How NOT to start the day

Doesn't it seem like I've been having particularly bad luck lately? First my ankle, then my tooth and this morning I slammed my finger in a drawer! I got it good. It was bleeding! I don't think it's going to impact my knitting, thank goodness. I am typing this and it's okay so as long as it doesn't get infected, we're good.

That put me off, of course, and so I dithered around in front of my closet forever trying to figure out what to wear today. I mean how hard can it be, right? But sometimes it's nearly impossible to pick something. I already know what I'm going to wear tomorrow though -- my new skirt! I will try it on with several tops tonight so I can just toss it in the pack tomorrow. It's noon knitting tomorrow you see. I have to wear it.

I turned the second heel on my current socks last night but since I'm switching the colors - toe, instep, heel, cuff, I decided to wait until I had some quiet time to do the color switching and picking up of gusset stitches. Then it'll be TV knitting.

I bought the pattern for the Organic Wrap yesterday. I still haven't totally committed to it. It is in fact an awfully lot like the Hemlock Ring Blanket I made, except it's a wrap. I did enjoy it so I will most likely make it since I have some gorgeous bits and bobs of yarn that can only be used for this type of "stash busting" garment or project.

Yeah baby!

I finished the skirt, ran it through the rinse and got it blocked last night. Wow, doing that ruffle and then binding off took ages and ages and AGES!. The ruffle was only 11 rows long, but done on around 500 stitches. Then the bind off has you casting on one stitch, binding off 2 all the way around, which means I bound off 1000 stitches. Totally worth it - it is just too cute! I will take pictures after it dries. I hope I didn't block it too aggressively. I tried it on before I got it wet and it was fine around the hips but I did pull it out a little more after it was through rinsing and it look quite large laying on the bed. I don't mind if it's not skin tight around the bum really. I want it to have lots of motion and I believe it will.

I had all best intentions of getting in the garden Friday but the weather was just plain awful! That's spring for you. It didn't get decent again until Sunday and after taking Tink for a long walk at the off-leash park I was just completely into finishing up my skirt and doing a week's worth of laundry. So, that's what I did. I didn't get done until after 6 pm last night, but I even finished up the I-cord, which is tedious in the extreme. Now comes the fun part - deciding on my next project. And in the meantime I have my socks and several hibernating WIPs.

My root canal tooth is still a bit sore. I can't chew or bite down with it. I am hoping this is normal and not an indication of complications. If it's still sore Wednesday I will call. In the meantime I eat soft food.

My DH was asking why I keep an extra blanket at the end of the bed, now that the weather is getting a bit warmer. Well, I still get cold sometimes during the night and I like to have it to pull up in those instances. He wants to know why I don't just cuddle up to him. And this of course would be the normal thing to do because he is like a hibachi! But, he's also a thrasher! Boom! Just out of nowhere! I have to keep my distance. Friday night I got kicked in the knee and just barely defended myself against a vicious forearm to the mouth. I should get hazard pay.

Last Friday before Spring Quarter

I worked super extra hard and long so that I could justify taking today off so that I could spend a good portion of it in the garden - or at least the front garden - doing some clean up. DH mowed the lawn, front and back, yesterday and even though we're going to have to get a crew in for cleanup in the back I feel I can take care of the front. According to the weather report this is the only day we're supposed to get some sun for the foreseeable future. Here it is 9 am -- still overcast and I do believe it's sprinkling as well. Dang!! Well I still have work to do on one of the sites so I'll just sit here and do it until the weather can behave itself.

I have about 20 more rows to go on my skirt and I'm already thinking what's next, even though I do still have my Rockstar Jacket and a pair of socks languishing in their respective baskets and bags. I have a little windfall that I have earmarked for yarn, but it's not really enough to buy a sweater's worth of what I want next, Kochoran, so I'm thinking I might make this organic wrap by Jane Thornley. That way I can use lots of gorgeous stash yarn AND buy some really luxe stuff as well - a little cashmere and some angora maybe. I love the pink and green one. I will incorporate more purples and greens and I've got some Hana Silk in a beautiful ... well I guess it's a peacock blue.

My mouth was still very sore last night but I again work up feeling great. Here's hoping I have an entire day without that pain!!

