I Can Haz Friday Nao, Plz?

No?

OK... stupid reality.

Oh, hey SG: Yes, I realize that I usually make a great show of never picking up a book, but in secret, I really am a bookworm. I know you'd never know. ;-)

I am currently steeping some apricot ginger black tea -- had the first cup of it last night with the German rock sugar, and it was quite tasty. I liked the tinkling sound of the large sugar crystals as I stirred them, too. Gotta find your happiness in small things sometimes.

I am having some interpersonal workplace unpleasantness, on top of the general workplace stress that's endemic in the US these days (and probably elsewhere as well). I actually do believe it's me -- well, I believe others are acting badly, but the reason that I'm the target of the misbehavior is that I really don't fit in there. Where would I fit in? God only knows. At this juncture I'm just glad to have a paycheck, but someday I'd like to do meaningful work (which I do now) in a congenial, friendly, laid-back atmosphere. My ex-husband has a job like that. So I know they exist... or they did.

Sometimes I wonder if I'd fit in better elsewhere in the country. It would have to be someplace liberal. A liberal place with a slower, friendlier way of life. Where?

Well, not going anywhere anytime soon, barring some kind of massive windfall or something. There are groups at work who play the lottery every week. What's two bucks for a dream? I should find someone(s) to do it with or just do it on my own (no splitting if winning!). Other than that extraordinary longshot, I'm not sure what could catapult me out of my current life situation, at least not in a good way. I still need that life coach!

No Surprise Here

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Literate Good Citizen
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

For some reason, the bars aren't showing up, but I'm most of the way across on the first two, halfway across the third, and have nothing on the final two.

I WISH I were in grad school and yes, other people's grammatical mistakes drive me insane. It's actually one of my major failings -- was just having a conversation recently about how nonstandard English from native speakers makes me cry.

Wonderful, Wonderful Day

Oh, thank God that went so well (other than the Chief Justice oath oops), that GWB is gone gone gone, and I no longer have to cringe every time the POTUS speaks.

OK, actually, make that cringe-and-turn-off-the-TV-or-radio.

Whew.

Now if only the economy would pick up. Please God.

It's funny I'm not worrying about losing my job. It could very well happen, as it has happened to many of my coworkers, friends, family. But I kinda figure that so many people are in this boat now, that no one is going to look funny at you, no one can blame you, and there is a network of support. I won't starve, although it could be a little unpleasant.

A little wine for me and some nip for the cats, and we'll survive, though.

I am still plugging away at the scarf I'm knitting for someone, and wishing it were over so I could work on my own stuff. I'm not going to offer to knit for anyone again. I will actually knit for others again -- but I don't intend to offer in advance again. It makes the knitting yet another job to complete when I've already done my time during the day.

Speaking of "doing time," I'm trying not to mope around during my time off counting the hours of freedom left and muttering to the cats how I wish I could just stay at home with them. Housewifery is never going to happen for me, short of a miracle (especially as I've realized I'm happier being single and don't even really feel like putting up with the crap dating entails), and unless I either finally write some blockbuster novel or win the lottery, I will have a day job until I am old. Especially the way things are going. So coloring my free time with sorrow at its brevity is not really helpful!

Also, muttering to the cats is too "crazy cat lady in training."

ETA: I have mastered the Continental purling. It's nowhere near as fast as my English purling, but I can now knit and purl both ways.

And I did get some extra tea today to take to work. I'm trying to insert a little pleasure into everyday life.

Winter Cleaning

Or clean-out, really.

I am down to three storage boxes at my aunt's, which is good. I also found the book from my grandmother's funeral (she died when I was 18 months old). I found out she was also a Gemini (I don't think I knew her birthday before) as well as the church where the funeral Mass was held and at what cemetery she's buried. Since all her family is gone but me I had no one to ask. There was also a list of all her seven siblings. I knew a couple of their names (the girls), but not really the boys. It listed her parents only as "born in Canada" so I'm glad I knew they were from Sydney, Nova Scotia. I was told she herself was born in San Francisco but it only noted she was born in California. But I'm glad to have all the names and to have the Canadian stuff corroborated by independent evidence.

So that's cool.

I'm looking forward to getting my teapot Monday and coming home to christen it. I've ordered some new loose teas, although I could also go over to L'Amyx and get some. I have some of their black ginger tea and I like it, along with Peets' Winter Solstice. I like black teas with flavoring, usually something spicy, though I want to try maple tea. I was going to order some today and decided I'd wait and not be quite so splurgy. I've bought enough stuff lately!

