Standard disclaimers apply

When I take a blog holiday, I take a blog holiday.
No excuses... knitting has been happening, it's just that life has been happening as well. I have a sweater I am dying to post as soon as there is enough natural, non-soggy light in which to post it.

This, unfortunately, is what I get if I try to take pictures of knitting in my living room:

but I haven't had much choice.

If you're not local, we have had a yucky, yucky, winter. I wish I could be more eloquent, but alas, there aren't words. Life is going to slow down a little bit after KITH is over, and then my next project is to knit some variation on every single sock in this book. I'm halfway through the first sock right now. This is my plan to start making a dent in all my sock yarn.

Speaking of books, I'm library auditioning this one right now. Being a fan of brioche stitch, I'm intrigued by some of the stitch patterns.

Also on my list of things to covet is this book. I've been playing a bit with colorwork between projects:
and I am hopeful that when this long, repetitive, practice scarf is done, my gauge will be less wonky and I can move on to some sweaters over which I've been swoony.

(By the way, that scarf is made out of zauberball, which has come home with me from Misknits several times over the last few months. Oh, Misknits, how I love thee, let me count the ways... or rather, let me not, because I might get weepy and short out my keyboard.

Not much else is new, other than that I've been sick all weekend... I don't tend to get cripplingly sick very often, so it's kind of news. I went to bed with a horrible headache as soon as I got home from work Friday night and woke up at 2:30 a.m. with some kind of horrible stomach bug. The spouse made coffee the next morning and I had a weird dream that the coffee smell was a knife going down my nostrils and into my lungs. I think out of 48 hours, I slept 30. I just kept waking up to take stomach medicine and ibuprofen so that the top of my head wouldn't implode. I brought work home but couldn't stay awake to work on it, couldn't stay awake to knit, couldn't eat, etc. I'm much better now, but as you can see I'm seriously out of blogging practice because I just gave a detailed description of being sick for two days. Thrilling stuff, I'm sure.

And, as always, there is the standard blurry cell phone haircut picture. I haven't updated since August, which means I'm missing my blurry cell phone December haircut picture. Because I was on my way out of town for Christmas, the only pictures of that one were taken by a 2-year-old and therefore may not be particularly clear:

Here's the one from March:



I would post updates about running, but because of aforementioned yucky weather, that's been pretty boring, too: treadmill + gym track all winter = OMG I am out of shape for hills. I am looking forward to spring where I intend to arm myself with claritin and conquer my fear of hills once and for all. Who knows? Maybe that will mean I need LESS YARN for that fancy fair isle sweater next winter.

Long long time, no blog

There are times in a person's life where she feels creative - prolific, even - and wants to tell the world every juicy detail of the ideas bursting forth from her brilliant mind. Every day is full of action, adventure, and cinematic close calls that it has to be shared. She waxes nostalgic about her glory days.

Or, she is just full of herself and has delusions that people care what she does on the weekends.

And then there are other times, ladies and gentlemen, where she is just. working. too. much, barely has time to knit or go to the gym, is having a knock-down-drag-out with the Homeowner's Association about the height of a garden shed, is trying to keep her basil from dying and is helping her equally overworked husband take care of a cat who has temporarily lost the will to live while he's wearing the Cone of Shame.

During those times, there are some who will rise to the occasion and turn their mundane struggles into brilliant prose.

And then there is me, and I said "Aw, to heck with it. Something's got to give. Blogging it is."

"... and housecleaning."

So, here is a brief and lazy recap of my summer since the guild retreat, or at least the parts that don't involve work:

Six 5k races and two fund-raiser walks:


My parents came up to visit this summer and built a shed in the back corner of my patio:
(5/31/09)
Twice:
(7/11/09)
(I still haven't finished painting the trim on version 2.0)

Took a couple of days off, went home and hung out with my family, and showed off my Dork Dancing Cred:

Went to see A.'s new apartment; had some adventures involving chutney, the roof, unpleasant-tasting sake, and getting lost (not necessarily all at the same time). We also made a mess:


I got a couple of haircuts and took off-center pictures with my dinky little phone:

(May) (July)

Oh, and this movie came out, and my friends and I debated for awhile about whether we should bother seeing it, because it wasn't something we were particularly interested in, but in the end we decided we had nothing better to do:

It was just a fluke, really, that we left two hours before the movie started at midnight and that we were wearing wool in the middle of July, and such looks of glee on our faces:

That last bit brings me to about the only knitting I've completed during this great expanse of time, and thus the reason there hasn't been much blogging. I'd promise to finish more and thus return to blogging, but it's still a little bit down the priority list. My hindquarters have been spending too much time in my office chair, and the last 5k was a month ago - plus there's all that painting, housecleaning, cat-sympathizing, and husband-supporting that I've been neglecting.

Here's hoping that fall will involve lots of long walks and time spent snuggling on comfy couches with a cup of hot tea, a couple of contented felines, a non-stressed husband, and a basket of yarn.

Cute attack

HPIM1800
Originally uploaded by sonnetstitches

Ronnie, say hi to the camera!

(More to follow. Just wanted you to see who I hung out with at SSK at Harveyville last weekend.)

Giant Entrelac Afghan

The Giant Entrelac Afghan is done, wrapped, and ready to go in the mail!

