Taking the easy way out

I did visit the new salon and made an appointment there for this Friday. I needed to cancel my appointment with my old stylist - the appointment was set for this Thursday. I put it off and put it off and finally this morning when I got to work I called her salon and left a message on her machine. Nine years I've been going there but I just didn't want to talk to her because I am afraid she'd argue with me. So - I left a message. And if she does call I'm not going to pick it up. I just feel sorry for my husband because if there is any flack, he's going to get it when he next goes for a haircut.

The extended weekend was just what the doctor ordered. It was GREAT weather too. The new Star Trek movie, which we saw Thursday night, was very good and well worth going to the Cinerama to view it. On the way to dinner that night we happened to drive by the J&M and saw that it had gone out of business and the auction of its contents had taken place earlier that day! I have a picture that has been on the wall of that place for ... well, I'm not going to say how long but I was 23 when it went up. My husband really wanted that picture so, since he knows the auction house owner, he called him the next day and found out that one person had purchased all of the pictures. On Friday he went down and spoke with a person at the J&M who was supervising the auction and told her the story and left his business card in the picture frame. Hopefully we'll get it back, or at least be able to copy it.

During my stay-cation I took two 20 mile bike rides - one with my DH yesterday but it was too crowded for me to have a good ride. Him on the other hand - it pretty much wiped him out. He's not used to it. I also got the vegetables all set and planted some lettuce and more herbs on planters for the deck. I got lots of good knitting done as well, but I have decided to frog the Radiate. The sleeves are giving me fits. The pattern says to knit them flat - but that is pretty much impossible. The other option is to do it in the round (duh) but on 2 circulars and because of the pattern I was not able to keep the edges from the ladder effect plus it's all purl and, quite frankly, I don't like reverse stockinette. I have tons of great patterns so I think I'll just rip it out and use the yarn for something nice. I am actually just marking time until my yarn comes from Little Knits to make my new skirt.

So now it's back to work and back to the real world and it's even supposed to rain today! But nice all the rest of the .. SHORT .. week! Friday a new hair stylist! I am going to have her take me back to the nice reddish brown I had. My ex-stylist was making my hair too blond and not listening to me. Hopefully this new one will fix me up. I have been hating my hair for too long!

Oh what a gorgeous day!!

I am having a little "staycation" to stretch my long weekend into 5 days. Today I wanted to sleep in but it is SO gorgeous outside I just can't! After breakfast I'm going to have a run, then get cleaned up and do a little spa stuff. Then pick up a couple things I need at the mall and at 12:30 I'm going to have a consultation at a new hair salon. I still feel moderately guilty -- I suppose the real guilt will set in when I actually call and cancel my appointment next week. Ah ... who am I kidding? Guilt has never been my thing. It'll just be uncomfortable because I know she's not going to be professional about it. Ah well ... that's life.

Tonight we're going to see the new Star Trek movie -- can't wait! Tomorrow I hope to get a little gardening and a lot of knitting done. Supposed to be nice all weekend. Maybe we'll even go to the Folklife Festival. Choices abound.

I'm calling it Friday

I know it's Wednesday, but I'm taking Thursday and Friday off this week to make a longer long weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice and it's a pretty good time work-wise to take a few days. So woohoo!! TGIF!!!

It's also noon knitting day and I forgot my knitting!!! I was busy putting the dishes away and yapping to Mr. M and then I realized I was late and I ran out of there and didn't remember until I was nearly a mile away from home. I couldn't go back - I was running late as it was. I did remember to bring a magazine so I'll go up at noon anyway and see if anyone has also brought some pattern books or something. I did more work on my socks last night. Not too terribly exciting. I am going to get going on those sleeves tomorrow, probably. I should get some pictures up.

There is one part of the Burke Gilman trail that is so bumpy that I regularly lose a pannier or two going through it. It is the part that parallels 36th Avenue NE, right between the Metropolitan Market and the bridge. I noticed on the way home last night that someone has spray painted the big cracks and bumps with neon orange paint, leading me to believe that it is going to be fixed soon. Yay!!

