The commute

Today I drove my car in to work. I actually feel like I could have biked in even though I did it yesterday. However, I have errands to run and my back/hip thing was bothering me a bit yesterday. Better not to over do it. Anyway, here's the deal. It took me 45 minutes to drive in and another 10 to park and walk to my office from the garage. That is only 20 minutes less than my time to commute by bicycle. Granted this is only the second time I've taken this particular freeway route from S's house and the traffic did seems a bit worse today than last week when I drove so maybe there was a traffic hassle I just didn't see. But jeepers! That is NOT much of a time savings. Plus which being in a car in traffic on the freeway in the morning puts me in a very very bad mood. And don't even start with taking the bus. That would take me at least as long as riding my bike because of having to walk to the bus stop, etc. I think I hate taking the bus more than driving. So yeah - that's the kind of mood I'm in this morning. Not a good one. Plus which it's cloudy and starting to rain. The good news is that it's supposed to be in the 80s by the end of the week. Perfect timing for getting my house on the market.

I still haven't gotten around to taking pictures of the Shibu Shrug. I only have a few more rows to go on the sleeves and I will be casting on the back and joining the pieces, then doing raglan decreases. I didn't have a whole lot of time to knit last night so my hand and shoulder didn't get tired. Maybe I can get another couple of hours in tonight - depends. I am so busy sometimes that it feels like my lists have lists. I don't feel like I'm handling this stress well at all - and that's with all the exercise and knitting! I would be a basket case if I didn't have those stress outlets. Either that or drunk all the time.

I have been thinking of what to take for a knitting project for Hawaii. Socks. I haven't knit anything for S, so I'll get some nice cotton sock yarn and there's my Hawaii project. Easy, portable, useful. I might bring my hibernating Liesel along, just in case I feel like lace.

ouch ouch ouch

My ride this morning was a bit painful. I wish I had thought to bring a stash of naproxen to work. I'll have to make a point of it. Because there is so much riding done at an incline I've aggravated the lower right of my back and it radiates down to the top of my hip. Not comfortable. I'm going to run over to the main office here in a minute and see if they have any stashed away in the medicine cabinet. If not I guess I'll make do with any kind of anti-inflammatory. It's not so bad that I can't ride but right now it just hurts. It added a couple minutes onto my time this morning. That's rather disappointing. But going home on Friday was better. I got all the way up to Main Street from the trail. Of course my goal is to bike all the way up to the house and that is a lofty goal in more than one way.

Speaking of lofty goals - getting those darned sleeves knitted! I need 14.5 inches. I'm two increases away from total stitch count and about 2 or 2 1/2 inches away from 14.5. I got a good bit of knitting done this weekend but stockinette can be a long, slow haul. In this case the fabric that is coming off my needles is so beautiful that I don't mind. I should take some pictures, yeah?

It was a very very busy weekend. Saturday I left the house at 9 in the morning and didn't get back until 4:30. One errand after another. I got Tink dropped off at the groomers at 9:30 and she had almost as long a day as I did. She was the very last doggie there. She looks beautiful though. I dropped by my house, which is looking just awesome and is nearly ready. I did some shopping - no okay, lots of shopping but didn't buy much but a couple pairs of jeans. I wanted some shorter ones for Hawaii. Something that I could wear my flat flip-flops with in the evening and/or any time I felt like wearing long pants. But Saturday night - that was when I got the majority of the knitting done. I knit until my hand and arm started hurting. That is also the other thing about stockinette - all the purling makes my left hand and shoulder ache.

Sunday was a first for me - I got a bouquet of Mother's Day flowers! Imagine my surprise. S's daughter met up with us for lunch and gave me flowers. Dang! I wanted to be a wicked step mother. I'm going to have to work harder on that one, I guess.

A very productive lunch outing

Yesterday I went to the Mother's Day sale at lunchtime with another knitterly friend. She is fairly new to this and has no real stash. I feel duty bound to remedy that situation. Plus which we all need an enabler when we go to a yarn sale. Luckily there wasn't much there that caught my eye except a couple bins of Colinette yarn. It is so bloody expensive that I have never purchased any, only drooled over it. A $50 scarf? No thanks. There was some wool in beautiful colors but chunky and I have enough chunky yarn. I am getting away from those big chunky knits plus it's spring and I wouldn't even want to touch it until autumn. The other was Enigma, a thick and thin ribbon yarn in some gorgeous colors - like a Monet painting. And it was half price. Half. So I bought all six skeins which is plenty to make a top and have some left over. It reminded me of the Waterlily top from IK Spring 2006. That was made with Colinette yarn but Giotto, not Enigma. I think it'll work out just fine. The Enigma colorway I have is more green and purple. It will suit me.

I am feeling pretty darned good this morning. It's lovely outside - blue sky although a bit chilly. I am getting the long ride to be more comfortable. I did some research on the Internet and found a couple ways to ease my discomfort and it worked like a charm! I cut over 3 minutes off my time coming in. I also ate 100 calories of carbs about 1/2 hour before I hit the road and that helped too. Maybe next week I can do it every day. We'll see.

I worked a bit on the interminable stockinette sleeves. I have about 40 more rows to go before I hook them together with some cast on stitches for the body. It's good TV knitting. I was too tired to stay up and watch Lost last night so I have it recorded and that's on for tonight.

Two more weeks to Maui!!!!

It got a little easier!

Yeah! Going home last night was a bit easier. I still had juice left when I got to the end of the trail to start biking up the hill. Unfortunately some ass pulled in front of me as I was toiling away up the hill causing me to stop and it's nearly impossible to start back up from a standstill when you're on a hill. So I walked the rest of the way home. But yay for me! I was not nearly as knocked out as I was on Monday. Hopefully tomorrow I can work my way further up the hill back to home. I also had changed into my biking shorts which made the ride a bit more comfortable and I've been doing a little research to add further comfort to the ride. The other thing I learned is that I need to be bringing a total and complete from the skin up change of clothing. I had done that on Monday but didn't realize how crucial it was until yesterday when I had to walk around all day with a damp bra. NOT nice at all.

Got an hour's worth of knitting on my Shibu Shrug at lunchtime yesterday and another hour or so last night. I am doing the sleeves at this time and it's just stockinette which goes slowly. Once I get the sleeves done and start working on the body of it I believe it'll go faster and then when I start doing the front part in the round, it'll be super fast! I found the pattern on Ravelry. It's called #03 Perky Little Apple Green Shrug. The designer won the fastest crochet contest. This bit of information I found out while reading her stuff on Ravelry. How odd is it, since that particular green is about one of my favorite colors, that I am NOT doing this in green but rather lavender. It's going to be beautiful in this yarn.

Today is the start of the Mother's Day Sale at Weaving Works, my LYS. One of my friends from work and I are going to go up at lunchtime. I got some good stuff from there last year. In fact, the yarn I used to make the T-twist was from that sale. There is a sweater pattern I found (where else? On Ravelry, of course) and I think it would work well in Rowan Calmer so I'm going to keep my eye out for that and also I'm going to purchase a copy of Fifi because I have the Calmer for that project and would have cast on last week had I had the pattern (which I am SURE I purchased but I cannot find it).

Clearly the Burke Gilman trail is NOT flat

People always say it's flat, but that's a relative term. An old railroad grade, the Burke Gilman trail has long long loooong gradual climbs. I believe that they are no more than a 5% grade but oh baby, when you're tired and/or hungry .. whew. I was both this morning plus it was bad weather and a bit windy. I only added 30 seconds to my time from Monday. I was hoping to be faster. It'll come. Even though the weather was not as good it was still beautiful when I started out - right by a river and the first thing I saw was a rabbit, then a rooster (!) and then a bunch of ducks. Pretty cool.

Last night we saw "Corteo" .. that's the name of the Cirque du Soleil show. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately we were in the very first row and so sometimes we couldn't see the big picture. We did have a very good view of the rigging which is just incredible.

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Little Knits. I had ordered some more of their Ella Rae Shibu and they called to tell me that they were shorted on their order and didn't have the full bag of moss green I had ordered. Dang! I took a bag of a color called Straw. Yellow is supposedly the "it" color this spring.

Today is my knitting at noon day. Sweeeeet!

The day after the round trip

Well that was something - biking back home last night. Oh I made it, but it was not easy. First of all, my bike seat is not so comfortable after about 30 to 45 minutes. This is something I need to address. Second, the trail seems to get steeper the more tired I get. I have to say though that I am quite proud of myself that I biked essentially 30 miles yesterday. To be perfectly accurate - 29 miles. 14.5 each way. I am not sore this morning though. I am very grateful for that. And I did not ride in today. I think three times a week is going to be just fine for a couple weeks. We'll see how I feel at the end of next week. I don't want to mess up my knees.

Mr. M. was very sweet when I got home, dripping sweat. I actually walked up the hill from the trail. My legs were like rubber when I got to the end of the trail and immediately it goes up hill. I just wasn't able to make it so I walked the last few blocks. He took Tink for her walk and I got into the hot shower, which maybe saved my muscles from getting too sore today, and then took me out for Thai food. Instead of unpacking more stuff I blissed out in front of the TV with my knitting. Nicccccce.

