A blessing in disguise

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

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

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

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

What the heck is up?

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

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

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

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

Oh poo!

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

The topic of conversation

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

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

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

Daylight saving time -- I'm tired today.

arghg

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

Could my eyes have deceived me?

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

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

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

Takin' it easy

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

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

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

Well that didn't work out too well

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

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

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

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

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

No pictures!

Shoot! I got on my friend's computer and I see now that none of the pictures I have sent from my iPhone are showing up! That's annoying. We're just getting ready to head out to drive the Apache Trail and I thought it'd be cool to send some pictures. Ah well .... AND I forgot my camera at home so all I have with me is my iPhone. I wonder if the pictures are too large or something. I know I used to be able to easily do it on my Razr. Off we go!

A new song

Here's McG debuting a new song last night. I like it.



Shelley

The photo for the post

Still trying to get the mobile blogging set. I think I have it now.

Sunday

This was last Sunday, wine tasting at Torii Mor. Today I am in California having a long weekend with my sister. Last night we went to a dinner party up in the Hollywood Hills with an assortment of authentic Hollywood types. The weather is rather rainy but tomorrow it's off to Phoenix where it is going to be sunny and hot!

Shelley

This was last Sunday

Shelley

A perfect record

Yeah ... drove in every single day this week. I can't remember the last time I did that. I could have ridden my bike today except that this is the one day that I have to have the car because I have a hair appointment at 4. Oh well. At noon knitting Wednesday one of the girls said "Just get over it". I guess I'd better!

No knitting last night and the night before was just round and round the skirt while watching LOST. It was Pub Night last night so by the time I got home I was too full and impaired to knit so I took my new Interweave Knits spring issue up to bed with me and read that until I fell asleep. It's a pretty good issue. Nothing jumped right out at me but I'll give it a couple more good looks.

I have tons and tons of work to do today to get ready for my two weeks off. So when I woke up last night I started thinking about that and composing email in my head ... gaaahhh! I'm tired today but I've got to keep chugging along so I can get everything done and not have to worry at all while I'm gone. Have a nice, relaxing vacation.

Posting is going to be hit and miss. I am sure I can do it with my iPhone because I used to do it with my Razr phone. I can always Twitter.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Okay now ... this is getting ridiculous!!!

It is neither raining nor snowing today. In fact, it's sunny! It's also very very cold. I SO wanted to ride in this morning when I looked out and saw that it wasn't raining and the streets were clear. What I couldn't see was that my car windows were covered with ice. I knew it was likely to be cold out there but I didn't know it was 29 degrees. My husband pointed that out to me when I said I thought I could bike in today. "Honey, it's 29 degrees out there!" Damn damn and double damn! I got dressed and got my stuff together and when I went out to start my car I was talking myself into riding -- "Oh, it's not THAT cold". Hmmm ... until I couldn't open my car door because the handle was frozen shut. Ah! Okay, so it IS that cold. As I was driving in I could see the puddles were frozen along side the road. I do not like having to driving in day after day. Yes, I guess I could suck it up and take the bus ... but I just need a few more degrees warmer and I can bike. Maybe by the time I get back from vacation this nonsense will be over.

I did a good bit of skirt knitting last night. Now comes the fairly boring part - knitting around and around and around, doing decreases every 12 rows. Inches and inches of it. But oh ... it is going to be so nice!

It's LOST tonight! Woohoo! Now that football is gone - it's my favorite day of the week.

WIP pictures

Finally I have pictures of my skirt. Only one week since I started it. I really wish I could discipline myself to take pictures in the evening rather than in the morning when I don't have any time. I always end up just snapping away in the morning as I'm running out the door. This shows the six lace panels - 3 in front, 3 in back, and the eyelet row for the bows. Since I'm doing this in the round, rather than as written, I completely missed that the eyelet row is supposed to be in garter stitch. But by the time I figured it out I was over half way through with it so I am leaving it as is. With ribbon threaded through it I don't think it would have been that noticeable anyway. I don't need to say how gorgeous the drape of this garment is already. I just hope that I am doing the right thing and that it fits!! I am entirely smitten with this pattern.

I got up this morning all fired up to bundle up well and get on the bike. After all, as I looked out my window I could see that the streets were clear and it didn't seem to be snowing. I checked the temperature .... ummm well, it was a little cold. Showing 33 degrees. Add wind chill to that ... but no, I'll wrap up my face, I said to myself. So I got all my bike clothes together and went downstairs to start some coffee. Tink needed to go out, as usual, so I opened the slider to let her out and got blasted in the face with very cold air, and also noticed at that time that floating through that cold air were teensie ice crystals. AKA snow. So no, no biking today. I will have to run at lunchtime. Have I said yet for the millionth time how freaking sick I am of this weather????

Goals

Remember my Action Plan? Step 1 - get back to my real size? Step 2 - save up vacation time and Step 3, take a 2 week vacation in February? An unwritten part of the action plan was to break my own 5K record. And this weekend I did it!! I got a personal best time at the Love 'em or Leave 'em race yesterday. I am still right in the middle of the pack for my age group - the first of the group came in more than 10 minutes before me, which is astonishing and definitely something to shoot for. But for now I think I'll be happy if I can shave a minute off my time. The next race in March is longer .... 3 3/4 miles so I'm not going to be breaking any records there, that's for sure. I could have even done better if some very rude people hadn't broken the rules. If you're walking you're supposed to be at the BACK of the pack, not right in the middle of it slowing people down. Also, this was a new route and there was a very bad bottleneck that slowed a lot of people down. And was it ever cold! By the time we started my hands were frozen into little balls of ice. They were numb and a definite distraction. Usually there is a booth at these races giving free coffee but there was no coffee booth this time so my hands got really really cold. It was 37 degrees out there.

And as for Step 1 -- I am 2 pounds away from my goal and wearing everything I own ... not at the same time of course ... I had to get my rings inspected and cleaned on Saturday the jewelry store is right by a Nordstrom Rack. Can't drive by a Rack without stopping, can you? I got myself two new pairs of jeans, which I really needed since most of my other ones are all frayed at the cuff. And a cute little top and a really cute jacket. I'm all set for my trip. Now I just have to make it through a week of work.

No biking today. Care to guess why? Snow!!! Freaking snow!!! We must have set some kind of records in Seattle for the amount of snow we've been getting. At least it wasn't much and had already started melting by this morning so I drove in. I did have a little scare when I was getting ready to pull out onto a busy street from a residential street and started skidding. But otherwise it was an easy drive in. And it's clear now so we probably won't be getting any more snow in the next few days. Fingers crossed.

I got lots of good work done on my skirt. All of the panels started, then hooked together and I'm now just a few rows away from the first eyelet row. I have decided to knit the small size after all because my gauge is off enough so that it won't be too tight. Plus which this yarn grows. I think it's going to be very pretty.

Thank goodness for the rain

and the humidity that comes along with it. It has been SO dry lately. And with the spontaneous nose bleeds that have been plaguing me I was starting to look like a LOST time traveler. It started sprinkling last night and it was lightly raining on my way in this morning. It's good.

I had a decent run yesterday at lunch. I'm pretty confident that if I fuel myself properly I should have a good race Sunday. I'm excited. Can you tell?

My DH is working long and late this week so I didn't see him yesterday evening again. I thought I'd get some good knitting done but Tink was so needy that it was difficult to get anything done. Plus which she's been super itchy again and she's got another yeast infection in her ear! I still have some medicine left from when I went for her right ear and I've been using it. I thought I had the left ear thing kicked but I noticed last night that she was going to town on it and sure enough. So I started it up again and this time I'm going to do the full 7 days of treatment no matter how good her ear starts looking. I remember from when her right ear was bad that when her ear cleared up she stopped scratching so much. Hope that can happen again because the poor little thing ... she's just SO itchy!

