Insanity

That's what I have in my life right now. Job insanity, house insanity,

MOVING INSANITY.

I kid you not. We move in 10 days (that until recently was like 20 days and suddenly things change) I am in full blown "throw it away" mode, only bother to Freecycle stuff I really know is of value that someone might want and leaving the rest in our alley neatly exposed for the time honored Chicago tradition of Alley Shopping (aka dumpster diving).

My house is an utter, total wreck. Our 3 cats have become schiztoid alien monsters darting around our ankles, entangling us dangerously every time we begin to move with a box. They're freaked out because they've done this before. They know there's a whole new house coming for them to inspect (secretly fear) , a new (GASP) cat bathroom spot (which is almost the worst fate EVER for a cat) and the absolute WORST fate, a C-A-R-R-I-D-E-I-N-T-H-E-F-R-I-G-G-I-N-C-A-R-R-I-E-R (aka Alcatraz, Prison, Nylon Death Sentence)

I want to kill everyone here except the Pleco in the fishtank. I feel sorry for him, I think he's slowly starving while the grotesque black moor greedily grabs his algae tabs. He and I could cohabit happily right now, I think. (he is formally known as a Rubber Lipped Plecostomus and I'm prolly spelling the P word wrong, so what)

I've had a little job stress recently that expands my feelings of murderous lack of patience to an explosive level. I can only applaud my partner, Jack. She is acquiring the patience of a saint in dealing with me these days. Working all day and packing all night makes Lis a cranky monkey.

I have pictures to post but of course now that I have a new computer I can't find most of the software for my stuff, like my camera. I took the pics tonight (including the yet neglected cat stitch markers from my friend) and will upload all of them tomorrow without fail with very little dialogue.

Good news in my world is that I have tickets to hear the Yarn Harlot speak in Oak Lawn, IL in late April, actually the night before the Margaret Cho concert that Jack and I are going to. We also have tickets to Cyndi Lauper (hmmmmm) who has the B52's (squee!) opening for her in June and a Chicago Philharmonic event in May.

May? WAIT..that's my Avon Breast Cancer Walk.

I need to start training to knit simple socks while walking. I will kill the women I walk with if I cannot occupy my hands for 39 miles. In addition I have Lorna's Lace's breast cancer donation colorway here to use! I would love to be able to memorize one of the ribbon sock patterns I've seen to do during this walk but that might be stretching it..k2, p2 ribbing might be best.

Good news again..Jack bought me an early Easter prezzie. I've been grumbling about disassembling furniture here and I have a brand new, very cool electric screwdriver sort of thingee. It has many many lil bits that fit into it's hex drill bittie thingee, it reverses to unscrew with the touch of a finger and it's so totally comfortable in the hand. So much so that I performed weird and uncomfortable machinations to photograph this for you. Something to look forward to tomorrow. (All of you butch women laughing at me for my description of the hex drill opening can kiss my arse-ask my butch, I'm so anal about my tools it makes her look careless AND she works for Home Freakin Depot!)

So far I'm at 27% of my goal for my breast cancer walk which I guess is not so bad with 2 months to go! I worry a little since I had to sign to guarantee 1800 bucks on Walk day whether or not I'd fundraised it but I think there's time. We'll see..

Until next time!

Oh wait, that's tomorrow with the pics..nearly forgot, getting old, yanno.

Lis

A Wheel!

Ok, folks..some of you know I've been lusting after a wheel for freaking ever. I've been putting lil bits of money into a jar at my house, haunting Craigslist on a daily basis and generally believing that 'the right' wheel would present itself at the right time, keeping all that universal karma copacetic, yada yada yada.

Sure enough, it did and I did and now we have what appears to be a homemade, handmade spinning wheel here at the house along with a set of carders and a box of horribly deteriorated quilts with a lot of perfectly useable wool batting in between the layers. It needs some fixing up and I'm scheduling with my LYS's spinning instructor to go over it and figure out how to make it go but it looks damn good as is..someone loved this wheel and now I do too.

Look at how carefully someone repaired this split in the wheel...

The carders are interesting also..they have "M Ward" imprinted faintly on the back and appear to be in reasonable shape although I'll have to let Meg be the judge of that..

Better still yet, my new 'face to face' knitting buddy Cat sent me a surprise today from an Etsy vendor..a beautiful set of glass lamp bead cat stitch markers with a cool pin of a big orange cat (much like our beloved Em) with a red, white and blue sweatband on her cranky looking head! Too cute! The stitch markers will surely help with the Icelandic shawl as it is trying to kick my butt. Thanks Cat! Meeting you was awesome, calling you my friend is even better! I'll post pics of the markers tomorrow when I get my camera into the office!

