Yay for Noro stash! Boo for being a klutz!

I'm a wounded knitter this evening.

But I had 14 skeins of Noro waiting for me here at home, which was very nice. I cast on for another square. And read how to make my own blocking board, which I'd like to do soon.

But back to the wounded. I was at the gas station after work, putting gas in the Audi, and I put the nozzle in the gas tank and started the gas pumping. I wanted to walk around the other side of the car, but the front of the car was close to the back of the car in front of me. So, I tried to step over the hose leading from the pump to the nozzle and the car. And failed, miserably. My heel wouldn't quite clear the hose, and I tumbled over the hose, landing on the ground. I managed to avoid breaking my wrist, though it's very sore, and my left hip took the brunt of the impact, and it's sore.

I'm such a dork.

Tomorrow, I shall take a photo of my Noro stash that arrived today. I should do it now, but I don't feel like it.

The break-up...

I did not, as previously posited, get much knitting done this weekend.



But I can tell you this: The Lizard Ridge pattern and I broke up yesterday. On my 13th attempt at successfully completing row 4, which was failing miserably, I stopped and looked at it and said, "This is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. And I'm not concentrating well enough for this pattern to be fun and enjoyable. Time to find another pattern. Lizard Ridge, I think you're beautiful, but you're not for me right now."



Hours of searching later, I settled on Sarah Bradberry's Psychedelic Squares stockinette mitred square pattern. Because it looked accessible to me. I'm taking the Noro Kureyon I have and doing the entire square in the same skein of Noro, instead of the awesome stripes in hers, but i am using that pattern, minus the yarn-color changing.



And it worked. This is the first unblocked square, in Noro 219.

If I can find time this week, I'd like to cast on for a pair of socks for Sean. And I know that for easier, ego-boosting knitting, I can pull out the Noro and knit a mitred square for Ann's blanket.

The house seems quiet without her there, and Sean and I both miss her a lot. I suspect we'll see her more as the next couple of years goes on, which is perfectly fine with us. I may not post that much in the next few weeks.... second quarter close starts as of Wednesday morning, and it'll be all I can do to keep my head above water. But I will try to jump in once in a while and post whatever meager progress I can muster on my knitting.

heading for the weekend!

The sun is rising in the sky. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me!

No progress on the Lizard Ridge front. I didn't have to wait long to see Dr. Emily yesterday, so I only got a chance to do the 3 rows of stockinette at the beginning of the 8th iteration of the square.

But Sean, Ann, and I went to see Rent last night at the Orpheum Theatre! It was amazing! I've been a fan of the musical since it came out and became such a phenomenon. I'd never seen it, so to see it with the Broadway touring cast was fantastic!

We went to Palomino for dinner...




And this is Ann and I at the theater during intermission:


I'm so glad that I saw the ad for this performance before she got here so that I could get us tickets. Much fun.


We also had fun playing Guitar Hero: World Tour yesterday, and I'd forgotten how much I like that game. Because I have become obsessed with knitting.


We're heading to Iowa tomorrow, meeting her mom for lunch halfway between here and home. I'm really going to miss having her here. When she runs over and gives me a huge hug, I just melt. I don't want kids of my own, for various reasons, but I definitely don't mind being a stepmom.


I also got to spend time talking to Dr. Emily yesterday. Dr. Emily is who Sean was assigned to when he broke his ribs before Christmas, and so I went to see her too. She's fantastic. The biggest reason I procrastinated on going in to see the doctor over the last month, as this exhaustion thing has been getting worse, is because I was afraid that the minute the fibromyalgia came up, I'd be told that it was just related to that. Now, it may be related to that, but to me, it feels completely different than the usual hallmarks of fibro flare-ups that I get. So I want to make sure we rule other things out before we start treating it as another manifestation of fibro.


And she gets it. She said that she understands why I've been hesitant, but that she firmly believes that it's important to rule out other things before we call it fibro-related. They're running the tests to see if anemia or my thyroid are the culprits, and I should know next week if that's what's going on. And if those tests come back normal, she said we'll explore other avenues, like a sleep study, since I know I do have trouble sleeping.


It's such a relief to find a good doctor. I found a lot of not-so-good ones when I was trying to
figure out what was wrong 13 years ago and was diagnosed with the fibro, and it makes me a little leery.


So, here's hoping it's something easily treatable. I'm at a great point in my life, and I want to have the energy to enjoy it!

It's just short rows.... why is it so difficult??

Despite working on it for hours, the yarn and needles for my first Lizard Ridge square look the same as the photo I took yesterday afternoon.

I've started and frogged the square no fewer than seven times. I feel like a dunce. But I just can't seem to work the pattern repeats in row 4 so that I come out with 3 stitches at the end of the first 2 bubbles. Once, I came out with one, and another time I had four, but never 3.

I'm determined to figure this out. Plenty of other people have done so. It's frustrating, but I am determined. Especially since I ordered 15 more skeins of Kureyon yesterday. I have to do something with this stuff, and I'd like it to be the Lizard Ridge blanket. Grr.

