Ridiculously Happy

First things first. I’m almost finished my Flax Sweater, Mir Ist Kalt.

 

I am a little further along in the cuff but this is sleeve number one in the process of being knitted to completion. As I said in the title, I am ridiculously happy over this. It has been nearly a year since I started this wool sweater and I’ve had relationships fail, other projects peter out, trials, tribulations, ups and downs, but I have been steadfast in my goal of knitting this Flax sweater.

 

I am so enamored with Sweater knitting now that I want to make at least one a year.

 

Onto other things. I am again participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. This time, it will be for the month of July. I am going for fifty-thousand words added to my most recent NaNo endeavor and I’m hopeful that this time there will be no distractions. I love the story I’m writing and I’d really like to finish it.

 

In the tradition of my NaNo experience, I have also posted a story to a site in anticipation of writing non-stop again. It is one of my older stories, started in 2007 and completed in 2015 after the worst case of Writer’s Block I’ve ever experienced. I cleaned it up a bit from the original finished product so that it would be accepted for publication on the site I submitted it to and it was accepted.

 

This is technically my second story on the site. I had  the first removed out of an abundance of caution over the possibility that the subject matter might have been divisive.

 

In other news, I am meeting a new friend today. So, the Agoraphobia is taking a good kick to the teeth and an uppercut to the jaw. I am hopeful that this new friendship will flourish as a result of our meeting. He seems like a nice person from our conversations. Only time and meeting can tell.

 

In a furtherance of pain for the Agoraphobia, I will be attending a concert at one of my local Libraries. A band called SandJoe Productions is performing tonight. I’ve never heard of them before but the fusion blend of Reggae and Jazz sounds like it’ll be a cool experience. I’m looking forward to this new experience.

 

Last but not least, I finally fixed my old Laptop. I’m currently installing updates until I can get an OS installation for it that’s more modern. I’m on the fence between keeping Windows and trying out Ubuntu. I will have to see what my options are.

 

Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.

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Sorry, Not Sorry

I was unhappily knitting away yesterday morning when the dreaded doom of dread happened. I made a mistake in the lace portion of the knitting. Undaunted, I slowly tinked back my work and was doing fine with getting the stitches in proper accord. Once I got back to the missed Yarnover, I applied the stitch and began slowly advancing the pattern again. That’s when IT happened.

 

The yarn snapped on me. The yarn actually snapped on me.

 

By that point, nothing had slipped apart but, to be honest, the blanket, for me, had been a comedy of errors  and “soul” draining from the very beginning and that was the last straw. I decided to call it quits and inform the party waiting for it of my decision.

 

The overwhelming relief I felt at the snap of that yarn was palpable. I’m never going to allow myself to get tied down into a project like that again.

 

For the record, I like Lace knitting, or rather, I would like it under normal circumstances. These were most certainly not those times.

 

The first thing I did upon tossing that thing in the trash? Picked up my sweater, of course! Sleeve one has commenced. I’m following the pattern for my first time knitting a sweater but, in future, I may utilize the two at a time technique.

 

Today is actually the first day I’ve been predominantly migraine free for the first time in three days. I’m still a bit off but I’m not in any great mind numbing pain like I was before. Hopefully, this will foster a more positive experience in my knitting.

 

Despite this, I managed to maintain my German Language learning streak, albeit through an unintentional extended lesson via Duolingo for a total of thirty one days thus far. Someone may have taken several breaks between XP points gathering sessions due to the light on her phone being too bright to look at. Someone is about to, at 4:19 AM, do more German language practice right now.

 

On a completely different note, I’ve changed my mind regarding the Die Ärzte t-shirt. It’s a long story but I’m eternally grateful to a friend of mine for saving me so much money. Instead, I’ll save my money for something else.

 

Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.

The Horror…

I’m back to posting on my Language Practice Blog. I would like to apologize in advance for my horrible translations of the German language. At the very least, I’ve gotten the essen/fressen thing down to memory. I won’t make that mistake again…

 

My reason for getting back into this is mainly due to the challenge set forth on Instagram for the month of May. A nice person who goes by the handle JoyofLanguages put a challenge out there to be seen using a language diary or be seen speaking/writing the language we’re learning. Since I’m giving German my best effort, I figured I’d join in on the fun. Things like this are better together rather than alone. Plus, there’s a degree of accountability with having to report every day. I’m less likely to slack off if I know someone is watching.

