Brief Saturday amusement...

So, on a brief break to reload Cast-On and flex the fingers (lots of knitting today!), I was over visiting Cetta and she had this link to rate your blog, so I did mine. It came up as:

Mingle² - Online Dating

Apparently,

"This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

• drugs (3x)
• hurt (2x)
• crack (1x)"

I feel like I have so much to live up to, now! Or, live down, depending how you look at it. I may just have to insert that rating block into my sidebar, for ongoing amusement.

So yes, lots of knitting today. I've finally started my back-to-school sweater, which was intended to be done for last September but as I've got the back half-done now stands a good chance of being done for this September. Irony? I'm probably not going back to school this fall. Scheduling and budgeting appear to be against me, along with a big ol' honkin' library fine. Dammit. But I'm loving the sweater so far - pics tomorrow or Monday.

Also restarted the Diagonal Lace Scarf from Midnight Purls, which is a lovely piece and she has graciously allowed me permission to use it in an upcoming class (thank you!). I had about oh, 8" of it done yesterday while watching the bonus features of Clerks II. Yeah - not a good idea, mixing lace and Kevin Smith commentaries. I made at least four major mistakes, sighed heavily and frogged back to zero. Restarted today and have achieved 47 rows in a little over an hour. The suggested length is 43 pattern repeats (of 6 rows each) plus 5 rows garter stitch each end, for 1548 rows. That appears to be 32 hours of knitting. Oh my, it's only a two hour class. But it is perfect, the PERFECT pattern for what I want to teach, which is basically this:

1) There are pattern rows and rest rows in lace.
2) Pay attention to where you are - the row counter is your friend.
3) You think it's pretty now? Wait 'til you block it. Double pretty (I can tell that already, just by stretching it, although it's perfectly lovely unblocked, too).

So I think my plan will be this: Complete one scarf to a wearable length (let's say three feet, unblocked). Three feet is 36", I have 6" done, which means 36" is 6 hours, not 32 hours. That will be the sample scarf. Then I will start another scarf for the actual class time, for the teaching of the technique, etc. That scarf I will knit to the recommended length, in a yarn I like for me, and it will become my new fall coat scarf. Because frankly, the yarn I'm knitting the sample with, I love the yarn and the colour, but I'm really not super keen on for an actual scarf. It's Patons Classic Merino Wool and it's not - scarf-y. To me. I like fluffier, softer yarns for scarves. So I will treat myself to some more scarf-y yarn when I do the "real" scarf for me... I may have some in stash but I wanted to try the pattern first at the recommended gauge from stash and all I could find was this one ball of PCM. You know, that wasn't already earmarked for something else. Nevermind. More later tonight, or maybe tomorrow. OOH! You know what would work for this scarf? Some of that KnitPicks laceweight I've got in stash. It'll take for-freaking-ever, but it'll be beeyootiful! Oh yeah, that'll work.

Ok, back to the knitting. I'm up to Episode 23 of Cast On, wonder how many I'll get through this long weekend?

Not a Secret, Pal!

I finally know who the lovely, lovely person in Ohio is who's been sending me lovely, lovely gifties via SP10 - thank you and big hugs and kisses to Ashley!

So amazing that a (previously) stranger could take the time and energy to select (and make - wait for it!) thoughtful and appropriate gifts, just to make me happy... wow. The third and final parcel arrived today, and contained:

Handpainted sock yarn - really funky purple/teal/black/white handpaint. Almost too pretty to knit (yeah right!) - well, I don't know if it will be socks or if I might make something else of it, but it will probably marinate in stash for awhile so I can just enjoy looking at it. And then...

Handspun. 468 yards of "Kraftie's Own" and man is it gorgeous! Deep deep navy and burgundy, just stunning colour. I am almost certain that this is going to be a shawl for me. Because I love shawls, love knitting them, love wearing them, and that would show the sheer beauty of the yarn best (I think). I can't imagine how long it took to make this (I know zip about spinning other than it's addictive and tricky), but I SO appreciate the effort. Gorgeous, and just for me!
Ah, I'm being (gently) prodded here. KnitPicks lace needles, in two sizes. In other words, Kit, get off your tuckus and knit some lace already! So now I must. And I will, and I thank you for these - it's all about the right tool for the job, right?

