UM...Still Figuring it Out

The boot topper project continues, but I don't think I have it right.  The idea of another rip and redo is stealing my will to live, so I might need to set it aside and return to the sweater while I think about the best course of action.  I have some ideas, but I'm just not sure about them.  Getting back to the sweater wouldn't be the worst.  I mean, the idea of knitting something that I know is going to work is rather comforting.  Anyway, since I've got nothing else for today, I'm playing Unconscious Mutterings.  You can play, too! 

1. Cloud :: Storage
2. Officer :: of the Day
3. Physical :: Danger
4. Advantageous :: Edge
5. Mobile :: Home
6. Threat :: Promise
7. Potential :: Possibility
8. Confined :: Space
9. Overlap :: Extra
10. Domain :: Name

UM...Today is the 4th of the Month

It is only the fourth today.  That doesn't seem possible.  It really has been very full already, and it is unlikely to clear out anytime soon.  I'm trying to get things sorted.  You know the urgent, it can pop up and look like a lot like the important.  I think I will work on a goals list for this month.  Until then, let's just play Unconscious Mutterings, eh?        

1. Cancel :: Relief
2. Optimistic :: Hopeful
3. Surrogate :: Campaign
4. Tickle :: Elmo
5. Amber :: Gris
6. Stuffy :: Nose
7. Chaos :: Theory
8. Desktop :: Icon
9. Dynamite :: Idea
10. Holidays :: Too Soon

UM...uh...erm...

Is it better to do the Unconscious Mutterings list when you can focus, or when you can't? Any guesses as to which I am right now?

1. Hack :: No, it's a tip
2. Unimpressed :: Tired
3. Garden :: Variety
4. Saliva :: Spit
5. Ache :: Everywhere
6. Elect :: Choose
7. Format :: Improper
8. Temper :: Tantrum
9. Snail :: Pace
10. Holidays :: Home

UM...You Might Want to Look Away

I hadn't played in a while, but it seemed like a good idea to give it a go. I might have been wrong.

1. Notification :: Text
2. Vote :: Early and Often
3. Simmer :: Boil
4. Biology :: Chemistry
5. Constant :: Companion
6. Nail :: Polish
7. Filter :: None
8. Curls :: Natural
9. Sensation :: New
10. Strap :: On

UM...Unobligatory

NaBloPoMo was fun, and I made it. Not posting yesterday was both weird and nice, but I'm back. How will it go after this? Eh, does it even matter? Anyway, I'm still going, might have some spinning to show soon, and one day (not soon) I will finish the sweater. For tonight, it's that time again--take a peek.

UM
1. Run out :: Now
2. Whisperer :: Crazy
3. Collide :: Worlds
4. Worth :: Less
5. Fuck :: Me
6. Mild :: Mannered
7. Chapped :: Lips
8. Hope :: Eternal
9. Itch :: Scratch
10. Face :: Off

UM...Yeah, it Really is All I Have Right Now

Yep, it's time to take a peek into my endlessly fascinating mind.

Unconscious Mutterings 

Sprain :: Ankle

Hesitation :: Lost

Navigator :: Lincoln

Supplied :: Denied

Wow! :: Really?

Breaking :: News

sigh :: Ugh

Justice :: Delayed

Everything :: Tired

Chapped :: Lips

UM...Nothing to See Here

It's been a long time since I've played along with Unconscious Mutterings, but when it popped into my inbox, the time seemed right.  Besides, nothing I'm working on is in a photographic state right now, so instead, you get to look into my endlessly fascinating mind.  

1. Prayer :: Wing
2. Rerun :: Daily
3. Blue :: Monday
4. Chat :: Bot
5. Boycott :: Everything
6. Design :: Feature
7. Paste :: Copy
8. Backspace :: Delete
9. Connections :: Webs
10. Reality :: Bites

UM...Overflowing

I received a wonderful box overflowing with prizes from Stacey's NMO fundraiser.  I love it all so much, and have been making plans.  I do have some singles waiting for their plying time before I should get into my new fibers.  After that, my next challenge will be to find the time to play with it all.  Then again, there is a lovely new drop spindle in my prize package, and that is a great way to spin when time is scarce, and it would not interfere with the plying.  Well, only if you count the fact that time spent not plying means that plying does not happen, but we are not super interested in reality right now.   

Since this is week 500 for Unconscious Mutterings, it seems like the right time to participate again.  I did the exercise as soon as the list was posted because I thought it might be unwise to peer into my mind later.  This is the time to remember--Do Be a Do-Bee.   

