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.

I Found the Rainbow!

It's on the heels! I finished the heels Tuesday, and I really like them.  They're my favorite part of the socks, actually... so much my favorite that I'm taking out the whole socks.

Yep, I'm ripping them all out and making these socks.  They're the perfect way to knit this yarn.  And it'll be a fun challenge.

But... I have to finish Dan's socks.  I pulled out all my sock yarns and gave him the pick.  He picked a really boring black and white.

Boys are weird.

Also, I have to share this.  This is where I took that picture above...

At 4 AM.  This is great advertising for my lamp that Dan bought me, haha!

Muddy Rainbow Socks

I'm making progress! Carpooling two hours each day is great, especially when you make the other person drive.  I'm making nice progress on my Haruni shawl, too!

Anyway, I put them on Dan and I'm about an inch from starting the heel flap.  Which is good, because I'm really into a new book... and I can't read an knit too intense stuff.  I can do stockinette or garter stitch fine, but anything that involves thinking just doesn't work for me.

I'm disliking the yarn more and more the more it knits up.  It pools, which is ok, but from a distance it just looks brown to me.

It makes me philosophical: every stitch is special and unique, but when all this specialness and uniqueness is put in one place the combined specialness and uniqueness just makes some ugly socks.  Okay, maybe not ugly... maybe just... a little... different...

Also, I've stitched hair into it.  #$&!%...

A Little Mid Week Pick Me Up

The orchid that Dan got me for Valentine's Day Last year has rebloomed! I trimmed the roots in mid December, and that seemed to give it new life.  I'm proud because when he showed up with the orchid, I was worried that the buds it had would die, and then that would be it - I would kill it.  But it's survived!

This, for some reason, makes me really really happy!

Dream Yarn... Dream Shawl

So, for Christmas my friend Ash gave me some AWESOME yarn.  I mean ridiculously awesome.  Qivuit sock yarn for both me and Dan, which I immediately placed on our dining room table and let sit for a few months while I decided what to do with it.

That's the best way for me to figure out what to do with yarn.  I just put it somewhere where I'll see it often, and every time I see it I think "Hmm... what should I do with this?" for a split second.  After doing this roughly thirty thousand times, I have an epiphany and suddenly discover the perfect project.

For this yarn, though, I didn't know what to make.  I didn't want to make socks - the yarn is just too soft, too nice... no, no way.  I thought about combining the two colors (red and sepia) to make a scarf.  But, no, the intent was something for me and something for Dan, so... I couldn't justify that in my head.

Finally, when I went to Kentucky, I took just the red yarn, wound in a cake.  I figured that this would finally give me the impetus to cast on some socks for myself.  BUT - when I looked for patterns, I had my epiphany.  No, I couldn't knit socks with this - I had to make a shawl.

What shawl? Well, there only seemed to be one option.  I have been eyeing the Haruni Shawl for a long time, and what better excuse to make it now!

So, I cast on for this shawl two weeks ago, and I'm already halfway done.

Maybe it's just a rebound project, while Dan's Rainbow socks sit forlorn in their little project bag, being surly.  Maybe I should work on them today...

(Also, sorry for the lack of photos! I thought I had taken some but it turns out that I never took one of the yarn when I first got it... Which is bad of me, I should have put it into my rav stash right away!)