i'm addicted to yoga

It's like a drug. I love it so much. Especially when it's HARD and it HURTS. I've never liked exercise. I ran around in the yard and climbed a lot of trees and swam a lot as a child, but actual exercise... that was something else entirely. It's probably just because I was teased a lot as a child. I was awkward, I was kind of weird, I liked to read and play music and be by myself (these are still among my favorite activities), and when it came to gym class I was ALWAYS the kid who got hit in the face with the soccer ball (seriously.) and it would break my glasses.

Also, I apparently have some kind of weird double-jointed elbows or something because at yoga tonight I could do something with my arms that I shouldn't be able to. And trust me, it wasn't HOT. Just kind of creepy and weird.

So, here's one of the MANY items I've been knitting lately, on paper-writing breaks:

From knitting

It's slow going, only knitting on breaks from writing a paper. But it's going to be a cold-weather headband thingy, because I'm vain and I hate putting a hat over my hair. I got the idea here: from this craftster thread. But I've been altering the pattern quite a bit, and I'll post the results here when I'm done. Basically, it's a long ribbed thing that gets wider in the middle, and when I'm done I'll sew the ends together. It's in this really sexy cashmere that I got for cheaps off ebay. (this seller) It's probably the fanciest fiber I've ever knit with, and it feels AMAZING in my hands. Buttery, even. I can't wait to have it on my FACE.

From knitting

That picture comes nowhere close to revealing the sexiness of that yarn. I am ashamed for even having taken it. The one of the headband in progress is better, actually. That way you can see the nice halo. The yarn fuzzes up quite a bit when it's knit, but it's not shedding everywhere...

But seriously, I am for some reason extremely sensitive about even slightly scratchy things touching my face. (Perhaps this is related to my other issues concerning personal space and touching?)

The other great thing about this project (besides the fact that I'm going to have something very warm and fuzzy on my ears that won't mess up my hair very, very soon) is the needles I'm using:

From knitting

(yes, and that one is slightly blurry, isn't it. Well, I tried my best.)

Those are CLASSIC. Red heart brand. With little hearts on the end! And they're plastic, and you know, they're really not bad! (size US4) Besides their inherent cuteness factor, I love them because they were my grandmother's. She died this summer, and she was the last grandparent I had. And the toughest. (this is the understatement of the century. she was an awesome lady.) It was so sad and bizarre when my parents and I went to her place for the weekend of the funeral.

(A little background is required here: my parents live in Oregon. Everyone else in the family is in New Hampshire. We always stay at my grandmother's house when we go to visit.)

There was a lot. of stuff. in that house. There was a lot of stuff related to crafting. If you name a craft, chances are my grandmother did it one point or another and there were supplies for it in that house. Most of what was there was to be negotiated between my grandmother's four children, but clearly no one was interested in the yarn/knitting/crochet supplies besides me and my mom. My grandmother could never knit with me because when I took it up (in college, probably about 7 years ago) she was already too arthritic to deal with needles and yarn. Most of the yarn that was in her house was old acrylic and realistically, I'm just not going to do anything with that and there are other people out there that would buy a big bulk lot of that, and/or actually use it... There were lots of needles, though, and I did manage to find quite a bit of wool, and I've started making a blanket for my dad with some of it. (pictures as soon as there is more than an inch worth of knitting to show you) These needles with the hearts are my favorites, though.