march madness

...but not the basketball kind. I survived the 3/15 deadline in style! Now it's the time for the 1040 clients. A coworker's wife is nearly due with their first child, and I knit a cute pair of booties and a matching headband with interchangeable crocheted flowers. Thankfully, I'm almost done with J's pillow cover - I picked up the invisible zipper and some perfect wooden buttons to finish it up.

The yarn for my brother's socks has arrived, so it's sitting on the kitchen counter being an inspiration every morning and evening. I'm tempted to knit up a pair of socks for myself between J's pillow cover and my brother's socks, but... yeah. He's been waiting a few months for these, so I will start on his as soon as I get J's cover finished.

I've learned I am definitely not a dog person. Captain Jack is a cute bundle of energy, but I just don't have the patience for this stage. I really miss being able to sit quietly with the cats, petting them in between rounds on a project... the constant watching and frequent calls to the dog are wearing on me. I am so comfortable with our decision not to have children - if I'm having this hard of a time with a dog that I can crate when he's out of control, I can't imagine how difficult of a time I would have with a kid!!! [since you can't crate them and leave without getting Child Services called on you (with good reason, of course)] Especially a kid that could TALK. UGH. Definitely not my cup of tea.

With the dog now crated for the evening (he was in that frenzy that children get into - too tired and strung out so completely hyper and out of his head), I can finally sit and enjoy a glass of wine and some knitting. Maybe even some cuddle time with Skye without a ball of fur coming and jumping on top of her... poor kitties.

FOs

It is with great pleasure that I announce the completion of my father's first pair of socks! These socks are my first attempt at colorwork other than simple stripes. The socks are GIANT - they come up to my father's knees - and very very warm. Alpaca does that! I have already cast on for his second pair; these will be brown and cream. Here are two crappy iPhone pix:
Those are the completed ones... it's hard to see the colorwork, I know, but it's there. I'll get a better picture soon, I promise.


Also transitioning from WIP to FO this week is a big presentation at work. The firm is hosting a CPE (continuing professional education) for our clients, and some of us employees are lucky enough to get to present. I am one of them. Can you HEAR the excitement???!!! Cause it is SO NOT THERE!!! I think the CPE is a great value for our clients but I am not exactly thrilled to be one of the presenters. Well, one way or another, it'll be over on Wednesday.

Oh crap, the puppy is trying to be Superdog again, so I have to run... Hope everyone had a good weekend and has a very good week.

ArtFire

Tonight marks my first sale on my ArtFire shop!! My friend J.I. commissioned a pair of baby booties in green and white for a friend/relative's baby (can't remember right now which she said). I tried to find matching green buttons but was not able to find the right shade of green. Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.
I hope the recipients like them! I am sure they will...

The puppy is being a holy terror. Saturday, he nipped my upper arm, on the back where it's sensitive and delicate, and I have a nice bluey-purple bruise there. He got the outer edge of my right hand tonight; that will be fun tomorrow when I'm typing and writing all day at work.

This past Saturday, I ran in the OUC Half-Marathon and 5k. I have been training for the half-marathon for a couple of months, but the longest run I'd managed had been 8.7 miles. My knees ache and hurt a lot when I run, but I had hoped that lifting weights in addition to the running would help. Wellllll... it didn't. By mile 9, I was dying. Of course, mile 9 is where the hills started - bricked hills, at that. Did I mention that it was cold (relatively speaking) and raining? Yeah, it was. About 60 degrees (hey, I did say relatively speaking) and misting, at a minimum. EWWWWW. Not fun. Bradley brought Jack and they were waiting for me at the finish line - that was one of the best things I've ever seen :D For now, I'm done with running. I'm taking a break this week from exercising (other than chasing around the steeenkeeeng dog) and am allowing myself to have 'bad' foods if I want.

OK. I think that's all I have to say--- oh wait, regarding the socks for my dad: I'm working on shaping the gusset on the second sock. I am quietly and unobtrusively enforcing Papa-Puppy time so that they can bond and I can get some knitting time ;-)

Next week I should have the pictures of my dad's finished socks. I can't wait to show them off!

BRAAAAAIIIINNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSS

.... I do not has them. A puppy has eaten them!!!



He's gone from a tiny little lapful to a total lapful. His name is Captain Jack and he is a total boob pirate.


Oh wait, did I say that out loud??


Definitely not a dog person. Definitely not a kid person. My temper is too hot, and it's just ... I'm not ready for the 24/7/365 commitment.

And I hate the time suck away from my knitting!

I knit three washcloths for my mother for Christmas and packaged them up with some wonderful Burt's Bees soaps and hand salve. I made a neato flowered shirt for my oldest niece, based on a Martha Stewart wedding pattern...
She's a minor, so I've hidden her pretty young face from all the internet creeps! I made hair ties for the two younger nieces in pretty purples ----

WHOA something else I'm not used to is the MALODOROUS STENCH that emits from this dog's rump!!! I think I am going to VOMIT. ARGH!!!! He's worse than Bradley!

