D

One of my favorite chocolates is the Dove chocolates. What other kind of chocolate gives you happy fuzzy 'fortunes', as my friend calls them? And one of the best is the one I have now taped to my monitor. It encourages me to take a look at all the RNs out there. They have all sweated, bled, and cried at some point to get where they are. I'm not alone in my misery and hair loss. I'm not stupid and I'm not lazy, but I just have different obstacles.

This is Don, my younger brother. I once introduced him to one of my nursing professors (the one I liked) as my "little brother" and she looked at him towering over me and gave a snerk. He's on a mission now, in Brazil. He's gentle, he's sweet, he's a bit of a dork (D&D dork, incidentally), and he makes me very happy. I love both sibs this much. My sister, Christina, is really a wonderful mom and a very generous sister, but we're just a little different in personality, whereas Don and I are very much alike. P.S. the weird white boogie is a very very small origami crane. I suppose that's ONE way of showing its size, by sticking it halfway in his nose.

|

Finally, my adoration of dragons. I am not quite sure why I have such a fascination with these mythical beasts, but I think they're very very cool and have a bit of a collection of them (though the $60 ceramic knitting dragon is not mine, but I did carve that pumpkin). Hmm, not much to say on it, but if you want to make me a happy girl, present me with something draconic (or yarn! yarn is good!).

====
Sneaky peek at my next FO

FO: That Darn Hat

Yarn: 1.2 skeins of Noro Kureyon: Color No. 148, Lot No. A.
Needles: US #9
Pattern: Roll Brim Hat
Date Started: December 14, 2005
Date Completed: January 23, 2006
Notes and Comments:
I had a tough time with just making the hat. It started out too large. So I put it aside for other things. Then I ripped it out, started with fewer stitches, but was worried about using up more than the full skein. I decided that it was ridiculous to worry about that, after all, I had another full skein of the stuff (always buy a little more than you think you need, you can always use the leftovers later and you won't have to worry about discontinuation or unmatched lots). So I just knit on it while I studied my textbooks, got it long enough to fit comfortably over my ears and THEN decreased and bound off. Fits like a dream. And it's envied by all, because when I left the chapel, I went to the library to chat with my friends in there (instead of going to Sunday School, I'm a heathen dog). And just before I left, a guy came in to turn in some lost and found and there was the hat! He said he would come back for it if no one claimed it, which made me feel rather pleased. Nice hat.

Hard Times

Yes, last week was a very rough week and I thought I should elaborate for the curious.

Now, I'm working on getting my RN through a tutorial school called Ivy Hall Academy of Nursing. I'm getting my RN from Excelsior College and so far it's been nothing but the biggest money-pit my parents ever helped me out with. Ivy Hall has had issues with money and finding cheaper and cheaper places to teach to accomodate what *I* think is a director with a hole in his pocket (the worst were the 'taped' lectures with a crappy video camera where the sound quality was just wretched and the picture quality prevented us from even seeing the notes on the board). Money that wasn't his must have burned that hole. Anyways, I wasn't informed when Ivy Hall went down and all the prepaid tuition (which included pay-as-you-go exam expenses) went with it. I only found that out on the Tuesday that I went to the S'n'B SLC because, surprise!, I never got the reimbursements for the exams I paid for that I turned in at the end of NOVEMBER and I was trying to figure out when I might get them. It was very hard, I was very upset at the dishonesty of it all, felt quite betrayed, but my mom is going to work on a lawsuit and we'll try to get *some* of the money back.

And so I persevere. That Thursday I attempted to make it to the exam I had scheduled. And it looked like Life had it out for me because it was uncanny the amount of things that tried to stop me from going. For starters, the huge snowstorm that hit that Wednesday night. Snow everywhere and my little Honda Civic just couldn't get over it (she's a bit of a wuss). It took an hour of digging, trying to rock the car out, pushing, pulling, but finally a very friendly neighbor came by to pull me out. The next obstacle were slick roads where I ended up going a very cautious 20 mph while everyone else just flew past me. And then there was the train that was eternally long and infernally slow. But once I got to the testing office, I felt confident about the exam.

