Things that take the edge off...sort of...at least temporarily

 Unsurprisingly, I knit another sweater.  Another Felix pullover, it's my third.  This one in some Lion Brand Fishermen's wool I had in the Yarn Hoarde.

I started another Chuck sweater, this one for Daughter's birthday.  Also in yarn from the Hoarde; Northampton in the nebula colorway, edged in black Deerfield.  I realized yesterday as I was casting on that it's magpie colors.  When I mentioned that to Daughter, she squealed and grinned from ear to ear; Magpie is one of her Critters.

I've been drinking even more tea than usual, non-caffeinated by 5pm.  Usually a combination of Tension Tamer and Rose mint; by the quart.  Alcohol consumption has pretty much stopped.  Husband and I would split a bottle of wine or have a beer once, maybe twice a week (if it was a feeling fancy week).  Honestly, I drink mostly in social situations because it's an excuse for me being odd or weird...and people tend to stress me out.  It's not a great solution, but it is a socially acceptable one.  Knitting works almost the same way, though then a lot of people get the impression I am not paying attention. *sighs*  I'm not being rude, I am just not poisoning myself on your behalf and managing to make a sock at the same time while holding a conversation.  

The other thing, that has worked as long as I can remember, is reading.  Burying my nose in a novel grants (decidedly) temporary reprieve from my clenched stomach and agitated state.  I started the Magical Midlife series by K.F. Breene a couple of days ago.  Is it great literature?  No.  Is it nice to read about someone who is not in the same age range as my kids have exciting paranormal adventures and a magical house?  Yes!  (The main character is a 40 year old woman from California, who also happens to be an Aries with hazel eyes, making her much more relatable for me personally).  Sadly, there are only two books out and I am 65% through the second one already, in three days.  I did stop to read a Halloween novella in between them, just to try and stretch things out.  The third won't be out till November. *sighs*  Do I have more books to read?  Of course!  I just dislike waiting.

Now that Valentine's Day is over

Happy New Year? This is the lovely display that greeted us at the Natural History Museum out here that we visited while my in-laws were out. Back at the end of December.

January just kind of bowled me over. There was too much to process with no real transition to the new year. It just kept coming. Some was personal, some was like the earthquake in Haiti. For this reason, I decided to skip January all together. Acknowledge what happened, fixed what I could, helped what little I could, but refuse to accept the past month as the start of, what in my science fiction consuming little brain, should be some sort of fantastically, amazing year. Not a re-do, rather more like a delay of game.

I've gone through two and a half books in the last month. I have my father in law to thank for the introduction to Christopher Moore. Lamb entertained my husband and I so much, we went out and bought one of almost every title he has out.
I've finished two sweaters, cast on for two more and have been knitting on a lace project that makes me go cross-eyed. There's also a hat with matching mitts and half of a pair of anklets in there somewhere.

Can we celebrate New Year's at the beginning of March? I should be ready by then. ;-)

Finally getting some Fall things done

The picture is of the wreath I finally managed to finish and hang this morning. Very rustic and simple, a little expected and boring really, until you realize that I doused the whole thing in glow in the dark spray paint. I can't wait for this evening! In a few days it will also be draped with spider webs and fake spiders. I'm still trying to figure out how long I might be able to get away with leaving the webs and spiders on the wreath.

I also have to point out that Sense Sensibility and Sea Monsters was authored by Ben H. Winters. I got that wrong last post in my hurried enthusiasm to talk about my new books.

There has been a mass amount of feverish knitting, along with some yarn acquisition brought on by the rather sudden drop in local temperature. Pretty lace shawls have been temporarily put aside, (yes, all of them), in favor of wool hats, sweaters that cover as much as possible, and thick knit socks. Thusly attired I can return to knitting beautiful wisps of elegance that will be perfect once the forecast is a little less frosty.

I do love my books!

I found two books I had been hoping to get my hands on and one that, while an impulse purchase, is a very handy tome to have around. I was squealing in the store as I picked up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as well as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters both by Seth Grahame-Smith. The impulse purchase was Alton Brown's Good Eats The Early Years which contains lovely recipes and fantastic tips from the first six seasons of the show Good Eats, much beloved viewing around my house.
Those were just the literary finds on our outing today. We also got our hands on a couple of boxes of maple leaf cookies, an almost perfect pumpkin and a deep red mini hybrid rose with Halloween inspired decorations in it. I also managed to acquire the bits to make my fall wreath whose inspiration came from The Haunted Mansion.
Why yes, this is my favorite time of year! How did you possibly guess?

Distraction

That is the word for February. I've had the attention span of a gnat. I fouled up the seaming on a sleeve on a top I had mostly completed, so instead of being angry and ripping out the seam, I put it down and started a brand new sweater. The new sweater is over a third done, it's been 3 days. I've bought sock yarn so bright as to make Boyo wince, in colors that make Darling Husband cringe. I rather like them and proceeded off on a tangent to find perfect sock patterns for such demanding yarn, to prove to them both that I picked fantastic yarn. Then, there was the bout of yarn exhibitionism in which I felt the need to photograph and post pictures of yarn stash at hand (not all of it, that would take far too long), with details of how much I have and what colors on Ravelry. I had to convince myself that I didn't need a Coraline sweater with glow in the dark stars right this instant, in colors from the book, not the movie. I've found and hoarded more patterns than I could possibly knit, figured out what yarns to use and calculated costs. Seeds have been started and a tiered raised bed planned and plotted for the front yard. I've finished reading three books, one while making dinner one evening, and have started a fourth.

Has anyone else had this problem? The feeling that you must do everything right now? Or do I just have a really bad case of Spring Fever?

Three hundred and twenty...

and still counting! My efforts to organize my knitting patterns are becoming even more long and drawn out than I expected. Yes, I am really up to 320 patterns thus far. I thought I was done filing things when I found a binder on a bottom bookshelf. A 3-inch binder. A little over half full of yet more patterns! Then I remembered the knitting kits I put together about 6 months ago, probably a half dozen or more stashed in the downstairs closet.
I would like it noted that at least 95% of these patterns are freebies collected over the last 5 years or so. Buying patterns is something I do when I find a design very striking and only then, as I have to be able to afford the yarn to make the item in the first place. I would also like it noted that this does not include all my pattern books (of which there are dozens) or any of the magazines (of which I have lost count).

My new books came in yesterday! Yay! I am the only one in the house with any enthusiasm for square foot gardening year round or Ani Phyo's recipes. This means getting it all rolling on my lonesome with the hopes that my enthusiasm will be contagious and I will not be looked at like I am just making noise anymore. And people wonder why I spend so much time knitting anymore.