Disjointedly

Remember how my new socks turned my feet stripey? Well, want to see what happened when I washed the socks?


I think most of the excess dye is now out ... but only time will tell!

Cute kitty in the house:

The paw under the chin makes this picture for me.


Have you seen this video of the big cat playing?



Does it strike you that any day now, he'll realize how close he is to the top of the fence?

Warning: Crankosaurus

I am cranky.

The shawl knitting pattern is still giving me problems.

The Bruins are losing, not undeservedly.

My headache is currently in abeyance, but the crunchy feeling at the back of my neck makes me fear it will return, as it has on and off for two days now.

And, well, you know.



So I'm off to tink, to watch the Bruins keep losing (probably), and most likely to go to bed early. What else is a girl to do? I mean, other than mainlining Ben & Jerry's, and I'm trying not to overeat.

Talking About This and That

Even with an extra hour, this weekend has flown by. I've gotten things done (lots of laundry, ran the dishwasher, made brownies to take to a party [and only ate one], had a headlight replaced on the car before the time change has me driving home in the dark, returned library books, a little shopping), but still, where did my weekend go?

Sigh. The regular Sunday night lament. At least this week looks to be fairly normal, knock wood. It will be good to get on a sort of schedule again.

Knit Talk
The double-knit hat, Take Two is going well. It isn't flawless (I saw at least one mistake, a few rows after I made it, that I decided I could live with), but it's far better than Take One was (what a difference a stitch marker makes), and more likely to fit my head when it's done. For the several hours today when I was being a cat lap (Carlos is a limpet this weekend), I got more done, including switching the colors so blue is inside and yellow outside. The next step will be changing the yellow to green: stay tuned!

The sock news isn't quite so positive. I was working on the toe decrease for the first of the raspberry socks yesterday at the auto shop (oil change etc), but I saw a mistake and decided that I could drop down the offending two stitches and fix them without tinking back half a dozen rounds. Unfortunately, the yarn did not cooperate, so I had to rip back anyway, and getting the stitches back on the needles was a nightmare. It's kind of a mess right now, and while it's totally fixable, I need to be less annoyed before I pick the project up again. I don't think it will be in time out for long, but it needs to cool off for a while. Or I do. One of the two.

Health Talk
It definitely could be that hormones contributed to my irritation with the knitting. I've got my period this weekend, and this cycle has been ultra-heavy on the emotional swings. I like to joke about things like "needing" chocolate around my period, but on Wednesday the PMS hit me like a freight train, where the feeling was less hmm, I could go for some chocolate, and more what chocolate and how much will I be getting? I mean, trust me, every month I am not buying two pints of ice cream and some chocolates* on the way home.

*I did at least go for the good stuff. If you like caramel, run don't walk to get Lake Champlain's caramel chocolate leaves, which are To Die For (try Whole Foods, around here they carry them). Not only is the chocolate high quality, but the caramel is fantastic. I would give up many pleasing chocolate things forever, to eat these. Not cheap, but utterly worth every penny.

I've also had several bouts of absolute fury over things that even I could recognize were nothing--and I don't mean after I calmed down, but even while I was spitting mad, I knew it was for no good reason. And last night, I got sniffly sentimental over nothing much, before bed. (Or bedtime, anyway; I ended up staying up late, cat on my lap, watching Ten Little Indians on TCM. Hilarious after recently re-watching Murder by Death! I chose not to switch channels and watch Atom Age Vampire, though. No sense of adventure, I guess.) Generally, if the Bruins lose, it doesn't make me happy, but this was more than that. Stupid hormones, I blame you.

Hockey Talk
Based on the last two games* the Bruins have turned in, it's a good thing I tempered my early-season enthusiasm, saying things like, "It's fun to watch, while it lasts." It's not that I think losing two in a row means only bad things going forward, it's just taken the edge of the feeling of They Will Find a Way that came with their performance early on. Ah, well. Wednesday is another day.

*As goalie Tuukka Rask said after one of the losses, they played a really good 20-minute game that night.

Then there was a story I read online about a rather unattractive hockey jersey (not just my opinion), where the kid who bought it is defending himself, and I liked the way the writer indicated disagreement:

we were pleasantly surprised when Ben wrote the following:

In this article you begged the question how much I would pay for this jersey. Well good sir, I have an answer for you: $355 plus $8 shipping. I have been eyeing this Wild Wing jersey for a while, and when a Selanne one came up (signed too), I knew it had to be mine. As a life-long Ducks fan (one of the few), I can say I am proud of this jersey, and I fully embrace its awesomeness.

He spelled "awfulness" wrong.

Nicely.

One of the Bruins players, not a tough guy, got pulled into a fight in a recent game, for which he got a penalty. Watch the video, and you have to agree with Puck Daddy:

I don't know how anyone could call that "fighting."

