Time for a little vacation

There will only be sparse blog entries for the next week since my sister is coming in to visit for a week starting this evening. It's been a rough couple days. My dad got pneumonia so I've been spending a considerable amount of time dealing with that, visiting at the hospital, etc. Looks like things will be fine but my sister is coming up a few days earlier than planned. It'll be lovely having the company and help in the garden!

I'm getting close to finishing the front of the stripey vest. I will definitely take pictures before I cut the steek.

Now I must gather myself and get my house in order! I've been slacking off.

I just want to say ....

I think it's totally unfair that Europe is getting SUCH a nice spring and we're not. Well sure, it's nice for them --- and I guess I should be happy that people I know and love are enjoying a beeee-you-ti-full spring. But mostly I'm just envious. And wet. It's very difficult to keep an upbeat and positive attitude when you don't see the sun or blue skies for days on end. On the other hand, at least the plants and flowers are doing their bit regardless of the cloud cover so my back garden is doing its crazy jungle boogie. The dogwoods are in full bloom and the big azalea is just starting to bloom. Tomorrow is Emma's birthday and it always seems to bloom on her birthday or close to it. It's a big birthday for her .... and oh I wish I could be celebrating with you Em!! Luxembourg though .... I don't think I could make it there in time.

Last night was Pub Night (also known as Complain About Work Night). We met at the pub at the end of my street - not the Ale House but the 3rd Place Pub under the book store. I was sceptical when it opened last year that it was going to make it because the ambiance is so cold. But it has really taken off. They need to do something about the food though. We just had appetizers and snackie bits with our beer and wine but oh my goodness, my stomach is still not feeling right and it's not from the drink. Too greasy. It was a fun time. I didn't have much to complain about, as usual but I'm a good listener. And I got home in plenty of time to see "Lost". In fact, I got to watch the second half of the repeat episode which I like to do just to keep up to speed. That show is always so confusing.

I'm still working from the cafe. This morning somebody is setting up for some sort of trade show or something. I understand that starting tomorrow there is going to be an open house for school kids and so I think I'll just work from home tomorrow rather than try to get anything done in this echo chamber.

A close call

My bike route to work has changed a little bit since I am moved out of the H-wing. My parking space is now across Pacific Avenue and down on the street level. What that means is that I ride on the Burke-Gilman trail for a few more yards west to a bridge that takes me across the street and down to the street level via ramps. The B-G trail is a wonderful paved path that runs for literally miles and people use it to commute to the U of W and other work places, I jog on it as do many thousands of others. In a word, it's busy. We must use common sense and courtesy, especially in the busy morning hours when people are in a hurry and groggy to boot. It is also common for people to call out when passing - "On your left" or "On your right" to alert the bicyclist or pedestrian that you're coming by. All this to say that some jackass was tearing down the trail so fast today that as I was turning to cross the street via the bridge he rear-ended me! I was going slowly because I was getting ready to make a sharp turn and there was a jogger coming at me and I was trying to calculate her speed so I wouldn't make her slow down. This guy had to have been really screaming down the trail because I had looked behind me when I got on the trail and he was nowhere to be seen. Luckily I only slightly bruised my knee. Not enough to keep me from running or I would really be mad. Why would you try to pass someone on the right when they're going slowly, they're right in front of a bike rack AND a bridge so they're likely to be turning into one or the other? I think it's a pretty easy assumption to make that one is going to either be parking or crossing the bridge. But whatever. He's lucky I was in a good mood.

I see on my Yahoo weather that it's hot in Paris and Amsterdam and a friend just got back from London and said it was hot there as well! What the heck?! Usually spring in Paris is just like it is here in Seattle except for more thunder showers. I am just hoping that it'll be nice for Kelli's visit next week because knowing me it's going to be hard to get any real gardening done if the weather is bad. More likely it'll be shopping and sleeping late. Kelli is so tired of hearing me gripe about my lack of a social life that she says we're going out every night. We'll see.