Call ::  Me

Instinct :: Killer
Toffee ::  Nut
Cleaner ::  Professional
Gut ::  Feeling
Leveled ::  Demolished 
Discover ::  New
Together ::  Again
Attack :: Killer Tomato
String ::  Along

UM...A Little Bit of This + Little Bit of That = Not Much of Anything Right Now

Not settling in and seeing my way all the way through to the end of one thing is really not paying off for me, or so it seems. From knitting to reading to housekeeping, I just have overwhelming piles of unfinished-ness everywhere. Then again, I am making my way through several things. Right now, it is just difficult to see that I am making any progress, but little by little, I am chipping away at it. I am going to keep on keeping on, and I will have something to show for my efforts soon.

Crushed :: Bug
Thanks :: Again
Steam :: Punk
Bulletin :: Board
Budget :: Minded
Value :: Worth
Aquarium :: Shop
Logo :: Tee
Information :: Overload
Lend :: Lease

UM...Sniffle...Snuffle

The annoying cold continues to drag on, but I think my brain is getting closer to coming into focus. I have high hopes for a more productive week. I had better be more productive, because my lying about has me behind on housework. Last week was also complicated by three or four days of Aunt Sarah duty due to an ill nephew, and then Veteran's Day on Friday was time with both the niece and the nephew. The parade was good, and then I fell asleep for a few minutes during Puss in Boots. Anyway, assuming that no one caught my cold, this week should be calmer. Maybe I can even prepare for next week; it is going to be a big one. Not only will there be Thanksgiving, but also more Aunt Sarah duty. My sister hopes that I will keep my nephew this weekend so that she and her sweetie can have a weekend away. Her hopes are about to be dashed. I want a weekend away with my sweetie, but I know this is not the time for that.

I will settle for having some time to knit and watch Dexter. I just received last season's dvd set, and I am ready to see what happened. I so enjoy settling in to watch a television show on dvd, just escaping from my brain for a few hours.

Speaking of my brain...



Help :: Me
Close :: Call
Start over :: Again
Dirt :: Gossip
Kilometer :: Mile
Speedy :: Gonzales
Shop :: Closed
Trumpet :: Horn
Dog :: Hair
Canoe :: Tip

UM...Looking on the Sunny Side

With weather like we are having, it makes it much easier to keep a positive outlook. Here's hoping wherever you are, everything is wonderful, and (if it applies in your area) you enjoy your extra hour this weekend!

Distress :: Call
White lie :: Little
Costume :: Jewelry
Stampede :: Bull
Unappealing :: Meal
Idiot :: Relative
Correction :: Department
Resignation :: Defeat
Insipid :: Prattle
Celebration :: Party

UM...Nervous?

I suppose that might be the right word for now. Bruce is going to have surgery (paraesophageal hiatal hernia repair and maybe another bit of patchwork) this week. I am not too concerned about the procedure beyond the fact that it is surgery and thus has its associated risks. Still, that moment when I take his wedding ring, put it on a length of yarn, and slip it around my neck is always tough.

Once we make it through surgery, we have recovery, and it looks like it could be a bit bumpy. He will be on a pureed diet for four weeks after this, so the blender is in for quite a workout. There will be some other restrictions, too, but we are trying to not get ahead of ourselves. Coming up with some good recipes will be a challenge, too, but I have been looking at some possibilities. Our son is going to lend his VitaMix to us, so that will be helpful.

Anyway, this is going to keep me away from the computer for a bit. Maybe I will have some scheduled posts ready to go, but I do have a few other things I need to attend to first. I have to pack for the hospital. That means deciding on some hospital knitting. I am thinking about hats, cowls and fingerless mitts, or maybe even some plain vanilla socks, but I really have not gotten much beyond those few stray thoughts. I am trying to not think about the lace shawl I agreed to knit for a stranger. That one is still a bit of a puzzler, and perhaps a story for another day.

In the meantime, I have been knitting a cowl, ripping it out, restarting it, having a little bit of the yarndage, and finally finishing it. I had intended this to be a gift, but am afraid it might not be good enough. The pattern is Kuusk from the current Knitty. I am not quite sure what brought me to the pattern, but it was a good knit. I knew I might have yarndage issues, so I used beads instead of nupps. If I would have had (guessing here) another twenty yards, I would like this even more.

However, it is still nice, and I enjoyed knitting with my handspun. I also dyed the silk hanky before spinning it, so there's that, too. It was supposed to be purple, but the Wilton dye behaved differently than I had anticipated, so I ended up with pink. The little skein had been sitting around for months, and I am glad to have knit it into something. Since the modeled shot is a bit lacking, here is one of it blocking, and then a peak into my unconscious mutterings.

