Second! (Day 268 KEDfaY)

Number two (Day 266 KEDfaY)

I knit to make me less crazy (Day 264 KEDfaY)

This article has been running around the internet for the past day or so. You might've seen it if you are interested in knitting or your family knows that you are. It seems when anything knitting related happens in the media, I'm sent links to it from everyone I know who knows I knit. Like the penguin sweater thing. Man, if I had a dollar for every time I was sent that, I'd have so many dollars. Okay, not a whole lot, but maybe like $5 which is still awesome.

The article linked above talks about how knitting is good for you, essentially. It relaxes you, it acts like meditation and it could have lasting effects that could prevent degenerative brain issues.

I was often known as "the girl who knits" in my classes in college. I knit in a lot of my classes. None of my professors ever cared and I always asked before I did. I found that professors would rather have me knit instead of dicking around on Facebook or sleeping like so many of my peers did. I paid attention better and I retained lecture information better. I don't know why, it just seemed that days I knit in class, I would remember better when it came to exam time.

I was asked by someone to teach them to knit and I said yes. I'm willing to teach anyone who is willing to learn because I think it's such a useful hobby. She asked me why I knit and I explained that knitting occupies my hands, it occupies that part of my brain that, when left to its own devices, will go down an anxiety spiral and causes all sorts of problems. If I'm knitting while doing something else, like sitting in a lecture or watching TV, I'm also knitting because that way I won't have the asshole part of my brain trying to send me into an inexplicable crying fit about that random episode of Cougar Town. You might laugh but it's happened before. I couldn't watch Futurama for years because of a situation like this happening.

I still can't watch Rocko's Modern Life.

Some people laugh when I say I knit to make me less crazy but it's true.

I knit because I need to. Knitting calms me and helps me focus on the important things instead of the tiny nigglings that can very quickly turn into a full blown panic attack. As someone who has had panic attacks since I was seven and watching a normal episode of Rocko's Modern Life, I try to have as few as possible.

I knit because I have to.

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So in knitting today, I worked more on my sock. I'm really close to finishing the big part of it. I'm doing another afterthought heel so I'll still have to do that but it isn't that big of a deal. I enjoy them and they go quickly and I've found that they just fit the best. For me at least.

True Detective (Day 263 KEDfaY)

True Detective.

It's a show that has taken the internet by storm. I didn't watch it while it was airing because I decided to be difficult. I knew it was a show that I was going to watch eventually though so I stayed away from spoilers as much as possible. A friend of mine just started watching True Detective and accidentally watched the last episode first, which I would think kinda ruins the whole experience but he says he's still hooked on it.

I watch a lot of TV shows, something that if you have read my blog at all, probably already know. I was told by everyone I know that I need to watch True Detective and that it was new and different and exciting. So I did.

Because I watch a lot of TV, I think about TV a lot. I think about plots and characters and scenarios and how some are played out in every sitcom in every iteration imaginable or how some characters are just like others. Very rarely is there something new and exciting, especially in the world of sitcoms and police dramas, two types of shows that I am weirdly attracted to.

I was hesitant to watch True Detective. Something about a crime drama starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, who might have the most difficult name to spell ever and why aren't more people complaining about it, really put me off. "I'm sure they're great actors," I thought, "But...really?"

And then I watched the first episode. Now I mentioned that I think about TV a lot. It's what I do. I dissect TV. Generally though, I don't stay on one show for too long. I think about it fleetingly as I'm changing loads of laundry or cleaning litter boxes. TV sits on the back of my mind when I have nothing else to ponder, so I'll ponder the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother and debate it with myself. But True Detective was different.

The characters are so complex and unique that I actually woke up in the middle of the night two nights after finishing the series because I was thinking about the characters so much. And the plot. And the uniqueness of it all. To say I was impressed with Harrelson and McConaughey's performances would be putting it mildly. I once accidentally watched the last 20 minutes or so of Failure to Launch or some other movie with a similar plot starring the previously typecast actor. I think I was wasting time until something more exciting came on the same channel. All I know is that I was largely unimpressed with the simple role and the simple actor. I now will watch anything that Mr. McConaughey wants to do. He is now in the category of, "Will watch this actor read the phonebook."