It could have been worse

The root canal procedure was not too bad. It took a fairly long time. I was in there from noon until 2:30. The dentist was skilled and the pain was minimal, considering. He was pretty confused at first, as was my dentist. Typically when one has a tooth in need of a root canal there is significant infection involved. But neither of them could detect any infection with their normal tests for that type of thing, but the cold test sent me through the roof so there was something definitely wrong. After he got in there he saw that the tooth had sustained some trauma at some point and the blood vessels had calcified due to that trauma and were squeezing the nerve. I was pretty drained and worn out yesterday afternoon and evening but today I woke up feeling like a million! It's astonishing how much that pain was affecting me. I'm still a little sore today but it's much much much better.

I even worked a bit on the skirt, between Mario Kart and LOST. Ooo, Lost last night -- what an ending!! What next?

I have lots of work to do today and so I'd better get on with it.

Finally some knitting

After dinner out last night with my DH and his 2 kids, I buckled down and did some good work on the skirt. Hopefully I can do more tonight, although it is LOST tonight so there won't be any knitting done after 9 pm.

I'm starting my day out from home today. I went to the dentist yesterday afternoon and she referred me to a root canal specialist who is seeing me at noon today. If I do indeed need that root canal they can perform it right then, so that is a good thing. I just want the pain to stop. And since it is one of the front teeth it truly shouldn't be so bad, since those teeth only have one root. This couldn't have happened oh ... last week maybe? This week I am very busy getting two of my larger class site up and running for spring quarter which starts for us next Monday. Ah well that's the way it goes. I have pretty much got them done, or at least the first couple weeks will be ready. This is the year I decided I had to completely start from scratch with the largest site, comprising over 90 pages. That's a lot of tedious data input. I am so grateful that I can work from home though.

And now it's nearly 8 am and I'm going to stop babbling and get on with it!! Fingers crossed, in a few hours my ordeal will be over.

That older jewelery

You know what I'm talking about. That stuff that your ex-boyfriends gave you. I've never really polled my friends about it, but I can't imagine that any woman would toss perfectly good jewelery, would she? Should she? I've never been able to do it, no matter how bad the break up. Today I'm wearing a necklace that I haven't worn for a while and I don't feel bad about wearing it. My sister says that it holds a certain power, but she's a little woo-woo at times. I'm not going to stop liking something just because the person who gave it to me turned out to be a jackass. That doesn't make any sense.

And neither does my apparent addiction to my Wii!! Yes, I spent my evening yesterday playing Mario Kart rather than knitting on my skirt! I am just as astonished as you. Well ... maybe not. Still though, I wanted to knit but I also wanted to try to get through Wario's Goldmine without falling off the bridge! Crazy. I know me. I'll get tired of it. No use beating myself up about it.

My tooth is still aching and making me cranky. I am four hours away from seeing my dentist and I sure hope she can do something right away about this pain. It is gnawing at me.

Ouchie ...

Oh my, I am stiff and sore from those couple hours I spent in the garden Saturday. I got a really good start on the front garden, cleaning up the dead stuff. I filled not only the big green yard waste can but two other regular garbage cans. I left the other two for the grass that I am hoping my DH will get around to mowing this week (as long as the rain can stay away). The back garden is really too much for me though, so I'm going to have to call the woman referred to me by the previous owner. And we'll probably have to get a crew to come in for a day. After that I should be able to handle it. Fingers crossed.

I got a much needed new bike jacket this weekend. My other one was at least 10 years old, maybe even older. Next, new bike pants. But I may be able to hold off until next winter. I'll be in shorts here in another month, I hope.

I got a little bit more done on the Indigo Ripples skirt. I did another increase and that may be the last increase until the ruffle. I'm only on row 32 so I've got a ways to go yet. I could have done a bit more this weekend but I've been spending a bit of time on the Wii. I'm going to nip that in the bud this week and concentrate on the skirt though. I want to wear it!! And I was up in my office/yarn room yesterday afternoon moving some stuff from my laptop to the external storage disk and downloading the last season of "Arrested Development" from iTunes. Being in close proximity to so much lovely yarn got me hankering to start another project. But I've already got 3 WIPs so I held off. It wasn't easy though.

First day of Spring!!!

As I was walking in to the office this morning a man passing by me said "You look like spring today". Isn't that nice? I am wearing my Lacy Skirt with Bows and it is very spring-like ... all lacy and fluttery. Yay springtime!!!

