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is complete! I love it.

Specs:
Pattern: Ariann, by Bonne-Marie
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic, gray, 8.3 skeins used, 1270 yards
Needles: US 6
Size: 45.5

Mods:
I lengthened the body a bit, about an inch. And OHMYGOD I made the classic mistake. I missed an "at the same time." Oh, holy cow, my math wasn’t working out right, and I’d done most of the raglan decreasing. Oh, yeah. I forgot to make the neckline. But you know me! It’ll never be noticed from a trotting horse! So I improvised the collar, and I have to say, I like it like this. I like the V-neck written in the pattern, but I like this better.

The reclining pose.

The disco pose!

One of favorite parts of the sweater: I finally found a use for some Edwardian (yes, from the 1880s) buttons I got at Stitches last year. They were a hefty splurge, and I got eight, and only used four on this, so I get to look forward to using them again! I think they are the most gorgeous things ever. I lurve them.

All cleavage aside, check out Willie’s expression. It looks like he’s watching a spider drop from the ceiling. God, I hope he wasn’t.

Adah says stop screwing around! Feed me!

I finished Ariann today. More pictures later this week. Too busy now.

Just got off work where I ate cheese for 12 hours, and now I’m going to eat turkey that Lala’s made. Hooray!

I am thankful for you. Very, very thankful. Mwah.

https://rachaelherron.com/i-finished-aria/

Spent time this weekend chilling out in San Francisco, which was good. Went in with Lala on BART on Sunday. We looked at bicycles (did you hear she’s doing the AIDS ride? I’m so proud of her) and ate at ChaChaCha because tapas are fun and because ginger drops are delectable.

And yesterday, on a whim, my sister Bethany and I headed in on the ferry for a little walk-around.

It was gorgeous, clear and sunny, flat water, no wind. The best way to approach the City.

We had lunch with Lala and then just walked around. We wrote a little at the Ferry building (both sisters are also Nano-ing) and searched hotels for an elusive secret button we’d heard about (at ____ hotel, if you push floor 30 three times, the button will light up and you’ll be granted access). We just couldn’t really remember which hotel it was. I can tell you it is not the Embarcadero Hyatt. I do love how we got so hopefully on the elevator, only to find that it went to floor 19. How did we not NOTICE that it was a short building and could not possibly have had anywhere near thirty floors?

AND I SAW MY BOYFRIEND.

Anthony Bourdain had just given a reading which I missed, sad sad sad, but he was still signing books. And he pointed at ME! Sure, he was pointing at me because he thought I was taking the picture of that guy standing next to him (as if), but he saw me for a second. And why he didn’t stand up right then and profess his undyling lust and devotion to me, I’ll never understand. It’s okay, Tony. We can be secret lovairs. Call me.

Now I am at work. I started my 74-hour work week a little early, and will be at work FOREVER. Or so it feels.

But I won’t whine. It’s good money, and it’s a good place to work. I had a field-save the other day, where I gave CPR instructions and a guy went from being dead to not-dead, thanks to the good compressions his caller performed. So that was good.

And I get to knit here. I’m almost done with Ariann. Also good. I wish I had some chocolate, though.

Did you know they have Cadbury Christmas Creme Eggs now??? I think they’re supposed to be tree ornaments, so they took out the yellow part of the creamy yolk, because everyone knows that tree ornaments don’t have yolks, and Easter eggs do (?) but they taste just the same. Only they’re smaller. Again. They are shrinking them every chance they get. But I will keep buying them. Yep.

That is all. As you were.

But doesn’t really like Willie much.

(Just look at that butt! All furry! He’s healthy! And alive!)

Banger needs to quit trying to upstage Digit. That’s all I know.

My favorite two words (meaning-wise) are Create and Truth. I especially like them together. Even though it sounds like a pretty way of saying lying, creating truth, to me, means writing fiction.

Which, apparently, I love to do.

I started Nanowrimo this year as a cheat. Kind of. I’m writing non-fiction. Creative non-fiction. According to Cybele, one of the Nanowrimo ringleaders, this is considered kind-of-okay, as long as it isn’t journalistic fact-checking newspaper kind of stuff. They’re putting together another challenge for those folks. Gotta be creative, that’s all.

My writing is certainly not the fact-checking kind. Oh, it is so very far from it.

In fact, I’ve found that I’m bored. Or I was bored. Apparently, when I’m bored I spice things up a bit.

I’m writing non-fiction. Therefore, I’m writing about things that Have Happened. I know that truth is subjective in many ways — no one remembers the same thing the same way. Everyone who writes about the past is fabricating somehow. Everyone.

But oh, lord, I am making stuff up, not realizing I am doing so, and then BELIEVING IT! I was writing a scene where I broke up with someone over something, and I was all upset, pulling the faces I make when I write dialogue. While I was trying to figure out what was going to happen next, I realized that I shouldn’t have to figure it out — I should know. Since it had already happened and all. But I had made myself into a character, and my girlfriend was another one, and none of this had ever gone down. But I was writing it as if it had, and more, I was believing myself. And I was mad at the ex!

SO much more enjoyable. So much easier to write! More fun!

So I have abandoned myself to writing what I am calling a fictional memoir. That makes me happy for three reasons:

1. I am fully qualified to be in the Nanowrimo challenge. Although I wasn’t too stressed about it. It’s Nano. (Half-way party tonight at Juans! Woot! I’m over 30,000 words!)

2. Dude. I had a great reason here and I just forgot it. Oh, well. 

3. I don’t have to worry about sticking to the boring facts. I can throw in what I want, where I want! I just made three people up! People with whom I had a fake, never-happened conversation. I can tell you, the fictional me has sparkling conversational skills. Yup.

HOWEVER: I will forestall worries you might have about me James Frey-ing it — I don’t predict this being published anytime soon if ever, and by then I will have figured out what to do with it, what to call it, but I promise I won’t call anything non-fiction that isn’t. That I promise. (But why would you believe me? When I can’t even believe myself! Oh, it’s so much fun.)

Digit update: OHMYGOD he’s so good. And you know what else? HE’S ALIVE. That’s my very favorite part of him, even more favorite than his soft, wet nose. Here’s a shot of me, two weeks ago when I had that flu. There are five animals on the bed with me – two kittens, Miss Idaho at my feet, and a dark Harriet to the left. AND DIGIT! My Digit. (Your Digit, too.) More pictures and maybe a video next week? When I get them out of the camera?