I tried to find news about the show without being spoiled before I had finished the series. I don't know why, I think to find out if there was going to be a second season or not. One of the many articles that popped up when I googled the show was about True Detective and feminism. It's an article that I didn't read and I'm sure it made a few good points but I wanted to remain unspoiled by outside opinions about the complexity of the characters and just wanted to experience the show by myself. I knew nothing really, outside of the starring actors and the mysterious Yellow King that kept popping up on Twitter. So I stayed spoiler free. (I'm sure the whole feminism angle for the show is one that can and probably should be explored but I think for the most part it is a show about the two main characters and their issues, not necessarily about the women in their lives. I'm sure someone is out there yelling at me about how wrong I am but this post isn't about that, it's about how much I enjoyed the show.)

My friend Austin keeps recommending shows for me to watch. The Americans, The Wire, Spartacus, Hannibal, etc. Most of the time, I'll watch an episode or two and be done with it. Not because it's a bad show but because the shows are so intense that I can't handle it. I'm the type of person who gets embarrassed for characters (the episode of The Office where Michael Scott has to tell the high schoolers that he doesn't have scholarships for them is one of the most painful episodes in history so declared by me) so watching True Detective was not something I was looking forward to. I was told it was an amazing show but the possible emotional impact is what scared me off.

And while there were definitely some intense moments in True Detective, especially in the season finale where I actually yelled out loud, it never felt intrusively intense like some shows can feel. I've only seen two seasons of Dexter and one episode of The Americans because they get so intense with their suspense that I start noticing that I'm holding my breath for fictional characters. True Detective didn't feel that way.

True Detective definitely has some issues like the sometimes clunky dialogue that I think was trying to be purposefully repetitive but just felt forced, and of course the aforementioned feminist angle that I'm still not going to discuss, but overall it has done something that I don't think any TV show has ever done for me. It has made me lay awake in the middle of the night contemplating the reality of the show, the characters, the plot. I've thought about numerous aspects of this show and I know I haven't even come close to being able to creating an accurate map of it.

I recommend True Detective. It's intense without being suffocating, it's unique and doesn't feel like a rehashed Law and Order episode like many other crime dramas can feel. And most of all, for me, the characters are interesting. They're flawed beyond belief but they still have a realism to them.

I watched the latest season of American Horror Story. The plot and concept had interested me so I decided to try it without watching any of the other seasons. The idea of witchcraft was appealing to my inner goth 14 year old self. After the season finale aired and I spent my afternoon watching it, I was disappointed. I wasn't shocked. I wasn't ever scared. It didn't appeal to me and it didn't seem that creative. (The fact that it used Stevie Nicks as the White Witch, which was an amazing cameo, was very unoriginal.) The lore and legend that went into True Detective is what I wanted from American Horror Story. It accomplished the feeling of suspense, of mystique and horror that American Horror Story failed to even come close to.

If you have 8 hours to spare, I suggest that you spend it watching True Detective. At the end of it, you at least won't think that you've wasted your time.

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And now to make this even more of a niche post, I'm going to talk about my crafting for the day.

Here, have a cat picture!

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Knitting has been the mystery washcloth as usual and my sock. I just did the row for the afterthought heel so now I'm working on the leg bit. It's going much quicker than I expected. I'm really glad I tried this pattern. I might even be able to make my goal of finishing it by Sunday.

I also got a good bit worked on the baby blanket for the friend of the family. It needs to be in Indiana by April somethingth so I have a little bit of time to work on it before I need to mail it so it'll get there in time for the baby shower. I can't find if I've actually talked about this before, I know I have on Ravelry. There's a friend of the family that is expecting her second child soon and my mom asked me to make her a blanket for her impending baby and I was actually in a good mood when my mom asked so I said I would. There's actually a deadline for it now so I've felt motivated to work on it instead of it just sitting, partially finished, in my pile of crap next to my desk.

