kmkat and her kneedles

Socks, bullet-proof.

Photo taken with iPad, hence, the poor quality.

I finished these Sunday night whilst watching Wallander*.

Better photos in daylight.  

Yarn: Country Classics Yarn for Sox
Pattern:  my usual, Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks, here worked over 48 st. Feet are a little too big (44 st would have been better) and legs are barely big enough, probably because I made them so tall. Shapely calves, etc.
Needles: US#2 for the feet and ankles, US#3 for the leg. I just looked at other socks from this yarn on Ravelry; most people used a US#6, although there were a few 3s, 4s, 5s, and even 9s. No one else was dumb enough sufficiently intrepid to use a 2, though.

Photo styling assistance provided by the ever-helpful En Esch.

En: "I'm outta here!"

I call these bulletproof. Here is an example of their heftiness and body.
I had to whap them back onto the table after they tried to walk away on their own.

* Kurt Wallander is played by Kenneth Branaugh. I would never have believed that Branaugh could be so annoying. He plays the character, a Swedish police inspector, as stoic to the point of being inarticulate. The only time he can put more than three words together is a, when he is discussing the case, and 2, when he is livid. After watching my way through two seasons of this on Netflix I have gotten used to him; either that or he has lightened up a bit on the tongue-tiedness. Also of note is the cinematographer's excessive fondness of wind-blown grasses/rape/other crops. Nice effect the first couple dozen times...

Sunday stuff.

1. Arrow :: shirts.
2. Hum :: ho.
3. Cornerstone :: of democracy.
4. Flight :: of the bumblebee.
5. Music :: box.
6. Determine :: -ist.
7. Analysis :: financial
8. Better day :: tomorrow.
9. Audio :: video.
10. Meditation :: sleep.

* * * * *

I am nearly done with my bulletproof socks. They were not as much fun to knit as I expected. Worsted weight yarn on US#2 needles = hard work. The socks will last forever but I'm not sure they are worth the effort. I think the second pair will be knit on US#4s.

* * * * *

We think winter may be over. It hasn't snowed for over two weeks. (Hope I didn't jinx us with that statement.) Ice went out of the lake two weeks ago. We haven't had the heat on since Tuesday or Wednesday. Temp has been well over 70˚ for several days. I have opted for capris instead of long jeans. Our winter down comforters are just too warm for comfortable sleeping.

Let the summer begin!

* * * * *

I ran out of coffee a couple days ago. Oh, the horror!

Happily, I had put in an order for my favorite -- a 3-pound bag of Alakef French Roast -- at the coffee kiosk in my tiny town. Younger Son picked it up for me on his way here today so I am currently enjoying a perfectly marvelous homemade quad latte.

::sigh:: Life is perfect again...

* * * * *

Cleaning out my blog folder.

 

Muttering through Mother's Day.

1. 537 :: is more than 400
2. Horizon :: line.
3. Episode :: seizure.
4. Character :: -driven.
5. Crossed :: town bus.
6. Shipping :: charges.
7. Jump :: Whoopee Goldberg.
8. Bowling :: Lebowski.
9. Grumpy :: Old Men.
10. Them :: Us.

 

I celebrated my own Mother's Day yesterday -- spent pretty much the entire day in my recliner reading, watching Netflix, drinking coffee/soda/wine (as the day progressed), and knitting. This is Smokey's weekend to work (always with the night shifts) so when he is home he is tucked up in his bed with two dogs and a cat and a box fan for white noise. Today I might be productive. Hard to say, really. 

 

Reading: 
A few weeks ago I read a piece in The Nation by Deborah Kopaken Kagan about her experiences as a woman author and how she was demeaned by the publishing industry. I was so inspired/enraged by her experience I clicked over to bn.com and bought all four of her books to read on my iPad. (I also clicked over to her website and sent her an email telling her what I did; she emailed back that it made her cry.) Anyhow, I want to recommend her books. She came from an ordinary middle-class background, graduated from Harvard, moved to Paris, worked as a photojournalist covering a lot of gritty stuff (ex., she went into Afghanistan alone during the Soviet-Afghan war), eventually married, had three kids, started to write. The woman has lived more in her 40-odd years than a dozen other other people put together. I highly recommend her books, especially Shutterbabe (memoir) and The Red Book (fiction). Her collection of essays, Hell Is Other Parents, is pretty damned good, too.

Yesterday's book was Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich. I had read the first 60+ pages in fits and starts and was not particularly engaged by it, but yesterday I decided to give it a chance to pull me in. Which it did, in spades. Protagonist is a quant who specializes in the odds of disasters; the 3-person consulting firm he works for makes him rich. Then a real mega-disaster hits New York City -- essentially Hurricane Sandy plus Katrina -- and his life changes. Some of the scenes were lifted straight out of the news stories of Katrina. Good book, four out of five stars.

Last night I startd NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Creepy as hell, that one. I follow the author on Twitter. He is currently on tour for the book and every day posts photos of readers attempting to kill him in various ways.

 

Knitting:
I am enjoying having several projects to hand at all times. A hat, a pair of socks, the top-down set-in sleeve sweater, a scarf of the same yarn as the hat. They are strewn about my chair in various stages of doneness. When I sit down there is the delicious feeling of What shall I pick up this time? Project monogamy, begone!