I am still just absolutely loving the fabric that comes off my needles with this Ella Rae Shibu. I should bring the magazine in and scan the picture of the sweater I'm making, since it's one of those no name patterns. I ordered more of the yarn to make tank tops. My sister had a knitted tank top that she wore to death. I'd like to make her another one.

Tonight we're going to see Cirque du Soleil perform. I haven't seen them since they were here in Seattle for the Goodwill Games. I don't know ... you do the math. A loooooong time ago, that's for sure. The show has been getting good reviews. I'm excited about seeing it. And it'll keep me from feeling guilty about not unpacking more stuff. Oh it'll have to be done but not right this second.

Big weekend - Bigger bike ride

This weekend was the big move. I have decided to move to S's house while my house is finished getting ready to go on the market and while it's on the market because it's just too difficult to live in a house that has to stay picture perfect. Unfortunately work's been rather busy so I had someone come help with the packing on Friday while I worked. Right after work I had to quick jump in the shower and then head out to Snohomish to hear my friend Michael McGarrah. He was playing a show in a lovely, small venue. It was good to get out and it ended early so we got a good night's sleep and hit the ground running the next day. Unfortunately, this being Seattle and all, it was raining. Sometimes hard. I had a crew of 3 to load up the truck and the van - the big truck full of my things that go into storage until we find our house and the van full of stuff that I need while living at S's house. Oh what a long day. And again on Sunday, but at least it was beautiful and sunny.

So I'm kind of settled in. Tink loves it out there - big yard to run around in and new smells. I took a recently vacated bedroom in his house and turned it into a closet. And now I know - he always said that his daughter had too many clothes. No no, not the case at all. She had a very small closet. Very small. I have put my stash up on a shelf and brought in a couple more for clothes, and an extra rack. Shoes are all over the room - not strewn but on racks. It's a big walk in closet.

I rode my bike in to work. It took me 1 hour and 16 minutes to go 14.5 miles. Although the ride was all on the Burke Gilman trail, which is supposedly flat, there are some areas with elevation. It's going to be nicer riding home because I was going uphill a lot of the way here. I also think I'll be able to get my time down significantly since I couldn't quite find the trail when I set out this morning.

As you may imagine, not too much time for knitting this weekend. I found an hour last night and it was lovely. Doing nothing but knitting and relaxing knowing that most things were put away.

Hoorah Hoorrah the First of May

Oh and it's a nice day too! In fact I rode my bike in with just my bike jacket and shirt - no sweatshirt! And the lilacs in my front yard are just starting to bloom. I am going to miss that tree and I will harvest as many lilacs as I can this year. Although I don't have much time. I am moving this weekend into Mr. M's house. My house is getting close to being ready for the market. One more week should have it ready. And it's just about impossible for me to be living there while it's being shown so off I go into the country. Well okay, it's not really the country but for me, it sure feels like it! My bike ride is going to be over 15 miles each way. I think I might bike 3 times a week and drive in Tuesday and Thursday so I can run on those days. It might be too much to bike all that way AND run. I like to run so this way I can keep my wind up and still not have to commute by car that much. I do not like that. And I absolutely HATE the bus so this could work out quite well. Especially since it's just for a couple months until we find our own place closer in. I'm going to be in great shape by the time we move, that's for sure!

Still forgot to take a picture of my finally finished socks. The ones I've been carrying around since November. They're cute. And instead of finishing Isabella I started another project. I have totally and completely fallen in love with Ella Rae Shibu, a silk yarn that is just too gorgeous. I searched and searched and searched through all my magazines and finally came up with a shrug pattern from some silly magazine that I don't even subscribe to. So many of the patterns I was finding in VK and IK that were written for silk yarn were either too fine of a gauge for this particular yarn or consisted of acres and acres of stockinette stitch. Now while this shrug/cardigan does indeed have a fair amount of stockinette it also has an interesting collar that has a very simple lace pattern that should go well with this yarn. I love it so much I got on Little Knits yesterday and bought some more to make some tank tops out of.

Not quite ready for FO pictures

I almost got those socks done last night, while watching a movie. But I got side tracked because I am on a mission to find the perfect top to make with the Ella Rae Shibu. It must have drape. It must have fluidity. It has to be a style that I will wear. I have gone through about 3/4 of my magazines, and all the books. I found nothing in the books but I have, I think, 5 possible projects marked in the magazines. After I finish going through the rest of them and marking possibilities then I will make a big ol' swatch and see what kind of gauge I'm getting to get the fabric I want and go on from there. There was a beautiful little cardigan someone had made and from this and posted pictures on Ravelry. However, it was a pattern they came up with and when messaged about it, she wrote back that she didn't know how to write up patterns. Is that not ridiculous? Come on ... if you can knit and you can make up your own pattern you most assuredly can write it up. I would much rather have had her say, thanks but I'd rather keep it to myself.

Still working from home. They are power washing more ... did the roof yesterday, which is now looking brand new, and the deck which I forgot was so pretty. This house is just going to be so beautiful when it's done. I am so grateful I can work from home. It would be terrible if I had to take vacation to babysit these guys.

Boy that was fast

T-Twist is done! That has to be some kind of record for me. I got this finished up on Saturday. It is really cute on. And after I got that finished I worked on those socks that I have been dragging around for so long. I am about six rows away from finishing those as well! I will get them done tonight. My dilemma is what to make next! I have the yarn for Fifi and I already bought the pattern but I have to work from home and my printer is out of ink plus the PDF is not on this computer. So, that's out. I am really really wanting to make something from the beautiful Ella Rae Shibu I bought from Little Knits a while ago. The color is gorgeous and it's 90% silk so the drape is also going to be wonderful. I just don't have a particular pattern that I think will work. What I may do is go through my stacks and stacks of back issues of Vogue and IK and see if something jumps out at me. It should have flowing sleeves and it can't be anything that needs stretch. I just might have to come up with something myself but ... well, we'll see.

I spent lots of time this weekend going to home improvement stores looking for stuff for the house - new knobs for the kitchen, lock for the deck door, carpet for the basement, etc. Not all that much fun, frankly, but it had to be done. And now it's pouring rain and they can't do any painting, obviously. But there is tons of indoor stuff for them to get going on. It's going to be hard to concentrate here but really I only have one tough chore - one that I need quiet to think about. So I guess I should jump on that while I am alone.

More working from home

I was working from home yesterday and again today! Why is it that when I'm really busy at work is when I have to work from home!! Ah well, at least the power washing is done. That was just torture yesterday. It went on all day long! This morning I had to tolerate the sound of the gutters being removed. hah .. reminds me of when I was in that little studio apartment in Paris. They were remodeling the building next to me and so many mornings I would be awakened by sledge hammers slamming into brick. This is a bit easier to take since the house isn't shaking. [However, if I could just close my eyes and magically whisk myself back there, I think I could put up with it.]

Anyway .... so this morning I needed to run into the office to pick up a few things. I stopped in the turnaround and ran into the main office and was chatting with a friend while I put a few things in the mail boxes, dashed back to the Annex and into my office where I picked up some papers and off I went. I was less than ten blocks from home when I realized I had forgotten something in my office so back I went. I am happy I realized it before I got parked and into my house!

Had a rehearsal last night. Dwain brought yet another girl to sing with us, since Chantal is going to be leaving in July. I really didn't want to be there. I have so much stuff to do at home. And I didn't think the girl was very good at all. I hope he doesn't hire her.

Only four rows to go on the T-twist. I can finish it up tonight!! Yay me! I won't have much time for knitting this weekend. Must get packing, for one thing. And shop for new carpet for downstairs and fixtures for the bath and kitchen. Do I have to say it again? My house is going to look so awesome!!!! Wahhhh

A WIP

Wow. This T-twist is a super fast knit. It looks like a baby dress in this picture but what you're seeing is the body of the top and the beginning of the yolk. Bad angle, sorry. I got the body finished up yesterday late afternoon, got the sleeves started and then put them on the yolk. I think I have about twenty more rows to go and then I can try it on. S took a look at it sitting on the table and said, "Is that for you??!!!" Well yes ... it does look small but when you look at the picture you can see that it has a large scoopy neck. I think it'll be fine.

Yesterday I had to work from home because I had landscapers whipping my back hedge and garden into shape. It looks wonderful. I'm ready for Step II - the new gutters and the outside paint. Just need to corral that contractor. Contractor wrangling - not a job for the faint of heart.

So this top is going to be done very soon. Maybe even tonight. Do you think I could gather the courage and whatever else it takes and finally finish that Isabella? I do so want to take it to Hawaii with me. It's going to look so good. Let's all send good finishing vibes my way.

A whirlwind of a weekend

I must say, working both Friday and Saturday nights really chews up a weekend. I took off as soon as I could Friday night but still I need time to wind down at home, usually reading in bed for a while until I can sleep. That means I am lucky to fall asleep by 3am and that's exactly what happened Friday. Oh but the gig was really good. They seem to like us a lot at that wine bar and it's a lovely place to play. Nice hotel, big room, and plenty of people. If only the dance floor were larger. We get lots of people dancing but it fills up too fast. Some people were dancing in front of the hostess stand.

