This n That

I’ve been remiss; please forgive me. You see, I hate doing these “daily list” type entries, so I wrack my brain for days trying to come up with a creative way to do it. I have not. So, daily lists it is.

Friday: the Fried Potatoes and Onions did not happen, because I bought a bad batch of potatoes. After peeling about half of them, just to cut them open and find brown middles, I chucked the whole bag and brought Dan out for Arby’s. (They have baked potatoes again! Feel my joy.)

Afterward, we played trivia games for the cheesy prizes I’d picked up at Target. Prizes I had every intention of taking a picture of, but promptly forgot. Among them were a very nice pen, two paint-by-numbers, and a $15 I-Tunes card. I won one whole game, and Dan won the other … er … five of them. He bought a Family Guy CD with the gift certificate, and we listened to that while I knit and he started one of his new paint-by-number sets.

Sadly, the night ended with a bit of a meltdown on my part.

Saturday: I sent Dan off to the LARP alone, since I wasn’t really feeling up to people. I’m entering hibernation mode again, and I’m really dreading it, because Dan hasn’t ever really seen me like this. It worries him greatly, and all I can do is tell him that I’ll get over it … soon. (I do not remind him that Jesus told the disciples that he would return “soon.” It wouldn’t be helpful.) I recovered the best way I knew how: I checked out of reality for a whole day, and read an entire book, just for fun. No homework for me. I’ll review the book a bit later.

Sunday: Dan went gaming, and I … what the hell did I do Sunday? Oh yeah, homework. Well, that explains my pushing it out of my mind. I was virtuous, and accomplished much. Only to find out today that I read the wrong assignment for Lit this week, so I’m ahead for next week … and really behind for this week.

Monday: Well, like all work days, I worked. Then went to class. Then went grocery shopping. *sigh* I hate being boring sometimes.

And really? That’s about it for now. I started to review The Book, and got so ranty at that damned author again that I had to shut it down. I’ll try reviewing again tomorrow.

I seem to be slipping down to posting every other day. Do you still love me?

Fits and starts in knitting this week. I hope Sandy's bad knitting mojo hasn't made it over to me, but I'm not holding out much hope.

Wednesday night I was feeling anti-social, so I took Branching Out up to the bedroom to knit for awhile while people gamed in the living room. It was ... how to say ... not a complete sucess. There is not a progress picture to show you, because after ripping out the mistakes I'd make in what I did Wednesday night, there isn't any progress. (Small note to self - this fuzzy laceweight merino does NOT frog. You must tink. Three rows of tinking.) So I set that aside.

In Monday's comments, Chell asked me what the green Meilenweit wanted to be when it grew up. I didn't know, but I've never used solid sock yarn before, so I was thinking lace. Come to find out, it wants to be Japanese Feather socks.

Well, kind of. First off, this is not the standard weight sock yarn that I know and love (take US size 1 needles. Cast on between 64-68, depending on pattern). This is about half as thick. I'm starting to think that I knit my socks a lot tighter than most people (8-9 spi, versus 7), but I'm okay with that, and I like the fabric. So size 0 needles it was.

The pattern? No offense meant to the pattern writer, but I couldn't make heads nor tails of the pattern. No doubt this is due to my lack of expertise in this area, and not her (?) patterning skills. But after studying the written directions for a bit, I decided that I infinitely prefer charts, so I charted it myself. (I'm inordinately pleased about this. I've never charted anything before. It's so cool. Granted, I don't know how to chart lace when the stitches per row change, but I'll deal with that another time.) Sadly, said chart is on my home computer, so I can't show it to you. But rest assured, it rocks.

So after figuring out that it was a 12 stitch repeat, I cast on 72 and started ribbing. (I know the pattern doesn't have ribbing. I like ribbing.) So all I have done is about half an inch of cuff ribbing. And I found two stitches that I somehow managed to be off on my count, so I'm going to drop those and ladder them back up. Someday. But not today, because Fridays are Date Night around here.

It's my week to pick, and I'm making fried potatoes and onions and challenging Dan to a game of all the (like 6) trivia games we have in the house.

Do me a favor and do something interesting with your weekend. I feel a pressing need to hide in my house and live vicariously through others.

Edit: Yeah, I changed my layout again. I never really liked that one. This one is good; I think I'll keep it for a bit.

This is ... all you get

For two days now, I've faced a blank blog screen and thought "well, what do I want to say?" Not much, apparently. I even looked at my camera this morning as I was getting ready, but I couldn't think of any compelling pictures to take.

