Wasted Days, Wasted Nights...

Crap. And I had such good intentions.

You see, I have a major sleeping problem. It's gone past insomnia. I'm literally up all night and don't go to bed until sometime the following afternoon. While that's good for things like the Loopy Ewe's Sneak-Ups, it plays hell with the rest of my life. Appointments? Difficult to get to. Knitting group? Haven't seen them in a month. Getting things done around the house? Forget it. Even though I'm awake, I think my body is saying to me, "Not in this lifetime.". All I want to do is go to sleep while it's still dark. Foggy, overcast days are the best in my book, but it's not the same as going to bed like normal people and sleeping during the night. So now I'm facing another 14 hours of being awake with shit on TV and not a lot TIVO'ed. I guess I'll get some knitting done.

But that doesn't even work all the time. You've read about my drooling, slobbering episodes in the monster. I doze, but even that is becoming a thing of the past. Maybe I'll finally stay awake all day and all night, then pass out for a day or two. If you don't see any entries, you know it finally happened.

But enough about maudlin crap. Let's talk about today's haul!

I said I was slowing down in my yarn buying. It's true. I didn't buy anything today. But things I had already paid for came in the mail today. A very heavy box from Woolgirl filled with all kinds of yarny goodness - full-sized skeins, mini-skeins to use for heels, toes, or stripes, and little gifts that Jen likes to stick in the box. An outrageously beautiful orifice hook (no, not THAT kind of orifice) for my now very dusty wheel (this thing is incredible - it's made of glass with this cool green dimensional spiral encased in the handle; I found them in the IK ads). The first-ever installment in the new Simply Socks sock club (Sleeping Dragon - the first time I've had any). A couple of counter bracelets and some stitch markers from Hide and Sheep. And a pair of new slippers from Pawfelts (you can see them on her blog - I snapped them up as soon as I saw them). And even though it has nothing to do with knitting, a gorgeous Native American flute (and here you thought all I did was rub two sticks together and stab myself in the thigh). Quite the haul, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, Hubster was home when it all arrived. He signed for one of them. He carried them all in the house. He put them on the monster. He stared at me for a long moment, then quietly walked off. That's scary. That's dangerous. That means he's about ready to say something to me about my irresponsibility, my lack of fiscal awareness, the fact that we have to save money. That's okay. I'm not joining the Zen String club until 10 this morning. Speaking of that, I counted how many clubs I belong to. Let me put it this way: I belong to more clubs than most people have sets of underwear.

So what did I do all day other than open boxes? Well, I put together a solar fountain and stuck it in the flower planter out front (problem is, it's foggy most of the time, and when the sun is out, it doesn't hit the front of the house). Duh. The fountain ran great. For 10 minutes. I may have to rethink this one. I played on Ravelry. I answered e-mail. I played on Ravelry. I read blogs. I played on Ravelry. I had some coffee. I read some more blogs. I played on Ravelry. And then I slept for three hours.

No pictures today, dear readers. But I'll have some for you tomorrow. Hubster has a doctor's appointment, so I think I'll sleep while he's gone. I'll take pictures of something during the day. You know... during those 10 minutes of sunshine.

And then I'll play on Ravelry again.

Coming Unraveled

I hate to admit it, but Ravelry is both a curse and a blessing.

It's a blessing because I'm having too much fun for it to be legal. I've organized my WIP's, started a group (Indie Dyer Lovers Unite), become a member in five other groups, started mailing people, am having my picture (shudder) being used by Yarniverse (because I used their pattern and yarn), hooked Flickr up to it, uploaded pictures, blah blah blah. Because of it, I got 106 hits on my blog yesterday. 106. I was thrilled when I got 3.

