Where did I put my concentration?

Posted on by
Reply

I managed to get some quality time with Birch yesterday. Two more rows and I am done with the 11th repeat. Each row does seem to have gotten a tad bit faster, which is good seeing as I have reduced my stitch count by almost 110 stitches.

I also managed to get my last secret pal package another step closer to the eager hands of my spoilee (well, I am assuming her hands will be eager to get this since mine are finding it difficult to see it go). I wrapped each item in pretty tissue paper and have acquired a box. Tonight, I may even fill the box with packing material of some sort, tape it closed, and address it. Wow! But if I do that there remains the question of if I can actually get it to the post office tomorrow, or if it’s going to have to wait till Saturday.

I think I have decided to forgo Secret Pal 6. With the way classes look to be going this semester, one less thing to worry about will be a good thing. I had forgotten what this was like… 3 short months is all it takes to forget. My XML class has a 30 page handout to read, a 20 minute lecture to watch, and the first weekly assignment to do. My Collection Management class has 2 chapters to read, a lecture to read, a biographical introduction to write, and a library/information center to choose for the semester’s class work/final project. It also seems that the Collection Management professor is expecting thoughtful weekly discussions from each of us… this sort of thing almost guarantees that I’ll have absolutely nothing thoughtful to say. Who knows? Maybe I’ll start reading the textbook and have an epiphany that reminds me why I am getting this degree.

To tell the truth I don’t think it’s going to be too bad… although the XML class may break my spirit.

Get me knitting, stat!

Posted on by
Reply

Apparently, my adrenal glands are ramping up for the Fall semester, which starts tomorrow, by the way. *ack* I didn’t take any classes this summer, so I’ve been relatively relaxed. Now, it’s time for preparation, so I spent a good portion of last night worrying over inane things.

I rounded off the evening with a though worry over whether or not I am wasting time/energy/money on getting my Masters when I’m not sure what exactly I’m going to do with it. Yes, I did keep Josh awake for at least an extra hour and a half while I worried out loud over this topic. And I managed to touch on many main points… it’s taking forever — at the rate I’m going (2 classes a semester), it’ll take me about 3.5 years (if not 4) to get my MLIS… this is sad because it’s supposed to be a 2.5 year program. “Fie!” I say. There was also discussion of the mounting student debt, which after this year (which includes my 4th and 5th semesters), will have reached about $20,000. That’s what I paid for my new car 3 years ago, and I got a car out of that deal.

My old chiropractor was under the impression that I am an adrenal junkie. I constantly have to have something to worry about in order to keep a steady stream of adrenaline in my system. I have always argued it is so that the major spike that occurs around exams and term papers does not shock my system stupid.

Perhaps I should try knitting more…

Shun the resentment

Posted on by
Reply

First, off I’d like to thank Stasia for telling me about the shawl edging info in the Knitter’s Shawls and Scarves book, which I think I have at home. I’ll have to take a look see when I get home. Wendy also graciously answer my question (the question that I felt fell into the stupid question category for sure). So, I think once I’ve gotten Birch off the needles I will recommit to The Third Incarnation. I’ll have to try to figure out how many active stitches I’ll have when I’m done with the body so I can contemplate lace edgings.

Lolly inquired after the most important topic… Fall semester classes. This coming semester (and we’re counting down days now. *gah* Wednesday is going to come too soon…) I am taking Collection Management (I really wanted to take Vocabulary Design, but no go *pooh*) and Advanced Internet Technology Tools: XML (this is a recommended class, along with the prereq XHTML class I took last semester, for the Database Management class I hope to take in the spring, which if it goes as planned will be insane (3 classes?), but that’s a discussion for later). I picked up my book from the book store last week (along with the student edition of Adobe CS 2 Platinum Suite *bogle* $200… I love being a student sometimes). It was a pain to get to the bookstore (summer hours are M-F 8-4:30), but I like to avoid the insanity that is the beginning of the semester, especially when I just need one book.

