HooooWeeee

Boy is it ever cold outside! It was below freezing when I biked in this morning. Clear as a bell, but yikes! It's been an hour and I'm still thawing out. This is not complaining. I much prefer cold and clear to snowy.

Yesterday was a very good day. I worked at home, waiting for the upholsterer to come fix my couch. I was busy all day so it wasn't boring and, when he finally did show up, he did a wonderful job! Here's the guy coming in -- I mean not at all what I expected -- reeking of cigarette smoke, tattoo showing on his arm and carrying a small paper bag. But he sure knew his stuff and you would be hard pressed to find evidence that it had been damaged. Very pleasant surprise.

I must say that I am sorry I ever started that stupid Entrelac felted bag! It is taking for-freaking-ever to do! I had no idea it was going to be so slow. Usually a felted bag is a two day project. And then I am really sorry I put the fuzzy stuff around the top. NOT loving it. I'm thinking that I'll put the handles down inside the bag a bit and then after felting the heck out of it I'll just cut off the top where the fuzzy bits are. That might save it. I mean, I'm sure it's going to look really cool when it's felted but it's just a total hassle to do this much detail for a felted bag that I am just going to tote WIPs around in. Ah well, live and learn, eh?

The slowest knitter in the world

That's what I feel like. It has been so long since I've finished anything! I really wanted to finish that bag that I'm going to felt, but this weekend was not conducive to knitting. I did work some on it Friday night. Saturday I just did a teensie bit because I had to run errands and then I went to the Olympic Sculpture Park and afterwards to dinner so there was not much knitting at all. Here's a picture of one of the pieces there. I just love it! Is it my favorite? I don't know .... everything is so beautiful and different. This one stands out for obvious reasons. The park is not yet finished but close enough to let people in and it was packed this weekend. As you can see, it was a sunny and gorgeous day (both Saturday and Sunday). Every other party had a dog with them so Tink was in sniffy heaven.

Unfortunately the day (and the weekend) was marred by a back tweak of epic proportions! I haven't had one this bad for ages and ages. Saturday walking around the park was painful and it got worse as the day progressed. Sunday I could barely get out of bed. I went to the store and bought a new heating pad, this one with a built in massage. I dosed myself up with Naproxen and laid flat on the couch for the whole day. What a waste of a gorgeous spring-like day! It was killing me. Tink was enjoying just laying in the sunshine but got a little bark-y in the afternoon. I took pity on her and about 2:30 I was able to walk around a bit without limping so I took her for a little walk. Then right back flat on my back when we got home. I can't knit when I am reclining. If I'm sitting up in bed, fine then I can knit. But when I have to be flat, can't do it.

Today it's not so bad, thankfully, since I've got to take dad to an appointment which means wheelchair in and out of the car (and that thing isn't light!). I am thinking it might be wise to skip the run today. I should be able to go to the gym tomorrow though because the elliptical trainer isn't as hard on my back as running.

I did a fair amount of daydreaming about redoing my front garden. I am VERY excited about it. I'm going to take out all of the old lawn and re-sod it. It will be flat and the grass will be green. And all new plants and trees -- lilacs for the front fence area and more roses and flowering shrubs. Things that are easy to take care of and that I can't kill. And climbing, flowering vines at the gate. Of course the hard part is going to be picking out the right plants but I'll have plenty of time and my sister will come up to help me. It's going to make my house look so much nicer.

Well ... it was raining!

It rained yesterday. I did not put the boards back on my fence. I had the time but I wasn't going to do it in the rain. Good news is that it's supposed to be sunny and decent all weekend. I'm going to go to the Olympic Sculpture Park Saturday. It just opened last weekend and I am really looking forward to that.

After my chauffeuring duties yesterday I was beat! I got some nice work done on the bag. It is going quite slowly though. I need to buckle down and get some inches done on that thing so I can pick up a project that I'm going to wear!

