updated

Things I did on my holiday, which admittedly was a while ago (bad blogger, etc, etc): I saw a fantastic exhibition on Open Source Embroidery, sat by the beach, took photos of lanterns, and crocheted a shawl (first crochet lace, details on ravelry page). I also split up with Marcus. Which is sad in the short term, but definitely the right thing to do. It was also a while ago now (and, to be honest, the relationship was over a long time before that). Since then I've done a bit of teaching, a fair bit of research, a lot of start of term admin, chunks of lesson planning, oodles of reading, some socialising and a smidgen of baking.

I also bought a brand new bike as my old one was stolen from Bloomsbury while I was off seeing an art exhibition (about twine, in a disused tram tunnel - there are some great things about living in London, despite the bike thieves).

Knitwise, my stripy-like-a-bee sweater's been progressing nicely. I've done both sleeves and the neck down till just below the waist. But it is taking ages (4ply, 2.5mm...) and, as a seamless top-down raglan, is getting too large to fit in my everyday bag. As my other FO is very complex lace (for which I require excellent light and silence), I needed a small and easy project I could take to knitting groups. So I picked up a couple of balls of leftover 4ply from the back of my stash, cast on a few hundred stitches, making sure it was divisible by four, and then simply chugged along in mindless 2x2 rib. Perfect for knitting nights, including this brilliant Halloween-themed event at the Hunterian Museum, and the FO's been perfect for keeping my neck warm now the weather's getting colder. Again, full details on raverly project page.