OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

So yesterday I took an hour or three and looked up all the Ravelry members that had Kentucky or KY either in their locations or in their "about me" data. Then I scanned their profiles to make sure they were actually living in Kentucky. Then I made a very unprofessional list. All the ONEs are Ravelers in that location. My OCD doesn't require me to actually add the numbers up...

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Kentucky or KY

111111 Northern Kentucky
1 Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky
1 South Central Kentucky
111 Western Kentucky
1 SW KY
1 Kentucky mountains
1 California and Kentucky

1 Podunk, Kentucky
1 tucked in the woods, Kentucky
1 somewhere over yonder, Kentucky
1 backwoods, Kentucky
1 Very Small Town, Kentucky

1 Adairville
1 Alvaton
1111111 Ashland
1 Ashland area
1 Auburn
111 Bardstown
1 Bell county
1111 Bellevue
1 Berea
1 Big Creek
1 Billysburg
1 Boston
1111111111111111111111111111111111 Bowling Green
1 Brandenburg
1111 Burlington
11 Cadiz
1 Calvert City
111 Campbellsville
1 Caneyville
11 Carlisle
1 Catlettsburg
1 Cecilia
11 Cold Spring
11111 Corbin
1 Corinth
111111 Covington
11 Crestview Hills
11 Crestwood
1 Crittenden county
111 Cynthiana
1111 Danville
1 Daviess county
1 Dayton
1 Dry Ridge
11 Dunnville
1 Dwarf
111 Edgewood
1111111 Elizabethtown
1 Eminence
1111 Erlanger
1 Ewing
1 Flatwoods
11 Flemingsburg
1111111 Florence
11 Fort Campbell
1111 Fort Knox
11111 Fort Mitchell
111 Fort Thomas
11111111111 Frankfort
111 Franklin
1 Gates
111111 Georgetown
1 Glasgow
1 Glencoe
1 Goshen
1 Grayson
1 Grayson/Highland Heights
1 Greenup
1 Hanson
1 Harrodsburg
1 Hazard
1 Hebron
111111 Henderson
1 Highland Heights
11 Hodgenville
1 Hopkinsville
11 Horse Cave
111111111 Independence
11 Irvine
1 Jeremiah
1 Keene
1 Kenton county
1111 LaGrange
1 Lancaster
1111 Lawrenceburg
1 Lebanon Junction
1 Ledbetter
1 Lenoxburg
1 Lewisburg
1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Lexington
1 Louisa
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Louisville
1 Louisville area
1 Ludlow (Louisville)
1 Madisonville
11 Mayfield
1111 Maysville
1 Monticello
1 Morehead
1 Mount Washington
111 Murray
111111 Newport
11 Nicholasville
1 Olaton
1 Olive Hill
1111111 Owensboro
111111111111111111111111 Paducah
11 Park Hills
111 Pikeville
1 Prospect
1 Radcliff
111111111 Richmond
1 Rineyville, Hardin county
1 Rineyville (near Elizabethtown)
1 Robards
1 Russell Springs
1111111 Russellville
1 Sadieville
1 Sharpsburg
11 Shelbyville
111 Shepherdsville
1 Simpsonville
1 Smithland
1 Smiths Grove
11 Somerset
1 South Portsmouth
1 Southgate
1 Springfield
1 Stamping Ground
1 Stanford
1 Taylor Mill
1 Trenton
11111 Union
1 Union/Boone county
1 Utica
11111 Versailles
111 Villa Hills
1 Vine Grove
1 Waco
11 Walton
11 Wilmore
111111 Winchester
1 Woodstock

yarrrrn

Tuesday, while we were still in Lexington, I finally went by ReBelle and finally got some Cascade220:



I've been wanting to try this yarn out for a while. I bought 8 hanks (1760 yards) so ought to have plenty for whatever sweater I decide to make with it.

