SKB progress

But first, a little cuteness diversion. That's Molly (stripy cat) sitting on Tristan's head in the window. I guess he was there first and she maneuvered in on him for quality solar regeneration. Ellie was sitting on the chair and wanted to say hi as I was clicking.




Here's the SKB so far. Pay no attention to my jammies and the random shit on my countertop. Can't wait to do the finishing edges on the neck to see how much it actually reveals. But I LOVE it. I knit a few rows before starting the lace after having to rip it out b/c when I tried it on the first time the purl rows were on my boobs...not good.



The lace took forever on size zero needles. Bleh. But that's what it took to get gauge. Finally finished that section and the purl ridges last night and I've done 3 repeats of the hip increases today. I should be finished with the body soon, but I'm feeling the crunch on finishing my funky scarf for the swap, so I may put this on hold until that's completed.



Also, I love these beads and I think I've used them effeciently enough so that I'll have plenty for the sleeve lace sections. They're size 11 in dark cranberry. This is gonna rock once it's finished and blocked. I can hardly wait!! I wanted to wear it to my birthday dinner this weekend, but that's clearly not gonna happen.

buzzed

this blog post brought to you by the letters C (caffeine) and Z (Zyrtech) and the number 2 (2 Dayquil).

the body is on GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO and the brain is on 'huh? slow down i'm sleepy".

yay drugs.

i heart fall

Thank the gods for fall weather and Saturday nights. Seriously. I've had a rough few days, but the wave of cooler weather and the possibility of sweaters at night have really brought my mood back around. I can't wait until the leaves change and we can go shopping for pumpkins and crunch through the dead leaves in our hiking boots. A little piece of zen right there folks. Ahhhhhh.

It also helps that last night Karen, Jenna, Becca, Jen&Zack and I went out after the play. Downtown Athens, post-football game (a win, of course), tons of people everywhere, all having a great time...just yum. I've missed giggling at fashion victim sorority girls who flash too much boob and the boys who stare at them (title of a Springer episode?). The desperate air of "someone PLEASE notice me" is so obvious and sad, and yet, I can't help but snicker at the spectacle of it all. Because it's not just one girl, it's ALL of them. (And also because I used to be one of them...shhh.) Competing for attention, when really, it should be the other way around with the guys trying to impress instead of just ogling at the free show.

Anyway, we had homefries and milk shakes at the Grill, then a stroll around the scenery of downtown. Sadly, I missed the Bling show at Tasty World, but I plan to catch them when they show up again on Halloween at the Georgia Theater.

And this week is especially sweet, because on Saturday night, my sweetie and I along with my older brother and sister-in-law will be dining at Emeril's Atlanta. I'm pretty sure I'll be having Atlantic Salmon and the Banana Creme Pie for dessert. I'll be 30 next Sunday, and I intend to revel in it!

Oh, I also created a new blog over on Vox, just to try it out, but I haven't really done much with it yet. Might keep it as my own private hideaway, though. Still pondering.

(I just noticed this post is very comma-ful, and it's making me giggle. I'm so easily amused.)

and then there's worse

turns out the whole "you DO have a job and a place to live with your six animals for free" thing, is not as certain as it seemed to be. i'll know what IS certain for me and my staff next week (maybe), but we do know than an entire division of our staff is going to be replaced, and potentially all of us will be gone once the buy goes through.

it wouldn't be such a huge deal if i actually knew what was going to happen. i don't enjoy being left without any knowlege, and no way to get any info because no one will answer a direct question or return a phone call. it was never the plan to stay in this place or this job for very long, but i'd like the choice to leave to be MY choice. it's just more stress than i need right now.

i'll be very glad when this play is over, because despite the fact that it's fun and the cast is awesome, it's totally exhausting. but it's a nice distraction from turning 30 next weekend. not that i'm freaking out about that or anything.

no new knitting content here. the poor sweater has been sitting in a paper 'whole foods' bag for over a week now, and very little progress has been made.

i swear there will be more chipperiness someday in the future. promise.

bad, good, and better

Bad: Just the tiniest hint of stress going on at Chez Lotus. I definitely took on too much this month, and I'm paying for it physically. My only opportunities to hit the gym have been my planned visits to see my trainer. Once this play is over though, I'm cycling and lifting with a vengeance. I'll also need to make an appointment with my chiropractor and a massage therapist, cause ow my body is all screwed up. Even when I sleep I don't relax. I dream about drowning and suffocating and being chased by awful things (luckily though some nice guy always saves me, or better, I figure out a way to save myself. woot.). But, I wake up strugging for air, even though I've taken my inhaler and my allergy meds. Bleh.

Good news: I get to keep my job. For now. We find out more details today about benefits and pay (do a little rain dance for more money!), and various other things with the new company. I'm still peeking at other options, but I haven't seen anything that really strikes me yet.

Better news: I'm applying for grad school this week. And taking the GRE or MAT in October. If I get all my shit together in a timely manner, I can start school in January. Woot. And still work during the day. Double woot. And live rent free! I don't think you can triple woot a double woot, so yay instead. I'm just sayin.

In knitting news, I've almost completed the lace panel for the SKB, and I'll post pics later this week. My funky scarf is coming along. And I dropped out of Sock Wars. I know, I was so excited about it. But with this play and the other things I want (need) to work on, I just don't have time, and I *so* didn't want to be out on the first round. I'm a sore loser, what can I say?!? I'd rather take an honorable DPN thru my skein than lose because I'm pressed for time. Ya'll know.

