Friday, August 24, 2007

sore

So, I started 'working out'. I put this in quotation marks because I am doing really, really, pansy things that do not count as a workout in any definition of the word I believe.

Why am I writing this here? Because I'm sore and want to whine. Because supposedly, documenting things is good for keeping up at them. and finally, because I find it amusing the sorts of pansy-wuss things I'm doing that actually make me sore.

I started with situps (well, backwards situps where you lie on your back and lift your legs - they were easier). I could do five of these at a time. That bad. I did three sets of this, for a total of 15 situps before becoming completely exhausted. That was my 'workout'. See why I used the quotes?

I was really surprised that in three days of doing this, I was able to do ten at a time. I mean, that's still really pathetic (don't real people do 100's?), but I actually made progress by doing 15 situps for three days in a row. I think that's crazy. 15 measly situps?

So, it's been about two weeks, and I can now do 3x20. So, I started doing toe-touches. Or more realistically, toe-looks. Because about the only thing that I'm worse at than being strong is being flexible. I can get my hands a little past my knees. Bad. And really, toe-touches? Standing up and bending over? That's the sort of 'exercise' you do in 2nd grade gym. So I did 100. Because It seemed like a good round number.

Apparently those 2nd grade gym teachers were onto something, at least for wussy grown-ups.  By about 50, I could actually reach my toes. (hey, combination of working and stretching muscles at the same time. Effective)  But for the rest of the night I kinda felt like I was gonna fall over. I wasn't tired anymore, and I wasn't sore yet, but I didn't feel like I could trust all those 'stabilization muscles' you know.

Today I'm sore. From touching my friccin toes.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

I packed my knitting

In fact, it was the very first thing I packed. I'm not sure on the wisdom of this in hindsight, but at the time, it was a very clean 'category' of stuff that I could make a box out of.

Does this mean we found a house? Well, not exactly. But our lease is up, and we don't really like our landlord to begin with....so we're moving in with M's grandparents. This isn't quite as bad as it sounds, but it is still living with your grandparents. Right now, I'm hoping we'll find a house by x-mas. M's a little more optimistic, but I like to prepare myself (which is why, for instance, I'm not freaking out about moving in with grandparents, because I made peace with the possibility back in July, when it was a little less immediate).

On the other hand, fry boxes from Wendys (where my sister works) are a great size for moving. And no they don't smell like fries, they're cut up just frozen potatoes at that stage (this was a concern for me). It is funny to have all our stuff in boxes labeled things like 'cool ranch sauce', 'artisan foccacia bread' and the ever popular 'nugget shaped chicken breast fritters with rib meat'. Not as good as the liquor boxes my in-laws once moved with, but still good.

So no real knitting for a bit now.

:(

Friday, August 17, 2007

Finishing High & ravelry FTW

After little progress of late, I've been knitting like a madwoman the past few evenings.

Maybe it's just because with this capelet, I actually feel like I'm accomplishing something every night, and may in fact finish it in the foreseeable future. Other pieces haven't been giving me that.

but anyway, got past for splitting the sleeves. Directions state 'knit 4 more rows, then start ribbing' (or something like that) I'm getting a little under gauge, so I do a little more than four.
Do some ribbing.

Think 'this still looks small'.

Awkwardly attempt to try on thing attached to short circular needle and various stitch holders. It looks like it will end approximately at my nipple. 'is that really how this is supposed to fit?' (pattern does not show on a person)

enter ravelry (cue music)
scan through pictures.

No, all the ones that fit well seem to reach slightly below the bottom of the 'bust area' (there must be more technical terms for these places than 'nipple' and 'bust area')

and now we know.

We may now rip a few simple rows of ribbing instead of a painful tubular bindoff and continue knitting with confidence. Hurrah!

*ftw = "for the win" I'm not sure if this is blog slang in general or just gamer slang.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Answering the question 'what do you wear under a shawl'





...also showing just how flat-as-a-pancake I am.


Blocking shots...


...and pre-blocking shots. I used guitar strings as blocking wires, and strung them in before washing. It worked pretty well.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

gorram it

I went to the crafty-not-yarn store the other day, and completely forgot to buy seaming yarn for the ski sweater. Grouchy now.

(I did get yarn for grr, which is good, and did not find beads for baltic feather, which is ok, as I didn't particularly expect to. I'm now thinking of these or these. Will probably get both to be safe. And a 1.10mm hook)

Also did take pictures of finished FPS, and will post them when I get home today. But I was busy photoing and then editing. While good pictures are one of my favorite parts of other people's blogs, they're one of my least favorite parts of making my own. It feels so laborious and it's hard to make myself start (grumble grumble whine whine I know).

Instead (of posting photos), I was working on the anthropologie capelet. I got to where you split the sleeves off, and decided I didn't like the look of the ribbing, so frogged, and started over with doubled yarn in the ribbing. It looks much better (aside from the pile of frogged-but-not-re-balled yarn all over my couch). Thankfully, from how far I got, it does not look like I will have problems running out of yarn with this, which was one of the main obstacles in using the Davos from the beginning, I only bought three balls.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Finished!

The FPS is done! It is somehow amazing to me that I have completed this. There was none of the finishing procrastination I often get with projects here - as soon as I realized I was down to the top triangles, I was in a frenzy to finish and block. It is a little smaller than I would do if I did it again (and my mother is already asking) as it didn't stretch quite as much as I thought it would, but perfectly serviceable. It is actually surprisingly heavy. I guess that's the alpaca for you.

Which leaves, what's next? Ravelry has been such an enabler here, as I am all keyed up to start knocking things off the top of my queue as opposed to having forgotten all the things I thought of to make when I was still in the middle of things. I've got three right now. I've already started frogging my failed Davos shrug in anticipation of turning the yarn into an Anthropologie Capelet (ravelry link). Then I need to run to the store after work today to get supplies for the other projects. basic cotton for Grr (ravelry) & a some beads for a Baltic Sea Stole (ravelry). What you say, that pattern has no beads? Well - yes. I'm not actually making a baltic sea stole. I'm just using the motif ('Japanese Feather' per Barbra Walker) to make a very similar stole (without the squared off edging btw - why loose the best part?), and decided it would look well with beads up the lines in between, since my yarn is fairly variegated, and you loose some of the distinction of the wavy lines.

This has me really pleased, since two of the projects will be using up 'problem yarn' that failed at it's first incarnations and has been waiting patiently for the right thing to come along. Here's hoping these are the right things.

p.s. do people agree with me on the double linking to ravelry & an outside source? On one hand, I think it has incredibly descriptive pattern pages, and I want people to be able to easily access the best description. On the other hand, I remember well my time on the wait list, and don't want to exclude those who aren't 'in' yet. Is this good, or just cluttered (or self-important?), and I should hold off linking there until it goes public?