 

Speaking of…I need to get back on Duolingo. I sense a disturbance in the Force. My ranking is in jeopardy. I’ve awakened the sleeping giants by passing them in XP points and suddenly people who haven’t been on the site in weeks to months are coming back to reclaim their titles. The more the merrier says I.

 

About the only other thing I’m doing is knitting that blanket still. Thanks to the music of Die Ärzte, I’m a little over fifty percent done with it. I still need to get the remainder finished though, so it is back to the needles tonight and every night until I bind the stitches off. I am so sick of knitting pink acrylic yarn. Under normal circumstances, this is just yarn to me. Right now, in this project, this is a vile abomination. I’m just going to get lost in the music and relax my way to the finish line of this project.

 

Speaking of the Best Band in the World…I’m making it my mission to get at least one T-shirt of theirs before the end of twelve months. I’m going to scrounge and save every penny I get until I have enough to cover the Cost of Product, International Shipping, and the Customs fees from Germany to here. I love their music that much and I love that I’m picking up more German words as a result of listening to them.

 

It is currently 86F in my locale. Too warm too soon. I could really do with one of those freak snow storms. Ha ha. Just kidding, people. Relax.

 

Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.

So Yeah…Change Is Good

After years…nay almost decades being KaliTime Camaralzman, I have finally made a change for uniformity in my online life. I’ve been slow bleeding the IchbineineTomate KTC handle into my different accounts across the web for some time now. If it has been a changeable thing, I’ve been changing it. I guess I’m just outgrowing the handle of KaliTime.

 

I will still respond to it if you call me by that handle but for all intents and purposes, I’m now IchbineineTomate KTC or “Tomate” as some like to call me.

 

I kind of figured the big Mega Cherry Tomato in my hand gave it away? If you think this is bad, consider that I have to redo all my YouTube videos.

Nothing more to say about it really.

 

Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.

Not Much But More Than I Thought

Due to a combination of recent health issues and a tremendous lack of personal time in my life, I do not believe that I’ll achieve my goal set forth for April’s Camp NaNoWriMo. I will do my best and write as much as I can but at this point I do not believe that I’ll cross the threshold I set out to cross within the timeframe allotted.

 

Rather than run myself ragged trying to do all the things, I’m going to focus on a few specifics which need to take priority. So, if you hear from me even less than usual lately, that’s why.

 

I am determined to pick up where I left off at the next Camp NaNoWriMo event later in the Summer.

 

Aside from that, only a few things are happening here.

 

I’m just living on soup, Duolingo German, as well as the music of Die Ärzte, and Farin Urlaub Racing Team. I’m almost at the point where I know the lyrics to some of the songs. I’m happy about that.

 

To be honest, probably sixty percent of the words I’ve listened to over the past ten days have been German. I might consider switching my profile language preferences to German to get me to use my linguistic translation capabilities more.

 

I’m considering becoming a vegetarian again. Between the fact that I do actually get ill from eating some forms of animal product to the fact that there is a health benefit to being a vegetarian for me to the rising cost of food prices in the supermarket, I’m definitely looking into this one. This time, I’m going to do my research and find the appropriate methods for me to do so.

 

I’m dyeing yarn now as a hobby. This is part pain reliever/part stress reliever and it works on both fronts. Thus far, I’ve managed (with the help of the Maternal Parental on two of the four ounce dyes) three hanks and one cake of four ounce yarn in Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool, in addition to the two cakes of four ounce yarn I dyed previously. I’ve also dyed a hank of Cascade 220 Superwash and a hank of Red Heart’s Heart and Sole Sock yarn.

 

Cascade 220 Superwash

Red Heart’s Heart & Sole

Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool

Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool

Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool

Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool

 

 

The end result of the four ounce dyes will be a sweater. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the Cascade and the sock yarn.

 

 

Starting next week (I hope!) there will  be Basil and Spearmint in the Aerogarden. The tomatoes are making me sneeze entirely too much to hang around for much longer. Plus, they’re coming to the end of their cycle. I got another good crop of tomatoes off of them but it is time for them to go.

 

 

The Basil I’ll be growing will be Genovese, Cinnamon, and Lettuce Leaf. In addition to this, I’ll be growing Spearmint. I really have missed growing it and look forward to having it in my room again. I’m also going to attempt growing Lemongrass again. Hopefully, it will thrive with the hot summers we tend to get nowadays even in my window.

 

 

Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.

Testing My Balance

I’ll be the first to admit that, when it comes to knitting and crocheting, I’m not stretching myself nearly enough for what I know my capabilities could be.

