It smells SO GOOD outside!

Have you noticed? All the spring flowers and trees. The scents along the trail on the way to work are just yummy! Soon the lilacs will be blooming. It seems odd that the previous owner didn't plant any lilacs in the garden, since she's got just about everything else in there. I believe I have the perfect spot for one in the back. There is a dead something-or-other there now but I'm going to keep a lookout for a decent sized lilac .. maybe after they have all bloomed - and put it in that spot.

I was expecting my DH to come home last night, but after he got the second show set up he realized that his guy he was going to have run it just couldn't handle it, so he stayed in Bellevue again last night so he could get the show going at the crack of dawn this morning. Tink and I settled in for another quiet night. I was excited to find the latest issue of Interweave Knits in my mailbox so after I got Tink walked I made myself a cocktail and sat down to read it. There is nothing in there I want to make! I thought it was one of the worst issues I can remember. So I knit on my socks and watched some TV, had a little dinner, and went to bed to read quite early again.

I didn't even attempt to practice the lucid dreaming thing. I am going to have to do that on nights I know I can sleep later the next morning because it just wiped me out. Not to say that I slept through the night -- oh no. Tink decided that it was important to start barking at 3:30 am. Scared the dickens out of me! I had remembered to turn the alarm on so I knew that no one was in the house, but still it was startling. I never did figure out what she was barking at down there. Most likely a critter because it's too early for the paper.

I had a heck of a time getting out of the house this morning. First of all I had covered my head with the pillow because the birds were keeping me awake so my alarm must have been playing for a while before I heard it, then I hit the snooze. So I was 10 or 15 minutes late to start, but then left the house and had to come back TWICE! First time nature was calling and I thought it prudent to answer since 8 miles is a long way to ride in that condition. Then I got outside and realized I had forgotten my knitting so back inside I came to gather up my stuff for noon knitting today. I finally got on the road but I was a full 30 minutes late. At least it wasn't raining.

Tough start to the week

I did not have a good start to this week. Yesterday I came in, and as usual went to the departmental kitchen to put away my milk and make a cup of tea. When I opened the refrigerator I got a nasty surprise. All of my food was gone! I always have a week worth of food there - my breakfast and lunch stuff -- yogurts, apples, carrots, cheese. All gone. At first I thought that perhaps someone had cleaned the thing while I was working from home, but then realized that couldn't have been the case. It's still a mystery but I have heard rumors that there has been a homeless person stealing from the labs (although how they could get in ... I can't imagine) so that is probably what happened. I drove in today then so I could replenish my food. Usually I shop on Saturday and come in and stock up then. I want to start running again so I also brought my running gear. It's probably best, considering that I've been not running for the past couple weeks and before that my ankle was sore so I haven't really been training for a while. I am considering doing a race on May 31. We'll see how the next couple weeks go. If I can stay injury free, then I'll sign up.

I started a new project this weekend - the Radiate from Knitty. I am using a lovely llama and silk blend yarn I bought from the Dizzy Sheep daily deals. It's a grass green. It has started out quickly. Maybe I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I was reading about lucid dreaming yesterday and so I had a very restless night. Plus Mr. M stayed at the hotel where he's working last night rather than drive all the way home in the middle of the night, so it was just Tink and me. Hope to have a better night tonight.

Lunch break

I'm working from home today and taking a little lunch break. I gave Tink a nice walk in the sprinkles. It's sunny now but I don't believe that'll last long.

Yesterday evening I finally got all that stash that had been sitting on the bed in the spare room photographed and, instead of posting it on eBay, I posted a notice on the Yarn Destash and Swap board at Ravelry. Here's a link to my stash page: http://www.ravelry.com/people/PinkieDee/stash/trade
I didn't put prices on the stuff. I guess I'm probably going to have to do that but I thought I'd wait and see if anyone makes a decent offer.

My back is a little tweak-y this morning but I think it's because I've been sitting in this hard desk chair. I am determined to start running again next week so my back had better shape up!!!

I'll admit it

I jumped the gun. I should NOT have ridden in yesterday but it was oh so beautiful outside and I was just chomping at the bit to get back on my bike. I was very very sore when I got home. I just collapsed -- oh well after cleaning up the kitchen and getting dinner going. I was going to wash Tink but I just couldn't. I'll do it tonight because heaven knows I won't be tired since I drove in. I have driven in to work more these past 2 1/2 months than I have in years, I just know it!

I haven't yet started a new knitting project. Partly because I can't decide what I want to make next and partly because I know I should get going on the Rockstar Jacket instead of starting another project. We all know how this story is going to turn out though, don't we?

