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40 is the new 30


Nancy and Paula

I’m back from my fabulous 40th birthday celebratory cruise to the Caribbean. There was much snorkeling (that’s my sis and me in the pic, in Grand Cayman) and swimming and walking and kayaking and shopping and sweating (lordy was it hot and humid!) and drinking and singing (karaoke and piano bar FTW!) and eating and relaxing and reading and laughing and not nearly enough dancing (my knee and ankle just didn’t cooperate) and celebrating in general. And perhaps best of all, I only gained two-tenths of a pound-?!! Woot!

For those so inclined, pics can be found here (that’s the edited-for-quantity set).

I need more kayaking in my life. Good exercise combined with zero strain on my weakened lower extremeties = general awesomeness. More snorkeling would be awesome too, but to be honest, the Pacific scares me a bit. (Sharks!)

ION, I need something new to look forward to. Too soon to start planning for next year’s Disney trip? Hmm…..

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I'm back, baby!

It finally happened–the PT gave me dispensation to start knitting/crochet again! Woot! I’m on the easing-back-into-it program, started at ten minutes, a couple of times a day, and I’m up to about 20 minutes at a time now. I’m working on a crocheted star afghan in Bernat Satin for my niece, and it’s now large enough that I can’t finish a full round in my allotted 20 minutes, but that’s ok. I don’t want to rush it and ruin all the progress of the last four months, not when we’re this close to Christmas and winter knitting.

In knee news, it’s also progressing slowly. I’m back at work, but I’m still using a cane, as I can only go so far before the knee gets very, very tired. PT has banned me from big stores (Target, Michael’s, etc.), given how much walking one can do there without even realizing it. The couple of times I tried Target, I came out totally exhausted. But I can walk around my office suite without the cane and not feel pain, so that’s a plus, especially since the cane use is starting to screw with my back and hip.

I’ve been slowly, slowly emptying the shelves of the bookcases that I’ll be swapping with the entertainment center. I have no idea where I’ll put the bookcases in the interim, but they need to go somewhere so I can paint that wall, hopefully next weekend. I was going to paint it green like the attached smaller wall, but I’m also considering a complimentary blue. It will most likely be green, though, since I already have the paint for that, and I’m more of a path-of-least-resistance person.

That’s the it for now. Hopefully now that I’m back with the yarn I’ll be updating more frequently again. Yay yarn!

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Knitting and Crochet

Bitching, with sparkly yarn and a baby girl to balance things out

This is my sentence acknowledging that it’s been far too long since my last update. There, now I can move on.

Little has changed since my last post–I’m still feeling reticent about picking up the yarn and sticks, and instead have been spending far too much time in front of the tv doing….nothing. I still haven’t frogged K’s failed hat; haven’t mailed J’s finished hat; haven’t tried again with my sister’s hat. Damn hats! I have on occasion picked up the languishing My So-Called Scarf (the one with the bright yet scratchy Red Heart), which is now about a foot long instead of just six inches.

However, I did get started on a shawl this weekend when I took a friend to the hospital. I knew in advance she’d be needing a ride, so I reviewed my yarn, picked the Valley Yarns Wildwood that I bought at Webs over Christmas, and picked the Sunday Market Shawl for my pattern, which is basically stockinette until the very end and therefore would be easy to knit if I’d ended up in complete darkness for three hours like last time (I didn’t). Sadly, as beautiful as it’s knitting up, I’m starting to think the yarn and the pattern should never have been paired. The shawl is narrower than I’d wanted, more like a scarf, and the fabric is denser than I’d imagined for this yarn. It’s pretty, just not what I’d wanted.

Gah! I feel like a big ball of suck right now, like I can’t pick the right pattern for any given yarn. *sigh* I could continue with this yarn and this pattern, but if it doesn’t work out, it’ll be a bitch to frog it (mohair and sparkly thread), and I don’t want to give up on the yarn. It made such a pretty shawl in the Webs store.

In other news, I’d like to thank Melanie for her lovely comment on my last post–it cheered me up that day when I saw it. I don’t think I’m over the hump yet, but I won’t give in entirely–I love yarn too much.

And finally, in totally AWESOME news, I have a new niece! Hailey is seven days old today, and looks just like her dad. Welcome to the world, Hailey darlin’! Hopefully I’ll get to meet you and your big brother this summer!

Hailey!