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| Who Knew? 05/10/2013 07:47 PM |
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Huh. Who knew that attempting to defer an emotional stress-related freak out could result in finished socks.
I didn't think I'd finish these by my self-imposed deadline of today. I mean, I figured I had about a 40% chance. But there we go. At least stress can have a positive result! The stitch pattern made the fabric created rather tight so I shortened the leg of these and didn't do the stitch pattern on the foot. If I had to do these over again, I'd go up to at least a US2. Maybe even a US2.5 for the leg then a US2 for the heel flap and points south. Then I could probably do a full-lengthed leg and put the stitch pattern on the foot. I have learned from this endeavor that, while I think they are pretty, crossed stitches are crazy slow and kind of mean. I think I'll be avoiding crossed stitches in the future. |
| Tiny Bitty News 05/10/2013 01:30 PM |
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Just got back from the vet. Bitty has ear infections in both ears. And a tumor. Specifically a mast cell tumor. We will be scheduling surgery to remove the tumor and have it tested soon. Then we will see where we need to go from there. |
| Enthusiasm (or Not) 05/09/2013 03:11 PM |
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I should be working on my socks right now. I got a decent bit done last night all things considered, but I still have an inch and a half (about) before starting the toes. I plan on sticking a movie on later today and getting some serious knitting done. I hope. I'll have to pick a happy movie, though, because the weather is nasty and gloomy today. It's even raining. Sigh. Just when I was getting my hopes up that spring (or even summer) was here to stay. And while I'm not enthusiastic about the weather (or my current socks), Dan displayed some enthusiasm last night for the use of masking tape.
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| Good News, Bad News 05/08/2013 09:09 PM |
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Recently it seems that Dan and I have been breaking a lot of glass things in the kitchen. Two kitty bowls, a water pitcher, some beer bottles... As soon as we collect all the glass from one break (because no matter how much you sweep, you always find more later), we break something else. Today was almost another one of those days. I was in the pantry moving things around and my arm knocked into a jar of pasta sauce which took a header off the shelf. As soon as I realized the jar was falling, I had enough time for the thought flash in my head, "This is going to be such a mess to clean up." But good news! It didn't break! Of course, the bad news is that it didn't break because it landed on my foot. Right at the base of my middle and "ring" toes. A couple of hours of painful limping on my foot, I noticed that there was a gap between two of my toes that wasn't normally there. Before I had been valiantly ignoring any potential ramifications to the jar hitting my foot, but I'll admit it, the new space between my toes freaked me out a bit. So Dan and I spent the next hour and a half at an urgent care place to see a doctor and get some x-rays. But more good news! Not only did the jar not break, neither did my foot! It is, however, badly bruised and swollen. So I've been directed by the doctor to stay off of it, keep it iced and elevated and to wear a oh-so-stylish boot when I'm up and walking around. (I did decline the recommended crutches, though. I knew I wouldn't use them.)
I did ask about my currently more spacious toes. Apparently my foot has swollen so much that it is making the toes spread apart a bit. It's also making one of my toes slightly numb from the pressure the swelling is putting on the nerves. No worries, I'm watching them to make sure nothing turns blue. |
| Is That You Spring? 05/07/2013 03:43 PM |
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Finally, it's a lovely day today! Like a roll-your-windows-down-and-beware-of-sunburn kind of day. It's like summer is trying to happen! I question if it is really here to stay though because we haven't even seemed to have a real spring yet. The weather doesn't stay nice for more than a day and we had to have the heat on as recently as last week. It makes me rather grumpy. I need sun! I need summer! I need pool-appropriate weather! And each time I think it is here to stay, bleck, nope. Back to overcast and cool/cold. Boo. My poor irises were blooming so profusely last week. But then we hit 36° overnight and they all shriveled up and ran away. Kind of like I wanted to do. But maybe, maybe, maybe this time the weather really means it. And while my irises are no longer pretty, I do have a few things in my yard in bloom. One of them is a first-time bloomer: our pecan tree!
