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.