Woo-Hoo! Look at that progress!

Would ya look at that?! I've almost got the length on this puppy, then it will be sleeves and finishing. I really might get to wear it this year after all. I can't believe it! No picture from the 5 year old either, though she might have done a better job.

I've been knitting like mad at lunch at work, and it is starting to pay off. Since my TV shows are done for the season (and I haven't picked up any of the filler shows), I've been watching movies on my PC at work. So far, Gothic and Shadow of the Vampire. I'm sensing a theme here. Anyway, they seem to have inspired speedy knitting, so more power to them. I wonder what I should watch next...

I start my long-awaited vacation on Thursday. I cannot tell you how delighted I am about that. I so need a break from work. I'm planning to kick it all off by FINALLY going to see Pirates #3. I can't believe I've made it this long, but since I wasn't taking the girls, that is how it had to be.

I did cast on the next sock. I've made about half an inch of progress, so, enough not to forget what I'm doing. I hate to spend too much time on it, however, as I'm doing so well on the blue sweater. I'm also jonesing to do some spinning... Just one more day & then I can go nuts. Well, at least I'll be free to do more knitting and spinning than I can currently work into my day.

One more day...

It is finished!

Woo-Hoo! I'm certain I must have started this thing last June and last night, 6/4/07, I Kitchenered off the toe. I'm not 100% pleased with how that went, but it'll do. I couldn't wait to get that sock off the needles, I didn't want to wait until I'd spent a week researching ways to finish the toe. I'll do that in the year it takes to do sock #2. LOL Ahhhh. I can't tell you how pleased I am about ending the Endless Sock. I'm sure everyone has an experience with the project they thought would never end, so I'm guessing everyone knows the feeling themselves. It is good, no?

I was trying to get a closer image of the detail on the twisted cables. Maybe I'll try again another time. Now for the details:

Opal Rainforest Eule / Owl
contents 75% wool, 25% polyamide
465 yds / 100 gram ball

The pattern is from Classic Beginnings: Socks for the Family by Michele Wyman and I used the Mock Cable Leg Ribbing (which I adapted for a hat back in November or so). The pattern was well written and was in a formula sort of format. I made some copies so I could just fill in the blanks for any size of sock that I might be knitting. The patterns are all written for dpns, however, so I had to do some adjusting to do them on two circs. No big, I just used Cat's book for that and it all seemed to work out (once I adjusted for the stitch counts).

I used Knit Picks #2 circs for the bulk of the socks (started on bamboo dpns #2). I think I knit these much tighter than I normally do (everything else I knit), so I managed to get 8 stitches to the inch. Or, I think I did. I must have for the gauge swatch, and whatever else may have shifted, the sock fits, so I'm good. LOL

I have not yet cast on for sock #2, I was pushing bedtime back about 20 minutes to get the sock off the needles and the pictures done (see what I do for you?). I was sooo tired yesterday, I didn't sleep well the night before, so I didn't want to stay up late. It was worth it for the sock. LOL I'm wiped today, of course, you know how you get when you finally get some good sleep after missing sleep. I'm thinking one more good night's rest should set me right. Maybe finishing the sock will let me sleep better. (Or maybe moving back to cooler weather will do it...).

While looking up the stats on the Opal yarn I was distressed to see that they have released a second Rainforest collection. Holy cow! I've only just made peace with not buying all the colorways in the first collection and now they add even more colors I want to own in Rainforest 2! Jeepers. I was really setting a new goal for myself to only knit socks with thicker weight yarn (than the Opal). What in the world will I do with a humongous collection of tiny, tiny sock yarn?! Besides pet it, I mean. Oy.

Back to the sweater. I'm still behind on all of my TV shows. I haven't seen the season finale on a single show yet and they've all been done for a week or more. sigh Oh well, at least I've got some good knitting time left (and some more dark chocolate covered almonds!). Then I think I'll watch Firefly again. And the Dresden Files will be out in August. Now that's something to look forward to!

Excuse my while I go model my sock for people. Whether they like it or not...

Skating but no sock

Okay, the birthday girl is in the pink pony shirt, the other two girls are friends. 4 hours of roller skating! It was about 85 degrees (F) outside (unseasonably warm for Seattle this time of year) and there was no air conditioning. Mom was too warm! Yes I'm from Texas. Yes, I've acclimated to Washington state weather. Anything over 80 is pushing it for me. Anyway, more people showed for her birthday than I expected, so good for her. The kids all had a blast, and most of them actually got worn out and left for home before the party was technically over. We were allowed to stay for 4 hours, so that's what I put on the invitation. Next time, I think I'd shorten it by an hour or something. That was too long for me, I was wiped out and I wasn't even skating. Pirate cake and princess presents, quite a combination. LOL

You know, I used to skate all the time. You'd think, as a fully-functional adult, that I could skate fairly easily if I wanted. Um, no. I tried it last year and discovered that there are muscles in my legs that I apparently have no use for on a regular walking-around basis. Go figure. Another little tidbit I picked up last year, falling is sort of painful. Yep. No skating for mom. If we start making a habit of skating, I might change my mind, right now, I don't think so.

Our hot water heater blew out on Thursday night. It's been coming, but Himself kept putting off getting it replaced. I think he was hoping it would just go away or something. I decided I wasn't going to do it for him, I have enough on my plate. Anyway, I came home Thursday night to a stream of water winding its way out of my garage. Neat. Just what every home owner wants to see when they open the garage door, right? Fortunately, nothing was ruined by the water AND we were able to get someone out Friday afternoon to replace the darned thing. Yee-haw! (See? I am from Texas!) Got the weekend off to an exciting start.

What with the party and all, I did not have much time for knitting. Big surprise, right? I did manage to get a "before" picture of my sock. Here I am all ready to start the decreases. It rolled a bit away from my toes, but still, it is time to get going. Look, I even included a shot of one of my cats' fuzzy behind (and Himself's foot). Isn't that thoughtful? Who wouldn't want to see that, right? I would like to appologize for the photo quality, actually, I was trying to get the flash working again before the party and took shots of the sock because I needed them and it was easy. That is not a stripe running down the whole sock, that is the cable on my circ needle, btw. Sorry, I could have done a better job with that.

I managed a few rows and decreases on the sock this weekend, and it is going pretty quickly. I decided I'd set aside the sweater for a few days in an effort to finish the sock, but I forgot to switch out my knitting for work, so blue sweater it is for today. Still, maybe by the weekend I'll have the sock done. Here's hoping! At any rate, the sweater is now about halfway in length, so I've made some good progress there too.

I'm looking forward to a "quiet" weekend this weekend. No birthdays, no parties, no other scheduled events at all, in fact. I'm quite thrilled. We plan to clean the house, and that is really all I want to do. Besides knit. And spin. Here's hoping... (A younger me would probably find this paragraph quite depressing. LOL)

Sunny smiles

Though you can't see it properly, my youngest is showing off a little model police car (Doc Hudson/Paul Newman) from the movie Cars. She had a very nice little birthday with cupcakes and chinese food (her choice for dinner). The actual party is on Saturday, we're going roller skating. There was a party at daycare and the little monkey was quite exhausted by the time we got done with dinner. She fell asleep while she was telling me goodnight. I can't believe my baby is five. sigh Time really flies, at light speed.

My oldest scored some pressies too. Grandma usually sends stuff for both girls, she's afraid someone will get hurt feelings. I think they are old enough now that it isn't a problem, but Grandma will do as she likes. One of the oldests' gifts is the family joke. Her great-grandma has a real horror of snails/worms/slugs. For a joke one year, I sent a wooden slug to her in a present. She sent it back with the next package to me and we started a special tradition between the two of us. I had to explain it a few years ago to my oldest, and she thought it was an awesome joke and wanted to help me decide how to hide it, or where to put it in the packages, etc. I shared this info with great-grandma and now she sends the slug to my oldest instead of me, much to DD's delight. Ah, the passing on of tradition. The little things that make you feel special and loved, even if it is a bit weird. Here she is holding up the slug. Sorry, it seems to blend into her hair.


