Finally a FO !!

Ai yi yi . .. . . I started these socks the end of April. As I've said before, I seem to have FSS. The second sock took me 10 days to complete. Why so long for just one sock, you ask? Well, that's because RM has Size Twelve Feet. Would you like to know how much yarn I had left after this pair of socks? Well I will tell you: exactly 10 feet of yarn. Approximately 3 meters. Want to see? Of course you do.
The yardstick and tape measure are there to show scale. And a better photo:
Aren't they pretty? That is Trekking XXL colour 51. Ever since RM told me he wants to go live in Costa Rica, I went looking for the perfect yarn for his first pair of socks. I blocked them for the purpose of the photo shoot, but I think that I will wash and dry them and send them fresh out of the dryer, so that he knows they are not something that has to be treated gingerly. These are to WEAR, not to look at. Still finishing up the Paris Loop Poncho for his DD. I am on the last skein, it should work up quickly, if I can devote time to it. I will work on it during our team meeting tomorrow, and if we get a LCV. Even though I have yummy new 75% merino/25% alpaca sock yarn with a sock half-done on the needles, I will finish the poncho!

Non-knitting news: none to report. My life has been Too Stressful to even think about, so all you get is knitting news. Going to Rexburg Saturday evening. Nephew's birthday party Sunday afternoon. Drive back to Logan Sunday night.

Sunday again

I like Sundays. It's one of my days off from work, so I can sleep in if I want to. And church doesn't start until 11am. And I never have anything planned for the rest of the day so I can just come home and do whatever I want to. It is lovely.

Having no DD at home this week, I actually made it to church mostly on-time. I arrived during the invocation, so I waited a moment before I walked into the chapel. I sat in the back row and commenced to work on RM's sock. Never again will I turn a heel with less than 15 minutes of un-interrupted time! I almost got lost and had to rip out the whole dang thing. But I persevered, and I am now 15 rows into the foot.

Sunday School was not my favourite topic: David and Bathsheba. I get so exasperated with the story because men are men, have always been men, and will always be men, forever and ever amen. ARGH!

Next Saturday I will take off from work at 4pm, and drive up to Idaho. BT said I could stay with her again. I would stay with my mother, but She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Named is staying there. We are having my nephew's birthday party on Sunday so I will have to show up for that. But that doesn't mean I have to *talk* to her. Heck, I'll wear my sunglasses inside the whole time so I don't even have to look at her. I'll leave with DD about 6pm and come back to Logan.

Apparently it is traditional in Logan to have the community fireworks display on July 3, so after work on Monday, DD and I will go to a friend's house in Hyde Park to watch. I think that will be a whole lot of fun, I love fireworks. Beyond that, I am really not sure what is going on. I do need to try to communicate with MCM and see if I can make a trip to Chi-town very soon. He was in good spirits Friday morning, but I think he may have over-done because I didn't talk to him at all yesterday, and today I was only able to talk to him about 30 seconds.

Knitting news: I told most of it in an above paragraph. But I am also down to toe decreases on the first of a pair of ankle socks for myself. The yarn is blue/green DK weight (really too thick to be using 3.00 mm needles, but the size 3 needles I do have are 7" long and I really prefer 6" for socks. Besides, I like the points on Addi Naturas much better than on Clovers. I prefer the smoother finish, too. But Addis are $13 a set and I just don't have funding right now. I want to hurry and finish these socks because I bought yarn last week for another pair that I am so excited to use! I wish I had more knitting time for sure! I will post photos of RM's socks as soon as they are finished and blocked. The I will finish his DD's poncho and get a package ready to send. I am so behind it's not even remotely funny.

