Any time I have to work on Sunday (which happens every 8 weeks), the week feels absolutely interminable. This week, I worked 4 hours on Sunday, 6.5 hours on Monday, 13.25 hours on Tuesday...Wednesday morning it already felt like it ought to be Friday.
Aside from the oddities like my very long day every other Tuesday--and the corresponding short Monday--I'm supposed to be working a regular 8-hour day. In the past, it never really happened due to a variety of circumstances. The biggest reason, probably, is just that Nik and I carpool every day and he works 7:00 to 4:00 with an hour lunch. At my company a 30 minute lunch is much more usual. And since Nik needs to be at work on time, I generally arrive at work by 6:45. Nik picks me up at 4:15. I am essentially incapable of being at work and NOT working, so I've pretty routinely been working 9 hour days for...oh, a year and a half. Until relatively recently, there was ALWAYS enough work to keep me busy for however many hours I put in. I never padded my time with busy-work or anything. Now, though, we actually have enough (competent) people to complete the work without the crazy amounts of overtime.
So the boss wants me to cut back to a more normal level, both because they're supposed to be cutting down on overtime (I'm sure that's not unusual) and because, well, it's probably better for me, too. I don't TRY to be a workaholic, it's just that if I'm at my desk I'm incapable of ignoring whatever is sitting there waiting to be done and/or the people who stop by my desk to ask me questions. I just don't work that way. (For example: It drives me crazy when someone comes to ask me a question, sees that I'm eating lunch and says, "Oh, you're eating lunch. I'll come back later." I'd SO MUCH rather just answer their question and let them get on with their work.)
My solution to the problem of needing something to do until Nik picks me up, by the way, is to spend as much time as possible at Twisted. I can walk there from work (it's a bit over a mile away), so the plan is to walk over and hang out with Shannon and/or Emily until Nik gets there. Knitting time! Yarn-browsing time! Chatting-with-knitters time! I'm rather excited about this side effect of the "cut down to 8 hours" plan.
Wednesday I actually did it. Exactly 8 hours! (I didn't end up going to Twisted, though, because the weather was AWFUL. Really cold, really really windy, and rainy and yuck and I didn't want to walk a mile in that. So I went up to our roomy break room on the 13th floor and worked on my sock until Nik got there.)
Today...heh. I was on my way out the door (and heading to Twisted!) at exactly 8 hours, but was waylaid by a question which led to me discovering a serious problem (which eventually resulted in us not being able to print any checks this afternoon--ack!). I left 1.75 hours later.
At this point, I've already worked 41.5 hours this week. I'm hoping that tomorrow afternoon will be quiet enough for me to leave early...and head to Twisted. :D
We'll see, though--tomorrow is payday! You never know WHAT will happen on payday...
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Oh, the socks! I don't have a new picture, but I'm getting quite close to finishing the second. I still have most of the foot to do, though, so I probably won't get it finished in time to wear to work tomorrow. That's kind of a bummer, since tomorrow is "Crazy Sock Day" and everyone at work has been excitedly checking on my sock progress all week. They all want me to wear them tomorrow!
I've come up with an alternate plan, though, in the likely event that I don't finish in time. Since it is crazy sock day and all, I figure if I don't have both finished I can just wear the one with any old other sock as a second. (Ooh, maybe I'll wear one of my Monkey socks as the second one. Totally different colors, but also handmade by me! They're the only handknit socks I have so far.)
Whatever I decide to do tomorrow, I'll take a picture so you guys can see the result.
Can I just say that being greeted with this upon arrival at work on payroll processing day--the day when I'm more or less in charge--is not a good thing?
(Shirley is the boss--my supervisor and our interim manager while we look for one to replace the much-loved manager who just left a week and a half ago.)
While many of the knitters in Portland will be out enjoying Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's talk/book signing, I'll still be here at work...making sure around 40,000 people get their paychecks on Friday. (Including me!) Looks like I might get to go home around 7:30 or 8:00. Did I mention that I got here at 6:45 am?
Eh, the long day doesn't concern me. It's actually a normal part of my schedule; a long Tuesday every other week during payroll processing. (My co-hort, Linda, gets to do the long day every other Monday, and she ended up being here really late last night--which relates to the note waiting for me this morning.) I am bummed, though, that I'm missing the Yarn Harlot. AGAIN. Last year I was out of town when she was here. Sigh. Maybe she'll come back again next year?
So...you know how I said I stayed home from work yesterday and played with yarn and Ravelry and stuff? Well, in my wanderings I somehow stumbled on Sharon's Etsy shop and...some yarn followed me home. (It really seemed that way, too--it was already here when I got home from work today! That's some fast shipping, even if she is only across town.)
Check out my latest acquisitions:
(I know I saw this colorway--Andes Mints--on someone's blog, but darned if I can figure out whose it was. Another thing I did yesterday was some catch up on blog reading!)