Exactly. Five for fighting, no. Two for being fought?

In the same post, they gave props to Tim Thomas, Bruins goalie, who kicked off the season on a ridiculous high.


Credit where it's deserved.

Time for me to have some dinner. I hope your weekends were good. Do anything fun?

Back in the Saddle Again

It is pretty darned weird to have bug bites under my turtleneck, and sunburn under my boots.

After all, on Monday, I wore a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops.

Today, I wore a turtleneck under a long-sleeve shirt under a sweater, with long johns under my slacks, and low boots. I was a little warm at work this afternoon, but I was cold this morning, so it evens out.

I wore my coat for the first time this season, and gloves, which I was glad to have as I scraped frost off the car windows this morning.

Work was fine, not a rough re-entry, just steady busy all day. Suits me! The boss says the job will last at least through Christmas, if not longer, which is good to know. And I got my first paycheck, noticeably larger than I was getting, which is also good.

And! The Bruins are up 3-0 after one period in Buffalo. Shorty for Brad Marchand (his first NHL goal), shorty for Patrice, they're looking good, I look forward to the rest of the game (and getting into bed 3.7 seconds after the final horn sounds).

I did have to frog the double-knit hat. Checking my suspicions that it was too big, I put it on waste yarn so I could try it on, and it fell over my eyes. I could get it to stay on the head, but there was way too much give to it. That's okay, though. I only had two inches done (though essentially on two hats' worth). It's good practice in double knitting, and this time I will use a stitch marker at the beginning of the rounds, to see if I can improve on my wonkiness in that area.

Meanwhile, the sock is into toe decreases. Tra la la. Off to the second period!

Reporting in from Florida

I started this post two days ago, and Blogger was being pissy about loading the photos, and I got about halfway through before my patience was done, and I went back out on the lanai to read instead.

Today I tried again, and Blogger was all, "What, me give error messages? Never! Here you go!" So I can tell you some of what's been happening.

We start with a knitting update, courtesy of the four-hour flight delay that Jet Blue kindly gave me. (Yeah, that was fun. Still, I do prefer not to fly on a plane with mechanical difficulties.) (And after all, hitting McDonald's drive-through at midnight has a certain charm in the right company.) I started out working on the double-knitting for a while. Blue side:


Yellow side:


The alternating stitch colors on the needle tickle my fancy.


Here it is in Florida, so you can see I haven't made too much progress.


I am pleased with it so far, though.


I've worked out my plan for how I think I will switch the colors from side to side and incorporate the sage-green yarn. However, it's rather slow going at this point, since I have to keep checking to make sure that I didn't slip a stitch with the yarn on the wrong side, and correct it when I did, so after an hour or so I went back to the sock.

This photo has the needle stuck in on the right to show about where it was when I picked it up Tuesday at the airport.


And here it is in Florida the next day. Heel done and moving down the foot.


As I mentioned, I wanted to make it slightly taller than the previous pair, so here they are for a side-by-side comparison.


Now, on to other-than-knitting. One of the side benefits to this trip is eluding the last week of electioneering at home. It's going on here, too, of course, but somehow it's more amusing:


We went shopping on Wednesday, between lunch with a friend and our evening plans. We found some good things, and I don't mean this:


And when we stopped at the library book sale, I didn't buy this, either, but it was fun to learn that Rosey Greer had a needlepoint book:


I also learned that at least one brigadier general shops at Costco.


One of the things I like about SW Florida is that if you keep your eyes open, there are birds everywhere.


Isn't he beautiful? My mother says he's a wood stork.


We came into the shopping outlets from a different side than usual, and thus I learned that they have a fountain inspired by my favorite Roman fountain:



And of course, I had to commemorate the slight error made at the local Starbucks. Fortunately for me, we just wanted drinks. If I'd wanted one of these, I wouldn't have known what to ask for:


Our evening plans were in fact to go to a hockey game! It was freezing in there (there were season-ticket-holders around us who had brought blankets), but it was a lot of fun all the same. I had a soft pretzel, and enjoyed the atmosphere. The signs:


These jerseys, which fortunately turned out to be warm-up jerseys, and were not worn in the actual game:


Honestly, I hope they get a lot of money for that.


The Everblades' mascot:


The ice girls, who were called Everbabes:


Late in the game, I realized that the motif around the bottom of the jersey is teeth.


I also liked the fan boat in the side patch.


There was a car in the lot that had two themed bumper stickers:

And I had to work to get a non-blurry shot of this guy's hat. Do you think he would have held still for me if I'd asked?

There are some really fervent fans. I wish I'd seen if these two set off the lights when the Blades scored.

As for the puck-hat, well. It speaks for itself.

The hair, now, that I can't explain.

