Finally - A Pair

Here they are! The long awaited Tidal Wave Socks!! TA DA! I know, I know, I can hardly believe it myself, and TN Dawn has already ribbed me about the number of blog posts it has taken to get them done. This has been the for-ever sock project, with multiple restarts! I was actually shocked to see I had started these in the beginning of December when I updated them on Ravelry. Kinda down right embarrassing in fact.



I'm starting to feel like I am getting a little bit of my groove back on. I am keeping it small to start with, and continuing to work on new goodies for my new digs. (That's if I ever get any new digs)

This was an easy start to finish project, another dishcloth to be packed away for future use.
And as always, Brodie is right there to help me take a picture! This was an easy pattern stitch to remember and I probably could have finished it in a day if I hadn't started it right before my beddy bye time. I used less than a ball of yarn on size 8 needles. I have to say, with this yarn a smaller needle would have been better. I like a denser fabric for dishcloths. I guess I really did not take into account this is a dk weight yarn instead of a worsted weight when I was following the pattern. Ah well...next time. and who knows, maybe by the time I wash it, it just might shrink up to a dandy little coaster size.

Project Scoop
Pattern: Waffle Stitch Dishcloth Rav Link
Yarn CotLin Glacier
Needles: Size 8
Size: 10x10

I had the kids come and pick up my dining room table and chairs the other day. I had been meaning to give it to them for a while now and finally got the lead out of my but and got it out of my place and into thiers. ( I just love dumping stuff on them...hehe)

Now I have this big empty space to fill, but I am not buying new furniture yet, nope, I am going to fill it with boxes of packed goods. I don't like to wait for the last minute to do things, and even if the right place doesn't come along, I will still move away from the ignorant neighbor upstairs and the usless landlord and into a different place.

Hopefully my next post will have another F/O to share, but failing that I will definately have a story.

Knitting? What's that??

I know...I can't believe it has been so long since my last post!! Where in the heck does the time go!

All this shift bouncing has me so discombobulated (remember when that wasn't even a real word) that I don't know if I am coming or going and I have not done much of anything besides work and sleep. I have way too much going on at work to be very productive at home. My brain is generally on shut down by the time I get home, so I have not even done the simplest of knitting. Mix in training New Girl, which has been my top priority, then throw in learning and training on new computer system for dispatching ( my other top priority) and you end up with one burned out knittereze person!

We are in crunch time for both training the New Girl, who goes live at the end of the month, and getting everyone up to speed with CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch), a much long awaited and longed for system, which is going live in mid March. I personally am very excited about both!I am so looking forward to scrapping the old and inefficient computer/paper system I can almost taste it.

New Girl (Lisa) is turning out to be a good fit with the rest of us unbalanced folk. She has been a joy to train, and after this week she will be ready for the Shadow Phase.

In between all these important goings ons, I also have the Special Olympics Polar Plunge coming up in a month. YIKES! ....Can you say follow the bouncing ball?

(IlovemyjobIlovemyjobIlovemyjob)

I managed to get one Tidal Wave sock done, but it took me so long to get the foot done that I am pretty darn sure I will have to learn the pattern all over again. Or I could just walk around one footed for a while...who needs a pair of socks anyway.

If you look real close...you can almost see the wavy pattern.

And did I mention I joined a sock yarn club? No? GUESS WHAT??? I joined a sock yarn of the month club. Oh Yah...Like I needed more sock yarn, and wait...Is that another hole in my head? Yup, I joined Art Walk, which is Zen Yarn Garden yarn (very yummy), and I really liked the idea of the colorways being inspired by materpiece artwork. Still, not your run of the mill sock yarn and maybe I will get some motivation by it... I could sure use some right about now. 

All my bloggin' friends seem to have motivation in droves and I am needing some of it to rub off on me. Dawn and Carrie always seem to have so much going on and manage to knit up a storm. I don't know how they do it. Kinda makes me feel like a slug-a-bug.

Here is my first shipment from them....Yum Yum! The Febuary selection Petunia, Don't ask me when I am going to knit it up...no clue there. But I like it!

...and a little art history to go with it...Taken from Art.com

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986) was a groundbreaking Modernist painter who digressed from realism to express her own visionary style. Raised in rural Wisconsin, which gave her a love of nature and formed the basis for her revolutionary artwork, O’Keefe is best known for flower paintings which made up a significant percentage of her work. Expressing what she felt, rather than what she had been taught, O’Keeffe painted enormous close-ups of flowers, transforming their contours into fascinating abstractions, and highlighting their importance in a manner that commanded attention. One of the most influential and innovative artists of the 20th century, O’Keeffe was the first woman to have her own exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Now... if I could just get caught up with all my blog-pals...

Pedi Break

Last week I took a much needed pedicure break! Even tho my appointment was really too early in the day for me, it was heaven! Heated massage chair, warm bubbly water, pampered feet and good friends sure made up for the lack of sleep I got.

I did manage to bring my head out of the fog long enough to get in another pattern set on my Tidal Wave socks without any mis-haps. (Not that you can see the waves in this picture, but it is finally turning out right)

A year ago (almost to the day) I decided to order the Basics knitting course from TKGA. My intention is to work my way up through the Masters course. Right after I got the course in the mail, I took that nasty fall in the driveway and was incapacitated for a while. Just long enough to lose my steam over the course. Good thing there is no time limit!

I had a couple of nights without my trainee this week so I dug out my course and finally started. I figured the lessons would be simple enough in this phase that my half brain could comprehend them.

