Ah, HolidayTravels

So we're in Brainerd right now. And sick. My cold that seemed to be getting better suddenly gained new life, the snot factory kicked itself into overdrive, and David's sniffling his way through it, too. It's not pretty.

On the plus side, Mike & Sue and their kids have been wonderful to visit with, and I'm kind of wishing we were staying here longer instead of heading off to South Dakota to see David's folks. We are planning on starting our 4 hour drive late in the day in hopes that there will be little talk and an early bedtime, then leaving out along with all the other relatives coming to visit on Friday. The hope is that his mother will be a good Lutheran and play nice, but I think anything's possible at this point.

Christmas itself was pretty low-key. After I got off work the morning of Christmas Eve, I went out to breakfast and had a very-fun-but-far-too-brief visit with Franklin and Sister Sue. Afterwards, David picked me up and we drove up to my folks' for the day. The niece and nephews love the socks and hats and we had a nice, but again too-brief, visit before driving home so I could get some sleep before having to work Christmas night.

I came home Tuesday morning and ran around frantically taking care of last minute errands, including dealing with a not-terribly-major health issue in one of David's 'pacas, which left me with all of 10 minutes to throw some clothes together for the trip. I also brought along a sock project for myself, as it was quick, easy to carry, and something I could do without having to think about it too much or needing a pattern in front of me.

On our return to the Twin Cities before returning home, I'm hoping that we'll be able to see my friends Chris & Leon & also meet up with Sean before we have to catch our afternoon plane.

What To Do When You Don't Have a Crèche

I'm Sooooooo Jealous of Denver

Photo lifted from the NY Times online

So what the hell did Denver do to get so lucky? I want a white Christmas, too, damn it!

The New Clinic

I brought my camera to work with me so I could share with y'all. This is the lobby (which I mostly avoid, as we often get people who resent it when you actually deal with the people whose pet is dying before you see their pet's cracked nail):



And this is where I spend most of my time:



To give you some idea of scale, this main treatment area has somewhere around 1250 square feet of space (give or take). For those of you who think in metric, that's around 116 square meters, or roughly the size of a small house. Actually, my first house only had about 1050 square feet, so let's say modest-sized ranch. And this is only a fraction of our total space.

Happy Christmahannukwanzasolstica!

I'm not sure if I'll actually have a chance to write anything or have anything to say between now and the new year. Actually, I probably will, but Hannukah will be over before then and the solstice is now, so I figured I'd hit 'em all now.

Because of my busy work schedule this week, which includes working Christmas night, David and I are going to have our little Christmas for two Friday night and then drive up to spend Christmas Eve day with my family after I get off work. I am also hoping that we'll get to meet up with a certain short, bald dude while he's in this neck of the woods, but between my work schedule and our travel plans, I'm not sure if it will pan out.

And speaking of things panning out, we're still a little up in the air about the whole side trip to South Dakota thing. His mother sent a big box of presents for David and his cats - my name conspicuous by its absence. So he has asked her in an e-mail - in a direct but polite way - to be more thoughtful of me and reiterated that I am an important part of his life that shouldn't be ignored. Her response will, I think, be the main determining factor in deciding whether that visit will happen or not. She is, I have learned, a master of the passive-aggressive arts, so my expectations are not particularly high.

Being the central figure in this ongoing family dispute, it is hard for me to stay completely out of it. I do make an effort, however, because I don't think that it would be particularly fruitful for me to engage his mother directly at this time. Also, I have no particular emotional investment in a relationship with his parents - or anyone else in his family, for that matter. I would prefer to have some sort of relationship there (particularly with his father, who really seems a decent guy but not in control of the situation), but only if it includes acceptance on their part. Approval would be nice, too, but even that isn't necessary as long as they play nice. And if they can't play nice, well, my family loves David and we have friends who give us both love and approval, so there's no real reason for us to put up with dysfunction.

The Final FO

The first night working in the new building went relatively well. Thank you to all who sent good vibes. As with any other move, there were boxes everywhere and we didn't know where to find anything, but we cleared out enough workspace among the not-quite-finished construction to do our job without undue impairment. The clinic camera was packed away in someone's car, so I couldn't document the rather disturbing state of things I arrived to, but I expect it'll still be chaotic enough when I work on Thursday.

And it was, very fortunately, not an inordinately busy night. I had enough down time to sit down and darn in the ends on my last holiday knitting project.



This is for step-nephew Cameron, who I expect will love it. It's made of Lion Brand WoolEase Chunky, because the most important consideration when making a hat for a 10-year-old boy (as well as for his 8-year-old brother) - a demographic well known for being able to sweat and smell just a bit funky - is machine washability.

And because I have a considerable amount of the Bearfoot yarn left over, I decided to do a bit of work on a two-layer hat for Dulaan.



I considered various construction options, but what I decided ultimately to do is a band of corrugated ribbing, then continue with one color to make the inner layer, then pick up stitches and knit up the outer layer in the other colorway. I could have just done both layers at once by double knitting, but I think it would slow me down more than I'd like without giving a better end product.

Because the colorways are fairly similar, the corrugated ribbing is not contrasty at all, but I think the overall effect is nice, plus it gives an edge that won't roll and is of double thickness. On top of that, the bloom of the mohair when it's washed should make a hat that insulates very nicely and is soft for an infant or small toddler.

Where Did the Day Go?

Well, before I get to that question, I've been wanting to share a photo of our little tree. Everyone else seems to have these tall trees in their big, expansive living rooms. Not us. Expansive was kind of hard to come by in these parts in the 1650's, so space (as I've mentioned many times before) is at something of a premium. Behold.



Yes, the tree is 4 feet tall and on top of the dog crate. We actually managed to fit 16 or so guests in this house on Saturday for a holiday party. All at the same time, even. There was another holiday party going on in our little village that night, but I'm sure theirs was nowhere near as fabulous or fun.

Anyway, back to today. I had just a few things planned for the day - write a standard-issue holiday letter to go with our standard-issue photo holiday cards, go to the post office to get holiday stamps to send said cards and letters, buy gift boxes for the gifts for nieces and nephews (the last of which is finished save darning in ends), drive over to get yarn cards from Debbie Gremlitz of Nordic Fiber Arts (who lives so close that it would be silly for her to mail stuff to me), take the bus down to Logan airport in Boston to pick up my brother's kids as they flew in for the holidays, and ... something ... something else.

