Finished: Indigo Cones

I finished it! I totally finished the indigo cones shrug in time to wear it to my nephew's high school graduation!

At first when I finished knitting I was all like--whew done, and then I realized, nope--ends to weave in, buttons to choose and block that puppy. So, I wove in the ends, went through my buttons and asked facebook and in person relatives about which of these buttons:

And eventually decided on the lower button.

Then I blocked it (and waited for freaking ever for it to dry) and got the button sewed on just in time to pack it. I wanted to photograph it before I left, but eh no time. So, I had my husband take pictures of me on the trip. And no, I have no idea why I al always holding my arms like that:

For the record:
Pattern: Indigo Cones from Knitty.
yarn: Nashua Creative Focus Linen (discontinued) color: bleach; 3 skeins
needles: US size 3 and US size 8
size: medium
button: totally forgot where it came from.

It was a totally fun trip and when I told my sister in law I had knitted it, she didn't believe it--one of the highest compliments, I think, is that people think your handknits are not homemade looking. And now I feel like the summer of socks might be upon me. I am having a serious hankering to make some fun socks--which means trying to figure out a pattern that I like that will fit my narrow feet (which is a story for another day).

light at the end of the tunnel

One thing you should know about me is this: I don't usually knit during the day. Even though I work part-time outside the house and am home a lot with no one really watching my every move to make sure I don't "waste time," I usually reserve knitting for after kids are in bed and I'm watching tv with my husband. For the most part it works. Oh sure it might mean that I only get an hour to knit or that I may have to spend my whole time counting or (could pause that show I have no idea why we need to keep throwing out numbers--this is a reality show about special effects!) maybe if it is late I'm too tired to knit. But I find it a relaxing prelude to sleep.

Well until I am not too tired to knit but too tired to make sense of what the pattern is asking me to do.

Which is why it has taken me so long to get what should be the home stretch of this shrug: the button band.

Ok, well there was the counting and generally trying to be sure I picked up the right number of stitches. and honestly, why do they yell out numbers so much on reality/contest shows. I get that they are timed, but it is frustrating to be counting along 30, 3,2, 34, and have the tv person yell: 30 minutes! Even House Hunters has numbers (22, 24, 26; This house is 2600 under our budget! the wife will scream). Heck even Game of Thrones has numbers (12, 14, 16, There are 4000 wildlings ready to shoot you in the back!).

Ahem anyway, it took 3 days just to pick up 159 stitches and figure out what the heck the directions were asking for. And then today I actually got to knit on it during the DAY as I got together with friends for coffee. Knitting during the day is so different. Things make sense, when you aren't tired. Mistakes are fixable in both the light and the clear of day. Or maybe that was just the coffee.

At any rate, button band is moving along:

Graduation is in 9 days. I think I'm actually going to get to wear this!

And none of it was yarn

I had this whole entry planned out in my head--it was called "and half of it was yarn" and it was all about the last few days. The things I had in mind were: Some new yarn I bought, progress on the shrug, my answer to a question proposed for a luncheon I was invited to ("bring an item from your shelf or wall and be prepared to share why it is treasured with the group") and My velcro project.

Sadly, I feel like the day is waning and dinner must be made soon, so I'm going to table three of those and just go with the last one.

I run. I would say avidly, but not um expertly. Let's call me an advanced beginner. And when I run, I like to have my gear: my fitbit, my road id, my heart rate monitor, my ipod, and my phone. I should figure out how to combine the ipod and the phone, but that's neither here nor there. Lately, I've been leaving my phone behind because while I can hang everything else off my body, I have no solution for my phone. I have an armband and while I feel like my arms are flabby, they must in actuality be tiny because I can strap that thing on all the way to the end and it still slides off my arm. As you can see, the sticky part of the velcro is only at the end, so if you pull it far enough, there isn't soft stuff for it to hang on to.

Anyway, today, I learned that sometimes you need your phone, even if it is just to feel safe. You see Every time I run or walk, I notice people who didn't learn to drive the way I did. I learned--stop before the crosswalk (marked or not), look for pedestrians and bikes, proceed into intersection as needed to see cars coming. I learned to do the same for crossing your sidewalk pulling into or out of your driveway or any parking lots---LOOK for pedestrians or bikes on the sidewalks. Every day though, I see multiple incidents of:

(and yes, I realize that as a pedestrian, I look like I'm pretty far away, but she never ever stopped before rolling into the crosswalk AND she was on her phone the entire time--I'm not suggesting she wait for me but really--she could have seen traffic coming from behind the crosswalk. I was a little afraid taking this until I realized she too was on her phone-- I don't think she ever saw me--despite my getting to the corner as she pulled out.)

I didn't pick on this ONE person, this was just the first of no less than 6 incidents I saw just like this on my 1/3 mile walk to get my girls from school. 6. And it makes me mad. Today I hollered at one while I was running (earlier in the day than the picture I took), he hollered back and we ended up having a screaming match. So... while I have vowed not to ever let another ahem bad driver ahem make me lose my cool so effectively, I also decided maybe I had better start carrying my phone every time I run. Which means--time to make the armband fit my scrawny (and yet oddly flabby) chicken wings.

I'm hoping this works, but I'm thinking I might need even longer velcro.