Been busy

Last Saturday it seemed a lilbit slow at work, and we were hoping for a LCV. But we usually get them before lunch, and when lunchtime came and we hadn't had one, we figured it wasn't going to happen. So my friend MW and I went to lunch. But when we came back, one of the other team leads was asking people on our team if we wanted to go home early. Since my DD had been home alone all week, I jumped at the chance to go home and spend time with her. I was home by 2:45, and we decided to go up to Idaho to spend the rest of the weekend. DD called BT to ask if we could stay with her, and we were welcomed warmly. She and her husband were planning a backyard barbecue for their neighbourhood and we were invited to join in as well. So we hurriedly packed (so hurriedly I forgot to pack pyjamas) and drove up to Idaho. We stopped at the truck stop in Downey and got hard pack ice cream (I had no idea they had that there, and I am sure that will be a regular stop from now on. Less than $2 for a nice-sized cone) and by the time I usually get off work, we were coming off the exit ramp in Rexburg. We enjoyed a lovely backyard barbecue with wonderful grilled chicken and lots of other goodies and met several new friends, which is always so nice. I did have to run to town to buy some pyjamas but I am used to forgetting stuff so no big deal.

The next morning was church. DD and I got up and ready, as church starts at the insane hour of 8:45am. There are four wards meeting in that building right now, so the meetings are really stacked on top of each other. You have to move around the building in a counter-clockwise manner so that you aren't always trying to push against people going in the opposite direction. It's a great system, when the ward in the chapel doesn't go overtime. But the ward ahead of us usually does, and we stand out in the hall for ten to fifteen minutes sometimes.

Church was so great. That is my home ward, not the ward I attend in Logan. The people in my Rexburg ward really really love us, and they miss us. I hadn't been there since Christmas (when I showed up, I was invited to sing with the choir, even though I had not been rehearsing with them at all) but it was as though I had never been gone. So many people asked if we were back to stay. We were all so sad when I said I had to go home that night. DD was invited to go to Day Camp with the other Achievement Days girls. Her leader came and asked me if she could come with them all, it was the next morning, pack a lunch, wear sneakers, it costs $11, etc. I can feel all the love that emanates from these people towards us. If I had a way to move back to Rexburg, I would do it yesterday. And I would attend that ward, no matter where I lived. If I had the money, I would drive up there every single Saturday night just so I could go to church there every single Sunday

After church and supper, I left to go back to Logan. DD stayed with BT, who promised to pack her a lunch and see that she got to the meeting place to go to Day Camp in the morning. My parents came home from Caldwell later that day and came and picked her up. My sister and her 6 children arrived that evening. My poor mother is tending seven grandchildren for most of the summer. I had asked her before school ended if DD could come for most of the summer, and she said yes. But then the last time I was up there my sister called and asked if all her children could come too. Apparently my sister is selling her house here in Logan and moving to St George. Of course, she didn't tell me any of this. When I dropped my niece off after Fighter Practice a few weeks ago, I saw a For Sale sign in the front yard. One disadvantage to not speaking to your sister is that you don't find out what's going on. It is not a big enough incentive to "take the high road". I simply do not care what she does with her life, as long as she keeps out of mine. And I am unanimous in that!

Knitting news: I have finally finished RM's first sock! I finished it on Sunday after church and immediately cast on for the second one. For some reason SSS is not a problem with me, it tends to be FSS. It takes me Forever to get the first one done, but the second one just zips along like lightning. I am almost ready to start the heel flap on sock #2. And then I will have to finish his DD's poncho so they can both go in the same package. The story behind all this is that winter 2004 I asked him for ideas for a holiday gift for him. He expressed an interest in wool socks. Well, I really had no idea where to buy them so I got him something else and didn't think much more about it. But when I learned how to knit in February of this year, I decided I wanted to make socks. I made my first and second pair:
and then I cast on for MCM's Opal Dreamcatcher set, seen in a previous post. In April I started RM's first sock, made a scary error in the 19th out of 20 rows of Evil Ribbing (k1p1) and worked at it haphazardly since. But I am not-quite halfway done on the second one and I know I will have no trouble finishing it. So far he does not know this blog exists, but I will tell him about it when I send the package.

