I've switched blogs!

I've moved. This blog served a nice purpose, but I wanted to host my own blog, with my own domain name.  So, the blog is now at http://www.dreamstrivesucceed.com/.  

An update!

Ahoy, all 2-3 of my intrepid readers. I keep wanting to write in this blog, but I just don't know what to say.

I haven't been knitting that much in the last few weeks. I've been sick, with a cold that turned into a sinus infection. And the garter stitch square of the baby blanket I'm working on? I got it done.....

.... and ripped it all out and have started over again.

I used a russian join for the yarn, and once the square was done, I realized how crappy that looked, and one of the joins caused a hole in the work. So, I started over. And have felt too tired this week to work on it.

I also bought some gorgeous Silk Twist Yarn from The Great Adirondack Yarn Co. to make a Clapotis (#3!) for me for a wedding we're attending in May. Haven't started the Clapotis yet.

Someday, I'll take photos again and upload to the blog. Maybe if I take photos, regularly, I'll update more often.

In other news, we're house hunting. As much as we love the location of our loft, and the wide open space of our loft, and the comparatively cheap rent of our loft, our neighbors have managed to get us to leave. Our landlord isn't able to make repairs that would be helpful (the old wooden floors really have to be replaced), and our neighbors can't seem to figure out that playing music or videogames at a very loud volume (when the bass from your music or game shakes our floor from downstairs, or I can clearly identify and hear what song you're playing, it's too loud!) and/or talking very loudly at 3:30 am on a Thursday is unacceptable. And if we rent or buy a house, we're not paying $250 a month for our 2 cars to park in Ramp C downtown either. So we get instant savings by moving, even if we rent or buy a house with a similar monthly payment in rent or mortgage. We have 3 rental houses to go look at tomorrow, and a potential house to buy on Sunday.

We found a neighborhood in Mpls that we love. One of Sean's co-workers wants to sell his house there, so we're going to look at it on Sunday and see if it'll work for us. Off the top of our heads, we can get most of the way to a 20% down-payment, so we could do it, and the house payment itself won't be that much more than our rent payment. It's a 3 bed, 1 ba, unfinished basement (I think), no garage, 1,400 sq ft plus 1,000 sq ft in the basement.

But, if that doesn't work, or we decide not to buy, we have 3 rentals to look at on Saturday.

1. The first one is in the Fulton neighborhood, one neighborhood south of our preferred neighborhood. It looks like it's probably a nice house from the photos, and is $100/mo cheaper than our current rent. This is a 3 bed, 2 bath, finished basement, 2 car garage. 1,596 sq ft.

2. The second one is in the Linden Hills neighborhood, which is our preferred neighborhood. 3 bed, 2 bath, partially finished basement, 2 car garage. This one is $50/mo cheaper than our current place. 1,584 sq ft.

3. The third house is in Robbinsdale, a city just north and west of Minneapolis. The house is near North Memorial Medical Center and Theodore Wirth Parkway. It's a 2 bed, 1 ba Craftsman bungalow with some kitchen upgrades. Unfinished basement and 1.5 car garage. 1,200 sq ft plus 1,000 sq ft in the basement. This one is $700/mo cheaper than our current place.

Option 3 of the rental houses is the best deal financially. But I suspect that if I like the house for sale best, we'll go that route. We shall see!

Still around, trying to find time to knit!

I'm still here! I'm still knitting!

Working on the baby blanket for the little one due in early May. The garter stitch square is almost done, and I'll probably start picking up the stitches on the outside either tonight or tomorrow.

If this one comes out all right, I'll make one for my new nephew, Michael, who was born on Feb. 10.

Started a few other things, but haven't made much progress. I was sick for most of February with a cold and resultant sinus infection, so we'll see. If I rip out the Forest Canopy Shawl and start the Clapotis with that yarn, I could get it done by the wedding we're going to in May. Need to do that though.

I think the Malabrigo afghan is going to become my Xmas knitting. I will work on it every Xmas vacation until it's done. :)

Hoppy New Year!

The theme for the beginning of this knitting year is baby blankets. Started a rib check blanket last night for my BIL & SIL, whose little boy is due any minute now.

Have the yarn on the way for Jared Flood's baby blanket, which I am knitting for the little girl of dear friends, who should be making her appearance in early May.

Also cast on last night for a lacy cowl made out of Mini Mochi (like I needed another project).