Tuesday I finally finished the monster turtleneck. As I figured, it's practically tunic length but will be handy when I feel like I need camouflage in the winter. I started weaving the ends in last night but two phone calls derailed me and I will just do it in fits and starts. There are so many ends even though I had forgotten that I started weaving them in at the start.

I got a good start on the steek portion of the stripey vest last night. I makes more sense to me now that I can see the steek itself and the edge stitches. I was wondering how exactly I was going to pick up stitches but the pattern has you making a knit stitch before the steek on either side so there will be a nice place to pick up the stitches. I'm bringing it to "show and tell" with the knitting ladies at lunchtime today.

WIP

In this case it stands for Working In Public. I am set up in the Rotunda, which is a cafe/meeting space with wireless access. It's not so bad except now it's getting a bit noisy because it's coming up on lunchtime. I'll be going home to work in peace and quiet. It's kind of nice to sit here and say hi to people as they come by and accept their pity ... "Oh, poor you! No office and stuck in the Rotunda!". Truly the worst part of it is that the wireless connection sometimes cuts out causing my program to crash or grind to a halt. And right now the aroma of garlic and cheese ... I'm hungry!

I was fairly productive this weekend. Friday night I had a craving for sushi, so walked down to the local sushi place and ordered some to go, then Tink and I went to our little local for a drinkie while the food was being prepared. Nice. It was sunny outside, although not too warm. Saturday after errands and doggie walks I dug out a small flower bed and put down papers and compost. In the nick of time, I might add, as it started to rain just as I was pouring out the last of the compost. Then it was time for Tink's bath. Rather past time, actually. She was dirty! I used that nice soap my Secret Pal sent me and then I had to keep her inside for the rest of the evening because she has this naughty habit of going outside when she's newly clean and rolling in the dirt.

Sunday was going to be rehearsing with the band but there was miscommunication going on between the drummer, who usually gets the schedules together, and the leader. I got smart and called the leader and found out that the guys needed an evening to rehearse just their stuff, so he and I clarified the songs I am to learn for next week and I asked him what direction he wanted to take this band. He had asked me if there were some songs I would like to do and yes,there are .. so I put together a CD with about 12 songs NOT from the 80s, which seem to be where most of his song list comes from. So we'll be getting together this weekend and I've got to get serious and learn 3 more songs this week and solidify the 11 I'm already supposed to know.

I have two more rows of ribbing and then bind off on the TDR turtleneck. I also started the front of the Noro stripped vest. I was seriously considering trying to match up the striping pattern with the back, like Nonnahs would most likely do. It just seemed a touch too fussy so I skipped it. What I did do though was take out a beige-y bit of yarn so that I don't end up with too much brown. I kind of like to let Noro just do what it does but sometimes you end up with brown or beige or grey where it just doesn't work if you're using another colorway to make a stripe pattern. So just a teensie bit of fussing.

Secret Pal strikes again!

Another cute package from my secret pal came yesterday! Sorry for the bad photo but I was in a hurry this morning (well ... when am I NOT in a hurry in the morning?). This she calls the "Pampered Pal" package. Not too easy to see in this dark picture but there is a bottle of hair and body wash in the yummiest rose scent and a scented candle and matches from .... oh gosh I can't remember now ... something Goth. Anyway, really nice and very cute. The scent of the candle is Funeral Flowers! Also the box with a bow is some special oatmeal doggie soap. Saturday is bath day for Tink, so we'll definitely be using this. Thanks SO much, Secret Pal!

My office is looking awfully bare and by the end of the day will be all packed up. I never have had so much company during the workday as I have in the last couple of weeks when I've been the only person in this hallway. People stop by all day to make sure I'm not lonesome! Good heavens, when the place was full I'd go days and days without speaking to anyone face-to-face. Now? Can't get a moment's peace. Even the maintenance men stop by. Funny.

Only did a little knitting yesterday. I've got about 5 more rows of ribbing to do on that huge turtleneck and I can wash it and put it away. It's going to practically be tunic length which, when you think about it, is pretty cool because next fall it'll be right in fashion.

It's sunny and going to be in the 60s today. I hope it lingers over the weekend so I can do a little more yard work but I'm not counting on it.

