Joys of routine

Busy season becomes a blinding routine after a few weeks. Wake up panicky that I've overslept - maybe I have, maybe I haven't, but either way, I'm awake and moving. Get to work, caffeinate, work work work, and then home. Hopefully at home, I can do a chore or two a night... tonight is vacuuming the floors and dealing with the cat boxes - and then some time to knit. Working on my friend's pillow cover is wonderful this season - the repetition of the basketweave is so relaxing at the end of the day. The yarn is smooth and soothing to my hands after dealing with papers and pencils and binder clips and the occasional paper cut. Then, bedtime, and up again to do it over again the next day. Soon, I'll wake up in the normal panicked state, and then realize, oh, wait, it's April 14th. One more day of madness, and then I can sleep all day. Until then, the basketweave pillow case and socks will take up my time and be my creative outlet.

Hello friends...

Things are definitely getting busy at work. My CIRAs are coming in for preparation or extension, and the busy-season interns started today. I was at work till about 7 tonight, which is not bad, but I was determined to go to the gym and then to the store afterward. Since watching Food, Inc., I have been making dramatic changes to how I eat. If I can't ensure that meat is organic, I'm not eating it; I'm making as many of my vegetables organic as possible. No eggs if they aren't organic (to the point that I didn't buy any at the store tonight); no unorganic dairy products. I was pleased to see that my favorite coffee, Dunkin Donuts, is fair trade certified. So... grocery shopping is a new adventure.

In knitting news, I've finished my Diagonal Cross-Rib socks! I cast on a swatch for my friend JS' basketweave pillow cover, but realized she said she wanted regular basketweave, and I was swatching pie-crust. Oops! So, frogged the swatch and restarted it yesterday.

Well - since it's late, I'm off to bed. The dog was just going nuts, I'm betting out of exhaustion, and I am going to get my second wind if I stay up much longer.

Knitters vs. Non-knitters

A friend commented to me on Monday that I shouldn't take my knitting into a work CPE because it would look really bad. I was rather confused about what she meant, but I realized she must think that knitting means I'm not paying attention to the speaker. Something that a lot of non-knitters must assume is that knitting takes a person's whole focus. Of course, something complicated - whether due to the pattern (like a lace pattern) or the yarn itself (I'm glaring at you, FunFur) - would need a knitter's focus... but for a simple, repeating pattern or stockinette in the round, knitting is as mindless as doodling. For me, having needles in my hands means I am happy to sit beside my husband while he enjoys his favorite tv shows. We will laugh and talk... he said the other day, "You don't actually watch tv, you listen to it!" I do watch, again depending on the pattern. If I'm turning a heel or shaping a gusset? Not so much with the watching. But the listening? Oh yes. I retain an incredibly greater amount if I have something to fidget with... I'm not fighting to stay awake! I can watch my hands and listen with my ears and everything is just fine. One day, I'll gather the courage to knit in the back row.

So, I've finished shaping the gussets in the second Diagonal Cross-Rib Sock and am on to the foot!! I'm very excited. Also, the yarn for my friend's pillow cover arrived. I'm a little concerned as the yarn is much finer than I was expecting. A gauge swatch will tell me what I need to do, though. It's the LB Collection Cotton Bamboo. I'm really looking forward to finally working with bamboo - although now that I type that, I think my friend J.I.'s hat that I finished was with bamboo yarn... Hm.

My friend B.S. in Pennsylvania sent me a huge box of acrylic yarn! I am not sure what I'll do with it; it all looks very old from the ball bands. I think it's from her fiance's mother's stash; the FMIL doesn't knit anymore and probably needs to clear out her old stash. Regardless, I love free yarn! I will find some uses for it, and I hope to get the story out of my friend about the source of the yarn.

OK - for now, I'm off to watch some more Castle and knit on my sock!

Lateness!

Things are definitely starting to get busier in my world. Full days at work and already one day over eight hours. Can't wait for things to really get crazy!

With the new officemates, I've been eating my lunch in the breakroom instead of at my desk. I've been taking my knitting so after I finish eating, I can pick up my project for five or ten minutes. Doing this has been surprisingly refreshing. I have a feeling that I will have to continue this throughout busy season.

House projects:
- picking out paint for the living room
- tearing down the cabana
- finding patches of sunlight to nap in!

The cold weather the past couple of weeks has made me grateful for the warm scarves and socks I have. A little heater under my desk doesn't hurt either!

Organization

This weekend, I sorted through my stash and organized it all! Now, none of it's been put away, but I sorted it by fiber, mostly. Wools, cottons, and blends. Then I photographed it and worked on updating Ravelry (I'm amour over there, too), but I still have some work to do over there. Here are some of my favorites...


Any readers out there also on Twitter? I'm @siren_amour. Some of my favorite knitters & fiber-ers are... @blairqualls, @hipmountainmama, @islandjen, @simplytwisted, @siren_gardener, and @yarnharlot.

Well - I'm off to do some more knitting on my Diagonal Rib socks!!

Insanity in ... 10... 9... 8...

I have the smelliest dog next to me! He had his flea medicine dose tonight and MAN the stuff smells. Of course, he loves his mumma and papa; Bradley's already managed to get the stuff all over his hands, but (touch wood) I've managed to stay clear of the stuff. It's doing a number on my sinuses - if the dang dog stays close to me for much longer, I am going to be high as a kite from the smell.

Oh, the insanity? That would be Busy Season 2010 looming over me. Bradley has already mentioned how he's not ready for it; he appreciates so much how I come home and we tag-team puppy patrol, and he is going to miss that during the crazy work hours. I will miss puppy time, Bradley time, knitting time, exercise time... but this too shall pass.

I got through the first 3.5 inches of the Diagonal Cross-Rib socks and dropped a needle size as instructed, only to realize that my gauge was off. At knit night last night, my friend R.S. reminded me that I didn't use a size 3 needle; I used a size 2 because I borrowed hers until mine arrived in an order from KnitPicks. DOH. I had to frog about 4 inches, but I chatted with the other knitters while doing so, which made it not so painful. I restarted on my size 2s and resolved to hunt for my size 1s... which I cannot find in circulars. I think I may just have never switched down a size but continued with 2s through the entire sock. I will measure my gauge after making this post and figure out what the hell is going on.

Oh, and puppy just zonked out on my leg. How sweet. (But still horribly smelly.)

In the course of digging through all my various knitting bags, I did find a scarf-ly thing that I need to finish; I will be working on that after I finish this sock if I have time before the yarn for my brother's socks becomes available.

What else... I will probably go to posting once a week during busy season, and they will likely be short, annoyed posts. Just a warning ;-)

new beginnings

I am zooming along on the second sock of the Diagonal Cross-Ribs. At my day job, some seating rearrangements were made, and I have two new officemates. Out of deference to them, I ate my lunch in the break room today - and after I finished eating, knit a couple of rounds on the socks. I foresee many more knitting lunch breaks over the course of Busy Season 2010.

The weather is unseasonably cold - it's been in the 30s for several nights in a row, and the forecast calls for a few more cold nights. I am glad I have warm wool socks to keep my toes toasty!

Off to do some chores; just wanted to make a quick update and add a new tag to my list!