Forest Canopy Shawl is on timeout for the moment, and may become the Clapotis I envisioned when I bought the yarn. May need yarn I can see well for the FC Shawl.

Feather and Fan afghan out of Malabrigo is 1/3 done, and is my mindless knitting.

Exercise didn't happen on vacation; back at it tonight. Have to exercise before I can knit. :)

Xmas is next week!

I need to catalog my needles. I don't know what I have and in what UFO it's currently hanging. I can't determine and obtain the other needles I need unless I do this. One more thing to add to the to-do list.

I also am discovering that I have problems with most patterns that involve a lot of YOs. It's like I have a mental block keeping track of patterns with a lot of stuff in them. A shame, but I suppose I'll be a happier knitter focusing on what I do really well. Not to say I won't keep trying to increase what I know, but I know where my comfort zone is.

Forest Canopy Shawl is progressing slowly. I've had to rip back to the 2nd repeat lifeline 4 or 5 times now, but have now managed to get to the halfway point in the repeat, so I am optimistic.

I still need to put something mindless on the needles for when I just can't seem to follow the yo, sl1-k2tog-psso stuff in the FCS.

Last week, I got back on the bandwagon of exercising and eating right. I'm using heart rate training, getting on the bike for 30 min 3x per week and doing yoga for weight loss 1x per week and doing a 10/10/10 on the bike/rowing machine/elliptical.

Going to do that again this week, and adding C25K workouts on the elliptical after the bike. Eventually, want to get up to 2x/wk yoga for weight loss.

Did well on food tracking last week, and when I got on the scale on Saturday, it said 4 lbs gone. I won't get that every week, nor do I expect it, but it was nice to see. :)

My inducement to workout? I can't knit in the evenings unless I've done some sort of workout, unless I'm injured or sick. It worked well last week.

I'm going to bring workout clothes to work and do workouts at work during quarter-end close, so that I don't muck up the good foundation I'm setting here.

When we go to Iowa next week, I can bring workout clothes and do bike/elliptical, probably, and once we get to Denver, I can go for 60 min walks every day and that will tide me over.

projects!

My second Clapotis found its way to its home, in scenic San Bruno, CA. California's in the middle of a cold snap, and it seems that something snuggly to wear such as a Clapotis is a Good Thing. Glad you like it, tk.

I went to find yarn with her in mind, knowing she likes oranges and browns, and the autumn colors in this one are nice. She's been one of my best friends for 10 years now, and I wanted to make her something that was one of a kind.

I have now cast on for the forest canopy shawl twice. I now have a 3rd start on the needles, and am hoping it'll work this time. I'm having a hard time getting the pattern in my head, so I may be missing yarnovers or something. I may not have chosen the best yarn for 1st lace project, but I'll keep at it. It's also not easy to un-knit, so I guess I'll learn to knit more slowly/carefully. I need to get a mindless project on the needles - I was exhausted last night and wanted mindless knitting, but all of the projects I have on needles are complicated for me.

I should start a basketweave blanket or something. I seem to have more luck when not knitting for myself.

Finished Object!!

Knitting, knitting, knitting! Haven't been working out or watching what I eat, but I have been knitting!

My second Clapotis was finished yesterday.

There are more photos up on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/empire74/sets/72157622830119597/

I'm casting on for the Forest Canopy today. Cast on last night but managed to mess up near the end of the setup rows. So, I took it all apart and will start over again tonight.

Stitches and stitches and stitches.

Hey, it's December tomorrow!

I haven't been posting regular updates... but I have been knitting!

I'm feverishly working on my 2nd Clapotis, and am about halfway through the straight rows section. I'm trying to finish that so that I can start on my first lace shawl, the Forest Canopy, which I am making to wear to a wedding next May.

Also on the needles is a Sooper Sekrit project that I really need to put the hammer down on to complete by May.

Sean's socks are on the needles, but pending the completion of the Sooper Sekrit project.

I survived the crazy month of October at work, and we went to Puerto Rico in mid-November for a long weekend to celebrate. PR was wonderful and I highly recommend it, particularly the western-coast town of Rincon and the Lazy Parrot Inn on hwy 413.

We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Our friends danRay and Panda were in attendance, as were my in-laws. danRay made a beautiful turkey, and Sean and I made side dishes and Mom brought pie and kolaches!

Good thing about having company - the house looks a lot cleaner! Now to keep that up!