Here's my progress on the sweater I'm making out of the Bernat Alpaca:



It's a Berrocco pattern, Valpuri, which I've also had in my queue for a long time and have even started a couple of times, but never finished. I hope I have enough of the Bernat to finish it. If not I'll probably just do the sleeves in a different dyelot.

I found a cool pattern on Ravelry (though I'm really not in the market for another afghan pattern), called Penrose. It's a "play with math" kind of pattern, so I couldn't resist. I have the inside diamonds done:



Next come 8 squares to fill in around the diamonds, then another 8 (or 16, I forget) diamonds, and so forth.

Last but not least, Salida:



This pattern is so much fun to work, and once I've knit a few rounds I hardly have to look at the pattern, but the slightest distraction (the dog needs to be let in or out, the phone rings) throws my concentration off and I might as well lay it down for a while.

Progress

Here's some of what I knit while sitting in hospital waiting rooms this past couple of days. This is what I finished. Not pictured are Valpuri and Penrose, neither of which is done. The small heart I knit Friday. The cat I started at home and finished at the hosp; the large heart I knit at the hospital. The socks I finished at the hospital. They were done but for one cuff and the weaving in.





Roadie looks better. It's amazing how fast they heal. All his hair fell out around the infected area, though. He hasn't let me look at the spot on his flank. Probably afraid I'll put neosporin on it and make the hair fall out.

lint, cat, time

Some people think manually de-fuzzing a wool garment is equivalent to an hour in hell. Others find picking and cutting off each lint pill is meditative. I'm in the latter camp.

I like details. Paying attention to them, that is.

Since I'm no good at darning, this morning I patched a sock. Couldn't find any more of the green yarn, so this patch is blue. After I patched, I picked lint pills. Except for the fact there's a blue patch on a green sock, don't they look brand new?

I should have posted a "before" picture. Hindsight, as always.

The socks, after patching and pilling:

*****************

Chains of thought have always fascinated me. Like, five minutes ago I was thinking about one thing, and now I'm thinking about something else. How did I get from the one to the other? It's fun to try and unravel the chain.

Chains of events are pretty cool, too:

On Ravelry in your profile there's a space to enter your birthday, if you want to. I did. As a result I now know several Ravelers whose birthays are the same as mine. One of them sent me a Valentine's greeting yesterday. This caused me to go look at her profile again, and since she had linked her blog to her Rav profile, I saw the titles of her last few blog entries. One piqued my interest, I followed the link, I read the entry, saw (in the entry) a link to a pattern that interested me, followed that link to Knitty.com, and decided to knit the pattern.

The pattern was a heart.

I spent all day yesterday knitting this heart, appropriately on Valentine's Day. Well, I didn't spend exactly all day, but I did cast on yesterday, off and on throughout the day I picked up the needles and continued on with it, and eventually, last night, I finished it and presented it to th'Mr.

He briefly considered giving it to his cardiologist, but decided to keep it for himself. I think. At least that's where it stands right now. :)

The heart, unfolded:



The heart, folded, front and back:



*****************

I've been neglecting my blog these past couple of weeks, especially in the photo department. I think I have rooted out the cause of this neglect:

I join lists, groups, knit-alongs. If I'm invited I join. If I see something that interests me, I join. If someone I like belongs, I join. I post a few items, add my sigfile, I get responses and email and people come look at my blog and make comments, people look me up on Ravelry and send messages, I feel happy and popular and noticed, and then...

Then I run out of time. I try to read all the list posts, try to follow all the links, and I get overwhelmed. I switch from "individual emails" to "digest" and still I fall farther behind. Suddenly I don't have time to write interesting things people will respond to.

I really don't know how to deal with this. I want to belong and participate. I also want a life away from the computer. I'd hate for the nice people I've met to think I've wandered away because I'm not interested, when it's really the opposite that's true: I'm too interested, in too much!

*****************

Roadie, my little alien, isn't feeling well. I noticed a scab on his side, and his side seems tender. Then I noticed a little scab under his jawline. He's spent the last couple days sleeping a lot. Last night I noticed the side of his face is swelling. This morning it was more swollen.