Mr. M. has a bunch of shows going so he's going to work the one tomorrow and Friday and have one of his guys do another show that goes Saturday. Maybe we can actually spend some time together this weekend! Won't that be nice? Don't know what though. I would like to get some tickets to a Mariners game sometime. Maybe before they start to tank. Errrrr .. okay I'm a football fan but baseball is nice once in a while, especially on a sunny day. The park is beautiful. It's just that it's much more fun when they win.

We watched another mediocre movie last night - "Bedtime Story". I have no one to blame but myself, since I had picked them. I should probably check my Netflix queue.

What a difference

Even though my pack is a one shoulder, supposedly better for your back type of pack [wow ... that's a confusing sentence, isn't it?] .... anyway I used two panniers this morning for my ride in rather than a pannier and a pack and I seem to be doing okay. My back is a little sore, but not too bad. I didn't realize how uncomfortable that pack was. I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get a new set of panniers. The reason I was using the pack in the first place is that one of the panniers has a zipper that doesn't work very well and the other one -- it's on that same road. And neither one of them are water proof so when it's really raining hard my clothes sometimes get wet.

Last night we watched "Pineapple Express". It was okay at first but the end of the movie started looking like a Quentin Tarantino picture so I just had to leave. I don't like all that violence and shooting stuff.

Still don't know what to do with the Organic Wrap. Right now it's just laying on the back of the couch. I worked a bit on my socks. I looked at the preview of the spring Interweave Knits and there's a skirt in there that I like a lot and a really cute pull-over that's along the lines of the Green Gables (which I am wearing today, as a matter of fact). And yes yes ... I have the Rockstar. Maybe I'll pull that out this weekend. You never know.

Well look at me!

I am sitting up at my desk at work -- been here for 30 minutes and so far so good. I'm going to try to make myself get up every so often and stretch a bit and hopefully I can make it all the way through the day and, it is a GORGEOUS day, so I might even try to go for a walk at lunchtime and see how the back responds to that. I did, of course, drive in. But if I can go all day with little or no pain maybe I can bike in tomorrow.

I have finally taken pictures of the Indigo Ripples skirt and also I finished up the Organic Wrap this weekend, so pictures of that as well. The wrap is HUGE. It took an entire skein of Silk Garden to crochet two rows of edging. And here's the thing - I will never EVER wear this. I tried it on several ways -- it's just not something I would wear. And all that super expensive yarn .... I am hoping I can find someone who really likes it and who will use it and I will just give it to them. It was fun to make, once I figured out the "pattern" but it will just sit in my closet so I sure hope I can find a taker. Speak up if you want it.

I took Twitter off my page and I'm going to just log out of it. I find that Facebook is much more fun and not full of people trying to sell something, which is mostly what Twitter is turning out to be. Maybe if I had more friends using it, but I don't. And then there was all this hoo-haw about worms and people's computers getting infected. No thanks.

I got out and had a closer look at my garden yesterday. Found that the guys neglected to coppice one of the shrubs in the front that had significant snow damage so I did it myself. I couldn't find my nippers but I managed. There's also one in the back that needs to be done and a dead tree -- well, a very small one that didn't make it through the winter. I'd like to replace it with a lilac. But it looks very nice, and Steve mowed the lawn on Sunday too. I am going to take some pictures so my sister can see. The tulips are coming up - all different colors. I sure like the way she planted that garden! Now if I can just keep from ruining it.

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth

It's my stupid back. It's making me crazy!! Here it is Friday and I'm still laying around. You know what happens when I do that ... I get down. Well I do think it's getting better. I got up at 4 this morning and took a Naproxen and I've been sitting at my desk for nearly an hour and it's just now starting to ache a little bit so maybe, just MAYBE it's getting better and all this laying around is working.

I did get to work some on the wrap yesterday evening. I only have 16 more rows to go, then crochet around for the edging. I may be able to finish it today or at least this weekend. I am still upset about what that Meunch Touch Me chenille does. I wish I hadn't put it in there but oh well.

The gardeners started on the yard yesterday. And the weather was okay - not brilliant sunshine and not raining, but I read the forecast and it was for rain last night, so we covered up the pile of mulch that was delivered. Good thing too because it started pouring during the night. So many beautiful things are coming up in that garden, although there was some severe damage done with the snow and cold. I will take some pictures when they finish. It is supposed to be very nice this weekend.