It was a good day, but way too busy for knitting. I did finally read through all toe decrease instructions for the various sock patterns I've been using. Hmm. You experienced sock knitters probably know that they are all kind of the same, or so it seems. Both of my patterns are the same, they are just written differently since one is for DPNs and the other is for circs. That's reassuring to me. Now I can just get down to doing it, you know, in theory. First I've got to sit down for a few minutes while I'm at home. Something I've not really done in the past week. Still, I'm hopeful I'll find the time by Sunday to finish that sock off. There will be much rejoicing!

Then I'd probably better cast on the second one lest I lose all hope of having a PAIR of socks. The next socks I do are going to be on heavier weight yarn. That's all I'm saying... LOL

It fits!

This lovely picture is brought to you by my 5 (tomorrow!) year old. Sorry I didn't have time to tidy it up, but if I took the time for that, there wouldn't be any picture for a few more days. Please note the really nice sunburn. Yes. Mommy cleverly considered sunscreen for the kids, but completely forgot about very fair-skinned mom. Typical.

So, the shirt I tried the sweater over was a bit loose and made it an awkward sort of experiment, but I am confident that the sweater is a good fit so far. It might be a tidge (is that a word?) snug at the hips, but we'll see. This pattern calls for a bit of a split on the sides at the bottom, so that may not be a problem after all. The color is good with the hair, and the sunburn, and I am pleased with the whole project right now. I will say, however, that the sweater is very scratchy on sunburned skin. Weird. Everyone who sees the sweater and pets it comments on how very soft it is. Put it on a sunburn, it is the scratchiest of fibers. Amazing.

The sunburn is a result of an entire day in the sun in Seattle. I know! Crazy! Himself and his band played at the Folklife Festival and so we were out all day listening to music, entertaining the kids and eating overpriced food. We had a good time, but I did get burned pretty good. I had planned to bring some knitting along (the sock, in fact) but didn't quite have enough room in our bag for it, so I was without knitting for the day. I was actually quite bothered by the lack of knitting while out and about, but I did have it in the car. I guess I could have gone to the car for a "fix" or something, but it was a bit of a walk to the parking spot. The kids rode some rides at the park at Seattle Center and I rode a few with the oldest. Lots of fun, but I was exhausted!

I have nearly reached the end of the Endless Sock! I multi-tasked a bit on the knitting front this past week. I'm ready to do the toe decreases! I can't believe it! I was planning to finish off the sock yesterday, but I got sidetracked by getting new dishes. (I bought the Lisbon pattern in a mix of the three colors.) Hopefully I can get it done this week. I'm having to sort between patterns a bit. The pattern I'm knitting is for dpns, but I've knit it up on two circs. I'm trying to determine if I need to sort out the dpn toe on circs, put it back on dpns or modify directions for the toe on two circs to fit the number of stitches I have on my needles. Confused? Me too! I'm sure all of these ideas would work, but I'd like to be sure I'm doing all the math right before I get going. Fancy that. LOL

So once I brought the new dishes home, I had to make room for them. This started a whole ordeal, maybe this sort of thing is familiar to you. I cleaned out the cabinets, the tried to get "organized" and make better use of space. Mwahahahahahah. Uh-huh. By the end of the day, I made a trip out to get a stand-alone cabinet to put the kids melamine (non-breakable) dishware in, washed all the new dishes, part of it by hand, and got most of the stuff back in the cabinets. I was also able to get out some of my husbands favorite glasses that he hasn't seen in a while. Specialized beer/wine glasses, like our beer hoons (typo on the box, should have been 'horn', but we like the 'hoon'). I think we may tweak some placement stuff, but for now, it fits better than it has for a while and the kids love having their stuff in an easier to reach location. That new cabinet may have to be moved to a different part of the room, I'm not crazy about where it is currently standing, but we'll see.

A good three-day weekend, but crazy busy. I can't believe that I didn't sit down and just rest all weekend long. I am worn out and I have a busy week to go. The youngest turns 5 tomorrow and the party is on Saturday (Pirates! & roller skating, should be fun). Now if I can just work in the sock...

Just a quickie

Hello! I can't believe I haven't been able to post for so long, but things are a bit chaotic. Since my last post:

1. the hamster got sick and had to go back to the pet store for treatment (we opted to wait for her recovery rather than get a new hamster). This takes 2-3 weeks.
2. oldest DD got strep throat (or a really nasty virus) Friday last, and we had a busy, busy weekend planned and her play was on Monday (she had the starring role)
3. my family (back in Texas) and some sort of meltdown across multiple areas of life and called me in panic mode - nothing inherently life threatening, but very complicated
4. work is a bit of a panic as well, lots of big-wigs coming through (not that anyone every introduces me to them) asking lots of questions & generally putting the pressure on the new director to look sharp - also, we're nearing the fiscal year and I've got spend, spend, spend on new materials here right at the last (I'm behind from all of the hiring/firing I've been doing)
5. we were supposed to have testing last night for Taekwondo, but oldest DD seems to have a different bug this week and spent the evening throwing up. Needless to say, we didn't make it to the testing and I'm not yet sure if she's better this morning or if there's more fun ahead
6. my very dear, but senior neighbor (the one who cut the branches off of my tree last year) seems to have decided that we belong to some freaky cult because my children don't know the sunday school songs protestant children seem to know (we're Orthodox Christians and my kids know different songs). It is annoying and frustrating to me, but hopefully now that he has expressed his concerns he will move on. That is probably too much to hope for, though.
7. birthday preparations for the youngest DD had to get done so that we can get them out to everyone. I wanted them out at the beginning of the week, they went out today. Oh well.

In knitting news, I've been plugging away at the blue sweater and I've been making some real progress. I'm easily halfway done now. I've decided that I'm going to move my live stitches onto some waste yarn and try it on. It looks like it is a bit small, but I know that might be because it is on circs, and they pull it in and make it look smaller than it is. Still, I'd like to reassure myself that the gauge swatch mattered and the thing will fit. I'd rather find out the truth now, while I can rip and correct part of the sweater, rather than find out after I've finished all the edges and there's no way I'm ripping anything.

Also, a former coworker who has moved away has gotten in touch and has been sharing some of her knitting successes. She is such a lovely lady and I've really enjoyed sharing knitting stories with her. It is such fun to see her progress and swap photos with her. She's really brightened my week this week.

I'll try to have a better knitting related post next week, with pictures, have a good weekend!

Pink is the new something

Oh yes. Pink. You are looking at the newest member of our family Princess Diamond (That's what the 5 y.o. has decreed.) She lives in something call the Pink Princess Castle, and let me tell you, it is PINK. Excessively so, but then I'm not a young girl under 10. Mind you, I don't dislike pink, in general, but whoa. The main body of the cage is clear, so the poor thing isn't completely viewing life through rose colored plastic, but ouch. Here's another image of the whole cage.


The oldest is a bit grumpy as Princess was not waking up to play as she had hoped. They are very anxious to get the hamster out and running in the ball. I keep explaining that Princess needs some time to get used to us and her new home, but the 7 y.o. is not big on patience. She's learning. We were able to pet Princess in the cage, but we're not trying to pick her up yet. My oldest finally made peace with that idea. As long as she can touch her, even a little, she is okay. The youngest just wants her in the ball. Whatever. I'm just wondering what the heck we were thinking when we agreed to the hamster.

Himself is out of town at a conference in Minneapolis (Society for Technical Communicators), sounds nice and dweeby. He calls every night from an Irish pub because "they have free wireless and he can get dinner and work there." Sure honey, whatever works for you. LOL I think he's enjoying the break, but he misses his girls. They, however, don't talk on the phone well when there's a hamster in the room. They've really been missing their dad, though. The oldest has been really moody since he left. She forbids me to speak of him, it makes her sad. The youngest won't stop talking about him, it makes her feel better. As you can see, lots of fun keeping everyone happy. At least Princess is distracting them when we're home. It is pathetic really. He's only gone for four days, but we really just never go places except as a whole family, so it is a weird experience. Even when it was just the two of us, we just didn't travel alone. This year will be our 17th anniversary (October), so that is a long time to be always together. Eh. It would be less bothersome if it were just me. Think of all the knitting I could get done! The girls and I checked out Spiderman 3 on Sunday and made a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies. We saved a big glob of dough and we've made quite the event out of cookie dough and cookies and, well, Princess.

