In Orbit

For the past week I've been at a conference for work, and it's been fun! Yesterday, at the closing, the person talking said "We're all in orbit now, but soon it'll be time to come back down to earth and get all this good work done back home!"

I've kind of felt in orbit.  My hands don't hurt so much (probably because I'm not using my laptop all day!)  So I've been knitting a little more.  My carousel socks are looking good!

 

I plan on doing the toe, heel, and cuff in white.  My only regret right now is not using white yarn to join the spiral.  Wouldn't it just pop like that? From what I have of yarn, though, I might be able to make another pair with the yarn that I have left over after this.  So then I'll have two rainbow socks, and maybe by then I'll be done with rainbows!

Striped Scarf

Ages, ages, and AGES ago I bought this Crystal Palace Mini Mochi yarn because I saw a beautiful project on Ravelry and wanted one too. Well, while I was sick I cast on for it.  The yarn has been in my stash for a long, long time and it finally gets it's moment! 

It knit up really quick, and the colors really look good together. I used 113 (Tropical Ginger) and 109, which I think has been discontinued. All I did was cast on 50 stitches on size 4 needles and work in a K1P1 pattern until I was out of yarn. One skein of each color like this made a scarf that was about 4.5 feet, which is a little short but I didn't really want to work in K1P1 rib anymore.

I ended up with 1 extra skein of each, and I gave them to my friend Tricia - maybe she'll make a scarf like mine! I would love to have matching scarves. It's kind of like a knit along. But not. Because they might sit in her stash forever and ever, like this yarn did.

Anyway, I love this scarf! So much that I took a selfie in it.Cherish this moment. Also, I'm not wearing any makeup because I camped all weekend.

P.S. - My new apartment has so many places to take photos of projects, haha.  Once all the pictures are up and everything is set up I will have to post photos.  I'm trying to get everything all set up but... it's been kind of slow because I tend to half-do a project and then go and watch TV with Dan.

Bird of the Summer

WOW.  It's been a long time since I've posted or blogged, sorry.  It's been a long time since I've knit, or made any progress on knitting.  My wrist has been achey and despite promising to share a table at a convention in November, I haven't really done much... at all.  That's made me a little bummed out.

But I have been going to knitting group (Tuesday nights at the Books A Million in Concord!) and so have had some itty bitty progress.  

I finished Dan's socks today.  They fit well everywhere but the front of his ankle (opposite the heel)  His foot is just so big there! I don't really know what to do - just some more experiments, I guess. But he is happy so that's a win, I guess.

I've also finished the second quarter of my afghan.  This afghan has been such a good project.  I'm kind of sad that when it's done it's just going to go into my hope chest, but I made a promise to myself so I'm going to keep it! Blerg!

That's all.  I've been working hard and watching "Friends" in my new apartment, and not really accomplishing much of anything.  A few weeks ago we hiked, but not a big mountain.  My ankle is still recovering - can you believe that? Six months and still at 99%... depressing stuff.

Hope all is well! It's hard for me to read other people's blogs, because I just feel bad about not knitting, and I get more gloomy, so I hope everyone forgives me!

Playing Chicken

So... this was originally supposed to be posted 2 WEEKS AGO... but for some reason I messed up and it didn't.  I haven't worked on the shawl since, and still need help :(

I haven't played chicken since the seventh grade, and even then I didn't really play, just watched two kids kick each other on the monkey bars. I just didn't see the point in fighting with someone for some arbitrary title of more stubborn.

But, here I am, right at the end of my shawl.  This is a point where I should be knitting furiously, excited to see what it will look like when I'm done.



Instead... I feel like I'm racing against myself.  This is all the yarn I have left!



This sucks.  I just know, deep down, that I'm going to run out.  It just depends on when.  I started out with supposedly more than enough...

So, I have three options:
1.) Knit until I run out, then finish the shawl with a contrasting color.  This is not really an optin because I don't want to do it :/
2.) Knit until I run out, figure out that limit, and then frog back a few repeats of the main lace pattern and make the shawl a little shorter.
3.) Frog back a few repeats of the center lace pattern now, and just hope that I picked enough yarn.

there is another option, I guess,  which would be to frog the entire thing back and knit something else... but I don't really want to do that.

So... what should I do? 

Hopefully I make a decision one way or another... Or it'll be like that sweater that has been neatly folded on my desk for like six months...

Biking on Plum Island

Saturday Dan and I biked up and down the Plum Island Turnpike! We though the weather was going to be bad, but it wasn't too horrible.  I managed to take some gorgeous pictures on my new phone... man.  I think it might be better than my camera!

More pictures of my boyfriend's foot

Dan picked out new yarn for new socks, after I stole his yarn for my dream socks.  I've been slowly plugging along with these during my commute, and at quiet times after work.  I can't believe I'm on the foot! That's when I realized that it's been too long since I blogged, so here I am... Giving you an update on the few stitches per day that I've been doing.

Being sick blows! (A Whiny Post)

So, I've been putting extra hours in at work.  And I work an hour from home.  So, assume I work a 10-hour day, plus two hours of commuting each way.  Then, of course, I need around 8 hours of sleep.  And an hour to get up in the morning and get ready for work (Shower, put on makeup, dress myself, pack a lunch).  What does that give me?

Three hours.  Three hours of free time.  I was griping to a coworker about this, and she said "It does seem like that sometimes, doesn't it?" 

... WHAT? Lady, it is that.  Those are the numbers.  I have 3 hours a day of "leisure time," and if I want more, I either have to work less or sleep less.

So, needless to say, I've been running myself ragged between stress and not sleeping (because, there's fun stuff to do guys!) and not really eating too well, either, and it finally all came to a head Saturday when I spent the entire day vomiting whatever went into my stomach because I had messed up my sleep schedule and made risky food choices.

I spent Sunday sleeping and trying to eat small amounts of food because the vomiting had been replaced with terrible hunger pains. I couldn't straighten my body to walk to the bathroom or even lie flat on my back, or else the cramps were so bad I would cry.

Today, I am sitting home on the couch.  I don't really have any more pain, but my brain is so dead that I'm not comfortable going to my job... because I'm working on a lot of really important (to me) things and I'm afraid of making a mistake.

Anyway, there's no point to this post other than me whining.  Sorry about that.  I think that when I started writing it, I meant to give an excuse of why I haven't been around... but all the words just started pouring out.

Things will get better soon.  Dan and I are looking for apartments that are closer to work.  I'm going to finish these projects and they will be replaced with other, less stressful projects. 

And I'm never, ever, ever going to eat a sandwich that I found in the back seat of my car again.