Syndactyl Salutations

Thoughts on writing, knitting, and the world around me.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Love Through The Ages

The latest book I finished was A Natural History of Love By Diane Ackerman. It was a lushly written history of human relationships and the changing role and definition of love within them. I wasn't quite as engaged as I was when I read her A Natural History of the Senses, but I still enjoyed her take on the history of love and the way it has evolved long with society.

There is no writing news, though I'm hoping to change that this evening.

As far as knitting goes, I have been neglecting the striped baby blanket and the huge sock in favor of Paris Loop. I'm enjoying how fast it's knitting and the texture of the Gedifra Cicco, not to mention the color. This is bound to be my quickest knitting project so far, very cool.

I spent some time this afternoon putting knitting notes into this. I looked at it several times before I broke down and bought it; what can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty blank books.

I'm getting antsy waiting to get my secret pal match, I keep seeing blogs of people who are signed up who have gotten theirs already. I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with this.

Enough for now, enjoy.

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Paris Loop and Family Day

I began knitting
  • Paris Loop
  • yesterday after stopping at Oh Susannah for needles. She has been rearranging things since I was in last and it was much easier to see just how much beautiful fiber she has, all sorts of things I've been reading about on various knitting blogs but have not used or even seen yet. How exciting, and expensive.

    I'm three or four inches into this project already, it's knitting up very quickly and the yarn is interesting to work with. For as bulky as it is, it's very light, practically flyaway. I had a bit of trouble starting off when I was purling into the first row of mesh loops, but that worked itself out quickly. I love Lichen as a color. A nice dark green with tiny bits of pinky-purple in the wool parts. I know I need to get back to the baby blanket and the socks, but I'm having fun working on something that is flying off the needles.

    I spent most of yesterday with my parents and next-in-line sister, I hadn't done that for a while. I went shopping with my sister, who is so manhattan these days, then we went back to my parents' place and watch a hummingbird zip around feeding on all of the red flowers Mom has planted to attract the species. I was torn between wishing my camera was immediately at the ready and just enjoying the moment for what it was. I did take photos of huge garden spiders on their webs and what appeared to be a pregnant praying mantis with a big purple abdomen.

    It was a good day, I need to do that more often, I think.

    Today will be knitting, maybe writing, and going to see Brave Combo at Long's Park this evening. It's the last concert of the summer, and it's a good one.

    Enjoy your Sunday.

    Friday, August 27, 2004

    Speedy Service

    I got home today to find my Elann order on my desk! I knew they said priority mail, but I'm still impressed. I love the color of the yarn; I'm looking forward to going to Oh Susannah tomorrow and seeing about needles. Hopefully I will have Paris Loop to show before too long.

    I did some sock knitting this afternoon, but haven't done any knitting this evening bcause my left hand is feeling a bit tender. I'll get back into it tomorrow.

    I joined Secret Pals III last night, it should be an interesting exercise, I have some potential ideas already and have been reading a lot of interesting blogs in anticipation. I may answer a set of questions soon, but not tonight.

    No writing again today, not much of anything else either. I spent another day on my own personal emotional rollercoaster, it seems I've got passes to the head of the line consistently now. I spent lunch thinking the situation out again and stayed on the verge of tears most of the time. I'm glad it's a Friday evening and I have the next two days to not interact with many people or think about students or administration. Granted, I won't really be able to relax about work for another three weeks, but the weekends to provide small doses of relief.

    Down With Love was a lot of fun last night, very silly and exactly what I needed. Take every cliche from the Rock Hudson/Doris Day genre and stretch them as far as possible, hilarity will ensue. It's one I'll probably watch again, I need to so he can see the whole thing. I started watching it late and he came home about two-thirds of the way through it.

    I'm still thinking about grad school possibilities, but I don't know if I have the concentration to be able to successfully deal with the GREs. This is what happens when you are stupid and young and let yourself skate through undergraduate work. Of course, that's also what makes me worry about my ability to succeed in an MLS program to begin with, GREs or no GREs.

    Okay, enough, I'm going to feed the cats and do some reading and hope that tomorrow will be somehow soothing. I should go to my folks' and look through the boxes of my stuff they've managed to corral in their clear-out effort.

    Thursday, August 26, 2004

    "Before" Photo


    Before its bath. Posted by Hello
    (No idea what I did to this scan, sorry.)

    Finished Object Photo and More


    Big Bad Baby Blanket in all its drapey glory. Posted by Hello

    I tried to post unblocked and blocked images, but I couldn't figure out how to get Hello to do that, so maybe I'll try the unblocked version in the next post.

    The mother of the recipient liked it a lot, I hope the baby does too. I'm about a third of the way through the second blanket, and have gotten past the ribbing on the top of my first sock. The sock is going to be too big. I didn't bother to swatch and I over estimated the number of stitches I needed, but I'm going to plug away anyway. It's my first sock, it's allowed to be wonky.

    I'm not writing much again, but I did get my pretty personalized stationery in the mail today, and, as a bonus, it came in a lovely green box.