Knitting-wise I did manage to get the third panel started and all three put together. Now I need to do the same with another three, join them up and do those little increases and then I should be on track. After I get the lace done this is going to just zip along!

Tonight is a pizza birthday party for my little niece and Saturday tons of errands. But I'll have the whole of Saturday afternoon and evening to rest and knit and then Sunday ....

LOST eats into my knitting time!

I just can't knit when LOST is on. Even the "enhanced" repeat episode is too riveting to knit by. So last night I only got two of the six lace panels started. I need to make three 24 row starts and knit them together, then do the same with 3 more and then put all six together. I thought I was being so clever when I realized that because my gauge was off that I could make the small sized lace panels and then do the rest of it in medium size except ... well, the stitch count is off, isn't it?? And I like the way the skirt is shaped so I will increase before the eyelet row and then start the decreases. Because I am doing the lace panels with a size eight needle they are very stretchy and this should work. Fingers crossed. I don't want to get that far and have to re-do it. I am now all keen on knitting skirts. Go figure.

When I was first starting out knitting I bought some beautiful bulky thick and thin yarn in purples and greens. I made a very bulky first time out V-necked top-down sweater and also a cabled cardigan. I don't wear either one of those sweaters and I fell in love with the Trapeze Jacket from Stephanie Japel's new book, Glam Knits. The yarn is almost exactly the same. I am going to frog those two garments and see If I can get enough yarn to make this. I love it!!

Because I was under the weather this week I didn't get my run on Tuesday. I did run Sunday before the party and then my plan was to run Tuesday and Thursday so I could have a nice rest before the race Sunday. However .... I couldn't run Tuesday so I am going to run today and still rest Friday and Saturday. I rode in today -- cold but totally do-able -- so I won't be rested but I've got to run. At least it won't be so cold at lunchtime. It's actually been pretty nice these past few days, although rain is due to come in soon. But still I can't wait to get to California and Arizona!!!

Felled by a bug

I believe this is/was the second time in 3 months that I've been downed by some mysterious bug. This time it was a stomach thingie. I thought, since I've been eating such a low fat diet lately, that maybe it was a reaction to the fatty foods I was eating this weekend - dinner out Saturday and then the party on Sunday. But when I felt worse as the day went on Monday I realized it must be a bug. I worked from home Monday and Tuesday but I came in today. My stomach is still queasy but I drove in and I'm going to risk it. At least I've been able to eat - just finished a little oatmeal and some berries and so far so good! Fingers crossed.

I never feel much like knitting when I'm sick, plus I was working when I wasn't otherwise occupied but yesterday evening I was feeling better and started looking for a new project. I bit of startitis, I guess, since I'm still working on Rockstar and, of course, a pair of socks. I have purchased some really nice yarn lately - some llama/silk blend and some other Ella Rae silk blend, plus of course I've got those 10 skeins of Ella Rae Shibu. I was looking at little "blouse" patterns, but also I've been wanting to do a round yoke thing but nothing was really calling to me. Either they were pieced or just not right in some way. Some knitted skirts had caught my eye a few days ago and it was bubbling around in my brain and that's what I came up with. A skirt! I have a great pattern in the "Greetings from the Knit Cafe" book, the Lacy Skirt with Bows. I will, of course, modify the pattern to knit it in the round. It is absolutely insane not to do that. Also I am going to use the Ella Rae Shibu even though it's not giving me gauge. I really love the fabric this knits up to on size 7 needles at exactly 5 stitches per inch. The pattern calls for size five needles and 21 stitches per inch. If I switch out to size five needles with this yarn it's going to make the fabric too dense. I'll make the calculations but I think, off the top of my head and from doing a few rows of the lace, that if I use this yarn and make the size small it should come out just right - not quite medium and not quite small. I'm excited to get started and since my DH is going to be working the next few nights I should be able to get a good run at it.

OMG -- this is .. well, is it weird or funny or what??

Too much sock knitting

That must be the problem. I tried to work some more on the heel flap last night but my hands just kept cramping up. I'll bet if I could practice more doing Continental knitting that might help the problem. Even though I was very keen on finishing the heel flap I just couldn't do it and instead picked up the Rockstar and worked a few rows on that. I have thirteen more rows to go before I start the armhole decreases. And that is going to take some concentration because I haven't written those instructions out and since it's only 26 stitches on each end I might just read the charts. That's slow going. I hate charts.

I was all set to ride in today but the weather took a turn and when I got up it was foggy and very very cold with frost on the grass. I won't ride when it's below freezing. It's just not worth the pain. I'll just have to run extra hard at lunchtime today to make up for my sloth.

Big weekend coming up. A million and one errands tomorrow, including getting my dirty little Tink to the groomers. Dinner for S's birthday on Saturday night and Sunday is Super Bowl and we're having a few people over. I might have to come into work a little late Monday.

It is lighter

Yes it is. I really could notice it this morning on the way in. It wasn't raining but it wasn't cloudless either and still I wasn't riding in the dark. Niccccce.

Yesterday I had an awesome run at lunchtime. Four more "training" runs before the race February 8. I don't want to jinx it but if I keep this up I will for sure have a PB. That's pretty exciting ... well, for me anyway.

'Lost' was on last night so there wasn't much knitting done. I finished up the foot portion of my socks and started on the heel flap. I am loving this yarn, dyed by an ex-Secret Pal, Jen. It's soft and the colors are so beautiful! You should check out her Etsy Shop.

Finished!!

Wow! I finished "Sizzle"!! No pictures because I haven't blocked it yet. I wanted to bring it in to show at noon knitting today and I'll block it tonight. If I had knit the smallest size I would have been able to squeak by with the 5 skeins I had. Since I opted to go up a size I ended up having to use a skein from another dye lot for the trim which is only two rows on each arm hole and four around the neck!! It's not bad though - the other dye lot - since it's the trim with a lot of texture. I tried it on and indeed it is a little big around the ribs. As I said, the shaping is just beautiful and on the whole it is a very pretty garment. Maybe when it's blocked I can squish it in a little bit. I think I'd like to make it again in a smaller size. I think I'd do it in the round just to keep the purling at a minimum.

I received the "French Girl Knits" book from Interweave Press yesterday. That was fast! Unfortunately I wasn't bowled over by the designs. Nothing really jumped out at me but there were a few designs in there with potential.

Now that I have the "Sizzle" monkey off my back I'm going to concentrate on the Rockstar Jacket. It's Super Bowl weekend and we're having a party so I won't be knitting on Sunday, and Saturday is my DH's birthday and I've got a million and one errands to run plus dinner Saturday night but maybe I can knit on it then for a little while. And I'll have Thursday and Friday evenings as well. Tonight is "Lost". No knitting that I have to concentrate on, for sure!

If I said "more snow" would you believe me?

It is Seattle, after all. We're not known for our snow but yes, it is indeed snowing again. As luck would have it (this time, at least) Seattle is in the snow shadow so all we're seeing right now is a very fine snow which should turn to rain later today. I drove in, obviously. I wanted to ride my bike but I learned the hard way that the wind chill is too much to handle when it's freezing plus it's too dangerous to bike in the snow with all those hills in the morning.

