Knitting Time vs Other Stuff

When your hobbies get in the way of your work - that's OK; but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves... well.  --Steve Martin

Week three of the broken foot completed. I can sorta walk, but I haven't really been pushing it. I still wear my cast and use my crutches at work to protect it, but when I get home, I take it off and put a tensor band on instead. It supports my foot while I walk the short distances from the kitchen to the couch, or from the bedroom to the bathroom. I still use my crutches when I'm feeling tired, because it hurts when I'm knocked off balance. Still, it feels good to get a little bit of strength back in my right leg. It means I can carry a glass of water by myself. Imagine that.

Despite the rainy day today, I decided to bust out the white jeans and get up the nerve to take some photos of my Chevron Lace Top. On a side note: it was only last year that I felt brave enough to wear white trousers. I quite like them now, actually. I was so sure they'd get dirty in two seconds, but you'd be amazed at how careful you become when you wear something you actually care about staining. White trousers don't quite make you graceful, but they sure do make you less of thug.

I still think the top is too long. I like the colour, though, and the design is quite clever. I like the way the v-shape of the lace lands in the right spot to frame your neck and face:

Maybe I'm just not used to wearing long tops. It doesn't look too bad from behind:

I was also a little skeptical about the short sleeves, since I'm self-conscious about my arms, but I think it'll be okay if I wear a jacket over it. Maybe it's just not my style. Coupled with the fact that I feel sluggish and bloated from all the sitting around I've been doing, the photo shoot was not all that pleasant, even if I do look quite pleased with myself:

Yeah. Not thrilled with the length. I'll stop fiddling soon, I promise.

I'm amazed that I still have three balls of yarn left. A little lace sure goes a long way. I'm not used to having so much yarn leftover: I am the Queen of the Close Call, after all. If I keep finishing like this, it might start to work against me. I can see myself getting cocky about how much I could get out of each skein, and end up right back into the "near miss" situation again.

Yep. Best to stay nervous about yardage, I say.

In the meantime, I've been working away on my Fuchsia Nouveau Shawl, and I've already reached the final chart for it. (I find "fuchsia" a really difficult word to spell. I always have to say the f-word in my head to make sure I've got it right.)

Knitting lace using laceweight yarn usually doesn't look that impressive in-progress. It usually tends to look like a crumped up fishing net, but I'm using a skein of Americo Linen Cordon, which is a blend of linen, cotton, and a little bit of silk. All of those fibres together are making for quite a nice, drapey shawl, which enough rigidity to open up the lace without blocking, even in the knitting stage. I keep stopping to marvel at how well it's holding up. I imagine this what it would be like if you could knit with a spider web.

Imagine if a spider could knit. Just think of how many sweaters they'd get done.

The Big Bike Event that I signed up for is on Monday. Naturally, I will not be riding, but when I contacted the organizers to tell them about my foot, they said that, if I showed up on the day of the event and cheered on my team, they'd keep my name on the team and I could keep on fundraising in my own name. There is a seat on the bike without pedals on it, and the team captain said I could get on if I felt up to it, but I don't think I will. I'd feel terrible making all those people carry me around while I just sat there.

I'm sick of just sitting around in general, really.

I signed up as a volunteer at the local art gallery this week. I'm trying to find other things to do, and other people to hang around with. I think being stuck at home has made me really feel the isolation of only having work as my social life. I like my work friends, but I think I need to expand my horizons a bit. I say this, but as soon as I checked the box that said, "I can volunteer at events," I could hear a little voice inside say, "but what about your knitting time?"

Life is a constant pull between knitting time and other stuff, it seems.

I'm changing out of my white trousers now and putting on something more suitable for drinking a cup of tea and eating a bowl of soup. I think I'll save my white trousers for when I feel like I'm more fit for the challenge of walking around and keeping clean. White trousers are not for the broken-footed.

Three-quarters upright. Here's hoping for a nearly-upright week soon.