Tink the Adventure Dog

I am a terrible procrastinator. No .. strike that ... I'm a very GOOD procrastinator. I still haven't replaced the 3 or 4 slats from when my fence blew over. They are sitting by the fence or still in place for when the cement was setting for the new posts. I keep saying that I am waiting for them to dry out but actually I just keep putting it off. There is one place with a rather large hole and I have been putting bricks and things there to keep Tink from getting out. This morning someone was walking a Golden Retriever by the house and I heard her barking and then as I looked out of the window I saw her slip out through the hole!! I was only wearing a bra so I threw on my robe and shoved my feet into my slippers and went dashing out of the house and out the gate. It was a man and woman walking the dog so the man was standing at my gate calling Tink, "Here fella". She was ignoring him and was dancing around the Golden and it's "mom" a bit further down the street. I called her and she came running back. Now no more procrastination!! Tomorrow between Dad's appointments I'm going to nail those boards back up. It's lovely and sunny and dry today and I expect it to be dry tomorrow as well.

We got home at a decent hour from B.C. yesterday and I just sat around, enjoying being in my own comfy chair and read the paper and talked on the phone. No knitting. Did a little shadow knitting at lunchtime but tonight I think I'll work more on the entrelac bag. I want to get it done. I have too many WIPs. Too many. I need discipline.

I have allowed myself the teensiest bit of daydreaming about winning that award. $5K would come in pretty darned handy. I would love to do some landscaping, or rather have someone do some for me. AND paint the house as well, but I don't think I'd be able to do both of those things. But some decent landscaping would make that stupid paint job look a little less stupid.

It's blowing in Europe

I read in the paper yesterday about the terrible winds in Europe. It sounds much like what it was like here last month. I am hoping all is well with my friends over there. Since I haven't heard anything I can only assume no news is good news, but I think I'll send out a few emails this morning just to check in. It's hard when you can't telephone someone just to say I hope everything is okay. [You know who you are ... yes you do!]

I stayed up way too late last night, working on a new felted bag for carrying around my stuff. I wanted to try something different and thought Entrelac might felt cool so I did some searching and came up with the Entrelac Suki. This bag shape is not what I'm looking for but it gave me enough to go on so that I can make it the shape I want -- not as long and a bit wider. Hers is quite pretty, isn't it? I understand she used Noro Kuryeon but it must have been a chore to separate out the colors each time. I'm using some green and purple yarn I bought on eBay to make a bag. In the picture the green looks more yellow than it is in real life. Anyway, here's how far I got last night:
That's a bit of "Jam" around the top. Just a few rows. I was surprised by how cool that yarn is. I want to make a hat with it. It has little nubblies of green and pink velvety stuff with just the barest bit of eyelash. Just a little accent there for the top of the bag. It also might make a nice accent on a cardigan down the button band or around the cuffs. Hmmmmm

It's gorgeous outside today! I am just a slug - it's 10:45 and I'm still in my jammies. I woke up really early this morning, like 4 am, and couldn't get back to sleep so I read for a while and then I couldn't wake up this morning! Thank goodness for the weekend. Nothing I must do today except get a manicure and meet someone at 7. Not a bad day.

Yay! It's Friday!!

Why is it, do you think, that Friday is that much nicer on a short week? Well I'm glad it is Friday. We had a fun pub night last night although the place started up with live music early - like 7 pm. It's wasn't too loud but it makes it difficult to have a conversation because you don't want to be rude to the musicians. But we had plenty of fun and interesting drinks and lots of laughs and I was home before 9. No knitting though. I got 3 books from Amazon yesterday so I indulged myself and just read.

I'm going to stay in tonight and knit and watch TV because the rest of the weekend is going to be busy. Saturday I've got a bazillion chores to do, I'm going out Saturday night and Sunday my friend Andy and I are going up to Vancouver, B.C. to spend Monday and Tuesday with some people at the U of BC. It'll be nice to get out of town and stay in a fun hotel. Vancouver is a cool city. Just keep your fingers crossed for NO MORE SNOW!

It's melllllting

Finally it's warmer and the snow is melting. In fact there are only one or two little spots of it left in my yard. Can't say that I'm upset about it. I can say that this weather is getting me down. I could definitely use a little more sunshine in my life, ya know what I mean??