Anyways. So, all the knitting for Christmas gifts is done; now I can get back to knitting on my daddio's socks. I've finished the second sock's star chart, so now I get to zip through the rest of the sock. YAY!

Scarlet Letter! Except for sickness.

Heh - yeah, not the scary red A, but the scary red X or SOMETHING that says, "Stay FAR FAR AWAY!" All three of us have been ill. B has been sick for weeks now; three of the strongest antibiotics on the market haven't fixed him. He goes to a respiratory specialist next Monday. C had a really bad fever Sunday and part of yesterday, but we've been able to get her back down to normal. Her chest is really congested, but at least she's not feverish any longer. I wish I could say that my fever wasn't too bad, but it was. Did you know that the "standard" 98.6F human temperature was arrived at by taking the temperatures of 10 random people off the street? At least, this is what I learned in college, so hopefully that's correct. Who knows what the real "normal" temperature is? Due to my own nerdiness and curiosity, I know that my normal temperature is between 97.5 and 98.0 - so if I'm at 98.6, I'm beginning a fever. My temp this weekend got up to 100.9. I was finally coherent enough to go to the doctor today, and they gave me a script for the generic Biaxin. Nasty nasty horse pills - two pills once a day with food. Yuck. I popped two with lunch as soon as I got home, and I am feeling SO. MUCH. BETTER.

In other personal news, I am working on conquering my fear of deep water. Since I was feeling so much better this afternoon, I put on my bathing suit and got in the pool. B had left his snorkel mask out, and I decided that now was as good of a time as any to start working on it. No one around to make me nervous! So I put it on, got in in the shallow end, and fell in love. Wearing contacts plus never finding a pair of swim goggles that fit my face well meant losing my vision underwater. But today - I could see everything! I could see exactly where the dreaded drain at the bottom of the deep end was; I could see the few oak leaves floating along the surface; I could see the water bug swimming along near the wall. The whole not being able to breathe underwater still skeeves me out, but whatever, I'll get over that. I had so much fun swimming around! I am such a dork but this has bothered me for so long - I am so happy to be making progress at defeating this fear.

I've finished the body of my Sonnet and am working on the first sleeve. Making so much progress on the sweater is the only positive part of being home sick from work for two days. I had to do a little modification to the basketweave stitch for the center panel up the sleeves, but it still looks nice. I can't wait to finish it all, seam it up, and toss it in the washer!

OK - I'm off to do some chores around the house since they've been so neglected over the past few days. Poor cats could use some attention, too.

Ah, summer

Time for lace and cotton and linen.

Finished my niece's socks! Got the buttons sewn onto my coworker's booties! I picked up Branching Out again - finally - but couldn't figure out what row I knit last. I ended up frogging it and restarting, and I'm so pleased with how it looks already. I made it through about six pattern repeats.

My friend SP finished her Sylvi and posted pictures of it today. I am amazed and in awe of that accomplishment! I know I can do it too - it's a pattern, a set of directions, and I'm good at following directions. That seems like such a mammoth project though... After I finish Branching Out and a few more socks, I think I'll work on my Sonnet. Maybe I'll be able to finish it in time for the chilly season ;)

In house news... the A/C will be replaced tomorrow. We requested several estimates, and the winner will charge us around $3,800. I'm so grateful for savings accounts and for both of us having stable, well-paying jobs. The pool is looking better and better - the chemicals we keep dumping in are working! This weekend, Bradley was brushing crud off the sides, and the brush fell off the end of the pole. It was clear enough that he put on a scuba mask and dove in to get it off the bottom. I was pretty grossed out and made him shower as soon as I realized what he'd done.

We've been considering adding two new ani-pals to our little family - two dogs. Originally, Bradley wanted an English Bulldog. Being from Athens and UGA, I LOVED the idea. My only demand was that my beast would be a boxer. One of my earliest memories is of standing on the driveway outside my childhood home, looking up at the boxer my family owned - that's how I small I was at the time. I adore boxers! Well - Bradley saw a picture on IHasAHotdog.com of a mastiff and has now changed his mind - no more bulldog; he wants a mastiff. HA. My major primary concern is controlling the animal - those dogs grow to be twice my weight. A bulldog would be strong and stubborn, but it wouldn't weigh more than I do, and I could SIT on it if all else failed. A female boxer wouldn't be bigger than me, either. But a mastiff?? Those boys grow to be as big as Bradley!!! We'll see what happens. Right now, we have some immediate house expenses that prevent us from acquiring new beasts. We'll have to get puppies so that the cats can deal with them... there's no way we could introduce adult dogs (such as rescues) into the house with Skye the Amazing Attack Cat and Pax the Stupid Prey Cat. Puppies mean we will have to find quality breeders. I have a bit of a hard time reconciling that with my values; I feel so strongly about adopting pound puppies... but I just can't risk the history that some rescues have when bringing a big dog into the house. Maybe I can ease my conscience by making a big donation to the local shelters when we bring home the pups.

Anyways, I gotta get off the keyboard; my left pinky is being weird and painful when I type.