Swatches...I can handle swatches this week.

Other than that, well... Internet house shopping and stupid Vampire Wars on Facebook is the only other thing I have had the energy to do.

Next week I switch back to days for 3 days for a class I am going to attend, then afternoons for two weeks to finish up training New Girl, then- just maybe I can settle into and comfortable routine on mids.

I'm Walking in a fog!

Happy New Year!!

In with the New Year and In with a new shift! That's right, I am on a new shift. For the last four years I have been on the afternoon shift and I have just gotten bumped to midnights this year. In a way I dreaded it because I have never been able to get the hang of that daytime sleeping thing. But on the other hand, it will be nice to fly under the radar for a while. Maybe I will finally get caught up with my work.

So until I get myself and little Brod-man adjusted to the new schedule I am walking around in a fog. Worse, I actually feel intoxicated and am having a hellava time keeping these peepers open tonite! Today fairly sucked! I just came off my second midnight shift after having worked a 12 hour shift, I get home around 7 ish...had to wake Brodie up to go potty (turn about is fair play doncha think?). I let him play for a while then I could not keep my eyes open any longer and told him " lets go ni ni". Of course he looks at me like I am cracked. Finally, I convince him to go back to bed and I slept all the way to...10:30!!! Wow...was that ever refreshing! Yah...two whole hours! Boy this is going to be a fun adjustment. I did go back to sleep from about 2pm to 5:30 pm but it sure wasn't enough.

You know that panic feeling you get when you are so tired that you are afraid you are going to over sleep and be late for work? That was me today, waking up every half hour to watch the clock to make sure I would not over sleep. Catch-22!

Naturally I am way too bleary eyed to accomplish much knitting. Even so, I managed to make some headway on my Tidal Waves sock. I am using Tofutsies instead of the soysilk. Huge difference in size. I ripped it completely out about three times before I was satisfied with the way it looks. The pattern doesn't call for it but I finally figured out that I had to knit through the back of the yarn over to keep it from looking lacy. Of course since I have knit the same section over and over again that I have the pattern memorized already. (Note the cute little dice stitch marker courtesy of TN Dawn) And if you look closely you can actually see the waves this time!

Another ripped out project! You might remember a while back that I had bought a sweater kit from Philosophers Wool at Stitches Market and it did not come with the color schematics. Well I did start the sleeve but I did not like how it was looking with my own randomizing so I emailed them for the color pattern. What I got instead was a large picture file. Since they apparently do not track the way they use the colors, no two sweaters look alike. I am all about the free spirit thing but I really wanted mine to look like the one in the picture! I was able to blow the picture up and figure out to the best of my ability, in which order the colors were used. Close enough for government work I always say!

I am pleased with the way the sleeve is turning out so far... and thank goodness, I can do this mostly with my eyes closed or I would not have even this much done.

I did also manage to finish Sarah's socks so I can give those to her when ever I become conscious again. I actually have not knit in a couple of days at all. I was too afraid to puck up my projects. A couple of more days and I should be back in form.
I did get a little itchy in my fingers and bought myself a new sketchbook the other day. I have not picked up a graphite in several years so I was a little nervous and afraid I would draw like a kindergartner. It felt so good to be drawing again. By Jove I think I still have it! I am pretty pleased with how these impromptu drawings turned out, especially considering I haven't put pencil to paper in several years, I think they turned out pretty ok.

I have been seriously considering going back to school while I am on mids to study art - something I have always wanted to do since I was high school, but I took a detour into the Army instead of school.



I don't know if I am going to do that yet but it bears careful consideration. For right now, it just feels good to hold a pencil in my hand again.

An Unwaved Tidal?

 After a fun filled Friday of MRI's and Ultrasounds on Unmentionable Parts. I finally got that damned training manual finished ( with Pammys help), and training meeting out of the way on Saturday. And none too soon I might add...since NewHire starts on Monday...Phew! Nothing like being under the wire.

Of course I had myself a couple of really good pity parties over Bubby (thank you my good friends for helping though that). Now I feel like it is time to really buckle down on that Tidal Wave sock!

Hmmm....for some reason my Tidal Wave doesn't look like the picture. Ok maybe I wasn't paying attention...so I start over (if I haven't started over at least a coupley times with a project something is definitely wrong!). I spend Saturday evening diligently following the pattern instructions (dammit I know I am doing this right) and I now have a couple of pattern repeats to gaze upon. WHAT THE HECK! "Kel...does this Tidal Wave look like a tidal wave to you?"  "mmm....Nope." "Shazbot!" (ok- that is not what I really said). "looks kinda big"  she says. "What the.... "

Oh no....compared side by side to the picture...it doesn't look like a darn thing like tidal waves.

Go figure...well I did only rip it out twice so far.

I was thinking I just couldn't see it because of the yarn pattern...but I'm thinking that it not the case here. Maybe my brain just cannot comprehend a sock that starts with 64 stitches? Seriously this sock could fit any number of kankles and it is not so very wavy! Should I try a lighter colored yarn maybe?

 Caught in the act!!! I walk out of the room for two seconds today and Mr. Destructo stole my cell phone off the table. Now really - just who did he think he was going to call!!

On a side note...my sexy little red camera that Mr Man gave me last year for Christmas seems to not be working so good all of a sudden. My LCD display is missing, which would be no big deal except this little camera has no view finder. So all I can do now is just point and click, and hope I have the subject matter in the right spot. This could make the Christmas photos darned interesting this year!