Same as the old boss

What a long week! I got slammed with a sinus infection on my first day of school, then the meds slammed me again. There were also snowstorms on Tuesday (to and from school) and Friday (after school) that kept me as alert as possible. I worked 15 hours in the Languages & Literatures Department, mostly photocopying syllabi on Tuesday and posting “class cancelled” notices on Friday. It turns out that I probably won’t be able to count on getting that many hours in a regular week once the schedule is set, so I’ll probably be looking for an additional campus job to help pay for classes. I have a couple of leads.

Unfortunately, there was almost no knitting this week. The roads were terrible on Tuesday night, so I wouldn’t have gone into town for knit night anyway, but it was a Scout night, so I didn’t go to Scouts instead. I missed both morning knitting times, as I will for this whole semester, and I was so busy on Friday afternoon that I didn’t get home until about 5:30 anyway. There was no way in the snowfall that I was even thinking of driving to Verona anyway, which takes an hour in each direction on a clear day.

Friday brought something new… a first step in an assessment for Jack. I wanted him to be checked with Asperger’s Syndrome in mind, but after half an hour of watching him scoot across the exam room on the doctor’s “spinny chair” on his stomach, touch everything in the room, open all the drawers, and interrupt a million times, the doc wisely remarked, “I don’t really see Asperger’s here, but have you thought about ADHD?”

Well…. duh. I’d said years ago that I didn’t want him to go off to public school because he would have come home with a Ritalin prescription in hand on the first day, but I hadn’t taken my own words seriously. Viewing him through this filter, it makes a lot of sense. He doesn’t have a formal diagnosis yet, but we got a referral to someone who can make one, we set another eval appointment for two weeks out, and I have a pile of questionnaires to fill out myself and to distribute to other relevant parties. So, if you know a kid with ADHD or are an ADDult yourself, feel free to chime in with positive suggestions. The kid definitely needs some coping tools and some impulse control. He’ll be super scary when he gets focused!

Resolution Update

1. I am publishing this post on Saturday as I promised. Check.
2. No progress on the DNA Scarf, and none to speak of on the blanket squares either.
3. I must have thrown something out….
4. I’m current with my homework for Precalculus (and still looking for how to access the homework file for Astronomy).
5. I did a quick weigh-in this morning on the Wii after not working out all week (except for burning 450 calories a minute by gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white and my fingers locked up). I’m down a bit but didn’t make my incremental goal. Time to set a new goal and keep drinking the green tea.

Alcatraz update: I DVRed the show and watched it closely for two hours, but didn’t pick up on where Lydia’s song was. Ben says it’s in the gun-shop sequence, so I’ll have to watch it again and crank up the sound. I do kind of like the show. Thanks to everyone who watched the show, mentioned it to other people, or shared the video of Lydia performing “How Many Women.” Every little bit helps, and sometimes they turn into big bits.

Knitting to Alcatraz

Here I am… between room overhaulings and giving the kids their 30-minute computer time slots for each thank-you note they’ve finished writing, I have about five minutes to write this post.

Resolution updates:

1. I am publishing this post on Saturday as I promised. Check.
2. There is no more progress on the DNA Scarf today than there was on Wednesday. I have done 2 or 3 more blanket squares for a very long-term WIP.
3. This week I took a day and cleared out the area in front of my closet. It’s the part of my house that really makes me look like a hoarder, because I know what happens when I put things like quilting/sewing, scrapbooking, and knitting supplies out in the free-range areas of the house. They (and the things around them) get ruined. This particular project I would have spread over three days, but I didn’t have three days. Did it in one. I still have some items that don’t yet have a proper place, but I’m working on it ad I can actually use my closet, which makes me feel better and calmer. (Today, the dining room. The Pinewood Derby is next Saturday, weigh-in is next Friday, and Jack and I still have “cars” that are blocks in the box.)
4. School starts on Tuesday, so my g.p.a. is still intact.
5. I did get in a Wii “run” and the scale said I lost 1.1 pounds since Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or whenever it was. I think this puts me right back to where I was last Wednesday, but the important thing now it that I have a downward trend upon which I should capitalize.

Since January 1
Saturday blog posts: 2 of 2 (plus a bonus post on Wednesday)
WIPs completed: 1
Needles liberated: 1
Clutter reduced: filled a garbage bag with adult-size clothes for the thrift store, plus three pairs of shoes.
Grades: school hasn’t started yet
Pounds lost: I’ll get back to you later

OH WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!! I can’t forget this. If you are in the U.S., please plan to watch the Fox premiere of the series “Alcatraz” on Monday night. Air time is 8pm Eastern, 7 Central, everyone else you can work it out. I was not originally planning to watch this show even though it has a possible time-portal concept, but now I’m definitely watching the pilot because one of my sister-in-law’s songs will be played on the show. Her name is Lydia Loveless, the album is Indestructible Machine, and the song is “How Many Women.” I’ll tell you now that most of her songs aren’t, ahem, eligible for air time such as this. Pesky FCC. Lydia has been described as a “pissed-off Patsy Cline,” if that gives you an idea. She’s on tour right now and this could be a huge break for her (and therefore also my brother, who plays bass in her band) if people watch the show and start buying the song and the album. So please, help spread the word and give it a watch and a listen.