We started little shadow knitting projects yesterday. It's amusing but not something I'm all that keen on. I'll finish my little project anyway -- it's only 100 rows. Maybe I'll make a pillow out of it if it turns out cute.

Now that the streets are cleared I'm back on chauffeur duty. I had to switch a bunch of appointments for my dad, but I can't get out of this one today since I've got no excuse! Hopefully it'll be quick and painless and I can always use the time for knitting.

It's "Pub Night" tonight with my gang of misfits from work. We're going to a Cuba/Mexican restaurant that I visited with my nephew. The food is really good - incredibly good - and we always like to have interesting snackies. Something more than chips and salsa.

Oh poo ... no more procrastinating!! I've got to get going.

Back on the road

It has warmed up. Well of course that's a relative term considering it's only 36 degrees right now, but hey! it's not freezing! That's a bonus. So I rode my bike this morning and made it to work without falling down. The streets were quite dry and the only place that was the least bit scary was going over the bridge, which was still covered with slush. Let's keep our fingers crossed for warmer weather for a while, pleeeeze.

I didn't do any knitting last night. Tink and I stopped in at the local pub on our walk and we just stayed. It was nice to get out. I haven't been in there for quite a while so there was lots of gossip to get caught up on.

Today in my lunchtime knitting group we're going to all start shadow knitting projects. One of the girls got a book with some really lovely patterns in it, although they're all done on size 2 needles! I found a pattern for a shadow heart pillow and I can do it on size 6 needles, which makes a lot more sense to me. I mean ... I can't even imagine making anything but socks with teensie needles like 2's and in that book she's got not only pillows but sweaters and jackets! Good lord, that'd take months and months. Not for me.

More snow!!!!

Arghghgh! I am so sick of this snow! Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous! Blue blue skies. Cold, yes, but the snow was disappearing. I had an incredible run around Greenlake, too. I wanted to see what my time is so I'll have something to work with. I can do the course several times before the actual event and keep trying to get faster. I want to beat my time from the Dawg Dash. Since there are no hills to speak of around the lake I should be able to do it.

I finished up my Fake Isle hat yesterday and wore it today when I walked to work. Isn't it cute? I made it with size 8s rather than the 6s called for and I like it because it's bigger. These types of hats don't usually look good on me but I think maybe I've been making them too small. Since I've got all this hair I need a bigger hat so my hair can be poufy around it. I roll the brim up and it just seems to work. It's kind of like a flower on the top. It's kind of a fuzzy picture. Took it with my camera phone here at work. I loved doing the stranded knitting. And it makes for a warm hat too. I'd like to try it again sometime.

Oh poo!

The Seahawks lost yesterday. What a bummer. I was being very careful not to listen to the radio or anything, sent emails telling people NOT to send me football spoilers because I was recording it since I had stuff to do in the morning and I wanted to be able to speed through it later. But when I got to the grocery store they had the overtime on the radio and they were playing it over the PA system. Dang! Well, at least it saved me a lot of time wasted in front of the TV. Next year.

Totally inspired by Nonnahs (and the cold cold weather) I started the Fake Isle Hat Saturday night. It is going very quickly. I have only spent a couple hours at most on it so far. What I am really loving is learning the Continental style of knitting, since you have to hold both yarns at the same time. I have never had the patience to teach myself but this way is painless. I can see how it could be faster. I'm not even thinking about the stranding either. It just seems to happen.

And finally .... my last two pair of the fingerless gloves. I don't even need the pattern anymore, I've made that many of them. I sure hope they get a good home.

I switched over to the new Blogger today. Maybe later I'll fiddle around with my template and see what other cool stuff they have. But right now I'm waiting for the guy to come fix my couch. It's a gorgeous (if frigid) day and I'm going to go run Greenlake when he's done with my couch. I want to find out what my time is so I'll have something to compare it to when the race comes up on February 11. No work for us today. Hope you're all having a holiday as well!

