2048, shrug and a sock

This week, while waiting at the eye doctor, one of my daughters introduced me to the game 2048 , which should actually serve as a cautionary tale of how you should always have emergency knitting or books because man am I ever addicted to that game. Seriously. As a consequence (a sad consequence), I really didn't get much of anything done this week. It feels like Indigo Cones is going so so slow. I think in part because the rows are SO. FREAKING. LONG.

So, I have completed 3 sections of the chart--you do 5 before starting the sleeves. And I was thinking I might actually get this done in time for the banquet that I THOUGHT might be a month away.

Hear that? The sound of fate laughing at me?

Usually this banquet is towards the end of April, and the weather is warmish, hence the shrug. I didn't look too close at the calendar or I would have realized that when I am anticipating the banquet, my husband (aka the reason we go to the banquet) is out of town. He thought it was the week before--when my mom would be visiting (hey come visit AND babysit). BUT then he got an e-mail and the banquet is actually April 10 instead of the 24 like I was anticipating (or the 17th like he was anticipating). Now I'm realizing 2 things: 1) I'm probably not going to finish this in time. 2) even if I did, it will probably still be too cold.

Oh well--I'll just have to find an excuse to wear it anyway.

Knitting in Public

I know lots of people knit in public, and I tend to occasionally bring a sock here and there. I had two opportunities to knit while "chaperoning" an academic competition my girls were involved in. I toyed with bringing the shrug and then realized that even though the lace pattern is simple enough for TV knitting, that you don't much done if you have to stop, figure out where you are, and then start only to be interrupted 2 or 3 stitches later. So sock it was! The first week, I didn't get the sock out at all--instead ended up chatting with the other chaperones. The second week, I got out the sock and had several middle school girls surrounding me asking about my knitting. And then realizing that I forgot to bring the yarn I was switching to.

The girls were funny though because they all told me about people they knew that knit, asked me what I was knitting, asked who it was for, exclaimed over the yarn. Well, everyone except my children, who seemed to think I was knitting solely to embarrass them.

You see I started a sock out of the two skeins of leftover sock yarn from making socks for my two daughters. I thought I'd do heels and toes from the skein with the least yarn, and the rest from the skein with the most yarn. But then I didn't know if my sock was wide enough, and I didn't want to be THAT chaperone who took off her shoes and tried on her sock. So I stopped, put it away, vowed to work out the issues and then Tuesday when I have to go and sit for a few hours during the final meet, I'll work on it more. My girls will really be mortified if I am sitting in the auditorium (since I shouldn't have to chaperone) knitting.

So, I need to try on the sock, and start the blue. Before Tuesday. Better stop playing 2048. Except I got up to 512 and almost to 1024.

Indigo cones in progress

Before I get into the knitting portion of this entry, I'd like to take a minute to talk about technology. Specifically about how on some levels I need more and better and faster like yesterday! and how on other levels, why can't things just stay the same.

In essence my browser of choice is safari. In fact an old version of safari (version 5.1.10). And lately my sites aren't playing nice with it. It started out as gmail telling me it wasn't supported. Then Facebook wouldn't let me see notifications unless I was on MY page rather than the feed page. Then that went away and basically I go to some random persons page to see my notifications. Then yahoo mail yesterday started not letting me reply or forward message and forget about composing a new one. Flickr is flakey, but you know--as much as I say I like flickr better than instagram, I gotta admit flickr has always been flakey for me. I'd upgrade--I really would. But to upgrade safari, you have to upgrade your operating system. And the person I share the desktop with isn't yet convinced we need to do that.

I guess that's my long way of saying I'll probably start using chrome instead.

And just so you don't think I'm total luddite--yesterday I figured out how to online order from Panera and I swear angels sang. In fact, you know what I want? I want to be able to order everything online and have it brought to me by drones, instantly. I might just be feeling a little more on the introverted side today.

Onward!

This has kind of been a crap week for me. Last Thursday I started massively cleaning the house so the girls could have three of their nearest and dearest friends over for a sleepover. This involved me getting rid of lots of stuff too--mostly paper I'd let pile up. It did not however, leave me time to knit. I did however, make time to finish a pair of PJ pants (that ended up being too large because elastic is like that I guess) that I've been meaning to finish for well over a month. While I was doing that I thought--OH hey wouldn't THAT make a great treat bag after a sleepover--everyone has matching PJ pants? Then I slapped myself. Still, it lurks there for maybe next year's birthday sleepover.

And I'd pull it off by getting the majority of the work done ahead of time--saving elastic and hemming for later--then measure for elastic and waist, send kids down to watch a movie and voila! PJS by bedtime. Most guests I could eyeball for initial size based on my two girls. It could work! Yeah I just slapped myself again.

So, then the sleepover, then the time change, then a professional day off of school and I was totally wiped out. I think I knit a grand total of four rows on my shrug over 5 days. Most of those during the sleepover.

And then Tuesday I started to feel like I was getting a cold. I knew I needed to sit and rest instead of the other stuff I usually do during the day. And I tried to knit, and managed a row or two before it just was clear that stuffy head, achy body meant read instead of knit.

And then Tuesday night, or rather the wee hours of Wednesday it became clear one daughter was not going to school Wednesday. But I felt better. So Wednesday I stayed home, watched way more TV than I ever do, since sleep and watch tv was all my daughter was doing. And as a consequence I got something like 12 rows knit yesterday!

It still has a ways to go, but I feel like it is coming along. I also feel like it might be too big. But maybe not. Anyway, now I've got everyone back in school, and so I'm sure my knitting time will go back to the one to two rows a night version.

shrug in progress

This week I screwed up my courage and cast on for my Indigo cones. And got as far as this:
Do you see it as white? Maybe blue?

Not because it is hard, or because I hate the pattern or the yarn, just because that is a LOT of stitches. In fact I love the yarn. It is a cotton linen blend that I think smells really fresh and springy.

I also started my annual volunteer stint at the local butterfly house. The first day is always a day with no visitors--and really just butterfly care. Because I knew it would be boring (no people, 12 butterflies--as many had not emerged) I wanted to bring my knitting in case I got bored. Because there is a strict no plant material rule, I opted not to bring my Indigo cones. Instead I decided to start a sock in bright colors that would match the dayglo fluorescent green volunteer shirt. I don't know how much I'll work on it--as I am loving the shrug and honestly I'll never be that bored volunteering again (people + more butterflies= more work). We'll see. I may bring it to get a picture today. In the meantime, I did manage to photograph one of the few butterflies.

My goal between now and the end of butterflies is to figure out how to upload pictures from my desktop computer (where my good camera downloads) to my Instagram account. And honestly right now I'm adding many many things on my treatise on why flickr is better than instagram.