20 August 2010
13 August 2010
3 June 2010
A Good Goggie
My mom called this morning to let me know that Comet had taken a turn for the worse over the weekend and that they put her to sleep this morning. Comet was a good, old dog, and we got to love her for 16 years. :(
12 February 2010
Cleaning out the cobwebs
Time flies when life is crazy. International travel followed by the introduction of a new family member (see right) along with the stress of an archival collection move to prepare for at work has kept the days rolling by without note here. But, mostly, the addition of a puppy has taken up most of my time. There hasn’t even been a lot of knitting, and there’s been no spinning since we got her in October.
Her name is Lily, and we got her from a rescue that takes dogs out of kill shelters in SoCal and brings them north for adoption. Lily’s mom was the one actually rescued and then discovered to be pregnant. Mom was a white cockapoo, and there have been many guesses as to what dad may have been. The general consensus is either wire-haired dachshund or some sort of terrier. Lily’s nickname is Troublebutt — she’s 7 months old as of last week and has been having loads of fun finding news things to make a mess of.
With the Winter Olympics (and thus Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics) about to commence tonight, I thought it was time to do some spring cleaning in the old blog. I’ve done away with the large gathering of dust bunnies Russian spam and installed a shiny new post. Of course, I have no idea if there’s anyone out there still bothering to read.
Now to decide on projects. For the Ravelympics, I’m on Team Suck Less, and my project is going to be to spin for a complete project. I just haven’t decided yet if I will be spinning for socks or a lace shawl. Decisions, decisions. I have some superwash corriedale from Spunky Eclectic in a pretty colorway called Soul Windows that would make nice socks. But, I also have some Dark BFL also from Spunky Eclectic in a colorway called Myrtle that would make a pretty Bitterroot.
For the Knitting Olympics, I’ve put my name in and said I’d be knitting an Ishbel shawl with some of my handspun shetland romney laceweight yarn. (Oops, signed up saying it was shetland, oh well.) I haven’t really done a lot with my handspun yarn because I sometimes upset myself by only seeing the imperfections in the yarn as I’m knitting it rather than the loveliness of the project. So, my challenge is to knit a project with my handspun… and actually finish it.
22 September 2009
13 August 2009
Another Thursday
Did anyone who went to Sock Summit 2009 go to the Sock Museum? Did you see my Rivendell socks? Did they look like they were having a good time? I thought it was pretty cool to find my Rivendells amongst the photos The Oregonian took of the event (the slideshow is halfway through the article).
I’m liking the Monkey socks I’m knitting for my sister. The pattern was super easy to memorize, and the colors are working really well with the simple lace. It’s also knitting up very quickly. The Laminaria shawl is slightly on-hold, meaning I just haven’t felt up to knitting it while watching TV the last few nights.
My 30 days of exercise project is almost over — tomorrow is day 30! The Monterey Wool Auction is on Sunday and I’m looking forward to see what fleeces are there this year. I think I will probably be continuing the exercise going forward. I have finally gotten to a point that while I still feel hot and sweaty afterwards, I also feel refreshed. And let me tell you, the biggest bonus is my clothes are fitting looser.
7 August 2009
End of the week
After I finished the Rivendell socks, I was a bit listless over what to knit next. I had bought some Mountain Lace in a nice navy blue that I want to make Aeolian out of, but the idea just wasn’t getting me excited. I kept thinking I wanted to knit something out of some of my handspun. I hadn’t done that in some time. There’s something really nice about knitting with yarn that you’ve spun yourself.
I had managed to get my hands of some Spunky Ecelectic Corripaca before Amy ran out of it several months ago. The colorway I chose was Estuary, which was a pretty mix of green, brown, and natural. I spun it up as a 2-ply lacewight getting approximately 509 yds out of the 4 oz.
I thought with the brown and greens the perfect pattern would be Laminaria. So, I cast it on last Thursday. I’ve gotten through the star chart and have completed the first repeat of the blossom chart. So far, I love the way the colors are stripping up. I think with the edging it will really look seaweedy.
I should also say thanks to BigAlice and Sandy for their comments on my last post. Since they’ve given me permission to whinge, here it is, in all its silly glory….
First off, I’m an introvert; being around people can be tiring, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be social. Things in my life got a lot better when I accepted the fact that I am an introvert, that I’ll never be an extrovert, and I learned what I needed to do for myself. However, knowing and accepting don’t always help when I go through periods of profound loneliness. I lament that I don’t have many close friends; I pity myself for not being invited out to do things. It leaves me feeling like there’s a hole in my gut for a few days, then it passes. I have to remember that I probably don’t present myself as someone who is interested in going out and doing things, and frankly, I’m not sure how to even give that impression. I don’t know how to make instant friends with people, and I have only a slim number of lasting friendships.
I’m not looking for a pity party, but just explaining where my head was earlier this week. I’m hoping maybe by putting some of it into words I’ll get a better grasp on what it is that bothers me.
Now, on a lighter note… YARN!
4 August 2009
No real post today
Sorry, I’m feeling down and needy, but I doubt anyone wants to hear my whinging.
24 July 2009
Just a day late
This week is at the very least on probation; it has come extremely close to being fired more than once as it’s gone along. There has been much broken glass — I lost 2 flower vases and then a bowl in the kitchen. Dinner Monday night ended up on the floor, along with some of that broken glass. These are probably some of the things that lead me to stay home from work on Tuesday.
I’ve spent the last few days doing my exercise in the morning, then heading to work. By the time I get seated in front of my computer I’ve felt ready to start crying like a baby for no obvious reason. I have since been reassured that this is apparently normal and that I am not alone in this phenomenon; I understand that it will soon pass. But between that and my next-door neighbor thinking they have to take a shower at the same time I do, my mornings have not gotten off to the best start most days.
I’m in a race to get the Rivendell socks done by tonight so that I can wash and block them and get them in the mail tomorrow. It wouldn’t be as much of a race except I was not paying attention yesterday as I went to start the heel flap, finished the heel flap, and turned the heel. It was then that I discovered that I had knit the heel on the front of the sock. So, I had to rip out 2 hours of work and redo it, thus putting me back 4 hours. We’ll see how this all goes.
ETA: Closing comments on this post due to spam.
21 July 2009
Mental health day
I stayed home from work today. I woke up this morning and realized I just couldn’t do it today. This morning and yesterday, when I woke up I felt just as tired as I had when I went to bed the night before. I’m hoping taking a day to rest will help.
I still ended working out, hoping that getting some movement would help me feel better. It didn’t pep me up like I wanted, but at least it didn’t make me feel any more exhausted. Today was my 7th day in a row working out, so I’m still on target for my trip to the Monterey Wool Auction. I’ve managed to slowly increase the amount of time I’m able to do on the exercycle each time; today’s time was 25 minutes. My short term goal is 30 minutes a go.