I'm also -this- close to trying to start a Clapotis, just to see if I can do that any better than the Lizard Ridge. And another, probably more reasonable part of me, says that I should work on an easier project, given my current concentration problems. :)

I ended up just not feeling up to trying to wrangle the Lizard Ridge pattern in public, so I stayed in last night after I got home. When I walked in, Sean and Ann showed me the spoils of the day - they bought out the hobby shop (Ann was working on a model of a 1966 VW Beetle) and Costco (omg, Gummi Bears!) while I was at work yesterday afternoon. Sean cooked up an excellent fajita dinner, complete with awesome spanish rice, and I had a surprise in the mail.

Although it wasn't supposed to be delivered till today, my Amazon Kindle was also waiting for me at home yesterday. I'd had a chance to use Sean's, and it's quite shiny. It certainly takes up less space than books! I like it very much.

And today, I had some bacon, and the dashboard turtle made an appearance, and I got hugs from my wonderful husband and my super stepdaughter before I left for work. A girl could get spoiled by all this awesomeness. Oh, wait, I am spoiled.

I think that all the awesome things in my life are why it took me so long to hit this wall as regards how poorly I'm feeling. If I had super stresses in my life, I'd have hit the wall of frustration with feeling unwell much, much sooner. At any rate, I'm looking forward to my doctor's appt later today.... to at least start the process of finding out what's wrong is a bit of a relief, even though I know it's going to be a while before we know what's going on.

The terrible twosome is going to terrorize Twin Cities museums today, and then they're descending on the U tomorrow for an all-day extravaganza of tours and exploring. I have to admit, after this week, I really would love it if she ended up at the U. She'd be a few hours from her mom and home, and would get the full college experience, but she'd be close enough that we could help with laundry or make her dinner once in a while.

I'm also looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday. And our road trip to Iowa will be nice, too. The Audi is quite the comfortable road trip car. Okay, back to analyzing returns data. Weeee!

Genesis

I was going to work on the Lizard Ridge square over lunch, but Sean and Ann came and took me out to lunch instead. But here's a photo of the 1st 3 rows, and of the gorgeous Noro Kureyon yarn I found:

I'm just itching to get this first pattern repeat -done-. Want to knit. Must work instead. Bah. :P

Update...

I have a dr appointment tomorrow afternoon. Because I was sitting here, realizing that if I can get an appt for this particular piece of things Real Soon Now, then I should. Waiting till April 20 to combine it with my general physical is only going to make me crazy(ier?).

I have a list in my notebook of all the things I've noticed/have been going on, and hopefully this appt can be the beginning of some relief. Because I really am not handling this well. No matter how much I sleep, I'm more exhausted than I've ever been. I am equally exhausted when I can catch up on sleep, like last weekend, and when I can't, like all week this week when I can't fall asleep.

I have fibromyalgia, and at one point in my life, it was so bad that I pretty much dropped out of society. And this feels worse than the worst of my fibro symptoms. Just for scale.

As much as I want to go to Knittin' Kitten tonight, I may opt for going straight home after work - I need to save up energy for going to see Rent tomorrow night at the Orpheum with Sean and Ann. I can still work on the Lizard Ridge square at home. And I haven't been at home much in the evenings during the week for the last few weeks. Which has been great for my socialization, but I need a night at home.

Dragging.....

There is snow on the ground. Snow. SNOW. Welcome to spring, where snow is as common as 55F temperatures.

I finally hit the frustration wall with my health yesterday. I called and made an appointment for April 20 to go in and get a checkup. I may well call back today and see if she's got any openings yet this week for the more immediate need, which is to find out why I'm feeling so exhausted and like I have a low-level cold all the time anymore. I sat down yesterday and wrote out a list of the things I've noticed.

I was absolutely exhausted when I left work yesterday, as it has been lately, and really just wanted to go home and sleep. Instead, I dragged myself to knit nite @ Borealis. I got there at 4:45, and made it till 6 before I left. No offense to the fine knitters at Borealis last night - I just needed to go home. I attempted to start one square of the Lizard Ridge blanket last night, but I messed it up somewhere, and started over. I'll get the pattern, eventually.

The goal is to have the blanket made by the time my stepdaughter, Ann, goes off to college (she's almost done with her sophomore year of HS). We shall see. I need to finish one of the 21 squares first, to make a true assessment of whether she'll get it when she goes off to college or when she graduates. :)

Knittin' Kitten tonight - it remains to be seen if I can stay awake long enough tonight to make it there.

So, I went home in a pretty down mood last night, and it was nice to go home and have my family there. I got lots of hugs from both Sean and Ann, and Ann & I worked on a project. It tested my new skills at dealing with frustration, and we did something awesome. When Sean and Ann were at the Science Museum the other day, she bought a ColorCube puzzle, and we put it together. I'll take photos of it tonight (we made the 3-D puzzle and hung it up over the sofa).

Today's not starting off much better than yesterday was, though. I managed to forget my purse at home, and I feel much like I did yesterday. No amount of caffeine touches this, though I keep trying.