Just plain annoying

My stupid back! I tweaked it Thursday when I was biking home - my pack was full of my regular clothes plus my running clothes. In retrospect I guess I should have put some of the clothes into my pannier but I didn't. Then I spent Friday working from home and my chair here is not exactly ergonomically correct. I like it but I don't think it's meant to be used for so many hours straight. I should have paid more attention to the aching on Saturday but I was busy baking cake and getting things ready for Easter dinner so Sunday - bingo. I was bending at just the right angle and pow! It was a lunch really, so people were out by 5-ish and I didn't have to do any clean up, for which I was very grateful. I got out the trusty massaging heating pad and I've been down since. I am up today because it's not good to stay down for so long without at least walking around a bit. And I do have work to do. I took Tink for a short stroll and now I'm waiting for a couple files to come through, then I am down again.

I don't like to knit in bed. I can't knit in bed comfortably I guess it what it comes down to. I did work a bit on the wrap on Sunday evening. I need to roll a skein. I still have a good bit to do. This thing is going to be HUGE!

I got the gardeners chosen this weekend. A great duo - one guy runs the business and the other is a horticulture student with the know-how. I was so impressed with this guy, Joe, who could walk through my garden and name every plant. I know he wasn't just making things up because the woman who used to work on the garden was here and I remembered enough to know he was knowledgeable. It is also supposed to be nice this weekend so I am very excited to get it cleaned up and presentable again. So much is happening out there. Purple tulips are in bloom and there are others getting ready to bloom.

Now ... ouch. I need to check if those files have come through so I can go lay down again.

It is growing

The Easter dinner is getting larger and larger. This is not what I signed on for - I wanted a small gathering!! Oh well, it's out of my hands now. But I do wish my guests would quit inviting other people and THEN informing me. I would much rather have them ask if they can bring another couple people than just inform me when I ask for a head count. Is that too much to ask? I think not.

Decent ride in this morning - 4 miles in the sprinkles and 4 miles not. It's not cold, and for that I am very grateful. I am just hoping it'll be dry on Saturday for my DH to mow the lawn. It needs it.

I did get Tink washed last night, after stopping at the LYS for yet another infusion of yarn for the wrap (which is rapidly becoming the most expensive "stash" project ever!). I got more of that gorgeous mohair, a skein of Malabrigo (worsted I think) and another skein of Silk Garden which I would really really like to keep for the edging and a partial skein of some glitzy novelty yarn with eyelash they had marked down. Then while I was waiting for Lost I decided to weave in some of the bazillion ends and found not one but two dropped stitches!! I have no idea how I did it but thankfully it's the kind of piece where it's not going to show. I just picked them up and secured them at the edge where I was weaving in ends. I should take a picture. It's quite the thing.

Well that didn't last long

I didn't really expect it to. We're back to seasonal, typical Seattle weather. That is cloudy and cold and a bit windy as well. I drove in today so at least didn't have to bike in it. It's been quite the morning - first the doctor at 8 am, fasting since it's my annual check up and I needed to give a fasting blood draw. Then to the dentist (with a quick stop at Starbucks for a latte and a breakfast sandwich) where I got only two small shots of Novocaine and had the temporary filling drilled out and a permanent one put in. Not so bad. And it's noon knitting today - yay!

I did a few rows on the wrap -- which is really just a huge, glorified scarf -- and we ordered out Chinese. I not only biked yesterday but ran at lunchtime and then when I got home I had to walk the dog so I was absolutely drained. DH had been out running around doing meetings and shopping for a lamb roast for Easter dinner so he didn't have time to walk her and no matter how tired I am I just cannot let her go without a walk. Now I've got to bathe her tonight. I didn't get to it over the weekend and all the nice sunny days with her sleeping in the dirt -- she really really needs a bath! I will be able to get to it before LOST tonight. Oh ... I wonder how many more episodes we have of this season? It's bad enough that football is done, but then LOST ends and things are strange until August!

I've got to get some people out to make bids on the garden this weekend. Maybe after lunch I can take care of that.

So it's home for the weekend

Dang! I had a feeling he'd weasel out of the weekend after getting that job. By the time he 'fessed up yesterday evening my nephew and his family had already made plans for Easter dinner. His daughter and one of his brothers will come, and that's fine if we have a small dinner. He is going to ask his older daughter and her family so if they say yes then it'll be a very large gathering. Either way, we'll have an early meal - like 2 o'clock - so I can have everything cleared up and get people out of the house at a decent hour.

I had a glorious ride home last night in the warm sunshine. I wore shorts! I know that this is premature and it's only a taste of spring and that it's going to get crappy again really soon, but oh my goodness how wonderful! I really needed sunglasses on the ride in this morning and I'll be able to run this afternoon without a jacket. Ahhhhhh!

