Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Well.....isn't that....special

In a boredom-killing effort at work, I clicked on my blog counter stats. Among the usual suspects for referrers (thanks Ryan! you made my stats hum again after my long absence!), there was a google search for ....

"Sahara pees"

Apparently, there is a porn star with the moniker of Sahara who performs...uh....what's it called? Ahem..."water sports."

All I could think of was "that figures." Of course now that I've used the words "porn" and "pee" together, I should get lots of hits from these .... uh....adventurous?....folks.

Maybe I can reel them in to the Dark Side....Knitting. Hey you porn addicts....yarn porn is so much more satisfying....ahem, I'm sure. Safe to look at from work....yer spouse won't get all bent out of shape....there's the relaxation/zen thing angle...

You'll never guess what I cast on for ..... again. Hanging Vines. The really bizarre thing? It's going great! I'm using luscious, absolutely rich and soft....yummy....Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wild Raspberry. I can't find a true pic of the color on line...it is described as "purples, raspberry and a hint of leaf green"... If I can get a decent pic of it myself I'll post it. I am working on this when the kids have gone to bed and Jodie is working nights. I had so much trouble with the pattern earlier that I gave up on it....but I am LOVING the way it is coming out in this yarn. Here's hoping the love continues....

I'm about 2" into the body of the Chinese slip stitch hat...but you know, that Mountain Colors was demanding some attention....and it won.

Knitting Fever

Mmmm it's good to be back. Good to cruise the web and see the amazing knitting going on...laugh at the stories y'all tell...drool over new colors and patterns.

I appreciate the warm welcome back into the fold of knit bloggers. Always welcomed home...open arms. My family of origin could take a few lessons.

One of the things I did while I was away was have an evaluation for sleep apnea. Emily used to tell me she thought I stopped breathing in the night....but I didn't do anything about it.

Over the last year...I have had crushing fatigue that has changed my life most unpleasantly. But I wasn't willing to go to the sleep lab and do the work involved. Why? Well....that would be self care. You know...taking care of your health....and I haven't been one to do that. I'll take care of my kids, my friends, strangers on the street....but me? Nah...I can wait. You know....till there's money for it. And time, yeah, more time too.

Then there's the whole CPAP thing....ever seen someone with CPAP on? Dead sexy....Jodie calls it "The Snuffleuffagus" look...I just didn't wanna mess with it. If they say I have sleep apnea and I have to sleep with that thing on....geez, what a hassle. Nah. I'll just live with it. Despite the fact I've had two near accidents from damn near falling asleep at the wheel...despite my work performance has suffered and I've been pretty much unable to work a 40 hour work week. Despite that I am exhausted and bitchy as all hell and no fun to be around. Despite the fact that I have felt like I am a spectator in life rather than a participant because I'm so effing tired ALL THE TIME....No, I didn't wanna mess with it.

When Jodie joined me...she also said, "you know you might have sleep apnea...you stop breathing and twitch all night..."

Then I started going to Overeater's Anonymous. Which is changing my life...in a really big way. Learning that "normal" people...care for their health. Their body...their spirit...that my compulsive overeating is part of a bigger problem than "just" being overweight, it is about so much more. The first self care thing I have done for myself is to make the appointment and actually go do the sleep evaluation.

Hooked up to numerous leads....video taped and recorded during an over night stay. I have a follow up on December 20th. I dread they will tell me, yes indeedio, you have sleep apnea. I am even more afraid they might say I don't.

Last night we watched "City of Angels"....my first time seeing it. Excellent movie. Cried buckets...and usually I avoid anything that makes me blubber...but apparently I needed it.

Jodie works a lot of nights till 11:30 p.m., and tonight is one of those nights. I plan on KNITTING!!!! Wheeeeee. The Braids Cardigan has been neglected for the entire 6 weeks. Think it's time for it to have a little attention.....Let ya know how that goes...

Monday, November 28, 2005

Remember me?

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Geez.

Still not a lot of knitting going on, but finally actually PICKED UP some needles and dinked around.

Lots of focus on belly dance the last two months. This is a good thing, but not for my knitting. I want both, the dancing and the knitting. Frequently, it get's down to one or the other however. Compounding the problem, I am struggling with constant pain in my right elbow running down the outside of the forearm into the hand...that ulnar nerve thing again.

The Baby Albert Baby Coat is about 2/3 done. It starts as a strip which turns out to be the bottom of the coat. You then pick up and knit one front, then the back, then the other front. Sleeves are then picked up and knit and voila, yer done. I'm on the second front. Might actually finish it before the baby it is intended for gets here. Might.

I cast on for this hat, for my freezing sweetie. You'll remember Jodie is from Louisiana....where they wear shorts at Christmas time. It's durned cold here right now, and the snow hasn't even hit yet.

I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash, which is new to me. I love, and I mean LOVE, Cascade 220, but didn't even know they made superwash. I went to the snobby yarn shop for the first time in .... over a year? maybe more like two years? and fell in love with it. 220 yard balls, I got three colors - navy (803?), medium blue (814), and light blue (847). Don't have the bands with me so those are guesses to the actual colors. Enough for the hat and a scarf. Who knows, maybe mittens too???

I cast on and got the band done - which is a nice sturdy band as the designer has you knit x amount of rows, then on the last row, put wrong sides together and pick up the cast-on row with the last row of the band. Makes a really nice edge for the cap. Tell ya one thing...dark navy and trying to pick up stitches.....dang I felt old. Anyway, got past that and oh....10 rows into the slip stitch pattern when I had her try it on.

Too small. Waaaaaay too small. The pattern says size 5's and I cast on for the "medium". Well, being all scientific....I switched to size 8's and cast on the for large. I'll just knit on and we'll see where it goes.

I imagine that kind of knitting would drive some up the wall....but it's me. Seat of the pants knitting pretty much.

As I said, belly dance is heating up for me. Lots of choreography for the troupe, myself, my daughter, and friends. Trying to work on my own routine.....so I don't kick myself later. My area has just begun a bellydance guild...(highdesertbellydance.org) and guess who is co-chair for this year? Yup, that would be me. I'm excited about it....tho it is time away from knitting.

I've missed knitting. Really missed it. I have not read a blog, looked at patterns, looked at yarn, NUTHIN' for 6 weeks.

Just think of all I've missed! Now it's time to play catch up...wheeeeeee!