Sean got a new workbench - he's getting into electronics again, as well as r/c airplanes - he's building his own r/c airplane now. I have been working on beginning electronics projects too, which is fun.

We're definitely keeping busy.

This coming weekend, we'll be in the greater Milwaukee area, which will help my homesickness. Might be in Chicagoland next weekend, not sure, and we'll be doing Iowa/Denver over Christmas and the week after.

Looking forward to 2010, also. 2009 hasn't been a bad year, but it's been a tough year. Onward!

In it to win it!

Still knitting, mostly. Work's starting to eat my life again, but that'll be over soon enough.

I had a wonderful birthday - came in to work in the morning for a few hours, and my office mates had decorated the whiteboard outside my cube for my birthday. I left at 11:30, and met up with Sean. We went and he flew airplanes and we visited with friends, and then we ran some errands while listening to the Twins game on the radio in the car, got service arranged on my new (to me) iPhone (eee!), and then went to Great India in Brooklyn Park for dinner, which was *so* good. And Sean got me into their kitchen to see the tandoor. :)

Then we came home and I was mellow and helped Sean pack.

Got up at 5 am yesterday, took Sean to el aeropuerto (he -is- in Mexico, after all), and came home. I sat around like a lump all day yesterday. I had to rip out and restart the sekrit project, due to my inability to currectly knit a seed stitch border the first time through. I'm now halfway back to where I was when I ripped it out, so that's good. Watched the Twins game yesterday and cheered on the boys to a win in the 162nd game of the season.

I rooted for the White Sox to beat Detroit, which they couldn't pull off, and so the Twins will go to a tiebreaker game tomorrow @ the Dome. If I didn't have year-end stuff at work, I so would have tried to get tickets to the game.

I'm looking forward to tracking the game tomorrow at 4 pm Central.

Also looking forward to hopefully getting in an hour or two of knitting on the sekrit project tonight. Might also get some knitting done on Clapotis #2 during lunch this week, maybe. Probably no progress made ont he socks till Sekrit Project is done. Sorry, sweetie.

So, still here, still knitting, still trying to keep my wits about me. :)

Updatey.

WEll, the Magic Scarf referred to in the last post is hereby off the needles for another sekrit project. I bought the yarn for it yesterday and cast on. I can't wait to show you the finished result. .... at some later time, when it's done. :)

I've got the Clapotis in my bag for quick knitting here and there, and this new project is primarily an at-home project.

It was raining so hard in downtown Mpls this morning that I could barely see. It's 8:30 am and it's so dark outside it looks like dusk-veering-toward-the-blackness-of-night. Hello, fall!

Knitting update

I now have project #3 on the needles (4, in you count the Mitered Squares blanket, which I haven't worked on in a long time). I bought some Hempathy yarn, which was originally scheduled for the Clapotis I now have on the needles. But the yarn wasn't lending itself well to the Clapotis application. I tried a few other things, none of which worked, so now I'm making another Magic Scarf (Crazy Aunt Purl's inspiration), in stripes of my MC, CC, and both together. I hope it works. It'll be a faster knit, even though it's DK yarn on size 3 needles, because it's just knits and purls and making sure my squares are 10x10.

Clapotis work continues during lunch, as I can. Socks, well, I need to get to the socks. Maybe the weekends can be for socks. :)

I'm in a knitting phase. Probably because the weather's getting colder and I love snuggling inside my warm loft space, knitting away, while the wind howls outside.

Sean's home from VA on Friday night, and though I have to work on Saturday, I'm hoping to be able to get out by 2 so that we can go to the AT&T store and get my plan set up for my new (to me) iPhone. I'll have to change the phone number I've had for the last 6 years, since AT&T will only port your phone number if it's ported within the same local area as the # itself. If I had a way to port it in 262, I totally would, as changing one's phone number is a PITA. But, I shall do it, because I want the iPhone that badly, and 612 is where I'm at.

Photo update of the current projects on the needles!

Slowly, slowly, I pick up the camera again. Thanks to my knitting projects, anyway. Saw a beautiful sunrise and gorgeous late afternoon clouds, but my commutes to/from work haven't afforded me a good place to get the shots I want yet. I should start carrying the camera with me again, though. Can't get any shots if the camera's at home.

One of my birthday presents from Sean is a gorgeous new Nikon flash. It came today, but I won't open it till Saturday. As it turns out, I'm getting a new (to me) iPhone from a friend, thanks to Sean, so that's also part of my birthday present, the phone and the AT&T activation (and the breaking of my T-Moblie contract).

