An Estonian girl who has found a home in Sweden.

Monday, June 9

One Week Later

June 09, 2008 Posted by Vaire

The last week has been more and less productive than other weeks lately. More productive because I actually knit and less productive because I ignored the housework.

I got my tax returns and spent some of it on things I didn't plan to buy with it. Like two new bras and three t-shirts. These I actually needed, unlike two seasons of CSI Vegas, one season each of House and Criminal Minds. Yes, I like puzzles and forensics is fascinating. Since I don't have a TV I buy these shows on DVD. The problem is that it's very hard to stop watching. Hence the ignore housework bit.

We had a long weekend here in Sweden. 6th of June is the national holiday and we got a day off. My employer gives half a day off on the day preceding a "red day"*. This is especially nice when the red day is Friday — extra long weekend.

I met with friends on Thurdsay in Kungsträdgården. We sampled some of the foods that were available and went shopping afterwards. It was really nice to have a girls day out, I've missed that. They helped me find the t-shirts I mentioned above. We also saw a couple of dresses that would have been perfect, but they had too small sizes left and were not black.

I had a shock trying on one of the tees, it was size 38. 38! I haven't worn size 38 since 2003. I think their sizing must be off because the new bras that I bought are still the exact same size as a year ago and fit perfectly. According to Burda charts I'm size 44 in tops, except that that's off too. The circumference might be right, but the back is too wide. My body has changed so much in the last year I don't really know what size it is. Thank God for stretchy tops.

After we'd split up with the girls, I popped by the DVD section of a department store that was on my way home. I went in thinking I'd buy one season of CSI, but came out with four seasons of various shows. That pretty much defined my weekend — watching my favourite TV shows non-stop and knitting.

I wanted to have a shrug for the chilly summer nights, the tees I bought are all short-sleeved and I thought that a wool sweater would be a bit too much. Besides, I had some black worsted weight wool in my stash (no black cotton/linen/hemp), too little for a sweater, enough for a shrug.

I cast on the Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug (link to Ravelry) from Fitted Knits on Thursday and finished the second sleeve yesterday. I call it Monochrome Ribbed Shrug because it's just black. I thought about making it two-tone, but I didn't have any contrasting colours in my stash. The plan is to finish the ribbing on Tuesday so I can wear the shrug to a company outing on Wednesday.

* Red day is a weekday marked red in calendar because it is a holiday, not a workday.