Everything moved along at a reasonable pace and it was generally a good day, particularly since these arrived in the mail (We're now officially DP'd!):



Then at about 4PM, when I took a bit of a break and started to read Carol's post mentioning a stomach bug, when I had "holy shit!" moment and realized that the something else was getting my flu shot at my doctor's office. So I stopped reading and rushed out of the house so that I could get that taken care of before I stood in line forever at the post office for stamps.

Then I came home for a little while before having to rush out of the house again to get the yarn cards before I had to rush to the bus station to catch the 8PM bus to the airport, so that I could get there before my niece and nephew arrived and not make the flight crew wait around for me to sign for them (Unaccompanied minors, at least in this instance, are indeed precious cargo, but it still seems odd to have to sign for possession of them).

David, meantime, had a very stressful day and had not understood that I would be spending most of my evening running around. When he realized as I was headed out the door that we would not, in fact, be able to have a leisurely evening together, it prompted a near-breakdown. Then my brother called, and I was forwarding calls to my phone to the cell phone, which gets no reception at the house, necessitating calling him back to make sure I wasn't missing any crucial information about the kids' flight. So after several kisses (to David, plus feeling badly about needing to rush out) and a hurried call to my brother (nothing new, just confirmation that they'd gotten their flight okay), I ran out the door rather a bit later than planned, but still managed to make it everywhere I needed to be.

Nordic Fiber Arts

I had been to the website for this little company before but hadn't given it much thought for a while until Norma's recent post about the frostrosen mitten kit she bought from them (Actually, "them" is just Debbie, I believe, but I wanted to avoid pronoun-antecedent confusion). On top of that, Debbie is, near as I can tell, about the only, if not the only, distributor in the US for the Hifa 2* yarn used in the Tiffany mitten pattern in the latest issue of Knitty.

So what with all the mitten patterns, it got me thinking that mittens would be good to work on for Xmas presents next year. And because they don't take up huge amounts of yarn, I'm also thinking I could do duplicates of each pair I make and donate them to Dulaan. Anyway, I contacted Debbie and arranged to go by and pick up yarn cards for all the yarns she carries so I'd have a good point of reference for making color decisions. I found her (and her yarns) to be very nice, so I'd certainly recommend her as a source for some nice Scandinavian yarns (and patterns, and kits, and buttons, and embroidered trim) and intend to put together an order of my own in the near future.

Tomorrow's Big Excitement

I don't think I've really blogged about this to any extent, but tomorrow is going to be a big day. I'll be going in to work at my usual time, but I won't be going to the same place. It's the same job at the emergency clinic, but I will be working the very first shift when we open our brand spanking new, multi-million dollar facility, just a mile down the road from the old clinic.

This move has been in the works for about a year now, but I only walked through the new building for the first time last week. It's huge, and I love it already. I'm especially excited about our new digital x-ray system, particularly as the film unit we had at the old place was old when I first worked there over 11 years ago, but also because it represents a quantum leap forward in image quality and technological capability.

I'm sure that tomorrow night will be a bit frantic, as there's no way we'll manage to have everything unpacked and in its place (not to mention the fact that I won't know where everything is supposed to be in the first place) before we open the doors, but it's going to be exciting, nonetheless. And I promise there shall be pictures.

*Debbie wasn't aware of the Tiffany pattern and had been planning to stop carrying the Hifa 2. She says, though, that the Rauma Finullgarn, which she carries, is a good substitute for the Hifa 2 and is actually a softer yarn. Having had a chance to evaluate the yarn cards for both, I definitely agree - finullgarn does mean "fine wool yarn", after all. Additionally, both are the same price, and the Finullgarn comes in 20 more colors than Hifa 2.

Foul Language

The other day, David was sitting at his desk reading e-mail when he suddenly burst out laughing. "My mother actually wrote the word 'fart'," he said, by way of explanation.

"And yet she can't say or write my name," I responded. "Of course, one of those is a dirty word, and the other is a bodily function."

And we're planning on spending a night with his folks on our Midwest trip - it should be very interesting. At least there's a motel right next door.

FO! Well, almost.

Only seven more rounds to go on sock #2, pair #2, but I figured I've been bildfrei long enough. The photo doesn't really render the colors well enough to make out how different this colorway is from the previous pair. It's much more purple in real life, compared to much more brown in the first pair. I think it will meet my niece's criterion of primary importance, though, which is "not too girly".

Losing Sleep

So it's been a few days and I still haven't managed to kick my ass into gear and take photos of the socks-in-progress. I've also slacked off a bit on the knitting since returning home - partly because my hands needed a bit of a rest and partly because I've just been tired.

Now I know that every one of you is jealous of my 15-hour overnight shifts and wish that you could have such a plum job, but it does have a few drawbacks, one of them being a wee bit of difficulty having a regular sleep schedule like the experts recommend for insomnia. All things considered, I do make an effort to work within the framework I've got, and not falling asleep when I want to has been less of an issue than it has been in the past.

Where I've been running into trouble is actually getting good restful sleep. I have restless legs syndrome (RLS), which is apparently part of my genetic legacy from my mother, who also gave me my overpronating feet. One of my reasons for getting the pedal thingy was to see if this helped with the RLS, which does make it harder for me to get to sleep.

I also hoped that it might help with what David calls my "twitching" in my sleep, which seems to have only developed in the past year but has become very disruptive to his sleep. Last night, as I was looking through some RLS & sleep disorder resources online, I found an exact match with the symptoms that David has been describing. It also turns out that periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) occurs in about 80% of people with RLS. No wonder my parents have a king-size bed. And no wonder I never wake up feeling rested.

So I've started keeping a sleep diary and am working on getting a referral to a sleep study center that's sort of near work. I couldn't find anything to suggest that before-bedtime exercise helps with PLMD the way it does with RLS, but I'm hoping that it might a little. Otherwise, my pharmaceutical options apear to be anticonvulsants or Parkinson's drugs, neither of which sounds particularly appealing.

A Few Changes

You may have noticed that I've changed things around a little. I switched over to Blogger Beta the other night and decided it was time for a new look. Any feedback, especially on the legibility of the links and other text that I can change around, is welcome.

Also, my post the other week on charitable giving attracted a comment from David Patterson, media director for Heifer International, with a little info about setting up a fundraising drive for them on the blog. Because I very much believe in the work they do, I did just that, and there is a large button in the sidebar that will take you to a donation page. This blog regularly gets around 50 hits per day, so just one day with everyone donating $20 would hit the $1000 goal - 4 days if everyone who came by donated $5. And I've already kicked it off with a donation of my own. So what are you waiting for?

