Busy, and Socks

I've been busy with all sorts of things the last couple of months trying to get stuff started with the practice, and I guess it's mostly working. I'm working with a client on all the details that crop up before a divorce can be finalized, I have a probate hearing in a week and a half, I'm working on wills for a couple of people, and in theory I have a trial in July on a civil matter. It's not like I have nothing to do. I probably have about the right amount going on considering my experience level. I'm just not making any real money yet, and sometimes that's keeping me up at night.

Meanwhile, because the grass is always greener, I wish I had more criminal defense work even though the last two criminal defense clients stiffed me. (See previous comment about lack of money keeping me up at night.)

I registered with the state bar's referral service, and so far I have had one referral from them, an individual who did not tell me the whole truth about why his probation was being revoked. He then proceeded to stand me up for three appointments in a row, and then ceased to call back after I explained to him that I was not going to be able to give him a payment plan and he'd have to come up with the fee up front. (Once again, see previous comment about money and previous defense clients.)

So I shouldn't complain. Instead I make socks. A week or so ago I finished a pair of self-striping blue socks out of one of last year's Aktion limited edition colors.

The yarn was a gift from either Minirth or Goldenbaer at the group Yule party last winter, as one of them had bought it and then decided they didn't like it much. I think everyone has figured out that I'm a sucker for self-striping yarn, so I ended up with it. I used the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe. The length is good but for some reason these have really baggy ankles.

I'm also half finished with Pomotamus. I guess what I have here is one and a half Pomatami. These are a blast to knit, but really? They're all ribbing. I love how they look and how they feel, but after a few rows the construction gets a little tedious. Still, they're so pretty I bought pretty little stitch markers especially for them.

Because they're really stretchy, what with being all ribbing, the first one fits great and the second one probably will too. If the thought of doing another pair of these didn't make me feel a little faint (the ribbing! no more! have mercy!) I'd probably make these my default socks made for other people because they're impressive, pretty, and likely to always fit without being baggy. Cookie A. is a genius, but I think she may be the slightly mad kind of genius.

Tonight I'm going to go knit at Minirth's. Really, I'm going to take my knitting and valiantly try to keep it out of the paws of the new litter of kittens over there. I might knit. I might also do some spinning, and if I think of it I'll take some pictures of that too.

Cough, cough. Hack!! Cough. Cough, cough.

We spent most of the week after Christmas in New Orleans. I had a great time, but now I can't find one of the cables for uploading pictures from my camera, so pictures from the trip (and any stash acquisitioning of late) are going to have to wait.

I went back into the office on the third, and I felt fine, which was nice because I'd been sick with respiratory crud and sore throat crud and coughing crud until right before the holiday. Unfortunately, I must have picked up a variant of the crud that I haven't had yet in NOLA from one of the visiting football fans (I'm blaming the Hawaiians) because along about 6-ish my throat started to burn. I spent the next day at home, working only insomuch as I was answering the phone and made a few calls to cancel appointments for that day. I'd meant to take Friday off, but I had to work because I stayed home on Thursday.

My quest this weekend has been to feel well enough that going to court in Denton on Monday won't kill me. This would be particularly nice considering that I have another client with an appearance in Denton on Wednesday. I also have clients coming in on Thursday. I need to be well, but it's hard to get well when I'm having trouble sleeping due to a racking, tearing cough that is trying to live in my chest. At this point, my best hope is that it's not pneumonia. I do not have time for this crud.

But knitting doesn't count as work, so I've sat with my feet up and done a lot of knitting while watching all the Lord of the Rings movies again. I've gotten Arwen to the point where I'm supposed to graft the cables at the end of the sleeves and then cast off the rest of the sleeves. I know I'm sick and that I haven't slept well in days, but, uhhh, wtf is with this sleeve construction?? I can't seem to find all the stitches to pick up so I can come up with this mythical "invisible" graft, and I'm wondering if I give a damn about that at this point. I'm also sort of flummoxed at the idea that I graft the cuffs but then just cast off the rest of the sleeve and sew that up later. It makes no sense to me to do this. I've ended up putting the sleeve on holders (cables on one, the rest of the sleeve on another) (thank you, knitpicks!) and I'm going to go on with the hood. I'm hoping it will make more sense when I can go for more than two minutes without a pause to try and hack up a lung.

I'm scared that I'm going to be sorry about all the time I've put into this thing. I've had an assload of trouble understanding the construction, and from what I'm seeing on Ravelry there are a lot of people who have had trouble with the sleeves. Almost no one seems to have done the whole sweater exactly as designed, which should have been a big red flag to me. Everyone seems to have modified the sleeves in some way, so I can't be the only person having the omgwtf problem here.

I hope I can figure out how to finish the sleeves in a way that looks okay, and that the right side works out better (without being a different size somehow than the left side). I'm really freaking out over here.