The weather Friday evening (snow) and Saturday (more snow but not sticking) was miserable. I ran some errands on Saturday and got in a nice nap before Saturday's show at the Paragon. The crowd wasn't much though. Didn't stay long. Plus which we lost a good portion of the people during the first set because Dwain's crappy speaker system wasn't working.

This whole week is just one thing after another - huge week. Meetings today and tomorrow and hopefully the landscapers can start on the yard this week early. The weather permitting, of course. I am SO ready for spring. We have never ever had snow this late in the year here in Seattle. It's bizarre.

I did get a few more rows done on my T-twist. It's a quick knit.

Insomnia strikes again

O man ... I maybe had 3 hours of sleep last night. I say maybe because I last looked at the clock at 3 am [I know I know you're not supposed to look at the clock] and my alarm goes off at 6:30. I think I got some caffeine accidentally while I was out shopping last night. I was thirsty, drank what I was told was a caffeine free beverage but the tossing and turning leads me to believe that I was misled. So I am just dizzy this morning. I didn't ride my bike in, but rather drove. It's rainy and cold and I've got to run errands on the way home so I gave the bike a pass.

This weekend we are working both tonight and Friday night. Tonight's gig is at the Twisted Cork wine bar in Bellevue, where we played last weekend. The crowd is very nice but I don't like having the "stage" be level with the dance floor. That is a disaster waiting to happen. Like last Friday when a drunk woman nearly crashed into me. Luckily her partner was sober enough to see which direction she was heading and snatched her just inches away from falling into my mic stand, which would have of course smashed me in the mouth. That happened to me more than once when I was in my old band. And I'm here to tell you that it hurts like the dickens to be smashed in the mouth with a microphone. Not pleasant.

Bonnie called me yesterday with an update - she has bronchitis. Poor girl. At least she went to the doctor and got medicine so she should be okay for this weekend. Fingers crossed out there! It would be pretty hard to do the gig without her with just me and the new singer.

Well here's a first for today - knitting wise. I am wearing two garments that I have knit. I have on my brown Green Gables and my turquoise Scoop du Jour. Looks nice.

Well I've got tons of work to do and I've GOT to shake off this malaise. I'm a little blue today.

Urban chickens

Tuesday evening my friend Bonnie stopped by on her way home from work for a little chat. She was sitting in my big, comfy chair idly looking out the window as she was drinking her tea. All of a sudden she said, "Shelley, do you have chickens??" "Chickens? No!" I looked out my window and sure enough, there were two big roosters scratching and pecking in the dirt around the posts of the deck! I have no idea where they escaped from but as we were watching they started wandering on down the drive and back to the alley. Hopefully they're homing chickens.

Yesterday was a particularly intense day. Three of the secretary/support staff were out sick. The department administrator was scrambling around, scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get bodies to sit in the main office. I sat there from 3 to 4:30. I didn't have my laptop so I couldn't work on anything so, since it was Wednesday and I had my knitting, I worked on my T-Twist. And it was a nice break for me since I had been going non-stop all day. I was NOT looking forward to rehearsal but got Tink all walked, had my dinner and was just starting to get changed when Bonnie called. She wasn't feeling well. So I called Dwain and it turned out that the keyboard player had a gig anyway and the other singer, the substitute, was most likely busy as well. So -- FREE EVENING!!! WOOOOHoooooo!

Yes yes I could have started cleaning out the garage. Or the basement. What I did do though was laundry and knitting. All by myself. Ahhhhh niccccccce. Got lots done on the T-Twist. Should have taken pictures but I had to meet the landscaper this morning and I was running late anyway so ... no time. Tomorrow.

What happened to Tuesday?

I have no idea. It was a busy day yesterday. I didn't even have time for a walk at lunch. I had run on Monday - well, of course I'm getting back into it so it was run for 5 minutes, walk for 5 minutes, run for 10 minutes, ... well, you get the idea. I wanted to walk yesterday but lunchtime was eaten up with work. That's okay, I don't want to over do it. I think I would go absolutely stark raving mad if I relapsed yet again. Slow and steady this time. Going for a little run again today at lunchtime. I won't push it. If I am a super good girl by this time next week I should be able to do my whole run and feel good!

On Monday night I started another project - the T-Twist from Knitty. I have some pretty pink cotton yarn in my stash that I bought specifically for this pattern almost a year ago. I cast on Monday night and got this far before bed. However, yesterday as I was posting the pics on my Ravelry page and got to looking at other projects and reading about them I realized that I had better change to a size small. So I ripped it out last night and cast on again for a size small and got to just about the same point. I just love love LOVE the color of this yarn! And the twisted edging looks really nice. I find that I will wear my knitted t-shirts a lot. I did the Green Gables in brown last year and I still wear that quite a bit.

My sister is visiting her boyfriend, who is on location in Thailand. I just have to share this picture she sent me yesterday. It is so completely outrageous! And very cool. Check it out:
She and her boyfriend were eating in a restaurant when the elephant and handler came in. For a few bot they will give you a cookie to give to the elephant. She fed it and then it used it's trunk touching her looking for more cookies! She said it felt funny and was kind of scary too! Ya think?

Finally - I finished something

It seems like such a long time since I've actually finished a garment! Here it is - my Simple Knitted Bodice! It's completely impossible for me to get a good picture of this, since it's black. You're going to have to imagine the details - the purl ridges framing the lace insets, the deep V-neck also with purl ridges around. You can see the sleeves though, which I just love! I am going to use this sleeve again for sure. Since this is just a simple top down pattern it will be easy to adapt that sleeve. I can see now how a fabric with more drape would be more desirable for this pattern but I really wanted to use the Angora Soft because I need a closer fitting black sweater. Unfortunately I made a medium and I really should have made a small. It's a bit big around but I will wear it. It's pretty cute.

And now ... now I get to start something new!! And I'm tired of black, I can tell you that for sure. I have some great yarns in my stash - lovely colors. Should I start Fifi? (Even though I still need to sew up and finish my poor Isabella?) Or maybe I'll do the Ballet Camisole from the now defunct MagKnits [got a copy of the pattern off the cached link in Google]. Or ... Or I could do Juliet. I have options ... lots and lots of options. And there are always socks to finish. Oh .. .and the Cascading Cables, although I might have to wait on that until next autumn since it's coming on spring big time.

It was so warm on Saturday - over 70! I had to open up the front door to warm up the inside of the house. Tink was so silly - she would lay in the dirt in the sun until she was just baking, then come inside panting, drink water and go try to find someplace cool to lay down. Silly dog. We worked at a new club on Friday night so I was tired Saturday, having gotten a little less than 5 hours sleep. I just enjoyed the sunshine and sat and knit and knit and knit and knit some more. It was lovely. I had a day off from thinking about the house or the big event. Any time anything would pop into my head I would shoo it out. It was lovely.

What's not to love about the Top-down sweater?

Still toiling away on the Simple Knitted Bodice. I finished up the sleeve increases and am now just knitting away on one sleeve at a time (since they're large enough for a single circular needle). The pattern says to knit the sleeves until they are 16" or desired length, then knit the 10 rows of purl ridges. My desired length is long, like on the model in the picture. Not quite that long, but long. Now I don't have long arms by any stretch of the imagination but when I put that on last night after knitting 10 rows after the increases and measuring on the table that it was 15" at that point ... well, it was still way too short. So I think I'll knit the sleeves to at least 17" before I knit the purl ridges. It could very well be that the Tilly Tomas yarn is stretchy, or stretchier than the yarn I'm using anyway. But one of the things I really like about this pattern is the belled, longer sleeves. So my point is that it's very nice to be able to just slip that thing on over my head and really, truly see how long the sleeves are! Yes!

I didn't end up having much time for knitting last night because the woman who my real estate agent hired to come help get my house ready for the market took over an hour to go through the house and yard. She just went NUTS over the back garden. Just absolutely LOVED it and said that it was going to be a huge selling point for the house. It is pretty cool but ... I don't use it. And I hate to garden. She gave me all sorts of directions on how to move things around, where to put mirrors, etc. And truly - this is not going to be an easy house to live in if it looks like a magazine! Which is the whole point. "We're selling the dream", she says. I can really tell the difference between how houses are presented for sale now as opposed to when I bought mine which was 15+ years ago! Then you had to have some imagination and people just made sure the house was clean and tidy. Now though you have to remove over half ... yes, over HALF of your stuff. She says people have to look at the place and say "I want to live like this!". I told her about a house that S and I looked at a few weeks ago, how lovely it was but .... "Who lives like this?". "Nobody", she says. And now I see - people bring portable storage units up to their homes, store everything but the bare essentials and live in a magazine advertisement until the house sells. Which sometimes is pretty darned long. I am SO SO lucky that I bought in this neighborhood because it's about the only one in Seattle that is moving inventory.