Bells :: Warning

Germs :: Warfare
Athlete :: Feet
Voice :: Concerns
Diamonds :: Cut
Hoarse :: Throat
Tempest :: Teacup
Hurricane :: Irene
Bumps :: Goose
Jazz :: Hands

UM...Decided and Undecided

When I heard about the Emily/Emily2 knitalong, I knew that I wanted to play. Then, I thought that it would be a great gift for a friend, and worried that my participation as a knit-along-er would be terrible if I could not show my progress. At that point, I realized I had gotten ahead of myself, and there was much I needed to do before I could join in on the fun and games. So, I set to the tasks of finishing one project and making progress on a couple of others, and then deemed myself eligible to play with friends. I seriously think I have earned this, as I even made a decent dent in my Chalet Sock from PSCNeverHappened2009.

Next up was yarn selection time. I decided that I wanted to use the alpaca/silk yarn I spun for the TdF 2009. I thought it would be a great choice for the pattern, and I had wanted to knit it into a gift for my friend for quite some time. Then, I could not find it anywhere. I searched high and low, and began to wonder whether I had given it away. Somewhere in my brain, I remember getting the yarn out to see if would work for some project, but that was my last memory of it. Finally, I unearthed a knitting bag that has not seen much use for quite a while, and lo and behold, I found the yarn.

However, at this point, things had become a little bit complicated. First, I became quite enamored with a few other yarns in the stash. One of them led me to think about knitting Emily2 for yet another friend. It would also be a bit of a different experience, and a bit of a gamble. However, it would not require me to use beads, although it would not rule them out, either.

So, all I know for now, is that I am going to knit Emily2 whenever the kal begins.

Judge :: Mental
Safe :: Haven
Boulevard :: Wander
27 :: March
Next :: Time
Ma’am :: Yes
Desktop :: Clutter
Club :: Caveman
Violet :: Favorite
Enamel :: Nail

UM...And Another Thing

Whenever I add another element to my life, things end up a bit topsy-turvy for a while. Usually if I try to keep up with everything while incorporating the new activity, I collapse and get nothing done. This time, I am trying to just add in this very new and different thing, and have just let many other things (blogging, email, commenting, and more) fall to the side for a bit. No, it is not a perfect answer, but at least I am not stuck frozen on the couch, in the bed, nor on the floor.

What am I talking about, you ask (yeah, I know no one is really asking, but I appreciate your indulgence once more)? I have begun to exercise outside the home. Yikes! I have never worked out at an exercise facility, but my new health insurance includes this as a benefit. I still do not know what all to bring with me, which classes to try, or how to best work it into my day. We will not even touch on how there are mirrors everywhere, or the preparations I need to make to try out the aquacise class.

While I continue to find my legs in all of this, it was great to come home to a package on the front porch the other day. My prize package from Stacey's fundraising efforts arrived, and I love it all! Everything was so carefully wrapped and it is such a generous collection of lovelies. I am already making plans with the yarn, and making tea, too!

Bootie :: Pattern
User :: Friendly
Child :: Care
Scribe :: Illuminator
Manager :: Micro
Upsetting :: Incident
Puddles :: Accident
Hopeful :: Always
Procrastination :: Yep
Statistics :: Lies

UM...For a Moment

For a moment, I considered blogging daily this year. I was high on the fumes of my productivity. I started the first by baking bread, (I had already made the dough and it was ready in pans just waiting to be baked) and then went straight into making black-eyed peas and cornbread. I calculated and planned for my next knitting project, and gave extra thought before casting on for it. Then there was a lot of the Twilight Zone marathon, and now that I think about it, maybe I was not so productive. I have already forgotten what else I did that day, but I could swear there was more.

Anyway, by Sunday afternoon a pang of anxiety that I had not blogged yet struck me, but I shook it off and then wondered why I thought doing the daily blogging was a good idea for me. For now, I am just glad that I could get my brain functioning well enough to get the newest lace on the needles. Seeing as how that involved casting on 297 stitches, I consider it quite an accomplishment.

I am taking part in a KAL for Damask, and have decided to knit the medium size. I really wanted to go for the large size, but I only have 630 yds of my yarn (there is no more anywhere) and that size requires 650. I have chosen to knit this with the handspun silk that I got at Habu Textiles when we were in New York. I have a wonderful image in my head about how this will work, and I really hope I am right.

Speaking of what is in my head...

