I Am Glad It Is The End of This Month!

Well, this whole month kinda sucked. We have had more wet weather. I am south enough in the county to not have it too bad this time around. The roads are a mess, but we have been lucky so far. More is scheduled to arrive this afternoon.

I have been trying to think of positives about unemployment:
1. I don't have to drive in the bad weather.
2. I have escaped the latest virus going around. I am far enough out in the boonies that no one comes to visit, either, so they can't bring it to me.
3. I haven't had to buy gas.
4. I have almost finished my second book this week.
5. I have taken a few employment tests-enough to convince me my brain is leaking smartness somewhere else.

Oops-that last one was not so positive. It is really difficult to ignore the sadness around here. The only ones who are estatic are the cats and the wild birds. I have been cooking the birds cornbread and mixing it with suet and peanut butter.

Anyway, February comes tomorrow and maybe with it will come a better month. We can only keep trying.

Oh! Boy! A Warm-Up!

Well, it has been a little bit warmer. Yes, I know it is January! But Sunday I picked the warmest part of the day, found a seat in the sun, and I knit mitres. It was heavenly! My husband used to tell me I was part lizard, because I would find a sunny spot and just sit still and soak up the sun.

Today has been overcast, a sign of the storms moving in. I think the front has moved slower than originally thought. So I assume I will wake up in the middle of the night with thunder-boomers overhead.

Today I walked off my job. I cried a lot this morning. I talked to one of my mentors. I was just depressed. But this afternoon I pulled up my big-girl panties and emailed two resumes to people. Sigh! I am doomed! I couldn't go to my knitting group tonight. I didn't want to talk about it and cry a lot. It doesn't do any good.

Speaking of crying, I went to my childhood friend's house on Saturday and watched a video that her sister had made of old home movies. I started blubbering when I saw the taffy party. My father always cooked the candy, and then we pulled and pulled and ate and ate. But there were my parents when they were in their late 20's, and they were young and cute and thin and happy. And there were her parents so young, and cute, and happy. I remember the weirdest things. Like her mother's black bathing suit. And I could remember some of the Christmas ornaments and decorations. Her parents house burned and they lost all of them. And there was her grandmother, and her uncle that always came on Christmas. Anyway, it was emotional for both of us.

So what does one do when she gets so emotional? We knit until her husband came home, and he took us out to eat. He was very understanding.

I was so excited to get some more new leftover sock yarns, so I added a coupla of them in yesterday on the mitre afghan. I now have a pink square. I didn't have any pink.

I am totally sick to death of all the politics. I think they have lost touch with reality. I couldn't listen to the state of the union speech or to all the crap that came afterwards. I have been reading. It is my way to lose touch with reality. I would rather read than listen to their speeches.

Well, enough gloom and doom! Later.

Have You Ever Seen An Ice Fog?

This is Baby helping me work on the mitre afghan. She insisted she had to sit on my lap long ways instead of across. She could take up more room that way. It is harder to knit because I had to twist to the side and around her. But I can knit mitres without any concentration. They are so mindless and easy.

Yeah! Sock 1 is finished. Onward to Sock 2. I like this colorway and I love, love, love the pattern. It is a Charade sock with a picot edging at the top. I know my friend will wear these as much as she is wearing her pink socks. I will have it finished by her birthday no matter what.

We are in the midst of an ice mess. Everything is iced over, and the roads are treacherous. Last night they closed the freeway near me-the one I take to work. I know it was opened by this a.m., but I am not going to risk my life to go to work. I did call my supervisor, and she said they were cancelling the buses. The cook called her to tell her he could not get out. He lives near the same little town I do, but east of the town. I live southwest of the little town. A few minutes ago they announced on the t.v. that there was an accident just north of my exit of the freeway. So.....

Grab your blankies and sleep through it!

The first sock is almost done. Yeah! I have been knitting primarily at work during moments of waiting. There is not much of that, but enough to get one row done. Sorry about the blurry close up, but I wanted to show the pattern. It's so pretty. Lots of oohs and aahs from everyone. I folded it to show the heel. I love the big blue stripe with the orange through it. You can't see the way the darker blue came out with the short rows of turning the heel. Really cute.

I worked at the LYS yesterday. It was fun. I don't mind working an extra day of the week if it's fun. Sasha-the shop cat-slept the whole day in a chair upstairs in the sun.

It has turned horribly cold again. It is not one of our little cold spells, but a long one. I know it is nothing compared to 36 below in Minnesota, but it is cold enough for me to turn up the heat. I am very creative how I manage to put a curtain up over the back half of my abode, and it keeps the front half fairly ok. With the sun coming in the windows today, my indoor thermometer shows 66 degrees. It is cold enough at night I have to watch my pipes. The joys of rural living. I don't think they tell you all this in Country Woman or Rural America. I know it is my choice to live in the boonies, but I hate winter.