Periods, amirite? (Day 262 KEDfaY)

It seems like every month, I lose more and more of my motivation and when my motivation is low to begin with, it isn't helpful in getting anything done.

On the knitting front, I have gotten a good portion of sock numba two done. Depending on how much yarn I use, I might even be able to get a third sock from this yarn, which would make me super happy. For this one though, I am using the ever popular Baudelaire sock pattern from Knitty. It's surprisingly easy. It has been in my queue for years and for the longest time I was intimidated by it, being toe up and everything. But now that I actually know what I'm doing, the intimidation has disappeared. It's much easier than I anticipated and it's even working out relatively well in this yarn. It's even going surprisingly quick now that I've figured out the lace pattern, something that isn't difficult but uses some non-traditional stitches.

I also need to work on the baby blanket to mail it off. It's halfway done now and I've just started watching a new TV series so I figure it should get done soon. I started Veronica Mars because everyone has said that I should watch it. And Everyone was correct about True Detective so maybe they'll be right about Veronica Mars too.

Heel (Day 261 KEDfaY)

Knitting: Afterthought heel for my sock. Started the second one. My goal is to get the second one done by next Sunday. We'll see how that goes.

Priorities (Day 257 KEDfay)

I used to walk everywhere.

I would walk to the store when I needed something. I'd walk to class. I'd walk to see friends. I'd walk just for the fun of it. At one point, I was walking about three miles a day just because I could and because I wanted to.

Then we moved to Florida.

I don't know if it is true outside of Jacksonville, but it seems to me that pedestrians and bicyclists face more danger than in an average city. At least once a week I read a story about how a person walking across an intersection was hit and killed. Or riding their bike. Once there was even a man in a wheelchair who was crossing an intersection who was hit and killed.

I don't walk everywhere any more. I hardly walk at all and when I do, I allow extra time to cross the street and hope and pray that the person who is turning right at a red light doesn't ignore my right of way and think I'm wasting their time.

Today a man was arrested for painting graffiti on stop light utility boxes around the city.

They aren't gang related. They aren't abusive to any group of people. They are simply a tribute to another artist, Keith Haring. They're beautiful works of art and yet unknown amounts of money were spent trying to catch him and will continue to go towards any further prosecuting.

Early Tuesday morning, a bicyclist was hit and killed. The driver fled the scene of the crash. Family members of the bicyclist said that it wasn't the first time he had been hit by a car while riding his bike. Most of the pedestrian accidents that happen in Jacksonville end with the driver of the car fleeing the scene. Families then ask the public for help in trying to find the person who did it. Sometimes they are found. Sometimes they aren't. Sometimes they are found and then nothing happens.

One of the women in my knitting group was apart of the Jewish community here in Jacksonville before she moved to Seattle for a job. She knew a woman who was on her way to the synagog, who was hit and killed by a driver who fled the scene. Her daughter was seriously injured. They were walking in the crosswalk when the handy little crosswalk sign told them to. The man who hit them, who has now been found, won't be facing any criminal charges. This isn't the first time he's hit and killed someone. This isn't the first time he has gotten away with mere traffic violations. In addition to the woman that was hit and killed, the same driver hit and killed a six year old child.

A graffiti artist who did no harm to anyone is arrested but a man who has killed two people is getting off with a couple of traffic citations.

This is just one of the many examples of a city that has it's priorities in the wrong place.

This is one of the many examples of why I will never adopt Jacksonville as my hometown.

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Knitting: Finished the main foot of my first sock. Still need to do the afterthought heel.

Red Tide (Day 256 KEDfaY)

Ugh.

You know.

I used to brag about how my periods weren't that bad and that I didn't understand why there was such a fuss about them. And then I switched to my latest birth control. While the cramps and flow are at a minimum, as they always have been, my mood swings are enough to scare me. Last night, I actually bawled, all out body shaking bawling during Frozen, a movie that many wouldn't think would induce that level of emotion and yet there I was, crying my eyes out.