The good thing about Omar being gone

I really really enjoyed having my nephew around. It's felt a little empty around my house. But the one good thing about it is that now I don't have to finish watching "Jackass 2". Holy crap, what a waste of film!! That movie totally illustrates the HUGE differences between men and women. Those guys are idiots! No woman in her right mind would do anything like that. No, I'm not saying that there aren't jackass women out there. Just think of any "Girls Gone Wild" commercial you've seen. Same mentality. It's just that women don't risk their lives! Or mutilate themselves! Or think getting punched in the face is funny. He's sitting there chuckling like a doofus and I'm just sitting there with my mouth agape! Well ..... it went back to Netflix and good riddance.

It is still effing cold here. Right now it's 24 degrees. I walked into work again. The streets are a little better but it's not only the ice on the roadway but the wind chill that gets to me. It hurts. I am wondering what it's going to be like running this lunchtime. Maybe I should take a bandana to wrap my lower face. It's cloudless so I know it'll warm up in the next couple hours. When I was walking to the gym yesterday the trail looked relatively ice-free so that should be a problem. It's just, again, the wind chill. At least I won't be sweating so hard.

Worked on the mitts AGAIN last night. I called it an evening and 9 and went up to bed to read. I will be able to finish them this weekend for sure.

Gonna be a good weekend. Dinner tonight. Football on the weekend and I'm going to run around Greenlake either Sunday or Monday. That's where the next 5K I'm running is going to be and I want to check my time now to see how much better I can get in 4 weeks. No hills, so I should be able to do better than the Dog Dash time. Hopefully.

My winter wonderland!

I took this with my camera phone this morning about 8 am just before I took off for work. Walking, yes. Although I did see a few people on bikes. I would much rather walk than risk falling down on the icy streets, like my friend Andy did this morning! And I like to walk so it's a bonus. I just dress warmly, plug in the ol' iPod and away I go. You can't tell in this picture but the sky is clear so it was just gorgeous coming in -- blue sky and white snow. I'm thankful I don't have to drive anywhere. Because I wouldn't!

I drove in yesterday because of errands I had to run for Dad. I left work at about 4 or so and it was just starting to snow and by the time I got home it was really coming down! I took pity on Tink who hadn't had a walk the night before and bundled up and away we went. About half way through the walk she was ahead of me, high tailing it for home. Enough of this mess!! But she was rambunctious for a good portion of the evening. I don't know, there's something about the cold weather that just puts the dickens into her! Needless to say what with throwing the ball and the sock and talking on the phone, I didn't get much knitting done on those blasted mitts. I finished the penultimate one and got 3 cable repeats done on the last. If I can get serious I can finish them up tonight, but I've got to just buckle down and knit and knit and knit. We'll see. I am pretty motivated to finish these buggers.

My weekend is shaping up to be a good one. In fact, I am actually going out Friday night. No lie. To a restaurant. Swear to god. Plus there's great football on Sunday. AND Monday is a holiday. Woohoo

Those silly weather guys!

Getting everybody all scared about snow and ice and nasty weather. Okay, it's only 36 degrees, but other than that, no big deal. There was a little bit of snow-ish material on the ground this morning but the streets weren't frozen. Which was a good thing, since I had to run errands for Dad and I couldn't have even gotten down his street if it was icy.

As much as I am looking forward to finishing up with those mitts, I just couldn't knit last night. I had to relax after that stressful day dealing with Omar and his car troubles, plus work was so busy I didn't even make it to the gym! I got home around 5:30 just as Omie was arriving. He got his stuff together and I took him over to Tem's and then I went home and read the paper and did the crossword puzzle and talked on the phone and drank a really lovely martini. But no knitting. I'm really going to dig in tonight and make a big push to get them done. I might be able to do it tonight but more likely I'm going to finish them up tomorrow night. What's today ... Wednesday. So maybe I can have them done Friday and then I can start finishing up some of MY projects!

I got an official letter in my office mailbox today. It's a huge suprise. I got nominated for the Distinguished Staff Award. I don't know whether to laugh or what ... but there are 5 "winners" and the prize is $5,000. Niiicccce.

Late post

Blogger has been out of commission most of the day today ... most of the morning, I should say. I am looking forward to being able to migrate my blog to the newer Blogger. I've wanted to make a few changes to my template. I guess that's going to be easier with the newer version.

