17 posts tagged “knitting”
Man, I feel like total CRAP! I've been having trouble breathing since starting Jasmine on her treatments. Having her so close to my face three times a day is complete hell on my asthma. You never think about how wonderful it is to breathe until you're having trouble with it.
Jasmine is doing a little better already. Her balance isn't so bad, and she doesn't have to press her head into something stable in order to get some sleep. I'm not kidding myself though. I know she's very, very old for a bunny. She doesn't even fight me for most of her meds, which tells me she's wearing out very easily. Still, it's very good to see her not looking so miserable!
My grandma is doing well after getting her fourth heart catheter on Tuesday. The doctors had run some tests last week and found two serious blockages and open heart surgery was a looming possibility, but Tuesday morning they couldn't find any blockages. Not sure what's going on with that, but she's very happy that surgery isn't currently on her calendar.
Not much else to report. I'm just trying to stay awake for my 9:30 conference call. I took some allergy meds last night hoping it would help with the asthma. They did help a little, but right now I have all the energy and mental sharpness of a wet wool blanket. I need to get through this meeting, then snag a nap before sitting down to try to actually get some work done.
Oh, and I have a knitting frustration I want to bitch about and just get out of my system. I'm knitting a blanket in the round, from the inside out, and I'm near the end of the project, so one time around is about 500 or so stitches. Well last night I realized I'd picked up an extra stitch... four rows back! %$#!!!! I tried to drop it down through those four rows and tug at the surrounding stiches to pick up some of the slack, but it's not working at all. So sometime soon, as soon as I can stand to look at that project again, I get to pull out over 2000 stitches. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn. I really want to put my head down. 40 minutes until my meeting. I need to make some tea.
It's been a hell of a week, I mean seriously! In fact, April can totally suck it! Most of that list I made on Monday is working out the way I'd hoped though, and Craig and I are taking tomorrow off and having a MUCH-NEEDED three-day weekend. ...It's almost over, this week, April. Life always works out in your favor if you can just hold on long enough.
I don't really know what I'm saying, and I can't seem to stop myself, so I'm just going to quit now and go make some tea. *YAWWWWWWN!*
I've been managing to stay off allergy meds so far this season, though the mornings are brutal. My symptoms seem to mellow out by lunch time though, so I'm still not wanting to take my meds and endure the craptastic side-effects.
It's been a rough week or so though. Allergies, hormonal issues, sleeping problems ...all likely related. There have been a few terrifying health crises in the family. There was a yelling match with my dad. (Well, really, he pushed the buttons and I did all the yelling.) My brain has been quite scrambled which makes every minute of work a constant uphill battle. I've had my moments of losing my cool (yelling at Dad, blowing up in my blog, pouting, etc.), but for the most part I've been pretty good about riding out everything going on. What can you do? Life has these cycles. I believe you can choose how you feel about things. I may react in the heat of it all, but when my senses return I choose to believe that everything will work out in the end, and the bigger picture is still sunny and full of opportunities and blessings.
Life has had it's rough spots the past several days, but there's still a lot of good going on.
I spent some time online shopping for warmer weather clothes, and my purchases have started arriving. I have a fun trench coat that I need to exchange for a smaller size, but the dress I fell in love with when I saw it online fits like it was tailor-made for me, *and* the materials and construction are of excellent quality! I *LOVE* my new dress! I don't know if we'll be dressing up for easter visiting, but you'd better bet I'm finding as many reasons as possible to wear my new dress in the coming months!