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| Doomed 05/04/2013 03:36 PM |
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My current knitting project is a pair of socks and, sadly, I've kind of fallen out of love with them. It makes it hard to work on them but I really want to get them finished so I can start on a pair of socks for Dan. But yeah, I just feel rather meh about them right now. I've had some issues with these socks from the start - the crossed stitches and cables make the material a bit stiffer and less elastic which, combined with the fact that my ankles are a little larger than what the pattern anticipates, makes them rather snug fitting. I had this same issue with my first pair of socks (by the same designer) and I solved it by going up a needle size on the leg. It worked great but I forgot to do that with these socks. Ultimately, it's not a huge deal - the socks are still wearable and I know this yarn relaxes a bit after blocking - so while I'm nervous about how these will fit, I'm not really worried (if that makes sense). But the lack of elasticity does seem to tighten up my gauge even more, making the project a little rough on my hands and even less elastic, which makes me tighten up my gauge... You get the idea. Even more fun, I'm using the only size US1.5 needles I had when I started this project, a pair of Chiaogoo circs. I'm using two circs at a time to make two socks at a time and... I just don't like the needles. I mean, yeah, I like the texture and the points, but the needles are too long to feel comfortable in my hand and the red cable, while I can see why others like it, is really starting annoy me. It adds so much weight and resistance to my project. And the yarn is just annoying me. It's kind of sticky feeling and was causing a lot of issues during the crossed stitches - catching and splitting and the like. Such a pain! Especially since I have a fair bit more of this yarn in different colors I'm one day going to have to use up. Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm just about done staring at this color green, too. If I haven't been whining enough, let me just say that the crossed stitches and cables make this project so slow! And I don't mind project that aren't done in a flash, but I do like to have a rhythm when I knit. And crossing half the stitches on a row does not allow for anything resembling a smooth rhythm. I have decided to skip the crossed stitches pattern on the foot of the sock because of the aforementioned fit issues (while they will fit now, adding a crossed stitch pattern around the gusset would have guaranteed they would not have fit when done), but I won't deny that I'm happy to not have to do them anymore. Stockinette is so much happier. Hopefully I'll be able to push through and finish these socks up and none of my grumpiness will carry over to the finished product. Maybe once they are done, I'll remember why I wanted to do them in the first place - the pattern is really cute! But for now, I'm kind of feeling like they are doomed. |
| Familial Insanity 05/01/2013 06:50 PM |
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Sometimes, Dan brings home strays from work. Most recently, monitor arms. So now his office looks like this:
Disturbingly, the mounting arms have the ability to mount two more monitors. Thankfully, Dan does not have two more monitors to mount. Yet. My insanity, however, takes up much less space - and electricity. Knitting needles!
Speaking of needles, though, I keep forgetting to mention: I now have a full set (plus an extra needle or two) of my wonderful HiyaHiya Sharps.
So now I'm all stocked up needles. Wonderful, lovely needles! And Dan's fully stocked up on monitors. You hear that, Dan? No more monitors! |
| Quickie 04/30/2013 06:48 PM |
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Just a little update as I've been rather quiet lately. The quiet has been because of the lack of good weather. It makes me so grumpy and blah feeling. Fortunately yesterday was a delightful 82° but it hasn't been all that long ago (just over a week) that we had a 36° morning. And let's not even discuss the rain. So yeah, solar powered as I am, I have not been having a good spring. We still have the plastic over the screened porch and I can't even begin to guess when we can put the pool up. It's all very depressing. Boo. I've been managing to get some knitting done, though. Currently I'm working on a (slightly obnoxiously colored) pair of socks. I'm hoping to have those done in the next week to ten days. I'm sure I'll post about them when they are done, but you can hit the link above to see some in-progress pics (if, for some reason, you actually care). They are working up a bit snug due to the stitch pattern. Hopefully I won't have to find them a home when they are done. In other news, the house next door has officially been sold. The new owners have been moving their things in all day. So there goes Dan's side job of lawn mowing. I don't think he'll extend the offer to the new neighbors - the last year or so he's been hoping our old neighbors would decide to cut their own lawn, regardless of how nice a bit of extra cash is. But they did end up paying for our old lawn mower, one mow at a time, so we can't be too unhappy with how that all worked out. Also good news, the new neighbors appear to be an older couple. Grandkids are always a possibility, but it does look like they will be overall a quite family to have next door. Fingers crossed. Speaking of moving, Dan and I are semi-officially looking for a new home. Semi-officially for the next few weeks and then, at the end of May, officially. I imagine it will take us a while to find exactly what we want as we are both quite picky so who knows when we will actually be moving, but we are hoping for Christmas in a new house. I've already offered up my potential new dining room for the family dinner! And in the last bit of news, playoff hockey starts tonight. Both my team and Dan's made it in. Yay! The Ducks were #2 in the Western Conference (& the Pacific Division winners) while they Blues were #4 (and #2 in the Central Division). Naturally, I'd love to see one of our teams win, but I'm kind of prepared for Chicago to hoist the cup. They've been burning it up this year. And that's all the news that is (or isn't) news at the moment. All rather boring. But with nicer weather comes more activity! So I hope today's and yesterday's sun means normal weather is here to stay. I really need to soak up some vitamin D! |
| I Knit Ridiculous Things 04/22/2013 04:05 PM |
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Sigh. I am apparently attracted to knitting ridiculous things. Take my latest project:
Notes, additional pictures and random rambling are here on Ravelry. I'll admit, I'm kind of thinking of doing a second one in a more summer-appropriate yarn. So nuts! |
| Just In Time For Summer! 04/17/2013 01:22 PM |
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In the past few days, the weather has finally become spring-like. Just in time for my latest knit project to be ready to wear! Cuddle socks!
Which means I probably won't be able to wear them until Thanksgiving. If that means the weather stays nice, I'll be okay with that. (Though I probably will pet them before then. They are really soft! They have angora in them!) |