I can't help myself -- I stare at people's hats and scarves and sweaters to see if they're hand knit and if I recognize the pattern. I get some strange looks back too! I've got to learn to be a bit more circumspect or I'm going to get called out.

Today is also hair cut day so I drove in. It seems warmer today but that could just be wishful thinking. At least it hasn't been down to freezing for a few days. I know this is going to be some sort of winter weather record for Seattle. It's been just awful. I am therefore astonished at how many things are popping up in the garden and all of the buds on the trees and shrubs. I've GOT to get out there and start cleaning it up, plus which I want to put vegetables into the raised beds like the previous owner did. Those fresh veggies were awesome and I want to add more herbs this year.

I did not knit on my Indigo Ripples skirt last night. I have been playing my Wii Mario Kart game. Sometimes I just go on little video game binges and play several nights in a row. It's crazy. And I don't know if I'll be able to knit tonight either because my DH's son is coming to stay for a week for spring break and he's arriving this evening, his sister will be there so I'll have to come up with some sort of meal and then ... well, I just don't think I'll get any quality alone time. I tell you what though -- I don't think I would want to spend my spring break with my father and his wife. I'd want to go hang with my friends. Oh well ...

Snack foods

As a person pretty much addicted to exercise and oh so tedious about eating healthy foods, I have to admit to occasionally venturing into the chips aisle at the grocery store. When I do I typically buy Tim's Reduced Fat potato chips. If I'm really feeling naughty I'll snag a bag of the Jalapeno chips. I was having lunch a couple days ago and a friend of mine confessed to having a thing for hot Cheetos. I had never heard of them but they sound sinfully delicious. And he just popped into my office a second ago with a bag of them for me. I think he wants converts. I haven't tried them yet, since I was right in the middle of my oatmeal and strawberries. Maybe for lunch.

I brought my Indigo Ripples Skirt in for noon knitting yesterday and got only a couple rows done. And I didn't get any done last night. It was a full evening. I had to go to the grocery store when I got home, then shower, and by the time dinner was cleared away it was nearly time for Lost and I can't knit and watch Lost. Good episode. That show is just crazy.

Guess what tomorrow is. SPRING! Yay!!!!! Now if someone would only tell Mother Nature to stop with the snow already.

Spring is THAT close

I could hear the blackbirds along the trail this morning. They nest in the blackberry bushes and I love their birdsong. That says "spring" to me, even more than the fickle weather or the cherry blossoms. The headwinds were quite strong but at least it wasn't raining (or snowing). I woke up to rain and had myself all set to get soaked on the way in, but I lucked out. Oh, it's raining now and I doubt my luck will hold up so that I have a dry ride home. I think that's too much to ask.

When I logged on to Ravelry this morning I had a message from a woman in Portland -- no one I know -- who had a question on how many stitches to use to turn a heel. She is making matching socks for her and her toddler. I was flattered. I still can't figure out how she decided that I was the one to ask, but I did have an answer for her.

It's 6:30 pm in Paris now. I have a friend who owns an Irish pub there and I would imagine it's wall to wall people already. I am so homesick.

A blessing in disguise

I was not too happy last week. On Tuesday while I was out running I hurt my ankle. Nothing dramatic ... I was just running along and then OUCH. I finished my run as best I could and didn't think too much more about it until that evening I noticed that I was still limping. Odd. It would come and go, but it was painful. Wednesday it was definitely with me all day and I was bummed! I had been looking forward to the St. Paddy's Dash for months but there was no way I could do it when my ankle was sore. So I completely laid off it starting Thursday evening, following the old tried and true RICE formula, worked from home Friday and didn't do much of anything all weekend long. Today after my bike ride it's just a little sore, not too bad at all. And I am actually happy I didn't do the run because it was snowing and sleeting and blowing and just plain miserable out there. It would have been just awful, so it all worked out okay. Maybe I can find a run in April to do. Hopefully if I am a good girl this week and don't run on it I should be able to start up again next week.

I took my bike in for new brakes on Thursday and today was the first time I had been on it. Wow ... I really needed brakes!! I just gave them a little squeeze as I was going off down my street and I almost went over the handle bars!! It's that long steep hill I have to go down in the morning. Just wears those brake pads down to nothing.