And now... what I'm sending out. Yes, I'm behind, and yes, it's just one wee package, but the goodies - ah, the goodies!

From top, going clockwise: Handmaiden Lace Silk. Hidden Valley Alpaca Sock Yarn. Handknit (by me!) wristwarmers in "Chunky Al" (alpaca/wool blend), and Freshisle Fibers Mixed Breed Sock Yarn (Colourway: I Am Canadian!) With the exception of the Chunky Al, all the yarn is Canadian, because I am Canadian and really proud of the gorgeous products my countrywomen create. And, my SP-spoilee is in another country, so other than via the internet, odds are good she can't get this stuff. (NOTE: You can get this stuff on the internet. Seriously - go visit Freshisle Fibers, she has the most gorgeous stuff and it's VERY reasonably priced). So these are the patriotic and beautiful goodies I'm sending out as soon as I get to the post office - probably Friday.

I've been knitting too - finished another hat and have another OTN for the "no-pattern-hat" class. Pictures and stories of those later in the week.

Another rock in the pond

Yes, I've dropped another rock into the pond of cyberspace, stealing valuable bandwidth for my own personal blatherings. :)

That is to say, I've joined the very cool community of Ravelry - go here to see my (new, just getting started) page over there. And, in order to take full advantage of the cool features there (and oh my, are there cool features there!) I had to set up an account on Flickr also - which is here. So I guess that's two rocks in the pond! The Flickr page only has knitting photos (unless I had something else in my WIP / FOG folders, which I shouldn't have, but wouldn't surprise me). I have to figure out how the tools work on the two sites, but I think Ravelry will be a more effective means of tracking projects, stash, etc. than what I've been doing here. Which is not to say I won't be blogging here - oh no! I'll still be here yammering away. But the Ravelry site I think will be more for tracking and here more for yakking. So to speak.

So, some yakking. For months now I've been reading about Cast On: a podcast for knitters. I even went to the site to download a few casts, but being the way I am, I wanted to start at the beginning. So I sent Brenda an email and she sweetly provided me a site to download every one, from the very beginning (I was pretty happy that she bothered to answer the email, actually, sometimes people don't. But, as I'm learning, Brenda is very VERY cool.) And so I downloaded a whack (well, ALL) of them into iTunes, and there they sat.

Until this morning, when I had many chores to do and I felt like having some company (Peter was off doing his own thing - it happens sometimes, we are separately but jointly productive that way). I loaded up a bunch of episodes on the shuffle, and away I went. And I listened. And I laughed. And I can honestly say I was flabbergasted by what I heard - not in a bad way, but it just wasn't what I thought it would be (what that is, I couldn't say, but it wasn't.) Brenda is funny. Her Addi turbo light-saber sound effect makes me giggle, EVERY SINGLE TIME. Brenda is musical - or, at least, has fabulous taste in music, all from unsigned artists over at (I'll mess this up I know) - Podsafe music? Something like that. Wonderful artists, gorgeous songs. Brenda is a storyteller. She has a very pleasant voice and a lovely cadence, and her "essays" are like kitchen-table (ok, pub table) anecdotes. Brenda is generous - she highlights other podcasters and encourages anyone with something to say to step up to the mike.

Brenda is my new hero - well, for today anyway - the one thing of value I learned from my ex-husband was the SubGenius concept of a "Short Duration Personal Saviour". You know, just the person to get you through whatever situation you're in at the moment. Today Brenda was my ShorDurPerSav, and I thank her for that. Now, I will undoubtedly spend the next few Saturdays/Sundays/evenings (TV's all reruns anyway) catching up between episode 9 and .. 50? Oh boy, I got a way to go. I love the show, and while listening, I had an idea hit me. The music she plays, some of the tracks I wanted to write down the artist and go hunt them up and buy their music and... then I stopped. And I just enjoyed it, in the moment, without needing to "own" it. Serendipity in listening, letting go of the urge to possess. Interesting ...

Ok, enough babble. I also finished a hat today, which as usual looks crappy via my camera but Peter really likes it:
It's Patons Shetland Chunky, two shades of blue in a 2x2 rib from cast-on to crown. No pattern, just big enough to fit his 21 1/2" head. He says it makes him feel like Jesse James. That's pretty sweet, in a Discovery-Channel-Nerd kind of way.

