Stress Reaction

Whatever your tradition, may your New Year be joyous, healthy, prosperous, and above all safe. Tasty is just an option.

100%. Amanda is the one I have to thank for getting me caught up in the whole spin-your-own craze. She spins these beautiful fibers that just ooze personality, and encouraged me shamelessly when I mentioned how much I would like to be able to do that. I may be paraphrasing here, but the gist of the conversation was "I only had one short lesson, Leah. You can do it!"

And I can. It may not look like much, but I cannot tell you how inordinately pleased I am with my first skein of handspun. I just love it. I plan on making a teapot cozy, so I will use and appreciate this first effort every day.

Not realizing how far 16 ounces of fiber would go (I have used only about 6 oz. so far), I purchased a total of 8 pounds of undyed fiber (no typo there folks, just a clueless neophyte spinner). So now I am in the process of researching dyes to take this new obsession to the next level. I want to try my hand at the beautiful hand painted goodness that I collect and horde like the true fiber addict that I am.

Seriously though, Amanda? I cannot thank you enough. This new outlet for stress reduction makes me truly happy!

Thank you all for your wonderful Birthday wishes. I took down my place saving Avatar so that I could bring you up to date on the real booty! What a wonderful thing to come home to at the end of a long working Friday.

I do have to give a shout out especially to my husband for his thoughtfulness in this celebration of my birth. The knitting needles, needle holders, and the most coveted wooly lamb measuring tape he bought all on his own. I gave him no hints. He surprised me with bamboo double points in sizes: 0, 1, 1.5, and 2; picked them out all by his little self. Thereby proving that sometimes Men Do Listen. And check out those knitting cards in the photo up above. See all the cute girls knitting?

Friday night was spent in leisure eating shrimp scampi from my favorite Italian Restaurant, as well as Boston Crème Pie for my cake. Lovely choices. My husband knows me so well.

The rest of the weekend was spent with this result. My first dyed roving. I just jumped in with a full immersion dye technique, since I had no idea how the colors would take. I can see that it is going to take some finesse to get the more subtle colors that I am fond of.

...Adrian and Aaron. My eldest son and his youngest.

Aaron is the baby. It is heartwarming to find that your child is a good father. I love them all more than I can ever tell them. I pray good things for them. For peace of heart and mind. For acceptance for others but especially for themselves. That they will always be close. That life is kind.

This is the best blonde joke ever! (Born blonde, I can get away with this.)

...Bichon Frise. My fluffy children Chantilly and Einstein (Chantilly is on the left, Einstein is on the right. Doesn't he look just so intelligent?). Who couldn't use a little unconditional love?

Lemming like, I joined Weight Watchers today in order to shed some extra pounds. Being January, it was of course wall to wall people, but I found it motivating none the less. Planning and organization were the topics, the thought being that if you plan ahead, you are more likely to reach your goal. I felt of course that this theme transitioned nicely to knitting projects and blogging.

Apparently I go through spurts of joining. Lot's of joining. Right now, as you can see from my sidebar, I have joined three KAL's and one sock swap. I have also ordered the pattern book for the Crossed in Translation KAL (joining to be determined at a future date when and if I find the pattern to be decipherable) and have been watching closely the upcoming sign up for Sockapalooza.

So, in the spirit of planning and organization, instead of composing a shopping list and planning a menu, I give you my KAL round-up.

The Amazing Grace is back on the front burner. I was having all kinds of gauge issues. The called for Cotton Angora, which I purchased, and would obviously want to use given the expense, was knitting up a bit too loose for my liking on the called for size 8 needles when I used my adored Addis. Size 7 was way too tight. The answer? Bamboo! That bit of extra drag from the bamboo tightens up the gauge just enough that I nailed it first time! Woot!!

I've finally chosen the sock yarn for the Bloomin' Feet sock swap. Fleece Artist Merino, Hand Painted in the Dragonfly colorway. I think my sock pal, who expressed a preference for bold colors, will like this.

The Red Hot Sizzling Socks KAL presented me with a no-brainer as we say in the biz. I scored almost a pound of CTH Supersock in a luscious red on eBay and the urge to knit this up is irresistible. Despite the fact that I have stashed an abundance of Supersock, I have yet to actually knit with it, so I am excited to get started.

