kmkat and her kneedles

Knitter down.

I woke up this morning feeling what my father used to call "punk" -- ouchies in the midsection. This was really too bad, as abdominal ouchies can generally be cured by a good long session in the bathroom. Not these, though. Nothing was gonna help these ouchies. The timing was unfortunate as I had planned to run a bunch of errands today.

Smokey took one look at me, pale and wan in the bed, and decided that he would take care of the errands -- pay the first half of the property taxes, due today; pick up the dog meds at the vet that we forgot when we were there a couple weeks ago (more on that another time); buy dog food; take the recycling to the recycling center, etc., etc., etc.

By the time he left I felt worse. After he had been gone awhile I was in tears because the pain in my midsection was Making Me Very Unhappy. Underneath it all was the fear that whatever it was that led to the gall bladder ultrasound and the pancreas CT scan in December Was Back and that I would be dead within the month. 

Eventually I took my temperature and discovered I had a slight fever -- yay! I have an infection of some kind, a bug! Not cancer! W00t! 

Appendicitis seemed a possibility. Generalized pain in the upper abdomen and fever. Hmmm. I was on the verge of calling Smokey on his cell -- hoping that he had his cell phone turned ON; he is often reluctant to do so -- and having him come home and take me to the emergency room. But the thought of crawling the 15 feet from my bed to the phone was just too much. I lay there and worried and moaned and cried and felt really, really sorry for myself.

I realized I was thirsty, so took a sip from the water bottle by my bed.

And immediately felt the upper abdominal spasms... relax!

It was a medical miracle, I tell you! I took a few more sips for good measure and suddenly I could relax and fall asleep. Nurse Hannibal, aka The Fluffball Of Doom, curled up tightly next to my face to ensure pleasant dreams. By 6 pm I was able to be up and even consider a light supper.

And that is how I spent my Monday. How about you? 

 

Mean: a post especially for Twin Cities area readers.

The Youth Performance Company is staging a play called Mean about how mean a kid's *friends* can be. Bullying, cruelty -- all that crap. Remember being in grade school and/or junior high? You may have your own memories of that hell.

I am going to share with you two of mine.

I grew up in southern Minnesota in a very, very small town -- population 585. There were 25 kids in my class, so the groups and cliques were necessarily very small, too. In the spring of seventh grade, one day our girls' phy ed class went for a walk in the country instead of playing volleyball or whatever else we used to do. During that hour-long walk, certain of my *friends* decided that they would not talk to me. Ever.

It took a little while before I caught on, but by the next day I knew. I was being ostracized, and it was happening for -- as far as I could tell -- no reason. As far as I knew, I had not hurt anyone or been mean to anyone or done anything to warrant the silent treatment. It is possible that I had done something -- FSM knows I was not the nicest person on the planet -- but I never knew what it was and no one ever explained.

Eventually, days later, my *friends* began to speak to me if I spoke to them directly, but never again did I feel like I had any actual friends in that school. I spent two more hellish years there, then my family moved 250 miles away and I had the benefit of a fresh start. The move was related to my father's work and had nothing to do with my experience. I never told my parents or anyone else about it until years and years later.  High school in the new school was fine, but I still have the tiny scar from the actions of my *friends.* 

I was on the other side, too. I still remember the day in second grade when a couple other girls and I persisted in tickling and physically tormenting another girl for far too long during recess. I don't remember if she cried, but she certainly had reason to. We were bullying her. Mary, wherever you are, I have regretted that day for years.

The Youth Performance Theatre is giving two free tickets to a performance of this play to anyone who blogs about it, and that is what I am doing. I probably will not be able to attend a performance so I will try to find someone else who can. 

Go see the show. Encourage your friends to go. Help foster an atmosphere of civility in your world. Our children are depending on you.

Mugsy.

I read Helen's post a few days ago and really, really, really liked the mug she got, so I googled "mug knit on with confidence" and found this site. I didn't find one with the Zimmerman quote, but I only looked through the first ten (!) pages of mugs. (Apparently they have more than 1,200 mugs about knitting or other fibery craft.) 