Poor Omie had his car stolen from in front of my house last night! I can't believe it. Statistically, my neighborhood has one of the lowest crime rates in Seattle. And it's just a crappy Honda -- beat up. I guess they steal them for parts. I haven't had a call from him so I suspect the police haven't found it yet. It's funny, we were having dinner last night and I was remembering the time my car was stolen in LA from in front of his apartment when I was over visiting. At least I had theft insurance. He does not. And he's due to leave tomorrow (weather permitting) or the next day. One more day, that's all he needed. Lost all his CDs too. Bastards -----------------Just got a call. they found it in Everett, stripped! It's in an impound lot and he has to get it towed out of there and it's going to cost him! How unfair is that??!?! Oh that sucks.

Incredible!

The Seahawks won their playoff game! It was SUCH an exciting game. Right down to the last second. The Cowboys quarterback ... I feel so sorry for him. So it was a great weekend. Even though I was dog sitting and had two dogs Saturday morning, I got to sleep in until 10! It was a miracle. I gave them breakfast early, let them out for the call of nature and then they were happy to come back to bed. It was such a joy for me to sleep in. I can't even remember the last time I slept that late.

I had company for the game, so spent what was left of the day before 5 putting the house in order and walking the dogs and going to the grocery store and fixing dinner. During the game I knit on the fingerless mitts. I had Sunday to myself - just little Tink and me. After breakfast and shower and walkies she got a much needed bath and I treated myself to a much needed manicure and pedicure. I was hoping to take Omar out for a goodbye dinner, since he's leaving at the crack of dawn Wednesday but he didn't show up until nearly 10 so I think we're going to have to do it tonight because I think he'll be spending Tuesday night on the boat. I finished up the second green mitt and started on the first of the last pair of these mitts I'm making this year. I think I can get them done by Wednesday night. I hope. I am then going to make myself get the sleeves done on the Ogee Tunic before I forget everything about it and maybe even start the front.

It might snow on Wednesday. It's going to be cold this week anyway. ick

Doggie sitting

Oh I love having Shadow around. It keeps Tink occupied and they're so much fun to watch when they are romping and playing. But, since Shadow has a tummy upset and is on a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice and since whatever one of them is eating the other one must have the same, Tink also got a dinner of chicken and rice. Shadow was fine and Tink had a growling, gurgling stomach for a good portion of the night. Poor little thing. And it was entirely my fault. I should have just given her the regular stuff and stood there to make sure Shadow ate her own and not Tink's. But I didn't and I paid for it. Oh well, at least I'm not doing brain surgery today and it's Friday after all. I'm sleepin' in tomorrow!!

I am flogging myself over agreeing to make more mitts so I am going to try to keep the complaining to a minimum. I have so many projects on the needles that I am keen to finish and wear, for cryin' out loud! Plus I really need to make another felted basket for carrying around WIPs. I have lots of little wicker baskets for keeping them separated at home but they're not conducive to travel.

Fingers crossed for the Seahawks playoff game Saturday night. They're playing the Cowboys. Totally depends on which team(s) come to play.

The good thing about company

My 23 year old nephew has been staying with me since Christmas. He'll be leaving next week Wednesday or Thursday for Alaska. He's fun to have around in small doses -- a few weeks works out great. I get to cook all of those guilty pleasures. For example, last night we had tacos for dinner. I can't even remember the last time I had tacos but they were tasty, if a bit salty. Whatever I cook he loves, of course, since HE didn't have to make it nor buy it nor clean it up. I made turkey and dumplings with the leftover Christmas turkey. Oh yeah. Good? yup. Would I have made it had I been alone? Not on your life. And I have a pal to watch football with. Although he's been working gawd awful hours -- 5 am to 4 pm so he's asleep by 9.

Not much to report knitting-wise. I tried to cast on two mitts to do in the round on two needles. I know I have done it before but couldn't for the life of me get it right. I finally got on Knitty and downloaded some pictures. I'm taking dad to the doctor so I'm going to get it done while I'm waiting for him. I am making MORE mitts for friends. I know I know I said I wasn't going to do any more but I'm a sucker for a compliment. Anyway I am thinking if I can get them going two at a time it shouldn't be as painful.

