Ladybugs & Yarn

The underlayers are black. I love it, and the new style, too.

(I hate having my photo taken, and it shows.)

Now, off to peruse the new Interweave Knits with a kitten and a cup of tea.

I’m feeling human again–thank you all for the well wishes.

I managed to get some knitting done over the weekend. A few inches past the point where the Rusted Root sleeves were separated from the body, I took the whole thing off the needles to try it on and… it’s too big! Blast. This is why I like to see finished measurements listed on garment patterns along with “to fit x bust size” details. So! Time to rip back and make a few alterations. While I was considering that, though, I also thought over the yarn I’d been using. I do like it, but a) it’s pure wool; b) although the ballband tension is 4.5 sts per inch, it seems quite loose even at the 5 sts per inch stated in the pattern, moreso now that I’ve seen it hanging on a person. Hmmph. I’m actually considering frogging it entirely and starting over with either Cotton Fleece (in Rue) or Shine (in Wisteria). I’m going to set it aside for the afternoon, at any rate.

Cannot decide what to work on now, though. Other than the sweater, I have a couple of socks on the needles, so I’d not feel guilty about casting on for a new project. And I do have several in the wings, plus I’ve been eyeing quite a few projects in my new Knitting Nature book.

Kitten photo time.

And now, I’m off to wade through the stash and see what inspires.

So! There’s been a nasty gastric virus going around again (it’s like a super-charged version of the flu), and although I managed to avoid it last time, I didn’t this time. I’d probably have just stayed in bed (or on the bathroom floor, which is where I was sleeping half the night because climbing the stairs five or six times an hour was killing me) and waited it out, except I started getting constant severe abdominal pain, so after a few hours of that, on TeleCare’s advice (the nurse I spoke to was worried about my appendix), I got a family member to drive me to the ER.

It was six-thirty in the morning and there was one other person in the waiting room at the time. I asked the nurse if there was a place I could lie down but she said the exam rooms/observation areas were all full, so no. I figured I wouldn’t be in the waiting room long, so I got myself into a chair for a few minutes, anyway. That wasn’t working so I put myself on the floor leaning against the damn chair because all of the chairs have arms so you can’t lie down. An hour or so later (with this one person and I still sitting there and no movement from the staff) Mom asked the nurse if there please wasn’t a place I could lie down because I was in some serious pain and couldn’t sit up. The nurse, again, said no, and said that as soon as they were “finished” they’d start calling people in.

So I ended up on the cold tiled floor of the damned waiting room, using my jacket as pillow, because it seemed like the only choice I had. Staff kept walking by, the janitor mopped the entire waiting room around me, and the place was so silent I was finding it hard to believe that it was all full. Mom kept talking to the nursing staff, the nursing staff kept telling her to “be patient”, and I got to lie on the floor in complete agony for three and a half hours while people started signing in and seating themselves in the waiting room and still nobody was being called.

Finally, at about eleven, they called that person who’d been sitting there before I came in. I went next, and managed to notice that all the exam rooms I passed on my way to number seven were empty. So I don’t know WTF was going on there, but as far as I’m concerned that’s no way to treat a patient. I’m usually the first person to give credit where credit is due, but unless there was something serious going on back there, no credit this time. Negative credit, perhaps.

The one saving grace was that one of the doctors on call, the one who treated me, was the one I like best. I got the full gamut of tests and pokings and proddings and spent several hours hooked up to IV pain meds, rehydration fluids, etc. Nothing wrong with the appendix, fortunately–the pain was caused by the severity of the damn virus.

So. Home now.

This is the first time I’ve been out of bed for more than five minutes in the past 24 hours, and I’m heading back there in a minute or two because am still half-dead. I think I’ll knit tonight in a nest of pillows since I can manage it again. With films on, preferably, since there’s nothing fun on TV. Well, there’s CSI, but I know I won’t be able to stay up to watch it and I’m not even going to try.

My media shelf defies me, because I need to watch Star Trek: Generations since Space showed “The Measure of a Man” this afternoon, and I cannot find the blasted DVD.

Right. Bed.

First, the FO — a skinny sideways scarf.

