The Saga Continues

It was a snow day here in the 'Burgh. Lots of heavy, wet snow. Dave is in Ohio, and I told him to just get a motel room for the night, but he thinks he can make it home. They've been plowing like mad here, but I don't know. He says he'll be careful.
Anyways, I finished my first Noro sock today. I'm ok with it, but it's a little snug. I should have put another 6-8 stitches into my round. I'm going to cast-on for the second sometime tomorrow. And, I've started the heel flap on the grey socks.
Exciting. Suni commented on these and asked how much yarn they took -- I have to say I'm not sure. Way less than the 1+ pounds of yarn I have. I'm guessing maybe somewhere around 2-3 ounces. You can't really get this yarn in less than 8 ounce put-ups so it's really a moot point. Get 8 ounces and it will be plenty for a couple pairs of socks.
And the saga at work continues! The same thing happened that I got raked over the coals for, but I had nothing to do with it! They asked me about it and I was like "I NEVER TOUCHED THE GUY." (More importantly I had documentation to back me up.) Soooo, since I said that I didn't do anything the first time it happened but no one believed me and I just took the fall for it, I'm thinking that maybe someone, somewhere owes me an apology. Vindicated! Not that I'm likely to get one, though. When I left my boss and a couple other people were all huddled talking about it and how they were going to do some kind of jury rigged fix for it but no one bothered to say anything to me and it was snowing, so I left. (Also, their jury rigged stuff makes me extremely nervous and I'd rather not be part of it.)

Just Me

Just me, not doing much of anything but laying here reading and knitting grey socks. Which is kinda frustrating. I spend all my working hours sitting and struggling with pain so that by the time I get home all I want to do is lie down and get rid of the pain. But that's all I do. I really wanted to go to knitting tonight, but just couldn't face it. Arrgh! Frustrating. I'm trying to get some laundry done. I've stopped doing Older Son's laundry (if I spot it). Laundry is supposed to be his chore, but he doesn't do it. So a week ago I told him I wasn't going to do his laundry anymore and have been piling in a basket in the basement. We'll see how it turns out. (I just have problems with the jeans. I think both boys wear the same size now, I have to get tags or something.) I told Younger Son, who is supposed to do the dishes, that if he didn't step up the plate he'd have assigned dishes that would be the only ones he'd eat off of and they wouldn't be allowed in the dishwasher. Again, we'll see. And I've made some decisions about my job. I'm not really happy where I am and I don't think things are going to improve, so I'm in the market for a new job. If you're looking for an entry level VB programmer, I'm your woman!

They Wanted Me To Go To Rehab

Every year I buy the Grammy Nominees cd. It makes me feel hip (well, hipper than I really am) and I figure it saves me a year's worth of listening to the radio -- I get the best of the year in one compact easy package.
CQ knows this about me and so laughed at me when I told her I picked up my annual copy a few weeks ago. "So," she quipped, "I guess that means you'll be walking around singing 'They Wanted Me To Go To Rehab' then." And you know, I have been. But it's not as much fun as last year. Last year I was all about the Black Eyed Peas and "My Humps". I was sitting in the car with Older Son and it started playing and after a minute or two he just turned to me and said "What are you listening to??" Pretty funny. Then I told everyone at work about it and we laughed. But after that I and two of the guys I worked with (both good-looking 20-somethings) started walking around singing it together. Just at odd moments. Very funny! However, no one where I work now is any fun and they don't really like me anyways. So just imagine me driving around in my car singing along, which is pretty funny.
Hardly any knitting, I'm still working on the ribbing at the top of my Noro sock (seems like I'm never going to get the dang thing done!) It was sticking out of my knitting bag and was much admired today by people who stopped by to tell me that it was "Nothing personal" about the ...lady... taking my head off yesterday. To which I have to say that it certainly wasn't professional, and therefore that makes it personal. Because we were in a professional setting and if it was professional it would be, well PROFESSIONAL.

Is My Butt Still There?

Got my butt chewed out at work today. To be fair, I did screw up. So I had to sit through a meeting with the CS well, this is a family blog so I'll call her a lady (but I'm thinking something else) who ripped me up one side and down the other because I made a mistake. Human error. Oh well. I found out later that she was having a hissy fit because the clients were supposed to come into the office tomorrow morning and she was going to have to explain the issue to them. Too bad! That's her job! And the process is broken! I shouldn't have been able to screw it up by accident no matter what I did. (Seriously, when I was training and they showed me this part I actually said, out loud and incredulously "Are you serious?!" I saw this mistake coming then, but had no control over it. Let's just say that expecting 100% accuracy from someone doing manual data entry on multiple files with no data verification and no way to reverse the process once an error is found combined with an absolute strict deadline = Recipe for disaster.) The process gives me the heebie jeebies and makes me wake up at night in a cold sweat. Funny thing is, my boss told me she completely understands, as did my project lead. And it was interesting seeing who in the meeting (there were about a dozen people there) rose to my defense. Apparently this...lady...is well known, and has made grown women cry in the past. Everyone just puts up with her. Whatever. If she tries to take a bite out of my butt again she may find out she's bitten off more than she can chew.

