AmpuTeeHee

double happiness

2012-02-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Last year I wrote a post called "this cup is already broken," where I spoke about a much beloved, and newly chipped, coffee mug (of all things)...

....but the post wasn't really about a coffee mug; it was more about my interest in understanding my attachment to things. Several of you replied to that post, pointing out that the mug was chipped, not broken, or telling me how I might re-purpose the container or the ceramic, or directing me to where I could purchase its replacement, etc....and I replied back.

I didn't buy a replacement mug. I did in fact keep the mug, and I starting using it for odd little tasks around the kitchen, like for when I run clear water through my single cup coffee maker to clean it out, for example. Or four taking a small amount of water over to the plant that needs a sip. Mostly I just took the cup out of the cupboard and loved it, and I learned to love it even with it's chips that were so sharp I couldn't sip out out of it without cutting myself. I loved it just for what it was: something that made me happy, even though it no longer could function in the way it was made to do. It never stopped making me smile.

And then (you can guess what's coming, right?)....

Today I went into Peet's with my dad for a cup of brewed chai topped with steamed soy milk (my new favorite thing), and a small coffee for him, and I just about freaked out when I saw these at the register.

I waxed poetically about these mugs to Peetniks that giggled at me and people next to me in line that thought I was a bit insane over something so seemingly trivial (because it is, indeed, rather trivial LOL). And then I bought two. One for now, and one for....well, emergencies. hahahaha

I did at least restrain myself from buying the 4 mug gift box set that was packaged in the absolutely most adorable french hatbox ever.
I'm not that bad off.
But I'm close ;-)

hahaha....

2012-02-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

i'm going to let someone else do the bloggin' for a change...

2012-01-31T21:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, look! I ended up on someone else's blog.

I'm so tired, I think I'll just let you go read that!
hahaha

(AmpuTeeHee = Slacker)

tinkering with the camera

2012-01-30T23:22:00.000-08:00

Downtown Benicia as seen from the hill MyFavoriteKid's clarinet teacher lives on. I always have to find a way to kill those 30 minutes. It's never enough time to go somewhere and come back, really. I usually knit and listen to an audio book. Today I drove around with the camera. I might do some more of that. I spotted wild turkeys.....

tuck me in...

2012-01-29T20:56:00.000-08:00

I'm about to tuck myself into my cozy bed with a thick layer of blankets...it's been chilly out! It's Sunday night, and that means another episode of Downton Abbey and some simple knitting.

I was able to sleep in late today, and I woke up and didn't feel any worse for the wear through the arms and back from the bellydancing yesterday (although it's been so many weeks since I've moved my hips and midsection, I swear to you, I pulled an abdominal muscle instead.....feels like my right psoas muscle, actually). Today we had a very late breakfast out and then spent the day over at the new house given it a much needed deep cleaning.

And that is where I think I figured out what the heck has been causing my arm so many problems! I did a lot of light vacuuming today at the new house with this cordless stick type vacuum. I love that thing. It's way lighter than a regular vacuum, great for a quick clean up, and there is no cord to get caught up in wheelchair wheels. I only used it when I am cleaning there, though....and that is not that often. But! I love the ease of that vacuum so much, that I decided to get another one to keep here at my main house. I have been using it daily to go around the house and pick up all the animal hair (4 animals = lots of hair!).

I think it's the way I have been wielding the damn thing! I am positive that I can find a way to still use it, but just be ergonomic about it, and if I am right about this being the culprit, it means I'll be on the mend before you know it. But today, with the deeper cleaning, and the improper wielding, the back/arm thing has now been slightly reactivated. I think it shall pass quickly.

Ok. 8:56. Downton. Knitting. Taa-taa.

snaps on saturday

2012-01-28T22:15:00.001-08:00

My early morning:

Amended soil with worms, and a plate full of lovely things that were harvested just this morning....out of the gardeners belonging to the people that are teaching the gardening class we are taking. TheMostImportantGuy and I have signed up for a 9 months series of classes (one Saturday morning each month, January through September) that is all about vegetable gardening.

We have great hopes for all of the empty land at the new house, but since be both lack real talent in the garden, we aren't going to start there. We're going to start by using what's already in place at my existing place while it is still available to us. My place has 6 raised beds that I sort of just plop tomatoes in and maybe a few herbs and then I take what I can get. This is the year to learn some mad skillz. Then we'll consider applying what we are learning to the new digs.

My late afternoon:

Special dance class with live drummers, taught by one of the DancersAmeritus of our dance ensemble (ahhh, I got to be a student for awhile!). I went to the class even though I am under doctors orders to limit crutch use and not use my arm much, at least until the physical therapist looks me over on the 8th. I started off just be being the class photographer with everyone's cameras....but I eventually caved in a danced for just a few. My fellow dancers wagged their fingers at me and I was ashamed. Sort of. LOL

part deux

2012-01-27T22:19:00.001-08:00

I was so tired last night when I posted after dance class that I didn't give the whole story about my mom's (excuse me. TheMom's phone call).

The reason TheMom was calling was because she had made a batch of matzoh ball soup for MyFavoriteKid who had been home sick for the 3 days at that point. AND.....she also packaged up and entirely separate bowl...

for me.

:-)

THANKS MOM :-)

I wasn't sick, but I loved every bit of it, and MyFavoriteKid ate some too, and this morning he magically felt well enough to go back to school.

Ahhhhhh, Jewish penicillin!

moniker

2012-01-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

Today my mom left me a voicemail. Usually she says something like, "Hi. It's mom," or "Hellooooooo....it's your mother."

Today she said, "It's TheMom."

It almost sounded like maybe she's been reading my blog for so long that she wants her own moniker, like MyFavoriteKid and TheMostImportantGuy.
Made me chuckle.
And of course, when I returned her call and my dad answered, that's exactly how I asked for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Being Present I Noticed....my chihuahua being still but alert for a very long time, quietly doing some bird watching out the front window (a big black crow).

laundry list

2012-01-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

You know the place:

You look at all the little troubles and situations going on in your life, and when you think about each one individually, it's just...not a big deal. Everything is pesky, or requires a little extra time or attention, or maybe it's even a doody thing, but you're trekkin' on through.You know that, right?

And then one day you look at the list of all of them, and then you realize...holy crapoli! Things are a freakin' mess!!

Today was the day the list was tallied up. A good friend made the silly mistake of asking me how I was doing, and I listed 3 or 4 things, and she said something like, "Oh, no!" and I said something like, "...and that aint the half of it."

Thing are seriously stacking up in my life.

I am in not feeling well, and everything is tainted by pain right now.
We are one year into remodeling an entire house and it's in-law unit, and we are just getting to the kitchen and bath of the main house, and we have fired our contractor and are switching to a new one.
My dad has a new medical issue developing that occupies a good amount of my brain space. MyFavoriteKid has been home sick from school for two days.
One of the kitties has had the trots for over a month, and after 2 weeks of treating the wrong cat, we are now settling in for two weeks of treating the right one (ie multiple force feedings of liquid nastiness with pills thrown down the throat for good measure).
The dance troupe has an upcoming performance, choreography being built ground up.
I am flailing around trying to feed myself things that I am not allergic to (which turns out to be enough to make feeding me a royal pain in the arse).

...and I'm sure there is more, but I think you get my drift.

Any of these are normal life, shit happens, do-able sorts of things. But for me, things just always seem to stack up. And I actually think they might not be feeling so stacked up at all, if it weren't for the stabbing little pains in my back nagging at me all the while as I deal with everything else. Like I said, it just taints everything.

I would like to not be the public whiner here, but I use this blog to keep track of myself, and well...I am marking this here moment.

Life right now is a bit of a pile.
!!

On a lighter note (ha. yah. RIGHT.) , I'm going to try something new out here on the blog, starting now:
Being Present I Noticed....an older man sitting on a folding lawn chair in his driveway in front of his open garage. In front of him was a very young child (I assumed to be his grandchild), 3 or 4 years old maybe, crawling into a kid-size "big enough I can sit in it and drive around" sized toy car. And the old man had the biggest most happiest smile on his face I have ever seen.

pardon the errors & typos, I have no desire to reread this ;-)

things that make me smile

2012-01-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Smile in the end, that is (because for a few second there I had a serious scowl going on there). I know this has gone viral already, but here:

As for this one, well....I am a big fan of watching the Tour de France every year, and I'm also a big fan of downhill skiing, and so I ended up being pointed to a video of downhill biking. This run is amazing, but the commentators....oh. my. god. CRACK ME UP. I laughed so hard the first time I watched it that my eyes watered, and I had to watch it again, and I laughed and my eyes watered the second time through, too (it might just be me....I've turned into quite the mushy spectator). Be warned that the last quip of the video might not be office appropriate (probably the entire video is not so appropriate--lots of excited yelling involved).

ohhhhh the minky-ness!

2012-01-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

That hat is dry (and so is the weather outside, but MAN, did it pour last night!)

Here's my new favorite thing:

This is the Monkey Bread hat by Anne Hanson of Knitspot, and it was an easy fun knit. So fun, that I'm going to knit this hat again, but as a complete set with the matching scarf this time, because sometimes it's just nice to be matchy-matchy. And besides, I really need...and I do mean NEED...an excuse to work with this yarn again.

Loooook at it!

That is 70% mink (no minks harmed in the making of this hat, so they tell me) and 30% cashmere. How luscious is that?!?! The finished hat is a light and airy fuzzy soft mass o' goodness.
I am in love.

I can't say enough about this yarn. For starters, it's from a smaller independent company called Great Northern Yarns (website/rav group), and I love supporting this type of business. Secondly, the yarn is just amazing. When you see the skein it looks nice and all, but it's not nearly as impressive as what you will find in your end product. The yarn is has a bit of remnant spinning oil still on it (not that you'd notice or be bothered by it while knitting, though). What you do notice as you knit though, is that the yarn starts to fluff up as the oil starts to works its way off. The wonderful resulting texture is enhanced by the wash and rinse done when you're finished knitting.

So I've been bitten by the mink-bug (although I hope the poor minks don't have bugs LOL), that four more skeins of this yarn just arrived this afternoon in the colorway "Peacock", which is nice teal-y turquoise-ish blue. I'm offf to go wind it up a skein right now and get this scarf rockin' and a rollin'.

Here's a link to my ravelry project page for the hat.

i got nothin'

2012-01-22T23:49:00.000-08:00

I had this grand plan for today's post. It was supposed to be a photo of me wearing the warm and cozy mink beret. Except it's not dry, and I don't dare put it on until it is, because I don't want to stretch out the hat band.

And so now I have nothing.
(because everything else today was about rain, and knitting with nothing much to show for it, and football games, and roasting vegetables to last for the next couple of hectic days, and tiger-balm patches applied to my aching back......like I said: nothing.)

Tomorrow.
Another day.

snaps on saturday

2012-01-21T23:09:00.001-08:00

A snap of my television screen....

Medieval backdrop, a little ol' lady knitting fireside, telling stories to kids that are sick in bed .

Me someday, maybe?
hahaha

(spotted in the series Game Of Thrones, btw)

soggy but happy

2012-01-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

I am so tired from being so tired! How is it that it works like that?!

I cancelled everything today and took it easy on my back. I am happy to report that I am improved today, and not at all looking around the house for the machete so I may lob my own head off. Today I just hurt a bit, but I don't feel like dying, and I'll settle for that.

It was nice to be inside in a way. We had sprinkles yesterday, but today was the first real big soaker of rainstorm, and we have not had rain in ages. I don't even know how long it's been (I should probably go look that up somewhere), but I don't believe it rained at all during the month of December. There was no snow in the hills for winter break skiing, that's for sure. And I also had to turn the sprinklers back on.