So, I opened up this post to post photos! Only 2, but still. One photo each of the current progress of the projects on the needles (Clapotis #2 and Sean's socks).

It's done!

My first Clapotis is done!

The next one will go on needles either tonight or tomorrow. :)

I can now turn my attention to Sean's socks, secure in the knowledge that I finally finished another project!

Clapotis - working on decrease rows!

I'm knitting my little heart out on my Clapotis.

I finished the straight rows last night and am almost through the first pattern repeat on the decrease rows. Hoping to make similar progress on the shawl tonight. It's heavy, and will hopefully be warm in my cold office.

Now I need to find yarn in the right colorway for my next, lighter weight Clapotis. :)

Small update

I've temporarily sidelined the socks for Sean, in order to complete the Clapotis and have that one off my WIP list.

I'm into the last repeat in the straight rows, so I'm hoping to finish the straight rows this week and then do the decrease rows over the weekend to finish it this weekend. Then I can block it. Hoping to get a photo of it once it's blocking. Then once it's dry, I'll have Sean take a photo of me wearing it. With all that egyptial cotton being knitting on size 6 needles, it's going to be a heavy shawl. Which is precisely what I wanted.

Then I can get back to my sock obsession. And start another Clapotis! :) :) :) :)

Been fighting the fatigue/fibro for a couple of weeks now, but have managed to keep to relatively sane eating, and so my weight's at least not going up. I worked out last night, 25 min on elliptical, 15 on rowing machine.

I need to clear off the floor of my office to move my desk to the other side of the space, so that I have room for setting up the bike trainer for the winter. Then I can do 10 min each on the elliptical, rowing machine, and bike trainer.

Progress!

I wrote this last night, and am posting it today!

I finished my first pair of socks! I could easily have cast on 10 fewer stitches per sock, as they are a bit big, but not unwearable! I'm so excited.

I am turning my sights to knitting a pair of socks for Sean. I have a nice fingering weight Opal self-striping yarn for the socks, and though I learned to do my first socks cuff-down 2-at-a-time on magic loop, I'd like to do my 1st pair of socks for Sean as a toe-up 2aat on the magic loop.

I was looking at doing the magic cast on, but that was failing miserably, so I am now trying the turkish cast-on. My first attempt at it failed, but I think I see what I was missing, and I should be able to be successful with the turkish cast-on tomorrow when I am not tired. ETA - found a version of the turkish cast on that works and I'm now working toe increases on Sean's socks!

We went to see Regina Spektor Friday night at the State Theatre. Regina was awesome. Her opening band was Little Joy, which is a side project of the drummer from The Strokes, and they were quite good as well. looking forward to getting their cd.

We went to the hobby shop yesterday, and Sean bought helicopter parts and a new airplane to fly. We went back today and got some things straightened out, and he's now heading off to an airfield somewhere on the northwest side of the metro, and I'm at home, poking along at socks and probably going to take a nap because I'm not feeling that great, surprise, surprise.

I'm still here!

Have I really not posted since July?!?!?!

Wow. Well, it's been a busy summer. I just finished the 4th of my 4 sock knitting classes - I took a class @ The Yarnery w/ Jean Christensen on how to knit 2 socks at once w/ magic loop!

I love it!!!!!

I have about 10 rows left on the toe decreases and to do my kitchener stitch, and my 1st pair of socks will be done. Hoping to do that yet today, tomorrow at the latest. I'll find all the bad cell phone photos I took and take a nice one with the D80 and post 'em up this weekend!

I'll be casting on for socks for Sean this weekend!!!

I'm so happy to have found a sock knitting method I love! dpns and I are not friends. the end. I think that once I get started on his socks, I'd like to make a concerted effort to finally finish the Clapotis, and then I can devote myself fully to socks for a while.

Otherwise, we're heading into year-end at work... FY09 ends 9/30/09 and I won't surface till sometime in November. Hoping to do a long weekend of R&R in Puerto Rico in mid-November to shake off the year-end cobwebs.

Things continue to go swimmingly well for Sean and I.... :) We begin the birthday celebrations (his is next week, mine's 10/3) tonight with a Regina Spektor concert and dinner at the decadent 112 Eatery. And next week, we're going to another performance, which is still a surprise.

The State of the Kelly - June edition.

Well, hello there!

It's been almost a month since I posted! Eek!