Stuff:
Remember the humungous external hard drive? I have moved most of my data files over to it and gone into my most-often used programs to direct them to that drive for files. Two programs have me stumped, though: Excel and iPhoto. I can deal with the former, but iPhoto is being a bugger. I have searched through all its menus and preferences and cannot find a place to tell it where to store its files. My internal 160GB hard drive has 76GB of photos. It would be nice to get them all moved and backed up. All suggestions welcome. (I started to email Younger Son yesterday to ask him but got distracted, had to reboot, lost the email, yada yada. So I'm asking y'all.) 

No photos popped into my head to illustrate today's post. Here, in honor of Mother's Day, is a gratuitous one from 1984 of me being a mom to Elder Son.

Mutterings, knitting, cars, computers. And stuff.

1. Interests :: varied.
2. Bloom :: Harold.
3. Ceiling :: sky.
4. Tears :: roses.
5. Jerk :: chicken.
6. Weight :: free.
7. Friends :: many.
8. Camera :: lens.
9. Chicken :: jerk.
10. Hose :: garden.

* * * * *

Other items OTN.

A couple summers ago I bought some worsted weight sock yarn when we were on the North Shore. 

The person at the yarn store told me that one skein was not quite enough for a pair of socks, but that I could get two pairs out of three skeins. Hence, my choices.

During tax season I had decided that, when I had free time again, I was going to focus on knitting down my stash. Lots of good yarn there; time to use it. My priority would be to knit up the yarn that didn't fit into my Rubbermaid bins. Although I had planned exactly what I was going to knit first -- and it was not this sock yarn -- when the day actually came to pick up my pointy sticks, this is what I chose.

Sock The First:

It may not be apparent, but this sock is like armor. I knitted the foot and ankle on a US#2 and the leg on a US#3. Result: very dense fabric. The sock is also a little big on me; I am hoping a hot bath will correct that.

Heather, before you ask, here is the inside:

* * * * *

In other news, Younger Son was here yesterday to work on his car with Smokey. Did I ever show you the car they found for him to replace the 14-yo Chevy Metro he had been driving?

Someone had donated it to a tech school in St Paul, which sold it for very, very cheap, like <$2k cheap. YS is thrilled with it -- sunroof, turbo, heated seats, power everything, plus it all works (except for the speedometer, they are still working on that; he uses the GPS in his phone to gauge his speed).

Anyway, while he was here he installed a new external hard drive for me. My Mac Mini has a 160GB hard drive that is nearly full -- it has been nagging me for several months to delete stuff. I had done that, but it was a stopgap measure at best.

This external drive was one that had been sitting around where he works for a couple years; since his firm went to network storage they had no need for individual backup drives. It may not look impressive, but there are two 1TB hard drives in there. He set it up so that one mirrors the other -- automatic backup!

The copying/migration process, which kinda scared me, but to him was just click click, all in a day's work:

* * * * *

The official ice-out day on our lake was yesterday, May 5, the latest anyone can remember. Transiting geese and ducks and loons and maybe even some swans have been sighted and heard. The trees are still completely bare except that I saw that the swamp maple opposite our kitchen window was blooming. Maybe spring/summer really will come.

* * * * *

Well, there you have it:  the minutiae of my recent life. Knitting has been on my mind constantly -- well, except for when I was fretting about the surgery -- and I hope to have more projects to show soon.

Waiting for Godot.

That phantom hip replacement? Postponed again. This is the fifth postponement. Let me just say... ARGHHHH!

Had the pre-op physical last Monday. Doc found a heart murmur, ordered an echocardiogram to check it out. I had been told about 40 years ago that I had a heart murmur but had none of the accompanying signs and symptoms that would indicate a problem. Apparently that is true when one is young, but this doc told me that as we age our heart valves become less flexible, and what was not a problem at 23 may become a problem at 63. Hence, the echo.

Results of echocardiogram: I have a noisy valve, not a defective one. No worries.

So why is the hip surgery postponed? I have a previously unsuspected urinary tract infection. No big deal, except that surgeon will not operate until my urine is clear. And two days of antibiotics was not enough to achieve that. He wants a clear urine culture, not just a clear urinalysis, and the former takes 48 hours and... there just weren't enough days between then and Monday to get there.

Wish I had remembered earlier that I needed the pre-op physical.

* * * * *

On the other hand, the spring weather has been... crappy. This was Friday when I went for the second urinalysis.

The lake is largely clear of ice but not nearly completely. This is the latest ice-out since we have been here, 22 years. The fishing opener is today on a lake farther north. The joke is that the folks there had their ice augers out to make sure their lake was clear.

Okay, now for something cheerful: the top-down sweater with the set-in sleeves is coming along nicely. Here is is drying after its preliminary blocking.

I thought it would be easier to pick up the neckband and button bands if I blocked it first. It may go to Afghans for Afghans or it may go to the Pine Ridge reservation or it may go into a cedar chest to await a possible grandchild. Hard to say...

Yarnover!