There IS light at the end of the tunnel

Despite Tink's neediness last night, I worked and worked on that turtleneck and now I have two more rows to go before I can start the bottom ribbing! I tried it on after work last night, fully expecting to have at least two cable repeats to go. But, since I made the raglans so freakin' deep I was fooled by the length I had knit from underarm to bottom. Trying it on I saw that I only had to finish the final 11 row cable repeat and it would be plenty long enough. I mean PLENTY. What was I thinking??? I have no idea in the whole wide world why I made those raglans so deep. I know that I wanted a big sweater but this one ... holy cow, I'll be able to wear a sweatshirt underneath it if I want! I don't even know if I have a jacket that will fit over it, it's that big. Ah well .... it will be useful and by gosh, it's gorgeous if I do say so myself. I didn't mess up that cable one time! It's perfect. I will post pictures when I finish up with the ribbing. Maybe tonight but more likely the weekend.

I need to get serious today and pack up my office. The movers will be here first thing Monday morning. My desks will go in the hall. My books and software and computers and other odds and ends will be stored in the corner of some room or other and I will be using my laptop and floating around the campus and home for a week. Not so bad. The person in my office is moving out sooner than originally thought so when I get back from my little mini-vaca on May 7 I'll have a proper office again. Except .... I chose this particular "surge" space because it had a window that looked out onto a lawn in front of the Rotunda, a cafe of sorts. However, they have since dug up the lawn and are pouring cement so that a huge crane can be erected. This, unbeknownst to me, is to be the staging area for the earthquake retrofitting remodel of the H-wing of the building (which I am vacating). Oh joy. Can you imagine the noise? And dust? It's going to be brutal this summer. On the plus side, there is covered parking for my bike right outside the Annex door. This is a good thing.

I charged up my GPS and today, finally, I will be able to run with it and hopefully have it tracking the whole 30 minutes. I really do think it's going to help me get faster. I sure hope so.

Something else that bears looking into ...

the lilacs. My neighbors have a lilac tree that hangs over into my yard and I look forward every year to this time when it blooms and I can help myself to a bouquet or two .... or three. But this year there are hardly any blooms on it! I am so disappointed because the man I hired in the summer to help out in the back trimmed my old lilac so far that I don't think there are any blooms that I can reach. I know he didn't touch this one in front and I can't figure out why it didn't bloom. I am going to have to roam the alleys and get sneaky I guess, if I want some flowers. I plan on planting some new ones in my garden this year but it'll be a few years after that before I'll be able to enjoy them. Oh well .... lots of them around to look at but I guess there won't be any in my house to sniff.

I used my GPS thingie for my run yesterday and find that I get a great signal running west on the trail. Unfortunately I must have accidentally left it on the day before because there was no battery left. But tomorrow I'll be able to really see what it can do.

Last night I worked on the turtleneck. Boy, that's a lot of sweater in my lap! It's heavy. I guess I'm lucky that it's still rather chilly because it keeps me warm while I'm knitting on it. I am determined to finish that albatross up. I know for sure that if it gets warm I'll put it away and never pick it up until the fall, IF I do. And I don't want to waste all this nice yarn. I'm going to try it on tonight and see how many more repeats of the cable I need to do. I think I'm getting pretty close.

A cheery little morning ride

Well, it was! The sun was shining. It was nice to ride in the sunshine, although it was cold and windy. And that wind blew the clouds back in to cover the nice sun. Oh well. I realize that all my whining about the weather is stupid. It could be MUCH worse. I got a little note from my secret pal who lives in Chicago and she was saying she was hoping it wouldn't snow again. So yeah, we don't have it that bad here.

I'm going to run today after a week (or is it more?) off. I'm going to have to run west, which means I'll be running above Lake Union and the wind is always cold coming off the water. In the summertime, of course, it's most welcome. But this time of year .... biting. I sure hope my GPS thingie works going that direction. I'm going to be pretty upset if I find that I can't use it consistently from here!

