Ribbit

So, remember Friday? Day of hope, Kauni looking like this:
Then, I sat through five hours of meetings (truly, I am not kidding or exaggerating here -- five), and, whilst I didn't take another picture afterwards, imagine another two beautiful, clearly defined squares on top of what you see in that picture.

I took it home. I looked at it. The squoodgy, smooshy, foggy bit looked a lot more smudged by comparison to clean-cut, delineated squares both top and bottom. I look at it some more. I looked at the picture on the pattern, I went on Ravelry and looked at every single Kauni project there (btw, everyone -- nice work!). None of them had smudgy bits. Mine most definitely did. My bubble burst, and I realized I was going to be seriously bothered by the smudgy bits. A decision was made. By the end of the evening, it was back down to the checkerboard, and one set of squares. Weep.

Rick was a huge help here. I think this might have been strategic. We've been dealing in mutual annoyance for the past little bit (a lot of overwork is contributing to this). But his engineering soul was engaged in the problem of figuring out how to line up a new set of colors so that I'd have a maximum chance of avoiding this problem again (I just don't think I could face it). So we sat on the couch, Kauni on my lap, surrounded by balls of yarn, and plotted. Then, (and here's the bit where I'm pretty sure he was trying to mitigate annoyance) together we ripped. He managed one ball of yarn, and I managed the other (he is a Master Knot Wrangler, fifth rank, after years of kite flying and sailing), and after an hour of work, my hours of work were gone (weep). Also at least a large part of the annoyance -- it's hard to stay annoyed at a person who willingly sits on a couch playing with yarn and saying consoling things during the process of ripping out my heart -- oops, I mean my knitting.

I couldn't post about this yesterday, the pain was too fresh (just kidding, I was actually really busy). But now I can say that I have joined the yarn of one ball in such a way that the color change continues to flow without abrupt shifts, and I have finished one set of squares, and the colors are resolutely staying away from each other, as they should. I know that, after another five or six hours of work when I'm back where I started, I'll be glad I did this.

On better fronts, Tess' soccer team won resoundingly yesterday (4-0). It has been so much fun to watch them play this season (it's also great fun to watch Rick coach -- he's doing an amazing job with them). In spite of the fact that, for the first three games, they had only 0-1 substitute (instead of the 3-4 they were supposed to have), they played their hearts out, and even won one of those games. In some ways, I think that they came together as a team because of it (they were all playing all the time out there on the field). And now, watching them play is pure pleasure -- they're really looking good (note: this is also by comparison to the years when I was watching them play four on four, in a version of soccer that really didn't look very soccer-like at all). Tess is seriously considering trying out for the competitive team next year; she wanted to do it this year, but said that her big regret about playing rec was that her dad had never coached her -- Rick took that hit for us, and saved us the driving and expense of competitive for another year. I'm not sure she was ready this year, but the way she's going, she might be next year.

Yesterday was productive in terms of getting ready for the invasion on Friday night (assuming it happens; there may actually be enough funding leftover to get some hotel rooms -- would that be inhospitable of me? I keep thinking it would be, and then people point out that more bathrooms is never a bad thing. This is true. Whaddaya think?). I cleaned and vacuumed the living room, kitchen, and dining room (this sounds so impressive, until I tell you that they are, for all intents and purposes, one big room -- as a complete aside, my students now habitually write that phrase as "for all intensive purposes"; language change in progress). Also, the kids' playroom and the guest room. Today is for the den and our room, and then things will be in order, assuming we can convince the kids not to move for the next five days.

I'm in a good mood because I am caught up on grading and class prep, at least for this week, and therefore don't feel compelled to work today. I also have been getting enough sleep, which means that tomorrow can be a very productive day, which helps with the not feeling compelled to work at home today thing. If Rick gets my bike fixed and the rain holds off, we might even get a family ride in. Now, if I could only stop lying awake at night before I go to sleep, worrying about what needs to get done in the next two weeks, that would be good. Maybe it's time to invest in a nice bottle of Talisker for some small sipped prior to sleeping. Heh.