Deer Ticks

Girl-child got bit by a deer tick the other day. I was really surprised how small they are. Just tiny little things! This is her tick next to a bar of poppy seed soap

See? Totally tiny tick! I knew in my head they were small, but really I thought they'd be closer to dog tick sized.

So far she seems fine with no symptoms, but we did decide to put her on preventative antibiotics, so now we've got 2 weeks of that.

On slightly less icky things my hat is coming along well.

My sweater is coming along a bit faster now that I've switched needles.

Housework, ugh!

I hate housework (just like everyone else in the world I'm sure), but what I hate more than housework is being treated like a maid. I'm at home all day & my roommate works, so in her mind there is no reason I can't do the cleaning. While I've no problem washing the household towels & even doing the dishes, but my problem comes from being told I have to do it her way. See if you are stuck doing housework I think the least that ought to occur is doing it your own way.

Like the dishes, if I do them in the dishwasher it can take me 2 hours to unload & load the dishwasher even with my 5 yr old helping. It takes that long because I am disabled & have problems with my joints & very much with my hands. So If I'm going to be the only one in the house who does the dishes I'm doing them my way. Using paper plates (yep eco-bad, but I do recycle them) when possible, hand washing bowls & cups since that is actually easier than all the leaning over & reaching. Plus if I can only put away 1/2 the dishes I can still hand wash a few more later & add them in the strainer, you can unload 1/2 the dishwasher & then add more dirty stuff without making the stuff still in there dirty. I expect I'll get a huge lecture on how this isn't green & I'm ruining the planet, but if you really care that much why can't you load & unload your own dishes?

Halfway!

I am halfway done on the shawl of doom! I'm torn between putting it away for a bit so I can work on some other knitting or just keep plodding along. Part of the problem is this yarn & these needles are a crap combo, but I am worried if I switch to another set of totally different needles (wood to metal) that my gauge will change. Gah!

I'm working on another blanket square & am hoping to make a few of those over the next month. I am also still working on the grey hat, that yarn is so splitty that it kinda sucks to work with so it's going slower than my other hats.

Oh on the red sweater front I finally got another set of needles to work with, I just don't like the addi Lace needles, so now I've some regular addi needles. Will have to see if that helps, those Lace ones always made my hands feel gross.

Rambling Thoughts

I've nothing very interesting to post, nothing super exciting to talk about, but I still feel the urge to post something.

I'm feeling a bit at loose ends, as though a change of some sort is coming & I don't know what it is. I don't like the feeling at all. Maybe it's because girl-child needs to go to Mayo for a diagnosis, maybe it's because my sister's birthday is coming & I miss her, maybe it's because I need to work on my driving phobia, I just don't know.

I feel strange that I'm in my 30s & I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. That I feel like I'm not really an adult, just faking it. Maybe all the adults out there do fake it, who knows. I feel like lives are supposed to have a plan & a direction & I'm am very much lacking in both.

On the fiber front, I did get some yarn to dye, now I just have to mix up my dyes & get to it. Probably won't for a while, I think I want to get more yarns. I've one skein of fingering weight, 2 skeins of worsted, 2 skeins of aran & one of sport.

My office

I love the space of my office, but hate the look of it. I am planning on redoing it over the next few month/year. It's kind of ended up with a country feel which is 100% not me. It's very, very light purple/blue on 2 walls & wood on the other 2. I am planning on painting all of the walls white. I know the wood panel lines will show through, but I don't think I want to deal with the major work of taking the wood down right now.

After that I need to decide on the color I want to use in the room, am thinking either vivid red or deep purple. Which ever color I pick I'll be getting a couch cover for my loveseat. I was also suggested to use some foam tacked down to change the shape to cleaner lines & remove the "skirt" on the bottom of it.

It's going to be quite a bit of work & am figuring it will take me well in to fall to get it well on it's way to looking like I want it to. Once that's one the bedroom will be next, that's a hideous dark green, ugh!

Shawl Update

Still plugging along, it's a wonderful pattern & great year, I'm just not a fan of how long shawls take to make.

As you can see I've got 7 repeats down the side & then 5 so far across the bottom. I was planning 14 across the bottom, but have decided when I get 7 across the bottom I'll weigh both halves & see if I've enough yarn to do a few more. Will have to see how it looks & all that when I get there.

This is the billionth hat, I know no one really wants to see if, but I like these little hats so here it is anyway.

Clouds

It's been cloudy & rainy for the past few days & the forecast is calling for days more of this. So there are no pretty pictures with nice natural sunlight, sorry.

The shawl is slowly, plodding along. I have 6.5 of the 14 repeats of the pattern done, once I finish the 14 I can do the 7 decreases. It's a lovely shawl, but I don't think I thought this shawl thing through very well. They take a long time.

The sweater doesn't really have anything new going on, the rib is a bit boring so it's going slow.

I started another hat, I love stuff that knits up quick. :D

A tiny invasion

There is a tiny invasion of one in my home. She moves so fast around the house I've not been able to trap her. These were the only pictures I could manage to capture to prove I've not imagined the whole thing.

