Why that hat didn't look right

I had been working on my last of five hats for kids.  The final one, for a two year old, was Troll.  It's a cute little pattern with a pointy top.  But it just looked wrong somehow - as in the body of the hat before the decreases was as big as the hat I made for a six year old!  I finally took another look at the pattern and realized that the measurements were in centimeters rather than inches.  *sigh*  I had to unravel three inches of knitting.  After that it was quick and now I've got five cute little hats all ready to be wrapped up. 

It was so quiet on the way to work that I again had time to stop at Starbucks.  This time I thought an eggnog latte would be perfect, seeing as it's Christmas Eve.  Then when I got to the garage I parked on the second floor!  I think there were five of us on the usually standing room only bus.  I won't be staying here long today.  I've got a 2 o'clock manicure appointment and then I've got to get home and get the dinner ready for tonight.  And then ..... ah then I've got a week and a half to do nothing, and plenty of that!  My main occupations will be doggie walking and knitting, with a few naps thrown in for good measure and some TV binge watching.  It's going to be awesome!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. 

Christmas Eve Eve

There was even less traffic today than yesterday.  I was so early this morning on my way in that I had time to stop at Starbucks for a nice seasonal beverage.  And still I didn't have to hurry to get the bus.  Plenty of time. 

It is really quiet around here and since I have nothing to do (!), boring as hell.  If I didn't have to save these days for my 3 week trip in April and May I surely wouldn't be at work.  As it is, I could have gone home early yesterday except the house cleaners come on Monday, so I couldn't be home anyway.  I left at my normal time and got home and .... they hadn't been there yet!!  And that threw my entire evening off.  By the time I was done walking Tink they had arrived, so I had to put her in the truck and away we went to sit at Triplehorn.  The beer is awesome and there's football on TV AND I can bring my dog.  It's not all bad.  It just wrecked my evening.  I'm hoping I can make it up today.  If I can get my manicure appointment moved to today rather than tomorrow, I can get that done and tomorrow just go right home and get everything ready for Christmas Eve dinner.  So we'll see.  If not my plan for tomorrow will work fine.

I didn't get my last hat finished last night but tonight for sure.  Then I've got a few more gifts to wrap - 10 more, actually.  No, twelve.  But they don't all have to be done by Christmas because we're taking four of them on Saturday. 

Fantasy Football is over.  I wasn't last.  That's all I can say about it.  I had such high hopes though!  I got the first pick.  Next year will be my year!  Yeah.

Winter solstice!

Hooray!  Now the days will start to get longer.  Slowly slowly.  It's the mornings that really get to me.  I hate having to get out of bed in the pitch dark.  Plus when I go to walk Tinkerbell it is likewise pitch black outside.  Since we really don't have street lights to speak of -- two for the entire cul de sac -- I need to carry a flashlight when I am walking her.  It's just that much more difficult, hands full of leash and flashlight, trying to get the bags out of the holder and open to pick up her mess.  Throw in an umbrella and it's really a handful.

It was an awesome football weekend.  Plus dinner at Steve and Ginny's, which is always a gourmet treat.  Now there's football on Saturday and Sunday so we got to watch part of the San Francisco game on Saturday.  But Sunday was the day and we saw the Seahawks beat Arizona, which was fabulous.  Now they're in the playoffs for sure.

I don't know how it happened, but I have been nominated to cook Christmas Eve dinner.  Only seven people though, so it won't be bad.  Plus I'm going to be getting off work early on Wednesday.  It'll be fun.  And easy.  I'm letting people bring things this time.  I'm making the roast and potatoes and I have a dessert, others are bringing salad and vegetables and starter. 

It's a short week and I am so glad for it.  I can't wait for my little vacation.  I'm going to sleep and every day take Tinkerbell to some park or other for a walk.  We can go to Marymoor and to Duval for the river walk.  Then there are other parks around that I haven't yet explored.  I won't be going to the Paradise Lake conservation place though, because that's a bit too remote to go on my own. 

It was very very quiet at the parking garage.  The upper floor where I park was nearly empty.  And the traffic was practically nonexistent as well.  I was super early.  I'll try to go a bit slower tomorrow.

