Fishkill; survived.

Well, survived there, survived back. Yay.

I have nothing exciting to tell you about the training. Made these:



During two days of boring training that felt like I'd already gotten it. They told us all about the training we'd get next time. Whoopie. I'm sorry, if you're already a retail manager, and you don't know how to manage conflict...I fear you won't ever learn. But that aside.

The socks are less pink and brown in person, more purple and green (bad light in here today, I need to start taking knitting pictures among the shrubbery)...the only real problem I have with them is that I so adore the color striping on the soles that I got kind of irritated at the lacework pattern on the foot. I'm strange, what can I say. And the ribbing...well, first sock was in my luggage in the car when I was finishing up the second sock, and I wanted to be able to say that I had finished them at the training session...so I just cast off. With so much laceyness, these will be at-home socks, anyway, so I'll probably just leave it. I think they're lovely, to heck with anyone else. :)

Everyone keeps telling me I'm starting to show...Took a picture to prove not so much...


There are some changes in my lower abdomen, but all that upper stuff is just me. Having lousy posture.

Nothing else to report. Robb's taking me to lunch, then minigolf. I love days off. I will probably cast on for sleeve #2 this afternoon. If I feel strong.

FYI

I am leaving today to go to Fishkill, NY (no, really), for a lameass boring waste of my time fascinating training session in Leadership and Development. I will be incommunicado until Wednesday. The Socks That Rock are coming along with me to keep me company. I don't plan on starting a big argument about whether or not it's rude to knit in meetings; please trust that if people expect me to retain information, and they're just talking at me, I need to be doing something with my hands. This way, I get a pair of socks, and some of the needless boring useless wonderful information that they wish to impart to me.

Pictures when I return.

Has it been so long? Sheesh.

I'm tired of being tired.

I know that I have no real complaint compared to people suffering from all sorts of diseases. But once the nausea faded, I was once again struck with bizarre waves of unbelievable exhaustion. Example: I got up at about 5 am this morning to soak my toes before I went to work (ingrown toenails on both big toes got removed on Friday). I worked for nine hours, not including lunch. At 7pm tonight, I was overcome with exhaustion, and curled up on the couch for a "nap." Twenty minutes ago, Robb woke me up (second time this has happened in two days) to say that I should get up or go to sleep in bed. I'm not so tired that I'm not amazed that he put up with my five minute whine about how I didn't want to do either one (it's practice for having a child, I suppose) but I am amazed that I'm actually sitting upright right now. In about five minutes, I'm going to go collapse in bed and read The Black Stallion's Blood Bay Colt for another ten pages before I am overcome with snoring.

Finished the first sleeve on the ladybug sweater, faced weaving in the ends on the body of the sweater, got pale, and decided that a little break was in order. Started working on the Welcome set, the pretty one in pale blue Cashsoft DK -- the body was done, just needed the sleeves. Messed up the number of rows on the second sleeve cuff.

I was going to show you pictures of all this, but I'm too tired to go and turn on the camera.

I was also going to show you pictures of both this month and last session's BMFA Socks That Rock yarn, demonstrating that in three months, I haven't started knitting anything for myself. Apparently, that will also happen next time.

I leave you with this picture, just because Robb said I wouldn't dare post it. Our roomie has a girlfriend who needed a picture of his new haircut, and Robb was trying to crack J up.

Yup. Having his child. On purpose.

Hat update.

Blogger saves your drafts automatically.

Not so much.

Anyway.

What I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by my computer deciding to finish the command it had been given yesterday to shut down (whatever) was that I hate the days when people get fired. Not me, but it still makes the day stressful.

In an update on the hat situation, I've decided to keep knitting. Robb came over and made some comment about it -- sort of a "What if it's a boy?" with a significant look at the pink stripe, and don't ask me how me managed to look significantly at a single row of color, but whatever -- and my reply was that if it's a boy, I'll sew a Red Sox patch on it and some random truck buttons or whatever. Because I love it. So nah. :)

Just in case you were losing sleep over what I'd do.

Lynne, it was nice to see comments from you again. Hugs!

Much love to all.

More actual knitting content!!

It's a trend, can you believe it?

Two things -- something to show you and something to ask you.

First, to show you.

Sunday was D&D night. Yes, I'm one of those geeks. Lvl 4 Elvish Cleric of Corellon. It's fantastically fun. My middle-little brother, Chris, plays in our game, and he shows up at about 7, gently waking me from my nap on the couch (if Olympic napping were a sport, I'd have a run at the American team this year). He says, "I have a present for you, from Grammy."

That alone nearly made me weep.

Here's what was in the bag he gave me.

