sleep when i die

This is the last thing I saw before I went to bed on Tuesday (or actually it would have been early Wednesday morning) and had I paid attention, it would have been the same last night as well:

... which is to say there's been a notable lack of sleep the past two nights. In the not so distant past, this would have been an indication of something bad, something keeping me awake, preventing me from resting easily, plaguing my troubled mind, inspiring tossing and turning all freaking night long. But, luckily, the lack of sleep for the past two nights can be attributed to much more pleasurable pursuits than noisome insomnia.

Tuesday found me at Ruta Maya until 11:00pm. I've spent the last two Tuesdays at the coffee house with a new friend, chatting the evening away with him and watching a large array of characters mill about. It was also storming this week and we had a nice view of the lightning and rain from the patio. Brian's very interesting - he's an artist and dresses as a woman - a unique combination, but not all that strange in Austin. This Tuesday, he painted my portrait, which turned out very cool. I'm knitting in the painting, but there's no way you could identify the green blob as knitting so I thought that was rather amusing (the painting has other abstract qualities - my face is pink and purple - so it's not all that odd to have a green, blobby, not-all-that-identifiable thing in the corner).

So I was knitting a swatch at the coffee house and it was the only thing I had to work on because I'd used all the yarn I had with me for Shaped Triangle and it turned into Super Swatch, totaling 100 rows of garter stitch, because, well, it was the only thing I had to work on and it was in the portrait and all. I was enjoying the yarn - Merino Lace from Heirloom Knitting - as well, don't get me wrong, so it wasn't a bad thing by any means. The swatch is for the Big Project. And since I only bought some sample yarn to see if I liked it, I needed to finish my swatch, get the sucker blocked, and decide if it was The Yarn for the Big Project. This all needed to happen before I could go to bed or at least that's how I felt about it. Sleep or swatch - there was really no competition.

   

That is not the color I will but using for the Spring Shawl (I'll surprise you with that when it arrives), but I'm going to go for the yarn. The pattern recommends using Jamieson and Smith Cobweb (of which I have rather a lot), but the Merino Lace is SO much softer than the Cobweb that there's really no competition. The Cobweb is much more delicate and fragile than the Merino Lace, so that's another Merino Lace benefit. The swatch did shrink a bit as it's sat, which I've read Merino has a tendency to do, but the shawl is huge and I don't think a somewhat smaller final product would be a bad thing. I'm going to swatch some of the lace patterns while I wait for the real yarn to arrive from England just to confirm this is a good yarn choice. Gotta do something while I wait, after all, because I'm starting the edging of Shaped Triangle tonight. Perhaps there will be some blocking this weekend?

Last night was also spent at Ruta Maya (I'm not sure I feel comfortable confessing how many times I've been to the coffee house in the past few weeks, let's just say it's leaning toward the excessive side of the spectrum in my opinion). I went to see the Asylum Street Spankers with my brother. I'm so in love with this band, especially this guy. Sure, he has a mohawk in the picture but he had regular hair last night and a kickin' hat, and while I don't understand having a name like Sick (surely his momma didn't give him that name), he is an incredible performer and, in all honesty, sang a song that completely and totally turned me on. Is it even possible to resist lusting after a musician who does that? And if it is possible, why would you want to? Alas, the Spankers are going on tour and their website doesn't list them in Austin much at all, so they may be spending the rest of the year away which is a very sad thing since I just found them. They didn't finish playing until midnight, clearly cutting into my shut eye time, so that made for night two of less sleep than should have been had.

I may not have been the sharpest needle in the haystack today, but I've really enjoyed not sleeping the past few days.

Comments

[Jess]

It sounds like you're enjoying yourself - to hell with sleep, it's overrated ;o)

I dated a complete dog of a musician just because of how he looked at me while he sang so yes, it is impossible to resist. *grin*

[Jessica]

I just checked out the link you had for the shaped triangel shawl - that thing is gorgeous! I might just have to knit that myself - It looks good and big - that's how I like my shawls. Now if only I had me some zephyr!

[Cordelia]

It's gorgeous. That is one Very Large Shawl indeed; will you wear it as portrayed, or fold it up?

I'm glad you're having so much fun! Gotta love going out. :-)

[Cassie]

Sleep is seriously overrated. There's much more time in the day when you cut down.

[jody]

lace knitting...cute guys...great bands...funky artists...and way too much caffeine.

you may not be getting much sleep but it sounds like you're having a ball.

maybe i should chop off my hair too ;)

[terby]

Whoa. Now THAT'S some serious lace!