I did have another great run yesterday afternoon and I'm hoping that the snow will have turned to rain by noon-ish today so I can have another one. It's two weeks to the first race I've signed up for and I am feeling very strong and believe there's a possibility that I may set a personal best at the Love 'em or Leave 'em run February 8. Friday and Sunday I ran around my neighborhood and my Sunday run was right after eating breakfast, when I've got lots and lots of energy -- well, "lots" meaning that my stomach isn't growling which is what it's like for me on week days at work. That made a big difference in my energy, as you may imagine. There are so many hills around my house as well, which makes the run more of a work out than here, which is on the trail and mostly flat. The Feb. 8 race is on a flat track, around the lake, but I believe there will be some elevation at the St. Paddy's Day Dash. I know they have changed the course but I'm pretty sure it's mostly uphill from the Seattle Center to the Aurora Bridge. If it's at the beginning of the race I'm okay but if it's in the middle or near the end, disaster for my time.

While I had plans to pick up and knit the sleeve bands on Sizzle last night, I opted out and instead worked on the socks. I want to do that tonight. I'm really keen to see this top finished. It's really nice. Makes me see all over again why I love love love that yarn (Ella Rae Shibu) so much!

The noise

There is a noise in my office. I believe it's caused by the vibrations made in the duct now that the heating/air conditioning is working again. So I'm no longer sweating like a pig but I am being slowly driven INSANE by this noise!! I asked for some help. I am hopefully that something can be done about it because it is so nerve wracking and distracting!! No wonder I get more work done at home than I do here -- I have natural light and no f*$#@ing noise!! I did have a wonderful day Friday. I made huge strides in my program. I got it to ask for what category of question one wants to make, and if you put in a new category it writes it to the database(!!!) and then you are presented with a form to write a new question. If you choose a category that already has questions in it, those questions are shown so that you don't write another one that is too like a previous one. Sounds simple but I am thrilled that I got that far. Next step - get the program to accept and write out the new question. I could get a good start on that today if I don't start bleeding from the ears from this noise!!!

Got some good knitting done as well this weekend. Friday evening I finished up the pedicure socks and got all the ends woven in. And I measured out and divided the last skein of matching yarn for Sizzle. Saturday and Sunday I worked on Sizzle and finished up the body and yes, I had just enough yarn!! I got it all seamed up and next step is to pick up stitches and knit the sleeve bands and the neck band. Unfortunately I tried it on and I am kicking myself for not knitting the smallest size. I was afraid it would be too tight across the chest and since it has good shaping in the pattern thought that the other size would be better. But I tried it on and it seems to be a little large, which means it's probably going to be too loose for my sister. I will put the trim on it anyway and block it. Who knows, she may want it and if not I'll keep it. I don't wear my tops quite as tight as she does.

Also I cast on for another pair of socks using the lovely yarn I bought ages ago from a old secret pal, Knitting Like Crazy. I love the colors -- purples and browns .. I think it's called "Enchanted Forest". Really nice. I am just doing a plain toe-up but I may incorporate a little cable or something just for fun.

Saturday I needed to shop for S's birthday gift, although I did find something on the internet for him but I'm not entirely sure it'll be here in time so I wanted a back-up gift. I had gone through my clothes and found that I am able to wear all of my jeans! Yay me!! So to celebrate I went out and bought a couple things -- a really cool pair of embellished jeans and a few tops. And Sunday I went through my closet and got rid of some "fat" pants and a few shirts and sweaters that I don't wear. Not as much as I wanted to get out of there but it's a start.

No wonder I go crazy in February

Clouds, fog, more snow predicted for this weekend. No wonder I always want a vacation in February. It's dismal around here!! The good news is that I can tell it's getting a teensie bit lighter day by day.

I am working from home today. I've got a big programming project I am tackling. Learning PHP programming by myself, from a book. NOT easy. I got so frustrated yesterday. I couldn't stop thinking about it last night and it took me ages to get to sleep. I believe I have a solution to one of my problems and so I will tackle that first thing. I have to keep thinking of this project in little bites rather than thinking of the whole entire package or I will go nuts for sure. One little step at a time is the key to success. And I was sure I had step one done only to find a stumbling block yesterday and now I have to start all over. My husband is working in his shop today so that leaves me with a nice quiet house and I should be able to get lots done. Fingers crossed!!

Still haven't finished the pedicure socks. I'm working on the cuff ribbing and the yarn keeps on coming. Those little balls have a surprising amount of yarn on them! I only wish now I had made the foot a bit longer but had I done them top down I wouldn't have known how tall to make the cuff so .... there ya go. Next time I will know. And since I love Koigu so much it's super nice to know I can get a decent pair out of one skein. In fact, if the cuff is long enough I will know that I can get a short pair of whole socks out of one skein ... yeah.

Still hoping to resurrect the Sizzle this weekend. I don't have much else going on except to shop for my husband's birthday gift. And I might be able to get that on line.

So much better

Yeah ... I drove in today. The thermometer was showing about 30 degrees this morning and there was ice on the banister on the front porch. AND foggy still. We have a burn ban again - I don't know how many days in a row it's been. Lucky for us we have a gas fireplace. And lucky for me I don't still live in my little house because I used to use my wood fireplace a lot during this time of the year. So I gave up biking, I'll run at lunch and I'm nice and comfy right now instead of thawing out.

Yesterday evening was the premier of the new season of 'Lost' so there wasn't much knitting done. I did finish up the gusset decreases and work on the cuff of the pedicure socks for the first hour during the re-cap episode, but once the new stuff started I quit knitting so I didn't miss a thing! Surprisingly I'm going to have plenty of yarn to make a decent leg on the pedi socks. I am using just one skein of Koigu and it's going to be plenty. That's nice to know.

I really do want to pick up my 'Sizzle' again since I'm going down to see my sister in a few weeks and it would be nice to be able to give it to her. When I finish these socks I will measure out the rest of the matching yarn and see if I can finish up the fronts without having to change to a different dye lot. If I can't then I won't give it to her because there is too much of a difference. It won't be bad if I just the other dye lot for the trim but I can't just switch it up on the shoulders because it would be ugly.

Just in case you ever wondered ...

Here's a time saving tip. If the thermometer is reading below freezing, say 29 degrees, it is too cold to ride a bicycle. OMG!!! What was I thinking??? Despite the extra tights and scarf over my face and glove liners and fleece headband to cover my ears I still was freezing!! Half way in my hands were numb and hurting so badly. I didn't know whether to pull over and throw up or just start crying. I nixed the crying because I was afraid the tears would freeze on my face. Holy crap! I've been here at work now for almost 45 minutes and still my legs are cold. And I've changed out of my bike clothes!! I should have driven and believe me, next time it's this cold in the morning I will. Maybe if it hadn't been foggy as well .... or even a few degrees warmer. Yesterday it was like oh ... something over freezing and it was cold and uncomfortable but I didn't feel like I was going to throw up from it!

The temperature in my office is now seasonally appropriate so today I get to wear my lovely Shibu shrug. The only complaint I have about this yarn is that I get little silk slubs on my clothes from it. But the drape is wonderful.

I took it kind of easy on my hands last night and only knit for about an hour on the pedicure socks. I've brought them in for noon knitting today where I should be able to finish up the gusset decreases and whatever yarn is left over will be the leg. These are really going to come in handy.

I made reservations for part one of my February trip yesterday. I've got part 2 all reserved but I needed to get the local stuff nailed down. I reserved two nights in McMinnville, Oregon - February 14th and 15 and also managed to get reservations for Valentine's night dinner at a wonderful little French restaurant in McMinnville. Sunday we'll so do wine tasting down there in the Willamette Valley and on Monday we'll drive up to Long Beach, Washington and stay on the coast for a couple days. I got the same place we had last year about that time only this time I don't plan on being sick as a dog! That was the beginning of that horrible 8 weeks of whatever the heck that plague was last year.

