Why am I here?

It's time to uncork some fine Jewish whine.

Why am I at work right now? My boyfriend is right, I am a knucklehead. There is an inflammation in my labyrinth. I didn't know that I even had one, but it's making me miserable. The only thing that would be worse is if I heard David Bowie singing in my messed up ear, rather than the ringing that I'm currently enjoying.

The human resources director had to drive me to my very important government job this morning, because I was certain that I had some very important government work to get done. AND COULDN'T WAIT! So now I am here, finding myself completely incapable of doing my very important government work. I can't seem to wrap up with a nice bow why the town I work for so desperately needs a sidewalk along a busy street that fronts most of the towns commercial and retail property.

Why did I come here today? I mean, I've gotten some of it done, but I can't tell how much, or how good the work is. I think soon I will go home.

Sari yarn

Look! My sari yarn came from India today! Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I'm speechless. Now I have to get my black yarn from knitpicks and to some swatching.

Scott vs. Scott

I would like to clarify something. There are two Scotts in my life. They are both pictured above. Look carefully. The Scott on the left is my boyfriend, Scott. The Scott on the right is Scott my cat.



They have some similarities:

1. They are both Scott
2. They both have blue eyes
3. Both Scotts are strangely bald, yet fuzzy
4. I am very fond of them both
5. Neither Scott is actually a Scot
6. Scott and Scott become hypnotized by watching my knitting needles
7. Both Scotts have the attention span of the average cat

I can see how some people might be confused. However, there are several important differences. I knew Scott the Cat (TC) two years before I knew Scott the Boyfriend (BF). Scott BF is a doctor. Scott TC looks like a Jewish Vulcan, but is actually a Cornish Rex cat. Scott BF helps crazy people. Scott TC makes people crazy. Scott TC is as dumb as dirt. Scott BF is smarter than the average bear. I almost never have to tell Scott BF to get off the refrigerator or to stop eating my yarn.

I hope this helps.

An interesting day

Today has been filled with strangeness and discovery. For example, I have learned:

• The magic of the html paragraph and the flickr account
• you can get information on the number of daily number of trucks that use state and county roads from a neat GIS application on IDOT's website.
• Saying "That's my job" to some diffucult people at work actually gets them to do some things for me.
• I possess a personality trait that makes me both "lovable" and "a knucklehead"

As for strangeness:

• I am walking on a tilt all the time and can't drive. (Yes, Scott, I am going to the doctor this afternoon and not driving home.)
• The snow outside my office window is blowing up and around, but not down.
• Truck usage information for Foster Avenue is not available on line, but it is for 3rd Avenue in Bensenville.
• I cannot spell with vertigo, nor can I look at anything that requires careful examination
• My new red socks are a little too small
• Mentioning that I have learned how to use the paragraph in html into this blog is proving to be very difficult.

Stash

This is the current state of my stash. Bear in mind that my kilogram of sari yarn from India is due any day and I also am placing an order to knitpicks for the black yarn for my jacket. I'm thinking that I may have to buy a storage container soon.

Updates

I haven't posted in a while, but I want to show off the progress on my projects. Fair isle sleeved sweater is coming along. I should finish the fancy sleeve this weekend, and then I will only need to do the solid sleeve.

I can't believe the red lacy sock I cast on last weekend is half done! This is going way faster than the other socks. I could get good at sock making, which is good, since Rebecca will be giving me some of her lovely hand dyed sock yarn. We were working on it together earlier this week. Wait til everyone sees!

Homage to Mass Ave Knit Shop

I'm coming to you this morning from Indianapolis where I've been gathering intellegence about local yarn shops. Yesterday afternoon, I payed a visit to Mass Ave Knit Shop, which strangely is not on Massechuesetts Avenue, but on Virginia Avenue. Girls, this place is huge, has all the good yarn including Debbie Bliss, Malabrigio, Rowan, Sockatta, and Koigu. Their normal prices are about 15% lower than for the same yarn in Chicago area stores. Several neat yarns were also on sale 40 or 50% off.

I got some sale yarn. Two hanks of a sari ribbon and a skien of thick and thin South American wool:

And then I walked into the sale room. This room cannot be described, but I had to be pried out by Scott before I spent $150.00 that I didn't have on a couple dozen balls of wonderous yarn.

