It's the Last Day of September

This is what I started with

September & October are my favorite months of the year. Even when I was a little kid I loved them which is strange considering most kids love December for Christmas or the month they were born. I love the gusty wind when the sun shines. I love to buy school supplies & still get that itch when school starts in September. I love the cool nights so I can cuddle under my flannel covered quilt with the window wide open. I love rolling in the leaves, picking apples & the smell of wood smoke in the air. And best of all, I love wearing a big comfy sweater over my shorts & sneaks when I take a dog for a walk. I'm not taking walks with my sore knee - yeah, it's still sore - but I'm taking a few more steps on my Gazelle. 

And knitting a Poncho Pullover to wear.

And this is what I'm getting

  I had the darned thing down to the armholes which I put on strings & had moved into working on the body when I realized something was wrong. Went back to the pattern & found that I missed a section & should have more stitches on than I actually did .  .  .  .  sigh. Spent three evenings TINKing it back to where I split the sleeve openings from the body & have now added back what I took off & then some. Another evening or so in front of the tube & I should be well on the way to the hem - how 'bout some good dramas, Knowledge Network??? Public TV?? Anyone?? There's nothing like an evening of good Murder Mysteries to move that knitting right along.

Technology Still Sucks

My computer is back in action. Sort of. The guts of my computer are working more or less - the inside of the box is exposed to the world & it sits on my desk in all it's naked glory with no fan covers, no side panels, minimum hardware holding everything in it's place & cords running everywhere except to my printer & fax machine. At least I have a keyboard I can use, a mouse, speakers & can find my email again. I can even pay my bills again. It's amazing how much of my life is occupied by computers.

Nine whole days - more or less - without a fully functioning computer, made me have to withdraw from one of my Coursera courses & fall behind in the other. Yesterday, I did manage to redeem myself in the remaining course - assignments have no specific 'due date' thank gawd - so I was able to make up two weeks work & three quizzes on Sunday. My ass was reshaped into a chair shape after that marathon session!!! How did I do that?? you ask. Well, who doesn't love Dinosaurs??? The course is Dino 101, put on by the University of Alberta. They teach in audio lessons, interactive puzzles, short quizzes & actual sessions out on a dig site in Edmonton & Drumheller, south of Calgary. We started with skulls & hip bones & have worked our way out to Walking & Eating. And in case anyone just noticed, I was so busy catching up on Sunday that I actually worked a week in advance & didn't even notice until this morning!

So, with all this time on my hands without a computer, did I finish knitting anything?? Nope. Started a second sock. Tinked several rows of my 'Poncho Pullover' because I decided it needed to be longer from shoulder to armhole after I tied off both sleeves and knit several body rows .  .  .  . Wound all the balls & skeins of blue yarn into centre-pull 'cakes' for that 'Poncho Pullover'. And spent almost 4 days removing viruses & mal-ware from a loaner lap-top only to find I accidentally removed the wireless internet connection software as well. I just wanted to kill something with a hammer.

Sometimes Technology Sucks

I've never been a laptop fan. In fact, I hate them! Since my desk-top is once more being worked on, I'm reduced to a laptop. I think the worst part of it is not having  the equipment I need to make it functional. I mean, how can you operate properly with only ONE USB port??? And no mouse??? I need at least three operating USB ports just to run the every day stuff. Haven't figured out where to put the camera yet or the printer. I just hope my old desk-top comes home soon, sob, since my neck is also complaining about the unnatural position it has to be in for me to operate. It's like knitting socks from the toe up in the wrong yarn & jumbo needles when you always work from the cuff on down with your favorite DPs in size 1. Nothing feels right.


Good thing I've got my knitting. The Poncho Pullover is 6 rows from the armhole split & it looks like I'll have tons of blue yarn leftover. I plan on knitting the body in one color only but will have some fun with the sleeves. Maybe I'll throw in some orange or purple stripes for fun.

Chilly at Night

I know it looks like I've been a procrastinating, lazy so & so but it isn't the truth. I just had too much to do to get at the blog. I meant to take photos but the day seems to go by so fast that it's dark by the time I get to the computer & I can't get a good shot. I'm just not good with a camera - I just point, pray & click - hopefully, something useable comes out on the memory card .  .  .  . Like the current short sock. I just love this blend of color from Regia. Unfortunately, I only had one ball. I probably got it in the bargain bin when Knitopia was closing & I had no idea how beautiful it would be when knit. I'd love a whole sweater in this colorway. Sigh.

I finished my 'Emergence of Life' course with Coursera! Had a great time, struggled a time or two with assignments but finished it just in time to start two more. I think I've bitten off more than I can chew though so one may have to go. I'm taking 'Dino 101' taught by the U of Alberta - who better with all those dinosaur museums & digsites from the Peace River in the north to Drumheller in the south!! They're finding new dinosaurs every week too. Follows the first course nicely too. 
The second course is 'Useful Genetics' taught by a purple haired prof at UBC. It's going to be the one with a lot of work. And I'm not sure I can do both. Too many courses & not enough time!!!

And yes, I'm still working away at sweaters for me. Since the weather has become quite chilly at night, a sweater will soon become a necessity. Especially since my pals & I have found a new Tim Horton's with outside tables. I'm plodding a little on the Panel Sweater from the Cabin Fever book - 'Need an Ample Cardigan'. It's quite light, in my favorite screaming Magenta - I think I actually caught it's real color for a change - but will probably be worn at home in the office this winter when its cold.


The sweater I've been concentrating on is the 'Poncho Pullover' from Cabin Fever. Knit from the top down with a nice snug collar & no buttons or zips, it's a great casual, pullover sweater for every day. I'm using up a bunch of Briggs & Little Heritage that I bought in the 'Clearance' bin in every shade of blue they had, including the Anniversary Twist they put out for their birthday - I believe it was the 125th year of operation. I have a lot of blue as well as lots of bits & pieces in every color B&L makes. At one time I thought about a 'Patchwork' sweater in all the colors but after knitting a sample strip, I changed my mind. The Poncho is just about to the point where I can split for the sleeves. This is an easy knit that anyone could do - especially a teen wanting to knit for her/himself.

Wasn't that a Rainstorm???

I was sitting, finishing off a late lunch, when the sound of pouring water startled me.  I jumped up, opened the front door, and peered out into the heaviest rainstorm I've seen in a very long time. It was raining so hard, the eves-troughs & downpipes couldn't handle the load so it sheeted off the roof edges. It was the sort of downfall that makes you pull over to the side of the road because you can't see even with the wipers on HIGH. And the last time I saw anything like it, it came with pink ball lightening bouncing across a very large lake. And it reminded me that winter isn't very far off.

Winter, in the Vancouver, B.C. burbs usually isn't cold enough to wear a Cowichan Sweater unless you work on a boat, work up in the air welding a metal building skeleton, work up a mountain on a ski hill, walk a beat at night, sleep outdoors or wait for a bus. A lot of us don't even own boots. We do get cold spells where everything freezes solid but they seldom last for more than a couple of weeks. We even get a bit of snow most winters. But, most of us run to & from vehicles of some sort & get by with hoodies, touques, scarves & mitts. Waterproofed hoodies, touques, scarves & mitts.