Anyhow, the rain was nice. Boobing out on costume dramas was nice (TheMostImportantGuy set up me up with a Roku box last week, so I've been streaming all sorts things via Netflix...Upstairs Downstairs, Daniel Deronda, and one I enjoyed quite a bit called The Wingless Bird). Pots of warm tea have been nice. Also nice is that I am happily knitting away on a soft, warm, and fuzzy beret that is made out of yarn that is 70% mink and 30% cashmere.....yummm!!

All things soft and cozy and comforting.

blech

2012-01-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

Busy day. Teacher mode. High school knitters, senior center knitters, dance class. All done while feeling like I have knife in my back. Every. Single. Minute of it.

Tomorrow? I rest.

I am supposed to be doing a 3-day meditation thing at the zen center, but I just can't see that happening. I'm voting for bed rest and ice packs. Movies, knitting, tea, and my prescribed stretching and strengthening exercises in between.

a brief update

2012-01-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

I had the doctor's appointment today for my back, finally. She did enough poking and prodding around to determine that it is not believed to be structural (*phew!*), but that it's muscular.

Exactly as I had suspected, it probably originated from the neck (I had an incident in August and the neck hasn't been quite right since then, either), and all things being attached, the issue has no migrated into the area of my right shoulder blade. As I also suspected, it is the muscle that runs from the spine, underneath the scapula/shoulder blade, wrapping around my ribs. In other words, it's a muscle that can't be directly massaged nor can topicals be applied to it...because it is under a bone!

See called over to the physical therapy department, and one came over and met me for an assessment. She also confirmed it was muscular and originating from the neck. She did a little work on it and showed me some exercises and stretches to do until they can get me set up on round of PT appointments to do some deeper work. I was given some new anit-inflammatories, too.

So all is good, in that I feel like I was taken care of and set on the path of recovery, but.....nothing has really changed much for the moment. I'm still in quite a bit of pain, but smiling through it with gritted teeth, trying not to let you know that I feel like I am living inside a torture chamber or something.

I'm also horribly hormonal with pms today, and so I'm getting all sappy and teary-eyed about it all whenever I have a moment alone. It kinda sucks.

In much happier news, the new knitting group met up last night at the sports bar, and I thought it went fabulously. We had 8 people just by word of mouth, and now that we are certain that the lighting is good and it's not too loud and that the management didn't mind separate checks and all that, well...we're going to list it Ravelry and also put a little poster up in the bar on their bulletin board.

A local knitting group. Ahhhhhhh. One that is only minutes from home and at a time I can actually attend. I have been hoping for this for years, and I sure hope it sticks! Whee!

please excuse typos.....
I blame them all on the pain meds! ;-)

next...!

2012-01-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Days and days of stockinette, and 54 woven ends later....

Done! (well, at least I am done with this one....remember I am doing v.2-the-small also)

Here's a link to the project page.

If my scale and maths are correct, it looks like I have enough left over yar to kick out this little beret, too. I've been wanting to do that one for awhile. I also have one other very warm looking beret that I'd love to kick out pretty quickly because it is goshdarned f-f-f-freeeezing here lately! We were down in the mid 20's F last night (and yes, I realize that some of you from other parts of the country are laughing your arses off because it is far colder where you live...but this is pretty cold for us LOL)

As for the much needed lace, I've decided the best thing to do is to mere the lace need with my desire to clean out the knitting basket of any WorksInProgress. I realized that I have a shawl in there that has the body done, but needs it's schmancy lace border put on. I put the project on a time out when I was picking up the border. Not that picking up is all that difficult normally, it's just that I was picking up as directed, and it was looking crappy. And by crappy, I mean uber-crappy. You are picking up along a bias edge, and you are doing it by knitting into the front and back of a garter stitch ridge every other time, and it was making little f-ugly holes and an wonky uneven edge. I couldn't get it to look right, so I tossed the thing in the pit o' knitting doom.

Luckily, one of the ladies in the new knitting group I have been going to on Fridays (still need to tell y'all about that) was wearing one a couple of weeks ago. Hers looked fabulous, and she told me that when she was picking up it looked uber-crappy too, so she brought it into the group for some help, and ended up just forging ahead, and it all came out fine in the end once it was blocked. So I am now inspired to just get on with it.

Oooo, something else to tell you about! I'm trying to get a new knitting group going in my town here at the local sports bar. Tonight is the first meeting! The owners are a husband and wife duo, and their two kids (boys, no less) are both knitters (they are part of the high school knitting club I teach at). The mom has just taken up loom knitting because she's scared to try actual knitting, but I have a feeling she'll be up for giving it a try once she she sees what we're all up to. Anyhow, the owners are totally supportive of bringing a knitting group into their establishment. They are setting us up in a back corner that is a little quieter and has better lighting....plus I go there pretty regularly for food, so I already know that it's fresh and yummy. Woot!

I'm crossing my fingers it goes well.

ahhhhh....

2012-01-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

I love the smell of wet wool and Soak in the morning.

It smells like...victory.

Stupid tweak of a famous movie quote, not to mention that it's not morning. It's 9pm at night. It took me all day (in between things) to sew in the kajillion loose ends this project had.

I have finally completed the miles of stockinette, and the shawl is blocking.

bed. rest.

2012-01-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

Ohh, man....today had a horrible beginning! The whole neck pain, back pain, arm pain thing was in full swing, and I sort of just wanted to die (Not literally. You can't get rid of me that easily. But you know what I mean.) The pain in the neck/back/arm was reinforced by a headache that was approaching migraine status, and then at some point midday, the stupid shooting pains I get in my soopah-short-leg started going. There was so much pain happening at once, that on top of it all, I started feeling nauseous.

TheMostImportantGuy asked me what might help, and I asked for a machetti. Twice. (I don't know how I manage to eek out jokes during times like these, but hey. Yay for me.)

I took something for the migraine, got in bed, and knit. I would have stayed there all day, too...but MyFavoriteKid (who felt so bad for me he even offered up a back rub at one point) had a buddy over for a visit, and I went out to get them a pizza because the pizza joint we like doesn't deliver here.

I did eventually improve. The headache decreased, the tummy settled. And the pain in the neck/back/arm seems to stay at bay, so long as I am in a supported and reclining position. As soon as I sit up erect though, or heaven help me, get on crutches or push myself in the wheelchair, I start hurting again. IT SUCKS.

I have never anticipated a doctors appointment more eagerly--Wednesday cannot come soon enough!!

Thank goodness I can knit and watch Downton Abbey tonight....in a supported and reclining postition. hahahaha

snaps on saturday

2012-01-14T23:36:00.001-08:00

smells like...

....teen spirit??

When your boyfriend is the audio engineer for an all ages, teen-band rock concert, you actually get the rare opportunity to see your kid in a mosh pit.

ok ok ok....

2012-01-13T22:43:00.000-08:00

My ack is still killing me. The pain is smacking the sparkle right off my sparkling personality, and it is tainting everything.
I booked a doctor's appointment for next Wednesday.
Ok?
Ok.

arrived

2012-01-12T16:43:00.001-08:00

Enough yarn for a sweater.

snore...

2012-01-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

Well, at least the miles and miles of stockinette stitch I am knitting are colorful miles! I'm so ready to be done with this, though. I'm doing this pattern, in the largest size. I am knitting with this yarn, but I also have the small version of this very same project also on the needles and at the halfway point. V.2 is being knit with yarn from Sincere Sheep, and the goal was to have it done sometime this century so should could use it as a shop sample. I'm really loving the colors of the second one. It's also got the purples and pinks, but the variegated section is replaced by a lovely shade of gray. The color scheme just has a really nice vibe to it.

As far as it being a snore-fest, it's not that there's anything wrong with the pattern---it's interesting enough. And I also think the finished garment is going to be lovely and worn a lot. I find that I wear the simpler things I knit far more often than the fancy. I also really like having a very simple project on the needles all the time, something I can pick up here and there without thinking about it much. Something I can knit on while we're watching a movie or whatever. The problem with simple knitting for me right now is that I feel like I am also experiencing the deep need of some sort of mind-numbling or at least slightly challenging project right now...for times when my head is busy and I need the knitting to shut it up. And I don't have anything like that in the works right now.

Anyhow, I'd probably be getting these two shawls done faster if I could just focus and knit more, but I keep finding myself at the computer trolling on Ravelry and looking at all the other things I could be knitting!

I might just need to whip out quick hat or something in the middle of all this just to keep myself from slipping into a knitting coma.

One of the reasons I am pushing to get these done is that one of my knitting goals this year is to either finish or frog (for the non-knitters, frog = rip out...get it? rip it. rip it.) anything projects that are laying around partially done. I'm sick of looking at them, and I'm sick of my needles being tangled up in a project that's not getting worked on.

My other knitting goals this year?

* Deal with the un-knit club kits (packages of yarn with a matching pattern) that are stacking up in the closet. I either need to knit them, sell/trade them, or match the yarn up to a different pattern (because when you sign up for a club, you almost always never know what you are going to get in the mail, and sometimes you just aren't into the project even if you like the yarn).

* And, I want to knit a skirt. I've been pondering the notion for years, and now is the time to do it.

What are your knitting goals this year?

full of complaints...

2012-01-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

Nothing is really wrong-wrong, but today everything is tainted by the fact that I am in a pretty decent amount of pain. Last week I pulled something in my back behind my right shoulder blade, and my standard arsenal of fix-it maneuvers aint fixin' it. Every morning I wake up and it feels like it's just getting worse (at present, I have shooting pains traveling all the way down my arm).

Because I am ouch-y, every other wee little nothing of an event that would normally just be slightly irksome, well.... it's now becoming a big deal. Pain has a way of discoloring everything, doesn't it?! I keep catching myself squooshing up my face, and then when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I'm looking like the crabby old troll living under a bridge.

Since I really don't need to see any more of the written version of my whiny voice, I think it's best if I just go back to what I've been doing to keep my mind off things (even though I am pretty sure that what I am doing is also turning out to be one of my complaints!):

I am knitting what feels like miles and miles of stockinette stitch (for the non-knitter, it can be a bit of a snooze-fest). I'm not quite sure how that it happened that everything I have on the needles right now is booooo-rinnnnnng, but none of it is distracting me enough from my physical complaints.

Need. Lace. Or. Something.

Served straight up with a sidecar of muscle rub ;-)

bird and apple haiku

2012-01-09T21:48:00.001-08:00

outside in the yard
bird snacks on leftover fruit
drag: glare from window

pardon me while i....

2012-01-08T21:13:00.000-08:00

....delve deep into my knitting project, and

...season two of Downton Abbey.

I've been waiting for this for months :-)

snaps on saturday

2012-01-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

Handwoven dishtowels, that I purchased in November when we went to a craft fair on a farm outside of Petaluma. I smile every time I use them. The only thing could make me love them more than I already do, would be if I had woven them myself.

Maybe someday....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A note about yesterday's ball o' yarn and back again story: I posted it last night! TheMostImportantGuy even read it from his phone, I was watching him scroll through it! And as I went to make this post, I see it's been held back as a draft. SO ODD!

storytime: a knitting perfection picture book

2012-01-06T21:57:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a ball of yarn.

It wanted to be a long loopy cowl type scarf.

So the perfectionist girl cast on.

And knit.

And it was good.

When the knutcase perfection knitter was done knitting, the scarf laid out beautifully.

Flat, scarf...flat!

Zig, scarf...zig!
Zag, scarf...zag!!

Roll, scarf....roll!!!

