Broken out on Flickr.

I missed a week, I know. I was busy, and overwhelmed, and in the middle of all of these things, and could have used a list, to be honest. I spent altogether too much time on “To- Do” lists last week, and too little time just breathing.

It’s probably completely counterproductive to add “breathing” and “downtime” to my “To-Do” list, right?

” I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’ ” -Kurt Vonnegut

Today’s busy- ness (and business, actually) made the day feel like this:

But really, it wasn’t that bad. I worked through lunch and despite a pretty rough push at the end, I managed to get 80% of everything on my list this week accomplished. Hooray for a B week, especially with Gryphon on vacation for half of the week!

Really, today was less piles of papers and more this:

… and also this:

…and can you tell I got a new lens last night? I totally did. I’ve been very dissatisfied with my xTI for a while now, part of which was probably in having a much better primary camera + lens combo, but I wondered if part of it wasn’t also the cheap-o starter lens she’d come with. I’d bought it in Afghanistan, when I didn’t want to risk anything nicer, and I bounced between that and my Leica point and shoot, but even then I almost always preferred the point- and- shoot over the DSLR, which seems silly. I thought about just offloading the camera and moving on to something else, but I thought I’d try stepping up to a different lens first, just in case the problem was crap glass.

Yeah. The problem was totally crap glass. It’s still not as sharp as my primary, but I don’t have to fight with her to make her see light appropriately now, and that’s a blessing. So I apologize in advance if there is a sudden uptick in almost wordless, photo-heavy posts, but I finally have a lightweight, tidy DSLR  I can comfortably bang about on a daily basis, so self- control goes right out the window.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone.

Broken out on Flickr, as ever.

It’s a rough week. I’m feeling a bit worse than usual, although upright. Most of it isn’t a big deal- tingling, feeling foggy around the edges, fatigue. The auditory hallucinations, though, are a pain in the ass. It’s been a while, and I don’t really remember how to tell the real world from a neurological symptom some times. If I’m not looking at the source of the sound when it happens, I can wind up a little confused- or worse, overwhelmed. It’s really hard to talk to people, especially more than one, when part of my brain is busily trying to figure out the name of that song I can just barely hear, or when it sounds like an enormous crowd is whispering behind me.

It’s got some high points, though.

Last night, for the first time in years, it was loud enough to wake me up; a deep voice that sounded like it was in the hallway, loud, at almost 4 am. I could hear the sound clear as day, but I couldn’t understand the words- which is pretty typical.

I woke up thinking someone was in the house (that’s not the high point), then heard Lilu snoring in the hallway and realized it couldn’t be an intruder- she wasn’t barking. Goddamn, that dog loves to bark at strangers.

The whispers were just kicking in, and I laid back in the dark just listening to it, a luxury I don’t often get. When I don’t have to try and hear the other things in my life, it’s a deliciously creepy sensation- unpredictable and always, always seeming as though if I listen hard enough, long enough, I could tell what is being said. After years of it, it has stopped being scary but never stopped being eerie.

The fatigue I could live without, as I’d like to be running more and waking up earlier, but I’ll keep my lovely Twilight Zone moments in the middle of the night, thank you very much.

I’m working from my bed today, which isn’t as awesome or fun as you’d think it might be. A creeping migraine put me to bed early last night. I made it to my evening yoga class, which did seem to help some- and weirdly, being so inwardly focused seemed to push me to do better than before. After class, I went straight to bed, Imitrex in hand. So far, two doses isn’t doing much to the headache. I’m about to take my third, with no real high hopes as to it’s efficiency, either- I think the real cure is rest, which I’ve had very little of this week. Is anyone else out there suffering from insomnia this week? My entire family and studio seem to be sleeping poorly, if at all, this week. Agh.

I’m still a grateful girl; having the luxury of working from my bed, on my laptop, is pretty incredible. I listen to Pandora and answer emails between short bouts of dozing, instead of taking a full day off. This gives me the ability to rest up and recover without feeling like all my work is piling up around me, waiting like an impatient customer for my return- which, in turn, also helps me get better more quickly, I believe.

Actually working from bed, in my pajamas, reminds me of all the silly things people say about working from home, as though it isn’t a job at all. “You just stumble around in your PJs, that’s pretty sweet,” they say. And there are some pretty fantastic benefits to working from home. For example, here’s a list of things that are awesome about working from home.

