1:00 am

I have 3 minutes to get into bed. Why? I don't know...just seems like I should be in bed by 1 am.

Finished other red sock . Went to LYS to medicate self with yarn squooshing. They have the Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes I made the red socks out of...pretty cool to know because I like the red socks and anticipate making more of them in the future. Also, they have the new 100% baby alpaca Blue Sky Alpacas yarn--there's self-medication for you.

Anyway, another day.

Must try dancing. The longer I live here in the (beautiful) Pacific Northwest, the more I understand why so many people go tanning here during the long, rainy, cloudy, wintertime...

And now, it's past my bed time.

Nothing. (beware the non-fun post...)

I have so many things I should get done around the apartment today:

• Clean the messy kitchen (oh, for a dishwasher...),
  
• put a second coat of paint on the blue wall,
  
• go through and put away stuff still in boxes (yes, we still have boxes around...)
  
• organize my room,
• clean the bathroom...

And things I need to do in order to snag a second nanny gig and possibly be able to pay all my bills on time:

• call Heather again,
• call Family A,
• call and tell Them I am indeed available for temps...

As well as things I could do to avoid doing those other things:

• knit other KnittinMitten,
• finish other red sock,
• spin more blue yarn (OH! I haven't posted about my class...),
• post about drop spindle class,
• start another new project or 8,
• finish Christmas knitting (I know...),
• go for a walk,
• read a book,
• watch tv...

Instead I want to do NOTHING. Seriously. Nothing is motivating me, not even reading blogs and seeing cool knitted projects--in fact, that just makes me sadder. Not even the thought of being able to pay my bills. Not even...anything. Been like this for approximately a week now...yuck.

Am currently wondering what (if anything) will snap me out of this funk. Perhaps just doing the things I know need to be done--getting them out of the way and then doing something fun.

Have I mentioned that nothing sounds fun?

On a more positive note: I have been gluten-free for 7 days. Oh, and I will be in Croatia for my birthday this year. That's kinda cool.

Oh good.

Today goes into the books as a Gluten Free Day (we're not counting the one tiny piece of angel hair pasta that I put in my mouth to see if it was done--while cooking it for the peeps at home community--I utterly forgot, that's how non-GF I've been.)
I'm relieved.
One day at a time, right?

Knitting:
I just finished my 9th straight-row repeat on Clapotis. Good "watching the Olympics" knitting, that Clapotis. And dude--Sasha Cohen ROCKED the ice tonight! You go girl.

Oops, I did it again...

...started and finished a fingerless mitt this time. My own pattern, because I am currently in love with the squooshiness of seed stitch and I really like a single cable. So here it is:



I'm calling them my Knittin' Mittens. :o) Done with Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande, color 2569, on Denise 10.5s. I might actually write this pattern up!

Questionable. A post about Gluten.

Despite the name of my blog, my gluten-free-ness is to be questioned if you are with me for more than say...5 minutes...lately. I've been terrible at it. In fact, many may even say that I've given it up. Well, that's not quite true. It's just really really hard, people. My symptoms are fairly innocuous, especially having lived with them for so long that it seems NOT normal to be without them: constant belly ache, irritability, serious brain fog--ok, the brain fog really gets to me. THAT is probably the number one motivational symptom. Terrible, huh? Especially if you know anything about celiac disease (which I have not been diagnosed with, but am highly suspiscious of...) and the havoc it wreaks. My main point? I'm trying to get back on the Wagon de GlutenFree. But having one hell of a hard time. There's a lot of whining and wimpering and general brattiness going on here. Yes, I'm a brat. I want what I want...NOW! And much of the time, what I want is very much not glutenfree. Chris? Anne? Anyone? Help?

Poor pitiful Pearl.
Knitting content will resume momentarily.

OK. Cold.

My heater isn't working. The temperature outside is 29. This is cold for Oregon, and I defy ANYONE to turn off their heat for 3 days and tell me 29 isn't cold.

Oh crap...and I have to work OUTSIDE in this tomorrow. Maybe it's toasty warm here in this apartment...!

Somehow I went and finished a sock. Which means I must have started it before I finished something else. How odd. How unlike me. How did that happen? :o)



I'm finished with Skein #2 on the Multidirectional Scarf. I was wearing it while knitting it last night to keep warm...and I rewound part of the skein to get the colors where I wanted them, so: YARN PORN!