The exam was one of those online, multiple choice exams and I'm good at the MC and the computers. I went over those answers thrice, felt good about 89% of them (I counted). Imagine my despair when the computer processed my grade and gave me...a D. Fail. Another $215 down the hole. I could have made two beautiful sweaters, maybe three, with that money! I felt devastated. I called my mom in tears, telling her I didn't think I could do this anymore. It just felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall. Mom tried to talk me into a calmer, more optimistic state, but I just felt like life had kicked me in the balls once again.

So I got home and did what I could to stop feeling SO upset. A hot bath, some Little Women and just taking the day 'off' helped. And then I plunged into my textbooks. 3 hours a day every day is the rule now. Of course, three hours of textbook reading constitutes only about a chapter. It's like one of those terrible dreams where a great monster is chasing you and you're running as fast as you can, but it's just harder and harder and you're not going very fast at all.

So, come Saturday, I take my friend (who was in a lot of pain from personal body issues but willing to still brave a drive with some Lortab) to the Unravelled Sheep to do a little consolation stash enhancing. It was amusing to see some Stashalongers there and I thought it was fun to mention them in the blog. Let me just say, it's not like it's a terrible sin to bend a promise to yourself when it comes to yarn. You're not hurting anyone, really, not even yourself, though perhaps your pocket book and stash space take a blow. And I can understand it, I love yarn too and I applaud the brave men and women who are trying to break themselves from the addiction. I know I didn't have the bravery to try it, so I didn't join.

But I guess my humor didn't come so clearly in that post because the email I got chastising me for bringing it up was a painful blow when I already felt so bruised and sensitive. I'm sure there was no intention of hurting, just a chastisement for *almost* pointing fingers. I just didn't take it well. And so I'm reconsidering a few things.

Anyways, I have been doing better (really!). I've started up a third pair of socks for 2006 using a bit of my own stash. It's yarn that I got in a swap and I'm not sure what it is, but the colors remind me of spring. There's the brown of mud, the pale green to dark green of plant life breaking through the mud and a lot of pink, which reminds me of the one thing I look for every spring and always made me smile when I saw it when I lived in Kansas, which is the crocuses. I'm calling these my "Welcome Spring!" socks.

As for this past week, it's been a bit rough, too, but that was more my attitude and you notice I deleted the Guilt rant because it was just a bit too "Hey look at me being a rebel!" which is rather disgusting. Then again, here I go again with the "Look at me, life is hard!". You'll have to excuse me, I'm terribly self-centered and vain. I've reorganized the blog a bit for 2006 and I'm considering moving it, though I'm not sure where to yet. I want something with 'tags' though so people can search my entries by rants/WIPs/FOs/etc. And I want free because, well, I don't want to pay for yarn AND a blog. You know how that goes, I'm sure.

If you read all this, thank you, I just had to get it out.

Creative Minds At Work

I'm attempting to put things into a little more reasonable order on this blog. Just mark everything as 'read' on your Bloglines. Thank you.

Knitting Blogs I Enjoy

• Gwen Knits And Purls


• Chef Messy


• Stitch-N-Snitch


• Zeneedle


• Green-Eyed Grrl


• I'm Knitting As Fast As I Can


• Stitch Counter


• Mim's Knitting Frenzy


• Crazy Aunt Purl


• Critical Pathways


• The Yarn Harlot


• Now Norma Knits Too


• Lollyknitting Around


• Wendy Knits


• The Knitting Doctor


• Glampyre


• Jessimuhka Knits


• The Knitterly Ways Of Pink Acrylique


• Knitting Sunsine


• Naive Knitting Blog


• Sandy's Knitting


• Stitchy McYarnpants


• You Knit What?