Happy Birthday MCM

June 14 is my best friend's 50th birthday. It will be his last, as he has terminal cancer. August 2004 he quit smoking after 30 years because the doctors found a suspicious mass on his lung. A needle biopsy was done and it was decided that the mass was benign. Fast-forward to August 2005: I was busy moving from Rexburg to Logan and starting a new job and being All Stressed Out and I got a phone call from MCM. He had been having trouble with a lump in his neck/throat and had gone to the doctor. Now MCM is nothing like Warren Zevon in the fact that he goes to see the doctor for anything out of the ordinary. The doctors decided it was something that needed to be removed and a "procedure" was scheduled posthaste. But in the pre-tests involved, it was discovered that the once-benign mass in the lung actually WAS cancer and it had spread not only to the throat but to the liver as well. And by now it has also spread to the brain. Long story short: I will not have my best friend around for much longer. The worst part of all this is that he lives in Chicago which is a long ways away from me. A few weeks ago I finished socks for him. Opal Dreamcatcher 1235
The past few days I have been so overcome with grief that I haven't even bought him a birthday card. There are so many things I want to say to him, mostly mushy things. When we first became friends over 4 years ago we made a "no-mush" pact. We made up our own code for many words and phrases, things that I will never share with anyone else. But before he goes, I want him to know how much I love him. I hope I have the courage to somehow tell him. He is agnostic to the point of being atheistic, but loves the great outdoors . . . says he can feel God there. I have already told him that he has to be my Guardian Angel when he goes to the Other Side. I honestly do not know how I am going to carry on without him. He has been so much to me, more than I could ever give voice to. I want so much to be able to just forget about my job and go to Chicago and stay there until the end. I don't know if I will even be able to go at all and that thought is killing me too. All I know is I will keep him close in my heart every single day and never forget how dear he is to me.

Good night, good night....
Look at that moon shine so bright.
And tonight he smiles
Especially for you.

Sleep tight, sleep tight.
Know everything is alright.
And tonight I will be here
Watching over you.

Sweet dreams, sweet dreams.
It is never as real as it seems.
And in the morning when you wake up
I will be right here.

Sleep on, sleep on.
For no matter how dark or how long
It may seem that your night is
I will still be here.

So be still, be still
For you know that I always will
Tonight and forever
Be watching over you.

For tonight and forever, be watching over you.
So sleep, little darling, sleep on through.

I will be watching over you.

I hate driving

I really hate driving. I went up to Idaho today to fetch the DD. It is 91 miles and takes a little over an hour to get there. No A/C so I had the windows down the whole way and Jon Anderson on the iPod to keep me company. I didn't see one cop, but I did see two cars broken down on the side of the road, so I kept my eyes open. The drive home was warm because we had to keep the windows up so as not to upset the parakeet. We stopped for ice cream 20 miles from home.

I went to bed early last night because I was soooooo tired, and I slept until almost 10am. Church starts at 11am, and I wasn't concerned about being late. I am late every week. But then as I was just about to get into the car, I realized that this week church had been re-scheduled for 10am. I went back inside, got un-dressed-up, and sat on the couch in pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt until 5pm.
Knitting news: I finished LS's socks! No church and no kid meant I could work on the last part without interruption. They are blocking now, and I'll see her on Wednesday. I hope that she likes them. Here's a photo to prove to you the true ugliness of the colourway. I have cast-on for another pair of socks, this time in a slightly larger weight, but still with size 2.5 needles. I made a pair with this same yarn on size 3 needles, but now my gauge has loosened up and I want to see how these will turn out. It is not superwash, so I'll have to be careful with them when they are done. But as I already have 2 pairs done that aren't superwash, it won't be a big deal at all. They will most likely be too thick to wear with shoes anyway. More likely to be house socks or bed socks. I am okay with that!