I love wool in all it's incarnations. I wear wool socks to keep my formerly cold feet warm, even when they're wet. I have yet another pair on the needles as I type. And I have three - yup - three sweaters on the go for this winter. I am just about to the hem of my top-down, circular yoked wool sweater in a light sport weight yarn. I haven't decided yet what kind of hem to finish it with. For a change, I won't be using my usual ribbing. Maybe a seed or double seed finish?? This one is light enough for Fall when you just need something to take the chill off. I don't even think I'll bother with buttons even though I bought Lady Bug ones.

Number two is worsted commercial wool - also top-down - I really, really hate sewing things together!!! I wanted a hoodie but I have enough stomach already & don't need a 'pouch' to draw attention to it, so the pouch went. I also didn't want the usual ribbing - I thought a slight A-line with boob & belly short rows would work better. Doesn't look much like a hoodie anymore, does it?? So I thought I might as well do the Poncho Pullover.

Number three is not actually wool but instead is a comfy acrylic that will be able to wash & dry often to keep me warm in my cold office. Another top-down with boob & belly short rows in a light worsted yarn from "Need an Ample Cardigan?". I just have to find some good Detective shows or Dramas on the tube to help me knit like mad to get these done on time.   .   .   Just discovered the damn camera battery is dead as a doornail. Pictures next time .  .  .

Baby, it'll be cold out there

Most of my knitting lately seems to be socks. They're familiar, safe, small, portable, necessary when you have cold feet all the time & easy to work on anywhere. My little project bag fits into the book bag I use as a purse these days, right next to the porta-cup with the straw, my Kobo full of Murder Mysteries & the wad of paper napkins I seem to collect.

I started that Magenta top-down Panel Sweater from Cabin Fever but I'm still following the pattern in the book so it's not portable. So, it always seems to be a sock that goes into my bag.

While having a late lunch on my patio yesterday, I noticed I could sit out there almost all afternoon. Since my patio faces west, for most of the summer it's unbearably hot out there between 3 & 7 in the afternoon. Yesterday, was the first day since June that I could do that. And that means that Fall & Winter aren't too far away. I've never been a hat, glove or scarf wearer, even in the dead of winter. Most of my outside time in winter is spent dashing to & from a building & the car except for coffee time sitting outside at Starbucks during menopause. The last couple of years though, sitting outside after October has been uncomfortable. And cold.

This year I've been thinking more & more about gloves & hats. My fingers burn anytime but tend to burn more in the damp. They don't seem to care whether it's hot or cold as long as it's DRY. If I can't be dry, then I have to be warm. A couple of years ago, I knit Spirogyra, a lace pair of mitts  from Knitty. I used grey hand spun to make the mitts warm & stretchy. But, it might be time to tackle gloves. I've had a real thing for Ringwood ever since I first saw the pattern in Knitty in 2010. I did a swatch once & just loved it's stretchy, nubbly texture. But Ringwood terrified me because it's GLOVES. Actual fingers attached to the mitt. EEEK

So what is a knitter to do???  So how hard can gloves actually be? 

I've been taking a course, 'The Emergence of Life' with Coursera to keep my brain active & alert. Coursera courses cost nothing, take 4 - 6 hours a week & can be very challenging. The course I'm taking at the moment - week four in progress - is new. 15,000 people in the world thought it was interesting enough to enroll up with me.  
The course itself will not get added to my CV as such - there's no actual Acedemic reward for the course unless you're interested in competing for "Badges" or enrolled in the university that is sponsoring it, but it certainly has

 1) Given me a lot to think about,
 2) Given me updates on things I learned in school that have changed,
 3) Given me knowledge & ideas without costing me a fortune.

I recommend Coursera to anyone who wants some acedemic challenge. I'm already registered for Genetics 1 & 2.


Alas Wheatsheves will not be my next sweater. My magenta yarn - LadySlipper by name - will not knit up into the proper gauge so I've chosen to knit the Panel Sweater from Cabin Fever's "Need an Ample Cardigan" book published in 2012, instead. All the sweaters in the book are knit from the top down, in a V-neck & in multiple yarns & gauges. Some have collars,  some don't. Some have lace & some don't. I think my magenta yarn will look lovely with a bit of lace in a narrow panel down the front & a seed stitch collar & cuffs. The yarn is the acrylic sport weight from Knitpicks that feels wonderful when knit on a 4mm needle.  And a 4mm needle is pretty darned small when you consider I'm making the 60" bust size .  .  .  .  sigh

Time to Pull the Rag Out

I got tired of waking up sick & tired, pulled the rag out of my behind & did some work in the past few days. No, I didn't rob a bank. Probably should've, wouldn't have to worry about how to pay the rent if I did but I hear the accomodations are pretty damned sparse in there. And I hear you can't bring your knitting needles in with you. What would I do with the stash???

So, I got off my ass & applied for my Canada Pension. It was so easy on line. Unbelievably so. I've had a worse time shopping for yarn!!  So, that's done. I really, really planned on waiting till I was 70 to apply since it's going to be small but life got in the way. I'm finding it impossible to get a job when no one can understand me on the phone, so my choices are 1) get shacked up with someone who'll pay, 2) find someone older  who wants a sloppy knitter for a Companion & will pay, 3) shoe-horn myself back into my ex-house with my ex & his 9 cats & let him pay, 4) fall on my knees at Welfare & wait 3 months for an appointment, 5) apply for my Pension, find some more taxes to do, apply for SAFER to help with the rent & sell what I can of my stash or 6) Sell my body. 

Option 5 seemed the most likely in the end. 

 I also made a run to the doctor & changed two of the three medications I was on - they both had unlikely but possible side effects - dry cough. I could tell the difference in one day!!! Now I just have the 'sticky' cough.
And I gave in & asked for a long term Parking Pass. I'm okay on the flat surfaces but hills without my cane or stairs without rails are giving me hell.  When that knee gets tired, it goes sideways. 

I feel so much better somehow. One of my buddies took me out for coffee on Sunday & asked what I'd done to myself. He said I looked happy, looked like I'd lost a few pounds & wasn't coughing as much. Okay. I was happy. I'd left my wallet with my Starbucks card on my desk at home & had 37 cents, an Esso token, a plastic memory card blank & $15 in Canadian Tire money in my change purse. And he had money for a change. Yippeeeee

I Meant to do so Much

The summer is half over & I haven't accomplished much. My new-to-me computer still hasn't been set up in my office, the office is still only partially cleaned up, the old fridge is still in the kitchen & I'm still unemployed. 

I finally saw Specialist #2 for my vocal chord problem & was refered on to the Surgeon. I will see him in 3 to 6 months. The final remark made by Specialist #2 was - 'it's too bad you waited so long to come to me.' I was a little stunned to say the least. It's been just under a year since I got the appointment for Specialist #1 - for August 2014. Lucky for me, I was able to get sqeezed in, in only 6 months because he was convinced I had cancer. Lucky for me that he made the appointment with Specialist #2 in only 4 months because my family Doctor couldn't even get a response from Specialist #2 when he tried to get me an appointment before I went to Specialist #1. With our Medical system??? Come in Sooner?? How?? Not that I'm complaining since I still get treated even though I'm broke. But by the time a patient  makes it through the wait list to see who can diagnose the problem & how to treat it, it's become permanent, got better on it's own or you're terminal. It's a good thing I didn't have cancer.