• Mason-Dixon Knitting


• Unending Field Trip


• Student Nurse


• Waiter Rant


• Head Nurse


• about a nurse

Knit-a-longs

Join | List | Previous | Next | Random |
Previous 5 | Next 5 | Skip Previous | Skip Next

^{Powered by RingSurf}

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H & I





Two Pairs of Socks Completed

Previous | List | Next Powered by RingSurf

Shigure Socks

Shigure Socks
Yarn: Lorna's Laces, Colored Berry
Needles: Boye's Double Pointed Needles, #2
Pattern: Feather and Fan lace socks from Socks Socks Socks.
Time spent: Casted on around January 15th, finished January 22nd: approx. 15 hours.
Additional Info: When I finished the first, I tried it on and could not bring myself to take them off. The yarn is wonderful, very soft and warm with a slight halo. I encourage everyone to try Lorna's Laces at least once. A skein will make you a sock, but if you have small feet like mine and use a conservative pattern, you may get away with all of one and a little of another.

These were made in memorium of my betta, Shigure, who passed away in the winter of 2005/2006. His fins were of very similar color, though his body was a pale pink with blue dots. He will be missed.

C is for...

A really cool, antiquated and running car! This was on the way to the airport, actually, after a long vacation back in Lawrence. Now, I have seen the car before and I have seen it sitting in someone's driveway, but I have never seen her out and about, going no faster than about 30mph and just chuggin' away. I tried to get dad to get closer, but I think I might have scared the guy driving the car. I was so excited to see it out though, it's the neatest thing. Oh yes, check out the ubiquitous grey Kansas sky. Typical winter, no snow but a white sky.

The second C -

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being an adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

C.S. Lewis

The Third C:

This is not so sobering. I went with a friend to a certain yarn store in Sandy to indulge in a little recovery from the Week From Hell at the new-location yarn store opening (I think they should have not been next door to the American TaeKwonDo Association dohjangg, but at the same time, it really tickles me to hear them with the music, doing their moves...oh I MISS it!) and I was witness to a little stash-along CHEATERY! I shall name no names (and I'll even resist the urge to link, though my Lortab'd-up friend, Pam, was thinking it was a most clever idea to do so), but let's just say some people have a hard time resisting the siren call of 10% off yarn. I had the same problem and now Pam and I will both be making Jayne Hats out of Lamb's Pride Bulky. It'll be fun to teach her on a Jayne Hat, especially since half the charm of that Firefly hat is the fact that it's not professional-looking (can you see the ends all flying around at the bottom of the ear flaps?) so there's room for learning and still making it look "authentic".

I also got some Lorna's Laces, my new sock crack. I've finished one Shigure Betta sock and I have a hard time not shoving it on all the time. Heh, it's good stuff.

Anyways, this coming Tuesday, I'm headin' to the temple with the YSA troupe, so I'll see you SnB gals on the Tuesday after. See, I'm alternating between YSA and SnB since I really would like to not be such a stranger at church, especially since the people at the church are really a bunch of cool cats (not like those prickly load of snobs who all need to see a proctologist badly to get those sticks removed in Kansas). I mean, they really like that I knit in church (yeah, I'm such a little heathen dog, I know) and when I don't bring a project, it's like I showed up without wearing my head. They kind of look confused at me.

Also there's a guy in church who looks like Brad Pitt but with bleached ends of hair (which is easily forgiven). I mean, hi, BRAD PITT CLONE! I can't stay away! ;) I wonder if he likes older women. Hmm.

The first 2006/200Sox FO: Pomatomus

|
Yarn: Regia 4 Fadig Strato Color
Needles: Boye Double Pointed Needles #2
Pattern: Pomatomus
Estimated time 40 hours
Additional info These were cast on as soon as the winter Knitty was released. A friend of mine was interested in a pair so I made them for her.

B is for...

Bad Blogger! Look at those eyes, there is no remorse for the lengthy absence. There is no repentence for her lack of blogging. Her smile sparkles, she knows that she has done wrong and she DOES NOT CARE! For shame, she will have to be severely flogged with some baby alpaca. Mmm, baby alpaca...er...oh, hey, there goes the tea kettle!

B is also for Betta socks. My dear betta fish of 2 and a half years passed away while I was gone on vacation. He was always a social guy, loved to greet me, but then he started getting too old to even support himself. I wasn't there to see him die and for that I'm grateful because now I remember him better as he once was, hale and whole, flitting through the water, always happy to see me, it seemed. And in his memory, I'm turning a pair of Lorna's Laces into a feather and fan type sock that I've named the Betta socks. The colors really do resemble his coloring, at least on the fins and tail. Thanks for being a friend and fish of extraordinary spirit and character, I won't forget you, Shigure.