I have pictures blocked and unblocked. I ended up having enough yarn to make it a little bigger, but it is pretty heavy and I think it's a nice size for curling up in the recliner with a book or curling up on the couch with someone, which I'm told newlyweds like to do (not at my house - the spouse thinks the couch is uncomfortable. The cats tend to agree with him, so they all crowd onto the recliner and blink at me).

Anyway, for those who haven't been watching me for the last couple of weeks as I carry this thing around in a plastic bag for fear of White Yarn contamination... this was a wedding gift for someone Back Home, the daughter of a very good friend of ours who is, apparently, obsessed with the color red. I had originally picked out what I thought were "safe" colors (grey, cream, black, and one skein of purple), but after I realized the extent of The Red Thing, I knew I needed to change course. My brain is so attuned to only seeing certain colors on the shelf (Green! Rust! Teal! Orange!) that either of those combinations was a brain adjustment.

This was the first time I've done an entrelac project that wasn't on the bias. It went quickly, and my backwards-knitting skills are now approaching ninja level. If I'd had to turn every 20 stitches on a project made out of bulky wool that fits across my bed, I would still be knitting (and probably swearing, which is not the sort of energy one wants to exude into a wedding gift).

So, now it's done, and just in time: It's going in the mail tomorrow, and the wedding is Saturday. I wrapped it up in a red and white box and tied ribbons on it before sending it full of good wishes for a lovely wedding surrounded by friends and a long and happy marriage.

That out of the way, do you think it's time I did something about my entrelac addiction?


Na. . .

Entrelackluster

First, you make a shape. Then you pick up stitches along the side of the shape, and you make another shape. . .



It's addictive. Kind of like Tetris.

Gym-nastics

Tomorrow, I'm joining a new gym. The timing is good. The three-year, sell-your-soul contract at our old gym expired last month, just in time for me to make some new exercise buddies on www.sparkpeople.com who happen to go to a gym that couldn't be closer to my house unless it were actually paying dues in my HOA.

I'm a little bit sad. There were a lot of things I disliked about my old gym, and it was rapidly going downhill. The chain is in bankruptcy, the class schedule was being whittled away to nothing, and the locker rooms were gross even for locker rooms. But it was familiar. After 3 years of hanging out with people while you're sweaty, you feel comfortable around them, and it was kind of a bummer to just let my membership expire without even realizing it (I got a nasty automated e-mail that said "Our records show you used your card on this date. Your card is expired. Nice try, sucker - it's now been deactivated.") Also, the 2 or 3 remaining classes that I liked, I REALLY liked. One of my weird and useless superpowers is that I'm pretty good at step aerobics, and I enjoyed being in an advanced class where the music is fast and the combinations are complicated without being nonsensical (except for the rare occasions where we had that dumb sub with the notecards). I haven't yet been to one of the step classes at my new gym, but I'm already afraid it's going to be boring. Granted, one of the draws is that there are a bazillion other classes I can take, but still: I like step class. And I really liked MY step class. So, regardless of whether this one's OK or not, I'm kind of bummed.

I'm not one of those people who hate change, but I'm also not one of those people who get bored and want change for change's sake. I wish I could find a gym that had the best of all possible worlds (meaning that the pool schedule at this new gym wouldn't suck so bad, and that when my old gym finally goes under that the instructor I like would get a job at the new one). That's not going to happen, and so I'm moving on. This place is clean, reasonably priced, ridiculously close, has a packed class schedule with lots of spinning, and I already have friends who work out there. Plus, in addition to being practically on my back doorstep, there's a second location that is close enough to my office that I can actually get there and get changed in time to make a 5:30 p.m. class on a weekday. So, it'll be good. It was definitely time. But I'm still a little wistful about the things I can't have.

In other news, I am terribly behind on knitting pictures.

Have finished, but not photographed or put on ravelry:

1) Brown heathered Cascade hat with a lining and matching gloves for the spouse
2) Lime green Kathmandu aran hat with weird yellow Lavish alpaca lining for me (love it)
3) Hat identical to the above except with black flecked Kathmandu and black Lavish. That one was duplicate stitched on the inside and mailed off to a friend... without being photographed or ravelry posted, because I am L
4) Long green lace-paneled arm warmers out of camel yarn that I'm not sure I like
5) Violent purple cabled handwarmers that I knit while I was talking and therefore paid not nearly enough attention to construction and design
6) Green sweater for my husband that I'm thinking about surgically altering because I hate the way the neckline fits and wish I'd planned ahead. Problem: I knit it top-down.
7) A miniscule messenger bag for a toy. Also mailed without photography, again because I'm lazy.
8) One of my toe-up Trekking entrelac knee socks, after I did major surgery (i.e. complete amputation of the toe)


I have so many things in progress right now... a couple of pairs of socks, a shawl, two sweaters, a blanket. There are more things in my head and in my stash. I actually did take pictures of some laceweight for purposes of ravelry destashment, but again, not posted. I'll get to it all eventually.

... sort of like blogging about things that aren't dull. sigh.

Oz gets fleeced

DSC02762
Originally uploaded by knitjoknit

The Jo are in yr yarn shop, buyin all yr Peace Fleece