All Purpose

I spent last week in the lovely town of Alpine attending a Writer’s Retreat. It was great, I’m motivated and I feel creative again. It was also exhausting so I feel like I’ve mostly been catching up on sleep this week.

We saw some fun stuff, like these cute donkeys. We were trying to figure out what donkeys were, and mostly we got it right.

Donkey’s can be interbred, but the offspring are sterile so while I’m not sure of the other two guys I took pictures of, this one is donkey and zebra:

We spent a lot of time on the Sul Ross campus where our class was held, and I saw something really funny there.

So he’s letting me get real close to get a picture and it’s not until I take this one that I understand that it’s a bug and not a pecan he’s got. Then it’s game time.

I saw this at the motel, very cool butterfly that I have been unable to identify so far, I guess a trip to the Life Sciences Library might be in my future.

We did go to Marfa on Friday and have dinner and poke around.

Then we went back to Alpine and stopped to see the lights. We did see them, but I could not get pictures. So small, so far away. I got this instead though.

It was great. I’d love to do it again next year!

No Comments | In: life, travel | tags: 2009, alpine, marfa, texas, travel, writing. | #

So the oak is dusting the city with pollen this week, and this year it’s really bothering me. I’ve been sick since Monday, really Sunday night. I guess working all weekend in the yard and garage while the pollen was flying was not a smooth move.

We did manage to get the rose bed mostly prepped (except the holes haven’t been dug and fertilized). And I got the side and big front bed cleaned up, again mostly. I planted all my little succulents finally. I hope they do ok, I need to check them today when I get home. Now I feel like I can start a new collection of small things again.

We still need to plant the roses and I need to decide what to do with all the beds (3 in front and one on the side of the house). We also need to figure out the veggie garden plan. M is also promising the removal of the Mimosa tree in front this year. That would really open up the front for some fun maybe next year.

So since I’ve been sick and missed most of Monday and some of yesterday I managed to do some knitting chores too. I frogged the FLS and rewound all the yarn into cakes for a second try. I managed to finish both front pieces of the Lush and Lacy Cardigan, and now I’m kind of wondering if I could finish this by the end of the month (making it my third sweater FO of 2009!). Gosh and then what could I try to do in April? I will need to think about that.

I have worked some on the Ribbon Lace Scarf, but not a ton. It’s just a fill in really for when I’m bored with the sweater and the socks (Leyburns) aren’t doing it for me. I love, love, love the Silkie Socks that Rock, and I love how the scarf is looking and how it feels, but I think we are already past scarf weather anyway.

The Leyburns, well I’m working on them but I’m really into the L&L right now so I’m picking up the socks less and less and since I have a better chance of finishing L&L in March the Leyburns will probably get finished in April. Only a month past the KAL deadline, so not bad.

The last thing I’d like to do before the end of March is to steek that Ribs and Lace tank. I’m still nervous, but I know that the yarn is still on sale so worst case I can buy new yarn and start over. The color is so nice though I really want this work. I think I’ll make the steek a goal for Sunday. Wish me luck!

No Comments | In: garden, knitting, life, work in progress | tags: steek wip frogging gardening allergies oak pollen. | #

to bring you some non-knitting content, brace yourself. Here are some of my favorite pics from the Alaska trip.

Stanley Park

Pulling into Ketchikan

Juneau clearing up

Orca (or killer if you want to be un-PC about it) whale in Lynn Canal (Juneau)

Humpback whale (we saw a lot of humpbacks and they came very close to our boat, and it was awesome)

Glacier Bay

No Comments | In: life, travel | tags: 2008, alaska, glacier, humpback, juneau, kethikan, orca, travel, whale. | #

I have been very, uh, lazy I guess for the last month. I just realized I haven’t blogged since I got back from my trip to Alaska in September. Crazy.

So a lot’s been happening I guess. I have been struggling with the stupid occipital neuralgia crap. It’s pretty bad right now, but I’m back to regular acupuncture and I’m considering meds. I actually filled the prescription but I’m not ready to commit to it quite yet. I want to wait a little longer and try some other options to see if I can get the problem solved rather than medicated to an acceptable level.