I am procrastinating .... I really really REALLY need to start packing up my office and, more importantly, transferring files I need and use from my old PC to my new PC. The old PC will not be coming on the move and so I must make sure that I have everything I use and might possibly use from this computer. And that's the thing. The MIGHT use stuff. Oh sure, I could just move all of it over to my new computer but some of this stuff is junk and I'd like to do a little purging of useless files. And so I do everything BUT get to work looking at files. Time is running out and I don't want to be doing this on the weekend so ........ here I go.

A full weekend and a present from my SP10

First of all, thanks VERY much, Secret Pal, for the cute little gift I found in the mailbox Friday when I got home. There's a button, a magnet and two stitch counters. One of them says "knit" and the other "Secret Pal 10". What a clever package. Thanks so much! I took the exhortations to heart and knit Friday evening. (Big surprise).

I was determined to get some gardening done this weekend but Saturday it was raining almost all of the day and the grass didn't get to dry out. I let the doggies drag me around the neighborhood, finished up the back of my striped vest, finished my second sock I've been working on since I was visiting Arizona and cast on for another. Oh. And I worked on the TDR turtleneck while I watched movies. As you can see, the knitting frenzy continues.

Jasmine was picked up by her family Saturday evening and then it was just a one doggie house. As much as I adore having a second dog around I've pretty much decided against getting another dog. It's the dirt. One dog is bad enough but when there are two .... they don't just bring in twice the dirt, it must be about four times! Especially when it's damp outside and they get muddy paws.

Amazingly enough, the sun decided to have a visit on Sunday (quite appropriate) and I did the first mowing of the new lawn. It does look nice! I also made a trip to a garden store to pick up some more compost and just about swooned at all of the lovely plants and shrubs and trees .... I am SO glad my sister is going to come help me because I don't have a clue where to begin! I want it all.

The weekend ended with another fun rehearsal. Things were much better this time. It took me longer to get hoarse. And my range is expanded as well. It's just fun. But the time goes by so quickly and I need time to decompress when I get home so I didn't get to sleep until VERY late for me. I am groggy today. Time for another cup of tea!!

Are we tired of this yet?

I just can't quit harping about the weather, can I? It's just so .... so perverse! Last night when I let the dogs out it was beautiful! You could see the stars, just a few wispy clouds floating around. And now? Cloudy and dark and ugly and getting ready to rain. I just want to climb back in bed and pull the covers over my head.

I took a walk up to my LYS at lunchtime yesterday after sending off the bag o'Noro and bought six balls of Calmer in a lovely blue-y almost azure color. It will be absolutely perfect for the Chicknits Scoop de Jour cardigan. I positively will finish one of the 3 ... no 4(!) sweaters I have working now before I cast on for this. I was thinking last night - I don't know what is going on with this knitting frenzy I've been in for the past month or so. I have finished things -- the Ms Marigold and the Turtleneck Tube Vest, so that's not the problem. It's that I haven't done anything AT ALL but knit! I have periodicals stacking up. The only thing I've read lately has been my "Runner's World" and quite honestly I just skimmed it. I just got the latest issue of "Vanity Fair" and I haven't even unwrapped the last issue! Does this phenomena bare reflection or should I just go with the flow and figure I'll get back into reading and other things when the time is right? Maybe because everything else about my life is so messed up I can create some sort of order by knitting? Fiddling as Rome burns? I could create some sort of order by cleaning my house too but I don't do that! Well ... I'll think on it some more.

The thing about a brand new lawn

It grows. Quickly. I realized today that I'm going to have to actually mow the thing this weekend! It's going to be much easier to mow than the mess I had, with all the holes and weeds. And it's going to smell terrific. I need to get one of those little sod cutting tools though because the people who laid the sod forgot to cut around the water meter and I got a little notice on my doorknob a couple days ago from the meter reader saying that he pulled the sod back very carefully but I would have to cut it before he came again. Easy enough mistake to make. And there's one little stripe of sod that's not doing as well as the others. I suspect it's from the batch that the landscaper had to get at the last minute. The sod company shorted me 10 rolls of sod (what? They thought we wouldn't notice??) and so there are a few spots with a totally different look about them. It'll blend in eventually. Someone jogs on the parking strips on my street though and I'm afraid they're going to run a path into my new grass. That might be why that particular piece is not growing as quickly as the others. Hmmmm Maybe I should put a few little doggie bombs out there to discourage them.

