Mental Health Day

I stayed home from work and took a mental health, golf and knitting day. Nothing better than having golf on the TV while listening to an audiobook and knitting. I finished two more socks and the first pattern repeat of my Gryffindor bag. It is storming and our vanpool was not running today. I like the rain, when I am inside looking out. I don't mind taking BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), I have been commuting on BART since 1975. But rain and BART combined?? Not so much!!! I need to stop torturing myself reading my Lace Knit Alongs Yahoo dispatches. Everyone is knitting right along and I have sworn off lace until the socklettes have all been done. I found the Baby Socks and Bed Socks patterns I have been looking for in my pattern stash/collection. They are both quicker knits than the full sized socks I am currently knitting. I will be using left over yarns from the previous pairs I have knit. That should pump up my numbers considerably. I am desperate to get back to my lace knitting. Socks are practical and almost instant gratification, I have on a pair right now keeping my toes nice and toasty. But lace knitting is BEAUTIFUL and AWE inspiring. Every time I finish a hint/clue in one of the mystery shawl/stole KALs I am just amazed that I have produced something so lovely. It is a completely different feeling than just completing a UFO.

Ravelry is still not accessible through my Earthlink Protection Center Firewalls. I have to turn off the firewalls to login then I can turn the firewalls back on. I have contracted two deadly viruses since this problem started. I will stick to accessing Ravelry at work, which means Ravelry free weekends!!! That should go a long way towards getting some knits off the needles. I won an E-Bay auction for 20 audiobooks, there were two or three in the set that I really wanted and some new authors I have never read. I have a couple I am giving away. But I ended up paying less than two dollars per book. So I will have lots to listen to as I knit through my Ravelry-less weekends.

Computer network problems abound. Have you noticed? It seems like everyone I have talked to has either gone into a store or bank lately and THE COMPUTERS WERE DOWN. A virus made it through our massive firewall protection at work Wednesday. What goes on??? I love conspiracy theories, as a matter of fact it was one of my favorite movies. The Bay Area is also having too many unexplained power surges and outages. I tell ya, there is more to this than meets the eye.

Knit Simple is one of my favorite magazines. I have knit 2 shrugs, and 2 sweaters from them since I started my subscription. The current Spring/Summer 2008 is the best one yet. There are simple tunics and short sleeved tops that are flattering on anyone. The sizes range from XS-3x. Somebody out there is listening. Most knitters, especially experienced knitters probably won't like the patterns because they are either stockinette or reverse stockinette with patterning only on sleeves or edgings. That is what I LOVE about the patterns. I like the knit stitch, I like the purl stitch. Sweaters in my size take a lot of stitches per row, if I never have to do another 100+ stitch row in the MOSS stitch it will not be too soon. I am a multi-tasker, I don't like only being able to do one thing at a time. I want to be able to knit a sweater AND watch a movie or TV program at the same time. These patterns are exactly what I want. Funny too, this was the last issue in my subscription. I had decided not to renew any of my Knitting or Crocheting magazines because I don't have time to read them. BUT , they made a lier out of me with this issue. I want more of this. They have convinced me to keep subscribing.

Well I am approaching the toe decreases of another sock, got to go get my knit on.