I also want to get started on a Clapotis, but am still unsure about yarn. I have some beautiful Malabrigo that feels quite slighted at this point, but I was hoping to make a lighter weight Clapotis than that yarn. Maybe I'll just have to make one in the Malabrigo and another one later in a lighter-weight yarn. We shall see.

Completed knitting! Oh my!

It's finished! The FIL scarf is finished!

Becca and I had a lovely time at the coffee shop near my place, and I finished the FIL Scarf. 360 rows, 3 skeins of Noro Chirimen.

I think the Clapotis will be my next WIP, probably with my red/blue/black Malabrigo merino worsted yarn. And socks. I've got to keep up with the socks.

Sorry about the crappy photo - I was trying to take a photo with a 70-300 macro lens, in light and at a distance that won't allow for a clear photo. I'll take another one before I ship it off to my FIL.... but I wanted to post -something-. :)

I'm still working on the second FIL scarf, but I'm not likely to post another photo of it till it's done - it isn't attractive on my needles atm. But it should move along quickly, as it's all garter stitch.

I'm so excited to finally have a 3rd FO!

The invasion has begun.....

It was quite the busy weekend. I didn't have as much time to knit as I'd hoped, but got quite a bit of time in. I'm very close to being finished with the FIL Scarf! He tried it on, and we decided that 3 skeins was enough on the scarf, so I'm probably 50 rows away from being done, possibly less. I'm hoping to finish that tonight, and then I can power through the other FIL scarf, and send them both off to him post-haste. Here's a cell phone photo of the scarf:





Which means I'll be able to start new projects! I'd like to get Sean's first pair of socks on the needles, but I need to finish the other of my Ugliest First Socks Evar first. :)

I had a good weekend -- it wasn't easy to drag myself out of bed, into the shower, and off to work on this rainy Monday morning, knowing that the other 2 sleeping denizens Chez Berry were sleeping, and can go have fun today, but I'm so glad they have the week to spend together. I'll take a week off this summer and go do something fun, so it evens out. I need to start thinking of where I want to go.

We went to Eau Claire on Saturday, where we went bowling (I still can't bowl) and then stayed with my in-laws Saturday night. We found me a dress for the wedding I'm going to on April 11 in Boston - for $30! And it's a cute Little Black Dress!

We came back yesterday to go to see the one-act play Sweet 15 at Mixed Blood Theatre and it was fantastic. One of Sean's co-workers is on the board, so Ann got to meet the actors, and, even better, she and Sean were taken on a tour of the set by one of the stage managers. Ann's more into the technical aspects of set design and lighting and things than actually being an on-state actor.

We also went out for Vietnamese food, watched movies, and played games on the PS3 last night, too.

It was a very good weekend.

I'm looking forward to 3 nights of knitting this week, also. And Rent on Thursday!

I'm rollin'...

It was a good day for progress on the FIL Scarf frontyesterday. I knitted for a half-hour before my sewing class, and then knitted for 1.5 hours while waiting for Sean's flight from Chicago. I got 30+ more rows done, which is a great boost. There is an end in sight! Not that I am not enjoying this scarf, but I'd like to give it to its recipient and move on to a new project.

Hoping this weekend and next week to make more progress on the scarf. Definitely should next week, with knitting scheduled for the coffee shop near my house on Monday night, Tuesday night at Borealis, and Wednesday night at Spyhouse. I'm not sure how much I'll get done on Thursday/Friday night, but there's the possibility of getting more knitting done on Saturday/Sunday whilst traveling to and from Iowa - but only if knitting in the Audi doesn't make me carsick. We shall see.

I'm pretty unmotivated today at work. Last night was another night of not being able to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, and I'm just exhausted. I'm going to work through lunch today and leave at 2 pm.

Random Stuff

I'm up to about 330 rows completed on the FIL scarf. Made 30 rows of progress on the scarf last night @ Knittin' Kitten.

Yertle the turtle made an appearance at Spyhouse last night, and the knitting crew graciously agreed to this photo:


Yertle stayed close to my chai cup all night - the chai was warm (sorry about the fuzzy photo - I used my cell phone)!

I wrote this last night, but then I found Sean online, and forgot to post this. Boys can be distracting. :P

I have a class tonight at the sewing shop where I bought the sewing machine. It's a class on how to use my specific machine. I'm looking forward to it.

Not really knitting related! But there are photos of a turtle!

This is not exactly knitting-related. But I will be pursuing knitting later today, so that's close enough.

This morning, my very nice husband agreed to let me bring Yertle the turtle along on my travels. He's leaving tonight for a day in Chicago tomorrow, and I offered to let Yertle see Chicago. Instead, Yertle's stuck here with me in scenic (?) Hopkins, MN.

Yertle makes a fantastic dashboard turtle in the Audi. Here, he's helping my GPS unit (which needs a name... hm.) do its job, since it gets quite confused on the spiral exit from Ramp C in Minneapolis:

And here, Yertle's the all-important monitoring turtle. He's been supervising my product line and regional reports for February, and is fond of saying, "Yer doin' it rong."

