New Year, new beginnings...

Bellydancing. Yep, I'm going to give it a go and give Mark a show for our belated Valentine's Day celebration. I ordered some instructional DVDs and the first delivery arrived today. Discover Bellydance is the name of the 3 DVD set I'll be starting with on Monday. Oh, and Mark is getting me a ring for Valentine's Day as well. Of course we have his boys on that weekend (the 14th is a Friday) as his ex is an absolute monster of a bitter shrew who wants to make sure that no celebration is left unmarred by her and her spawn. More on that later.

The other DVD is Sensual Bellydance and it is on its way. I'm hoping this will not only teach me a fun, sexy skill but also give me a low impact workout and encourage my metabolism to speed up. I am so fat and out of shape these days that it frightens me. 

Good news on his legal stuff. His sentencing date is the 23rd, but the judge sent out a letter saying that the motion to allow him to stay out pending appeal was granted. So as far as I've been able to find out it will be another year or so before there is further movement on this case.

Here is a picture of the ring he's getting me.

Of course it was my decision that he get me a ring and I chose the design, but he didn't hesitate when I told him. He is even considering getting a ring himself. 

I don't like Mondays

It's a cold, wet day today, the kind of day best spent in front of a fireplace with a good book and a calm cat. Alas, I have no fireplace, my cat is insane and hyper most of the time, and I haven't the time right now to settle in for a long session of reading. No, today is for cleaning. I hate cleaning. I am a slob and could happily live in a messy home, but M is not the same way. And since he is off at work all day while I remain here, well, the cleaning naturally becomes my responsibility. I dread it and do just about anything I can to procrastinate. Like writing a blog entry about it. But no, Mondays are for cleaning and the kitchen floor needs to be mopped. *sigh* I fear that Tuesday and Wednesday this week are also for cleaning. Maybe later I'll have a little time for knitting if I get started on the kitchen now...

Out with the Old, In with the New

What a crap way to end the year. December was a really, REALLY bad month. I insist that 2009 be better than its predecessor and will do whatever I have to do to insure that happens. Why was December so bad, you ask?

First there was the death of my uncle Gary Perdue (my father's brother). He and I weren't close and I hadn't actually seen him in many years, but he was family. He had been fighting brain tumors for a couple of years and lasted about 18 months longer than doctors predicted, so it's not like this was unexpected. I do have some vague but fond memories of Gary from my childhood. With him gone now, although I would very much like to reclaim that part of my heritage and be closer to that side of the family I don't know who to stay in touch with to do that.

M had been acting strangely toward me for a couple of months, not as affectionate, more interested in sex but less able to perform, and all but ignoring me in favor of his computer. He would spend all night sitting at his computer typing away with a cryptic smile on his face. I had my suspicions, even made jokes about them, but he denied having any online girlfriends. Then I was using his computer to try to play a game he's enrolled in a beta for. I was trying to find his password when I ran across some devastatingly sexual text. My suspicions were confirmed and I emailed him telling him to call me as soon as he got the message (he was at work). He did so and I told him what I had found. I also told him that he had to choose. Luckily, he chose me. I think in the long run that this will bring us closer together as it seems to have opened up lines of communication that had long ago been shut down. Still, I am hurt and the edifice of trust is slow to be rebuilt. We seem to be on the right track now, though, and I have high hopes for our continued good relationship.

We had his boys with us for Christmas. Enough said about that. They were well behaved and there were none of the pants-pooping problems we've had in the past with the elder boy. (It still burns me up when I think about how much time and effort I put into finding just the right gifts for M and his boys online while he was talking dirty to some woman.) We went to my granfather's house for Christmas Eve with my family and it was good. My grandfather seemed kind of sick, but said it was just a cold although he did tell M that it wasn't fun being old and frail. We went back to his house on Christmas Day fro lunch. It was nice to be surrounded by family. My nephews took M's boys under their wing and they all had a good time. The knitted gifts I made were a huge hit, too.

Then, on the 27th I got the call from my mom. My grandfather had died. I thought I could write about it here but it's too soon. Crap, here come the tears again. He was a great man and I doubt I will ever meet another with his integrity. I'll follow this up when I can, but it's too soon now.J.C. Reynolds
01/17/1927 - 12/27/2008

Goodbye, Grandfather. Your Sugar Baby will always love you.

Classes

I began my Core Java class last night and, well, I must admit to being a trifle disappointed. The instructor is an affable enough fellow, but I didn't feel that he gave the material enough explanation. I worry that if I hadn't already familiarized myself with some of the Java fundamentals that perhaps I would have no idea what he was doing. Or maybe I just prefer having more in-depth explanations of concepts that don't necessarily require them?
Anyway, the class went reasonably well, I suppose, but I don't think it's going to give me what I need to get a certification, so it looks like I'm going back to studying more on my own as well as taking the class. And I still have almost half of my Christmas knitting to finish up. The feather and fan scarf/wrap I'm working on is just not seeming to grow at a rate I find acceptable, so instead of working at it more diligently, I become frustrated and set it aside. Foolish, non?

Phone Gnome pattern

Phone Gnome

A Knitting pattern by Eve Self

Inspired by the iGnome, which can be found for purchase here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_gallery_1&listing_id=16964612

Materials needed:

· Worsted weight yarn in red, blue, pink, brown, black, flesh tone and white. Not much of any color is required.

· Knitting needles, size 6 straights and DPNs. I used size 6 for a firmer fabric.

· 2 beads for eyes, thread and needle to sew them on.

· Snap fastener tool and 4 sets of snap fasteners (only the ‘male’ portion of two of the sets will be used)

· 2 1” X1/4” pieces of wood or metal (to keep the bottoms of the boots flat)

· Tiny scraps of backing fabric for snaps

· Fabric glue (optional)

I got a cheap cellphone and, of course, my first thought was “What can I knit for it?” I remembered seeing a gnomish cellphone cozy on Ravelry, but when I looked again I saw that it was crocheted. I don’t know how to crochet, so I improvised. My first prototype was a nightmare attempt at making the phone gnome in the round. Bad idea. This piece is worked flat and seamed up the side because the color changes don’t work well in the round. The “legs”, however are done on DPNs. You could knit them flat if you prefer, but I hate seaming and avoid it whenever possible.

This Phone Gnome is made to fit a Kyocera Marbl phone. I’m sure making adjustments to fit a phone of another size wouldn’t be too hard and you are certainly welcome to do so.

Okay, I’m not sure how well this will translate into a pattern since I was making it up as I went along, but here are the basics to what I did to make this cute little guy:

Main Body:

With blue yarn, cast on 32 stitches onto straight needles.

Work 5 rows in stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl one row).

Switch to black yarn for 2 more rows of stockinette.

Break black yarn and work again with blue. 1^st row after belt, reduce by 6 stitches evenly across row. (26 sts remaining.)

Work 4 more rows of blue stockinette.

Now we’ll be starting the beard and hair. With blue, knit 6 stitches, join white and knit 2, K10 blue, K2 white, K6 blue.

Next row (I think this is 14): P5 blue, P4 white, P8 blue, P4 white, P6 blue

Row 15: K4 blue, K6 white, K6 blue, K6 white, K4 blue

Row 16: P3 blue, P8 white, P4 blue, P8 white, P3 blue

Row 17: K2 blue, K4 white, K2 pink, K4 white, K2 blue, K3white, K4 red, K3 white, K2 blue

Break blue yarn,

Row 18: P4 white, P6 red, P7 white, P4 pink (break pink), P5 white

Row 19: K15 white, K8 red, K3 white

Row 20: P2 white, P10 red, P4 white, P6 flesh, P4 white

Row 21: K3 white, K8 flesh, K2 white, K13 red

Row 22: P14 red, P1 white, P8 flesh, P1 white (break white), P2 red

Row 23: K5 red, K4 flesh(break flesh), K red to end

Row 24: P red

Row 25: K1, *K4, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(20sts)

Row 26: P

Row 27: K1, *K3, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(16 sts)

Row 28: P

Row 29: K1, *K2, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(12 sts)

Row 30: P

Row 31: K1, *K1, K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(8 sts)

Row 32: P

Row 33: K1, * K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(4 sts)

Row 34: P

Row 35: K1, * K2 tog; rep from * to last st, k1(2 sts)

Break yarn. Draw tail through remaining stitches and secure. Turn inside out and sew edges together. Weave in all ends.

Attach two beads to flesh colored portion to make eyes.

Arms (make 2):

With blue, cast on 4 sts. Work in stockinette for 13 rows

Row 14: knit

Row 15 : bind off

Using flesh colored yarn, pick up 4 stitches from back of row 14. Work in stockinette for ½”

K2 tog twice, break yarn and draw through remaining stitches. Secure then pull tail up to top of hand and tie off then cut very short. I used a drop of fabric glue here.