The Blades won, which made it even more enjoyable. At first, we didn't really care much, but the enthusiasm around us was contagious. It was a good time.

And that's just the travel day and the first day! I'm having a wonderful time, apart from the rotten headache I had last night. And even for that, I had my mommy, it didn't spoil any plans, and I feel good today. Tonight we're going to symphony!

Of course, there is a distinct lack of feline here.

But I don't miss cleaning litter boxes, to be honest. And I'll appreciate him more for the break.

The Clear the Decks, Pre-Holiday Post of Random

So yesterday was pretty weird. I've heard of the 24-hour flu, but who gets a ten-hour bug? Me, apparently. I've had "headache hangovers" before, but they don't generally leave me deciding that no, I don't have the energy to lie on the couch, better go back to bed. Weird.

The irony: I just saw the headache doctor last Monday, for my annual* check in appointment. I told him that I wished I was getting fewer migraines (while admitting that anything over zero is too many), but that I don't currently feel up to the experimentation required to try a new regimen (migraine treatment is very try-and-see). He said that I could try increasing the dosage of the drug I'm currently on, which might help (there are no guarantees in migraine treatment, either), so we're trying that and, well, we'll see.

*Annually was actually in July. I had just switched health insurance, and rather than call all over creation to find out the details that hadn't arrived yet, I put the appointment off. Ah, procrastination! It took the bottom of the pill bottle to remind me that, oh yeah, I have to go see him before I run out.

The answer to yesterday's question was, somewhat. The good news is that I did get a second wind last night, which enabled me to accomplish a few things instead of mourning the entire day as a waste. Given how much it bugs me to have clutter all over the kitchen table, and dirty dishes on the counter, you'd think I would make more of an effort to keep those areas under control. You'd be wrong, though, or at least they're the first things I lose control of when time gets tight. It does feel good to have them clear again. Though sadly, I did not find the item I mislaid before Rhinebeck, which I thought might have been sucked into the paper-bog on the table. Fortunately, it's easily redone, but it's going to bug me until I find it again, whenever that may be. Probably in six months, or a year. Yeesh. Ah, well. Life is imperfect.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that on Saturday, I started a new knitting project, and am most happy with it. I was itching to have another project on the needles; the socks are going fine, if more slowly in these blessedly-free-of-subway-commuting days, but I wanted something else (I'm not a monogamous knitter these days). What hampered me is having all this lovely new sock yarn that I am eager to play with. And don't suggest that I use some for something other than socks; it's a sensible idea, but I want socks from all of it, so no. I went around and around with my Ravelry queue and my stash and pondered and suggested and rejected and so on.

Finally, I married a double-knit hat pattern I'd marked as a way to ease my way into double knitting, and the lovely, lush alpaca-and-silk I picked up at Rhinebeck (the yellow, sage, and periwinkle), and decided that they would work together. I hope! There's always the possibility that the hat won't fit, in which case I chalk it up to good practice time, frog it, and start again, or that I'll run out, which I don't think I will but who knows. Still, it's fun to try something new in the knitting world, and when it works, it makes me feel wicked smart. Plus, when I get it done, this should be a wonderful hat, soft and warm.

The best news of all, today, is that I leave for the mom-visit tomorrow. Hooray! The prospect made a drippy, gray Monday much more bearable.

In conclusion, I want ask you something. Yes, you, you look like you have some advice for me. What kind of netbook do I want?

I'd like to get one within the next year, both for travel and for simple household use away from my desk/desktop. I want to get one that can handle my needs without straining, and doesn't have bells and whistles I don't need (like gaming). My needs are thus:

• Internet usage, primarily e-mail and blogs, but also basic googling and whatnot. And blogging!
  
• Photos, so it needs enough memory/strength/whatever for the big files. I don't have to keep every photo I take on there, but on a theoretical vacation for a week or two, I don't want to max out my storage.
• Light word processing, maybe, unless that complicates things enough to not be worth it (I can always draft in e-mail and copy later).
  

I understand the benefit of going to a store and playing with the little buggers, to test the personal keyboard comfort level and so on, but still I'd love to hear input on brands that are good or bad, experiences, etc.

All right, folks, that suitcase isn't going to pack itself. Time to turn on a hockey game (not the Bruins, they're off until Thursday) and check that list. I may or may not blog from Florida; if not, I'll catch you on the flip side. Have a good week!

Thoughts on Not the Last Day After All, and on Knitting

I am a planner. I enjoy planning and anticipation and lists, sometimes as much as the thing itself. A proposed last-minute trip can throw me for a loop because I wasn't planning that, can I do that? Do I want to? Give me a minute here...

I like knowing what to expect, and having time to get my head in the right place, to plan, to gather what I need, to make lists. I like surprises sometimes, but not always, and not too many.