A Brief Trip South

It occurred to me after I left that I wasn't sure if I had mentioned my now-finished trip. I did, however, albeit when I really could only have been considered conscious in a very narrow sense of the word.

The visit with the grandparents was good, though shorter than I really would have liked. As my grandparents get older and their health deteriorates, I really hate being away from them and seeing them so infrequently. My first sleepover was at their house when I was 2, and I stayed for 2 weeks without the least hint of homesickness. Their home has always felt as much or more like home to me than my parents' home, much like my paternal grandparents' home here in Maine, where I spent so many childhood summers. This is probably because we moved around too frequently for anywhere else to give me quite the same sense of place. It doesn't hurt, either, that my grandparents are wonderfully loving people.

When I last saw them in March, though, my grandmother was in the hospital, and in the interim my grandfather has had a mild heart attack. Given that, it was good to see them in relatively (we're talking very relative here) good shape and in good spirits. And although I won't be there for their 70th wedding anniversary in a couple days, I was there for my grandmother's 87th birthday on Thursday, which I helped them celebrate by cooking lasagne and coconut cake (actually yellow cake from a mix with coconut and sour cream icing, but it's her favorite and mine).

Because it was a short trip and I wanted to travel light, I only took bare essentials - a few changes of clothes, minimal toiletries, and of course, knitting. Because I left my camera behind and because we have what I think must be the only cell phone in the world now without a built-in camera, I have no photos from the trip. This means no photos of the new Vend-A-MOO at a nearby dairy, where my grandfather had me buy them a gallon of milk (It really does "moo" when it dispenses the milk). My cousin Heather promised to try to get pics to send me, so I'll share if she comes through with those.

I took along the socks for my niece, which I had only barely started prior to leaving. I finished the first sock in very short order and was left fearing that I would finish the second too soon to have anything to knit on the trip home. So I decided to knit my always-cold grandmother a pair of slipper socks, which I figured would a) be something nice to do for her birthday and b) give my hands something to do. The catch is that the only options for local yarn shops are Wal-Mart and, well, ... Wal-Mart. So I bought two size 9 circs ('cause they didn't have dpn's big enough) and a ball of their least crappy (actually almost respectable), chunky weight ack-rylic. And though I still think the 2 circ method is too fiddly for me, I cranked them out before I left, leaving me with a second sock to start on my way home. I started sock #2 in the Charlotte airport and got all the way up the foot and past the heel flap before I got home and before my fingers told me to call it a day, so it's a good thing I waited. Once I've had a chance to sleep and have time to get the camera out, I will have photos of the socks.

And in response to Kit's question (though I believe David's already filled her in), we did celebrate our pending domestic partnership (which will be official once the state processes the form and check and sends us copies of the official certificate). We dressed up nicely to go get said form notarized and send it and check off in the mail, then we went out to dinner at the schwank French-style restaurant in town and talked about more proper wedding plans (June 2008!). Then we bought a tree to go on top of the dog crate and David decorated it while I collapsed in a heap from going 36+ hours without sleep.

A Weighty Matter

Today my weight broke the 180# barrier. My weight loss has slowed over the past month or so - partly because I've allowed myself to be a little less strict and partly, I think, because my body has adjusted to the lower caloric intake & powered down accordingly - so reaching this point felt very significant. It means that I've lost about 2 stone now without ever starving or depriving myself. I still have another 4# to reach my target weight and another 5# beyond that to reach my weight when I first met S.

Of course, there are those who argue that an obsession with weight alone is not healthy, and they are certainly right, but I've already discussed all the other reasons for needing to lose this weight. Still, I ran across an article today that supports their assertions, so I thought I'd share.

And because finding the time to carve out an exercise plan has been a challenge, I followed the lead of a local Sheep of Note and ordered myself one of these the other week.



For the past week on my nights at home, I've been sitting down and pedaling for an hour or so while I knit. It's not terribly strenuous, but at least it's some energy expenditure and it keeps me warm while I'm sitting in our chilly little kitchen in the early AM hours. I can also put it on the table and use it to work my arms and upper back a bit, which is one of the exercises they had me do when I was having physical therapy for my back. I went upscale and got a model that has magnetic resistance so I wouldn't have to worry about it being squeaky and waking up David, and I've been very pleased with how quiet it is.

Other News of Size

Today I received a final check from S paying me back for my part of our house in Pittsburgh. Now I just have to get the few items I have remaining there. Or decide if they're really worth the trouble. Actually, there's an antique porcelain wash basin that I really do want, and maybe my ice skates.

And tomorrow, David and I have plans to go find a tree for the impending Yuletide. Said tree will have to be under 4 ft. tall to fit on top of the dog crate (strangely enough, the best possible spot for it). Afterwards, we will be stopping by the credit union to have our signatures notarized on this little piece of paper. Then with a $35 check to the state treasurer we should be all official. But not married, or even civilly united (or should that be civilly unionized?). Because, you know, straight marriages are breaking up all over Massachusetts and Vermont because of that sort of thing.

A Few Weekend Things

The first pair of socks is finished!



They've actually been through the wash since that photo was taken, so they've bloomed nicely and are a bit fuzzy and sure to make a good impression. Now I've just got to make pair number two, but I am going to South Carolina next week to visit my grandparents for a few days, so I'll see what I can knock out then. I could have started pair number two at work last night, but I decided to do a little selfish knitting and cast on for a variation on the fir cone square shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls.

Not that I was able to do very much on that little project. Work was, well, very worklike and not very fun. Insomnia, a 15 hour shift, lots of very sick cases, and dogs who just will. not. stop. barking. make for a very bad combination. I was very happy to escape this morning and come home.

Because of work, I missed out for the second year in a row on the Kittery holiday parade. David spent about 7 hours the night before putting together his costume, and he marched along with Landlady Paula and the two yearling boys, Beach & Otis. He likened it to a Project Runway challenge, and I think it turned out rather well for costumery on a shoestring.





And now I have a date with Morpheus.

Holiday Gift Suggestions

My holiday shopping list has never been completely stuff-free, largely because I have young nieces and nephews. For children a certain level of stuff-i-ness is expected at the holidays, though I tend towards books, or handknits, or maybe gift certificates to buy clothes or books. I do try to put some thought into gifts, and so far I haven't gotten a "This present sucks" out of any of them. Of course, the oldest one only just became a teenager, so who knows what awaits.