    I placed my first order with Elann.com the other day -- 4 balls of Gedifra Cicco in Lichen to make Paris Loop from magknits.com. I'm actually using the suggested yarn for a project. I just need to find the correct needles and I'll be set.

    As for the rest of life, work isn't getting any less stressful, and neither is the family situation. I'm avoiding crowds whenever possible and spending most of my time at home. I'm also eating a lot of junk lately, which isn't good, since I'm only exercising once a week during racquetball. I need to make a few changes.

    Movie Recommendation: Door to Door starring William H. Macy. He gives a truly amazing performance in his portrayal of a door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy. It is a touching story with a variety of convincing performances. It was just what I needed last night. This evening I'm planning to watch Down With Love.

    I guess that's it, not much for a week's absence, huh? Sorry about that. I thought I would have more to say than I did. I'm just sort of blue and paralyzed in terms of communication.

    Thursday, August 19, 2004

    Blah and Blech!

    I went to a disappointing knitting meetup last night and I'm coming down with a cold. Just thought the cobwebs in the corners would like to know.

    I'm feeling boring this evening, it doesn't help that I'm stuffed up and I haven't knit a stitch or written a word other than these few all day.

    I talked to my parents, I have to do that once a week or so, just to check in. Things are still surreal all around, I don't know that they ever won't be. I tried to talk about stupid everyday things, but the rest is always hanging there and is always mentioned at some point by someone. I know I am very oblique, but I can't come out and say the actual words to a potential audience of people I don't know. The judgments of strangers are not things I can deal with at this point in the process. Maybe someday, but I wouldn't count on it.

    I hope my sister comes down from NYC this weekend, I could use a little sister time again. I suppose I could call her tonight, but I always feel like I'm interrupting people when I call them. I have something of a phone-phobia, which does occasionally interfere with my service oriented job.

    I finished the roll of film the BBBB photos are on, so if I get my act together and fire up the scanner this weekend, maybe I'll even have FO shots to post. But I've said that before.

    Tuesday, August 17, 2004

    Two Weeks, Really?

    I knew it had been a while since I'd posted, but I hadn't realized two entire weeks had passed. Oh, well, it's not like anyone but me reads this.

    Knitting

    I'm about a quarter of the way through the striped baby blanket. I thought I was further along, but I was measuring incorrectly (don't ask, I'm a beginner). I spent most of the weekend not knitting, actually, just wasn't in the mood for some reason. I got back into it this evening for a while, and I'm still occasionally driving with my sock knitting in my lap. I still haven't gotten the photos of the first blanket developed, I guess I should look into a digital camera if I want to put photos on this site with any regularity.

    Writing

    I found another writing book (yeah, because I needed another one of those) that I like a great deal. It is Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and other Dreamers by Carolyn See. Even though she says a lot of what I know already, the way she says it cuts to the heart of what I need to hear right now. I'm hoping that by reading bits of it over from time to time I will be able to convince myself to get back to some regular writing time.

    Life

    Just trying to get by day to day. I'm mired in some sort of depression fueled apathy right now. I don't want to be at work when I have to be there, but I'm not able to make up my mind what I'd rather be doing instead. I've been watching Olympic coverage sporadically, it's on in the background now, along with some rambunctious, hungry cats. Time to feed the critters and put myself to bed, I do believe.

    Tuesday, August 03, 2004

    I'm Blocking, I'm Blocking!

    I finished Big Bad Baby Blanket today and it's currently pinned to towels on the office floor. I washed it with a little Woolite before pinning it and it feels so soft right now. Of course, as humid as it is here right now, who knows how long it will take to dry. I have one fan on it, and plan on putting another one in place once he gets home from practice and gets his bass case put away. I'd love for it to dry overnight so that I don't have to worry about the cats, but I'll have to wait and see. I've been taking photos, but since I am still working with film, there will be a lag.

    I got a few rows into the second color on my next baby blanket, the raspberry and purple are working well together so far. I'm knitting the raspberry rows and purling the purple ones -- mostly garter stitch, with a few ditches along the way. I also did a bit on my first sock, but that progress is even slower than the others. The photo I took of my recent stash additions should be available for scanning tomorrow evening.

    In other news, I'm finding myself more and more scattered work-wise. I absolutely did not want to get out of bed this morning because I knew that we had the usual 9 am staff meeting and I was dreading it, for no good reason. I just can't concentrate on much of anything, and I can't find any enjoyment in what it is I spend my days doing. I'm not happy about spending my work life this way, but the benefits are good, most of the people are enjoyable, the environment is interesting, and I'm in a complete rut.

    My desk at home needs a thorough cleaning, I'm looking at it and trying to ignore the fact that there's no clear place to put a pad of paper if I actually want to write anything by hand. I'm not good at keeping a neat house. I go in spurts, but mostly it's just sort of cluttered.

    Enough of this, I'm going to go clean up the kitchen a bit and wait for him to get home from practice. I always start to get antsy when I pass the 11 o'clock point on practice nights.