In the meantime, living with a sloppy vocal chord is hell on earth. So you can't talk??? Snicker, big deal .  .  .   well, you can't swallow properly either. This means drink less, drink thick liquids or drink through a straw. It means that you can't have that coarse ground pepper anymore. It means you can't have shaved meat in your beef dip sandwich or bacon bits on your baked potato. Anything with bits or seeds or whole grains or multiple ends could start a coughing/choking attack. What happens?? You can't go out for dinner any more because you might have a coughing/choking attack & leave part of your dinner on everyone at the table.

You're short of breath all the time. You have to take three breaths to finish a sentence. You hyperventillate every time you have a conversation. Most people can't understand you on the phone. A lot of people can't understand you face to face. Safeway checkers call you "Dear". You can't walk fast or far - no more shopping at the Mall. You have to think about where everything is because you may not be able to park, walk all the way there & then make it back without exhausting yourself. You spend a lot of time coughing, which takes a lot of energy. No more walks in the Park with your buddy's dawg.  And don't get a cold or allergy attack. Gawd, forbid, the shortness of breath makes your cough whimpy already, just wait till you have to clear a clogged lung .  .  .  .  

You can't knit with 100% wool yarns that are minimally processed. I have the makings for four different sweaters in my livingroom. I even started one in a lovely Purple Heather from the Briggs & Little mill back east. It's lovely wool but sheds bits as you knit & there's the Vegetable Matter that you have to pick out occasionally - it just lets you know it hasn't been overprocessed in chemicals. All those little fibres make me wheeze something terrible when I knit indoors .  .  .  .   

And so what is a wounded knitter to do??? Well, I DO have that lovely Wheatsheaves pattern & that magenta acrylic from KnitPicks in the bag  .   .   .   .   it's a hellofa thing to do to Wheatsheaves but I guess its definitely gonna be acrylic yarn to the rescue this time. That is unless I start getting up really early in the morning & knitting outside at my patio table with a big mug of tea before the skunks come to visit.

Sleeping & Sweating

Is there more to Life than sleeping & sweating???  I used to think that fibre was the answer to everything non work related. I mean, you work to pay the bills, eat & buy more fibre - right???
When you get older, you work less & play with more fibre. Right??? Works most of the year for me but not in the summer. Yeah, I like spinning out on the porch when the sun isn't beating in as much as anyone else, but boy, I just can't take the dust, the mold & the pollen like I used to. Coughing for a week or two at a time sure doesn't give you the ambition to mess with anything furry or fuzzy. Maybe summer is the time for dyeing instead. Or knitting with acrylic. Is any one allegic to acrylic????


I bought a lovely pattern called Wheatsheaves. It's a Kimono style sweater with knitted lace around the neck & down the fronts. I fell in love the moment I saw it & had to have it. It doesn't quite come in my size but is very roomy & I figure the math should be pretty easy to upsize it just a little. 

In the beginning, I wanted to spin the yarn for Wheatsheaves. I have softly spun two, one pound bobbins, full of mill end singles for this sweater. I wanted to dye them all at the same time so they'd be related before I started knitting. I think I have about 7 or 8 'knots' of fibre left to spin to complete all the skeins I wanted to dye. But, I ran into a sale of acrylic yarn in a color I couldn't resist & bought enough to knit this project instead. I decided I would probably wear this sweater a lot since I loved the color as much as the pattern & I wanted something easy to wash & dry.
 

I'll do it manana

My creaky joints & previously injured parts are really enjoying this hot, dry weather. Nothing hurts. Nothing burns. Nothing aches. I could really get to enjoy this feeling except for the total lack of ambition that comes with it. I could sleep in the hammock with the oscillating fan on low all day. I could get up, shower, dress, take out the garbage, push the washer to the sink & put on another batch of laundry, go back to the hammock & sleep all night. Is there a lazy bug going round?? Or is this the doorbell of Retirement ringing me into Old Age??

I've managed to knit a whole sock in three weeks. Me. The Sock Knitter. One whole sock. Half a pair. I have bags of yarn. Three sweaters on the needles at last count. Uncounted bags of dyed top & rovings to spin. And I just can't get out of first gear. I don't even want to cook or eat fer Gawd's sake. The only excitement I've had in the last couple of days is the skunk that poked it's nose through the window opening in my office last night. The outside staircase to the upper apartment is outside my office window so I guess he decided to explore. At least they're not knocking over the garbage cans for sport like they used to.

But, like I said, I just can't get it together. Not even for a new orange & green

& yellow sock with brown toes. Maybe it's the color. Maybe I should be knitting that LadySlipper colored yarn into a Summer Lace somethinorother. Top down. With a scoop or V neck. And a lace yoke & sleeve. In bright, brilliant, screaming Menopause Purple. or Magenta. or Tropical Pink or Orange. This is a double seed swatch of the same colored stuff I really want to be knitting. Color does affect how long it takes to complete a project. I've found that the wilder the color combo in the ball, the faster the sock will knit up. I'm sure that translates to larger knitted items too.

Just a Beat Up Sailor

The Allergy Attack is mostly over for the time being. One of my friends has been bragging about his new Dyson Animal which apparently scoops up allergins without blowing them into the air behind it. His new Dyson means I can get rid of the dust in my place without putting myself into the hospital on lung-support the next time I decide to clean. Yeah, right. But, I'm willing to wear a mask & give it a try. You never know.  There might still be miracles in this world. Occasionally I still cough up part of a lung & I still can't lay down to sleep but I'm feeling a whole lot better. I'm only taking Benadryl before bed so I can sleep without hacking.

With all this allergy stuff going on, I haven't been willing to spin or knit indoors at all. Next week I see the Specialist about my voice & would like to do so in as near a 'normal' manner as possible without complicating things by not being able to breathe. The allergy attack also took away most of the voice I had left. Not Good. 

So, nothing to show, nothing completed but feeling close to normal for a change. The heat is really bad in my basement today. It's still 33 in my office as I'm typing @ 1:15AM. Thank Gawd for that Oscillating fan in the bedroom which makes it comfy. I must say though, it might be hot but nothing hurts except my lungs .  .  .  my wrist, hip & knee love this weather & so do the hands!!!  Good reason to get back to knitting ASAP. I did buy all those balls of Ladyslipper acrylic yarn from KnitPicks that I intend to use as an office sweater to keep the chill off this Fall.

Am I Still Stoned??