Wait.

I didn't mean roll like THAT, scarf.

THAT is poooopy looking!!

You roll so much you are inside out, and you curl this-way and that-way, and many of your colors all disappear!!

Guess what that means?!!

No more.
Bad bad scarf. :-(
UGH!

srsly.

2012-01-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

MyFavoriteKid went to stay for a few days and his buddy's grandparent's farm. This is one of the many resident critters I got to meet when I went to pick him up.

dear anonymous....

2012-01-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Thank you for your comment to yesterdays post! :-)
You wrote:
next time (and we all know there WILL be a next time!), you can simply duplicate stitch over the wrong color with the right color
sorry to have to tell you this after you ripped back 6 rows . . .

And Guernseygal, you wrote something similar!
You wrote:
I understand. I hate knowing there is an error, but as it is colourwork there was actually a simpler fix. You could of swiss darned ( duplicate stitched) in the correct colour over the incorrect stitches xx

When I was at lunch with MizzSheep yesterday, she had offered up the very same advice. I have to admit, that while I know very well how to duplicate over a stitch, the notion escaped me that it could be used as a solution for my little (and I do mean little) knitting mistake. It had never entered my mind at all as being an option (which is saying something, I think).

Before I ripped back the 6 rows, I did exactly what you all were suggesting. I went to the other end of the ball of yarn, I cut out a section of the color of yarn I needed (it's variegated yarn, making the mistake even less noticeable, if you follow *sigh*), and I did exactly what both you and MizzSheep suggested I should do. I duplicated over the stitch. For those of you that aren't yarnies, what I did was to follow the line of old the thread exactly, and I "sewed in", or covered over, the old stitch with the new/correct color of yarn.

I did the fix. And I looked at it. And I looked at it some more under better light. And I looked at it again after putting reading glasses on. And I squished it between my fingers. And I hemmed and hawed about the texture and whether or not I could live with being able to feel it, even though I could not really see the mistake anymore. Much. And I thought about other sensible people I know use duplicate stitch to fix mistakes all the time, but how for me, I only use duplicate stitch to sew on a design, like a face on a stuffed toy or something. And I thought about how stupid that is, to not be willing to use a skill I use for decorating something, and also have it be a tool for fixing something. And I looked at the shawl some more. And I put the shawl down, ate some chocolate, surfed the internet, and came back and looked at the shawl again. And then, because my brain was still yelling something loudly at me (something I couldn't quite make out), and because my stomach was still doing backflips, I picked out the duplicate stitch that I had just sewn in. And then I ripped back the 6 rows.

It's like I just couldn't stand myself knowing that I hadn't really fixed anything....I had only just tried to cover things up (and the fact that I cant stomach that, is also saying something).

For me, this question really is not about the knitting. I know that. If you are someone reading this post, and if you would have also ripped back, do you also feel like that isn't the question? (or is it just me that is the knitting knutcase here?!). For me, the question is not about how I handle mistakes in knitting; it is about how I handle mistakes in my life. Knitting has just become an analogy.

I am not at all dis-ing people that can leave a mistake in their knitting and live with it, or people that make a repair to a mistake so that the mistake blends in to the background or even becomes "a feature". Seriously, I do not disrespect you at all. In fact: I want what you have. Or at least I think I do. I guess I'd least like to have the emotional option to choose whether to fix a mistake or not and still be able to live with myself, if that makes any sense. But right now I do not believe I possess the ability to have it be a choice. It feels more like I am obsessively driven to achieve perfect knitting. Not because people are going to see my knitting, but for me. Heck, even if I decided in advance to never wear my new shawl out of the house, I still feel driven to not leave a mistake in it.

Where else but my craft do I absolutely have the sole power to start from scratch, like nothing ever happened, if I don't like the result? Where else in my life can I get a total do-over? And why do I think I need or should be allowed to have this sort of power over my craft when the rest of my life doesn't all allow that at all? Why do I spend time even questioning myself as to whether or not I should fix a knitting mistake, when I know I will always end up fixing it....and why do I waste countless hours wishing that I could rip back the last 6 words or sentences that I said to you, the ones that were such the huge mistake, when I know it can never be undone?

I'm not sure if I'm making any sense here.
And I probably am a knitting knutcase.
But knitting IS analogous to my life, and my life and its varying components are integrated, not compartmentalized. And so this head of mind gets full of questions, and it is inevitably where I end up when I grapple with a mistake a see in a knitted work in progress.

Knut.
Case.

hahahaha

Love you all. Thanks for the comments. :-)

cross-eyed

2012-01-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

Late last night, I put my knitting down in frustration, because I had found a stupid little mistake I made in the shawl I am working on.

By stupid mistake, I mean that it's stupid that I'd even consider fixing it. It's barely visible. I had been knitting along on a row, and the mistake occurred at the spot where I should have switched colors, but I did the color change in the wrong place. I changed colors one stitch earlier than I was supposed to. One stitch.

And so now there it is: one. danged. stitch. was the wrong color, an what is even more stupid is that the wrong stitch lays on a background of its neighboring colorway, and that color is barely a contrasting color. The colors are so similar, you can barely even see the difference. Let us also not forget that this project is a shawl, which means that in the end, it will be swirled around my neck all the time anyhow.

In other words, the mistake is barely visible.

I had lunch today with MizzSincereSheep, and showed her the mistake, and while she was kind enough to not laugh in my face, she did think it was rather silly to even consider ripping back to fix something so minor. Each row has over 300 stitches in it at this point by now, with colorwork happening on every row (albeit simple colorwork, but still), and the mistake was about 4 rows back. I was certainly not going to tink (knit backwards) 1200 stitches. And I couldn't drop directly down and fix the mistake because of the way I had changed colors (there was no yarn there in the correct colorway to fix it and pick it back up again). If I was going to fix this mistake, I was going to have to take the shawl off the needles, rip it back 4 rows, untangle the color changes, and get all 300+ stitches back up on the needles. And I was going to have to do all that for one. danged. stitch. that is barely visible.

MizzSheep totally talked me down, and I sat there with my iced tea and my lunch and I knit another 2 rows.

And then later tonight, when I was at home alone, I took the shawl out of my knitting bag, I freaked out, and I ripped it back and I fixed the mistake anyhow (ripping out 6 rows by now, not just the 4). I just spent quite a long time getting the damn thing back on the needles and getting all the stitches oriented the correct way. The mistake is fixed, and I my breathing is back to normal (it had been a little shallow). But my vision is fuzzy because my eyes got all crossed and kooky while implementing the fix.

I don't know what it is about me and knitting and not being able to let mistakes go when I see them. I certainly make mistakes all the time in the rest of my life that I don't fix, and many of them are mistakes that I absolutely should be fixing, because some of these mistakes are way worse than just a single stupid invisible stitch.

Maybe it's because the mistakes I make in the rest of my life cannot actually ever be fixed. I can apologies for things, try to smooth things over, but I can never really fix them. I can't undo my screw ups. I cannot repair them. I cannot rip them out, erase them, rewind them, make them go away, start all over, and have things in the end come out looking like nothing ever happened. Even after the apology or the correction, the effects of the mistake are often still quite visible.

Maybe I fix my knitting because it's the only time I can every really truly fix a mistake....fix it to the point where you (and I) would never even be able to see that anything wrong happened in the first place.

??

I ask myself these questions all the time.

feisty.

2012-01-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

I am feisty. And a bit "worded out". With the holidays now officially over, many emails needed to be written today, almost all of which required me to think much more than I would have liked to. I'm not ready to think this hard yet!! MyFavoriteKid is still on vacation from school this week. In fact, he is out of town for a few days with his buddy at the farm of the buddy's grandparents.

In other words: I'm freeee!!!!

I should be throwing a wild party. Or sitting in my underpants and knitting and eating bonbons (which is more true to form, these hermit-esque days). I should not be typing and editing and editing and editing and editing all of these wordy, I-need-to-make-myself-perfectly-clear emails that I have been writing all day to contractors. Nor should I be over thinking emails to students and comrades regarding upcoming dance performances.

But I have been. All day, it seems. Except for a quick break to go to the zen center and then to the convalescent hospital.

Well, the emails are done. And now I will sit and eat cookies (I don't even keep bonbons in the house *sigh*), and my sitting will and eating cookies will probably not be done in only my underpants (too cold for that here), and rather than knitting, I will be fixing a mistake that I made in my knitting, because I-need-to-make-my-knitting-perfectly-clear just like my emails.

happy new year !

2012-01-01T23:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, that title is creative, eh?? Hahaha. Sheesh. Let's start this year's entries off with a bang, shall we?!! ;-)

So, how was your new year's eve?

My new year's eve actually involved a party this year, which is not usually how it goes. How does it "go", you ask? Well, that is a good question! As TheMostImportantGuy and I backed down the driveway to head to the party, I asked him to help me put together a list of how we have spent all of our new year's eves past. We couldn't remember all of them. We knew that last year we went to a chanting thing at the zen center. And we also knew there was at least one year (perhaps two?) that included dinner out with my folks followed by coming home to turn on the tube and watch the west coast airing of the New York ball drop on the television. But there were several new year's eves unaccounted for (was there a concert or two in there? if so, who?!). I'm not sure if we are forgetting because we are developing the early stages of age-related brainfog, or if it's simply because we just don't usually do anything terribly exciting or memorable (I should just go back and see if I wrote about any of them on the blog...duh!).

What I do know for a fact though, is that even though I cannot remember what we have done, I can absolutely tell you what we have not done:
Every year since TheMIG and I have been together, I've refused an invitation for us to go to a party at the Warren's.

Who are the Warrens. Well. Back in the day, when I was still together with TheEx, he had met MisterWarren on a train platform and they quickly became fast friends. They had noticed that they were always getting on the same train car each morning to go to work, and one day they started chatting and found out they both had just become dads. When Warren and TheEx learned that their offices at the other end of the train ride were only minutes apart, they quit the train altogether, and carpooled together for years. During those years, TheEx and I were throwing lots of parties, and I would invite my friends, some of whom had partners and kids about the same age as ours, and the Warrens would come, too. Of course, TheEx and I never looked at our friends in the "your friends, my friends" sort of way. They all became "our friends", and in the long run, the families all got quite tight and everybody was inviting everybody to each others gatherings (mostly kids birthdays, barbeques, holiday parties, etc). A few of us ladies started a weekly craft night back then, and the guys in the bunch even created a separate poker playing faction.

When TheEx and I split up, we had our tough moments, but it really was quite the amiable break up. There was never the feeling that we needed to be "dividing up" our friends. Not one bit. But I always sorta felt like MisterWarren and the Warren family were more TheEx's friends (his best friends, actually), and at that time, and TheEx seemed like he could use a little support. I had a pretty solid group of women friends of my own as I transitioned out of the relationship. But Warren was TheEx's closest source of support, and so I kept my distance a little bit. We still stayed in touch, of course, but I always made it a point to avoid the annual new year's eve party the Warrens kept inviting me to. Every year TheEx would say that he had no problem whatsoever if I came to the party ...but every year I didn't go (and after awhile, I was dating TheMIG, so we didn't go....even though we were both invited).

Instead, TheEx and MyFavoriteKid would go to the party (and TheMIG and I would do....whatever), but also going to the party were most of my friends, the friends whose families had become mutual friends of the Warrens by that point, and were also invited.

Are you seeing how this all went?
It's part of how I ended up with the not-so-memorable-NewYearsEve-syndrome, I think.

Well, this year, as usual, I got an invitation to the party by email. And I don't know what came over me this year, but this time I accepted (after talking it over with TheMIG, of course...and MyFK...and TheEx....in that order).