Haven't knitted much this week, since I've mainly been doing homework, but I'm really wanting to start this. It looks fun to knit, and flattering. I may use Caron Simply Soft. Yep, that's right, 100% acrylic. I've come to a few conclusions regarding natural fibres. I like them. I like the way they feel when I'm using them. And, when I can afford them and they fit the project, then I will use them. BUT - all of the clothes I buy are acrylic.* I don't personally see anything wrong with suiting the yarn to the garment, and a flowing lacy cardigan will not be harmed by making it in acrylic. So I may splurge on natural fibres for a really great sweater or shawl, but if it's basic, it can take a basic yarn. So.

* Okay, obviously not my t-shirts and whatnot, but you get the point.

And, since I really have nothing else to talk about, I'll leave you with the healthy sandwich I put together for myself today. Because I can. And someone else somewhere might like it.

Tuna Pita (makes 2)
1 whole wheat pita, cut in half (to make two pockets)
1 can chunk white tuna in water, drained
2 Tbsp Light Miracle Whip
Half of a medium red delicious apple
salt and pepper to taste

Core the apple, and cut into small, 1/2" by 1/2" (or so) chunks. Mix the tuna, Miracle Whip, and salt and pepper. When well blended, stir in apple chunks. Fill half of pita with half of mixture. Enjoy. :)

(Perhaps one day I'll go into when I first learned to put apples in my tuna. Yes, I'm weird that way.)

Weekend Report

Not a lot of insight in this post; just a rather humdrum report of what I did with my weekend. Some knitting content, at least.

On Friday, Dan and I went out to dinner at Fridays. Funny story: I ordered the Bruchetta Tilapia. The waiter cautioned me that a lot of people that ordered it didn't like it. O-kay. I ordered it anyway, and when I got it, it was about what I'd expected. I tasted it. Hmm. Tastes like Tilapia with Bruchetta on top. Go figure. If you don't like tilapia, or if you don't like bruchetta, why would you order it? Seriously, people, what do you expect Bruchetta Tilapia to taste like?

After dinner we went out to see Hoodwinked, which was very clever, and a great deal of fun. Go see it. It's not - precisely - a kids' movie, though kids will enjoy the more obvious jokes. Kinda like Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Saturday, Dan and I tooled around town, including finally getting up to The Yarn Cafe (fabulous place, though a little overwhelming), and a stop to Needlework Unlimited. I had a tad of extra cash ...



... and now I don't. The black and white is for Ryan's Oompa Loompa costume, the green is for some lace socks for me, and the purple(ish) is my very first Koigu. I'm debating what to do with it. Socks, of course, but what kind?

Sunday I knit. I feel like the reverse of the Karate Kid: cast off, cast on something new.

Completed: Fuzzy Rockstar (modeled by the ever quirky Ryan)



With the excess yarn keeping Willow company.



Also completed: one Tropical Fruit sock. It's not that interesting, so I'll just show you the pair when I get the other one done.

Began: Branching Out



In lovely Kid Merino that I've been saving. I was amazed at how fast it went. (Yes, this little bit of scarf is a good deal of knitting for me. I'm slow.) I'm trusting you people that this won't look like crap once it's blocked, 'cuz it looks pretty sorry right now.

There ya have it. Now it's a new week, filled with work and school.

How do you see?

I’ve been thinking about sight. Not too surprising, since it’s been almost a year that I’ve been able to see clearly, after living most of my life behind glasses. I think for the most part, we, as busy-busy people in the 21st century, coast through life, only really paying attention to the things we need to. In part, this is a necessary act of self-preservation. There is so much information available to us that we simply can’t process it all without losing what little sanity remains to us.

But what are we missing? What do you see, when you look out of your mind?

Dylan, my engineer ex-husband, is a great believer in observing. To him, seeing is gathering and processing information about your surroundings. Do you know where the door is? Did you see that person just enter? Who is near you? You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to let your surroundings take you by surprise. You should always know what is there. I’m really, really bad at this. My surroundings almost constantly take me by surprise. I start working on a project, or thinking, or – gods help us – reading a book, and the rest of the world might as well disappear for all I notice of it. It’s not uncommon for me to come out of a daze and think “when did the cat jump on my lap?”