A new bad experience

I know I have repeatedly complained that my hands hurt sometimes when I knit too much. However, I have never before been awakened out of a deep sleep because of it. That is until Sunday night. Saturday I did nothing but laze around and knit on the Rockstar. I didn't finish up the back but I got some very good work done on it. I finally got around to getting a little scale calibrated and I divided a skein of Koigu into two equal balls to make my first pair of pedicure socks. I was excited about it and while I watched the football game I had recorded (dang -- Arizona won, which means I have to root for the Steelers in the Super Bowl) I cast on and started the pedicure socks. On Sunday, after my run and washing my dirty little dog I sat down to watch the other football game and I finished up the foot part and started on the heel flap. The heel flap means purling and I guess I just overdid it because I woke up in such pain! It was a sharp shooting pain. I finally got up and took a Naproxen, which thankfully did the trick and I was able to rest. Did I knit on Monday or rest my hand? What do you think -- I finished up the heel flaps, turned both heels, picked up the gussets and got half way through the gusset decreases. My hand is fine. Weird.

Yesterday we had the day off for MLK day and S and I enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather and went down to the Pike Place Market for some shopping and a lovely lunch at Maximilien's Restaurant, a very French place. It was just yummy and the produce we bought down there was fantastic, of course. It was a lovely lovely day. Tinkie then got a nice walk when we got home and I got to knit some more. Nice weekend.

And of course today is a day to remember. S has a couple of friends over watching the inauguration on the big screen. I had to miss that but it's okay. I imagine I will get to see plenty of it. I really bundled up for my ride in today and the trail was practically empty. Nobody passed me coming my way and I only saw a few walkers and runners and maybe 5 bikes going the other way toward me. It was foggy and very cold. I dressed for it this time though - I had my face covered, extra tights on under my regular tights and a warmer shirt plus extra gloves. I was fine except it was hard to see through the fog. It's a loooooong winter. At least it's dry.

Well that just hurt!!

Wow. It is cold outside! I was in serious pain all the way in to work this morning. I had to stop and put on another pair of gloves underneath my regular ones because my fingers were getting numb! I've been in my office now for 45 minutes and my face is still cold to the touch. I can feel the tea as it makes it way down to my stomach. No record breaking speed today, that's for sure.

Last night I wove the ends in on the Noro socks and two pair of other ones that had been languishing in my socks basket. A pair of Crusoe made from Koigu and another pair of socks that was my first try at toe-up but with a short-row heel which I didn't like because it left gaps. Both of these sock yarns are also NOT superwash and if you think I'm washing my socks by hand ... well, hah! So I figured I'd go ahead and weave in those ends and I'll wash them in the washer and just make sure they don't go through the dryer. I didn't get around to measuring the left over Noro sock yarn so didn't cast on for pedicure socks and quite frankly I was just too groggy to knit on the Rockstar so after I finished my little weaving project I just watched TV and fell asleep at 9:30. Slept great, too!

Besides start some pedicure socks this weekend I'm going to try to finish off the back of the Rockstar and maybe, just maybe, cast on for the sleeves. We shall see. I have a long weekend but also have some projects to do around the house. Santa brought me a lovely HUGE external hard drive and so I'm going to move all my iTunes stuff (8 gigs of TV alone!) off my laptop and onto the hard drive. And then I'm going to buy more. wheee! Oooo .... I was telling my DH last night how blazing fast my friend Steve's new 3G iPhone is. We were up at his house on Sunday for a party and I was downloading some apps onto his phone for him and I was astonished at how fast it is. His wife was one of the very first to get an iPhone and hers is now almost 2 years old. She says his is WAY faster than hers. Mine is coming up on 1 year old and I want ... no, I need a bigger one. I was too anxious to wait a few days for the 16 gig version because I was sure 8 would be enough. Hah! and double hah! I want a 3G 32 gig version. I guess I could live with a 16.

An evening of LOST knitting

In preparation for the start of LOST on next Wednesday there were 3 hours of enhanced episodes last night. I thought it was only two and at 10 o'clock was ready for bed. S stayed up to finish watching but I couldn't keep my eyes open.

I finished the Noro socks last night. Still have to weave in the cuff and toe ends. As I suspected, they are just too bulky and too hot to be socks and will instead have to live out their lives as slippers. I think Noro sock yarn is more better suited to gloves or arm warmers or a wrap. Or if you were a sandals and socks person I guess they would work. I am pretty sure there is enough left over for pedicure socks. We'll soon find out.

It's still quite chilly but, thankfully, dry! I really noticed on my ride home last night that it's staying light longer. The trail is not pitch black at 4:30 any longer and that makes for a much nicer ride home. I wasn't as fast coming in today. I had a wicked bad night last night. Poor Tink -- I always let her outside before bed to take care of business and last night was no different except I did have to go out and physically shoo her in to the house. She was sitting up by the fire pit and didn't want to come in but I was ready for bed and didn't want S to have to chase come down and get her if she started to bark. So I went to bed and fell asleep and she woke me up 3 or 4 times from 11:30 to 2:30 yipping at the slider downstairs. I thought she had just heard something in the back yard and wanted to go investigate but by the 3rd or 4th time, at 2:30, I finally decided that she must have to go finish her business. Sure enough, I let her out for a few minutes and then she was ready to sleep. So I didn't get much rest last night and it was difficult to get out of bed and even more difficult to go out into the cold. I feel okay now but I know I'll sleep like a log tonight!

38 and 39

38 -- minutes it took me to bike in this morning. This is a new record. And I wasn't even trying for it! And 39 ... degrees outside. Talk about wind chill! Dang! My face was frozen. Thankfully I found a couple of guys to draft behind for a while near the end and it cut the wind chill significantly. Unfortunately they were super pokey so I had to go around. But it was nice relief while I had it.

The haircut is a huge success if I do say so myself! Test number one -- I took my bike helmet off, fluffed up the hair and it looks good! We'll see how it looks after a run but for now I am very very pleased. It is quick to dry and hoorah, my curls are back! It was just getting too long. I didn't feel like it ever looked good. I suppose I could have had more layers cut around the face but I was feeling it was time for a change. I don't think I've had it this short since 2000.

I am nearly finished with the Noro socks. I am now working on the leg. Because I made them two different sizes it's like I'm knitting the same pair of socks twice -- which I am! Because Noro sock yarn comes as 400 yards per skein, which is enough for a pair, and I was too lazy to wind out 200 yards of it so I could do two at once, this is the price I have to pay. My friend Peggy, when I told her that story, said something on the order of well, that wasn't much of a time saving, was it? And no, no it wasn't. The few minutes it would have taken me to wind out 200 yards ... *sigh* .... let's just say I won't be making that particular mistake again.

One other thing I love about toe-up socks -- you just knit until you either run out of yarn or until the leg is the right height. I am hoping I'll have enough yarn left over to make a pair of pedicure socks. This is my new thing and don't ask me why, except the last few times I've gone for a pedicure I've wished I had some. That's reason enough I suppose. I was doing a quick little inventory of my yarn last night while I was tidying up my office/yarn room and I've got some nice sock yarn but some only one skein where I'd need two to make a decent sized pair of socks. Perfect for some pedicure socks. In particular I have one skein of Koigu that I originally purchased as trim for Knitty's Tahoe, which I decided again because OMG, look at all that stockinette!! Arghghg! I'd go crazy with boredom. That Koigu would be lovely as a pair of pedicure socks.