Knittin' Kitten group-members, be warned: Yertle is coming to knit nite tonight, and my camera will also be there, to record the excursion. :) Yertle is already experienced in knitting QA on my FIL Scarf, after all.

PS: to Becca

Also, Becca: We found a great Indian grocery and restaurant in Maple Grove, of all places, called Curry Up. Informal cafeteria style setting, but wonderful food! Lots of vegetarian options, of course. We must go sometime!

I ordered Vegetable Vindaloo, and it was so spicy! They also have a buffet Monday-Saturday, 11:30-3:30 ish.

One! One Sock! Ha-Ha-Ha!

Here are photos of my Ugliest Sock Evar. Soon, I shall have a second sock, which I started on tonight, to give me the Ugliest Pair of Sox Evar. :)

Still, it's a sock, and more than I'd previously been able to do. I'm hopeful that I will be able to more successfully complete sock #2 of this pair, so that I do the socks for Sean justice, when I get to them. Sean provided easy access to his photo studio & lighting setup for me to take these photos (we set up a 2nd mini-photo studio/lighting setup in my office, too, which is nice!). That's his hand modeling the sock in the first one. And he's holding the sock in the second one. :) Helpful boy are helpful. I am a lucky girl.


I'm likely to not work on the second sock for a bit though. I'd like to see how much of the FIL Scarf I can get through by this weekend. My stepdaughter, Ann, will be arriving here on Friday for her spring break, and we're going to see her grandparents this weekend. So, the more I can complete on the FIL scarf, the closer I'll be to giving that to him soon! I'm really looking forward to seeing Ann.

She's a good kid, but really struggling with being 15, and I think she'll benefit from spending a week with her dad. Sean's a good listener, and a good advice-giver. I think he'll be able to provide some needed perspective. And they're going to look at colleges, since she's almost done with her freshman year of high school, and it's never too soon to start the process. We'd love to have her relatively close by, so that we could provide laundry service or make dinner for her once in a while. I know her mom will appreciate the week-long break, too. And we're going to see Rent at the Orpheum next Thursday!

I am working my way through a beer right now, in honor of St. Patrick's Day (I love St. Patrick's Day - my name's Kelly Ann, and my husband's Sean Patrick. We're a little Irish. (I'm also English, Welsh, Scottish, and Native American, but I've always identified with my Irish roots more than the others). )

It's time for bed soon, though. I've been feeling a little better today, but could use some quality sleep tonight. We've had the windows open since yesterday - love this weather. I appreciate a preview of spring, but I live in Minnesota, so I know the next snowstorm could be right around the corner! I don't take 40s and 50s for granted! Lola and I had fun driving with the sunroof and windows down, though. Whee!

Mumble...

Ugh.

There has been some half-hearted knitting, but I spent all weekend, plus yesterday, pretty dragged down by this not-feeling-well. I had hoped to be most of the way done with my Ugliest Sock Evar, and it's not too far off, but I didn't get to the toe shaping like I wanted to, and class is tonight. I figure I'll just start on the toe shaping/finishing to see how it's done, and worry about knitting myself a pair of socks that fits me later. :) I'd rather see how it's done, and then start a new pair at this point. I measured Sean's feet, so now I have measurements to make him a pair of socks. yay!

Frustrated by not feeling well, especially since it's felt like a low-level Something-Not-A-Cold. I probably should go to the doctor, but have such a non-specific list of symptoms (sinus issues, feeling nauseous yesterday (no, it's definitely not *that*), being utterly exhausted and not sleeping well) that it feels like it would be a waste of their time and effort because I'm not able to really point to anything really wrong, just a low-level not-feeling-well. Still, I guess can't see if there is something specific going on if I don't go in. I could wait till next week and get my annual physical at the same time, so that would be a good thing.

Was supposed to start my crochet class last night at Crafty Planet, but that was sidetracked by how I felt. Fortunately, I can try crochet again another time. It's probably for the best - with the sewing and sock knitting, I feel like I'm trying to tackle enough new crafts to learn. :)

I'll work on a photo of whatever the sock looks like later, after I get home. Have to have a beer when I do finally get home - it's St. Patrick's Day! And I'm Irish.

To close this entry:

Sean got a haricut on Saturday (he once typoed the word "haircut" in an email to me, so now I call them "haricut"s) and while he was at the salon, I was at home knitting a few rows on the FIL Scarf. Yertle felt the need to supervise (that's my laptop, with the knitting splashed across the keyboard, and Yertle inspecting the scarf):

Halfway Point!

I didn't make it to DKN tonight. I wasn't sure if I was going to go, given the week I've had at work, and the fact that I've been fighting... whatever this is. I'm not sure it's a cold, and I should probably hit the doctor's office next week to figure out what's going on.

