Sunday, October 21, 2007

Back to the Real World. (bleh)

I've spent the last two days recovering from the week. Friday all of my tiredness hit me at once, and I was good for nothing much all day. Yesterday was a bit better. Today I think I'm back to normal, which is good because tomorrow I'm back to the office. Bleh.

So, what have I been doing this weekend, besides laundry and groceries and such? I started the scarf for Cousin C. It's a gray weekend so I apologize for the extreme mediocrity of the photo:



The pattern is the Argosy Scarf from Knitty. I started and ripped three different patterns before settling on this one. My first thought was to do something lacy, but the lace was lost in the bright, busy colors. So it came down to a narrow Clapotis or this scarf, and this struck me as a little more unusual. It's a fun pattern to make, and I love this yarn so much I may have to buy more for a narrow Clapotis. I will have to put that in my Ravelry queue, because I'll forget about it by the time I finish all of the other things stimulating my imagination right now.

I'm somewhat over-stimulated because on Wednesday in Asheville I bought
Clara's Book. Wow. It's a rare knitting book that has more than one or two things I really must make - this book is full of Must Makes. It took me a couple of days of cogitation to figure out what it reminds me of - the background information on yarn, how it comes to be, how it behaves, the meaning of all of those exotic words like "two-ply" - this book is the knitting equivalent of watching Alton Brown's "Good Eats." It's the science of knitting, the chemistry of how yarn behaves, presented in an easy, clear and informative way (and not gimmicky-cute as AB can be). And the patterns are great, and I'm jazzed that many of them were contributed by actual human beings I know (and who read this little blog). All in all, it is extremely cool and a very worthwhile addition to a knitter's library.

Hey Dudley, what do you think of The Book?
Smells great!



Murphy needs a haircut. The good news is that the camera flash doesn't bother his eyes right now.



So I am back in the real world (bleh) and I am really and truly seriously going to try to adjust my attitude about it. Instead of focusing on the (bleh) things I don't like about the present, I am going to do my best to make the best of it. Focus on projects that will build toward the future, and continue to throw out and give away and clean up and fix up, but as with the French Blue Bedroom Walls, I will do things that I can enjoy now, instead of thinking of the future buyer's happiness. Because I've been living my life for the future, instead of living in the present - and I, of all people, really ought to know better.

4 comments:

Sue said...

I'm so glad you got to get away. I love it up there too.

ChelleC said...

I'm glad you had a wonderful time. Returning to the real world can be a bite - but it has it's rewards too. My Clara's book still hasn't arrived from Amazon. Since I opted for the free shipping and paired it with another book, the other book must be holding it up. In a way I'm almost AFRAID to get it because I know I'll want to knit even more projects --- arggh. Glad you're back and had fun.

Bess said...

that is one cute scarf and it does show off the bright active colors.

amen to the living now plan. Living now, mentally putting the bleh stuff to one side, letting your joy blossom beside the good stuff. Saying "No." to off the wall, out of place, they-ought-to-do-it-themselves requests with a blithe heart, knowing that they really should.

Yep.

Good ideas all round.

Hugs
B

vi said...

hey catherine
just think of the bleh time as down time/recharge
i know i go through that and when i get bored enough

i get enough rest that i am raring to go after

vi

ps: love that scarf and love the colors.....but then i am a bit of a magenta type person