Achoo (Day 238 KEDfaY)

Well, I took Buddy to the vet today. The good news is that he's gained weight since we got him and since he is a big cat, just a huge framed cat, and he was underweight when we got him, that was really good news.

The bad news is he has allergies, which since this could've been a lot worse, I'll take it.

The fun part now is to try to figure out what he's allergic to. Could be his food, could be the pollen in the air (which there is so much of that it is caking everything outside) or it could be fleas. Since we haven't seen any fleas on him or Pebble or in our apartment, we're thinking it's a food allergy or the pollen.

I am very glad that I could help him and I'm even happier that the vet could help him. She gave him two shots, a steroid for the allergies and an antibiotic from the secondary infection from him over-grooming himself. He was so well behaved. But now the fun begins, trying to figure out what is causing all of his bald spots.

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As for knitting, I officially have started the second half of a very late Christmas present. I hope to get it done next month and turn it in for detention for HPKCHC and then off to the mail.

Helpless (Day 237 KEDfaY)

I felt so great today actually accomplishing things. I got so much laundry done and the kitchen cleaned and swept all of the hard floors and got rid of some old clothes.

And then at the end of the day I feel like a crappy person because there is something wrong with my kitty. He has weird bald spots that he keeps licking to the point of them oozing. I'm hoping to take him to the vet tomorrow but I just feel like crap because he's uncomfortable and I can't do anything to fix it.

He does seem to be enjoying pushing things off of my desk though.

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Knitting - Finished the mystery washcloth. It was actually really fun and I think I'm going to do it again next month.

Finally! (Day 236 KEDfaY)

At least something was finally finished.

Right now though, I don't feel the greatest. Think I'm gonna go wash my face and teeth and head to bed.

UPS (Day 235 KEDfaY)

I ordered a new hair straightener last week.

I don't mean to brag, but I am getting a lot of money back for my tax return. At least a lot in proportion to how much I made last year. The majority of it is going towards my student loans (whoo...) but I decided I was going to buy one nice thing for myself. I wanted a new straightener. I got one for Christmas but it just doesn't get hot enough to tame the wild frizz that is my hair on any given day where the humidity is above 10%. So I ordered a new one.

It was supposed to arrive today.

It didn't.

I saw the UPS truck sitting outside my window but instead of getting out and delivering my package, the truck just drove off. Now this was particularly upsetting since I know for a fact that the regular UPS guy knows where our apartment is. We order a lot of things from Amazon and we get probably at least a package a week and yet the UPS truck drove off into the noonday sun with my package still on it.

After getting in touch with UPS and complaining they said that they fixed the problem and that I'd get it tomorrow. Which is great but I still wanted it today.

I know, my life is terrible sometimes.

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In knitting news, I'm almost done with my shawl, which is great and means that I *should* finish it tomorrow in time to get points for HPKCHC. That is very exciting for me.

Damper (Day 234 KEDfaY)

I woke up this morning with yesterday's coffee in my keyboard. My really nice, not so cheap keyboard. The day didn't get much better and continued on the trajectory of "crap." Nothing really terrible happened, everything was just kinda buh.

I'm trying to get this shawl done. If I get it done by Wednesday then I can get some points for HPKCHC.

Today has just put a damper on things, you know?

I don't want to talk about it (Day 233 KEDfaY)

I don't want to talk about it....

Knitting: Mystery washcloth.

DAMMIT (Day 232 KEDfaY)

Guess who thought the Olympics ended on the 28th! Guess who still has that much yarn to use by 3PM tomorrow! GUESS WHO IS REALLY FAR BEHIND. 

*sigh*

Change of plans (Day 231 KEDfaY)

I've completely changed my game plan. The vest is sitting in timeout until the end of the month so that I can get my Ravelry-Games knitting done. I'll also be working on the mystery washcloth that I've been working on and my square-a-day blanket. Square-a-day blanket is coming along nicely and I'm very happy with it. Because I'm joining as I go though, I just realized that come July, when it's a million degrees here, it's gonna be a bitch to work on....