I went to Freewheel with Panda and DanRay and one of their friends, where we figured out that a road bike Just Isn't For Me. I'll be going back there, possibly this weekend, to test drive some hybrid and/or commuter bikes. And I need to throw my current road bike up on Craigslist and sell it.

I came home and worked on the FIL Scarf. And, lo, I just hit the 50% completion mark! 2 skeins used, 300 rows knitted.

I'm thrilled to be halfway done, and I am optimistic that it won't take me another month to knit the second half. I'm having a blast with this scarf.

Of course, I can see that the sock knitting has the potential to take over my knitting life, and I'm starting my beginning crochet class this coming Monday, so I'll be trying to learn that too. Still, I hope that I can finish this scarf in a reasonable amount of time.

If I can concentrate enough, I should have time to work on the scarf more this weekend.


I'm excited though - I get to leave in a few minutes to pick Sean up from the airport. It's been a long week, and it'll be really nice to see him. And Yertle the Turtle! :)

So glad it's almost Friday!

I'm stealing Random Thursday from Becca.

There are no photos of knitting in today's post. The camera's here, but my photographic muse up and quit the other day, and hasn't come back yet.

I have a slight cold, and feel cranky, partially because of that and partially because it's been a rough week at work. I'm hoping I feel well enough to hoist a pint and get some knitting done tomorrow night.

Sean's scheduled now on a flight getting in from California at midnight, and I've offered to go pick him up at the airport. I'm looking forward to seeing him. It's been a long week, and I need a hug.

Also, in what's a strange, long story, Sean calls me "squishy girl" as a term of endearment (I think it's adorable), and a derivative is "squishy pants." Today, in an email, he referred to me as "mcsquishy" . . . and I instantly figured out that "MCSQSHY" would fit Minnesota's license plate requirements. :P I still like "AUDIBLE", and I haven't decided what I want to go with yet. I have time.

I don't, though, have time with the Civic. That has to get registered in MN, and soon. I should go in on Saturday and get that done. I think we want "CANHAS" or "LOLCAR". We love the lolcats Chez Berry. We speak in lolspeak all the time. It's pretty funny.

Becca and I had fun running around. She got yarn and we had way too much fun ogling beads. I got a bracelet kit, and will post photos once I have made the bracelet for myself. And we had great Indian food @ Best of India (where Sean and I went the night we first saw Lola).

I will put a photo in this post. Just not a knitting-related one. See, at dinner, Becca and I mentioned Chichen Itza, and then I came home, and the show "Warriors" was just starting on History International, about Mayan warriors. So, here's a photo I took of Chicken Pizza, as we've taken to calling it, thanks to our tour guide, who referred to it that way on our tour:



Also, apropos of nothing, I'm completely addicted to the new album by the group The Killers, called Day and Age.

Okay, I need to get some sleep, because tomorrow's not going to be an easy day at work either.

Socks: It's like learning a new dialect of the knitting language!

Okay, so I went to night 2 of my 3 night sock knitting class. This has got to be the ugliest sock evar. In fact, I might go so far as to rename this sock on Ravelry to The Ugliest First Sock Evar.

But. I'm making a sock, and the only way to get better at it is to do it, and we have to start somewhere. I turned the heel last night, which involved a lot of swearing on my part, because, as it turned out, the pattern was doing it rong. The pattern left out a K1 on my first row of decreases on the heel flap. That K1 was pretty important.

With the help of Joan, my teacher, we ripped out the sequence 3 times before she noticed what was missing in the pattern. But as an instructive device, I'll always remember that section with the K1 at the end before turning to start the next row of decreases. I think it'll click more when working on the second sock of the Ugliest Socks Evar, on my own.

I'm going to try to get all the way through the foot and the toe shaping to the last bit of the sock by next week, so that I can get help if I need it, and then I can start on my second sock if I have extra time.

I had plans to make my sewing machine cover this week, but it's been a week filled with activity. I got home at 9 from class last night, will get home around 9 from Knittin' Kitten tonight, and tomorrow night, Becca and I are going out to Bead Monkey. The 50th & France shops are having a ladies' night out, and we can make a free pair of earrings @ Bead Monkey, and I want to buy stuff for another beading project, so that I don't forget what I learned in my Elements class.

Friday night, Sean will be home from San Diego, and maybe I can at least get the pattern pieces cut out before he gets home, and work on the cover over the weekend.

I signed up for a Sewing 1 class yesterday through Minneapolis Community Education. It's 5 Mondays, and I'm think it will be a good class.

I also want to make more progress on the FIL Scarf this weekend. I'll probably work on the 2nd FIL Scarf tonight @ the Kitten, since it's all knit stitches, so I have to worry less about messing up.

I really need to crank through the FIL scarves, since I can see that sock knitting is going to invade my knitting life very soon, and I want to make sure I don't have so many projects on needles that I'm not making progress. (ha!)

In an update from lovely San Diego, CA:

Sean and Yertle got up yesterday, and got ready for work. Yes, Sean is a goofy kind of guy. He's charming, so he gets away with a lot of stuff. It's part of why I fell for him. Sean went off to the client site, and...

