Because I feel like I should
I really have nothing to say, and I don't feel like sorting through the eleventy-jillion pictures I took of Becky on Christmas (yeah, hope you had a Merry Happy), and, and, and...Okay, here's the thing. I love doing this blog. Really, I do. I love that people I know are reading it, and people I don't know are reading it, and people I kinda sorta know are reading it. So I always feel like I should update it, and I compose these really spectacular posts in my head (really -- if I ever start being able to actually post the things I write in my head, I'm going to be a blog superstar. You just watch.), and then I spend the time knitting, or reading
other people's blogs. Which I also love, because I only read blogs that I like, blogs of people I think I would like in real life. Well, and my husband's
blog -- him I already know I like in real life. So I never get around to posting and then by the time I do I've forgotten all of the wonderful, funny things I was going to post about and it's just bleh.
Now, this may all be due to me being totally overwhelmed and stressed out at work right now -- don't get me wrong, I love my job, but doing (nearly)
everything that's normally spread out between two people is just too much. My brain wants a vacation. To be fair, my boss is really great about not letting me plan to do too much, and this will all be over when Erica gets someone to fill her position, because she's smart and already trained on most of the customer service part and she'll be jumping right in and taking over (no pressure, though, Erica :) ).
But right now I just really want to go curl up on the couch and work on Colleen's Other Sock. And so I will. With beer. And later there will be Battlestar Galactica (NG). Which I don't think is good, but I find compelling nonetheless. Or I did until last night, when we watched episode one of season three which I totally hated. So much that if half the people I work with weren't addicted, I would never watch another episode. As it is, I'm going to give it four more episodes to turn itself back around or I'm done with it. Okay, going now. Really. Seriously. No,
you say goodbye first. No,
you. Goodbye.
Trust in the Harlot and all will be well
So, I'm knitting along and doing the heel flap (which I hate, BTW -- I know I have to do at least one more, you know, for the other sock, but I think that's going to be it for me and heel flaps. Give me a nice Turkish heel any day.), and then I can't figure out what to do next. So I go read Lucy Neatby, who is a lovely and intelligent sock knitter and writes wonderful instructions, but one thing I've learned is that when you're following someone's specific step-by-step instructions, it's almost always (unless the instructions are wrong) easiest to continue on with that person's instructions and not switch to someone else's instructions, no matter how well written they may also be. Only apparently I haven't learned this very well, because that's exactly what I did. This lead to some incorrect (but not tragic) initial decreases, until I finally
read the next paragraph in
Knitting Rules!, which continued
Stephanie's directions and made perfect sense. Gee, if only I'd thought to do that in the first place. Idiot.
Yeah, and that's all the knitting content you get. Well, except I have to tell you that I got my second pair of glass needles today. Big, huge, ginormous thanks to the lovely Erica -- I can't get enough of the glass circulars. In case anyone else is lurking out there who wants to buy me more, I now have a set in size 6 and size 8. 10s would be nice, or 9s. Or 5s or 7s. And you can buy them
here.
Becky fix:
And
Mondays are for weighing in, even when it's really Tuesday:
Current weight: 174.5
Target weight: 140
Pounds to lose: 34.5
Look! I actually lost weight! I was pretty good about getting to the gym last week, and also about not eating like a 250lb man. Or a chocaholic. I'm not totally denying myseld, just paying attention to what I put in my mouth, and how much. One chocolate is okay. One box of chocolates, not so much.
Coming soon (in Blogtime, which careful readers may have noticed bears no actual resemblance to normal 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, etc. time): My new Cafe Press store, with super cool t-shirts that will be sold to benefit
Knitters Without Borders. Stay tuned.
Caught!
(I forgot to mention something yesterday -- Lisa Souza has pledged to continue donating profits from sales of Violet's Ribbon yarn to breast cancer charities.)My secret pal (the one I'm spoiling) has found me out! I asked her in the beginning if she wanted me to be super stealthy or if she'd rather have clues and try to figure out who I am. She opted for the latter. So I started dropping clues -- apparently having a wee poppet was a big one, which I wouldn't have thought, and she's Canadian, so the postal service/customs helped her out by requiring my real name on the package I sent her a month or so ago, and although my real name is not on this blog, I was using a transliteration of my initials for the "secret" email address, which led her to one of my galleries (either flickr or ofoto), which led her to Becky, which led her back here. Great detective work,
Ramona!