Unrelatedly...
From time to time, I look up from my desk and notice that there's something interesting/pretty/curious/whatever outside my window and I grab my camera.
Last October, there was this rainbow (also, beautiful fall colors on the trees):
In January, there was a drop-dead gorgeous blue sky:
Today, there was some excitement! This happens, oh, quarterly I'd say:
Occasionally, we see them across the way, too:
Can you imagine actually doing that job? I'm on the 11th floor of an 18-story building. I think I'll stay inside it, thanks.
As soon as it was done, I ran to the kitchen and plopped it on the scale. It only weighs 50 grams! I'm going to have 13 or 14 grams leftover! No more worrying about running out of yarn. :D
I will be casting on for the mate this evening. No second sock syndrome for me on these babies!
Today, in addition to finishing my sock, I pulled all the yarn out of my cedar chest--where most of my yarn stash lives--and photographed and catalogued it. It's still a work in progress, but I added tons to my stash on Ravelry. (I still have two bins to go, plus some random stuff that's lying around--some of those have already been accounted for, though. Perhaps I'll work on those this weekend.)
Oh yeah, I also stayed home from work today. We actually planned it in advance, because I'm not quite up to my usual 45-hour week yet (and because my doctor still wants me to "take it easy"). It's possible that I should have relaxed more, but photographing yarn and cataloguing it on Ravelry isn't exactly strenuous.
Yesterday, I met up with a bunch of Ravelers downtown for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, and much-needed since I haven't spent time with any knitters since...December, I think. No pictures, sorry! There were a number of socks being knit, among other things.
Oh! I almost forgot to post these. My crazy cat, Toby, for some inexplicable reason totally loves apples. I ate one this afternoon and she waited semi-patiently on the arm of my chair for me to finish and share it with her (she did try to rush me a bit). Check it out:
Weird cat, huh?
Speaking of cats, this is hilarious...
An Engineer's Guide to Cats
Guess that's it for now...who do you think is going home on American Idol tonight? :D
Thanks to Melly, a kind reader and Ravelry member, I was able to continue on to the heel of my sock while I was away. Now I'm done with the heel and working on the foot!
I've been getting a bit worried over the size of this sock. Notice how long the leg is? I really couldn't tell until I got most of the heel done. I quite like the length, but am I going to run out of yarn before sock #2 is finished? Yikes.
Well, I got out my kitchen scale when I got home from work today and it looks like I'll be okay. Thank goodness this was a big skein of yarn! (Yarntini fingering weight, 430 yards per skein. Whew.) I'll still be keeping my fingers crossed through the second sock, I think.
The weekend away was a lot of fun, but I'm still exhausted. I did make it all the way through a typical 9-hour work day today...I'm hoping to be able to take Wednesday off again, though, to give my body a break. I'm not quite up to speed yet (nor am I really allowed to be--doctor wants me to take things easy for a bit longer).
The weather turned yucky yesterday so I didn't get any further pictures of Ocean Shores, but we had a very nice visit with Nik's dad and his SO. I always enjoy visiting them and feel very lucky to have not just one but two sets of really wonderful in-laws.
Tomorrow, I'm actually going to go out and knit with some people after work--for the first time in...I'm really not sure how long. Six months? I'm looking forward to it!
I'll try to be a good blogger and get some pictures to show off. :)
We're out of town for the weekend, and I've been making such great progress on my first Twisted Sky sock that I thought maybe I'd finish it by the time we got home again. Then, about halfway to Ocean Shores, WA, from Portland, I discovered this:
!!
I photocopied the pages from my book so I can drag it around with me and write all over it (as you can see from the photo). I hadn't looked closely enough, though, to realize that it referred me to elsewhere in the book for the heel construction! Boooooooo.
Maybe someone on Ravelry would be kind enough to quote me the missing information.
In the meantime, here's a photo of my progress thus far:
Also, I was goofing around in the car yesterday and took some pictures. Here's the view from the car, before we managed to get out of the Portland/Vancouver metro area:
And hey, look, there's Mt. Hood!
Finally, here's the view that greeted us when we woke up this morning:
It's absolutely gorgeous today, although I have to admit I missed some of it when my body insisted on a two-hour nap this afternoon. Will try to get more pictures tomorrow before we go home, I think.
I'm making good progress on my Twisted Sky Socks--down to the top of the ankle on the first one now.
Someone at work today pointed out how the colors are pooling in that sorta chevron pattern. Heh. I hadn't even noticed--guess I'm always too close to it. Boy, did it show up when I took pictures though. I think it's pretty; the pooling isn't bothering me at all. I love these colors, too. :)
As a sort of reward for working 13 hours yesterday, my boss gave me the day off today. I could go in, but...eh, I think I'll enjoy a lazy day. I'm still working on getting my energy/endurance back after the latest surgery, so it's probably best not to push myself too hard. (Which is why my boss made the offer in the first place.)