Anyways, I'm knitting the ribbing on my Noro sock. I'm back to where I was when I had to rip out. Heather thought I was nuts to do it, but I see now that she's in the same predicament. Now if I could just get that...lady...at work to make a mistake! (I know, if I would just use my powers for good!) Done any acts of kindness lately?

Weekend

Saturday we went out to dinner to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. We went to a Japanese steak house at the Waterfront. The food was ok, but very overpriced for what we got (in my opinion). Next year I'm going to try to hold out for a restaurant of my choice.
We did get paper parasols with dessert, though. Several people told me they liked my new hair style. Then we walked around and ended up in Barnes & Noble where my sister-in-law cornered a salesperson and inquired about their knitting group just to ornery, because I told her the group was no longer meeting there.

I spent a fair portion of the weekend knitting Grey Cotton Socks, but am in a bit of a quandry about them. I can not locate the first of this pair, and so don't know how long to knit the top of this sock so it matches. I know I put that sock right here beside my bed with the cone of yarn. Arrrgh! I looked under the bed, on the other side of the bed, behind the bedside table, everywhere. I thought I would find a picture in the blog and could fake it from there, but to no avail. Apparently it was too boring to be blog-worthy. And you know, as soon as make a stab at it and finish the heel the first will show up to prove they don't match. But I want these needles to start some new cotton socks with my new yarn! So. Frustrating.

Eclipses

Nothing much new here. I've just been reading and doing a bit of knitting on Moonlight Ice. Did a round or two on my Noro sock on the shuttle on my way to work (we have off-site parking, I have to ride a shuttle from my car to work, which gives me about 10 - 15 minutes of knitting time every day if I'm lucky.) I keep thinking of unfinished projects I didn't picture the other night, like the grey cotton socks I've been knitting forever, and the Pomatomus socks that I just need to graft the toe on. If I was a more organized sort of person I'd just bite the bullet and finish alot of these things, but I'm not. And maybe that's what makes me such a wonderful person. Who knows?
Did you see the Lunar Eclipse last night? Dave and I went out to try to see it right at 10:00, when it was supposed to be at totality, but it was completely cloudy. But about 15 minutes later it was not, so he, Older Son and I went out to stand in the yard and stare at the moon turned to blood. Older Son was unimpressed. Dave wondered why we were the only people in the neighborhood out looking at the lunar eclipse. Ummmm, maybe the single digit temps might have had something to do with it. I took a picture of it:


Don't hate me because of my fabulous camera skills. Someone else did a better job capturing it. Dave tried with his camera and said he thought he got a decent shot maybe, but he didn't send it to me, and I haven't seen it yet.

Mail Call

Saturday I placed an order with Yarn Barn and they told me the items were in stock and that they would ship Tuesday. Well I came home from this evening to see this:

on my bed. One of the guys had found it on the porch and brought it up for me. That's amazing delivery! I can't be more pleased. Younger Son (who never misses an opportunity to wield a pen knife) opened it for me to reveal this:

more cotton "sock" yarn. (It's not really, it's carpet warp, or 8/4 cotton, that I bought for $5.75 an eight ounce cone. That's a half pound of yarn, which looks to be enough to make a few pairs of socks. And the gentleman I ordered from was lamenting the fact that the price had gone up from the $5.10 listed in the catalog. A big jump, but still. $5.75 for a couple pairs of socks that will go happily into the washer and dryer?) You can see I got the classic Manly color triumverate, black, brown, and navy. Along with dark olive (it's called "Loden Green") because that's another color Dave wears alot of (it looks good on him with his handsome red haired Scottish coloring). This looks like it will knit up perfectly on a size 1 or 2 needle. If you know me, you know I knit socks very tight. Other knitters may prefer a size 2 or 3. Younger son is psyched for new socks. If you're thinking of ordering, note that my colors appear lighter in real life than they do in the catalog. So if you're in doubt, go darker. I also ordered a little something as a surprise for someone I know which I'm not picturing here. One of my resolutions this year is to indulge my generosity more. Speaking of which, entries for the Ab Fab Afghan have dropped off. I know you're all kinder than this!!

