quelle erqsome...

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

So the heating has not been fixed. It turns out that British Gas is comprised of bureaucratic faffsticks who will choose to replace at least one part that does not really need replacing, return TWO DAYS LATER to replace a second part and then decide someone else will have to stop round some other time altogether to rewire the entire system.

However, due to some obscure British Gas policy, we won't be able to get a rewiring engineer to look at it and sign us off onto the WAITING LIST to have our boiler rewired until January at the earliest. And the last faffstick boiler engineer to show up at our door informed us that we will likely be looking at the end of January before there is any rewiring done at all. Further to all that, we were told this morning that British Gas might in fact deny all responsibility of the boiler and direct us to the manufacturer and the person who installed the system in the first place. Nonetheless, they would be charging our landlord for all three visits and the two unnecessarily replaced parts.

As a parting gesture, Boiler Man gave us a fan heater he had in the back of the van. Matthew was rather touched by this until I pointed out that we get our electricity from British Gas as well, and as the fan heater is about as economically viable an option as flushing a toilet with liquid gold, British Gas wins again!

So, to recap: British Gas 4 - 0 House of Erqsome.

defrosting cockles and gingerbread

Yesterday, after a near meltdown on my part, Matthew called up the landlord and charmed them into action, hurrah! The British Gas engineer is scheduled to come today, hurrah! (I keep wanting to call the British Gas engineer the BT engineer -- they have nothing to do with each other, so far as I can until, unless British Gas sorts out the BT offices' boilers and BT maintains the British Gas telephones.)

Regardless, functioning central heating will soon be mine! 

We made gingerbread cookies last weekend, and because of the moisture hanging in the air (due to the lack of central heating, rather than the fact we live in a 130-year-old house), all the ones we hung from the tree lost their heads. Or rather, they lost their bodies. They were all lovely and crisp when they went up, but the sog set in and, well, it wasn't pretty.

I will make some more after the British Gas people have been and there will be much rejoicing and crunching of crisp gingerbread heads and hanging of gingerbread dancers. I cannot wait!!

icicles in my window

Not outside, but actually in. I swear! All right, fine. There is a fine sheen of iced condensation frosting over the inside of the window that refuses to dissipate even with the electric heater on.

We have been without central heating since LAST FRIDAY. While the landlords have been (half-heartedly) trying to find us a boiler engineer, I have been swaddled in as many layers, barring the actual snowpants but including the tassley ear-flap hat and fingerless mitts, of a small Canadian child about to exit into a Newfoundland blizzard. At the turn of the last century. I currently have a hot water bottle strapped to my thighs and a continual supply of steaming mugs of tea and I am still cold.

I have weathered much fiercer temperatures -- I have been in the midst of ice storms and blizzards and mid-winter hailstorms with hail stones the size of canteloupes, but they were OUTSIDE!!

I should be working feverishly on editing a paper, which is due to be published shortly (yay!), but 'feverishly' is impossible when my internal organs are all trying to huddle for warmth. I might give up all together and bake some more of these:

Actually, that's a rather spiffing idea. Mmmm, warm mincy kitchen!

find of the day

new knitty, that's not old news already, is it?

There are heaps of delicious goodies in the new Knitty, Winter 2009, and I am seriously considering throwing Christmas knitting to the wind and casting on several. Our boiler (not just our radiator) completely clapped out Friday, so we have been living with sporadic use of energy-sucking electric heaters and very minimal immersion water heater ever since. Why our boiler couldn't choose to clap out in October or February when plumbers aren't at their busiest, I DON'T KNOW.

Anyway, I have never been so grateful for hand-knit everything and so, as you may well imagine, the new Knitty has been filling my head with all kinds of gently steaming sugarplum dreams. With warm-fingered steaming sugarplum dreams from the Ailbe mitts, in particular!

Though I have no intention of knitting it, the construction and general aesthetic of Four Corners intrigues and delights me. It's a bit too hypnotic for my tastes, though, and I fear if I were to knit and wear it I would be easily swayed to do virtually anyone's bidding. The Mr Darcy sweater, on the other hand, is beautiful. With it's unobtrusive texture and loose, yet structured neckline, it's a perfect men's jumper and Matthew has made just enough encouraging noises for me to start hunting through my stash to see what might be suitable. I'm also quite taken with Quadrat. If I could find a suitable belt, it would cinch my decision (get it? Cinch? Hahahaha, oooh, I'm witty).

There are several shawls in this Knitty that just set my lace brain buzzing. Perhaps because it's the festive season or perhaps just because I fantasise about food the way some people fantasise about Edward (though in a less swoony, vampiric, illicit love kind of way -- I hope that's obvious...), the idea of Bitterroot and Citron completely captivates me. I could easily cast either on today, yarns deliberated and everything.

Of course, the cowls in this issue need a mention, particularly when I could soon be going Incognito -- though I don't think I'm going to make one for myself (I prefer the subtlety and unexpected nuance of my mustache liner), my brother-in-law's Secret Santa gift might be solved! And in quite an opposite vein, the rich delicacy and elegance of Burning Embers is so sublime that I might have to pull a Yuvee and do nothing else for a day to get one round my neck. It's shaping (and fantastic use of buttons) makes it a perfect covering for these frosty mornings.

festive cheer!

With only 10 days till Christmas, Lou and I are having a 24-hour Shipping Discount O'Glad Tidings party* at both our Made by Loumms shops starting today at 6 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. 15 December.

