Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Adaptive sleeping, knitting etc



Yep, another blog about sleep stuff.
I guess I need to just accept my new normal sleep cycle. Basically, I go to sleep pretty early (between 10 and midnight) sleep between 4 and 5 hours, get up, do some work, then take a nap later. Since fighting the cycle seems to make for nights with absolutely no sleep, I think I'll give in and just live with this.
The good news is that I am being productive again. The sleep deprivation sucked in and of itself, but what really bothered me the most was that I couldn't work.
The past few days, early in the morning, I have managed to create some graphs and write some patterns for upcoming stuff. I am going gangbusters on the Withig cowl, and plan to have two sizes; a standard loose summer cowl, and a wimple length good for fall or spring, especially if knit in warmer yarns.
I figured out the stranded sweater will not work in the Comfy Bulky (it's not quite springy enough for stranded work) but I will try it in some Swish worsted (machine washable wool).
The Comfy will be perfect for a version of the sweater above, though (modeled by Sean).
I also have the itch to graph out a shawl using two or three different lace patterns. I think that will happen in the next week or so.
My friend Lynx started a fan group on Ravelry for people who enjoy Otterwise Designs, called Otterphiles. Some of the members have said they would be delighted to test new patterns, so I am working on getting a few shawl patterns ready for testing; one in knit, one in crochet.
Oscar has this week off, as a celebration of his 50th birthday (tomorrow!). We are celebrating by spending time with family, mostly.
He also will update otterwise.com, but I need to get the photos and text ready for him first. Perhaps that would be another good early morning job.
And then there are the book reviews. I love doing them, but sleeplessness got me a bit behind. I want to get a few more of those done this week as well.
It is HOT this week, too. I am so very grateful for our air conditioner.
(photos: Sunflower and Sean in his big sweater)

4 comments:

Ria said...

Happy Birthday to Oscar! Enjoy your time off!

Glad you can work again, although since it was 104 in the town I work in ( 96 at home - good thing about woods, lake and elevation) a sweater makes me want to cry, so I'm working on socks!

YOU HAVE MY SLEEP CYCLE NOW! Seriously I go to bed between 1030 and midnite depending on the day, wake up between 230 and 5 depending on what time I went to bed. I go to work sometimes 4, 430 or 5am. I'm home between 130 and 3, probably 3 days a week and one weekend day i take a 1-3 hour nap in the afternoon. I've been doing that for years now.

Kym said...

Sean is such a little charmer! What a cutie! So glad your sleep schedule has stabilized a bit and you're feeling more productive. In this heat, that's a Really Good Thing. Happy Birthday to Oscar. :-)

momtroll said...

Sleep gets to be a bummer for me, too. I some times get up hot and put water on my face and arms or more. It helps to cool me off so I can get back to sleep. Sometimes I go to another bed as it is cooler. If I still do not get enough sleep, during the day when I get sleepy, I lay down and set the timer for ten to twenty min. That seems to do the trick. Sometimes I need a couple of naps during the day. The first one can come as early as after breakfast.
I am looking forward to celebrating the 50th year with Oscar and you.

AlisonH said...

That describes my father to a T. He was raised a very early bird, loves to be a night owl, and so does both with a nap during the day often. Has done so, happily, forever.

I love that sweater and that's one happy little boy! And happy birthday, Oscar!