Actually, I do know what came over me. What came over me is that early last year, a beacon of light shone down upon my sad little self, and I realized that I had been behaving like a hermit, and that I had been doing so for years. It just sort of crept up on me, so I didn't see it, if you know what I mean. After months of trying to figure out why I was a hermit-lady, I finally came to the conclusion that I had no friggin' idea! And that figuring out why might not help me solve the dilemma anyhow. I just needed to act. I needed to do something about it.

I spent a few more months trying to get up the nerve to try. And then around September or October I started really making a concerted effort to place myself in the path of people for a change.

It's been good (well, mostly good --- it's been sort of trial and error, and I've blown it several times, and in the process I have lost as many friends as I have tried to make, but that's another post), and last night, we went to the party. I got to ring in the new year with TheMIG, and with my friends, and with all of their kids (who, after a decade, aren't little kids anymore), and I also got to toot a new year's eve party horn with MyFavoriteKid.

Half the group.
Fuzzy. Because we were all laughing and carrying on ;-)

I am on the path out of hermit-town.
And I am hoping to keep traveling down it during 2012.

another lap around the sun

2011-12-31T15:39:00.000-08:00

Another year of Blog365 = complete.

Many other goals this year = incomplete.

This has been a year chock full of one unpredictable thing after another, hasn't it?! I set out this year with well thought out and attainable intentions, along with what felt like a very solid strategy to attain them. The biggies on my list were to blog differently, to spin more yarn, and to work on my relationship to food.

I didn't get very far at all. In fact, I only got as far as January 2nd. hahahaha

That was the day TheMostImportantGuy and I saw the house that we decided to set wheels in motion to purchase, and at least 50% of my energy has been spent assisting in the renovation of said house (and renovations will not be completed until next year, at best). The other 50% of my energy this year was spent helping MyFavoriteKid transition into high school, helping my dad deal with a first (and now a second) life affecting illness, nursing two dogs for an entire summer after a dog attack and various surgeries, dealing with my own hand injury and booby-lump-scare, and finding out that working on my relationship to food was also going to include dealing with having to grapple with the oddest grouping of food sensitivities I could have ever assembled in my wildest imagination.

While this year really has not been all that bad, it has been no picnic. Nothing this year went quite as I had planned. The blog suffered, and I think my goal to spin a pile of fiber once a month lasted into mid-February.

I've spent most of this month of December trying to figure out what to do with the blog here in 2012, and whether or not to continue posting daily. I really don't care much for the quality of writing I did here this past year, and it really feels like I need to spend a day or two or three writing and editing one single post, rather than shoving something together late at night when I am too tired. That being said, posting every day is probably the only thing that I make myself do every single day, and it's an anchor for me that I am not sure I am prepared to part with at this point.

I'm not exactly sure where I am headed yet this next year, but at this point, I think that this is the direction I am pointing myself towards:

* I've been saying this for years now, and I really want to follow through: I want to learn how to use the features on my camera, and how to use photo editing software, so expect to see more photos.

*I'd like to write a few entries that are more like essays or short stories. I have so many of them in my head, and I need to get them up and out.

* I know I want to knit more (spinning too, but I am on a knitting bender right now, and loving it), so there will probably be more yarn stuff here.

* My relationship to food is changing whether I like it or not, and there have been revelations that I need to pursue more deeply, and that I need to write about, because I have been keeping them to myself, and it is not working.

* And.....I need to read more blogs. Because I haven't been. I am sick of living in the hermit-hole. Part of my hope for this year is to read more about you and write less babble about me.

Thank you, all of you, for your comments, your advice, your support, and the laughter you brought to the table this year. It has been soooo appreciated. I wish I could have you all over for a cup of tea so I could give you a hug in person.

Please: If you have a blog, please please please email me your blog address (AmpuTeeHee~at~hotmail~dot~com) or pop your blog address into the comments so I can add you to my blog-feed-reader-thingy. Do it for me even if you think I have it, okay? I want to make sure I'm not missing anything. I'm making a new reading list! Thank you thank you.

I hope all of you have a splendid New Year's Eve, and know that much mojo is being sent out for each and every one of you to have a joyous and prosperous 2012.

Much love, and much light~
bonnie (aka AmpuTeeHee)

all is calm

2011-12-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

Our new home's little downtown historic shopping district at night.

a random photo from the weekend....

2011-12-29T21:53:00.000-08:00

...because I am already too tired tonight to type much.

We were pulling up at a stop light next to this ol' kit car, its rims a-spinnin' and the music pumping. As we got closer, I was dying to see who was driving. It ended up being an older dude in a Santa's hat, and his passenger...

...Wile E Coyote.

the story of our new tree

2011-12-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Once Upon A Time.....

I wanted a Christmas Tree.

Truth be told, I really do prefer a real "live" (well, once-was-alive) Christmas tree. My love of having a real tree in the house mostly has to do with the scent of the tree wafting about the room, but I'm also a little attached to the memories of the tradition of going to a lot somewhere and picking out a tree and getting it home (as I get older, I find myself less and less attached to that sentiment).

I have a real interesting relationship with Christmas. I was raised in a household where we celebrated both Christmas and Channukah, even though my dad was Jewish and my mom had converted to Judaism before they were married (although in the long run, it was discovered that my mother was Jewish all along, because her mother's mother was Jewish, and had only pretended not to be Jewish to escape the Nazis. Crazy, eh?). Anyhow, I've always felt more closely connected with the Jewish holidays, but throughout my pagan-esque 20's, as I had moved out on my own, and was establishing my own traditions and links to the holidays, I discovered I felt less and less connected to the commercial and religious aspects of the holidays. My holidays, for me, became more about celebrating seasons, and it has carried through to today.

Basically this means that what I am reallly am linked to, and what I have been celebrating for decades in my own way, is Winter. And that is why I love having a tree, especially the smell of a tree, in the house (what you will also find in my house this time of year is lots of Christmas music from the 50's and 60's, smells of holiday foods, and many decorations relating to snow).

So.
Here we are, with the new house this year, and this gorgeous vintage-y looking living room with a fireplace, and....

...I don't know about you, but I think the room just begs for a tree in that window next to the fireplace there, which also happens to face the street.

But now I'm older. And I'm busier. And I don't like killing trees so much. And even less, I like dealing with disposing of them. And I'm not living at this house full time yet, which means watering would be a pain. And I get really sick of cleaning up needles. And who needs a fire hazard anyhow.

So I started looking for a fake tree. A pre-lit tree, at that (whee! even more old and busy, am I!).

I found a couple I liked, and that was right around the time that we were given the estimate of what it is going to cost us to remodel the kitchen and bathroom here next spring, which kinda makes my stomach flip a little bit, and it also makes me see every $100 purchase as, "Wait. That's one-fifth of a dishwasher." I decided we would not have a tree this year (*pout*) but that on December 26th, I would go out early in the morn' and snatch up a tree at 50% off and store it for next year (what I did do this year though, was go to Hallmark and buy a "2011 -- New House" ornament, which we stuck on the mantle of the fireplace).

I saw the tree I wanted. It was at Target, and it was $230. There are 5 Targets on highway 80 down a 30 minute trail from here to Berkeley, and I was determined to hit them all until I got the tree I coveted. We got to the first Target only to find that their holiday section had been completely revamped, and that they had removed every single tree and large lawn decoration. In fact, I saw lights and things in that holiday section that I will swear on my grave had not even been set out as regular stock just a few days earlier. It was very odd. Well anyhow, we bought an on sale storage bag to store the fake tree that we didn't even have yet, and we bought some icicle lights so that next year the house can look a little gingerbread-ish, since the hooks for the lights are already in place anyhow.....

...and then, after finding out that all Targets had pulled their trees, we headed on over to K-Mart.

I don't even know the last time I have been in a K-Mart, but I swear to you, K-Mart smells like a K-mart in a way no other store can, and it totally blew my mind that some things like a particular smell never do change, and it made me realize that if I am going to get a fake tree, I should probably also invest in some pine scented candles or something.

So at K-Mart, we found a tree we liked.

It wasn't as great the Target tree, but it would do. It's 7.5 feet tall, with white lights, and it had originally been $229, but was now marked down by 50%. Woot! When we moved from the display section to the stack of boxed trees ready for sale, we found that the tree we wanted was only available still with colored lights, and we wanted clear. But the display model had white lights. So we asked Mike, TheDudeOfTheHomeAndGardenDepartment, if we could buy the display model. He said yes, and it would even be another 20% off. WootWoot! Our lovely little display model, however, was fully (and I do mean fully) decorated. He would arrange to have someone take it apart and they would call me to pick it up that night or the next day.

I went back to the store the next morning to pick up the tree, and MikeTheDude rolled out a shopping cart containing the tree and huge box. I asked him if it was the stand that was inside the box, and he said, "No. That's all your ornaments, and the garlands, plus the tree skirt. That's how we roll around here." WootWootWoot!!

So for $100, including tax, we scored our tree, the skirt, and an a$$load of (very nice, actually) ornaments.

AND, if you total up the tree and the ornaments, this means we saved about two-thirds a dishwasher :-)

The End.

i should start cataloging the evidence

2011-12-27T23:49:00.000-08:00

Our house was previously bank owned, and we find lots of evidence as to why the previous owners failed so miserably.

We can add that to the pile o' crack pipes and various other things we find stashed in the walls and attics.
Sheesh.

we're a little addicted over here....

2011-12-26T23:11:00.000-08:00

We're boobin-out on way too much serial television this holiday vay-cay-see-ohhn.

We've plowed through season one, and now we're ripping through season 2 of Dexter right now. Viewing with a vengeance. Which makes us serial television viewers obsessively watching a serial killer who kills serial killers.

And we're only watching so much Dexter yesterday and today because earlier this week we also plowed through season one of Game of Thrones (that we've watched via OnDemand though).

Brain is mush, but entertained.
And I'm also getting lots of knitting done at the same time :-)

happy holidays

2011-12-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

TheMostImportantGuy and I had a very nice day up at his family's opening gifts and sharing a meal. I tried to do the whole, "let's give each other hand made gifts next year" thing, and it was met with resistance. The niece said she'd made most of her friends gift this year, and it was too hard and took to much time. The sis-in-law wanted to put on the restriction that all materials had to be source from a thrift store or be used or from a garage sale (not a bad idea, if done right), but she suggested that because her idea was that each person was to aim for the most craptastic gift possible.

Oh, well. At least I tried. I think next year I'll just make them all something nice and thoughtful, and with a little love put into it, and show 'em how it's done.

I leave you with a crazy arsed ghost pic taken of me and TheMIG at dinner last night.

Crazy, eh? Not sure quite how that happened, but I find it quite interesting.

Hope you all are having a good holiday season!!
xoxo

snaps on saturday

2011-12-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve Dinner with my folks at the local Italian Restaurant.
We've been doing it for enough years in a row now that I believe we can call it a family tradition :-)

what i did today

2011-12-23T22:59:00.000-08:00

My Day.

I got up much earlier than I wanted to (especially considering I should technically be on "vacation" time this week), because I realllllly did not want to miss the meeting of a new knitting group I joined a few weeks ago. The knitting group meets at 10am on Friday mornings, and it's about 30 minutes south of me.... and I really do need to write an entire post about how I ended up in this group and what trying to "fit in" has looked like, because there is definitely some meat on that bone.

Anyhow.