He doesn't like to be handled; he's really a feral cat. Normally we don't even see him when the weather is moderate. In the winter he comes in and decides to be a house cat for a while, but even then he acts spooky, like he's afraid we'll eat him (or something).

Last night he slept with us. At times his loud purring actually woke me up. I know purring is sometimes a sign of severe pain or distress. This really bothers me, one of the animals hurting. Today is Sunday and the vet isn't open.

This morning when I came to the computer, in a little while he came in and lay down on my monitor. I decided to try and clean up his jaw. Got a hot damp washcloth and pressed. Immediately the pus started flowing.

He didn't put up with it for long; once he got away from me he stayed away. An hour or so later I saw him sleeping on the bed again. I prepared a couple washcloths and some neosporin. Picked him up and carried him into the bathroom, shut the door. Applied hot damp cloth, switched to clean hot damp cloth while the first one rinsed, did this a few times. Finished up with a dab of neosporin. Put him back on the bed (he promptly went under the bed).

I don't know if that helps, but it can't hurt. At least I'm getting some of the pus out.I sure wonder what caused that. A fight, sure, but with what? Owl? Hawk? Possum? Racoon? Squirrel? Another cat?

Roadie ten days ago:



Roadie today:

In my darkest hour...

At 6:15 tonight, right after I'd told a friend that despite the ice storm that had make national news by leaving half a million Kentuckians without power, I still had my power, RIGHT AFTER THAT we lost power.

Stubbornly I kept knitting my January socks. I have an hour to go on these socks, and tomorrow is February.  Go, me.  Knitter by candlelight, yea.

An hour later, at 7:15, our electricity came back on. That's when I noticed where there should be seven stitches ...were only six. Now it's another hour later, and I've fixed all I did while knitting in the dark. I've still a few rows to go before toe decreases, but I ought to be able to finish this pair of socks before the deadli<>

FO

The sun is out! Everything's pretty and glittery, perfect for showing off a new scarf.

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.

Myth: Knitting is a relaxing activity

Leaf pullover, a true account.

Thursday. Begin at neckband: cast on 70 stitches.

1) Using the long tail method, cast on 62 sts. Rip back, make a longer tail.

2) Using the long tail method, cast on 70 sts. Join, being careful not to twist. K1-P1 one round. Look at moebius strip. Rip back.

3) Using long tail method, cast on 70 sts. Join, being more careful not to twist. K1 P1 several rounds, till neckband is 1" wide. Look at instructions: "change to larger needle." Look at needle. Rip back.

4) Using long tail method, cast on 70 sts. Join, being careful not to twist. K1 P1 several rounds, till neckband is 1" wide. Change to larger needle. Begin leaf pattern. Work leaf pattern for several rounds. Go to bed.

Friday. Pick up leaf pullover. Put down leaf pullover, knit several inches on scarf, a couple pattern repeats on sock. Pick up leaf pullover. Work several more rounds of pattern. Look at knitting. Decide purl stitches are too loose. Rip back.

5) Using long tail method, cast on 60 sts. Rip back.

6) Using longer tail, cast on 70 sts. Join, being careful not to twist. K2P2 one round. Look at last two sts, K2. Look at first two sts, also K2. Divide 70 by 4. Look at pattern instructions. Rip back.

7) Using long tail method, cast on 70 sts. Join, being careful not to twist. K1P1 one round. Put knitting away.

My eyelid is twitching again.

Time for new goals

Finish scarf (pacalindrome).

Finish leg & turn heel of 2nd sock (twiney).

Finish flowered part and/or first ball of yarn on sweater (leafy).

Read 100 pages in Baldacci book (Saving Faith).

Find a pattern to use for a fair isle cotton potholder (mitten).

Decide on (and locate!)yarn & pattern for next socks.

Taxes (sigh).

Pix follow.

mailbox fulla fiber

It's my birthday week, and I got a box from Mom. In the box was a bag. In the bag was a book. In the book were patterns.