Last, but by no means least, I have joined the Harlot's Knitters Olympics. Brave, brave woman that she is, Harlot is organizing a KAL likely to be remembered as the largest KAL in history. Casting on February 10th with the lighting of the flame, I will attempt to complete Ene's Shawl from Scarf Style using Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in the Mixed Berries colorway by the time the torch goes out on February 26th.

Sixteen short days to complete my second charted lace project ever. I think this embraces the "Citius, Alitius Fortius" ideal, don't you?

I had visions of a cyber catfight. Hair pulling, eye gouging, knock down drag out. Books for sale! Knitting books, spinning books, dyeing books (and more) all available over at Interweave Knits Hurt Book Sale. Good prices, and they seem to have several of each; I managed to purchase everything I attempted to put in my cart (no less than fifteen new books headed my way on knitting, spinning, dyeing, color theory and even one for crochet). Expect slow loading of the pages though, and wear your protective clothing. It's a jungle out there!

Apparently I am challenged in the blogging arena. Mornings are probably the best time for me in terms of creativity, and I can compose blog entries endlessly while showering and blow-drying my hair. Unfortunately time is constrained most mornings getting my children and myself ready for the day. Work involves approximately a million split second decisions a day, so by the time I get home from work I am brain dead and unable to compose an articulate sentence, let alone a snappy blog post. I also can't seem to get my picture taking down to the science I would like it to be. It's either late or overcast, and when it's sunny with lots of good nature light, I just don't think about it.

But I think I have a new plan, and it doesn't involve getting up any earlier (thank God) and shouldn't result in my having to stay up any later than usual (which is pretty late anyway being the night owl that I am) since this comprises the brain dead time of day and is therefore useless as blogging time.

Up until today, I would get up, compose a blog post in my head while preparing for the day. Drop the kids at school, get to work about half an hour earlier than I needed to and read bloglines or knit a few stitches, work, go home and attend to the various feeding, homework, TKD/Chorus/Ballet/Track/Cross-country tasks, and then try to reproduce the ephemeral thoughts that floated through my head that morning. If I managed that, then I have to try and find half decent light for some semi-interesting pictures.

I think we can all see the problem. What is supposed to be a relaxing hobby (the blogging) had instead become another time consuming and demanding responsibility.

The key, and I hope the solution, lies in that half hour after I drop off the kids and before I am supposed to be at work. Today I went home instead of straight to work. I took some photos with what I hope is adequate lighting given the overcast day, cropped and uploaded them to the server, and saved the entry. Then began to put down what was composed in my head this morning. We'll see how it works.

Obligate fiber po*n shot:

I think it spins up beautifully, and I believe I see more of this coming my way in the near future.

After one week on Weight Watchers, I am now two pounds lighter (before and after pictures and weights will be provided only at the end of the journey, so we can oooh and aaah together)! While gratifying, I was somewhat dismayed that I was not miraculously a svelte size two. Too bad I do not have the same approach to dieting as I do to knitting. Apparently when it comes to weight loss it is not all about the process. Even though by training I am fully aware of the necessity of making lifestyle changes that are maintainable for the long term, there is so much tied into it, I suppose, having to do with self-esteem and appearance. And yet, the process approach would be much more reasonable. How much less stressful would it be if any positive progress was as rewarding as watching the blending of subtle colors on hand painted socks, or the sinuous twisting of the cables on an Aran sweater?

A process it has certainly been in the knitting of Grace. The gauge has been a challenge, but now that this issue has been resolved, I am pleased with this weekend's progress. While it's a light and airy fabric, I think the bloom that should develop after her first bath will result in a wonderfully cozy sweater. I modified one of the pattern stitches slightly to give what is to me a more pleasing result. The stitch called for was a Tw2R, which I did not like at all when knit as per the directions. The internet provided no less than four variations of this single stitch, so after trying them all, I settled on k2tog but leave on the needle, then knit the first stitch again and slip both stitches off the needle together. I have used this on another project, which I have yet to share, and really like the result.

Sorry about the shadows, the morning sun was not cooperating with me.
Hopefully you can at least see the cables.