New Socks, New Yarn

No, I didn't buy new yarn... I just finished spinning up some fiber that has been on the wheel for a couple of months... for shame! The fiber was from Pigeonroof Studios on Etsy, in the "Bruise" colorway. It's a merino/ seacell blend, and I ended up with 418 yards of sock weight yarn. I am thinking that I will be knitting this up as gift socks, but have not totally decided yet.


Up next, a simple pair of ribbed socks, a gift for my brother. He doesn't read this blog, and even if he does... well, I'd be surprised, just as surprised as he'd be to see his new socks! They are big and baggy on me, and have been tried on by a dude with appropriately sized feet, so I assume they'll fit nicely. I tried Kraemer Yarn Saucon Sock for these; it's a rather nice blend of cotton, acrylic and nylon. I liked knitting with it, and it feels like it will wear well, too.

Next up, ONline Supersocke yarn; Priscilla's Dream Socks pattern. Short row toe and heel, toe up, and they fit quite nicely. I am also thinking I might give these away, but haven't decided yet.

There are also three unphotographed sweaters waiting in the wings... I am waiting for the 'perfect storm' of photography conditions, which would include:
1. Me being showered with my hair looking nice
2. The sweaters being around
3. A camera being around
4. Someone else being around who could photograph me
5. The light being good for getting nice pictures of my groovy sweaters
6. All of the above being true, AND me remembering!

These 'perfect storm' moments are few and far between, unfortunately. Two of the three sweaters turned out AWESOME, and I"m a little on the fence about the third. Stay tuned!

Bead Crochet

For a long time now, I have avoided listing things on Etsy because I just loathe photographing jewelry, and do not enjoy the listing process in general. However, I finally took a bunch of photos the other day - about 175 of them in less than 30 minutes, actually... and some of them were totally usable, after some cropping and such. Here are a few of the photos:






I think the rainbow on black one is my favorite picture. Anyway, as I was listing the bracelets in my Etsy Shop, someone actually bought one of them - it was very exciting! I guess I ought to go ahead and list things every so often. Too bad I hate it so much!

Tomorrow is Friday, and I'm looking forward to it. For whatever reason, it's been a dog of a week... going by very slowly and my time at work has felt kind of stressful. Fortunately, I have a social worker staff meeting first thing tomorrow morning, which means that I will get the chance to sit quietly and soak in social worky knowledge for a few hours before reentering the hubbub of being in a middle school.

Speaking of work, I am continuing to tutor after school. The extra money is certainly nice, but I have to be honest... I love me some free time, and the tutoring is really cramping my style. It's not immediately after work; I tutor about 1 1/2 hours after I get out of school. that's not quite enough to get out and exercise (and clean up afterwards), just enough time to go grocery shopping... but I will think twice about tutoring again in the future.

Time to sleep...

I did it.

I ripped out the entire sweater. I have cast on again and have knit three rows. I'm feeling a little whimpery about it, to be honest, but I guess I will just keep trucking!

Rrrrrrrippppp.

Dagnabbit! I finally have some more time to knit for myself, and the sweater I'm already halfway done with is DEFINITELY too big. It's supposed to fit nice and snug; here is a photo of the Gathered Pullover of which I speak. I have knit all the way up to the armpit (in the round), and finished the rest of the front... so I tried it on. It is nice and loose, nowhere near the snug, body skimming fit that is appropriate for the style/cut of the sweater. Rats!

So, I am going to have to rip the entire thing out. Yarrrrgh! I am tempted not to rip the body out just yet, and to knit up the sleeves first so I feel like I'm actually making progress. However, I'm going to an all day workshop tomorrow, so 11 inches of circular stockinette might be just the right speed for the day. We'll see.

In other disappointing news, I did not win the NH Powerball lottery drawing last night. Bummer, dude.