I still have all that stash sitting on the guest bed, waiting to be photographed and put on eBay. It is such a daunting project. There are more than a dozen different lots. I was going to make myself do it last weekend but I always found something else to do. I should just do it in pieces I guess - nibbles rather than trying to do the whole thing at once. I just don't want to have it go on and on, packing up things and going to the post office. I like to just do it all at once. Maybe if I'm not so tired when I get home tonight I'll photograph them at least. I have a lot of picking up to do in my office anyway.

I didn't work on my wrap last night. I played Mario Kart again. I had won a certain cup last time I played and didn't realize that it unlocked another character, so I tried it out with that character and I was just howling!! Yes, I guess I am easily amused. I gave up and went back to my usual character and played until it was time to cook dinner, then watched some Star Trek reruns and hit the sack. I did dig out a few more odds and ends for the project and maybe I'll do a little tonight. I was reading a forum on Ravelry yesterday regarding this project. I'm not the only one frustrated with her so called pattern. At one point in a post she breaks it down and mentions increasing in the body of the thing as one is increasing for the ties. There is NO MENTION of this at all in her pattern. One is just supposed to intuit it I guess. I suppose that I should just send her a message rather than complain about it but I don't think I'd get a satisfactory response from her.

What a difference a little sunshine makes!

Wow wow wow! The sun came out Friday afternoon. I had walked up to the LYS with a friend and I left my umbrella in the office because it looked pretty nice out there. Silly me. We got caught in a fierce hale storm and she had a hood and I had nothing. Got back from our walk and I was soaked. But then ... the clouds moved away and it was beautiful outside! It not only stuck around the whole entire weekend but it's gorgeous today and supposed to get up to 70! By Wednesday we're going to get clouds and rain and cold again but this little taste of spring is very welcome.

Saturday was errands and knitting on my wrap and a nap and TV in the evening. It was a perfect Saturday. I had purchased four skeins of yarn for the wrap - special yarns so the yardage is not every good. I got a gorgeous skein (45 yards) of hand dyed angora, some Touch Me (chenille), some Tartlette in a very tart-y lavender with green and pink, and a Trendsetter mohair blend (I am blanking on the name) with some glitz. This wrap is eating up the yarn something fierce. I believe I'm going to have to find a little more of something. I would like more of that pink mohair so maybe Wednesday when I drive in I can do that. [I have my annual physical Wednesday morning and the endodontist is going to take a look at my tooth and most likely put another bleach pellet into it. Yeah ... I'm looking forward to that morning.]

Yesterday while the DH was out running his errands I gave Tink a long walk in the warmth and sunshine, then a woman came to give me a bid on cleaning up my garden. Wow. She's an organic gardener and really knows her stuff but holy cow, she's a little out of my league. So now I'm going to start looking on Craig's list for some gardener who might be a little more down to earth. Frankly, I don't need a Ph.D. to do my yard, I just need muscle.

It's still up in the air if we're going out of town this weekend or not. My DH asked me about a month ago if I was really set on having Easter dinner at our house. I said no, not really. And then he said he wanted to take me out of town, to Port Townsend. Great! I love a little road trip. But then .. here comes a job for this Friday so now I don't know if we're going or not. I need him to make up his mind so if we're not going I can figure out what we're doing for Easter dinner!! He's supposed to figure it out today. We'll see.

Free-form knitting

I am intrigued by my organic wrap and the whole concept of free-form knitting. And what is most intriguing about it is how uncomfortable I am without specific instructions. I got a little frustrated last night trying to wrap my mind around this particular pattern and how it's going to turn out. I want it to be just like the one in the picture and it just didn't seem to me that the way she instructed the knitter to decrease and increase was going to work. I read it over a few times though and finally the penny dropped. I am still working on the first part, which is the length, then when I start decreasing I also am knitting more on the "body" of the thing. I did realize last night that the colors that I had picked were mostly greens and purples and I need some pinks in there. Here's a little picture of just a small part but one in the middle so you can see all of the colors so far. I love how the gold Tartlette looks and may get some more of that. I'm almost out of the pink-ish mohair there on the bottom so I'll have to get something more like that, maybe some fancy eyelash, I have plenty of Kureyon and Silk Garden. Well, I'm just going to haul the whole kit and kaboodle up to the LYS at lunchtime and see what I can find.

The weather is still crap and I had to drive in today. It was pouring rain all night and also hailing or sleeting because there was some on the deck this morning and it was in the 30s. When is this going to end? Hoping for some decent weather for the visit with the gardener on Sunday.