I got up early, and even after prattling around for a bit and preparing for departure, I still found myself realllllly not wanting to leave because it was freezing cold outside (literally - 29 degrees here last night) and because TheMostImportantGuy was having a lazy morning here today as it was his first day off for the holidays, too. But since I reallllllly did not want to miss the knitting group, I pushed on through, got myself all dolled up and festive looking by wearing a red hand-knit sweater and some holiday earrings. Then I dragged myself out of the house even though I really wanted to crawl back into bed, and I got in the car, and along the drive, I picked up a soy chai latte at Peets, and I drove all the way down there to the knitting group, and I parked the car, and that's when I noticed that the street parking was way more open than it usually is.

And then I looked at my calendar and saw that I had entered, "NO knitting group" in today's little box.

So poor little dolled up me and my soy chai latte drove home. And I knit alone.

DUH.
hahahahaha

vintage me.

2011-12-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

Too tired to check and see if I have posted this photo once before (last night was another RassinFrassinShimShammin night of leg spasms, DangNabbit...and I am exhausted).

Hopefully I have not posted this one before and it's "a freshie".

Vintage me in headgear.

If I had to wager, it might have been my first night with it.

(and check out my mom with the Charlie's Angels hairdo!)

hooooboy!

2011-12-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

And you thought that snare drum was somethin' eh???

Whaddya have to say about this?!?!

THAT would be TheEx's (early) X-mas gift to MyFavoriteKid. Which he purchase but will be kept at my house (I thought that sort of noisy gift-giving was something grandparents do, not parents!! Sheesh!).

Nah, in all seriousness, I was totally on board.

It was TheEx's idea to get a drum kit for MyFK, and it was he that shelled out for it...but it really was a team effort on some level. It was TheMostImportantGuy (being a drummer himself) who offered to help look for a really good used kit on Craigslist, and it was also TheMIG who set the drums up while TheEx had MyFK out of the house for a couple of hours. That way it was a full on wonderful surprise. My role in this? It was me who cleared out the den to make space, and I also gave up my living room carpet to go underneath it (I'd be wanting to change the color of the living room Flor tiles anyhow, so it was the perfect excuse.

But my real contribution?? I agreed to tolerate drumming in my house.

Sometimes I want to run around the house pretending to be MrsBennet from Pride and Prejudice...."No one knows what I suffer!!" Or maybe, "You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves."

All I can say is, at least I was smart enough to only allow an electronic drum kit and not an acoustic one!

simple holiday meal.

2011-12-20T22:16:00.000-08:00

Possibly a little too simple.

First night of Chanukah, and it was a very simple dinner at my house with both my parents and MyFavoriteKid. The dinner was so simple that I served a store bought whole roasted chicken that came already cut into pieces. What a slacker (and to believe I went to culinary school). Hold yer horses, though. I even bought the latkes. They were fresh and handmade, but certainly not by me.

My only honest contribution to the meal was roasted vegetables served warm on a bed of greens and tossed with a citrus vinaigrette (at least I made that myself).

The truth of the matter is that when I think about the meal that accompany the Jewish holidays, what usually comes to mind as being the most enjoyable part of them is that my mom makes all the family recipes with the traditional foods. I don't know "family recipe" it is though, when I am her daughter, and I can't even make them. And I used to be a chef. It's not that I don't have an interest in learning, I'm a foodie, for crying out loud. Actually, when I was in culinary school, and had to do a project that included and essay for an ethnic foods class. I did a full report on my mom's Matzoh Ball Soup, and I got the best grade in the class. But I still have never made a matzoh ball myself. It's almost like somewhere in me knows that if I learn how to make the family recipes, mom might stop making them! hahaha *sigh* I laugh, but the best part of holidays themselves sometimes is looking forward to these recipes we only get sometimes once a year.

As I was setting the table tonight, and getting ready to reheat latkes and roasted chicken, I felt like such a poser. I get that feeling every once in awhile. Where I realize I am 44 years old, but feel like I am faking, or playing house or something. Drives me nuts, that feeling.

At dinner, MyFK stood up and made the toast before the meal. He toasted me, saying I was such a great mom and took such good care of him and how appreciative he was of me. It bowled me over. And I had a hard time absorbing it on some level, because there I was being a half-assed Jewish mom who bought the latkes. Hahaha. Laugh, but it's kinds sad, really.

It really is my turn to start hostessing these holiday meals. Which means it's finally time to grow up and learn how to make da' foods.

(pardon typos on nonsense...I don't have time to edit. Sleep calls!)

(non)walking zombie

2011-12-19T21:44:00.000-08:00

I was up all night last night.

Every once in awhile, I get this sharp pains in my residual limb. My little leg o' left-overs. I wouldn't call it phantom pain, because phantom pain is when you feel pain or sensation of or in the limb that isn't physically there anymore. I had that sort of stuff happening during the first few months after I lost my leg, but I worked very hard having tactile conversations with my leg about where my leg was, and where my leg was not. I taught my brain to understand where the leg now ends. And sometimes, like when I am in dance class or need more balance, I can play with the energy of where the leg used to be and use it to my advantage.

Anyhow. I get these sharp pains that are not phantom pain. They are actually in what remains of my leg, and I am pretty sure that it starts from discomfort from my low back. It's as if there is pain in my sacrum that shoots down my leg like sciatica or something, except that there is no place for that energy to go. The nerves do not exist. Wherever it comes from, whatever is causing it, I swear it feels like I am being electrocuted, or tazed (not that I know what either of those feel like, I am just guessing). It's this horribly painful sharp current zapping my leg and causing me to almost double over in pain, or for my leg to cramp up, and if it goes on for a long time, it also induces a bout of cursing ;-) The pain is short and fast. It hurts like crazy when it happens, and then when it is gone, it is completely gone. It's sort of crazy.

Sometimes this happens once or twice and then it goes away. And then once every few months or so, it happens, and it happens, and it happens some more....lasting countless hours. Last night was one of those. It woke me out of my sleep around 1:30am. I'd doze off, and then it would come back again. The frequency increased, and the intensity increased, and then the muscles in my leg and hip started cramping up from the overwork on top of it all. Around 3:30am I decided to take something for the pain. It dulled it a bit, but it didn't go away. I didn't fall asleep until about 6:30am, and then I had a phone call come in at 7:30, and I had to get on with my day by 9.

I am exhausted, and I have been testy and cranky and over-emotional all day as a result. The good news is that this is usually a one night thing (it was gone this morning, by the way), and I am going to keep my fingers crossed that the one-night trend continues. Because I could use some sleep!

2011-12-18T23:25:00.000-08:00

Today was the day to get the last of the holiday shopping taken care of. TheMostImportantGuy and I ran around all town (several towns, actually) getting it all done, and I am soooo glad it's over. A couple of years ago I started the shopping so early that I finished it in early November, and then all of December I just sat back and watched everyone else go nuts while I sipped eggnog. That was a much better way to work it, if you ask me.

Every year, this feeling I have gets stronger and stronger:
why the heck are we bothering with gifts??

Every year, I promise myself that "next year" I am going to make arrangements with family for us to do a no-gift thing. Or maybe a let's-give-gifts-only-to-the-kids thing. Or maybe we should do the let's-draw-a-name-out-of-a-hat-and-gift-only-one-person gift exchange. Or maybe we could to an everything-has-to-be-homemade thing. Or how about a let's-just-donate-to-charity thing.

All great ideas. The problem is that every year, I forget to have these conversations with family until it's too close to the holiday.

I think this year I might try putting it out there over the holiday dinner or something. For me, the holidays have nothing at all to do with this sort of gift giving.

So.
The running around all over town(s) was a drag. Not at all what I would call a "good time". And so when we took a break to have a late lunch/early dinner, I made sure to have a "good time". In fact, I had an "effin' good time".

Tastier than eggnog anyhow ;-)

snaps on saturday

2011-12-17T23:11:00.000-08:00

Luncheon. With ladies that knit. In a restaurant. On the water.

-----
Sent from my iPad

just across town...

2011-12-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

....someone went a bit bananas with the holiday decorations. Including covering their "trees" (?) with tinfoil.

I think I am going to need to drive by and see it at night and when all their crazy-huge "inflatable thingies" are running (I think I spotted at least a half a dozen).

Just because one can always us a ho-ho-ho sort of belly laugh every once in awhile ;-)

joy.

2011-12-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

This week is finals week for MyFavoriteKid, and as of 1:58pm tomorrow (I know--what an odd time) he is officially on vacation for 3 weeks.

The band teacher let the Winter Drumline kids take their instruments home for winter break.

You just let that sink in for a minute.

And then I'll just let you write the rest of this post for me in your own head.
K?

;-)

let's face it.

2011-12-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

I do not see any opportunity on my horizon to have someone take decent snaps of me in that new sweater I finished last week. So here are the photos that I do have: one taken with arm stickin' out holding the camera, a couple taken into the mirror in the bathroom, one shot from behind taken by one of the senior knitting ladies, and one of it laying out on the counter (not necessarily in that order).

Not great, but it's all I have ;-)

Here's the details on Ravelry.

Oh. And I just whooped that little lace thing into submission.
She's blocking now ;-)

slightly defeatist

2011-12-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry that some of you had a craptastic day yesterday, too...but thanks for telling me that I was not alone. Sometimes that just helps.

I really thought today was going to be a repeat. My day started by reaching into my purse for something only to discover that a tube of muscle rub had exploded all over the inside of my bag. Yay, me.

I did rip back the knitting. I don't ever mind ripping something back to might it just-so. It was just that this project was lace, and I had already picked up and knit along one long edge, and then I had also unzipped a provisional cast-on and picked up and knit through that, too. If you don't knit, I'm speaking Greek, but the translation is: it wasn't just simply undoing some yarn. Anyhow, I got 'er back to where it needed to be in order to make the silly thing longer. But then I sat there staring at it, threw my hands in the air, and then cast-on instead for a big fluffy super bulky scarf in an overly simple stitch pattern.

Because sometimes you just need simple.

can i have a do-over?

2011-12-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

Nothing has gone well today, and I'd really like to do it over.

The highlights of my suck-ass day were:

* repeatedly falling asleep during mediation practice at the zen center (not exaclty the point).

* going to visit James at the convalescent hospital but never getting to see him because right as I got there, he asked me to wait outside as he needed to be helped to go to the bathroom. Once the CNA's finally got him on the can, they got so caught up in other business and didn't have time to get him off the can for forty-five minutes. So after over and hour for his potty adventure, and then my time up with him was over.

* while James was doing his "thing" and I was sitting in the hallway, I had to listen to this poor old man foreverrrrrrr yelling from the shower area: Help me. I want to lay down. Help me. I want to lay down. Help me. I want to lay down. I'm cold. I'm cold. Help me. I want to lay down. Help me. I want to.....

* so I went down the hall to visit Martha only to find out that her roommate had passed away last week.

