Saturday, June 9, 2007

Where Has The Week Gone?

Sigh. I had such good intentions for this week. Take my knitting with me and work on it while I was away. Knit more at home. Start knitting earlier. Not get sick... again. Get the house completely unpacked and put together so I'm not embarrassed if someone comes over (read: my mother). Stop buying things on Etsy.

I've accomplished none of these things, and here it is, Saturday all already.

We bought some new furniture when we moved into this house, since our old furniture was... well... old. We had a few extra dollars to spend, so we thought, "Why not?" So I got myself one of those chair-and-a-half thingies to accommodate my big ass. And it does. Too well. I find myself waking up all the time with my knitting in my hands, or a cup of coffee turned upside down (caffeine has never done a thing to me - I have a cup of coffee before I go to bed). And I'm no further along on my knitting than I was a few days ago.

The good thing that happened this week was my sock class. It's filled with 10 women who, although some of them are struggling, are enthusiastic and happy and not afraid to pick up their phones and call me for help. This has been going on all week. I also offered a skein of yarn to everyone who finished their homework, and some more to the first person to finish their socks. Greed is a wonderful motivator.

The bad thing that happened is... well, I didn't get a damned thing done. We went shopping tonight and bought pool toys (since I left my old ones at the old house). I figured since today is supposed to be warm, I'd christen the pool and start tanning. So much for knitting during the day. I know what will happen tonight - I'll fall asleep in front of the TV, knitting in hand, yet again. I think maybe I should just float around the pool in my big floatie with my yarn in a floating cooler next to me so I can knit while I float. Maybe I'm on to something here. I can see it now - an entire bridage of knitters floating in the Bay or their backyard pools, knitting madly away until a sea lion comes up from underneath and topples you over (all in the name of fun, of course).

So now I have less than two weeks to make a small shoulder shawl for an upcoming class, get these samples out for my test knitting gig, and help with the house. It's just too overwhelming. I think I'll go swimming and then fall asleep.

Friday, June 1, 2007

My First Entry!

OK... so I should be sitting down in my knitting chair, working like a fiend on the socks which I'm teaching how to do on Tuesday. Or the shawl which I haven't even started (that class is on the 20th). Or writing the handout on how to read patterns. Or writing the handout on how to correct mistakes. Or starting that beaded shell I'm teaching next month (but I have to order the beads from England and haven't gotten around to doing it yet). Yes, I'm a knitting teacher, as well as working part-time in the yarn shop I teach at. I just can't seem to get motivated.

Part of the trouble is that we've just moved (well, it's been a month now) into a much smaller house than we lived in before. I'm surrounded by a wall of boxes with only a few things available (I'm not stupid - my studio has little paths so I can have access to the 20 bins full of sock yarn). I would just rather sit and knit (or write a bunch of crap) than unpack boxes. I haven't even cooked in my new kitchen yet (much smaller than the old house's). The odd thing is, we're living in the village I grew up in, on the street behind my old street, two houses down from my old house. I can see my old backyard from this backyard. It's surreal. And the house was built in 1945. Oh well... all things in their time. Right now, I'm under time crunches for all the projects I've committed to. Argh.

But don't we all do that at some time or another? We think doing something will be really neat, so we sign up without thinking through all the implications. Then when the deadline for (fill in the blank) looms, we begin to panic because we haven't done a damned thing to facilitate what we signed up for. Once again, I've taken on too much. But that's my life. I take on too many projects, panic, take a lot of Valium, and get everything done in time. Hmm... I think I'm out of Valium. I guess I'd better go knit.

DH just bought a monster TV to hang on the wall, the wall bracket, and a Bose sound system. It wouldn't have mattered if I had put everything together or not - the room is full of TV stuff which I've been told (in no uncertain terms, I might add) to not bump, touch, breathe on, or otherwise disturb while he's outside taking a smoke break. At least this will benefit me, too - I'm getting blind as a bat, and I like to watch TV while I knit. So the wall mount telescopes to 20" and tilts. Now maybe (between the size of the TV and the space-age looking thing that will soon be anchored to the wall) I'll be able to read the stupid guide. Sigh... I miss the days of the little TV Guide, the one you always lost when you needed it most. And it had a crossword puzzle. More bang for the buck, if you ask me.

But what do I know? He's the electronic guy. Me, I just take four sticks and make yarn into socks (or two sticks and turn yarn into something else). I think my gig is more fun.

Off to knit. First post successful!