CT Sheep & Wool

Yeah, it's been almost a week since this event, but hey, at least I finally got to it! Last Saturday, Marianne and I drove down to Connecticut to check out the small but mighty CT Sheep & Wool show. It really only took us about an hour to walk through the whole thing twice, but... there were some lovely vendors and adorable animals. There was some beautiful alpaca yarn calling my name, but I resisted by thinking about how well I've been doing on my budget, and also thinking about my still gigantic stash waiting to be knit up!

It was a very, very warm day, and was really the first 'shorts appropriate' day so far this year... we went from the 60's to the 90's in one fell swoop! The animals were all panting and looking very hot... of course, you can't tell in the pictures, but I promise it's true.


"Shear me next... I'm hot!"

Mellow Llama:

*chewchewchew*

This here was the teeny, tiny, teensy tiniest baby dwarf goat in the world. I wish there was something in the picture to show the scale... she weighed maybe a couple of pounds, I'd say. She didn't have a name, as she had just been born 3 days ago, and they weren't sure she'd live, because her mommy stomped her. :( Here, she is jumping and looking very lively. It's the least blurry of the action shots....
um, except for the peeing shot. A baby goat has got to go sometimes, you know?

Aaaaand here is another peeing animal picture. I know, I know... typical. This here is a brace of oxen named Tom and Jerry, who were 1600 and 1800 pounds. Again, the scale is not evident, but these dudes were LARGE and in charge. They were giving oxcart rides, and looked VERY hot. One of them was drooling quite profusely, and his drool threads were being blown around by the breeze - you couldn't get too close!
It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. It's a much smaller show than MA or NH, but still worth the time, especially on a nice day. If you recall, it was at this show that I bought my spinning wheel last year. It was cold and sorta rainy at the show last year, so I suppose it is still possible to have fun when it is not nice out, but still, I know which I prefer!

A Visit to the Decordova

If you live in this neck of the woods and want a nice place to walk around outdoors and see some sculptures, I recommend the Decordova Museum. However, when the heck did they start charging money? I was so irritated! Fortunately, it was a Sunday and they stop charging at 5PM, and we arrived at 4:45, so we went elsewhere for 15 minutes. All's well that ends well.

We used those 15 minutes to stop at the Lincoln Library:







Now, it is true that most of the pictures aren't even of the library, but whatever. That's how I roll.

Once we were at the Decordova, there were tons of sculptures to photograph. Here are a few of them, with a few nature shots mixed in, of course.











It was a beautiful afternoon, although a stiff breeze cooled things down a bit more than anticipated. The same cannot be said for this past weekend, which soared into the 80's! We'll evidently see 90 tomorrow, and it will then plummet back down into the 60's for the next week or so. Never a dull moment!

I'm in the Paper!

Click here to read the article!

So, there is not a photo online, but my smiling face made the actual article in the paper. It's an article about various girls' nights out, and the Lowell knitting gals made the cut!

There was one quote that I was afraid they were going to throw in there... at one point, I confessed that one year, I calculated that I had spent... um... $4000 on knitting stuff. (Yes, you may faint now) This was a long time ago, and I have no excuse for such lavishness. I'm willing to bet that all of that yarn has been knitted up by now, though, and as of this time for 2009, I have only spent $36 all year on yarn.

I got off lucky, though, and that ill-thought-out statement did not make the cut. However, one important quote got in there... "I think it's... really important to keep up female friendships." I stand behind that quote 100%. Over the course of my life, there have been periods of time where I did not have a lot of close female friendships, and I gotta tell ya... those times are not so great. Female friends provide a type of closeness, camaraderie, and support that a guy friend (or boyfriend/lover/what have you) just don't offer, and friendship is different from a romantic relationship. I think if I had to choose between being single but with a good group of girl friends, or being partnered but with no friends, I'd go with the former. Of course, I'm aiming to have both!