For the adults on my list, though, I don't see much need to buy more stuff, and they are generally happy not to have more stuff to deal with. So the largest chunk of my holiday giving this year is going to Seva Foundation. I've given to them before and really like the work they do to improve health and civil stability in indigenous communities.

Another organization I've given to in the past and will give to in the future is Heifer International. Most of their programs are to provide livestock and animal husbandry training. As a vegetarian, I'll admit to being a bit uneasy about contributing to buying food animals, - even though I realize that's the best food option in some parts of the world - but they also have programs to provide honeybees and to provide trees for reforestation projects, both of which I gladly support.

So before you decide that this is the hot ticket item for everyone on your list this holiday season, maybe you can step back and consider putting your money towards helping people in need live healthy, full lives. After all, isn't that what the season is supposed to be about?

Meme-alicious! Memelectable, even!

First of all, because Cate said so (and because [insert one or more obscenities] Flickr won't let me [insert even more obscenities] log in to show you cute 'paca pics).

go here and link it to your blog.

then "ping" here.

And then I have elemmaciltur to thank for this:











All things considered, cuddles can be a pretty potent superpower. Maybe W should try cuddling Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (or vice versa), even though the thought of it is kind of creepy. I could have done worse, like the head tech at work who claimed last night to have "psychopathic powers".

Finally!

Stupid Flickr decided to work long enough for me to access the latest photo of Juliette, which was taken on Monday. It's about time, as it was starting to get pretty obscene around here (well, not if you're used to reading a certain other blog, but relatively speaking). I digress.



Adorable, no? She's also getting more and more grey in her fleece, which is very exciting. Dark rose grey, particularly this dark, is a very uncommon color, and one that we very much like to see. I'm not sure if the show judges will like it so much come spring, but I'm pleased.

Happy Tofurkey Day!

photo stolen from here

I've always thought these were beautiful birds, even back in the days when I ate them. Now I just enjoy seeing them out in the wild. I am now on my way home from work. This evening we will be partaking of the holiday dinner with the landladies, Landlady Wendy's father, brother, and sister-in-law, and 6 dogs. Over half the humans will be vegetarian. I suspect none of the dogs are, though there are two I'm not certain about. I shall be baking sweet potato pie - a rare delicacy here in New England - and David will be making a tofu chocolate pie and dressing (I guess once we've eaten it we can call it stuffing). At some point I hope to get in a nap.

Whether you're Amurcan or Furn, celebrate the holiday or not, I hope you all have a wonderful day.

More Posey

I made a provisional cast on for the second sock tonight and did a few rounds, but my wrists are complaining a bit, so I decided to leave it at that for tonight and focus instead on combing up more of the Posey fleece. My Louët mini combs have really come in handy with this particular project, as they've allowed me to turn this (note: This is a relatively cleaner bit):




into this (I know it's blurry. I blame Lee Ann
.):



and ultimately into this:



With a lot of this left over:



I believe the waste is about 40% of the total, which is quite a bit. It's not a fleece I would have chosen if I'd had the option, but seeing as it's a labor of love, I keep plugging away at it. The final yarn is actually quite nice and not overly scratchy. Dyes arrived today from Halcyon, so now I just have to decide which I want to use on this yarn. I'm hoping to be able to haul out the dyepots this weekend and see what I can do with it.

Toe Long

This is what that sock I've been working on looked like this morning:



This is what it looked like a week ago. Now look again at the photo above. Notice anything odd?

When I took it along to Boston on Friday, I forgot to take along a tape measure to monitor my progress and held it up against my hand to eyeball the length. As I was working my way up the leg, I was bothered by what appeared to be a longer foot than I'd anticipated. So at work last night, I pulled out a tape measure and checked. An inch too long.

Now, this is for my nephew, who will turn 12 in January. Although he has always been on the small side for his age, I fully expect that he will shoot up in the next couple years and would eventually be able to wear a longer sock. Because this is meant to be a present for this year, however, giving him socks an inch too long just was not acceptable, so I mulled my options. I figured I could a) frog back to an inch before the gusset increases and work my way back up, b) pick out the toe and rip out to an inch into the foot and then start the toe anew there, or c) throw the whole thing into a dark corner in a fit of frustration and buy him a gift certificate.

Because I really want to be able to give him something handmade for Christmas (and save the gift certificate for his birthday) and because I figured it would mean less work in the end, I went with option b. Once I had finished up the leg and cast off the cuff using the bind off method described by Grumperina here, I picked up stitches one inch after the last toe increases and set to ripping out the toe.

I discovered that the standard method of M1 from bar between the stitches actually creates loops through stitches when it's being ripped out from the bottom up, so every time I encountered one, I had to pull the entire length of the yarn through the loops. I just really hadn't thought about it, but when visualized it makes perfect sense and is due to the twisting of the bar to make the new stitch. It made the whole process rather a bit longer than I'd expected, but it moved along relatively smoothly (the mohair in the yarn did make it a bit stickier than it might have been otherwise, though), and once I got to the picked up stitches it was a simple matter to do a wide band toe. Tonight, I performed a very cosmetic graft on the toe stitches, and I can officially consider it a semi-FO (still have to do one more to make a pair).

A Completely FO



This is the first of two brioche hats I'm making for my brother's stepsons. Brioche because it will keep them nice and toasty in the Maine winter, and Lion Brand Wool Ease because with two preteen boys, machine washability is pretty much an essential requirement.

This hat is for the younger of the two. I thought the olive and brown suited him well, as he's the more likely of the two to continue in the NASCAR, huntin' & four wheelin' tradition of the family (My brother and I get along very well, but I call him Bubba for a reason).

For his older brother, I'm going with blue as the main color and a dark orange heather as contrast. It would be an understatement to say that I am not an orange person, but I thought that this particular shade actually went well with the blue. Besides, this isn't for me. It's for a boy who needs to have his sense of style nurtured. His mother says he could be my child, and I think we're pretty much all expecting that a few years down the road he'll start sorting a few things out and he and Uncle Mel will need to have a little heart-to-heart about being not quite like the other boys. Just a hunch.

Posey Meets Flat Gabriella

I could have shown you the progress I made on the holiday gift sock I had started here. I got quite a lot done on the bus to and from Boston and finished turning the Widdershins heel, which I really like, overnight. But I haven't taken any photos of it yet, so you're gonna have to wait.

