Knit n Rip

• Knit furiously, fingers flying
• Measure
• Mutter under breath
• Rip furiously, yarn flying
• Reinsert needles
• Knit furiously

Repeat at least four times.

So maybe I'll finish it by the end of the Olympics and maybe I won't. Oh, well. I will still finish it sometime!

Progress Pic

The sleeving is begun. I haven't quite finished the body, but I'm waiting to see how much yarn the sleeves will take up, and then I'll know how much I have left to finish the body.

I'm enjoying this process. It's certainly a learning experience, and while I'm not sure that this will become a favorite sweater, I do think I will be able to wear it and, perhaps most importantly, look upon it fondly as my first sweater. I hope I will follow this experience with more sophisticated garments that come with time and experience, but I think I'll try to keep this one around to see where it all started.

The Snowy, Picturesque View from My Apartment

Yep, that would be a snow-covered sofa beside the parking lot dumpster. Home sweet home.

Winter Knitting Olympics Indeed

I woke up today, ate a brunchish type meal, took a shower, got dressed, packed up some stuff so I could go do some work at the library, walked out the door, and stopped abruptly upon sight of a rather thick layer of white stuff. Apparently it snowed quite a bit last night.

Upon further examination it looks as though there was some snow--but mixed with a good bit of ice. Thankfully by the time I saw it the roads had already been well cleared, so no problems on that front. But it does add a nice ambience to the idea of a WINTER olympics--both knitting and otherwise. Perhaps I'll get to put that sweater-in-the-making to good use this season.

Which brings me to a progress report--with pictures. Cause I know how to do that now. (Sad, I know. The technology sometimes intimidates me.) Well, I had to do some frogging (for my family who reads this--that means I had to rip back some rows. Frog--rip it. Frog--ribbet. Get it? Ah!). I had done some of my decreasing wrong and it was definitely going to affect the way it would fit me, so I decided it needed to be fixed. Yes, it was a slip in the middle of the race, a two-footed landing on the double axle, but I'm not out of the game yet, my friends!


So here's where I am (well, was as of last night). The body will go pretty quickly as long as I don't have to frog it again. The sleeves will be slower going, though. So I'm hoping to get started on them by at least Tuesday of this week.

Hope you all stay warm and dry and safe this weekend!

Still Life with Coca-Cola

Let's discuss my addiction. So, I like a good, old-fashioned Coca-Cola Classic. A lot. There's something about that first sip--it tastes so good, it gives me an instant little rush, and it just downright makes me happy. I've had some good reasons to quit drinking this sugary delight.

Reason 1: The Sugar. Seriously, it contains so much totally-not-good-for-you sugar. My junior year of high school my chemistry teacher did an experiment to show us how much sugar is in one can of coke. She poured the sugar equivalent into a container, and its volume almost equaled that of the entire coke. It was awful and disgusting. I washed the experience away with a nice full can of Coca-Cola.







Reason 2: The Random Things Floating in It. Yep, I had “an experience.” If you enjoy the cokes and would maybe like to continue enjoying them I will warn that you may wish to skip to the next paragraph. Just sayin'. So one day in college I was about three-fourths of the way through a can of coke when I took one big sip--and discovered something solid yet slightly slimy IN MY MOUTH. I spit it out and found something pink and cylindrical that I can only describe as larvae-ish. I was disgusted. For weeks, maybe months, I dealt with the experience by pouring all cokes into a glass before drinking. Yep, washed that one down with a nice full glass of Coca-Cola.

I've quit at various times for varying lengths of time, but I always come back.
Right now I've given up cokes. Except when I want one. I've decided that cutting back a lot is good enough. I don't have one every day at least. Yet, I always find ways to justify pieces of my addiction. My reasonings for indulgence are many. I've had a long day. I need a little pick-me-up. I have a headache. Coke just goes with pizza. It's Friday. Whatever.


So I'm finally doing my laundry today. Think I'll reward myself with a nice tall glass of Coca-Cola.

Things We Learned

Chris and I took a day off work to celebrate St. Valentine's Day. We decided to do a Nashville day and go places tourists go and just have a good day off. And here is a sampling of what we learned--courtesy of the planetarium, and the backstage tour of the Ryman hosted by Bill the Tourguide.

Johnny Cash was not a fan of the stagelights at the Ryman.
Most things on the large, planetary scale are made up of spheres and move around in spherical paths. I've known this for a while, but yesterday it struck me as particularly interesting.
Elvis Presley performed on the Ryman stage once, and was never invited back.
Stars start their lives in star nurseries many light years away from here.
George No-Show Jones drank a lot because, according to Bill, "you know, things happen."
Neptune used to have a Great Dark Spot, but in Hubble photographs it has disappeared and nobody knows why.

In all it was a good day with good weather and capped off by good food. But of course, the best part of it was the company! Happy Valentine's Day.

Knitting Olympic Update: I have knitted up 2.5 balls of yarn (total to knit: 5 balls). I'm at least halfway through with the body portion, and I'm pretty happy with the way it's looking. However on the sleeves I have to use double-pointed needles and I'm much slower with them than with the circs. But it's all part of the challenge!