The trip was awesome, but I totally had PMS the whole time and felt like I was a bit of a pain in the ass. I finished the Clapotis for my mom and she loved it. C loved her headband. I finished M’s socks. So lots of good knitting. The weather was great, nice and cool. Our excursion were so cool. The whale watching especially was amazing. I will have pics up soon, I just haven’t been up to sitting at the computer to clean up the images and load them all. Will try to finish it this weekend.

I’ve decided to do NaNoWriMo this year, for reals. I have an idea, and I’ll be spending this week doing some character and plot development in prep for the kick-off. So for those of you not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it’s National Novel Writing Month, and I think it’s been going on about 10 years, maybe longer. The idea is to try to write a novel (50,000 words or more) during the month of November. So Nov 1 to Nov 30th @ midnight. I have sorta been signed up for the last couple of years but have never done a damn thing. This year I’m taking it a bit more seriously. I hope that I’ll be able to get my prep work done this next week because I think that will be key to me moving forward for this for real. So because I’m also going to use NaNoWriMo as a way to get my ass writing everyday I’ve decided to split this blog up again. I know. I am so fickle. I’ve been wondering how boring all the knitting stuff must be to some people and vice versa for personal stuff. Not that I have more than like 5 people that have ever read this. So anyway, details to come.

So knitting is next…

No Comments | In: life | tags: alaska, blogging, blogs, nanowrimo, occipital neuralgia, pain, travel, trip, writing. | #

So I have the summer blues, so this post will be totally random probably. I haven’t done crap on my August xmas socks. I cast them on, knit to the heel and realized they were too big. I’ve cast on again and done the cuff, but I”m afraid these are too small now, and since I need to finish my mom’s cruise present I’ve been ignoring these socks. I’ll need to finish them later in September though, or something.

This month has been rough. I’ve been struggling with headache, nerve and muscle pain since the beginning of the year and while I’m pursuing treatments nothing seems to work that great. So I hurt. A lot. Every. Day. I love my knitting but right now thinking about knitting is better than actual knitting for me some days. Combine that with my desire for some cool weather so I’ve been dreaming about knitting the February Lady Sweater, and I’ve come up with a list of 4 different yarns that would be lovely (Classy, STR HW, Malabrigo, Nature Wool).

I am really in love with Dream in Color yarns right now and everyday I have to restrain myself to keep from ordering enough for like 4 projects. The colors look so great. I really need to go check out some in person before I determine what I really want, but I’m trying to hold off until next Thursday so I have a halfway chance of getting it on sale if I can’t resist. I like so many of the colors that I’m like, well if I do a Clapotis in Baby then I could do color A, and if do a FLS in Classy then maybe B, oh then what about a FLS in C as well. It’s ridiculous. I do have a 1 skien of Smooshy that I bought after selling some stash yarn.

I’ve been thinking about sock clubs again…I think I might be burning out on socks. I know it’s shocking, but I think the “have to knit 1 pair per month” thing is getting old. I’ve pared down my sock gift list now because of this. Maybe I’m just pissy because I want some socks for me, and at this rate I won’t be getting any until next year. Anyway, uh back on topic. So I’ve been mighty tempted by Blue Moon Fiber Arts and their Rockin’ Sock Club. I almost signed up for it late this year, but then decided it just wasn’t fiscally responsible. I know sign ups for next years club are in a few months (like October) so I’ve been trying to figure out if I want to save up for it or what. I did some math and I realized if I bought 1 skien of every BMFA color I like I’d spend like $300, and I’d be getting like 15 skeins of yarn, and the sock club will be almost that much (it was $250-ish this year) and I’d only get 6 skeins of yarn…and some patterns. So I think I will once again be strong and forgo the sock club this year. Maybe if I can afford it I’ll sign up for a smaller club later in the year.

Let’s hope I snap out of this soon…

No Comments | In: fever, knitting, life, work in progress | tags: BMFA, buying, cardigan, doldrums, Dream in Color, knitting, knitting fantasy, sock clubs, STR, work in progress. | #

So here’s my rehash of the April knitting, it’ll be short, and my update on life in general.