It's a curse because I'm spending so much time there that I'm not getting much of anything else done. Case in point:

Last night, we decided to have sandwiches for dinner. The last installment of Hell's Kitchen was on (I was SO disappointed that Rock won - he's such an asswipe), so we thought it would be fast and easy to munch on rather than cook or BBQ. That was all well and good - HK was on TIVO - but just as Hubster was making the sandwiches (I HATE making them), I was bouncing all over Ravelry, uploading pictures, reading, posting, etc. I just had to get something done before we could eat and watch the show, so the poor man is standing in the kitchen glaring at me (you know that feeling you get when holes are being lasered in the back of your head?) while I'm happily banging away on the keyboard. It didn't seem like I was too long (I'm sure it was only about five minutes, but who knows?), but he was good and pissed. Comments were made about my having enough yarn to open a yarn store, so why the hell did I need to type about it, too? Sigh. They never understand the concept of stash. Anyway, I finally finished up and we had our lovely ham sandwiches. Then I was immediately back on Ravelry and didn't even get to my knitting until after 1 a.m.

So what's the first thing I did this morning? You guessed it - checking that and the blog to see if I got any more hits. I'm so pathetic. I even joined Socks Anonymous and confessed to all the knitters in the world that I am an addict.

Spinnng? Forget it. I have the wheel. I have the top. I have every gadget known to man to make spinning even easier, including a WooLee Winder (and extra bobbins for it - just in case). It all sits gathering dust in my studio.

But have I stopped buying yarn? Uh... I've slowed down. A little. I'm trying. I'm a truly sad and pathetic soul.

Needless to say, I've made virtually no progress on either Poncho No. 2 or my socks. I'm going to try my damndest to do as much knitting tonight as possible. And just so you won't go pictureless today, here are a few pictures of my stash (all of it sock yarn, with one bin devoted to roving and top). This isn't all of it - there are about five more bins in the closet whose pictures came out too dark to post. Hopefully this weekend, I'll be able to get in there and start putting things away.

After I check Ravelry.

A Quickie - And I Don't Mean a Nooner

I just had to tell you. Last night, I got this e-mail from someone I didn't know. Normally, I ignore things like that, but something told me to open it. I'm sure glad I did - it was my invitation for Ravelry!!! You'll notice the new button in the jungle of buttons on the left side. I've already gone over there and caused considerable mayhem, including starting a new group called something like "Indie Dyer Lovers Unite". My screen name is pjyarngoddess. I wanted yarngoddess (have to make everything match), but it was already taken. Oh well - I'm just thrilled all to shit to have finally been included. Look me up if you're over there!

Finally! Pictures!

We couldn't find the camcorder thingie, but what we did find was the digital camera. Even better! Hubster and I ran over to Best Buy and bought a 1gb memory card so I can go apeshit taking pictures. You'll probably be sorry that I found the little sucker.

Since I haven't the foggiest idea of how to put text next to/around/in the near vicinity of each picture, I have to tell you, dear reader, what they are up here.

The first picture is the now infamous sleeping poncho No. 1, still unblocked and unfringed. The second picture is sleeping poncho No. 2 in the early stages. The final two pictures are the sleeping socks (they kind of look like big pasties, don't they?). The first two are made from Spunky Eclectic's Skinny Socks; the last two are made out of a mystery yarn (I'm so sorry to the lovely lady who dyed the yarn - if you're reading this and recognize your yarn, please tell me. My memory is non-existent.).

I hope you enjoy them!

Another Bonanza Day

Once again, I entertained notions of finishing the first poncho for my granddaughter (one of them, anyway), and was slaving away over it all night and into the wee hours of the morning. I finished all the knitting and the weaving in of loose ends. I was just ready to pick up my crochet hook to crochet around the neckline when ...