Oh the peace

It is very quiet this morning.  The transit center parking garage had empty spots where I never see them.  The bus is not packed, in fact there's room for everyone.  I wish I was one of the lucky ones off already, but then again I suppose they're going to wish they were me when I have three weeks off in the spring to wander France and Italy.  So, it is totally worth having to come to work.

I had a lovely walk down to University Village again where I found my Metaxa and got myself a little Christmas Jagermeister.  I popped it into the freezer while I was doing my hair and had a little while I was knitting.  Very festive.

I was hoping to finish up that hat last night, but it's a little slower going than I thought because of counting rows and figuring out which row gets the decrease.  The pattern author made a chart.  I think she could have done it a little better though.  But I just have to keep up with where I am in the patterning of k 3 rows and p 3 rows.  It's a little ridged hat.  Very cute.  I just need to concentrate and I can get that one finished off in less than an hour.  And that leaves me with only two more to go!

The lamb shanks are in at the store, so I can stop by on the way home and then make it for dinner tomorrow.  This had better be good.  Although I've never made anything out of this particular cook book that wasn't awesome.  I can get it into the cooker when I am done with my hair appointment tomorrow and then finish up with my errands so the rest of the weekend can be devoted to wrapping gifts and finishing hats and watching football.  Sounds awesome, doesn't it?

This week is just crawling by

Oh heavens!  It's only Thursday!!  Oh I need a break something fierce.  Soon.  Well, not that soon, but soon enough. I am working today, tomorrow and then next Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday.  Then I'm off for a week and a half. Most everyone else is already gone.

I got two rows done at noon knitting yesterday on my Jo's Pride.  Only two more rows to go of the border pattern and then I can split it into three sections and, hopefully, it'll start to go a bit faster.  It now takes me 30 solid minutes to do a row.  That is so slow.  I despair of ever finishing this thing.  I did buy the extra beads I needed last weekend so I am going to keep plugging away.

In the meantime, in the evening I am furiously working on hats for children.  I've finished two so far and started a third.  I need to finish five for Christmas.I can get one finished up in two work evenings but I think this weekend if I put my mind to it I should be able to get all of the rest of them done, plus get all of the packages wrapped. 

For TV while I'm knitting I've been catching up with the Sherlock episodes I never finished last year.  The last season will be starting up in January, so I want to be sure I'm up to date.  It's such an excellent show.  I had forgotten just how much I loved it.  Plus I like the images of places around London.  I can recognize a few places I've been.  I swear in the episode I watched last night they were filming on the street of a hotel I have stayed a few times.  Then I get sad ...

So - lunchtime today it's back down to University Village.  I need some Metaxa for a lamb shanks recipe and they didn't have any in the small Safeway near my house.  There is a larger liquor store affiliated with QFC down there and hopefully they'll have some.  And not a huge bottle either, because I just need 1/4 cup!  It should be a tasty dish.  I'm still waiting for Safeway meat department to let me know when they get the lamb shanks in, however.  That's one of the things about being out so far.  I do have nice grocery stores near enough, but not near enough to stop by on the way home.  I make a special trip on the weekend, but I didn't do it last weekend because I was busy with Christmas shopping.  Oh well, not a big deal.

Third re-set was the charm

I was really scared my iPad had something really wrong with it yesterday, but after re-setting it three times it just popped up like normal.  And for that I am thankful!  I use it so much.  Lately every pattern I've been knitting has been a PDF opened up in iBooks.  It's so handy that way.  And my reading at night - books on my Kindle read on my iPad.  All of my magazine subscriptions are on my iPad.  I am pretty attached to it.  Understatement.

We had such a fun lunch yesterday.  It wasn't raining, but cold.  Nevertheless most of us walked to Ivar's.  I had worn my super awesome red suede shoes, but also brought walking shoes because it's kind of muddy on the way to Ivar's.  And earlier in the morning I had to dash off to the dentist for a fluoride treatment and those high heels are not conducive to dashing.  BTW, that fluoride treatment tastes terrible!  Let's hope it works.

