Well, in a fit of frustration, I ripped the Shapely Tank entirely. I finished the armhole decreases, and was blithely knitting up to the neck decreases, when I realized I had decreased one less stitch than I should have. On top of that, it was shaping up to look rather too long, so I just ripped it all and started over. I hate when I do that, rather than rip back to the mistake and fix it, but I wasn’t feeling very patient last night.
My sister’s bridal shower is Saturday, so I’ve got to pick up some gifts for her tonight. After that, I’ve got to exercise, clean some, and then probably knit some more. Or start sewing the dress I want to wear to the bridal tea. That would probably be a better project.
I just finished watching the second part of the pilot for Lost and goddamn! It is so good! I’m happy they’re showing the full pilot again Saturday, so I can see the first part that I missed last week. This show really has my interested piqued – and for some reason it makes me think of The Prisoner. Not exactly sure why, though.
It’s finally lovely and rainy and grey. I doubt it’ll keep, though. I think it might clear up tomorrow. Bah! I feel like Mad Madame Mim (I love her!): “Shunshine! I hate shunshine!” (Except that it was sunny Sunday, and I did think it was a lovely day. But today’s lovelier.)
I’ve been feeling run down lately. I think it’s because I’ve been staying up too late watching tv and knitting. So tonight I’m going to bed early. And when we went grocery shopping last night I picked up some more Emer’gen-C by Alacer – I hadn’t realized they made a coffee-flavored one. That sounds kind of….ew. I like the raspberry, and last night I got tangerine, and it’s okay. I also picked up some elderberry extract. I feel less sniffly already.
Daoine’s been acting out a lot more lately, and a lot more frequently. I think she’s lonely during the day, and I’ve been waffling on whether she’d be happier with a puppy or a kitten – a puppy might have less territory issues, but a kitten might play more cat-style with her than a puppy might. And then there’s which one she’d be more prone to groom, because she’s gotten very licky lately – one night she groomed the back of my hand for about thirty minutes (I was too out of it on allergy meds to move), and it was somewhat unpleasant because her tongue is rather rough. Especially when it’s licking the same place, forcefully, over and over and over and over. It was kinda sweet, though. Anyway, it was decided when Greg announced that he’s mulled it over and a kitten is more his speed, since they don’t have to be walked and whatnot. So, we’re getting a kitten. Eventually. There are still some preparations to be made.
Last night I worked some more on the Shapely Tank. I’ve started the chest shortrows. And Amy came over for wrestling (as did Michel, Lance, and Angelique), and the knitting club is under way. I’m excited about it! And Michel’s taking a bread baking class, and brought over some very yummy whole wheat sourdough bread, that she baked up, and we ate. And she’s going to give me a recipe for sourdough starter, and I am psyched.
Cherokee was fun. It was pretty touristy, but that was okay. I picked up a jar of pumpkin butter in one of the stores – haven’t tried it yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be good. We went in a lot of stores, but only bought the pumpkin butter, and then we went to the casino. Harrah’s was pretty fun, but Greg and I weren’t really impressed with gambling. Although Greg’s mom said it was much better in Vegas. I didn’t make any money, but I hadn’t planned to, and I only spent ten dollars on slots.
On the way down, I meant to work on Bad Penny, but I took along the Shapely Tank yarn pack, and after I swatched for it (on the way to Greensboro), I couldn’t quit. I really, really, really love this yarn. It’s soft and light, and the colors are very pretty. It doesn’t appear to be sold on White Lies Designs outside of the yarn pack for the tank, and I’m a little sad about that. But since I really just want to make more of these tanks, I guess that’s okay. Anyway, I am really enjoying working on this tank, even though I haven’t gotten too far yet.
The other excitement was that on the way back from Cherokee, I slept! That’s HUGE. It means that the Lexapro is cutting down on my anxiety ALOT, because normally I’m way too anxious to sleep in the car, no matter how tired I am. But not last night. It was awesome. Especially since it was too dark to knit, because the roads were bumpy and I was afraid I’d drop a stitch without noticing.
Today we are going to Cherokee with Greg’s mom. I have never been, and am rather excited, even though most of the people I know who have been have said that it’s kind of depressing. We’ll see.
Anyway, I think it’s like a four hour drive, so that means knitting in the car! I think I’ll take Bad Penny with me, and get some more done on her. Although some of my stash has been whispering to me that I should start a ChicKami with it. Hm. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I should take both, in case I get tired of working on one after a while.
And I wore my new blueberry kerchief yesterday, and got many compliments on it. And I thought this was kind of funny: Tiffianna complimented me on my “hat thingy” at lunch, and Angelique called it the same thing later in the evening. I think maybe the fact that it was knit was what threw them. Because I’ve worn kerchiefs before and they’ve never called them hat thingies.
Today was kinda poo. I’m still adjusting to the Lexapro, and I’d forgotten how rough it can be. My attention span was nonexistent and my short-term memory sucked, so I had a hard time focusing at work. And on top of that I was really weepy. So I called it a day at ten and went home, to be out of sorts and weepy in the privacy of my own home. Eh. Tomorrow will be better. I won’t be as surprised by the wonkiness, and I’ll make sure to have tea. Tea makes (almost) everything better, I think.
