It *Does* Work!

I must admit, even I was having a few doubts. My family was *definitely having doubts! But the pattern is *perfect*!


And wow... following proper felting instructions rather than "I'll toss it in with several loads of laundry" makes a *big* difference with how fast it felts. This only took 15 minutes of agitation... with nothing else in the wash than what was being felted. They look great, and I can already tell I'm going to enjoy wearing them. Plus, with how thick the sole is, there should be no problem with them wearing through all the time. :)

I am a convert, and a new, true devotee of Fiber Trends patterns. It was worth every penny!

Senior Moment

Whimsy

Tonight I joined my mom's art club. In order to join, I also had to join the senior's center.

I started a new acrylic painting. I shall call it "Whimsy". Unless I change my mind. It's not done yet, obviously.

I made it through today without a nap. It's definitely time for bed!

*tired*

:( I didn't get to sleep until after 4 am. I foresee many walks to stay awake today...

*sigh* (and a contest alert at the end)

2:49 and I'm wide awake. Around 1 am I tried reading for a bit to see if that would make me sleepy, but it didn't help. I'm torn between getting up and doing the work I'll be too tired to do tomorrow, or trying to make myself sleep in the hopes of not totally messing up my sleep schedule.

This is probably due to the nap I had today. Around 11 am I was really sleepy, so I had a nap. I semi-woke up several times... the first time I noticed I had a sore throat and a stuffed nose. I was still sleepy, so I slept some more. The second time I felt sick-sweaty. Then I woke several times feeling funky... like I had slept too much, but was still tired... and also possibly like I should eat. I didn't manage to wake up from my nap for real until around 3 pm. (Sheesh, that was a long nap!) After dispelling the low-blood-sugar shakiness, I felt fine the rest of the day. But now I'm paying for it.

What would you do in a similar situation? Work? Try to sleep? Something else?

I have some old Abien, but it's way too late now to take it. I think it may be expired too... I got it back in Chapel Hill, and I remember it not doing much the last time I tried it a month or two ago.

I think tomorrow I'll have to go for a walk whenever I feel sleepy, not nap at all, and hopefully I'll manage to re-synch my sleep schedule to something normal.

Tomorrow evening I'm joining my mom's art club. :) (I feel a bit weird, since it requires me to join the senior center too.)

Wednesday evening is knitting night at Chapters. Yay! I haven't been in *ages*. Mom says I can borrow the car. :)

3:00 am now.

So far the only side effects I'm noticing from Effexor is (1) an increased need to nap... not as bad as the Prozac, but it also means that napping during the day messes up sleeping at night (I've been taking it with dinner... but the need to nap is, of course, still during the day), and (2) I don't feel hungry... I go from not hungry and fine, to not hungry and low-blood-sugar-shakes. I've been eating at the usual times, and try to keep something on hand for those "it turns out I should have eaten something more/longer lasting" times. Sadly, I don't seem to be losing any weight even with the loss of appetite. *sigh* Perhaps if I give it more time?

My mood does seem to be pretty stable, so that's nice.

3:14 am... caught up on the few posts that appeared on bloglines since I first started trying to sleep tonight. Here's a contest for those who are interested. I haven't read the details yet.

FOs

Well... finished but for fulling/felting.

A pair of slippers:


Since I plan on felting stuff anyway...

Now, to the ordinary observer, this looks like a potholder. Indeed, it will ultimately be used for a potholder. However, it is also a gauge swatch. (Why make a gauge swatch that is only a gauge swatch, when it can also be a potholder? Especially since the cabin needs some better potholders than the acrylic ones I made before?) Deneen, I haven't forgotten my promise! ;) Once I have post-felting gauge, I'll be writing up a bag pattern.

Felted Clogs

After all that laceweight, I needed something bulky on the needles. At school I have the crochet felted boot slippers. At home, as of last Thursday, I have felted clogs.



One down, one to go. These aren't quite as satisfying as a post-lace project as I had hoped... way too much counting involved to be a mindless project! However, it'll "clean up" some yarn that's been lying around in my room. ;)

Crochet Doily

Crochet Doily

Yesterday I decided to do some cleaning. I looked around my room, trying to decide where to start. (It's kind of overwhelming!) I saw my Sophie bag sitting on the bookshelf, and knew it wasn't being used as a project bag, so decided to put it away. (It actually has an "away", so it was easy.) Inside I found the aborted first start of my doily hat... aborted because the yarn had too many knots, so I had decided to start fresh. I decided to take that aborted start plus the leftovers that were also in the bag and actually make the doily. Can you believe I had *twelve* ends to weave in? Sheesh! But the doily used up nearly all the leftovers, so I'm happy.

It's unblocked in this photo... I need to do some blocking this long weekend!

I think I kind of actually enjoy making doilies when I'm not trying to use crochet thread. Something about crochet thread and I just don't get along.

Walkies

H and I went on walkies last week... here's some photos I took but didn't get around to posting until now. ;)

There's a plane in the engineering building:


H said she heard it took 1000 hours to make, and got 100 hours of flying time. It's supposed to be hung in the atrium.

This plant seems way too exotic to survive a Manitoba winter, yet looks way too shrub-like to be an annual:

Sock Wars

Oooo... another round of Sock Wars is being organized. :) If I were a sock knitter (rather than crocheter), I think I might participate. But I'm not. ;)

This Hurts

And no, I'm not talking about my back, which has been annoying me since yesterday. My sockapalooza package arrived this morning (Sunday!)... sort of.

We were eating breakfast (kind of late, but this *is* Sunday in the long weekend) when the doorbell rang. B got up to answer it, and called that my socks were here! Yay! He signed for the package and brought it to me. It looked like someone had sat on it. Given it's condition and extreme tardiness (postmarked August 1, today is September 2!!!!), I didn't immediately rip it open. I finished breakfast, then went downstairs to take some photos.





*Then* I excitedly ripped the package open.

Socks! Goodies! *Lots* of packing material! Packing material (uninflated plastic bags) out the wazoo... wait a second... I think I only saw three socks fall out of the box.

I look on the bed. Three socks.

I shake the packing material, even though it's transparent. No sock.

I look to the left of the bed. No sock.

I look to the right of the bed. No sock.

All that's left in the box is a card and two pieces of paper.



In case you can't read that, one says "the enclosed item was damaged during its processing" (dated August 14), the other says "the enclosed item was part of a mail article found without contents in our processing stream" (dated August 30).

Here is what survived the 33 day "priority mail" journey:


I'm finding it kind of hard to express my joy at the wonderful package due to the stupidness in the postal system that lost one of my socks. The lovely ball of sock yarn looks a little roughed up too, and there's a hole like someone tried to get into the knitting-themed antenna topper. (I don't know if that hole was there pre- or post-mailing.) I kind of feel like I've been punched in the chest. How can they lose a handknit sock? It's bright pink, for goodness sake! Did they honestly think that the "2prs of socks" on the customs form meant three? Priority Mail has *got* to have tracking... trace where it's been, looking for that bright pink sock!

But anyways... the green socks fit, and I *love* them:


The pink sock fits too, is gorgeous, but is lonely for it's mate:


The sockotta yarn is lovely, and I look forward to making socks with it. I love the little emergency crochet hook... it's adorable, and definitely useful to have stashed with a travelling project. I happen to have bought myself one last fall, but my pal didn't know that. (It just means we both have good taste!) The antenna topper is cute... I don't have a car, but I'll save it until I do, or pass it along to someone who does and who loves it. ;) Thank you, pal, for such a wonderful package. I'm sorry my country's postal system lost a sock you spent so much effort making.

PS: You can be sure I'll be harrassing Canada Post's customer service!!!