Just a leeeetle bit sore

Well what did I expect, going back to the gym after a month off! Oh and it was an ugly day yesterday to boot. The walk to the gym from my office is just about a mile and it was pouring rain and there were puddles the size of ponds on the Burke Gilman Trail so my feet were soaked. But it felt good working out and I'm not that sore -- just feel it a bit in my chest and shoulders. Today I will be running for the first time in ... oh gosh more like 4 or 5 weeks. Shame on me! I'll take it slow. I've got some new music on my iPod to look forward to. I got a Beatles CD for Christmas and I also downloaded K T Tunstall's latest from iTunes. I love new music!

I did a few more rounds on the TDR turtleneck. I think, at the rate I'm going through that yarn, that I'd better stop the body for now and do the sleeves. I don't want a cropped sweater but I don't want to run out of yarn half way through the second sleeve either, so doing the sleeves before the rest of the body just makes sense. Then I can make the body as long as I can until I run out of yarn. Genius!

No rest for the wicked

Or even the mildly naughty. I'm back at work after two weeks and two days. It does seem longer than that. It's very dark today and windy. It is the first time I've been on my bike for nearly three weeks and I almost got blown over! I'll be glad to get to the gym today since it's been an even longer time for that. And Wednesday I can run again -- and I think it's been since the day I left for London that I've run!! I've got the full Christmas pudge going on. Too little exercise and too much food and drink. It can't be as bad as I feel it is because my doctor just shrugged when I complained about being fat and said, "Oh, it'll go away as soon as you get back to working out". Men have noooooo idea, do they? They can just decide to lose a few pounds and *bang*, it's off. It's a little harder for women for some reason. It will take at least a month but oh well, what else do I have to do? I'm going to sign up for a race on February 11, the Seattle Valentine's Day Dash . That gives me six weeks to get back into shape and ready for the race. This one is going to be fun - no hills!!

I got the sleeves of the TDR turtleneck on holders yesterday and did a few rounds on the body while watching two of the BEST college football games I've seen in a long time. First the Rose Bowl, which I had recorded on my DVR while getting my house back in order and then later the Fiesta Bowl. I miss Keith Jackson but otherwise, just stellar bowl games. I've got to rant a teensie bit about the yarn I'm using. Does anybody else think that Debbie Bliss yarns are overrated? I'm using Merino Chunky, which is a superwash wool. Yes, it's soft. Yes, it's chushy. But it's put up in 50 meter skeins!!! It seems like every other round I'm starting another ball! Plus, at least a third of the balls I've used so far have knots. Maybe it's my bad luck but for that kind of money and that length of skein ... don't you think we could do without the knots at least? And since it's superwash you can't spit graft so it's weaving. I've gotten pretty good about stopping every once in a while and weaving in a few (hundred) ends so that at the end of the project it won't be quite so daunting. Well .... anyway ... rant off.

Happy New Year!

Yesterday was a very busy day but I felt it was fitting to work my little tail off and get this chapter over and done with. Then I can start clean and fresh on this January 1. My nephew and I managed to get my dad and all of his stuff moved in two trips. We were done by about 3 and neither one of us had eaten so I took him out for a nice lunch. We chose a Mexican/Cuban restaurant nearby and it was very good.

My New Year's Eve was quiet even by my standards. I watched the Seahawks game I had recorded and knit on my turtleneck. I was pretty tired from all of the work during the day but resisted turning in at 8 pm .... I watched a movie, knit some more and then did a little reading. I feel like the most boring person on the planet but ... but on the other hand I have been under a lot of stress so I'm going to cut myself some slack. I do have lots and lots of things to get done today. And I find pleasure in getting my house back in shape after the holidays. I'll take the tree down and put everything away and move my furniture back in place and it'll be like it never happened.

I read somewhere that iTunes was very slow after Christmas. Almost at a standstill with the traffic from all the new iPod owners. It seems to be doing okay today. I got a Beatles CD for Christmas and I'm putting that on my iPod and I think I just might buy an album today as well. It's amazing that I get sick of all of the songs I've got on there. Just goes to show that I need a bigger one, huh?