Today wasn’t a complete waste, though. After a long nap, although I had to struggle to stay focused on even such an easy pattern, I finished the kerchief I started last night out of the Blueberry chenille. I think I screwed up quite a few of the decrease rows, but I don’t think it’s very noticeable. I’m glad I didn’t try to work on Bad Penny.
I realized today that some of my sickly symptoms (headaches, wooziness, general malaise) might be due to the fact that I recently restarted my anxiety meds. I have to admit that I am a bit irresponsible about taking my asthma and anxiety meds, and I’m trying to fix that. Anyway, I’ve just started taking the Lexapro again, and if that is what’s making me feel off, the upshot is in about a month these side effects will be gone, and I’ll be feeling even better. And much less anxious.
Tedukuri Gothic & Lolita was waiting for me at the office. It is chock full of cute stuff – but it’s also the first sewing mag of its kind that I’ve gotten. I think maybe the Burda mags have patterns in them similar to this? The patterns are just a mess of differently-colored lines, overlapping each other sometimes. And the notations are in Japanese to boot. What have I gotten myself into? 
But the designs are so cute! I think I’m going to flip through it a couple more times, first. Then, I’m going to get some liquor in me – enough for bravery, but not for pattern-ripping – and start one of the “headdresses.” I’m sure Greg would poo-poo it, but I think it’s probably one of the better patterns to start on. I might invest in a Japanese-English dictionary, too. I’m sure George at the Bull’s Head could help me find a good one. Anyway, if the headdress doesn’t come out right, I won’t have invested as much effort as if I started with a shirt, and thus I shouldn’t be terribly disappointed. Here’s the cover – isn’t it amazing that people handmake this stuff?
In other exciting Japanese magazine news, Kat of PinkuRocks! is very kindly procuring me a copy of Watashi no teami fuku. I’m very excited about my first-ever Japanese knitting mag, and I’m really intrigued by that crochet and knit sweater, with shaping accomplished by the different gauges.
Here are the Bamboo wristwarmers – they are fabulous! And I’ve still got tons of the Bamboo left over. I’m definitely making a hairwrap, but I’m not sure what else. I love it! (And thanks to Greg for taking one of the cutest pictures of me ever. I rarely like pictures of myself, which is why you don’t see them up here, um…ever before now, I guess. But I kinda like that one, especially with that goofball smirk on my face. I was aiming for “prim.” Hee.)
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And because we were having fun with the camera, two pictures of my little princess. (Please note, I am most certainly NOT squishing her little tummy in that second picture. That would be poop.)
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And now, to bed, because it way past my bedtime as crap as I’m feeling.
Bleah. I stayed home sick yesterday. Greg thinks I have a cold. I don’t know about that – I like to think a little old cold isn’t bad enough to keep me home, but who knows. Today I’ve got the nasty getting-over-an-illness sweats. I hate them. I feel like I stay home from work alot. Or, not alot, but more frequently than I’d like. And also whenever the weather changes I seem to get sick. That’s poop.
Anyway. I’m feeling better today, except for the sweatiness. And I’m excited because Greg checked the mail after band practice, so this morning there was a package notice slip waiting on the table for me. Whee! I love getting things in the mail. The slip has “magazine” checked off – I think it’s probably either the new Rebecca, or the magazine I ordered from Fujisan a while back, Tedukuri Gothic & Lolita 69 design tsukuchao!.
I finished my Bamboo wrist warmers yesterday – and they are cute and comfy! (I’ll try to post pictures tonight.) Now, you might be wondering why, if I was home sick yesterday, I was awake and knitting. Because normally, if I feel bad enough to stay home, I try to sleep as much as I can. Well, Monday we discovered a big nasty water stain on the wall in the guest bathroom. As I was home yesterday, and had forgotten to mention it Monday, I rang the main office to tell them I thought there was probably a leak behind the stain. And they sent someone out, and it was very exciting, and he ended up cutting a hole in our ceiling to try and find the leak. And judging from the sounds, our upstairs neighbors also had a hole cut in their ceiling. I wonder if they were home for that, or if they came home to a hole in their bathroom ceiling. Although I’m sure he left a note telling them why it was there. Anyway. Damn – I meant to take pictures last night, because it was kind of neat. And I forgot. Oh well. I think “the drywall guy” is coming out today or tomorrow to fix the hole. Anyway, so I was awake for the maintenance guy (I never did catch his name, but I did offer him something to drink, so I wasn’t completely manner-less), and that’s why I was knitting. And after he left I took a ridiculously long (for me, anyway) nap.
So of course last night I had to start something out of the new Bamboo. And I decided on armwarmers for myself – but before getting very far, I realized the k1p1 ribbing I was working on might also make an interesting hair wrap. So I’ve got a decision to make. The best part – and by “best” I guess I really mean “cheesiest” – I’m knitting my Bamboo yarn up on my Clover bamboo needles. Heee. Teehee. That’s amuses me alot.
