It’s Furious Balancing

I have spent the last ten minutes attempting to spell snorgeliciousness. Or should that be snorgleliciousness? Yes, my verbal IQ drops by a factor of ten in the presence of kittehs.

But what exactly is a snorgle, you may ask? According to the Powers that Be at Cute Overload, it “summarizes the situation when you moosh your face into fuzzy wuzzy smoochie wiggle and make googoo noises.”

Snorgle-liciousness, ergo, is the quality of a kitteh — that certain je ne sais qua — that inspires you to put your nose up to its belly, inhale deeply, and say such erudite and inspired things as “Wugga, wugga, wugga.”

Without much further ado, here’s a photo of Christopher, in a prime position for a bit of snorgling.

For a bigger version of Chrissy’s snorglelicious belly fur, click here.

Aaron is full of snorglelicious goodness, too:

In terms of mood-altering potential, this is almost as good as Wellbutrin, a bubble bath, and a chocolate pączek, but I imagine pączki snorgling would be a bit … messier.

A wee bit of a sinus infection and far too much time in front of the computer during working hours has kept me from blogging about the Pilgrimage to ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio. I will, in passing, say that ThreadBear is indeed “all that.” Actually, it is beyond “all that”; it’s somewhere between I Have Died and Gone to Yarn Heaven and OMG – Pass Me My Credit Card I See Malabrigo. Four skeins of Malabrigo worsted, in fact, in Azul Bolita, a colorway I have never been able to find in stock at any of my online sources for crack yarn.

Even though I brought my little camera with me — and the batteries were fully charged — I’m far too shy to go around snapping pictures of the store. So, if you want pictures, I suggest going over to look at this post on Matt’s blog; he’s got some excellent photographs that show off the place and do it more justice than I ever could.

Meeting Franklin was a real treat. Despite all the craziness, he was charming and gracious and very personable — so charming and gracious and personable that I’m breaking my unwritten rule about never posting an identifiable picture of myself on my blog: Laiane and Franklin Habit.

I didn’t say I would post it on the front page, now, did I?

I also show up on Franklin’s blog post about the event; I’m buried in the second large photo montage. I wasn’t aware how serious I look while I’m knitting! And this was garter stitch. I’m certain I must look like I’m about to implode while I’m doing anything more complicated.

Another twofer for LOLCat Friday!

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I don’t mind the snow and the cold. I’m not out frolicking around in it, no, but I prefer this time of year to those ghastly days in July when it’s 90-gazillion degrees and 110% humidity and the sun rises at 5:30 a.m. /shudder

Tomorrow is the 1,000 Knitters photo shoot in Lansing! This reminds me — I need to make sure my camera batteries are charged. I shall be in the presence of much fibery goodness, fellow knitters, and the one and only Franklin Habit, blogger extraordinaire.

I am so geeked.

It was the size 3 aluminum needles. I had been plugging away at the mittens I’m making with the leftover Cascade 220 from the Ravenclaw Raglan, and even though I was telling myself to relax my hold on those slippery little buggers, apparently telling myself and actually doing it are two different things. Death Grip on Minuscule Metal Needles = Carpal Tunnel Symptoms.

Once the No Knitting Weekend was over, I discovered that working on my other projects — namely the Next Damned Raglan Sweater — didn’t bother my hands. I’m pinning it all on those size 3′s.

So, I’m taking a break from the Ravenclaw Mittens for a while. They will be my mittens for Next Winter; I won’t kill myself trying to get them done so I can enjoy them This Winter.

[I apologize for the awful photograph. I have little chance to take pictures of yarn in natural light these days. ]

The self-imposed knitting hiatus did let me get back into my gaming for a while. I’m working through Shivering Isles as planned, and enjoying myself immensely.

Oh, I do so love playing my stealth characters. Says something about my real nature, doesn’t it?

I’m suffering from the onset of a carpal tunnel syndrome thing. A real-McCoy carpal tunnel syndrome thing with numbness in my thumbs and forefingers and the inability to hold a pen and write legibly. This is opposed to a faux carpal tunnel syndrome thing with soreness in my wrists from computer gaming too much and overusing the mouse. That’s what I thought CTS was — wrist soreness — but when I was looking up my symptoms on the innernets last night — as a good lil’ innernet addict should — I discovered that CTS is really indicated by a loss of sensation and/or pain in the thumbs and forefingers. That gave me pause, let me tell you. Serious pause. The “I’m causing nerve damage here” pause.

It’s from the knitting. I know it’s from the knitting because it’s in both hands.

I’ve been a heavy computer user for years and years. Not only am I a Gamer Grrrl, I’m a secretary. The vast majority of my job is word processing. Lots of word processing. I’m coming up on fourteen straight years as a probate and estate planning legal assistant, so I know my word processing, cats and kittens. Boy Howdy do I know my word processing.

I have a significant amount of hours of computer use at the office each workday and I have never, ever, for one second had a problem with my hands. There were a few long weekends when I gave myself “mouse elbow” from hours and hours of EverQuest II, but it wasn’t anything like this — nothing even close to this weird “pins and needles” feeling in my thumbs.

I have declared this a No Knitting Weekend. I’m wearing my wrist braces 24/7. I took ibuprofen all day, but that hasn’t really done much (and I can’t take it together with the extra-strength Vicodin that is my bulwark against My Other Pain I deal with all too often). I’m going to try some cold therapy (i.e., ice in a ziploc baggie) in a little bit.

No Knitting. I can, however, type and use a mouse (while wearing the braces) without much discomfort — not exceptionally well, mind you, but it’s certainly doable. My intention is to level up in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion so I can go and tackle the Shivering Isles expansion.

After the ice, though.