A week & a half ago my computer blew up. Weeeeeeeee, actually, it burned up. My office is carpeted & the computer case sits under the desk on a little platform, just above the carpet.  .  .  .  the dirty, dusty, furry carpet. My buddy Steve takes it home every couple of years, cleans it out, stuffs new things inside & returns it in better shape. But Steve has gone off to build decks & hasn't been around for a while. I haven't been able to get under my desk in a couple of years or more - so the computer filled up with stuff sucked in by the powerful little fans we installed the last time it had an upgrade. And it caught fire. Leaving me with the dreaded blue screen & forcing me to upgrade to Windows 7. 

I'ts a good thing I save things. I had a new laptop, still in the box. I hate laptops. I need a mouse & a split keyboard which make a laptop no longer a laptop. I had an old laptop Steve gave me too. One of my clients had an old gaming box - last year's model apparently - which is 6 years newer than what I'm using but a year behind what he's using now. And a box of spare parts - keyboard, mouse on a cord, 15" HD monitor, cables, cords etc & an old PS4 box - still uses XP. I have two boxes of spare parts, yeah, we all do apparently. So we hauled most of the stuff out of my office, put up an 8 " shelf, put all the client boxes on the shelf, hauled all the shredded paper & put a computer together, sort of. The idea is that the Gaming Box will become my new computer. It has 9 drive slots, tons of memory BUT it's Windows 7 with a high def monitor that I have to buy. We've mickey-moused the PS4 with two drives in it's backside & three more stacked beside it to clip in as needed. Other than a surly habit of "going to sleep" if I don't move the mouse or use the keyboard for 5 minutes, it works like a charm, so far. And I recognize all the software. I may just keep the PS4 that everyone's sneering at .  .  .  .

Not only did the computer crap out but moving all that junk in my office stirred up the dust causing a massive allergic reaction which knocked me on my ass for several days. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Couldn't breathe, eyes itchy & swollen, coughing so bad I had to sleep sitting up - when I could sleep. So I took to the bottle. Alcohol does suppress the cough reflex if you drink enough of it. Eventually I made it out to the drugstore - love Shopper's Drugs, one way in & it's through the PERFUME department - Benadryl to the rescue. Friday night, I slept like a Drunken Sailor. Saturday morning I had to cancel a meeting because I was STILL a Druken Sailor. Oooops, took half the dose but bought the Extra Strength by mistake. Shit!! Not back to that drugstore again??? 

Knitting, you ask?? Ya gotta be kidding?! right?  I did dream about wool last night. Something about a sailor, a blanket & a bottle .  .  .

Socks, Socks Everywhere

Yes, I'm still knitting socks. Short socks that is. I finished the ones I started in May & have begun another pair for June. I used to churn out a pair a week a few years ago but I really feel the barometric changes in my fingers & thumbs as well as my right hip & left wrist since my two accidents in the last three years. I'm a walking bag of aching  joints & burning fingers when we go from pouring rain to clear & hot the next day. All of this restricts my sitting & knitting ability although I swear the knitting keeps my fingers limber enough to continue working on the keyboard!

So now I knit a pair a month or so. Depends on the good Dramas on TV, too. I love Friday & Saturday line-ups on PBS & Knowledge. Sometimes I get a good THREE hours of knitting & watching in! LOL  Rooting around in my stash this weekend, I found a 100gm ball of Opal sock yarn. It's one of their NEON series in pinks & blues & yellows & greens. Covers everything in my wardrobe!!! I'm not sure when I bought this yarn - possibly a couple of years ago when my favorite yarn store was closing out. I haven't bought much Opal since they dropped their Rainforest lines. I loved the Rainforest colors. I bought Fish & Clown & Parrot & Ladybug twice. I had several other colors chosen when they stopped shipping to Canada. sigh And then I found the DROPS colorways .  .  .  OMG.  As you can tell, I love color in my socks. Fact is, I love color period. No blacks or whites or browns for me, my basics are Raspberry, Watermelon & hot Pink.

Don't laugh but I bought yarn called LadySlipper on the computer. Just some better quality acrylic yarn for a work sweater for the winter. Something that can be tossed in the washer every couple of weeks & survive without a lot of care. It was cheap & cheerful & perfect for the job. When it came, it was the same color as my Dalesman wool that I bought - one skein at a time because I couldn't afford a whole sweater's worth. I knit a lovely jacket from the Dalesman wool but it has to be very carefully handled to wash it. I wasn't expecting the same color - I thought it would be more of a purple shade. Nope. Its the same screaming Raspberry as the wool. It sure made me laugh.

A little trip to the Mail Box

I don't check the Box every day but I do try to empty out the junk mail on a weekly basis to get rid of the catalogs & other crap that shows up unsolicited. Yesterday I got a nice surprise!! A squishy soft parcel with two months of my Roving of the Month!!

I sure don't need any more roving - I could probably spin for the next 10 years & still have roving left over - but the colors & the fibre made me do it. I just couldn't NOT join the Roving of the Month club. Aren't the colors lovely?? I love anything purple or hot pink. Add a little turquoise to the mix & well, it's an addiction! I'm drawn to the patterns in hot pink even if they don't fit or aren't suitable. And I have so many pairs of socks in purples, pinks or both that I'm branching out into reds & just a little acid green.

My package also included a sample of painted silk hankies in - now what did you expect?? - why pinks & purples, of course. I really like silk hankies because they don't have to be spun to be used in a project. I've stretched & pulled silk hankies into yarn & knitted them into a baby's cap without spinning. Silk is so strong & beautiful. This sample matches a couple of ROM's from last year if I want to combine them into a project. I have quite a collection of silk hankies & the remains of two bricks of tussah silk from 1973 - I spun & crocheted a gorgeous shawl without setting the spin  .  .  .  I was a newbie at the time!! But I learned my lesson well. It sure was nice finding that silk shawl 40 years later when I couldn't afford to buy silk & take it all apart though.

 And in the bottom of the bag I also found a skein of painted sock yarn that I won in a draw! I've been concentrating on knitting short summer socks for my sneakers since I only have a couple of pairs. This lovely skein should make a wonderful pair in some of my favorite colors.

Taking it Easy

The sun is out & the grass is riz .  .  .  . 

It's summertime & the living is supposed to be easy. Tax time is over & the heavy duty data entry jobs are raising their ugly heads. There's nothing like a rent dead line looming to get yer ass in gear.  Good thing I have a library of audio books to keep me entertained. Stuart MacBride is narrating his own book, Blind Eye, as I write this. I've come to love the Aberdeen accents & slang of the Police as they go about solving crimes with the craziest characters I've ever run into. I just laughed out loud at DCI Steele's attempts to get DI Logan - main character - to donate a sperm sample so her wife can have a baby. Between getting shot at, blown up, beat up & chased down by DCI Steele, Our Hero leads a busy life. Sure makes the data entry go by quickly.

And what's going on when I'm not on the keyboard??? Why, knitting Summer Socks, of course. I have two pairs on the go at the moment. I found only one skein of DCS Confetti in a pink, yellow & grey self-patterning yarn. Confetti has really good yardage per 50gm ball but not enough to knit ME a pair of short socks with a nice deep heel. I found a light grey & a dark grey but nothing that really matched. But, most of the sock will be buried in a shoe so I decided to knit the ribbing to the heel in Confetti & picked the dark grey to finish the foot. The other pair are in leftover thin blues. The car knitting bag contains Crafter cotton remnants that will become very large face cloths the next time I'm in the parking lot waiting on the Ex husband.