My interchangeable knitting needles came in the mail today! Just in the nick of time too. The project I'm working on has just about outgrown the circulars I have it on. I love these needles! This was a very good investment! I have to get out my label maker today and label and arrange the storage case. (Organizational lust!) I'm also at a point where I need to make a new set of stitch markers for this project. ...Which brings me to:
BEADS! It's torching weather again! I've got a little cleaning and organizing to do in the mudroom today, and then I'm setting up my torch!!! *SQUEE!* I will be ordering an exhaust fan before next week is over too (FINALLY!) so I can get my kiln fired up here soon! I'm so excited to get back to hot glass though! I've been daydreaming about making ribbon cane and hollow beads for weeks. :)
Craig and I only have two weeks left of art class, and we've been talking about what comes next. We'd discussed taking a break from classes and just practicing what we've learned so far, mostly for the financial reasons, but then the new course catalog came in the mail! heh. I'm 99.99% sure we're signing up for beginning welding! It's not terribly expensive and it's one of the few crafts that neither of us has any experience in. There's an initial five week course, with a continuing second five weeks you can register separately for. It's looking like we're going to sign up for the first five and just try it to see if we want to continue with the second five. ...I can almost guarantee we would though, what with the way we collect hobbies. :)
It's almost noon and my nose has finally stopped running! YAY!!!!!! Now, I've got some work to do if I'm going to set up my torch today. I love weekends!!!!!!!!!!
ug. I'm so tired! Good thing it's the weekend and I can sit around in my pjs just holding down the sofa. *YAWN!*
We got up cursedly early this morning. I am NOT anything even remotely related to a morning person. I'm barely functional when I wake up on my own in the mornings, but when I have to be woken up to be somewhere, I'm downright surly. I felt bad this morning because I know Craig (who is a morning person) was all bright-eyed and excited about our plans for the day, but I couldn't help that his high energy was sparking painfully against my skin.
We started our day by going out for breakfast. We drive into town once a weekend, and for the past several weeks that's included going out for breakfast. I guess we're regulars now because our waitress remembered what we usually order and gave us a wonderfully hard time. :)
The reason for rising early was SkyWarn Spotter training. There was a huge turn out, well over 500 people by my estimation. The presentation was as entertaining as it was informative. I'm a huge weather geek, so even if you don't account for important safety and community issues, it was just plain fun! The weather information was fascinating, and the "idiot storm chaser" stories were hilarious!
After our schooling, we went out for coffee and books (decadent!), then further into town for art-n-craft supplies.
No one local seems to have the knitting needles I need! Argh! I've almost filled my 26" circulars with this current project and I really need to move up to 35" or bigger now. Since I couldn't find what I need locally and now need to order online, I may just order an interchangeable set from Knitpicks.com. It will save money in the long run (she rationalizes). I need to order some yarn for my next project too. Mmmm, more knitting. My current project is going really well. It's the most complicated pattern I've yet followed, but it's turning out beautifully! (*knock-on-wooden-needles*) Its a gift, so I have to keep it secret for a while. My next project is all for me-me-ME though, and I can't wait to start it! ...Pardon my excited rambling.
So, no new needles today, but I did get some larger jump rings with which to make stitch markers, and I got some small packs of paper and stone clays for a completely new craft project I've been dying to start. I wanted a new watercolor pallete, but Hobby Lobby didn't have one I liked, so I'll probably check out Dickblick.com in a bit here.
We stopped at Radio Shack to get some geek stuff for Craig, then hit up the grocery on our way home. I hate grocery shopping, but I have to say we've been dong *really* well lately. This is the second week in a row we got out of there for around $80, and we buy mostly whole foods and eat very well.
We've been home for a while now, just chillaxing. :) Craig is making an antenna for his radio, and I have Peter Jackson's King Kong in. I love this movie. I think I'm going to make myself a pick-me-up cup of green tea, do some online shopping for the supplies I couldn't find locally today, and then either make some stitch markers or play with my new clays. Gods, I love the weekends!
Thursday a couple of my favorite people became parents for the third time. They're really in for it, now that their kids out number them! ;) The world's population is now plus one beautiful baby girl named Rose. I'm so happy for them and their family!
Friday I finished the blanket I was knitting for the baby, and it was a close finish. I knit the last 25 or so rows with a very worried eye on my diminishing skein of yarn. By the time I wove in the end, I only had about 16 inches of yarn to spare! That's scarey close, but it worked out perfectly! It was a lovely blanket to knit, and it's super soft and pretty. I'm quite pleased with it. The only criticism I have is that it has a gorgeous front, but a messy back. I think it makes more sense tor a wee baby blanket to look good from both sides. It's not exactly a bedspread, you know? It's a very small thing, but to not have to figure out which is the front every time you snug the baby up in it would be nice.