All of the things she wants me to do are do-able but holy cow -- it would be very very difficult to maintain, especially with Tinkerbell. She said if she were me she'd move to S's house rather than try to live there. This is a possibility, especially (well, ONLY) since his kids are going to be moved out by May 1. The problem with it is that S's house is way out in Bothell. On the other hand it is just a block or so from the Burke-Gilman Trail and while it would be a long ride, the trail is flat and I think I could do it, especially since the weather is turning. Much to think about. And here's another thing on the side of moving in with S - when she went into my office/yarn room she said, "You're not going to like this. Take everything out except the roll-top desk, chair and wall unit." Store my stash???!?? Arghghgh!!! If I went to S's, I could have it with me. That's a biggie.

Okay ... feeling a bit better today

Although I didn't get in any therapeutic knitting yesterday the sun is shining just a little bit and my mood is rising as well. If I could only ride my bike or run again. But I am bound and determined not to have another relapse, so I'm driving in every day this week. Taking it easy is not an option this week, but at least I can keep warm and not exert myself. You have no idea how hard it is though. I saw somebody jogging on the way home yesterday and had to fight back the tears. It just makes me a little nuts when I have to go so long without working out. I guess it's the endorphins. My doctor always teases me when I get something like this that he'd better get me well soon or he's going to have to prescribe antidepressants. Truly, he's not that far off the mark!! But I know that if I'm good this week then next week I can start running again. So, this is me being good.

Last night I got home and only had time to primp and it was off to the mall with my FMIL and some little girls to do some shopping. Tonight after work I'm meeting with the house Market Ready woman, tomorrow night it's rehearsal and then I got a call from the band leader last night and it looks like we're working Friday night! I tell you, I am going to do nothing but sleep on Saturday. Poor little Tinkie was left alone the greater part of the evening so she was very restless all night and kept me up for almost 2 hours in the middle of the night. I will be able to spend some time with her tonight so hopefully I'll at least be able to get my 7 or 8 hours. I am blurry today.

Noon knitting to look forward to though!! But now, time to dig in to work!

Clouds and drizzle and a bad attitude

That's me in a nutshell today. And I think it's 100% due to the fact that I'm still not feeling well and I can't exercise. A little sun would make it bearable. However -- Seattle. April. Extended forecast says don't expect any until the weekend. On the good side though it's supposed to be 70 on Saturday. That's something nice to look forward to.

Tomorrow a woman is coming to take a look at my house and tell me and my real estate agent what we should do to it to get it ready to put on the market. And I have decided that I have enough to do without worrying about the lawn care so I'm going to hire a gardening service to come mow and edge twice a month. Totally worth the money. Anything I can delegate at this point is worth it.

That's all the news that's fit to type.

Why oh why can't I shake this bug???

My sister came in Wednesday night. My cold was really bad Wednesday although the sore throat was pretty much gone. The cough on the other hand had come back with a vengeance. We stayed up late talking, of course, because that's what we do. And the next morning starting a shopping marathon that lasted for two full days. Thursday night I was just dragging. Oh I shopped alright but when it was time to stop I collapsed. And decided that it would probably be a smart thing to call the doctor Friday morning if I wanted to have any chance at all of enjoying her visit. I stopped by on our way to our second day of shopping madness, having called first thing Friday morning. The nurse told me that she was amazed at how many people had said the same thing that I did - I was symptom free, started back up with regular activities and got hit again for another go 'round. So I've got another course of the inhaler, which [fingers crossed] seems to be doing the trick. It sure cut the coughing down tremendously. I just wish I felt better. I am SO tired of feeling sick all the time.

We had two wonderful days of shopping. My sister was in dire need of shoes [well now aren't we all?] plus she had to get her dress and shoes for the summer event. It was one of those magical shopping trips - we kept running across tremendous shoe deals. You know how it is - sometimes you're out shopping and you can't find a single thing and the next time you're running into JUST the right shoe and as an added bonus it has been marked down from $100 to $10. She was on that kind of lucky streak and ended up, after two days, with 4 pairs. I held myself to half that - one pair of awesome, sexy gold ones and some ivory satin. And a couple tops. No, I was good.

Saturday started out with some super fun pampering at "Frenchy's Day Spa" - an oh so girlie place where we went to have a make up consultation. And it was a good thing that we had that to look forward to because afterwards we had to go to a memorial for my ex-husband and then a big family do at my FIL's. An exhausting day all around.

It was tough having to take my sis back to the airport yesterday. That visit just flew by! And she's at work for 3 days and then taking off for a week in Bangkok to visit her boyfriend who is on location there. She's pretty excited to see him but not all that excited about a 17 hour flight. All I wanted to do after dropping her off was go home and knit and that's what I did - after a nap, of course. I knit on the sleeves of the SKB and finished up the increases. Enough so that I can finish them up one at a time on a circular. I wanted to get them separated from the two at once because I couldn't try on the sweater that way. But once I got them separated I tried it on. I've got a few more inches to go on each sleeve before I start on the purl ridges but I can see how cute it's going to be. The body is just a touch wide. I didn't need those body increases. Or rather I should have made the small. But it'll still be very wearable.

And now I've got to get back to work! I ran in here and got caught up on the important stuff but I've got tons of other stuff staring me in the face.

I wan't even thinking it was April 1st!!

Oh dear -- I sent an email to a friend of mine yesterday, telling her I was getting married. Steered her towards my wedding blog for details. She wrote back "April Fools, right?". I of course wrote backing saying no, it wasn't a joke. Haven't heard back yet. I really don't think it's that unlikely that I would be getting married ... ya know? Here's hoping she reads my regular blog and starts to believe.

My cold is still hanging around. No biking yesterday, obviously. None today either. The weather is warming up a bit and I think that's going to help me out. The cold air in my lungs is a real killer. When I was running last week my lungs just burned. I guess I should have listened a little closer, eh?

My sister is coming in tonight. I am SO looking forward to her visit, short though it will be. We'll have plenty to do and lots to talk about. And this time NO YARD WORK!!

Why am I even surprised?

Sure the weather has been bad. And sure I've been trying to get back to biking and running like normal after one month of being sick but truly I have been taking it easy! And I didn't run on Friday! (in the snow - pretty much a no brainer) So imagine my surprise when I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat that got worse and worse as they day went on. I took it easy Sunday. I knit and knit on my SKB sleeves. I watched TV and that was about it. But I spent the whole of yesterday in bed. I'm up and at work today but I could feel better. I just don't ever remember getting sick back to back like this.

Had a little dinner party on Saturday which was fun. And handy to have the house all tidied up so I didn't feel like I needed to do a bazillion and one things Sunday. My real estate agent had been away on holiday and now is back and ready to get cracking. I am completely overwhelmed - where to begin? I am hoping she can calm me down today and set me on a path. The weather isn't quite good enough to get somebody started on painting, which is what I would like to do first. Ah well, she's the professional. She'll know what to do.

Yay --- my sister is coming for a visit tomorrow evening and staying through the weekend. I can't wait!!!

I didn't want to ...

but I had to start another project. Bonnie wants a hat with no crown. And she mentioned it to me when we last gigged and I pretty much forgot about it until a couple days ago when I realized we were rehearsing last night and I should have that thing done! Then I forgot to start it so yesterday at lunchtime I cast on and worked a bit on it as I was scanning one of 80 (yes, eighty) images. Multitasking .. it's all about multitasking! And as I surmised, I was able to work on it a bit while we were getting set up for rehearsal. I have until April 11 to get it done. That's when I'll be seeing her next ... ooo, no just realized it may be before that. But still, plenty of time. One or two little TV sessions should do it.

So - let me rant a bit about rehearsal last night. What is it about keyboard players???!! [I know, weak start to a rant, isn't it?] This guy though - talented, sure. He plays the trumpet as well as teaches choir at a local high school and gigs around town almost every other night of the week. However, he refused to take the few minutes it takes to LEARN the freakin' songs!!!! This is not a jazz band. We are playing R&B and pop music and it's all about the hook. You know how it is when you're listening to a popular song, you sing along to the little do-do-do stuff. WE, the singers, get all of the background and harmonies. Why can't these guys just take a few minutes to learn, really learn, the breaks and hooks and the few bars of intro music that make the audience go "Oh, yeah. I lllove that song!". And to add insult to injury, the keyboard player demands he get paid more than the rest of us and because he has us over a barrel, he gets it. But this guy - Dwain has had it and he's got a call in to another guy. Fingers crossed.

Oooo, speaking of Dwain - the leader of our band who plays drums. He's friends with Marcus Trufant's parents, and plays around town with the father. Marcus is getting married this weekend and Dwain is playing at the reception!!! How cool is that?? I am so jealous.

The weather super sucks. It's cold and wet and snowing at 500 feet, maybe even lower. I have to go run in a couple hours and I'm not looking forward to it at all. The best part of it is going to be when I get back inside. [I'm not in a very good mood today - does it show?]

My Lava Lamp is SOOOO cool!!!

No, seriously. It is seriously cool. The blobs go up. The blobs go down. Mesmerizing.