Ready, Set, Knit

Our knitting group had our monthly get-together last night--always a good time. There are four of us who meet to show off our projects and share new patterns and, well, knit. Last night featured knitting, The Office, and Earl and the Karma-driven Life. Oh, the wisdom of Earl! Good stuff, man. We also caught part of the show Four Kings, which I'd never seen before, but in last night's episode one of the characters was learning to knit!

Tonight they light the olympic flame, and I'll have needles at the ready to cast on for what I've dubbed the Olympic Raglan. Feats of knitterly brilliance will be performed. Talents will be sharpened to the point of near-perfection. The aim is for the perfect 10--or at least a sweater that doesn't have any obvious gaping holes :)

Citius, Alitius Fortius, Y'all.

Brought to You by My Bookshelf

A meme from Jennifer: Name three related books on your bookshelf that might tell others something about you (fun one!).

1. Walking Across Egypt by Lewis Nordan
2. Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
3. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

And also, today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! You should wear a red hat every day :)

Writer's Block

I try to write in the first person, but the pronouns keep catching up with me. They know it's a lie—that I don’t have a story to tell, a life to write. Not yet. So from me's and we's I soon fall into he’s and she’s, and wander around in my head trying to find what I have to say. But these other people I never meet, the he's and she's I follow around, they have trouble speaking too. The scenes and the moments come out in great detail, but they never bother to have a plot hold them all together. Lines occasionally tumble out in clumpy paragraphs, a page or two in a year or two. But the stories all still wait around--disembodied words in a notepaper morgue.

On days when I'm feeling wistful and long to touch something beautiful, I seek out a moment of creative truth, and it unfailingly inspires me. I read books and hear lyrics that make me want to write, to try to tell some story that lurks around me as I fall asleep.

But for now I just dream and nightmare of words on pages, hoping and fearing I find them again when I wake up.

Olympic Yarn Procured! Oh, and My Weekend of Intarsia

I've found and purchased yarn for my Knitting Olympics project! It's Wool-Ease worsted weight yarn in a yummy green that has a little bit of heather to it. Here's the picture of the color on LionBrand's website, but the true color really doesn't look like the picture. I bought the yarn with the gift card my mom gave me for Christmas (thanks, Mom!). It's pretty soft for non-natural fibers. Besides, if wool/acrylic blend is good enough for the beautiful Anthropologie sweaters I love and covet, then that blend is good enough for me!

In other knitting news, I finished the gifts for my nephews and I'll mail the package off today. I knitted a baby blanket, hat, and booties for new nephew Cole and a big brother superhero cape for Carter. I know he's still adjusting to the concept of a new baby around the house, so I wanted to send him a cool gift, too. I really enjoyed making the cape. It was a quick knit and I kept imagining him wearing it and pretending to fly around. That image in my head provided quite a bit of motivation. It was also my first try at intarsia (or any two-color knitting). The cape was bright blue and I intarsia-ed a yellow lightning bolt and Carter's name in red from a chart I drew. I think it went well, even though I was kinda guessing my way through it. Whatever--I was happy with it.

Unfortunately I had a camera incident that prevented me from getting any pictures, so I'm hoping that they can take some pictures of the gifts in use by their recipients. That's more fun, anyway!

Dr. Seuss for the Workplace

The wall calendar in my cubicle has pictures and words from Dr. Seuss books, and February's snipet seems timely for me.

From I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew:
"I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me. "

With my current project at work, I think I need a bigger bat!

A Meme

Tagged by Jennifer:
Five Random Things About Me

1. My sister and I have very similar hands, and since I idolized my sister growing up, I thought it was really cool. To this day if I had to pick a favorite body part, it would be my hands.

2. I really hate to play volleyball. It hurts (so I'm a wuss--whatever!) and is just not something I enjoy. I've encountered many church groups that think if you don't play volleyball there's something wrong with you. I choose not to attend those churches.

3. In junior high and high school I hated the way glasses made me look, so every day without fail I wore contacts and considered them the best thing since 20/20 vision. As I've gotten older I've (1) found glasses I really like and (2) become lazy. Therefore, when we first started dating and Chris told me he really likes it when I wear my glasses, I was secretly quite relieved :)

4. I have two nephews and a neice on the way! It is all very fun and exciting and is the incentive for much knitting.

5. I love girly Jane Austen books. If you get into them they really are funny! I promise.

I'm not tagging anyone at the moment cause I don't know who to tag. If you happen to read this and want to do it yourself then by all means go for it!

One Down, Eleven to Go

This year, instead of coming up with a few big new year's resolutions that I would no doubt be diligent about for a couple months tops and then forget about, I decided to come up with some small things and do one each month. They vary in size and scope, so some will be easy to complete and others will be challenging. At the top of my calendar each month I've written that month's goal. In JanuaryI started an automatic savings account. I intentionally started with an easy one so that I'd feel all accomplished. Others for the year include writing a short story, working on a habitat house, throwing a dinner party, and knitting a sweater. This way I hope I can accomplish some goals without stressing myself out all at once. So now that it's February I'm ready to start goal #2--getting my resume in order. I'm considering trying to do some freelance work on top of my regular job--just for some extra money. And if I can figure out another regular job that would fit me better, I'm definitely open to that too.

We'll see how this goes.