I only finished one project in April, the Monkey socks (Rav link), which used about 286.5 yards of yarn not from my stash really since I bought it in March for these socks as a gift.

The gift was a little late. I spent the last week of April caring for my stepmom (my sister and I both did actually) and she died May 3rd (Saturday). I saw and experienced a lot in the last two weeks and I think eventually I will post about those experiences, but not right now.

I did start 2 new projects before I left to take care of Linda. I started Charade and a shrug (Rav links). I didn’t get very far with either one, but hope to finish both in May if gardening doesn’t completely take over.

1 Comment | In: crochet, finished object, knitting, life, work in progress | tags: cancer, death, finished object, shrug, socks, work in progress; knitting; crochet. | #

So I decided that I should merge the blogs and since knitter’s lib is where I’m posting the most I’m keeping it and merging in the content from the little hour (which I wasn’t posting in much anyway). So now this will be about more than knitting, but I guess it kind of was anyway, it’ll just be more obvious now.

So I imported all TLH posts and I’ll probably blow TLH away later this week and then maybe I can do a real index page for my site since I seem to have lost it.

So things are rough right now and I’m doing all this damn thinking. Thinking about life and death and goals and what I want to be when I grow up. It’s tiring, and sometimes depressing and for me full of ups and downs. One minute I think I should open a bakery or some kind of baking related business, the next I think no I need a legal job, then I think why did I stop writing-I should write. Today I realized I miss school (wtf?) but maybe I don’t miss school maybe what I miss are things like real writing workshops. I miss writing but it’s hard to schedule it in a day already full of work, marriage, pet care, family care, self care… Well you get the picture; my head is a mess right now.

Despite all this mental wrestling which is making me think more probably, I’m still depressed a bit. I still can’t manage to get the exercise routine down. I have kept my spending lent for 1.5 months now (woot) and I’m slowly getting my financial stuff more organized. I think I just do to a budget and maintain my weekly bookkeeping and I’m good. The spending lent is making me think more about every dime I spend and I think this habit will hopefully stick past the actual lent.

The garden which I promised would happen this year is so not going to happen unless a miracle happens this weekend. I want to drink beer and read all weekend so I’m not seeing that happening. Oh well, there’s always next year right?

No Comments | In: 9to5, life | tags: blogs, death, dreams, goals, jobs, thinking, writing. | #

So I realized this morning that I never did a wrap up post for March. So here it is.

I finished the Jitterbug socks, the Ovaltine cardigan, the Amelia Earhart hat (same post as Ovaltine), and the Brownie hat which I forgot to do a real FO post for.

So I finished 4 projects (yippee!) and got very close to finishing Ella’s blanket, and I knit through 1167.8 yards of yarn in March (only counts yarn used on FO’s, not WIP’s), and 294 yards of it was from my stash. Not too shabby.

I also cast on for 2 new projects: Monkey socks and the Catherine’s Mini Cardi (Rav link). I really haven’t done anything on the cardi except knit 3 rows and decide I need to frog and CO with smaller needles, but I haven’t frogged it yet. The Monkey socks are close to halfway done.

So all in all a very productive month I’d say. I probably am not going to be nearly as productive in April with everything going on, but I’m hoping if I do stall on my knitting that it will be a short break while I get organized and back into a routine that incorporates all the family stuff going on right now.

No Comments | In: finished object, knitting, life, work in progress | tags: 2008, finished object, march, numbers, stash, work in progress, yards, yarn. | #

So not a lot going on right now. I have managed to get to the foot portion of my first monkey sock (pic hopefully to follow later), but have stalled out the last couple of days. I didn’t get any knitting done this past weekend and I’m sure that this weekend will be any better. I’m hoping to get back into my monkey groove tonight, I would like to finish these for my stepmom, maybe this weekend.

No Comments | In: gifts, knitting, life, work in progress | tags: gifts, knitting, socks, work in progress. | #

You were a good cat and we’ll miss you.

4 Comments | In: life, pets | tags: cats pets grief love. | #