Okay, so I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep because I’d had a bad dream. And not the normal sort of bad dream that keeps me awake – with monsters and stuff – but a worse one, in a way. And it was kind of a weird dream to begin with – hopping all over the place, into different houses, and people constantly changing – but at one point I’m in this really nice house that’s supposed to be my mom’s house. (And I say supposed because it’s not her house in real life, but you probably got that. Sorry. I’m still not entirely awake.) Anyway, I’m by myself, and I go upstairs and take a nap. I wake up, come downstairs, and the front door is open, but the glass door is shut, and there’s a HUGE package on the front porch. Then I notice that the delivery slip is actually inside the house, tucked into the light switch cover. Then I hear some breathing behind me, turn around, and there’s this dude on the couch just kind of leering at me. So I tell him a few times to get out. I’m rather pissed and more assertive than I might be in real life, and I even hold the door open for him, expecting him to leave. He doesn’t, and so finally I tell him I’m calling the cops. Right about the time I notice there’s no dialtone, he tells me the line’s been cut, and starts laughing. At which point I walk over to him pretty quickly, grab one of those huge flashlights (MagLights?) that’s on the coffee table in front of him, and whack him in the head with it. For some reason he decides to tell me there are seven more people with him, but they’re all outside, but they’ll manage to keep me from leaving. So I whack him in the head twice more, until he passes out, then drag him into a bathroom with a locking door. I lock us in there, check him for weapons while he’s passed out, find a gun, hogtie him with some laundry line that’s under the sink, and then fish the cellphone out of my pockets, and call the cops for real. And inform them of the seven other people potentially outside the house, and the fact that I’ve got a gun and will use it if I have to, so they should please hurry, so I don’t have to. At which point I woke up, and couldn’t get back to sleep because I was really upset about whacking the guy in the head repeatedly and holding a gun in my dream.
Yeah. So I was really horrified.
The upshot of being awake this early, is Daoine has her annual check-up at 10:10, and I managed this year to get a “sample.” While I’m a little grossed out, it’s nice for her because she really hates getting probed for a sample at the vet’s, and with her squirming it takes longer than it could otherwise, and she comes home pretty unhappy. And usually not “speaking” to me, since I’m usually the one that holds her still (or as still as possible) while the vet tech does it. Sometimes I hold her for shots, but I don’t think we’re getting any shots until year after next. So that’s nice, too. It all depends on how many free vet techs are there, and how feisty she gets, and whether they can handle it. She’s not a monster, but sometimes she gets more upset than usual. When I picked her up after being spayed (at the all-year clinic place that does it for cheap), the vet was telling me about how “feisty” she was while they were shaving her belly and apparently they had to re-sedate her because of it, and the vet was rubbing a nasty-looking scratch on her lower eyelid while she was talking about it, so I think there’s a good chance my cat did that. Yeah. So, she’s usually okay at our regular vet’s – nothing other than the normal cat indignity over being at the vet – but sometimes she’s clearly had enough of behaving herself and letting herself be handled, and at those times I can kinda see why a vet tech might not want to restrain her. But she’s positive for feline leukemia, so we don’t fuck around with the vet visits, and if she needs restraining I’ll totally do it if there’s no one else to do it. If that leukemia starts to rear its ugly head, I want to know, so we can deal with it. But, luckily, she’s two years old and except for a couple colds maybe a little more often than normal, she’s healthy. And runs around the house sounding for all the world like a crazed, rampaging elephant, when she’s only eight and a half pounds. Damn. I really love that little cat.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you, Secret Pal!!!
I got the cutest stickers EVER! See?
Some yummy, Blue Heron bulky rayon chenille yarn in Blueberry, that I can’t stop rubbing against my face (I feel a little odd doing it, to be honest, but it’s so smooshy!):
Some exciting Southwest Trading Company Bamboo in…a really gorgeous variegation that is not named on the label and not showing up on their site. Whatever it’s called, it’s gorgeous! And soft! And I’m so excited about getting to try out a new, exotic (to me anyway) yarn! BAMBOO!!! Squeee!
AND! No animal fibers! That’s very thoughtful of you, SP, and I really appreciate it. 
And I got a very lovely card with a picture of waves on a beach on it – but I had some mishaps with my photo editor, so I’ll have to post it later. It’s going on my cubicle wall, with the other cards I’ve put up to look at and get warm fuzzies from when I need a break at work. Kinda like a fake window, I guess, except there are all these happy thoughts inside the cards, too. I should take a picture of that, I guess. I love the mud lady from the last card my Secret Pal sent me, and I had to put her up, and she kinda started the whole thing.
Anyway. I really need to return to what I was doing before I sat down to blog – and that’s running around the house with my new goodies and doing a wiggly dance and squealing. Or maybe I’ll just sit quietly and pet my new yarns. What? You know you’d do it, too.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I am finding my pirate names. This one is from fidius.org:
Your pirate name is:
Mad Mary Rackham
Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!