I have gotten a good bit of knitting done since last Friday. I weeded on Saturday and we went to my Mother's Day lunch (since Himself left on Sunday a.m.). Then some house cleaning (Himself did a fair bit on his own too) and then some lovely knitting. I had actually planned to get some spinning done on Sunday, but we had a busy day with the movie, cookies and hamster viewing, so no spinning. I'm down to the last bobbin on this fiber, and I'd really like to finish it up and ply it. I'm thinking maybe this weekend. I'd like to make a hat or something, but I don't know how much yarn I'll get from the 3 bobbins. I was thinking I might double ply it from a center pull ball to maximize the yardage. I'm afraid if I do it any other way, I'll lose yardage.

This will be my first attempt at a "real" yarn. All my other spinning was intended as practice with no real plan for anything except getting used to the fiber and wheel. This fiber was a bit of a practice run too, to let me get used to spinning merino, but I did want to do something with the finished project. Therefore, I'd really like to get the biggest bang (yardage) for my buck which would allow me to comfortably complete a useable project with the yarn. I thought a hat would be easiest, but I really don't know. I probably just won't know until it is all finished. I'm very excited and eager to get it done.

The sweater continues to grow somewhere between a 1/2 in or a little more each day. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment by trying to project when I should hit the 21-1/2 inch mark, I'll use that as a carrot when I start feeling bogged down. Right now, I'm happily chugging along on it. Like a hamster in a wheel...

Weeding, or is it pruning?

You know, I really need to get out in my yard and do some weeding. My flower beds are mostly weeds and my poor tulips are looking pretty sad. I suspect, however, that by the time I get them weeded, all of the tulips will be gone. Oh well. Better luck next year. It's just that we're having such lovley weather lately I feel compelled to do something other than just mow the lawn. (Besides, if I'm weeding, I'll know who is in my house & I won't likely need to shower so no chance of repeating that disaster. LOL)

I've been doing a bit of weeding at work too. Or maybe it is pruning, I can't decide. I've fired three students since last Monday. I feel like I'm on a roll. They all deserved to go. Two of them kept lying to me about why they needed to miss shifts, one was told flat out he could not miss a certain shift and did it anyway. The same two also did not do any work when they were here, and were warned that their jobs were on the line. They were easy fires. The other girl was new and was trying sooooooo hard, but she just didn't get it. The only thing she could do was shelve, and even then, if she had to shift books to make room, she couldn't manage it. (She would just move books around all out of order.) Four days in a row she retrieved books from the book return and shelved them without checking them in at all. Every day we found out after the fact, had long discussions about exactly (in detail) why this was a BAD THING, and the next day - she did it again. Four days in a row. There were many, MANY other things that she was not learning either and I suppose I honestly didn't fire her so much as we agreed that it just wasn't working out. Still, three people gone in a week. And we're still short-staffed.

I've already hired replacements for the critical shifts, we'll see if I need more. My remaining students were grousing about something yesterday and I said "You know, I could fire four people in a week if you're really unhappy here. I'm on a roll." (I said it with a smile.) They all smiled and said "No, we're good." and moved on. I am on a bit of a roll, so hopefully the ones I've kept, who are actually all good workers, will not start mis-behaving. I might actually go crazy. LOL Off with their heads!

I continue to work on lots of job applications for myself. Something will turn up! Eventually.

I did notice that I was knitting at a pretty high speed yesterday at lunch. Power Knitting, must be the high stress I was feeling yesterday. Then again, it might just be because I don't have to remember if I'm on a knit row or an increase row. Either way, I was happy with the number of rows I cranked out in an hour. If I can just maintain the pace, I'll be wearing the sweater before the summer is over. Well, Summer somewhere. They can be a bit short here in the Northwest. It feels like it isn't getting any more "done", but then I'm knitting in the round, so I keep reminding myself that it doesn't show progress the way it would if I were knitting the back and front seperately. Right? >sigh<

I really want to finish this and move to the next thing. I'm rather jealous of all the folks who are able to complete so many projects and move on. I wonder where they find all that time to knit? Or do they just knit faster than me? Or...? LOL I can really drive myself crazy over unimportant things. Again, stress. All the pressure at work makes me feel pressure (or create pressure) in places where it doesn't really exist. Bad habit, or maybe just human nature. That's okay. I am making progress on this sweater and I will not be side-tracked by all of the other projects calling my name. I won't. Really. Convinced? Yeah. Me neither. LOL

I'll play

I'm okay with this one. I may brew my own beer now and again, and I do love my beer festivals, but I'm also pretty keen on Vodka martinis.

You scored as vodka. you are vodka. very strong but a def fave amongst the young and old, (and the hardcore alcoholics) you are versitile and can be taken straight up or mixed. vodka 83% midori 75% rum 71% absinthe 67% daiquaries 67% bourbon 67% champagne 67% beer 67% wine 58% whiskey 46% what alcoholic drink are you (pictures) created with QuizFarm.com

Sleeves

The Bunny Formerly Known As Evil (I think now she is known as Sparkle, but I could be behind on the naming thing) is modeling the progress on my sweater. It isn't a particularly good shot, but it was too hard to manage one-handed and I was trying to show the sleeves. Well, actually, the spot where sleeves will go. This sweater is top down, and I have just put the sleeve bits on waste yarn and joined the under-arm area (3 rows done on that). Now it is just plain stockinette for another 14-1/2 inches or so to total 21. I'm not sure how many inches already have been done from the shoulder, but I don't see any real need to hurry up and get that measured. I'm not currently in any danger of exceeding the length of the sweater. LOL It is nice to know I'm past the thinking part for now. At least I think it is nice now, a week or so down the road I may feel the need for thought. I had a heck of a time getting the sleeves off & so forth while I was watching TV. I actually had to pause my show it to read the directions through twice so as not to mess it all up. Anyway, I'm pleased, but it seems a bit small. I'm sure it is being all squished onto the circs, when I put it on over my head, it seems fine (up to the part where the needles pull it in, that is).

I also thought I'd share the other part of the Wild Pack of Kids in the House that happened on Saturday. After being trapped in the loo with no clothes and a house full of strange kids, including the Fiber-Hating ones, we did manage to get them all out fairly quickly. Essentially the Fiber-Hating kids had to leave to go to the store with their mom & the others cleared out with them. There was a great sigh of relief from me, I can tell you. DH and I have been discussing some sane House Rules for having the neighborhood kids in the house, among them - not trapping a naked, wet spouse in the hall bathroom, and also including no computer games for anyone while they are all in our house. I discovered another rule to be added a bit later.
I was able to spend part of Friday night spinning up bobbin two of my Northern Lights roving and got started on bobbin three. So, my wheel was out in the floor in the living room with a bit of fiber on it when the Pack arrived in my house (with me in the shower). DH went downstairs once the kids were all inside, so he was not paying the least bit of attention to what was happening upstairs, but perhaps that whole trapped naked thing covers that part well enough. Any-hoo, when I sat down to spin some more Saturday night, I found that someone had been playing with my wheel and had really messed up the remaining bit of fiber hanging off the end and had spun a bit off of the bobbin (going counter-clockwise) and then put it back on, etc. In short, there was about three feet of messed up single/fiber stuff.

My girls, bless them once again, were horrified that someone touched my fiber and my wheel without asking. They were really upset that someone messed up my yarn and my fiber. It was crazy, I hardly even said anything out loud (too upset to articulate I think - you know still reeling from the naked thing) and both of the girls were apologizing for not stopping their friends from messing with my stuff. So very sweet. I thanked them for being concerned and assured them that it wasn't their fault and they were not responsible for what their friends had done when they weren't in the room. DH, however, got a bit of a look and the girls told him he was in the doghouse for letting it happen. So, another rule and another learning lesson for me: Even if it is more convenient, I can't leave the wheel out on weekends in the event the Ravening Hoard shows up at the house unannounced or in my absence.

I was able to fix it all, after about half an hour of what would have been spinning time. Then I went on to spin, and let the girls treadle the wheel for a while. It all worked out, but man! It is such a big change to have the kids be so social.