All of my Christmas gifts to my sister and nephews were wrapped and sent off yesterday.  All but one - a T-shirt I had ordered on line for Omie and which had said it was estimated to arrive December 18 - 22.  I got it in the mail yesterday!  You see, I ordered it off Amazon and I chose the item that had Prime, assuming it would come in two days like most of the Prime items.  But after I ordered it the arrival date estimation was much later, so I sent off all the other presents.  And then it comes.  So I've got to get that in the mail this morning.  I'll just send it USPS Priority.  It'll be there in plenty of time.

I am looking forward to noon knitting.  I'll be doing the first work on Jo's Pride since last week!  I've been working on the kids hats, nearly finishing the second one last night.  I can get that finished up tonight.  Then only three more to go!

What is wrong with my iPad???

Something strange is going on and I don't like it at all!  I was on my iPad and it just froze.  I tried the hard restart and now it's stuck on the screen with the apple logo.  It won't do anything!  This is not good.  Not good at all.  I use that iPad all the time.  I'll have to do some searching.

A quiet day yesterday.  I had a nice walk to University Village to pick up Ali's last gift and something else for Omie.  When I got home I hauled everything out and got it all wrapped and into the shipping box.  Yay me!  It's going to be sent today.  I feel good about that.

Today is our staff lunch and before that I have to get to the dentist for my fluoride treatment.  I am hoping it does the trick with the sensitivity issue.  If not, I don't know what I'm going to do!  It is really bad.

(and still the iPad is stuck on the logo screen)

Tink got me up at 1:30 in the morning to go potty!  This is happening a lot lately and I'm not liking it a bit.  I took her outside at 8 o'clock and watched her do her business so .... do you think it's because she's getting older?  It's annoying as hell.

The cold is back!

Thursday we had a fun holiday party.  It was stormy and I got word the bridge was due to close, so I took off early to make sure I could get over the bridge.  The wind was blowing, off and on, but when I got home I could see patches of blue.  That didn't last long.  The storm really got going later in the evening and branches were coming down all over the place.  I had planned on working from home so I could attend a meeting, but the meeting got cancelled.  I worked from home anyway and I'm glad I did.  I found out later, when I went out for groceries, that the road I take to the transit center was closed, as were a bunch of other roads around my area.  The woman in the floral department at the grocery store hadn't been able to get home the night before and had to spend the night with a customer!  Every road she attempted to go down she was turned back because of branches over the wires.  Crazy.  Then the temperature started to go down yesterday and this morning everything was frozen.  It took me a couple of tries to get the door open on my poor, frozen vehicle.  Very annoying.

Saturday it was up and out early to get to the Alderwood Mall to finish up the Christmas shopping.  And good thing we were up early because it was a freaking mad house!  But everything is done except for a trip to Keihl's this noon time, since there isn't a Keihl's at Alderwood Mall.  I don't mind.  It'll be a nice walk at lunchtime and even though it's cold, it's going to be sunny.  Then tonight I will get everything wrapped off to be send to California tomorrow. 

I wanted to knit on my Jo's Pride this weekend, but I gotten into hats and I've made one and almost finished another.  I'm making five of them, for little kids.  It really doesn't take long and it's perfect TV knitting.  Like watching the Seahawks beat San Francisco.  Sweeeeeet!  Plus I almost got a hat done.

Nothing much to do here at work now until the quarter starts in January.  I happened to mention to my chairman and the administrator both that I was quite available to help with anything they needed because I was at loose ends.  Well, that's not exactly how it went.  The Chairman asked how I was and I said bored.  He asked why I wasn't in France then!  I told him that I specifically did NOT go to Europe this fall because he had intimated that we would be VERY busy and I should stick around!  Ah ... yes, well.  Ahem and cough cough ... So hopefully he'll come up with something interesting.  And in the meantime I will most likely be leaving early and/or working from home.  My office is about as clean as I can make it.

Christmas party today

In my department, we have two holiday parties.  One for the entire department, usually early in the month (today) because many people take most of December off.  As soon as the last final exam is done (tomorrow) people just disappear until January, when the winter quarter begins.  And then, later in the month, the staff have a nice lunch out in a restaurant and we exchange gifts - white elephants at the restaurant.  It's fun and that will be next week.   Today we all bring a side dish or dessert - I brought a salad - and the department supplies ham and turkey and wine and .... stuff.  It's a nice afternoon and not much gets done afterwards.