Some of my favorites:

  

Other favored captions:

• "'Heirloom' is knitting code for 'The pattern is so difficult that you would consider death a relief.'" --Stephanie Perl-McPhee
• The ever-classic "Got yarn?"
• "If I am sitting, I am knitting." (This one is absolutely true for me.)
• No caption, just a Mona Lisa holding her knitting.
• "Knitter by day, rock star by night."

 p.s. The Google finally led me to Etsy, where the original mug can be found. Tragically, it sold last March.

On getting old(er).

More photos.

Where: The Lounge, Glacier Park Lodge.
When: Late June, 2010.
What: Lunch; a bacon cheeseburger, salad, and a Fat Tire beer. 

In spite of just having eaten dinner, I have succeeded in making myself hungry again.

Minneesota. Or Weesconsin.

This is about the blizzards of December last year, but other areas of the county have enjoyed this same kind of fine weather since then. I dedicate this to you!

Last week Smokey heard on the news that it had snowed 55 out of the last 60 days. I'm not sure of the exact count now, but it has snowed every day since then. Ah, the theater of the seasons...

Ten on Tuesday, the beauty edition.

Once again, I find it difficult to come up with ten things in this category, mainly because I don't use beauty products -- no makeup unless it is a very special occasion, no facial skin care products, no special shampoos or conditioners. Huh. Lazy.

My Ten Favorite Health and Beauty Products.

1. Vitamin C. Good for the skin and seemingly good for my own personal immune system. While I know there is absolutely no widely validated scientific evidence for this, if I take at least 100 mg of vitamin C every hour at the absolute first sign of a cold, the dread illness is averted. This has worked for me for over ten years and I do not plan to mess with success.
2. Daily multivitamin, calcium supplement, and fish oil supplement; all on the advice of my physician.
3. Ibuprofen. Actually, this one should be #1. I take 800 mg twice a day, and it keeps life pleasant. Without it, my joints scream in pain every time I move. Several years ago I was supposed to stop taking it for a week but had to resume after three days because the aches and pains were bad enough to keep me from sleeping. It is just joint inflammation, not rheumatoid arthritis, thank goodness; I had myself tested for the latter because I feared I had inherited it from my grandmother.
4. Antidepressant. Actually, this is the one that should be #1. I'm a lifer on it, having started during severe post-partum depression after the birth of #2 son in 1989. Life since then has been sooo much better than the forty years before.
5. Eucerin lotion. I may not do much of anything to my face, but the rest of my skin needs constant attention, especially in winter when the indoor relative humidity drops to 5-10% -- desert levels. This lotion was recommended in a study by a Minneapolis TV station which found it was the only one that actually moisturized one's skin rather than just plastering down the skin cells with mineral oil.
6. Other prescription meds: cholesterol, high blood pressure, GERD, and eczema all require their own daily treatments.

Okay, that's it. We use whatever soap, shampoo, and conditioners that are on sale. I pretty much bombed out on the beauty stuff and came in heavy on the health. Such is life after 60. 

 

FO Friday Monday.

The sweater, she is DONE! Actually, she has been done for over a week, and I have been wearing her a goodly portion of that time. Warm, cozy, fits right, scratchy enough that I need to wear a long-sleeved t-shirt under it, but I have several so that is not a problem. The color are fairly accurate at left, but the neck does not do that funny thing it is doing in the photo.

I learned some things in this sweater, mainly that I am not quite as good a sweater knitter as I thought. I won't go into excruciating detail because I don't want you all to feel you need to reassure me. I know what is not quite right about the sweater and none of it is enough to prevent me from being pleased with it and happy to wear it. So there.

One thing I learned is that I need to allow a bit more ease in the sleeve length. The kimono sweater I finished almost exactly a year ago? Sleeves barely long enough, and I intend -- someday -- to frog and reknit the last six inches to remedy that. I do not plan to do anything to the sleeves on this sweater except to use them as a reminder that I really need to put at least one extra inch of ease into the length of the sleeve, amen.

The blue-gray background yarn is a bit scratchy on my skin, so instead of doing ribbed cuffs I did turned hems and lined them with the same merino as the stripes.

