Blessed Relief

Today has brought relief ...

It started with my Seaweed Socks. I dragged them out, grit my teeth and got on with it. Yes, the garter stitch ladders still look a bit wonky, but I HAVE knit them correctly, and I don't really suppose there's much I can do to change the way they look, other than hope that a bit of blocking manipulation will help. No matter, I think imperfection can only add to perfection. I have really cracked on with these. Colin was watching some old Dr Who reruns this afternoon (Tom Baker era), and I barely noticed that I was knitting as I got engrossed in the storyline. I got to thinking 'just two more rows', and ended up doing another 20. Happily I've done the gansey pattern at the top of the sock now and have stopped 4 rows into the ribbing that covers the rest of the sock. However, ribbing doesn't really excite me, and I can bet that before I get much more done I will be bored to tears with it. But the finished socks will be really something, so perseverance will be the key.

I'm finding it a bit of a struggle to knit with this yarn. Yes, it's one of Lilith's gorgeous yarns, a merino/bamboo blend, but I think it's just a little too sticky for my KnitPro Symfonie wooden dpns, and I'm finding that it is knitting a bit tighter than normal as a result (I'm not sure if that's actually possible, but that's how it feels despite me making every effort to knit loosely). Wouldn't it be an absolute tragedy if I felt I had to buy a set of the KnitPro Nova (metal) dpns in order to continue? (sniggering gently). In fact ... oops, just wandered away briefly to check out the price. Sadly I think I'm going to have to struggle with the Symfonie's, I can't really justify splashing out on a full set of the Nova dpns (though I suppose I could just buy a couple of single needle sets ... but I know it won't stop there ... the same website sells Mini Mochi too and I might not be able to resist)

Anyway, progress has been made on my sock and I am pleased. I made some progress with my Hypoteneuse wrap last night too and got another pattern repeat done, so that's five down and thirteen still to go. I've not touched it today, but I'm going to head off to bed shortly so I might see if I can get a few rows done before sleeptime.

More relief came today in the form of returning to my normal diet. It seems like weeks and weeks since I've ate my usual things, though it's not really. I was very prudent with the Christmas foods I bought this time around. Usually there is lots of cake, crisps, mince pies etc around here, but there was none this time around (though I did buy two boxes of bakery-made mince pies from Sainsburys last week for the boys) and I have pretty much stayed within my points, though not necessarily eating my usual fare (though fresh salmon, and smoked salmon has featured very highly). My usual diet consists of porridge every morning for breakfast (I LOVE my porridge so much that sometimes I have it for dinner too). Generally for lunch I eat houmous or cottage cheese, but with trying to follow Weight Watchers and with getting into a different daily routine (ie going to bed in the wee small hours and then not getting up until nearly lunchtime), I've more or less avoided lunch completely over the last week or so. Dinner tends to be a jacket potato (love my jacket potatoes) with fish and veg (I get through huge mounds of courgettes, mushrooms and brussels sprouts on a weekly basis), or a big vegetable based stirfry type thing, with mushrooms, courgettes, sometimes leeks and/or peppers, passata, a pack of wholewheat noodles and some prawns. Sometimes, if I have points to spare, I throw in a big dollop of the garlic and herb Philadelphia light. Delish. And then pudding - if I'm feeling really naughty I'll have a Weight Watchers frozen pudding (caramel crunch, double chocolate brownie or a mint chocolate one), otherwise I have raspberries, strawberries or blueberries with a pot of 0% fat greek yogurt.

I am truly a creature of habit. I don't like too much variation in what I eat, so being off work for a week has put my routine out of whack. It was indeed a blessed relief to cook a 'normal' dinner tonight (a big piece of cod, a big jacket potato with butter (Lurpak Light of course) and a huge mound of brussels sprouts - love their spicy mustardy taste). Tomorrow I look forward to more normality ... unfortunately I go back to work tomorrow. I really don't want to go back to work, but it does mean that I can get back into my regular routine and get back to work on shifting some more weight.

Staying at home has been great, but it does mean that I've had very little exercise, as I've been sleeping in late and then spending huge portions of my day sat on my backside watching TV, surfing the net and knitting. At least back at work there is a chance that I will be zipping around hither and zither to sort out problems and get my work done. But it means I will have to get up early. Yuk.

So, Christmas is officially over for another year. Hopefully the kids will get the tree down tomorrow while I am at work, and we can get to work on enjoying 2010. In the meantime, I have a gorgeously warm 7 year old fast asleep next to me, with his head on my shoulder, so I am going to get him up to bed now and then go to bed myself in the hopes of a little more progress with my Hypoteneuse before I go to sleep. Gute Nacht!