disjointed thoughts

I've been up since fourAM, so what I write may not be entirely coherent.

Last night I finished a book, David Baldacci's Saving Faith, which I began way back last summer when I was "living" in Charleston and working at the John Amos plant. Now I think I put it down for good reason, but in the 2009 spirit of finishing what I start, I've been slogging through it.

Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad book. It just badly needs editing. The storyline is fine --Washington D.C. political intrigue/CIA/FBI/romance-- but there's so much extraneous material that distracted from it. The "romance" scenes are written so goofily that after the first bit I just skipped over them. It's like someone surgically injected a Harlequin into a Tom Clancy (and then had a novice rewrite it). Ouch, that's pretty harsh. I finished the book, okay? I just probably won't read any more by this author.

Day before yesterday I finished knitting the scarf; still have to weave in ends (a ten minute job, tops) but have felt like knitting, not weaving in.

Last night I finished the first ball of yarn on the sweater. This gets me almost through the shoulder leaf pattern.

This morning I'm knitting the heel flap on the 2nd sock. I'd like to turn the heel today and finish the pair before Feb 1, just to be able to count them as "January" socks. Otherwise all I have are a couple pair in large gauge, and although both sock challenge groups say that's acceptable I feel I should offer socks, not socks as my entries.

I've decided my February firsts will be finishing the SKP2008#5, Olympic Medal socks, which I put down after getting stuck on the short-row heel instructions (something wasn't making sense). Then maybe another pair of the gansey socks. I'm thinking about adapting the design to use a thicker (less stitches per inch) wool.

Speaking of wool, I am longing to try out some Cascade220.

Speaking of trying out, my little bag from Knitpicks is here on my desk, tempting me also.

Speaking of my desk, there's also a cross stitch I started last year sitting here, patiently waiting for me to get over the yarn already.

I still have visions of a fair-isle potholder (mitten-type) dancing in my head. Last night after unsuccessful attempts at something resembling a frying pan I charted a spiral (to represent stove burners).

I'm also thinking about that entrelac curtain a lot.

And, although I have no money to spend, I pre-ordered two books from Amazon.com:



The first is the result of a recommendation on Queer Joe's knitting blog, the 2nd came to my awareness from a comment on Franklin's blog. Am I easy to influence or what?? It's a good thing I don't watch TV. Think of all the yummy commercials.

Speaking of yummy, there's another new thing: a birthday resolution to "get in shape." That means diet & exercise, however you slice it. I tend to exercise just till I get results, then I call it "done." Then a week or a month later I wonder why I'm missing all the clothes I threw out because they were "too big," since now everything I own is "too little."

So a few days ago I hauled the stationary bike in out of the garage, where it had been awaiting disposal. The best (also the only) sister-in-law gave it to th'Mr for Christmas 2007. He used it for a week, decided he was done, and out to the garage it went.

For several days now (three?) I've biked at least five miles a day. I'm thinking of giving up butter (whaaaah!) and half-and-half (WHAAAH!), or maybe restricting it to once a day instead of slathered on at any excuse. My first cuppa tea in the morning thus will have the real thing, subsequent ones get lite non-dairy powder. Excuse me while I go toast and butter an English muffin.

Oh yeah, the BIG news is a few minutes ago I beat Zuma's level 3-4 for the first time ever. Now I go into the uncharted waters of level 4-1.