Pattern: Cast on a couple hundred stitches, knit a few rows, cast off.
Yarn: Patons Katrina in Blossom and Dusk
Needles: 5.0mm circs

A quick little project in sproingy yarn, great for throwing around the neck with a casual outfit. I didn’t count my stitches as I cast on, just kept going until it looked about long enough, and it was knit on larger needles because the yarn’s so elastic.

The postman’s apparently getting even lazier than before, as there was my KnitPicks order, a book I was waiting on, and my dad’s new electric acoustic guitar all leaning up against my front door in their boxes when I got home from the hospital this morning. I can’t believe he left something as valuable as the guitar just… sitting on the doorstep of a house in a residential neighbourhood. No harm done, fortunately, but the post office is going to get a call in the morning.

So! Onto the booty.

Crochet book! I’d like to be able to improve my basic skills to add a bit of variety to my fibre-y pursuits. And so I can avoid making a mess of it when it’s required to embellish knitting projects. The Regia Silk is from the 50% off bin at the LYS.

KnitPicks! First, there’s a ton of undyed sock wool that I’m going to dye for my Etsy store. There’s a sweater’s worth of Wool of the Andes in Asparagus, two balls each of Shine Sport in Sky and Silver Sage, and a skein of Memories in Smores to go with my stash skein of Smores so I have enough for a pair of socks. There is also Knitting Nature, which is full of fabulous patterns, a lot of which are constructed in unique ways.

I think Rusted Root should be finished in another week or two provided I don’t get too distracted. Like any good little yarn addict I’ve been planning my next major project, since I have a few to choose from. The Asparagus I just got in the post is for Flair, the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece I have coming is for Green Gable, and the Cascade Pastaza I also have coming is for a modified version of the Phyllo Yoke pullover from Knitting Nature. Or I might go in another direction entirely and knit some lace with one of my Fiber Trends shawl patterns. Hmm.

Time to read a bit more of the crochet book and experiment with a stick and string.

The parents and the dog have been out of town this weekend, so the cats and I have had the house to ourselves. I do spend most of my time “alone”, as it were, in the basement, but having the house to myself is another (thoroughly enjoyable) matter altogether. After work yesterday, I cleaned the kitchen with the windows open to let in the breeze, then made a pizza for supper that turned out to be delicious. I shared it with the cats.

Roasted chicken, pineapple, two kinds of peppers, low-fat cheese, and BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce. Mmm.

Pirate and I ventured outside after supper, and I took a couple of photos of the newest blooms in the garden; the crocuses are done for the season, so now we have daffodils and tulips.

Pirate’s still fascinated, and understandably so, with every little thing he comes across–and it’s so cute, he’ll squeak or mew loudly when he finds something really interesting so I’ll come over and look at it with him. Bugs, leaves, interesting patches of dirt, sticks, cobwebs–doesn’t matter, he wants me to see it all. I stayed outside longer than I meant to, but it’s not like I was on a time limit and the kitten was so pleased.

The joy of discovery thoroughly exhausted him, too, and by the time I’d gotten my knitting together and flopped on the bed, he was snoring on the pillow. I finished the ribbing and started the leg on my Garter Rib Socktopus socks, but it was a Rusted Root kind of night so I went back to that.

And a close-up (Socktopus pr0n!) for Bronte:

Rusted Root is coming along nicely, too. I started with the ribbing instead of knitting it on later because… er, no real reason. Because I wanted to. I’ve been using felted joins to start new balls of yarn, too, so the only finishing work will be to weave in the ends from the collar, the sleeves, and the hem. Excellent. Oh, and I did decide to knit it as written, rather than altering the sleeves. Those sleeves are part of the charm.

Being paranoid about the sizing on the top made me discover something great. I couldn’t decide which size to knit in the beginning; I wasn’t between sizes, but I’ve been trying very hard to lose weight. I thought about knitting the smaller size so it didn’t end up too big, then I rationalised that I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight for years and a little too big is better than a little too small, so I knit the larger size to match my chest measurement.

Or my former chest measurement, anyhow. I re-measured myself this morning and it turns out I’ve actually lost an inch and a half from my bust and an inch form my hips! Hooray! *throws confetti* I have a long way to go, but it’s a start.

Another good side effect of the attempt is that I haven’t had any serious dips in blood sugar in a couple of months. I feel like I’m actually eating more in total than I did before (but perhaps that’s just because I don’t feel hungry all the time), but I’m a) making better choices; b) eating several mini-meals rather than a couple of big ones. I’ve had some problems with hypoglycemia (the postprandial or reactive type, which isn’t caused by an underlying medical condition), but I’ve noticed it’s been more stable lately.