To tell you the truth, I'm kind of relieved. Now I can talk about how excited I was/am to be spoiling someone who is an opera singer(!!! -- how cool is that!?!?), lives in the same city two (possibly more and I don't know it) of my knitting idols (how come heroes has a feminine but idols doesn't? Weird.), knits socks -- which you all know I've fallen madly in love with, even though I've only completed one pair, shares my love of food, and is, in general, just a very cool person. I can't wait to get her next package sent out -- can't decide if it will go out tomorrow or after the weekend so the little something-something I'm going to make for her this weekend can go in it.
Becky Fix:So, lately our schedule's been a bit off, especially with me trying to make the earlier train so I can get to the gym on the way to work. Not that I couldn't get to work at my regular time and then leave to go to the gym -- my work is cool like that -- but when I try to do that, I never end up going to the gym. So I go on the way in, which necessitates me taking the 9am train. If I get up when Chris leaves at 6:45, and Becky gets up at 7:30, everything works out perfectly. Lately, however, neither of those things has been happening. So Miss Jene at daycare has been feeding her breakfast (solids -- we usually have time for a bottle). Yesterday, she had Cheerios. Cheerios! Big girl food! My baby's all grows up! Sniffle. Now, she had like 5 Cheerios, not a bowlful, but still. Pictures tomorrow -- I forgot to grab the card today.
Knitting update:I've switched back to Christmas knitting. Apparently, half a sweater back in plain stocking stitch was just what I needed. I've cast on for the one pair of socks that
must be done for Christmas -- I finally have the right yarn and am writing a pattern very loosely based on the Yarn Harlot's recipe in
Knitting Rules! and Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks, Warm Feet (not linked because Amazon doesn't have it. Try your local bookseller/yarnstore) (and possibly a few other places as well -- you know how I am). I'm using the rolled rib pattern from
this book. I had originally planned to do it all the way down the sock (well, the whole ankle and then the top of the foot), but after and inch or so it's starting to wear on me. Plus it's a little slow and I only have 10 days to knit them (yes, I know Christmas isn't until the 25th and that's 11 days away, but really, I hate trying to finish stuff on the way down there. It never works out.). So now I'm thinking maybe 2 inches of the rib and then some stocking stitch for the rest. Or maybe a purl row and then switch to regular ribbing. We'll see. I'm just excited that I finally found the right yarn/pattern combo for this person.
Seriously.
Y'all have read right here on this blog about the fab Lime'n'Violet knitting podcast (where lil ol' me was even mentioned once!). They have led me to the yarn pr0n, made my commute happier, reminded me of home, and just generally been a thing I'm happy I found, plus they seem like real stand-up gals. This past week, Miss Violet found a lump. Anyone who has boobs, or knows someone who has boobs, knows how scary this is. We find a lump, we go, we get it checked out, and if we're very, very lucky, it's nothing and we go back to our lives. It's the getting it checked out part that's the worst for most of us -- the waiting, the not knowing. But at least we're doing something. Unfortunately for Miss Violet, her shitty, mean, heartless, policy-ridden insurance company is telling her there's a $1000 yearly deductible that she has to meet. So she either has to wait a month to get her scary lump checked out -- breast cancer is a disease that's most treatable if it's caught early, so this is not a great idea -- or pay $1000 this year and then another thousand bucks in a month if she's not one of the lucky ones and ends up needing treatment. And I know it's the gamble she took when she got that insurance (no, I don't know if she got it through work or if its an individual policy or what), but it's still shitty. And anyway, Lisa Souza, who you know I love so so much, has come up with the
Violet's Pink Ribbon colorway, available in Sock! Merino and Supersport. Profits go to help defray Miss Violet's deductible (and if I may suggest, order a skein of a little something else at the same time, the profits of which will go to helping Lisa Souza keep food on the table and the lights on so that she can keep dyeing such luscious yarn! Baby Alpaca/silk is yummy...).