I'll leave you with a couple of images from work. The ALA has celebrity posters promoting reading that they sell. Several years ago, our library bought some of these and one of them was Fabio. Since I've been moved into the front office, I decided to hang him up so that he can be seen looking into my door (or looking out of my door, as the case may be). Some of my students thought it would be fun to dress him up for the holidays. So far, he has had a Santa hat

and then the bunny ears and tail

and now For Mom...
Sorry, the last one hasn't been cropped, but he has a big bouquet of flowers and a sign that says Happy Mother's Day. I'll try to get a better shot of that one. My only restriction on dress is that it not be too suggestive, so I don't get hammered for inappropriate displays in my office. The disco ball is from a colleague who now lives in Israel.

Yep. My office = PARTY.

The men I work with HATE him with a passion. It seems to be primal. Seriously. There are a few who don't and see the fun (and yes, most of them are straight). All the women seem to find it fun, except the ones who are over-sensitive to what them men might think. What's the big deal? He is fully clothed, he is promoting reading. There's nothing going on here, move along.

One down...

one to go! I spent part of Friday teaching one of my students to knit. We snuck out for "coffee", which was really yarn, and I got her all set up with some basic yarn (Cascade 220) and some needles and got her going. She took to it right away, including the cast on part, and was having a blast. I left her with only the knit stitch to start, I didn't have any books or anything to loan her (I know, what kind of librarian am I anyway?!) and told her I'd get her going with the purl stitch today if she wanted. The bulk of the lesson was during my lunch hour, so I didn't completely blow off work, though my new director acted as if I did. (Let's just say he's discovering that he really can't do everything and he's making a lot of mistakes with the things he is doing. Sadly, those things can't be done by anyone else as no one else knows how. To top it all off, he's got this temper thing going, we're all just waiting for him to blow.)

We'll see how she did over the weekend, but she was really enjoying it. Her DH is in the navy and is about to ship out for a few months (or something, but not Iraq), so she was looking for something to keep her busy at home and something that could work on the ferry, between classes, etc. She's pretty jazzed at the thought that she could crank out gifts for the holidays while she's at it. The ferry ride is an hour each way, so 2 hours of knitting a day - unless that pesky studying rears its ugly head! I'm sort of jealous. This girl is not afraid of knitting in public either - Woo-Hoo! She said her husband was making fun of her for knitting (it is fine for his grandmother, but not her) and I reminded her that she has two very pointy sticks now, and if she really loves knitting she will soon have more. He will learn to temper his remarks or he might gain a few new piercings, and she is the sort of girl to give it a go! I'm thinking there will be a steep but fast learning curve for him.

Just one more student to add to the knitting world, I think she'll get pretty motivated once she sees the other one didn't wait on her. I'm not so sure she'll absorb it as quickly, but we'll see. One thing I've learned about my students is that they can always surprise me. Usually that is a good thing.

I was pretty encouraged by the whole experience. She picked it up very quickly and didn't seem too put out by her early struggles (death grip on the needles and yarn, dropped stitches - she instinctively knew how to pick them up and get going again, etc.). I warned her that for many people, casting on is the hardest part and operating the needles is just awkward for a bit. She picked up the casting on part quickly and just kept going. Of course, if she had to do it again on her own, it might not go as easily, but if she's comfortable with the process, and perhaps already in love with the knitting part, she'll get it.

It was a good end to an insane work week, which was very much needed. Reading back over this, is has an over-caffeinated feel to it to me. Sorry. I haven't had any today. I am feeling very rushed and pressured in general, however, so that might be overflowing into my writing. Sorry. How about a funny story?

Saturday I got out and mowed the lawn. It took an hour and a half to do the whole thing, load of fun, but it was lovely outside. A bit cool, but that was even better as the breeze kept me cooled off. The kids were down the street playing with all of the others on a trampoline. I came back in the house, gave my DH all of my clothes for laundry (he did the laundry, I did the yard) and went to take a shower. My DH was working downstairs on a recording project for our church. We have a 20th anniversary celebration coming up and he is trying to help get some projects completed. Anyway, while I was in the shower (upstairs) a whole pack of kids came in to play. I turned off the water and found that I had one towel and nothing else. Nothing except a house full of kids that weren't mine, with a number of 8-10 year old boys among them. Yep. I had to make it through the kid-pack to get to my room full of clothes. My husband, being hard at work downstairs, was out of ear-shot and oblivious to my difficulties. Yep. Fun-ny! After the mad dash to the bedroom. Then the soon-to-be-five year old got all helpful. She kept opening the bedroom door to tell me what everyone was doing. I finally locked myself in the smaller bathroom to finish changing clothes.

Fortunately, no one seemed to notice my distress or lack of dress. So, I don't think I permanently scarred anyone but myself on this one. My husband has been receiving a lot of crap from me on it, but I do realize it is funny. Really. I do.

They're heeeeeere!

Yippee! The Knit Picks Options arrived yesterday along with Romantic Style. I spent some time putting my needle kit together before flipping through the book. That dressing gown just makes me swoon. It would probably take 10 years to do, unless you use a knitting machine, which I don't have. I might compromise and do the bed jacket after I get through my stash knitting. I priced them out using Knit Picks and they wouldn't cost that much to do using their yarn. It is a dream book, an inspirational book, probably not a big "seriously going to do that project" book. That's fine, we all need our fantasies. I see now that there are a few needles sizes that don't come in the set, so I'll probably add those on my next order. I could have looked a little closer before ordering in the first place, but where's the fun in that?

Work continues to be really rough this week. It is mid-terms, so folks are a bit touchy (to say the least). It is Friday, though, so I just have to get through today and I'll be done. That's what I'm hoping, anyway. It looks like a fairly quiet weekend, so maybe some time for knitting and spinning. Unless my daughter sucks me into ZooTycoon again. Man, that game is so addictive... just one more tree/food stand/fence...

On the sweater side of thing, I counted all of my sections this morning and I'm pleased to say that all of my numbers seem to be correct. I'm very pleased that I haven't messed that up again. I was doing pretty well with the counting, but all of the ripping back (increasing when I shouldn't have) killed my counting habit. I really need to stay on that. Really. I'd like to post more pictures, but it looks pretty much the same except a little longer. How many photos of the blue blob do we need to look at. Still, it has been a while and I should get something up here. I wiped all of my photos off of my thumb drive, so I don't have any spare shots of anything. Bad blogger! I'll work on it.

Two of my students claim that they want to learn to knit. Mwhaaaahaaaahaaahaaa! I've promised to take the shopping for yarn and needles sooooooon. For now, I just keep bringing in pretty pattterns for them to look at, you know, for INSPIRATION. I'll let you know how that works out.

Happy Bealtaine! or May Day, if you prefer

Stoke up the bonfires and drive the cattle through them! As might be expected, after three days of lovely sun, we've gone back to clouds. Oh well. They both serve a purpose. After growing up in the desert, I enjoy the rain whenever I get it.

After a day of a more normal routine, I'm feeling a bit more myself. Yippee! I can't believe I was so unnerved by a pack of kids in my house. It must have been the fiber abuse that just pushed me over the edge. Last night was a family skate night for my oldest DD's school, so I packed up both girls and headed out to the skate deck. The youngest never wants to skate, but she was demanding to go. I was resigned to an evening of sitting around trying to entertain her. Surprise! Once we were there, she wanted to skate! The kids were all from school, but there was a couple of kids there from daycare as well, and one of them is my youngest's best buddy. This little girl was skating, so we had someone for the youngest to skate with (someone the same speed). It was so cute and I was so proud of her for trying! I felt kind of like I did when she started walking. So proud of her for trying, proud of her succeeding and a little wistful that she's hit another sort of milestone. Next fall she starts kindergarden and it is going to do me in, I have no doubts about it. Still, it was fun and she had a blast.