One example of this is Continental Knitting. I have been meaning to switch over for years but have always found some excuse as to why I needed to knit English style.

No more excuses.

The next knitting project I start will be done Continental or will not be done at all. I’m going to make sure it is something repetitive and simple so I don’t frustrate myself too much but I need to get the practice in so I can properly adjust my tension.

 

I have a few contenders in the running. In no particular order:

 

1. Rye by Tin Can Knits
2. 198 yrds of Heaven by Christy Verity
3. Easy Brioche Baby Blanket by Yay for Yarn Patterns
4. Pine Forest Baby Blanket by Ingrid Aartun Bøe

 

Of course, all of this is coming after Camp NaNoWriMo and after the completion of my sweater and socks.

 

However, first I must get past this baby blanket. I’m going to knit on it every day from now until the 31st of March, for no less than four hours per day, until it is completed. This will be quite an entertainment as I’ll have just woken up during the wee hours of the morning when working with knitting needles…near my eyes.

 

That’s about it really. Nothing much else has been happening aside from my twin tomato plants developing sentience and demanding to be fed.

 

Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.

Procrastination Station

In a world where pain runs the show…

 

Hello all. It has been some time since I last posted. I’ve been in some measurable amount of pain over the past few months and it all finally came to the point where I had to see a specialist. For months now, I’ve had bilateral Plantar Fasciitis. I can definitely attest that this is not a fun thing to have. I went from walking two to four hours a day in the morning to screaming and crying bloody murder upon standing. Needless to say, I’ve been spending a lot of time utilizing my rest mode function. Which has exacerbated the weight issue which has, in turn, exacerbated the Plantar Fasciitis issue. *headdesk*

 

I’ve been in so much pain that a lot of complex things have fallen by the wayside in favor of less complicated subjects. I’ve picked up yarn dyeing when I should be knitting a lace blanket. I’ve been doing a lot of horizontal reading when I should be vertical and writing. I have sorely neglected the upkeep of my plants, my sweater is on hiatus and my studies have dropped off considerably as I have to be vertical for a good portion of those tasks.

 

After the second visit to my physician, she could see that I was fed up with this whole thing and gave me a referral to see a podiatrist. It was worth it going to get some temporary relief from the pain. The good doctor taped my feet up and, until yesterday evening, it was working like a charm. I hardly felt the pain. I was diagnosed with Bone Spurs which are causing the Plantar Fasciitis injury. Basically, the bone spurs are irritating the tendons. The next step from here is to take some NSAIDs to relieve the pain. If the NSAIDs don’t work effectively, it’ll be time to get more radical. *ominous music*

 

Enough about my feet.

 

This is what I’ve managed to get done on the blanket since the last posting. I am presently one row shy of one complete pattern repeat completed. I really like this pattern because, unlike the next mentioned pattern, I don’t need my glasses for it. 

 

 

I’m also making socks. This is a Kate Atherley pattern I came across on Ravelry a while ago. It is pretty much my go to pattern to fit my gigantic feet because it is sized all the way up to men’s sizes and I wear a men’s 9.5/43cm. I’m making four at a time on one 60” Size 2.75mm circular needle. With the exception of the inevitable tangles, all is going well. I need some new socks. I’m calling them Eris and Harmonia.

 

 

I have also been knitting on my Flax sweater. The body is complete. I’ve tried it on and it fits. All I need to do now is knit the sleeves and weave in the ends. The picture below is me binding off in pattern. Between needing to finish the blanket and the sudden heat wave a couple of weeks ago, I put this sweater on hiatus for a bit.

 

 

In addition to this, I have been teaching myself how to dye yarn. Thus far, I have two cakes I’ve dyed myself. These colors are called Redshift and Decomposition of Light. The yarn is Lion Brand’s Fisherman’s Wool.

 

There is also one collaborative effort done with the Maternal Parental. No name as of yet. The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash.

 

 

As if that weren’t enough for my plate, I’ve got even more planned for the months of March and April. I’ve got a few classes I’m planning on attending, feet willing. I’m also doing Camp NaNoWriMo. I got to fifty-thousand plus words on my story last November but I didn’t complete it. I’d like to set aside time to work on it specifically. Camp NaNo seems like a good opportunity to do that. I’m going for five hundred pages of writing. Hopefully, I can get that done.

 

I have to go now. Food is being called for and I am being summoned for its preparation. Until the next time, have a safe and fantastic journey around the Sun. Take care, my friends.