As we grow older

As we grow older, things change. Boobs - sag (a little). Butt - droops (a little). Sleep gets interrupted more for small-hour nature calls. More sleep feels like less. And migraines - mutate.

I have suffered from migraines since my mid-teens, and every few years they change form. Once in my late 20s I had a migraine that manifested as a burning sensation down the right side of my head, like someone had poured boiling water in my ear. But generally, I get what I call "icepicks" - sudden sharp pain behind the right temple (always the right side) that stabs into my brain and then (after dosing with Tylenol 1's or in severe cases, Mersyndol), recedes to a manageable throb. Unpleasant, but manageable. Unless I wake up with one, in which case I say "to hell with you", pop 2 Mersyndol, call the office and go back to bed. But generally if they hit during the daytime, I can deal.

Yesterday morning, I had an icepick hit me about 8:00 a.m. (I start work at 7:30, yesterday I was up with the chickens and at my desk at 7:00). I popped a couple T1's and went about my morning. By 10:30 the icepick was sharper, not duller, and I was annoyed (also, I was PO'd about the complete two hours I had just wasted on an AutoCAD file that had to be reversed and redone). Popped another pair of T1's, had a snack, kept working. 1:00 - lunch break. Too tired to go anywhere or do anything (yay codeine), I sat quietly at my desk and knit on my sock for Peter (also for my class, I have to get to the toe decrease by Tuesday night so I can teach toe decreases and Kitchenering). I knit with my eyes closed for awhile, just enjoying the lack of computer glare and the feel of the stitches moving smoothly along.

Opened my eyes. Blink. Fuzzy on the right. What? Wool lint in my eye maybe? Rubbed eyes. Still fuzzy. MORE fuzzy. What the heck...? Huh? Ow. Ow ow ow ow OW! Icepick stabbing from behind the temple THROUGH the front of the fuzzy eye. Oh crud, not good. "Uh, boss... my right eye's gone fuzzy and my head hurts." "Oh, you're getting a migraine." "No, I've had a migraine all morning, this is something else." "No, it's a migraine, that's what happens to me." Note: he's a man and therefore his opinion of migraines is suspect. I know they get them (Dad, for instance, gets the "cluster" form, which are evil), but generally they don't know squat about migraine, in my experience. "Well, I've never had one like this befo - excuse me!" Ran to bathroom, yakked. Oh crap, not at ALL good. Light starting to hurt. Oh Crap. This is what they call a "classic" migraine, the kind my sister and Mom have had in the past. Oh. Crap.

This is me leaving my office (stopping at pharmacy for Mersyndol), and driving VERY carefully home with sunglasses on, squinting and "owie ow"-ing all the way. Home, blinds closed, cold cloth on forehead/eyes, heat pack on back (I'm also freezing at this point, which is a weird thing for a migraine, but whatever). Pop 2 Mersyndol. Lie there, waiting to die or for drugs to work. Drugs not working but feeling sleepy. Eat toast, drink water, go to bed. Peter checks in on me at 8 p.m. - more water and Mersyndol. Finally find real sleep, wake up headache-free but hungover at 6 a.m.

And this is what happens when we get older. Our stinkin' migraines mutate. This particular breed I have decided to call "Fred the Bastard" (if you can name it, you can tame it is my philosophy). Fred and I are going to pay a visit to Dr. B. on Monday and get some of those fast-acting Fred-killers, because I categorically CANNOT just stop in the middle of my workday for a migraine. Nope nope nope. And I certainly can't drive home (again) with one, that's dangerous and painful. [sidenote: Peter was up to his ass, literally, in concrete yesterday so coming to fetch me was not an option, although he would have had I asked. In retrospect, I should have had someone from work drive me home. I won't do it again.]

The upside is, I got pretty well-rested last night. The downside is, I think this is related to weather - I do get headaches from low-pressure systems and we've been having a bunch pass through here lately (like right now, and I can feel another stinkin' icepick forming as I type). My sister, bless her heart, basically rolls into a fetal ball of pain when thunderstorms roll in. I don't want that to happen to me. But it might, because I'm growing older. Dammit.

I need to knit a hat now. That, I can control. In theory.