Any way, I've been knitting. Still working on that sock. I'd show you pictures but it looks pretty much the same as yesterday.

Foot (Day 255 KEDfay)

Sock (Day 254 KEDfaY)

Sock.

All wound up (Day 253 KEDfaY)

Knitting: Sock and mystery washcloth

Matching (Day 252 KEDfay)

Knitting complete with matching injury.

Mischief (Day 248 KEDfaY)

The Boyfriend was getting ready for work this morning as I was laying, half awake, in bed, scrolling through Twitter for any important tweets or funny jokes. The Boyfriend turned around after leaving the bedroom and peeked his head in and said, "I'll just leave your knitting where I found it."

[We've been keeping the cats separate at night during the week because, sometimes, not all of the time, they will decide, usually around 5:30 am, that they hate each other and need to fight over territory, much like West Side Story but with less dance numbers and more screaming. So we keep Buddy, the more relaxed cat, out in the rest of the apartment while Pebble stays in the bedroom with us.]

At some point in the middle of the night, Buddy took not one, but two of the scrap blankets I'm working on, and dragged them into the next room. I don't really know why he did this. It didn't seem like he was trying to hurt them or get payback for us kicking him out of the bed room. I like to think that he did it because he was trying to make a comfy bed even though the two strips that I call blankets that really aren't yet weren't too close to each other. 

Or, and this theory is break-your-heart sad and endearing, he was trying to bring them to me so that I would open the door and pay attention to him. I know. It breaks my heart too. 

But seeing as he is currently sleeping on the bed in the bedroom across the apartment and hasn't wanted to deal with me at all really, in the nonchalant way that cats are, not in the purposefully ignoring me way, I'm assuming he was just being mischievous and rotten. 

No damage was done to either blanket, both of which are crochet and not knitting. The Boyfriend cannot tell the difference though. 

Squares 68 and 69 because teeheehee

On the knitting front, I did the usual two rows for my mystery washcloth, which is tons of fun. I quite enjoy working on it and having no idea what it'll be. I also finished one sock and started fixing the other one. I need to start another washcloth for HPKCHC but that one is just going to be a plain, boring one. 

I also have been spinning. I am working on some yarn for my aunt and it's going well although one of the cats decided the fiber needed to be played with. It was rolled into a nice neat little ball and then in the five seconds I had my back turned, one of the cats had taken that neat little ball and made it a fluffy, disorganized mess. I told the Boyfriend about this fluffy mystery and he tried to pawn it off on Buddy because he's more of a kitten and libel to do things like that butI didn't know which one until I went back to my spinning and caught the culprit right in the act, as I was pulling from the fibery mess. I should've known it was Pebble. She's done this once before, just not when I was actually using the fiber. The fiber is now sitting in a bag and hopefully she'll leave it alone. I hope to have all of the singles done by Wednesday and plying done by this weekend. I hope. 

That's the plan at least.

Ribs (Day 247 KEDfaY)

Working on the ribbing. Hoping to finish this week. Yay!

Out and About (Day 41 KEDfaY)

I got out of the apartment today. I got to talk to people who don't share a living space with me. I got to drink coffee that I didn't make. Today was a good day.

I took a trip to the local knit group with a wonderful person who was generous enough to give me a ride. I don't mind not having a car most of the time except those times when I want to get out of the house and am limited to how far my legs can carry me. A wonderful lady was nice enough to give me a ride to and from the knitting circle where I got to meet many more wonderful knitters! It's awesome to meet new people and it's even better when they share an interest with you such as knitting or crafting. It was nice to talk about yarn and projects and HPKCHC and possible fair entries with people who have similar goals and mindsets. 

Today my knitting was a bit scattered. I knit some on my sock which I need to finish but ugh, I just don't want to. I made another square for a blanket that I haven't decided what to do with yet. I started another hat for a Christmas present for someone. I couldn't really decide what to take to the knitting group so I took the hat and the sock. I did the blanket square earlier today while watching my daily dose of Will and Grace. 