BUT UNTIL THEN, I'll enjoy it. I really am enjoying working on it.

Fail (Day 230 KEDfaY)

I finally finished the angels and I have the next two motifs figured out but I am definitely not going to get to 50% by the end of the month. So I'm going to work on other things I need to get done like my Olympics knitting.

*SIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*

*Sigh* (Day 229 KEDfaY)

Yeah, I've decided I can't make my 50% deadline. I'm sad. If I did nothing but knit on this project and minimized how much sleep I got, then I could probably get it done but I like sleep and I have other things to do so it probably won't happen. Maybe I'll get a good dose of insomnia or something.

In the mean time, I'll just work on this dumb stupid aggravating vest. Mrrr.

Don't blink (Day 228 KEDfaY)

Well, I actually worked on this today which is more than I did yesterday. My hope is that tomorrow I'll finish the angels. They're turning out really well, they're just taking a lot of time. I haven't decided what is next though so I have that to look forward to and try to figure out. I don't think I'm going to make my 50% deadline which sucks but I can still try. Maybe some missing knitting mojo will come back and I'll whip this bad boy out! Hahaha one can dream, right?

Talkin' about us (Day 227 KEDfaY)

My new plant. His name is Henri.

So you know how I said that I got another writing gig? Well, my first article was officially published at Fiterazzi, an online magazine that is trying to positively change the way we think about ourselves and what "healthy" means. Pretty great mission statement, no? My first series of articles will be all about body image which is going to be frustrating and fun and difficult and hopefully enlightening for some. Should be great, right?

In knitting news, I knit about 30 stitches on my vest today. I'm getting closer to my 50% deadline and I'm NO WHERE near 50%. I should be freaking out more but that would require me to want to work on this vest. I'm excited about the finished product but I'm sick of working on it right now. It's seriously sucking out all of my knitting mojo and not making me want to knit on anything even though I have a bunch of stuff to work on. I really just need to buckle down and knit on it but UUUUGGGHHHHH I DON'T WANNA!

Snail's pace (Day 226 KEDfaY)

Each row is taking me about 20 minutes. I know I should work on it more since I'm supposed to have half of it done in about two weeks but I just can't get motivated. I'm sure you know how that goes.

Always double check (Day 225 KEDfaY)

Always remember to double check what size hook or needle you're using when going long periods between working on a project. Just had to rip out about 80 squares on my blanket here because I used the wrong hook. I am a genius.

Knitting today was the mystery washcloth. Nothing too exciting. 

Un chapeau (Day 224 KEDfaY)

Because I can (Day 223 KEDfaY)

Have I mentioned this blanket? I don't feel like I have.

So I started crocheting a square a day for a future blanket. I did this for multiple reasons, because I like long term projects, because I like blankets, because I feel like it. I have fallen in love with the blanket after I found a thread of lovely French women talking about making a square-a-day blanket. I pieced what little I could together and decided to join in the fun. 44 days in a row and I'm still in love with it!

On the knitting front, I have officially not knit on anything that I need to and only worked on my hat that I'm trying to finish. The finishing is proving to be more difficult than I had hoped. 

Stress (Day 222 KEDfaY)

Today was a stressful day filled with me yelling and then crying and then wanting to puke all over my student loans.

I did knit today. I'm working on a hat because, dammit, I felt like it. I'm making the pattern up as I go along so we'll see how it turns out. I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow and post pictures then.

I just wanted to get a post up tonight before I went to bed. So here you go!

The one of the questionable sausage (Day 221 KEDfaY)

As I was making lunch today, I discovered something horrifying.

In an attempt to be healthier and more conscious about what I put into my body, during our latest shopping trip, I picked up some turkey breakfast sausage. Usually I buy the pork kind that’s squeezed into a plastic tube with a horrific “bumpkin” stereotype or a pig that is all too happy to be on a sausage label. This one instead, with the promises of a healthier option, had a picture of a smiling lady who was obviously all too happy to be eating her turkey breakfast sausage.