I love peppermint but hate herb teas/tisanes. I'm wondering if you could just blend some peppermint herb tea into a standard black one. Hmmm.

One More Day

and then I can sleep in.

I have to go do some storage-clearing-out on Saturday, so I can't loaf all day, but there will be no 6:45 "It's the End of the World As We Know It" coming from my cell phone for two lovely days.

Been very stressed at work. I did order a little Beehouse teapot (amethyst) to have there so I can brew a pot of tea in the afternoons as something to look forward to. And have something pretty to look at, as well.

Ah, but for now, a hot water bottle, a couple of cats and my pillow-laden bed await me. I'll try it all again tomorrow!

Dreams

I've noticed I repeatedly dream about the same things. I know they say you're not really dreaming about what you're dreaming about, but: I dream about houses (or big, architecturally interesting apartments), travel, cars whose brakes work but not well, and dorms.

Houses: I've only ever lived in two. One was when I was very young and the other was very small. I have always longed for a Victorian a la those my schoolmates lived in. Or something equally sized. My dreams usually have houses with interesting floor plans, and with those kind of back hallways and extra sets of stairs my childhood friends' houses had, exaggerated to dream level.

Apartments: Have lived in two interesting ones -- one was the top floor of a Victorian. I have lived for 11 years in a boring 1969 box, though. So interesting apartment dreams piggyback on my house dreams.

Travel: Love it, have not done nearly enough. Most of my travel dreams involve travel delayed or denied -- like being at the airport but unable to board a flight.

Cars with Bad Brakes: Dunno, except it annoys me when people brake so close that I can't see the tires of the car in front of us.

Dorms: I went to three colleges. At two of them, almost everyone lived on campus and I lived at home. At the third, almost no one lived on campus and I did. At the college I got my degree from, most of the dorms were old, gorgeous, gracious buildings I'd've given my right AND left arms to live in, in addition to the fact that everything there revolved around your residence hall. I'm still mourning that, apparently, because at least once or twice a month I have dreams about living in a dorm.

I wish I could move on, because I'm kinda tired of these dreams.

Bit By Beehouse Bug

I want one of these.

I can't do anything til payday, and I can't decide between tangerine or amethyst. Although I'd like just about every color they have. I want to alternate drinking tea and coffee, and so I might want one at work. I do have teapots here at home, but two are too big for work (one was my mom's and is china, and one is ceramic from Lechter's ten years ago) and two are two expensive/sentimental for work (my two cast-iron Japanese pots, both of which were 40th birthday presents).

But do want!

That Sound You Hear

Is my head exploding from the Continental purling.

I was twisting the stitches. After several hours and practically making a cat's-cradle of my yarn, I have discovered that I have to

a) wrap the yarn not only over my pinky but also over my middle finger, so that it stays taut over my left index finger

b) dip my index finger way down past the left needle in order to scoop the yarn with the right needle

c) use my left thumb to help this new stitch along.

It is ever so slow. I can see where perhaps with much practice, it might be faster than my English purling, but... right now it's going to take me easily six days to make a two-day cowl. And I can't imagine knitting or purling Continental on dpns, which I prefer to circulars for many things.

Oh well. Knowing how to do both will come in handy, and I do like to shift the burdens from one hand to another, which is why I mouse and 10-key left-handed at work.

It's also interesting because I'm generally a loose knitter (shut up), but these stitches are very tight. I imagine they will loosen up when I'm not so intent on getting it right!

Sloooowly

I cast on enough stitches to make, approximately, a plain cowl for myself. I just want something I can pull up over my nose when it's cold in the apartment. And this is my Continental purling lesson -- going to purl the whole thing and then turn it inside out so it curls properly.

I think I have the hang of it from the KnittingHelp site. I don't think I'm twisting them. But it's sooooo verrrrrrrrry slooooooooow. I know I'll get the hang of it, and it's kinda fun, but this cowl is going to take a few extra days, methinks!

Keeps me out of trouble, though.

This I Knew (Sorry the big INFP Isn't Showing Up)

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

That Was a Week...

... in which my only other close coworker nearly got laid off (but didn't). In which I spent my entire Friday, skipping my lunch and one of my breaks, to work on a last-minute project that is now about 3/4 done but should have been done by COB. In which I knit little, ate much, and definitely decided that a glass of sherry in the evenings is just the ticket.

And my electricity bill was only $80! I'd budgeted $200. This means (taa daa!) that I can buy a new bra. Actually I need a few, but I'm trying one out. When you have a cup size near the middle of the alphabet, you don't go to Macy's (in Hilo or elsewhere) or any other department or lingerie store and check out a selection of frothy dainties in a range of prices.

