Knitting Update, Etc.

This is where my knitting stands now:

1. I cast on for the front of Big Sack and am about to start the third cable repeat.

2. I finished sock #1 of my mother's pair and cast on for sock #2. I've decided that my least favorite part of sock knitting is transferring the cast on to the multiple needles and knitting the first row. I inevitably have to try it more than once before it works.

3. I'm still working on the cuff of sock #2 of my second pair.

4. I bought Silk Garden #65 A and the appropriate pattern book in anticipation of making Klaralund. I hope I like my colorway. Oh Susannah was really busy and the selection of Silk Garden I could find wasn't wonderful.

5. We had another nice knitting gathering at Gallery 141 yesterday, I knit with Rachel, Emily, and Heather for a couple of hours. I think a good time was had by all.

Yep, that's everything knitting-related.

I made a granny square yesterday with yarn from a crochet kit a friend gave me around Christmas. I think it'll be a good skill to know for edgings and quicker baby blankets, but I don't know if it's something I'll do a whole lot of.

It's snowing here again, I'm tired of it, tired of having to worry about getting from one place to another in it. We haven't had tons this winter, but that doesn't make me any less tired of it.

I've begun rudimentary GRE studies, so far, so good, I think.

I'll try to post more regularly, but I can't make guarantees.

Zombie Week

That's what this has felt like. Sorry for not posting anything, details of my trip in particular. All I've done is go through the motions at work, then come home and do as little as possible before early bed times. I'm hoping next week will be better, but I'm not feeling so hot this evening.

Luckily Ebbie made a very nice vegetable lentil soup for dinner, which I'm eating bites of as I sit here. I'm a happy girl to have such a great cook at my disposal.

I did get knitting done today, more on both socks I've been working on forever. I turned the heel on my mom's sock last night and spent time today working the gusset decreases. I've also added some length the the cuff of my own sock. I still have not cast on for the front of Big Sack. It'll happen eventually.

Snow forecast for tomorrow afternoon and evening, have I mentioned that I'm done with winter? For the record: I'm done with winter.

Off the finish my soup and cornbread and maybe do some more sock work.

Back from the Berkshires

I have returned. The drive back was less fun than the drive up. I am also very tired, so I will give an actual report in the next day or two. Thank you all for your kind comments, I appreciate that you took the time.

P.S. to Heather: It does sound like me that you met at Enchanted Forest, I do seem to remember talking to you. Very cool, hopefully we'll meet again soon.

T.G.I.T.

Okay, that doesn't quite have the same effect, but it certainly is true. Today was not easy. It's been a long week and I'm antsy about my drive and semi-frightening new experience this weekend. The main reason today was not easy, though, was the memorial service.

We are a small institution. The death of a student makes an impact on the whole community. Because of this, we held a memorial service for her this morning in the gallery. It was touching and tasteful and probably just right. And I cried. I didn't know the student in question particularly well, but it was my second funeral-type service for people who were outlived by their parents. I am ill-equipped for more than one funeral per year.

Her best friend got up and talked about her, the fun they'd had getting to know one another in the months since they'd started college, it was absolutely heart-rending. The members of her section sat on gallery benches holding brightly colored roses. I'm not religious, but I know the Lord's Prayer well enough to fall into the words and rhythm when it's recited. She was Catholic, one of our faculty is a retired layperson of rank in the Catholic church. He lead the service and it was fitting and good. I hope that whatever good can come to people after they die has come to her. There will be a vase of flowers in the gallery in her memory for the rest of the semester.

I hope her friends can eventually move through their grief and devastation, they currently move through the building looking absolutely haunted. I just want to hug them.

Okay, on a slightly more cheerful note, I finished the knitting on the back of Big Sack this evening. I will wait until I get back to cast on for the front, and I will wait until the front is done before I do any blocking, just in case, because I am frightened of this sweater, but we knew that already.

Have a good, relaxing, weekend, I will be media free (except lots of car radio) until late Sunday evening or Monday morning. You will be regaled with tales of yoga in the Berkshires some time after that.