Instead, I thought I'd share a photo of Posey, now that I actually have one. Today Posey got to meet Flat Gabriella, who is the alter-ego of Not-So-Flat Gabriella, older daughter of David's friends Mike & Sue. Flat Gabriella came to visit almost two weeks ago, but we've been rather busy and not the best of hosts, so she's extended her stay so we can take her around and show her more of the local sites so that she can take back a report to Not-So-Flat Gabriella of her travels. Apparently at some point, all the kids will be getting together with their homeschooling group to share their flat versions' adventures with everyone else. Seems like an interesting, and not too costly, way of getting kids to learn a bit about the world outside their community. Anyway, that was a rather long-winded way of saying here they are:



David & I are a wee bit concerned about Flat Gabriella, as it seems she may be hitting the cough syrup just a little too much. Still, she's been a remarkably quiet & undemanding guest, so we can't really complain.

Definitely Not Gay Man

I do so love satire, especially in comic form.

Quichier

The quiche, she is a versatile dish, non? Mix most anything with eggs and cheese and bake it in a pie shell - nice and easy dinner-in-a-pinch. Tonight it was mushrooms, onions, garlic, veggie sausage and spinach. Delicious.

I have been doing things other than cooking this week, as well. In fact, I've had enough to do that I haven't had much time for blogging about it. Sleep is one of those things, as it's always good to catch up on that. I continue working on the holiday knitting, albeit slowly.

The other big project I've been working on this week is turning a fleece from the resident Shetland sheep, Posey, into something useful. This has turned out to be rather a big task, as Posey doesn't exactly live on verdant pastures. Rather, she shares her space with four rather rough-and-tumble pygmy goats, and said space is kind of short on grass. This means that a lot of the fleece is not usable, but I have managed thus far to spin up nearly enough to ply. This is the nearly-full second bobbin:



It's been an opportunity for me to practice woolen spinning and long draw. I'm not expecting the most even of yarns, but I should have something nice enough to turn into a hat for landlady Paula to wear while she's doing her farm chores in the winter. I'm finding that I didn't get the grease out well enough when I scoured, though. It's nice enough for my hands while I'm combing/carding/spinning, but I can see I'll have to use plenty of detergent when I wash the skeins.

There has been more going on this week, of course, but most of it has been of the mundane. I had some additional allergy testing done on Tuesday, which was again all negative - though I did have a lovely delayed hypersensitivity reaction to Candida, which I shall be kind enough not to share photos of. We also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get David's pickup out of the mud after transporting a few alpacas for his office manager. Suffice to say that we need to invest in a good tow rope to keep handy if we're going to be doing any more of that.

Tomorrow we are off to Boston for the evening. David's friend Don will be in town for a conference, so we're going down for dinner and possibly a visit to the MFA. Hopefully the weather will have improved by the time we get down there. It's damned blustery out tonight.

On Faith

There's been a rather spirited debate going on in the comments on Joe's blog the past few days on the topic of religion and its place in determining law - specifically with respect to the referenda banning same-sex marriage. As someone who's often on the receiving end such faith-based ballot box bashings, I have a real problem with the melding of faith and the public sphere. I don't know that I'd go quite so far as Richard Dawkins - to the extent that a person's faith gives them a framework to work towards improving themselves, then it can perhaps serve a function - but I fervently and adamantly insist that faith has no place in developing law in a secular society. That's what theocracies are for.

My other big problem with faith is best illustrated by a story. Three years ago, S & I went to Europe on vacation. We spent about half of our time in Rome, and one evening we were approached by a fresh-faced, blond-haired, blue-eyed American kid who, obviously not familiar enough with Europeans to recognize that we were distinctly American, asked us, "Parla inglese?" I had a suspicion about his motives, but I took the bait and told him that we were American. And then the proselytizing began - all about the wonders of Jesus Christ and faith and everything that I'd heard every day of my childhood and long since rejected. So I politely told him that I didn't share his faith and that I had no problem believing in a universe without a creator and that, if anything, the fact that this world existed at all was made even more magical by the thought that it happened in all its complexity purely by chance. His response was, "I just HAVE to believe that there's SOMETHING."

It was late, so we politely took our leave, but the question I wanted to ask him was, "Why? Why do you HAVE to believe in a God?" Why, indeed, does anyone? What does it matter if this is all there is? Doesn't that make this world and this life more precious? Doesn't that increase the need for us to be decent to one another? That is the very basis for secular humanism, after all, and yet the term "secular humanism" gets spat out of the mouths of religious fundamentalists as if they were saying "shit sandwich". To fall back on faith just because you "HAVE to believe" is, to me, intellectually lazy (NOTE: I count among my friends many people of faith who are anything but lazy, but they're also people who don't use their faith as a crutch and who aren't afraid to question their beliefs).

One of the main things that attracted me to Buddhism is that, despite the mythologies that have sprung up within the tradition, it is at its core a humanistic religion. There is absolutely no incompatibility between being an atheist and being a Buddhist. Granted, there are Buddhist nations with some serious internal problems, but it seems to me that the problems lie not so much with the religion itself as with the fact that the religion (or at least particular versions of it) has become institutionalized in those countries to the extent that form has generally become more important than substance. Siddhartha Gautama's last instruction to his followers was, "Be as a lamp unto yourselves." I feel that teaching often gets lost to a society's detriment. To institutionalize "Christian values", or at least the particular version espoused by most evangelicals, in this country would be no less problematic and damaging.

Holiday Knitting

And now on to more funner topics. I've started working on my holiday knitting, though I'm by no means sure I'll get everything done that I'd like. I wanted to knit something for my niece and nephew who are currently living in Phoenix, so I settled on socks. My LYS has started carrying Bearfoot sock yarn from Mountain Colors, so I've started this one in 'Mountain Twilight' colorway:



For my brothers two stepsons who live here in Maine, I'm doing hats in Lion Brand WoolEase. Machine-washability is essential and I can make them functional and comfortable hats that will keep them warm in the Maine Winter. I'm still undecided about my sister's girls in North Carolina, but I doubt I'll have time to crank out anything additional in time. Maybe hats, though.

Overnight here at work I've been working on something for David. I will only say that it's not for public viewing and it's all Franklin's fault. And if you happen to be astute enough to figure out what it is, don't you dare say anything to spoil the surprise.