I proctored that exam yesterday, three hours on my feet walking around the lecture hall.  Thank goodness I have my book to listen to while I monitor bathroom breaks and make sure people aren't cheating.  The other proctor from the Department of Medicine sat at the front of the room, playing on her iPad!  Seriously.  What kind of deterrent is that? 

It was storming quite seriously on the way home and traffic was just horrendous!  The bus was late and then it took me over 30 minutes to get home.  I was late, poor Tink, but I hustled her right outside where the wind and rain were soaking the both of us.  My umbrella blew inside out!  Luckily no trees came down and the electricity stayed on.  I had a nice shower, blew my hair out and called it a night.  I cuddled up in my blanket with my Wilted Warlock Hat project and watched "Inside the NFL" and caught up with an episode of "Once Upon a Time".  Dinner?  Cheese and crackers and Italian salami.  Cooking was not on my agenda.  I wasn't very hungry anyway.  I am feeling a might peckish this morning though.

I am loving that hat pattern!  Well, the yarn is yummy too.  But I think I'll make a couple of them for Christmas gifts if they turn out as cute as I think they will.  I should be able to finish up this one tonight.  I don't think I will be gifting this one.  I will have to keep it because the first couple rounds of the striping are kind of weird in the back of the hat.  I can hide it but I wouldn't want to give it to someone and I can't fix it after the fact.  I just had forgotten about hiding the jog and I can do it on the next one.  Super cute though!

An early night indeed

I really REALLY needed to catch up on my sleep.  I was in bed at an indecent hour, figuring I'd read for an hour or so.  But you know what?  I fell asleep almost immediately!  And I pretty much slept through the night, too.  I do feel rested.  I guess I did need it.

I am going to miss noon knitting today because I've got to proctor an exam from 10:30 until 2.  Can you think of a worse time?  I am going to be absolutely famished!  Maybe I'll get a sandwich to take with me.  Yesterday at lunchtime I had my own noon knitting, taking my Jo's Pride downstairs to the med school lobby where there are comfy seats with good arms (for putting my beads) and lovely natural light.  I got two of the more difficult border rows done.  And to have some TV knitting, I have started the Wilted Warlock Hat using the Techno from my Yarnbox Luxe, striping with one of the yarns from an earlier box.  It's an easy knit and it's going to be cute and very warm.

Speaking of warm -- it was over 60 degrees yesterday!  Crazy!  Lots of wind and rain.  I wasn't needing to be out in it anyway, except for doggie walks.  It was too nasty to go out at lunchtime and today ... my lunchtime will be inside.  Next week I am going to start running again.  I am sure of it!

I am looking forward to "Inside the NFL" tonight.  The Seahawks beating the Eagles is going to be big news.  It sure is nice now that the Seahawks are good for a couple of years in a row.  When they were mediocre they never got much coverage on the show but now .... every week they are featured. 

Another successful Do Nothing Monday

After that busy weekend I was ready for a night of sloth.  I'll make up for it tonight, but last night I did nothing much at all.  I wound a few balls of yarn and started a TV knitting project.  And I re-heated the soup I had made on Sunday and that was dinner.  I didn't empty the dishwasher.  I didn't start the laundry.  Nothing much constructive at all.  I watched a silly movie and was in bed by 9 to read.  Asleep by 10.  I think I could have fallen asleep at 9 and maybe I'll do that tonight, because I am sleepy.  I did not get to catch up on my sleep on the weekend. 

The weather has gone from super cold to almost warm.  We are supposed to be getting some heavy weather these next couple of days - a windy, wet storm.  I must say, I prefer that to the super cold we had. 

It was crazy at work yesterday.  As in super quiet.  The chairman's assistant was home sick,  the woman who has the office next to mine in the suite was home sick (she's "sick" about once a week and she only works four days in the week!) and the IT guy, who has the office on the other side of me was at a meeting all morning.  Monika doesn't work on Mondays, which left me as the sole occupant of the main office.  The administrator was here, thank goodness, because I don't know anything at all about checking in packages and the workings of the copy machine. 

Tomorrow I am going to have to miss noon knitting because of the exam I have to proctor.  Yesterday I walked up to the PetPro store to get Tink's food and my foot was pretty good.  Also, I walked up two flights of stairs at a good pace and I was NOT gasping and using my rescue inhaler!  Progress!!  I think I will be able to run again next week.  Won't that be nice?  I just can't wait. 