So we watched Dollhouse (eh, it was ok) and BSG (interesting but not as WOW! as last week) last night and had our weekly pizza. :) That's such a fantastic way to end the week. We're going to have to go back to movie-Friday when BSG is done.
Craig came into a little extra money, so he went ahead and ordered the gorgeous set of colored pencils we've been lusting over! :D That's really cool because, although I was thinking I'd spend the extra money I made working last weekend on the pencils, it's occurred to me that I really ought to invest in an exhaust fan for my glass work. The model I'm looking at runs close to $200, and I want the exhaust system built and set up before I fire my kiln for the first time, since I've heard it can smoke like crazy the first time! So since Craig bought the pencils, I need to go fan shopping. We're going to be so fantastically set up with art and craft supplies this year, which should make up for the fact that we're not planning any travel for the year. (Though we are definitely thinking we'll have to put our passports to good use in 2010!)
This morning we went out for breakfast, then hit up Hobby Lobby to get a couple of very fine tipped pens for our pen & ink lesson coming up Wednesday. We hit up the bookstore to look for some specific reference materials, ...and because I wanted a latte'. :D Then we went to the yarn store, where I produced my finished blankie and got a discount on the yarn for the next one.
I've looked through dozens of baby blanket patterns, and the things I'm seeing are either too simple, too complicated, or just too not what I had in mind, so I think I'm going to make the next one up myself. I'm thinking a moss stitch border and middle square, with a simple lattice or eyelet pattern in between. I don't know. I'll look through my stitch books and figure something out. It's just a square, so I should be able to come up with something that'll work. :) I love the yarn I picked out for it though, so it'll be fun to work with. I want to get that cast on and started before the day is over.
Not much else to report. I'm going to spend the weekend getting my chores caught up, starting my next knitting project, doing a little studying for work, and probably working on some of the art lessons I haven't finished yet. I love the weekends!!!
There seems to be a lot of new, wee people coming into my social circle this year. It's all very exciting, but I'm glad I didn't catch whatever is going around! ;)
We actually talked a bit about motherhood in my art class on Wednesday, all realizing that we're on the same page as far as not wanting kids. heh. :) Our instructor brought it up first, talking about how her doctor keeps reminding her she's running out of time. She'll be 39 in May, I'll be 39 in August, and there's a gal who's 40 that sits next to me. None of us want kids. There's an older lady in our class too, but she shared that she was happy to be an aunt but never had or wanted any kids of her own. Our instructor theorized that our need to create is met with art and craft work, so we don't feel such a need to create people. :) It kind of makes sense.
So, anyhow, there's my drawing from class. The wings and tail are way too small and I'm not pleased with their coloring, but I kind of rushed to add those in toward the end of class, while I still had access to all the classroom pastels. I spent the majority of the class on the bird's head and body, and I'm thrilled with the results I got. It really was impressive how easy it was to layer colors on that paper! The flowers are obviously incomplete. I was planning to finish the drawing until I got home and saw how out of proportion some of it is. I'm not sure if I can fix that at this point, but I may try.
I was very pleased to learn how inexpensive decent pastels are, as opposed to those expensive colored pencils I used last week and can't stop thinking about. (*WANT!*) Even my cheapie pastels from high school performed respectably on that lovely paper. I think we'll probably be clipping a coupon and picking up a $30, half-stick set of Rembrandt pastels at Michaels some day soon. :) And maybe someday I'll pick up a few individual colors, as needed, from the Unison line. I asked Tracey if they were worth the cost, and I swear her eyes fluttered back in her head and she swooned a bit before replying, "They draw like butter! They're like clotted cream." But for the most part, I'm relieved that this week I found that the inexpensive materials performed well enough for me.
