept:
For 32 hours (out of 74)
Entwined
Alone
Very late
On the sofa
Found:
A dead mouse, in a trap, in the kitchen.
The only copy of Gran Turismo 4 on sale in the whole of Reading, and for only £15. I rock.
Lost:
Ten years off my life, such was the fright I got when I barely touched the mousetrap (to move it) and it went off.
Started:
To think about packing up all my crap again.
To improve my swearword vocabulary, for use when playing head to head games of the aforementioned Gran Turismo 4 or F1 05 on Playstation 2. Current favourite: fucksticks.
Stopped:
Stroking the copy of The Kitchen Diaries I was given for Christmas on the grounds that I'm freaking myself out, never mind anyone else, but trust me, this is a beautiful book and really, it deserves to be loved.
Spent:
More time in NotLondon than in London.
Less than I thought I might, which is undoubtedly a good thing, but took some serious self control when faced with the words "Half Price Sale" all around.
Played:
Table football. In a pub. And didn't totally suck.
GT4 and F1 05 and mightily sucked.
Contemplated:
The purpose of my life (again), given that the biological imperative is not a factor for me.
Living on my own for a while, just to see if I can (without prematurely achieving my goal of being a crazy old woman with lots of cats when I grow up).
The pros and cons of various living arrangements.
Life, death, the universe and why the fuck bad stuff keeps happening to good people.
The year ahead, and what I want to achieve during it.
How strange Paddington Station is when deserted at midnight(ish).
Remembered:
To post that thing I really ideally needed to post before Christmas but entirely forgot to.
That I forgot to pick up and bring home my Christmas presents from my sister, along with a circular knitting needle.
That I need to phone the Dr and re-schedule the appointment I forgot to attend before Christmas.
To set my alarm for the morning.
To tell myself that change isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Decided:
To stop writing this right about now.
I made a bunch of resolutions last year. This is how I got on.
Start a new job (10th Jan). - Yup. Got the business cards to prove it now too. Oddly, the moment I opened the envelope and looked at my business cards for the first time was the moment when it really hit home that I wasn't dreaming it.
Speak to my family at least once a week, whether I need to or not. - On average, maybe. Probably not though. Must do better in 2006.
Take at least one photo every day. - No. I did manage to take a staggering 7600 odd shots though, which is an average of 20 shots per day.
Get the most that I can out of the membership of the Photograhpers' Gallery that I was given for Christmas. - Unfortunately not, and yes, this embarrasses me quite a lot.
Allow myself to fail, learn from it and try again. - I'm still not comfortable with it, but I did fail, I did learn from it, and I did try again.
Spend more time with friends. - Despite several periods of intense hermitage, I actually did spend way more time being sociable last year.
Do more things I've never done before. - Loads. Way too many to list.
Love. - Yes.
Implement at least one redesign of this blog. - It probably counted more as a realign than a redesign, but yup.
Complete, submit and have a css Zen Garden entry accepted. - Not even close.
Listen to the radio more. - Yes, with the hilarious consequences of waking up shouting at the radio, or arriving at work wondering why I know random facts about sheep farming.
Laugh. - Oh yes, I did lots of this.
See more music performed live. - I don't think I quite broke the gig record from 2004, but I did see a fair amount of live music last year.
Read more books. - Not as many as I'd have liked, but reading was replaced by other things.
Walk more. - Technically yes (17 miles in the dark overnight counts as more, surely?), actually, no, not really.
Be thankful for what I have. - Yes, and no matter how shit my life seems sometimes, I know that I'm lucky to have the things I have.
Cry. - Far. Too. Much.
Be inspired, and do something about it. - Yup. (as evidenced by the steady incursion of yarn related posts in this here blog)
Write more. - In work, yes. At home, no.
Be selfish when necessary, and not feel guilty about it. - Nope, still rubbish at this.
Accept that not all of these things are possible, but do everything within my control do make them happen. - They might still be outwith my control, but I haven't got any better at accepting it.
... the online home and (not very) alter(ed)-ego of Ann McMeekin, a recently freelance Web Accessibility Consultant.
... passionate about many things, most of which will turn up on this site at some time or other.
... contactable via email.
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