A request

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Hello to those of you who come to read my blog…

There has been a request for an RSS feed of my blog… and I have no idea how to do that (I believe it’s going to be covered in my Info Tech Tools class later this semester). I went with Blogger cause I’m not all that savvy in the blogging world (I know basic HTML and that’s about it at the moment; thankfully, that should be changing as this semester progresses (see reference to class above)… geez, can you believe I was once a Comp Sci major who loved programming *sigh* I am so not a geek anymore.). It took me 2 days to get Haloscan to work correctly. So, I’m in need of some instructions… or should I just join Bloglines?

Thanks in advance. 🙂

Edit: Okay, I was looking at Blogger help and it said that this sort of stuff is all set up already. I verified my settings… and it says this should be my atom feed: http://zardra.blogspot.com/atom.xml. Does that help?

If I’m completely wrong, let me know. 🙂

Settling into the blahs

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I’ve been feeling kind of blah towards knitting this last week… hence the reason there hasn’t been much here. I doesn’t help that my right wrist has been bothering me. Thankfully, my brace, ice, and BenGay have been close friends, and they work. The funny thing is it’s not actually my wrist that’s the problem, it’s my elbow. The tendons in my forearm pull it out of place and pressure is placed on my ulnar nerve, which makes my wrist and ring and pinky fingers ache and tingle. I have an exercise from my chiropractor that I usually forget to do until things hurt. The only thing that really makes it feel better is not knitting. *sigh*

I’ve begun the sleeves for Le Bete Noir. But they are languishing in my knitting bag with about an inch done of each. I’m glad I’m doing them together… less chance of me doing something to one that I don’t do to the other.

I know I promised pictures from the dyeing class I took on Jan 15. But, I forgot to take my camera (we all saw that one coming right?)… not like it really mattered… I was the only person who showed, so it was pretty laid back and drawn out, which was probably good for the teacher since her daughter was in a flip-over accident the night before. I will however post pictures of the resulting roving as soon as I remember to get it and my digital camera in the same room.

Knitting away

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I’m nearing the end of the front of Le Bete Noir. I think I’ll take another picture when I start the sleeves. I’ve decided to knit them both at the same time so they at least turn out the same length.

I’ve started a little lacy scarf out of Frog Tree fingering weight alpaca as a gift for someone.

My friend that made my wedding dress offered bribes for a lacy shawl. I was considering it, when I came across a new color at Peace Fleece: Sheplova Mushroom. The color instantly reminded me of her. I’m thinking of making the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls.

I got paid last week, and now that bills are situated and I know that spring tuition is handled I made a donation to MSF and emailed Stephanie with my donation amount. I am truly amazed by the amount that has been donated by knitters.

And soon… soon I should be finding out who my secret pal is for Secret Pals 4.

Working for the weekend

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A couple more hours and I’m out of here for a three-day weekend. Unfortunately, there won’t be all that much laying about or sleeping in. Tomorrow, I have to be at my LYS by 10 am for the dyeing class I’m taking, which of course means I need to get there early so I can get a coffee across the street before everything starts. (There will be no sleeping in on Monday either because I have to take my car in for its 30,000 miles service. I know I could have done it not on Monday, but I want to have it done before we drive up to SF on Tuesday to see The Gamster at the ACT.) I spun the Extrafine BFL last night… don’t think I’m going to get all that much out of it since there was only about half and ounce, but it was nice to see how it feels spinning up, and after I ply it tonight I can take it to my dyeing class tomorrow.

Must remember to take camera with me so I can take nifty dyeing-action snapshots.

The post office finally pulls through

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Back on Dec 15th I ordered an Extra Fine BFL sample from Copper Moose on eBay for a buck. I wanted to see how soft it was before I went buying 2 or 3 lbs of it. They mailed it out. There was waiting and more waiting. I got the stuff I won in an auction on Dec 22nd. So, I email Copper Moose and they assured me they had indeed mailed it, but would mail out another sample. The second mail sample arrived yesterday and is quite nice (now to see how it spins up). Who knows where the originally mailed sample is… could be at the South Pole for all I know. *sigh* I’ll laugh if it shows up in my mailbox three months from now.

Le Bete Noir is about half way to the armseye shaping. I’m getting work on it in at my work but am eschewing it at home for some reason. Thankfully, it’s 6 rows to the inch, so every 6 rows actually seems to get me somewhere.

I’m quite proud of myself for getting Designing Knitwear in hardcover for more than half off at Bookshop Santa Cruz. It looks rather interesting since it talks about actual shape of the human body and that sort of thing, which has perpetually confused me.

The dragging week

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A short stop at the LYS brought me a copy of Folk Mittens and Folk Knitting in Estonia. I’ve flipped through both books and have started reading the interesting information Nancy Bush has at the beginning of the Estonian book. But, I haven’t decided if I’m crazy enough to try knitting a pair of mittens. A pair of socks in the Estonian book have certainly caught my eye though.