Dan, my artistic lover, would – if he ever chose to discuss such a thing – probably talk about how he affected the world, and how he is, in turn, affected by it. He looks for subtle nuances to indicate that someone is pleased, displeased, indifferent. He knows when his movement through the world disturbs something, and can identify when something can use his help. (Not that he’s all that good at reading what he picks up, mind you. Like most of us, he’s far more likely to take a negative interpretation.) And the unexpected, chaotic nature of the world amuses him, though he doesn’t often receive joy in the seeing.

Often, when I talk of seeing the world around me, I’m trying to cultivate a “writer’s eye.” What does grass look like when it’s half hidden under snow? What words would I use to describe it? See how she tilted her head in that inquisitive way that reminds you of a confused bird? That’s a mannerism I can use later. Why do I think those two people just parted? Are they lovers after an elicit date? Are they going shopping separately? Have they just had an argument?

But there’s another kind of seeing, something I do when I feel quiet. I just See. It happens often on long car rides, or when I’m feeling a bit manic. Look. Look at that house there. See it? I wonder why they made it that way? Did they want it to look like that? Look at the grass. No clover at all. Are they obsessed with their lawn? Look at the way the snow falls. Is there a pattern there? What does it say?

Look at the world around you. It’s wondrous, and we ought to be filled with wonder when we truly See. Snow, trees, rocks, dead pansies that look strangely like tumbleweeds when viewed in the right frame of mind. This is what I see when I go to the courtyard of my office building. And they are wondrous.

I’m not just talking about the natural world, either, though those are the examples I’m using. The Natural World and I have issues. The Natural World has Bugs. So I spend a lot of time trying to cultivate wonder inside. The man sitting in the cube across from me (unaware that he is being studied) is sitting kind of slouched over in his chair, tapping his foot (he’s wearing hiking boots). He looks like he has a lot of energy. His desktop (what I can see of it) is fairly blank. There are a few papers sitting there, and a black caddy with a pink highlighter in it. He presents an interesting scene. Almost everything I can see through the little opening in the walls is a neutral color – his shirt, his boots, the desk, the carpet, the phone, his chair – except the pink highlighter. I wonder why he uses a pink one? Why not yellow?

In a way, no part of what I’m seeing is more important than anything else. He is both a part of his surroundings, yet he is also separate from them. And, when I look at things this way, I can appreciate them. The many hues of brown and grey that are normally so commonplace become delicate, a shifting portrait of right now. I appreciate these things for the wonder that they contain. I’d like to think that if a bug scampered across the carpet in his cube, I’d accept that too. (But let’s not get too wild and crazy – that’s damn unlikely)

Do you practice wondrous seeing?

"In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars."
-- When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer, Walt Whitman.

Just more of the same

No real progress to report today, as this cold is still royally kicking my butt. I stayed home from work and class yesterday, and my big accomplishment is that I made it from the sofa to the bathroom without having to stop to breathe. My asthma has started to be affected by it, so I'm moving reaaaaalllll slowly. I got just a few inches done on the Fuzzy Rockstar scarf yesterday. How bad is it when knitting needles feel too heavy?

I'm looking forward, though. I've joing the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. The challenge? Cast on when the flame is lit. Be done before the flame goes out. Challenge yourself.

In the spirit of 200Sox, I'm doing (what else?) Socks! I was going to do Fair Isle socks, since I've never done colorwork, but I'm having a bit of a time finding a good pattern. I've scoured the cities, and none of the booksellers have Folk Socks, so I'm out of luck there. I could order it, I suppose (and I would have, if KnitPicks had it - then I could order book and yarn at the same time), but I'm all about instant gratification.

So, in keeping with another deadline I have going, I present to you my 2006 Knitting Olympics Challenge:

Striped socks and wristlets for Ryan's Oompa Loompa costume.



(No, I'm not tackling the neck thing just yet.) It won't be quite as much fun as the Fair Isle would have been, but that's still a lot of tiny stitches. Given my complete lack of speed knitting, it should be quite the challenge. (And have you seen the sweater Harlot has chosen? Serious inferiority complex over here.)

Off to hack and wheeze my way through work and accounting.

::Hack::

While I do sometimes believe that I am a hack writer, the title of this post does not refer to that. Rather, I'm talking about the curious sounds that are coming from, near as I can tell, my lungs.

I was a coughing, sniffling, sneezing, sore throat Nyquil commercial all weekend. On Friday, Dan I and curled up and ate pizza while we watched nearly all of Dune. I would've made it, too, if it weren't for this pesky cold. I got approximately half-way done with ONE Fuzzy Feet(Foot?). Apparently, being sick makes my already terminally slow knitting pace come to a halt.