Pat, I miss you

I've heard the snickers behind my back every time I suggest starting a new sweater project. I know they're my pals & I know they laugh but I've always been a great Starter & a lousy finisher. All my life, I've been the one with the 'Great Ideas' or the 'Money Making Project' every Fall to fund those Christmas gifts we needed to buy when we were broke. For 26 years my closest friend Pat was my finisher. Pat was a detail oriented person.
When we went to a fashion show once - I saw the shape & color of the clothes while she noticed the trims, the buttons, the gussets & the shoes! She remembered the kind of glass eyes that expensive Stuffie had that we couldn't afford. She's the one who found the perfectly matched hat or lipsticks but she couldn't come up with a project idea to save her life. She'd dither over the colors, shapes, findings & patterns forever until I would point to the project that I'd already chosen in my head. I saw the Big Picture & the Bottom Line. She saw all the Steps & Details. I was often impatient while  she was overwhelmed but together, we made beautiful things.

I'd often go shopping for the supplies before she even decided to participate. I had to. And she was always finishing up the hems, buttons, pockets, eyes etc because I'd lost interest & was on to the next thing. I miss her. Without her, my sweaters don't get finished. They get halfway there or three quarters of the way & I lose interest & start a new one. It's a terrible character flaw, I know. If I was a size 0, I'm sure I'd finish something but when you're a size Barn, it takes forever. Do they have 12 step programs for people like me??? Maybe they should if they don't. Or I need a new Pat. Sigh . . . . .  maybe I'm just condemned to knit socks.

And speaking of socks - I've finished the latest Frankensocks in blues - above. I got bored with all that blue & added a teeny tiny pink stripe & that was my downfall. They're mostly Blue & the 20 somethings will fight over them as they are, LOL. And then I finished a pair of Pink Lace Socks. The yarn has a lot of elastic so they stretch a lot. They came with some yarn donations a couple of years ago - they even had the Kollage square DPs still in them. One sock was finished while the other was almost done when the knitter ran out of yarn .  .  .  . I understand, really I do!
I merely shortened the finished sock & got enough yarn to finish the toes on both. They stretch so much that they'll fit a couple of sizes & will make a teen-aged heart somewhere go pitty patt!!

Happy Victoria Day

The Almanac says you must have your garden planted by Victoria Day if you want to

harvest before the first frost. My mother told me there was no longer any danger of frost by the middle of May and that's why this particular day was chosen. I'll bet there's more than a few people in Canada who wouldn't necessarily agree this year.
Yesterday, I noticed my clematis - Jackmani - was covered with big furry buds & two flowers were finally out. Usually, this clematis blooms in early spring before the leaves come out!!! Last year it didn't bloom at all. The last time it looked like this was back in 2011 when I took this pic. Looks just like this again this year with two big flowers & all the fat buds. Could it be the rotted chicken manure I plopped in there???

Being in southern BC, on the coast, with Vancouver Island to block the Pacific gales, we often plant things early & leave them out growing late. My Christmas & Easter cacti could tell tales of patio neglect in that category!! They're usually out from early April to late October under the patio table where they get filtered sun & bake the afternoon away since it faces west. Last fall, they got dragged in by a friend after I damaged my knee & they haven't gone out yet since that knee doesn't quite bend far enough to let me place them on the ground. And one has to be transplanted, the poor thing. They don't get watered enough inside. I neglect them dreadfully. But they do bloom & bloom & bloom every year .  .  .  . 

I have a cedar box 5 feet long & 3 feet off the ground against the house at the back of my patio which is overflowing with ferns - wish I had a bunch more just like it!!  Was, that is. It, too, got neglected sadly when I hurt myself but most of it came back. I decided to stuff spider plants into the holes this year since they've been living in water in jars all winter. They'll have a short life but a good life out there all summer & fall. And I'll have a greener space to spin. I want to spin out there all summer long.

I've decided to spin in the Tour de Fleece with Team Canada & Sunset Fibers. We're talking about spinning Stash this year. It's amazing how fast it builds up when you're busy & I have a whole 6 month membership's worth of sample Rovings of the Month from Sunset Fibers to spin in mine. There's also a couple extras that I ordered & one I got for my birthday - thank you Gail - because I just love Polworth. So, off the

top of my head, I have 9 - yes 9, 4oz bags of hand painted rovings to spin from Sunset Fibers. And this morning when I looked, I have 3, 4oz rovings in Magenta, 3 in Puau & 2 in Purple from Aurelia Fibres that were purchased several years ago.
My first spin will be Blue Jeans on the left. The original bag shocked me with it's nasty white roving & nastier beige drier fluff mixed with lovely dyed blue wool. I tentatively talked to the Vendor & she told me to just spin it up. It's 'Designer Yarn' she said. I grumbled but did it. And washed it. OMG. It's wonderful, yummy, scrunchy, textured & soooo petable. I loved it so much that I bought another bag.

We aren't even going to mention that big bag of Coopworth or the remains of my Grab Bag of mill ends from the Sheep Shed that have been aging for a decade.

I tried to work two jobs the last few years & had no time or energy by the time I got home to do much other than knit socks & touques. I'm still shocked at how much day I have to myself now that I'm back in the Home Office .  .  .  . 
If I had enough income, I think I'd almost welcome Retirement & just enjoy knitting, spinning & Volunteer work. If I could only remember to buy that damned lottery ticket!!!

Frankensocks & Itchy Ears

The Goopy ear is all better - more or less - but now Itchy Ear season is upon us. You know those gorgeous flowering ornamental fruit trees that every Downtown area seems to have?? They make me sneeze & itch. I love their dainty ballerina colors of pink, purple & white but I start sneezing a block away .  .  .  .  14 sneezes later & I'm a road hazard. Haven't been arrested yet but I figure it's coming.

I look forward to the end of tax season every year - well, the frantic part of the season, that is - because people are still calling & dropping them off all summer. This year, I'm formally selfemployed, but managing to make enough in casual jobs to get by nicely. When you don't drink, smoke, party, shop the mall or gamble, you don't need much to get by. I intended to spend more time with my patio garden, dyes & spinning wheel out there in the mornings. So far, I'm still commuting to the office in the morning in my jammies & doing income tax in the mornings!!  But it's not all bad. I'm listening to Jurassic Park as I compute. I have a giant mug of milky tea in my fist & I can go to my favorite cafe for Friday lunch around 1:00. And, I've already done three returns today.

I've been spending a lot of time in cars lately too. Just spent two half days taking the Ex to his eye appointments. He's getting to hate driving in traffic, when they mess with his eyes he can't see to drive anyway & it's easier than dealing with him if he has an accident. I just find a shady spot, pop in the ear buds & knit. The sock on the left is one half of the current Frankensocks in thicker leftover yarns. I have a couple of 20 somethings who fight over any Frankensocks that might become available.