The oldest was learning some new tricks, circles and skating backwards. (The fiber-hating kids were there with their mom, and she was helping my oldest try new things.) She was doing a great job, the mom is a patient and good teacher, but she did fall a few times and managed to sprain her wrist. It hurt bad enough that we had to leave early, so it must have really hurt. We got her home, iced, Motrin-ed and found the Ace bandage for this morning. I wrapped her up before I left daycare, but told her she didn't have to wear it if she didn't want to. Poor bunny, she was really offended that she could get so hurt when having fun. She can wiggle her fingers and move her hand okay, it is only if she puts weight on her wrist that it hurts. I'm sure she'll be healed in no time. Kids have a magical way of getting well faster than a grown-up would.

Finally got some knitting done on the sweater again. I'm really pleased with my progress, for the most part. It'd be nice if I could remember that the increases occur every other row instead of every row. Or, more specifically, if I would remember to check which row I'm on before I start the next one. It does slow down the progress if I knit a row, rip a row and then re-knit it without the increases. Oh well, I'm just happy to be knitting really. And making progress. I've got about two more increase rows before I get to the next change in the pattern. Sorry, I'm not sure what comes next and I'm too lazy to go rummage for the pattern right now. I'll tell you when I get there. The suspence will be good for us. LOL I should make it today at lunch, barring the whole knit, rip, knit thing I've been up to. Right now? I'm on it, so maybe I'll get it right.

Did I mention that I flipped out and ordered the Knit Picks Options set? Hmm. I wasn't hiding it from you, really. Nope. I'm all about the honesty. I decided that I'm tired of running out for just one needle, because the pattern(whatever pattern that might be) always calls for the one I don't have, whether it is the needle size or the cable length. Mind you, I don't need anything for my current project (at least, I don't think so), but I'd like to be prepared for future projects. Sounds convincing, doesn't it? Also, I was thinking about swatching more responsibly if I'm going to do that great honking cardigan for DH. The gauge had better be right and so I'd better have a good selection of needles to choose from when I get ready to swatch it. That sounds even more convincing, right? Anyway, I'm waiting a bit anxiously for them to arrive. It could be any day now. I also picked up a book. I think it is Romantic Knits, a bunch of Rowan patterns. I love the look of them. I think they'll be a bit inspirational even if I don't knit them up, so well worth it to me. I don't subscribe to Rowan, so I don't have issues with duplicate patterns in my stash. I do like Rowan, at least some of it, but when they go wacky, boy, they go waaaaay out there. A bit pricey for random wacky right now, but maybe I'll knit all of my stash and get adventurous. Heeeeeeeeeheeeeeheeeee.

Oy. I feel better now.

Beautiful Monday

It promises to be a beautiful day today. (Mostly) blue sky, warm(-ish) in the low 60s (F) and just really, really nice. In fact, our whole weekend was lovely. Well, as far as the weather went anyway. LOL

I got absolutely no knitting done all weekend. I'm a little freaked out by that since it was on my to-do list. Then again, considering the weekend, I'm not surprised. You see, the neighbor kids came over to play. I learned a few things. My kids rock. Totally. They don't whine, disrespect other people's stuff, beg for snacks constantly or invite themselves to spend the night. When they watch a movie, for the most part they really watch the movie. They don't talk loudly about other stuff then demand repeatedly for someone to tell them what is going on in the movie. They are pretty respectful of grown-ups. The neighbor kids, not so much. I also learned that I can still get over-stimulated and need some serious recovery time. And I learned that when left alone with four children between the ages of 5 and 8, beer does not help. (Me, not the kids.)

I know, I should just suck it up and be the adult, but these kids WHINE and BEG and DON'T STOP. The last time there were here it wasn't this bad, but my DH was home to help and I wasn't trying to make two different meals to feed everyone. This time, I was. There are skills I will learn and develop, but I was not prepared for this all weekend. I was a basket case when the went home. It lasted for the rest of the weekend. I was almost happy to come to work (sucky, sucky work) just for the relative peace and quiet. How sad is that?

Okay, the worst/best part? Right before the visitors went home, the girl (did I mention they are twins? boy/girl) grabbed a ball of pre-drafted fiber and started SQUISHING IT. Wait, I need a moment to breathe. Okay, then she kept asking loudly (without listening to my response) "What is this?" What is it for?" "Why do you have it?" "What is it?" "It's weird!" "It's kind of gross." My answers were always preceded by "Please put it down NOW. That is wool, from sheep." etc. Squishing my pre-drafted fiber! Gross?! Aaaaaargh! Okay, deep breaths, I'm okay, she's gone now. Okay. Both of my DDs were also answering her questions and telling her to put the wool down now. (Did I mention how much I love them?) when the girl finally put it down (rather huffily) and went away from it, her brother (who somehow missed the hysterical note and volume in my voice) walked over and attempted to repeat the entire process, including the squishing part. I'm pretty sure I freaked him out when I jumped out of my chair, used my loud firm voice (but not yelling) telling him to PUT IT DOWN and reached to take it from his hands. I'm sorry, but I was at the end of my rope, if you will, and I couldn't stand any more.

Fortunately it was the end of the movie, you know, the one they didn't watch, and time for them to leave. All I can figure out is that their parents do not have things they can't touch. Mine are allowed to touch my fiber, but they know to handle it gently. They also know they should touch other people's things without asking first. They also, apparently, understand that mommy will be really upset if freaky, possibly alien kids who think wool is weird start squishing my fiber. Especially if they don't ask first. Now I know this could have been a teaching moment. I could have told them about wool and spinning and yarn, etc. Then again, I was already fried and they were beyond listening to anything anyone said. It would not have worked at that time. I promise I will try to be open to the moment if it arrives again.

I did try to do some spinning yesterday. The fiber was a mess, so I spent no little time trying to put it back in spinnable shape. It worked, nothing was felted, but it was a near thing in some places. Sadly, I was interrupted constantly, so I made very little progress. In fact, it got very frustrating and I eventually just gave it up as a lost cause. My DH was so pleased, "Look, you've got time to spin!" He didn't know (he does now) that constant interruptions and spinning do not work well together.

Oh well, he tried, I got a little stuff done and learned nice things about my kids. My nerves are completely shot, but I'll be better prepared next time. (All the other kids who come to visit come with their parents, so not as traumatic.) I've got my spinning stuff all set and ready to go, so I'll probably squeeze in a bit more this week. In the peace and quiet of my home. Without the freaky, possibly alien neighbor kids. And, work wasn't so bad to come to today. That is a definite positive. AND I've got four other job applications done and ready to go. Go me! Off to a decent start so far, and the beautiful weather to go with it. Nice.

Every once-in-a-while I still hear it, the haunting refrain... Wool is gross.... twitch

Movie Quiz

I saw this on another blog I was reading and thought I'd post my answers here. These things are surprisingly hard, aren't they? You know you have perfectly good answers until you need them.

1. Name a movie you have seen more than 10 times.
How about two? My Fair Lady & Young Frankenstein

2. Name a movie you’ve seen multiple times in the theater.
Narnia - once alone and once with the family.

3. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to see a movie.
John Cusack & Hugh Jackman

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to see a movie.
Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes, seriously.

5. Name a movie you can and do quote from.
Name one that I don’t! LOL Erm, Young Frankenstein and Better Off Dead

6. Name a movie musical in which you know all of the lyrics to all of the songs.
My Fair Lady

7. Name a movie you have been known to sing along with.
Lots of them, for variety let’s say Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

8. Name a movie you would recommend everyone see.
Narnia. That movie rocked.

9. Name a movie you own.
Serentiy – Can’t stop the signal, baby!

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops.
Steve Martin, Tom Hanks & Michael Keaton - I remember their stand-up routines (I've got Steve Martin's routines permanently etched on my brain.)

11. Have you ever seen a movie in a drive-in? If so, what?
Sound of Music (I was 4) and the last one I saw was Beverly Hills Cop

12. Ever made out in a movie?
Yes.

13. Name a movie you keep meaning to see but you just haven’t gotten around to yet.
This is freakishly hard. There are a bazillion of them since most of the movies I see are kids movies. Hmmm, Sin City

14. Ever walked out of a movie?
You know? I did, but I’ve burned it out of my memory and I have no idea what it was. Probably a real blessing. – Oh well, question # 21 reminded me of what it was. Pink Floyd – The Wall. And yes, it was a blessing not to remember, darn it.