16,000 words

Or, sixteen pictures. Yes, this is a catch-up post so it may be (will be) a little long, just to get the (bad) pictures in. Things have been pretty busy of late (yeah, who's not, right?) but I have been knitting! Here's everything recently finished or live, in no particular order:

Socks for Peter, in James C. Brett "Marble", colourway MT3. These are acrylic self-striping and very soft. I have about 1/3 of a ball left over from the first sock so I will probably make something gift-y with the leftovers from the two balls, later. 2nd sock is just past the gusset - it's been hot lately so sock-knitting is suitable for the weather, even if the socks aren't!

Stitch markers from my Secret Pal in Ohio. Bad picture, they are cute little teal beaded guys. Love 'em, especially as I plan to knit some lace this summer.

The Karma Chameleon Clapotis, resurrected. Increase section done, straight section underway. Yarn is Red Heart Soft, colourway "autumn" I think? Red/Gold/Green. This is "Pay attention!" knitting, so is moving along slowly.

The Wednesday's Cardigan. Remember this one? It's the Patons Rumor chunky yarn, knit in one piece. I want the sweater but have lost enthusiasm for the actual knitting. This may, sadly, wait until cooler weather, which defeats its whole raison d'etre. Meh.

Sock for me, Patons Classic Merino, "Rosewood" colourway. This is the sock I was working on the day of the wedding and it hasn't garnered much attention since. Again, it's too hot for the actual socks, plus I just started teaching the sock class this past Tuesday so I had to start a new sock to teach the class.
The new sock - also Patons Classic Merino, "Denim Marl" colourway. This pair will be for Peter also - apparently he only gets blue socks. :) I'm tempted to cast on the second one to guarantee the pair will be finished quicker (you know, at the same time?) but I don't want to intimidate my students. By the way, LOVING the teaching. I've got great students, fun and enthusiastic and reasonably patient when they make mistakes and have to rip out.

Which reminds me, I've taken on another teaching assignment! I'm going to be teaching a five-week "Learn to Knit" course starting in September, for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board! They contacted the program lady at Michaels about a teacher and she hooked me up with them. And then after new year's, a 10-week program! Woohoo! I'm very excited about this, I'm finding that the teaching is making me learn new things and really THINK about my knitting more, and I love that "OH!" moment that the students get when things are working for them. I always wanted to be a teacher, who knew it would be knitting instead of English lit?

A Feather and Fan dishcloth, for a class I'll be teaching in July - "Introduction to lace knitting". Admittedly, a poor introduction, because I learned doing this sample that knitting feather and fan in cotton on 4mm needles is not really fun for the hands. However, it does cover the basics.

Another gift from my Secret Pal - a very cute hardcover notebook. So girly! I love it, it's almost too cute to use.
From SP again - three skeins of KnitPicks "Shadow", which are NOT purple as in the picture, but rather a gorgeous rust-burgundy colour, almost exactly the shade of my Olympic Shawl. Very very pretty and I'm looking forward to knitting it up.

Time for dye fun! KnitPicks "Bare" from SP, in sockweight. Also included was...

Kool-Aid for dying. Sweet!
See that white blob on the white stripe? That's a frog on a loose windowscreen, in a thunderstorm.
Here he is again, as a dark blob on a grey stripe (no flash). This was an eight-minute torrential downpour - how else does a frog get on the window? I thought the Plagues were starting. Anyway, I pulled him in via a clever margarine-tub-and-lid manuever, and kept him safe from the flash flood. Then, released him out the back door...
Onto the steps. The little green-grey blob, that's him. I can tell you the cats wanted to go out and "play" with him but when I opened the door they were more interested in keeping their feet dry. Wussy kitties!
More class knitting - little Christmas ornaments for my "Christmas in July" classes. My first experience with i-cord (for the wreaths) and I can see how addictive it is. The bells were fun, they have a neat trick for self-shaping. The wee socks were a bit fiddly but very cute. Each ornament takes from a half-hour to an hour - I can see making a bunch more of these for gifts this Christmas after the class.
Summer class knitting - it's a camp set! Basket-weave facecloth and soap sack. Cute and fun but I don't recommend knitting two sets in one day - murder on the hands. Cotton's great but why does it hurt me? Speaking of which, I've had a jumbo ball of Bernat Handicrafter in pink variegated go AWOL - it's got to be in the house here somewhere but it's hiding from me. Bugger.