Le Bete Noir is plodding along since I work on it when I feel like it can. So, I didn’t work on it last night… there was no knitting at all last night. I have started my new exercise regime… well, it’s not all that new, I tried to start it a couple weeks ago, but the holidays interrupted it. The plan is to get at least a half hour of something that makes me sweat everyday. Mainly, I’ve been riding the exercise bike in our apt complex’s fitness room for 40 minutes (working my way slowly up to an hour). Last night, after exercising and a hot shower, I felt up to nothing more than vegging in front of the TV while cozy under a blanket. These days happen and I embrace them. *grin*

In other news, I am planning on taking a dyeing class this Saturday at my LYS. But, I don’t have any yarn for dyeing… I’m not sure I feel like spinning something up just for this class. I’ll probably just grab something white before the class starts.

Thinking about mittens

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Several people are doing the Latvian mitten thing and they are gorgeous. Now, I don’t live in an area where mittens are really needed… I probably wear gloves only a few times during the winter… but, I’ve been thinking they might be a good small project to practice fair isle. This of course has caused a wanting for such books as Folk Mittens. I’m planning on stopping by my LYS tomorrow since it’s been a few weeks since I’ve been and I have been told that I need to share pictures of the shawl. I might peruse their bookshelves and see what they’ve got. Of course, if I get something I’ll feel guilty what with Stephanie‘s wants versus needs MSF donation drive going on. Of course, I already feel guilty cause we went out shopping Wednesday night and I got things I don’t need but wanted. Part of the problem with not having bought stuff I’ve wanted for several months… now that the husband is working again, I’m catching up… stopped at the comic book store and got the comics that have been accumulating in my box. Got a manga book and a book about sushi for the husband at the Japanese bookstore. We got a new rice cooker… but that is a definite need since our old one died and we do eat that much rice. Got a new calendar for both home and work… need. And stopped by this new tea shop in the mall to see what their offerings were… got some teas and a late Christmas gift for a friend. I’m such a consumer… and such a packrat. What’s surprising is I have gotten better in recent years. Now I need to learn how to sell things on eBay to get rid of years of accumulating stuff I no longer want or need.

Boy, this post was all over the place…

Maybe I need chocolate

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Spending my three day weekend in my pajamas and not going out at all seems to have helped clear up the illness (which, of course, meant I had to go back to work today with everyone else). I did more sleeping than knitting, but I did manage to finish the back of Le Bete Noir (but not photograph it) and cast on for the front. I’m about an inch of the way into the ribbing so far… but it is indeed the front and not the back… and it is good. Thankfully, it shouldn’t take me two and a half months to finish off the front since I no longer have a lace shawl to worry over. In fact, I’m hoping to get a good portion of it done before school starts at the end of the month…. and for while it’s still cold out. I’d hate to finish it and have the weather turn warm, so here’s keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t have a weird early spring like we did last year (it came at the beginning of Feb for 2 weeks, then got cold again for a few weeks before heading into the end of spring/beginning of summer). Considering the storm that blew through here this last week, I’m expecting a nice cold, wet winter… I’ve even heard rumors that this might be the beginning of an El Nino cycle. If that’s true, we should get many more downpours. *squee*

The aftermath

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My Dad was quite proud of the glass he had to drink his champagne out of at the reception.

There were jokes about it having been full earlier when he made mistakes in his speech, like when he called someone else the father of the bride.
Here’s my sister actually wearing the shawl along with the pin she picked to help hold it close.

There was knitting and spinning loot… and not so related loot. I love my iPod. 🙂 And I’m a big Invader Zim fan… my husband actually tracked down a stuffed GIR just for me. I’ve been having lots of fun reading For the Love of Knitting… haven’t gotten to Heirloom Knitting yet. I had just gotten the lazy kate put together right before this picture; it should make things a lot easier.

This is what I currently have on my wheel. The shiny multicolor bobbin is silk dyed blue, purple, and light teal. The other bobbin is dark teal baby alpaca.

Getting back on track?

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Trying to get back into the habit of posting more often than once a week… should be slightly easy since I don’t have shawl time competing with blogging time anymore. Unfortunately, I am horribly sick… we’re talking the works here, folks… stuffy nose that occasionally runs, sore throat, plugged ears, bit o’ cough. I should be at home cuddled on my couch with a warm blanket watching something mindless while knitting or downloading wedding pictures from my camera so I can actually show you what the shawl looked like on my sister* as well as the pictures of knitting and spinning related loot that was gotten for Christmas… but, no, that’s not my reality… at the moment I’m at work trying to share my germs with all my co-workers cause I used the last of my time off to go to the wedding. Good planning on my part getting sick right afterwords, eh? *sigh*

*It looked really good on her; I was jealous. Everyone loved it… some were so surprised that I had made it they asked me 3 different times in amongst going on about how lovely it looked. I even have one friend asking what sort of bribes I would take to churn out another lace shawl that might be sent in her direction. *grin*