Beginning to feel human again

Posted on 9 June 2005 by zardra

I saw my chiropractor on Monday, which helped to get rid of most of my upper body pain (it was all coming from my neck). Saw a doctor on Tuesday (not my doctor cause this is the week she has chosen to be in Boston), and was told if it still hurts in a week I should see my doctor, then I was given a sample of Celebrex to help with the inflammation. Unfortunately, I can’t take any of my happy 600 mg Motrin while taking the Celebrex, but the Celebrex did reduce what’s left of the swelling by half… and I can still take the Vicodin (wheee!). And the doctor said I don’t need to wear the infernal brace anymore. I just wish I didn’t have to come into work. I can’t seem to find a comfortable position to put my knee in, and it feels stiff whenever I get up. *ugh* And, of course, my knee, which hadn’t hurt for the first 4 days, hurts now that I’m at work.

At least tomorrow’s Friday.

I think the Vicodin has been affecting my brain… I was putting some arnica on my bruises the other day and got thinking about how I could dye some yarn with a orange-y yellow, a reddish violet, a bluish indigo, and a blue black and call it “Bruised.” It would certainly match the bruise on my hip. It would just be a matter of getting the colors right…. definitely the Vicodin.

I’ve been slowly working on the new shawl I’m doing with the Brooks Farm Duet. I still haven’t gotten to the end of the part of the ball that I ripped out of the Beginner’s Triangle Shawl. I hadn’t realized I had used that much yarn. What I do need to do is come up with a good name for it… Sadly, nothing is coming to mind when I look at the shawl. Purple, blue, and black just don’t bring anything to the front of my brain… and it’s missing the yellow and reddish tones for my bruise colorway idea. *grin* I also need to commit to a lace edging. There are a couple in Heirloom Knitting that I am considering; perhaps whichever one I choose will lend a name to the shawl.

Bigger and Better Things to Come

Posted on 27 May 2005 by zardra

Many thanks to Deb! I’m going to rip back the few inches of the Beginner’s Triangle Shawl and start on an adventure… my own shawl. 🙂 Not like I’m doing anything fancy. I’m going to look around and see what lace edgings I like and figure out the base number of stitches for the edging of my choice. That will probably affect whether I start with an odd number of stitches or even. Deb told me she just did a garter stitch triangle, then a lace edging. This is the basic construction of the Wool Peddler’s Shawl I just completed, so this should be pretty straightforward. Nifty. 🙂

I’m also thinking of starting a pair of socks for the Husband since he has managed to wear holes right through the bottoms of both socks in the last pair I made him, now they were a little bit over a year old and he wore them a lot whenever it was cold out. I think they ran into the problem of the carpet in our apartment being rougher stuff than the wool they were made out of. I picked up a couple different colors of a washable wool yarn that looks to be sport weight, so it should work nicely.

I’m also hoping to get the drum carder out of the box sometime this weekend. I got it a month ago, and it’s just been sitting in its box the whole time. I had been so busy with school stuff that I had to ignore it to get assignments done. But, the long weekend should afford me some time to play.

Now for some peppermint tea… and some painkillers… for the kink in my neck is giving me a righteous headache.

JavaScript rots your brain

Posted on 26 May 2005 by zardra

I don’t know why but this week has been exhausting; thankfully, it’s at least going by fast. I blame it on the JavaScript project I’ve been working on for work. My manager had the brilliant idea that now that I had done a website with JS, I must be an expert, so I could easily complete this page for marketing. *ugh* I’ve been working on it since last Friday. At least I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is glorious since the light was in doubt until moments ago. I have been building the page in parts, and yesterday I added the last important part of the JS code, and it didn’t work. Everything was working beautifully, then I broke it. I have spent a goodly portion of today taking things out and adding things in an attempt to make it work goddammit. My manager came up with a way to make it work that was akin to using a hammer to make a square peg fit in a round hole. I’m rather proud of my coding finesse (I would have gone into programming if it hadn’t been for the required calculus classes). So, I spent today working on it, and now, finally, it is working. The only thing left for this project is to apply a stylesheet to make it conform to the company website. For some reason I have a feeling that’s going to break it again… of course, that would have nothing to do with the fact that the company website was designed by someone who has a limited grasp on how a website should be designed for usability standards. Anyways, the JS is working — properly, no less — and now my brain is goo. I have a couple more hours of work left and all I can do is stare at the wall. Hopefully, if I keep my head upright my gooey brain won’t leak out my ears.