Isn't it pretty? And look: SUNLIGHT!

Well poo.

I missed the great opportunity to shout from the blogpost: "HEY GUYS! THIS IS MY 100th POST!!" This is my 103rd.

I'm cranky.

I feel like dookie.

I don't understand the apparent mystery behind mogul-skiing and knee pain. The commentators (why aren't they just called "commenters"?) keep saying "he's having some knee pain" like it's this great surprise or something. HELLO!! The guy is skiing moguls for a living--engage your brain please. Geez.

See.
Cranky.

Hold on to your hats.

I'm thinking about trying to find my Dearly Beloved Clapotis and work a bit on her. But seriously...I have no idea where she is!!



So while I think about where I could possibly have stashed her for the move, I'm working on Iris Schreier's Multidirectional Triangle Scarf. In Noro. I like Noro Kureyon quite a bit. Colorway 95. It's cool. See?



And there has been a FO here this week. But it's a secret.
And I've started Glorianna again with much better luck.
And I want to swatch for socks with my red Fleece Artist as well.

But I think I should finish the BIL slippers before I start anything else again.
Dang.

All photos...

...some with comments. I should be in bed.

Team Flags for the Exceedingly Long Opening Ceremonies


We call this the "double long-paw" in our house.

Oh Jamal...so beautiful.

Watching TV (paying special attention to Team Japan),
drinking a Mike's AND knitting LACE...
you see why Casey is my Knitting Yoda??

Proof that MY niece is the Cutest in All the Known Universe.
(look at those gloves!)

Representatives from the following countries...

...will be in my apartment tomorrow night.



Well, maybe. Sort of. We're attempting to host an Olympic Opening Ceremonies party and as people come in they will be given a flag for the country they will represent. Because the Olympics are much more fun when people are rooting for multiple countries! And besides, painting the flags was fun.



Anyone care to try to name as many of the countries as you can without looking them up??! :o)

Go Team World!

Random.

Did I mention that I frogged the SP7 thingie I was working on? That is was turning out terribly ugly and was absolutely no fun to knit? Well, I have started something new and it will be fabulous! I'm loving knitting it up and I'm in love with the yarn and, and...it will be fabulous.

Anyone ever cook a frozen dinner in the oven? It takes 45 minutes. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, people. That's just crazy.

No, we don't have a microwave. Lisa thought we did. At one point there were seven girls, five microwaves. The odds were good that one of them was either Lisa's or mine. Oh. Wait. One was Lisa's. It got used so much it died. Oh yeah.

Back to Fun SP7 Project.

There's a good chance this blog will be getting a makeover soon. Be ready.

Vesper Sock Yarn

In colors yummy enough to eat!

I'm getting close...

...to my 100th post!

And hey, do most people purl looser than they knit?? 'Cause I purl TIGHTER than I knit.

Hmm.

And for my next entry...

...I will tell you that I received my lovely Neapolitan Vesper Sock Yarn today! It's so yummy. Hmm...when will I be able to use this yarn...perhaps I will venture into Jaywalkerland?? Pictures tomorrow when (if?) the sun is out. It's too purty too photograph in other-than-natural light. :o)

I ripped out a SP7 project I was doing. It wasn't working for me. It was looking skanky and I will not send a skanky project off to anyone. Didn't like the pattern. Rats. So. Now what...?

Oh, and I've joined Lolly's Project Spectrum in an attempt to get myself to knit different colors. Casey made me do it.

Here's a photo of my new and lovely living room, because a blog really is all about the pictures. Please notice the lovely flowers from Trader Joe's (thanks Lynda!) and the yarn that has been displaced to the floor--I found it later underneath Lisa's comfy new chair. I thought I was losing my mind looking for it: "I know I put both skeins on the arm of the futon..." Silly cats--you can see the likely perpetrator (lainrikkoja in Finnish--I looked up the spelling and for some reason it told me the translation in Finnish...is that weird or is it just me??) of the crime under the footrest.

My Secret Pal is Swell!

