Kiss My Knits!

My fever is down, but I’m still rocking a pretty good headache. Rather than wind and pack germy kits, I’m taking a day off from the Jayne hat mines. Also, I’m still waiting for my new glasses to come in, so I can only look at the computer so long before everything goes blurry. I’ll try to answer e-mails tonight.

In the meantime, here are a few links.

Take heart! You’re not fat, you’re just really smart.

Frankentoile. Love it.

Military warnings worth heeding.

Alternative uses for Post-It notes.

I’ve nearly finished turning the heel on my first S’Mores sock, so as my eyes permit, I’ll be doing that. Also, calling the optometrist.

Later, taters!

Running, attitude, and hidden causes.

Okay, I tried and tried to get the text to wrap, but I don’t know enough about Flash, so instead I have this gigantic white space around a tiny window. Oh well.

I went out last night when it was drizzling and did Couch to 5K week one up my street. The forecast was for rain today, so it seemed prudent to go ahead and get out there while the getting was good. Today it’s clear and beautiful. Of course.

There are a lot of variations from peak to peak and valley to valley because as you may recall, I live on the slopes of a hill we have named Mount Doom. A portion is pictured to the right. Also, apparently you have to program in your weight for it to give you an estimate of calories burned, which I didn’t realize before starting. It tells me I burned zero calories. Call me crazy, but that feels a little low to me.

I need an armband or other device for holding my iPod. I had it in my pocket, but the cord to the earphones wasn’t quite long enough to reach my head without the earbuds popping out of my ears. I finally had to stick it in my bra. It was in a protective neoprene glove, but still, I can’t recommend this. I kept thinking that the screen was going to come on and give me a kind of E.T, chest glow through my shirt.

The iPod’s positioning obviously made it difficult to gracefully change tracks. I went all the way through the Couch to 5K podcast for week one and had to listen to part of week two. The public domain electronic music that makes up those podcasts isn’t going to win any awards, so I usually get out of the podcast after I’ve done my final run section. I know from there it’s all walking so I might as well just listen to whatever I want. Being able to access the control wheel to change it would be nice.

This was fun, though, and I look forward to trying week two on the greenway.

Instant messaging with my husband late this afternoon:

Me: You have a package from Amazon.com
Me: Why would you go and buy something from Amazon this close to your birthday? You don’t make things easy!
Him: Actually, it’s not for me!
Him: SURPRISE!
Me: What??
Me: Um, sorry about busting your chops, then.

Yes, turns out my wonderful husband bought me something I’d been talking about for a while now, the new Nike + iPod. It’s a little dealiebop that attaches to your shoe which you sync with your iPod Nano (which I have one of, thanks to the lovely and generous Ellyn Ritterskamp of TV game show fame). When you sync your iPod with the internet, it transfers all the data from the last time you worked out and creates graphs of your performance, calories burned, etc. You can join up with online groups (runners for Obama, anyone?), download customized playmixes, and generally nerdify your workout however you like.

Goodbye, plateau!

Mr. Tvini, after I opened it and went nuts: Well, you’ve been a little low, and you’ve been talking about this, and I thought you deserved something nice as a pick-me-up.

I’m the luckiest geek girl ever. Let’s hope the hurricane only skirts us so I can try this baby out tomorrow morning!

The last few days I’ve been launching into the day full speed. Did you know that the grocery stores don’t have their bananas out at 7:15 in the morning? Slackers!

I’m trying to decide whether to go running this morning. It’s still fairly cool, but even though I did get to bed at a reasonable hour last night (see, Mom? Your Mom Guilt^TM worked!) I’m still pretty tired. Something had me kind of sickly last night, and I think I’m still recovering a bit. So maybe I’ll let it go, since I did run yesterday and since the Greenway smells like dead skunk.

This morning: I’m stamping more padded mailers, knitting a hat for a guy in Belgium, and watching Becket. I may also stop by the hardware store and pick up some PVC pipe for a side project that I’ve wanted to get underway for some time.

At right, for no particular reason except that it amuses me: a cat’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?

After my comment yesterday about not leaving socks on the floor, this happened. I brought in some hand-knitted socks from the line. I was called away before I had a chance to put them up, so I put them on a plastic bag on a stool and walked off. I heard the bag hit the floor, and sure enough, there was the cat. Caught her red-pawed.

Lot of stamping of boxes, etc., this morning, for Jayne hats and kits. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s not the knitting that slows me down, it’s all the other assorted stuff. Also, I’m almost out of shipping materials, so it’s time to order another gigantic box of boxes. Our house may never be free of clutter.