... Yertle carefully guarded the bed until Sean finally arrived home after a long day of work and sushi.

Eureka!

I stopped by Crafty Planet & JoAnn on my way home and got the stuff to make my sewing machine cover. Hoping to get started on that tomorrow night. I'm not going to post progress photos because I want to surprise Sean, and while I don't think he has any idea how to get to this blog, I'd rather not chance it.

Then I went over to Borealis, where I got just the support I needed to pull 4 stitches off of the needle, unravel them, and pick up the strand that got missed along the way. I can tell I had to rework it, but no one else will know.

To celebrate my Ms. Fix-It success, I bought a great book on sock knitting and 2 skeins of Opal yarn. For Sean's second set of sox. Not that I have started his first set, with the Sisu yarn he gave me, yet, but I will, once I am finished with my sock class next week. He's got 11.5EEE feet, so I need to measure his feet to make sure I make sox that fit him. I have a guide in the book I bought, but I think it only covers a standard width 11.5, not the super-wide width.

It was a great feeling to get it fixed, and the beauty of it was that all I really needed was the support that I could fix it myself. And I did!

Second half of le weekend!

There's an absolutely gorgeous sunrise out there this morning! And I brought my camera to work with me! And completely forgot to grab the memory card for the camera out of my computer yesterday. Doh!

I took a look at the FIL Scarf yesterday, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to fix it that doesn't involve ripping out rows and rows of work. It may come to that, but I'm not necessarily confident in my ability to do that either. So, I brought the scarf with me, and I'm going to Borealis after work, in the hopes that someone there might have a moment to help me figure out what I did and how I can fix it. Because if I don't do that, I'll never learn how to fix my own mistakes, and starting all over again doesn't make sense - there has to be a way to fix it, and I intend to learn how. :)

I'm having fun with the Kindle app for the iPhone. Sean just got a Kindle2, and he adores it. It's a beautiful thing, but I can't quite justify one for myself. With Sean's travel schedule, a portable reading device makes sense for him, since it's more compact, easier, etc. But even though I haven't justified a Kindle, I did download the Kindle app to my ipod touch, and it's pretty awesome. It's not as nice a display as the Kindle, but it's definitely nice to have a portable reading device of my own, and this way I only have to justify the cost of books, not a machine + books.

The other night, when I stopped to stock up on supplies for a sick husband, I bought him a present. As I was walking by the floral section, I glanced at the stuffed animals, and this cute, fuzzy stuffed turtle smiled at me. I knew the turtle would be just the thing for Sean to snuggle up with while he rested. Yertle, as he has been named, traveled through Denver to San Diego with Sean yesterday. Here is a small photojournal of the trip thus far:

This is Yertle on the train to car rentals.

Yertle makes a fine dashboard turtle! Fortunately, they arrived in San Diego earlier than originally planned, so they had a chance to enjoy a nice afternoon in the southern California sunshine. Sean also got a fun BMW 330 as a rental car.

Yertle enjoyed the sunset in San Diego last night, especially with the later light in the evening, now that we're back on Standard Time.

Finally, Sean and Yertle wished me a good night from 1,988 miles west of home.

I think I would like to try to stop by Crafty Planet on my way to Borealis this evening... I'd like to get the fabric for the (likely overly ambitious) sewing machine cover I want to make. Since we're supposed to get a snowstorm tomorrow night, that would be a good time to hole up in the house & work on it, if my class gets cancelled.

Also, I drove Lola to work for the first time this morning. We found her just in time, given the snowstorm on the way. It's great fun to drive this car. Here she is (please excuse the crappy cell phone photos):

Weekends go too quickly.

It's been a whirlwind weekend.

Sean made it home Friday, very very sick, and I took care of him all day. He rarely gets sick, so I was glad that I could take care of him.

Yesterday morning, we went and picked up the new car, and then I took Sean to Urgent Care, where they gave him a nice round of antibiotics. He looked better within a couple of hours of taking the first one, so that was a relief. Once I got Sean some spicy Thai food for lunch, I headed off for an afternoon/evening of fun with Becca and company !

I finally got to visit 3 Kittens Needle Arts in Mendota Heights, and I found a lot of awesome yarns that I could play with. Without a specific project in mind, though, I opted not to buy anything, but I have some yarns in mind for future projects. I splurged on chocolate peanut butter ice cream at Cold Stone, and then we went back to Becca's to hang out.

I worked on the FIL Scarf while I was there, and managed to have a stitch that got away with me. I'm making myself figure out how to fix it, even though Becca said she could see how to fix it - because a part of learning this craft is learning how to fix my mistakes without ripping out everything and starting over. I'm nominally through 263 rows on the FIL scarf, and nearing the end of skein #2 of 4. It's moving along well, and will continue to do so once I fix this error. :)

Then we headed off to Brit's Pub, where much fun was had, and I haven't laughed that much in one day in a long time.

