Laurabelle's Blog

I have started brailling again. I stopped because I was moving to California, and then I didn’t start again because I was tired from my new job or because I was planning my wedding. A week before the latter event, the WTBBL called and said I should either do some work for them or give the software license key back. I said I’d start up again after the wedding, and I did.

I completed the first assignment over the first weekend I had it, but the second took me a while to find the time (really, the energy). I started on Monday and am now three-quarters done.

I have also recommenced knitting. I took a hiatus for quite a while because I simply felt uninspired. I was uninspired by the yarn in my stash, mostly left-over or speculative purchases, and I didn’t feel that I could afford to buy new yarn. I saw the exotic fibers my co-workers brought in and felt scornful of my own plain wool.

In the summer I bought a load of Blue Sky Cotton and knitted what I call Jeff’s go-faster sweater. After that I bought a lot of other yarn for little Christmas projects (and a couple of bigger gift projects too). I am finished with most of my planned Christmas projects and am looking forward to starting on other things.

I was tired for a long time—a fatigue that sleep never seemed entirely to solve. I have begun to sleep more effectively, perhaps—not necessarily to sleep better but to feel better after sleep. For a while I came home exhausted after work, took a nap, and then couldn’t sleep for half the night. I am trying not to do that any more.

Maybe my hobbies are helping too. I felt like I only had time to work, eat, and sleep, but now that I am making time for myself and my interests, especially brailling now, I feel like I am using myself and my time to a fuller extent. I am living my life, not the other way around. As I am so fond of saying, there’s not enough of it to waste.

Jeff and I went to a Giants baseball game on Thursday night (vs. the San Diego Padres) and witnessed Barry Bonds’ home run #722. (We declined the free I was there pin.)

It was a pretty good game, actually. We went with the knitting gang from work (plus a few non-knitting friends and husbands) and enjoyed the weather and the great view from the ballpark over San Francisco Bay. Apparently, according to people who follow these things, the Padres were number one this season and the Giants number two. It should have been a fairly boring game, but the Giants made nine points over the first eight innings and the Padres none whatsoever. The Giants fell apart in the top of the ninth and allowed the Padres three points, but the Giants’ win was still a foregone conclusion.

And that’s about as much sports reporting as you’ll have from me in a long time. I hadn’t seen a baseball game in years, and it was nice to find that I enjoyed it more than when I was a kid. Still, I think this is one experience in my life that is better appreciated for its rarity.

I knitted a pair of socks.

Then I cataloged them.

100 1   Melton, Laura, ‡d 1979-
245 1 0 [Cabled socks].
260     ‡c [2005].
300     1 pair socks : ‡b wool, brown : ‡c 54 cm. long.
500     Title supplied by cataloger.
500     Pattern: Reynolds Yarns no. 372.

Non-librarians may wish to stop reading here; it’s going to get technical. Moreover, librarians who don’t give a rat’s behind about the nits of cataloging should probably skip it too, because I’m going to pick some.

First I started knitting. Then it was the sensible shoes, the occasional severe bun, and the horn-rimmed glasses.

Now I’ve started reading murder mysteries!

My mother says it’s a slippery slope. I asked what was at the bottom, and she said there isn’t one, it just keeps going.

I stayed up too late last night, finishing Jeff’s new sweater. I shouldn’t have done it, but I had already gone too many days without finishing it. Besides, I was comforted (or egged on) by the knowledge that on many occasions my mother has stayed up late, finishing projects for me.

The sweater was supposed to be Jeff’s birthday present, but his birthday isn’t until March, and I was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to wear it then. It is thick and warm, black with yellow radiation symbols on the sleeves. Jeff chose the design, and we made up the chart together. I doubt that anyone else in the world has such a sweater.

He wore it today. Apparently, his fellow physics students were impressed. Dude, where did you get that?!

Horace sure is a big help around the house. I haven’t even finished Jeff’s sweater yet, and Horace is already performing quality control. I was really worried for a minute there, but I guess it’s going to be okay.

I think this is the only sweater that might actually shed on Horace, rather than the other way around. Whenever I knit on it, I end up with little black wool fibers sticking to everything.

A few days ago I gave you the holiday bullet points. Today you get the slide show.

I knitted Christmas presents for a number of people, but I only have pictures of those I sent to Ralph and Lori. These I finished and mailed at the beginning of December, so I didn’t even see them at Christmas (even though I saw Ralph and Lori). Lori’s birthday present was a pink, flower-shaped cotton chenille washcloth. I made a number of these in various colors, but I trust that the partial duplication has not bothered anyone so far. I gave a bar of scented soap with each washcloth.

Lori’s Christmas gift was a hat and scarf in a brioche pattern, with blue and white Lamb’s Pride bulky wool yarn. In some respects it was a pain to knit, since the pattern is effectively double-layered and thus takes twice as long to knit. However, it was easy enough once I got into the rhythm, and I am very happy with the results. I hope it will keep Lori warm in the cold Pittsburgh winter.

I knitted a checkers set for Ralph. This includes a checkerboard, a bag for the pieces (plastic buttons), and a bag to hold the set. The checkerboard is double-sided and reversible, which was interesting to knit. I also included a rule and strategy book for checkers, since I wasn’t sure whether Ralph played checkers.

Snow-bound Mount Rainier is spectacular from the air. I took this photo from my window as the plane passed by on the western side of the mountain.

This cute little house is on the grounds of the Gruene Homestead Inn, where my family stayed in New Braunfels this December. We have stayed there several times while visiting my grandmother, and I have fond memories of it.

This is my grandparents’ headstone. The date of my grandmother’s death has yet to be attached to her side of the stone. The inscription reads:

Fred Burdette Curry
US Army WWII
Jan 31 1912 – Mar 13 1998

Mary Baker Curry
Loving wife and mother
Apr 23 1912 -

I have not enjoyed the last couple of Christmases, primarily because I felt that I was old enough to exchange presents like an adult but didn’t have enough time to make presents or money to buy them. I was ashamed of the gifts I was able to give.

Last Christmas I had made a few knitted presents but not as many as I wanted, and all were very small. I resolved to start making presents for the next Christmas in January, so that I’d have enough time. I didn’t want to have another miserable, angst-ridden Christmas.

As one might expect, I didn’t start in January. I was too tired from the last Christmas, and I had other knitting projects plus sewing, tatting, etc. In fact, I didn’t even start planning for Christmas (much less knitting) until the beginning of November. However, I had a good bit of free time this fall, and my ambitions were also fairly attainable. I have presents to give my family and a few friends, so I’m happy. This will be an excellent Christmas.

A film every knitter should see: Gangsta Knitter.

I haven’t even watched it yet (I don’t have the right codecs under Linux, so I’ll watch when I reboot to Windows), but the jpeg on the webpage is hilarious.

First I was busy with full-time work, and then I was busy with staying home (and trying not to work).

Work is more or less what it has been, namely, very interesting in ways that I feel I can’t really talk about on a public blog, for various reasons. This is part of the reason I haven’t blogged much. If work is my life, and I can’t write about work…

I don’t have any excuse for the past couple of weeks. I have been staying home most of the time, because I’m back to working only 15 hours per week. I have kept myself very busy with knitting and cooking and baking and even a little bit of reading, and you know, I could get used to being a housewife. (Jeff, too, could get used to having dinner ready when he comes home from work/school.)

On Election Day, instead of fretting about the future of my country, I made an expedition to Weaving Works and bought yarn for Christmas presents. I am now about halfway through three of them and have reason to hope that I might finish the current batch and even start another set of presents before Christmas.