Da Vinci Code

So I saw it last night. Not bad. I haven't read the book so I came in without pre-conceived notions. I still haven't decided if I want to read the book.

I was in a LCV yesterday afternoon when my phone rang. It was my friend PB and he wanted to know what time I got off work and if I had plans. We decided he would come over and we would go see Da Vinci Code. So we did. Some parts were gross and scary, but overall I thought it was a really good story. I am not sure how much of it I can believe, but I still liked it. The plot twists just about turned me inside-out though.

I like seeing movies with PB because he is always so good to explain stuff to me. It is hard for me to hear dialogue in movie theaters (I always have the tv captions on at home) and so if I miss a line he will tell me what it is. And I am so terrible to go to the movies with because I talk all the way through, if the theater is almost empty. We saw Harry Potter 4 together and I feel sorry for anyone else who was in there with us!

Knitting news:
Ready to turn the heel on Rodeo sock #2. I cannot do that at work because I need peace and quiet to concentrate. A heel turn is NOT fun to tink, so I have to do it all in one sitting and not make any mistakes. So I have been working on RM's Trekking socks. These are taking Forever because I only work on them when I am stuck with something else. The man has size 12 feet and I am only at row 45 on the foot. I do 55 rows for myself and I wear a size 8!

Day off

I swear, my days off are busier than the days I work! Tuesday night after work we went up to Idaho. We stopped several times, so we didn't get there until midnight. But I got the yarn I need to finish my shawl, so I am happy about that.

I was supposed to get my hair done but my friend cancelled on me because her day turned out busier than she had expected it to. It will happen another time, it's not a big deal.

So I called my friend BT and we spent a few hours together. We ran a couple of errands, then we went to Rexburg's newest museum, devoted to flight. It is located in an aircraft hangar (appropriately) and although I know it sounds podunk, it was actually quite interesting. I took several photos which I've just downloaded off the camera onto the computer. That is DD, and yes, I took that picture like that On Purpose.
After that we went to lunch at a new restaurant. BT's son works there as a cook, and he came out to visit with us for a few minutes before it got busy. It was good food, the portions were huge. We all had to get to-go boxes. I ate the rest of mine in the car on the trip home at 9:30 pm.

Then we went up on campus (BYU-Idaho) to take BT's husband some lunch. We wandered around the gardens up there. A new building was built last year and about half the garden space was used, so the gardens are much smaller now. I think though that the school is focusing on the quality of the landscaping now rather than the quantity. I am sure it will just continue to improve.

Knitting news: I didn't get to the LYS in Idaho Falls. I wasn't feeling good in the afternoon so I laid down for a nap. I did call however, and I think that I will just wait for the next time I am up there to go. Also, I re-cast-on for Poncho #3. I found some size 35 needles on clearance at WalMart and I used those to cast-on then switched back to size 17 circs. And . . . . . there was a new chatter in DLBN chatroom last night! I want to give a shout-out to "knitter", owner of an LYS in Sacramento. She gave me some tips on improving my sock-knitting and I hope to see her back in chat soon. It was good to meet you! Also, a big get-well-soon to Whistler who is feeling not-so-good after a bout with stomach flu. Hope you are feeling better today.

Frans on TheDividingLine wants me to mention his show too. But he doesn't play Yes so I don't usually have my Winamp on for his show. The title of his show is Welcome to the Rogues' Gallery and he does play some cool stuff. The best part of Frans' show is the chatroom convo. If you get a chance, come check him out on Thursday nights at 9pm Mountain time.

Back to reality and three days of work. "If your parents are first cousins, press 11, and Tola will be right with you!"

Oh what do you do in the summertime . . . . . .

Apparently this summer I will be driving a lot up to Idaho and back.