When I woke this morning she was on the bookcase in my bedroom, but quickly ran out of the room when she saw I was awake...

Then as I was making my morning cup of tea I saw her on the counter & by the time I got the fly swatter she was gone!

I didn't see her for a while & assumed she had left, but you know what they say about what happens when you assume things. Turns out she was on the windowsill behind me & who knows how long she was there.

I jumped out of my chair & ran in fright. A while later I went to get some yarn so I could knit to soothe my nerves, who do you think was hiding there? Yep, she was right there.

I don't know what to do about this. Do I call an exterminator or a priest or what?

http://poppetplanet.com/

So Tired

Yesterday was a bright sunny day, I woke up & felt good. I wanted to write you all (you all meaning probably no one, I don't actually think anyone reads this) a lovely post & put up some pictures. I had it all planned out, but Blogger was down for me. I guess some parts of the country were down & some were ok.

Today I woke up very, very tired. I'm missing about 3 hours of sleep due to the millipede that was on my wall above my bed last night. I was tucking in to bed & my roommate came to ask me something & spotted the evil thing. I am terrified of them & freaked out while she actually killed it. I then spent the next 3 hours wide awake & today feel like a zombie.

Perhaps I'll come up with something nifty to post this afternoon when I actually am awake rather than wandering about like a zombie. Maybe a cup of tea would help...

Squares

Do you remember the blanket square I was working on? Well I think I cast-on & frogged about 6-7 of them & finally got one that came out right!

I know it's a little wonky & all, but for the most part I do like it. It's my first miter squares, so it was kinda neat to learn those.

I've also got my swatch drying, I measured before I washed it & I was a touch shy so hopefully it grew just a tiny bit.

On the Knitting Front

Check out the cutest new project bag I've got!

It's long enough my 10" needles fit in there at a slight angle. I've got my green shawl in there, I didn't have a project bag big enough to fit the needles in so I was very glad to get this. Plus it's my favorite color. It looks like the fabulous woman who made it isn't selling them right now, but here's her Etsy store in case she starts to.

Almost done with my swatch for the other sweater, looks like it's 2 stitches shy (on 4") of gauge, but it's silk/wool & it hasn't been washed or blocked so it should come out ok.

I also got in some nice hat yarn, I'm thinking once one more project is done I'll cast on a hat. I'm thinking of doing one with a pattern I have to follow line by line rather than a stocking stitch one.

Girl Child's Annual Check Up

We went to the doctor for girl-child's annual appt & did get a referral for her to go down to Mayo to see if she has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) like I do. I'm 90% sure she does, I feel very conflicted about it. I'm glad we are figuring it out young so she has a better chance than I did of not becoming so disabled so young. I'm glad we'll not have to deal with docs thinking she's lying about her pain. I'm glad we will have the chance to teach her to care for her joints. I'm guilty about the fact I gave this to her. I'm guilty about what I know lies ahead. I'm sad for the fact she won't be "normal". I'm sad for the fact she will have this color many choices she makes in life. I'm worried about how severe hers will be. I'm worried about her future.

Having a genetic condition, that you know is painful & can be horrible & knowing you gave it to your child sucks more than I can put words to...

Shhhh!

Don't tell, but I've cast-on a tension square.

I did frog 2 projects, plus I've one more I count as frogged, but I'm too lazy to do the actual frogging. Leaves me with 2 wash cloths, 2 pair of socks, 1 shawl, 1 sweater. I think I'll try & bust my butt & get one of the wash cloths finished in the next few days. The sweater is the one I hope to finish by fall, the shawl I'd love to have done soon, but I can't memorize it so it's slow going. The socks are hard, I want to knit them, but my hands don't want to. I will finish at least one pair of them at some point in the next few months.

I am also trying to teach myself to crochet. I am working on doing a plain chain. I do know for many people with hand/grip issues that crochet can be easier for them & since I've got crabby hands I figure it can't hurt to mix it up. Plus I think it's time I admit I will never knit a blanket, I am too slow, it'd take me about a million years to get one done.

Toys

Ok, anyone reading this who is a parent will understand my complaint about too many toys, too much junk cluttering up a house. Amelia has a bit of greed about wanting new toys as most young children often do & we are working on curbing that greed & reducing the amount of toys.

Step one was to take every single toy in the whole house & remove it all to one room. That is known as the toy room. Every week she is allowed 10 toys from the toy room & no more. At the end of the week she can swap out any of the toys she would like to swap & keep any she would like to keep as long as the number she has is 10 (or less, but she doesn't ever pick less).

We've been doing this for around 2-3 months now & it's been going great. We've also done a toy purge of stuff she was ok with donating to the thrift store & I think it's getting to be time to do another purge. I'd like it if all her toys could fit in to 2 lg rubbermade tubs, right now it's about 4. When we were packing to move it was 8 tubs & that's just way too much.

I love this toy library system & it has really helped keep the house, or should I say every floor in my home, clean. I am also finding she is really focusing in & playing more with each toy instead of becoming distracted every 4 seconds by another toy.