Holiday Plans

We booked our holiday trip the other night. I have to work both Christmas night and New Year's Eve, but I'm off the days in between, so we're going to Minnesota to visit David's friends Mike & Sue and their kids in lovely, chilly Brainerd and hopefully visit some of my friends in the Twin Cities. There may even be a brief side trip to South Dakota to see David's parents, but he says it depends on whether his mother behaves*.

If you're not quite sure whether you've ever heard of Brainerd, it used to be known for this:



These days, though, it's best known for this**:



I intend to stay well clear of any woodchippers.



*They belong to the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, which is a fundamentalist sect. His dad's not too bad but doesn't quite seem to get it. His mother tries to pretend I don't exist, which is, of course, problematic if we're going to visit them.

**I realize this may be confusing to those who may not have seen the movie, or who have forgotten the plot, or who just weren't paying attention, but very little of the movie Fargo actually takes place in Fargo.

To Solace a Stickerless Sheep

Lovely, no? I opted for a somewhat different design for the center panel than Mr. Habit with his Barbie shawl, but then, to be a copycat is rather gauche and, well, just not very knitterly.

And If That Wasn't Enough To Make You Smile

The Republicans have been pretty well trounced in House races, and control of the Senate is coming down to two seats where the Democratic candidates appear to have the edge, albeit only slightly. I'm particularly pleased that Pennsylvania is cleaning up that big Santorum stain. I was unfortunate enough to spend three years as one of his constituents that he spent much energy trying to hurt. I won't be sorry to see his smarmy smirk and evil, evil ways go away.

Of course, Maine re-elected our senior Republican senator by a large margin, despite my vote for her liberal progressive Democratic challenger. As Republicans go, we could do a lot worse than Olympia. She has not been afraid to buck her party's line from time to time (though she did recently vote in favor of the torture bill). She is still, however, a Republican, and that makes a big difference in terms of which party chairs the commitees that decide which items of proposed legislation see the light of day (long sentence, I know, but when the machinations of the Congress are under discussion, verbosity is to be expected).

My own personal recollection of Olympia is the commencement address she gave at my graduation from the University of Maine many years ago, when she was still in the House of Representatives. She prefaced her remarks by saying, "I know none of you wants to hear a long speech, so I'll make this short." By short she apparently meant somewhat short of a filibuster, as it was one of the most interminable and boring addresses I've ever had to sit through. It was an outdoor graduation on a hot, sunny day, too. I still blame her for the sunburn.

Vote Early & Often

I shall be casting my votes in a bit over 8 hours, before I go to work. Because we the people only works if we the people vote, I suggest you all make a point of fitting it into your day. If you've voted early, bless you. And if you're not quite sure who or what to vote for, look up your area on the Project Vote Smart website. If you're voting in Maine's state Senate District 6 (I am not - Peter Bowman gets my vote), vote for Phil Bartlett. I happen to know he's got Franklin's (and Sister Sue's) endorsement.

Barbie Shawl Update

The Barbie shawl is finished and blocking as I write this. Only one major unknitting adventure, which slowed me down by an hour or two. Since it's white yarn blocking on a white throw pillow, I didn't think photos would be particularly useful or revealing at this point. I shall take some and post them soon, though. It's enough to make me think I could even do a full-size project.

Briochey

I recently bought the latest issue of Vogue Knitting for an article on brioche stitch in the round written by Meg Swansen. I'd read about brioche stitch, but I'd never actually dabbled with it and thought it might be useful to make thick & warm items for Dulaan. So my first item made in brioche was this hat:



To be honest, it's a bit shorter than I'd like it to be, but I think it would work well for a small child and it is ever so plush and warm, warm, warm. And I liked the stitch so much - bold yet simple, and thick and squishy at the same time, that I decided it would be perfect for the scarf I wanted to make with the Briar Rose yarn I got at Rhinebeck. The dragon skin pattern, while nice, just wasn't showing off the best characteristics of the yarn the way I'd hoped.



I don't think I'll ever get tired of this yarn. The color repeats are short, so it doesn't stripe and the yarnovers of brioche stitch make for a nice, soft blending of the blues, greys, browns and greens. The colors are muted and subtle, which I love, and the stitch really shows the soft hand of the yarn, which is what really sold me on it in the first place. I'm looking forward to being able to wear this.

And speaking of things to wear, I was sitting here the other night pouting a bit over the whole vest debacle I wrote about in the last post and shivering at the cold, and I decided to click on over to Webs, where they had Araucania Nature Wool Chunky on clearance. I bought enough to make myself a sweater to wear on these cold nights and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Naughty Toys

No, it's not what you're thinking. A couple weeks ago, David's customer service rep, Mendy, sent him some SpongeBob figures you can put in water to make them expand. David's a SpongeBob nut, so they were a guaranteed hit. It was a little odd to see SpongeBob expand into what looked like a garishly-painted piece of deep-fried tofu, but there is another which is even more unsettling.




I give you Penis Head Patrick.

A Nightmare on Haley Rd.

Anyone remember this incipient vest? The Harrisville Flax Wool affair I started the better part of a year ago, then frogged, then restarted way back in June? Well, progress has been slow - very slow - but I've been trying to pick it up and do a few rounds here and there while we're watching movies. And I was doing okay with it, getting ever closer to dividing for the armholes.

Until a few nights ago, that is. While we were watching Freddy Krueger devour an impossibly young and adorable Johnny Depp, I was happily knitting away and then looked down to notice....



Shit.

I would have sworn they were from the same lot, but the ball bands are long gone, and anyway it's obviously a moot question.

Frogging time, yet again.

Bat Bites

From the Associated Press:

November 02,2006 | INDIANAPOLIS -- A 10-year-old girl who was diagnosed with Indiana's first confirmed case of rabies in nearly half a century died Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Shannon Carroll had been bitten by a rapid bat in June and had been hospitalized since early October, said Riley Hospital for Children spokeswoman Jo Ann Klooz said.

More than 30 of the girl's relatives, friends and classmates were offered injections to prevent the spread of the disease. Some parents whose children attend the girl's school in Bourbon, 25 miles south of South Bend, worried about possible exposure since rabies can stay dormant for more than a year.

Rabies is a viral disease transmitted to humans and other animals through saliva, usually in a bite. It attacks the brain and nervous system and typically leads to death once symptoms appear. Human-to-human transmission of rabies is possible through direct contact with saliva, health officials said.

State records show Indiana's last human rabies case was in 1959, when a Sullivan County resident died from the disease.