Knitting the hem lining on a sleeve:

The same sleeve hem turned back:

The hem being fastened down with a three-needle bind-off; I threaded a second needle -- the one at the top -- through the back side of the stitches where I wanted the edge of the hem to attach:

The finished hem:

The idea for this came from a sweater I bought a number of years ago. Its hem (this is the right side; the sweater is reverse stockinette):

It seems to have worked a bit better on the machine-made sweater :( I knit the linings on a needle one size smaller than the sleeve to ensure that the hem would not flare. This worked on the sleeves; not so well at the bottom or the neck. Also, the row of stitches where I worked the three-needle bind-off pulled in significantly. I was able to fix this -- mostly -- by a firm steam-pressing.

I am also happy that this knitting basket:

is now available for my next major work-on-it-at-home project. 

These last photos are for Heather, who requested to see the inside of the sweater. Here ya go, Heather!

That is the inside of of the side "seam" where I changed colors; since I knit it top-down in the round there are no actual seams*. Here is the right side of same:

 

Customer service retribution.

Be sure to watch all the way to the end for the final punchline.

Ten on Tuesday, the gaming edition.

Ten Favorite Games from Childhood.

1. Dodgeball.
2. Kickball.

Do kids even play those games any more? Our entire grade school class -- all 30 of us -- used to play kickball every frickin' day at recess. Yeah, back in those days we had a half hour recess at some point during the day, plus another half hour or more at lunch time after we finished eating. Kickball was always the game of choice, although we also played dodgeball, Red Rover, fox 'n' geese, and the ever-popular tag.

Beyond the two above, I don't think I had any particular favorites. So instead of playing Carole's game (yeah, I crack myself up) I will just reminisce about the other games we played.

Board games: we lived on a farm, I was an only child, and my parents were generally too busy working to play games with me. Occasionally I could coerce my mother into a few games of rummy or go fish, or crazy eights. When I went to my grandparents' house nearby, I played Chinese checkers and dominoes with my grandmother. I can still remember her saying, "I'll take a nickel" whenever she made five points. When my cousins would visit we might add Monopoly to the mix. 

In college I played my fair share of cards. For awhile I even played bridge, until my fellow players pointed out that I tended to bid according to some system unknown to anyone else on the planet. I got annoyed that they dare to criticize me and quit the game.

Honeymoon bridge, which requires only three players, was more my speed, as was spades. One year my roommate taught me canasta, and we would play for hours. A bunch of us also used to play hearts a lot, usually while drinking wine and smoking do--, er, eating popcorn. (This was the early 70s.) Hearts was a killer game when we played. Lots of dramatics, full volume cursing, wailing and gnashing of teeth when the dreaded queen of spades appeared. 

 

My very favorite game, though, (I guess I DO have a favorite) was smear, taught to me by my best friend in college. She was from Hibbing, MN, on the Iron Range, and I have never met anyone not from Da Range that had ever heard of the game, let alone know how to play it. We played with a number of other friends also from Da Range, and those games got cutthroat. Table talk and attempted cheating reigned. The game itself is brutally simple -- exactly right for me, who doesn't like to have to think too hard when playing any game -- and lent itself well to the wine-drinking and *popcorn eating* of the day.

Random.

Some knitting found elsewhere on the net:

Found at The Big Picture, in a photo essay on herding horses in northern Iceland. We all can guess what kind of yarn that center sweater is knit from, don't we?

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One of my little Internet time-wasters is this site. And this quote had me scratching my head.

Walk on the Wild Side.

Things that make me say, Hmmm. And stuff.

From today's Interweave Knit's daily email:

How can ebooks be all gone? They are not physical objects that exist in a limited number. I think what they mean is that the 70% off sale will end on a specific date, but the books will not be *gone*, just more expensive.

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Do any of you ever wear your socks and high heels together? Have you ever seen ANYONE actually do this? I live out in the sticks where a clean flannel shirt and bib overalls counts as Sunday best, so I may be a bit out of touch.

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This one doesn't make me go Hmmm but it did make me laugh.

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Aren't these just the cutest things you have ever seen?

Found via knithacker.

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I got a package from Amazon today. Lost one of my Yak Trax a couple weeks ago so had to get some more. These are glow-in-the-dark!

