38, just like my 2nd-favourite bus*

Today I turn 38.
This is very weird to me because I think back to what people I know were doing when they were 38 and it all seemed very grown-up compared to how I feel now.
Appearances can be deceptive, and that can work both ways!

I've spent some of my birthday continuing to work on Fat Girasole. It's nice and I'm on to chart D now, and there are strong diagonal lines to help me keep track of where I am and where I should be. I've finished the leaf motifs and that's quite a satisfying feeling.

So here I am answering a meme passed onto me by my pal Dolly Dimple.
I've to tell you six quirky but boring things about me.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules.
Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
Go to each person's blog and leave a comment that let's them know they've been tagged.

So what six quirky but boring things can I think of:

1. I am not shy at all and would happily speak, read, sing etc in front of a large room of people, but I get all awkward when speaking to "official" people. This can be as simple as the gas company or the bank or whatever.

2. I have developed a fascination for cake stands and am intending to buy one with some of my M & S vouchers from DH. Tea Rose Cake Server

3. I can't stand domestic pets of any kind, but I check out the LOLcats several times a day. Yes really!

4. I love wind-up crayons (No, not like clockwork, like propelling pencils, only crayons)
and J regularly treats me to a few packets to use with the pupils. Wind up Crans

5. I am a keen composter and have both the Con 220 and the Komp 250. I recently discovered that although I pronounce "compost" to rhyme with "lost", my friends over the ocean pronounce it to rhyme with "post".

6. Last week J and I found an abandoned Andrex puppy toy out in the back court and we washed him, loved him, squeezed him and called him George. Here is This season's Andrex puppy

I'm not going to pass this on to six bloggers cause it's not my style, but if you'd like to give six quirky but unspectacular things about yourself, then consider yourself tagged. x K

*My favourite bus is the 255 but even with medical advances I don't think I'll live that long.

There is nothing like a lace shawl...

...and this nothing like a lace shawl, boom boom.

It's amazing how six extra plies of yarn can turn a frustratingly difficult but potentially gorgeous cobweb into a one million times easier but potentially nice throw.

Yes, I'm trying Girasole again, this time in RYC Baby Alpaca in colour Chiffon. (Santa gift from John Lewis January sale.)

I made more progress on this last night than I did in the previous week on the 2 ply blue version. It's nice enough, but it's most definitely a cosy lap blanket style now rather than an heirloom quality delicate lace shawl. This is ok, because not only am I now motoring ahead on the thick version, I'm also far more determined to make the lace version work, now I know where the bits go.

I know this is only DK weight, but compared to the other it feels like Super Bulky. I'm now onto chart C and have finished up my first ball, which is another reason why I'd like to do the laceweight one, with 1800 or something yards per skein!

Anyway, here is FAT GIRASOLE in progress. x K

Arrivederci Girasole

Major headaches with the beautiful Brooklyn Tweed pattern Girasole. His version is in 4 ply or Aran. My nightmares began when I tried to do it in laceweight. Not having any success in spite of dozens of attempts, rip backs, fudges and wasted yarn. Yarn good, pattern good. I can't get the combo to work though. Will revisit both yarn and pattern later, just not together. x K

Halfway to Paradise

Half-way through the stripe sequence on my Hap-like shawl.
I now repeat these stripes in mirror image all the while getting increasingly concerned about whether or not I'll have enough of the Oatmeal yarn for the sideways edging.
It's a strangely short leap from ecstasy to despair.
In the meantime I am still loving this beautiful variation on the Shetland Hap shawl and thinking it's going to be one of the loveliest, snuggliest things I've ever knitted.

ETA: I'm now up to 401 sts per row. x K