Saturday I finished up the plain top part of the skirt and have now started on the lace portion. Much more fun to knit. Since there was no natural light this morning when I took this picture I used the flash and I don't think this is quite accurate. Yes, it's purple but more of an eggplant than this would suggest. And the yarn has more of a sheen than is shown here. I'll try to get a picture in natural light next time.

I was thinking back to the first several times I tried to do a lace project. It was a disaster and so very frustrating until I started using markers between the repeats. Why is it that no one ever tells you about that?? Every pattern always has some ridiculous and obvious line in it, like "join to knit in the round, making sure not to twist", but I've never seen a pattern with instructions to place markers between repeats or, that the stitch count is going to vary between certain repeats. I took my Rockstar Jacket back to the beginning 3 times before I realized that I wasn't making a mistake, but that the count varied from row to row! Sure, these are the types of things that mark the differences between an experienced knitter and a novice, but it shouldn't be like some secret club!

What the heck is up?

I had a decent run on Tuesday, but about half way through my ankle gave me a painful twinge. I've had this happen before. I'm not sure exactly what causes it and it usually just goes away. And it did, and I started running again and it twinged again .... this happened a few times. The odd thing about it now is that it keeps coming back! Very bad timing, since there's a race this weekend. I took some naproxen this morning before I came in to work and I'm not limping now and I'll try to run at lunch today. My fear is that it's a stress fracture. I am going to keep positive thoughts ... just a muscle strain.

Still very very cold - below freezing again this morning so no biking for me. Plus which the brakes on my bike are pretty much useless so I brought it in with me in the car and I'll drop it off at the bike shop on the way home. I can't take any chances with that huge hill I have to bike down every morning. I was unable to completely stop last time I rode in and that's pretty scary.

Had some people come by to do some work at the house yesterday and since S couldn't be home, I worked from home instead. It's almost the end of winter quarter so I'm gearing up for spring quarter and that means hours and hours of design work and fiddling with the sites. I like it - makes the time go by quickly.

Knitting -- just around and around and around my skirt. It needs to grow about six more inches I'd say, and then I can start on the lace part. That will be much more interesting.

Oh poo!

Got a phone call yesterday late afternoon from my friend who put together the wine dinner. It is canceled. I was SO disappointed! I haven't been to one in ages, and this one was to be at a restaurant specializing in Southern cooking. I had decided to skip the run yesterday since I wanted to have only a two day gap before the race Sunday so I was already in a bad mood from not having my regular exercise and that just put me into a really bad mood. Cold and snowy, no spring in sight and no wine dinner to look forward to! [Aren't I just a big baby??] But I got home and changed my clothes and played a little Wii and then my DH took me out for some spicy food -- I wanted East Indian but the restaurant in our neighborhood was closed Mondays, so we went Mexican instead. That was a nice treat and cheered me up ... well, the Margarita helped too. Then I just played more video games and went to sleep at 10. I feel marginally better today. It's still bloody cold, although it's supposed to be sunny now for the rest of the week and warm up, but it's supposed to be raining on Sunday. It is forecast to be nearly 50 so the run should be tolerable. It is going to be a difficult one for me because I haven't been training as regularly as I was for the February race and it's longer. Oh well ... it'll be fun all the same.

The topic of conversation

Okay ... after the economy, the main topic of conversation around here is the freakin' weather! It keeps snowing! It doesn't stick around for long but we had snow all weekend and again this morning. Needless to say I couldn't ride my bike in a snow storm. Regardless of what it's doing at lunchtime I've got to run though, because I've got the St. Paddy's Day Dash coming up Sunday. Supposedly it's going to be sunny and warm up by the weekend. I'm not holding my breath.

Not too much interesting knitting this weekend. My skirt, since this one is top down, is still just round and around, increasing every few rows. It won't get interesting for another 10 or 12 inches. Saturday I did manage a few rows, but then I ran errands, bought a really lovely new dress and in the evening went downtown to join my DH at a job he was doing in a fancy hotel. It was a fun evening, got to see Jay Leno perform ... he was hilarious ... and had room service breakfast the next morning. Nice.

Yesterday was more of the same - errands and chores and washing the doggie (who promptly went outside and rolled in something). We had been planning on going out to eat last night but we're going to a wine dinner tomorrow so we decided to cook at home instead.