The Husband did not get home till almost 10 pm last night (remember the overtime pay, remember the overtime pay…). So, I started my evening off with some knitting and a recently Tivo’d episode of Law & Order. I finished the first sleeve to the Ribby Cardi. *And there was much rejoicing…* Of course, that means that I now have to make myself cast on the second sleeve. I really want to finish this sweater, but I think I’m going to need to avoid K2P2 rib for awhile. Good thing I have lace shawls to work on. 😀 Just need to finish the second sleeve, stitch it together, knit on the front bands, and do the collar… it sounds so simple. I’ll probably work on the sleeve tonight… if I don’t I may come to resent the Ribby Cardi, and we can’t have that.

I have relatively few unfinished objects (I’ve only been knitting for 3 years), and I hold a grudge against each of them (if only I had a linen closet to throw them into so I could forget they exist). The worst was the Peace Fleece sweater that never was. It began as a sweater vest (I don’t know what I was thinking… I would never have worn it), then the sweater vest was frogged. I tried to make it into a sweater with sleeves in a different, yet matching, color. I should have known things would go badly after I had to completely redo both the front and the back when I realized that I had knit them on the wrong needles (this is why you should always double check the size of the needles in your hands before casting on). Thus, I knit the front and back again and had even started on a sleeve, when it dawned on me that the flared sleeve looked ridiculous and I would never look good in that color green. The back got frogged and turned into a felted kitty bed for my sister’s cat. Of course, now the left over Peace Fleece is plaguing me… too bad my sister doesn’t have 2 cats.

Discontent

Posted on by
Reply

Here I was beginning to think it was just me, but apparently it’s not. I hadn’t thought to blame it on the moon though… good one. This may be hormones, or it may be people asking me to do stupid things… either way, both should be cured by the weekend. Please, weekend, come quickly.

I must have gotten a bug in my pants after reading Marcy’s post about cleaning things up yesterday. The Husband was not going to be home before 8 pm again, and I was bored, so I suddenly found myself straightening up my fiber room. I know, I was shocked, too. You can now see a good portion of the floor. Sadly, a person still can not sleep on the bed without some more cleaning, but they can now get to the bed. I even went so far as to employ the needle roll my Secret Pal sent me… I now know the location of several sets of different sized DPNs. Truly, awe inspiring, I’m telling ya. Of course, now I’m posting about and hoping that I don’t lose my whimsy, which begs the question of if I had any to begin with….

What’s really amazing is I managed to straighten up the fiber room, coming across yarn I had forgotten I had, and still managed to beat back the allure of a new project (remember, I have 4 on the needles right now). Now, I know there are some out there who thinks that 4 projects shouldn’t hold me back. But, I think 4 projects is my limit; when I was working on the squares for The Glick Project, they made 5, and I got nothing done very quickly on anything. While I love the process, feeling mired in the middle of several projects all at once is very disheartening. I’m loving working on Birch, but I am feeling a deep longing to get off Sleeve Island with Ribby Cardi (thankfully, I started the sleeve cap of sleeve #1 last night). *sigh* This having to go to work thing is putting a crimp in my knitting time… and classes start in a couple weeks… *gah*

Back on track

Posted on by
Reply

I got home from work last night and realized that The Husband was probably not going to be home till at least 8 pm. So, I plunked myself down on the couch with an icepack on my knee and proceeded to tink back to the mistake I made in Birch Sunday night. It turned out to be a rather easy mistake to fix. I hadn’t lost or gained any stitches. It looked like I had gotten distracted half way through a pattern repeat, and when I started knitting again, began the pattern repeat from the beginning. Apparently, I even got distracted once more, but the second time I actually looked at my knitting before continuing because the end of the row was fine. It only took me about an hour to get back to where I had been when I realized there was a problem. I even managed to get started on my tenth repeat after dinner, which is spectacular since I had had 2 glasses of wine (this is spectacular due to the fact that my diet has made me a cheap date… 2 glasses of wine is all it takes to get me a wee bit tipsy these days).