* I got home and tried to make it all go away by finishing knitting the body of the lace neck warmer thing I am working on. After I knit the body, I picked up around the edges, and was almost entirely finished with the whole damn thing, when I realized that the body of the lace neck warmer thing wasn't really knit long enough in the first place and wont sit comfortably around my neck. It fits. It's just not a flattering fit. And now I have to find the balls to rip all my work back out.

~~~The kicker was that I didn't catch the length problem sooner because I was too busy pondering the worst thing that happened today (which took place between falling asleep at the zen center and James being stuck on the crapper):

There was a very distressed looking seagull walking down the middle of a very very busy frontage road running alongside a very wide and busy freeway interchange. He was wandering around, and cars were stopping, but some were very close to hitting him. It looked like his wing was broken. As I got closer, and I saw that he was wrapped up in holiday curling ribbon and fishing line. I pulled over and tried calling the emergency services number and animal services and I was getting the total run around, and all the while PoorMrSeagull was getting closer and closer to being run over.

So I got out of my car, got in my wheelchair, grabbed the stadium/picnic blanket that I keep in the trunk, and my mini scissors from my knitting bag. I couldn't imagine him letting me get near him, but what else was I going to do, because animal services said it would be a few hours, and I was freaking out that he was going to get hit.

When I got not even a little bit close to PoorMrSeagull, he freaked. And he tried to fly. Even with wings all tangled up. And he cleared the chain link fence between the frontage road and the freeway. And then a car and truck hit him. And he was kaput.

I have cried about it off and on all afternoon, and it tainted my day in ways I never thought possible. You can try to say whatever you want to say to soothe my nerves, but I've probably said the same things to myself, and I'm not feeling any better at all.

It was dumb. I'm not animal services. I hate that I freaked that bird out so much that I made him do something worse than what he was already doing. I know it was probably just a matter of time and I did the best I could do and blah blah blah.....but I am the person who always rants about how irritating it is when people offer help that is even remotely helpful.

And I love birds.
I love them.

And I am very very sad.

And now I get to go top my evening off by frogging my project. Woot.

never enough knittin' time

2011-12-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

I have not had enough knitting time this week. I've been around plenty of knitting, sure....but I just never had the chance to work on my own knitting, is all. I was either teaching people how to knit, showing them how to fix mistakes, or in a few really intense cases when they couldn't wrangle the repair themselves, just fixing it for them.

When I finally did have some free time for my own knitting, I chose to spend it over at the new house photographing yarn, entering it into Ravelry (for the uninitiated, some of us do this so that we have a spreadsheet of what we have on hand), and then putting the yarn away into the cabinets in the craftroom.

I finally had some time tonight to work on actual knitting. A little lace thang, a neckwarmer, basically. And a whole whopping 3 rows into my session, my cat decided my lace chart was the purrrfect place for him to park his big fat kitteh arse.

That would be MrDarcy.
I've moved him 4 times.
And he keeps coming back.

snapless

2011-12-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

I failed to get the camera out during the light of day (dang these days are getting short!!)

So here's a pic of a scarf that I am considering dissecting and knitting...

....because apparently I am in the holiday spirit...?

still no pics of the sweater, but how about this?

2011-12-09T21:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight's moonrise through the trees, shot through the front window in the livingroom.

is there a photographer in da houuuse?

2011-12-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

I finished the brown sweater last week, and today I decided to add some clasp onto it...

...but I still don't have any decent shots of me wearing it. I tried doing that stick-your-arm-out-as-far-as-you-can thing, and I couldn't get the whole sweater. I tried the shooting-into-the-mirror thing, and that also looked like crap. Since I had it on for today's knitting classes, I passed the camera to the high school kids, but the lighting was goofy, and then the shots taken by someone at the senior center weren't zoomed in.

I'll try again tomorrow at the knitting group I knit at (rather than teach...yay!), or I will ask TheMostImportantGuy to take some shots over the weekend during daylight hours.

phase 2

2011-12-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

Marching band season might be over....

...but concert band is just beginning. Tonight was the first concert of the year, a holiday themed sort of thing.

In other band news, MyFavoriteKid auditioned for the winter drum line, and was selected for the position he'd been practicing for weeks for: snare drum. I'm so so proud of him.

And now we're back to getting up at 6am because his practices are before school starting at 7am.

something that made me happy today

2011-12-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

I ran into a post on Ravelry in the Mindful Knitters forum:

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to a short film (six minutes long) I made as part of the fall ango (intensive training period) in the Mountains and Rivers Order, where I am a student. Each ango, we have an art practice assignment, usually coming out of a text by Dogen. This time the assignment was to work with this:

In stillness, mind and object merge in realization and go beyond enlightenment. Nevertheless, in the state of receptive samadhi, without disturbing its quality or moving a single particle you engage the vast buddha activity, the extremely profound and subtle buddha transformation.

Eihei Dogen, Bendowa (The Wholehearted Way), 1231AD

And here is my project, titled Spinning/Nonspinning.

Hope you like it!

Spinning Nonspinning from Robyn Love on Vimeo.

(hint: I loved it)

just so you know who i'm dealing with....

2011-12-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

MyFavoriteKid says that I blow "everything" out of proportion, and he insists that I make an annoyingly big deal out of things that he believes to be trivial. (Like say, a missed homework assignment. Lo, the gap between parent and child.)

For weeks he has been trying to build a case for how out of whack I am, stopping me mid-sentence anytime I say anything that sounds even remotely exaggerated.

This is an actual conversation that took place between me and my 14-year old son in the car at 6:45am on the way to school:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Me: "....so can you please close the lid on the box of band-aids so it doesn't explode all over the place?"

MyFavoriteKid: "See what I mean??!!!! MOM, you exaggerate about EVERYTHING!!! A box of band-aids does not explode!"

"Well, I disagree. I mean sure, it wouldn't be like a bomb went off or something. But have you ever seen what happens when a box of band-aids gets turned upside down and 48 band-aids go "*spwloosh*" all over the place??! It happens to be about as exploded as a box of band-aids can get."

"It's still an exaggeration."

"Well, you call it an exaggeration, I call it using colorful language. "

"WELL, MOM....you should really call it a hyperbole. And the definition of a hyperbole is EXTREME EXAGGERATION. So therefore....

You.

Exaggerate."

And that is the teenager I am dealing with ;-)

could do this all night. seriously.

2011-12-04T21:51:00.001-08:00

I don't have much to say tonight, because I'm too busy watching hours of dance videos on YouTube, specifically Les Twins (blame TheMostImportantGuy...he started it by sending me the first link).

They're the 2nd up to dance, and they uh....
look like twins ;-)

Blows. My. Mind.
And reinforces to me, once again, that while dance movements are the meat of the thing, it's the transitions between movements that make dance magic.

I love these guys. I could watch them all night.

snaps on saturday

2011-12-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

So many things I haven't written about, owhich once again points to my needing to be a different blogger once this round of Blog365 is over.

TheMostImortantGuy's mother went into the hospital the day after Thanksgiving. She had thought he had food poisoing from the meal (the whole family ate out together at an elegant buffet this year). It turns out that she has diverticulitis. She was released on Monday, but as we live an hour and half (at best) south of her, we left the in-person visits to TheMIG's sister wo is local.

Well, I spoke to TheMIG's mom Friday and asked how she was doing and if she needed help, and she said yes, so today we drove up and spent the day up there with her. TheMIG vacuumed her house and pulled out some holiday decorations while I took her to the grocery store (she wanted to get out, but felt too loopy to drive).

We spent the evening at the new house playing "pretend kitchen" (that's where we prattle around pretending where the sink might go, and the stove might go, etc etc....as we're now looking at the kitchen design plans being thrown our way, and quite frankly, none of them are working out so far). I suspect Sunday is where I spend the day reinventing the wheel. I do have a culinary background (I used to be a chef/caterer), and I did take a semester of restaurant design layout in culinary school, so I should probaly be making more use of my skills than I am.

electronics piggy

2011-12-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

For starters, let me just say...thanks for all the tips and sympathies about the Kindle. It was a first generation Kindle, I'd had it for ages, and it was well beyond warranty.

I did not know about the 20 second depress the button thing (so thanks for that, played with that JenAnderson!), but when I depressed my button (and I tried it several times) the screen started spazzing and flashing and having more lines across it.

(formerly) no-blog-rachel, you are correct. I do have an iPad, and I do have the Kindle app on it already. I know I am going to sound like a spoiled-friggin-brat for saying this, but I dont really dig reading at night before bed with the back-lit screen. I can do it. But I miss the Kindle and it's pretty-damn-close to the printed pageness.

And because of having an iPad already for everything but reading, and the fact that I don't like reading a book on a back-lit screen, I probably wouldn't get the Kindle Fire (sorry, Judy....but I have tried one, and you are right, it's awesome. If I didn't already have an iPad I would totally consider it, and *looking up at the heavens* this does not mean I am wishing for my iPad to die LOL).

I've ordered a new Kindle.
Happy Holiday to me.

in mourning....

2011-12-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

...over the death of my kindle.

I have no idea what I did to it, but the screen is all wonky. Line and streaks but no words.

:-(
:-(
:-(

Yes, I know I can read a regular ol' book. I can do that, and I will. But I have lots of pins and screws in my right hand, and it actually hurts to hold a book up and read for any real length of time. I kind of think of the kindle like a physical therapy tool in a way.

Plus, I was in the middle of reading something and had just gotten to the juicy parts.

an ode to my new camera

2011-11-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

Ohhhhh, how I love thee, my darling new camera, with your mighty zoom lens.
Ohhh, how I love thee, let me count the ways....

Those are some wild turkeys that live in some open space behind the strip mall where my vet's office is.

I hope they all survived the holidays.

like a fiend, i said. like a fiend.

2011-11-29T22:18:00.000-08:00

I am knitting like a fiend, to keep away the crazies.

I finished the sweater tonight, and will try to get some photos taken tomorrow. I have some other languishing projects that I am going to work on completing, but instead if pulling them out of the knitting bag, I have decided to cast-on for a very quick little lace project.

And that's because right now what my brain needs is to be knitting nice little organized lines of holes.

mom's new hat

2011-11-28T20:31:00.000-08:00

I know that what I am about to tell you is going to make me sound like one crappy excuse for a daughter, but the reality is: I am a selfish knitter, and I rarely knit for other people, and that is why my mom has been asking for me to knit her a hat for awhile (years, in fact), and hasn't gotten one.

Well, I guess I wouldn't exactly say she has been asking. It's been more like very strong hinting, including her reminding me regularly how cold it is outside...and if she only had a HAT. Stuff like that. A couple of years ago, when she was shivering and whining, I gave her a hat I had just finished. A very warm hat, at that. And she wore it (or at least she says she did), but she always made it very clear that she was really just tolerating it, and that it wasn't the hat that she really wanted.

A few weeks ago, I started knitting a hat for her. It was yarn and a matching pattern that came in a club kit from Knitspot, and it had enough yarn to make a hat plus matching mitts (which she had also been "hinting" about lately). I started the hat, and was going to surprise her with it, but about half way through the hat I got worried it might not fit or be to her taste. It was my buddy James at the convalescent hospital that urged me to check in with her before continuing. Sure enough, when I showed it to mom, she didn't like it. And the poor hat is now staring at me from the WIP (Work In Progress) pile waiting to be completed. *sigh*

The hat she really wanted, she told me, is the hat in the vintage photo I posted not too long ago:

I had yarn left over from the scarf that TheMostImportantGuy had claimed, and over the summer when I was dealing the dog attack crap, Lorraine/MaidInEngland had gifted me the purchase of a pattern, that I swear, matches my mom's hat old hat almost to a T.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd say I was pretty damn close this time.

And now mom has already ordered another pair of socks. LOL

Ravelry link to Mom's Fenimore.

reminding me of spring