To the girls at the South Suburbs SNB (and any who are interested from the West Burbs group), you have to make a road trip. I am down here every other weekend. Let me know when!

Woo socks!

The mezmerizing socks are done! Tada! I like them, and Scott TC likes them.

To start or not to start

I find myself in a continual knitting dilemma. Should I start a new project, or wait until I am done with what I already have on the needles. Right now I have three (technically five) projects going on. One is of course the mesmerising socks that have taken on a life of their own over the last four months.... (rant police edit)

The second is the lovely fair isle sleeved sweater from Vogue Knitting, (and no, that ain't me in the picture. The sweater isn't done yet). I started that one on Christmas weekend, and I only have one and a half sleeves to go. Lastly, I felt the need to rid myself of the mistake yarn from the grab bag, so I started making a messenger bag out of it. We will not mention the unfinished crapotee or the tangled up hat in the time out bin.

My unhappiness with the bag and loathing to touch the devil socks leave me with only the sweater to work on for my fixes. I am tempted to open the stash and begin something else to ease my desire to have a satisfactory instant gratification project underway.

Am I the only one with this disease? I am powerless before the lure of a new project, and my knitting has become unmanageable.

The mesmerizing socks continue...

...to mesmerize me. I keep knitting around and around on them, but they never end. It's really quite hypnotic.

I actually love how they are turning out. The pattern is Crusoe from knitty.com, and the yarn is from knitpicks. I can't wait until they're socks. They're so warm and soft and nice. And I'm falling under their spell.

In case you're curious about how I got a picture, it is courtesy of a digital camera where I work. You see, I do government work now and its Friday, so I have a lot of time on my hands. (I'd like to add at this point, that this is government work, and the camera I used has a floppy drive on the side.)

OK, but...

I've got the picture there ---> see? But I don't know how to make it a link.

Maybe I can do in in a post?

Button stealer

I would like to become a button stealer, having buttons galore on the sidebar of this blog. Can anyone tell me how to embark on my life of crime?

A decision on the crappy yarn

I have decided to put mistake yarn from the bag of crap, I mean yarn, that I got the other day. It's the nastiest, scrachiest bulky wool I've ever encountered. I hope it felts, because I'm knitting a messenger bag out of it. The felting swatch is on my coffee table until I have a load of laundry to add it to. Maybe I'll put the loopy weirdness on for edging.

I wish I had a camera. I'm getting paid Friday, and will buy one over the weekend.

Bag O' Yarn

Well, I got my bag of yarn from the Cherry Tree Hill grab bag, and I have to say that I'm as disappointed with this one as I was elated with the last. From the last sale, I got a half dozen glorious and unusual smallish hanks of yarn and some patterns. They were wonderful for gifts and small projects. This time, however, I got two big hanks of a rather ugly hand dyed wool and a giant pile of mohair loop, along with what looks like a nice sock pattern. I agree that that crazy mohair loop is in the spirit of an orphan grab bag. But it looks to me that the ugly handpainted stuff was produced specifically to be filler in these grab bags, this based on the "grab bag" on the label. I say "BOO" and "HISS." When I purchased something that was described as orphans, I expected to get interesting leftovers, not some stuff made at the last minute to fill the grab bag!

I would have been happier with fun fur...

I need a camera

I am the last gen-xer on earth without a digital camera. Part of the reason I started this blog was to be able to post pictures of my knitting projects. I wonder if I can get a grant for a camera...

Stress Relief

Ugh. I've been doing way too much for the last month. End of year work stuff, holiday, traveling on weekends to see my boyfriend Scott, school....Blah! I got a real wake up call when Scott had to take me to one of those walk-in doctors for a migraine. It was bad! I feel a new sympathy for people who get them regualrly. The doc gave me two shots of something that made me laugh for about five mintes and then sleep for more than twelve hours. I don't get migraines!

So I've decided something. I'm staying home this week in the evenings. I'm skipping everything in the evenings except for school, including my knitting groups.

Inaugural Post

Something in my grant writer/project manager's mind is urging me to start this blog out with an ambitious statement of purpose and scope for this blog.

The purpose of this blog is to allow the writer an outlet for her creativity aside from the grant proposals and propaganda she writes on a daily basis.

The scope of this blog shall include knitting and general kvetching.