This morning didn’t start out great (woke up with a panic attack in the wee hours of the morning, joy) but I’m not going to dwell on it, because it’s several hours later and I’ve had time to recover and get my head on straight again. I’m not done with the kitchen, so I think I’ll get to that, and to amuse myself I may accidentally drop some catnip on the floor and watch the children go nuts.

Before I go, though, I bring evidence of my lack of willpower:

Ahem.

The Storm Water scarf pattern that comes with the skein is gorgeous, but I think I’ll earmark some PY Eva for that and choose something else for the Sea Silk.

I just got back from the knitting group at the LYS, and to my sheer delight, the first thing I saw upon opening the door was a new display, full of Handmaiden Sea Silk and Lace Silk. Eee! I resisted, tonight, so I can think about the colours and patterns, but my bank balance is going to suffer next week, I can feel it. There’s even a skein of Sea Silk in the Nova Scotia colourway, which is exactly what I’ve been coveting. It’s expensive yarn, but it’s so utterly gorgeous.

Mmm.

Now is the time when you lot tell me that I have enough yarn.

I let the student loan agents stress me out, don’t I. I listen to all the natter and threats about what can happen if I don’t pay off my loans, stat, and even though a) I’m making substantial and consistent payments, b) I know that the chances of being hit with any of their “dire consequences” are about seventeen thousand to one, I stress and get worked into a panic over the whole situation. I know people making $50K a year who make ten-dollar payments on their loans per month and aren’t harassed, and here I am working for minimum wage and paying out several hundred per month on my loans. I attempted to ask questions, this morning, what could be done with the payments since I’m going back to school in the fall and will be on a very limited budget, and they flat-out refused to discuss it with me. Waugh.

Enough about that. Onto other things. Like…

Ten Utterly Random Things About Me

01. I have a bellybutton piercing, but I don’t wear clothing that shows it off. I just like it.

02. I’m a blue-eyed blonde masquerading as a green-eyed brunette. I don’t wear my green contacts as often as I used to, though, but I doubt I’ll ever dye my hair back to blonde–it makes me look far too pale and monochrome.

03. I collect hardbound journals, but classify most of them as too lovely to defile with a pen. Still, I’d love to have a journal filled to the brim with handwritten pages; I keep a regular journal on the computer but the few I’ve started on paper I’ve abandoned just as quickly for lack of anything to write that seems good enough.

04. I consider my cats as special to me as most consider their children, and occasionally crave another baby furball to raise like some of you lot get broody over photos of babies. I’m not completely mad yet, however, and realise that my family of five is quite large enough for the time being.

05. I bit my fingernails ragged for more than 25 years and finally kicked the habit about two months ago.

06. I used to read on average 3-4 books per week. That number has dropped dramatically since I started spending a lot of time knitting/crafting, but I still read at least a few per month.

07. I used to be very into professional wrestling and some of the best times I’ve had in the past five years have been travelling to shows and meeting/talking to the performers. I’ve travelled as far as Philadelphia (1500 kilometres from here) for events, and although I only watch it sporadically now, I’d still go to live shows if the same federations brought them to within a couple hours’ drive of here.

08. I love to colour, especially with crayons. I regularly print out Disney-related colouring pages from the internet and save them for when I’m having a particularly rotten day.

09. I can’t stand reality television, unless it’s So You Think You Can Dance.

10. I go to sleep every night listening to a recording of a thunderstorm.

Huzzah.

Look at this gorgeous Urchin Shawl pattern. I think the designer did a fabulous job with her inspiration, yes? If it wasn’t 84″ in diameter, I’d want to knit it, but as-is it’s just a little too large for a five-foot-tall person.

I came across a yarn bargain this morning, and snagged five skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for a grand total of £10. It’s for Green Gable, which is what I plan to start once I’ve finished Rusted Root. As far as my pink Rusted Root goes, I had to rip out the start of it twice due to stupid mistakes, but I cast on a third time yesterday afternoon and it’s been smooth sailing so far. I love the pattern, although I did chart out the lace panel because I prefer that to written instructions.

And now it’s time for my first venture into Swedish weaving. Off to the LYS!