This morning I got the weekly email reminding me that the massage therapist is going to be on campus today. On the spur of the moment I decided to sign up for a 30 minute massage after I get off work (I got here way earlier that usual today, which has the benefit of getting off way earlier than usual). It’s a nice thing to have to look forward to, and I’m hoping it’ll help with the general crappy feeling I’ve had all week so far.

Why is it so hard to find a pair of shoes?

Posted on by

Nothing like making a stupid mistake in a lace shawl. I was working on Birch while watching an interesting show on The Da Vinci Code Sunday night. I was getting to the end of pattern row 7 of my ninth repeat when I realized that something didn’t look right. I somehow got off pattern on the previous pattern row, so there were yarnovers where there was supposed to be knit stitches, and k2togs where there were supposed to be yarnovers. I’m trying to decide if I want to tink back the 2 rows to fix it, or if I want to try dropping the stitches. I’m leaning towards tinking because there are 4 or 5 leaves that are off… it would probably just be quicker to tink back.

I think my knee is starting to feel a little better, and here I stress the word “little.” The biggest improvement is that when it’s bent I can’t find the sore spot. When it’s straight is still a whole ‘nother story.

In order to distract myself from my slow recovery, I bought shoes. I have a pair of slip on dress casual Clarks that I bought about 5 years ago, if not longer. Due to their age, they are falling apart… literally. There are holes in the soles and the leather upper is separating from the sole. Not shoes to wear on a rainy day as I would be walking around with wet feet. A nice man at the Clarks store in the mall had given me a number to call to get a preaddressed envelope to get my shoes resoled. So, I finally got around to calling only to be told by the person on the other end that they don’t resole ladies shoes. Squeeze me? Upon reflection I decided that while I could take them to a local place, I wasn’t sure that resoling would fix the entire problem (losing 40 lbs has apparently made some of my shoes a bit loose).

Thus, new shoes were the order of the day. I really like Clarks (NAYY), so I hit the store at the mall to see what they had. What they had was crap. Nothing but sandals. Was I asking too much by wanting a simple pair of shoes? Apparently, shoes without any holes, planned or not, are not really available during the summer months (so, why can’t I find swimsuits for sale in August? But, that’s a whole other issue…). So, I checked out Clarks website to see if it was just that one store or the company… sadly, it is the company. But, in my search for Clarks online, I came across places that sell shoes on the Internet. One place had regular Clarks shoes… and a fantastic return policy. I ended up getting Clarks Glenwood. They are so cute. 🙂 They got here yesterday, and I couldn’t be happier to have shoes… real shoes. Now, I have to break them in. Hopefully, this pair will last as long as the last pair… they were great shoes.

The shoes are dead, long live the shoes!

Ow… The Burning

Posted on by

According to the knee doctor, I have bursitis of the knee. Even the little walking I’ve done (and every time I bang it into something, which is a lot) has kept it aggravated enough that it hasn’t healed. So, he gave me instructions similar to the instructions my doctor gave me almost 2 months ago: don’t bang it into things, baby it, ice it, and let it heal. Unfortunately, I’m a horrible klutz… guaranteed to bang my knee into things more often now that I’ve been told that I should avoid doing so.

He also told me to try a muscle rub that he gave me the name of, claiming that it’s better than BenGay (which is fine since I’ve actually been putting arnica on it of late). The reason it’s supposedly better than other stuff is it has capsaicin in it. I hit the drug store after my appointment and spent 10 minutes trying to figure out if I should get the regular strength (0.025% capsaicin) or the “high potency” (0.075% capsaicin). I ended up getting the high potency in the fear that the regular wouldn’t be strong enough. When I apply this ointment to my knee it feels fine for a few moments, then the burning starts… and the burning, we are told by the packaging, is normal. Oy! Hopefully, this works.

Meanwhile, The Husband and I just finished watching Anthony Bordain’s new show, No Reservations. This episode had him returning to New Jersey, the land of his youth. They were in a bakery getting cannolis, and boy, do I miss good cannolis… I only lived in NJ for 4 years, but that was plenty long enough to appreciate a good cannoli. (I am ever on the search of a good cannoli and good NY style pizza here in CA… still looking… although, I did find good pizza made by New Yorkers in Arcata, CA of all places.) During this scene, I made some comment about pizza… The Husband took offense at me saying I haven’t found good pizza here. Zachary’s is good, but it’s too big to be considered pizza in my mind — pizza should be flat and have cheese on it. (I’m not asking much, now am I?) The conversation ended when The Husband was unable to stop laughing while making comments about how I’m such a NY girl (which is to be expected I guess, I was born there, and my family has lived there since 1642).