Don't you love the way our President is trying to save our economy? Give a tax break for rich people, and hope something trickles down to the bottom. Sigh! I went to Wal-Mart on my dreaded once in a while trip. I will not go there until I have to. I walked out with two Wal-Mart bags and a bag of kitty litter. It cost me $95!! How do people do it? I see people go in and out every day. I take my seniors there regularly. They come out with a cart full of bags. How can they afford that? It is a puzzle beyond me. I know I am hunkering down and not spending money without thinking about how much it costs. I even carry my calculator with me.

Boy! I am so sorry this is a bitch session instead of a stitch session.

On the stitch side, JF left me a bag of leftover yarn at the yarn store for my mitre afghan. I am really excited, because a lot of it is solid colors. I don't have very many solids, mostly the painted yarns. So this will give a new look. I plan to work on that today. My lifetime project. Another sigh!

Well, I am going to go put the laundry in the dryer. Maybe sit in the sun and spin a little. Cook a little lunch. Then mitres here I come. Keep warm!

The Joys of Knitting Groups

Last night was my first night back to knitting group after the holiday stuff and sick stuff. It was a reminder to keep pushing myself to go-no matter how shitty my day has been.

I dragged my little sock along to keep working on that. I am driven to finish these socks, although I am a slow knitter. And work does get in the way. I got more little compliments and fussing over the thing than I have ever gotten with anything. It really felt good, not in a head-swelling way, but in a warm way. That I was recognized as a knitter. It really is a cute sock-picture will come soon.

It was just nice to sit down and talk technical stuff with other knitters, and just chat. I really think it is a cultural thing. We speak the same language, and we have the same creative ability to make something. Some of us go through down periods, and some of us are on high periods. But we mesh well.

I had such a good Sunday visit with my friend. She dragged her carpenter friend along, although he was warned that we would be talking a lot of catch-up and girl talk. We took a hike down into the holler behind my house and walked the creek. After climbing back up the hill-pant! pant!- we walked down to my neighbor's house. We then walked across the field, through the barbed wire fence, across the old rock wall, and down into the holler to the creek. It was tons of fun! But I was really tired coming back home. Remember-I have been sick. My legs were wobbly.

After getting home, I decided I had to have something to eat. So I baked one of my famous Impossible Pumpkin Pies. It is made with Bisquik in it, and there is no crust. It takes 30,35, or 40 mins to cook. Depends on the oven temp. By that time, my neighbor was home and he came over to eat pie.

So a really nice Sunday afternoon.

We have been having warmish afternoons,but all will change soon. Tomorrow is rain, colder, and snow overnight. Thursday the temps will drop all day. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

OMG-My Friend Is Coming Over Sunday!

I am so far behind the cutie socks for my friend in California. Well-I just got a call and she is at her lake cabin in Oklahoma. She wanted to know if I could stand a little visit on Sunday. She said she would not spend the night, just a day visit. OMG-I know I can never finish 1 1/2 socks by then. So-

I decided to finish the lengthening of my funny little cap. This is logical-isn't it? Why put pressure on myself. I need the cap now with the weather. She still has the socks I made her last year. There is more pressure for me to keep my ears warm. I can pretty well justify my ability to eventually finish the socks.

So-rather than sit here and type, I am going to go knit. Later.

Ah! The Mystery Is Solved!

I read cozy mysteries. I like them for various reasons. They are not difficult to read and do not require a great genius. I especially like the genre mysteries, and just finished a new mystery by Mary Kruger. If I was not brain dead from this muck, I'd tell you the title. Again, the person is killed with a knitting needle.

The heroine is bright. She owns a knit shop and is a designer. She was able to tell the police the type of knitting needle it was and the vintage of the needle. She even noticed a tiny speck of yarn on the shoulder of the dead person's coat. She was able to tell the police the type of yarn, and describe what someone would knit with it.

OK, this is the third or fourth mystery I have read where they kill someone with a knitting needle. There was only one that was killed with Addi Turbos, but the others are generic, run-of-the-mill knitting needles. I mean, have you looked at them? They have blunt tips. Despite the Homeland Security fear of mad people invading airports with their knitting needles, I cannot see this a viable tool for murder.

My father taught me how to fight with a knife. It is not an advised sport. It can be very deadly, and you have to get up close with the person to inflict harm. The best "spot" is to go for the soft abdomen and push upwards to the vital organs. A lot of blood and pain, but it will work if the thrust is good. Keep away from bones. The back is not good because of bones, sinew, muscles, and all kinds of tight stuff to give you strength. OK-so why would you stab someone in the back with a knitting needle?