Yarnover, the one-day knit/crochet/yarn/fiber extravaganza sponsored every year by the Minnesota Knitters Guild, was Saturday, a week or two later than usual this year. This meant that, A, no one had to worry about bad roads due to a blizzard, and 2, it was (almost) too warm to wear wool. Whereas other years I have been able to post photos of gorgeous sweaters, this year... not so much. Lots of shawls and vests and scarves on display but not so many sweaters. Bad blogger that I am, I have photos of exactly none of those.

I do have some photos, though.

This year's swag:

A bottle of soak in my choice of scented or unscented and the awesome-est travel tumbler ever made.

I won a multi-media-style door prize:

From the left: one skein Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport (100% superwash merino) in Perle Point; one small bottle soak, unscented; one small bottle soak hand cream; and one bottle nail polish. Not shown: the fingerless glove pattern. Yes, I can make a pair of fingerless gloves from the yarn and have nails to match!. Whoever thought of packaging these items together deserves the 2013 Thinking Out Of The Box prize.

I took a morning and an afternoon class. Morning was Slick Set-in Sleeves, taught by JC Briar. I had not heard of her before, but she turned out to be an excellent teacher. Homework was to knit the first 5" of a child's sweater back (from the top down, of course). then pick up stitches at the cast-on edge and knit the first 5" of the right front. Instructions were provided in the class description. I totally forgot that there was homework to do, just happened to check on Thursday night after work. A quick dash to Needlework Unlimited for three skeins of Ella Rae worsted* in two different colors, a #7 and a #5 circ, some clip-on markers, a new Chibi, and I was set. I knit busily that night and the next day and was fully prepared for class.

Knitting a set-in sleeve from the top down turned out to be surprisingly easy, probably because JC was such a good teacher. Pick up stitches around the sleeve opening --- the number of stitches being the number that will be in the widest part of the sleeve, disregarding the underarm stitches -- then use short rows to knit the sleeve cap. I won't go into the nitty-gritty details of the process -- take her class if you ever have a chance.

Oh, and I met someone who reads this blog! Hi, Shirley!

My top-down, set-in sleeve. Those wonky stitches? Oh, those'll block right out.

Afternoon class was Groovy Garter Stitch, a good choice for afternoon because, really, how tough is garter stitch? No mind-boggling problems nor counting in this one. The instructor, Ragga Eiriksdottir, is from Iceland and had taught an Icelandic sweater class in the morning.

The Icelandic sweaters were still on display.

In the garter stitch class we learned how to do short rows in garter stitch, how to make a garment flare, how to do the loopy edge often seen on Shetland shawls, how to do an I-cord edging and an I-cord bind-off, and probably some other things I don't remember off the top of my head. The funny thing was she was so loosey-goosey about it all. There were no hand-outs; she might tell us, "Cast on some stitches, oh, about ten, and work a few rows." A few minutes later she might say, "Okay, now slip the last 3 stitches of every right side row with yarn in front for a while." A few minutes later someone in the class would say, "Oh, we're doing an i-cord edge!" That's how the whole class was -- we didn't know the goal of what we were doing with our needles and yarn, just the steps to get there. Still fun, just a different way to learn.

The swatches. 

As is the case in all yarn extravaganzas. there was a market. I was able to stick to my yarn fast, but I was looking for a shawl pin and that required that I check out every vendor's display. No luck on the the shawl pin... and eventually I fell down on the yarn fast. 

This is 500+ yards of lace-weight mink yarn.

Mink yarn. It is as soft as angora but not as hairy. I have no idea what I will do with this, but I had to have it. My father was a mink rancher, and I spent the first 18 years of my life surrounded by those nasty, stinky, vicious little mustelids. This yarn is my heritage. How could I not buy it?

This year I also attended the instructor dinner on Friday night. Food was excellent, company was even better. I sat with several of my knit buddies from Knit Night Orphans. Mind-boggling was the moment when I realized, I am sitting in the same room with knitting rock stars! Stephanie Purl-McPhee, Franklin Hablit, Annie Modesitt, Nancy Bush, Stephen Be, Drew Emborsky (who let me go ahead of him in the line at the bar, what a sweetie! We will forgive him his obssession with crochet), Melissa Leapman, Sivia Harding, Stephen West... 

Guess who had only her iPod camera?

* It was painful to have to buy this yarn, since I am on, not a yarn diet, but a yarn fast. I resolved earlier this year to knit entirely from stash, no exceptions, until all my yarn will fit into the existing Rubbermaid bins. But I was in Minneapolis and my stash was in Wisconsin. No choice had I.

Drive-by bullet post.

