Knitting Diva
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Day Two: Knitting with the gals
Day One
While watching the last two episodes of Season 1 of Dracula, I was continuing to knit the Clapotis scarf. It is relaxing and enjoyable to be able to knit without too much pressure from outside sources. The downside is that I don't think the yarn is the right choice for the scarf. It is curling in on itself a bit more than the other Clapotis I have knit. The silky fibers of the yarn also seem to catch and separate, causing it to snag on the stitch holders. This indicates that the item will snag on jewelry and other everyday thing through wearing it, therefore the scarf will look ratty in a matter of a month. That is not my ideal gift. I believe that my gifting will digress into pretty scarfs that are easier worn from my favorite Target.
On a brighter note, I will join a mystery KAL for Downton Abbey Season 4. I will need to get a DK weight yarn tomorrow evening from my LYS -- hopefully a malabrigo with silk. At this point, I really don't care what color it is, as long as I get to knit this mystery. A part of me looks forward to attending the knit night once again, while another part of me dreads it. I think I dread the yarn purchase temptation over anything. I miss the ladies at the shop, and feel a little hermit like these days. I think I just got so sheltered and housed in after attending school on my normal knit nights tha I forgot what a stress relief it is. Maybe this semester will feel healthier and a little more same. Probably not with my comps and replies from the PhD programs I applied to. I will probably be a nervous wreak. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
365 Challenge for 2014
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
I joined a writing Group!
So, as usual with my last minute projects, I decided to search for it on the Sunday before my husband started a major work project. I needed the document edited to my satisfaction and submitted by that week’s Tuesday evening. I go to turn the massive Stormtrooper looking Alienware and Windows never opens. It restarts itself at least five times before I asked my computer network engineer, geek extraordinaire husband to take a look. My USB keyboard wouldn’t respond, so he went in search of another keyboard in his pile of computer paraphernalia. It worked enough that he could tab up to the start-up setting that scans what is wrong. That is all I am able to explain about it since how the insides of computers work when all things are plugged in is beyond me. The Stormtrooper got stuck on the video driver, or that’s what my hubby said it did. At that moment I began feeling the ugly head of an anxiety attack pop up and say, “Raaaaor!” Not pretty.We opened the Stormtrooper up and dusted – a lot! It still got stuck. sigh
Solutions to the Stormtrooper and getting the files from my hard drive:
1. Buy a new video card — CHECK!
2. Buy a hard drive enclosure to make my current hard drive an external hard drive — CHECK!
Finding a hard drive enclosure for a 3.5″ hard drive was not easy. Only one store in our area had it, and we made the error of creating it as a family outing. Our two boys were insane acting and ran all over the store like wild animals. This did not help with my anxiety attack. We did a couple other things that added to my stress level and made me start dreading the week with the boys, but that’s another story I’ll tell later. Once we got home hubby took out the hard drive and put it in the enclosure. He hooked it up to my Alienware laptop. I clicked on my files — LOCKED! YOU DO NOT HAVE THE AUTHORIZATION FOR THESE FILES. Screaming at my computer ensued. I started sounding like a territorial harpy squirrel trying to get to her stored nuts for the winter only to find them locked away with an invisible key. So, hubby tried to unlock the files. He asked me the question, “Do you know which file the novel is in?” I went ballistic, since I wanted access to ALL my files and I knew if I told him a specific file that would be the only thing he would unlock for me. Plus, I needed to get into a file folder, or two, or ten in order to find where I mysteriously placed my novel. I never made anything easy to find in the past. Meanwhile, my anxiety level has reached max capacity and I started shaking.
Hubby finally got into my folders and unlocked them all, but decided to ask me to take a look in the exact moment I couldn’t handle anything more. He gave me a few hours to settle down and then I went to look. I found the novel and just knew I would e horrified at how bad a writer I was before I went to finish my degree. I printed it out, and it wasn’t horrible. In fact, the writing was better than some of the popular novels currently circulating. So, Sunday evening I begin editing and writing sections to add to empty parts. Monday, as my kids are playing, I begin typing in those sections. One sections becomes much longer than expected and I hesitate that I took it too far. Before sending it off, I call Robin and ask her questions about what to expect from the women in the group. I am nervous about sending my writing out. She tells me they only critique to make the writing better and do not judge on the content of the writing. I certainly hope she is right since I sent out my prologue-chapter 2 out to the group to read.