I did find time to go out and run the Greenway this morning. The rains of last week flooded the stream. It crested over the bridge, and there are still bits of straw and debris stuck through the railings. It’s been a week, and now there’s a wet, rotting smell in places. It’s definitely motivation to keep running – on the way back, at least, to get the heck out of it.

The Office Season 4 releases today, and yes, I will find time to grab a copy. Can’t wait for 30 Rock to come out, too. If I’m knitting Jayne hats in the mornings, it’s nice to have something new to watch. Although I did pull out Bowfinger for the first time in a long time, and it was just as funny as I remembered. Love that movie. I’m baffled that it didn’t do better at the box office. Last night was The Last Emperor, a favorite movie of mine. A Jayne hat bound for Massachusetts came off the needles during that one. It’s a long movie.

Time to eat some lunch and go stamp up some more padded mailers. People need kits!

Final question: the spider at left is living in my rosemary bush. It’s big and it’s pretty, but what is it? Anyone know?

Above: the reason I don’t leave my hand-knitted socks on the floor. (Note: I know yarn is dangerous for cats to eat; that giant ball of wool behind her had just fallen off of a shelf prior to picture-taking.)

Right now Emily is busy writing a book called “Ruby the Copycat.” Hopefully she won’t be sued for copyright infingement.

I’m really proud of her for doing this. I’ve given her some of my Jayne hat pattern cardstock sheets and she’s folded them in half and is planning out her pages. Earlier she said that I could do the pictures while she did the words, then she said she’d prefer the other way around, and now she’s chosen to do it all herself. I can’t wait to see it.

Can you say “plateau?” I knew you could. Weight loss has slowed to the barest crawl. I thought I’d have more time to exercise when Em was back in school. Instead, I’m running around more than ever, and am more tired. I lack the energy and motivation to exercise as vigorously as I did before, when it was a special treat that I stole time for wherever I could. Hopefully now that the first week is behind us, I’ll be able to slack off on the errands and calm down into a routine.

Also motivating: posting your weight loss or gain for the entire internet to see. Yikes.

Next up on the “just for me” front, which doubles as a stashbusting exercise, are these socks. These probably won’t go too fast, as I have an awful lot of “just for everyone else” knitting to take care of.

This yarn is Knitpicks Memories in the S’Mores colorway. It was a gift at least a year ago from Turtlegirl76’s voluminous stash. Reminder: she’s selling off a buncha stuff. If you’re on Ravelry, check it out. She adds new stuff periodically. I see she’s got some Blue Sky Alpaca Silk up that would make a fantastic scarf. Branching Out, anyone?

Okay, back to the salt mines. The hubby’s off for the night, gone to visit his folks and ride in a bike thingie with his dad. Lest anyone think I’m working too hard, childcare tonight consists of watching Road Runner cartoons and eating pizza with my daughter. Beep beep!

One skein Paton’s Classic Wool merino, which was a gift from Illiane. This has a tiny bit of variegation, but it was supposed to have more. Lesson learned on the proper order to add colors to the crockpot. Still, it’s pretty!

Today my husband is brewing beer. His setup incudes a propane tank and burner with a gigantic pot. I’m eyeing it for dye days. Mwahahahaaaa…

Pattern: Zhenya’s MUMTU sock recipe
Yarn: 225 yds Louet Gems, handdyed by me with acid dyes
Needles: size 1 US
Comments: These had a 60 stitch foot to fit my 9 inch circumference, dropping to 56 for a standard 2×2 rib on the leg. I’m a loose knitter, so I never get a really tight gauge even on smaller needles than would normally be used.

The toe-up gusset method is my new favorite foot construction. These fit me SO much better than a standard short row heel. I’d recommend this pattern. Its ability to plug in whatever numbers you like would be especially helpful for those who don’t care to do sock math.


I dyed this yarn going for a random speckle effect. It was straight blue acid dye, blue mixed with black, and blue mixed with a little red, keeping the same base and varying the shade. I’m pleased with how this turned out.

It’s nice to have a new pair of socks, since Em’s really taken to walking to school. We went up again today, and saw two gray and white housecats, a flock of geese, and a dead Junebug. Also, from Em: “I stepped on an ant. The other ants are going to come and take it back and bury it.” Aw.

Em wants to walk home, too, so I’ll be hoofing it back up to the school this afternoon. It’s about 7/8 of a mile from the house to the school, so it looks like I’ve got a new form of daily exercise.