Of course, quarter-end close got in there and messed things up for a few weeks. But we're on the other side of that now, and it's a race to year-end, which means October will be a crappy month. :)

But I've actually started knitting measurably again over the last few days. I thought I irreparably broke my Clapotis in May @ the Seattle airport, but I finally took it out of its bag the other day and found out it was salvageable - it's got something goofy going on, but no one else will notice it.

So, I made good progress on it over the weekend. A little more than halfway through the scheduled straight rows, and I just might be able to extend the straight rows based on the amount of yarn I have. Or make myself something else out of the leftover egyptian cotton yarn.

I've got a couple of other projects on the needles, and need to get back to socks one of these days. I really want to take a class on doing 2 socks at once, either on 2 circs or magic loop - I just don't like dpns, and I get bogged down with one sock at a time, and that's making me not knit socks. So, I typed that, and then went, found a class, and signed up. 4 Wednesdays, Aug 19, 26, Sep 2, 9, I will be learning how to knit 2 socks at once, magic loop style. :)

Our new elliptical machine was delivered to our house this morning. It's in the box, and likely won't be assembled till we have time this weekend (Sean's actually in MN this week, but will be way too busy to help with that project), but at least it's in our abode. I got out for a nice 6 mi bike ride on the Cedar Lake Trail this morning, thanks to Sean's gentle suggestion that since I didn't have to rush off to work right away, I had time for a bike ride before starting work at home.

I had a dr appt this morning about this exhaustion issue. Now that all the tests have been run, including a 12+ hour sleep study, we have ruled out everything, and it comes back to fatigue, and likely is tied to the fibromyalgia stuff. It's not usually how my fibro has manifested itself in the past, but it appears to be doing so this way this time.

I have recommendations - 0.5 mg of Melatonin at 5 pm daily, trying to get to sleep about an hour earlier than I do each night, and a book recommendation, to help with guided relaxation and other techniques to turn off the brain weasels. :)


He's a young doctor, but very bright and personable. I have hope that I can get some relief from this fatigue without sedative medications. I'm going to stop and find melatonin and get that book on my way home tonight.

There also may be a component to this fatigue that is job-related, so I continue to try to work on that angle. I'm also considering potential career shifts, and we'll see where that takes me. I might take a class in a different discipline this fall, just to see what I think.

We're preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Ann this coming weekend. She's either staying for 1 week or 2, depending on how she feels. I'm looking forward to seeing her. Sean's going to be busy with work, so she's going to be stuck with me a lot this trip, but I think she'll manage. It'll be good to see her!

So, that's the state of the Kelly, more or less. Still laboring under crushing fatigue, but still happy with my life in general, and determined to still find ways to enjoy what I can.

Never a dull moment!

Well, about 24 cumulative miles into riding my new bicycle (a beautiful Trek 7.3wsd), I have officially christened it.

I was somewhere between 1-2 miles into my ride with Sean this morning, on the W River Parkway Trail. The sun was shining brightly (boy, was it humid and warm at 6 am!) through the trees, and I came up on a tighter curve in the trail more suddenly than I wanted. Sadly, I responded to that realization by jamming on both brakes. I felt myself starting to go over the top of the handlebars, but managed to lean to the side enough that I took a header that way. Bruises and scrapes on my leg and arm, and a pretty owie neck and back sprain, but I got back up and finished the ride, going 6.37 miles this morning total, since I was sore, but nothing was broken, and if I was going to ride the ~2 miles back home, I might as well ride a couple more and finish the ride. :)

I'm going to run a couple of errands after work and then go home and climb into bed. My body's screaming at me to let it rest, and so I will. Maybe a hot bath if I can stay awake long enough.

I learned about shifting my bike this weekend.... now I need to learn braking, apparently. Well, I learned the lesson - when needing to stop quickly, don't put on both at once vehemently!

I scraped up my arm, and that'll bruise a little...

And I scraped up my leg too, and the bruise is going to be quite spectacular!

I think either the handlebar or the shifter caught my leg as I got tripped up on the bike.

Also, this one thing...

DSC_0365, originally uploaded by empire74.

This was taken in Hawaii. We got these stuffed Iiwi birds from the Haleakala visitor's center. They chirp like Iiwi do. Sean fell in love with them. I adore this photo - it captures so many of the things I adore about Sean, from his propensity for being silly to the kindness in his eyes to his slightly mischievous nature.