Oh now I must stay awake.  I have been drinking the tea my friend brought from his trip home.  It's Yorkshire Gold, which is a much stronger breakfast tea than I normally drink.  And the bags are huge.  I can get two cups out of it.  I need strong tea this morning. 

It's early yet

It's not even my sister's birthday yet and the tree is up and decorated!  Typically I wait until the 15th of December to get my tree because that's what we did as kids.  My sister's birthday is the 14th and my parents always wanted to make sure Christmas didn't start until she had a real birthday.  But this year is different.  I am making up for basically having to skip Christmas last year.  The tree makes the entire house smell so nice!  Tink has taken to curling up underneath the tree.  I wanted to get a picture of that but every time I would sneak up there to snap her she'd get up.  I'll keep trying.  It's really cute.

I bathed her yesterday and so in the evening I didn't want to let her out in the back on the long line because I didn't want her to get under the deck or roll in something nasty.  So I put on my coat and shoes and walked her outside to let her get her business done.  Well, something was out there.  I have no idea what, but she went crazy!  She was dashing all over the yard, sniffing and whining and she tried to get under the deck.  Whatever it was, she wanted it!  Oh the poor thing.  She whined and whined at the door when we got back in.  What a hunter she is.

I didn't get any knitting done at all this weekend and I am just aching to work on that project!  It's not football knitting nor movie watching knitting.  It's a sit in my room quietly type of project and I don't get much of that kind of time.  Maybe I can carve some quiet time out for myself this coming weekend, although I do have a lot of shopping to get done.  I"ll have to start early on Saturday.  I've got to get my sister's birthday gift in the mail tomorrow and the Christmas presents the following week. 

In the mornings I walk Tink before I leave for work and if I'm wearing nice shoes or high heeled ones I don't put them on until after the walk.  So I put on my Keens and we had our walk, then when I got back I put the leash away in the closet, slipped off the Keens and put my slippers on and got my coffee ready for my drive.  And then, coffee in hand, purse over my shoulder I started out the door.  Ah!  Thank goodness I realized I was wearing my slippers still!  What would I have done had I gotten to the bus in my slippers?  Turned right back around, that's for sure.

Now that's more like it

Ah yes.  Rain, mist, and well above freezing.  The snow is gone from the grass and no ice on the windshield.  Yesterday was the last day of Histo, today is the last day of the other med student classes, then finals next week.  I've got to proctor one exam.  Then I'll have two weeks to get the grades in from Anatomy and get ready for the one class I have for Winter quarter.  I think it's going to be a very very quiet month.

I got my first Yarnbox Luxe box yesterday.  We got four skeins of yarn - two each of Blue Sky Alpaca Metallica and Techno.  Plus some fancy stitch markers and a copy of Pompom magazine (a British publication we don't often see around her) plus two more patterns.  A dozen patterns in all.  I was hoping for cashmere, actually.  They got cashmere in the last Luxe box so I guess that was a vain hope.  The Metallica ... wow is it ever soft.  Baby alpaca and silk.  Insane.  The other, the bulky Techno, is incredibly light.  I have no idea how I'm going to use these yarns, but use them I will.  I am considering discontinuing my regular yarnbox after this next 3 month subscription is used up and then just keep on with the Luxe.  I have SO much yarn.  Truly I don't need any more right now.  I will think on it.

Big weekend coming up.  We're going to get the Christmas tree on Saturday.  And Sunday is a big Seahawks game against the Eagles.  Tink is going to get a bath Saturday morning, and I'm hoping to be able to get a few hours in of quiet knitting.  Maybe go out for a drink or something Saturday night or have somebody over for some games or a movie.  Calm, no hassle.  No snow!  Sounds nice, doesn't it?

Dark dark dark dark

Despite the clear skies, it is so dark all of the time.  We are approaching the shortest day of the year and none too soon.  During the week it's hard for me to get any good sunlight.  Today I'm going to take my lunch hour to walk up to Trader Joe's.  I know it might be raining, but I don't care.  I need a little vitamin D.