Slowly out of the blocks

This week is my last week at home before school starts for me again next Tuesday. (I haven’t figured out why college has the day off but all the other schools are open, but hey! it gives me one last kid-free Monday morning knitting meeting before I never see my “morning friends” again.) I’m trying to finish up loose ends, make phone calls, start preparing for the new semester, and generally fix a lot of things this week.

In the past few days I have been wondering a few things.

1. I don’t stay wide awake while I’m reading textbooks like I used to 30 years ago. I wonder why that is?

2. I will be on campus from 7:45am to 3pm every day. (Add an hour a day of travel time.) I wonder when I will keep up with my social networking?

3. This also means I won’t be able to attend Monday and Thursday morning knitting sessions in the group I founded. I wonder how I’m make progress on my lofty knitting-related resolutions?

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm….

Anyway, I’ve been struggling forward with my DNA Scarf. It’s a pattern that takes a lot of concentration on my part and/or silence on the part of others. Or at least the “right” kind of noise. As of this post, I have finished 2.5 repeats. I know where all the errors are, and the scarf is well aware it is being created on borrowed time. If a fatal error does occur, I will NOT re-knit this yarn into this scarf, but into something completely different. A lace shawl, perhaps. Yes, a lovely Kelly Green alpaca lace shawl….. And then I will stuff it in a box and refuse to let it see the light of day. (If events escalate to this point, the yarn and the pattern will have deserved it. Trust me.)

DNA Scarf - 2.5 repeats

In the meantime, I’m approaching the project as a test of the strength of my own stubbornness. Do I really want to make this scarf? Do I really want to keep all my resolutions? Do I really want to follow my own rules? Do I really NOT want to have to announce on my blog that I screwed up so wretchedly that I decided to knit a massive lace rationalization?

In other struggles, I weighed in this morning on the Wii before I did a 30 minute free run. My weight is up a little from last time, but overall it’s still a loss from a week ago. If I keep at it on the dual fronts of Europe diet and Russia exercise, I will get all my numbers down and get healthier and stronger over time. Not-eating-doughnuts would probably help, too.

See you on Saturday for the regular blog post with all the Happy Happy Fun Time Number Crunching!

Progress on Aisle 2

The first week is going well…. I finished a WIP on January 4, then created a blog page for my finished works of 2012 so I could document it there.

I do realize that pages don’t exist for anything I completed in 2011, 2010, and actually the end of 2009…. but that’s not important right now. If I get the flu or break my leg or something and suddenly end up with lots of free time I may copy those words and pictures over from Ravelry. Then again, I might not.

The finished work in question is a hat of my own design. It was started on a circular needle, so even though it took me two sets of DPNs to finish it off, it actually only liberated a single needle. Humph.

Jamie's MIL's Freakin' Hat

Completing that project gave me psychic permission, if you will, to cast on for something else I’ve been wanting to do for a while — the DNA Scarf. As it happens, the Scientific Knitters group on Ravelry decided to have a knitalong for this pattern and all derivations of it. Other people have turned it into hats or socks, but I’m going to play it straight as much as possible.

I got off to a rocky start. I’m using some pseudo-vintage Blue Sky Alpaca yarn, three skeins from the orphan table at Knitch of Delafield. And you start out with 8 rows of seed stitch (The Bane Of My Existence) on size 2 needles. I got four rows in, realized I had committed an error I did not know how to fix, and had to take it off the needles, wind off the yarn, and start over again. The second time I finished the 8-row section of seed stitch, and am now “ready” to start knitting with larger needles and work the real pattern, which includes 5-stitch borders of seed stitch on each side, mirrored mini-cables on each side, and the 20-stitch, 38-row Double Helix pattern. No sweat.

In fact, I did my first repeat of the pattern last night at Late Night Knitting at The Sow’s Ear. The seed stitch border turns out the be the easy part. There was much raising of blood pressure during the first few rows, but eventually it got easier. One thing I did discover is that I no longer know how to do left twist mock cables. But for this project I will settle on doing the same technique consistently, because I am NOT going to start this over and redo it. If I muck this up so badly that I have to frog it, I swear that the yarn will become Something Else. (And, oh, Note To Self: put in a lifeline now.)