I seem to have successfully fought off that little virus. It was "Lost" last night but I was just so tired I couldn't stay up for it. I went to bed very early and still didn't want to get up this morning. Of course that could have as much to do with my state of mind as with my state of corpus. My Achilles is all better and so I should be able to run tomorrow which always puts me in a better state of mind. I was hoping to have a reason to take a nice long walk up to the post office today. I sold the bag of Noro but the silly woman hasn't paid me yet. What's with these people?? It takes two second to get on Paypal and send a payment. If it's not raining I can take a walk anyway and check the GPS signal in the other direction that I usually run.

My sister has finally been able to get her work schedule sorted and she's coming up to visit for the first week of May. That'll give us plenty of time to work on the garden and goof off. She's also going to help me do a complete wardrobe purge. It's been a couple of years since I've done that and it's long overdue. It's just much more fun to have someone to do it with, and my sister is the best. She's always watching those shows ... you know .. "What Not to Wear" and things like that. She's ruthless! Now I just have to save up a little money for a trip to the outlet mall because I'm liable to be left with a couple pairs of jeans and skirt or two and not much else.

As for knitting news --- I worked a few rows on the TDR turtleneck and that's it. My goal is to finish something this weekend.

Crrrrazy morning

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Not that I hadn't had a pretty good sleep, I just didn't want to get up! I had double the doggie love, since I had picked up Jasmine last night while her family is in Mexico for spring break. Two dogs on the bed, even little ones, make for a warm sleeping environment and I ended up on the whole other side of that bed, trying to find a cool spot. I just don't understand how one little 6 pound dog and a 14 pound dog can put out so much heat but it's just astounding! So anyway, there I was hitting the snooze alarm until I just HAD to get up if I was going to get in before the student rush. I like to get across campus before the students are all rushing for their first class. And I was going to make it, too. But then the phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but since it was early in the morning I thought I'd better answer it. My friend H, the sister of Jasmine's owner, is house sitting while they are gone and she had locked herself out of the house, with the kettle on the stove, boiling. Luckily I was already dressed and just getting stuff ready to go, so I grabbed the extra house key and shot out of there. Traffic wasn't too bad, considering the time of morning and I was doing pretty well. I was about one mile from the house when the phone rang again. "You can turn around. I heard the smoke alarm going off and I had to break in. Thanks anyway!" Now that's a bad way to start the day, don't you think?

So I got back home and finished getting ready and took off. I missed the students because I was too late, which is fine with me. It's pretty cold this morning still. It looked nice but ..... oh I am SO SICK of this cold!!! The weather man predicts that it's going to warm up soon but according to my extended forecast on my desktop here it looks like rain and cool weather all through the weekend. Let's just consider this blank space a whole long rant on my state of mind regarding the weather and leave it at that. --------------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------- ----------------------- ---------------------- ---------------------- ---------

I finished up the second sleeve on the TDR turtleneck and now I've got six ball of yarn left for the rest of the body. Short yardage ball (Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky) but they should get it long enough so it's not a cropped top. Tonight is "Lost" so I will be up late and maybe get a good chunk of it done. I really want to put that one to bed. Although consider the weather I will be able to wear it anyway.

Missed Monday

I took yesterday off - I called in sick, actually. I slept almost all day. And couldn't wait to get into bed at 10 and slept the whole night. I'm feeling pretty good today, as one might expect. I used my running computer last Friday at lunchtime and was looking forward to trying it out again yesterday but it's better that I didn't. My Achilles was still sore Friday and it's just today that I notice that it's not hurting so it's better that I took yesterday off. The Forerunner was a little disappointing on the first go Friday. It was not getting a clear signal for the GPS satellite and therefore kept stopping and starting so it was only accurate for the time and not distance or lap time. Tomorrow I'll try changing my route and running west along the trail. There are more open spaces and hopefully the signal will be stronger. I also used it on my bike ride home and it worked better, so I am sure it's just that my original running route is too sheltered. I should be in good shape tomorrow for a really good run. No pain and lots of rest usually mean a good workout.

