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All This All At Once

So, last week, I had nothing, but this week, I have got something.

First of all, I put in for vacation, and it was approved, so the first week of June I am hying off to TEXAS for some much needed R&R with my college girlfriends Julie, Tara, and Cindy! I’ll be gone for an entire week, and I’ll be staying with Julie, and oh I am just looking forward to it like you would not believe. There is a new yarn store in San Antonio that I am looking forward to checking out, along with all my favorite bead stores like Nomadic Notions, and Hill Country Weavers in Austin, and the outlets in San Marcos, etc.! It has been almost two years since I have set foot in Texas, and I am really looking forward to it! Mostly, though, I am looking forward to spending time with my friends.

On Thursday I went to the doctor and had some blood tests done. I was checked for diabetes and thyroid conditions, and am thankfully in the clear for both of those. Unfortunately, my blood pressure was kind of high, and I’ve gained some weight over the winter, so the nurse practioner put me on the South Beach diet. Today was my first day doing it, and the first two weeks are actually Atkins, so I have been pretty much carb free all day, and I would really like to eat a sandwich and possibly every noodle in the land. The most disappointing thing about this is that I can’t have fruit for two weeks and my dad and I went to the Nut Creek Farmer’s Market yesterday and they had some Brooks Cherries, which are soooo delicious. Instead I contented myself with artichokes, patty pans, and some delicious organic greens.

So, I am being forced to be healthy basically, which is not a bad thing, and well overdue.

On Saturday I went over to the Yarn Boutique in Lafayette and got my mom a gift certificate for Mother’s Day. Last weekend when I was visiting my sister we cooked up a mother’s day present, and we thought, what can be better than the gift of yarn? (WELL THE GIFT OF CARBS, ACTUALLY.) So Abby sent me some money and I got the gift certificate. While I was there, I perused the Dream in Color and may have made a few side purchases for myself.

New Yarn

Well, I bought the Vesper Sock on the left a couple weeks ago online, but I never showed it. Next to that is some Dream in Color Smooshy in “Some Summer Sky” and “Cold Fire”, and the green at the end is some Dream in Color Classy in “Spring Tickle”, which matches the very first Dream in Color Smooshy I bought at Stitches. Since Classy is a worsted weight yarn, I thought it would be fun to have a matching hat for socks that do not exist yet.

I have been knitting a little bit and have some pretty good progress to show on the Waving Lace Socks:

Sock Progress

I actually have less than one repeat to go before the toe. If I were so inclined I could finish this sock this week, but I’ve been bitten by the beading bug, so I’m gonna roll with that while the going is good. I did start the second Spey Valley, though – and hope I can finish that before I go to Texas (I am a dreamer. A carbless dreamer).

Anyway, that is it from me. I have to go take a shower and put some self tanner on my pale nerd legs because I bought some shorts for Texas and my legs give off kind of a radio active glow.

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Hung Up

Right now work is hard and they’ve put a moratorium on vacations… right when I figured out when I could take one, which really sucks. Luckily I already had Friday off to see the baby in LA but guys… I really need a break. I haven’t had multiple days off since I went to ATL last year, and considering I spent two days on a plane, more hours than necessary at the Georgia Dome, and more time than healthy with whale sharks, that SO doesn’t count (except for the part at Mary Mac’s Tea Room, IMO the only reason to ever go back to ATL). And, I guess I had four days off at New Years and Thanksgiving. WHOOPDY DOODLE DO.

I drew a mustache:

There Will Be Mustache

I’m not super interested in There Will Be Blood, but I like the title, and I like a good mustache, so there you go. The DVD cover cracked me up, so I drew this. Heh.

In conclusion, I like socks:

Waving Lace Socks

why yes that is a waving lace sock… for me.

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I do actually work on things

I don’t just buy yarn, I actually use it, too:

Berry Nice Sock

I am still really enjoying how the Felici is working out. AND if you look at the sock carefully, you’ll notice that through the grace of the gods, the heel worked itself out so that it used an entire color repeat – so the repeat on the leg/foot wasn’t broken. AMEN. The fabric is very nice as well – but I think you might run into some problems if you used larger needles than US 1.

I finished one Spey Valley for the March Sock Project Sock:

Spey Valley

I like the pattern, and I like the Plymouth Happy Feet yarn, but the two don’t go together very well – only because you can’t see the pretty texture pattern on the leg. I’ll certainly make a second one because I like how the first sock turned out, ultimately. And the Happy Feet is a cheap sock yarn to experiment with.

For the April Sock: Waving Lace Socks from Interweave Knits’ Favorite Socks!

I will fully admit to cheating when I picked this pattern for the April sock. Also I will fully admit to being completely arbitrary in regards to my Sock Project – I am just picking sock patterns on a whim at this point. Heh.

I picked the Waving Lace Sock for a very good reason:

Waving Lace Socks

I have less than one sock to knit, as I made the other sock and the cuff of the second late last year. I need to finish these in two weeks. I forgot how quick a pattern it is once you get going. I knit half a repeat last night while watching NUMB3RS. I also plan on making another pair of these out of the nice dark turquoise Shibui Sock I have. This is a great pattern, and I think along with the Monkey pattern is the pattern I’ve used multiple times (well and my now standard 3×1 rib sock, but whatever).

I have managed to go a week without buying any yarn. Partly because my car is in the shop having some scheduled maintenance and an oil change and I didn’t know how much that would cost (less than I thought!). Also dudes, I have a lot of sock yarn. Like, enough for years worth of socks. (And yet: I’d still like to get my hands on some Wollmeise! And more blue and yellow yarn in general! Maybe some purple! *slaps self*)

Anyway, today I am wearing my old Regia Crazy Color socks and may I just say that they have worn quite well. They are a couple years old at this point, and have held up beautifully through many washings and dryings.

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I just finished reading the new Dresden Files book, Small Favor. I really like Jim Butcher’s writing, and I pretty much love the Dresden Files, so I was quite pleased with this latest installment. (My favorite is still the first one I ever read, Dead Beat, simply because Harry necromances a dinosaur in the grand finale. Heh.)

I’ve had okay luck at the library lately – discovered Shirlee Busbee’s historical romances, which are well written and interesting (a feat unto themselves, god.), read a bit of Tanith Lee’s Paradys cycle, though it was a little too gothic for me. Now that I’ve read ten billion books, I’ve come to discover that I do, in fact, have discerning taste in stuff. Imagine!