Knits

Er, hello world. I imagine that this blog has fallen off of most people’s RSS feed because I am crap at updating it anymore. (That’s a very West Coast US thing to say, by the way… anymore at the end of a sentence.) To tell the truth, I sort of lost interest in knitting, blogging, reading blogs, the internet for quite some time. It’s picking back up now for reals.

The previous year wasn’t an easy one for me at all. I pretty much managed to have every stressful life event play out over twelve months. I only failed at getting married and divorced in that period, but I think I got everything else covered - death in family, moving house twice, new job, new city. The winter wasn’t particularly easy. It was cold and dark. Darker than I expected. And I got really ill in January and that didn’t help at all. Men were messing with my head. It was all a bit too much for me and I couldn’t even find solace in knitting because knitting that blanket really took a lot out of me.

Well things are changing.

I got that car back in February and jokingly told my friends next up is 1. Cats, 2. a boyfriend, 3. a TV. Well I’ve managed 1 and 2. I don’t know when I might manage 3. I’m in no rush. Yes you read that right. There’s me and one of the cats (Angus). He is affectionately known as The Beast or Angus Steak because he was SIXTEEN POUNDS when I got him and is a scale model of an Angus coo. He’s since lost some weight (about 3 lbs). The other one is a furry beast who looks tiny next to Angus, but was also on the pudgy side — he’s called Fergal.

And yes, I got myself a boyfriend. There aren’t any pictures of him. He’s not imaginary even though no one has met him yet. He works in a job he loves, but it has insane hours. He’s currently completely exhausted and looks like he’s been punched in both eyes. He needed some humour in his life so I knit him that goofy pterodactyl above. Obviously if I were in charge of designing creatures it would be no surprise that they’d go extinct. Chad the pterodactyl is a bit special.

My mom was over for three weeks in May. There was a misadventure on her part during a side trip to Paris. It was comedy. Maybe I’ll share it with you. Since then I haven’t actually been in my office for a full week because I was taking days off to do things with her and during June I’ve been at various conferences, training sessions, and meetings. I’ve been running around not really knowing what day it is. I’m sort of still stuck in May and here we are almost in July! I had to postpone my Coast to Coast bike ride because my schedule just got to be too much. I’ve had to give up my ticket to see Blur in Hyde Park next week. Some time around mid-July the travelling bit of work comes to a swift halt. Phew.

So things are picking up. I knit the pterodactyl over a couple of evenings. I finished a pair of socks that had been in progress for close to two years. I am working on finishing up a lightweight scarf I started last August. I am going to knit some long, fingerless mitts, and I’m hopefully going to clear out some other WIPs by either knitting them or ripping them out (some of this ripping malarkey has already occurred). I’m actually looking at other patterns to knit. Reorganising and clearing out stash. And slooooooowly participating in online life again.

So, hello.

Who am I kidding? I have clearly lost the ability to blog. I’m sorry. Don’t hold your breath for any real posts.

* I now have two cats - Angus and Fergal.
* I’m knitting a t-shirt top. I have to learn to crochet so I can finish it. (You’ve heard that one before.)
* I’ve started training for my cycle ride in June. It’s going to take a lot of training.

Hope you’re all well.

Cars don’t honk in the UK, FYI, they toot. I haven’t had need to use my horn yet.

Anyway, I thought maybe my blog was broken broken so I was going to post to find out if people were seeing this in their feeds or whatnot because when I looked at my feed it showed that “Hello world!” post only that all Wordpress blogs start with. But then my dad mentioned that the comments don’t work.

So, is everything working for everyone now?

Hi hi… everything got moved but it was a bit messy as I expected since my previous webhost was crap. But it’s all back and running. Nothing exciting to tell you except that I am once again a car owner. I have not owned a car since October 2004.

It’s not quite my new-to-me car, but it’s close. It’s a SMART ForFour. They don’t make them anymore because they weren’t so popular, but they might just bring them back. It’s only a tad smaller than what I was originally looking at (VW Polo), but check this out:

FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 40.4mpg / (extra urban) 61.4mpg / (combined) 51.4mpg

SWEEEEET.

I get it tomorrow morning.

So the map… it is indeed the north of England. It shows a path of about 133 miles. Which I’m going to be cycling in June over 3 days. From the shores of the Lake District on the west to the shores of Sunderland on the east. It’s the Coast to Coast path and I’ll be cycling with about 20 others for charity, camping out two nights. I’m quite excited. There’s some big, big hills where I will no doubt be pushing. It should be a good challenge since 1. I’ve never done anything like this and 2. I don’t cycle much these days (but will obviously need to cycle and exercise more between now and then). So more information to follow as I learn more. Hurrah!

Oh, and no, I didn’t get buried in the SEVERE WINTER WEATHER. We had about 2″ of snow where I live. And sadly, that even managed to really cock things up around here. Absolutely ridiculous. As I said to some friends, the terrorists should take note… don’t try to drive car bombs into Glasgow Airport, just make it snow more than a couple centimetres and much of the UK will come to a grinding standstill for days (there are still schools shut).

And one more thing. I am fed up with my current web host so I will *fingers crossed* hopefully be moving across to a new one in the next 7-10 days so I may disappear briefly while I get things sorted out.

View Larger Map

I will ’splain next week.

Hey, remember when I used to knit? And post here? Oh the past, it’s so funny.

