Category Archives: Knitting, Spinning, & Weaving

Friday!

Not that it makes much of a difference in my world, but it is.

I am feeling much, much better than yesterday. Eleven hours of good sleep count for a lot. The pain in the throat/sinus area has diminished to a much less distracting level without me having to throw ASA at it, although it is still somewhat swollen, and although I am achy (as usual) I don’t have to fight the yawning void of lassitude that was sucking at me yesterday. Or at least I don’t have to fight it as hard. So, back into the editorial fray! There is work to be done! Also, I get to invoice for some work today, which is always fun.

I have not knitted in a week. How odd. It occurs to me now that knitting is something I could have done yesterday afternoon when I dragged myself off to bed.

Oh look; it’s snowing again.

Boy’s Post Up, Plus A Brief Weekend Review

I finally published the 43-month post for the boy, and backdated it. It had been sitting there for quite some time, only missing photos. So that’s done.

Other than that, well, I finished knitting my slippers and had fun felting for the very first time. The slippers fit my feet fine around the foot, but ended up two inches too long and pointy instead of rounded. I suspect I misread part of the pattern that said ‘knit till 22 cm long;’ I measured from the start of the piece instead of from the last increase, thereby missing about three or four inches of knitting. I’ll try again with the different measurement to see what happens. In the meantime they are warm, which is what I wanted, and after cutting two inches off the not-supposed-to-be-pointy toes and seaming them shut, they’re fine for home use. Although I took them to my cello lesson yesterday and my teacher thought they were great, and has asked for the pattern. So. Also, the machine felting was much more exciting than it should have been. (I take my fun where I can get it.)

I still have the 7/8; I called to make an appointment for the adjustments and the evaluation of the slice/scratch/cut thing last Saturday and the people who I needed to look at it weren’t there. I’ll call them at the Montreal store this week and make an appointment with them for Friday night. Rental is $75 per month for a cello for at least two months, and 70% of the rental fee goes toward eventual purchase of whatever, which is good news. I had a very frustrating cello lesson on Sunday, which I would like to think means I’m plateauing and am about to make some sort of brilliant breakthrough, but I suspect only reflects the general fatigue and frustration of the weekend. We’d been invited out for dinner Saturday night but had to decline due to a previous engagement, which ended up being cancelled by the other person involved two hours before it was supposed to begin, which didn’t do much for my mood this weekend, either. Especially since we’d had a second invitation for Saturday night that we’d also turned down.

On the other hand, the boy had his first official pagan playgroup session yesterday morning (which he is already calling ‘circle’) and had a blast casting the circle with singing and instrument-playing and marching, talking about spring and the return of the sun, planting seeds and making Brigid’s crosses out of pipe-cleaners, then having a snack afterwards. I suspect that he would much prefer something more frequent than once a month.

I’ve finally downloaded iTunes to test-run it as a possible alternative to WMP and purchasing music via eMusic. Other than that, I am generally exhausted, and have had not-nice headaches the past three days. But I ate a piece of chocolate cake for breakfast. So there.

Done

My latest assignment has been handed in, and I’m exhausted. This one really drained me. I’ve told them that I need to take a couple of weeks off to work on my other stuff; I can’t keep juggling it all.

I can’t face opening Orchestrated right now. I need to walk away from the computer for a bit. I’d start messing about with the lightsaber pattern but I don’t have the correct size DPNs or yarn. I’ll work on my slippers instead.

I wish I could muster up some enthusiasm for orchestra tonight. All I want to do is have a hot bath and go to bed. I’m having a lot of problems managing my energy levels these days, which is mostly fibro-related, and somewhat connected to the weather and the season as well.

Hrm. Taking a couple of Tylenol might help, too.

Awesome

My friends are awesome. Most of you know this, because you are either a friend in real life, or you have read here before how awesome they are.

Today’s proof of awesome: Ceri just bought me a knitting pattern so I can make a lightsaber for the boy. Ceri is made of awesome.

I’ve been having a really tough time lately for a variety of reasons. This, and the news about how advanced the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie is (they’re filming in Toronto this spring!) have been the highlights of the past two days.

As of Monday afternoon I’ve also been negotiating another book project. Not mine, exactly; picking up someone else’s anthology collection after their departure. More news once things settle and we see where they are.

Five Random Things Make A Post

1. Yes, I know I haven’t done the monthly Liam post. They take up a stupid amount of of time and energy and brainpower, none of which I’ve had lately.

2. Why does every outing with the boy have to be ruined by the five minutes at the end between turning off the car and getting in the front door?