2011-11-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

Ya' know, the late spring this year was intense. The new house was way deep in the early phases of its renovation, and dad was in the hospital. On the heels of that was the dog being attacked.

Now here it is, almost winter, and except for the weather being a whole different story, it is beginning to feel like spring all over again.

Tomorrow, we start another phase of renovation at the new house. We're taking care of the drainage issues this time, so at least it's work being done on the exterior of the house, but I imagine it is going to be quite the thrill (*ahem*) to see how much of the yard and driveway are still in tact once it's all over. Meanwhile, he whole time the drainage is being worked on, we are knee deep in the planning phases of fixing our sad little kitchen and bathroom.

Meanwhile-Meanwhile, my dad has a new medical condition to contend with (cryptic, I know...sorry...but I'm not ready to jinx things by writing about them just yet). I'm going with my folks tomorrow to meet with a specialist about his course of treatment, and once I can wrap my brain around the details, I swear I will get it all out here "on paper".

Meanwhile-Meanwhile-Meanwhile, TheMostImportantGuy's mom has spent this past weekend in the hospital with her freshly diagnosed case of diverticulitis (and she was so sure that what she was dealing with was food poisoning contracted on Thanksgiving. Nope.) She seems to be doing just fine, but it is definitely affecting my mood, and that is an understatement.

So, yah...it is indeed a season other than spring now. But it sorta has that "same shit, different day" aroma to it, if you know what I mean.

My strategies for dealing with it all this time?
Ask for help often. Rest more. Meditate regularly. Eat clean. Spend less time with fraternizing with the cookie jar and more time talking with real live people. And knit like a fiend.

snaps on saturday

2011-11-26T19:46:00.001-08:00

Evidence of knitting (details soon--I need to snap a photo on the recipient to go with the post).

Today was gathering #2 of the knitting groups. This time it was myself, 3 high school kids, 1 gal from the senior center, and 2 neighbors that both brough crochet projects. Everyone got along just fine, as once again, knitting proves to break down all age barriers. There were many stories told, laughs, and fun moments, but the highlight for me was when one of the students finished off her very first hat. Woot!

I love knitters.
Love.

so here's the problem.

2011-11-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

I have nothing to say.

I have nothing to say because I actually have too much to say, which seems to be happening a lot lately actually....and it's stuff I really want to write about. Just not late in the day and once a day every day, which is how I've been blogging. For years.

I'm going to finish out the year. I committed to Blog365, and I'm going to finish. For sure.

But I'm trying to figure out what to do about next year.

It's feels like 2012 needs to be a year of longer, more thought out, more important, writing. Essays, if you will. And in 2012 I'd also like to blog less so that I can blog read more.

Those are my thoughts right now.
But January 1st is still a few weeks away.

i am thankful for my family

2011-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

something i've never done before

2011-11-23T23:02:00.000-08:00

44 years old with a 14 year old kid, and I've never in my life made pigs in a blanket.

Ours had cheddar cheese.
They tasted just like they looked.

Like we haven't been missing much. LOLOL

ok, so it wasn't a party of one. it was a party of.....

2011-11-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

....three.

LOL
Whatchagonnado.

The first (and only) person to be there (for a loooong time) was one of the kids from the high school. It was TheCheerleader. She is also one of the co-presidents of the knitting club. I was so happy to see her. She has picked up knitting very quickly...and she was also one of the very first of the group to in and teach when the wave of new kids (tsunami, actually) kept showing up week after week. She's awesome.

I hope she wasn't too uncomfortable talking to just me (the stodgy ol' grown up!) for the first two hours when it was just us, but as we all know, talking about knitting has a way of making age differences slip into the background a bit. Anyhow, I had a good time just kicking back and knitting with her. She told me stories about how some of the kids have been knitting in their classes. She said one teacher (chemistry) got angry about it, but another (language arts/humanities) thought it was awesome the kids were knitting during lectures as she knew that knitting helps kids focus. TheCheerleader has also taught herself to crochet too, and quite frankly, she has inspired me to give it a try (again--I gave up the last time I tried). Maybe TheCheerleader will have to teach me!

About 2 hours into the meet-up, one of the senior center ladies showed up, and there we were, teens, 40's, 60's....hanging out and knitting, and from my perspective, we were all having a good time. TheCheerleader and I exchanged emails this afternoon and she said she had a "fantastic time" and that she's going to come on Saturday and learn how to purl....but since I had showed her how to search Ravelry for free crocheted beanies patterns on Ravelry, she was at home working on a hat. Makes me so happy.

I'm hoping more people show up for Saturday, but I would also be just fine with a repeat of today.

party of one?

2011-11-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the first of the two knitting meet-up things I am hostessing. I am notoriously known for throwing parties of all types where only 1 or 2 people show up, so I will not be surprised at all if the only thing I have really done is to make arrangements for myself to have some focused knitting time alone in a big empty space...hahaha.

Oh, well. At least I'll have snacks (I went shopping today). I'll bring a dvd or something, too. There's a big screen tv up there. And maybe I'll finally get my sweater done! I'm on the last sleeve!

snaps on sunday, too?

2011-11-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

Looking out the zen center window...

-----
Sent from my iPad

snaps on saturday

2011-11-19T16:45:00.000-08:00

knitting on a break while at a 3-day meditation retreat at the zen center

-----
Sent from my iPad

want to come to a knitting party? or two??

2011-11-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

While working on getting approval for the high school kids to join the knitters at the senior center during Winter Break (which we got--yay!), I got to thinking: Why are we waiting for December?! Why not do it now, over Thanksgiving break?!
So we are!

And you are invited!**

I've decided to host two knitting meet-ups during the Thanksgiving break. The meetings will be in American Canyon, which is between Vallejo and Napa (SF Bay Area, North), in a large clubhouse with lots of couches and tables. There is plenty of room for knitting and crocheting and spinning, too!

There will be folks from my other knitting groups and classes there. Some of those people know me as their knitting "teacher" and so I expect that some of them will be there to get some help from me, but really....it's a party! Just a casual gathering. Some nibbly-foods will be provided, but feel free to bring a lunch for yourself. There is a full kitchen with a fridge if you need to store anything. You could also bring snacks to share if you'd like to bring something for the group...but that's totally optional, not required ;-)

WHEN:
party #1 Tuesday, November 22nd, 10am-2pm
party #2 Saturday, November 26th, 12noon-4pm

If you would like to come, I would love to have you!
Send me a PM on Ravelry, or email me here through the blog, and I will send you the knitty gritty of how to get here.

If this ends up being a good time, I will probably do it again in the new year.

** Sorry to not invite y'all individually, but this was a very spontaneous plan on my part. I just arranged getting the clubhouse yesterday afternoon....and this Fri-Sat-Sun I am doing a 3-day meditation thing at the zen center, and I can't email back and forth with everyone and stare at the floor at the same time! LOL

eight.

2011-11-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

I'm am super happy to report...

....we have survived the 7-year itch.

AND, I might add, during our 7th year together as a couple, TheMostImportantGuy and I even tossed in 2 family health crises, 1 home purchase, and the huge major remodel of said home (which is still in progress). And we're still making oooogly eyes at each other (most of the time)!

I like to think we've passed the test :-)

bah.

2011-11-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

Photo taken at a sheep farm I visited over the weekend that I can't seem to find time to post about (*sigh*).

I got fully overwhelmed today teaching the high school kids knitting. Fourteen new kids showed up (in addition to the already registered 41). I didn't have enough supplies for all of the new kids, but most....but ask me what it's like teaching that many new kids how to cast-on and knit when we only have 45 minutes together.

Then I came home and help keep MyFavoriteKid on track while he studies for mid-terms some more, all the while roasted 5 sheet pans full of various fall vegetables I shopped for today so that I have something to eat at the meditation retreat I am trying to get to this weekend (because now that I am allergic to everything they toss into the communal soup I normally partake in, I have to bring my own food. Yay me.)

I'm actually happy. Just a bit overwhelmed.

not the evening i intended...

2011-11-15T20:36:00.001-08:00

I though I had a bunch of time to myself tonight to post, but sadly, I do not.

MyFavoriteKid is going out of town this weekend with a friend and the friend's family, and part of the trip required the kids missing school on Friday. I agreed to this months ago when the airline tickets were purchased.

What we didn't factor in though, was that several of his teachers would schedule mid-terms on Friday. MyFK went to the teachers and made arrangements to take the math test on Thursday, and the Spanish test....tomorrow! So am I am now helping him by quizzing him.

I owe ya' one.

Lo siento.
Buenos Noches.

;-)

knitting like a kid on fruit loops....

2011-11-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

Today has been full and hectic, and I really need to take a moment to post about this past weekend, because I had a good time and have some great photos. Tomorrow I have a bigger chunk of time, but tonight, since I have less, I am going to tell you that my knitting is sorta driving me crazy right now!!

I have way too many projects going, and I'm dibble-dabbling with each of them, actively knitting and making progress, to be sure....but it's scattered, and making me crazy.

I have the sweater going, which went off track (for not the first time), but is now back on track and almost done. The most recent issue is that when I went from knitting flat (for the body) into the round (for the sleeves) my gauge changed enough to make me want to rip the sleeves out and tinker with different needle sizes. I'm almost done with the first sleeve. Again.

I started a hat for my mom using a club kit and yarn (yay me! using the club stuff!) and got half way through, but mom doesn't like the color or style. So I'm throwing a row onto it here and there, but barely, because I'm knitting the hat she really wants.

The hat she really wants has a bunch of cables all over it (every other row has cabling) and it's on a purl background. I'm doing it. But it's slow. Because that's not my favorite kind of knitting.

I am knitting fuzzy rabbit slippers, following along with a student who wants to knit them, and it involves thrumming, which I have never done before. Super fast knit, except that I am never going farther along than she is, so I can demo for her all the little pattern bits that she needs to be guided through.

And the two matching mystery shawls I was working on are just sitting there weeping.
Plus about 400 different projects I have seen lately that I would really like to try knitting....things I haven't done before, I dont do that much, or things I like to wear (like more knee-highs)....

...and so the point is, I am completely scatterbrained with my knitting right now and moving along, but not finishing anything, and my brain is melting due to switching between charts and thrums and whatnot.

I think I need a weekend to myself to just do one. at. a. time.
And be done with it!

vintage me.

2011-11-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

snaps on saturday

2011-11-12T23:57:00.000-08:00

Spent all day long (and I do mean all. day. long.) at the marching band competitions. Left the house at 11:45 am, got home at 11:40 pm.

It was f-f-f-freeezing out there once the sun set, and not only was I wearing thick jeans, boots, a turtleneck, and a heavy sweat jacket with the hood up, but I was also layered in wool. Handknit knee-high sock, fingerless mitts, scarf, beanie, and the sweater I was working on sitting in my lap on top of the blanket I had covering my legs. I also had a thermos full of tea. And I bought some coffee from the concession stand.

I am still defrosting!

eleven eleven eleven

2011-11-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

Aside from being an interesting collection of organized numbers, I have heard some people saying this marks something like....the dawning of the Age Of Aquarius or something.

Sure, these "some people" are folks like my all time favorite granola astrologer...but whatever. I'm dying for a shift in the universe, so I have decided to believe it.

I am so ready for some change, baby. It's time to reinvent myself. And as I look back over the past year or so, it seems like I've been slowly doing that.

Of course today I just settled for changing my hair color....hahahaha....but hey ;-)

Other exciting (knitting) news items of the day:
* The high school knitter kids are starting to get set up on Ravelry and a couple of them worked to set up a group page, complete with the graphics and all...woot!
* I found a daytime knitting group on Fridays that I can go to, and I'm going to start going next week. Finally, a place I can go and be with "my people" but also have it be one where I can actually knit, because I won't be teaching.

2011-11-10T23:09:00.000-08:00

Just home and winding down from dance class. It's late, and I am whooped. I will share one little tidbit of info before I pass out....

