My Finest Hour

Listening to: Buffalo Stance – Neneh Cherry

Nothing like sharehousing for political clarity. I need firm decisions and centrally administered services! Whose turn is it to buy the fucking toilet paper? I bought the last lot and the hand soap.

I am not an anarchist.

Listening to: Love Her Madly – The Doors

Firstly, when did this happen? Suddenly it’s autumn! Awesome.

Secondly, this is our oven:

It’s hard to photograph grease.

Thirdly, I found a new way to walk home today. Google was directing me kind of the long way round (and I’ve been lazy since the move and usually catch the bus from Acton to Hammersmith, halving my walk), but I knew there had to be a way through Chiswick so I printed a couple of zoomed out Google Maps to keep me in the right general direction and set off to explore. It was fun not knowing quite where I was going to end up next! And eventually I made it to the Thames Path (my old nemesis), which was probably not the wisest move because it got quite dark by that point (winter is really coming! Yea!) but it worked out okay. I took quite a main roady route to be on the safe side, so there’s still more to explore in the back streets tomorrow!

Finally, Heather has been emailing me some completely awesome Mills & Boon titles. I am ashamed to say how long it’s been since I even set foot inside a library (not only ashamed but completely distraught, really – what am I doing?) – I’ve missed these and I need to start looking for some of my own again, too! Here’s a selection (seriously, these are some of the best ever):

Listening to: When I Get to the Border - Richard & Linda Thompson

I think the keyboard issue might actually have something to do with the internet – I’ve switched to writing this in Word and it’s fine. We’ll see how WordPress copes when I paste it in, though. It doesn’t generally play well with others.

Primark on Sunday was kind of a bust (I briefly considered a red wool-blend skirt for work and was going to do it up with new buttons and rick-rack, but it was so cheaply-made that the lining felt like an actual plastic bag so I gave up on the dream), but I did finally find a full-length mirror in a cheap shop on King Street in Hammersmith for 12 quid, so I came home happy. It’s currently propped up on my singles box, but I need to think of something taller because it cuts my head off.

I am in love with the fibre arts lately! I’ve had my crochet hooks out to work on the neverending afghan and have recently begun to turn them to smaller, more creative projects – crochet is so full of possibilities! I made a little tiara out of scraps on Sunday night (I had season 4 of Weeds to get through) – it’s hard to make out in the photo because there are a million ends to weave in, but I like it:

And I’ve been trawling the Craftzine crochet archives – there’s nothing there I specifically want to make (I think amigurumi are cute and everything, but what do you do with them once you’ve made them, really?), but they’re really inspiring! If I can find a cheap enough cotton/blend yarn, I’m going to try my hand at a freeform laundry basket (I’m thinking of something like my Year 12 Ceramics assignment [a massive great coil pot that kind of collapsed in an aesthetically pleasing way shortly before I finished it - my mum now stores her umbrellas in it], minus the clay). And my Elizabeth Zimmermann pi shawl continues to grow. Its awesomeness isn’t really down to anything I’m doing because it’s all about the self-striping yarn and genius circular formula (I haven’t made it remotely lacy – maybe when I get to the border), but I’m so looking forward to the finished product. It’s just starting to get cool enough to wear woollens here and yesterday I tried out the simple Gaia shawl I made a couple of months ago – it was like wearing a hug! So cosy.

Finally, this is insane but I would have loved this when I was a kid.

Actually, no, really finally I have a question – is anyone else having trouble with iTunes 9? I upgraded to it without thinking and now it comes up with a fatal intallation error every time I try to use it. Don’t they know I have podcasts to download?

Listening to: Worrier God - The Underground Lovers

IS FEMINISM GIVING BRITISH JUSTICE SWINE FLU? Qwghlm’s Daily Mail-o-matic is my new favourite toy.

So hey. How’s tricks, blogosphere? I spent about 36 hours pissing about on Facebook last night, becoming a fan of everything I could think of, and it occurred to me that I should probably just start blogging again.

Oh, man – I think I might need to send the new laptop off for a service first, though. This keyboard is driving me insane! This is what it looks like when I don’t go back and correct every other word:

Arg this stpid kyboard i compltely insntive and I worrythat i’s ging to gve me some sortof stress-relatemedicl condtin.

(Translated: “Argh, this stupid keyboard is completely insensitive and I worry that it’s going to give me some sort of stress-related medical condition.”)

But regardless, consider the blog back on! I’ve just cooked properly for the first time in the new house (pumpkin soup, stewed apples and plums, and brown rice for breakfasts), I have a ticket to see the Lemonheads next Saturday and I’m about to spend the afternoon in Hammersmith Primark. How could I possibly justify letting such an exciting life go undocumented?