• April 15 was over a week ago.
• Whew.
• I skipped the annual 4/15 party and drove straight back to my bed in WI.
• Pretty much did not get out of said bed until Sunday.
• Late Sunday.
• Saturday was the first day I managed to stay awake all day, hence, the getting up on Sunday.
• Feeling good now.
• Except for the piles of snow that surround the house.
• I think spring may have taken a pass on us this year.
• Smokey reminds me that there was a blizzard on April 22, 1974. He remembers it because he was snowed in at a friend's apartment, and I gave him hell the next morning for not coming home the night before.
• Apparently I give him hell so seldom that when I do, he remembers it for 39 years.
• Such is the secret of a happy marriage.
• Hoping that we have seen the last and final blizzard of winter, 2012-13.
• That would have been Monday night, when I was driving home from a meeting 20+ miles away from home.
• 40mph all the way home, except when I slowed down because 40mph felt way too fast.
• Very little knitting took place during tax season.
• What did occur happened at Knit Night Orphans, who meet every Friday night at a Starbucks in St Paul. 
• That little gathering is the high point of my week during tax season.
• This coming weekend is Yarnover!
• There is a dinner Friday night with all the instructors; keynote speaker is... the Yarn Harlot.
• I shall be there with my handknit socks and shawl, happily hobnobbing with other knitters and knitgroupies.
• I don't remember which two classes I signed up for on Saturday. 
• Must look that up.
• Somewhere.
• Remember that hip surgery I was gonna have in December January April?
• Surgeon rescheduled it for May 6.
• The good thing is that that means I won't be limping around Yarnover completely ibuprofen-less.
• Have to lay off the ibuprofen for 7-10 days before surgery.
• Bad thing is another week of limping and pain.
• Could be worse. 
• No need to remind y'all how; you have watched the news in the past week, too.
• Time to get back to work.

Well, look at that... knitting!

Last October I took a weekend class on double knitting from Lucy Neatby. In order to cement what I had learned into my finger I embarked upon a couple of double knitting projects. The beginnings of one is pictured in the linked post. 

The other has remained a stealth project until very recently.

Soxanne, with whom I took the class and who was my totally delightful roommate, moved to a new condo in November, and I decided to make her a housewarming gift. What better choice than a double knitted, felted trivet?

If you clicked over to that linked post you saw the beginnings of a trivet with a Celtic knot pattern. Guess which of these patterns I picked for it out on Ravelry:

 

If you chose the one that looks like it will nicely fill out a square, you are correct. If you also think that it looks a little... complicated, you are also right. 

Which is why its status on Ravelry is zzz.

For Soxanne's gift, I decided on the KISS approach -- Keep it simple, stupid. Pre- and post-felting:

 

 

(Color is somewhere between the two sets of photos -- first pair are too brown, second pair are too blue. True colore are lavender and purple.)

The felting did exactly what I had hoped: it magically disguised any knitting irregularities inadvertent design features.

Squared out.

I thought the deadline for the Newtown squares was March 1 so I finished up with them this week. Turns out the deadline is March 31, but I'm squared out after a dozen.

 

As you might be able to guess, the last three squares above are rather less pride-inducing than the rest. From the first of the close-ups:

• Diamond Brocade stitch from Barbara Walker vol.1  (or maybe vol. 2, I'm too lazy to go look it up). 
• Mitered squares with a centered double decrease (sl2tog knitwise, k1, pass slipped stitches over).
• Basketweave stitch.
• Stitch pattern from Yarn Harlot's One-Row Scarf. Problem was NOT the stitch pattern; problem was that I didn't cast on enough stitches and the square is barely big enough.
• Garter stitch, complete with errors (I seem to be incapable of working garter stitch without screwing up; although I used to be able to drop back and fix a goof, when I tried that on this square it looked terrible -- worse than the error), and a mitered square worked in seed stitch. It looks terrible -- apparently seed stitch and miters do not play well together.

All worked on a US#6 using Valley Yarns superwash DK (100% superwash merino; soft and totally machine washable and dryable). ±40, depending on stitch used.

Life is random, why not me?

1. Baked :: Alaska.
2. Excited :: to go.
3. Print :: out of,
4. Obstruct :: -ionist.
5. Bladder :: full.
6. Matrimony :: wedding.
7. Car :: many.
8. Reconstruct :: Civil War.
9. Lenses :: contact.
10. Best for last :: save it.

* * * * *

I got to thinking about John Sandford and his Virgil Flowers novels because I noticed a new one had come out, Mad River. Love John Sandford, love Virgil Flowers. Maybe not quite as much as I love Lucas Davenport of the Prey series, but close. Couldn't remember which of the books I had already read so I requested all of them (five plus the newest one) from the library. Have been reading them one after the other, kinda like 350-page potato chips. Just started #4 AND got the email that the newest one is waiting for me at my local library.

Heaven.

Edited to add: the reason I like Sandford's novels and characters so much is that they are the most intelligent but down-to-earth ones I have read, amen.

* * * * *

Speaking of books.

I sit on the board of trustees of the regional library system, which is currently embarking on its [latest] long-range planning process. Members of the board were tasked with visiting all the libraries in their respective counties and chatting with the directors about the services they get from the regional system. On Friday the other board member from our county and I visited four municipal libraries and had four wildly varying discussions. Wildly varying in a good way, mind you -- their experience in the library system ranged from 1 to 29 years and their education/library size/community demographic varied almost as much.

It was an interesting and informative and fun way to spend a day. Which is good because next Wednesday we are going to do it again with four different libraries.

* * * * *

I liked the yarn I knitted the fingerless gloves out of so much (it's been sitting in my stash since 2007, why haven't I used it before?) that I decided to make myself a hat from it, the Twisted Toque from 60 Quick Knits. 

Fail.

Sorry, I should have taken a photo to show how terrible it looked. If you scan the projects in Ravelry you may notice that on some, the non-stockinette portion of the hat sort of... sticks out. Mine looked like the one in the link but much, much worse.

Ribbit.

In hindsight, I think the problem was that the pattern was written for Cascade 220, which is a light worsted, and I knitted it from a plump worsted. Perhaps if I had gone up a needle size all would have been well. 

But we shall never know because I am NOT knitting that pattern again.

So there.

Not that I am bitter or anything...

 * * * * *

(something I commented on another blog that seemed so revolutionary and astoundingly awesome that I had to include it here)

The possible long-term effects of global warming have been endlessly reported upon, but the day-to-day effects have been downplayed. I have concluded what the latter means for us in the northern latitudes is that our weather will change more quickly than we are used to. The past few weeks, with fronts blowing through seemingly every other day, are what have convinced me of this. Makes sense meteorologically, too -- globala warming is basically just more energy in the atmosphere = more volatile weather.

Kinda fun, actually. Every morning is a new surprise. Can I go into town minus hat/scarf/boots or will I need long underwear and three pairs of socks? 

* * * * *

Have any of you been watching House of Cards on Netflix? I started last night, got annoyed in the first 30 seconds*, so annoyed in the next three minutes* that I stopped watching. I eventually went back and am now ready to start episode 2.

But it is not nearly as good as the British original with Ian Richardson, imnsho. I blogged about that once twice before. When Kevin Spacey delivered that line -- You might very well think that. I could not possibly comment -- I actually groaned. He is a great actor, don't get me wrong, but this whole thing seems kinda flat compared to the original.

I will continue to suffer through it, though ;-)

* They broke a primary law of good writing/movie-making: show me, don't tell me. When FU kills the dog, that is showing; when he expounds to the camera to give every bit of background information we may need, that's telling.

 

More random.

Elizabeth asked in the comments yesterday whether our heating system couldn't be tweaked to get the maximum heat out of the available water flow. Yes, indeed, the guy who installed it has made at least a dozen trips here to do exactly that. I fear it is as good as it can be. Not perfect, but livable (for us, anyway -- we are adaptable). We will withhold part of the final payment in recompense for the shortfall.

In the meantime, conditions seem to have improved. Still very cold outside, but no wind -- thus, less heat loss through walls and windows.

Based on the anemic flow in the shower the past couple mornings, I have refrained from attempting to wash my hair, fearing that the flow might dwindle to nothing whilst my head was encased in suds. Likewise, I have postponed doing laundry. Forecast is for a warming trend tomorrow through the weekend. I see cleaner days ahead :)

* * * * *

This is the cutest thing EVAH! Got this email from Younger Son this morning:

Subject: Percy is at doggie day care today

With how cold it's been, he hasn't been getting long walks or trips to the dog park lately. Because of this, we dropped him off at doggy day care this morning.

You can watch the live webcam of him here, just scroll down to the "Uptown" pen. They only have one location, in Seward, but three big pens there. He's got his red hoodie on, so you'll know him when you see him.

I'll have that window open on my computer all day... 

* * * * *

My pile of squares for Knitters for Newtown grows apace.

Go ahead, knit a few yourself. Requirements and mailing address are at the link. Deadline is March 31.

 

OTN.

My own, longer fingerless gloves. First one done except for thumb and weaving in ends, the other about one-third done.

Progress interrupted because these (scroll down past the donation information).

Aqua square at right left done in brocade stitch from Barbara Walker's first book, red square at left right done in garter stitch. I have plenty of this superwash DK wool left from my sweater; this is an excellent use for it.

From the organizer:

And it's going to take knitters (and us) a while to make all of these. By the time we're done, the donations will have stopped, the media attention will have died down, and the families will be left to deal with the quiet of their homes. People who have lost a loved one often find that the hard work of grieving comes months after the actual death occurs -- long after people have stopped receiving cards in the mail and meals on their doorstep, they're still left with the weight of loss.  And they often start feeling forgotten.

We do not forget. 

42. It's another name for random.

Look at this message I found in my Ravelry inbox yesterday morning:

Is that awesome or is that awesome! I immediately sent her a reply that blathered on about how much I like that book.

* * * * *

Took the Jeopardy qualifying online test last night. 42 was not the answer.

* * * * *

I just looked out the window and DA YEEP IS WORKING! Smokey is currently plowing the driveway, which had not been plowed* since before Thanksgiving. Every time he went out to attempt to plow there was something else wrong with Da Yeep. (This is what happens when a 20-yo vehicle sits for six months. He was never able to get it really ready for winter because of his back surgery/recovery and all the other tasks that got postponed because of it.) But now the battery and the electrical cables and the accelerator cable and who remembers what else are apparently all functional.

As much as I love where I live, I (and we) curse certain parts of it every winter, mainly the hill that is the driveway.

* * * * *

Hip surgery has officially been postponed and is tentatively scheduled for Monday, April 22. Thanks for all your good wishes and kind thoughts and thoughtful opinions. The majority seemed to favor waiting until all the snow and ice are gone, which will make recovery and the required rehab exercise easier. (A good friend likened the surgery to having a baby. She said, "I had one baby in January and one in May, and the May one was waaayyy easier because we could get outside." Having had a December and a May baby myself, I found that thought to be absolutely true.) Those who are even slightly familiar with taxes also thought that skipping a tax season was not the best option.

If I could do whatever I wanted with no thought to consequences, I'd have the surgery ASAP. But I am being an adult about this. 

In the meantime, my PA put in an order for two cortisone injections to keep me relatively pain-free and mobile for the next three months. First one is next Tuesday.

* * * * *

Have I bored you yet? I am always a little surprised when bloggers talk about the details of their life being boring. I find such minutiae of others to be a way of connecting with their lives. We all experience some of the same things, but some stuff is unique to each of us. 

But if minutiae bores you, you probably stopped reading this blog a long time ago.

 

* The ever-helpful folks at Typepad suggest other Typepad blog posts that may be related to what one types in their post. Apparently my reference to plowing caught their attention. This is what they thought you might find interesting:

Related articles

The Art of Plowing

If I'm feeling better, it must be Tuesday.

Let's start out with a bit of slothfulness. Sloths are slothful.

Trivia question of the day: for what delightful cartoon show on Nickelodeon did Mark Mothersbaugh compose music? (Answer buried in the linked Wikipedia article.) (I loved that show.)

* * * * *

I am feeling better today, having spent most of the last two days in bed and/or sleeping. Having an iPad makes lying in bed much less boring; just another wonder of the connected age.

On the hip situation, I am now confronted with this decision:

• Have the surgery in 2-3 weeks and probably not be able to work this tax season. Although I would be recovered enough to return to work by early March, it is really, really difficult to jump into the middle of tax season. The annual learning curve is just too steep.
  
  
• Work this tax season and have the surgery ASAP after April 15. A cortisone shot this week and another in early March would ensure relatively pain-free mobility, and working would give a pleasant boost to the checking account.

What would you do and why? Discuss.

* * * * *

The nurse that I talked to on the nurse line on Sunday ordered me to get a functioning fever thermometer. She wanted to know my temperature and I had to tell her our thermometer was not working properly. I bought that thermometer, an electronic one, last summer so that Elder Son and I could tell if Smokey had a serious infection or just a superficial one. Darned thing insists that everyone's temperature is in the range of 92.4˚F -- 94.2˚F. What with all the kerffluffle during Smokey's recovery, I no longer have the receipt. Damned Wal-Mart. Clearly, it's all their fault.

Yesterday Smokey went on a major errand-running and shopping trip to the Twin Cities. One of his tasks was to purchase a new thermometer. He reports that the traditional glass ones, which I had ordered him to procure, are apparently no longer available. WTF?

* * * * *

And now for a bit of fun knitting.

Yarn: Colorado Yarns Durango, 50/47/3 wool/acrylic/viscose, worsted weight (perhaps discontinued?), ecru and brown.
Pattern: I used Ann Budd's basic mitten pattern from A Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns* for the thumb gusset and did the mittens in 3x1 rib. Recipient's hand is same length as mine but slightly more substantial. Ribbing makes the fit more forgiving.
Needles: Addi Turbo US#7; #6 for contrasting end row and bindoff.

These are for an acquaintance who has a coffee kiosk on the highway in my teeny tiny town. Although she claims it is warm inside her 6'x8' building, she has to keep opening the window to take orders and hand out coffee and make change. I suspect that her hands might welcome these during January. I don't know her well, but I do know her well enough to know she deserves these. (She has the best coffee EVAH!)

A side benefit of making these is that I finally figured out what stash yarn -- the ecru Durango -- to use for a pair of long fingerless gloves for myself. I want them for when I am reading in bed; my hands and forearms get cold, and it is annoying to have to keep pulling my pajama sleeves down when I'm wearing regular fingerless gloves. Yeah, it's a real bitch, I tell ya...

* Do you have this book? If not, why not? It is a great resource when you want to make a basic [thing] and just need a little help on the shaping or the cast-on or something. Or, you can follow it blindly; no shame in that.

* * * * *

Last night I was on the Twitterer. I found it humorously ironic that the most plentiful tweets in my feed were, 1, Chuck Todd (NBC news) live-tweeting the Notre Dame-Alabama game, and b, Amanda Palmer and her followers tweeting about kindness and selflove and how to stop the bullying.

Maybe we should introduce Chuck and Amanda and let them educate each other. Or, really, let Amanda educate Chuck. (Nothing against Chuck Todd. He is one smart dude. But, srsly, which is a more important topic?)

* * * * *

Speaking of the Twitters, did you watch the season premier of Downton Abbey? Of course you did; we all did. Want to relive it through the eyes of a highly jaded but clever sheep? This guy preserved Dolores Van Hoofen's live-tweet of the premier. What a hoot baaaaah!

* * * * *

Today is the twelfth fourteenth day of Christmas so I unplugged the lights on the tree. I'd really like to make a tree cover out of a sheet and just store the whole thing somewhere out of sight until next December. But I will probably just let it sit in the *conservatory* until Christmas. Like I have done for X years.

Once the kids leave home all tradition and semblance of civilization go right out the window.

Not that anyone is counting.

Four days until the hip replacement. 

Per doctor's orders, I had to stop taking ibuprofen last weekend and instead take Tylenol until the surgery. The latter does not work nearly as well as the former for joint pain. Just in case you were wondering.

On the knitting front, I finished Scotty's mittens (New Year's Day) and Younger Son's hat (New Year's Eve) as promised. Cast on for a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend; she runs a drive-through coffee kiosk in town so has to open and shut her window all morning long. Although she claims it is warm inside the kiosk, I bet her hands get cold. Thus, the fingerless gloves.

As an added benefit, I realized that the yarn I am using -- Colorado Yarns Durango -- would be perfect for the extra-long fingerless gloves I want for myself, to wear when I am reading in bed. I have 4 or 5 skeins of the ecru -- plenty! I shall cast on for them next.

Smokey wants a tuque for himself like the ones I made for Harley and Peter. I don't have any more of that yarn, Phildar Pure Laine 3-1/2 DK, and it is discontinued. I have been searching for a suitable substitute. He desires the hat to be wooly and (probably) blue. As I am determined to knit exclusively from stash for the foreseeable future, this has necessitated some serious stash diving. But I may have found the solution: the Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply fingering weight I got when I subscribed to the Rowan magazine. If I double-strand it, it should be roughly DK weight. The tuque requires about 350 yards of DK weight, so that would be 700 yards of the fingering weight; if Ravelry is to be believed, I have a little over 1,000 yards. Score!

It has been snowing nonstop for two days, with a total accumulation <1/4". Such is January on The Great Frozen Tundra.

Counting up.

Time to add up what I made in 2012.

• 0 sweaters, although I have made some progress on Tappan Zee.
  
• 1 pair of mittens for Scotty. (Not actually done yet, but will be in time to give them to him on Wednesday when he next comes to work; I only have one thumb left.)
  
  
  
• 1 tissue packet cover for Alex (camnesia struck; here is the yarn instead).
  
  
  
• 2 scarves (Montego Bay for me, Noro striped for me but donated to a silent auction instead)
   
   
• 2 shawlettes (Daybreak for me, Cinnamon Grace for Alex).
   
  
  
• 3 cowls (Windschief for Eric The Renter, Ostrom for Alex, a small Moebius for learning).
     
  
  
• 3 pairs of socks, all for me.
      
   
• 5 6 adult hats (generic ribbed for Younger Son, generic beret for me but donated to silent auction, authentic tuque for Peter Smokey's Work Partner, Windschief for Eric The Renter, Seaman's Cap to donate, another Seaman's Cap, for Younger Son)
     
     
  
  
• 5 baby hats for here.
  
  
  
• 29 doggy poo bag pouches.
   

Not as much as other years, I think, probably because I couldn't knit much during Smokey's six weeks of recovery. Or maybe because I spent too much time with my iPad; I know that has cut into my reading time a bit. As long as we are counting, I read 57 books in 2012, down considerably from 98 in 2002. 

WIP Wednesday: the mitten progresseth.

Crappy iPod photo. Actual colors are darker. Very conservative and boring mitten. Perfect.

Another thing I didn't knit.

Back in October when I told you about the knitting retreat/Lucy Neatby/double knitting, I left out an important part.

The auction on Saturday night!

Everyone brought a wrapped gift, which were all put on a table in the back of the classroom. For the auction, everyone drew a number. Person #1 got to pick out a package, open it, and display the contents to everyone. Person #2 did the same but also got the chance to trade gifts with Person #1 if she so chose. (This will be important later on.)

And so on through all 38 (or so) of us. It was a lot of fun. People were exceedingly polite about not stealing trading for others' gift, which limited the schadenfreude-type fun a bit. There were knitting books, notions, bags, and, of course, yarn.

At the end Person #1 -- who had not had the chance to trade gifts with anyone -- got to trade gifts with anyone in the room.

I was Person #1.

::evil chuckle::

I made the most of the chance. Hey, I was an only child; I never learned about sharing or offering the best to someone else. Mememe was my motto. Thus, I toured the room, scrutinizing the gifts that appealed to me.

The gift I chose came in this box.

As suh-weet as that box is, the contents were even more awesome. (Thanks to the kittehs for allowing me to use their feeders as a mannequin.)

It is a lovely shawlette knit by Ann of Blackberry Ridge Yarns. Thank you, Ann!

Sunday stuff.

1. Complications :: from surgery.
2. Bell :: toll.
3. Sunshine :: on my shoulders.
4. Laundry :: room.
5. Grumpy :: Doc (also Sneezy, Dopey, et al)
6. Throat :: strep.
7. Vitamin :: C.
8. Tell :: all.
9. Potent :: omen. (Wait. Omen is like portent, right? Score one for careless reading.)
10. Radio :: Free Europe.

* * * * *

We finally got some snow worthy of a photo.

We are about halfway through a winter storm alert. Six - twelve* predicted.

Whew. For a few weeks there I thought winter had forgotten us.