I got my little February vacation finalized yesterday. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but my sister got a new job within her company - a horizontal move - but that changed her schedule. Previously she was going to be ready for a vacation February 22 through 28 but now she can't take the time off then. However, I had already made plans and was too invested to have to wait until March(!!) so what I'm going to do is spend most of the first week here with S and we'll go to Oregon and the coast here in Washington and then Thursday I'll fly down to California and spend a long weekend with my sis, then Monday fly to Phoenix and get some sun with my old friend Mikie in Phoenix and then Thursday fly back home and have another long weekend with S. At least I'll be away from home and, with any luck at all, get some sun. Not as good as a cruise or Hawaii but I will be away! And nice thing about my sister's new job -- she goes to London every year in October and next October I'm going to meet her over there for a few days. That'll be niccccceeee.

'Twas a dark and stormy night

Wow .... It rained and rained and blew and blew last night. The sounds of the storm kept waking me up. There were some incredible pictures on the news last night. The flooding around here has been just incredible! By "around here" I mean in the greater Seattle area and up into the mountains, NOT in my neighborhood. With the exception of a few storm drains that are plugged up, we're in pretty good shape. Wish I could say that for other parts of the city. What a mess. Thank goodness there was no rain this morning and I actually got to ride in for a change! Since I never did locate my old Garmin ... heaven only knows where that got to ... I bought a new Forerunner 301 which comes with a wireless heart rate monitor. I got the unit charged up last night but that was about it. I used it to time my ride this morning and later I'll fuss with the settings and, since I'm giving myself a day off of running, I won't be trying out the heart rate monitor until tomorrow. I have a lot of training to do -- the first race I'm signed up for is February 8 - four weeks from now. Which, coincidentally was the LAST race I ran last year. After that I got sick and then ... I never did catch up. I believe this model has a few more bells and whistles than the earlier one.

I knit on my socks last night until my hands hurt. That really makes me mad! Why do my hands hurt?? But I know better than to push it. If I stop when the pain starts then I can knit the next day. If not then I have to take time off, which would be very annoying. So I played Wii sports with S. I am such a geek.

The frustration meter continues to climb

Why? Because I couldn't bike today. It was blowing WAY too hard. So that means another run at lunchtime time today - 3rd day in a row. Thank goodness my knees and ankles are holding up so far. And truly it's not as if I'm a fair weather biker, but it's pitch black when I leave my house, I have to bike on the side of a very busy street before I get to the trail, AND I have to go down some really steep hills. When the weather is super bad it just makes it that much more dangerous (as if biking on the side of the road in the dark with big trucks whizzing past isn't dangerous enough). I could just see myself getting blown into the path of a speeding SUV along Sandpoint Way. Not my chosen way to leave this world. My DH volunteered to drive me in to work today and when I got up at 4 am to answer the call of nature and heard the wind howling outside I decided to take him up on it. I guess the bottom line is that I'd rather be alive and bitching than dead and not.

I frogged the Noro socks last night and re-started, toe-up two at a time (TUTAT). Here's the snag -- casting on both socks using the Turkish method [which I prefer to the figure 8, which leaves gaps]. I have come to the conclusion, after starting over 3 times, that one cannot use this cast on without starting one, taking it off (on a couple of spare DPNs) and starting the other, then slipping the first one back on. I tried several things, none of which worked and now I have one sock with two little inside-out rows at the very beginning of the toe. I will leave it as a reminder that perfection is not always possible -- plus which, okay okay, I just didn't want to start over a 4th time!!

I think the snow made me weak

Biking in was tops on my list of things to do today, especially since I was all psyched up about it Sunday night and had that nasty snow take away my bike ride. However the news kept showing another storm coming in, lots of rain and wind predicted. So when I woke up this morning and heard the rain pelting down on the skylight in the bathroom I threw in the towel and decided to drive AGAIN! By the time I was dressed and walking out the door the rain had stopped and it was only just misting all the way in! I was being a wimp! But oh I didn't want my first ride of the year to be a soaker. It is so uncomfortable for so long. I had it too easy all those years - that little 3 mile ride. I could ride in a gale and it wasn't any big deal because it only took about 12 minutes! But now .... 40 minutes. I've just gotten soft with two weeks off. If it's not pouring and blowing tomorrow morning I'm going to ride!

I was very very very tired yesterday. My cold - if that was what it was - seemed to have pretty much disappeared so I thought I might wake up a bit if I went outside and ran at lunchtime. It was a good run, considering that I had to practically threaten myself to get outside. I knew I would feel better if I got it over with and I did. Especially since I had to drive in. But oh ... when I got home it was all I could do to drag Tink around the neighborhood for 20 minutes. I was so sleepy! I managed to stay up until 9, knitting on my second Noro sock and watching an awesome Fiesta Bowl.

Something very strange happened with these socks though .... and I can't quite explain it but it does make me see that knitting socks at the same time is really the way to go. These two socks are just two different sizes - no other way to say it. I was working on that ribbing and I put sock 1 on my foot and sock 2 on my foot and holy cow! the first one was WAY bigger than the second. You're going to say - didn't you try the first one as you went? And the answer is yes yes yes of course I did! My only explanation for the difference in size, after pondering this mystery, is that I must have given myself too much ease on the foot part of the first sock. When you do toe up construction, in case this is new to you, you knit until the sock just reaches your leg on the top and then you knit back and forth on the bottom heel part, then turn the heel and do the gusset. I must not have been paying close attention and I went too many rows past where it meets my leg, then made the heel too deep causing me to have more stitches to pick up and therefore the heel was taller than it should be, causing it to be bigger. I was measuring just parts of the sock against each other as I went along with sock 2 and hadn't really held them up side by side until last night. Such a rookie mistake! There is a silver lining to this little disaster. Now I can do toe up two at once. I will simply start unraveling the first sock and knitting directly from it and the second one I can just wrap around the left over skein and go from there.

After discovering this travesty I tossed them aside and picked up the Rockstar again. See my little lifelines? I am 70 rows in to the back. I have 40 more rows to go and then I start the armhole decreases. This is going to be so pretty!

Happy New Year!

I was looking forward to a fancy-schmancy party for New Years this year, but things got switched up and we ended up babysitting. It wasn't so bad and since they stayed up late they slept in late as well. I was deep into sock knitting this long weekend. Having finally finished the brown socks I was able to take out my gorgeous Noro sock yarn and get to work. It knits up fast! I finished one sock and I could have finished the other one yesterday evening but my hand was getting sore so I put it down. I may even have enough yarn left over to make some pedicure socks. I want to experiment doing toe-up construction, 2 at a time. If I make pedicure socks at least I can experiment with picking up the gusset stitches. I can do it top down so there's no reason why I can't do it bottom up, is there?

Yesterday I woke up all stuffy and sneezing and thought at first that it was some sort of allergic reaction, but by the late afternoon I realized that it was a cold coming on like gangbusters. I took nighttime cold medicine before crawling into bed and I woke up today feeling just okay. It hasn't gotten any better but, on the good side, hasn't gotten any worse either.

We got another nasty surprise yesterday - more snow! Yes ... MORE SNOW! I couldn't believe it. I had gotten my bike all cleaned up, the tires freshly pumped, and I was SO looking forward to riding in today since it has warmed up and the snow was finally gone from the streets. But that was then. It started last night and we got more than two inches. S had to be downtown this morning at 7 so he was up at 5 and got out no problem. It is warm and so all of that snow is now slush. I couldn't bike but at least I could drive in it and after I got out of the neighborhood it was just fine. Maybe I can run at lunchtime if my cold is not too bad.