Yes, yes, in a perfect world I wouldn’t be on my computer at all. My alternatives? Reading and watching DVD’s. I’ll spend some time with those activities; I can only read so much without getting restless and watching a movie without yarn and needles in my hands makes me twitchy. I know there are millions of people out there who can sit in front of the television, slack-jawed and content, but I am not of that ilk.

It’s going to be a wicked cold weekend, anyway. It’s best to stay inside. There could be dire consequences otherwise.

The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world. –Leonard Cohen

Last refuge? Not from where I’m sitting. I’d have to say that my overdeveloped sense of superiority to the sleeping world is the first place I head to on my Insomnia Nights. I like my late hours. I don’t like stumbling around the next day in a partial fog, but I do like my late hours. They’re extraordinarily peaceful. If I had my druthers, I would stay up until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. every night and sleep until noon the next day.

There’s not a terrible lot I wish to write about; this is a rather empty blog post. I’m just throwing something out here on the Innernets to let people know that I’m Not Dead Yet, that my Day Job is stressing me to the point where I don’t want to spend too much time in front of my computer when I get home in the evening, and that I’m still working on 3 (or is it 4?) different knitting projects with nary a finished object in sight.

I suppose I’m in some sort of Holding Pattern. Further Bulletins As Events Warrant, cats and kittens.

I was just thinking this morning that I am in Danger of Perpetuating Stereotypes. Not only am I tottering right on the edge of Crazy Cat Lady — what with four cats now and getting a repetitive stress injury in my hands from working on the fourth, yes, fourth, Kitty Pi, not to mention a Kitty Pi made out of Malabrigo, for all love — I’m also well on my way to being a full-fledged, dyed-in-the-wool Knitting Nerd.

Ok, ok. I was a nerd to begin with; I won’t argue with you. It’s just that I have recently realized the depth of my Knitting Lunacy Fixation, and it wasn’t with my blithe and casual use of Malabrigo in the making of a Kitty Pi.

No, the realization dawned when I thought about my reaction to Franklin coming to ThreadBear for his 1,000 Knitters Project.

I think I stopped breathing for a moment.

I’ve been wanting to go visit ThreadBear for a while, and the idea of finally being able to meet one of my favorite bloggers and actually participate in 1,000 Knitters just had me bouncing up and down in my chair with glee — once I started breathing again, that is.

I just hope I don’t go all Fan Grrrrl/Blogstalker on the man.

I’m very thankful it was a short work week. Re-adjusting to a new boss, even though he is a charming and amiable gentleman, isn’t easy for me. I’m feeling more than a little overwhelmed with the changes at the office.

I’ll manage, certainly, but I’ve been having a difficult week with my Never-Ending Chronic Pain. The pain just compounds the stress and wears me out. I’m an introvert; I need a lot of people-free “down time” in order to recharge my batteries — even on my pain-free days. Today it feels that all I truly want to do is take a hot bath and curl up on the sofa with my yarn, a few felines, a Cottage Inn pizza, and a movie; but first, it’s LOLCat Friday!

Feline courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger.

I also have a new book I want to dive into: Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science. Yes, this is what I read for fun (when I’m not knitting, gaming, surfing the innernets, etc.).

I’m hoping it will inspire me to get Item No. 1 off of my list of twelve things to do in this new year. I’ve downloaded the application, had an email exchange with the University about the form my photographs should be in, and should be good to go for FINISHING THIS TASK. It’s been on the Things To Do list for so long it’s laughable.

I plan on rewarding myself with a University of Tennessee sweatshirt when I done with all my paperwork.

But now, it’s time for bath, felines, yarn, pizza, movie.

Not necessarily in that order.

I started work on the fourth Kitty Pi on New Year’s Day.

This photograph shows the humble beginnings of what is to be known as [cue dramatic music] — The Kitty Pi That Ate Cheboygan.

I’m using Cascade Yarns Lana Grande in the Blueberry colorway. Lana Grande can only be described as a super-bulky weight yarn. The label says 2 stitches per inch on size 17 needles. I’m getting about 2.5 stitches per inch on size 11 needles. I’m using the size 11′s because I want this version of the Kitty Pi be thicker/denser than its predecessors. I plan on incorporating Wendy’s pattern modifications which include knitting some extra rounds on the pi, then folding in the edge and hemming it in place before felting, thereby giving you a double-thickness wall; this helps the pi keep its shape.

But Wait! There’s More!

Not only am I knitting extra rounds for the double-thickness wall, I plan on adding another increase round to the pattern. The Kitty Pi was based on Elizabeth Zimmermann‘s Pi Shawl and provides for doubling the stitches every x rows, the x being somehow related to increasing the radius of the circle and 3.14159 and some well-known geometric theory blahblahblah. I really truly don’t care about the math, nor do I care to waste my time explaining the math in a coherent fashion. In reality, here’s what you do:

• Cast on 9 stitches, knit one round.
• Increase the 9 stitches to 18 stitches (I did kfb for every stitch). Knit 3 rounds.
• Increase the 18 stitches to 36 stitches. Knit 6 rounds.
• Increase the 36 stitches to 72 stitches. Knit 12 rounds.
• Increase the 72 stitches to 144 stitches. Knit 24 rounds.
• Blahblahblah, ad infinitum until I decide the sides of the Kitty Pi are high enough and it’s time to felt the blasted thing.

Do you see where this is headed? At its most huge, The Kitty Pi That Ate Cheboygan will have 288 stitches on that poor 36-inch size 11 needle. That’s about 9 1/2 feet in circumference, cats and kittens, if I’m doing the math right (which I probably am not). That’s a serious amount of yarn.

So, after dinner and a bath I intend to plant myself in front of the TV with the first Harry Potter movie and knit my little heart out.

Those cats had better appreciate it…