Time Out

Ah well. I've been in a funk lately and haven't felt like doing anything including blogging. It's a combination of spring fever and stupid work. I'm restless but feel tied down. Concentrating on detail tasks and just mustering up the attention certain activities require have been challenging of late. I am distracted. Sometimes I wonder if I have developed adult ADD. I am truly the type of person who likes to work on one thing at a time, complete it and move on. Multi-tasking makes me frazzled. This past weekend I made a list of things I absolutely needed to do and nothing more, then tackled them one by one. It was productive and I was calmed. Then Monday happened.

But, I'm sure you didn't come to this blog to read about that dull stuff! Progress on Diane is going well, but I am still miffed. Both pieces are done, ends have been woven in and she's been blocked. All that's left is seaming her up which won't be difficult but I wasn't motivated last night. The pieces are OK...but bigger than I wanted them to be. I started wet-blocking using a steam iron but I wasn't getting results so I soaked the pieces for a while. Now I'm afraid I stretched them. After I sew them up I may just block again. Is there a way to shrink a cotton/cashmere blend? Really. I'm not kidding.

My socks project is next. I'm so relieved to be working on them finally. Although I have lots of WIM's (works in mind...or maybe it should be PIM's, projects in mind) I'm the most relaxed when I can just focus on one. So the socks accomplish several things: first, they're socks! I haven't done those before. Second, I'm working on DPN's! Which makes me look very knitty. Third, the yarn is fingering weight and self-patterning. Even more knitterly and the "fair isle" pattern that is unfolding is fascinating.

Speaking of Fair Isle, I scored Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting from a wonderful seller on eBay. She offered a reasonable buy-it-now price (this book is OOP and selling for well into triple digits on Amazon) so I couldn't resist. Other recent purchases include a bunch of Lorna's Laces for future socks and the Madil Giamaica from Little Knits. I swatched this over the weekend and fell in love with it. I'm going to use it for Soleil in the latest Knitty issue. OK, a plug for Sue at Little Knits - if you've never ordered from her, give her a try. She's fun to talk to, bends over backwards to help you find a color or yarn for a particular pattern and has good stuff at her store. Plus she is having a sale on Cascade 220! It isn't listed on the website but the 220 is $4.65/skein. Just in case you were interested.

Well, I'm taking the day off this Friday for the long holiday weekend. We had thought about going backpacking but it's too late to plan now...a hike and a barbecue would be doable. Then next weekend we're going up to Tahoe to visit with some of Karl's family. I'm trying to finagle a trip to Jimmy Beans Wool (in Truckee and Reno) . The weekend after that we're considering doing a charity bike ride on the American River trail. It will be good to spend more time outside.

That's all for now, hope ya'll are having a good day!