Finished the socks

Woohoo! I am SO glad to be done with those socks. I still have to graft the toes, but that'll only take a few minutes. I loved working with the yarn, a bamboo cotton blend, but the colors weren't really up my alley. I picked the brown/cream/green combo because I thought it was more manly than the others and S does have a lot of brown socks. But since it is variegated it looks more like camouflage than anything else. Oh well, he can wear them as slippers. I am convinced that once my guy owns and wears a pair of hand knit socks he's going to be bugging me forever more to make him another pair. Just wait.

I haven't knit much on the Rockstar Jacket lately. I am 60 rows in to the back piece - about half way to the first armhole decreases. I was just remarking a couple days ago that I believe this is the first pattern that I have picked up and started working on soley because I want the garment and not because I want to knit it. That might not make sense to a non-knitter but I am sure you all understand what I mean. And I really truly can't wait to wear this garment! It's going to be really cool.

Yesterday at noon I went for a run. The rain had stopped and the trail looked snow and ice free, so off I went. What I didn't notice (because it was sunny for a change) is that it was quite windy. I might even say VERY windy! I sw a woman nearly get blown off her bicycle. She had to put her foot down to keep from going over. I was working quite hard running into the head wind although coming back was pretty nice. Kind of like flying.

The garbage still hasn't been picked up and with the wind now some people have quite the mess brewing. I think S is going to take matters into his own hands today and take a load to the dump. Because of the snow and the lack of pick-up they are accepting it for free. Hopefully he can help a few of the neighbors out as well because according to their web site this morning we're not due to get a pick up until Friday.

The mail was finally delivered yesterday but my Christmas package from my sister, that should have arrived last Tuesday, was too big for the box to S had to go out to the post office to pick it up. I got to stretch my Christmas out like a birthday week.

Time for another cup of tea.

Thank goodness it stopped snowing!

Wow! I didn't think it was ever going to stop snowing but finally it did ... Friday. There is still snow on the side streets - or I should say slush. I couldn't ride my bike today because all of the smaller streets that I take down to the trail are impassible by bike. But I drove in just fine and I'll run at lunchtime to make up for the lost bike ride. Here's a picture of the snow again - this one taken on Christmas Eve day. The Christmas Eve parties we were going to were canceled, which was just fine with me since I hate going out in the snow, especially at night. I am just kicking myself about the garage. There is another door to the left - a 3 car garage. You'd think that after being in the house for nearly 5 months that the garage would be ready to receive vehicles, wouldn't you? And to be perfectly frank it is nearly there but for one run to Goodwill and a bike rack. We could have squeezed the two cars in there without too much fuss except that S had purchased a new sound system and special ordered four cases to carry around the speakers. These cases need to have fittings and foam made and inserted into them and so they are what is taking up the space in the garage rather than our cars! Oh yeah, but next time we're going to be ready. yeah ... next time.

The knit hats were a huge success. Santa brought me a Wii game system but some of my holiday long weekend that I had counted on as quality knitting time went to playing video games instead. I'm not complaining - it was fun. I did pick up those socks that I had been knitting a bit on for my DH and just knit on them exclusively. I want to use that gorgeous Noro sock yarn my Birthday Pal sent me last August but I've got to finish his socks first. I am just starting on the toe decreases so hopefully I can finish those up tonight.

It's pretty quiet here at work but I am glad to be away from the house after the forced time at home last week. My DH's son is staying with us on his vacation from school and it is a vacation for me to get away from him! Two weeks is definitely a week and a half too long for me to have a house guest that never leaves the house.

Somehow my office has gotten very very very hot while I was gone. The heating guys came by right after I moved in at my request because it was like a sauna in here. Supposedly he turned the temperature down in the office next to mine which is where the control is for both of them. But it's awful in here now and I can see that the air is not circulating. No window to open .... I am dying! I'd take my cardigan off except I just have a little cami underneath and it's not really office attire. This is as hot as the Annex!

Snow Day

Well, here it is Monday. I worked at home last Thursday and Friday because it had snowed, the roads were icy and I don't drive in the snow and I had everything I needed her at home. And despite the dire weather forecasts I didn't really believe that it would snow again and so much! We have eight inches here and they closed the UW today. The Seahawks had a game yesterday but I just couldn't face the cold and snow even though it was Holmgren's last home game and Brett Favre was playing. We won, too. But I watched from the warmth and comfort of my home.

My DH chained up my little car yesterday in anticipation of driving me to work today, but since I didn't have to go he went out Christmas shopping. I walked the dog and then walked down to a local store to do some last minute things. After I finish this post I'm going to do what I have been doing every evening and all of Saturday and Sunday -- knit. Only this time I'm knitting for me! I have knit four hats since Wednesday evening. One each evening except Saturday and Sunday when I was working only on one of them and my Rockstar. I made a little ribby hat, the Beanpole Beanie, an Asymetrical Cable Hat from a one skein bok and an earflap hat from some other one skein book. I also crocheted two bath mitts. I was going to do two more but I am just finished working for other people. It's just for me for a while. Here are the pictures of the hats.

Success

After ripping back the Rockstar Cardigan/Jacket one more time, I finally got a good start on it. Two things were happening that messed me up. First of all I (of course) made a little mistake when I translated the chart, putting an "End K1" at the end of the charted rows as well as the purl rows. That's wrong. Second, nowhere does it tell you that the stitch count changes in your 12 stitch pattern repeat. So when I came across on that row and found that I was short a stitch right before the first marker I pondered whether to go on or not. I was 100% sure I had done the previous row correctly and that the stitch count was right so I just moved the markers as I came to them by one stitch and what do think? It ended up right. This is an important piece of information that I think the designers should have mentioned, don't you? I probably didn't need to rip it out the first two times!

This weekend I got through one 20 row repeat, put in a lifeline (my first) and started on my second. I should have taken pictures but I simply couldn't get out of bed this morning! I kept hitting the alarm. So much so that when I did finally drag my lazy behind out of bed I had to rush through my shower, skip washing my hair and was 10 minutes late to work. I drove in because it's 20 degrees outside. NOT biking weather unless you relish losing your nose to frostbite. We got a little bit of snow Saturday and word has it that another storm is coming in tomorrow. I worked from home yesterday because my servers were being moved and I had taken the precaution of bringing home my sites so I could work on them in case of bad weather. I think I should do the same thing tonight.

It is lucky I was home yesterday though because Sunday night Tink started messing with her right ear. I took a look at it and it was red, stinky and when I tried to clean it out some pretty yucky stuff came out. I called the vet first thing Monday and they fit us in. Turns out she has yeast and staph infection in her ear! Poor thing. They gave me some medicine and she's pretty good about me putting it in there. I think it probably feels pretty good.

And the word is ....

weather. Supposedly it's catching up to us. Winter, that is. The forecast is for very cold temperatures and maybe snow. By "very cold" I mean well below freezing. By Sunday the predicted high is 29 and low 18. For us that is VERY cold! Right now it's only in the low 40s and I rode in with little discomfort. I did, however, ask my DH to be ready with the van this afternoon in case it starts pouring and blowing and I want a ride home.

I am very close to finishing My So Called Scarf. I can do that at lunchtime today. I worked on it last night as well. When that's done I think I'll start on a hat. I'm just going to make a bunch of stuff and then decide who gets it. I do want to start on the Rockstar again this weekend. Saturday we're going to get the tree and put it up, and I've got to get the majority of my shopping done, or at least all the presents for California. I am tentatively scheduled to rehearse with my old band - the rock band - but I haven't heard yet from the leader and if it's snowing there's no way I'm going out to his place. He lives way out near Canyon Park and at the top of a very steep hill. I don't drive in the snow. That would leave me all Saturday night to knit on gifts and then maybe Sunday I can find a little time in the day and knit on it in the living room with the natural light and quiet. I just need to get a good start on it - oh, and check the gauge. The reason I'm not doing a "real" gauge swatch is that I already swatched for this. The yarn wasn't exactly the same, but close enough.

