kmkat and her kneedles

Thankful Thursday: the real day edition.

This is a Thanksgiving tradition at our house. Back in the '70s and '80s and '90s we had to rely on KQRS, a Twin Cities radio station, to play it. Which they always did -- it was their tradition, too. This year I have it cued up (queued up?) on my iPod.

Here is another video that, if it isn't already, should become a Thanksgiving tradition:

Smokey and I watched that show every week and saw this in 1978. Yes, we are that old.

Thanks to martinimade for the reminder of these traditions.

Have a great day, y'all! 

Thursday.

It's NaNoBloPoMo, and that means it is time for... Thankful Thursdays!

I did the NaNoBloPoMo thing in 2007 and 2008 and 2009, but I am not going to commit myself this year. Posting will happen when it happens. But I will commit to Thankful Thursdays.

1. Reasonably good health.
2. A family that I love and am proud of. And that loves me (most of the time).
3. Friends, both analog and virtual. And furry four-legged.
4. Living where I do, in a warm house, on a lake in a beautiful part of the country.
5. Having dinner with Michael Perry tonight before he speaks in my little village (pop. 888)!
   

2009: That was the year that was.

January.

Well, there was this (bad).

And there was this (good) (from left, Wendy, me, Chris, and Susan).

On the knitting front:


 

February.

Good intentions.

 

Snow and cold.

Knitting:

March.

Winter melted away.

Knitting.

April.

Spring arrived in earnest.

Yarnover.

End of tax season.

Taste of St. Croix.
 

Knitting resumed after tax season.

 

May.

I scored big at Macy's sale racks, I helped Norm go away, I celebrated Mother's Day in an eco-friendly way, the bears and the ticks came out of hibernation, I picked up trash, I enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend, I bid farewell to our local librarian, and Hannibal discovered the joys of catnip.

Knitting was primarily of a stealth nature, but did include scientific swatching and the F'ing of a couple of O's that had been OTN for nearly, and over a year, respectively. (I am rather proud of that sentence -- and its punctuation -- awkward though it may be.)

 

June

June was for knitting and vacation and celebrating that brief magical time that is summer in the north woods.

 

 

Lots of knitting.

 

 

July.

July was for more vacation -- the rest of the one in Wyoming and another on the North Shore.

And summer.
 

And injuries.
 

And knitting.

 

August.

It was a very good month. I turned 60, had a contest, and laughed. We went to a concert.
 

I learned the difference between eagles and turkey vultures, and I had surgery to remove some extra/unneeded bits and pieces and repair that torn cartilage in my knee.
 

Knitknitknit.

 

September.

In September I had lots of cats on the blog, it was my turn to give the prayer at the beginning of the monthly county board meeting, the county budget process blew up, and the most gloriously gorgeous month of the year was here.

 

The knitting, she continued.

 

October.

I became a biker by proxy,

more new-to-me music found its way into my iTunes, and we celebrated 35 years together

by not-camping on Lake Superior.

The kneedles continued to fly.
 
 

November.

The van that took us on some wonderful vacations met up with an unfortunate bear on the road and was replaced by an older but bigger and more customized van.

Cold weather arrived, and once more I cooked and baked.

 

Mostly, though, I knitted.




Apparently I can crank out hats like other knitters crank out... sweaters

December.

I continued to be thankful (there is a lot to be thankful for).

With the help of Matthew and Maggie, I decorated for Christmas. This decorating thing is never a given.

I showed you my ornaments, y'all showed me yours.

 

We ate well.
 

A bit more knitting* for others.

I pretty much finished my Christmas knitting. (Shhh, the Calorimetry is a surprise.)


The medical mittens are still OTN -- stay tuned.

*For someone who doesn't like pink, I sure knit a lot of it lately...

Thankful Thursday: the random (and possibly superficial edition).

