Wednesday

The Heat forced the poor peony to bare it's heart. The hotel has one of those sensors that shuts down the HVAC when you leave the room, so everything freezes or roasts. Still, I feel like that little Peony gave it's all.

Tuesday

By Tuesday the entire room was saturated with this little flower's fragrant glory.

Monday

There is this one lonely little peony giving it's all to brighten up my hotel room

Spring Fever

Beautiful flowers courtesy of TAO, just because

Warning: Long Post to follow.

In Knitting content we have the following:
Cast on the February Lady Sweater -

I figure if I can get one lace repeat done a week I'll have it finished just in time for October wearing. And I'm doing it with a friend in NY, so we are having a nice time.


I'm also KALing the Lacy Rib Socks from Wendy D. Johnson's Socks from the Toe up.
They are for someone I don't care much for, but I thought perhaps I don't like them because I don't really know them, so I'm putting forth the energy. I am using a yarn that pools, which makes me crazy, but since they are for a non-knitter who only wears designer labels and I intend to market them as house socks, I'm not sweating the flashing.



From the same book comes the Diagonal Lace socks. I started these in SweetGeorgia Snapdragon (my favourite flower) while waiting to go in for surgery. However, my gauge while stoned...eh, no. So I got to rip the first sock and start again.
But I love this yarn so it was completely fine with me. I blew up the chart, mounted each line on the back of a business card, hole punched the edge, put it on a split ring and it hangs from the knitting bag without getting lost. I use a little binder clip to keep it on the correct row when I get up and move on.



About the Spring Fever: I have it bad! And with odd manifestations. For instance, when I got the letter from the health insurance saying they would pay $246 of a $8600surgery, I thought well, hmmn, buy yarn. (I didn't actually buy yarn, but I haven't emptied the basket either). Now I ask you, does it make sense to spend money when you've just found out a bill is going to be LOTS more than expected.

This was followed by the next letter that they would pay $1000 of $3800 in the followup surgery. That made me want to go to a department store and buy girlie crap. I settled for a tube of mascara and a pair of shoes for work. And the third letter that informed us that our premium is going UP $223.00 a month. Which makes me want to get on my soap box and rant, but if I did that y'all would realise that I am Not a Nice Girl with a charitable heart.

Shortly after this came a spate of text messages from TAO that essentially boiled down to "can't we sell the house, move away, get different jobs, before he has a stroke at work?" Uh...hmmn. That led to some negotiations, that will involve divesting ourselves of some physical possessions over the next year. Because I was all for anything he had in mind except I'm too tired to even contemplate schleping stuff up the basement stairs, much less boxing it all and schleping it where-ever.

I've been skimming a couple of "self-help" books from the library. I say skimming because they have good ideas in them, but I seriously don't want to look too deeply into my heart and mind; because...well, what if I discover that I'm Unhappy? And not really in a position to do anything about it right now? That would suck.
Luckily, I have oodles of good knitting patterns and good yarn to distract me from deep thought.

Alive!

It was all well survived. Although TAO may be exhausted from treating me like the "Empress of the Known & Unknown Universe". All of which was totally his idea.

What was surprising was how much I missed being able to workout. So my Nurturance list for June will include various gentle exercises, where I plan to enjoy the feeling instead of cursing the time/effort.

The happiest highest point was when I was sitting, legally stoned, on the patio swing and I got to see a Hummingbird perform his mating dance. Right There. Wow! That's the stuff that makes all this work worth it.

Unfortunately, what little knitting I did had to be ripped, because for some queer reason my gauge becomes repressively tight when I am stoned. You'd think it would be the opposite, but No.

The only survivor was On Hold from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. Done in ShibuKnits in Wasabi.

Closed for Repairs

The blog is going to be closed for a bit as I apparently am in need of repair. I am going to have abdominal surgery next week, which is also Mother's Day/Death Anniversary weekend; both of which I fully expect to knock me down a little. So my primary focus for the next bit is going to be healing and getting back up to speed at work since contracts have ugly and costly clauses for non-fulfillment. That will translate into work/sleep/work/sleep/work/sleep.

I don't know that I will get a lot of knitting done, but I was in the middle of a yarn crush with my stash anyway. You know the type, where you Love Everything in the Stash, and want to Cast On about 9 projects all at once; which translates into not that much productive knitting anyway.

Looking forward to seeing y'all again when I feel better.

And the...

And the stockings were hung on the dog with such care,

In the hopes that soon

"Stop! Stop! Cut!

Who let a dog onto the set?"

"Well, sir, you see sir....well it's a Cat Bordhi Riverbed design and we didn't have a cat available, but the casting agent said....

nevermind sir."

Note Pinned to Shirt

Permission Slip:
Traveling Knitter has received the latest two instructional modules in sock knitting and procured all associated supplies. However, she has not finished the last 35 rows of the socks that are currently OTN. As a result there is some concern regarding allowing her to cast on from these modules. It is my belief that sufficient interest has been expressed in finishing the current project~she has several times disrupted class by muttering "MMMalabrigo" & and "one more round"~ however she can not be allowed to cast on without express permission.

If you feel that Traveling Knitter should be allowed to engage in casting on activity before finishing the previous technique module, please sign this slip and return it.

Little Loopy

I gotta get busy

Two new pattern books are arriving this week, and look at what the "Easter Bunny" brought Loopy. He agreed that I could help with some of his -no fat, no sugar- candy consumption. It includes Clara's Garden from Lorna's Laces, Shibu in Wasabi, sKnitches in Peapod, and Classic Elite Alpaca in Wren. All planned for socks. Hmmn, I may have to get this sock thing figured out eh?

Just for fun

It's a good day, it's snowing (7 inches) so I can wear my new sweater and I can spend computer time doing "educational" activities such as The Knitting Fiend's Knitting Addiction quiz. The only downside are the people on the pogo stick in the hotel room above me. FPS.

Marched to the Finish

It's finally done - 1200 yards of Malabrigo Worsted, 5 wooden buttons from Blue Moon, excellent instructions from Custom Knits for top down set in sleeves, and I present the Lettuce Coat....

I did very few changes to the pattern; omitting the buttons on the sleeves, adding a "SuperHero Boob Mask" and some short rows in the back because the coat is designed for androgynous women without curves. It doesn't flatter my hiney in the least but it's so snuggly and warm that I don't care! And it snowed yesterday so I can still wear it! Yay! For the amount of work involved I would recommend using a yarn that will wear better than Malabrigo, perhaps DIC Classy?