In the bag were also enough yarn to make a sweater.

In the mailbox was another bag. In the bag was more yarn. Yarn I'd ordered and forgotten.



In the mailbox was a book. A book I'd ebayed. In the book are patterns.



In the mailbox was another box. In the box was a red purse. It's big enough for a small project, along with other pursey stuff. It's red enough to knit a sweater to match.

In my purse is another book. A book someone blogged about. A book of fibery fun.



Happy birthdayweek to me :)

Oops.

Thirty rows into the leg of sock #2 I suddenly realized I am still using the smaller, size 1 needles.

Ah well.

There's my answer!

Um.

It's a can cozy.

Swatching for laundry

I've been wondering about my wool socks. They're so comfortable, so warm, and they wear so well. I gladly wash them by hand, and for now, now in winter, when most of the time the wood-stove is burning in what we call the stove-room, they're fairly easy to dry: I just spread a towel on the back of the couch and lay wet socks on the towel. In a couple hours they're dry.

In warmer weather it won't be so easy. So I'm wondering about dry-ability. Having already felted a pair of wool socks --fair isle, yet! I'll never forgive myself-- I'm not even considering tossing more wool socks into the washing machine, but ...can I dry them in the dryer?

I thought, "okay, I'll knit a swatch, measure it, wash it by hand, dry it in the dryer, see what happens." Actually I didn't think it out in quite so linear a fashion, but you get the picture.

Here's the picture. Before washing:







The dryer is still running, so that's all I have for you so far.

What I expect is I'll make a mate for this (whatever it is), then turn them into something else. Like wristers, gloves, mittens, fingerless gloves... or maybe it'll just be a can cozy. We'll see what the dryer decides.

I am committed. Or I should be.

I've decided 2009 will be The Year of the Sweater, even though I've already committed to knitting at least two pair of socks in each of the first six months, and at least one pair in each of the last six, plus reading 50 books over the course of the year.

Yes, this year I'll knit myself sweaters. Plural.

And they're gonna be nice somewhat complicated sweaters. Fair Isle, or Aran. Norwegian. In good yarn. Hear me roar.

Tuesday update

the elements

This morning it snode.




Snowed hard and fast for about an hour, maybe less. Then the sno all went away, I dunno, evaporated maybe. It didn't feel warm enough to melt it. Then, when the snow was all gone, it sleeted. Millions of icy ball bearings. Those went away too. Thursday and Friday nights are supposed to be in the single digits. I want to lodge a complaint.

knittage

I've decided to quit torturing myself with this wonderfully dense but irritatingly nit-picky heel, which I may have un-vented, because I've never seen anyone else mention doing a heel this way.



This way: slip one knit one across, turn and slip one purl one across. Every row. Wonderfully dense, but I've said that, and irritatingly nit-picky, but I've said that too. It takes twice as long (well, duh!) and I tend to drop stitches. On the next pair maybe I'll remember I don't want to do this anymore. Pretty, though, innit?

food

Tonight I made a carrot cake from this recipe. I've never made a carrot cake before, but I had all these leftover carrots from the bag I bought for beef stew, th'Mr does not eat carrots, and I don't eat that many. I was hungry for something sweet. All I changed (of the recipe) is I used Splenda instead of sugar, and since I ran out of vanilla I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla (that's all I had left) and a teaspoon of almond extract (also all I had left). Didn't frost it either, as I had no cream cheese. It's delish. Carrots are good for you. Maybe I'll make us a carrot cake every week and we'll be so proud of how healthy we're eating.



The Ultimate Chopper my folks sent me a few years ago is indispensable. I'd never grate eleventeen carrots by hand. That's probably why I've never made a carrot cake before.

Today I cleaned the house, in small doses. I took direction from this wikihow and attacked one small thing at a time, beginning with what was bugging me most. I'm not going to tell you what all I did, but I will mention that I windexed windows in three rooms and even got out the furniture polish. I can see a lot left to do, but it already looks better (to me).

