Pulling it together

So far this summer has wizzed by without me taking real advantage of it. Partially to blame is Philadelphia’s super heat of late, partially to blame is just normal everyday “there’s way to much stuff I must do versus I want to do.” I really need to take a step back and stop creating mental lists that I know are farfetched. Once I stop letting down my too high of standards self, perhaps I can enjoy the things that organically happen and get accomplished, accepting it all for what it is. How realistic of a goal is this?

The past week, or so, has been particularly strained. More 9-5 office boredom. More yearly appointments with doctors to find out that my, and I quote, “cholesterol is gorgeous” and basic blood work shows that I am, indeed, amazingly heathly. More not getting as much personal projects done by the anticipated, ambiguous, deadlines.

Oh…and my cat ran away. Right in the smack dab of a particularly mentally trying week, Ellie decides to sneak out of the house one night around 10:30pm and have fun on the mean streets of deep South Philadelphia. We have a lot of strays around these parts and the idea of my overweight, not as tough as she thinks she is, domesticated kitty going toe to toe with them made me cry and worry for 24 hours…because at 10:30pm the following night, guess who comes sauntering down the block, like the queen of the night? My silly little cat. What a relief. She has been quarantined, flea-medicated, and punished.

And we put up chicken wire across the screen door. She is so not getting out anymore, unless under major supervision on her harness and leash.

The knitting is slow going, even though I am making progress on some things. I sold a few things on Ravelry, which is great and allowed me to buy myself one of Caro‘s awesome camera straps without having to use my hard earned 9-5 office job money. Talk about sweet. I have noticed, recently, that I have such a penchant for being drawn to natural cotton and linen colored cloth with a smattering of simple images across them in a print. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the mailman to bring this to my office cubicle so I can slap it onto my Nikon and squeel a little inside.

I’ve finished the back of my Tempest sweater (been doing a lot of post work beer knitting of this one. Kind of perfect since Ann of Weaverknits is a big beer fan as well) and am absolutely loving Weaverknits‘ choice of yarn for this cardigan, and my choice of not subbing anything. The colors of Fleece Artist BFL 2/8 is beautiful, as their other yarns are as well, and it knits into a nice thin fabric for the sweater.

I’m a bit worried that the size I’m knitting, for a 35” bust, will not fit. I confess to being a horribly bad swatcher/blocker and need to break myself of that habit. Ann suggested to me that before I go ahead and frog the back to knit the size larger, I should wash and block it to see if indeed it will be the right size when finished. Maybe I’ll do that this evening. I do have to say that Weaverknits designs are wonderfully written, and great for my body type of long limbs, broad shoulders, non-existent chest, and other “athletic” “boy-like” physical features that I have (and like about myself). Even better is that she sizes things up for larger people as well, so the spectrum of sizes is huge! How considerate.

Until then, I’m still dreaming of ways to use my lovely Koigu Mill Ends from Rosie’s Yarn Cellar, which I purchased right after the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Nothing like sinking your hands into a pile of this squishy, beautifully colored, bouquet of yarn. Don’t you wish you have 10 sets of hands so you could knit everything you want all at once??