I came home, and Sean, while still sick, looked much better. I started to feel not so great, and headed off to bed, and slept pretty solidly after he came to bed 2 hours later. We got up this moning and just lazed about. Then I read the guest post on Becca's blog, which reminded me that it's no longer daylight saings time, but the clock we were looking at was not moved forward an hour.

It's a good thing I saw that, or Sean would have missed his 1:40 pm flight through ORD to SAN. He ended up being re-routed through DEN, but will get in at about the same time.

I suppose I should drag out the FIL Scarf and fix the error so that I can keep working on it. I want to keep going on the Fledgling Sock, but I'm thinking that I should wait till I am in class so that I can make sure I'm on the right track. Otherwise, what's the point of taking the class?

Photo Evidence of my knitting!

At last, the photos of my fledgling sock. It's a short sock, so that we can cover the basics of making a sock from the top down, in the 3 weeks of class. This photo shows where I've done the first 28 rows, and separated 24 stitches onto a needle for the heel, and the other 24 are on a stitch holder awaiting, I think, the instep instructions.

I did a row or two on the 2nd FIL scarf, also, this evening. It's just kind of coiling around the needle, since it's a lengthwise garter stitch scarf. It's a good mindless project, so I'm glad for it.


I need to get myself to bed soon. Sean's flying home on a red eye through Vegas, and I am going to get up early, get ready, and pick him up at the airport. I've come to appreciate maximizing the time we get to spend together, and if I can get another 30 minutes by picking him up at 5:30 am at MSP, I'm all for it.

He's got quite a cold, poor guy. He sounded so sick when I talked to him on my way home from work (the bluetooth connection from my gps unit to my cell phone works pretty well. I was just sitting in the traffic jam on 394 eastbound, so I was glad for the chance to talk to him. Made the traffic jam go by more quickly. :) ).

Fortunately, he's had a tk and a jdd and a longdog to take care of him this evening - he's spent time with our awesome frients Tasha and JD (tasha's directly responsible for how Sean and I met, 17 months and 28 days ago) and their dog Charley, who's a longdog.

I've got the makings for hot and sour soup and chicken noodle soup, and got Kleenex with lotion, orange juice, fizzy alka-seltzer cold-fighting tablets, and honey-lemon cough drops all on hand.

We're going to pick up the new car on Saturday morning, and then I'm absconding with it for an afternoon/evening of fun for Becca's birthday. Yarn and ice cream and drunken debauchery? Count me in! (I expect to see you wearing that tiara, by the way!)

Sunday, I plan on taking care of Sean (he takes such good care of me always, and he's rarely at home when he's sick, so I'm going to take care of him when I can!) and knitting. And not much else exciting.

Okay, sleepynight time!

...insert witty title here

Knittin' Kitten was fun last night.



I have always used a long-tail cast on. It's what Mindy at Fiddlehead Yarns taught me a couple of years ago when I learned to knit, and I've had no reason to use anything else.



Until last night. When I wanted to cast on for the FIL scarf V2.0, and with 250 stitches to cast on (for a scarf knitted lengthwise in rows), I knew I needed a new way to cast on.



Diana came to the rescue, with a knitted cast on that allowed me to cast on my 250 stitches and knit a whole row, in 1.5 hours. I came home and watched a Discovery Channel special about USA 1549, and knitted a few more rows. It's fast knitting, all in garter stitch. Someday, I'm going to make a striped version as is done in the pattern I stole for this scarf.



I have to work on my homework for sock knitting class, too, another few rows of K1P1, and then 9 rows of knitting in the round. Hoping to finish that tonight, so that I'm not scrambling early next week to get that done. And, of course, I want to work more on the FIL scarf V1.0 too! But before I do anything at home tonight, I need to clean up the kitchen! I haven't been home much all week in the evenings, and I've slacked on the kitchen. Must load dishwasher, stat!



Sean sent me a photo last night, as he was on his way to dinner, and it so made me miss California. I'm looking forward to making a trip out there soon, and at least in August, for an anniversary trip. Sean's back in CA next week, to San Diego.



Mind you, I've never lived in California. And only visited there a few times. But the Bay Area is one of those places where, when I visited for the first time, it felt like I was coming home to someplace I'd known and loved, not someplace I'd never been. And it doesn't hurt that some of my favorite people are there. Two of the places I feel the most at home are the Bay Area of CA, and southern ME. Talk about opposite ends of the country!


Sean and I are traveling to Boston in mid-April to attend a wedding, and we're making the drive up to Maine on Easter Sunday, to see my best friend Rose and her family. We'll get to meet Athena Jane, who was born the day after my 34th birthday, about which I am very excited. And her extended family, who was like a second family to me growing up, will get to meet Sean. Poor guy doesn't know what he's in for.


It was 38F as I drove in this morning and supposed to be in the mid-40s today. As much as Autumn is my favorite season, always, there's something about Spring that gives me a sense of renewal, and a sense of success at having survived the long winter.

I didn't have to use my AK... (for tk)

After work, I hung out at Caribou, had a divine mocha and some dinner, and knitted a few rows on the FIL scarf. I think I'm at 215 rows now, but I'm too lazy to go look at my row counter for confirmation.