Bonus! It looks like I got tagged (I never was good at that game, I liked Red Rover better, hurtling through fragile chains of small children is always good fun) by Jessimuhka. *doffs a cap*

Select 5 people to tag: Hmm, well, I'd really like to get to know all of you who read this, so if you want to answer, please do! :)

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was finishing up high school with some really nasty senior-itis. I was getting college letters from all over though I wanted to just stay in town so I ended up going to KU.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Feeling a great burning hatred for the tutor school that was NOT helping me get through Excelsior U to get my nursing degree. Grr!

What were you doing one hour ago?
Praying that the ceiling would not collapse on my head as I showered because those kids upstairs run with the force of three horses stomping Very Hard.

List five creative things you want to achieve this year:
I want to finish the rewrite of my story, a little fantasy I've had in my head since Junior High. I want to save up to make another sweater (yeah, I can't always spend lots of money on yarn, sadly). I want to get halfway through the fanart100 list, drawing all sorts of fan art for my story. I want to make myself six pairs of socks. I want to sing in choir every Sunday since I love to sing and I'm told I'm not half bad.

List five snacks you enjoy:
Hershey's Strawberry'n'Creme kisses (also the Cherry-centered ones they had out for Christmas and the vanilla'n'chocolate ones that I have merrily dubbed the Gryffindor kisses because of the red and gold wrapping), Fuji apples, marzipan, mozarella sticks (not the fried sort, the ones you can peel apart and eat, mmm), and boxed-mix brownies.

List five things you would do if money were no object:
I would pay back my parents for all the wonderful things they've gotten me or at least guarantee that if they ever need the money, I won't hesitate to give them what I've got. I would start up a series of apartment complexes for the homeless attempting to recover from homelessness and it would have a built in kitchen with staff and large storage area of professional clothes so that they can get started on a real career. I would start up a research center for disease research but concentrating on the diseases that are overlooked because they aren't made popular by Hollywood or overlooked because they're specific to women and honestly, aren't researched because of that (this is one instance where I really resent the male population, most diseases are treated as if there is no distinction between the workings of the male body and the female body when obviously there's a whole LOT of distinction). Hmm, that's three...okay, selfish time! I'd move to a modest home with a private airport in my backyard with helicopter pad so that I could visit all my friends any time I wanted. And I can't decide if I'd rather knit all day or read all day so I'll just leave it open. Heh.

List five bad habits:
Blow things off in favor of things I'd prefer to do. Be persistently late for things. Rationalize bad behavior, my own and others (though in the 'others' case, I tend to call it Forgiving instead of Rationalizing, but only up to a certain extent). Not brush my teeth at night because I'm too tired (ew). Irritate people on purpose.

List five things you like doing:
Knit, of course. And play with my friends (last night I had bunches of gals over and we played a fighting video game and then a card game after and it was awesome!). I like draw, too. And read blogs of knitters and nurses, very interesting. And I like to write stories, my own and ones with my closest friend, Briana. Always fun.

List five favorite gadgets:
My Olympus m:robe, which is like an iPod only better, mwahaha. Hermes, my new laptop that my mom gave to me. My ball winder, whee! And the swift, it's fun to have it out with company over, they always kind of poke and play with it until I explain what it does. And my new camera that takes movies with sound, yay!

Name one thing you like about yourself:
There's no power in the 'verse that can make me stop being cheerful (for long).

And Daisy ses:

"Zzzzzz...mmm, rabbit."

A

A is for Art, which I have always enjoyed, in all shapes, forms, media and method. I have the Demented Dragon Teapot who would have looked so much better before I glazed it and I have no picture of it. But currently I do have pictures of my other Arts that I've done.

Photography:


Drawing:


Digital Painting:


A is also for:


Alton Brown! My mom gave me all this for Christmas. I'm surprised she didn't have to take a second mortgage, but good gravy that's a whole lot of Alton Love. I love Alton Brown for the sake that cooking is not just a recipe to him. It's a road map to a destination. He has a need to know how and why things work that I adore!