No.

You get online and select from a small collection of boringly colored industrial strength cantilevers.

So you have to wait for the contraption to appear before you know if you want to buy more. They're always stiff and scratchy at first, too. Bleagh. This one has a support back, which is good. I find that even with straps sewn shorter, my bras never hold me up for long. I keep thinking I need them weighted in back or something! Maybe the presence of extra bra in the back will help.

(BTW this also means you don't ever go out of town without a backup bra, because unless you're going to NYC, you are never going to find a replacement at your destination.)

I would give a lot to be flat-chested. Even if I were thin, I would not be flat-chested. I wore a bra when I was eight. Sigh.

Anyway. Help may be on the way. We'll see.

Meanwhile, turning the heater on (because I can!) and knitting now.

Oh -- I first noticed this in my freshman year of college. In January there is always a day when I feel spring in the air, even if it's still cool or even cold. Today was the day. That's a good thing.

Oddly

Macy's is apparently closing their store on the Big Island of Hawaii. And, though I have only been to Hawaii once, to camp -- I have been in that Macy's. As this trip was disastrous, I remember sort of miserably trudging through it. I was also hoping they had a Macy Woman so I could get a new shirt -- had not done laundry. If they did I didn't see it.

Anyway it seemed a funny thing to me, on the way home from a loooong day.

Knitting Panic

Really.

I ordered this stranded bag kit. I was thinking, "Quick little colorwork in the round."

Uh, no.

Well, sort of. But no.

I got the box yesterday. Lovely big box full of colorful yarn. I looked at the pattern. Then I sat and looked at the box with a sinking feeling. There are side panels, and they're knit flat. That means a) purling Continental for the second color and b) reading a colorwork chart not in the round. Then there's a knitted welt. Then there's a really confusing description of the rest of the bag.

A bit of emotional asthma there for a bit.

I found some in-progress pics on Ravelry and some of it makes more sense now -- the front and back are not knitted flat, but the piece isn't knitted in the round like a tube, finishing the whole circumference at once. The front and back are knitted like circular shawls, only knitting inward instead of outward. I'm still not sure how you get from the side panel to the front to the next side panel to the back. I've offered anyone within a 200-mile radius dinner if I can come by for a tutorial.

However, one thing is certain -- must learn to purl Continental. So, in preparation for this, I am going to make myself a cowl in stockinette, but inside out -- i.e., purling the whole thing and then turning it inside out when I'm done. I can knit Continental, though I only do it for colorwork. Since all my colorwork has been in the round heretofore, I've never had to purl that way. It will be a good learning experience.

As long as I can figure out the rest of the pattern....

Breaking in the Jam Pan

New canner on standalone burner.


Pristine pan ready to go!


Frozen berries in hot copper.


Jam!

I did forget to take a picture of the finished jam. Imagine the purple goodness in a jar. :-) I mixed blueberries and blackberries and was quite pleased with the result. Mmm.

Happy New Year

2008 wasn't the worst year of my life (that would have been 2002), but it certainly won no prizes except for the election!

OK, that's a biggie.

It's still bloody cold here by our standards and I've been taking numerous hot baths because I don't pay for water but I do pay for electricity. I know in eight months or so I will be whining about the heat. I was thinking today that although I've always hankered after living in the Northeast, I don't know if I could handle the wild swings in weather, from snow in the winter to blazing heat and humidity in the summer. I like our more subtle seasons (which we do have; they just don't bludgeon you.)

Having said that, I'd like a white Christmas one year. Preferably in, say, Europe. ;-)

I have numerous emails I need and want to return but need to get my thoughts together, an apartment I should clean up, hated dishes to do, and a scarf I need to knit. This is the last knit-for-someone-else project on my list, and after that I should be able to have some fun. The scarf in question is an Irish Hiking Scarf, and I'm using Fiesta Boomerang in Moulin Rouge. I'm having to go down from a size 8 needle (recommended on the pattern, the yarn, and by the one Ravelry user I found who used this yarn for this scarf) to a 4 in order to get a non-lacy fabric. I'm a loose knitter but this is crazy. I posted something on Ravelry about it but haven't gotten a reply.

I'll get back to that tonight. I think I'll queue up the last DVD in the first season of Scrubs and knit away. Although I had a dream last night that included the entire cast, so that might not be so good. I slept very late, and the later I sleep the weirder my dreams are.

Meanwhile, going out for coffee with a friend, and then coming back here and making myself straighten up. My kingdom for a dishwasher....