Poddling Along

Observant readers will have spotted that there hasn't been a great deal of news on the knitting front. However, knitting was what got suggested in the comments to my previous post, so, here's the news: I am still working on the jumper that I started at about the same time I moved in with Steve. I have one-and-two-thirds sleeves left to go, plus a certain amount of sewing up. I am also still working on my birthday socks. It took a month to do the first sock, but I'm still a certain way off finishing the second. Twenty more rounds and then it's the toe decreases, for those In The Know.

There are various reasons for the lack of knitting progress. There was the DLA form-filling, and there was a shoulder injury, and there were a couple of phases where I rediscovered addictions to computer games like The Sims 2 and Settlers. There is also, the Top Seekrit Project.

The Top Seekrit Project is a ******** that I have made for ******. It's ****, just like the *** I made previously, with cute little ******s on it just like on ** ****** ****. I finished knitting it a couple of days ago and now I'm just doing the final sewing-up and blocking. It is just a smidge too big, but I feel quite confident I can find a way around that. I think I have enough of the yarn left that I could make one for myself as well. Tempting.

I can't try it on right now though, because I am covered in sun-cream after a fantastic Day Off Work. It's been the first "normal" day of work I've had from this job, by which I mean, it wasn't because I was sick and in bed, or because I had Plans, or because it was a weekend/bank holiday to be spent cowering indoors from the crowds and traffic (seriously, have you ever tried to propel a mobility scooter through a Saturday shopping crowd? not possible, unless you fit blades to the wheels). It was just a gorgeous day, a weekday, a sunny day. So first I went to Boots, for the purchase of sun-cream, and then, having applied said sun-cream, continued on to the book shop. Half an hour later, I'd finally spent my Christmas Book Tokens, and then it was onwards to the park, where I relaxed in the sunshine or in the dappled shade of the trees by turns, read for a bit, sock-knitted for a bit, and got myself an ice-cream. Mint-choc-chip, as it happens.

It might not sound like much, but it meant a lot to me. It was the first chance I've had to properly go out on my own since starting work. Sure, I go to work, but the taxi picks me up from the door of the house and deposits me at the door of the shop, I can't suddenly decide that I'm going to take a different route, or leave early to do some shopping, or drop a letter in the postbox on my way home. Steve is lovely about driving me places or pushing the wheelchair, but I hate having to be so ask-y, so demanding. So it was nice to just go "I think I'll go over here. Now I think I'll stop for a minute. Now I think I'll go over there," and simply do it, for no apparent reason, without needing to ask someone, or to think carefully about whether I can afford to use up my whole day's energy on such fripperies.

I'm very tired, but very relaxed. Hopefully tomorrow (Friday) I will wake up feeling a bit more refreshed, and then it's an afternoon at work before the weekend-proper.