2009 is not off to a good start on any front. I AM STILL ILL with a cold. Actually, I’ve got over it twice, and caught a new bug or it came back or I don’t know what, twice. I finally returned to work this week ALL WEEK. Miracle of miracles. It’s been good to get myself back in a routine of some sort - it really helps me feel more grounded and focussed. Three weeks with minimal contact with other humans was doing my head in. I can totally see why recluses go mad. But being ill? I’m very much over it and ready not to sound bunged up all the time.

Anyway, so yeah. That blanket I was knitting for my mom. Bobby’s Garden. Well, I finished the centre bit - squared it all up. Took it out to California with the intention of adding on the edge while there and in the car for 30+ hours and in the evenings. I managed to go buy the yarn, wind one hank up into a ball, make a start, twice, and then not do it. I just couldn’t get it going. I didn’t like how I was picking up the stitches since some of the edge has a nice stockinette edge and other bits have garter stitch. I just couldn’t get any of it to work. I’m disappointed in that.

 

I’ve left it behind as my mom said she’d see about having someone crochet an edge on. Really, I’d like to finish the whole thing because I put in 200 hours of work. However, my mom’s ability to put things off means that when she comes out in May it is likely it won’t be done and she can bring it and maybe I’ll have the knitting-fu I need to finish it. There are only a couple of people I’d let finish it (I’d pay them), but I haven’t approached them at all.

It came out great. I love the colours and would like one for myself, but I’m not doing that again any time soon. A few bits of the pattern weren’t very clear to me, but I managed.

Lately I am finding that I have very little interest in knitting. (Or anything really — my mind is busy overthinking loads of nonsense and I can’t focus on anything for more than 10 minutes.) I am doing a little bit of it because it’s there and I do want to see things done, but I think what I’m going to need to do is really look at all the yarn I have and do a purge. I’ll also have to look at all the in progress things and finish them or rip them out. I just feel the weight of all these unfinished projects and too many things (knitting and otherwise) in my life right now and need to clear it out. I’ve managed to accumulate too many possessions again and until I moved to the UK, I didn’t realise how much all this stuff can actually weigh on your mind even when you can’t see it since you’ve managed to tuck it away into drawers and cupboards. I need to reduce.

Posted by Shannon at 14:32 | misc | Permalink | Comments (4)

Finally getting some sleep. Not great sleep, but some sleep. Been an absolutely weird week. Not exactly looking forward to work tomorrow as there’s so much to do again, but it will be good to help distract me from various things. Completely bunged up worse than I was last weekend which is not cool AT ALL.

Anyway, one to watch in 2009…

Well, what a week.

I recovered from my cold quite quickly, but after that initial massive bout of sleep on New Year’s Eve, I entered insomnia zone. I have been so absolutely exhausted, but it doesn’t matter what time of day or night I try to sleep, I can’t. I have tried relaxation, warm milk/hot chocolate, a hot bath, over the counter sleeping aids, and absolutely nothing works. Returning to work on Wednesday was extremely difficult. I managed to get through the day, but decided having somewhere between 10 and 15 hours of sleep TOTAL over an entire week was not going to work and I really saw no end in sight so I went to see the doctor first thing on Thursday.

I’ve struggled with insomnia in the past. For several years I used to get a bout of it for 2-3 weeks in February for some reason. I’ve had a few days of it here and there, but the last long bout was probably 2004 or 2005. I got some prescription sleeping pills and had one last night. It helped me get to sleep, but not stay asleep for all that long although it did help me actually fall back to sleep when I woke up.

The problem I find with insomnia is that you are awake, yet exhausted and cannot focus. This means I have done absolutely nothing with all of this “extra” time. I haven’t read, I haven’t knit, I haven’t done things around the house. I’ve literally sat in front of the computer refreshing various sites or chatting to friends on instant messenger.

I think with the rest I got last night, despite feeling groggy most of today, I’ve regained some energy so I may actually do a few things tonight. Like cook dinner. Up until Monday night I was absolutely ravenous. I ate all the food I had in the house that didn’t require a lot of prep since I was too tired from a cold and insomnia. I was eating constantly — no matter how much I ate or at what time, I was hungry an hour later — that sort of hunger that feels like maybe you haven’t eaten all day. Since Monday dinner, I’ve barely eaten a thing — a complete loss of appetite. And hey, guess what? After work on Wednesday, my cold returned even worse!

So yeah, what a way to start off the new year. By the way, the picture above is taken at 330am or something — completely wide awake and listening to music. I have giant headphones. But I also have a tiny head.

Happy 2009.

I’m back on British soil. It’s dark and cold and wet here — business as usual really. I did nothing but drool on my pillow to ring in the new year. I was far to exhausted to attend any new year festivities so I just stayed in and went to bed at 6pm. I briefly woke up at 1130pm, saw some fireworks out the window, said ‘Woohoo’ and went back to bed. Unfortunately I then managed a lot of sleep with a few periods of briefly awakening which have done me in completely. This jetlag is AWFUL. Absolutely awful — just like it always is when I travel during this time of year. Oh and the cold I’d managed to avoid the previous 6 or 7 weeks, I GOTS IT!

Anyway, my trip home was pretty good if a bit busy and rushed, but isn’t it always? Santa Fe had a lot of very nice food (we only had one bad meal) and a lot of snow for this time of year.

I was smart and did decide I wouldn’t return to work when work reopened on the 5th… I’m heading back in on the 7th. Hopefully I’ll have managed to get past the worst part of the jetlag by then.

And hopefully I will now be better about posting things here — knitting-related or not. Oh and I’m not doing any year end wrap-ups… 2008 was mostly awful.