Tuesday, March 29, 2016

With My Feline...

Gypsy is on my lap again. She ignored me while I was sitting on the couch, vaguely absorbing a KnitGirllls episode. But the minute I came back into the office to work for a couple of hours, she had to be next to me, near me, on top of me.

This can be rather challenging, I frequently need part of my desktop to put documents out. And a gray cat directly in front of my second monitor defeats the purpose. Or she'll put the smackdown on my hand while I'm trying to use the mouse.

Up and down she hops, wandering around behind the laptop, flopping over on her side. Often she ends upon my lap when I get frustrated. Currently, she's trying to shove me away from the desk--kicking her back foot against the desk --my chair is on wheels. She's strong for eight pounds of fur, all of which she is shedding.

I do get irritated with her. It's hard not to when she's nearly knocking over my drink, spilling my papers on the floor again, smacking her tail against the mouse and moving the cursor while I'm writing.

But I remember that here is a small creature that wants very little from me: crispies, regular applications of gooshy food, a clean litter box, some houseplants to eat, a pillow to steal.

And my lap and attention.

I'm a moving target most days. Yesterday I was flying between meetings, between buildings, dreading a potential interruption as I tried to keep juggling the ball in the air. Today was a bit less frantic, but only slightly. It's 11 p.m. and I'm cat tired but I need to work for another hour or so...

With my sidekick who doesn't ask much. Pettings, cuddles. room to stretch out (that means my left arm is immobile, I'm at a weird angle that my massage therapist won't approve of, and I just lost feeling in one foot).

She might wander off for a snack or a drink, but most often she's just here, patiently waiting while I work, happy to have me nearby.

It's an amazing comfort.  And I suppose for that I can deal with the lost of blood flow and occasionally odd sentence.


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Sock Show Thursday: Greenly Yours

It's Thursday and the only thing I have knit on this week is socks...so hey, sock show! After a highly productive Monday and some decent added rows on Tuesday, the toe up socks got left at home.

I am close to the top and being done and I had a couple of stretches for knitting on Wednesday. I didn't want to run out or need to carry two projects or be trying to count rows, so the socks are sitting next to my laptop.

 Instead, I am back to working on the green socks! It is nearly St. Patrick's Day so they feel appropriate again. These are top down, on size 1(2.25mm) needles, and it's the second sock of the pair, so I feel quite like I am zooming along. Which might be over estimating it a hair. But I have been increasingly eyeing my stash and I would like to get a couple of projects out of the in progress bin and free up some needles and space.

 Ha, yes I crack me up too. It's a lovely idea but I know eventually there will just be more projects in the needles. In the interim though, I am making sock progress!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Chug Chug Chug

Today I feel like the little engine that could. Apparently what I needed to break the taking-forever cycle on these socks was to attend a lecture and an open mic night.


That incredibly dark photo was last night at the bar. The sock had a good time getting to see a friend of ours doing a half hour set. And look where I am now!

In 15 more rows I'll be DONE! Of course, by my count that's at least an hour more of knitting, but it's a fairly measurable amount and one that seems possible yet tonight. Whether or not I can get through enough grading for that, we'll see, but there is hope. 

And then, I have to get back to those baby sweaters I was working on. It was nearly 70 today. And must start preparing for Stash Dash this summer. (dates just announced 5/27-8/15)



Sunday, March 6, 2016

Slow Progress

It was not that long ago that I was knitting 12 pair of socks a year AND other things as well. I'm not sure what it is that's changed of late. Perhaps it's more functional meetings? Things where I'm either leading or actively doing rather than just more passively attending and participating? Winter never helps--knitting with gloves on just doesn't work very well.

I'm on Sock 2 for my Loopy Academy spring.  I just turned the heel and now I've just the leg to finish and that project will be done. I had sort of hoped to be through at least one of the three projects already. The shawl will take a while, though the hat shouldn't be too bad. Still, I'd rather not be panicking at the end of May.

The Philosopher and I are working on slow spring cleaning. Some books went to our local used bookstore for store credit. Of course, some new books followed us home, but not too many. I've bought a few books recently, mostly ones I couldn't get through during the library check out period. And if I'm knitting slowly, I'm reading even more so.

I broke out the hand vacuum tonight. It's a stick vacuum and I need to figure out how to take the handle/stick off so it's less wonky to carry around. I let the Roomba (Finnbar) handle the majority of the living room while I attacked some crannies known for their dust bunnies. I'm always horrified by vacuuming. How could there have been that much cat fur around? I want to immediately take the cats outside and furminate them but it's a little late in the evening for that.

My goal over the next few weeks is to just tackle one small pile each day. If I try to do it all, I'll get frustrated--inevitably. But one pile put away or put into the get rid of, or scanned, or what have you. It will make a difference.

And more knitting. Always more knitting.






A Redo

 I started this pair of socks on New Years Eve just before 2020. I finished them in May 2020 , amidst a lot of optimism about what I'd a...