I finally watched "The Departed" last night. I had it from Netflix for about 3 weeks and hadn't been in the mood for it but my friend Mikie came by for dinner so we popped it in. Wow ... it is a pretty violent movie and you really have to pay attention because it's complicated! Partly the problem for me was that I kept getting Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio mixed up. Great ending though.

That wonderful warm weather on Friday is still such a lovely memory. It's now bloody cold and windy again! I must make a vow to plan a vacation to some warm and sunny spot next year so I don't get so deep into these crappy weather blues.

My Secret Pal package was sent on Saturday and she got it Monday! Wow, good work USPS, huh? I forgot to include a card in her package but she liked it, so that's what matters.

Busy and fun weekend

It was a GREAT weekend and even though I was busy having fun I also had time to knit. I received my package from the Knit Happens sale on Friday. There was something for my Secret Pal and so I managed to get her first package in the mail on Saturday. There was also six skeins of Noro Silk Garden for the Manystripes vest and so I couldn't help myself ... I started it. The pattern calls for a needle size 3 smaller than the recommended 8 .... so that's a 5. It makes a lovely dense fabric and Silk Garden is softer than Kureyon. It's going to be a very cute vest totally wearable with jeans. It will be my first steek project as well, now that I have a sewing machine. I intend to try Eunny Jang's Deep V Argyle Vest, which is done in the round. I just wanted to make sure I could actually DO a steek properly before I tried on something that intricate.

Friday night my friend Mike, vising from Arizona, came by and we went out to dinner at this cheesy Chinese place down the street. In the back there is an equally cheesy bar where we stopped after dinner because we heard music. Mike sat in and it was a wild evening.

Saturday was my first rehearsal with the new band. I was excited and nervous since it had been too many years to count since I'd been in front of live musicians. But, like riding a bicycle, once I was in front of the mic it was perfectly comfortable. Of course, my voice is a bit rusty but by the end of the evening I had expanded my range a bit and was getting hoarse to boot. The musicians are just a bunch of nerdy middle-aged men who have been playing since high school. They've got great equipment and a nifty little studio for rehearsing. They had chosen some songs for me to learn (or re-learn) but I get to pick out some of my own which I intend to do this week.

The weather was not too cooperative after that unbelievable Friday but Sunday after I took my nephew to the airport I managed to get some compost and newspapers down on the largest of the cleaned beds. Six bags of compost didn't go nearly as far as I had hoped but it's a start. The grass is really taking hold nicely.

I decided to sell off a bag of Kureyon in my stash that I had earmarked for a cardigan that I am never going to make. Might as well turn it into cash and then I will splurge and get some really nice yarn for the Chicknits cardigan that I want to make. Something good like Rowan Calmer or maybe one of the new bamboo or soy yarns. I want it to be nice becuase it's something I could really use a lot.

It's officially here

Spring! It's gorgeous outside! And warm!! I wore my fingers-free bike gloves on my ride in. And the air smelled soooooo wonderful. All the things blooming in the gardens along the way - not yet the type of thing that gets my allergies going. I will definitely have to work in the yard tomorrow but I won't mind. It'll be worth it. The grass is looking so nice EXCEPT for that spot where Tink dug a hole. I plugged it up with some sod but it's a different color -- doesn't look like it's taking. I think I'll have to be a little more scientific about it. There are still some pieces of sod laying around. I'm going to remove the little plug I put in there, spread some nice soil and cut a piece to fit and hope that it takes a little better than this interim fix.

My walk up to the LYS yesterday at lunchtime was fruitless. I did get to fondle some wonderful natural fibers and quite fell in love with the bamboo and soy and rayon. However, at $10 - $12 a short skein (76 yards??? Come on!!!) they were destined to stay on the shelf. Maybe for a tank top. OOoooo! Oh yeah, just what I need ... another project on the list. But really, that little tank from Knitty would be great in bamboo. Oh well.