April vacation is coming up quickly. Today and tomorrow will probably go by pretty fast - our school has a Cambodian New Year show today. Students will be performing traditional dances and such - it's really cool. And tomorrow, I have an out-of-the-building meeting that lasts all morning, so tomorrow will go by quickly, as well. Then, a week of relaxing and perhaps even crossing a couple of things off the to-do list. I have populated the to-do list with a bunch of fun stuff... I want to try and make bagels, and an authentic mole' sauce, for instance. Unfortunately, I also have an appointment with a bank to review my mortgage (boring) and I think I'll get the garbage disposal replaced, too (money I wish I didn't have to spend).

Have a good one, everyone!

Jogging and Blisters and Allergies, Oh My!

So, I have been slowly and consistently increasing the amount of time/distance that I've been jogging, going out a couple of times a week, adding a minute or two to the total jog time each time I go out. It still feels like a struggle - I don't feel relaxed and comfortable yet, but I'm muscling my way through it. Muscles. Suuuuure, Amanda, lots and lots of muscles. *eyeroll*

At the same time, the weather has been getting warmer out, and if I go jogging in the afternoon after work, it has been shorts and t-shirt weather. Know what that means? I had forgotten all about it, actually... it means sweaty feet and BLISTERS. If you go all the way back to the beginning of this blog, you'll get a nice photo of one of the juicy blisters I tend to get when running. It's awful! Anyway, it seems that I do best running in 30-45 degree weather for this reason. Dagnabbit! And before you make a suggestion, I have tried various shoes, socks, no socks, powders, taping, lubing, etc. etc. etc. I have even toughened up that area of the foot... I blister UNDER the callus instead. It's ridiculous, really.

Additionally, a couple of years ago, I started suffering from springtime seasonal allergies. And of course, I have been telling myself that this was a fluke, and that I don't REALLY have allergies. However, when I came back in from my jog yesterday, I sneezed about 50 times until I rushed into the shower, ostensibly to rinse the pollen off of me. Time to get out that neti pot more than every few days, I suppose... Yeah, I guess I really do have allergies.

I am getting dangerously close to finishing my most recent knitting project, but have run into another error in the pattern. The other errors, of which there were several, were all easily sorted out without much head scratching, but this last one is a doozy. It may require some time consuming trial and error, but rest assured, there will be FO pics very soon!

The Surlies

Do you ever come down with a case of 'The Surlies', where you just feel surly for no good reason? I have been a bit crabby today, and also not very hungry at all, which is very odd indeed. I don't feel sick. I've been quite able to pull it together and be pleasant and polite and even cheerful toward other people as needed, but I really didn't FEEL like it.

In unsurly news, I have a couple of projects for myself that are quite close to completion. Here is a closeup of some knot stitches in the High Neck Lace Top (ravelry link) that I am about 75% finished with:




I was told that the knots looked like nipples by a non knitter... perhaps that is why I was drawn to the pattern!?!

A TERRIBLE Start to the Day!

My phone rang this morning before I had gotten out of bed. Fortunately, I decided to answer it, and it was my neighbor, telling me my car was getting towed! I threw on a pair of jeans under my wee nightie, and grabbed a jacket and my keys, and ran across the street in a most inappropriate state of semi-dress. I believe I was still wearing my night guard, but gracefully yanked it out before addressing the tow truck operator.

The upshot was that yes, he'd drop my car back down for a modest $75, in cash. The silly part of all of this is that I have NEVER, in all of the 4 1/2 years of living where I do, EVER, parked in that parking lot. I figured, hey, I'll be out of there by 7:30, who will care? Evidently, the owners of the parking lot care. Fortunately, so do my neighbors Brett and Suzz, and I am incredibly grateful that I had a car to drive to work in today!

On a more positive note, I had a nice evening last night after my bike ride. My friend came over and we wandered around downtown Lowell taking pictures. One of these days, I'd like to take a hobbyist photography course of some sort - I'd like to get even better shots than the ones that I do, as well as learn a few more tricks along the way.