I took a quick run up to the store last night and as I was listening to the rush hour traffic report I found out that it was snowing about an hour south of Seattle. Snow. In March. It has been cold, that's for sure. And sure enough, a few hours later it started snowing here! It didn't stick but it was nasty and cold and wet. It's not bad today. Still cold but at least not precipitating. I hope it warms up before my sister gets here - just a little bit anyway.

I had a decent run yesterday, although the cold air just burned my lungs terribly! I managed to run a bit further than Monday before I had to walk. My goal tomorrow it to run at least 15 minutes, half of my normal, before I take a break. I have learned the hard way that after a long break it is best to err on the side of caution when starting back up. I am counting on being able to race in April.

With best of intentions I picked up the SKB, but had left the instructions upstairs and since we were just starting a movie I said to heck with it and picked up that blankie square instead. Oh man, another stinky movie!! That's two in a row. This one was called "Enchanted" and it was just awful! I imagine that it appeals to a very narrow demographic - little girls under age 14. The previews were cute. I got sucked in. Don't risk it. It sucks.

I won!! I won!!

Last week on of my Knitting on Wednesday friends asked me if I wanted to go to upper campus and wander around the BizTech, which is an annual fair of sorts where groups from the University as well as outside vendors show what they have and give away lots of garbage. Plus there are snacks and little contests. At one of the booths they had a trivia challenge and if you answered the question correctly then you were eligible to enter a drawing, one of the prizes being a Lava Lamp. Oh baby ... lava lamp!!!! And I won it! Yesterday I want up to HR and picked up my trophy. It is now in my living room in a place of honor. [cue sitar music]

I am still a member of the Finish on the First Forum on Ravelry. At the end of last month I was too sick to even knit so there was no finishing. I see now that it's 5 days to the end of the month and so I must gird my loins to finish up my Isabella. She'll be a perfect top for Hawaii and all I need to do is finish sewing up the sides and add a few rows to the armholes. Easy. Although I am going to be busy this weekend I am going to put it at the top of my list.

Another thing I need to do is make Bonnie's hat. She mentioned it to me at our last gig and we're rehearsing tomorrow with our new 3rd girl singer so I'd better cast that sucker on tonight. It won't take long to make and I can bring it along to rehearsal so she can see I'm serious about doing it. I always end up with lots and lots of time to knit at rehearsal because Dwain calls them for 7, I arrive at 7 and everybody else swans in whenever they please - 7:30 ... 7:45. *sigh* Whatever.

I did indeed go dancing last night, after going out for sushi .. yummmm .... so there was no knitting. Tonight - I knit!! Want to get the lace part done on those sleeves so I can fly on down to the wrists.

Ah ... the promise of spring

Not to harp on and on about the weather but good heavens is it cold! Colder today than it was yesterday. When I got in my hands were numb just like in the winter! It was 35 degrees this morning. Hawaii is sounding better and better. Still nearly two months away but oh I can almost smell it.

I ran yesterday for the first time in nearly a month. It felt so good, even though my wind was not up to capacity and my legs got a little tired. I ran for a few minutes, walked for a few minutes, ran for a few minutes more, etc. My legs are sore today but not so I can't walk or anything. Just a nice soreness. Tomorrow I'll be able to go longer between walks and hopefully by next Monday I'll be back to form. I want to run a race in April. I think I should be able to do it.

No knitting last night. I have a friend visiting from Arizona so we went out for a nice dinner and then I just did a little reading when I got home and went to bed. I have tentative plans to go dancing tonight but if that falls through I can work on those sleeves. If I can get the lace finished up it'll be super fast from that point to finish. Can't wait!!

Progress

I finished the body of the Simple Knitted Bodice and transferred the sleeve stitches onto two circular needles and got to work on Saturday. Unfortunately my poor photography skills coupled with dark yarn adds up to a bad picture. I am almost half way through with the chevron lace pattern. It's moving right along. If I can keep it up this week I may be able to finish by the weekend! This picture makes it look like the yarn is gray but it is in fact black.

Had a lovely weekend. Friday night my BF took me to a really wonderful restaurant for a very special occasion. And then all Saturday, after errands and (whew) getting my hair cut, I had all afternoon and evening to knit. Yes ... oh yes, I should have mowed the lawn. But I didn't. I knit. And knit and knit some more. It was very nice.

After a nice brunch with some friends and some much needed house chores I set to knitting some more!! I tell you - it was a great knitterly weekend! But since this is a rather complicated procedure, knitting the sleeves on 2 circulars as well as having lace knitting, about 1/2 a glass into my pre-prandial glass of wine I decided that unless I wanted to look forward to ripping back a few inches of lace I should just put the project down and go for something simpler. So I worked on a blankie square as we watched just about the worst animated moving I have ever seen. I love animated movies! I could watch The Incredibles over and over again (and I have), or Monsters, Inc. or Toy Story. But Bee Movie? It was just bad. No wonder they were hyping the dickens out of it.

Mother Nature doesn't follow our calendar!

Oh heavens - yesterday was the first day of spring and today it's SO cold! Even with my headband to protect my ears they were still cold. Things don't really start warming up in Seattle until late May and when we have a little sun in March it's such a tease!! At least it's not raining. It's just glooooomy.

I am SO looking forward to this weekend. No, not because it's Easter. Because Saturday I'm getting my hair cut. You know how one day your hair is fine and then the next day it's completely obvious that you need to get your hair done. It's not so much that I have bad hair days as it is that I have good hair minutes. This is the magic of hairdressing -- I look at what she actually cuts off my hair and it's not that much at all. And yet it makes all the difference in the world between looking like a Yeti and looking like a woman with nice, curly long hair.

I watched "Lost" last night and didn't knit. It was too exciting. Unfortunately, because of the writer's strike, we have a one month hiatus. But it sure looks like they're going to get off the island and move the whole show to the mainland. Don't you just want to slap Ben's daughter??

I started my wedding blog. There's a link on the right. That's where I'll put pictures of the dress and stuff like that, talk about planning and ... well you know - all that stuff that's usually very boring to hear unless you're intimately involved. Or getting married yourself soon. Or just are a wedding junkie. It's just keeping me from yapping on about it here which is a good thing.

Whew! The day got away from me!

Oh! Happy first day of spring!! I was talking to a friend of mine who is living in Luxembourg and she was saying it was snowing there! Now it's not all that warm here but at least it's not snowing! Ick ick ick!!

I had someone come over this morning to start doing a little work around my house to begin getting it ready, so I didn't get in until late and I turned around twice and here it is after 4 already! One of those afternoons when I had a crazy computer software issue. That just eats up the time something fierce. I think I've got it fixed but I'm not going to get too cocky until I can get it published with all the links working.

Oh hey ... guess who actually did some knitting last night! Yeah! I am that close to finishing the body of the SKB. Just a couple more rows to go and then I can transfer the sleeve stitches and start on them. I don't have anything but dinner to make tonight so hopefully I'll get a good run at it.

Several people (no, not just you Nonnahs) have asked about the plans for that day which I promised NOT to speak about on this blog. So tomorrow I'm going to make a blog solely for that where I can post pictures and blather on about all the little details.

Oddly enough I have almost completely forgotten about our trip to Hawaii what with all this other excitement going on. But today I remembered when I was talking to Emma and now I'm all excited about that too! Oh really it'll be so relaxing.

And now .... I think I'll go home!

Let's try it again

Right! I'm back on the bike again. So far so good with just a little coughing. I wasn't uncomfortable or out of breath. I will take it slow as far as the running goes. I really really don't want to have another relapse.

I was noticing my lawn a couple days ago - that it's growing again. The new sod took hold quite well and weather the winter. The only place it's not perfect is in front of my bike shed and I suppose that's because all winter long while the grass was growing I was walking on it. My neighbor has a gardening service and they mowed her yard yesterday so there is now a stark contrast between her parking strip and mine. I sure hope my next house has much less garden than this one. I am SO through with gardening!

No knitting last night - again! I went shopping for my dress and it took quite a bit longer than I had anticipated so it was nearly 9 when I got home and all I wanted to do was read the paper and have a drinkie and something to eat. Tonight though - tonight after I take Tink for her annual exam I will knit! Yes!

We need some imagination people!!

I don't like to paint with such a big brush but why do Americans think that Sinead O'Connor and U2 are the only Irish bands out there?? Oh yeah ...... the Cors and the Cranberries too. Being as it was St. Patrick's day yesterday Irish music was the thing to play. But I swear EVERY time I got in my car yesterday and turned the radio on I heard Sinead O'Connor singing "Nothing Compares To You"! Arghghghghghgh!!!! That's 3 times!!! We all have a few songs that grab us by the throat, so to speak. Or turn us inside out. Or whisk us back in time. Or do all three and then some. I must admit I have a few too many. It's hard. I have managed to take a good many of them off my iPod but once in a while one will sneak up on me. I forget where I was last week .... I got blind sided and stopped right in my steps. Don't say it - I know. I need to get a grip.