Is that not exquisite? Handknit (she used to do this on her machine, but in her age has decided that there are a hell of a lot less people who deserve to be knit for, and therefore all her knitting is by hand again), and the color is more of a gentle, pastel yellow, with a handspan of fringe on each side. Gorgeous. Exquisite. I dream of knitting things like this, but never get past the sheer SIZE of the beast. This is big enough to cuddle one person -- or one person and a toddler -- under with no problems, so long as you're friendly, and maybe have a pretty shawl around your shoulders. The yarn feels like one of the softer strains of Red Heart, but I'm only a yarn snob when it comes to what *I* knit with, not what other people use. And this is an afghan I can cuddle under, snuggle under, and then throw in the washer. It's exactly what I need right now.

The greatest gift she gave me, though, is knowing where my knitting came from. Is that silly? I mean, my mother taught me to knit when I was six, I think, even though I made her do the casting on until I was 8, and I don't think I finished ANYTHING until I was in college. But now I know where the knitting CAME FROM. I know why it meant something to me when I first touched needles and yarn. It's funny, these little connections I found to my biological family, long before I knew them. The first time I heard Frank sing and play his guitar, I told him that I'd just found something I didn't even know I'd been missing. That's how I felt when I spread out this afghan.

Yay.

Now, on to the question.

This is the knitting I did for D&D night, after deciding that I wasn't up to counting sleeve rows.


This is the skein of Regia silk from the last SEX. Now, truth time; does the thread of pink make it too girly, just in case AlisonH is right? I dream girl, but she says boy, and since Robb is already raising an eyebrow about ladybugs, I should know if this is something that might just end up in a hope chest for next time.

Lemme know what you think. :)

Actual real live knitting content

Can you believe it? I know it's making me dizzy. Oh, wait, no, that's the 77° weather with the nearly 50% humidity. It's a darn good thing the doc gave me a medicine I can use for my allergies, that's all I'm saying. Yeesh. My poor nose.

Now, knitting content.

I finished the body of the ladybug sweater, and started the sleeve. I'm going to show you, but you have to promise something first. Promise you won't make fun of me for the myriad mistakes I made. Not the fact that the ladybug isn't properly centered, or that I didn't increase right away like I was supposed to, or that I completely forgot that I needed to change needle sizes until I was halfway home. None of it. Because I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you think you're reading one of those perfectionist blogs where someone pulls out photoshop to point out a teensy weensy mistake that half the time I can't see until they pull out their superexpensive camera and zoom waaaaaaay in, and then rip out a week's work to fix it...you're reading the wrong blog. If you're one of those knitters, I admire you. You're my personal hero. I aspire to be you. But it ain't never gonna happen. If you can't see it from a galloping horse, it's not worth my time, that's been my motto for a lot of years.

Okay.

You promised, now, remember?

Here's what we have:

See, that's not so bad, right?

I'm not showing you the inside. Not yet. Maybe later.

So, real live knitting!

I also fell down at the yarn store yesterday; not as badly as I might have, and the bulk of my purchase was planned. I got this:

For the star sweater set I was showing off last week. Not the jumper, just the sweater, booties, and hat. Depending on how D&D goes tonight, I may cast on for this; we'll see if I can afford to be paying attention to the row counts in the ladybug sweater or not.

But the yarn store tricked me. They tempted me in with Dale ULL, and then had on display, not just a new shipment of Cherry Tree Hill Potluck, but two new sock yarns I've been dying to try. Really, it's lucky I made it out with just these.

The CTH in Jewels (it's so purpley, I swear they dyed it just for me) and a skein of Regia Silk color in a neutral-but-vibrant tone that just screams "baby hat & socks please!" and a skein of Tofutsies in a purpley blue colorway that I'm very excited about.

Can anyone else tell that I plan on having attention for nothing but stockinette socks after December? At least not for a little while.

Now, I'll leave you with a couple of family photos. First, my six-year-old Jilly-cat shows her fangs:

And then goes and claims to her Daddy that she's not a lap cat. This photo also contains a rare sighting of Robb, looking at the camera and not making a goofy face!!


Have I mentioned lately how completely and utterly I love my life? Even if it is so hot that I stole a pair of Robb's boxers.

84° tomorrow. God save me.

Has it really been that long?

Sorry to those of you who emailed me a little worried. I kept thinking "I'll blog after I knit," or "I'll blog after I clean," and then rather than cleaning or knitting, I just went to sleep. Sorry about that.

Everything's okay. 'Nother doctor's appointment today, everything is proceeding beautifully. The doc's Doppler listening thingy was on the fritz, so we got to look instead (aw, drat, right?), and let me tell you, that kid is kickboxing around in my uterus. It's all adorable while I can't feel it, but I anticipate in another couple of months I'm going to be bouncing around, led by my belly.

I finally did pick up my knitting again, but my summer slump seems to have hit, and with the stupid humidity, I just don't want to move.

But it's pretty outside, the baby growing in my belly is healthy, and when it rains, my street smells like lilacs. Can't complain.