And of course had to add a book from my wish list in order to get free shipping. Fiscally responsible, that's me!

WIP Wednesday.

Another UFO destined to be finished this week is the multicolored topdown striped raglan. I finished it -- except for the neckband -- months ago in September, but we had such a mild autumn that lasted well into November, I felt no push to do that last bit of knitting. Then there was a bit of sorta-kinda Christmas knitting, and wowzers, here it is January and cold and I could really, really use a wool sweater.

One tiny problem is that I made the neckline a bit too high, and adding a neckband in the usual way would make the sweater uncomfortably warm and probably scratchy on my delicate neck. I am such a fragile little snowflake, ya know.

My body decided a number of years ago that the way it would regulate its temperature was by the circulation in my neck. If I am cold outside, I don't worry about mittens or a hat or any of the normal things; wrap a scarf around my neck and I am fine. I gave up wearing turtlenecks at least ten years ago because there is no way to regulate my neck thermostat if it is completely encased in clothing. Mock turtles are okay, though, cuz they are not as tight-fitting.

So picking up stitches at the edge of the neck and knitting a neckband that would match the cuffs and hem -- about 1" wide, with a turning row of purl stitches and inner lining of navy blue merino -- was right out. Much thought went into possible solutions. What I finally decided on was to pick up the stitches, not at the edge of the neck, but 1/2" (or more) in from the edge. That should keep the neckband down where it won't annoy me. The gray-blue yarn is a bit scratchy and I worry about that turning row, but the merino lining of the neckband should be fine. In my quest for the right colors for the stripes I managed to acquire several skeins of the merino DK in navy, and that is what I have used to line the hem and cuffs.

 

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Smokey gave me a new camera for Christmas, a point-and-shoot Nikon that is easily pocketable, and that is what took the first photo, above. I gave Andrew my old iPod Touch for Christmas (it was what he wanted) and bought a new, 4th generation for myself. That is what took the second photo (the 4th gen iPod Touches have both a front and back camera, plus video -- awesome). The difference in quality is obvious, but this was a difficult photoshoot -- minimal natural light, no flash, taken in a mirror. I cropped them both and adjusted the color and exposure to improve both as much as possible. In better conditions that iPod will be handy. I always have it in my pocket, but I don't always have my camera.

Edited to add: My iPod Touch DIED on me yesterday! I was using it, put it into Sleep mode for a few minutes, then it refused to come back on. Rats, curses, #$%^#$!!! But Erika to the rescue. She sent me a link to a page that tells how to do soft and hard resets on the Touch (which I would have found on my own once I got over the denial, anger, and depression). Success! 

::bowing in Erika's direction::

Thanks!

Ten lights, the meme.

I was tagged by Jen, who didn't actually explain what the meme was. Judging by her post, I think it means ten things that make me light up with pleasure. So I will go with that.

1. When Hannibal The FluffBall Of Doom realizes at 2 a.m. that he is cold and decides to

come snuggle my head and sleep on my ear and purr. And give my nose or temple the occasional sleepy lick.

2. When I remember, whilst lying in my cozy warm bed in the chilly, chilly bedroom in the morning, that if I get up and get dressed I can have... COFFEE!

3. Noticing that I have a bunch of tabs open and remembering that two of them concern my

registration for the 2011 Yarnover. Ah, the exquisite joy and pain of narrowing my class choices down to just two! Or one, if I decide to take an all-day class instead of two half-day classes. So far I have it narrowed down to three all-day classes, three morning classes, and five afternoon classes. Decisions, decisions...

4. YouTube. By searching YouTube I found video tutorials for Japanese short rows and double knitting in colors. This means I can eliminate those two classes from my Yarnover list. Now to search for Bavarian and Austrian twisted stitches. If I can learn those from YouTube I will have eliminated the all-day class on my list.

5. When Smokey says, Hey, ya wanna do some quizzes? We have done the Asimov Superquiz on the Star Tribune website for years but now he has found a website with a seemingly infinite number of trivia quizzes. Yeah, we are nerds, but we are happy nerds.

6. Casting on a new project. Binding off a finished project. Which is better? Yes.

8. Turning the key in my car and having it start right up. That may not seem like much, but when the temperature is somewhere south of zero degrees Fahrenheit, it is a downright miracle. Definitely smile-worthy.

