hangover and a sleeve

Some coffee, some puttering...yesterday was an utter waste. I think the previous night's over indulgence of a martini, plus wine with dinner left me with a bit of a hangover. Sad commentary on middle age, no? When one martini + a glass of pinot noir can leave you sluggish and unmotivated the next day.

So to catch up, Lia's now living on the mainland for 4 months. Her last day here was so reminiscent of my last summer's efforts to complete my move here. The meltdowns, the endless to-do list, the things that never got done, and simply had to be handed off to friends at the very end. Marie is keeping her dogs til she gets settled, then she and I will ship them in a couple of weeks. I wonder how it will be, shipping someone elses dogs? Last year, at SFO, I was crying so hard I couldn't see, as I removed Ella's collar and led her into the crate to ship her here. I cried from San Francisco to Vacaville, through a carwash and through a drive-through window at Burger King. I was a hazard on the highway. Even with Cricket being shipped by someone else (and Susie admits to sobbing at the airport in Sydney, as well) it was a harrowing process. I was up every couple of hours, the night of his flight, tracking his progress on Qantas' cargo tracker online.

In knitting news, I finished the lower body of Hourglass. I divided for the yoke, and started a sleeve. "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" recommends a 12-inch circular needle for the sleeves, but my Denise interchangeable needle did not work as such, it felt cramped and the actual needle parts were too long to get a good circular movement going. The 16-inch option was too big. So reluctantly, I turned to my antique earthenware pitcher full of knitting needles, and found some #7 dpns to do the sleeve. I don't mind dpns, really, it's just awkward to get started, especially with a stitch marker, but I'm now a couple of inches into sleeve #1, and so it's just a matter of cranking it out. I've decided I'm going to finish this damn sweater by June 30. 2 months is long enough to spend on an easy sweater. Other projects are calling me, and I need to move on. I need to finish something!It's a tall order, though, and I need to buckle down and get these sleeves done. I think the part where you attach the sleeves and do the raglan shaping on the yoke will be really fun, and will go faster, though.

Anyway, yesterday was devoted solely to fiddling with Hourglass and moping around the house. At 5:30, I decided what I needed was exercise, and so packed up the dogs and went for a trail run of about 2 miles at St. Louis Heights, for the sunset. Nice. I felt better than I had all day, sweaty and strong, and suspect that if I'd gone for the run at 10am instead of making more coffee, I'd have gotten more done. Or at least felt friskier. Ahhh, well.

Today, I am making quiche from scratch. Well, not the crust. But I have the eggs, spinach, mushrooms, ham, cream and cheese all waiting for me in the fridge. I was gonna do it yesterday,(see hangover) but had hot dogs for dinner instead, to P's great delight. One person's failure is another person's joy, I guess.