Now when I cook breakfast sausage, it is generally going into soup because it is fantastic in potato soup. Sometimes I’ll cook some up and throw some sesame green beans on it and pile it all over some rice, which makes for a filling dinner for broke college students.  Today’s lunch, the sausage was destined for some delicious potato soup.

I started the process as I normally do: put the water on to boil, put the skillet on to heat up, start cutting up the frozen log of breakfast sausage to cook and the cut up some potatoes. I did everything like I normally do, including cutting the frozen meat in half. I don’t need a whole tube of sausage for a few bowls of soup. What am I? An animal?

It wasn’t until I started cooking the sausage that I noticed something off.

Really off.

Like, green off.

It was green. Literally green. I’m used to some unnatural pallor when dealing with processed meat products but this was to the point of looking unhealthy. There was no odd smell though and since I’d never cooked turkey sausage, I just presumed that it was supposed to be that color.

I continued to try to brown the sausage as I prepared other bits of my soup. I then moved the sausage to a plate so I could try to use what very, very little fat was left to sauté my onions. I ended up just adding a bunch of olive oil.

As I was transferring my unbrownable sausage to the plate, two pieces fell onto the floor. I thought that this was the perfect time to test the healthiness of this sausage. I have two cats, both of which enjoy eating small bits of meat when we give them some.

Pebble turned her nose up at the piece that I had put on the floor in front of her. This wasn’t a surprise though; she’s a pretty picky puss so I wasn’t to shocked when she decided not to try the turkey sausage.

William nommed his piece of turkey sausage before I could leave the room. This also does not surprise me. He was abandoned and found by a woman in my knitting group who runs a cat rescue. We took him in after saying for months that we wanted a second cat. When William was found, he was eating trash so him eating a questionable bit of sausage also was not surprising.

And then I tried some. I figured the cat did so I should probably try it too since it was going to go into my soup soon.

I've never eaten rotten hair before, the pile of hair and conditioner that sits in your drain for weeks, but I think I now know what it tastes like. 

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Knitting today: The vest. Not a noticeable amount though. 

Inch by inch (Day 220 KEDfaY)

I feel like every row is taking longer and longer and the rows right now are simple and don't require a whole lot of attention and yet they are still taking eons.

I'm gonna talk more about writing now so if you're not interested you can tune out.

I've been trying to work on an essay a day, whether that's starting a new one or working on an old one or trying to find a someone to publish one of my completed ones. I'm finding it more difficult to find someone to publish my essays than it is to write them. In other news, if you know someone who is accepting creative-non fiction essays, please let me know!

Today I started an essay that's full of emotion and I'm forcing myself to work on it. I'm terrible about writing about bad things because I don't like to be sad and, if given the choice, I'd much rather crack a joke than attempt to write about my shitty childhood. But today I started one and it's not easy to write about and because of this, I'm not happy with how it's going so far. Sometimes you have to pick at those scabs though.

Step by step (Day 219 KEDfaY)

Nostalgia (Day 218 KEDfaY)

You ever miss something that you never experienced? It's a weird concept but yet I seem to experience it more often than not. Maybe not miss it but yearn for it? I don't know how else to explain it but that's what I've been experiencing today. It's an idea that I'm mulling over for an essay. Part two of another one possibly. 

Aside from that, I've knit today too. Mostly spent the day designing and doing math and trying to figure out the next few motifs and I'm happy to say that I have them designed so that's exciting. For now though 

Re-do (Day 217 KEDfaY)

So I knit this shawl a few years ago. About 4 years ago or so, to be precise. I knit it because I wanted a shawl and I instantly fell in love with it. It was thick and big. It was like a blanket that was socially acceptable to wear while out in public.

But then I realized I made some mistakes. These mistakes bothered me so much that I stopped wearing it because I was afraid that other knitters would see the mistakes and call me out on it. I worry about a lot of useless things.

The Olympics came around again this year and as I have the past two Olympics, I am competing in Ravelry's Olympic inspired games. I needed a project. And fast. I had no idea what to do. And then laying on the floor next to my bed was my shawl.

