Give ME the Time of Day, Willya!

But of course I am. LOL! Ironically, 3:15 PM is about the time I really feel motivated to start my day. Granted, I go to bed around 5:00 AM and wake around noon, so for me, this is the equivalent of rising at 6:00 AM to be functional by 9:00 AM.

Musician's hours.

I've been in situations where I had to adjust (when employed 9-5 or in school), but left to my own devices, this is the schedule to which I default. My Mother once told me, however, that as a baby, I was an extreme early riser, that she and Dad had to condition me to sleep in to a "reasonable" time. These were folks who got up willingly by 7:00 AM. And I was waking THEM up. But Mother thought they'd maybe been a bit too effective at retraining me, because ever after I was impossible to get to bed, thinking I'd miss something if I didn't get to stay up til 11:00 PM. As a four year old.

So there it is. Am I a night-owl because I was trained to be? OR because it truly is my nature? No matter, it's who I am NOW.

And for the most part, I love it. Except during winter, when daylight is a high-dollar premium because contrary to common (vampire) belief, I actually LIKE sunshine. I once thought moving to California would mean more sun. Until I realized that the days grow shorter in Cali just as they do in Ohio. But I'm not ready to pack for Alaska or Greenland, thankyouverymuch.

So it was 50 degrees and sunny/melty today, and just now it started pouring. Ohio. Love ya.

Anything good on TV tonight? Something I can knit through? I FINALLY restarted the CPH in different yarn. If you remember, the initial plan was to knit it with this:



And I got as far as this on the back before realizing the striping/pooling would not match on the fronts unless I tricked it out:



So I put it in hibernation while trying to determine whether to knit it all at once on circulars, maybe steek it, two balls at once, egads....

Then I ran across nine skeins of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in Old Sage that I'd bought in the mid-90s for a sweater that I'd started. I found the first 8 inches of the sweater, too. As a new knitter doing her first proper garment, I was advised to choose an "easy" pattern. I was counseled strongly against the charted design I'd chosen but I bought it anyway.

No, it wasn't too complex for a beginner. The opposite. IT WAS TOO BORING. All it consisted of was rows of ridges formed by purling. So it was knit a bunch, purl a bunch, knit a bunch... they step as they go up but GAWD. After a few inches I'd gotten the hang of it, and I could not fathom continuing another 18 inches, then repeating for the front, then sleeves... so I stopped.

With me, they should have realized that MY first sweater should have been a fisherman's cabled monstrosity to keep my ADHD brain occupied and interested.

I thought perhaps this yarn (Lamb's Pride) would serve the CPH well—and save me having to buy an entire sweater's worth of new yarn (the Di Ve Autunno will eventually find its way to a different garment). The CPH is a nice knit—the cables break up the monotony, the pattern is easy to commit to memory (esp with stitch markers) so it's a good "public" knit, and it's still "mindless" enough that it can be done in front of the TV. So I cast on. Two repeats in and I frogged it because though my swatch said OMG if I make the largest size it'll be like a tent on me, the next size down in actual stitchiness was absolutely undeniably too small.

OK, I'll admit I didn't wash or block the swatch.

I knit another swatch because, *ahem*, I, uh, wanted to conserve yarn so I, uh, *blush* frogged the first one. This time I swatched with the cable motif, AND I washed it AND I blocked it. I've already cast on the stitches for the back for the next size up, but only knit one row of ribbing. I'm about to pull the swatch from the blocking board and give it a measure.

Stay tuned...

Oh, PS: Happy to report that Tyler not only is no longer puffy-looking, but is back to his obnoxious, overly-excited happy little self thanks to FUS (Feline Urinary Supplement). He's a big pile of happycat now, and he comes running for his FUS "treat" when I shake the bottle.

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Labels: CPH, nothing important, WIP

posted by Jeanne @ 5:18 PM