After nine years I have finally decided to leave my hairdresser and find someone else. It's not going to be easy since I've known her since I got back from Paris in July of 2000 and she is responsible for me meeting my husband. So. It's going to be hard and I'm just going to have to be honest-ish with her and tell her I just want a fresh perspective. Hopefully she'll be professional about it but I'm not holding my breath.

How's this for annoying

Last night is was raining so hard it woke me up. It went on all night and even this morning when I woke up it was not just raining, but POURING! It had started to slack off at about 7 but was still coming down pretty hard, so I decided to drive in. My rain gear is somewhat lacking in efficacy in that my jacket is new and works great, but my tights and shoes and my head and face get really really wet. I need a new helmet with a visor and I need water resistant tights and some of the neoprene boots to put over my shoes for this 8 mile ride. It didn't used to really matter when I was riding about 3 miles but now, it's important, especially when I'm coming in to work. I got about half way in, down by Children's Hospital and the pavement was dry! It looked like it had been raining but had stopped hours ago. Errrghghg! I guess on the good side, I'll have a nice dry run this lunchtime.

I worked for a bit on my socks last night as I was relaxing and watching old Star Trek re-runs. I am at the point with the Radiate that I need to sit down and get out a pencil and paper and figure out exactly how I'm going to do the sleeves. I am thinking I'll get out my pattern for the Simple Knitted Bodice and adapt those sleeves for this cardigan. They fit well and I like the bell sleeve - where it starts and where it ends up, size-wise. I'm going to do them two at once on two circulars, like socks. And that's always a bit tricky, dividing up the stitches and getting that first round going. After that it's not so bad. So that's not a project I can just tackle when I get home from work. I have decided to extend this 3-day weekend by taking Thursday and Friday off as well, so one of those days I can get that project started. Hopefully Thursday.

Steve only has one show, on Saturday, so on Thursday afternoon/evening we're going to go downtown to the Cinerama and see the new Star Trek movie. It's going to be a perfect place to see it. Paul Allen bought the old theatre a few years ago and made it state-of-the-art digital. And it's always been THE place to see big films. I'm looking forward to that.

It was a gorgeous weekend

Wow -- it must have been in the high 70s this Saturday. I got to the Fred Meyer garden center around 10:30 and already it was packed. There weren't too many vegetable starts left - well I should say there wasn't much variety. And no lettuce. I didn't feel like going to fight the crowds at Lowe's or Home Depot so I took what they had - some tomatoes (2), some cantaloupe, red peppers, green peas, and some herbs (lots of basil!!) then I bought some seeds. We'll just have to wait and see if they come up. I am thinking it might be too late.

I got home and cleaned out the beds and planted my starts and the seeds. The beds look so sparse! Maybe this weekend - I am taking Friday off to make it a nice looooong weekend - I will go to a larger garden center and maybe find a few more starts. Or, I did buy some lettuce seeds, so I might make up some planters. Last night Tink was barking and whining and I think I know why - there was evidence of something being in the vegetable beds last night. I had put the seed packets (with a few left over seeds) in the dirt to mark where I had planted things and they were gone. The little plastic pickets marking the plants were disturbed as well. I hope this doesn't become a problem. I didn't remember any animals in the beds last year, but of course they were well established by the time we moved in.

On Saturday night I had some knitting ladies over for food and frogging. We had such a fun time! I didn't get much done - that wrap is a bitch! I did get the edging taken out, then I had to just plain cut some mohair out. Others did quite well. We will have to do it again soon.

So it's Memorial Day weekend coming up and the weather, after our sunny weekend, has gotten bad again. But according to the forecast it's going to get nice again starting Thursday. I am going to take Friday at least off, but depending upon how things are going here I may take Thursday as well and have 5 whole days off! I seriously doubt we're going to be having any vacation this summer. I might as well start looking forward to London in October and/or Paris in November.

Bike to Work Day

It has been "Bike to Work Week", and today is "Bike to Work Day". That means that the Cascade Bicycle Club sets up little stations along the trail where you can stop and get a snack or some water or a new water bottle, sign up for the club, get maps, etc. etc. I stopped at 55th where they had set up a station next to the Metropolitan Market and got a new water bottle and some water and a nice piece of orange. It was set up like at the K5 finish line with cut up fruit and pastries. I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to stop along the way to work and sit there and have a piece of fruit or, if somebody was really thinking, have a coffee stand there. That would be totally awesome in the summer and fall.