The rain has stopped and today it's just ... oops spoke too soon. It's cloudy now. I had to drive in today but it is THE LAST DAY I will drive in. Tomorrow I'm biking in and I'm going to start back running. Slowly, obviously, since it's been since February 19 that I had my last real run. I remember because when I went to the doctor on the 21, so sick, I whined to him "But I even ran on Tuesday!". And I have those new shoes and running tights that I've only worn twice. Thank goodness I've been careful plus which my appetite was off for so many weeks - and I haven't gained back any of the weight that I had finally managed to banish. Cough is like 90% gone. Yay!

No knitting last night and it doesn't look like I'll have much time tonight either. I do so want to get the body of that SKB finished up and start on those sleeves. They'll go fast. I want to wear that thing!!

The cherry trees

I don't know why they much such a fuss about Washington, D.C. The cherry trees here in Seattle are just gorgeous. No no ... I know why they make a fuss but still. It is very very spring-like around here, even though it is rainy.

Busy busy weekend again. Thank goodness the inhaler is working and I'm now almost entirely cough free. I couple times Saturday night I had little coughing fits on stage but I think it was because it was so warm and my throat was getting dry. I felt good (except for getting ticked off at the keyboard player ....) but I was sure tired by the time I fell into bed.

That morning I had an appointment to try on some dresses, which was exhausting. Those things are heavy! My preferences are evolving. I want to be able to move and dance. I had some lunch and a nice long nap and that's what made Saturday night bearable. I really really wanted to be able to run the race Sunday but there was no way. There is another coming up in April and I will make that my goal. I also knit on the Simple Knitted Bodice after my nap and I have only 6 more rows of the body. Sunday after I got the laundry going and Tink walked I went to the LYS and I bought a couple more circular needles so I can do the sleeves like I do socks, 2 at a time on 2 circs. With the lace work I think it would be best so that I can make sure they're 100% the same. I had a meeting with my real estate agent on Friday evening to talk about what needs to be done to my house to get it ready to list and so I could have been starting on a few of the hundreds of chores I have but instead I took it easy. Tonight though I must go buy some plastic bins so I can start "de-cluttering" my house. Not something I am looking forward to. Do you know how many books I have around? Not to mention the yarn. Oh heavens - I wonder if the dresser is going to make me move my stash? erghgh

Now this is getting really ridiculous

I had to visit the doctor again on Wednesday because my cough was coming back and I was wheezing. During my bike ride in I was markedly short of breath. All bad things. I guess I jumped the gun a bit. I shouldn't have been riding my bike. I darn sure won't be running the race this weekend. I shouldn't be singing tomorrow night but since there are six other people counting on me, I will be there. The good news is that the inhaler he gave me is working. Plus I was advised to basically shut down. No breathing in cold air. No getting my heart rate elevated. And it seems to be working. Go figure, huh?

So I'm doing some work from home - I like web site designing so it's not too bad. I'm getting rest. I'm avoiding anything that looks like exercise. Also pretty tough for me. I had to get out yesterday for a couple hours - got the damp clothes dried at a laundromat and bought another dryer. I realized after reading the instructions that it was beyond me. I no longer own an ohm meter and even if I did I don't know how to use it.

Knitting in the evening exclusively on the Simple Knitted Bodice. I'm almost done with the body. Hope to start on the sleeves - maybe even both at the same time if I've got the needles - tonight or this weekend.

It would be funny if it weren't so freakin' annoying!!!!

My dryer broke yesterday evening. This is the third time in less than 2 years! I just cannot believe it! The first time I called a repairman and had him fix it. A friend of mine at work said that I should have just done it myself - it's very easy. Well, since it broke down only a few months after that and I couldn't afford to call the repairman I downloaded instructions from the web and with the help of my nephew we managed to fix it. And now AGAIN! The good news is that there are only 3 things that can be wrong with it that manifest in this particular symptom - no heat - and I've fixed two of them. So I should just be able to go straight to that third thing. Should. I couldn't face it last night. Maybe tonight. It's just ridiculous timing! I mean .... I'm going to be putting this house on the market in a few weeks. I don't want to be buying a new dryer for whomever is going to be buying the house. grrrrr

Knitting-wise I have hit a wall with that Mystery Jacket. I think if I loved the color, if I had gotten the color I originally ordered, I wouldn't be where I am now. But I don't really know if I'd wear the thing once it was finished and I am crazy in love with my Simple Knitted Bodice so that's the long way of saying I didn't work on Clue 4 last night but rather worked on the SKB. Oh well.

The clocks changed but not me

Oh boy -- what time did I get to work today, boys and girls? Uh ..... well, maybe a little later than I had hoped. It's that darned clock change!! It was darker. I was sleepy. It was raining and I biked in for the first time since I got sick ... oooo that's a long time ago. So yeah, I was a little late. Not too bad though. My bike ride was nice. It felt good to get back on that bicycle even though it was raining. My stamina was just fine and I was breathing okay but I did have a couple little teensie coughing jags. Again, not too bad. I feel g-g-g-good! I know I won't be able to run today but I think I'll tog up and walk/trot/jog just a bit.

Remember my Friday resolve? Yeah I remember it too. Here's what happened. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and OMG didn't all of the new spring magazines just happen to come out that day and I bought [oh this is embarrassing] 4 bride magazines. With best intentions to just flip through maybe one of them and then get right to that knitting I ended up spending four hours reading magazines, putting sticky notes on "important" pages (oh I'm rolling my eyes ... yes I am) and talking on the phone. Saturday and Sunday were just as busy as I had predicted and the two hours I had "free" on Sunday I spent washing the dog and doing laundry and cleaning my wickedly messy house. Tonight I have rehearsal so there's no knitting tonight either and I am now officially one entire Clue behind my Mystery Jacket KAL! I have GOT to get caught up ASAP. I can start on Tuesday, I hope.

The gala Saturday night was just fabulous and I laughed myself to tears at Colin Ferguson. That guy is hilarious! The Sunday girlie evening was wonderful as well. At the purse silent auction I was bidding willy-nilly because ... well it's just fun and if you win one, well that's fun too. Unfortunately I won 3 on the first round!! Two Kate Spade bags (!!!) and one Coach. However [and I am really miffed about this] the Coach bag, upon closer inspection, is a fake. I hate to say what I paid for a fake Coach bag. Yes sure it was for a good cause but still, isn't that a bit creepy? I'll give it to my BF's daughter because she doesn't mind carrying knock-offs but still ...grrr. AND women were taking the silent auction slips for the really good bags and hiding them!! For cryin' out loud ladies (and I use the term loosely) WTF??!!

And that's all the ranting I'm going to do today.

Oh where's my resolve???

I vowed that yesterday I would get started on the Clue 4 part of Mystery Jacket. And in my defense I did start, but my eyes were tired and I goofed up at row 8 and so had to rip it out. And rather than start again, which I should have done, I worked more on the Simple Knitted Bodice, which I am now so in love with and can't wait to wear!!! But this evening the Clue 5 will be posted and I haven't even started Clue 4!!! So I MUST do it tonight. And the good news is that I don't have anything at all going on so when I get home I'll do the barest minimum house clean up and then put on some music and get a good run at that panel. I mustn't get behind and I just don't have a whole lot of time this weekend.

Saturday I'm taking my BF's daughter shopping (first round, obviously) to look at Bridesmaid dresses and then that evening I get to go stay at a fancy hotel downtown and attend an equally fancy and formal gala that my BF's company is doing. It is oh so wonderful because he's the boss so he doesn't really have to do the work and often times gets to just enjoy the event and I get to as well. Not all the time, but sometimes. And I do so dearly love to stay in fancy hotels, don't I? Plus this gala is having a national act after the dinner and auction, so that's pretty cool too.

Sunday I'm having a super girlie evening. A few girlfriends and I are attending a charity event at another of my favorite hotels, The W. It's called "Bags and Bottles" and it's a benefit for Gilda's Club. Pretty simple concept - women bring new or "gently used" high end handbags for a silent auction and about 30 wineries pour wine as you nibble goodies and shop for handbags. What's not to love?

Doesn't leave a whole lot of time for knitting and THAT is why I have to jump on Clue 4 tonight!!!

Have you noticed the birds?

That whole week and a half I spent sick and out of it -- well during that time it seems that Spring sneaked up! I wandered my front garden and saw that the Clematis my sister and I planted last spring and which ended up looking like dead sticks(!) is coming back to life! As are the weeds in the flower beds, of course. But there are daffodils blooming in my backyard and in the front as well. And it is noticeably lighter on both ends. AND the birdsong is different. It puts a spring in your step, doesn't it? Oh I wish that I felt good enough to ride my bike and run. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a long walk at ..... ah no, I just remembered we're looking at wedding venues today and tomorrow at lunch. [BTW - I have decided NO wedding talk on this blog. If I really feel the need to blather on about it I'll make a separate wedding blog so readers have a choice. And that's the LAST I'll mention it here. No. Really.] Well next week for sure I am going to start moving around. This cough surely must be on its way out.

Last night we had a rehearsal and a girl to audition for the 3rd spot. I really really liked her - such a nice girl and a good voice and she blended very well with Brenda and myself. I hope we hire her. I know she can't sing with us this coming Saturday because she's got another gig but then on the bright side we'd have another whole month to rehearse together. I must say, the sound of 3 part harmony is just thrilling to me! AND .. bonus .. we finally got to rehearse my new song - which is an older song but I love it - Put Your Records On. Now with 2 girls singing back-ups on that song it's really really cool.