My Forerunner 201 came yesterday. I had plans and so I didn't get to do anything but charge it up. I want to use it today at lunchtime and I am torn. My Achilles is still hurting a bit. Well I'll probably do what I did on Wednesday which is to run and if it hurts, stop. It's just not very satisfying.

No knitting last night. I was at my friend's house having dinner and girl talk and watching a movie. I will be able to finish up the sleeve on the turtleneck this weekend and maybe even the body. Oh, while I was getting my hair done I pulled my sock out of the bag and saw that I had dropped four stitches! Gaaaaahhh! I HATE that! Little teensie stitches. I didn't have a crochet hook with me so I just stuffed it back into the bag. I am usually so careful about pulling the work through the needles so it's not near the end. Don't know how it happened. At least it's on the cuff and won't show if I make a mess of picking up the stitches. I also received the new Vogue knitting book from Amazon. It's got articles on finishing and customizing and stuff. I also didn't get to do much more that a cursory flip through. Lots to look forward to this weekend including rehearsing!! Woohoooo

Buying yarn

I've been going back and forth about what to buy to make the green cropped leaf tie cardigan from "Fitted Knits". The recommended yarn is Cascade Indulgence, which goes for about $10 a skein and my size would use 7 skeins. But I don't like the green color they have! And since the top has ties that end with a leaf I really really want to make it in green, plus which I just love the color for spring. So I just bought the yarn on Elann - the Peruvian Highland in Peridot, which is exactly the color I want for this sweater. The sleeveless turtleneck I made with Elann's Peruvian Highland. It's a nice, plain yarn and the colors are terrific. How can you go wrong. Plus which -- bonus -- there's always some left over for making felted bags!

I am going to go up to my LYS this afternoon at lunchtime to check out yarn for the Chicknits cardigan pattern my Secret Pal sent to me. I really want a cotton blend but blended with what? I am not sure. And I'm going to do my darnest to get away from green. I'm thinking either a nice soft yellow or a light light lavender or periwinkle.

I had a terrible run yesterday at lunchtime. Somehow I have inflamed my Achilles tendon on my left leg and it is SO painful! I would run for about 5 minutes and then have to stop. I have iced it two nights in a row and right now it's not painful. But if it's sore at all tomorrow I'm going to lay off and see if I can totally get rid of the inflammation. I am expecting my super new GPS gadget and I am just so anxious to use it. I just don't want to hurt myself any further and not be able to run for a whole week! It makes me very crabby.

Looks like I'm not going to have any excuses for skipping yard work this weekend. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 76 degrees high and Saturday about 70. Even though it says showers I won't mind working outside if it's not freezing cold.

A funny surprise

Yesterday I was in the worst mood! The sun did finally come out in the afternoon and I was feeling a bit nicer. I got the sprinkler going on my lawn and took the dog for a nice walk. My nephew wanted pizza and that was fine with me - no cooking. So we were just chilling downstairs - I was working on my sleeve and he was doing what he does when he's on vacation, which is laying on my couch channel surfing. I got a text message from my friend Mike -- the one who lives in Arizona -- asking if I felt like going out for a drink. So I text messaged back -- Sure!. Of course, I really didn't want to go out ... I was exhausted from a hard day with a bad mood. So then he sends another message -- "Good. I'm on your front porch." I'm kind of dense, I still didn't get it. So I text back -- "Yeah, sure. Liar" and I get one more message back rather quickly ..."Champagne". Ah! Magic words. Up I went and sure enough there he was sitting on my porch. What a crazy guy. I was, unfortunately, too tired for champagne but didn't mind some conversation. He just wanted to get out of town so went to the airport on the spur of the moment and bought a ticket. He is making a record [They still call them "records" when they're in the studio. Isn't that funny?] and can't get along with his producer in Arizona so really came up to lay down some tracks that he hopes to be able to use (one at least) as a ghost track. But it's nice to get a visit and I'm sure we'll be able to spend a little more time before he heads back. I just wish I was down there! Nice and hot and sunny.

