Countdown

2 days 'till I get keys to my new place! Yup, I'm finally moving into a large studio on my own. No more roommates, no more fighting with roommates about being too loud or not cleaning up after themselves, no more ridiculous energy wasting resulting in exorbitantly high electricity bills...more nesting and being comfortable. The last 2-3 months at my current residence have been far from peaceful, to the point where I am so done with living there that I'm staying at the SO's place this week until I can move into my new place. I can hardly wait any longer. I will have more space to breathe, and space to cook, make art, knit, build things, and might even have the ability to use the space as a photography studio from time to time due to the fact that there's a lot of space and high ceilings. I'm also excited about having concrete floors - I will be able to use my tools indoors! I've already been dreaming up layouts for the apartment, looking at IKEA for things I can't really afford right now, and dreaming of all the creative things I'll now have space (and peace and quiet) for.

In knitting land...I now only have to knit sleeves for my sweater, and have finally finished some socks, minus the leg hem and blocking. New project for new space: Dye some yarn!

I also have an idea for a rug - I really like the cheap flokati rugs from IKEA, but I'm not too keen on owning a white one. Since it's wool, theoretically I could dye it...but would it be too much of a pain in the ass? I think I'm going to try, maybe for deep reds or earthy greens...

Braiiins

Wow, I had a great and productive weekend! Friday night I stayed over at Harvey's house, knitting up a storm and watching Lost. I got a good 5" or so done on my sweater, up to the bust shaping at least. Saturday morning was spent knitting a bit more, then a visit to ImagiKnit in San Francisco. I can't believe I've never been to this shop before! Amazing fibers, and so well organized. The first huge room is for yarns of 50% or more animal fiber, while the second huge room is for 50% or less animal fiber. And the colors! I couldn't resist buying a huge squishy hunk of Schaefer hand dyed, in colorway Elena Piscopia, from their collection of yarns inspired by memorable women. At 600 yards, it will make a nice vest or shrug, or an immense claptois. I also bought some Noro cotton and rayon cord, which is gorgeous crocheted! I think I'll have to go back there and purchase a couple more skeins for my mother who will probably crochet something much more amazing than I ever could.


Around 2, I met Matt downtown for a Brain Machines build. It's bascially a set of goggles with LEDs that pulse or blink patterns in conjunction with tones. The patterns correspond with brainwave sequences to bring you into a relaxed meditative state. The patterns are stored in a firmware which can be edited to make them longer or shorter. The build was pretty easy, we each purchased a kit which included all LEDs, caps, resistors, and a chip which runs the firmware. I pretty much finished mine, but still have to make it pretty with fake fur - I'm envisioning a helmet sort of thing. I did try it out for a bit, and can say for a fact that it relaxed me and got rid of my headache. I'm going to go through the full sequence when I have a spare 10 minutes or so.




Sunday we left at 8 am (grrr) to drive up to Sacramento to visit Two Rivers Cidery. Normally I don't drink at all before early afternoon, but Vincent, the owner and brewer, is truly an artisan. Everything we sampled was amazing - Pear, Pomegranate, a wonderful blend called Seiser of apples and honey, and my favorite, Gravenstein apple cider. Oh, I've missed Gravensteins! I was born in Graton, an unincorporated part of Sebastepol, and growing up in the North Bay has led to a real appreciation of this wonderful fruit. Gravensteins are classified as an heirloom fruit, as they are not grown anywhere else in the country. Sadly, land owners in Sebastepol and Santa Rosa are favoring vineyards over orchards these days, so gravensteins have been falling off the radar as of late.



Though this was a hectic weekend, I did manage to get some knitting done, and even crocheting! I made a bowl with the wonderful cotton cord and am going to make a belt with the second skein. Yay!

Bit of a break

So, I've been voraciously knitting lately, and have many plans for future knits - a mohair skirt, cabled cardigan, top-down simple raglan on the needles, more socks. It seems as if my creative brain has the inertia of a locomotive these days. I finished 2.5 projects on wednesday - scarf like things that are late xmas presents for family! I've also been rehearsing a lot, or at least the 2x weekly rehearsals with my bands have been extremely energetic. Also being on the computer for 10-12 hours a day combined with a bit of stress due to searching for a new apartment = body pain! Ugh. I think I'm getting a little tendonitis in my wrists, and my shoulders are constantly sore. I never though sitting or resting would be so painful to the body. I really need to take some yoga classes after I get settled in my new (pending) place.

So, I've unintentionally taken a couple day's break from knitting. I forgot my needles on Thursday, even though I had yarn! A day and a half off of knitting hasn't helped a ton with my wrists, which aren't really all that bad, but has made me realize that I can afford to take breaks from time to time. I'm planning on trying to finish the projects I'm outlining in my nice graph-lined moleskine, and not buy any more yarn until next fall.

Theoretically, a knitting break is possible - I have so many more projects to be done!