This little sock here - next to Dotty's Chicken Bag - will be in lightweight DGS Confetti yarn for me for summer. Since I only have the one ball, they'll be finished with a nice light grey after I turn the heel. I have several balls of this thinner Confetti yarn - all in different colors of course - but they'll all work out nicely with solids for half of the foot. I mean, who's gonna see the part inside the sneaker anyway?? Right???

Socks & Goopy Ears

I've been a hellova mess the past few days with a nasty ear infection. Isn't it crazy, since I've been a kid, my right ear is the one that gives me all the problems. And it's the one that hears the best. It's the one that's sensitive to nickel & reacts within minutes, it's the one that itches when I'm allergic, it's the one that seizes up if I have a cold & the one that developed eczema. The itch drives me nutz. So, of course, my fingers are dirty from all this paper at tax time, I scratch & scratch without even being aware & BOOM. My ear blows up. This time part of my face & throat joined in. Sigh. Spent a couple of days in bed with a good book on my Kobo & the hot grain bag under my face & ear. I read 5 books, slept a lot, the swelling has come down & my ear is safely draining. No knitting got done. But I thought about it a lot .  .  .  .  I should be grateful I guess. This year I didn't come down with the scourge of papershufflers everywhere, Pink Eye.

I did play a little with different ways to start a sock from my Cast On Bind Off book by Leslie Ann Bestor. I thought the picot cast on would be fun on a pair of summer socks. It's okaaaaay but no matter what I did, it rolled & flopped. I guess I need more practice. Not the kind of start I want on my summer socks! Maybe I'll try a lace pattern .  .  .

Now, when I make summer socks, I make them the same as winter socks only shorter & use lighter weight yarns!! Mostly, I make them just above the ankle bone so they not only cover the foot in the sneaker but also cushion the ankle from the opening of the shoe. You also don't get sand or dirt in your socks when you walk on loose material.

I also hate socks that slide into your shoes when you walk so I make the same nice, deep heel with the same cushioning on the back & under the heel. If you have to wear socks, they might as well be comfy. Right???

Although I'm sure barefoot is better, most of the summer I flop around the house & patio in my ancient thongs that I'm not supposed to wear. LOL

All over but the tears .  .  .  .  another year, another tax season finished. This one was so busy I can't believe it. Having the Tax Man's computer down for a week was great but OMG, the last three days have been hell. Thank you to Ron, who showed up yesterday with his tax stuff, two bags of salad & two loaves of Cobbs bread otherwise I don't know what I would've eaten!!!! And my ex-boss who also showed up with THREE tax returns that needed doing who offered to make a run to Timmies for me .  .  .  bribes help. I made the final run to Revenue Canada's Big Blue Box last night around 11:30 with the ones that I couldn't efile.  Holy Crap. It's over.  I won't even think about the late ones & the small business returns that dribble in over the next three months .  .  .   The Sheep?? Oh just look at that cute wooly face .  .  .  .

So, I haven't done much of anything crafty. Thought about summer socks a lot though. I'd love to wear thongs & sandals all summer but I pronate big time which means I'm stuck in my orthopedic sneakers most of the time. And if you're in sneakers, well, you have to wear socks!! I could wear those little bitty cotton ones but they keep my feet wet all summer. It's what cotton does - keeps moisture next to your body to keep you cool. So it has to be wool or silk.

I have lots of yarn to make short, summer socks. I was thinking about all the single balls of crazy patterned Confetti I have laying about. And all the solid shades for heels & toes as well. Confetti has great yardage & there should be no problem getting a pair of short socks out of one ball but I could put a solid colored toe on them for insurance. 
Summer socks are also a good way to use up all the leftovers too - if you're gonna wear socks all summer, let them be Frankensocks!!
Or, I could knit some of the lace patterns into my summer socks to make them special.

I've surfaced from under the mountain of paper on my desk, in my office, under my keyboard & in front of my monitor. This is my favorite time of the year but also my worst time of the year. I eat take-out. I long for salads & anything green until I find the next bag of Sour Gummies under the paper .  .  .  .  I drink incessant cups of milky overheated tea & wonder what day it is. Tis the time of year when I stumble to my bed for a nap because I'm falling asleep at the keyboard & can't remember if it's still today or tomorrow morning when I wake up. Sometimes I just go down for a teeny tiny nap - just for an hour - & wake up tomorrow. It's sad but true, I'm just another Tax Mole. We're like Programmers in a way, we get our Mojo all fired up & we just can't stop until someone unplugs the computer or we're forced to take a bathroom break. I walked 681 steps yesterday - all between my keyboard, the tea machine & the bathroom!!! We eat anything that falls on our keyboards. And my 64 oz Big Bubba mug is always full of tea. Never mind, there's May & June to relax & plant the garden .  .  . 

But, I digress, I DO come up for air to watch my favorite British tv shows on Knowledge or PBS. At 8:00 every evening my alarm rings & I migrate to the tube to watch the Midwives, Heartbeat or New Tricks which I love. I stay for A Touch of Frost, the Bletchley Circle, Midsommer Murders & several other series. And while I'm catching up with my favorites, I've been knitting. Yeah, still working on that Odd Ball sweater. I almost frogged a large portion of it - should've carried on with the darker balls & gradually introduced the lighter ones - but, I knew if I did, I wouldn't finish it. It's only to keep warm in my office after all so I guess it won't matter much. I just think it might've looked better without the big light space in the middle of the front.
As you can see, I think it would've looked nicer with the darker yarns slowly lightening up or the sleeves being lighter with small stripes of color but, hey, it's done now & I don't really want to tear it out. The colors are browner in real life - I'm not much of a picture taker, that's for sure, but you get the gist of the problem. The yarn is soooo soft & nice. My only wish is that it was in colors that really suit me but, this is what I had in the bag so this is what I used to knit the sweater. It's going to be an office sweater to keep me warm on those cool days when the landlord tries to save a buck by turning down the furnace during the day when everyone but me is out. I got a heater for my office but it blows the fuse in the box which is not in my suite so sweaters are the way to go.

It appears that I've now recovered from the shock of my 63rd birthday and have become normal - for me - once again. I was quite annoyed by the whole event since it meant another year had passed without anything significant happening in my life. Well, except for interesting injuries and the loss of the job I had hoped would slide me into retirement .  .  .  .  I guess we can't have everything.

It was also knitting night with the girls on my birthday so I got to spend my cranky evening with the girls who cheered my up totally. And my pal Gail - has a mind like a steel trap for important dates & things we love - presented me with a bag full of hand-painted roving to go with last month's Roving of the Month. I got both of last month's rovings because they suited me - she's a Fall sort who loves blues, greens, brown & rust & got both October rovings in fall colors. So I've ended up with three related rovings in Easter Egg colors!!! The middle fat one is the birthday roving. So, now I get to figure out what they want to become. I like to spin singles yarns. Most of my singles are loosely spun as well so they don't bias as you knit.  People tell me I spin backwards - so when I knit, I tighten up those loose singles just a little more. So I know it will be spun in soft singles but what weight?? I'm not the shawl type - I could NOT see myself in an Easter Egg colored shawl anyway!!! LOL  L-o-n-g fingerless lace mitts would be terrific, something above the elbow, oh yes, yes, yes! But would they be practical?? No, no, no! The roving is too soft for socks & I have enough socks. That's what Lincoln & Coopworth are for. I wonder if there's enough for a light lacy bed jacket???  Or one of those cowls that fit over the shoulders like my pattern for Reds, Rounds & Ridges????? Decisions, decisions .  .  .  .