On Saturday, I sent Dan (also with a sore throat and cough) out to the LARP alone, while I stayed home. I was going to do homework, but lacked sufficient brain power. (All the excess mucus must have been tangling it up). Instead, I discovered that I needed to knit a red scarf, so I set aside my socks and started that.


Fuzzy Rockstar

It's more or less this, but in bulkier yarn, so it will be warmer ... and faster. It's nice and mindless, which is good right about now.

Don't you just wish you were the one that had to sew in all those ends? (I know i wish you were ... D'ya think I can convince anyone that it's supposed to be fringe?)

Dan says that it's unisex, even though it's fluffy, and, well, I'm not particularly in touch with my "cool" side, but it was on knitty, which makes it cool ... er. Right? In my desire to not run out of yarn (and thereby having to go back to the yarn store when I feel like old leftovers), I bought way too much yarn. Like, twice as much as I need. I don't wear red, but I may have to give someone this scarf's doppleganger, just to use the yarn up.

Sunday, was, well, more of the same. Except I went to the grocery store and bought more Dayquil, Nyquil, and cough drops. Oy.

Simple Things

I'm normally really bad at counting my blessings, but I do try. And there were many small, nearly insignificant things that made yesterday and today a little bit more bearable.

The crock pot dinner, while nothing stunning, was good and filling.

At one point (before dinner, but who's checking?) all the plates and silverware in the house were clean at the same time.

Dan played Romancing SaGa, and I got another two inches of sock done.

I got to go buy yarn for a Kimono, and maybe, maybe some for FLAK. If not FLAK, then maybe socks. (But Robbyn is seriously wearing down my FLAK resistance.)

Tonight, I get to go buy more yarn, for Fuzzy Feet.

Fridays are "date night" for Dan and I, and knitting is usually off-limits (by mutual consensus). But since I'm not really up to being around large groups of people, we're going to order pizza in and open up the Director's Cut of Dune. It's 5 hours long, so we'll see how far we get. But Dan said knitting tonight is okay, so I'm going to try to crank out those Fuzzy Feet tonight.

Does anyone in blogland know of good directions for felting by hand? My washing machine and I aren't on speaking terms.



Finally, this:

Bingo

Ahhhh, I think I figured it out.

I was feeling terrible this morning after sleeping really badly last night. So terrible, in fact, that I left work early (yeah, at like 9) to go home and sleep.
The nap helped revive me a bit (and a trip to pick up a few skeins of yarn didn't hurt either.) I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, but lookie what I found:


I'm looking at my sky, Sandy.

Sunlight. Glorious, hateful sunlight. I have a love/hate relationship with sun. I hate sun. I hate daylight. But my body really hates not having it. We compromise. I don't go outside unless I have to, and then I deal with the depression as it comes.
This month, however, has been exceptionally gloomy, and it appears to have caught up with me. I am very, very thankful that I have a mild case of SAD, and just a little while in direct sunlight can pick me up.

I was so out of it this morning, in fact, that I did this:



When I turned on the crockpot this morning, I was afraid that I would turn it off again before I left for work. Yes, I was really that out of it. Want proof? The astute among you will notice that the crockpot is not actually plugged in. Oy. Thankfully, Dan realized that when he got up today, and plugged it in before he went to work.



Yup, another picture of a sock with homework. I know these are boring, but I am trying to enliven them somewhat. (Is it a disturbing notion to anyone else that my "artsy shots" consist of my knitting posed with textbooks, and not outside or something?)

These are the days of our lives

This is what my life will look like for the next four months:



That's right, it's officially Spring Semester, 2005 as of last Monday. Gone is the time when I could clean my house, sleep in on the weekends, knit anything I couldn't fit in my purse, and carry a bag smaller than a suitcase. My future consists of snatching sock knitting time between work, classes, and homework. Know what's funny? I go to a community college of over 9,000 students - yet I've never seen another student (or staff, for that matter) knitting. And only two people have ever asked me what I was doing.

For those curious, the fate of Banff:



That image is named "Banff Final." That is the complete, finished back of Banff. In it's new incarnation as a cat bed. It was too big, too wide, too floppy, too something. I'll own up to this one: I chose the wrong yarn for the project (though I got gauge with it), and I may have added a row or 10 to make it longer. Trust the pattern. Trust the pattern. Trust the pattern.

