A Little Yarn On The Side

Dear Mother Nature: Please let it warm up at least above freezing before I get any wild ideas about knitting alpaca underwear or something equally crazy.  PLEASE!

As I have taken enough Valium to knock me silly and need to finish before it kicks in.  The good news is that the freak cold here is supposed to clear up by weekend, at least for a little while.  I'm doing better, but as soon as I get a little cold or a little sore, I tense up which makes me hurt a LOT which makes me tense up even more......and this little cycle just keeps going and I can't get it stopped without drugs.  The white chocolate martinis actually work a bit better, but I'm tired of them.  I never thought I'd say that, but I've never had them 3 nights in a row either.  I guess that makes them a pretty safe muscle relaxer, since if I can get tired of something that tastes THAT good, my risks of becoming an alcoholic are minimum.  Still, I'm ready for real life again.   I do see a lot of improvement in my back.  Today was really cold and I'd not slept very well, which led me to a day in bed last week, and today I was pretty mobile ...

My goal for my vacation week has been to sew every day.  Yesterday my back was very, very sore (thank you freezing weather), so it was "token" sewing: but it was enough to keep my streak going, it made another ornament, and it made someone VERY happy.  It is now traditional to never move my chair in the sewing room as there is almost always a cat body nearby.  I assume this will end as soon as it warms up and they're willing to go outside, but in the absence of backyard mouse-hunting, I am the best cat entertainment in the house.  Kind of makes me feel sorry for the cats, really...... I had started laying out the quilted ornaments, but got stuck after two rounds of pieces because I didn't have any markings to line up the next round, which is idiotic, really, as nothing ELSE I've ever done quilting-wise has lined up perfectly and is unlikely ever to do so.  So last night once the martini numbed the back pain and the idiocy,  I finished laying...

1.  When it's really cold, a white chocolate martini relaxes sore back muscles more than Valium. 2.  Always update the blog before the white chocolate martini............

Okay, I had really believed I could finish one sewing project a day this week, so I think we can tell that either the pain pills are having a lasting effect OR it's been too long since I did much sewing.  But, now on my 5th sewing vacation day, we have: finished pajamas!  I do need to tack down the facing just a bit, but want to let it hang for a couple hours before I do that.  BUT, they are done, I have used up 5 yards of fabric from the stash, and I am wearing these babies tonight because while we're maybe going to get a high of 17 degrees today, it's dropping to 2 degrees tonight.  I am beginning to hate winter.  So is Theo, whose life got even worse with the finishing of the pajamas: so I took pity on him and have the next fabric laid out for pinning,  which has cheered the Cabin Fever Kitties immensely.  Theo has barely been off of it since I laid it down.  Poor little guy--I didn't realize how much he was missing sewing. ...

Today was a sore-back day, so my goal to sew every day might fall apart today, but there HAS been knitting.  There are even pictures of the knitting.  Now if only I could remember where I put the camera, I would be showing them to you..... It's hard to say who is enjoying the cold less--myself or the cats.  Usually, they like to go out in the backyard for a bit first thing every morning.  When Andy is home, Theo believes this should be at 5:00 AM.  However, since Andy's been gone, Theo has decided sleeping in is a fine and dandy program and FAR superior to going outside with single-digit temperatures.  We're pretty unanimous in this feeling, actually.  For the first couple mornings, Theo at least wanted the option to go out when I went downstairs to make coffee, but I think he's decided that the open doors make things just too chilly, so now he doesn't even ask for the option.  Even though he's now 6, this is the first real winter he's seen with...

It's right here where I should be showing you a finished project.  And you'll notice there isn't one.  Last night I hosted knitting night at my house, and did spend a fair bit of time tidying downstairs, and since it's been extremely cold here and everyone is just recovering from the holidays, there was a lot more wine and general fun than actual knitting last night.  Killer night--but not much knitting. Yesterday I decided to kick off my sewing adventures with a scarf project I'd seen online somewhere, using some scrap yarn I have: but it looked a little too kid-craft for me.  So I ripped it out and will send the unknown yarn to my youngest niece, who has learned to finger-knit and who will probably find something to do with it.  Nice way to kill an hour of my time, but not what I had hoped for.  Oh well. I did manage to get some pajamas cut out in spite of my "help," Theo hasn't been terribly excited about the sewing room since the shelvi...