* * * * *

I finished whatever it was I was working on when last we discussed knitting. (What was it? My mind is a blank. Luckily, I have a blog so I can go back and check. Theoretically.)

Cast on for the mittens for our teenage slave helper, Scotty.

The pattern is Striped Mittens from Favorite Mittens (such catchy names, eh?), checked out from the library.

A couple weeks ago Carole's Ten on Tuesday topic was Ten Mittens/Mitts I Want To Knit. Having only minimal interest in mittens -- I prefer leather gloves in order to have a better grip on the steering wheel -- I did not participate nor pay much attention to the others' blog posts. A few days later Scotty's mother replied to my email about what I could knit for him for Christmas: mittens! Carole's topic was suddenly relevant, and I carefully perused all those posts for conservative masculine mittens. Voila, Striped Mittens, courtesy of Woolyheaded Ruth! Scotty's jacket and hat are gray, so these should be right up his street.

All that double knitting I practiced last month made this stranded knitting super easy. It's the holding of two strands of yarn that to me is the challenge of stranded knitting. But I now have that down pat. Win!

* That would be inches. Fifteen to thirty for those of you metrically inclined.

WIP (and FO) Wednesday.

Do I still knit? Why, yes, thanks for asking.

I finished a pair of socks a few weeks ago.

Yarn: Regia Galaxy Color, purchased at Camas Creek Yarn in Kalispell MT when we went to Glacier National Park a couple years ago. When I saw the yarn in the ball I thought it was going to make striped socks that would coordinate with my multicolor striped raglan. These will be fine even without the stripes. I alternated between the two balls to minimize pooling.
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Sock
Needles: US#0. Normally I do the foot on zeros and switch to US#1s when I get just past the ankle, but I forgot. They still fit.

I picked up the Tappan Zee sweater again; it has been quietly snoozing in its bag for a year. For those of you who care but don't remember it, it is a top-down cap sleeve sweater. I had reached the armholes and knit one front a couple inches past that. When I picked it up I discovered that actually, I had knit both fronts to the point where they were ready to be rejoined, so all I had to do was knit the back to that point, join all three parts, and knit away mindlessly until it is long enough or I run out of yarn. Yes, I am knitting as fast as possible in order to finish before the yarn runs out. Don't we all?

(no photo -- it doesn't look significantly different than in the posts linked above, just a bigger blob of knitting)

The Christmas knitting is progressing. A Windschief hat and neck gaiter (that's what cowls were called before they became The Trendy Thing) for our renter. I knit them almost entirely during the annual two-day tax conference last month, or, as I like to think of it, the annual two-day knitting retreat with CPE credit. Here they are posing with Bubbles on my soon-to-be history first generation Maytag washer, piece of crap that it is.

Pattern: Windschief by Stephen West. Delightful pattern to knit.
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Pure Washable Merino, from Smiley's Yarn in New York. This stuff is surprisingly pleasant considering the El Cheapo price ($2.99 per 109 yd. skein(!)). Truly machine washable, not scratchy. It is a bit splitty because it is 8- or 10-ply and not tightly spun, but with blunt Addis I had few problems. Huh.
Needles: US#6 and #7.

A tuque for Smokey's partner at work. I had no plans to make this one, but last week I was complaining to Smokey that I would be riding in a car for hours in a couple days, and I had no small portable project on the needles. Really, I was complaining, not because I was looking for a project, but mostly just to make noise. However, he said that Peter, his partner on the adolescent psyche ward night shift, was intrigued by the tuque I had made a couple years ago. So I checked my stash and found I still had just enough of the yarn to make another one.

Oh, you wanted to see it as an actual hat rather than just a blob? Okay, here ya go:

Yarn: Phildar Pure Laine 3-1/2 (apparently discontinued), DK weight, colorway 'Corsair', 3+ skeins (350 - 400 yds.).
Needles: Addi Turbo US#6.
Pattern: I got the original pattern from Dale-Harriet in Madison but couldn't find it when I looked. So I winged it.

When that is done I plan to make a pair of mittens, probably from some more of the same yarn I used for the Windschief set, for the teenage boy who has been our hired slave since last May. When one's own sons are not around the house any more, and one's disabilities make it difficult to do certain things, hiring a teenager is the perfect solution. Scotty is a great kid: reliable, cheerful, willing to learn, willing to do whatever we ask of him. When the task is partcularly disgusting, like changing the litter box, we pay extra.

Then there are the medical mittens, slumbering for years. Last spring the woman who designed them for me emailed to offer to finish them (!) She had noticed that their Ravelry status had not changed in a loooong time. For those of you who care but can't remember them either, they are for Elder Son, who was in medical school at the time. He has since finished and is now at UMich in Ann Arbor getting a master's degree in public health, epidemiology. The design has the caduceus on the backs of the mittens; I knat them up as far as the wings at the top but couldn't get that part right. She finished them and blocked them and sent them back. Yarn is Cascade Heritage sock.

 

I still have plans to make a DNA scarf of the same yarn for him. Will it get done in time for this Christmas? Probably not, although miracles DO happen...

There is a also tiny bit of stealth knitting going on, maybe for Christmas and maybe not. Someday I'll show you it.