Inspiration

So there's this guy at the gym, and he's there pretty much every day when I'm there. He's maybe 6'3, 6'4 and has gotta weigh 450 lbs. Not muscle. Fat. Big fat guy. And he comes to the gym every day, and he gets on the treadmill, and he walks. He doesn't do it for very long -- maybe 15 or 20 minutes. But he's There. Every. Day. Dude's my inspiration. If I'm feeling crappy or worn out or my foot hurts (like it does now), I go to the gym. Because I know this guy feels a lot less like going to the gym than I do, but he's going to be there. I've thought about telling him this, but I'm afraid it's going to come out wrong and and be offensive and plus, that would just be way, way outside my comfort zone. So even though I'm pretty sure he's not reading this, I just want to say: Thanks. (Oh, Monday weigh-in was 174.5.)

And on the knitting front, I'm really finding the Big Purlescence competition inspirational, both for designing and writing (quick rundown in case you don't want to read through it: Every month there's a different fairy tale character and you write about what they would knit if they had whatever yarn they wanted. You submit the story, a sketch, and what you would need to actually make it if you win. If you win, you get the stuff to make your design.). For the first one I entered (Puss in Boots), I designed something totally way out there. I'm not going to say what it is -- I'm not sure what the rules are on that and I don't want to take a chance, but if I don't win I may go ahead with the design anyway, because I think it'll be really cool. If I win, obviously, I'll have to go ahead with the design. I'm working on my story and design for the next character now, Alice in Wonderland. I didn't want to do what I did with the Puss story, which is begin where the original ended and carry on from there, so I'm sort of adding a chapter into it, which is really challenging. Puss in Boots is a folk tale, so I didn't have to worry too much about the style I used to write it, as long as it was consistent. This time I really feel like it needs to sound like Carroll might have written it -- like a lost chapter. So again, I don't want to give away too much, but I will tell you that the tea party features prominently.

For actual knitting I'm still(!) working on Colleen's second sock. Criminy. I feel like I'm never going to get to knit anything else! Seriously, no more size 1s. I am clearly a much slower knitter than I think I am. Happily, the vast majority of the sock yarn I've been hiding from Chris stockpiling squirreling away collecting should knit up just fine on 2s or 3s.

For those of you looking for a Becky Fix, there's really no exciting new news. I mean, she's just going on as the sweet, happy, googly baby that she usually is. She's got a couple of teeth getting ready to come in on top and a little bit of a cold (which Mommy has now, thankyouverymuch daycare), and she's maybe starting to get the hang of crawling forwards. Oh, and she says "Aba" (bottle) "Dada" and apparently "Hortense" (her stuffed giraffe). But not "Mama." Nope, the giraffe gets billing over Mom. Nice, kid. We'll see how that works out for you when I'm setting your curfew in a few years.

posted by Laura Y. @ 5:41 PM