And yes,
Mondays are still for weighing in:(I skipped last Monday because of the horrible stomach virus from the weekend before. That just seemed like cheating.)
Current weight: 179
Target weight: 140
Pounds to lose: 39
Those of you playing along at home will have noticed that I'm not actually losing weight. This week, I step it up a notch. Part of the problem is that I've been really bad about going to the gym. That stops now. The new me goes every day. I did pretty good today -- I didn't get out of the office until 6:15, but I went to the damn gym. Tomorrow, I have to pick up some fliers on the way in, so I left my gym bag there and I'm not even going to turn on the computer when I get in -- just drop off the fliers, grab the bag and head right back out. And food, glorious food...I'm going to be very strict with my food diary again. I started it but then slacked off. No more. Henceforth, I write down every calorie that passes my lips. I'm tired of not liking the way I fit into my clothes, and the way I look, and I'm going to do something about it!
Who knew?
As much as I talk about miles of stocking stitch making me want to stick a DPN in my eye, apparently it's also great stress relief. I decided what I need to take my mind off Christmas knitting was a nice sweater for Miss Becky Jayne. So we flipped through the book of baby knits I just checked out of the library (
Special Knits for Babies, by Debbie Bliss), and when I got to the picture of the Hooded Kaftan, she went crazy -- kept touching it, got upset when I turned the page or closed the book, tried to hug it. Guess I'm making that for her. So, since I hate Debbie Bliss yarns (sorry, but I do. YMMV.) and since I really, seriously, I cannot even tell you how much, SO do not need to be buying more yarn, I went into my baby yarn bag and pulled out three skeins of Lilac Haze (lavender) Cotton Fleece. I'll do the accents in dark and light purple where there's red and orange on the the one in the book, and dark and light green where there's blue in the book. The white can stay white.
I'm knitting the biggest size, because I can be sure she'll get the most wear out of it that way (and/or I'll have time to finish it before she grows out of it). I cast on the back last night and have about 5 inches knit already. Love it. I feel so much more relaxed about Christmas knitting now (which I've already admitted is not getting done). It feels so good to just sit and knit on something with no deadline, no stitch pattern, no needle manipulation. Then again, I'm only 5 inches into it. Ask me how I feel when I'm finishing up the front. And don't be surprised if there's a needle sticking out of my eye.
Not quite a week
For those of you who are still reading along, you'll have noticed that it's been nearly a week since my last post. I apologize for this and will try to do better next week. I must also apologize to the gym for the same reason. I had my first personal trainer appointment (real one, not just the freebie where they try to entice you into buying), and I really liked it. I'm glad I'm doing this. But I need to be able to get to the gym more than the once a week I'm seeing the trainer. It'll be easier when Erica (yes, that Erica) moves over to our team, but that's going to be at least a couple more weeks. So I'm going to the gym at least once a weekend, and really, really trying to go every day during the week. To be fair, I did have car trouble one day last week, and I did do a lot of extra walking that day, but the other days were just me not getting there. And the pounds are not coming off, so clearly, I need to start getting there.
Moving on to more cheerful things, like a Becky fix:
Chez Knot is filled with hugs these days, as Becky holds out her arms and then dives headfirst into us (or one of her many stuffed animals -- she's not particular). She's sort of talking a little bit, but not consistently. She's said: "dog," "da" (in reference to her daddy), "hi" (to greet her daddy), and "honk" (because that's the noise her daddy's nose makes). Here she is in her Cheater Hat:
Speaking of Cheater stuff, did I mention that the Cheater Socks are now the Slightly (Accidentally) Felted Cheater Socks? Yes, friends, I wasn't paying attention to the laundry and they got thrown in. However, they only felted the tiniest bit and they still fit. So it's not the end of the world.
Speaking of felting, I went to the store today to get sweaters to cut up and make felted needle rolls out of. I'm excited. I also took my sewing machine into the shop finally -- it's only been in my trunk for a month and a half now. So I should have it back soon (and I always have my good sewing machine downstairs, too).