So, what have I been doing today? Watching TV, knitting, reading on Ravelry...and a little photo shoot. I think the colors came out okay despite the dreary weather today.
Here's one of my works in progress, the River Rock Scarf by Sivia Harding (from No Sheep for You).
I'm using the recommended Handmaiden Silken in the Nova Scotia colorway (a Christmas gift from my wonderful husband) and some coordinating beads I got at Beads at Dusty Creek on Division. Here's a closeup shot of the beads:
Today, though, I've been working on this:
That's the cuff of sock #1 from a pair of Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks by Cat Bordhi (from New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One). This is my third try at this sock, I think. As usual, I had some sizing issues. I think I've now settled on the proper combination of needle sizes and number of stitches.
Details: I'm using Yarntini fingering weight in the special Twistini colorway (exclusive to my favorite yarn shop, Twisted). The needle/stitch combination I finally settled on was 68 stitches cast on, knit the cuff with Addi Turbo Lace needles in size "2" (3mm), then switch to Addi Turbo Lace needles in size "1" (2.5mm). Oh, and on Ravelry I'm calling them the "Twisted Sky Socks" (for Twisted, duh, and because they're made from the "sky" architecture in the book).
I was in a bit of a knitting slump during February and March. It's not that I didn't want to knit, really, it's just that I became a bit...obsessed. With the Sims 2. Um, yeah, it's hard to knit while you're playing computer games. ;)
So last week I decided that what I really needed was a quick, nearly-instant-gratification project to get me going again. Enter Foliage! I already had the yarn, so all I had to do was dig out the proper needles and start. (I even had the pattern printed out already.)
I used the suggested yarn, Malabrigo Chunky (100% Merino, yum), in a gorgeous burgundy with very slight variations in color. Followed the instructions exactly, I believe (that's a miracle in itself). Super-fast, fun knit. I'm so happy that I picked it up. I started the hat around 3 pm last Thursday afternoon, and finished--including weaving in the ends (another miracle!)--Saturday morning. I love how it turned out. I think it'll be really warm, which is perfect since it's for my cousin Jeannie, who moved from Hawaii to Connecticut a few months ago. Poor girl's freezing over there! I didn't manage to get it to her for this winter, but she'll have it for the next one.
Here's the hat:
And me, goofily modeling the hat:
(Nik liked that one best of the "modeled" shots. I think it's goofy, but if he likes it I guess I can post it. :D)
I also worked out a design for a matching scarf based on the lace pattern in the hat and started that on Saturday. I just hope I have enough yarn to make it a decent length! Here's my progress on it so far:
For the foreseeable future, this is my new home. I will be de-activating the former website/blog (the one at nodestination [dot] net) sometime later--for now, it'll just sit there unused.
I've made this move for a bunch of reasons, including (but not necessarily limited to) the following:
the previous blog was overrun by comment spam
the previous website had no obvious link to any of the names I go by online
I was feeling disconnected from everything, and feel like a fresh start will help
Basically, I went through a long period of time where I felt like I didn't have much to say beyond, "Cancer still gone. Really tired." I felt like all I was doing was sleeping and working. Even when I did get some knitting done, I could hardly bring myself to take pictures or to write anything about it. Same with any other projects or events. I don't know if I've gotten past that yet, but I can say one thing: I've had the last surgery I'm likely to need for a good long time (uh, it was just last month--I didn't post about it. Sorry). At this point, all I can do is hope that I'll get my energy back soon. More than anything, I want to get back to hiking again this summer.
The worst part of this whole cancer thing hasn't really been the cancer, per se. The cancer itself has been gone since the very first surgery back in February 2007. And since I didn't have to do chemo or radiation (for which I am eternally grateful), that's nearly the last I've had to worry about the actual cancer (other than the pill I take every morning--which I'll be taking for four more years--and the recurring doctor visits). The surgeries since then have been about restoring me to some sort of normalcy. Not fun, to say the least, but, hey, better than having cancer, right?
So the cancer's gone, I look more or less normal--different, certainly, but pretty "normal"--and I have hope that some day I'll feel something like "normal" again, too. The thing that really sucks, though, is that I'd worked really hard in 2006 to get into decent shape. In fact, before my first surgery I was in the best shape I'd been in since I was a teenager. I was still overweight, but I'd lost a good 20-25 pounds. Best of all, I was exercising. And even enjoying it. I felt better than I'd felt in YEARS.
Fourteen months and three surgeries later...I'm completely out of shape again. I'm exhausted all the time (given that it's been not quite four weeks since the last surgery, I'm trying to be patient with myself...but my patience is running a bit thin, I think).
So that's my big goal for this summer: get back on the trails. One step at a time. I'm confident that I'll get back to where I was pre-surgery, but boy...it's a slow process and is going to require a good bit of patience.
Thanks for reading. I'm going to make it a goal to post regularly on this new site. :)