15. Name a movie that made you cry in the theater.
Bridge to Tarabithia – I really should have known better. Award. Winning. Children’s. Novel. Always, always a tearjerker. Of course, I cry for anything: happy, sad, you name it.

16. Popcorn?
Only if the kids are with me.

17. How often do you go to the movies (as opposed to renting them or watching them at home)? However often a new kids movie is out. Sometimes more often if I get a break at work and can work in a cool comic book type movie, or something else that the kids probably can’t see. Yes. I LOVE the big comic book action things – I’m in it for the special effects and entertainment value. This summer is going to be HUGE for movies, I don't know how I'll keep up...

18. What’s the last movie you saw in the theater?
Meet the Robinsons I really liked it!

19. What’s your favorite/preferred genre of movie?
It really depends upon my mood. My least favorite is easier. I’m not crazy about manipulative dramas. I cry at the drop of a hat, I don’t need to pay money for a badly written movie drama that will make me cry.

20. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in the theater?
Gone with the Wind. I don’t remember the movie so much as the fact that we got an intermission and hung out in the lobby for a while. ( I was very young.)

21. What movie do you wish you had never seen?
Pink Floyd The Wall

22. What is the weirdest movie you enjoyed?
I’ll say Pulp Fiction, although I feel like I’m missing something that is even more odd that I enjoyed.

23. What is the scariest movie you’ve seen?
28 Days Later, 4 feet from the TV with headphones on. Dude, any scary movie with headphones on has got to be the scariest. The sequel looks really good, I love Robert Carlyle, but I really don't know if I could do it again. (Which means I'll rent it someday.)

24. What is the funniest movie you’ve seen?
This is hard because it depends so much upon my mood at the time. A couple that are funny no matter how many times I’ve seen them are Return of the Pink Panther, Better Off Dead, Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety. There may be better choices for me on this one, but I just can’t think of them right now.

Strange days

Seattle is an odd place when it comes to weather. Many of you may know that already, but in case you don't, well, just trust me on this one. I left home where there were scattered clouds, fog in the vally and sun coming up over the mountains (yes, quite beautiful). I get downtown and it is thick fog, grey sky (as far as I can tell through the fog) and just dismal looking. It does rather match my feelings regarding work, and I do like fog, but I was enjoying the sunshine. In fact, I had sunshine until I crossed the Ship Canal Bridge, then, zip, it was gone. Oh well, it still looks like a nice day out. The fog will lift. Eventually.

I started having lots of trouble sleeping last week. Starting on Tuesday, I kept waking up each night, unable to go back to sleep before the alarm went off for work (or only grabbing about 30 minutes before the alarm went off). Each night I woke up earlier and earlier, and lost more and more sleep. By Friday I was a bit of a basket case, all goofy from sleep deprivation and a bit jazzed on the behalf of my coworker who was leaving the (nightmare) job. I slept great all weekend long, but sure enough, last night I woke up at 2:30 am and didn't go back to sleep all night. It must be work related. Yet another reason to find a new job. Let the job hunt continue.

Knitting-wise, I got a fair number of rows done this weekend. Dare I say it? I made some progress. Sure, I'd like to see more, but at least I'm not ripping anything. I haven't made it out for the supplies for the dream project yet, but that'll probably happen later this week. I was hoping to do some spinning this weekend. That did not work out, I was too busy. I mowed the lawn on Saturday (I really don't mind doing it most of the time) and then Sunday I grilled some steaks. Desert was hot brownie with chocolate ice cream and optional strawberries. YUM. So, cooking and yardwork kept me from spinning. In the case of the lawn, however, well, that was way overdue. The weekends have been too busy or rainy and I just don't have time on a weekday. Anyway, I did work in some knitting time and that was good enough. We got some new Scooby-Doo DVDs (original series 3 & the a couple of What's New Scooby-Doo that we missed) and watched a few of those while I was knitting. I do need to go count my stitches, though, before I move ahead and make sure all is still well. Anyway, I put in a new picture (finally!) with my hand in it to show scale on where I am on the sweater, it is pretty much as long as my hand at this time. I'm hoping I've got a pattern going now and that I can keep the speed up. Guess we'll see.

Sure Happy It's Thursday

You can use the acronym if you like. LOL When I was in college me and my best friends had a Sure Happy It's Thursday party every week. It usually involved Bacardi 151, Coca-Cola and lots of music. It was a girl's night, although from time to time we did invite friends who were guys, but never, ever boyfriends. It was a night for getting some degree of drunk, talking about whatever had pissed us off recently, planning for the weekend and just general girl talk. The poor male friends were often given an insight into women's brains that they found horribly fascinating, and we possibly scarred them for life, but hey, they were consenting adults (more or less). We occasionally used the gathering to scare off guys who just wouldn't get lost by being even more weird than they were. College girls in packs can be dangerous. We went on to form our own anti-sorority sorority, legal and everything. Go figure. Sadly, I can only track down about two of the ladies, but given the chance we'd still have a Thursday party. I could really use one of those parties now, I think.

Work continues to be an "Issue". It will pass, hopefully right into a new job, but it will pass. I'm trying to balance life with job applications (they take a long time, don't they?) and I'm training four new student employees. Two of them don't look too promising, sadly, and because of our staffing issues, I don't have the usual amount of time to try to help them. I'm sorry to leave out non-librarians here (if I do), but how hard is it to understand call number order? Shelving is a lot of things, but rocket science it ain't. (Cataloging is different, but students aren't cataloging.) Sigh. Anyway, this promises to be a rough training session. Bad enough to have four new ones all at once, but to have two of them (who interviewed well, BTW) turn out to have so much trouble with the most basic part of their job? Ack!

Knitting is going to be crucial to my sanity now. No more mis-counting rows or whatever, I need fairly stress-free knitting. I'm dreaming about knitting again, so maybe that is theraputic too. Does anyone else do this? I dream a project and then I obsess about it. I must begin work on it immediately. I used to do this with sewing & costumes (whether or not I had occasion to wear said costume), I still do it a little, but now I do it with knitting. It will make it very hard to knit from stash if I start dreaming and obsessing about other projects. This last one involved Plymouth Baby Grande Alpaca and some other thing that I don't know the name of. I know where I saw it (6+ months ago!), but I wasn't excited about the store and I haven't been back. In fact, I'm not very interested in going back to the store, bad parking, out of the way location and weird store design, but three nights of dreaming about the project and I'm feeling the inexorable lure of a dream project. Hmmm. Is it okay to break from the stash busting stuff if I'm dreaming about a project? Especially if the project would be fast (hat and scarf)? I mean, given all the crazy in my life right now, maybe I'm dreaming of such a fast/simple project just because I need a fast and simple thing to do. Instant gratification. Then again, the obsession part of this adds some more stress. At least until I buy the yarn.

What do you think? Should I get my car keys and cash ready for a trip to the shop?

Stay tuned...

My apologies

Wow, I can't believe how hard it has been to get anything written lately. I've started this post several times, but I haven't been able to finish it up and get it posted. I've decided to scrap most of the previous attempts and just go from today, otherwise I'll spend all my time trying to edit the other stuff and not write anything new. (Hey, it makes sense to me.)

Work has exploded again, and it is all crazy. This is where my time is going, and constant interruptions abound. Seriously. My junior colleague has been appointed permanent person in charge of the library without any discussion with those who've been working under him for the past 6 months, to see if he's the right person for the job. The whole deal was pretty shady if you ask me. The job should have been posted internally, it wasn't. The others working here should have been told they were ready to hire a permanent replacement for the postition, we weren't. He was simply announced. I told the dean that the other librarian and myself had grave concerns about his appointment and that these concerns involved his ability to do the job (he can't really even manage the one he was initially hired to do) and his temperment (hair-trigger temper and doesn't do well when questions are asked of him, no matter how you phrase the question). The response? "We never would have moved ahead with this if we'd known!" Well, duh! That's why you talk to the people being supervised before proceeding. Right? Another fun fact is that my newly appointed boss is a total tool of the previous psycho one, hand-picked and groomed to do what she wants with this place. Considering where she and I were when she left, it doesn't look like much fun for me with Jr., does it? Oh, he's fine. For now.