9. Super-cold weather. It means I can bundle up when I venture out -- Dimorphous mittens on my hands, Noro striped scarf wrapped around my neck, Calorimetry to cover my ears, double-thick wool socks on my feet. Plus the bedroom is extra chilly so we both sleep better, snuggled down under a couple-three comforters with a dog and/or cat(s) for extra warmth. I'll be tired of it by March, but for now I am enjoying it.

10. How pretty the world is when the weather is this cold. The snow is pristine and

white, like the frosting on a cake. When the sun shines the world is brilliant and sparkly.

 

 

 

Cat house.

From Gizmodo.

Random Sunday.

The number of spam e-mail messages circulating on the Internet at the end of December tumbled after the world’s largest spamming operation mysteriously went dark on Christmas Eve.

Study linking childhood vaccinations with autism was complete and utter fraud. (Duh.) In 2008, for the first time in 14 years, measles was declared endemic in England and Wales. I'm pretty sure there is a special place in hell for Andrew Wakefield.

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I recently set my computer wallpaper to change every minute to a different photo from my pictures folder, and I copied over a huge bunch of my photos there. It has been quite pleasant to see photos I had forgotten about (if the photo doesn't go onto the blog it slips from my memory). Sharing the fun: gonna post one some of those random photos here occasionally.

Antelope grazing with suburban Buffalo, WY in the background.

 

I went to the November meeting of the MN Knitters' Guild,
where Annie Modesitt was the speaker.
These are her designs that she discussed.
The red bolero-type jacket is actually felted.

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Temp was -9˚ F. this morning.
This photo, taken at the convention center in Milwaukee in September,
seemed appropriate.

FO Friday.

I finished the felted bag with the infamous I-cord bind-off.

The somewhat less-than- optimal photograph is the result of attempting to capture two of the most difficult colors and textures -- reds and fuzzy black. The latter was determined to reflect whatever ambient light there was, resulting in a black bag that looked surprisingly silverly. The bag has a few puckers and wrinkles, but those should go away once it is fully loaded.

Overall, the bag turned out well. Tragically, I have absolutely no use for it at present. The coat I made it to go with is long gone. My tote bag supply runneth over, to the extent that I donated nearly a dozen of various types to the Salvation Army last month. As a purse, it lacks any of the internal organizational features that I prefer, like pockets or dividers, plus, being black, it is difficult to find anything inside. I could line it with a light-colored print and perhaps sew some pockets onto that, but, really, what are the chances? If I can't knit it, I'm not interested...

So, for now, this will sit as an object to be admired rather than as an object to be used. Perhaps it will be a gift. Most likely we will sell it at the library fund-raising booth, probably for less than the cost of the yarn. 

::sigh::

For some reason -- primarily a lack of clear thinking -- I thought I had to knit four ropes of I-cord for the handles, even though the pattern clearly specified two. So I knit 240 miles yards inches of I-cord instead of 120. And now I have these:

They will undoubtedly become cat toys. 
Very well-made, luxury cat toys.
I should invest in some catnip with which to stuff them,
just to ensure that they are properly enjoyed.

Time for some laughs.

Cleaning out my blog photos folder. Enjoy!

 

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From a friend's Facebook page. The sons in question are in college now and never managed to kill Mommie.

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Seen recently in a parking lot:

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Below left is the view from my kitchen window. Not funny, just impressive.

   

WIP Wednesday.

Making a Simple Things Shawlette for a non-knitting friend who doesn't read the blog. I hope. 

I'm using a couple skeins of Koigu I bought at Purl Soho in May, 2007, when we were in NYC for #1's graduation from college. The knitting you see is the first skein plus a few yards from the second. I think I wound the yarn into center-pull balls early in 2009 with the intention of making a pair of socks from Knitting Socks From Hand-Painted Yarn but it never quite happened. After having been wound for so long, the yarn is not as delectable as it would have been in the skein. But I am suffering through it ;-)

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I did a quick spreadsheet and discovered I knit 5.8 miles! of yarn in 2010. I even impressed myself. Now for the 25+ miles remaining in the stash...