Knitting away the day

I've spent a lot of time knitting today.  However, all of it was being done while watching documentaries on Yellowstone National Park, about which I am giving a presentation during Labor Day weekend.  I guess you could say that I was knitting while studying.

I'm getting close to the heel of my Charybdis sock, and I'm a few rows into the pattern of my July Rockin' Sock Club sock.  I've been switching between the two today, just to keep from getting bored.

Unfortunately, I have to leave my TV and knitting behind for a while.  I need to fix dinner, then I desperately need to get upstairs to finish some customer quilts.  I do miss quilting, whether I want to admit it or not.

Regarding the affliction known as "cast-on-itis"

I have a very bad case of cast-on-itis right now.  For you non-knitters, this is basically an overwhelming need to cast on as many projects as possible, usually filling up every spare set of knitting needles in the house.  In severe cases, knitters have been known to lose their minds temporarily if they are not allowed to continue starting new projects.  (And those that do continue to start more projects often suffer from insanity, too.  It's a vicious cycle.)

There are no less than six socks on my needles right now, plus three baby afghans and two stuffed monsters.  All I want to do right now is buy more needles, so I can start more projects.

I think it's stress related.

Over the weekend, I slipped on a puddle of water in my bathroom and slammed my littlest toe into a corner of the wall.  The impact tore off my entire toenail, and the fall left me bruised and sore all over.  Add this to the stress of midterm exams and other college-related stuff, and you might be able to understand that I'm not feeling too wonderful right now.

Knitting makes me happy.  When everything else is getting me down, and when I just need a pick-me-up, knitting is there.  There's something soothing about picking up my needles and yarn and working with my hands.  I can't explain it.  It just works.

I'm running out of needles, though, so I need to slow down on my burning desire to start new projects.  Either that, or I need to buy more needles.

Thank goodness for good news!

Princess is fine.  She just needs some very strong eyeglasses.  What a scary weekend, though!

My Rockin' Sock Club shipment is due to arrive in the next day or two.  I can't wait!  I've been totally spoiled, so I know what it will look like, but that doesn't compare to the fun of actually fondling the yarn in person.

I am such an addict.

I broke down tonight and ordered another set of 2.25 mm Addi Turbo Lace circular needles, since my local yarn shop is completely out and isn't expecting more anytime soon.  I do all of my sock knitting on two circulars (16" and 24"), and that size is perfect for making socks with Blue Moon Fiber Arts' lightweight sock yarn.  I have skinny feet, so using that yarn, those needles, and 64 stitches in circumference makes the perfect sock for me.  At least it has so far.  I'm sure something will come along and completely throw that formula out of the window.  For now, it works.

It would help a lot if I had the willpower to finish one project before starting another, but I don't.  Some socks require too much attention to work on during my social knitting nights, and sometimes, I just get tired of working on the same sock for days on end.

I have four size 6 circular needles, too.  All Addi Turbos and all 32" long.  Three of them have baby afghans on them right now.  Those are for babies (my future grandchildren) who aren't even conceived yet, much less in need of afghans.  In my defense, I'm making them using my own patterns, so I'd like to be able to show off my own finished product at some point (other than the close-up of the stitch pattern that's posted online right now).

Time to get back to my Charybdis socks, for July's knit-along.  Only a few days left in the month!

A long day

One of my little princesses woke up with crossed eyes this morning.  She complained of eye pain and a headache, and she kept squinting.  This was not normal for her, so I took her to the local children's hospital emergency room to be checked.

I left with no answers and a lot of fear.

Something is not right with my little girl.  She's only four years old.  I don't want anything to happen to her.

We have to wait until Monday to see what the eye surgeon has to say.  Until then, we make her as comfortable as possible.

And we wait.

Crazy Knitting Days

I've been knitting a lot lately.  I wish I had more hours in the day, because I do have other work that needs to be done.

Knitting is just so relaxing.  And I need that right now.

Sad news

This week has been rough on my family. Sunday morning (Easter, of all days), I woke up before dawn to catch my flight to Orlando. The space shuttle, Discovery, was due to launch first thing Monday morning, and I was looking forward to being there to see it go.

I almost stepped on Midnight, our female kitten. She was laying in the middle of the bedroom floor, and she wasn't moving. I picked her up and immediately knew that something was horribly wrong with her, because she was incredibly limp. She was still alive, but when I moved her from the dark bedroom into the lighted hallway, her pupils didn't contract in response to the light. Sweetie took over and tried to comfort her, but we both knew that she wasn't going to survive whatever happened to her.

Sweetie practically had to shove me out of the house that morning. I couldn't stand the thought of going on vacation while my kitten was dying. However, launch tickets sell out within minutes now that the shuttle program is being retired, and Sweetie worked so hard to allow me to see my first and only shuttle launch. I didn't want to hurt his feelings by missing the launch, especially since we both knew that there wasn't much that I could do for Midnight at that point.

He took her to the animal emergency room as soon as they opened Sunday morning, but Midnight died in the car before he arrived.

We are all heartbroken. We worked so hard to bring that kitten back to health after her early setbacks, and it seemed like we finally had her back on the road to health and vitality. She was finally gaining weight, she was playing with Lucky and the kids, and she drove us nuts by pestering us whenever we sat down to eat.

The vets think that she had a stroke. I guess it's common for cats to develop blood clots that travel from their hind legs to their brains. The only thing I am thankful for was the fact that she didn't suffer for very long.

I miss my kitten.

My first pattern!

I am very close to publishing my first knitting pattern.  I'm really excited about it!  I just need to create the nicely formatted pattern sheet, rather than the working chart I've been using up to this point.  Considering the fact that this shawl has 609 stitches worked over dozens of rows, it's important to make everything as neat and tidy and easy-to-read as possible.

I did run into a bit of a problem with my chosen yarn, though.  It's so incredibly fine that I can't stand working with it for very long.  It literally sticks to my fingers, and it falls off of my needles too easily.  I'm disappointed, since that yarn is very pretty and so incredibly soft that it feels wonderful.  It would have made a beautiful (and soft!) shawl, but I can't bring myself to keep using it.  I certainly can't recommend it to my pattern customers, since a difficult yarn will reflect poorly upon me and my design skills, and I don't need to earn a bad reputation with my very first pattern.

I guess I'm going to be forced to buy more yarn.  I have my eye on another skein of Laci, by Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  I just need to choose a color.  :)