The details on this are a bit sketchy, as journalists are usually not very good on providing the information that's most interesting to health professionals. From what I can gather from earlier news items, though, there was apparently a bat found in the girl's house in June. I can't tell if it was known that she was bitten beforehand, but in many of these cases the people don't know they've been bitten. The species of bats seen most commonly in North America have tiny teeth that generally don't penetrate the skin completely.

From one news report, I was able to gather that the virus was identified as bat strain from molecular testing, which is common practice in human cases these days. So my assumption is that they're piecing together information rather than working from prior knowledge of a bite, particularly since there was about a 4 month gap between the presumptive exposure and the time she was hospitalized with symptoms of the disease with no apparent treatment in the interim.

So my point with all this - and I do actually have one - is that you should never take a bat in the house lightly. Yes, bats are very important from an ecological standpoint and, I think, wondrously beautiful creatures. I've always had a fondness for and fascination with them. Watching them flying around outside in the evening is a great summertime pleasure - not the least because I know they're eating the goddamned mosquitoes. Nonetheless, a bat found in my house would be tested for rabies, period. I'm vaccinated and check my antibody titers annually, so I don't worry about myself, or even my animals, who are all vaccinated. I would never, ever take a chance, though, that might put David's life at risk. I would hope that the rest of you would do the same for yourself and your loved ones.

And now I'll get off my soapbox.

P Minus 10

Happy Samhain, or All Souls Day, as it now happens to be. I did not pig out on candy, though I did buy a bag in preparation for the 6 trick-or-treaters who came by a day early. I do not understand the whole concept of Halloween-on-a-day-that-is-not-Halloween, but I will save that rant. I now have less than 10 pounds to go to reach my target weight, and that is what I wish to write about today.

My stated and immediate reasons for starting this little dieting journey were health-related. Those were certainly the catalyst, but I've come to the realization that there's another reason I'm doing this. I'm also shedding the baggage of my relationship with S. When I reach my target weight, I will be about 5 pounds above my weight when I started dating S, and I may well go on and lose that additional 5 pounds, as all of it was a product of that relationship.

You see, when S and I started dating, we both gained a fair amount of weight fairly quickly. This was most likely a product of my love of cooking and his love of all things starchy, but the weight eventually became a physical manifestation of emotional baggage - largely that which he was dumping on me. S had a problem with fidelity, as it turned out, and in the end, the relationship was based pretty much on his lying while he fooled around behind my back for 4½ years. When he dumped me a year and a half ago, he claimed that all of it - the cheating, the dumping, and basically everything in between - was because I wasn't hot enough for him. Because of the weight gain, of course.

Now, he weighed just as much as I did, had gained as much weight as I had. And he'd basically undermined every attempt I'd made to lose weight by throwing temper tantrums when I tried to cook healthier meals. He also threw temper tantrums if I tried to listen to any music that wasn't Bach while he was home and ignored me if I tried to talk to him while Bach was playing or Law & Order was on TV and was generally not an easy person to live with. And even though I am a fairly self-reliant and self-confident person by nature, this took an emotional toll which made the weight loss even harder. But it was still ultimately my fault, in his mind, that he was cheating.

So I've come to realize that losing this weight is, in part, ridding myself of the weight of that relationship. Not long after I started dieting, S e-mailed me with details about his refinancing of the house - the last major step in disentangling our affairs. At the end of that e-mail, he expressed a wish to resume being on speaking terms. I took a few days before responding and then, as civilly as possible but in no uncertain terms, told him that how he had treated me was abusive and that his actions were his own doing and were no fault of mine. I also told him that unless and until he could fully own his actions and quit trying to rationalize or excuse them, I didn't feel it was in my best interest to have any contact with him. I've not heard anything from him since.

Now, I will say that I don't believe that S is completely bad. He was certainly nowhere near as awful as Franklin's Mr. Ex, and though he did some pretty awful things in our relationship, I do still care for him and do hope that he someday learns to deal with his own baggage. Still, ridding myself of the emotional and psychosomatic baggage he saddled me with has been wonderfully liberating, and I look forward to seeing the rest of it go.

For the Plastic Bitch With Everything

Since I bought the Orenburg lace book at Rhinebeck, I figured I should make what Franklin dubbed the Orenburg Barbie Shawl. To give you a sense of scale, the yarn is 2/28 alpaca/cotton blend and the needles are size 0 (2.0mm) 7" dpn's. At this point it looks pretty much like any other piece of unblocked lace. It's about halfway done, though, and the center panel has cat's paws in the corners with a central snowflake - both of which are in the book.

And to give you an idea of what I'm working from, here's the cone of yarn:



This is a 3# cone (1.4kg for the metric set) of 2/28 yarn. I could do shawls for about a thousand Barbies with this, and only slightly fewer real people. This is the advantage of getting to pick through David's boxes before he puts things on clearance.

In other fibery news, I spun up and plied the last of the Shetland from Rhinebeck the other day. I got a total of about 200 yards from 5 oz. and now just have to decide what color I'd like it to be and what to make with it. I've also started back on the Junior roving, this time on the Hitchhiker. I have to say, I'm really, really enjoying this little wheel.

Questions Gladly Answered Here

I know I'm a little behind on this, but both Lee Ann and Sara asked what was in my quiche. It was actually a pretty straightforward affair, not exactly Sandra Lee, but hardly blood, sweat and tears. The pie shell was frozen from the supermarket, and the only fresh veggies I used were the onions and mushrooms. I also used some frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, broccoli, chou-fleur, yellow squash, and courgettes), extra sharp cheddar, sage, coriander, salt, pepper, and half a dozen eggs.

And it wasn't really a question, but Barbara commented about being put off by the idea of working with Shetland because of the double coat. The roving I got at Rhinebeck, as well as the Shetland roving I got from Halcyon Yarn a few months back and haven't played with yet, both apparently came from kindly-fleeced (single-coated) animals. Because of selective breeding and crossing in other breeds, most modern Shetland doesn't have the double coat. Some breeders do specifically breed for it, but it's less common these days. Double coated fleeces are probaby best either combed to separate outer and inner coats or carded together and spun into lopi-style singles.

Required Reading

This article from Salon says pretty much exactly what I've been thinking about Iraq. It infuriates me that this country's President says that we have to keep sending soldiers to die because removing our troops from Iraq would "mean that their sacrifice has been in vain."