I had some troubles with cars today. That is not a usual thing but today I had two cars blow through intersections and nearly get me. And on campus, where the trail crosses a road onto the campus from 25th, some JERK in a truck nearly ran me over! Typically normal drivers treat that intersection as a 4-way stop. Bikes stop or slow and the cars stop and let us through. The guy in front of me was waved through by the car in front of the black truck, went through and the car went and then I was coming up. The black truck hesitated so I figured he was stopping for me like the other car did, but then he started to go just as I entered the intersection! Of course he stopped again as I went through, then yelled at me as he drove away. So I flipped him off. Not my usual style but what the heck. He was being a jerk.

I had an awesome run yesterday afternoon although I got soaked to the bone again! It wasn't raining when I walked out and in fact looked as if it was going to clear up, but I got down to 15th and the raindrops were big and heavy. What the heck -- I was already out there so I just kept going. And it was a great run! Somebody told me once at a race that there's more oxygen in the air when it's raining and that's why I feel better and stronger when I run in the rain. I don't know though .... that sounds a little crazy. It couldn't be that much more oxygen in those raindrops.

I got the last increase row done on my Radiate yesterday evening. I think I'll finish up one more ball of yarn on the body and then do the sleeves before I finish off the body. I still am unclear on how long I want it to be.

I am excited about getting to the nursery tomorrow and picking out my vegetable starts. It supposed to be very nice all weekend so I will be able to at least choose them tomorrow and maybe start cleaning out the beds before I have to get ready for my knitting ladies. It's going to be a great weekend!!

Can you say "Drowned rat"?

Holy cow! I got soaked to the skin yesterday on the way home. My socks .. I could have wrung them out, they were so wet. Oh it was POURING rain! I did make it home in record time though because I was peddling like I was being chased by rabid dogs. Man, that was miserable! I couldn't wait to get in the shower. Poor little Tink did not get a walk, but Mr. M is doing an early show today, so she'll get a nice long walk this afternoon.

LOST was awesome last night! Nothing was answered, of course, except we got to see Jacob. It is hard to believe that football season will be over before LOST comes on for its final season. Only 3 months until football starts, so I think I can hang on. :-J

I drove in today, so that means I MUST run at lunchtime. There is work being done on the trail at a point that would mean I have to either climb a very high hill or go down the hill and drive in extremely dangerous traffic with no bike lane. Besides it's still raining. It is going to be nice for the next few days. That's perfect timing because I must get my vegetables and herbs planted this weekend. And maybe we can go see the new Star Trek movie!!!

Will I make it?

Three hours of LOST tonight! Three hours!!! The first hour looks like a retrospective regarding the time travel, according to its title. Then a two hour finale. It goes to 11 o'clock which is late for me. But I think I'll be able to do it. I accidentally slept in today - Mr. M got up early so I turned off my alarm thinking I'd wake up when he got out of the bathroom, but I didn't and he didn't wake me until it was nearly 7 and he realized he didn't hear me. I was only 30 minutes late but I must say, that extra 30 minutes of sleep was sweet and I feel great! I'll be a zombie tomorrow, probably.

I'm slogging away on the Radiate cardigan. This portion - the lower body - is pretty boring. I'll be doing another increase row in about an inch, then I'll knit until it says to stop in the pattern - 11 inches from the arm hole - and do the sleeves, then try it on to see how long I want to make it. And to make sure I have enough yarn to do the button bands.

Have you noticed how light it is staying at night? I love it. Except it makes me feel like a lazy bones when I hop into bed to read and I can still see a bit of light outside.

Making friends with the wind

It was very blustery again last night for my ride home. The winds were swirling though, so there were a few times when I had a tail wind. That was SWEET! The two times I got nearly blown over ... not so sweet. I did make the ride in good time however, so I shall keep a good thought for wind. Especially tail wind.