We have heaps of giftacular items, perfect for:

* knitters and crocheters -- what with our Sock- and Sweater-Perfect WIP Buttoned Bucket Bags and groovy vintage buttons, and all,

* gardeners and market-goers -- for there are Market Aprons and Grow Your Own Food kits,

* anyone who cries, 'Moth? Yuck, patooey!' -- for them we have Moth Banishment pocket-ready organic lavender sachets,

* and especially those who think cold and uncomfortable is for those who have't learned to pamper themselves -- our organic oaty bath soaks and lovely fair-trade wheat-filled handwarmers will make them happy.

Check out Made by Loumms Etsy and Made by Loumms Folksy!!

*  free shipping in the UK, and half-price International shipping for everything we have in stock, yay!

socktoswap

I've been sitting on this for a whole week, I'm afraid, because I am a selfish, selfish being. The Socktopus Secret Santa is in its second year and I missed last year, for various reasons, mostly involving my own hibernating hermitage. This year, however, I pounced at the chance to participate, and I'm so glad I did!

So why have I waited to share the spoils rather than shout from the rooftops my good fortune and delight? Because then you would know where to find the most delicious skein of Sundara in the land. And it's mine; mine; I tell you! I've only ever covetously fondled the Sundara of Alice and pined for it on Ravelry. Little did I know Tricia had a skein up her sleeves just for me, hurrah!

The rest of the parcel is just as awesome: a brand new copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, to replace mine which met a tragic end from overuse (and from being dropped in a mop bucket); a hanging lavender sachet, which is currently defending my closet with sweet-smelling gusto; some frankly superb gourmet popcorn, including BLUE CORN, which I have only ever had in tortilla chip form and has been my favourite since I was about eight; and a fanfreakingtastic pattern from Emily Johnson of the Family Trunk Project.

If you followed the Loumms Year of Socks at all, you'll know how I love a good story when it comes to patterns and designs and I've been eagerly following Emily Johnson's Family Trunk Project since it's inception. The Julia Socks, a bit of a deviation from the Project, inspired by Sarah Water's The Night Watch, is a beautiful textured pattern and I cannot wait to cast on!

advent!

Growing up, my sister and I were never allowed a chocolate Advent calender. We got ones behind the cardboard doors of which were mounted tiny holiday scenes, of people skating and exchanging gifts. We didn't even know chocolate calenders existed until one year my grandparents, who sent us one each every year, picked up what my mother declared the Wrong Sort. One wasn't too bad. It just had tiny plastic trinkets behind its doors. The other was the Advent equivalent of Evil Incarnate: it bore chocolate. Bite-sized pieces of reindeer-shaped chocolate. My sister and I were forced to share that year and bitter were those twenty-four days, split between daft crappy pendents and mouthwateringly divine breakfast chocolate.

My grandparents received a stern warning and thereafter it was back to the small printed scenes.

My mum can recall a time when she was reprimanded by her mother for wasting her pocket money on Mars bars. 'I can't wait until I grow up,' she announced passionately, 'then I can eat Mars bars all day if I want to! For breakfast, lunch and dinner!' She recalls this somewhat wistfully, because these days she thinks Mars bars are awful and has never fulfilled her childhood dream of chocolate morning, noon and night.

I, on the other hand, have taken to rectifying that sad December each year, by choosing with careful deliberation which chocolate Advent will mark down the days till Christmas. In spite of the trauma so many years ago, I still share mine with Matthew, though we missed getting on last year so this year we get one each!

But we couldn't decide which we liked more, Transformers or Simpsons, so we've decided to swap them every other day. We will be such positive models for our children.

planning

Tomorrow I am going to make gingerbread.

And if not tomorrow, because tomorrow is the day I need to return a book I've been proofreading and it's my friend James's birthday, then definitely Saturday.

Ooooh, which is a great idea because Simon and Mary are going to be staying and then it's Leah and Nick's 'have fun in India' leaving do and maybe I can take some of them with me.

I'm so going to make gingerbread tomorrow.

jammy christmas crumpets

On cold mornings, a jammy crumpet and a sleepy cat are really all you need to keep warm, no? Mozzie will occasionally protest that she's a bit too hot, she'll stretch and lazily decide she might want to move over to the couch instead, but she can generally be persuaded to stay put. Of course, some times, the lure of Yeti curled up on the soft fleecy quilt I made for them over comes her and I am left to huddle under my Hap Blanket all by myself.

It has been a very busy week -- with more sewing and lugging and hauling than I could possibly repeat here (though I do a fair attempt, here). The craft fair at Bentley Priory was great fun and I just about managed to finalise the last of my Christmas purchases, though my Christmas knitting still has a bit of a way to go... I'm redoing that stripey cardigan for Matthew and making him a few other things -- fast things, but still, not so fast that the anxious dread isn't slowly creeping up on me. Fortunately, I've decided I am only knitting for him this year. Everyone else can suck it.

Unfortunately for Matthew, Lou has just released her German Christmas Market gloves and hat set and I am tempted to cast on IMMEDIATELY! They look awesome in person and the gloves are super warm (that Manos makes for excellent fingers). I've been working on a super secret sock pattern, which I should be able to release in the next couple of days -- I can't wait! 

Incidentally, I just saw that Ali has tweeted about the German Christmas Market still being on. I wonder if I should use this afternoon for a quick visit to see what might be found. Lou managed to snag a fantastic hand-made candle when she and Aneet went a couple weeks ago and spent a good deal of time dribbling excitedly over some German Christmas ornaments...

We haven't got our Christmas tree yet, but that might be the push we need. Then I can spend my chilly mornings with a jammy crumpet and sleepy cat under the glow of twinkling coloured lights. Hurrah!