It's my goddam birthday

Got up this morning bright and early and decided if it was my goddam birthday, I was going out for a goddam breakfast! Boy, were they surprised in my favorite coffee shop when I trotted in. I'm more the 'last customer who  orders the same chicken sandwich, reads the paper till an hour after they close and rings in my own bill on the debit card machine' person they know and love. They make Broccoli Cheeze soup every Friday because they KNOW  I'll be there for it. But today's my goddam birthday and I'll make the goddam rules. What is it about birthdays anyway?? I mean, it's just another day in your life until wham, you can give consent and sign contracts today?? One day you can't drink legally but the next you can? It's like when you used to turn 65 and suddenly - after you eat the cake - you aren't part of the workforce anymore . Yesterday, you were just a grunt with a paycheck and now, BOOM, you're gone. I suppose I'll just be happy instead - Starbucks gave me a free Skinny Caramel Latte for my goddam birthday.


The Blue Frankensocks are riding in the car these days so there's not too much progress to announce. So far, no one's sat on any of the needles and I've turned one heel. They're gonna be mostly blue. That first sock was looking a little dull and I just couldn't help myself, I gave it just a very teeny, tiny, hot pink stripe. Pictures next time. 

The biggest accomplishment this week is my OddBall Sweater. I had this giant Zip-Lock bag of odd balls standing in the corner of my living room. They were all the stuff deemed un-useable for charity hats because they have to be hand washed. No one out there on the street or in single rooms in old hotels hand washes much laundry. IF you have a sink in your room with running water to wash things and a radiator to dry things, you're lucky. Most people go to the Drop-in centre for showers and laundry so acrylic is the yarn most desired. The Zip-Lock bag has passed some yarn on to other people but over half of it

sat there. Most of it wool with alpaca in it but sadly, none of it machine washable. There were a couple of skeins that I loved but not enough of anything to make much. But, while sorting through it once more last weekend, I had a flash of inspiration. How about a top-down, odd ball cardi??? Something to wear in my office to keep warm or to throw on for a Starbucks run??? And get that lovely expensive yarn USED for something. Got out my Denise needles and my Cabin Fever book 'Need an Ample Cardigan?' and waded in .  .  .  .

I believe it's just about Spring

While the rest of the country is just starting to thaw, we, on the Wet Coast were wearing shorts on Monday. Today isn't that bad neither. I know for sure about Monday because I was out in it in my heavy sweat pants & wooly socks. It was cold in the morning when I started out but boy, by noon, it was Summer. The kids from the high school were scootin' down the sidewalks everywhere in shorts & light sweaters. People had their tops down & windows open. I was cooking in the sweats but luckily wore a light tee shirt with them. Since my right knee was injured, it just doesn't like to be cold. It creaks & cracks - not only can I hear the noise but I can FEEL it too. Like fingernails on a blackboard, it drives me crazy! So I try to keep it warm so it's less likely to complain. Hence, the sweat pants. Bring on Summer, dammit.

Out on my poor patio - it's a mess. I can't quite bend down far enough to pick up all the trash left by the kids passing through or the dead stuff that needs to be tidied up. I suspect my ferns have mostly died since I couldn't get out to water them last fall.  All my grasses have spread seed into all my flower pots!!! I notice Blue Fescue mixed with Comfrey & Flamingo Grass in with the strawberries. I'll be home this summer so maybe I'll plant a new jungle & string it up in macrame so I can reach it. I'll want a nice cozy spot to spend my time spinning for a change this year since I'll be working from  home all the time.

I have a handmade wooden skein rack to mount on the wall somewhere so I can display all the lovely skeins of 'Art Yarn' I've created in the past. I want an outdoor rack where I can hang the skeins I have yet to dye. My giant, one pound, Indian Spinner bobbin is full of Brown Sheep mill ends spun up into sport weight singles yarn that waits to be wound off into fat skeins. I have a sweater box full of skeins spun on the same machine waiting for dyeing & only a few more egg shaped knots of fibre left to spin out of that 15 pound bag. I had my eye on a Kimono pattern from Knit Kimono that I was spinning it all up for. I wanted to dye all the skeins at the same time so they'll at least be related enough to work together. Now that I'm not working full time, I should have the time. I also fell in love with ZEN Squared which deserves to be knit in hand spun if I can get my butt in gear. I have a whole light grey fleece in a bag that would make a wonderful sweater .  .  .  . 
What is it about sunshine that makes you line up 10 years worth of work to do in one summer???

I love Tax Season

Yeah baby, it's Tax Season again!! I like this time of year. I make the annual rounds of all my shut-ins & elderly folks - I've been doing some of their taxes for 30 years - to see what's going on in their lives & letting them know about mine. I really DO enjoy the tax thing. I like the puzzle of it all because an expense is not necessarily what it appears to be, it's what you CALL it that counts. I know I'm a little odd but I truly like the tax stuff. It's the data entry that I'm not really fond of but that's where the bread & butter work is most of the time.  

I like working out of my home office. I've been pounding away till 5 AM most weekends & sleeping in till noon. Not a bad schedule when the weather's bad & you don't want to commute anyway. But as soon as it starts getting light at 5 AM, I'll be sleeping at night & getting up earlier. Now that I'm back in the home office, I can plan on spinning in the early morning all summer this year for a change. I think it's the best time of the day when it's light outside, the hanging baskets are all planted & the birds are raising families. It's the worst time of day when it's dark & cold. According to some mystics, the hours between 3 & 5 AM are  the lowest part of the bodily cycle & the time when the spirit goes wandering. I wonder .  .  .  .  .

 The Chicken project bag above was sewed by a knitting friend named Dotty. I won it in a draw a couple of years ago. Isn't it great??? It's lined with barbed wire fabric & easily holds a sock project.

Meanwhile, in the Chicken bag - I have one sock finished & the next one started in the 4ply Kroy. They've been traveling in my bag lately so I only work on them

while I'm out & about waiting somewhere. They're nothing too spectacular in color but they are thick & warm. They're going to a new home of a commuter who stands at SkyTrain freezing her feet on a daily basis. She won a pair of my hand knit socks in the office draw & has worn them to & from work ever since. I'm taking pity on her frozen feet by supplying a second pair before the first wear out.

There's even an order for new Frankensocks that I want to get out of the way quickly. These ones are to be in Blues. I have a lot of blue leftovers in the box & the bag. And I'm sure there's another damned box around here somewhere but it's buried under something I guess. I have several old yarn end balls
located already & will probably find more as I go  .  .  .  Luckily for me, these socks will be a ladies large so I won't be knitting for weeks on end. I found several different solid colors in the bottom of the box as well. In the olden days, I used to knit men's socks in the wonderful blue & grey speckled Confetti yarns & put solid toes on every pair so that they could be matched up more easily. I had great fun putting wild colored toes on each & every pair. When the owner wore them to work, everyone in the office had to see which color the toes were THIS time around. I just can't stand a plain sock!!!!