Let's see, what else has been happening? Oh yeah, we've had a total heat wave the past week and, true to form, it's knocked my stomach out of whack. Yesterday I had a wicked IBS attack around lunchtime that pretty much eliminated any chance of doing anything for the afternoon and evening. Which meant missing Bundy's promotion BBQ - phooey! I had made pies and everything (which Peter delivered, bless him), but I wanted to GO, and see people, and have fun. As it was I watched a bunch of movies and knit socks and ornaments. Not quite the plan for my Saturday.

I've also started on a correspondence course for the summer, the next module in my Construction Management certificate. Need to carve out a couple hours a week for that, fortunately it's paper based so I can read in the backyard and keep an eye on the garden. The veggies are coming along, pretty much everything's up and the tomato plants have flowers (which, I believe, means they will have fruit, yes?). We're not the most attentive gardeners but it's fun watching things grow.

And today is Father's Day. Which means BBQ for the family around 5:00, which means we need to do some cleaning. I can say that for entertaining, at least it keeps your house tidy! And a few other Sunday chores to attend to. But first, another cup of tea and a few more blogs to read. I've been behind in other people's lives as well as my own!

Have a great week everyone.

I'm still here!

Geez, as soon as I commit to a schedule everything goes right out the window. I've been INSANELY busy, really. But -

Secret Pal in Ohio - got the package Friday - you TOTALLY ROCK!!! Thank you a million times.
(everyone else, I will post pictures of the goodies as soon as I unearth my camera from the Desk o'Doom here)

Knitting - mostly class samples right now, again, pictures soon.

Work - crazy. Like 6-hours-overtime-on-a-Sunday, when I should have been soaking up sunshine in the garden crazy. Argh.

Everything else - about normal.

And I'm tired, and if you can believe it, sitting here crocheting. Which I really have no interest in doing, but it's faster than I-cord (marginally) and I need a really long cord for a class sample which has to go in to the store for Thursday. Actually, I need two. Blast and dang.

Pictures and goodies and knitting love by the end of the week, I promise! Love you all!

Apparently, Sundays are for sleeping!

Yes, it's Monday night. Yesterday was all about sleep - sleeping late, napping, and then going to bed early and being completely unable to sleep at all. Oops! Which meant that today was also about sleep, and since I called in sick I took full advantage. Napped 'til nearly noon and then watched a string of movies on cable. Wholly indulgent. I also made some more progress on my Clapotis, which is now back to where it was when I frogged it in irritation last summer. I've been taking a small break from socks as I'll be teaching a three-week sock class starting next week, so lots of sock-knitting coming up.

And I should recap last week, but honestly it's kind of faded in my mind. I'll do my best. Last weekend when we put the garden in, I wrenched my back. Monday went to the doctor, who said, "What did you do to yourself?", put me on heavy-duty drugs and wrote a referral for massage therapy. Wednesday went for the massage which helped the low back immeasurably and also fixed a lot of my upper back/shoulder/neck issues (which are chronic - for work I either sit at a computer or in the car, and for recreation I either read or knit!). Have another appointment for that again on this Wednesday coming.

Saturday was faboo. We were up early to prep for the Hockey Night in the Trailer Park party at our place, did some cleaning and food-ing and yard (almost said YARN) work. Set up the firepit in the back yard and had a test-drive pit BBQ for lunch. Sat in the sunshine with a good book. All wonderful. Then people arrived - lots of people! Neighbours and friends (friendly neighbours) - lots of food and festivity and then the Game. Which, if you follow hockey, you know was Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, and you know Ottawa won. Seeing as how we live in Ottawa, this was a Good Thing. But, being up 'til after midnight is not something I do often anymore, which led to the sleeping-all-day Sunday. Closing the loop of this post, so to speak.

I think I'm turning into more of a balanced person. Normally I would be guilt-wracked for taking a sick day when really I'm just tired. Today, no guilt. No email-checking on the Blackberry. No worries. Everything will still be there tomorrow and I had a pretty darn good day of doing not so much. Tomorrow I will do much - really, because I can imagine what's landed on my desk and to-do list and I also have my Knitting 101 class tomorrow night with two new students! I'm very excited about that. And it's June, and my garden is growing and my hubby made me dinner. Life is Good. Now, go Sens Go!