Here are a couple of the photos I took:

Door on St. Ann's Church:


Canal next to Middlesex Community College:


Reflection in window at St. Ann's Church:


Lock doors behind Doubletree:


Desiccated, thorny plant with spider web:


I took a whole bunch of photos, but only edited/ cropped a few of them.

Ooh, today I am starting my tutoring job after work today! It is going to feel like a very long work day... I'm not used to working that many hours in a row! I will have to let you all know how it goes today...

Beautiful Day!

Wow, what a lovely day today turned out to be! The high winds cooled things off a bit, but it was sunny and warm for an early April day.

I managed to go for a bike ride outdoors, as well. I had a bit of a tough time getting started... I had decided to drive a few miles out of the city center so that the whole ride would be quiet and pleasant, and when I got to my destination (Gary's Ice Cream, yum), I realized I did not have my cycling shoes with me. Sooooo, back home to get the shoes. Try #2 was better, but I realized a few miles in that my water bottle was still in the car! I gazed adoringly at other cyclists' bottles, and even at a couple of brownish streams here and there... it made that lime rickey at Gary's that much more delicious once the ride was done!

I rode for about 1 1/4 hours; no clue how far I went. I kind of don't want to know, because I'm afraid it's like 12 miles or something embarrassing like that! Okay, it's probably longer than that, but still. I don't wanna know.

It was pretty windy, and my legs are a bit out of shape, but it was still beautiful out there. There was one point where I was riding past a place with a bunch of cows... the manure was making me feel a bit gaggy... but I survived!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Can't Sleep.

I hate it when that happens! I even got into bed nice and early, like 10pm. 2 1/2 hours later, I have given up and am on the computer. I did find this, and would like to share it with you - you know on hand dryers they have the icons that show you what's going to happen? Well, here is another interpretation of the photos.



Oh, if only it were true.

All right, time to strive for sleep again...

Meet Max!

I know, two posts in one hour... but I had to give him his own post. I got the "okay" from his parents to post his picture online, so here goes!

My nephew was born this past Saturday! I have seen a few pictures, and even got to see him on video over Skype last night - he is all cute and great and I adore him already!

Here he is, modestly shielding his face from the paparazzi:


And here he is with Mom and Dad (my brother and his wife), looking all elf (or dwarf?) like for the trip home.


Now, August seems sooooo far away - that is when I booked a trip to go out for a visit. Max, I will totally bring presents, okay?

When it Rains, it Pours

While this IS a great post title for the nearing onset of April, it's not the reason I chose the title. There is a much better, much more long-winded reason for my title choice!

I have made many mentions of my plan to pay down certain amounts of debt over the next few years, and have also mentioned that I am still sticking to the plan. Actually, I just crunched the numbers for March, and not only did I meet my monthly paydown goal, I have a little over $100 surplus for the month. That might not seem like a lot, but trust me.... the paydown goal is really aggressive, and to have anything left over at the end of the month is quite an accomplishment!

Aaaaanyway, what is it raining in my world this year, ever since making this goal? It's raining part time jobs, believe it or not! Now, the jewelry 'business' has been slumping quite a bit, so I'm not really counting that, but I have that part time babysitting job and the knitting job already. And as of yesterday, I was offered another part time job out of the blue! I was running a little later than I would have liked to get to work (although still not technically late). I passed by a coworker from the downtown office, and she said, "I have your name on my desk." Hm, why might that be? Turns out, I had put in an application to tutor expelled students at the beginning of the year, but nothing had materialized from that. But now, there is a position available at a local homeless shelter for someone to help the kids who live there with their homework. I would get to use my social work skills, too, because the grant funding goals include family support, as well as generalized educational/social/academic support for the kids. I have an 'interview' on Wednesday, but was basicallly told by my pal from the downtown office, "let me know what hours you decide upon with the shelter manager". Wow. "Pardon me, ma'am, would you like a job that is just perfect for you?" "Why yes, yes I would." *insert several more wows here*

I think I have more jobs than I know what to do with at this point, but I am incredibly grateful to have this type of problem! There is also the possibility of part time work over the summer, which would be pretty cool. How did I get to be so lucky???