And speaking of things I made, I cooked a venison roast last night. Craig's sister and her family gave us a generous and much appreciated gift of frozen game meats this year. Mmm, Christmas meats! This was my first time cooking game meat, but I was excited to try it, knowing how much healthier it is for you than the grain fed stuff you get at the store. I used this highly rated recipe, and the flavors were mouth-wateringly perfect! It looked fantastic too, with a nice crusty searing on the outside, and bright red meat on the inside. It was a little tough though, which did not stop it from being f'ing fantastic! I'm not familiar enough with venison to know if it's just tougher meat, or if I should've picked a recipe that cooked at lower temps for a much longer period of time; it was a "roast" after all. It was really damn good though, and I have enough left over to chop up and put in soup this weekend or maybe some chili! Delicious! I can't wait to try the elk steak!
Oh, and I know this is a long entry, but I have one last thing I want to shout about. My cousin is pitching for the University of Toledo Rockets this year, and I couldn't be more excited for him! He had *professional* scouts taking notice when he was still in high school, he's that good. Normally I think baseball games are major snoozers, but I have to admit I'm pretty excited about getting out to his home games to watch him play this year! Looks like the first game I could get to is March 17th. His first game of the season is this weekend though, in Kentucky, and I'm wishing him all the sporty luck in the world!
Ok, that's all I have. YAY! WEEKEND! Can't wait for BSG tonight! In the mean time, I have some stuff to do, so I'd best get to it!
The snow is gone. I'm not complaining. I know we're only just a little more than half way through winter, but we did have snow on the ground through all of January and right up until some time overnight last night. That's really all I ask of winter, a consistent winter landscape, a little calm monotone to balance out the riot of color we have the rest of the year, with an occasional fresh dusting of white to put a clean coat over the dingy grays. Maybe we'll get a little more yet. I'd like that.
I've had acedia nipping at my ankles for about a week now. It's easy to banish during the day when I can keep busy. Nothing puts it in it's place like a sense of accomplishment. But at night, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night (which I do a lot), it's right there manipulating my thoughts. It doesn't take more than the fleeting thought that the previous day flew by, and I'm lying there thinking about how the years all fly by, how insignificant life seems to be, how nothing seems to change from day to day to day, how futile it all seems. Next thing I know, I'm in a funk, wishing I could sleep ...through a few days perhaps, but feeling impossibly wide awake. Well, that all sucks, but I'm awake now, and aware enough to be beating the acedia back, at least until bedtime. Maybe I'll luck out and start sleeping through the nights again soon here.
We have art class tonight, which I'm psyched about. We're supposed to be using pastels tonight. Aside from watercolor, pastels were traditionally my favorite, back when I did that art thing regularly. I need to find something to draw between now and then. That's always the hardest part for me. I don't know if I'm just too picky or what, but I have a really hard time finding subject material. I need to work on that, because it's that more than anything else that's kept me from making drawing a regular habit all of these years. In fact, I'm quite sure it's that and only that which blocks me. Maybe I need to get back into The Artists' Way and work on replenishing my "well of inspiration" or some such thing.
The knitting is going extremely well. I've made a few mistakes and had to tink a few rows, but I'm through one of the four skeins I bought for this project, and in only three days. If I can keep up this pace, I'll have it completed in under two weeks! My LYS (Local Yarn Store) has a deal where if you can bring in your receipt for the yarn along with your finished project within thirty days of the original purchase, you get ten percent off your purchases that day to help start you on your next project. I intend to take advantage of that for a few months here, and just keep cranking these projects out.
Turns out Craig knows the lady who owns this yarn store. She used to work for one of his old clients. As we were leaving last week when I bought my yarn, Craig told her, "Well, I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon," and she replied, "I know I'll be seeing your money!" That cracked me the hell up. :) ...It's true though. :D
Ok. I need to gather up some stuff for class tonight, and then get a little work done here. The dark, rainy skies aren't doing a damn thing to help me wake my brain up, so I probably need to put on a fresh pot of coffee. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion...