Actual Knitting Content
I haven’t done much… haven’t even considered the dropped stitch in my Beginner’s Triangle Shawl. Might have something to do with me wondering if this is the pattern I want to use this yarn for. I thought it would be good because I only have 1000 yds, and the pattern says knit till the triangle is as long as you want it, you’re bored, or you’re half way through yarn. But, I’m still in love with what Deb did with her Brooks Farm, and I’m slightly unhappy with the fact that the Beginner’s Triangle Shawl will have vertical stripes…. *ugh* Perhaps an email to Deb is in order to find out how much yarn she needed for her shawl….

It’s not a Flaw… it’s a Feature!

Posted on 4 May 2005 by zardra

Shawls
I finished the Wool Peddler’s Shawl (officially this time) on Monday night. It took me about 2.5 hours to finish the sewn cast-off, but it looks really nice. Now I just need to wash it and block it. You’ll get pictures when it looks pretty… right now it looks a bit lumpy.

I did a swatch and cast-on for the Beginner’s Triangle last night. This morning I discovered a new design feature that I have added to the pattern. I photocopied the chart because there is no way I was going to cart around a hardcover copy of A Gathering of Lace. Unfortunately, certain things didn’t show up in the copy… those certain things being the purl stitches at the end of each row. They’re there to create a clean edge… the first stitch of each row is slipped as if to knit. Well, I have been knitting the last stitch of each row… opps. Since I was on Row 18 when I discovered this (by looking up something in the book) I decided it looks just fine and to continue as I have been. *shhh* Don’t tell anyone.

Secret Pal
I still haven’t figured out who my Secret Pal was.

But I can happily say that my other Secert Pal (the one I was sending to) is Lisa @ Slip Knot Pixie. Yea!

Mmm… red

Posted on 1 February 2005 by zardra

Six skeins of Sheplova Mushroom arrived via UPS this morning….

It’s such a yummy color… I love deep reds, I just look funny wearing them… my pale skin (I’m a blonde) reflects it and I look like a beet. *pout* This is, of course, why deep reds are my favorite colors.

This particular batch of skeins are destined to become the Wool Peddler’s Shawl from Folk Shawls for a friend of mine. She has a gypsy heritage, and it shows in her coloring. When I saw this color I knew it would be perfect for her… and reading the description of the Wool Peddler’s Shawl, it is also an appropriate color… apparently wool peddler’s wore red shawls so they could be found in a crowded market place.

Knitting away

Posted on 21 January 2005 by zardra

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.

The aftermath

Posted on 3 January 2005 by zardra

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?

Posted on 30 December 2004 by zardra

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*

Done at last, Done at last…

Posted on 26 December 2004 by zardra

I finished the shawl on Thursday night at about 1 am… so Friday really. I then had to wash it, rinse it, and condition it. I finally finished blocking it at 2:30 am. But, I did indeed get it done in time. I was wrapped Friday afternoon and unwrapped this morning. There was true amazement over how light and airy it looked.

The shawl

Close up of the main pattern

Close up of the edging

We also gave my sister and future brother-in-law a couple of Riedel champagne flutes as Christmas gifts. A little later we decided to give them their wedding gift early… a bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon. The look on my sister’s face was priceless… wish I had had a camera.

Mmmm… vegetarian chili time.

Happy Holidays!

Time? What’s that?

Posted on 22 December 2004 by zardra

Thanks to work, looming trip to Monterey, and end of the year stuff that needs to get down before… well, the end of the year… knitting time is at a premium, so I can pretty much forget about blogging time.

The Christmas surprise for my husband has fallen to the wayside, but I think he’ll understand since he wants to see the shawl done almost as much as I do.

I have discovered one thing that sucks about knitting a white wool/silk lace shawl… no chocolate is allowed near the shawl (me, any white fabric, and chocolate have a ceasefire agreement… none of us are allowed in the same area at the same time). This is a problem because I think chocolate would help me to relax a little and enjoy knitting said shawl rather that trying to break land-based speed records and failing miserably (worst case: dropped stitches *gah*).

Knitting from Outer Space

My adventures in knitting, spinning, and life

Tag Archives: shawl