I'm In Love

I've been working on Moonlight Ice this evening. Pictures truly do not do this justice. It may just be the most beautiful piece of knitting I've ever done. As I've been working on it this evening I can't help but admire it. I think that low lighting really brings out its charms. It's sparkly, but not too sparkly. Not enough to be garish, just...right. Can you tell I'm infatuated? I'm thinking of making some gloves to match. A cuff of the Kid Silk Night (with beads, natch) and then black for the hands. I'm also thinking that I should get my coat cleaned and sew on the buttons. I lost another one last week, which leaves me with only one. I look like a bag lady. But if I'm wearing this beautiful cowl...Well, I have to live up to it.

Younger Son informed me that I've fallen behind on my sock knitting. I busted him this morning wearing the same pair of hand knit socks two days in a row and he pointed out that that wouldn't happen if he had more handknit socks to wear. I'd better crank up the needles. And I did order more sock yarn this past weekend too...

Unfinished Business

I knit exactly one round on my Noro sock today. Honestly, I've been reading more than knitting lately. Mainly that's because I've been spending a fair amount of time laying down and reading is easier than knitting in that position. But honestly I've just been more in the mood to read lately. I'm sure the pendulum will swing around to knitting again in time. And I still need to knit every day.
Anyways, rather than another picture of a sock that looks exactly like it did before, I was casting around for something else to picture. I decided to gather up all the unfinished items in my room. Mind you, this is not all my unfinished knitting, just the ones here that I could lay my hands on easily. There're the parts to two bears that just need sewn together and stuffed, a Babies and Bears sweater that only needs buttons, another baby sweater (Psuedopod, based on Kate Gilbert's Pea Pod) that needs one sleeve seam sewn and a collar knit onto it, two lace shawls (Mystery Shawl 3 and one of my own concocting), and a Fairisle Sampler scarf. Not pictured, but in this room (I didn't want to dig them out of the yarn tub they're packed in) are another baby sweater (Devan, from Knitty) that only needs buttons, and a silk and microfiber sideways knitted Tee. I think I might have a problem.

I've been reading your acts of kindness! Keep those entries coming!

Ab Fab

Heather and I were talking about Lent and she said she doesn't just give things up, but tries to make herself a better person. Which sounds good to me, and so I decided to do a kindness every day during Lent. I cleared the snow off Dave's car twice this week, and let someone in front of me in traffic, held the door for people at work. Just small, random acts of kindness, but I can see that these little acts can add up and make the world a better place. (And me a better person, too.) So to that end I'm announcing a

New Blog Contest!

Here's the deal. Between now and the end of Lent (which would be Easter Sunday, March 23) do a little random act of kindness and leave a comment on my blog telling me about it. And what's in it for you, other than that Absolutely Fabulous feeling of being a good person? Well how about..Hmmm....Let's see, an Absolutely Fabulous afghan kit?


Yep, that's right. Leave me a comment every day you do a random act of kindness and I'll enter your name for an Absolutely Fabulous kit from Colinette yarns. You even get to pick the color, and I'll have it shipped to you! (You don't even have to wait for me haul my lazy butt to the post office!) So that's the deal. Comment on this blog with your random acts of kindness and I'll throw your name in the hat every day you do. And tell your friends! Let's all make the world a better place!

That's one entry per day, you can enter as many days as you want between now and March 23, 2008. Contest ends at midnight, March 23, 2008 and I will announce the winner here Monday, March 24th and order their Ab Fab kit as soon as I get confirmation of an address, color preference, and the opportunity to place a phone call during regular business hours.

What's For Dinner?

I got home from work tonight and I was in bad shape. I was really in pain, and had to go and lie down immediately. Since I've been prone for about an hour now I feel 500% better (driving is becoming increasingly difficult for me for whatever reason.) Anyways, I'm stuck here in my room and apparently no one in the house is going to make any dinner. [Sigh]
Fortunately I had some supplies. I finished off the decorated Valentine's day cookie that Younger Son and Dave brought home and gave me last night while I was in bed. That's why it's still here.
And I've nibbled a bit on the Christmas gummy bears (which I'm thinking that if I eat all the green ones I could pass off as Valentine's gummy bears) that I ended up with a container of when I asked for a few and no one wanted to return the container to the kitchen. These got lost at Christmas and one of the guys turned them up last week while foraging for food. I'm such a shining example of good nutrition. I do have some whole grain crackers in the kitchen, maybe I can get one of the Sons to bring me some. (There's veggies in the freezer, but they won't make them for me so I'd have to gird my loins and go downstairs and cook them myself. I'm not quite up to it yet.)