So I'm supposed to make a weekly report on progress and give my dean "six months to micro-manage him into a good director". Shee-ah. Right. Instead, I'm looking for a new job. I hate leaving my students, I love students! But, I can't keep doing this. It is obvious that they don't actually want to deal with issues in a responsible manner, they just keep putting people off hoping they will lose their energy to complain or just get complacent. They are losing 5 key faculty people in the next term, I'm talking seriously outstanding faculty beloved by students and peers, etc. Many of them are leaving for the similar reasons. Bah! I'm done. Nine years of my life, the last three have been increasingly unpleasant. They need some serious restructuring around here. It will come, they can't keep going much longer without it, but I'm not waiting around for it. I've waited as long as I care to.

Last week I hired four new student employees then learned that the other librarian (not the new boss) turned in her notice. Her last day is this weekend. So, instead of four professionals, we will have two AND, in case that isn't enough fun, we're down two students on her side of things. We are short staffed and goodness knows how long it will take to hire back up (at least two months to replace her, and longer to fill the new boss' old position). Joy. I'm just sort of hoping to add to the chaos. Perhaps The Powers That Be will respond to hardcore chaos (in a place of order). Then again, maybe not. Hopefully not my problem.

On to happier topics, and I'm sorry about the venting, but we all need it from time to time. I did my first movie knitting this weekend. I took my Neverending Sock to see Meet the Robinsons (in 3D) and got about 6 rows done. I only dropped one stitch, but it was easily repaired once I was home. I found it hard to watch a new movie and knit at the same time. Even stockinette. I'll probably take the Neverending Sock to the movies again, but I might not knit. (I mean, could you knit and watch Pirates 3 without hurting yourself, the people around you and destroying the project? I couldn't. And it would suck to put out my own eyes with Captain Jack Sparrow on screen.)

The blue sweater. Ah! Progress at last! I have passed the point (yarn wise) that I was when I ripped it all out. I have managed to keep all the stiches at the correct number, or maybe I've just learned to count now, and I'm very pleased to have gotten to a place where I'm making new headway again. I thought very briefly about taking this project to the movies, but then I thought about all the increases. Yep. Movie knitting is for garter stitch, or stockinette, not for increases, decreases or any other crazy thing I think up to try in the dark. LOL

I've been reading the Harlot's new book which is a fun read (of course). It isn't as bust-out-laughing funny as some of the others were (so far), but it is an interesting premise and it is fun to work through her analogy of knitting as place. I've been surprised to find myself fitting in as a more established resident rather than as a tourist in Knitting. I still feel like I'm too new to the whole thing, even after 4 years (or so) of knitting. I wonder if I'll ever feel like an experienced native? The humor is much appreciated, however, as I really need it in my life right now.

Knitting, laughing, and beer. I'm good.

Wow! A whole week!

The past week is a blur. At least. Where do I begin...

The book signing was AWESOME! Jim is a riot and so very nice. It was lovely to meet him (in person, again) and to be greeted so warmly by him. He even remembered how long we've known one another via mailing lists without any help from me. (about 8 years now) It was loads of fun, there were tons of people there (more people than chairs), and I met some nice people, but I missed my kids. Weird. I get a night off and all I can do is miss them. Go figure. LOL

The Blue Sweater is progressing nicely. I'm almost back to where I ripped it out, which is good. I was a bit afraid I might slow down once I got over the initial "get this back on the needles" thing. I did find myself distracted while my MIL was here. I actually sat down and cast on a simple shawl with some Plymouth Eros. Why? Why not? Or something, I just don't know. We were so exhausted from all of the church activities (and for me, work stuff) that we were all barely functioning. Well, I'm not sure "we" were all that tired, but I was and everyone else seemed tired too, so who knows. The upshot is that I cast on a stupid shawl, then decided that I didn't have enough yarn to do a whole shawl, or if I do I can't find it, and it won't work on my wooden needles. So I had to run out to my LYS and buy more yarn. And needles. They, of course, did not have the color I needed, so I bought something else. I went home and set it down on the table where I can see it, and now I think I must have been on crack. (not really) I just have no idea what the heck happened. I blame it on stress. I didn't really need another project, remember? Stash busting? Other projects to get done? Hello? Is this thing (my brain) on?

My MIL, a very sweet, lovely woman, was a disaster this visit. She has been suffering from severe depression (which we did not know until very,very recently), and a super busy weekend was not the time to have her visit. My four year old was easier to manage than my MIL was. Example: 30 minutes waffling over what to wear to a picnic, including two changes of clothes. "Should I wear my pink suit?" "That would be nice." "Do you think that it would be appropriate?" "I think it will be very nice." "Do you think I should wear something else?" "No, I think the pink suit is a good idea." "Are you sure I shouldn't wear something else?" "You can if you want to. People will be wearing everything from suits to shorts for the picnic. You could wear the pink suit and bring something to change into if you want, then you're prepared for everything." "So the pink suit is too much? Maybe I shouldn't go." Wash. Rinse. Repeat. FOR 30 MINUTES while I'm trying to put finish cooking a cake and a big, giant pasta thing that I've never made in quantity before, get my kids ready to go and help my husband remember all the stuff that needed to go in the car. I thought I might have to put her head in the oven. I did not include all of the incomplete sentences that went on. The woman is challenged to put a coherent sentence together right now. My heart breaks for her, she is in really bad shape, but we had no idea when we invited her down. I'm pretty sure she shouldn't be traveling alone, but no one told us what is going on with her. This was a really bad weekend to have her visit. Hopefully, she enjoyed her time with us and maybe even found some kind of peace in the church services. It would be worth the stress for me if something in the visit helped her.

This week should be a nice time to slow down and rest, but work is total chaos right now. I'm actually rather giddy about it. I didn't do it, it isn't my fault and, for the moment, it has nothing to do with me or my life. I'd like to pop some popcorn and sit back and watch up to the moment when it does involve me. I should probably feel bad about that, but I get so little joy in my job these days, I worry about that later. I'll also fill you in on the details later, I think the MIL story was enough stressful trauma for one day. I'll just go back to giggling and the blue sweater now...

Red Tuesday

I don't know why, just thought maybe this week should have a theme. We'll see how long that lasts. Today is an awesome and exciting day! <Insert Woo-Hoo type yell of your choice> Today is the book signing for Jim Butcher's new book AND I should get the new Katie MacAlister that I pre-ordered (from Author, Author!) with swag today too. Just call me a crazy, giddy fan geek! Seriously. My student employees have described my near-swooning as "cute" and at least one of them is considering showing up just to see if I get any more goofy. I guess that'll work so long as they don't bring a camera. (But I did!) Oh, and on the red thing, I'm wearing lots of red, so that's where that part came from. I even did my nails! LOL

My family are all acting like I'm abandoning them or something. So weird. DH is late often, either with work or with the band or church. No one notices much any more (sorry Honey, we love you, we're just used to it now.) I have maybe two days a year when I'm busy or late with something (maybe even taking a class - gasp!) and they all act like they've been abandoned without food or shelter. Perhaps I should do it more often so they get used to it. I used to take belly dance classes every week for about four years, and they were fine with that. I'm just too darned busy being Taxi-Mom to do anything else now. Maybe I'll work on it though...

The sweater continues and I am counting this time. So far, so good. It is really weird that I was so tweaked about the project before, but now that I've ripped it once, I'm all at peace with the darned thing (pattern, splitting, etc.). Perhaps it just gave me some perspective on the whole project/process. I'm liking the mellowness of it all (and no, I'm not on medication, remember the squeeing going on over the book signing?) and that is good. I haven't felt this good since the start of DH's gloves (that wore off by the end of that project I can tell you). So, I'm happy about that, but I'm also itching to get back to spinning too. Hmmm. I must have other chores that need to be done!