Almost April!

March is a very tedious month in the field of education, as I believe I have mentioned before. The thrill of snow and cold weather is definitely over, and kids and educators alike are suffering from cabin fever. There are no long weekends in March, and it's just one grindingly long day after another. The teachers are frazzled, and the kids pick up on that... and act like untrained monkeys (minus the poo flinging, in most instances). These untrained monkeys are sent to me in droves as teachers' abilities to wrangle them into their seats decreases - it's been interesting, to say the least.

At any rate, this dreadful month (referred to as the "longest three months of the school year" by a former coworker) will be over quite soon, and this is rather good news to me. Yes, April brings lots of sogginess and rain, but rain does not need to be shoveled or scraped off the car at the end of the day. April means that there will be days where a light jacket will do for warmth, rather than a scarf and heavy coat. April means a long weekend for Easter, and a week off for April vacation. April means spending time outside without preparing for frostbite prevention, it means green stuff will start to grow again outside, and it means longer amounts of daylight after work. The kids are able to get outside and run around and burn off that untrained monkey energy, and the school year is 3/4 over. All good things.

Speaking of good things, my nephew Max was born over the weekend! He considerately did most of the work of coming out during regular daytime hours, although I doubt that helped the new mom and dad get any sleep that night! I will post a picture once I get permission to do so from the parents... some people do not wish their kids' photos to be shared on the internet, and I'd like to respect those wishes! Of course, to me, he looks like MY side of the family, but I"m sure the other side of the family is thinking the same thing! In all reality, he just looks teeny and squished and raisiny, just like any baby, but he sure is cute to me.

Well, back to wild monkey wrangling... happy almost April, everyone!

The Decision

So, I went ahead and decided to do the triathlon. It's a short one, 1/4 mile swim, 8 mile bike, 3.1 mile (5k) run. I have done a bunch of triathlons in the past, but we're really talking about the distant past at this point, particularly given my current physical conditioning levels! I am decidedly more husky than I was when I was doing triathlons regularly, and man... you can fool yourself about the significance of that extra weight during regular life, but NOT when you try to go out for a run or squeeze into your old cycling shorts. NOT. PRETTY. Cycling clothing can make certain people look like superheroes... I think my current look is much more akin to that of a sausage.

mmmmmm. sausage.

I shot off a quick email to the race organizers to inquire about the course conditions, notably, the average water temperature and the hilliness of the bike/run. I received a speedy response: the water temp is generally around 71-74, and the bike/run has "rolling hills". Sure, I would have liked to have received words that included "fast" and "flat", but... that is not the case. I suppose I will need to chart out some hillier bike and run courses, yes?

I sat on my bicycle for the first time in a while about a week ago and again last night. People, racing saddles are so very narrow. So very, very narrow. So narrow that I suspect the entire saddle is invisible to the observer, having hidden itself so far up my behind. (oh, my!) Will my posterior ever adjust? I do hope so. Hm, now that I think about it, it does not seem to hurt at this very moment, so maybe things are looking up. Otherwise, I might be tempted to purchase a new saddle, which might well push me over the precipice of the extremely slippery slope that is... PURCHASING TRI GEEK GEAR. Fortunately, I own an awful lot of tri-geek gear already... wetsuit, neoprene helmet for cold water swimming, aero bars, cycling shoes, various outfits, race belts, fuel belt, snazzy sunglasses, helmet, indoor trainer, etc. etc. etc... but I will most certainly need a new trisuit (see above 'sausage' reference) and possibly a new saddle, and maybe some Endurox R4, Hammer gel, bike gloves... you see where this could possibly lead!

I have also been thinking about the fact that we are entering the rainy season. I'm mentally preparing myself for some very damp runs and bike rides. Bleaugh!