3. Liam pointed at the cedar tree by the front steps on our way to this morning and said, “Look, snow!” “That’s not snow,” I said, “that’s ice crystals that have formed because the very moisture in the air is freezing.” And then we had a talk about Frozone from The Incredibles and how he needs water in the air to make ice. Freaking cold, yes, but everything is white and strangely beautiful. Sun would make it even more beautiful, but not for long because the frost would melt. Also, I saw the seaway steaming on the way home from dropping him off yesterday morning. It’s that cold. (Yay for sublimation! Science is cool!)

4. Two inches into my garter stitch lap blanket, I want to rip it all back and do it in stockinette stitch instead.

5. There is an inch of ice on the bottom of the boy’s bedroom windows. And I don’t mean measured from the top to the bottom, I mean from the window out into the room. Also, there is frost forming on the inside of the back door. (I am Canadian; I talk about the weather a lot.)

And a bonus:

6. Irony is doing your errands in the West Island and driving right past the bank branch where you need to deposit (in person, therefore during business hours, therefore when the car it at your disposal) the US cheque that arrived in your mailbox while you were out.

Misled

You know your mind is really trying to distract you when it comes up with the idea of transcribing Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love” for the cello. Leonard’s slightly menacing version, of course; none of these cheerful boppy covers.

    My mind: No, really! It would be *awesome*!

    Me: Not today, it wouldn’t.

    My mind: But but but — it would be cool! It would sound great on the cello!

    Me: Transcribing it would take forever. I have no reason to do it, and it would sound odd as a solo piece. And I’d need at least a bass to back me up. Possibly also a piano. Not that I have anywhere to play it.

    My mind: You know people who play both!

    Me: SHUT UP. I’m working.

ETA @ 4:00: The interview’s as done as it’s going to get today; I’ll proof the first draft tomorrow during the boy’s nap before sending it off. I am going to metaphorically plug my fingers in my ears to ignore the weird Leonard Cohen thing, and cast on the blanket instead. I should keep working on Bodhifox’s hat but the needles and yarn are both smaller/finer and my hands feel clunky today because of the cold. The slippers have a pattern repeat and so would take too much attention. Also, well, shiny new project. So sue me.

Hangs Head And Is Listless

I bought a plastic? resin? metal? circular needle this morning for my next knitting project. The shop did actually have wooden ones in the size and length I needed, but the tips were uber-dull and I knew they’d be more hassle than they were worth. Anyway, so I now have a 29″ size 10 circular needle, which means the missing one with wooden tips that I’ve been searching for since last week should show up any minute now.

I also bought a bronzey-brown (the colour’s called ‘Toast’) and a blue (‘Admiral’, of all things) yarn for the lap blanket that will be my mindless garter-stitch project. I only picked up half of what I’ll need, though, because it’s acrylic (I cry a little, here) and I may end up hating it. I’ve used some of my craft-stash acrylic for practise and it has been awful. But it was acrylic or nothing since the cats have taken to chewing on wool-content yarn, cotton just felt wrong, and soy was ye-gods expensive for the amount I’d need. This is just a silly lap throw that will be on my office chair, not art. Also, as much as I love shopping at the yarn stores, they sell expensive yarn and I don’t have a lot of money right now, so acrylic it is. (Sob. Even though it is very soft acrylic.)

I’m halfway done those interview questions. I started knitting my slippers yesterday, and may well cast on the lap blanket this afternoon when I can no longer stand the interview. I expected the boy to be home with me today but he ended up going off to the caregiver’s after all, so I do have the time to work. Yesterday was not a great day, which is why the interview didn’t get done and was rescheduled to today, pushing Orchestrated off to next week. That’s okay; I felt no desire to work on it anyway. The beginning of the week was fantastic, but I suspect that driving to get the proofs and the freelance project done (and the unexpected mess of the ms. for review that led to many more hours invested in handling it than I expected) burned me out a bit, leaving me listless yesterday. My back hurts, which does not held the sitting-at-the-computer-working thing much.

We had our first orchestra rehearsal of the year last night, where we met our new guest conductor. She is, in fact, a cellist, and I’m really kind of excited about that because it means she’ll actually work with our section instead of pretty much ignoring us, even though I suspect it also means she’ll be extra-picky about our sound. That’s both intimidating and motivating. She asked the celli to play measures 241 and 242 in the first movement of Beethoven’s fourth symphony, then told the rest of the strings to “play it just like that.” It was really, really nice to hear on the first day back after the holiday break, especially because we were sight-reading it. It almost offset the oh-my-gods-you-can’t-be-serious treble clef cello line in the Carillon of the Bizet suite. (Last time we played this was my first year with the orchestra; I seem to remember the principal playing a solo there. This time, I’m going to do my damndest to play it, and I can lean on my teacher for help.)

Back to the interview.