My MIL is coming for Pascha (Easter) weekend. We will be hugely busy with church stuff, but she's never been to an Orthodox Paschal service, so this should be interesting for her. She lives in Orlando, but is visiting her family in the San Francisco area for about a month. We couldn't go down there on such short notice (especially since we are very short staffed in the library these days!), so we brought her up. My oldest DD is on break from school, so she will have a nice visit with Grandma. I should be cleaning my house. I should be making a trip to the grocery store. No thanks! I'm going to a book signing AND since I have quite a few hours to kill between the time I get off of work and the signing, I get to go to my favorite LYS. AND I got my tax refund check yesterday... Life is looking really shiny today!

Blue Monday

Actually, I could have said White Monday. I woke up to a half inch of snow on the ground this morning. Weird. I thought it was April... Once I drove about 5 miles from home, however, all the snow was gone. I love living in the convergence zone! It is the first day of Spring Quarter at my school, so lots of excitement in the air today (you know, snow & new classes).

The blue part is this, I had to rip the sweater out and cast on again. Yep. I had a good 6+ inches on the thing and found that my counts were off. Oh, I know what you're thinking. "How could this happen? Surely after dropping that stitch marker and agonizing over whether or not to continue Our Girl would be more cautious with her knitting of the precious sweater!" Yeah. Not so much. And I paid for it. I don't know what is up with me, my head doesn't seem to be in the game right now. Actually, not any game as far as I can figure. I'm forgetting all kinds of wild stuff these days. It's okay, I still drive. LOL

Anyway, my counts were off on the two ends (actually, the middle sections on each side). I looked and looked, but I couldn't figure out if I had added stitches on one side, failed to increase on one side or maybe a mix of the two things on both sides. Just no way to know. I looked and I could not see any dropped stitches, could not see any missing increases or anything else. Both sides looked right, but the numbers were off, no matter how many times I counted them. I didn't know whether I needed to add stitches to the smaller side, or take away stitches from the larger size. I could probably have done the math and figured it out, but there was a pattern change involved somewhere in there as well. I felt that given how my brain has been working, it was probably best to just rip it and start over and COUNT this time. Novel concept, right? I hooked the yarn up to the ball winder and just went from sweater to yarn ball. Nice and easy. Then I picked up the needles and cast right back on, just so I wouldn't dwell on it too much. So, I'm maybe an inch in to the sweater again, but I know it was the best thing to do. I am at peace and, oddly, feeling more confident about the whole sweater this time. Something good out of a mess of yarn.

Does this count as progress?

Off to a good start

Well, mostly anyway. I've made a good deal of progress on my blue sweater project, about 4 inches of progress. I'm very excited about the progress I'm making and I love the feel of this yarn! I still have that niggling worry that it isn't The Right Sweater Pattern, but I really do like the pattern and I know I'll relax better once the sweater is all finished. I think I've just built up a crazy amount of anxiety about this sweater, for some reason, and feel some unreasonable need for perfection on this project. Ha! That isn't going to happen. I mean, it's a sweater. Lots of stitches and lots of room for "creative variation" on the project, right?

I've already dropped some stitches, these metal needles are really slippery with this yarn. I picked them up without any trouble, but I failed to count before replacing the stitch marker. I thought I knew where it went. It never even occurred to me to count. I was off by one stitch. The thing is, I can't remember now if I had already done the increases before I dropped the stitches or after I dropped the stitches. I figured it out after one row, I randomly decided I should count all the stitches and make sure I hadn't messed anything up. Good thing I checked, I was off. There was a moment when I thought I was off for the whole row, then I figured out it was just my stitch marker placement. That was easy enough, but then I began worrying about which came first, the dropped stitches or the marker move? I decided to just keep knitting and see how it looked after another row of increases. I've looked as carefully as I know how and I just can't see a problem. I'm worried there is a problem, of course, because, you know, that's more fun. Right? Uh-huh. I have convinced myself (99%) that if I can't see a goof, it either isn't there, or it doesn't matter. If I can't see it or find it, no one else will. Except maybe a master knitter. I don't know any master knitters. I'm probably safe. More importantly, I probably don't even have a problem with the stitches, just my head.

I'm not alone though, right? This is something some knitters struggle with all the time. It is the joy of the process, ripping is okay, and creative variations on a pattern are something to strive for. Right? I'm sure I'll stop twitching soon. I can barely remember what I have going on a daily basis, I'm sure by the time I finish the sweater I won't even remember what I did or where I did it. Maybe I'll do something even more interesting to wipe this from my memory altogether. Maybe I should just watch my caffeine intake a little more carefully...

The important thing is, I love how the yarn is feeling and looking (although it is still all splitty on the needles) and I am enjoying the pattern. I'm hoping I can keep up this rate of progress, overall, and then I'll finish it in time to wear it this year. It shouldn't take long, I just got stuck on it last year and don't want to do it again. I think this is where my anxiety is coming from on this one. I had big plans, got started and then stalled for a year. I want the sweater finished and on my back right now, so I'm stressing that I won't complete it again. I really need to go easier on myself. LOL

Mostly well again

Wow. That bug was rough! Sorry for the long absence, but the headaches got worse instead of better and for some reason, I couldn't focus on a darned thing while I had them. No knitting, no spinning, no "getting stuff done" around the house. I did manage to read a couple of books (Thief of Time and Night Watch) and work out my pattern selection for the blue yarn.

My youngest DD ended up getting an ear infection just as we were both feeling a bit more normal, which was a REALLY BAD THING. For everyone. I think this might have been our fourth ear thing in seven years, and because we really don't ever have them, I wasn't looking out for one. The poor baby was fine in the morning and crying constantly by the evening. We had a late night at the clinic (long lines) and barely made it to our pharmacy before they closed. Then we still had homework for the oldest to do and party invitations that had to be done. A very late and tiring night, which was too bad because the little one couldn't sleep well because of the pain and so I got about two hours sleep last Thursday night. Deeeeelightful. Made my headache all the more pleasant, you know?

Okay, sorry for whining, but it was a crummy week last week. This week has been all about catching up at work and getting back on track at home. I think I'm nearly there. I've got more student employee trauma at work, but I'll just hire more. Right? Still, I'm ready for a break in the library. A year and a half (or more) of barely contained chaos (in a library of all places!) is more than enough fun for me. Next week the students will be on a break and that will allow us a little time to recover and prepare for the next session. We are having some electrical work done during the week as well, to allow for more laptop use by students. (We have been woefully low on outlets for them to use.)

Knitting is finally up and running again. I have decided that I've talked myself into slow-motion knitting on the sock. I may spend the next 50 years on that darned sock. I could probably start and finish 200 other pairs of socks before I ever finish this one. I have no idea why this is, it just seems that I knit and knit and get nowhere fast. I will not give up, however I will work on something else. I was feeling a bit "slumpy" there for a while, not very eager to do anything new (not even buy new yarn!) and just uninterested in knitting. I was very concerned, then I got sick. I had all that time at home to knit and I absolutely couldn't do it. I didn't want to and I couldn't concentrate. I decided to cut myself some slack and do some reading and, ta-da! I came out the other side all ready to go on a new (sort-of) project.

Some of my sick time was spent piling through my patterns for just the right one for the blue Softwist yarn (American Blue). I'm still not convinced it is "the one", but I don't want to waste more time waiting for the perfect thing to come along. I don't think it ever will. (At least not until I've already knit it up into something else! LOL) I've decided on the Henley T Shirt from Knitting Pure & Simple. I have enough yarn, and it looks like it will fit loosly enough for me to be comfortable, but not huge and crazy big. Most other patterns I have are too fitted, and unless I can lose some more pounds, I'm not wearing fitted anything.

The yarn is splitty and snaggy and I'm not sure I'll like it much by the end of the project. On the other hand, it is soft and I love the way it drapes and I love, love, love the color, so I know I will wear it until it gets trashed. I thought the yarn was snagging on my bamboo circs, so I tried some metal needles. They snag it too, so it must just be the yarn. Still, I have way too much invested in this project (emotionally and time-wise) already, I'm not going to give it up. This sweater, much like the never-ending sock, are sort of "hump" projects I think. I can't move on, really, until they are done.

I'm still feeling pretty optimistic about my project list for the year. Just getting started with a new project has me pretty jazzed. I'm hoping it will go quickly, I could use the adrenaline rush. Or maybe just a serious caffeine habit. - HA!