Yarnival

This week has kicked my ass. In a totally different way than last week. Last week was all about the physical – moving stuff. Exhaustion. Somebody else’s problems.

This week has been all about me. Alone. Not eating right. Being hot. Not getting enough done. Feeling unmotivated in every area of my life. Except for the knitting. The knitting was actually really great this week. Which I guess is a good thing and I can’t write off the whole week except I’m not making any money knitting and sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not working hard enough or taking care of my family enough or taking care of myself enough and then, well, the knitting can almost feel a little bad. ALMOST. Not really, but almost.

I haven’t seen G in like two weeks. The week when I wasn’t here, of course, and then this week because he worked late every night. Really late. The project is finished – YAY! – and this weekend will hopefully have lots of togetherness. Our anniversary is on Sunday and G’s birthday is Monday so there will be celebrating. Of course, G’s birthday is another reason to feel bad. How am I going to top this? I have nothing for G’s birthday. Think. Think. THINK! Maybe I’ll make him dinner. I haven’t done that in a LONG while. And bake him a cake. A chocolate layer cake. His favorite. I haven’t done that in a while either.

And then there’s the heat. I hate summer, that’s not anything new, but this oppressive, dangerous heat plays into my agoraphobic fantasies. I’m not agoraphobic, but sometimes I worry that I will be and staying inside for three days straight only intensifies those fantasies. You know? Why don’t I go outside? Because it’s hot, or because I’ll have a panic attack? Honestly, you really don’t want to know what goes on inside my head. It’s scary stuff. I did go outside during the day yesterday and I couldn’t believe how hot it was – only to come home to find out that yesterday was something of a relief compared to the day before. Almost made me a little sad that I hadn’t ventured out the day before. Almost. We’re all about the almost today.

Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on the negative. I have a shrink appointment in a few hours and I’ll be negative enough for ten people today, so why not cheer things up a bit? Yes? My knee highs have progressed very, very nicely. I finished one sock to the heel flap and started the second sock. Want to see a picture? Sure! Why not?

The socks are going to be very different, but I’m quite okay with that. And Teyani and I have come up with a fix for the toes and the heels and I’m VERY excited about that. Let’s just say it may be the first time I knit with my own handspun. Now that’s a MAGIC sock!! I’m looking forward to knitting up the second leg – I think it will go really fast. I work really well when there’s a formula. You know – decrease here, increase there. Do this number of rows. I think that’s how I ripped through all those jaywalkers so fast. I had the formula down pat so I knew just what I was doing – how much longer I had to go, etc. It works really well for me when I know where I’m going. HAHAHAHA! If only life could be that simple!

I may also cast on for my top down v-neck Calmer sweater. Might. We’ll see. But I’m feeling better about knitty math FOR THE MOMENT – so I shouldn’t let it slip by without taking advantage of it. I’ve got the crochet provisional cast on fresh in my mind as well. You’ve got to use the skills or lose them.

I’ve been asked a lot lately about the Chance log cabin and if I’ve forsaken it. ABSOLUTELY NOT! It’s just gotten pretty big and it’s been hot and I’ve found I sweat when I knit – even with the AC blowing directly on me. I think it has to do with sitting in one position for extended periods of time. Anyway, the blanket is pretty big now and it takes a long time to get through a section and it’s resting beautifully on the couch and I will go back to it. I love it too much not to and I want the experiment to come to its natural conclusion, but just not this week. Soon. In the meantime, go check out Mustaa Villaa’s GORGEOUS log cabin. Smokey pointed it out to me in the comments and I have to say I almost wish she hadn’t. It’s so blindingly beautiful I am a little envious. It’s very inspiring – so much so that maybe I’ll sew up the green squares this weekend. Hmmmm.

Okay! On to the title of today’s entry. YARNIVAL!!!!

Eve, of Needle Exchange, contacted me before I left for my sister’s about her new venture – Yarnival. It’s this thing called a Blog Carnival and as far as I can tell, it’s kind of like an online compilation of very cool blog entries. Of course, Eve’s blog carnival will center around knitting and fiber pursuits and it’s a new way for us to read and get to know different blogs. I, for one, seem to be stuck in my same bloglines rut. Not that I don’t have excellent blogs listed on my bloglines, but there are tons of new blogs out there and I’ve been too lazy to seek them out. YARNIVAL will help us all! Anyone, regardless of the length of time they’ve been blogging or the popularity of their blog, can submit a post to Yarnival. The editor for that edition will choose which ones to include and it will be posted on a certain day of the month. You can read all about it here. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO SUBMIT for this month’s Yarnival – so RUN OVER and do it. I’ve already submitted a post. You can too!

Have a great weekend!
L, C