I have been having a lot of fun knitting on my Simple Knitted Bodice but here it is Thursday already and I haven't even started on my fourth clue of my Mystery Jacket. So that's my chore for today - to start that sucker anyway. It's "Lost" tonight so I most probably won't be doing all that much hard knitting. That's the kind of show where if you're not JUST knitting or JUST purling you might as well put that project down because you know you're going to be ripping it out.

Oh! I almost forgot!! My friend Brenda, the other singer in the band, brought me TWO shopping bags filled with yarn and needles that someone had given her at her job. (She works in retirement homes as a nurse). Now I haven't really looked too far into them so I am betting they're most likely filled with mostly acrylic yarn but hey -- needles in there too! She wants me to make her a "hat with no top". She has fluffy hair - an afro - and she wants a knitted hat but she wants her hair to be able to come out the top. Cute idea. So that's my chore and it's an easy one. I can embellish it with simple cables and she'll think it's awesome. See? That's why KIP-ing is so important! You never know when somebody is going to come across a treasure trove like that and they'll think "Oh yeah, Shelley knits. Maybe she'd like it". Yeahhhhhhhhh baby.

A little WIP action

Finally today I can post a couple pictures of WIPs. I am having fun knitting my Simple Knitted Bodice but I must put it aside tonight and start on Clue 4 of the Mystery Jacket KAL. So here's where I am so far. I figure about another 4 to 6 rows of chevron lace for the waist detail before I do the second set of purl ridges. I an really liking the look of this black K1C2 Angora Soft. And the second picture I have is what I have so far on the body of the Cascading Cables. This thing is going to be large, no doubt about it. But pretty - very pretty and oh so soft. The picture doesn't do it justice.

All of the lace on the Simple Knitted Bodice is pretty much what I did yesterday evening. When I wasn't talking with my sister about wedding plans. I tell you - sisters are the best! Between the two of us we've almost got the whole thing planned. Meeting with the BF tonight but I'd say between Kel and I .... we've got it handled. ;-)

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth ...

although there were a few days there where I certainly wanted to. I have been sick. Sick as in I didn't get out of bed for more than a week. As in the first course of antibiotics didn't do a thing and I'm on the second course and still ... yes still ... coughing although I'm at work today. I didn't ride my bike, that's for sure. I don't know where this thing came from but I woke up with a cough on Wednesday February 20th and saw the doctor the next day and I have been sick since then. Wow - 12 days.

And life just kept happening while I was laying around on the couch. Not even knitting until this weekend when I started being able to stay awake for more than a couple hours at a time. Tinkerbell was SUCH a good doggie. The BF would come over every couple days to make sure I had water and soup and to try to engage me in conversation. I was getting a little scared there, to tell you the truth. I kept getting calls from friends who had this relative and that relative go into the hospital with pneumonia and there I was still regularly hacking up my lungs. The doctor was nice enough not to make me come back into the office and prescribed more stuff for me and the cough is calming down some and I can concentrate and walk around and do things so yes I am for sure better. I don't know if I'm going to be able to make my St. Patrick's Day run on the 16th though. If I can be breathing normally by the end of the week and can go up and down my stairs without collapsing then MAYBE I'll be able to train for a week and do it. Well .. I'm not going to obsess about it. If I can do it I'll do it. If not - no big deal. There's another race in April.

So though - HUGE news here. I was right about the engagement ring. I am now officially engaged!!! Oooo now BF stands for Big Fiance. ;-) He wanted to ask me when we went to the ocean [which I did even though I was so sick that I spent the entire time either laying in bed or on the couch of the motel!] but it was not a very romantic setting so he ended up asking me Saturday morning. I guess he felt the need for the actually asking of the question and the answering of the question because he wanted to take me shopping for the ring. He had been tippy-toeing around it before but this time he wanted to be serious about it - lists of stores, etc. Oh it was SO MUCH FUN! I found the perfect ring at the second store we went to but we went to a third just to make sure. By that time I was exhausted so we went back yesterday and picked out the center stone and now I have to wait until the 21st of March to get it!! I snapped some pictures with my iPhone at the jewelery store when the guy had just plopped the stone in there for the look but it's so blurry. I can tell what it is but it just doesn't do it justice. So - more pictures later when I actually get it and can use my good camera.

And knitting news - no pictures today but I did a good bit on my Cascading Cables sweater and then got the first two purl ridges done on the Simple Knitted Bodice and I'm ready to start the waist lace detail. That is going to be a fabulous top.

And I guess that's all I'm sayin' today!!

Why I didn't knit a single stitch Saturday

Here's the deal. I took Friday the 15th off from work because I had to sing Thursday night and I've got vacation time coming out my ears, so why not? We had yesterday off so I made it a four day weekend. Friday I finished up the edging for the first piece of the Mystery Jacket (I must just interject here that I am regretting my color choices. That blue - I think even if Sue had gotten me my original blue I wouldn't be 100% satisfied but my second choice is really WAY too bright for me. Oh well - it'll be something very different for my closet.) I had a hair appointment and also managed to get Tink in for a grooming at the last minute. That was lucky. The BF and I were celebrating our Valentine's Day because we both worked on the 14th. Now frankly, considering the frequency I have been waltzed past jewelry store displays lately I wouldn't have been too surprised if a ring showed up Friday night. But instead he came in with a dozen roses and a gift bag that was just too heavy to be a ring. I was very curious then what it could be because he was so excited and pleased that he could hardly contain himself. I peeked into the bag and saw the Apple logo ... hmmmmm ... took the box out and lo and behold, it is an iPhone! I squealed!! OMG! How cool is that? It is the most awesome gift ever! I absolutely LOVE it! So I spent - no lie - all of my afternoon Saturday downloading stuff and fiddling with it. I had to make myself stop so I could get a little rest before singing Saturday night. I watched an episode of "Lost" on it Sunday. I've got music and pictures ... oh ... really it's just too wonderful! The ring can wait! Although we did shop some on Sunday and he had me trying stuff on. I have to say that that, my friends, is some fun.

Saturday night we had a fabulous night! The club was packed and the crowd was wonderful. As an added bonus the guitar player was NOT high and he actually played all of the songs in the right key. When it's good it's GOOD. There is nothing like it. That's why we go through all the bad stuff - to have a night like that. And on all three breaks I went to the back of the house and played with my iPhone. I am a N-E-R-D.

Happy Valentine's Day

I worked on the single crochet border on my Mystery Jacket last night. I wish I had followed my instincts to add an extra stitch on the corners ... but I didn't and now it's a bit wonky. I will have a couple rows more to add so maybe I can straighten it out. I don't want to take it out but I just might have to. I'll look at it more closely tomorrow in the daylight. Since I've just started and I've got all of tomorrow off - although of course I will sleep in - to finish up that piece. I can start the newest piece on Saturday if I finish this one up tomorrow so I'm pretty sure that'll be number one on my list of things to do.

It's a gorgeous, if cold, day. I'm going to have a good run at lunchtime. I did NOT have a good run on Tuesday. I was, in fact, kind of sick with some sort of sinus thing and I tried to run but it was pathetic. And it hurt. I like it much better when I have plenty of energy and don't feel like my feet are made from lead. I am going to get new running shoes tomorrow. That's something to look forward to! I know it'll feel like I'm flying when I get new shoes. Maybe I'll even break down and get some new running tights too.

Oooo I am SUCH a klutz!

Yesterday evening I was taking Tink for her usual walk. It was a bit warmer yesterday and since I had just gotten home from my bike ride I was warm. So my gloves were IN my hands rather than ON them. As I closed the gate my hand slipped off the handle and a splinter went right under my thumbnail! Oooooweeee! We are talking some serious pain here my friends. Poor Tink didn't have a clue what was going on -- what the heck, we're going back in NOW?? I fished the key out of my pocket, got into the house and made a mad dash for the medicine cabinet. The tweezers and Neosporin are right there on the shelf because, as I mentioned before, I am such a klutz. Luck was on my side - I managed to get the end of that splinter and pull it out. It was deep, too. Cleaned it, put the antiseptic on, a band aid and out we went again to finish what we had started. Of course, I closed the door real hard and just as it latched shut I realized that I hadn't picked the key back up where I had tossed it in my mad dash to get the splinter out. Erghghgh Well, I wasn't going to torture the dog any longer. We went for our walk and I tried to figure out how I could break into my own house. I did manage - I'll leave out the details. It's not pretty.

And today - this thumb is really really sore still! It doesn't seem inflamed so I will just assume it's because that sliver was in so deep and hope for the best. At least it doesn't impact my knitting ability.

Speaking of knitting - I didn't get much accomplished last night. Not for lack of trying but it's the project. I'm still working on the raglan increases for my Simple Knitted Bodice. Slow going. Only 8 more rows to go and I can try it on and, hopefully, separate out the sleeves. This is going to be a lovely sweater. Very wearable.