Oh well, it's bigger than will fit in my bag, so it's not like I would have been able to work on it anyway. (Why is it providing Leia with hours of sleeping joy? Hello? Have you ever tried to rip out boucle once you've bound off? Yeah.)

Edit: Note to self - Sock in Waiting
Limbo socks are at alltangledup.
Jaywalking socks are at magknits.
Learn how to do toe-up for that something sock yarn I got last week.
River Rapids is, I think, at sock bug. For the twinkletoes yarn.
Design KOS-MOS socks.

Today's lesson

Today's lesson, boys and girls, is color and perspective.

These are the newly christened Tropical Fruit socks:

See how the stripes echo the colors of the Tropical Skittles? See how the size of the Skittles tell you what the size of the socks are?

This, by contrast, is the back (I'm sure, I checked) of Banff:

See how non-tropical the rather dull grey and white sweater appears? See how tiny the Skittles are in relation to the mammoth back of the sweater?

(Seriously, this thing is huge. Absolutely monstrous. Much bigger, in fact, than I need, so please don't get the idea that I'm as big as this monstrocity. 10 inches of ease, people. Of course, knitting on this sucker makes me wish I was petite...)

I'm sorry, we're experiencing technical difficulties ...

... please stand by.

I have completely, utterly forgotten what I was going to blog about today. Gone. I know I didn't take any pictures this morning, so I don't have anything to jog my memory, either.

I worked on my sock last night while watching everyone game. I had to rip back a few times, but I managed to get about three inches done. (It's plain, it's self-striping. Really, three inches of plain sock is not interesting enough to merit a picture right now.)

I was hoping rambling would help, sort of like warming up for excercises. Nope. So y'all are going to have to deal without my wit for today. (Seriously, what the hell was I going to blog about? This is going to bug me all day.)

Edit: Hey, I found this old pic. Have I shown you this one yet? It's a mostly finished back (or front, I can't recall at the moment) of Banff:

Er. Maybe not. Blogger appears to be having some technical difficulties of their own.

Also, I put up a button for Dulaan 2006. Click. Knit. Give. Karma.

The cleaning saga part I: The Corner

Note the capital letters: The Corner. This is the corner where all my WIPs go. And that’s all. Just WIPs. This is what it looked like on Sunday morning:



Not convinced that it’s a mess? There’s no table under there, folks. That’s yarn all the way down. You can even see some of it making a dash for freedom under the chair. For comparision, this is what it looked like after I dug it all out:



Makes you want to cry, doesn’t it? It was worse than I’d expected. I was going to watch a movie while I sorted it. Sorted, heh. It soon became obviously what I was really doing was untangling skeins and projects that were attempting to make some sort of meta-project. I started thinking about really long movies.

Two and a half hours and innumerable lost yardage later (no patience to untangle all of it. Yes, I *gasp* threw away some yarn), I had this:



Can I get a show of hands on how many people think I’ll stay this organized? Anyone?

In my future: The cleaning saga part II: The sewing room.

Movies, Games, Alcohol, and ... Fire?

For once, I can say that the holiday weekend was an unqualified success. Funny how much more fun I have with my friends than with my family.

Friday night was “date night” for Dan and I, and it was my turn to pick. We had a lovely dinner at Chevy’s. I’d never eaten there, and it was great. If you have one near you, go. If for no other reason than to try a Cranberry Margerita.

We followed that up with a trip to Joann’s. My darling, wonderful, amazing boyfriend wants to knit a scarf for himself. The yarn he picked leaves something to be desired for a beginner, but I’m sure he’ll cope. (Early forays into attempting to teach him didn’t work out, sadly. We’ll try again.)

We finished up the night with a movie, The Producers. Now, Dan and I are both big Mel Brooks fans, so we knew we would like this movie. But we didn’t just like it, we loved it. I laughed so hard I gave myself an asthma attack. If you have a sense of humor, go see this movie. Then buy the soundtrack (we already did). And stay through the credits.

Saturday was the traditional New Year’s Eve party at Dave’s. There were games:


More games:


And a fire show in the snow.




Ah, intoxication and playing with fire. Sounds like a fun time, no?

Sunday I did a bit of cleaning (you won’t believe what I did – but I’m saving those pictures till tomorrow), and yesterday Dan and I spent a quiet night at home, finishing up with watching the stuffing get knocked out of Notre Dame by Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Ah, Notre Dame loses. Those always make me happy.

Here’s hoping that your weekend was equally enjoyable.

Coming up tomorrow: The cleaning saga, Part I: The Corner