Unfortunately, since I had gotten such a terrible night's sleep Sunday night, I was exhausted when I reached home. Thankfully Mr. M had the time to give Tink her walk, so I hit the showers, put on my lounge-y pants and got dinner going. Can I just say how much I LOVE Trader Joe's? Their fish is just out of this world. Last night it was the mahi-mahi. My favorite is the garlic marinated tuna, but the mahi-mahi is right behind it. Easy to cook and nutritious and yummy to boot.

I got some good knitting done on the Radiate -- pictures soon -- and I had to make myself stay awake. I read for a few minutes and I must have been fast asleep by 9:30. I feel great this morning though. The wind woke me up once but I closed the windows so the blinds would not rattle and I was off to sleep again.

Saturday I'm having a frogging party at my house. Or a take-out party, or an un-knit party. The idea is that we all have projects that we've made that we find out later we're never going to wear (like my stupid shawl, or a couple bulky sweaters I made very early on) and that yarn can better be used in something else. It'll be a fun way to spend a Saturday evening. Since Mr. M has to work again. It beats sitting there watching stupid movies with the dog.

Round tireds round tires

How many times do I have to remind myself. When my tired get low it is MUCH harder to ride. Steve pumped up my tires for me yesterday and I had a much easier ride in, even though it was blowing a bit.

It was a pretty okay weekend. The weather was gorgeous Saturday and Tinkerbell got a grooming and I met up with a friend at Northgate after dropping Tink off and we did a little shopping. I got a nice skirt and a pretty top. Then it was just a quiet evening of video games and knitting. Boring .. yes, I know. I need to find another hobby besides Mario Kart.

I had a lovely long chat with my sister this weekend and she and her boyfriend are planning on coming up for a visit around the 4th of July. Yay! Now I have a reason to get the spare room done right. We have just had a little single bed in there and Mr. M's son uses it when he has school vacation. Mr. M. told me to make it as girlie and feminine as possible so his son won't be too comfortable there. Can do!

The ol' double whammy

I got it last night on the way home -- wind AND rain. For a while there in the afternoon it looked like it was going to get nice. At least it had stopped raining. But around three I was looking out a window and the sky was looking rather ominous. Sure enough, just as I was walking out the door in my shorts(!) it started to pour down rain. I didn't want to go back inside and strip down and change into my long pants so I just went for it, knowing I could have a nice hot shower when I got home. By the time I finished climbing the hill up to Sand Point Way at 110th the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing. Crazy spring weather!

I didn't get any knitting done last night although I do hope to get a good bit done on my sweater this weekend. Steve has to work Saturday so I will have plenty of good knitting time. Tink is going in for a grooming and boy does she need it! And I've got to stop at the mall for a couple things so there will be some considerable running around to be done. But in the afternoon - all me time!

I know there's science involved ....

Why oh why must I have headwinds coming AND going from work? It just doesn't seem fair! My pace was off by almost four minutes today because of the wind and I'll bet you anything that it's going to be blowing in my face on the way home as well! At least it wasn't raining.

It was the penultimate Lost episode last night -- of the season, not the whole show. It does have one more year to go. But holy cow has this been a weird season or what? And convoluted! And confusing! I just hope that what Jack is proposing to do next episode will bring them back to present day because all this time travel is confusing the dickens out of me!

Before the show was on I did have time to do a couple more rows on the Radiate. I finish this row I'm working on now and do another increase row. Although I'm not a big fan of reverse stockinette, the slipped stitches make a nice rib and I think it'll be cute. Especially with the sleeve modifications.

There's a big sale up at my LYS today and this weekend. I am still on my self-imposed yarn diet so I must stay away. It's not easy, but I am going to be good for a change.

And the big news?

The weather -- again. Wind and rain and lots of it! I had to get up and close the windows in the bedroom last night because the wind was blowing so hard! It was starting up on my way home last night. I had a really rough ride home because of the headwinds. And all of the offices except one on our newly renovated southwest side were wet this morning. We're lucky that our windows don't leak at home because they face directly west and they were getting the brunt of it.

Despite the noisy outdoors I managed to get a good night in. I do NOT want to end up with a sleep deficit like I did last week. That was brutal. I am just one of those people that needs a full 8 or, even better 8 1/2 hours of sleep. I've always been like that. And if I get into a deficit situation and can't sleep in, I am a mess.