A busy weekend

Well, I didn't end up frogging that Ogee Tunic project. I did lots and lots of other stuff, but ... there's always time to frog.

Saturday ended up being a killer errands day. Since I hadn't counted on having to sing on that Saturday I had a million and one things to do. I got them all done though (yay me) and we had a really good gig Saturday night. The place was full until the very end, which is always nice. I had to dash out of there as soon as we finished so I could get home and get to bed.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling pretty darned good considering I was low on sleep (I hadn't been able to nap Saturday afternoon before the gig). I got parked and got to the race site a little too early for my taste since I had nearly 30 minutes to stand around and get cold. Not good. But considering it's the first race I've run in nearly a year(!) and the fact that I was tired and, as it turns out, coming down with a little sinus thingie, I did really well. I was off my pace by almost 30 second a mile, which is pretty bad in my opinion. But, as I said, there were circumstances. All in all -- I finished it and I finished with gas in my tank so I'm happy. I've got four weeks now to train for the St. Patrick's Day Dash, which is almost 3.4 miles - a little longer than the typical 5K. I'm going to have to step up my distance training. I also think I'm going to break down and buy myself some new shoes.

Knitting-wise - I got the first piece of the Mystery Jacket finished up last night and another square for the Log Cabin blankie. I am thinking maybe I'll do some completely Noro squares and see how they look.

Throwing in the towel

It's a hard decision - to give up on a WIP. It's about the Ogee Tunic. I bought yarn specifically for it. I still think it's a gorgeous sweater. It's just that I have had those nearly finished sleeves sitting in a basket for close to a year! And I'm thinking now .... do I really want to finish that project? Would I wear that sweater? Can I face the acres and acres of stockinette stitch on small needles that comprises the back of this garment? And the answer to those three questions -- no. I could frog the sleeves and sell the yarn on eBay and buy something for a project I want to do. Or I could frog the sleeves and use the yarn for another project ... except the color is so close to the color of the Calmer I used for the Scoop du Jour. Well one thing at a time. I'll frog it this weekend and take another look at my stash and that yarn in particular and decide what to do. Ahhhh ... I feel lighter already!

We all know how it goes

I had plans. I was going to stop working on the body of that Cable Cascade pullover and get to work on the sleeves so I could check my gauge. Only one problem - I don't have a second size 11 circular needle. I totally forgot about that. Of course the pattern calls for making the sleeves separately on DPNs. Yeah -- like I'm going to do that! I always make my sleeves 2 at a time (unless I'm doing a top down raglan). So tomorrow I'll run up to the LYS at lunchtime and get another size 11 circular - I can use my Denise set for the second one - and Friday night cast on just like I would doing socks 2 at a time. It'll be fiddly but not any more so than doing a complicated cable and lace pattern on DPNs.

My BF got a call Tuesday afternoon to do a show this evening - a political rally. Short notice, but of course he said yes. I said, "Oh, I'll bet it's Hillary"! And sure enough, it is!!! I got him to run me through the security process yesterday with the rest of his crew (as his photographer! hah ... like I am the worst photographer in the world!!) because I thought it would be SO COOL to be there. Especially since I'd get to be up front and/or on the stage. BUT .... little fly in the ointment. This was when I thought it was an afternoon or early evening deal. Now I find out it's not until 8 pm tonight and I've got rehearsal. I know the band leader was trying to change it to Saturday but he never called back so I'm going to check with him later today. The rumor is that Bill Clinton might be there as well. I have never seen him in person (although the BF has done every one of his appearances here in Seattle and he says he's just an awesome speaker). Oh well. We'll see what happens.

Have you noticed?

It's getting lighter! It's still *bloody* cold in the mornings ... well, and the nights too ... but it's lighter. I see so many people walking their dogs on my bike ride into work now, because it's light at 7:45 am. But still February is the absolute worst month for bike riding, in my opinion. It's cold and windy and wet. Oh, and yesterday for my run I timed it perfectly during a storm. I got soaked! It was blowing so hard that I finally quit running into the wind [it was kind of like those dreams you have where you're running and not going anywhere] and turned around and ran with the wind at my back. That was a bit scary though because it was so strong that it nearly blew me over! Of course, about 20 minutes after I got back to my office and got dried and warm the storm blew over. Figures.

I put my patterns up on Ravelry yesterday, for a lark. I am getting some white angora from Little Knits and I have this idea for a sweater with a ruffle. If it works out I may publish it as well. I wish I had kept better notes on the cabled turtleneck I made as well as a cute bulky cardigan but ... I didn't. I just winged it, as they say. I love that turtleneck. I've worn it a lot this winter. Today I'm wearing my Scoop du Jour. About time! I lllllove the way Calmer feels. Such a gorgeous yarn. When I start making short sleeved things again I'm going to use the Calmer I have for the Fifi.

I only worked a bit on the Simple Knitted Bodice last night while watching a movie. Tonight I'm going to work on the Cable Cascade and try to finish up with the size 15 needles and see if the 13s look a little better. I was considering stopping where I am and starting with the 11s and the sleeves to see if I make gauge. Hmmm The more I think about it the better idea it sounds. It would be a HUGE drag to get 15 inches into the body of that thing and find that it's too big. So yeah ... that's what I'll do tonight. Start on the sleeve and see if I'm anywhere near the gauge. Since I'm substituting yarn - Elann's Seta Lana - that's the safest way to go.

It's a great feeling

I am so glad I joined that Ravelry group, Finish on the First. It got me to finally finish up my Scoop du Jour cardigan and I am SO glad I did. Look how pretty this turned out! I splurged on some crystal buttons to give it a dressy look and it was a great choice. They are perfect! I came home Friday and as soon as I had walked the dog I sat down and started in on this. I had only sewn the shoulder seams so I had lots to do. From the time I started until I had woven in the last end it was four hours - give or take. I did take a little break and have dinner but basically it was four hours! On Saturday after I went shopping with Bonnie for a new dress for the band I stopped at JoAnn's and bought the buttons and sewed them on Saturday afternoon. That wasn't quite the ordeal as putting it together, thankfully. Anyway - Finishing on First is great!! Next month I will tackle the dreaded Isabella.

I was a knitting fool this weekend. I received my Seta Lana from Elann and immediately cast on for the Cable Cascade Pullover from Interweave Knits Fall 2005. I was so excited to begin that I didn't swatch and I could be in trouble here. I see that the sleeves are knit on size 11s and that is what the swatch calls for. I should have, therefore, started with the sleeves which is what I usually do anyway. Then I would be able to gauge my swatch. But I cast on for the body, which starts with size 15s. The shaping is all done with decreasing needle sizes. I'm not too worried (yet).

I also got a good bit more done on the Simple Knitted Bodice. I'm less than 20 rows until I separate the sleeves from the body. I think this is going to be another super wearable garment.

The Super Bowl was a nice surprise. Hah! I couldn't ever imaging myself rooting for the Giants but there I was, urging them on. It was a surprisingly good game. And now, except for the pro bowl, no more football for months and months and months.

I had a super good run on Sunday. I am really looking forward to the race on the 10th. I love running around Green Lake because it is super flat, which is a hard thing to find in Seattle. Almost all of the other races have hills and some of them are major. I hate that.

Oh happy happy girl!

Because of my rehearsal on Wednesday night I missed the "Lost" 2 hour episode - a repeat of last season's final episode with subtitles!! And then last night was the beginning of the new season so there was a compilation episode of one hour and then a brand new episode. So count it up - four hours of "Lost" last night. I was able to fast forward through the commercials of the first 2 hour episode but the others were real time. And yes, I sat there and watched all four hours. I just loved the subtitles on the first bit. Some of them were pretty funny.

I was knitting but it was a slow go because I wanted to read the subtitles in the first two hour chunk and the second two hours -- well, I wanted to watch! I nearly finished another square for the log cabin blankie. [Ooo I found a Ravelry group that's doing a KAL thanks to Speattle. ] I think what I'm going to do, so that this project doesn't get completely out of hand, is stop after I complete 8 squares and weave in the ends, block them and sew them into a strip and then go on to the next 8. I will need six 8 panel strips. It's going to be a long project.

Speaking of long projects - today is February 1 and so I need to finish something for my Finish on the Firsts group. I am truly looking forward to finishing up my Scoop du Jour! I have a goal, I am committed to it and tonight I am going to go home, walk the dog, change my clothes and start sewing! I will put the sleeves into the shoulders and then sew up the sleeves and sides and then I am done (except for buttons). I have been thinking about buttons and I may just go into my button box and put mismatched buttons on it just for the whimsy factor.

Saturday I'm going shopping with Bonnie, the other singer in my band. We're going to get a red dress - no, not one to share but a red dress EACH because we're singing on Valentine's Day and .. well, who needs another reason to buy a new dress? Not me!

Sunday I am going to do another training run around Green Lake. The 10th of February is a race so I need to run Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday so I can have a two day lay off before the 10th. I hope the T-shirt is better this year than last. Not that I don't like brown but it just wasn't very good design I didn't think. I don't run for the shirts though. It's just fun.

And last but not least, I am features on Sherill's Belle of the Ball podcast this week. Check it out.