Blue Week Already

Yesterday I could have titled it "Blue Monday" but I wasn't up for posting. We lost a freshman student to a car accident over the weekend. We're a small school, so it makes quite an impact, especially when her parents come in. I didn't actually see her parents, but I saw her friends crying in the halls. She lived a couple hours away, so we're having a memorial service for her Thursday morning.

I've had trouble concentrating at work as a result of this, I just keep thinking about her family, especially her parents. She was on her way home, probably nearly there, when it happened. She had just turned 19 last month.

As far as knitting, I did the heel flap up to the turning on my mom's sock, but haven't sat down with the math yet, can't focus. Still chipping away at decrease rows on Big Sack, and finished the ribbing on the cuff of my second sock. Maybe work on some of it tonight, don't know for sure though.

I will definitely be ready for my getaway when Friday rolls around. Of course, the weather is about to turn. It's been lovely for several days -- sunny, snow melting, etc.-- but it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, then change to snow on Thursday and possibly Friday. What was that about heading north in February? Oh, well, I have all day Friday to get there, I can leave early and take it nice and slow if necessary.

I think I've determined that my sleep problems are due to work stress. I don't wake up nearly as often on nights after which there is no work day. Still waking up every couple of hours Sunday through Thursday; still don't know what to do about it.

Once again, I've decided that I hate my clothes. I went to TJ Maxx after work and found nothing I wanted, or at least not at the price I wanted to pay. Actually, there was a rust-colored merino turtleneck that I did like, but there was a small hole at a noticeable place, so I had to pass. I need someone to dress me.

Adventure Girl

Okay, that may be a bit strong, but it'll still be a break in the routine, which I desperately need.

Next weekend I am going to an Artist's Way workshop at Kripalu Center (that's kree-pah-loo, not cripple-you) in Lenox, Massachusetts. I am in desperate need of a change of scenery and a bit of a break from normal life, and this should definitely fill both requirements. I'm not entirely sure what to expect, but I'm trying my best to go with an open mind. I'm sure you'll be able to read all about it, a la my New York trip, when I return.

I know it's been a few days since I last posted, and I'd been doing so well, but sitting at the front desk for 4 out of 5 work days zapped my energy and through me all off kilter so that all I wanted to do when I got home was as much of nothing as possible.

I have been knitting, though. I finished the cuff of my mom's first sock (my weird energy levels have precluded a start on the heel -- maybe tomorrow) and am making my way through the decrease rows on the back of Big Sack. I've also added a few rows to my own sock cuff, but that is the one that loses out most of the time at this point. I'll take knitting with me next weekend, but it will be the panel for the baby blanket that time forgot. Mindless garter stitch seems to make the most sense for this particular excursion. I did identify a yarn shop, Colorful Stitches, to check out while I am there -- my first afternoon, most likely.

I managed to maintain my Morning Pages all week, even with the slightly wacky schedule, and this evening I even tried working on something else, so even the anticipation of this trip seems to be having a positive effect.

I will not be knitting with Rachel Marie and Michelle tomorrow afternoon because we have a family luncheon to attend. I let Rachel know Friday evening when I went to Gallery 141 for First Friday. The open gallery events are good and popular, but when it's cold and dark I tend not to go. I'm glad I got talked into it yesterday.

That's it, I'm done, I'll try to be good about posting this week, but I make no guarantees.

Warm...Palms

No, seriously. My new fingerless mitts are very warm and cozy, but wearing them to scrape my windshield when the temperature was in the teens wasn't the most effective demonstration of their abilities.

That's pretty much all I have to say, except: Does anyone know of an effective way to get a 34-year-old (me) to sleep through the night? I'm feeling like I'm worse than a newborn here. I don't have much of a problem falling asleep initially, but staying that way just doesn't happen. I look at the clock every couple of hours between the time I go to bed and the time my alarm goes off. I'm considering Tylenol PM tonight, but I'm a little leery of taking stuff like that.

'Night all.