Mr. M went out with a friend for sushi and beers and blather last night, so I was on my own. Since we're going out tonight I had my Cinco de Mayo celebration while the boyz were out. I had purchased some cheese with habanero peppers in it, so I made some guacamole and grated some of that cheese and a couple little corn tortillas .... pretty tasty.

I worked a bit more on the Radiate - need to do four inches from the underarms and then another increase row. I am doing mods on the sleeves. I really don't like the idea of a cardigan with short sleeves so I'm going to do increases between the ribs and make the sleeves belled. I think that will look nice.

And now .... oatmeal!!

Zoom!

That is the sound the weekend made. I hardly remember it! I was so wiped out Friday that I just collapsed when I got home and fell asleep for more than an hour! I hadn't even changed out of my bike clothes!

Saturday I had a lovely sleep in, did a few chores, grocery shopping, and then it was time to drive out to Auburn. My DH doesn't generally do concerts but he does this one every year. It's a country music show - not my favorite type of music but this year the headliner was Darius Rucker, aka Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish. He has gone country and I must say that I totally enjoyed the show. He put in some songs from his Hootie days and he was awesome! And the venue is small.

I went to the early show so I was home by 8:30, got my iPhone fixed up -- I had to restore it because it got all messed up the last time I tried to sync it. Then I played some Mario Kart and knit and watched TV. It was a nice evening. And then yesterday -- zoom! I did laundry and worked on my Radiate and we barbecued some steak and now here I am, at the start of another week. It is going to be rainy most of the week but at least the cold weather is now behind us.

I am hoping I can get back into running this week. I did run last week but I was so low energy it hardly even counted. I hope I can get a better workout. I doubt, at this rate, I'll be ready to race at the end of the month.

How to tell if you're playing too much Wii

Little bits of tunes play in my head. There always seems to be some song or another stuck in there and playing over and over, whether I'm conscious of it or not. Lately I've found myself humming along to that music and lo and behold, they're all songs from Mario Kart!! I should be ashamed, I suppose, that I play so much Mario Kart that I can sing the melody to each of the races. I gave myself a break from my Wii last night though and just knit.

I was wiped out yesterday. My ride in was a chore, I got my running gear on at noon and went out to run and ended up jogging 10 minutes, walking 3 or 4, jogging again. It was brutal!! I had absolutely zero energy. And the ride home - again quite the chore. I managed to drag myself inside, had a shower and then collapsed in my comfy chair and read the paper and then knit on my Radiate. My DH took care of dinner last night - and lucky, too, because I wasn't about to cook a meal. I worked on my two toned sock while watching a little TV and fell into bed at 9:30! I do feel moderately more energized today and my bike ride in was not quite so trying. In fact, I was right on pace. I can only surmise that I am low on energy because my sleep got messed up early in the week. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in!!!

It smells SO GOOD outside!

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

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

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

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

Tough start to the week

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

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

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

Lunch break

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

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

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

I'll admit it

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

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

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

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

What a difference

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

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

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

Well look at me!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just plain annoying

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

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

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

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

It is growing

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

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

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

Well that didn't last long

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

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

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

So it's home for the weekend

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

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

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

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

What a difference a little sunshine makes!

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

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

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

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

Free-form knitting

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

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

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

And another storm

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

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

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

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

No jokes

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

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

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

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

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

How NOT to start the day

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

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

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

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

Yeah baby!

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

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

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

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

Last Friday before Spring Quarter

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

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

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

It could have been worse

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

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

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

Finally some knitting

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

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

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

That older jewelery

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

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

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

Ouchie ...

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

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

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

First day of Spring!!!

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

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

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

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

Snack foods

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

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

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

Spring is THAT close

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

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

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

A blessing in disguise

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

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

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

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

What the heck is up?

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

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

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

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

Oh poo!

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

The topic of conversation

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

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

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

Daylight saving time -- I'm tired today.

arghg

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

Could my eyes have deceived me?

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

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

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

Takin' it easy

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

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

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

Well that didn't work out too well

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

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

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

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

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

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??