As of today, the high school knitting club has 41 members (!!), complete with 2 co-presidents, a vice-president, and secretary/treasurer. They have filled out the paperwork to apply to be an official on-campus club, and they voted to name their club "Hands In Motion". One of the officers has started to develop a webpage for the club, and they are starting to research who they want to do their charity knitting for. Several of them have completed the fingerless gloves already (some just by looking at my finished pair, and not even using the pattern), and the small handful of kids that showed up already knowing how to knit are knitting their first hats and stuffed toys and whatnot. The kids are all helping each other when they get stuck, and I swear, I barely do anything for them but cheer them on.

They are very inspiring, and I am having a blast.

Then I leave the kids, head over to the senior center, tell them how great the kids are doing, and the seniors get all "dang whipper-snappers!" about it, and in retaliation, they are now all knitting fingerless gloves, too!

The kids have 3 weeks off in December, and during that time the senior center group will still be meeting. I'm going to talk to the senior center administrator and see if we can pick 1 week where the kids and the seniors can all knit together. And if she says it's against policy (which I bet she doesn't), then I'm gonna rent the clubhouse here and throw a shindig.

Because I think it would be awesome.

Knitters unite!!!

an interesting option

2011-11-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

I've been keeping my eye out for some carpet for the craft-room at the new house. I had been thinking about maybe using some FLOR tiles to make a small area rug because I find that they play nicely with wheelchairs. I'd been looking at the catalog and online from time to time and didn't see anything jump out at me....or maybe it's more that several things jumped out at me and I couldn't make my mind up...I dunno.

But today I got the new Flor catalog in the mail and....

....doesn't it look like knitting??

Not sure if I'll go for it or not, but certainly fun to consider.

when missing an exit is actually a good thing

2011-11-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

This is definitely the Reader's Digest version, completely paraphrased, but the cell phone conversation went something like this:

Me: "It's been great chatting and catching up, and hey... it's been so long since we've hung out! we really should try to schedule somethi....oh crap. I think I just missed my exit. Wow, I actually think I might have missed it awhile ago. Hahaha."

MizzSincereSheep: "Where were you going?"

"Well, I was leaving the doctor's office, but rather than taking highway 37 home, I was going to overshoot that exit and hit up Whole Foods on the way home and then double back afterwards. And now I have just missed that exit. And now...wow....hey....there is nowhere to turn around! I think the next place I can turn around is...!"

"Oh jeez..."

"Oh well. But hey, isn't there a yarn store in Petaluma??"

"Yes, there is Knitterly...."

And so....detour!!!

Very cute little shop there! And very nice people! I also always forget how charming downtown Petaluma is. It's a little historic shopping district with cute little boutiques and restaurants. Being only 45 minutes from home, I really should make it a point to explore it more deeply some weekend soon.

Oh, and yes, I did buy a little yarn (have to support the local yarn stores, don't we?). I picked up some Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool to knit the North Hanger Abbey Hood that appears in the Jane Austen Knits magazine that just came out).

On the way out, I even ran into a Whole Foods in Petaluma on the way out...so all bases were covered...and for once, making a wrong turn (or missing one altogether!) didn't seem to be such a bad thing after all.

me, at dawn...playing with the new camera

2011-11-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

spiderwebs in the tree, shot through the front window

Not a fancy camera, just a point and shoot...but boy, am I happy! My old camera was plopping a dark splotch in the bottom right corner of every frame. I had gotten quite good at taking photos and positioning the splotch into an area that already had something dark in it. What a drag!

the uppity scarf

2011-11-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

This knit was intended for me, but while finishing up the last few inches of it, TheMostImportantGuy lost his own scarf, and I don't know about where you live, but here in Northern California, it is feeling like winter is fast approaching!

I asked TheMIG if he might like this scarf when I was done, and he said no because it looked like it might be a little too “uppity” for him (which totally cracked me up, and from that point forward, I could only refer to this scarf as The Uppity Scarf).

Once the scarf was done and blocked though, TheMIG tried it on and he was super happy with how warm and cozy it was....and so he has kept it!

Impressive, considering that within his first few moments of wearing it another guy told him it looked a little “metro” on him.
LOL
(Personally, I think he looks smokin’ hot in it. Even if it is a little GQ for his normal style of dress.)

He asked me to sew on one of my new little labels I recently ordered that have my name on it. That just tickles me pink :-)

If you are interested in the labels, I ordered them from Mountain Street Arts on etsy. It was the first time I had ever seen labels where I could order 30 instead of 500 or something. I feel so fancy having my name on a label, in some silly sort of way!

If you want more details about the scarf (pattern, yarn, etc), click on over to the ravelry project page.

snaps on saturday

2011-11-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

Waiting to be blocked....

vintage me.

2011-11-04T21:31:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure this session of dress-up was compliments of my Grammy Faye (dad's mom, still living, just turned ninety......six? seven? ....I don't know for sure because she keeps telling me she's fifty-nine):

photo is imprinted Dec 1969, putting me at about 2-1/2, almost 3 ;-)

whiplash

2011-11-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

This is what Thursdays are going to look like until the end of the year:

* Teaching knitting at the High School (the 2nd knitting class of the week for them), from 12:10 to 12:50. In 40 minutes, it's me in a room with a little over 20 teenagers, 95% of whom are first time knitters.

* Teaching knitting at the Senior Center ten minutes later from 1pm to 230pm. And I can't seem to catch my breath during the 10 minute drive between the two teaching gigs, so it's *ahem* a bit of a shift.

* And then teaching dance class at night.

It's sorta whiplash-y!

life at my house.

2011-11-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

MyFavoriteKid is in the High School Marching Band. The marching season ends November 12th, but after that, he will still be taking the regular band class for high school credit, which is Concert Band. But he recently announced that once Marching Season is over, he is going to pursue a new extra curricular activity: Winter Drum Line. There will be a two week drum clinic that will begin a week or so after marching season ends, and then the auditions begin.

Guess who is already practicing.
(why bother with the question mark)

So around my house right now, my life is going pretty much just like this:

I am in total support of MyFK when it comes to doing anything creative or musical, and I am thrilled to bits to have him pursuing this sort of school activity.

Even if I am grinding my teeth while I am being thrilled to bits.

on the playlist.

2011-11-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

I bumped into this band called Blood Red Shoes while trolling the internets a week or so ago, and I've been playing them to death ever since. I picked up an import album that isn't available in the U.S. yet, and it's so heavy in the rotation that the rotation aint even rotating right now...hahaha.

I love them :-)

happy halloween

2011-10-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

I had a very moody day. In fact, I think for a time I was each of the moods carved into the above pumpkins. And then some.
I'm not quite sure what is going on. Please tell me it's something about planets lining up or something and that this too shall pass...and all by itself.

MyFavoriteKid hung out with some friends at a gathering at the local park. TheMostImportantGuy was at the new house, dressed in costume, sitting on the front porch handing out candy. I stayed home at the old house tonight and handed out a very small amount of candy (gated community, the manager doesn't open the gate for the night, and 80% of my neighbors are retired and had their lights out anyhow). The dogs had a blast barking at anything that moved, and I got a little knitting done in between things.

It worked.
But for the first time in.....gosh....at least 14+ years?? We didn't have a carved pumpkin!

is fair isle a new teen trend?

2011-10-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

I took MyFavoriteKid to the mall today so he could pick up a couple pairs of jeans (have I told you that since his last growth spurt he is now taller than me??!). He's outgrown everything lately.

While he was trying stuff on in PacSun, I spotted these little shoes for sale on the girly side of the store:

Knitted fair-isle fabric stretched over fuzzy-line ballet flats.
Heh.

snaps on saturday

2011-10-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

So much for "dressing my age" (that didn't last long, did it LOL):

for the knitters out there, yes I am
sporting a hot pink Hallowig

I am dressed up as lead singer of....of....of....ummmm.....

ThePegLeggedPinkPirates! Yah!

Me, MyFavoriteKid, and TheMostImportantGuy, are on our way out to an all ages costume party where four bands are playing, all made up of teenaged kids. The headlining band happens to be four kids that MyFK goes to school with.

So really, I am not dressed up as the lead singer of ThePedLeggedPinkPirates, at all, am I?!!
I am dressed up as MyTeenageSon'sEmbarrassmentOfaMother.

HA.

delayed reaction.

2011-10-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

This is the photo that would have went with yesterday's post quite nicely...

A few project bags and a small pile of yarn waiting to greet the new members of the High School Knitting Club.
I was expecting 4 0r 5, and figured I had more than enough. We had 15 new kids, in addition to the 4 from last week!
Time to rally up more supplies!

...except that my migraine brain forgot that I had taken the photo. And so here it is tonight, which is perfect, because I am exhausted.

just call me migraine jane

2011-10-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do this post in bullets, since I sort of feel like shooting my head off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* I woke up with a migraine and popped over-the-counter migraine meds to try to nip it in the bud.

* I also woke up from a strange dream where there was this very artsy looking black and white photo of a woman in an space suit, on the moon, tossing her head back, while shaking hands (well, the trunk) of an elephant. When I looked at the photo more closely, the woman was me, and whomever I was talking to in the dream said TheMostImportantGuy was the photographer. If someone out there is into decoding dreams, have fun with that. LOL

* Today was the 2nd meet-up of the High School Knitting Club, held during their lunch period. Last meeting was 1 advising/curious teacher and 3 kids. Today there was the 1 teacher again, and about 18 kids (it was such a blur, I couldn't keep track). 2 of the kids were guys, who sorta slinked in behind a girl who said, "they're curious, but not sure if they want to join." Of course, I told the boys how some of the coolest knitters and designers I know guys.
The boys sat down at another table, and when I said, "So, what...are you going to make a 'boys table'? Or are you going to join us," they both popped up and moved closer and one said, "I thought you'd never ask." When I sent them over to the table where the yarn was piled up so they could pick a color, I said, "Don't worry....there's some manly stuff in there like camo green, denim blue, and I think there is still some black left," one of the guys got up to get the yarn, and the guy who stayed seated said, "Hey, dude. Toss me that hot pink over there."
YAY!!
The kids were amazing. Last week they learned how to cast-on. During the week some of them had learned to knit from friends or family members or the internet. Some learned to knit just in the first few minutes of today's class. All who got it immediately helped the ones who were new today. Two of the kids that showed up already know how to knit. And the teacher came and knit a couple of rows and then asked for 2nd ball of yarn (a yarn-ho in the making).

* Florescent lighting at the High School and 18+ excited teenagers cancelled out the OTC migraine meds.

* I went directly from the High School to the teach the Senior Center Knitting Group (talk about whip-lash--haha). One experienced knitter that we haven't seen in awhile showed up for the first time with a walker. And we had another lady that came needing help with her crochet. I don't crochet. The other ladies actually talked her into ripping out the crochet lap blanket that she was working, and they offered her knitting needles. I kinda can't believe she did it. The blanket was almost done! But I think we have a new member. She picked up knitting right away.

* Florescent lighting at the Senior Center and 6 seniors and the migraine was getting so bad, I thought I might be heading for the tossing-my-cookies sort of migraine.

* I am home now, and have just taken a second round of OTC meds. I'm trying to avoid taking the prescription meds because the zonk me out, and I am supposed to teach dance class tonight. And back-lighting from the computer screen might re-cancel the OTC meds, so I am just about outta here.

I believe the migraine is because a) Aunt Flo has come for a visit, and because b) I've been dicking around with the caffeine again.
*sigh*
You'd think I'd learn.
No wonder MyFavoritedKid doesn't learn from his mistakes! hahaha

vintage me. and mom.

2011-10-26T21:15:00.001-07:00

Me trying to like a giant icicle. I assume this is in front of our own house, because I recognize the electric menorah in the window ;-)

Photo says December 1970 which would put me at 3-1/2 years old.

note to mom:
so, is that sort of hat you are wanting (and by want, I mean nagging LOL) me to knit you?