Cats and yoga

Cats and yoga are hilarious. It only goes to show how long I've been off my mat; the last time I did my sun greetings was probably when I still lived in Boxtel.
Last night I tried my hand at the first beginner's lesson from the free YouTube channel I started following. It was ridiculously hard -- which only goes to show it's a good thing to return to practicing! I got to thirty-five minutes and then had to stop.

Doortje and Kwibus were absolutely mesmerised. As soon as I was lying down on my mat, Doortje came to wash my face. "Hello boss. Whatcha doin'?"
And Kwibus made it a game to walk under my legs as I made tunnels for him. *sigh* It was nice of them to help me, though. Couldn't have done it without them. And it adds a dimension to your twists if there's suddenly a soft snootleboop at your elbow.

I did find the pacing awfully slow, but as I was yoga'ing right before bed it helped me relax and it might also pick up in later lessons. And I found it very hard to do. I'm not nearly as limber as I remember myself to be. And there was a sitting stretch of the shoulders -- placing elbows back as far as is comfortable and leaning into the shoulder to open them up -- that was hell on my elbows. Some of my muscles wanted to cramp up as soon as I started working or stretching them, so I need to take my magnesium, and get a better warm-up!

So: yoga! Building a little time into my day for some mindfullness (good!), limbering up (good!) and getting some exercise in (good!). Sounds like just the right thing for me.
(And ouch. I can feel my muscles now!)

Project Dump

Today was one of those days where I run around and get things done. Eisirt has two night shifts in a row, so I had set my alarm to wake me up as he got home, we had coffee together and then I ran off and he went to bed.

Picked up fabrics I ordered, cut a made-to-measure men's shirt and drafted two pattern blocks. Then I went home, edited some pictures, wound skeins of yarn into balls in preparation for the Sock Madness and got on with finishing project pages.
Sometimes you have fast projects that get used right as they fly off the needles and you never get good pictures. It's important that I do take the time to take pictures, especially at the atelier.

I've also been picking up and finishing small projects before the Sock Madness, because I feared they would be forgotten (no, not the Morgenfryd. Duh.)



These are the finished Socks of Joy, a late gift for Tyldak's birthday. She seemed very pleased with them. I am happy they're done and I could take stock of how fast I knit these days. Second sock from start-of-heelflap to toe in two evenings. And these are a pretty large size.



With the Socks of Joy done, I picked up this little WIP. I made myself one in red, this one is for Kat. They're not a lot of work (just an evening of ribbed short rows) but I'd put them aside. Now finished, photographed and ready for delivery tomorrow. The back closes with two buttons.



And finally a picture of the Casu Cowl I knitted for windsong. I love it, it's shown me how I *can* have 100% wool on my skin. This is of course Cascade 220 Heathers. Same yarn I use for my Bodemloos sweater.
I am tempted to frog it and knit it again, but without the lace panel. The double seed stitch stays nice and flat, but the lace edge curls over -- blocking does not make it stay put, of course. Hm. Maybe one day.

Let's see which of my projects I'll take along tomorrow!