I ran at lunch yesterday. That was a big day - bike ride both ways and a run - but I'm doing okay. I was a little sore yesterday but hopefully I can keep it up. If my knees and/or ankles start to bother me then I'll just drive in two days a week and run on those days. Maybe it is too much to do the bike ride AND the run, but if I can do it I sure would like to. It's not that I don't have the energy, it's that my knees and ankles get a little sore. I've injured myself before and I know how long you have to be out of commission so that's why I'm super careful. There are certain kinds of pain that you just don't work through. That I learned the hard way!

Still missing

Still no sign of my Garmin. I have looked everywhere I can even imagine putting the thing, as well as in my car in case it fell out of the bag. I am just at a loss! I am sure I didn't have it in my bag when I went up to the post office to send off my sister's birthday present on Tuesday. I was going to use it but it seemed silly since I wasn't running. So I remember taking it out of the bag and putting it next to my camera. And that's the last time I remember touching it. I do remember picking my camera back up and putting it in the bag to go home and I think I remember picking up the GPS as well. And when I came home I had the new yarn and the camera and the GPS and I took them and the bag upstairs. I put the yarn on the yarn shelf, the camera on the shelf where it belongs and I should have put the Garmin in my bike helmet. But obviously I did not. I'm going to give it a few days and maybe it'll turn up. I hate to buy another one. I just got this one a couple months ago! So today I'll have to use my Sponge Bob digital watch for my run. I already signed up for the St. Patrick's Day race - they were having a deal if you signed up before the end of December. But the next race I'll actually run will be the February Love 'em or Leave 'em which, coincidentally, is the last race I ran last year! I was signed up for the St. Patrick's Day race last year but I got sick right after the February race and I couldn't run in March, I was still sick in April I remember because my sister came up to do wedding stuff and I went to the doctor while she was there. And then ... well, there was too much other stuff to do. So now I'm back in training and I've paid the fee, so I'll be running in March for sure!

Last night I decided to start/swatch for the Rockstar. I have 10 balls of Kid Classic in an olive green that will be perfect. I cast on 99, did the purl set up row and then started on the lace pattern. But I didn't get more than six rows in when I discovered I was off even though I put markers between each repeat. I messed it up further trying to fix the mistake so I just ripped it out and I'll start over. Probably not tonight though. This is a project where I need to sit quietly and get it started without TV or the dog bugging me. I have plenty of easy present projects to do and that's what I should be doing, not starting something else. But knitting isn't really about should, is it? It's about doing what's fun. So yeah ... if I feel up to it I'll probably try starting it again tonight. I am that perverse.

The indecision is killing me!

I cannot decide what to make next! It's making me crazy! The alpaca scarf I'm making is, of course, not for me because I can't wear alpaca. I love to knit with it because it's so soft, but once it's next to anything other than my hands, the itching is just awful. So that'll be a Christmas gift. And I have a couple others in mind so I don't have to make a decision right now. I do have knitting to do. I am going to write out the charts for the Rockstar and maybe, just maybe, I'll start a piece of that this weekend.

This is a frustrating morning. First of all I couldn't find my Garmin. I brought it work for my run on Monday when I drove and I know I had it yesterday in the same bag as Monday because I drove in yesterday as well. And I remember taking it out of the bag but for the life of me I can't remember where I put it!! I was running up and down the stairs looking everywhere for it this morning and in that ensuing chaos managed to grab the wrong set of keys. So when I got to the bike rack and reached into the pocket of my back pack I found ... no office keys. No bike lock keys. I hate starting the day off like that. On the good side, it's still mild outside and it wasn't raining.

She did it!!

I shall now call her The Amazing Monika. She threaded my needle through a row of stitches, I ripped it back at lunchtime on Friday and by Saturday I had finished knitting it and Sunday put on some fringe. I really should learn how she does that because it's a very handy skill to have! Here's the finished product. The drape is just wonderful. I am going to keep my eyes peeled from now on and nab any and all of this gorgeous yarn I can. I wish I had taken the time to do a fancier stitch but on the other hand, the beaded strand could be a little tricky to work with even in this easy stitch. Lace would be a real challenge.

Not one but two FOs this weekend - I also finished up my Liesel, after a whole year. I have discovered that I am not a chart person. After printing out the written pattern for this it just flew off my needles. That means that I'm going to have to translate the charts for the Frost Flowers Stole (yes, Nonnahs, I am in the mood for lace, it seems). I unearthed the pattern for the Rockstar Cardigan (looks like they renamed it "jacket") and the yarn I purchased for it this weekend and I will write out those charts as well. It makes most sense to start that project rather than purchase more yarn. I do want to work from stash.

But before I do that I'm going to cast on for yet another scarf tonight. I know, I'm not usually a scarf knitter but I bought some yarn that would be perfect for My So Called Scarf and it would make a perfect gift. I honestly don't think I could part with these two new ones - silk and cashmere. Who but a knitter would appreciate all the work and the yarn-y goodness?

I gave Tink a bath on Friday after work and Saturday it wasn't raining so we went to Greenlake for a nice, long walk (along with a billion other people). I was so proud of my pretty, white doggie. So cute and clean. We passed two other Westies, both white and clean as well. But what did my nice clean dog do? I am sure you can guess. She found a nice, large pile of duck poo and put her shoulder in it and smeared it from neck to tail! I wasn't quick enough. Usually I can see her ducking her shoulder to take a roll and I can halt it, but I was distracted and away she went! Much to the amusement of the people walking by us, we made our way around the lake. Lucky for me I had a towel in the back of the car and covered the seat. Then, after I got the groceries into the house into the sink she went and I gave her another bath and the rest of the evening I didn't let her off her long line.

On Saturday I also bought a few Christmas-y decorations for the house - a wreath, some garland, a Poinsettia, and yesterday bought some outdoor lights. I have wanted to have lights on my house forever but never had a guy who was willing. But S will do it! AND he said last night that I didn't buy enough. I was just thinking of putting it over the 30 feet of porch, but he says it should go all the way across the 3 garages as well, so he's going to get more today. I can't wait!!!

The effects of growing as a knitter

Ah ... that scarf. That silly, simple fishnet scarf. I worked a few more rows on it last night but kept laying it out on the back of the couch and scrutinizing the wonky bit from the night before. Yes, it's going to be at the back of my neck. BUT, I'll know it's there! I'll know that if I don't don it correctly the mistake will be visible. See, now a couple of years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But now it is eating away at me. My friend Monika has the eye. You know what I mean - she's the type of person who can look at your knitting and say .. "Oh, I see what you did". Me? All I see is a mistake! I can tink back and pick up a YO, but that's about as far as I go. Or I can weave my needle through plain stockinette and rip back, but if it's rib -- forget about it. Bless her generous heart and keen eye - she has volunteered to try to weave the needle through a good row so I can rip back to before the mistake. Let's all wish her luck. I know that I can't do it and if she can't I am afraid I'm going to have to rip that thing out and start all over. Sure, it's a simple scarf but the time! I've spent several entire evenings over this. I refuse to waste this gorgeous (and expensive) yarn though so it must be done. Maybe I'll pick up the Leisel again in the meantime if I do have to start all over.

My DH had another late evening in Tacoma last night at a show and an early meeting there today so he spent the night down there in a hotel and I had the house all to myself last night. Well, me and Tink. For some reason I was very low energy on my ride home last night. That hill up from the trail just killed me! But Tink got her walk and I made a little dinner then knit and watched some TV. But I couldn't warm up! I drank a couple cups of tea but that wasn't doing it for me, so we went upstairs and I cuddled under the comforter and watched some TV and read until I could sleep. He won't be home until very late tonight so I guess it'll be the same routine. Except Tink is getting a bath for sure!