I am thankful for:

1. ...Neil Gaiman, who posted, on 12/31/2008 "...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind." Those are exactly the things I would wish for myself. (but for myself I would also add courage)
2. ...the warm afghan(s) wrapped around my shoulders. It's chilly in the house, and the extreme warmth of the wool and mohair afghan I made several years ago plus the extreme softness of the one Matthew and Maggie gave me last Christmas is very welcome.
3. ...the enormous New York strip steak I am going to eat for dinner this evening, with fresh asparagus. And perhaps ice cream with warm blueberry sauce for desert.
4. ...my comfy recliner, the lamp next to it, my iPod cum audio book on the iPod dock on the table, and my knitting. Those things together always make me happy.
5. ...#1 Son being able to come home for Christmas. He is about as stressed out as he can be by med school, and I am happy he can come home to relax and recuperate.
6. ...#2 Son and Maggie coming back this weekend. It is always good to have them visit. He always makes me laugh.
7. ...warm furry mammals to keep me warm. I may have mentioned this one before, but I do love my furry mammals.
8. ...the plentitude that surrounds us. We want for so little.
9. ...Smokey, who has learned to chuckle over my occasional irascibility and to let me recover my equanimity with dignity. (say THAT five times fast!)
10. ...another year on this earth. Life is good.

Thankful Thursday: the Christmas Eve edition.

I am thankful...

1. ...to have a warm(ish), snug(gish) house when the snow and cold and wind are everywhere outdoors. When I went out last night to move my car to the top of the driveway hill -- just in case we got that 11" - 20" of predicted snow all in one night -- I thought about the Native Americans who lived here a hundred+ years ago and how did they keep warm? I concluded that at least a few of them didn't and that every winter some of them died.
2. ...that #1 son flew in on Monday, when the weather in both New York and Minneapolis was clear. And the terminal was peaceful, unlike the next day.
3. ...that #2 son has a job he loves, especially when so many other 20-yo high school grads are unemployed. His job may not pay much, but it makes him happy (and gives him health insurance and a 401(k)).
4. ...Smokey has a job, a good job, even though it means we won't see him until next Monday (or possibly Tuesday).
5. ...to know that my family will all be together to celebrate our own Christmas in our own good time.
6. ...to have good friends who invite us to have Christmas dinner with them.
7. ...to have a refrigerator and freezer full of food for the other days.
8. ...that the health care reform bill, flawed though it is, is likely to become law.
9. ...for this blog, which has brought me into the internet community of knitters and bloggers.
10. ...to have met you all, some of you FTF.
11. ...for every day in this life, amen.

Thankful Thursday: the food edition.

I am thankful for having all the food I could possibly eat. Millions are malnourished but not me.

I am thankful for the tools I have to enable its preparation...

...and handy storage...
 

...and cooking.

Yes, I made that yummy beef stew again. Every bit as good this time.

I am thankful that my 30+ year-old stove works...
 

...and that it has a self-cleaning oven.

Not that I use that feature very often.

I am thankful for the things that accompany good food.

In the words of Ben Franklin, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Or, as Homer puts it, "Mmm, beer!"

Thankful Thursday: family edition.

I am thankful for my family.

I am also thankful none of my boys (that includes my husband) is sufficiently testosterone-crazed to participate in this.

Thankful Thursday: the knitting edition (the thankful goes on all year).

1. I am thankful for interchangeable needles.
2. I am thankful for Addi Turbos.
3. I am thankful for fiber-bearing animals, and especially thankful that no such animals need to be sacrificed so that I can have lovely yarn. (My father was a mink rancher. The same could not be said for the garments that resulted from his labors.)
4. I am thankful for the furry mammals that share my life. That includes Smokey. :-)
5. I am thankful for Ravelry. What did we do without it?
6. adf
   

Thanksgiving.

The ten people I would most like to have around my table today:

1. Smokey, Matthew, and Andrew (they are a gimme, of course).
2. Smokey's Uncle Carl and Aunt Olga. There is a particular gene in my husband's family that makes its carrier clever, hilarious, imaginative, mischievous, and a natural mechanic. Grampa Karl (who died before I met Smokey), Uncle Carl (who died about ten years ago), Smokey, and Matthew all exhibit these traits in spades. (I think it takes a certain exemplary kind of woman to love this kind of man; Aunt Olga is exactly that -- lively and peppery and crusty and loving.)
3. My parents, who have been gone for ~25 years.
4. My paternal grandfather, George, who has been gone for ~45 years. He won a liars' contest sponsored by a local newspaper when he was 81, got a new rod and reel and a week's stay at a local resort for he and my grandmother.
5. Barack and Michelle Obama, although my Republican father might have a few words to say to them.
6. Eleanor Roosevelt, although my Republican father, etc. Franklin can stay the hell away.
7. Albert Einstein.
8. Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher. They can be seated next to each other; the rest of us will just watch and listen.
9. Stephanie Perl-McPhee. (I had Leonardo da Vinci in this position, but he lost out to the Yarn Harlot for a place at my table.)
10. Ozzie and Sharon Osbourne, just for the hell of it.