Anyway, it's Friday, people! Even better, it's lunch time! This weekend promises to be a good one: weekly chores are already finished (except for vacuuming, so wear socks if you're coming over); the weather may be nice enough for an outdoor bike ride tomorrow, and tomorrow evening I'm going to a Horrorthon (10 hours of scary movies) at a friend's house. What fun!

Oh, Brother.

So, it is possible that my friend Katy may be talking me into doing a triathlon this summer. She has never done one, and it has been a few years since I have done one... it is very safe to say that both of us have a lot of work to do if this thing is actually going to happen.

More details later... I already have my jogging outfit laid out for after work today. Wish me luck!

Happy Spring!

So no, this picture is not from this year, but I am looking forward to spying arrival of the first flowers, to be sure!

How is it only Wednesday???

I guess some weeks tick by a bit slower than others. Not sure what it is about this particular week that makes it feel like the second hand got stuck and is plinking against some invisible barrier, working like heck to make the next second pass. By right, this week should be sailing delightfully by - spring has been flirting with us, with tweeting birds in the morning, warm springy air on our faces in the afternoon, sunlight still available for our enjoyment well past 6 PM.

But, nooooooo. For some reason, I am getting a "Groundhog Day" feeling about this week, like, "wasn't it just Wednesday YESTERDAY???" Evidently, it was not, much to my dismay.

ANYway... did everyone have a nice St. Patrick's Day? I did nothing St. Patricky other than wearing a greenish shirt to work, and going to an Irish pub the day before... things were pretty dead in there, actually. I met up with some Lowell area knitting friends, and we had a nice time, until a very slurringly drunk 'gentleman' decided it was high time to come on over and chat us up. Oh, it was a train wreck. His opening line was something to the effect that if he was sitting with us, he would see it as a very big insult that we were knitting... like we were ignoring our table mates. Yeah, way to go dude... alienate every single person at the table with your opening statement! I contradicted him, and he then guessed (sharp one, he was) that I was the one at the table who thought he was rude and obnoxious.

Things only went downhill from there, and he got angrier and angrier with each thing I said to him. I finally told him to leave us alone (much more politely than he deserved), but it took a few tries to get him to buzz off. Poor, poor drunk Patrick... he's probably home blogging about those arrogant b!tches at the bar who wouldn't give his wonderful self the time of day... wouldn't that be apt!

For those who are interested, I am continuing to do well with my new year's financial challenge to myself. Perhaps at the 6 month mark, I will make a more detailed report on that front.

Knitting: I continue to be knitting for other people, so have no new pictures, although I may have a new spinning picture for you within the next week - stay tuned!

Knitting Content!

Yes, yes, yes! I have knitting to share. Last weekend, I went to "SPA" weekend up in Freeport, Maine. There was yarn, fiber, and there were many, many knitters and spinners. It was very relaxing and I enjoyed myself. Also, I only spent $16 on yarn/fiber! We will not, however, discuss my meal budget, which was slightly higher. SLIGHTLY.

Here there be mittens!



The pattern is Bella's Mittens (Ravelry link) by Marielle Henault. The yarn is Classic Elite Tryst, which is 100% cashmere. These mittens are deliciously soft! I added two cable repeats to make them long enough... they were way too short for me otherwise. If you make these mittens, definitely try them on before decreasing for the fingertips... or else you risk having to back up and do some lengthening. My hands are not as long as you would think give my height, so I know of what I speak.

Next up, some handspun yarn! I got the fiber from Lynne/ Witchypoo, who dyed up this hot, hot, hot pink superwash merino just for me. I spun it up right away, since I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out!


It's pink, all right! I got about 425 yards of sock weight yarn... those are going to be some exciting socks!

And finally, some fiber that I got from Sereknity... we bartered - fiber for jewelry. Looky those colors!



Well, here ends the fibery update... hopefully, there will be more soonish!

For those of you who live in my general area of the world... how 'bout that weather today - it was gorgeous!!! I was out of the house all day, and left the windows open... my apartment smelled so fresh and airy when I got home. It was verrrrry nice.