Tuesday after work will be the first trip. Leaving right after work, taking DD and her parakeet up to Grandma's for a few days. I don't have anyone here that I trust to tend her this summer, so we will be doing the kid swap a lot. Since Wednesday is my normal day off, I won't have to rush right back for work. I've arranged to have my best friend MB do my hair early Wednesday morning, then I'll come back in the afternoon. Since there is no SCA that night because mostly everyone will be at Uprising in Ririe, ID, the owner of my LYS (and my friend) is coming over to my house instead and we are going to sew.

Knitting news: finished the second poncho, but unknown reason the cast-on edge is too tight and since it's fuzzy yarn there is no way I can frog it. It looks so pretty, though. Photos soon, I promise!

ProgFrogPond

Shall I explain the title? Okay, I will.

I love prog music (that's progressive rock in case you're not familiar with that term) and I listen to an online radio station called TheDividingLine . My friend Whistler does an all-Jethro Tull program on Monday nights that I always listen to. Other DJ's have other themes they do. I usually listen some every night. Of course, if you know anything about me at all you'll know I am a HUGE Yes fan. My iPod is completely full of Yes and Jon Anderson music and I like it that way!

I went to Knitters' Night at the LYS tonight. I did Spinners' Night last night. I worked a lilbit on my drop spindle, and a lilbit on my two ponchos. I recently discovered on poncho #2 that I somehow did a whole row of knit when I was supposed to be purling, and I had a big ol' ridge where there shouldn't be one. Since I've already decided that this poncho is to be a birthday gift for my friend RM's DD, there was No Way I was going to leave that in, even though they wouldn't have known the difference, So I tinked awhile, and THAT was so frustrating . . . . so off to the frogpond I went. Now I'm casting it back on (110 stitches onto size 17 Addi Turbos) and listening to TheDividingLine.

Okay, I'm bored with that and I'm casting on the second Rodeo sock for my friend LS. She is coming over this week and I should probably have some progress made on it ya think?! Hope we have a low-call-volume meeting tomorrow as I need time to work on my stuff! My team leader said I can't knit while taking calls anymore (but I did it while he was on vaca for a week and my stats didn't suffer at all) so now I limit knitting to LCVs and pre-shifts. Can I tell you how even more frustrated this makes me??!! ARGH!!!!

Last days of school

Two more days of school and then it's summer! Since this is our first summer in Logan, we aren't quite sure what we are going to be doing. I know my mother has a family reunion scheduled for central Idaho in July, but other than that there are no plans.

Every day before I leave for work I write a message to my DD in the notebook we have for this purpose. It lists her chores for the afternoon and any special instructions. Tonight is Spinner's Night at the LYS, so we will be going to that as soon as I get home from work. I've got brownies in the oven for us to take. Tomorrow night is Knitters' Night. Since I am just learning how to spin, I go to both events. DD likes going as well. It's held in a very old commercial building downtown, and she likes to take my digital camera and wander around and take photos. I encourage that because that is how I started (25 years ago!)

She needs to call my mother tonight and discuss some possible summer plans. Right now my grandmother is staying with my parents, but I think they will take her home soon. DD told me last night she wants to go with, so hence the planning phone call that needs to take place. I am totally willing to drive her up there after work on Saturday night. I don't like my ward here and it doesn't bother me at all to miss church here and attend in Rexburg with people I know and care about.

Okay I need to hurry. DD slept late and missed her regular bus, and had stress finding her shoes and worrying about missing the other bus. She left her notebook that she and her friends are trading around with (kind of like a Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants-type thing as near as I can tell) and so I am going to be a nice mom and drop it off to her at school. I do love her even though I expect a lot from her.

*update*
Knitting news: Last week at SCA I cast on for a second Paris Loop Poncho from MagKnits and it is close to be half-done. I cast on for a third yesterday morning. I love WalMart's NoBo brand novelty yarn! I put my sock on stitch holders so I can cast on for my friend LS's second sock. She chose the most eyeball-burning colorway of Opal Rodeo (1153) and I just want to hurry and finish it before I go blind!

I know I need to photograph and document all my projects to date. I will, I will!!