Here's my Noro sock, which I got absolutely nothing done on today because it was left languishing here at home. Thank goodness I didn't get stuck in traffic!
***Update! Dave brought me some pizza (the Sons' most often prepared dinner). At least it has some veggies on it.

All That Glitters

Here's my progress on my sparkly Moonlight Ice. In looking at the ball band on my Rowan Kid Silk Night I saw the color was called Moonlight, which is coincidentally the name of the color for the Swaroski crystals I'm knitting in. Hmmm, meant to be? So I'm calling this project Moonlight Ice. You can see one of the crystals in the picture, but obviously it's way more sparkly in real life than the picture shows. I'm not thrilled with the needle I'm using, it's a regular Addi. I'd prefer the point on the lace Addis, but don't feel like forking over the $18 for one for this one project. I'm sure I have an Inox 16" circ floating around here somewhere....

Here's my Noro sock. As you can see, I've ripped back and reacquired my dropped stitch. I've even managed to reknit a few rounds.

In other news, it was pretty cold here this morning. Younger Son's school was delayed. Funny story about school delays. Several years ago I would get up and go for a 4 mile walk every morning. So one morning it was pretty cold, but I didn't think it was too bad and I got Older Son up for school. He asked if there was a delay and I said "No, I was out and it wasn't that cold." So I made the poor kid walk to school in the sub-freezing weather where he found out that school was delayed so he had to walk all the way back home, wait 2 1/2 hours and then walk to school again. After the second time I did it to him he wouldn't believe me anymore when I said there was no delay, and he would get up every school day and check for himself.

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

This morning I had an early appointment with my chiropractor and so I was up and out the door by 7:30. There was snow on the ground (surprisingly, because it hadn't been snowing when I got home from knitting after midnight) and it was still snowing and grey. After my chiropractor appointment I met Heather and her boys for breakfast. As we stood outside talking afterwards it started snowing and raining, and it was cold, foggy, and miserable.
I left the restaurant and drove to Celtic Queen's which was less than 15 minutes away. I got there, and chatted with the Celtings while she put on her shoes and coat. We walked out the door and the sun was shining! The fog was all golden and beautiful. As we drove to the Yarn Store to do some shopping (we decided not to go to the local yarn festival that was going on today because the entry fee ($15!) was too much, but we wanted to get our share of some yarny goodness, too) the sun kept shining, the sky turned blue, and the temperature soared. We shopped for yarn, had some coffee and knitted at the Starbucks up the road, and the sun continued to beam down while the temperature soared into the 50s. I started seeing people walking around in sunglasses and some teenagers even opted to sit outside at the Starbucks. Then as we started home, I noted, "Oh, I see some clouds." I dropped CQ off at her house, and as I was driving up the road from her house it started Raining. By the time I was home, it was starting to rain/snow again! Spooky.
Anyways, what did I get at the yarn store? Mmmmm. You can't tell in this picture, but that's Rowan's Kid Silk Night and it sparkles. I got some Swaroski crystals too because I'm going to make this. Say it with me -- "Ooooh, sparkly." Also pictured is my secret weapon, a size 14 crochet hook, which is small enough enough to fit through a size 4mm crystal bead. Bwaaaaa haaaa haaaa!
I also got more Noro for another pair of socks. This pair will be for Older Son, since he admired the one I'm making for myself so much. And because he was so irate about his brother's supposed theft of his hand knit socks. Rewarding him for fighting with his brother...Probably not my most shining parenting moment, but what can I say? I'm weak when it comes to the knitting. Besides, I didn't tell him I got it for him, so I can always change my mind. Speaking of my Noro sock, it's in Time Out because A) It's not sparkly, B) I lost one of the needles I was knitting it with (it was a wild night at knitting last night), and C) When I decided this afternoon I was ready to knit the ribbing at the cuff I found this dropped stitch. If I had found it after the cast-off I would have just sighed and sewed it in. But I didn't so I'm going to rip back and reknit. I'm just not up to it yet.

Sock Wars

As I was driving home from work this evening (at 8:00 PM!), talking to CQ and trying to get her to go to Bloomin Yarns and buy me some yarn (she wouldn't), I fielded a call from Older Son.

OS: snarling Thanks for giving Younger Son my socks.
Me: I didn't give him your socks, he's wearing his own socks!
OS: No he's not, they're mine.
Me: No, I knit those for him, I knit you socks that had blue and brown stripes at the same time. I can show it to you on the blog.
OS: I don't believe you. When will you be home so you can verify this?
Me: I'll be home before 8:30...