You know the rest of the story. I woke up, it was 1:30 p.m., my thunder thighs were killing me from being in an awkward position in the monster chair for hours, and there were four large packages stacked up in front of the open door (yes, we have a screen door, but it doesn't lock). Instead of being delighted that the Yarn Fairy had found me yet again, I was horrified. This is a visual, and not a very pretty one, either. I had on my jammies, except these have wide lace shouder straps on the top and wide-legged bottoms. Quite unfortunately, because of the way I was twisted in the monster, my left boob had sort of half-popped out of the armhole (told you it wasn't pretty). Add to that the fact that my head was lolling to the side and I was drooling all over my top. Thankfully, my knitting was, as usual, being held in an iron grip safely out of the way of said drool. The really bad part is that the mailman was probably standing there staring at me (the monster is right in front of the door - well, off to the side just a tad) because the packages were very neatly stacked right in the middle of the welcome mat. Argh. If I had small perky tits, it wouldn't have been bad at all. However, I have these enormous fun bags which I have to peel off my thighs every time I get up from a sitting position. Age, gravity, and childbirth (not in that order) have taken a toll on my once proud titan tits. One of these days, I'll have to get out the trusty duct tape and tape them to my ears (hmm... that might not be a bad idea to keep my ears warm in the winter).

So what was in those boxes, you ask? Let me tell you! First were two skeins of gorgeous yarn from Lime & Violet (love you guys!), this incredibly cute yarn bowl (no, not for shredding the yarn and eating it - you put a ball or two in the bowl and run the end(s) through a hole in the upper side of it, thus eliminating yarn migration), an incredible pair of aromatic cedar sock blockers from Fearless Fibers' other half, and the teddy bear backpacks I had made for the grands (yes, I could do them myself, but I'd like the kids to have them before they enter high school). A wonderful haul indeed!

I also have one poncho completely finished except for the fringe and blocking, have a really good start on the second poncho (I used to wear those damn things in grade school, except mine were crocheted), am ready to start gussets on the four pairs of socks, and am considering casting on for another pair or two. I cancelled all my classes except for my sock class because there's no way I could finish all the samples before the classes occur. Besides, I'm doing too much - my body is protesting loudly. Now if I can just get it to sleep before the this afternoon.

Pictures will hopefully be forthcoming tomorrow. Hubster had a leisurely day, too - the two of us snoozed on and off all day. Tomorrow (well, actually today, now that I see the time), I want to work in the flower bed in front of the house. Hubster has to mow the lawn so we don't look like hippies (I'm an old one, he's too young to have ever been one). Chances are pretty good that I'll water the plants, call it a day, and come inside to try and find the stinking camera.

Oh! If you look at the top of the page, you'll see the new button Hubster designed for me tonight. I think it's pretty cool. Please feel free to steal it and stick it on your blog.

Have a terrific day - I'm going to try to get some sleep in my bed for a change.

And Here I Thought I Was So Slick...

So last night (actually, early this morning around 7 a.m.), I'm still awake and working on granddaughter #1's poncho. I have this vision of finishing it and putting the fringe on, then laying it out for Hubster to see. I held on to that vision as I feverishly worked away, putting on a primo prison documentary to keep me company instead of the traffic report on TV. Two more rows to go! I begin on the next to last row, still clinging to that vision, and all of a sudden it is 9:45 a.m. and he's waking me up. The prison documentary is long gone, the traffic report is long gone, and the vision is long gone. I'm clutching my knitting firmly in my hands (no stitches dropped, I might add), and notice that I have knitted a grand total of three stitches from when I first started watching the documentary. Hubster hands me a cup of joe and tells me that I need to go to bed and get some sleep. I'm crushed. I tell him about my vision. He smiles and tells me that I'll finish it tonight and will be able to start on poncho #2. I'm still crushed. I drink my coffee, sit down at the computer, and at 2:30 p.m finally go to bed.

So my knitting is now sitting in the basket on the table next to my gigantic stuffed chair (I need one that large to accommodate my huge ass), still untouched since I sadly put it down this morning. I'll start knitting in a little while, but I know that I won't finish it. Putting on fringe takes a while, and this is a novelty yarn. That means I have to deal with slubs, wraps, and all manner of irritants. Sigh. But I shall valiantly do my best, and when I get good and pissed off, I'll put it down and work on my socks.

