Too Sick To Knit

The agony....an entire day at home, absolutely no knitting or spinning achieved. I can't seem to bring myself to do much other than just lie here. You know that kind of sick that starts as kind of an annoying itchy throat and throttles within hours to the sort of agony akin to having all the nerves in your body replaced with stinging nettles? Poor Travis, he's taking spectacular care of me but every time he gets too close, I "screech" (it would be a screech, if it wasn't a weak croak) "Oh God, oh GOD don't TOUCH ME!!!"

One of the worst things to do is call in sick the day after a long holiday weekend. I feel like I could vomit onto the handset, and my employer would still think I was lying. Not because my employer thinks I'm not trustworthy....I'm just paranoid. And tomorrow's my work-from-home day and I think even that could be out of the question, unless I experience a miraculous turnaround.

I had a couple of accomplishments this weekend:


I fully-finished and blocked the birthday beanie for Travis' sister. I missed her birthday over one of my trips down south, but I got to gift it on Thanksgiving, and she loved it. (Even if it did end up with a nipple on top - I ALWAYS pull my hats too tight and get a little pucker at the top. Sigh.)


You can only vaguely make it out here, if at all, but I purled her initials into the side too. It's knit from my own handspindled (pre-wheel days) in a merino-silk blend that corresponds with her high school's colors. The pattern is based off of a couple of generic hat patterns, but deviates enough from all of them that I'd have to call it my own.

I also made a matching yarmulke, but only because her high school colors are also perfect Hanukkah colors:


Here it is on Travis. I'm concerned - I think it's too big. It's for a VIP, so I don't want it to be wrong. I'm thinking about felting it so it's smaller. Thoughts? Any readers familiar with yarmulkes want to weigh in? Please? (Oh, again, this is my handspun, but from the wheel. I got the pattern here.)


I've split this up and rolled it, but I haven't been able to get any excitement up about spinning either. This is Sweet Georgia's Blue Faced Leicester roving in her Firefly colorway - PERFECT for me. I picked up some Blue Steel for gift-spinning, too, but I'm going to try this first. It's four ounces, and I need to get it to sock weight. Keep your fingers crossed.

Finally, some general eye candy:


I was punchy from holiday grocery shopping and ended up buying this because it made me laugh. Thank you, Jamaica.


Well, that's just straightforward, isn't it? I wonder...why not "Veterinary Services" or something? "Veterinarian"? Maybe the sign company was out of 'v's. Or maybe the business owners were concerned confused local veterans would wander in looking for like-minded individuals anxious to share stories? In any event, it amused me.


Ahhh....the ol' Class of '97. We went to see The Fountain (Eck! ECK!!) and snapped this photo. Enjoy it, you'll never again see me without makeup. (The agony - forgot to pack it, spent the entire weekend naked.) Clockwise from top left, you have Patrick, me, Jessi (my bestest friend and the latest warrior I've inducted into our knitter's army), and Bekah. Bek just got back from Ireland, where she was working with one of the top horse trainers in the world. (Ahh, to be doing something with your life that you're truly passionate about.) She brought her "lad" back with her, and he seems lovely. Come to think of it, we're all in satisfying relationships currently with individuals that all of us seem to approve of. I'm pretty sure that's a first. These were some of my best pals in high school, and the last time we were all together was AGES ago. (We celebrated by drinking in Pat's car outside of a pizza joint and singing Weezer's "The Sweater Song" at the tops of our lungs. Good times.) It was a terrifically sad event that brought us all together - but we had some great times nonetheless.

My aching back is about to shoot little bottle rockets all over the living room - time for me to roll over. Ta ta!