Because so much of my time lately has been devoted to work or family, but not much else; because I am feeling somewhat guilty for having neglected this poor, old blog; and because I don't have the time to form coherent sentences, much less paragraphs - I give you the past two months of my life in photographs:
My Diet:
My Travels:
Family Gatherings:
And then there is work, but I'm pretty sure you don't care to see photos of that.
Disconcerting discovery of the day: Whether or not, as I grow old, I actually become senile is irrelevant. Jeff will make me think I have regardless of the medical diagnosis.
A recent example:
Jeff is cooking in the kitchen, and I am in the living room. I open the window, because it is getting stuffy, then I go to the bathroom. Jeff, not realizing I just opened the window, walks into the living room to check the score on the Dallas Mavericks game and immediately decides to close the window - which he assumes has been open all morning. He then returns to cooking. I finish in the bathroom and return to my seat on the couch, where I begin to swelter. Deciding it must be too hot outside for the open window to be doing any good, and that I'm probably better off turning on the A/C, I go to close the window. Which is already closed. After ten minutes of staring at the window and having a slow brain melt, Jeff yells from the kitchen, "Open that window back up, it's getting hot in here."
Jeff - 1
Michelle - 0
If you are watching the local news tonight, and there's a story about a woman who heard mysterious men relentlessly pound, scrape, play tag and hopscotch and throw bowling balls around on her roof; causing her lights to flicker on and off (scary is the wiring in this place); prompting her cat to meow, howl and claw everything in sight; inducing a severe lapse in judgment in her generally, normal-dressing boyfriend such that a pair of slacks and a wifebeater were deemed proper attire for a day; resulting in the tarring and feathering of several roofers and the straitjacketing of said woman...
I ask that you please take care of my yarn until I'm better.
M: Okay, you were right. This stuff is playing some loud and rowdy ZZ Top* to a sold out crowd on my lower intestines, and I just finished eating like 10 minutes ago.
J: I know, right? I was over here farting like a pack mule and figured if I didn't want to sleep on the couch tonight, I needed to go hole up in the bathroom for a while.
M: I wouldn't have made you sleep on the couch.
J: Did you forget I had chili for lunch?
M: ...
J: Feel like retracting your last statement?
M: No, I just had to pause and admire some mighty fine guitar twirling.
J: Dear Lord, this is going to be a long night.
I'm trying my hand at designing some rather simple knitting patterns.
The first is what I'm calling the Second Grade Sweater, which I'm knitting for my nephew. He's in first grade now, so I'm giving myself a rather large cushion of time to finish it. Here's a progress shot:
I've started with a German (aka long-tail) cast on. If you are not familiar with this cast on method, here's a nice little video for you from Knitting Help:
For those of you who don't knit, but want to learn, Knitting Help has some wonderful video tutorials. I knit Continental style, i.e. with the yarn held in my left hand. The Continental style is more comfortable for me, since I started out crocheting before learning to knit, but a number of knitters prefer the English Method. Knitting Help has videos for both methods, so feel free to play around with which method suits your style better.
Anyhow, back to the Second Grade Sweater. As I said, I'm starting with rather simple designs. After casting on and joining the yarn for knitting in-the-round, I knit stockinette for 5 rounds, switched to seed stitch for another five, then back to stockinette. That's as far as I've gotten for now.
I'm also working on a pattern I'm calling the Intermittent Sock for my brother. Again, I started with the German/long-tail cast on, only this time I cast onto a needle about 3 sizes larger than the needle I plan to use for the project. This gave the edge a nice, very elastic quality, which makes for a nice fit when worn, obviously, but has the tendency to look a little loose compared to the ribbing when just hanging from the needles. I don't think it bugs me enough to start over, though, and will probably just try to fix with blocking and tightening a few of the looser cast on stitches. Then I substituted my size 2 Addi Turbos (my favorite circulars) and worked a knit 2, purl 2 ribs for approximately 2.5 inches. At that point, I started working in stockinette. I'll work some more on these this afternoon and further develop the pattern. Here's the progress shot:
Hopefully, I'll get a some knitting and pattern work done today and will have more to post tomorrow.
The Wire - The Complete Fourth Season
If you are missing this show, you are missing television at it's very finest.
MI-5, Volume 4
I just found out that Season 5 was released in January. Which means I'm heading over to add it to my Netflix queue as soon as I'm done here.
Inspector Lynley - Set 1
For the pleasure-loving anglophile, this show strikes just the right note on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Brew your favorite cuppa tea and pick up the knitting needles.
Dexter - The First Season
Impatiently awaiting the release of Season 2 on DVD, as we don't have Showtime (something I might have to change!)