DNA Scarf - 1 repeat

If I run into problems while I’m working on this new project, my evolving Rules of Play state that I may work on the next WIP or any long-term project I have on the needles. Considering that I have two Doctor Who scarves on the needles and another one planned, I think it’s safe to say I’ll always have something to make steady progress on. BUT, I cannot cast on for a new project until the current “new” project becomes a “finished” project.

In other news, we discovered this:

Dark Fudge Chocolate Chip Kettle Corn

Oh, my goodness gracious. This does not bode well for trying to lose 30 pounds, but it’s not the kind of thing one eats every day.

Anyway. I haven’t weighed in again yet, so I don’t have progress to report there. UPDATE: I did a 20 minute free run on the Wii Fit Plus for 4.233 miles, and at weigh-in (before the run) I had lost 1.5 pounds since Wednesday.

Since January 1
Saturday blog posts: 1 of 1
WIPs completed: 1
Needles liberated: 1
Clutter reduced: took 1 bag of books, and 2 bags of clothes, to the thrift store. Filled one cubic-yard box of sheets and blankets to take to the thrift store next week.
Grades: school hasn’t started yet
Pounds lost: 1.5

And this year I mean it.

Happy New Year everyone…. I might be back.

2011 was a rough year for me, as you know if you know me via Ravelry, Facebook, or Real-Life™, and I don’t want to rehash it here. But I would like to resume my blogging ways and share my knitting (now including crochet!) adventures, my quirky sense of humor, and my funny kid stories as I used to do.

I would like to publish new posts every Saturday, but to kick things off I’d like to amuse you all (especially you, “Stephanie”) with some New Year’s resolutions.

1. I would like to publish new Chocolate Sheep posts every Saturday. (Stop laughing, Lauren.)
2. I’m going to finish all the projects on my WIP list. (Stop laughing, Brandy.) But since I also have new projects for which I would like to cast on, I want to do my projects in pairs — finish one WIP for each new project. The only way this works is if I finish the new project too. I might also include a Needle Liberation Tally as I go along.
3. I’m going to work to reduce the clutter in my home. (Stop laughing, “Stephanie.”) Actually, the best way to do this is to finish projects or to find people who could use the supplies I’ve been hoarding reserving for future use. That means I will also have to create scrapbook pages, digitize photos, and maybe even make quilts.
4. I’m back to school for a B.S. in Physics with a minor in Math and, this semester, back to work at school as well, for 15-20 hours a week. I got an A in my first course (Intermediate Algebra) so I’m coming in with a 4.0 grade point average. I would like to keep an A average now, in this my remedial year, so when I start this fall to take on Calculus and Physics I will look and feel like I can handle it. This semester I’m taking Precalculus and Astronomy.
5. Is five a nice round number? Well, this year I want to finish a goal I made progress on last year. I vowed to lose 50 pounds and actually lost at least 20 before life threw me a doctored slider in September and I stopped exercising. I need to find ways to get healthier on a busy schedule. I won’t be at home all day with access to a Nordic Track, an exercise bike, and a Wii fitness system — so I will have to reduce my calories and stay active in other ways. Goal weight is about 140 pounds, so I will try to keep you posted on that.

That should be plenty! See you on Saturday….

Behind schedule

So, based on those poll results, people are more interested in what I’m working on (and putting off) than the projects I actually complete?

Well….. okay. That’s going to work out quite well, actually.

Here’s the WIP list to the best of my recollection. I’ll put in pictures later.

1. Doctor Who Scarf, Season 18, Lion Brand Thick & Quick Chenille. This is well underway, and the only difficulty is that the yarn has been discontinued and the Terracotta and Burgundy colors, which I need several skeins of, each, are tough to find. I have a buttload of Purple in stash.

2. Doctor Who Scarf, Season 12, Caron Simply Soft. I’m making this for a friend and have every color except Brown and Yellow. I just finished the first two stripes. The next two stripes are Brown and Yellow. Time out!

3. Lenten Scarf KAL. This is an interesting project comprised of seven 12-inch squares in a row, making a 7-foot-long scarf. I am halfway through the last square, then need to weave in the ends, block it, and add tassels.

4. Baby blanket. This is the Baby Prayer Blanket pattern, done for a cousin’s baby, due in August. It’s maybe 20 percent done but that may be a generous estimate.

5. Cabled socks. This is the Brigid pattern, and I started this as a January stash knit-down project. Or February. Who’s counting? I am actually at the foot, but suspended work to take on the Lenten KAL with full force. The pattern says to switch to ribbing on the foot instead of continuing the Celtic knot, but I would rather continue the cabling if I could concentrate on the darn thing. Working both socks in parallel.