Yesterday was a bad day. I was in a bad mood in general and then someone who was trying to be helpful was just reminding me that I didn't have a job and I couldn't find one which put me in a SUPER shitty mood. Today though was much better. Sometimes it takes just getting out of the house for a few hours to get you out of a bad funk. And today definitely helped. 

I got to meet a great bunch of gals and I am really excited to actually find a knitting group that seems to be just as wacky and crazy and out there as I am! 

SOCKS/Unoriginal title is unoriginal (Day 12 KEDfaY)

You know how yesterday I talked all about not being lazy and working out everyday because, what else did I have to do to occupy my time? 

Yeah, well, I didn't workout today.

I have an excuse though. Last night, as I tried to fall asleep for about two hours, I laid in bed with a sinus headache. It wasn't quite a migraine but it felt like it was threatening to turn into one. I eventually fell asleep and was lucky enough to wake up with said headache. I took meds, drank water, drank coffee and finally started to feel better as my sinuses slowly drained. I still have a lingering headache but since I don't have any decongestants, I just have to deal with it for now. 

So I didn't workout.

Instead I laid in bed and started a toe for the third prototype sock for the Panty Droppers while watching Will and Grace. I finished the second one a couple of days ago and it turned out pretty well I think. There is a minor tweak in the pattern and I have to figure out how to word it but I think that this pattern just needs to be written up and sent to test knitters at this point. (If you are interested in test knitting or tech editing, please email me at leftoverknits (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send you the pattern as soon as it gets typed up! No experience needed, just willingness to deal with my probable mistakes. Please note that I am le supre broek so I can't offer anything besides the pattern and a winning smile and an internet high five and a mention/link in the final pattern.)

I decided to knit this sock in both a solid color and a variegated one for the photos because I think it will actually work well in both. The pink-ish/light red sock was made from some Kool Aid dyed yarn I did years ago. I was hoping for a nice dark red and used numerous packets of black cherry Kool Aid but I was young, naive and just plain dumb and didn't know that cotton wouldn't dye and that yarn is a wool/angora/cotton blend. The wool and angora took the dye well but no matter how many more packets of Kool Aid I added to the sink and how black the water looked, it wouldn't get darker. You live and learn. I like to call this dyelot "Hamburger Helper" because it really does look like raw hamburger, even more so when it was in a gross tangled mess. I put the unwound skein in the dryer. Did I mention I was just plain dumb at this point?  

I also got to the last chart-y bit in my Aeolian shawl last night. That was really exciting! And I remembered to put in another lifeline before I started the next section. This section is the incredibly complicated one so if anything terrible is going to happen (again) it will be there. I might hunker down with some Woodchuck and try to finish it tonight. I have to say that I am really enjoying knitting this lace shawl even though up to this point, I have hated lace. I blame an immature knitter Leigh who attempted too much while knowing too little and having too little patience/not enough booze or ability to buy booze. 

Not Even Socks

I finished my pattern this week. It felt awesome. It is currently being tested by some test knitters and I might be looking for more to test the other sizes. Right now I'm feeling mostly terrified. This is my first pattern and I want it to be perfect even though I know it won't be. I hope I did my math correctly even though history has shown that I can't do math to save my life. 

But I'm trying not to think about that right now. 

I've already started another sock prototype. I like how it's going so far even though you can't really see the pattern in this yarn. I'm also choosing to do a different heel so that the math will hopefully be easier. 

So that's where I'm at right now. Lots of knitting and doodling and scribbling and freaking out about math.

I did make myself some sock blockers. I used this tutorial and some place mats I got from Target. I've needed sock blockers for a while but now that I'm actually taking pictures of my socks and putting them in patterns, I need them to look a bit nicer than what I was doing which was hand washing or throwing them in the regular wash, depending on the yarn, and hoping for the best. So far, the socks look much nicer. Definitely worth the $4 and about 15 minutes it took to make them. I recommend every le broke knitter to make their own blockers to use until they can afford the really nice wood ones. 

Mmm. Wood sock blockers.