Pay attention!!

I am SO mad at myself. Last night I was working on the fishnet lace scarf I'm making out of the Artyarns Beaded Silk. It's simple -- one row of k2tog yo and one row of knitting. Just to make positive sure I keep a counter on one needle and switch back and forth from 1 to 2 - pattern row and knit row. Fool proof, right? Well, not for THIS fool! I was just coming to the end of my first skein and wasn't sure if I had enough yarn to make it across one last time. Since this yarn is so precious I thought I'd give it a try but somewhere near the middle of the row it was apparent I wasn't going to make it. So I grabbed the end of the second skein and knit a stitch with the old yarn and the new one together, as I normally do, then dropped the old yarn and picked up the new one and knit to the end of the row but when I got to 3 stitches to the end I thought I was off a stitch. Now here's where I went wrong -- what I should have done is look at my stitch counter to see what row I was on and then double check that by looking at the end of the scarf because I can tell by where the starting tail is hanging. I didn't do that. No. I started tinking back, assuming I was on a 1 row when I was on a 2 row. What a mess!! I finally took the needle out and ripped back until I could see a pretty clear row of loops and then fed the needle through them, hoping for the best. To my credit I managed to get all but 3 squares of the pattern right but those six stitches, after going back across, are just not right. I can't bring myself to rip the thing out again. That's an entire skein, one half of the scarf. I rationalize it this way - when I'm wearing the scarf the wonky row will be at my neck, under my hair and nobody will see it. I'm just so mad at myself though!

I have decided to resurrect Liesel. The last time I worked on it was when I was in California last Christmas and I thought I had goofed it up while I was knitting at my sister's and the wind was blowing and I had my contacts in and got something in them. But when I took it out yesterday to look at it and counted the stitches it looked fine to me. Anyway the yarn is 100% cashmere and it would be a great Christmas gift if I don't keep it myself. (How many scarfs can a girl use?) I hate working from charts though so I painstakingly wrote out the 10 rows of the pattern and then found that the designer had already done it. That's what I'm going to do for the Frost Flowers Stole - I'm going to write out the pattern rather than trying to work with the chart because charts drive me crazy.

It's gotten a little bit colder here. Still there is no snow in the mountains, which is a shame for the skiers. But as I was leaving this morning I saw the neighbor across the street scraping ice off their car windows and I could see frost on roofs on the way to work. The wind chill was biting. Thank goodness I start my ride uphill so I can warm up quickly.

Happy Birthday to you & The Action Plan

First up -- a happy birthday shout out to you-know-who-you-are. Just in case you check in ... I didn't forget. Cheers!

And now on to The Action Plan. As you may or may not know, Seattle is a rather dark place from November until March. We're northerly and so it is dark before 5 already and we're not even at the shortest day of the year. Add into the equation the cloudy days and there you go - dark and gloomy. After the holidays things get rather depressing around here and I always like to have a winter vacation to look forward to. Skiing is always a good way to chase the winter blues but my DH does not ski. Add into that the fact that he works a lot and usually on the weekends, so skiing weekends are not going to do it for me. I need a real vacation. So I've made a 10 week plan.

Step 1 - Get back to my real weight so I can wear more than one pair of my jeans. Considering that I bike 16 miles a day, all it's going to take is a little calorie counting and I should be on track and back into the nice jeans in 10 weeks.

Step 2 - Don't waste any more vacation days!! I am going to forgo my usual two week Christmas and New Years holiday and instead just take the one day after Christmas and the one day after the 1st. That way I won't have to spend much time with the house guest, and I'll still get two 4-day weekends in a row and save myself 3 vacation days so that...

Step 3 - by February I'll have more than enough to take two weeks. The DH and I will take a week and do something locally like go to the ocean or up to Canada or down to Oregon, whatever he wants. And the following week I'll go down to California and my sister and I can do something fun like take a cruise or go someplace and have a girly time.

I feel a million times better!

Now on to something more serious - what am I going to knit next?? I finished up the last mitt and I re-started the scarf I was knitting with the gorgeous Artyarns Beaded Silk. I am just doing a garter stitch edge with a fishnet type lace insides because this yarn is so beautiful and the drape is so incredible that I wanted it to be super simple but get the most length I could get out of the two skeins. That's just simple, mindless TV knitting. Yes I KNOW I have WIPs to pick up, but forget that for now. I want to start something. I am considering the Modern Quilt Wrap if my LYS has enough of the right colors to make it in their coned English mohair. Not that I don't love Kidsilk Haze, but I am NOT buying over $100 of yarn for a scarf/wrap. That's insane. Or I could take a deep breath and tackle the Frost Flowers Stole. I can't decide!

It was a trying holiday

I wish I could say that I had an absolutely fabulous staycation and that Thanksgiving was grrrreat but, not really. My husband's son came to stay a day earlier than planned, which did not please me. With him, a little goes a loooong way. I do not enjoy spending my vacation running a hotel, if you catch my drift. I made the best of it, tried to keep a good attitude and drank lots of champagne.

I kept to my plan and made lots of side dishes on Wednesday so that I only had to get up at 8 Thursday morning(!) to get the turkey going. I managed to grab another few minutes in bed after that but was all apron-ed up by 10, working on the rest of the meal. I had two tables set - one for the little kids and one for the adults. At the last minute both the son and the daughter showed up with uninvited guests!! I am all for 'the more the merrier' but uninvited guests? Not so much. I was SO angry. I tried to point out to my DH how rude that was and he did tell them, but I don't believe it made any difference to either of them. If I had known I would have given the children paper plates or small plates but I didn't, so there weren't enough plates, nor places for them to sit so I had a couple at the table in the other dining room, and my DH sat at the table with the little kids. At least the meal was good, but the way people were bossing me around -- maybe in a few weeks ( or months ... or years) I will find the humor, but at one point my step-daughter's MIL said "I'll have coffee with my meal" and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying "OH, well I'll get right on that". Good heavens. I don't know .... is it me? Am I really too fussy? I just think there's such a thing as manners and you should bring them out at every occasion, whether it's family or not!

Here I just got back from "vacation" and I don't feel like it at all. I haven't been away since May when we went for that week in Hawaii! Sure I've had time off work but not away. I miss my sister. I think part of the bad Thanksgiving experience was not having MY family around. I would rather have been all alone with my friends in Paris than slaving away at home without my sister and nephews. And the thought of having to repeat the whole thing in another few weeks is not making me any happier. Okay .. end of rant.

I finished up my February Lady Sweater and it's on my floor drying. The buttons are going to look great on it and if it's dry tonight I'll put them on and take another picture. I am currently in big fat pig mode, so there will be no pictures of it on me for a while. I have started a walk on the straight and narrow and until I can get back into ALL my jeans there will be no pictures. Anyway ... I like this pattern a lot and I think I will try it again but next time use a steek down the front and do stockinette for the yolk rather than garter. I have some of that beautiful Cash Iroha left over from the Hemlock Ring Blanket and I've got .. I think it's Silver Thaw that would harmonize with it. I could use the Cash Iroha for the yolk and the Silver Thaw for the body. Hmmmm ... I also finished two pair of mitts and I am nearly done with the LAST pair. Just a few more rows on the hand, bind off and then knit the two thumbs and we're done. I think I'll buy some really decadent yarn with the money. I can't decide what to knit next. I think I should knit from stash. I could do the Rock Star Cardigan I've been saving for ... how many years?