Let's talk about Christmas Knitting. Pretty much if it ain't knit yet, you ain't gettin' it for Christmas. I was starting to hate working on the stuff I'm working on so much that I wasn't doing any knitting at all. Well, and back to the whole work thing. With me being the only full time person (we have a temp, but she really just answers phones), there's a hell of a lot to do and only so many hours in the day. Which makes me not want to feel like I have to knit. So I'm not. I'm only knitting the things I'm enjoying working on. I don't have any short enough DPNs to enjoy working on socks (I've ordered some...they should be here next week), so I'm going to put those on hold for now. I think I'm going to work on a Becky sweater, and maybe the Knitty sweater I put on hold to work on Christmas stuff. Or maybe the Other Knitty sweater that I designed and have the yarn for but still has to be knit up. Hmmmm...
I did get a lot of Christmas knitting done. I think only the Dallas people (sorry, Dallas people) and my SIL will be without knitted things (and SIL's might still get done -- I keep changing the yarn and pattern I'm using for it, so there have been some delays. We'll see.). And the Dallas people might still get theirs, as I'm notoriously late with their Christmas boxes anyway.
Best Laid Plans
I had hopes, I had dreams, I had
plans. I took pictures Friday morning, with every intention of making a lovely blog entry on the evening train.
I really needed to blog Friday, too, because I wanted to show you this Secret Pal extravaganza:
I hope I'm making my secret pal (the one I send stuff too) as happy as my secret pal (the one who sends me stuff) makes me! In case you couldn't tell from the pic above,
those are the
glass needles I covet(ed)! I've already cast on a project with them (the replacement for the fugly wrap) and I lurv them! They make an odd noise when they pass over each other, but it doesn't grate on me like metal needles do, and it seems to be lessening as I use them more.
I had plans for the rest of the weekend, too. Saturday I was going to head up to
Peter's Valley with Becky for the Art to Wear show, getting some mommy time in while at the same time letting Chris get some stuff done around the house. Saturday evening would be for knitting (I figured Chris would take the Beckmeister, since we try to spell each other so we don't get burnt out -- she's tons of fun, but lots of work, too). Sunday I thought there might even be some cleaning of the house (tee hee..yeah, right).
I started to feel a little ooky as I was leaving work at six. By the time the PATH left Pavonia/Newport around 6:40, I was so nauseous I had to put my knitting down. By the time the train reached Secaucus at 7:05 I was starting to throw up a little (I had the plastic bag I normally keep handy for gross gym clothes -- yet another reason I'm glad I started going to the gym). By the time the train reached Glen Rock, I knew I was good and sick. I assumed it was food poisoning, but just in case we kept me away from Becky and Chris took care of her and put her down. I felt bad, but the sickness just wasn't giving me a break and I sure didn't want her to have to go through this if it wasn't food poisoning. Guess what? About 2am, I heard the most awful noises from upstairs.
It wasn't food poisoning. Chris had it, too. I was really afraid Becky was going to be sick, too -- Chris and I had pretty much avoided each other all night, so clearly, this was a virus that was keen on smiting anyone in a 50 foot radius (people at work, if I got you, I'm sorry). She never got even a hint of it, though. She did have a touch of diarreah Thursday morning, and I wonder now if whatever caused that is what Chris and I caught. I've noticed that when we get sick from something she brings home from daycare, very often she only has a mild case of whatever and we get hit really hard with it. I guess being glad that it's me (us) who got violently ill and not her is what being a parent's all about.
Speaking, of...how about a little
Becky Fix?
Secret Pal, Becky loves her new stuff, too -- thank you!
No knitting update today -- I haven't been able to knit all weekend, so not much has been accomplished. I did get replacement yarn for the fugly wrap and am making Mimi Very Long, only a little bit wider and shorter. Wider because it's on smaller needles (so won't really be wider, but you know what I mean), and shorter because it's for a shorter person. Other than that, I continue to work on socks, and started on some felted things I'm making and remembered very quickly why I don't knit for felting: I find it incredibly annoying to get a whole big bunch of knitting done, just to shrink it down. It just seems ridiculous. So some of the people who were going to get felted things are not. Probably only one person is going to get a felted thing, in fact. And only because it's the
clogs (click the link, Erica), which really
have to be felted. Otherwise they're just weird floppy slippers.