Mmmmm… cannoli…

One more hour

Posted on by

I get to head out to my knee specialist appointment in about an hour. Hopefully, I’ll soon be enlightened as to why my knee still has stabbing pain 2 months after the accident. I was slightly afraid that I would get to the appointment and find that my knee feels better than it did when I made the appointment a week ago. But, that doesn’t appear to be the case; in fact, it hurt all on its own this morning. The Husband thinks the pain is due to the walking I did this weekend, which sucks cause I actually like walking. So, I’m killing time here at work, worrying over two stupid knee-related things: that there’s nothing wrong with my knee, I just banged it up real good, and I’m about to waste my time and the doctor’s, or there truly is something wrong with my knee, which is a whole ‘nother can of worms. *gah*

Meanwhile, I composed a blog entry about my opinion of the Knitpicks.com flap, and decided that I come off totally bitchy, so it’s staying in draft form. All I have to say now is “Chill!” Too many other more important things in this world to worry about.

At least my doctor’s appointment will have me home at a relatively decent hour… I’ll probably curl up on the couch and knit while I wait for The Husband to come home.

Dreaming of a high B flat

Posted on by
Reply

I know I mentioned some time ago that I had received a package from my secret pal, and now I have finally gotten around to photographing it (just in time, too, the battery on my camera is about to die). This package included the Scarf Style book, a needle roll, a big mug with Alice in Wonderland on it with tea, stitch markers (always need stitch markers), lotion, and 3 skeins off a cotton acrylic blend in a very interesting color — it’s a sort of rusty looking red — I’m thinking of using to try my hand at one of the crochet scarves out of the book. And a basket… mustn’t forget the basket… can’t forget the basket, everything came in it. 🙂 What’s funny is I’ve been contemplating an attempt at wrangling my needle collection. The needle roll may actually give me a chance to accomplish it.

This is what showed up in my mailbox this afternoon. Two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill’s Possum Lace in Tropical Storm… 960 yards of 40% merino, 40% possum, and 20% silk lace weight yarn. I had a horrible rumor that Cherry Tree Hill is discontinuing this yarn, so I decided I had to order some before it became impossible to find. Judy at TheKnitter.com got it to me really quickly (NAYY) along with a skein of Trekking XXL. Thankfully, I have no idea what I should do with the Possum Lace, so I can stick with just Birch, Ribby Cardi, and The Third Incarnation for now.

Okay, that’s all for now… I’m being distracted by Celtic music on my television…. I wish I could speak/sing Gaelic… *sigh* I wish I could sing like I used to…

The week marches on

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been having fun finding blog entries of people who were at Stash on Tuesday. There were a couple of times that I looked around the room and wondered how many people there were knit bloggers.

Knitting-wise, the only things I’ve really been working on lately have been Birch, which went with me on Tuesday, and trying to finish off my second afghan square so I can send them off to Annie.

I saw my doctor yesterday, and it was decided to send me to a knee specialist. So, now I have an appointment next Tuesday afternoon with orthopedist/sports medicine doctor. Joy!

I get to go clothes shopping yet again tonight… woe is me. 🙂 Actually, this is a good thing. I’ve discovered that several shirts, which used to fit quite nicely, now make me look like I’m wearing a sack. Thus, tonight is a hunt for a couple new shirts to replace the ones I’m getting rid of. Shirts aren’t the only thing that suddenly got too big. I put my leather coat on last Thursday, and the Husband said I looked like a little kid playing dress-up. So, the coat got replaced on Saturday because it is safety gear and because it’s nice to have a coat that doesn’t go all the way to my fingertips. The new one has blue and white stripes down the sleeves… very cool.