Obviously the boys were locked in a titanic struggle over the handknit socks. (They never call me until they're literally at each others throats.) So I had to come home and verify that the socks in question (pictured here) were indeed knit for Younger Son. Thank goodness for the blog! You never know when it will come in handy.

My Noro yarn has disgorged a ginormous yarn burp. CQ warned me of this, and I'd had a few minor ones before this. Another downside of the yarn being an single.

Knit Knight tomorrow!! I'm going, even if I have to leave stuff undone and go in to work on Saturday. I need me some "me" time! (And good friends who will pat me reassuringly and tell me they still like me.)

You Make My Day

Ok, Ashley says I made her day (I'm very honored!) and I'm home at a reasonable time (I only had to work 11 hours today. And no one has had to go to the ER -- yet. If Younger Son doesn't get his homework done soon I make no guarantees) I'm going post the rules with this. The object is this:
“Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

And now I get to tell 10 people they made my day!!

1)Heather, who always makes my day. She's pretty and charming, warm and kind. I'm always amazed that she chose me for a friend! And she's an amazing knitter and great cook. Her family is lucky to have her.

2)Julia. Check out her shop! I love her yarn and fiber, (I'm hoping she'll sell me some) but she's also a truly great person and I'm fortunate to know her. She's made some kick-butt sweaters recently too!

3)Celtic Queen (Good thing she updated her blog today!) Who makes my day most of the time with her e-mails. She does have some good looking kids, though. (And they love the hand knits!)

4)Carly Her youth and enthusiasm make me feel almost young again. She's an amazing knitter, and she's beautiful enough to wear handknits everywhere and carry it off!

5)Elizabeth Perry. Check out the drawing for today -- It's a Chibi! Her drawings make my day every day. I've mentioned her here before, but it bears repeating.

6)Be*Mused She's working on some amazing mittens right now.

7)Holly Who like me prefers plain knit socks. And knitting for babies! What could be more fun than that?

8)Taniwa This blog is everything I look for in a blog. Tanya updates frequently and she includes lots of juicy details about life in Japan.

9)Steel City Knitter Knitting, crochet, the occasional quick recipe.

10)Krafty1 She's dealing with alot of snow right now, but has warm cookies and knitwear to keep her warm.

I would have included Ashley because she really did make my day by giving me the award, but she already did it and I didn't want to make her think of 10 more bloggers. The same with DPUTiger.

It's Me

It's 10:45 PM and I just got home from work. I'd been there since 8:50 this morning. And the stuff that I had to get done today -- didn't get done. The day started off with Younger Son son stepped on a piece of glass in the basement which we couldn't get out, so he had to go to the ER. I should have gone with him. But no, off to work I went (Dave had already made arrangements to take the morning off to take my dad to a doctor's appointment). Twice in as many days, while trying to run an long and complicated process which I'm not entirely familiar with, a file I use has mysteriously been cut in half. For no real reason. Nothing I did, nobody knows why. I'm suspecting a virus or corrupted software somewhere. Then, to top everything off, when I got home my door broke as I was coming in. Everything I touch is breaking! YS, all my stuff at work, the door. Older Son won't let me touch him. I feel like there should be a dark cloud over my head. I'm having packzi for dinner and going to sleep. Tomorrow has to be better, right?

Big Things

Big news! Ashley says I made her day! I'm thrilled and amazed. One does try [blushes modestly]. I'm posting late today, so I will give the rules and tag my 10 "Make my day" blogs tomorrow!

Here's where I am on my Noro sock. Viewing it I think, as I always do when I knit myself socks, "Good Lord, I have big feet!" But even with my big feet, I'm through the foot, turned the heel, started up the leg and am only just completing a color sequence. That's a pretty long color change. This pair of socks will definately not be identical. But I'm all about the mismatched socks anyway. I'm hoping to get another couple of skeins of this yarn this week, on in a manly colorway to make socks for Older Son (for his birthday, maybe) and another fun colorway to make some gloves for myself.
Other big news, my friend Zeeppo was on local television, teaching men's knitting. (Dave and Dave, on OnQ on WQED.) I liked the piece, Zeeppo did a pretty good job teaching them, even though Dave and Dave can be a little wild at times. The host said one of the Daves stuck with it and knitted himself a scarf while watching the Super Bowl yesterday.
I have big knitting plans, too. As I've been knitting my socks I've been thinking that it would be nice to knit everyone some socks this year. Maybe three or four pairs. And then there's the birthday sweaters, and I really would like to knit more bears, and at least one sweater for me. Too much knitting, too little time. So far my plan of winning the lottery so I can knit full time hasn't been working out too well for me. I may need to regroup.