Daylight saving time -- I'm tired today.

arghg

Working from home. I'm trying something new with my web site stuff and I am publishing this page here just to make sure that some changes I made to this blog work.

Could my eyes have deceived me?

I am pretty darned sure that I saw a pair of ducks going at it on the way in to work! I was riding along at a pretty good clip and saw the ducks in a puddle. It took me a little while to register what was going on. Ahhhh ... spring is in the air!!

I had another weird night last night. It must be because my sleep patterns haven't yet normalized from two weeks off. It seems to happen each night (or morning) at around 3:30 am. Tink usually comes to bed when we do, but if she has found another cozy place and doesn't come in when we do, then at 3:30 that's when she does it. And it wakes me up because she either shakes and her collar jingles or she comes to my side of the bed and scratches on the bed frame to come up. Otherwise she sleeps under the bed and at 3:30 she scratches or decides she wants up, or if she's up wants down. Typically I'll get her re-settled and then drop right off. But lately I haven't been doing that. Last night (no, this morning) it was all about knitting. I couldn't shut my brain off!! I was thinking about turning the heels on my two color socks, wondering if I'm going to have to take a row off the outside of one color or will I be able to turn one heel, then turn the second and then switch yarn. And once I put that matter to bed, so to speak, I started thinking about my next skirt and should I make a pattern up or go with something already out there and if so which one and what yarn? I mean..... crazy stuff!!!

I am wearing my cute Lacy Skirt with Bows today. I am not wearing the shoes I want to wear with it, but the other ones are just not suited for work. So far it's cute and comfy. I wish I had thought to bring a slip though. I have a very long cami on that covers my behind, but I think it should have a slip.

Takin' it easy

Yesterday was my first bike ride in 3 weeks -- two weeks off for vacation and the week prior to that because it was just plain too cold. I did just fine yesterday and even though it was rainy, it was warm. Today I've got to start running again so I can be ready for the St. Paddy's Day Dash. I figured I'd probably better err on the side of caution, NOT over do things and so I drove in. It was pouring rain early this morning. It woke me up (again). I wish I wasn't such a light sleeper.

I worked a bit more on my socks last night. I figure I've got at least another month to go on the Rockstar, mostly because it is one of those projects where I need to be quiet and concentrate and it's not TV knitting if there are any increases or decreases. So I have to find my next project because socks are just a little TOO simple sometimes. I am considering making another skirt. I have an idea for a pattern. But then again, I've got some Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora in a light and dark blue that I've been thinking would make a good Tubey, or just a cute baseball type raglan sweater with the sleeves light and the body dark. Maybe I'll decide this weekend.

Oooo, speaking of this weekend. It's spring forward on Saturday!!!! Yay! That was quick. I have really noticed how much lighter it is these days. Of course it'll be darker in the morning for a while but that's okay.

Well that didn't work out too well

All my good intentions of blogging on vacation and I couldn't get any pictures to download from my iPhone! Perhaps the pictures the iPhone takes are too large to post to the blog. That's the only think I can come up with.

It was a great two weeks. A couple days in Oregon doing the wine tasting thing, then up to the Washington coast for a couple more days. Tink just loves the beach so much! It had been almost exactly a year since we had been there and she seemed to remember what it was about and couldn't wait to get down to the beach. I bought a hard ball to throw for her and she would run until she was exhausted.

I got lots of good knitting done while we were traveling because the hubby likes to drive and that's fine with me. I got the Skirt with Bows finished on the road trip and took it with me to California where I put the ribbons on it. It's this just the cutest thing? I am going to wear it to work Wednesday for the noon knitting show and tell.

When I went to the yarn store to get the ribbon for the skirt I also picked up some sock yarn so I would have a portable project for the second part of the trip. I found a skein of Koigu half price but since that's not enough for a pair of socks I bought a plain ball of sock yarn and I'm making a pair with both colors, swapping the toes and heels and cuffs. I just started doing the heel flap but you can get the idea here. The one with the green instep looks smaller because the yarn is stretchy.

I also worked some on the Rockstar jacket but it's not too exciting so there are no pictures. When I get the back finished and start on the sleeves, then I'll take another picture. That project is slow going. I'm doing decreases and I have to read the chart, which is not my favorite thing to do. I like written out directions.