DH and I are going out to eat tonight and he works tomorrow night so I can catch up on my recorded TV without having to subject him to Desperate Housewives.

And another storm

This is the WORST winter .. and now spring .. that I can remember. My DH emailed me yesterday late morning that it was snowing. Now I know that back east there is still snow on the ground but that's not unusual for that part of the country. Seattle on the other hand ... not usual at all. I was therefore very happy that I had driven in yesterday because the nasty weather continued all day. And I woke this morning to rain pelting down on the sky lights so I drove in again. Hopefully I will be able to get a run in at lunchtime. It looks as though it may slow down a bit.

Yesterday I couldn't get into the parking garage. That is until I noticed that I was trying to get in using my debit card rather than my UW ID card. That was just the beginning. At noon knitting I messed up my socks by picking up gusset stitches with the wrong needle. I will have to take one of the sides off and put it onto a spare needle, take out the picked up stitches and replace the side. It's do-able but I was frustrated yesterday. I brought a spare needle with me today and if I need a break I may do it this afternoon.

Yesterday evening I had some more fun with my organic wrap. And it's lucky it's free form knitting because the directions are not very clear at all. [Just my 2 cents here - I think for $10 for the "pattern" it could have been just a little more explicit]. I finally figured out that her directions for the feather and fan repeats were off by a knit row. It's knit, knit, purl, feather and fan. She had knit, purl, feather and fan and so now the first several rows are on backwards. Not that anyone will notice because it's down on the tie part, the very beginning, and most likely will be in the back. But still I think she should have been a little less airy-fairy about it.

I am getting a little intimidated by that bunch of yarn on the bed that I have to photograph and get on eBay, but it will be SO worth it to have the yarn money so I think I'll make it my weekend project. I am hoping that we're going to have some decent weather by Sunday because I finally called a gardener to come consult with me on my garden. The woman we bought the house from gave me the number of the person that had helped her and she was very happy that I had called, saying she remembered the yard well and was excited to come see it. She's going to walk through it with me and show me what needs to be cut back, what is dead, how to prune things, etc. I can't say it enough - I am SO grateful that it was planted with perennials because I am no good at all with annuals. I don't like to garden. My hobby is knitting, and gardening is just work to me. I love plants and I love flowers so I do get out there and do the bare necessities. Hopefully this woman can keep it simple for me because it really is a lovely garden, both front and back. And I want to do the vegetables and herbs again too. We had some lovely tomatoes and corn and basal ... onions .. strawberries. I can do without the zucchini and beans. Maybe I'll plant carrots. Whatever is easy.

No jokes

April Fool's day is odd. Some people get WAY into the joke thing and others get angry when they're fooled. Last year I, coincidentally, emailed an old friend to tell her of my upcoming nuptials and she thought I was kidding! That was embarrassing. Here's a link to my favorite crank call ever - and that's my joke. http://www.wimp.com/prankcalls/

I had a pretty darned decent run yesterday, considering how long I'd been off. I really had to talk myself into it though, because I was tired and the weather wasn't so nice. By the time I got out there it was partially sunny and at least not raining. Hopefully I can do better tomorrow - not that I didn't do my whole 30 minutes, but I was slow.

The winter weather is back with us today and luckily I drove in. I wasn't planning on it but I must have turned the alarm off so I was a little late getting up, and then I realized I had so many errands to do after work that if I biked back and forth and then went to run errands I wouldn't be home until 7. So that's how I rationalized it and I'm glad I did because it's freakin' freezing out there and raining. UGLY

Today is knitting at noon and I wore my new skirt - although I dithered around in front of the mirror (again!) trying on different tops, I ended up wearing it with a white blouse, just like the photo from the magazine. It's perfect.

And since I'm on a yarn diet for the time being, I went through my stash last night and gathered stuff together to sell. I can buy more yarn, but only with proceeds from selling stash. I came up with lots of bits and bobs and some big globs as well. Decided that I wouldn't ever finish up the Cable Cascade pullover, so that's like 12 or 13 balls of Seta Lana. I also went through some old bins from when I first started knitting and didn't know much about yarn. I found some mystery yarn - I remember buying it but I've no idea what it is. Also I found a bunch of recycled cashmere in a gorgeous butter yellow that I had forgotten I had. I am keeping that and maybe I'll UN-wind it and straighten it and wind it back up and make a nice wrap or something. There's plenty there, I think. Well I got it all laid out on the spare bed, the stash, and now the hard part -- photographing it and putting it up for sale. Maybe tonight ... oh no, it's LOST tonight. Maybe tomorrow but more likely Friday.