I decided to reknit my shawl and fix those mistakes.

So today I ripped it and started reknitting it, making sure not to make those mistakes again. So far, I'm happy with it.

But I do still need to work on my vest. Maybe later when I don't feel like purling huge long rows.

Dalek invasion (Day 216 KEDfaY)

LOOK! I did it! I got the first motif of my vest done! WAHOO!

Now I just need to design the next few bits. You know, easy stuff.

In the mean time, it is that time where everyone around the world gathers to watch the Olympics. Tonight, my brother and I watched men's figure skating while talking on the phone. I also was spinning some fiber for my aunt which matched the event and totally wasn't planned that way.

For the Ravel-games, I think I've finally decided what I'm going to do, which is exciting. I have a shawl that I love and it's wonderful but there are some obvious mistakes and I want to reknit it and fix those mistakes. I knit it when I couldn't read my knitting very well and I didn't realize I had made those errors until I was mostly done. But now that I'm older and wiser, I think reknitting it and fixing those boo-boos will be fun. And because I'm frogging the whole damn thing, I'll also get a Bob medal for frogging it! WHOO! Super exciting!

Cat substitute (Day 215 KEDfaY)

I don't have a picture of my knitting today. I did knit. I actually knit on my vest some more and I'm about 2 rows from finishing the first motif WHICH IS VERY EXCITING! I hope to finish it tomorrow and then start designing the rest of it or at least the next motif. I'm excited. 

But right now I have some stuff I need to get done, mainly going to sleep because mmm sleep.

Refreshing change of pace (Day 214 KEDfaY)

So, as you may know, about 7 months ago, my Boyfriend and I moved from Indiana to Florida. I've commented a lot about how this change has affected me but the biggest thing, that I deal with daily, is the water.

Now this might seem silly but hear me out.

I have sensitive skin. Like, the dumbest, driest, most sensitive skin the world. I know this and it sucks but I've gotten used to it.

It has gotten worse since I've moved to Florida. Why? The water. Now, it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out it was the water that was making my skin feel like it was peeling off of me in chunks, something that it only did sometimes. (You know that scene from the Breakfast Club when Ally Sheedy is brushing her dandruff onto the desk? Imagine that but with skin from my face. Seriously.)

After taking a bath one night and wondering why the water smelled like chlorine, it dawned on me. The water. The water was what was making my skin worse than normal. No amount of lotion or water I drank or oil I put on my skin was helping because, duh, the water was ruining it. I imagine swimmers have gone through similar things.

I put together a rigorous and annoying showering routine that involved petroleum jelly and filtered water, the rash on my face finally cleared up, for the most part. I still look like a little kid who has drank nothing but red Kool Aid all day, but the gross blisters on my face have gone.

I was getting fed up. So fed up that I requested we get a filter for our shower. I didn't know if they existed or not but I needed something because, while the rash on my face was gone, the rash was starting to pop up all over my body. All. Over. I was only showering every three days because I couldn't handle showering every day. The pain and discomfort that I dealt with afterwards just wasn't worth it.

And then we got our new shower filter.

Now, I've only taken a shower once since we got it but I'm already looking into nominating it for a Nobel Prize of some sort. It's that good. For the first time since moving to Florida, I haven't felt like I wanted to claw my skin off. It doesn't feel tight or itchy or dry. It feels like skin should after a shower.

I think I'm in love with my shower filter.

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In knitting news, I've started a mystery washcloth because they're fun and it's a way to get me to knit every day. I'm doing this one if you're curious or want to join in the fun!

I haven't worked on my vest at all today because UGH. Everything is going fine, it's just taking forever and that is discouraging me.

I have done some spinning tonight. More fiber for my aunt. I'm really enjoying this batch of roving. It's a lot more fun than the boring brown.

Slow and Steady (Day 213 KEDfaY)

I know that this project is going to take a long time. I worked on it for quite a while today and I still only got about 5 rows done. SO THAT'S awesome.

But right now, I have a headache.

Headway (Day 212 KEDfaY)

Good day (Day 211 KEDfaY)