Is it spring yet??

I'm not as exciting as I used to be. I used to be able to sing & roller-skate & play tennis at 5:30 in the morning. I ran everywhere I could & hiked for miles when I was young. My mother used to beg me to slow down because I walked too fast everywhere we went. I wanted to do everything NOW. Well, almost everything. I was in no hurry to have a husband & kids. As the oldest of 3, I became the oldest of 6 at 13. I loved my little brothers - I helped pick them out - but everywhere I went for the next year, I had a baby on my hip. My mother & I shared their upbringing. And I discovered how much I like part time parenting. I think we should practice part time parenting a whole lot more than we do. I don't see why two or even three people can't share the raising of common children. I'm not advocating plural marriage here, just sharing kids. Mind you, plural marriage has it's advantages too BUT, if I'm gonna do it, I want multiple wives & husbands. Not one guy hogging several wives!! Why not Line Marriage?? Add a spouse of either sex now & then. Have you read Heinlein?? "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" talks about Line Marriage & it's advantages. Some of us like babies, some of us don't. I prefer them when they can walk & talk but before they rant & swear. Stuff them into a barrel at 15!!! I like teaching independence & life skills at an early age. And I love them when they're still not too big to cuddle or climb into your lap in the big chair when they're tired.

I was flirting with a little guy about 3 yesterday while I tried to catch up with my Botony homework at Starbucks. I may not be too exciting but, damn, I can still pick up the little boys .  .  .  . 

And what am I working on these days??? Kroy socks of course. The current ones are a little dull but they're thick & warm & will keep my old dawgs comfy in my cold basement office. Even though the sun is now beaming in the window, the cement floor is icy & I need a wool sweater & wool socks to keep me warm as I work. I just love this 4ply Kroy which I knit up with two Chiagoo 2.75mm circs. My favorite 2.25 ones are just a tad too small for 4ply but perfect for the 3ply. This picture is a little old since I'm now decreasing for the toe. But, it's the best your gonna get right now.

I Finally Did It

Yes, by gawd, I finally did it. I finished those socks. You know the ones, they're for the Dental Assistant with the big feet. And the only one, other than the Dentist himself, who doesn't give me galvanic shocks when I'm in the Dental Chair. Now, most of us aren't too happy to be in that chair in the first place but just try it out when you get shocks from everything they shove in your mouth. So, I'm very fond of my Dental Assistant despite the time she overfilled the impression tray with pink gunk & choked me with semi-solid goop. But, I still like her a lot.

The socks are Frankensocks - made up of leftovers from other socks. Lara wanted PINK socks but I didn't have enough in one color to make her size so I thought I'd haul out the box of leftovers to see what I could do. And tada - here they are. You know?? They kind of remind me of Spring & flowers just bursting into bloom.

The Next Day

Well! The test turned out to be as simple & boring as an X-ray in the end. Stripped to the waist, got TWO gowns too small - they only come in two sizes, too big or too small - & climbed onto an apparatus that looked like a counter attached to a huge hair drier. The Technician was a whiz at inserting IVs & zipped it into the back of my hand like she'd done 10,000 of them before mine. She probably had!!! I never even got to say anything other than "WOW, you're a Pro." So, if anyone tells you horror stories about the CAT Scan, throw your arms in the air &
laugh out loud. I never felt anything other than the tiny prick of the IV. Never noticed the dye other than a faint feeling of heat in my groin. And that might've been my imagination. I did my deep breathing & hummed my Ohmmmms softly as it banged away. The only real problem I had was a muscle spasm between my shoulder blades from the hard, flat surface when I sat up. Hopefully the results will be as uninteresting as the test .  .  .  .  Mind you, I wouldn't say NO to being able to sing along to my radio once more.

One More Test

Tomorrow I head to the hospital for the next test in the series to find out why one of my vocal chords is paralyzed. I've never had a CAT scan before & I understand I get to shove my head & upper chest into a medical contraption that's supposed to reveal all the secrets of my inner workings in that area. I'm secretly scared to death - I hate needles - I understand they're gonna shoot me full of some dye that will make me want to throw up & pee my pants at the same time. What a thrill .  .  .  .  I suppose its time I got some of those services I've been paying for all my life but I'd rather be looking over someone else's shoulder while they get the needle full of dye, thank you. I'd donate to somebody else right about now. I'm supposed to be drinking tons of fluid to plump up my veins for tapping but they've already decided to send the fluid directly to my bladder instead. All I've done all day is pee. It should be fun tomorrow. By the time I get there, I'll be in a sweat, the blood vessels will shrink down to nothing & I'll spend all my time in the washroom, peeing. Sigh. I'd rather be knitting.

I'm taking the latest sock with me. I only have a toe to finish & then it's done. My Dental Assistant Lara will be thrilled with her new socks. And I'll make sure I take one last photo before she gets them. It's usually the part I forget.

And it's tax season folks. Get your paperwork out & get it in gear. Don't be like the fellow who's taxes I worked on all day yesterday - he hadn't filed in 7 years. And you can just imagine what his bill is like today. I wish I could get a wool deduction - wouldn't that be grand??? If & when it happens, I'll let you all know.

Suddenly it's March

I woke up the other morning & discovered it was March. Working from a Home Office has that effect on you when you don't commute or see people from day to day. Sometimes I don't turn on the radio or television for days because I'm working a job with a lot of data entry & I get lost in audio books instead. This week I've listened to Dana Stabenow's first two books in the Liam Campbell series. Alaska again, but from a white State Trooper's view. Entertaining, still the world of Kate Shugak - I love that series -  but from the Townie perspective instead of the Homesteader. Shhhh, I snuck in a Star Wars novel just for fun, a new Han Solo offshoot called 'Scoundrels' where he's young, single & still dodging Jabba the Hutt. And I just bought a new addition to the "Private" series by James Patterson. Private is where you go when no one else can help you. It's a combination of Detective/Spy/Mission Impossible/security in a chain of establishments that seem to have popped up in all major cities of the world .  .  .  .

As a result, I haven't done a lot of knitting although I finished the Hoodies & sent them on their way. I forgot to take a photo but will ask for one of the two boys in their new hoodies. Apparently they look cute, fit just fine & are already loved by both boys. Not bad for never having seen the boys!!!  Now the big brothers want hoodies too but in solid colors. I don't mind - sewing in all those ends in the striped sleeves was a real pain in the ass.

The Dental Frankensocks are almost finished. Since they've become car knitting, I don't get a lot of time to work on them. But the first one is done & I just have to finish the toe decreases on the second to finish them off .  .  .  .  well, there are all those ends to sew in. But, Pink is definitely the dominant color. I should knit a few more pairs of Frankensocks while I'm at it because the leftovers box grew by 50% when I organized them all & put them in one spot. I'm really not interested in a blanket of any sort so maybe it's time to knit gloves for next winter instead.