Fear not the Frog

I have a confession: I don't like the way Cottolac is turning out, and tomorrow I'm going to frog her. Because I like yarn better than what this is turning into.I'm still thinking about an entrelac curtain, but there's something else I need to work up the nerve to frog first ...think red and green and beige. This white cotton though, it wants to join in with other colors and be a fair isle potholder(s).

Progress on the other three projects is going well. Last night during movies I knit Pacalindrome to the halfway point --halfway if I'm using three skeins of wool, that is, but I'm leaning toward four.



The problem with Trellis is boredom, and now that there's nothing left but the collar and a couple of sleeves I'm afraid there may not be enough yarn to finish. It'll be close.



Twiney is pure joy.
I'm near the end of the sixth pattern repeat (I think I'll do eight seven repeats) and it's really hard to put down. The only problem is I'm working from a hank, not a ball or skein, and no matter how careful I am I end up with something looking like an interstate interchange.



Must.
Sleep.
Sometime.

Goals done, new Goals!

Earlier this week I set goals:
  Finish the first round of rectangles on Cottolac.
  Finish the 16 rounds of ribbing on Twiney.
  Finish the first ball of yarn on Palcalindrome.
  Finish the second sleeve on Trellis.



Okay, that's done (PLUS I finished a BIP: Michael Connelly's Angel's Flight). What shall I do next?

I know, I know, hem the sweatpants th'Mr has been patiently waiting for. whine... But that's not knitting. Okay, maybe. What else?

Finish the next round of rectangles on Cottolac.
Finish the 2nd ball of yarn on Pacalindrome.
Finish Trellis. << that's one cuff, two side seams, two sleeve seams, one collar.
Finish one leg of Twiney (to the heel).
Finish another book.

That oughta keep me out of trouble for a while.

Goals

Now that I know the method to my madness, I can realistically set goals:

Finish the first round of rectangles on Cottolac. (done)
Finish the 16 rounds of ribbing on Twiney. (11 down, 5 to go)
Finish the first ball of yarn on Palcalindrome (more than halfway there)
Finish the second sleeve on Trellis. (afraid to look)

Oh boy, another project idea

I love entrelac!

I hate our kitchen's "winter curtain!" **

I'm going to make a new winter curtain in entrelac! That'll help bust the wool-ease stash!

I'm going to try to finish at least Cottolac and Trellis before casting on the curtain.

** We have a "summer" and a "winter" curtain over the one kitchen window (the "cat door") that never shuts. The summer curtain is light, sometimes lacy, mainly to keep out flies; the winter curtain is heavier, to keep out the cold. Machine-washability is a must, as the curtains quickly gather a mat of cat hair at their edges.

more start-itis is worse?

Today I also cast on an entrelac hat... so now what I have OTN just on my desk are:

Trellis - back, both front sides, one sleeve done, 2nd sleeve halfway done. Still needs collar.
Pacalindrome - halfway through 1st of three (?) skeins. About 10" long so far.
Twiney - still in the eight sixteen rounds of ribbing. My first top-down sock in a while.
Cottolac - entrelac infant cap in white cotton

Carol on Ravelry told me she's working her way toward Project Monogamy ...what a wonderful concept! She's knitting one project at a time. When she finishes a new project she then picks up an old one and finishes it, before beginning another new one.

Kinda made me ashamed to be me. For a minute I wondered if I maybe need therapy? What is it with me and all these simultaneous projects?

I pondered this question while I put down Cottolac and picked up Twiney. The next time I had to go to the other end of the house I made a detour to dig through the stash --do I have any white cotton? The ball I started Cottolac on has run out. If not, I'll continue in some other color... aha. A full ball of white Lion Cotton.

Then it hit me. I can't do project monogamy till I finish stash busting! What's been going on in my subconscious is the need to get rid of all the yarn, whether by giving away what I'm not going to use or by using up what I will. Once it's all gone, all my WIPs will be done and I'll be ready to BUY NEW YARN and knit one project at a time.

Whatta revelation.