Working on a day off

My cold got worse last night so I opted to go in, get my laptop, and work from home for a half day (it would have been more but I'm having trouble logging in now....).

So, I've been busy taking pictures, writing descriptions, and uploading. That's right, I finished setting up my etsy shop. Feel free to take a look and let me know what you think! (and feel free to spread the work as well) This is my first foray into selling, so any suggestions and comments are welcome.


And here, the long-coveted Wollmeise! I got Poison Nr. 5 as well, but for some reason that picture didn't turn out well. When I get up some more energy I'll take some pictures of my Chevron Scarf. Until then :)

I'm baaack

My last day of vacation before going back to work :(

It was a fun week in Maryland. There was sailing, crab eating, beer drinking, and sight seeing. Oddly enough, I missed the rain on both coasts....
I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Annapolis and the surrounding area. It's woodsy, but there are open areas around the farms and the water. M's parents have a place on the eastern shore where we spent a night and it was great. You have neighbors, but they're not so close you'd know. It's completely quiet at night, and you'd be best off having some sort of night light because there is no surrounding street lighting like there is in the city.

I've been sailing before in Santa Barbara, but it's nothing compared to sailing on a little two person boat. Speed is completely different, and balance is alot trickier. We were successful in staying upright, which was a huge relief to me :)

The trip to DC was fun - it's crazy to see all the well known buildings all in one place. We went by the Capitol, some museums, the botanic gardens, the Museum of Natural History, and of course the White House. My feet were exhausted by the end of the day, but I got some good pictures out of it.

There was some knitting done as well - I started the Chevron Scarf in a yellow/green Koigu and some blue Sundara yarn. I also managed to get a little work done on my Clapotis on the flight back. The woman sitting next to me turned out to be German as well - she noticed I was knitting "like the Europeans" and commented on it :)

I picked up my new gym bag and tent today at REI - now I'm motivated to start working out again (and go camping this upcoming weekend!). I've also been working hard on creating a stockpile of stitch markers before I open my etsy shop. I've gotten some good feedback from the testers that have been really helpful in deciding what type of design to go with. And for some reason making stitch markers is much easier on my wrists.....

Time to get back to 'watching' football :) Have a good Sunday everyone!

Wednesday WIP

Actually, due to the self-imposed and now doctor-approved knitting halt, I don't have much knitting to report (Ok, I cheated last night and started the Chevron scarf. But it's ok - I can do up to 15 minutes of knitting every other day for a week and work my way up from there!) I've developed tendinitis, which on one hand is good (meaning I don't have carpel tunnel). I've been told to rest, ice, and take Advil (or Aleve. Whichever I feel more brand loyalty towards). I also am being sent back to physical therapy again for my knee. As much as I dislike PT, it's really the only way I'll stick to a workout plan (at least right now. The new gym bag I'm getting from REI may motivate me....)

While waiting on my knitting injury to heal, I'm working on restructuring my life a little. I ran across this link at HipKnits and it really got me thinking. I have alot of baggage in my life (and only some of it emotional!) and it stresses me out. While I will probably not do all 72 things, working on some them has already made me feel better (like cleaning out my email accounts - so liberating!). I'm also taking a page from the book of Allison and making a more serious effort to reduce my debt. This ties in nicely with my efforts to be healthier in that I'll be cooking at home more than eating out.

Back to your regularly scheduled knitting soon....ish :)

Monday madness

Not much knitting to report - my wrists have been giving me problems. I noticed when I got a massage a couple of weeks ago that when my forearms were worked on my hands started tingling. So I gave in and have put down the needles for awhile. It's driving me crazy :) I'm starting to think it may be more related to how I type on my laptop at home or on my computer at work though, since my wrists still ache some.


So instead of knitting I've been hiking and watching TV (or, more accurately, football. And some TV on DVD). I happened to catch Murder She Wrote on the other week and realized how much I'd liked that show as a kid. I had no idea there were so many seasons of it! I also rented Heroes from Netflix and watched the first two episodes last night. I'm not sure if I would have gotten into it had I watched in season. I'll admit I want to know what happens, but the 2nd episode was a little gruesome (and somehow fake) for me. I am however getting sucked back into Top Chef (I even started a group on Ravelry for it) - it's not like the other seasons. For me there's no clear winner or favorite. There's also not as much animosity, which is great.


This weekend's hike was Solstice Canyon. In many ways it's like the rest of the hikes in the mountains - except for the ruins. Well, the remains of a rather large house that burned down in the 1980's. There's something eerie about hiking in the woods and finding the foundation and remaining walls of a house next to the trail. We had great fun wandering around the remains climbing up to the waterfall. I'm slowly but surely working my way through all the parks in the area, much to my knee's dismay. I'm not sure if it's a lingering problem from the surgery, but I seem to be having knee pain more than I used to. M thinks it's a cartilage problem - I'm hoping not!


Time to get back to work - happy Monday all!

FO, WIPs, and moving on

The manly socks are finally done and have been gifted to their owner. A few months late of his birthday, but he seems pleased with them. And decided not to take them on his latest camping trip, because he didn't want to "get them dirty." I wonder how much use they'll see with that philosophy!

I'm dividing my time now between some gloves and socks. With a little work on the Hourglass Sweater to give my hands/wrists a break. I've been noticing some tingling in my arms and some back pain, so I'm trying to take it easy. Of course, this rules out making stitch markers as well, so I really don't know what to do with myself! The testing is going well, as far as getting feedback on how the first set of markers work out. After some initial results, I'm thinking the method Teresa taught me may be more knitter-friendly and that the method I use is probably better suited to earrings and the like.

This past weekend was full of football and movies (and eating!) I watched way more college football than I intended, but really enjoyed the Cal game (I may have to organize a viewing at some sports bar for the next one!) M and I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum on Sunday, which I liked quite a bit. I wasn't as much of a fan of the second in the series, but the third was right up there with the first. If you like action and twists, I'd recommend checking it out while it's still in theater (unless you have a big screen TV and surround sound. In which case, invite me over some time)

My parents seem to be doing well after the letter was published. The Napa paper has a censoring policy on all comments submitted to their site (which the other papers don't seem to be as strict with, given some of the responses to my dad's letter earlier this year) and all the comments I've seen are positive and reaffirm the fact that not much is known about the possible side effects. I'm still trying to deal - feeling somewhat deserted, though I realize no one really knows what to say to me. I'm told this is the awkward point in the timeline - where it's been long enough that other people have moved on and you're just starting to deal with it. Or where people are still giving you distance when you're finally ready to talk. It's been frustrating to an extent - the times I do mention it, no one knows what to say and the atmosphere gets awkward. Society has a hard time acknowledging death and its aftermath in general, at least in a way that doesn't leave the survivors feeling like they should be keeping quiet about how they're feeling.

So I've removed the chip from my shoulder and have been harassing people to hang out with me until they feel comfortable enough to do it on their own :)

And in the interim, I'm getting caught up on my Netflix subscription....I'm still coming up to movies I queued back in grad school!