What the hell kind of rationalization is that? How do you make bloodshed okay with more bloodshed? I can only assume that it's something along the lines of Stalin's statement that one death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is a statistic. At least Stalin was being honest.

Late to the Party

David & I watched it tonight - likely the last gay men in the US, if not the world, to do so. One of the techs at work inadvertently, but not inappropriately, referred to it last week as "Bareback Mountain". Perhaps it's because I knew what was going to happen or possibly because of all the hype that surrounded it, but I didn't cry the way I expected to.

I'm usually a bawler. Since Billy Elliot, just hearing Swan Lake is enough to set me off. The scene in Amélie where she imagines Nino running his hands across the bead curtain is guaranteed to get me going every time. But with this movie it didn't happen. It was a heartbreaking story and a very well-done movie, and my eyes did get damp a time or two. But no gushing fountains.

I will say one thing, though. That Jake Gyllenhall reminds me an awful lot of a real cowboy I worked with many summers ago when I was working as a farmhand. Gyllenhall's prettier; the real deal was more wiry and angular - but still the subject of much fantasy. And while I'm firmly ambivalent about the rodeo, it does give me, I think, a particular appreciation for Franklin's gay rodeo project.

Speaking of Franklin

The new series of Cast On has begun, and the one year anniversary episode has a hilarious take on Poe by none other than the Übermensch of Boystown himself. If you have not yet downloaded this podcast, then you must do so. Now.



While listening to this week's episode, I very appropriately cast on for a scarf with the big skein I got from Cast On sponsors Briar Rose Fibers at Rhinebeck. The pattern is a thin garter stitch border with the "Dragon Skin" pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury. I narrowed it down to that or her "Tilting Ladder" pattern, which has small cables and openwork.

I asked David for his opinion and he said, "I don't like lace on men." I argued that the openwork isn't exactly lacy, but when one lives with a fashion designer and asks for their advice, it's usually best to pay heed to it. I'm thinking, though, that I may need to frog this and start over on larger needles to get a fabric with better drape.

Real Men Don't Just Eat It

Life post-Rhinebeck has pretty much settled into its usual routine. This is the middle of my scheduled 5 day break from work, which happens every 3 weeks and which gives me a chance to catch up on things that get put off the rest of the time. Yesterday's task was to finish up planting the flower beds, since the last of the bulbs I'd ordered arrived over the weekend. Out of the huge pile of siberian irises I dug up, it only took two clumps separated out to replant the front beds in their entirety, which means I still have a huge pile of irises to get rid of. I will seriously send some to anyone who is willing to pay the postage.

One of the interesting things about gardening around an old house like this is that things always turn up, like this:



It appears to be a game piece of some sort, but it's definitely not a game I recognize. My guess is circa 1930's or 1940's, but it could just as easily be from later in a retro style. Anybody know the answer?

So after getting nice and dirty, I scrubbed myself up and set about making dinner:



I do so love it, but it was really David's idea to begin with.

Today...

...was spent in part running errands and doing a bit of essential shopping, with Buddhist meditation at the Unitarian church this evening - the first time I've managed to make it in almost two months. I did, however, manage to do this:



This is the first finished yarn spun on the Hitchhiker. It's from the Shetland I got at Rhinebeck from Stonesthrow Farm, the same place I got the yarn for these last year. It turned out quite soft and I'm very pleased with it. Now I need to figure out what color(s) to dye it and what to make with it.

And for no other reason than it was amusing, I offer this:



Tolo decided that his game for the evening would be playing with the flap on the trash can. He hadn't done that for a while, so I thought he might have outgrown it. It appears I was wrong.

My Little Slice of Rhinebeck

It was good. Really busy, but really good. The crowds made it a bit overwhelming at times, but from a vendor's perspective the crowds mean a more successful event. The downside to being there as a vendor, though, is that it severely limited my time to wander and visit with people (and buy stuff). Nonetheless, I did manage to get in a little visiting and even managed to document some of it.

I was hoping that there would be more photos with Dolores's image in them, but David hung the signs he printed for Blogger Bingo Headquarters too high for them to show up in most of the shots. As the hired help free labor loving, supportive partner, I wasn't really in a good position to argue the matter. Besides, it was a little more important to have products within reach of customers.


Stitchy (note pen at the ready), me, Lee Ann with Twinkletoes, & Cate


Me, David, Johanna (a dear friend of David's), Dena (who was Johanna's college roommate), and Amy (who works with Dena at Webs)at the Wild Fibers magazine dinner


What was given out at the Wild Fibers dinner (in addition to David's socks)- 1/2 oz. of laceweight qiviut/merino/silk


Ted, Lars, and me


me with Norma (you can see the kilt!)


me with what's-her-name

And especially for Franklin:


Stitchy & Ted and a certain iconic sheep (Dolores felt banner made by Woolybuns)

I have to say that hosting Blogger Bingo was a ton of fun and Stitchy, well, she was a hell of a hoot - and an excellent getter of small bills for the cash register. I met so many knitting bloggers, and I know I can't even begin to remember all of them (I'm seriously horrible at remembering people. When I met David last year, I didn't remember that we'd had a blind date 12 years earlier in Minneapolis. Fortunately, he hasn't held it against me.)I do know, though, that I met (in no particular order) my neighbor Cheryl, Carole, Kellee, Carol, fellow Utilikilter Dave, Amy (sans Jillian), Juno, Fuchsia Lucia, Jeni, Marcy, Paul, Jude, Ina, Mary Beth, Nishanna, and a lot of other people that I just can't remember. Even if I had been there as a civilian and hadn't had to fit in socializing in between ringing people up and restocking, there's just no way my brain could have processed it all.

David & I owe a very special thank you to Lars and Ted, who offered to help us take the booth down at the end of the day Sunday. It made that particular job take about half as long as it would have. It also gave us time to treat them to dinner and have a nice visit at the end of a very busy, very tiring weekend.

Oh, and Cheryl pointed out in the comments to yesterday's post that there was a purchase I didn't include with my yarn haul. I didn't include it because it wasn't from the yarn budget. I decided it needed to be a purchase independent of the vagaries of the cat toy market.



I brought it to work with me, along with the 5oz. of Shetland roving, and I think it's just about time to go play with it.

One Last Thing....

I'm dead.



I think anyone who knows me at all knows that I'm just not a fuchsia and teal kind of person. Not even remotely. I suppose, though, that they'll make a warm outer pair of socks for wearing around the house this winter.