• eating my own food
• not needing to worry about office clothes
• no office politics
• no commute
• freedom to raise a puppy (even an injured one!)
• setting my own hours
• working with contractors & builders during the day
• freedom to make medical appointments whenever we need to
• all my lovely cats
• working from bed when I’m sick
• choosing my own music
• always knowing where everything is

It’s not all sunshine and light, though. There are some not- so- rad things about working from home, too; things you’d never think of until it’s happening. For example:

• feeling ashamed of the many beer bottle in my recycling bins
• gross pet tricks
• an acute awareness of my dirty kitchen floor
• my offspring sharing embarrassing stories with everyone we work with
• everyone knowing what I’m reading obsessing over at any moment
• worrying that all my employees can somehow tell that I had sex that morning
• waking up late means greeting employees in my bathrobe
• going into the utility room and realizing that my least flattering pair of panties have been on the top of a pile of laundry ALL DAMNED DAY FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO SEE

No, I’m not going to post a picture of my least flattering pair of panties here, thank you. In case you need a visual, imagine the sort of coverage a girl might want for running, then make it a size or two too large (it was all they had at Target, shuttup!) and pale blue. There. Horrible, right?

I’m tempted to make a Paint picture of my hideous underwear on the top of my laundry, a la Hyperbole and a Half, but that would only be followed by an actual photo, and that’s too horrible to be thought of. I’m going to take that last Imitrex instead. Good night, all.

small quilt for julia, originally posted by uzbeckistan

I’m interested in shapes, textures and negative space- and while I admire the traditional quilting, it’s just not where I am. I’ve been digging up images of “whole quilting”- not that I know anything about it, I just love the look of it.

I mean, isn’t that gorgeous? All texture and pattern makes me need a serger like whoa. My goal for this year is to have something for our bed by the end of the year. Gauging from some of the blogs I’ve been reading on quilting, it might actually take that long. It’ll be worth it. Take a look at some of the quilts on Shiner’s View blog, they’re just amazing. I want those on my everything.

Neutral quilt, originally posted by Shiners view

Sam questions the whole thing- my need for another hobby. Lately, knitting seems all about business- knitting this for a design, knitting that to test possible new colorways, knitting samples out of potential future yarn bases from the mill, knitting myself a sweater out of a color we’re putting out in fall or winter. It’s all work, and while I love it, I need something I can make that isn’t about the business. I need something else, something very removed, something just for myself.

Spinning helps: I spin more lately, although I so rarely knit with my own handspun. I should start a handspun yarn swap; I love knitting with someone else’s spinning. Anyone want to trade handspun? I have a 4 oz skein of gorgeous worsted cormo that needs to be knit up by someone, soon. It’s been languishing in my utility room for far, far too long.

Quilting works for me because it joins together pieces of what appeals to me in all of my crafts- the space and composition of photography, the texture and tactility of knitting, the color sense of dyeing, all rolled up into something I can lay over the people I love when they are sick or sleeping. Quilting also relates to the concept of creating things of use and beauty that I love about knitting and spinning.

Now all I need quilting to do is to bake fresh, whole- grain breads for me and it’s 100% perfect.

The vet also decided that Hugo’s Cone of Shame needed to be EVEN BIGGER, because our little yoga- dog can get his entire leg inside of this cone now, where he works at pulling off/ destroying his cast. Awesome. We’d already gotten a cone for a “medium- sized dog” and cinched it down to fit his bitty neck, but no, Hugo is a bendy thing.

The new cone is really just the old, huge cone with x-ray films taped around the end, extending it. It is absolutely ridiculous. He is like the RCA Dog- if the RCA Dog was both the dog and the phonograph. The best part: the new hugenormous cone acts as a megaphone, amplifying his naturally skull- piercing barks into a weapon that could bring entire nations to their knees. I’m thinking of renting him out to the Baltimore Police Department for crowd control.

He was pretty mad about putting the new cone on- but he got over it rather quickly. Obviously. We’re just looking forward to Friday the 13th, now, as that’s when he’ll be a really, running- about little dog again.

That’s all.

The 21st list of Very Good Things, broken out in Flickr.

Things have been good- busy, but good. Kiddo finished her summer session, there’s a new patio in the backyard for dyeing, and tomorrow we take  Hugo to the vet’s to see if maybe he gets the cast off this week. I’m hopeful, but not betting on it yet- I’m guessing the poor little guy will just get another cast change.

I hate that he is spending so much of his puppy time in a crate. The vet has asked us to restrict him in a crate until his leg is better, outside of meals, cuddles, and bathroom runs. Cuddle- times get harder as he gets more anxious for time on the floor, running around, so he spends a lot of time in the crate lately. He’ll be hell on wheels once he’s out of that cast, at least for the first week.

Also, I’m sorry I was so full of it last week when I promised more entries, but I’m trying, I am. At least I can be relied upon for a weekly entry, right? That’s something.

Broken out on Flickr!

You know, this blog really is meant to be more than just a place for all my Lists Of Very Good Things, honest. Things have been a little crazy lately, but I’m scheduling some serious blog time. I mean it! You’ll see.

Broken out on Flickr, as always!!!

Tomorrow, the work on the patio begins. Eeeep! So exciting. Did I mention that yet? I don’t think I did. I should. There have been some pretty big changes to my backyard lately, some of which are me- related, others studio- related.

Tonight, though, I am headed to bed early.