Yesterday, my laptop broke. It froze up completely, so I rebooted it. It let me log in, and then froze up again before loading any of my desktop, so I rebooted it. That's when it seemed truly dead. It made a little, "eh" noise when I tried to power it up that third time, and quit immediately. Nothing. *whimper*
I'm freaked. Total withdrawal. I love that laptop. It's the first computer I bought brand-spanking new for my own personal use. It's my electronic brain. I have MY STUFF on there! I have a lot of stuff. Even on my crankiest mornings, if there's nothing else to look forward to whatsoever, I look forward to booting up my laptop, sitting somewhere comfy with a cup of something warm and surfing the net for a while, sorting through my stuff, and doing a little work with my little, green computing friend. Now I have to send it away. *cry* I have to ship out my electronic brain friend, send it out into the world to be handled and worked over by gods know who! Totally freaked.
When I can stop twitching and worrying though, all things considered, ...well, it could've been a whole hell of a lot worse. There are a lot of very positive things going on here:
- My laptop is still under warranty, only by about a month, but if it was going to break, thank the gods it didn't wait another 40 days to do it!
- The drive is good and Craig was able to back it all up one last time before we send it out
- He was also able to delete some of my private things, like my personal writing and my master password file (it's encrypted and password protected, but I'm still paranoid)
- Now I have just one more reason to clean off and organize my desk *elbows teetering pile of file folders* and make my work space functional once again
- I've been wanting to spend less time enthralled by teh internets, and without the portability of my laptop, having to now sit in the far corner of the house to access it all, I'm far more likely to go without for longer periods of time
- I'll be far more likely to get more done on other projects, like the knitting project I just started this weekend without my laptop always within arms' reach
Speaking of knitting, I'm totally in love with the blanket I'm knitting. If it weren't t a wee-size blanket for a wee-size person, I'd seriously be tempted to keep it for myself. I wasn't thrilled about the synthetic yarn initially, but I wanted something easily washable, and honestly, now that I can feel it knitting up, I couldn't be more pleased! It's very soft and silky, not to mention the perfect weight for snuggling. Oh, I wish it were my size! I was worried it was going to be a tough pattern for my skill level, but it's going quite smoothly so far *knock-on-wood* and knitting up pretty fast. The first few rows had me worried, thinking I'd be knitting this blanket for a year, but once I got the hang of the pattern, it's been zipping along. I should finish ahead of schedule, ...especially given my out-of-order laptop situation.
Toodledo is still proving to be extremely helpful. I managed to check off 45 tasks last week, and given that I don't have daily stuff in there like work and chores yet, that's quite an accomplishment. All but a few of those things were tasks that would've likely been postponed or simply fallen out of my line-of-sight previously. I feel like I got a lot of really great things done. Next, I need to start loading my daily chores in there to see if I can't get this house on a regular cleaning cycle that's easy to keep up in mostly small, daily tasks. And, back to the laptop situation for a second, I have to say how thrilled I am that my Toodledo lists are kept at their site and I'm not right now without all of that! Still, it has me thinking that I should probably print my schedule out once a week or so, just in case their site has has some catastrophic failure. Already, I would feel lost to the point of panic if I lost all of that data and organization!
I should back up my gmail regularly too. ...I can't really seem to think about much more than safe storage for all my favorite electrons right now. Oi. I want to backup everything, right now. ...And then back it all up again, just to be sure.
But, I need to clean off my desk so I can get some work done. Life doesn't stop when you're only one brain down. ...My poor laptop! How I miss it so!!!
My local yarn shop closed for good.
What really sucks:
I still had a juicy gift certificate to spend there.
I'm so bummed. I've been looking for a knitting project since the weather turned. (None of the neglected half-finished projects I have on sticks seem very appealing. heh.) I finally found something I wanted to knit and I was thinking my gift certificate would cover the yarn and possibly even new circular needles.
NOT.
