Side effects of being sick

Last week, I picked up a bug from the community pretzel bowl at work. I should know better than to eat pretzels that so many other people have touched, but Internets, pretzels are yummy. So, I spent the weekend sleeping, sitting on my couch, watching hours of mind-numbing stuff recorded by the tivo and knitting…

I finished my Icarus shawl

with beads.

While taking photos of the shawl, Kally decided she wanted to help, by pouncing the beads. She followed me around, her eyes glued to the lacy goodness that has put away until I’m ready to wear it. Damn that shitty kitty.

I also started a new project with Trekking XXL

pretty.

Random

A few days ago in one of my engineering classes, a fellow came in to talk to us about public speaking and not coming off like the nervous introverted nerds we totally are. “Guys - and gal - no one can tell when you’re up here sweating.” Yup. That’s right. I am officially the only gal in the EE program for my projected graduation year.

One finished sock and one on the way to being a finished sock.

The gussets unintentionally match…

Check this out. The very lovely Laurie is insanely organized - all of her knitting patterns and all of her soap recipes are in binders and it’s all sorted out so neat and tidy. When I saw the binder pencil case, I thought of dpns and sock knitting, which then reminded me of Laurie’s amazing sock binder. For me to have a binder full of organized sock patterns would mean the end of the world is near. I am so unorganized that my attempts at getting organized always end up in frustration. Neat and tidy is seriously never going to happen, but it sure is a nice idea, sock binder, dpns and all.

Some really nice goodies to keep knitter’s skin from drying out. I actually watched as a batch of Gentle was being made. I helped stir. But, let me tell you, soap making still scares the shit out of me. It all comes back to the lye scene in Fight Club.

I’m making progress on Icarus, but it is SLOW. Internets, somewhere between 400 & 500 stitches per row takes a long time to knit.

But it sure is pretty.

I checked this book out from the local library and I lurve it. This quilt is so cute. And here’s another one. I’m thinking a big queen size version might be nice for my bedroom - but I probably won’t have time to even think about starting it until I’m done with school.

Kally and I are in the middle of a major battle of the wills. She is living up to her shitty kitty name. The desk, not for licking. The bitters, failed (I suspect it’s because the desk suddenly tasted like the holiday tree, the one she lurves to climb and chew, bitters and all). The air can, empty. The travel bike pump, taking air can duty. Seriously, she refuses to stop licking the desk and I refuse to give in to her shittiness.

Some delicious alpaca from Nona

Shitty kitty even stopped licking the desk long enough to check it out.

Like the crazy lady I am

Yesterday was insane.

I have this really great pair of running shoes that I’ve had forever and they are in great condition because I never wear them. The problem is that they don’t quite fit perfectly and my feet fall asleep. So, I’ve been wearing my really old, really beat up running shoes for way too long. They fit perfectly and I love them still, but they are on their last leg. I decided to wear my newish running shoes, thinking that maybe, since my body has changed over the years, they might fit better. Um. No. Ten minutes of walking and my feet were asleep. Since I was on campus and had a pair of shoes in my gym bag, I decided to head back to the car and change my shoes. I don’t know about ya’ll, but I have a tendency to do really mindblowingly stupid things, like lock my keys in my car, which I did when I changed my shoes. And I left my gym bag on the passenger seat in the sun - more on that later. Thankfully, the Mr. drove up to campus on his day off and bailed me out with a spare key. What a wonderful guy.

I also had a three hour lab yesterday followed by a three hour lecture. My lab went swimmingly until the end, wherein I had to wait in a very long line to have my calculations checked off, making me late for my lecture. But in the end, it all worked out. The professor was a no show. I’m a give ‘em the benefit of the doubt type of person and was a little surprised at the attitudes the much-older-than-me-students were taking. One woman went so far as to say she didn’t think the professor could ever hold the students to strict deadlines and refuse late work because of the tardiness, yadda, yadda, yadda. Seriously, something could have come up at the last minute and it really shouldn’t be a big deal, right? Honestly, I would expect a fresh-out-of-high-school-18-year-old to call the tardiness is equal to full credit on late work card, not a woman easily in her late 30’s. Perhaps it’s snarkiness that comes with age.