Needless to say, I've been very introspective today. This time five years ago I was getting a divorce, worried about my mom (she works across from a federal building, and at the time, no one knew what the hell to expect next), and pretty damn sure that the world was coming to an end somehow. And in some ways, for a lot of people, it did.

I guess I could go on and on about how our country has changed (for better or for worse) and how we're still not safe, and who we should blame. I haven't had any peace about it today because it still hurts a lot. It broke my heart when I visited the site in March. It made me cry this morning when I watched the CNN coverage from that day. But more importantly, it's made me really grateful for what and who I have in my life. And that is what has dominated my mind today. Yes the anger and the curses, but the gratitude is always underlying.

On to more 'trivial' subject matter. This sweater.



It is stunning. (I'm so in love with purple right now, it's getting quite disgusting.) It fits!!! (Praise all beings I could possibly name.)


But these lace rows are KILLING ME. To get gauge I had to dig out my size ZERO needles. Guess I'm really loose *cough cough*.



They are taking an exorbitant amount of time and cramping my hands in the process. At this gauge, my beloved Highland Silk is being splitty and the beads are barely cooperating. They are also photographing in orange. They are most certainly NOT orange, and if they continue to act in such an offensive manner they may get ripped. That, or the camera gets a good solid flushing. I'm also a bit concerned that I won't have enough beads to do the arms and the trim. Tragedy may ensue.

I'm so incredibly knee-deep in my purple funkiness, that I even dyed yarn that is variegated in purples. Some of it is almost magenta, some a very deep grape crush color.



This pic does it absolutely no justice. Just so you know.

list o' things

first, the offending sweater, pre-divorce.



so far it is behaving itself in ball form. i've shoved the entire bag of yarn into a drawer so it can't mock me openly.

also, i seem to have gotten myself involved in a few more things than i was prepared to handle this month.

1. makeup art direction for 'the tempest' at our local theater. i barely wear makeup myself, so this is getting interesting. still researching and drawing designs. probably gonna need help, unless time stops for about 5 hours every night while i work on everyone.

2. sock wars. i'm not a very fast knitter. guess i should pick up the pace right quick then. this is a sock i'm working on for myself from some simple cable patterns in lorna's laces chino colorway. cause i'm plain like that.



3. simply knitted bodice kal. i heart this design so very much, which is making it hard to want to practice sock knitting. progress so far. i'm using elann's highland silk in autumn purple with some irridescent pink/purple/gold beads. i had to use size 5 needles to get gauge. and i'm diligently checking gauge every few inches, lest i be insulted a second time.



4. funky scarf swap. i have the design charted and supplies purchased. just need time to knit on it a while and make it more of a reality than just 5 rows worth of knitting (though they are lengthwise rows). this is the beginnings of 'the corset scarf'. i'm knitting two separate identical thin scarves that will be joined at this lace section of each by some pretty white ribbon in a crisscross pattern. each side has two 'boning' sections, also threaded with ribbon. i think it will be pretty, and somewhat funky. at the very least, it will be unique! oh, and i'm using elsbeth lavold's hempathy (so in love).



5. and then there's work. plenty to do there. and our company just got bought, so i may not have a job next month. must look for a new job just in case. and a new apartment since my current job provides that for me.

eep.

divorce

Dear Raglan Sweater,

I really thought that this time, you were the one. I fell for your teal colored cotton/angora-ness, your softness and your shape...oh my your shape. I adore the very stuff you're made of and (especially) your gentle touch and warmth, and I even could have learned to love the way your occasional loose fiber would make its way up my nose and cause me to sniffle and sneeze. "Allergies be damned!" I said. Cause when it's love, who cares about a little nose tickle?

So where did we go wrong? When I swatched you, you were a perfect five stitches per inch. Perfect! I know, cause I counted repeatedly, as it seemed too good to be true. So I printed my pattern guide, did all my math based on what you told me, and cast on. But you, Raglan...you lied. Once we actually began, you changed your mind about your gauge. Maybe you saw me working on designs for the funky scarf pattern. Maybe you heard me talk about Sock Wars once too often. Perhaps you saw the printed pattern for the Simply Knit Bodice, and that was Just. Too. Much. And so you sought to get even. Did you silently giggle as you sent angora up my sensitive nose? Were you cackling with glee when I'd try you on and think "hmm, it seems a little big, but it's ok, it's supposed to be a tad big, and besides it's cotton and will shrink a little, so really it's perfect"? Oh how you deceived and deluded me.

I suppose I just fell so in love with how easily we seemed to get along, that I hardly noticed that suddenly you were half a stitch off and becoming far too large for my frame. I made excuses for you. Shame on me. And I would have been faithful! I diligently worked on you, neglecting all other projects in hope of savoring and embracing our time together. But no, you just couldn't trust me. I may have had other yarns on my mind, but you flat out lied. And technically, I didn't cheat.*

I made mistakes here, yes, but so did you. We could have been so beautiful together. Perhaps the timing wasn't right. Perhaps you're really supposed to be a v-neck. Whatever. It's over.


Not exactly cordially,

Mel


P.S. After I've had my way with a few other projects, we'll try again. But until then, you just sit in your bag, all balled up, and think about what you've done.


*As far as you know.