Back to Life

Holidays are over and I'm back at work which, while it sucks, should (hopefully) allow me to post more frequently. What does it say about my life that only when I'm working can I find the time for knit-related activities such as blog reading and posting. Oh well...

Yesterday's return to work did not go smoothly. It was like the Fates decided that returning to the daily grind wasn't enough of a bummer, and threw a series of obstacles in my path to make it more interesting.

Obstacle the First: Arrive at the metro station, find I can't locate my parking pass. Search every nook and cranny (which I shouldn't have had to do, since I haven't used the darn thing in 3 weeks - stands to reason it would be where I left it, right?), but can't find it. Further investigation reveals that Phil probably threw it out when he took my car to go to the kite festival a few weekends ago (as he put it "he found it on the ground beside the car" and chucked it). Pay for parking.

Obstacle the Second: Having purchased metro tickets, wait in line behind the morons from another planet who are taking forever to purchase their own tickets, rather than just getting them at the automated machine like yours truly. After about 5 minutes, when head is about to explode clean off shoulders, realize I don't have to give my ticket to the attendant, I can just put it in the machine all by myself (who's the moron NOW?).

Obstacle the Third: Upon arriving at the office, realize I've forgotten the code to the front door.

Obstacle the Fourth: Upon sitting down at my desk, realize they've changed my password to my computer. Comprehension of why I was unable to log on to my office email from home begins to dawn.

Obstacle the Fifth: When returning home, Fates create a monster traffic jam in path, transforming a pleasant 10 minute drive to a 30 minute crawl. Of course, haveforgotten my phone at home, so can't call to give Phil the heads up. Arrive late to an exasperated husband and hysterical children (well, Maxime anyway, Émilie was watching Tarzan), reheat the previous night's dinner and attempt to compensate for the less than stellar meal with big bowls of ice cream. When kids are in bed, knit and watch final episode of season 4 of Angel with Phil.

I had fully intended to blog during my lunch hour, but since I lost my parking pass, I had to go down to the parking office and retrieve a new pass. Try to picture how dumbfounded I was when the attendant told me "That will be 20$ please". For a stinkin' card?!?!? Luckily, the Fates threw me a bone on that one, because the lovely young lady looked me over and said "I'll write it up as a replacement for a defective document. No charge".

Gack... I hate Mondays, don't you?

But it's Tuesday now! Clean slate. Cool slate too (it was decidedly chilly this morning). I left the house with my parking pass AND my phone, and made tonight's dinner yesterday, so everything should be fine. Heck, I may even have time to photograph my latest finished object after the kids are in bed!

Yup, I finished Phil's Luxor socks (Ravelry link here, non-Ravelry link here). I'm really happy with them, and so is Phil. I weighed what was left of my skein after I was done, and I think I used up about 399 yards on this pair, which means I probably could have used the Cowboy merino/tencel that Phil wanted after all (that skein was 400 yards). Still, it would have been stressful to the very end.

I actually offered to make him another pair with that yarn and shorten the leg a bit, just to be on the safe side. "With the same pattern?" he said. "You don't like this pattern?" I reply, trying to keep any hint of agressiveness out of my voice and avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, I do. It's just that, well, I really liked the socks you made for yourself last time. The ones with the cool ankle". I think a second, then realize he means the Firestarter socks, and their admittedly fabulous gusset (a Yarnissima trademark, from what I can tell).

I did a quick search, and settled on Fratello (Ravelry link here, non-Ravelry link here) as a suitable pattern. I unfortunately don't have any Wollmeise just lying around in the stash, but I think some lovely Dream in Color smooshy should work well.

It'll have to wait though. I'm still working on Sizzle (I've finished the back, and am about halfway through the front), I've got the Celtic Tote waiting in the wings, and I've got the Baby Pinwheel to finish (I've got some issues regarding the border for that project, more on that in a future post). Plus, I think I should get the jump on some Christmas knitting. Finances are a wee bit tight lately, so knitting gifts from stash sounds like a good plan right now.

Oh! And this past Sunday was my one year blogaversary! Woo-Hoo Dear Knits!!! Here's hoping there are many more to come.

Happy Knitting Everyone!