I started this job mid-May with the clearly stated expectation that it was a temp job, with a clear end date of October first. Nothing was said to indicate anything else. Once in June and once in September, my boss mentioned in the course of e-mails that I did well on a certain project, but otherwise I got no feedback, no information about scheduling or planning, until two weeks before the expected end date. I feel like I knew the path ahead of me and wham! Here I am on a different path, all confused.

Instinct versus reason

I know what the reasonable, sensible decision here is: stay on at the current temp job until I find a better permanent job. What I can't resolve is how I feel about that decision.

Instinct says leave. Go. Last day Friday, as planned. I don't like the atmosphere, the management style, the pay rate, the benefits or lack thereof, the commute. Go. Leave.

I don't know why it's been okay to work here up to now, but feels untenable to continue. Perhaps it's simply that one can put up with a lot when there's a definite end date set. Once that end becomes undefined, it's a whole new ballgame. Plus, I hate not knowing, and being able to plan accordingly. I did expect to have uncertainty in October, but it was going to come with all that time off...

Earlier this week, the stress that arose from the thought of staying was tremendous. I didn't know what to do, and felt almost panicked. I know what I should do, but but but, I don' wanna. Now I feel more resigned, but still not happy.

Meanwhile, my boss continues to be hard for me to understand, this time in that she seems to be assuming that I'm staying on. Tuesday she dropped off a great big in-your-downtime project for me.

I wonder how long she thinks I'm staying?

I wonder what the weather's like in her world?

On a related note, I have a question for you, or two actually. You know, if you have an opinion. No pressure. Just that I'm sure you'd have something to contribute, you clever thing, you.

First, how soon is too soon to get in touch again with the company where I interviewed?

To recap, I interviewed last Thursday, 9/23. I sent an e-mail thank-you note the same day, and mailed a handwritten one Friday afternoon. I'm thinking that next week might be okay: I noticed a trademarking inconsistency on their website, and thought that letting them know about it would bring me (and my eye for detail) to mind. And I could ask what their timeline is looking like.

Please, if you have an opinion, weigh in: is next week good, or too soon?

Second, when the happy day comes that I have another job (or the unhappy day when I don't, but I can't take the current job, or more likely the commute, for another day without an end in sight), what about giving notice?

Normally, I am a staunch two-weeks-notice person. I believe that short of extreme circumstances, it's just rude not to give notice.

In this case, though, I'm kind of pondering. I feel like I committed to October one, and I haven't committed to anything beyond that (nor have I been asked to, straight out). As they say, Massachusetts is an at-will employment state, meaning that the employer can ask you to leave at any time, and legally you can leave at any time.

So, in my shoes, would you give two weeks notice? One week? What do you say?

**********
The Evolution of Knitting Confidence

Four years ago, I read on Knitty about the technique of knitting two socks at once, one inside the other*. I was shocked, fascinated, awestruck, and absolutely positive I would never, ever try it**.

*Imagine twice as many stitches on each needle as usual, where the odd-numbered ones belong to sock A and the evens to sock B. And two balls of yarn. When you're done knitting, there's the magic trick of pulling one finished sock out of the other.
**One single stitch wrong, and you're screwed: you have conjoined socks. Most people do not have conjoined feet.

But I thought of it one morning this week, knitting my (singular) sock on the subway, and realized that I'm more interested and less appalled by the idea now. I'm not rushing out to start it, and it certainly wouldn't be travel or social knitting, but it seems much less impossible.

I think maybe I'll scout around for a more basic double-knitting project, so I could see just how crazy it would make me, holding two strands of yarn separately. And then we'll see.

Coming home tonight, the T was absolutely mobbed. I knit, standing up (leaning against the door), because it was that or get off the train. As usual, 90% of the remaining riders got off at the next to last stop. I looked up to see just one other person remained in my section of seats, and as I said to her, "What are the odds that the last two people here are both knitting?" Because she was! A scarf. We talked about knitting, and hand-knit socks, and it was a nice moment after the madness.

Sometimes, while knitting on the T, I think about all the answers to the seldom-asked question, "What are you doing?" Some possibilities, more and less literal:

• knitting
• making a sock
• turning the heel (casting on, decreasing for the toe, etc)
  
• self-tranquilizing
• staving off a claustrophobic* panic attack
• not thinking about how much I hate people
  

*Side question: is it in any way dismissive of people who are diagnosed claustrophobic, if I refer to myself as a little bit claustrophobic? It's not a condition/diagnosis that I've ever officially gotten, and I don't want to imply more than that serious crowds make me anxious. Really, really panicky and anxious. (Do I sound like a nutcase tonight or what?) (More than usual, I mean.)

For that matter, my knitting confidence has increased during my months knitting on the T. I have cast on, and worked on heels and toes, while riding the subway, without causing crisis or angst. How about that?