Now seriously

Did NINE DAYS just go by since my last blog post?

I have nothing very exciting to talk about:

I worked all weekend on a massive project.
I bought season 1 of Burn Notice and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Somehow, I ended up watching this show on tv one night.
I discovered that Newman's Own "Newman-O's" are much tastier than regular Oreos.
I have been crocheting gold and orange granny squares for a blanket for Fee. (When in doubt, 70s appliance colors are my fallback yarns.)
I can breathe again.
I'm on the bike again.
I've been paying a lot of attention to the Giro d'Italia, and can't wait for the Tour.

That is all for now. :)

Hiya!

Well, it appears the cortisone works - I can breathe again! I've worked out the past couple days and I've even been knitting. I think the trouble started back in March when I went to visit my sister, and just never got better till now. I feel 600% better. I have never been in that much trouble before as a grownup. As a kid I used to turn blue and pass out all the time. But anyway, water under the bridge. Yay lungs!

Here's what we are up to.

Fee is hunting birds, though the bird feed I put outside on the porch was a grave mistake:


—"I could have that bird's wings off in four seconds. Is there a cat Olympics?"

Grady is patrolling the back yard and ruling it with an iron fist (seriously, he goes for a walk every day with me, but in this pic he's just looking over the balcony):


—"Don't mess with Texas."

There was a party for Betty on Saturday celebrating her pattern release. Yay Betty! We went yarn shopping beforehand to Knit Happy and I got this lovely lovely Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed (lil cashmere, wuv!):


—"I am going to be socks."

Then we went to Threaded Bliss for the party and I got some Hemp for Knitting. I also got one of those nifty Della Q drawstring bags but the photo didn't turn out because part of the porch that is showing is cruddy.


—"Is that right, Panama Red?"

So you see, along with my knitting mojo, my shopping mojo appears to be back.

Today I have some Adobe seminars to go to and a lot of work to do. Still busy, still exhausted most nights after work and don't feel like doing much except riding the bike. Oh, and knitting...I am working on the toe of my second greenie sock! Yay socks!

Things are looking up!

Well, I have finally figured out why I've been so blah and out of touch this past month, hardly knitting and wheezing and just generally feeling bad and whining. I went to the doc on Friday asking for a nebulizer because my asthma was waking me up at night and I was not feeling good at all during the day. Turns out I am having an exacerbation. Which is a fancy way of saying a bad attack that won't clear up without heavy-duty medicine. And I also have bronchitis, which I seriously had no idea about - no fever, no anything. (I should have got the memo when I went for a walk and had to stop because I felt dizzy.)

So it's three days later and I am already feeling better. It's amazing how much bigger my lungs feel. Plus this tea called Breathe Deep has been a godsend. I mean really.

Best of all it explains why I've been feeling bad for so long. And I am on the upswing!

Nashville knitters: Don't forget the celebration for Betty's pattern in Summer IK at Threaded Bliss on Saturday the 17th from 3-5 pm! Be there or be a granny square!

(Just kidding, we LOVE granny squares at the I-Cord!)

A couple travel pics, plus Betty is extra cool.

Just want to show y'all some of the prettiness in the world. I went to visit my mom a couple weeks ago on the Gulf Coast. During my visit we went to Biloxi and it's way, way prettier and cooler than the first couple of streets you visit let on. One of the places we went in search of a good cup of chicory coffee (no luck) was Mary Mahoney's Old French House Restaurant. The building was built around 1737, and it's gorgeous. If you like the French Quarter in New Orleans, you'd love this:



If you go in the gate to the far left of the photo, you'll be in a verdant, beautiful courtyard with brick paving and a 2,000-year old Live Oak tree called the Patriarch. It's so big you can't get it all in one view, let alone in a camera frame. I guessed that it's about 14 feet in circumference:



As I was standing there with Mom goggle-eyed at this giant tree, my phone rang. It was Betty, calling to tell me the IK Summer Preview was up, and her first published pattern would soon be available.

It's a gorgeous, linen-blend dress knit out of GGH Linova, and I think it's just perfect. Send some love to Betty today - girl, you rock! Well played! :o)

Reversi pattern correction

For anyone making the Reversi socks: there is an error in the pattern at the point where you divide for the heel flap. It says to shift stitches and gives the wrong stitch counts.

It should read more like this: move 35 sts from needle 1 and 2 onto 1 needle (whether magic loop or not) and leave 35 other sts for later / instep. You should have an odd number of sts for the heel flap, and always on the purl row the last 2 sts are knits.

I will correct the pattern/pdf. Everybody from this point out should get a correct pattern. Sorry for the trouble!

What do you do when your cat looks like this?

Maybe it was just a bad moment, but this looks pretty sinister. (I am just glad I got them both in the same shot for once, though.) This picture perfectly captures their personalities.



Here's the progress on my sock. Pattern is my arch-shaped sock pattern (boy, I was creative with THAT name) and yarn is Sundara sock yarn in Green Tea. Morning light loooooooves this yarn.



If I were to do this all over again (which I will, as soon as I finish the toe of sock #1), I would not make the decreases match the ribbing. If you remember I recommended doing knit decreases when the ribbing is on knit stitches, etc, but I think it looks rather messy and doesn't contribute to the sock at all. A quick study of the gallery on Ravelry (66 people made them! Woo!) showed me that most people who knitted the sock in ribbing just did the decreases normally.

You should too.

Good grief!

Good grief, where have I been?

I promise to get out my camera and post some photos tonight or tomorrow. I have a lot to show you! :)

Sorry I've been so distracted. I am just now getting to the toe of my sock, believe it or not! Ay, caramba!