Category Archives: Life

What I did on my summer vacation.

Or at least this segment of it, anyway…

Worked on Traveling woman:

Took pictures of yarn (this is a BRS from Knitivity):

Wandered through a Walmart that just *expanded* their yarn selection. As far as I can tell, this has to do with the switch from Peaches and Cream to Sugar ‘n’ Creme, since the expansion was entirely Bernat yarns. But still…*more* yarn. In a Walmart. Amazing.

Watched as my partner hunted squirrels *inside* the cabin. Destructive little beasts. Hopefully I’m done having to clean up after them…for now…

Ate more of the best Southern food I’ve had outside the South…who would have guessed that I’d be going to Maine for the perfect pulled pork sandwich?

Took a walk in the woods.

Came home too soon.

Sighed.

Off to Maine…

Where I will hopefully get some work done this weekend. I’m primarily bringing along design projects. I really need to get rolling on these before the ideas get stale in my head.

Of course, there are other things to be done, and I’m supposed to be relaxing on top of it, but sometimes the best relaxation is to let my mind run where it will. And lately it’s full of yarn and hooks. :-)

I really have to find a way to drop some stress.

I actually had a big ol’ panic attack last night, and that hasn’t happened in a while.

You know, I’ve come to realize lately how much strength it can take to let go of a worry, if you’re a worrying type like I am. I tend to hold everything close and try to mold the world to the absolute maximum possible, and thinking that I’m that damned capable of making an impact is too much sometimes. The problem is sorting out what it is that I can actually change and letting go of the stress over the things I can’t do a flippin’ thing about.

The boyfriend, who strikes me as ridiculously lackadaisical when it comes to serious matters, is actually a master at this, though I sometimes think he takes it too far in the other direction and fails to worry about things he actually can affect. It’s a balance, and I’m not very good with balance.

In any case, there have been a lot of things like this lately: at work, someone above me makes a bad decision because they don’t ask for my input even though I’ve offered help. I am responsible for the fallout for that decision, and have to find a way to work with it long-term. I spend way too much time angry about somebody making a stupid mistake and not enough time figuring out how to work around having a big chunk of my resources unavailable.

The amount of mental effort it takes to think about this the right way around is considerable. Part of that is my wiring, and part of it is that the last few years have been full of struggle and I find myself ducking every time the world throws something new my way.

In any case, I’m trying to learn. There’s all kinds of stuff going wrong in my life, but there’s some pretty awesome things balancing it. But it’s not even about that balance. It’s about trying to train my mind not to be on red alert all the time.

Now all I have to do is fail to worry about what happens if I don’t accomplish that. I think that much, at least, is doable. :-)

The girl’s my polar opposite.

My oldest daughter? Lost her first tooth yesterday and didn’t tell anyone at all. She also seems to have lost the thing itself, which caused a 30-second burst of tears. Anybody know what teeth go for these days?

There should be crafty stuff here before too long, but I get into this crazy cycle where I want to take a picture of something, but don’t, then I don’t want to post until I have a picture, then…

Er, yeah. A little lame. But whatcha gonna do? Work is enough right now. My personality problems can wait, lol.

A bit off topic

Though really, I think anything is probably fair game here at this point. This is fascinating to me. I’ve got a really personal stake in this topic, and honestly? No matter how many times I see people attempt to spin psychiatric problems in a positive way, I’d give anything for my children never to suffer what I’ve been through. Between the possibility of real progress into discovering the physical underpinnings of mental illness and the further reduction of stigma as it becomes more recognized as a physical problem, this gives me some hope that there will be real research and real treatments that really damned work. Things are better than they used to be, but not enough so. And it would be incredible to see that change.

Slow week on the crochet front.

I went nuts making granny squares for a week or two, then stopped cold.

Factor 1? I finished watching the final 2 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which had been holding me hostage to my television most nights and thus creating the perfect conditions for exactly that sort of project-you-can-do-without-looking-at-your-hands.

Factor 2? My boyfriend brought home an Xbox. Hard to crochet when you’re playing video games. He’s a bad influence, I tell you. A very bad influence. :-)

Factor 3? My job is making me want to beat my head against a brick wall. Which the crocheting is usually an antidote for, but the issues there are making my schedule screwy right now and thus interfering. Though I did help a coworker read a pattern this week, which was sort of unexpected and cool. She caught me knitting a dishcloth at lunch recently and now we talk yarn when we run into each other. It’s a good feeling to know that somebody in that nuthouse understands!

Hopefully actual pictures soon.

Your Obligatory New Year’s Eve Post

I could get all resolution-y, or all sentimental, or all I-don’t-know-what-else, but I’ll leave it at this:

This has been the hardest–but by far the best–year of my life.

Thank you for your part in that.

See you soon.

Wild week

I have absolutely no news on the crafting front, since my workweek was insane. The weather, however, is beautiful.

That’s all I’ve got.

Next up?

Moving the computer. I have a few things I want to take care of first, because I hate to leave folks hanging. But it’s time to vacation-ize the Etsy shop for a few days and shut this thing down. Might be a little weird, but I think I can live with it.

Cast on for a new pair of socks yesterday. Yay! I’m trying out my brand-shiny-new 4″ Harmony dpns, and so far I’m a fan…might switch back to the 6″ when there’s more fabric to manage, but I’m not sure. We’ll see. Forest Canopy is coming along beautifully. I am so in love with both yarn and pattern!

I really need to dig through my WIP basket and see what’s up there. I haven’t been using my Rav notebook to its full potential for a while now…time to actually take advantage of it again and see if I can get some things finished! I have a terrible hankering to start another shawl, which would mean picking more yarn, and I’m trying to resist because I really don’t have the money…maybe I can make a deal with myself. *grin*

Anyway, I’ll post when we reach the away-for-a-few-days point here.

Hi there!

It’s been a long few months, with big personal changes and the utter chaos that those can bring. Now that things are closer to moving in some direction rather than just flailing about wildly, I wanted to return to the blog if for no other reason than to talk about all of the fun I’m having knitting in the few moments I can manage to steal in my current schedule. I recently finished my first pair of socks, for one thing, my first lace project is underway, and I finally made a trip to WEBS a few weeks ago.

Still have to kick the camera into working, but stay tuned…