Today's mail brought all kinds of goodies: Mama Llama yarn, Spunky Eclectic Skinny Sock yarn, Zen String Lotus Toes yarn (do I detect a theme here?), one other yarn whose name escapes me, two Mama Monkey bags, and two hanks of Kauni from Astrid (I sure hope it washes up nice and soft - it's incredibly rough in the hank). In other words, I hit the jackpot. Now all I have to do is knit all this stuff up or open a yarn store. I'm not sure which would be cheaper at this point.

Still no camera, but I hope to rectify that situation this weekend. We've yet to unpack some boxes (there's simply no room for their contents), so I'm sure we'll find it. Then comes the little problem of finding the charger, since I'm absolutely sure that the camera is dead. One step at a time.

Speaking of dead, we drive to the only Raley's near us (15 miles away) because we like their meat. Hubster goes in and does the shopping while I wait in the truck, happily reading IK in my jammies. He comes back, puts the groceries in the truck, goes to start the engine, and... nothing. He had left the lights on, and the battery was already on its' last legs. So we had to sit there and wait for AAA to send a tow truck to give us a jump. We went to the auto parts store and got there TWO MINUTES LATE. Sigh. So tomorrow, we have to go get a new battery. But all is not lost. I need some more needles, so that means a trip to the yarn store. Since we'll be right across the street, we have to hit our favorite Italian deli for sandwiches and a salami to bring home (we like to gnaw on huge hunks of it). Maybe we can go to the local park to eat our sandwiches and relax a bit. It sounds like a perfectly lovely day to me.

So off to eat dinner and then hit the needles. Tonight, I will foster no images dancing in my head of completed projects pristinely lain out for Hubster to see when he gets up. But I'll watch that prison documentary again. Give me a good cop/prison/law enforcement show any time.

The Passage of Time

Well. I'm finally back. Where has all the time gone?

It's like I'm sitting in a time warp. The weather being so crazy hasn't helped matters any, either. The hottest it has been so far this summer is 80. Yes, you read that right. 80. I read and hear about everyone else in the country sweltering in the heat, and I'm outside wishing I could go swimming. I guess that's how things are when you live so close to San Francisco Bay. Fog, drizzle, and cool weather. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but when you've been away from home and lived in Sacramento for 12 years where summers routinely climb into the 100's, this is lovely but takes some getting used to.

So where have I been? Knitting, teaching, attending to family matters (Hubs and I are going to be raising our twin grands- they're three), and the whole gamut of things that occupy one's time and steal it without you being aware of it passing. The older I get, the faster time goes by. I'm not sure I like it. When I was a kid, the only time when time passed quickly was during summer vacation. Otherwise, the school year just DRAGGED on. And on. And on. But enough rambling. My one reader would probably like to hear about knitting. So be it.

I've got two sock projects going (well, four - I knit on two circulars and have two different yarns on each set), two ponchos (one for each of my grands), a wool soaker (for a friend who's expecting), a beaded scarf (class I'm teaching), a lace shawl (another class I'm teaching), a modular knitting thing (yet another class I'm teaching), and some more things which I'm probably not even aware of. I would love to knit some lace for myself, but I just don't have the time. There's that word again. No matter how much I knit, the more I fall behind. So what brilliant idea did I come up with? I decided to take up spinning again (after a 12-year hiatus) and bought a new wheel. There was a bright bulb in my head that must have exploded when I pulled that particular stunt. I've had the wheel for about two months now and haven't spun a damned thing on it yet. But I will. I WILL.

There is a possible bright spot in all of this chaos. After last night's first installment of my ongoing sock class, I may stop teaching altogether. I couldn't even get them to understand how to do a long-tail cast-on. These aren't beginners. These are women who have a minimum of three years' experience - or so they said. I'm a good teacher - I've taught countless people countless things in the knitting arena. So what was wrong with this group? I think I know. They're well-off, have too much time on their hands, get easily bored, and haven't thought for themselves in so long that when called upon to learn something, that part of their brain which deals with learning just doesn't work anymore. That has to be it. These people were using the thumb loop method of casting on for everything they made (and that amounted to... scarves.)

I think I may take up drinking.

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.

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!