It’s warm and sunny with a cool breeze, I’m not at work, I cast off a small project, and I woke up with purring tikkies snuggled up with me in bed. All in all, the beginnings of a good day.

That small project was a skinny sideways scarf I knit while watching The Prestige last night. Anything more complex than garter stitch was out of the question, because I was completely caught up in the film. It was a great one, and I highly recommend it. Not just because of Hugh Jackman, either, although he’s a bonus. It was engaging all the way through, but the ending, in particular, was fantastic.

I made a stop at a favourite accessories store yesterday evening to find new silver sleeper hoops, as the ones I usually wear have about had it, and ended up leaving with over $60 worth of accessories for a grand total of $19. Clearance sales = fabulous. I did get my hoops, plus several other pairs of earrings, a set of zebra-print long metal barrettes and some other hair things, and a long string of deep red faceted glass beads.

I’ve sent my frilly pink cardigan to the frog pond. After knitting the back and both fronts, and basting the seams in place so it could be tried on, I came to the conclusion that it’s not flattering in the slightest. I’m going to use the yarn to knit a 3/4-sleeved version of Rusted Root instead.

However, no knitting for the moment, because I’m attempting to organise my belongings into storage space that’s not adequate. It’s frustrating. I suppose if I had less yarn and fabric and books and multimedia it might all fit, but then again, perhaps not–my closet is only the width of an average doorway and two feet deep. It doesn’t help that my brain’s more comfortable when there’s very little clutter and all things are organised and put away. I think that this time when I pack to move, I’m going to sort through it all and donate/trash/sell what I don’t need, so that I’m not just transporting the entire mess to another location.

Having a whole apartment again will be so nice.

I’ve been looking at online rental adverts near the college I’m planning on attending. I like the look of some of the places I’ve found, so I’m filing the information away in the back of my brain (and my Firefox bookmarks folder) for the time being. As soon as I get confirmation of program acceptance and get somewhere with my funding applications, I’ll take an overnight trip down south of the province and hunt around in person. Until then, I’ll just be keeping my fingers crossed.

I’m starting a class in Swedish weaving on Tuesday. I’ve been flipping through patterns, but haven’t settled on one for my first project.

I seem to have lost half my computer chair to a small brown kitty, and I’m in danger of sliding onto the floor.

My STR order is here! I checked the mail as an afterthought at noon on my way out to take some photos, and there it was. My previous orders from BMFA had each taken more than a month to be processed (I’m guessing I’d ordered yarns that they had to dye up as opposed to ones already in stock), so I was expecting quite a wait for this one, as well.

STR lightweight! There’s Socktopus, which is pretty and has an awesome name; Downpour, which I have coveted for months and which is just lovely; and Lunasea, which is so gorgeous I could eat it.

I took a closeup of Lunasea, too, just because:

See? Delicious. I’m thinking I’d like to knit it into socks with some sort of lace rib. Perhaps.

This week’s pink parcel contained this skein of PY Lucia. The colour’s not quite accurate in the photo, as the coral tones are actually light peaches.

Before I go, I must post a random photo of Stevie vs catnip fish:

ETA: One more photo, because the cats are determined to kill me with cute while they nap:

I got exactly zero things on my list done yesterday because I got called in to work for the day. I don’t know what happened to the evening, though. It seems to have disappeared.

I do put a lot of stress on myself, I know. It’s been getting steadily worse these past few years, because I feel like I’m moving backwards. Seven years ago, I was in university working toward my degree, living in a town I adored in a great apartment with with a man I was planning to marry, spending a lot of creative energy on writing and classical voice training/performance, and generally making plans for the future.

Now, I’m living in my parents’ basement in a city I hate, working at a job I hate, and coming across one roadblock after another in my attempt to go back to school. I didn’t mind the first year I lived alone in my university town nor the first year I lived with the parents again, because it was the time I needed to realign myself and figure out where I was headed. But now? It’s like I’m not even treading water anymore, it’s like I’m swimming backwards.

On a side note, it’s kind of depressing that even after the college degree I’m planning I won’t be making any more money than I do now (if you take my current tips into consideration) but hey, you know what I will have? More self-respect. A job in health care is far more appealing to me than continuing to work in a chain coffeeshop.

Okay. Lunch, then I have a pile of things to do.