Then it was time to head over to Roosevelt for my sock knitting class. There were 9 or so people in the class, which was a good number... not too many, so I could get help when I needed it. But, I successfully cast one and knitted 14 rows on a top down sock. The dpns are interesting to get used to, after using circs for so long doing flat knitting. but it's not so bad, and simple socks definitely have the potential to be added to my stable of knitting.

I have the black yarn I originally bought for the FIL scarf, and it's also going to be a FIL scarf. I think I am going to bring it to Knittin' Kitten tomorrow night and start a garter stitch scarf. Having a scarf that's all knit stitches would be good, I think, and I can still work on the Noro FIL scarf at other times.

Sean's on his way to San Francisco tonight from Chicago, and his flight got delayed. At least he was able to get a nonstop outbound. I think he flies through Vegas on the way home (and maybe on a redeye; I think he gets in about the time I'm getting up for work...). And he's in San Diego next week, all week. It's been a while since he had west coast trips.

I'll post a photo of the "sock"... I should do it tonight, but I'm too tired.

Exhausted update...

Too tired to knit more than a row on the FIL scarf. But it's one more row than I had.

The Audi started right up - I think it wasn't the battery, but the steering wheel got turned into the lock position when I got out on Sunday, and neither of us wiggled the steering wheel to let the ignition turn this morning.

We'll see tomorrow morning.

But now I have a set of jumper cables for each car, which I should have had a long time ago.

Tomorrow night's my sock knitting class. I was in a sock knitting class once before, and I still have the 2/3 of a foot that I completed during that class. Sadly, I was in that class when my mom died, and it's taken me this long to be able to really feel like I could tackle it again.

I found an awesome idea for a sewing machine cover, and I'm wondering if I can get the supplies and make it while Sean's out of town this week.

I should go to bed - I'll sit here till midnight if I don't. And I could use the sleep.

Eleven:eleven

I got a few rows done on the FIL scarf this morning as I was getting ready for work. Nothing spectacular, though, and I am really feeling quite tired now.

I just checked my cell phone, and it was 11:11. I make wishes at 11:11 when I see it on the clock. It's superstitious, but I do it anyway. It's why I always have at least one clock in my world that is not set to military time, though I just think military time sounds hawt when it's used. Don't ask. I love Roman numerals, too. What can I say? I'm a geek!

The night of my bachelorette party, my girls Karen, Barb, Heidi, and Carrie took me out to dinner @ California Pizza Kitchen, and drinks @ the top of the John Hancock Tower in downtown Chicago, and then we headed back to the hotel in the suburbs to stay up late and drink red wine and talk. A lot.


On the way back to the hotel, in the cab, Carrie said, "It's 11:11! Make a wish!" Not everyone was familiar with that, as I recall, but I made a wish that night. Not too much longer after that, Sean was surfing the web, and I saw this on his screen (originally from Postsecret, if I am following correctly).

And now, when I see 11:11, I remember wishing for a significant other who wanted to be with me for who I am, not who he wanted me to be. And I also remember how important my friends were to me surviving all that came before so that when I met Sean, I could recognize him as someone who wants to be with me for who I am. My life is so much the richer, not only for having Sean as an important part of it, but for the friends who stuck by me through so many things.

I don't have it all figured out. I'm not perfect, and neither is my life. I struggle, and doubt myself, just like everyone else. But I know that I am fortunate for all that I have, and now I'm making new friends here, as I will wherever I go.

At 11:11, I'm still wishing - for parts of myself as yet undiscovered, for friends I have yet to meet, for others in my life who could use a good thought or two through a rough spot.

What will you wish for when you see 11:11 on the clock?

Wow, it's early!

Sometimes, things manage to work out.

Sean got up to head for the airport this morning, and was going to take the Civic and park it at the airport, and I'd have the loaner car for the week. I'd forgotten to grab a couple of accessories for my gps out of the Civic, and was going to have him just swing them by our front door for me to grab. I ended up walking over to the parking garage with him instead, and am glad I did.

I got into the Audi to pull it in front of the building, and there was no power to the battery. *sigh* So, we got him further downtown so that he could catch a cab to the airport, and I have the Civic parked in front of the building. I don't have jumper cables, which I've needed to fix for a long time, so I'm buying a set of cables and a jump pack for both cars tonight. It's a reasonable investment given the MN winters.

But if I hadn't gone out with him, and hadn't tried to get the Audi out of the garage, I wouldn't have known the battery was dead until I headed out for work, so it all worked out. And now I'm wide awake, and it's just 5 am. I'd like to get to work a little early this morning, though not too early, so I'm going to sit here and knit for the next few minutes.

I didn't knit as much as I'd like over the weekend, but I'm sure I'll catch up this week. My sock knitting classes start tomorrow night, so I'm hoping that goes okay. Sean gave me sock yarn out of his stash, so I'm hopeful to knit a pair of socks for him.

I suspect I'll be in bed early tonight, though, since I woke up at 4 am.