Obsessed

I've come to the conclusion that obsessive and knitter go hand in hand. If this isn't true, I don't really want to know!

I've been obsessively swatching for my first sweater and was AMAZED last night at my LYS when Zoe said "I don't want to bust your bubble but you should swatch again" and I didn't lose it..I didn't get upset, I said "ok, if that's what you think" and here I am swatching again with new needles that I actually intend to USE to knit this sweater.

Never mind the new obsession with Lantern Moon needles and my firm conviction that I must have one of EVERY size possible in Ebony or Blond wood like yesterday.

On a different note, I'm very excited to be travelling to Raleigh, NC next week and an opportunity to meet Cat, the owner of a group I help moderate, I Love KandCAlongs!

Just a short update...I'd do pics but my home computer no longer 'see's' my digital camera so it's a pain..We have new laptops on the way so soon it will be better!

Bizzaro Meds!

I can't tell you how wierd it is to me that meds prescribed can have such an affect on folks, well specifically me! I was a really healthy gal all my life, never a prescription other than an antibiotic round here and there and then the 40's set in.

Christ on a crutch.

I take high blood pressure meds, fluid problem meds and anti anxiety stuff (cuz I cannot for the life of me ride in a car anymore without freaking out) I also have really ugly sinus issues and a friend acquired an herbal cleanse round from HER dr. that supposedly was the bomb.

Last night I came home from work only I don't remember so well getting home. My partner tells me I couldn't really find the right key for the back gate so I stood out there for a bit and finally called for help to get inside. The wierdness is that I have almost zero memory of this even though it was only 6 pm or so! She dragged my ass to the Dr this morning obscenely early and he was a little shocked as well. They did a bunch of tests and it seems to NOT be neurological but we took tons of blood and we're now looking at thyroids.

To top it all off, I felt queasy from wake up today. I coughed a bunch in his office, went and threw up cuz my tummy was so aggrieved then we went to Target. Coughed there and felt my tummy revolt and horribly enough threw up in the laundry fabric softner aisle when I couldn't make it to the restroom. Icky as it sounds, I'd had NO food, no drink other than a little soda so it was relatively non-horrific.

I think I just want to sleep a bit.

Great Hat!

I know I’ve been MIA but it’s because I’ve been knitting, knitting, knitting, gotta love it! Below is my latest which is to me the cleverest hat ever:
With it’s buttons: (which are not sewn on ONLY because I left my needle home like a MORON)

AND!! the cleverest bit of all – an opening for my ever present and very bulky ponytail! I love this hat! It’s Hannah’s Hat by Blake Ehrilch and it was a very quick knit. I wanted to use Noro Silver Thaw so I held two strands throughout and it came out perfectly size wise.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season!

Happy Holidays!

As I relax after dinner and contemplate my next 'bus' project I wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a happy, happy holiday season however you celebrate it!

Jack's cabled scarf was a huge surprise and a big success! The Mirasol Sulka in a Juniper blue was just a joy to work with! I have an off centered very simple cable with moss stitch and it's lovely!

Jack was lovely to me in return and I received another Ott Lite, this one with a magnifying panel! I also got wool, an alpaca blend and a cashmere blend..the Vogue Ultimate Knitting Guide (YES! LOVE THAT BOOK!) as well as new subscriptions to Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting for 2008! There were also 2 smaller volumes dedicated to spinning and a ton of new clothes!

The down side is we discovered today that our eldest cat Emily has a urinary tract infection...we worry so about her as our old, overweight girl! We started an antibiotic and will follow up with the vet later this week.

Happy holidays and peace to all of you*

Lis

No News

Sadly, all my knitting effort at this point is secret holiday gift that I can't photograph for fear of spoiling the surprise for Jack.

I cast on the 247 (groan) stitches for the knitted edging for the Adara shawl, knitted the first of 5 pattern rows and ended up with 4 extra stitches. (Insert cursing that bears remarkable similarity to pucker) Tried to tink THAT and found another mistake so I not so cheerfully ripped all of it out and cast on again.

At this point my darling Jack revealed my birthday present..an OTT Lite! YAY! I sat in it's otherworldly glow while watching the fight on HBO in utter glee!

RaAnn for whatever reason deleted alot of her groups with no notice. One of these, Shawls and Scarves Etc. has been recreated in Yahoo at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ILoveKandCAlongs/. We will be starting the Icelandic Shawl in January along with other smaller KAL's and CAL's. Come join us!