6. Tilting TARDIS scarf, based on the cowl pattern. This was a KAL timed with the end of the last season of Doctor Who, and we’ve started the new season already. You can imagine the urgency I bring to the project.

7. Cotton blanket: I have knitted 93 of the requisite 225 squares. I have no idea how I’m going to crochet them together. ‘Nuff said?

8. Greenish blue scarf, One-Row Handspun Scarf pattern. Begun on St. Patrick’s day 2010, or maybe 2009. I don’t remember, haven’t touched it in months.

9. A brown hat I’m knitting on the fly for a friend who is also Tommy’s bus driver. Every time she sees me she asks where it is. I last worked on it in December, and now it’s finally spring. Again, urgency.

10. I’m almost ashamed to say I never finished that little Adipose I was making in the summer of 2008? Really? 2008? Good Lord, Tennant was still the Doctor and everything.

There’s probably something else waiting for me to finish it. Are you happy now?

Thinking….

Christmas with the Doctor

I won’t have everything done in time for the perfect Christmas this year… but I’m coming to terms with it. I’ll enjoy mine if you enjoy yours!

Just in time for Christmas

Believe it or not, I’ve been finishing my knitting projects lately. I just can’t prove it because my computer alternately believe it is (a) out of memory and cannot, just cannot, process one more byte of information, or that (b) the 300 bazillion gigabyte hard drive is full and cannot, just cannot, hold one more file or accept one more photo from the digital camera. Some of this is truth, and some is a pack of low-down dirty lies.

So. For everyone who is filling out the Chocolatesheep dance cards, you can punch “Mystery Knitting” as finished.

Next I proceeded to cast on for a cabled wine bottle cozy that was really fun (and funny) knitting. The only problem I ran into was that when I really got into a groove with the knitting, I didn’t trust myself that I had properly reset my Luddite row counter (8-sided D&D die). That project was on a 24-hour hold at one point because I wasn’t sure whether or not it was time to cross the cable. But I took a deep breath and went Onward and Upward and finished it. I think it’s pretty cute, and I’m open to making more.

Then I really got Knitter’s Block. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what I should knit — I knew exactly what I needed to cast on for. But for the whole weekend I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Instead, I found some leftover dishcloth cotton and a pair of single-points in a project bag left over from the Zoom pattern (reusable Swiffer cover). I scanned my Ravelry queue and found the EXFOLIATE! pattern for a washcloth featuring a Dalek. I started this on Sunday night and worked right up to where the bobbles started, then paused until Monday morning and worked through to the end. The kids were so thrilled with it that I had to promise them I would dig out my Dalek gingerbread cookie kit and we would make Dalek cookies. I need to make the dough this morning.

Then the ice was apparently broken, and yesterday afternoon I finally cast on for the felted bag project I’d been putting off for weeks. The wool was wound, the pattern found — just didn’t have the appropriate mojo, I guess. I got all the way through half of Row 5 when I heard shrieks from upstairs and had to set it down.

The four-year-old had “fallen” off the eleven-year-old’s bed and cut his scalp and was bleeding all over his forehead. He also managed to smack his nose so hard that his skin split in several places, but it didn’t actually bleed out. I got the bleeding stopped, consulted by phone with the pediatric nurse, and cancelled our plans to attend the scout pack meeting so I could keep an eye on Humpty Dumpty. He’s acting very much like himself and seems fine. Unless you lift his bangs, all you can see are the red marks on his nose (though he may develop a shiner in the next few days — better give his preschool teachers a heads up). When you do lift his bangs, it looks like he took a shot from a crack Mob sniper, perfectly centered and two inches above his eyes. Sheesh.

So, no pictures, and not even a thousand words. But I’ll keep knitting away and playing “IT Professional: The Home Game” and see what I can do to provide some proof.

For future reference, I bought some Swarovski crystals for the borders of the blue and green alpaca scarf, and a friend gave me an edging pattern to try. And I found the Adipose project bag yesterday, though I’m under strict orders from the six-year-old not to even attempt to watch that episode of Doctor Who unless he is in school at the time. Partial parthenogenesis kind of bothers him (i.e. reduces him to shrieking terrors). Too bad, because my daughter (who turns eight tomorrow!) finds the Adipose utterly charming.

That brings the WIPs number back up to seven, and I also need to knit at least a pair of slippers for my grandmother. Those will be quick, but I really need to remember to take a picture of them this time, even if I won’t be able to share it right away.

Six WIPs left

Last night I finished knitting the toque, and this morning it got its close-up.

It is an extremely authentic pattern and should remind me of this:

and this:

and really, it does.

But I have to be honest — the first thing I think of when someone says “toque” is this:

And the second thing is really this:

Which reminds me, the next item on the hitlist is this little fellow:

which I want to turn into this: