It’s been a particularly long “recovery” after this particular conference. I blame the fact that far more equipment was needed this year than in past years as well as the fact that I am 12 years older than I was when I first started this, and I am pretty sure that counts for some exhaustion. There have been heating pads for my back and sore feet and so many extra naps in the two days off that I’ve had since the conference ended. Thankfully I had the dogs to keep me company, they did a lot of napping too.
There’s also been knitting. Well, I did some knitting at the conference. Though far less than typical since more equipment meant a lot more set up and break down. Most notably, I almost brought my down the road and back again shawl to completion. On the final day, I could have finished it but had forgotten my pattern so I wasn’t sure what the final few rows should be. I finished it up when I got home.
It’s very pretty but I don’t intend to knit this one again. It’s not my cup of tea.
I’ve started a bunch more things since. 2 scarves and a sweater for Miss Butterfly. Actually, I started 3 but one of them ended up looking like this:
Yep, one of my knitting projects finally fell prey to a young dog who loves to shred. Mr. Ink was outside “for only 10 minutes” while this happened. You should have seen the ball of yarn! And I lost the needles too. But I was able to salvage the yarn with careful unknotting and hand winding. Obviously, the start of the project was not salvageable. The reality is, that sweet dog is so smart that she knows what she wants and she will absolutely wait until her humans are not looking to go after it. Which means she’s not trustworthy at all “for only 10 minutes.” But, under my watchful eye, she’s not destructive at all anymore.
That’s about it for here, we’ve got a day packed full even though it’s a Sunday, but I am hoping the work week evenings will show me a little bit of downtime this week. And at least there shouldn’t be overtime! (Though I worked overtime on Friday again, completely unexpectedly.)
I’ve got a few new knitting projects to show off so there should be blog posts, and I am already working on one makeup related blog post as well. So, I am hoping I am back in a bit of a routine now. A normal routine. Which will be extremely welcome at this point.
Suzy Sells Sea Shells 
Yarn Rascal was sort of like that when he was young. He would just over love the yarn and project to the death of both if left alone. He has since mellowed. He gets into the projects and yarns but he doesn’t destroy them. In fact, he has his own bin of left-over yarns from my projects that I’ve wound into small round balls for him. His favorites are merino, Shetland, and Buachaille. Won’t touch anything with silk or cotton in it. I don’t use acrylic yarns, but I am pretty sure he would never go near it.
For this dog, it’s BFL! For sure. She’s gotten into yarn before and it was also BFL. This was a BFL handspun that must have smelled particularly good, because she could not leave it alone. I am glad to hear that she’ll likely grow out of it. I keep asking Mr. Ink that. “Dogs tend to grow out of the shredding everything stage, right? RIGHT?!?!” But really, she’s mostly great with just a few moments of not great.
Yes, she will grow out of it.
The shawl is gorgeous! Can I ask why it wasn’t your cup of tea to knit?
I just never took to the pattern. Know what I mean? Sometimes working a particular pattern thrills me for no apparent reason. This was not one of those knits. I think, actually, that I generally don’t like knitting anything with a chevron-ish pattern. So I should try to avoid that. But the finished objects often draw me in even so.
I definitely know that feeling! I hope you still use the finished product as it is pretty:)
Good job on the Down the Road! I finished mine on Friday as well, it’s upstairs drying. I get why it isn’t your cup of tea, in some ways it was a pain. But I think I will knit one again someday, it has a nice way of settling on my shoulders.
I am glad you had two days off, but I think you should take another one next week, someone as wicked old as you takes longer to recover. 😉
Seriously, I bet the napping and knitting felt really good!
I need like another week and a half off, to be honest. But, that’s not so much the conference itself but the cumulative stress. I am thinking maybe extra time off at thanksgiving. We’ll see!
Yes, stress can build up and wear us out for sure. I hope you do get some extra time off soon.
Glad things are calming down for you! What was the conference for?
It’s a scientific conference for faculty and students of specific organisms.