Actually wearing the stuff

We knit and knit and talk about it and buy yarn .... but it's all about wearing it and using it, actually. Today I'm wearing my new sleeveless turtleneck from "Fitted Knits" and I love it! It fits perfectly, looks great with this black pantsuit and I've already gotten a compliment. Perfect. Now if the rest of the day will follow as nicely.

It's sunny and very cold today. I heard on the radio coming in that it's supposed to warm up to nearly 70 by the weekend but I don't really believe it. In the paper last night I read that the record high for yesterday was 82 degrees in 1987. I sure could use some nice warm weather. At least today we've got sun, but I've still got the "enough with this crappy weather" blues. I'm jealous of my nephew -- he's flying back to SoCal Sunday. And my friend Ruth -- off to Mexico for a week on Friday. Maybe I'll just start wearing long underwear under everything and pretend it's hot outside.

I worked a little bit on the second sleeve for the TDR turtleneck. I'm not entirely sure I'll get to wear it this season but on well.

I was THAT close!!!

It seems to be a comedy of errors - getting together with my new band mates. We had it all set up for Saturday but then it got cancelled at the last minute because something came up for one of the guys. The guy I have been talking with asked if I was free on Sunday, I said sure and he said he'd get back to me. Sunday came and no word. My nephew and I went out to have a late lunch and do a little sport shopping when we got a call from my other nephew who had been stranded with car trouble and needed a little help. We went to pick him up and I had Omar drop me off at home so the guys could do the car thing and I wouldn't have to hang out in the cold. Of course, this is the time when the band guy decides to call to tell me it's on and I had to tell him that I had just given my nephew the car so I had no transportation. He was going to come pick me up but then decided that it wouldn't be a good idea because after we ran over some of my stuff the guys were going to want to work on other things and I'd be stuck with no way to get home. Soooooo .... now I've got the telephone number of another guy in the band -- the one who has the studio/rehearsal space. I think guy A is getting tired of trying to corral everyone and I'm going to call the other one and perhaps between the three of us we can get it straight! I was so disappointed!!!

I bought THE COOLEST thing on Amazon.com yesterday afternoon. I had been reading my latest issue of 'Runner's World' and was intrigued by an ad for a GPS device for recording your lap time and calories burned and all sorts of stuff. I am trying to improve my time and it's so difficult when I don't know exactly how far I'm going. Running on the track is a) boring and b) not always possible. And while I mostly run the same route when I'm running at lunchtime I still don't know exactly how far it is. I did some research on line and found the Garmin Forerunner 201 Wrist-Mounted GPS Navigator and Personal Training Device. Oh I just can't WAIT for it to arrive!

My new lawn is looking pretty good, although Tink dug a hole in it. I suspect the fertilizer under the sod was just too tempting. I have some bits and pieces of sod left over so I can patch it, but I was pretty upset!

I did plenty of knitting this weekend since the weather was not conducive to gardening. The package I picked up Friday was some yarn I had bought on eBay that I had hoped would work for the little green cropped cardigan from "Fitted Knits". Unfortunately it's more mohair-like (synthetic and angora mix) than I had hoped and it just wouldn't do for that particular sweater. It is, however, perfect for the airy wrap sweater so I started it Friday and did more work on Saturday. It's done on size 11 needles so it really goes quickly. In fact, I even had to rip out about four or five inches of work because of a mistake I couldn't live with and I still finished the whole body and am almost done with one sleeve. I imagine the true test for this garment is going to be the two 44" fronts.

While I was taking a break from the airy wrap I worked on the TDR turtleneck. I finished up a sleeve yesterday evening and started on the second but my nephew told me finally that he thought I had done enough knitting for the weekend. I think it had more to do with cursing that was going on because for some reason the Denise needle I was using for one half of the sleeve (I'm doing them on two circulars) kept coming apart and I'd have to pick those stitches back up. It was annoying. Some of those joins are just looser than others. I'm going to switch back to the cord I used for the first sleeve since it never once came apart.