Monday, October 01, 2007

Updates across the board

Bubba is out of town again (sad) and it appears that his absence is making me extra productive since I don't have someone around grabbing my ass and entertaining me with hilariously accurate impressions of the Not-Nice Neighbors.

So today is chock full of updates on shit I managed to get accomplished with my ungrabbed ass (sad).

[Running Update]



I went for a run this weekend (with my fingers crossed, mind you) to test out the tenderness of my shin meat. I thought about it all week and was frankly a little stressed out about running and, potentially, finding out that my shin meat was not healed and, perhaps, even more painful than before. This would have been Big Scary since my race is in two weeks.

*sweating*

Thankfully my run went fine, all short 6 miles of it (I was planning to be on a 12 miler, but no), and I got home from an hour on the pavement without even a hint of sassiness in my shin meat.

Woo!

Unfortunately, my knee took that as a sign that it should act up instead, so I enjoyed a few miles of mild tweaky stabbing that I'm sure will be a real joy when I'm trying to pound out 13.1 miles during the race. And since there's just not a lot I can do about that other than take it easy and not run a ton between now and the race, I'm going to try not to freak all out about it like I really want to.

Oh, and I bought new insoles for my running shoes since Zappos has chosen this one moment in time to stop fulfilling all my wildest online shopping fantasies (normally, I bow down to them as though they are the lord) and not have my size in my running shoes. Boo. However, the Triad insoles I got to compensate for the not-so-much-squishiness-left-in-my-shoes issue seems to have done at least part of the trick. No ankle pain, no shin meat pain, muted knee pain.

Good enough. I've resigned to being happy with the 11 mile run I completed before vacation and not focus on the fact that my knee may explode during the race.

*Sigh*

[Garden update]


It is some spooky shit out there in the garden right now because the big crazy looking spiders have moved in and have built big webs that could catch the dog.

I'm glad they're there, because it means the environment in the garden is just that healthy and full-circle-ish and all, but reaching into the plants for late season tomatoes has gotten a little creepy for my tastes so I'm letting any fruit that isn't hanging outside the cages (ie not anywhere near the spiders/webs/things that could be construed as spiders or webs) get as ripe as it wants without me disturbing it.

I like to think that I'm "respecting the spider's right to build webs and sustain themselves in a safe environment" but really I don't want to feel their tiny prickly legs on my fingers when I think I'm picking a tomato.

Yyyyyyyyyyessssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Big shiver right there.

[InStitches update]


There was a short time (about an hour or so) when I thought I'd actually do the patchwork required for this project. I pretended, as I often do, that I could perform many of the tasks involved in patchwork even though I know I have ZERO actual talent or skill for it. Specifically, choosing appealing combinations of fabric and accurately cutting them out to form a cohesive and properly sized item.

I was not surprised when my optimism proved unfounded. First of all, let us check out how horrible these fabrics look together.

Wow. That's impressive even for me.

I'm almost glad that I can't measure and cut out patchwork pieces worth a damn because that would have been a shitshow of a patchwork piece if I'd managed to piece it all together. I think the world is safer having this piece never see the fully sewn light of day.

Let us now marvel at how horribly awry my measuring/cutting of clearly marked patchwork pieces went. Granted, I knew it was going to be a *little off* when I was cutting them out with scissors instead of using my rotary cutter (um, why does the blade get dull so fast? I hate this.), but this is just impressive. Even for me.

I won't lie - I threw it all out. Like, I knew it probably wouldn't work, and that I'd end up with a mess, but this was beyond even my own powers of imagination. And frankly, I was a little relieved. Giving up after the first side proved to be impossible meant that I wouldn't have to suffer through trying to piece together the other side of the pattern. Thus saving me a lot of screaming swears and throwing scissors.

Now the big challenge will be trying to find a fabric that complements the exterior fabric I've chosen for this project. And since we know how good I am at matching fabrics, we could still have a good laugh/cringe in our futures.

Yay.

[Knitting update]

What? You're surprised there is one? We knit here on Finnyknits? What?

Yes, people, I actually have a future FO waiting in the wings. Without Bubba to make lewd comments and coax G&T out of my nose in front of the TV, I'm actually knitting something. And, *gasp*, I'm almost done with it.

I predict that tonight will be that special time when I say, "WOO! It's done! After all this time!"

This is actually a project I started, all optimistic-like, about a year ago when I was flying to Rome and had a 12 hour flight ahead of me. At the time (I'm trying not to laugh right now) I thought, "Hey, I'll make a couple pairs of these things and gift them at Christmas! I bet I can finish at least two pairs on the outbound flight alone!"

I am so funny.

Then I got on the plane, had a G&T with an Ambien back and passed out while trying to decode the complicated storyline of "The Devil Wears Prada". No knitting got done, needless to say. And, of course, no knitting happened in Rome since I was there with two of my favorite people in the whole wide world PLUS a lot of wine and the best food ever. And then I did an instant replay of my outbound trip when I got on the plane to come home, so the knitting stayed stowed in my carry-on bag taking up priceless space I could have used to hold important things like extra earplugs (when is there going to be an airline for newborn babies?).

I'll post pictures of the future FO knitting project soon, but you have to promise not to laugh when you see how small it is and how long it took me to finish, ok?

6 comments:

  1. Finny,
    I know that your patchwork pieces look like they would never go together, but mine looked just like that before I started sewing them. It's a lot like putting a puzzle together, picking two pieces that need to be sewn together and ironed before they can be sewn to the piece next to it. But problems aside, it goes together rather quickly once you get going(except for the hand sewn lining), and is quite rewarding to complete. By the way, I cut two of everything and made both sides exactly the same. Cheating?...maybe. Why do you think I only photographed one side? Good luck on your next attempt.
    ~Jan

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  2. That spider photo is making me twitchy. I have rubbed my arms several times to make sure it's not on me! Yikes.

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  3. How odd, felt like I was looking at my own feet, same shoes, dirt spots and all. I would like to offer encouragement to you about the race, but am certain your mother told you not to talk to strangers.

    Have a great race!

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  4. Wuv you! 2.5 mesi fino alla prossima visita!

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  5. I'm glad your shin meat is better, and I guess I should get started on my in stitches bag too! Oh, the spiders. I have 5 or 6 spiders like that outside my window at work, and they are creepy. I keep telling people they're the biggest "non-tarantula" spiders I have ever seen. How come I've never seen them until this year when I've lived here my whole life?

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  6. Jan - You're so nice to suggest that this wouldn't have looked like a total piece of crap. But, alas, I threw it out because I knew. I knew it would be a mess. And, frankly, I'm glad. The pressure is off. No patchworking for me. I figure the handsewing will be my version of patchwork. Cheating? Nope. And, for the record, doing both sides the same is definitely NOT cheating. That's extra hard.

    Lera - Seriously. I was all biggigity just taking the picture! I was afraid I'd bump into it and it'd jump on me and kill me. Yick!

    Anonymous - What a bizarre and foreboding comment. I will take the encouragement though. Stranger or not.

    Shelley - Si! Sono multo eccitata a vederla! Subito subito!

    Lynn - Thanks :) Me too! Is it one of those things where once someone says something (like, geez, there are Orange VW bugs everywhere!) you start to see them, too? That happens to me a lot. I just wish someone would say, "Wow! I see stray hundred dollar bills everywhere!" That'd be nice.

    ReplyDelete

[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.