Craig suggested (in jest and solidarity) that I return the gift certificate to them by wrapping it around a brick and tossing it through their window. heh. He does make me laugh.
But I am really bummed about it.
Now I'm back to ordering yarn online, without getting to pet it and inspect the colors first. Or even better yet, more frequent visits to friends, so I can borrow their local yarn shops.
Drawing class is going extremely well after only two classes. In the second class we learned to use the shapes we'd been taught to draw with in first week in a series of layers. It's amazing how quickly and accurately I can sketch relatively simple things now. I'm really thrilled.
Craig is doing extremely well and having a good time too. I think this is his first real drawing class of any kind, though he's always had a natural talent, especially for drawing schematics and mechanical things. We're both feeling very competent, which is lovely. As he phrased it, "If someone set an apple down in front of me, I could sketch the hell out of that apple!" *L*
And yes, we're still sketching produce. This next class should be interesting and comical though, because we're going to be learning about proportion and we're supposed to bring in ...yes, more produce, but also a knife and pins. We're going to be building produce creatures and then drawing those. :D Total play time!
Our homework this week was to practice and maybe work on a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle is supposed to help get the brain more in a visual mode. Sadly, my puzzle table is too covered in crap right now, but at least I have some extra motivation to clear it off ASAP.
I'm quite fond of our instructor too. When making the rounds, she wound up talking to Craig about his woodwork, after realizing he looked familiar because she taught his scroll saw class well over a year ago. After talking woodshop with Craig, she turned to me, briefly discussed my sketches, and then we found ourselves talking about making beads and knitting. She's quite fond of both. She was telling me her graduate advisor had to nag her to choose a focus for her studies because she's a dabbler and a craft collector and, like me, enjoys doing it all. We talked knitting patterns and websites, and then she told me about a bead tutorial she'd read recently. If I can wake myself up enough to fire up my torch today, I'm going to try making one of those beads we discussed.
The happiest thing about our last class though was that I got back into that mindset where I lose time. I only ever seem to get there when drawing or painting, and it's a state I really love. I love being so very focused that normal brain functions seem to shut down. I lose awareness of things around me, sounds, movement. I don't feel heat or cold or hunger, nor am I even aware of the passing time. I get completely absorbed in my work, and then I come out of it to notice 30 minutes, sometimes hours, have passed in what feels like an instant. I remember nothing but the work, and the utter feeling of joy and contentment I had while doing it. I haven't had that feeling in a long time. In fact, I can remember what I was drawing the last time I had that experience, and it was years ago, and many, many years more still before that. I need to get back there more. Maybe I can use drawing as a meditation, use therapy as an excuse to work it into my day more often. I'd be an idiot not to make the time.
I did get to speak with my high school classmate briefly after class. I'm still a clod though because not only did I forget, in all my nerves and excitement, to introduce Craig, but I completely ignored the gentlemen she was with, even when he held the door for me. I got back to the car and my adrenaline started to normalize and only then did I realize how rude I'd been to that poor guy. argh. Well, what can I say? I do try, and with the best of intentions. I'm just NOT a social creature. I guess you have to get to know me really well before you realize that I'm just awkward and not really a totally rude bitch. *sigh*
Knitting requires sticks and string. That's it. You can buy them, or you can find them. Knitting safety? Don't poke yourself or anyone else in the eye with your sticks.
After lusting over some very expensive equipment I'd like to add to my glass-working tool kit, I spent my free time yesterday reading about *just some of the ways* my glass hobbyhabit can poison, maim or kill me (and anyone else standing too close). We're talking about everything from serious illness due to poor ventilation to the apparently very common experience of twin third degree burns from flying hot glass landing in your cleavage to faulty fuel systems that will take out your house and possibly your neighbors' houses too. Glass artisans are people who speak way too casually about things like "skin grafts" and "small house/studio fires".
I know I'm hooked though. The horror stories are coldly sobering, but they just have me thinking harder about safety. I'm still wanting to save up for the expensive equipment this dangerous hobby requires.
Time to set up the torch for a little bit. :D