That's seventeen people. I need to get a bigger table.

Thankful Thursday the third.

I am thankful for/that:

1. "...my fingers" although probably not for the same reason that Paul Simon was. My fingers like to knit and tap the computer keyboard.
2. ...it was the wild bear and not My Bear that was injured in the recent crash. But I regret that anyone/thing was injured.
3. ...cinnamon, garlic, salt, balsamic vinegar, chocolate, sugar, butter, shrimp, steak, bread, etc. In other words, food that tastes good.
4. ...wine and beer to accompany #4.
5. ...flowers.
6. ...the last presidential election.
7. ...the end of civilization as we know it has not happened. Yet.
8. ...Monte Python.
9. ...YouTube.
10. ...SNL.
11. ...laughter. It, along with love, make the world go round.

Thankful Thursday, the second (oops!).

I forgot about this until I clicked on Carole's post in Google Reader. Mea culpa!

Things I am thankful for today:

1. The county board approved the 2010 county budget with minutes to spare at Tuesday night's meeting. By statute we had to do so by midnight; the first vote to approve the budget, as it had been tweaked and amended during the meeting, was at around 10:30 p.m. Budget failed, 10-13. A short break, more pontificating, one board member stood up and said "UNCLE!" (srsly!) and the budget passed. Whew.
2. No sign of any flu in our house, neither seasonal nor piggy. ::knocks on wood::
3. Our Christmas shopping was largely completed on Monday, online. Whew redux.

Thankful Thursday the first.

Carole proposed the idea of Thankful Thursdays, which she picked up from Kate -- isn't this a great idea?

Three things I am thankful for:

1. My health, although far from perfect, is certainly good enough to be thankful for. Hey, any day spent above ground (and not in a wheelchair) is a good one!
2. Smokey Bear, my life's companion and all-around good guy.
3. Our boys, who I am proud to say have turned out to be well-adjusted -- albeit crazy, in a good way -- and happy and productive citizens, plus they are just plain fun to have around.

I wrote the above, then read Kate's post, where she said the same thing in almost the same words. I really am thankful for those three things, but I pride myself on being An Original. Hence, I immediately began thinking of other things to be thankful for.

1. I am thankful for our high-speed internet, recently upgraded (for free!) by the local telecom. Now I can watch stupid YouTube videos right away instead of waiting for them to load first.
2. I am thankful for the beauty of the fall colors, although they are akin to getting the lollipop and sticker right before the excruciating medical procedure that lasts for six months and involves snow shovels, tow ropes, and jumper cables.
3. I am thankful for Hannibal's and En Esch's excellent table manners. Unlike every other cat we have been owned by in the past 35 years, they do not bolt their food and immediately vomit it up. It's the little things, guys.

* * * *

I forgot a few things in my "Current Knitting" post a few days ago. There were those two squares for Carrie's blanket

 

and some more squares for Lucia's blanket(s) for supportive housing:

Square #1 is some unknown sock yarn held double, knit into a 6" square on US #6 needles using a stitch pattern from one of the Barbara Walker treasuries. Square #2 is another 6" square knit in 8 tints/shades of blue yarn from an afghan kit I bought at an estate sale years ago, knit on an unknown size needle -- maybe a US #4? -- and using a Barbara Walker slipped stitch pattern. It was shown in the BW book using two colors; I used all eight to produce the plaid. It was a PITA to knit, but Carrie says that square in the afghan is little Eddie's favorite, so it was totally worth it.

The three squares in photo #3 are all Knit Picks Wool of the Andes knit on a US #7 in La Harlot's One-Row Handspun Scarf stitch pattern. Lucia told me she had a thing about reversible stitch patterns, so I made sure to use one so her head wouldn't explode :-)

* * * * *

The Friends of the Polk County Libraries have a table at a craft fair on Saturday, and I have been busily knitting some more wine bottle cozies. Here are two lying on the washer so I don't forget to felt them when I do the laundry today.

 

Here's the third and final one in progress.

 

I have also made a whack of tissue cozies, but I gave most of them to Colleen, the library director, to sew up, so I don't have a photo. I'll get on on Saturday -- they turned out cute¹⁰, if I do say so myself. Here are three I sewed up myself.