I got two rows done at noon knitting yesterday on my "Jo's Pride".  So I now have six more rows to go of the edging chart and then I break it up into three - left, center and right.  I sincerely hope this starts to get easier.  I know it'll be a bit faster because it's a bottom up project so I've got as many stitches on the needles now as I will ever have.  My only concern is that the chart for the left and right sides has only been written for one side and you've got to read it backwards to do the other side.  What's the big deal, you say?  Trust me, it's not as simple as it sounds.  Hopefully I'll get the hang of it.  I am hoping the repeats are shorter than the 22-29 repeats I'm working with now.  That'll make it much easier.

I was so early to the parking garage again this morning.  I wish I had stopped for coffee but I was not sure exactly where to turn and I had someone right on my bumper, so I missed a Starbucks.  Ah well, no matter.  I've got a nice cup of tea now.  And at least it's warmer!  Thank goodness because I don't know how much more of that cold I could have taken!  It's tough when it comes so early in the season and so out of the blue.  Now we'll have some rain for a while.  I will try not to complain too much about it.

A new G.P.

I've been putting this off, but finally because of the asthma I had to get an appointment with a new doctor.  I saw her yesterday and I really like her!  Hoorah!  She gave me a couple of new things for my asthma and I slept great.  It's amazing how much easier it is to sleep when you can breathe.  Just sayin'.  Now if I can just figure out what my trigger is for this time of year, perhaps I can avoid it next year.

I worked from home the rest of the day, since it's nearly impossible to get to work at that time of day.  Tink was not very helpful.  It was sunny outside, so she wanted to be out on the deck.  But then she'd get out there and get cold and want to come back in.  And out.  And in.  Quite annoying.

The cold continues, although it is supposed to be warming up today and we'll be back in the 40's with rain.  Ahh, Seattle.  I finally broke down and wore a knitting hat when I walked Tink yesterday evening -- not that I don't have about a million of them -- and it really does make a difference in comfort in this type of weather.  I even wore it to work today. 

I did get a couple more rows done on the border pattern for the hooded shawl.  This is a slow slow project.  I am hoping that once the border is done and it's broken down into two sides and the center it'll go faster.  I hope.  It's got to be done by January to qualify in the KAL.  I should be able to get a couple of rows done at noon knitting today.

I lived to tell the tale

First of all -- Man!  Is it ever cold!!!  Well below freezing this morning.  And what a morning, too.  First, the garage door wouldn't open.  It would go up just a bit and then go back down again.  My vehicle is not in the garage so it's not crucial.  I went out the front to get mine started while I walked Tink.  But it was SO cold that I couldn't get the door open!  Earlier while I was dressing I had boiled some water to heat up my commuter mug.  I was going to make an eggnog latte to take with me on the drive.  I grabbed that mug after tugging and tugging on the door, and poured the hot water over the hinges of the door and that did the trick.  That ate up 10 minutes.  I walked Tink but then there was no time to make a latte.  Traffic was rather light so in hindsight, I guess I could have taken the few extra minutes to make the latte, but you really never know.

So, how was the Thanksgiving dinner?  It was good!  When I think back a few years ago when I was forced to make a big meal for a bunch of ungrateful people, this was just a pleasure in comparison.  It came together easily, everything was delicious and the company was wonderful.  And then afterwards, after cleaning up and moving the extra table, we all sat down and watched the Seahawks beat San Francisco!  Perfection!!  And I got to use my big mixer for the first time - the big Kitchen Aid mixer.  I used it to mix the sweet potato casserole because I doubled the recipe.  It really worked well.  I'm going to use it again.

Friday I started with an eggnog latte to start the Christmas season.  I'm going to really enjoy this Christmas since we didn't have one last year.  I got my house back in order and in the evening watched "Christmas Vacation" and drank eggnog out of a Wally World punch cup, just like the movie.  It snowed Friday night, but just a little.  It was so cold that the snow stayed the whole weekend. Well, we still have it actually.

Saturday was knitting day and I finished up the first 14 row repeat of the border pattern and started on the second repeat.  I really wanted to relax this weekend and that I did.  With the exception of getting the outside lights up yesterday, it was pretty darned relaxing. Except for the nights.  I had bad asthma, waking every three hours or so.  I am looking forward to getting that handled tomorrow!