Fast forward to last Thursday night when I was beginning to get really, really, really sick. I mean moaning and groaning sick. I put on the sloppiest and warmest sweatpants. I did not want anything to touch my stomach-which was blown up like a starving toddler. I grabbed a blankie, and sat down in my lounge chair. I was heading for safety and warmth and self-pity. Plop! Down I went.

Onto my little plastic sack with my current sock project on size 1 double-point needles. I swore and said not-nice words. I jumped up and yanked that little sack out of the corner and threw it onto the coffee table. I put my hand onto my leg, and I was bleeding. Now this was on the fatty-saddle-part of the thigh, not in the buttocks. I cleaned this up and swore a lot more. I groaned some more, and plopped down onto the lounge chair with the blankie in hand. I jumped up once more, because the extra needle had lodged into the cushion and was poking me in the same spot I had first injured!

So-okay-now I know you can inflict bodily harm with knitting needles. Thankfully I do not have the habit of "falling" into chairs like some people. But it would still require some strength and intent to do bodily harm to use a knitting needle. You could just bury one in the chair cushion like my sock did to me. Put a little poison on it that is not so easily traced. Make sure the poison is not in any of your library of herbology books. And make sure you do not leave a trail on a computer or in library books. It could be done.

Oh-Oh! How you know that the writer of this latest book, Mary Kruger, is a knitter. The lady who does the deadly deed left her knitting needle in the lady's torso. So when she got back, she put all her knitting on holders, and disposed of the extra needle. Smart-huh? I mean, I certainly would hate to drop any stitches after I had killed someone.

I just went to another site and looked up the book's title:
Knit Fast, Die Young

Her other books were Died In The Wool and A Killer Stitch.

Well, this feel's like a Monday. I went back to work today, but barely made it through the day.
I just have to get through two more days this week. Talk to you later. Watch out for killer knitting needles!

Yuck! I Feel Yucky!

At least today I feel a little more human-like. I am actually dressed to go to work. What takes normally 30 mins tops took 1 hour and 15 mins. I was SPENT by the time I got to combing the hair. I lay down for several minutes in between steps of donning clothing. I panted and groaned through it all. I gave up at 8am- the time I was supposed to be at work- and called in. I am really shaky and obviously hungry. At least that's a sign of improvement. My back hurt all night and I did not sleep well at all. So that's a sign of improvement too. I am not sleeping the sleep of fever any more. So four days of sipping juices and soups has had a toll on the energy bank.

So today is the day I have got to figure out what to eat. I know it will be nibbles and then I quit.

I am also going to do the dishes and try to straighten out the house. I have got to drag myself to my little town nearby and go to the store. The cats are out of food, and that's disastrous! I only had two dead bodies in the living room this morning. But I have to wash my tent peg sack since the murder was done on the sack. It is covered in blood and excrement.

I missed the Roc Day celebration. Well, maybe next year. I did talk to a coupla of people and it sounded like it went okay. When I talked to my friend CJ, she said it was beginning to wind down. There were only 5 spinning wheels in the room she was in, and she didn't know about the other rooms. Sorry Colleen and Joy!

No knitting news. I have been reading my books in little increments. I can't focus for too long.

So next posting-no sick news. Only fiber fun!

I Hate Being Sick!

I am not going to be all gross and talk about sickness. But I have been really, really sick for two days with a stomach virus. I absolutely HATE to vomit. I would never be bulimic because of that. I am doing better enough that I can sit up for a while without the nausea. It is really weird. I cannot lie flat, because the nausea overwhelms me and my stomach hurts. I finally found I could lie in the lounge chair, which was not meant to sleep in. I had to find the right angle for my stomach to quit churning. I could not sit upright, as I am doing now, because I would be overwhelmed with the urge to vomit.

Anyway, I have been able to eat a little bit today, and I am moving better. I am still sleeping huge chunks of time. I still have chills and hot flashes.

Enough of that. Needless to say, I have not been able to knit, read, or do anything but pant and groan. I pant when I have the urge to vomit. Is this a normal physiological response? Maybe it is similar to when the cats get ready to throw up a huge ball of yuck, they make this really weird growly noise that can only mean that you better get the paper towels ready.

So, just to touch base. I am knitting the charade socks. I love, love, love the pattern. I will try to get a picture, but I am now on the heel flap. It is going fairly fast.

Tomorrow our LYS is having a Roc Day Celebration. There will be spinners, knitters, and anyone else they can drag along. It will be fun. I know Roc Day is on the 7th, but most of us work. So this was the next alternative. I hope I am up to it.

Well, I better go lie down again. Later.