Back at my car an on my way home, two hours earlier than expected, I noticed that my car smelled quite strongly of the deodorant I just bought. Now, I’m normally a roll-on grrl, but the closest store to my home only carries the solid stuff, so I bought it, then tossed it into my gym bag. The one that had been sitting in the sun all day long. Internets, I need your help. I was able to get the mess out of my bag and all the stuff inside, but I’m at a loss when it comes to cleaning the upholstery in my car. Any ideas, tips, suggestions?

The Mr. is the one who usually gets the mail and last night, I noticed a Knit Picks catalog with Susan’s socks on the back and then silently watched as the Mr. threw it in the trash with all the other junk mail we get. Later, while he was on the phone, I dug the catalog out of the trash and flipped through it. This caught my eye. Lovely. I’m thinking about it. Thinking it might be a good fit for the wonderful purple yarn Kat gave me for my birthday. Yummy. After I finished flipping through the catalogue, back in the trash it went.

I have been slowly plugging away on Icarus. I’m just over half way finished with the second-to-last chart. For the sake of my fingers, I rest every row and work no more than two rows at a time. After row 2, I get up off my ass, stretch and walk around a bit, maybe eat some cake. There’s over 400 stitches in each row and it takes me nearly half hour to work a single row. By my count, I have 34 rows left, so that’s, um, 17 hours.

Sorry, no cat pictures. Kally’s mad at her humans for putting bitters on the desk she loves to lick.

Almost MIA…

With finals over, I’m getting ready to spend my first full week of my three weeks out of school backpacking in Bitterroot National Forest. Ya’ll know what that means, right? Even though I really only post once every so often, and it’s almost always fluff, I’m going to be MIA for the next week. The Mr. and I are going with some good friends, including Kally’s Uncle Freddy, aka the usual sitter. Kally absolutely adores her Uncle Freddy. She gets along with him almost as well as she gets along with the Mr., her absolute favorite BFF. Last year, around this time, the Mr. and I went to Cannon Beach. Uncle Freddy called to let us know how our little shitty kitty was doing. He told us that he had fallen asleep in front of the TV and when he woke up, he found Kally curled up on his chest. When her Uncle Freddy started to get up and she hissed at him. After all, he was there only to entertain her and she wanted to cuddle, dammit.

Moving on…

Anyone want a Print ‘o The Wave update? I received the second skien and the dyelot is way off. So I took Print ‘o The Wave off the needles (of course, I used some old cotton yarn as a stitch holder, I’m not going to tear the whole thing out) and retired her to the corner of the room. I’m trying to decide what to do. Right now, I’m leaning towards taking out both of the borders, casting off the provisional cast on edge and working the center panel until I run out of yarn. Another option would be to take the lace back by some multiple of two repeats which would reduce the number of border repeats. But, I’m leaning against that option. I’m not close to Margene tall, but I’m kind of tall (a very respectable 5′7″). If I make the shawl much shorter than it is now, it will be very disproportionate to my height and I doubt I will be able to wrap it all the way around my broad shoulders (kind of built like a linebacker, I tell ya ;o) ). So, I’m thinking longer is better… which would mean no border on this puppy. What do ya’ll think? Will some photographic evidence help with your decision? Okay….

The shawl in its entirety along with all the yarn I have left. The one long border than I have knit used up more than half of what I had when I started the border. I just don’t think I’ll make it.

Can you see the difference? Well, can you? The new skien has a very noticeable yellow tint when held next to the already knit lace. It’s just too much of a difference for me. The perfectionist in me will not let me use something so different. A contrasting color would look better. Besides, yellow and I, we’re not the best of friends.

While I go back and forth trying to make up my mind, I started on another lace project. I know it could technically be considered breaking the rules of having only one of each type of project on the needles, but my justification is that Print ‘o The Wave is “off” the needles and on a stitch holder. I know I’ve said it before, but I really don’t consider myself much of a triangle shawl person. Then, I saw this post and I fell in love. I pulled out my copy of Interweave and I dug though my bin of yarn and pulled out two skeins of Knit Picks Shadow in Oregon Coast courtesy of the most lovely and absolutely fabulous Teri.

Two full repeats of chart one down and part of a third. My favorite thing about this shawl so far, the subtle color in the yarn. Holy stunning, Batman.

A little more on rule breaking, eh? I have two pairs of socks on the needles right now. Remember the 92 stitch Jaywalkers? Yeah, I’m still working on sock #1. Because I don’t really feel that fondly about the pattern, I’ve started another pair of socks. Bad eliza, bad.

Kally knows we’re leaving next week. Clearly, she’s not thrilled.