This is what came in the mail for me:

I suppose I should have known there was catnip in the bag by Jamal's reaction to it!!
What I found when I opened it:

• Green Tea
• 2 kitty dim sum (oh dear!)
• Lemongrass Sage (mmm...) lotion-in-a-bar
• A kitty temp tattoo!
• Dale of Norway Svale in a pretty grey-green...so nice and drapey!
• chopsticks--I'm TERRIBLE at chopsticks! Even after 2 years in Asia...bad Kirsten.
• And another pretty card...similar to some I have. We have similar card-taste, SP!
  

All part of my Chinese New Year/Travelling themed packaged from my stupendous Secret Pal!

This is so fun...I'm glad I'm participating! I'm not saying much about my downline SP7, because I know some people try to figure out who their pal is (ahem...Anne!) and I'm not giving anything away here...no way! I am having fun figuring out things to spoil her with, however...

Here are the cats getting stoned on their new toys. They absolutely have never reacted to anything the way the reacted to these little dim sum. We were laughing out loud and I even took some video of Jamal. Very odd, those furballs.

Good reasons to have a bedroom door.

• To keep rowdy cats out while one is trying to sleep.
• To keep yarn-eating cats out when one is trying to knit.
• To keep curious cats in when the cable/gas man comes to set-up/fix something.
• To separate cats when they are trying to injure one another.
• To keep TV noise/lights out when trying to sleep.
• Just because it's nice to be able to go in and close the door on the world sometimes.
• So one can take pictures of it!

This is The Door from inside my room.
















This is closed, inside room.

BONUS CLOSET DOOR PHOTO!!

Yep.

There was a leak. But the very nice tech-man told me there was nothing to hurt either me or the cats in it. Good to know, but still stinky!

Now I know you are all waiting to see my Door, but now that I have posting capabilities, my camera is out of town. Figures. Tomorrow. Tomorrow you will see the great and fabulous Door That Goes To Kirsten's Room. Be ready.

And look! Over in my ever-increasing list of buttons! Another button just for me (thanks Julia!)--and the other two knitters not in the Knitting Olympics--which was mentioned on NPR's The World. Isn't that hilarious? And the fact that there are more KNITTING Olympians than there are ACTUAL Olympians? I love it. Yarn Harlot--you rock.

OK, my mouse just said it has a low battery. A LOW BATTERY?? Did I know my mouse even had a battery?? What? I guess it's logical...wireless mouse probably has some sort of power source, no? :o) It just surprised me I guess. Hmm. Guess I'll be getting a battery or 20 at the store as well as flowers. Silly.

Yippee!

I have cable and internet and a phone! Life really doesn't get much more exciting. It almost outweighs the sadness that is the Seattle Seahawks loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. (I'm really more of a Mike Holmgren and Family fan than a Seahawks fan, but don't tell anyone, ok?)

My stash has a new home--I bought 3 plastic drawers that stack and live on my closet floor. It all fits! Silly me, I started out buying one...it didn't fit. Lucky for me there was a buy 2 get 1 sale on them and they let me show my reciept to get the deal when I came back for more. Nice. So that's one storage issue dealt with. There are several storage issues here at Chez New Place.

My apartment stinks of natural gas. I will have to call them tomorrow and have that checked out. I'm paranoid that my cats are going to die from it and it's probably no big deal. But dude, it smells so nasty in here.

Oh my word.

Moving is a drag. In case you didn't realize it. But I love my new place. It's absolutely wonderful--even Jake has already ventured forth from the deepest darkest corner behind Lisa's bed during daylight hours already! Must be a swell place...

I still don't have internet (and subsequently, no phone...that's not annoying), so I'm posting from work. And I haven't looked at blogs in...FOUR DAYS!!! Wow. I'm a bit afraid of what my Newsgator window is going to look like once the internet arrives at my computer...which is MONDAY. Monday. Because apparently "between the hours of 12-4" means 5:57 to Comcast. Dude. NOT happy about this. But, I will cope. I am strong. I can handle being separated from my Bloggy Shriends for over a week. I...can...do...it...

Ack.

Finished BIL Windowpane Scarf, but only one end is blocked. Here are some photos for your enjoyment!

And I must post a photo of The Syd. She's very cute.

I can't believe how much I miss blog-watching...does this mean I have an addiction??