Take tail from BO end of arm and tack it to the other edge (so that the bottom of the sleeve is more or less round). Sew the cast on edge to the main body so that the cuff is at roughly the same level as the bottom of the body. Weave in any straggling ends.

Put a snap in the middle front and back of the belt, using the scrap fabric on the inside of the body.

Legs:

With black yarn and DPNs, cast on 24 stitches.

Work 1X1 ribbing in the round for 2”. Break black yarn and join brown

I can’t tell exactly what I did with the feet, but basically it was working back and forth with the brown yarn, doing each foot separately. I bound off 2 stitches per foot in front and one in back. Working back and forth, there are 3 rows then 3 stitches cast onto the front of each foot. 3 more rows in stockinette, then 4 rows in reverse stockinette, 3 more in stockinette, bind off the 3 stitches that had been cast on, 3 rows more in stockinette, then bind off.

I used fabric glue and tiny bits of wood inside the bottoms of the boots hoping that it would make the Phone Gnome able to stand up. It seems to have worked, but if you can devise a better method feel free to use it. Weave in all ends.

Apply the snap fasteners so that they correspond to those on the main body.

If everything went according to plan, you will be able to run the charging cord up between your Phone Gnome’s feet and legs and use him when charging your phone.

I frequently carry a very small purse, though, and the legs add too much bulk at times. So I also made an optional strap to keep the phone in the gnome while in transit when the legs are too much. Basically, just knit a black 12 stitch stockinette strip that is 4” long and put another male snap fastener 1” from either end.

So there you have it. And I hope you enjoy it. :)

© November 8, 2008 Cheryl Eve Self
All rights reserved. Please do not sell items made using this pattern without the permission of the designer. Thank you.

Available as .pdf here.

But the Christmas knitting...

On the other hand, my Christmas knitting is going along quite well and on schedule for the moment! I've even figured out just how I am going to distribute the gifts. I don't know if the family will like any of it, but it should be a fun experiment. :)

I'll post some pictures here eventually, maybe when it's all knitted up.

What a (insert approproate expletive) week!

I was over the moon last week with the success of my first pattern posted on Ravelry. To date, over 150 people have downloaded my houndstooth scarf pattern there and a few more here. It is an awesome feeling! So, my confidence up, I contacted an old friend to see about borrowing a substantial sum of money. M's legal issues may result in his being jailed, possibly as soon as January, so I desperately need to make some preparations for my future. This friend had previously offered to lend me the funds necessary to take classes in order to get my Java J2EE certification. I emailed him and asked if the offer still stood. He emailed back in a less than promising manner so I assumed it was a "no". I told him not to worry about it, that it wasn't a big deal, but I was crushed. That was last Monday.

Tuesday, things are going as usual; M left for work a little early and I got up a trifle earlier than usual, but that was because I expected the old friend to call and make his refusal official. (He works nights so early morning calls are more practical for him.) He did call, but not until M had arrived home with the news that he was out of a job. Great. Things were financially just about to look up for us since his oldest child will be turning 18 in November, so no more child support and his car will be paid off in December... but I guess that would have been too easy. He did get a reasonable severance package, so things aren't as dire as they would have otherwise been, but it's still not good news by any stretch of the imagination.

Then my phone call came. The old friend said that he would loan me the money after all. As grateful as I was, I couldn't exactly talk to him long since M had just been laid off and needed me. Still, on the off chance that he ever reads this, Bruce, you truly are a life saver.

So M was at home all week, which I both love and hate. It's so hard for me to get any of my usual work done with him here. Still, it's kind of nice having him around. Saturday he had agreed to accompany me on my errands (which I had put off all week). As always, we took his car since it is in much better shape than mine (oh, my poor car... but that is a story of another day). The dry cleaner we use (had to get his suit interview ready) is basically next door to the apartment complex. So we went and picked up his suit and then his car just...failed. I don't know, it's supposedly something about a vacuum leak. Apparently it's okay once it's warmed up. I certainly hope so since he took it today to an appointment with a headhunter. Keep your fingers crossed that it is going well. With any luck he'll have a job by this time tomorrow. God, I hope so. Please.

It just seems like in the time we've been together (3.5 years come Nov. 1) we have had more than our share of crap like this happen. I am so sick of all the drama and waiting for yet another shoe to drop. Oddly, considering the rest of my life, none of the drama has been mine. His legal stuff, his job problems, his freaking kids and ex-wives, his car repossession, his house foreclosure... I must really love him a lot to stay through all of this. Or maybe I just figure that eventually things will have to start going our way. Surely this streak will have to end soon?