Carwash :: Blues

Intuition :: Feeling

Desperate :: Needy

Tears :: Clown

Purple :: Color

Storage :: Unit

Duct :: Tape

System :: Overload

Cabinet :: Handle

Manager :: Micro

UM...Crazy Crackers

Wheat & Graham

Scrabble :: Tiles
Watching :: Weight
Habitually :: Drunk
Gritty :: Details
Slovenly :: Lazy
Canvas :: Blank
Leggings :: Thighs
Thursday :: F.O.A.D.
Attention :: Span
Hypnotic :: Melody

UM...Fingerless Friday, Now with More Random

I brought these Serpentine Mitts out of hibernation for travel knitting. It worked out well, and steered my mind toward portable knitting. They have been nice to keep with me to work on while we have been out-and-about on errands and in waiting rooms. Their small size and ease of working on while on the go almost makes me want to knit socks again--almost. I have been able to work on these mitts a bit more, and I only have one more thumb to knit before I have a finished pair.

However, before finishing those, I decided to begin some others. I used Fetching as a starting point, and ended up with these. If I knit them again, I will make 2-4 fewer increases on the thumb gusset. Still, I like the pair, and they stretch and snuggle most any size hands.

We have been doing some home maintenance and improvement. Last night was painting, and it required having the door open for a bit. This let a few mosquitoes in for us to swat and squish. More got in than I had figured, as I discovered over two dozen bites on my feet when I was getting ready this morning. That was a bit of a puzzler, but I spent more time thinking about the odd dream I had just had.

It was a bizarre one that had many celebrities. I cannot remember most of them, but eventually I ended up in a yarn store where the yarn was 50% off, but the prices were already too high, so the discount only brought things down to a few cents below what most stores charge. Anyway, Bill Murray was working there, by the Cascade 220 if I recall correctly. I sat down on one of those stability balls across the display from him, and he is going on with some anecdote. I could not tell whether he was eventually going to try to talk me into or out of buying yarn when the alarm clock sounded, and I was awake and the dream was over.

After reading about my dream, you would probably feel cheated if I did not share my Unconscious Mutterings for the week, so here they are.

Return :: To Sender
Alarms :: Ringing
State :: Your Business
Picture frame :: Crooked
Wreath :: Holly
Arrest :: Punishment
Sincere :: Apology
Nathan :: Cousin
Bag :: Fake
Arched :: Enemy

UM...See Previous Photo

The mitten survived, and the only knitting left on it is the thumb. I started its mate, and have made it to the same point as I was with the first when you saw it last.

The time is here for me to make some decisions about baby knitting. Amongst family and friends, I think there are four babies almost ready for life on the outs, and not all of them are getting handknits from me. Then again, sometimes I get going with the baby knits, and I just want to knit more of them, and some days I think a trip to Babies 'r' Us might be fatal for me, and everyone at that store has enough going on without me dying there.

Leads :: Me to believe
Concierge :: Service
Thousand :: Points of light
Engines :: Roaring
Argument :: Starter
2006 :: Summer Spin-Off
Knot :: Tie
Fuck :: Me
Handsome :: Devil
Ridge :: Crest

UM...Check for Ear-rata

It is either time to knit the ears for my puppet, or I need to rip back and redo its head. It can be difficult to tell if it is right before blocking and stuffing. Either way, I am glad that I realized that the ear portion of the pattern in my copy of Spin Off is incomplete. The correct information is here. However, for now, none of it matters much, as a torn fingernail means knitting and spinning are temporarily on hold.

Rhythm :: Nation

Baby :: Cakes

Sanctimonious :: Hypocrite

I like :: Big Butts

Constipated :: Politician

Sleep late :: Everyday

Over easy :: Heh-heh

Erratic :: Driving

Umbrella :: Policy

You don’t :: Say

UM...Choices

New yarns are here! While I have not fallen off the wagon, I have recently felt strong urges to buy more yarn, but that might be a story for another day. The spinning of these began during the Tour de Fleece, but I needed to give my hands a rest, so there was a break between the two. I had been enjoying the spinning so much, it was a bit of a challenge to wait, but it was for the best. I spun the lighter first, and just finished the darker yesterday. Spinning three-ply yarns seemed like the obvious choice, and I do like my results. Now all that remains is choosing which to knit. So, what do you think, will it be Kriimu, Kirju, Pilve, or Sini?

Coma :: Irreversible
Aristotle :: Onassis
Pink eye :: You don't want to know
Expensive :: Mistake
Dancer :: Phoenix
Lipstick :: Collar
Buffer :: Zone
Stilettos :: Stabs
Booming :: Bass
Rap :: Murder