lifelong knitter

Misty Mountain Hop

If the fog comes in on little cat feet, then a huge, shaggy, prehistoric feline padded through here during the wee hours and breathed heavily into all of the hollows. I feel as though I should be wearing a heavy hooded cape and pointy shoes and playing a lute.
I'm dancing a happy dance, because last night just before 10pm, Daughter bird called to ttell me that her Statistics exam had been graded and she made a 91! I am so proud of her I could practically POP!
The pumpkin has been finished and felted and will journey to knit night to join the others in the pumpkin patch. Perhaps someone with 20/20 vision will be able to take a picture so I can share it with you.
This Fair isle knitting is addictive. Just one more row to see how the petals of the flower will bloom, and then one more row to see how the patterns interconnect, and then jsut one more....you get the idea. How did I ever not knit this way?
Saturday is the big day...we'll be cutting the steeks and making the knit facings and the buttonholes and I will have accomplished a major goal on my List.
Stay tuned.
Sandy Poodle will model the finished sampler.

Learning

Nancy Shroyer's class has inspired me to think about my knitting in a whole new way. She teaches a color theory method which makes choosing the nine colors for the fair isle sampler exactly like planning a painting. Composition, form, balance, and mood are considered, and with the range of colors available (more than 80 I believe) it breaks out of my usual limited color range choices. I started spinning and dyeing fiber a few years ago to have the color range I love (mostly ochers and venetian red and indigo blues) but I never thought about the composition of my knitting in quite this way before. What a difference! All because I was determined to learn to cut and steek and finish the edges of a garment in a traditional way.....funny how that happens, innit it?
I love stretching my boundaries and learning new skills, but learning to see in a whole new way is particularly important to me right now. I can enlarge the charts on a local copy machine so I can make out the symbols, and I just love watching the designs develop.
I never thought I'd love working on teeny tiny needles, but actually my hands hurt less and I can knit comfortably for a longer period of time with the 1's and 3's (US) we are using for this sampler. For ONCE, I am actually getting gauge (honk, honk) with the recommended needles. 8 sts. per inch. Woohoo.
I am back to the diet I employed for the first three months of each of my pregnancies...saltine crackers and weak tea for breakfast. It helps the nausea, but it has also brought back a flood of memories. I LOVED being pregnant...such a powerful, creative time.
I always knew I'd be a Mother. It has been such a wonderful gift to look back at what my children have accomplished and who I've grown to be because of them. Now it is time to stretch into the next chapter of my life and learn to be self nurturing.
There is something very interesting that happens when your vision blurs and you are forced to go inward for the first twenty minutes of your day. My morning pages are filled with powerful insights gained during this meditation. The drops have turned out to be a blessing, as my greatest difficulty is just being STILL.
Here's hoping that the sun is breaking through the clouds in your corner of the universe, and that yoou are able to have a few moments of stillness and quiet for yourself.
What a wonderful GIFT.

What a MESS

Honestly, I know that the season still has another 35 days to go, but enough already with the tornadoes and the flooding. Last night the twisters touched down a few miles from the daughter bird's college, so I called to be sure she was okay. Other than being unhappy with what was served for dinner in the cafeteria (she walked to the nearest grocery store and used her gift card to get dinner) she was fine. It is a miracle, really, how well she is adjusting to academic life. She was excited and happy to report that she had her first big English exam back and had done pretty well with a B+. She is confident that by next semester she will bring her grades up to straight A's.
Power is flickering in and out here, and water is running through the streets, but thankfully the trees are still standing and my house is still here. I am one of the very lucky ones, and I am counting my blessings.
Sandy Poodle is six months old , and I can't imagine my life without her now. The sampler I am knitting for the Fair Isle class will be a button down sweater for her when it is finished.
The eye doctor sent my glasses back to Austria to have special filters put in them and the prescription tweaked for my current vision. If I owe you email or have not responded to a comment, it is simply because I cannot see to read, YET.
I beg your patience, and prayers for the days ahead.
Namaste.

Compare and Contrast

Friday I spent the entire day with Famous (and the entourage of wanna be famous) eye doctors. I finished an adorable knitted pumpkin between sessions. The first four doctors all agreed that the *problem* had returned, and was more aggressive than before, consistent with most of the literature on the subject. When His Emminence swept in for his fifteen seconds of proclamation, he announced that none of his procedures had ever FAILED, and I was not to be the first. A new therapy is available. Drops in my eyes twice a day as directed, in four weeks I should notice an improvement. That will be all. NEXT. I was dismissed. The drops are very expensive, burn like the dickens, and make me nauseous. I hope they work. I have to have special UV filters put into all of my glasses and be obsessive about wearing a hat and sunglasses. A small car could have been purchased for this collossal waste of time.
Enough about that.
I spent the weekend in a Traditional Fair Isle Knitting workshop. I forgot about my queasy stomach as we laughed and shared life stories. I finally solved the mystery (to me anyway) of two handed color knitting! Nancy Shroyer is a terrific teacher and a lovely person. I think my goal of making a steeked sweater will indeed be realized by years end.
About halfway through the weekend I realized that the answer to the question I have been sending out into the Universe has been answered. What shall I do with this next part of my life, now that the nest is empty and there are so many tempting choices? It just sort of crystallized, midway through the Saturday afternoon session. I have spent my entire life taking care of other people and dealing with the egos associated with the medical profession. I knit and spin and quilt and do ART for my own therapy. What if I retired altogether from the business of taking care of other people who will not or cannot take care of themselves, and nurture my own long neglected SELF?
In the past, this idea has always been quickly followed by guilt and self recrimination. Not this time. I've got 25 years of vacation time and sick days coming to me and I intend to use them.
I'm going to post this quickly, before I change my mind, and ahead of the squall line, which will surely bring more flooding rain and power outtages.
Back to my knitting. I have homework to do. A sampler to completed before Saturday, when we will steek and block and eat chocolate and smile.
Blessings to you and yours,
As Always.

Update

I am well and doing fine...just have not had a computer in AGES due to weather related technical difficulties. If this post goes through, it means I am close to being back online. If all goes well, the blog will return to regular posting on Monday. Email may take a bit longer.
Friday is my appointment with the eye surgeon. I ask your prayers and blessings.
Namaste.

Steel Toed Boots

I've got my serious work boots on today...rolling up my sleeves and ready for bailing. I used to freak out when I heard the sump pump go on, knowing that it meant a trip to the basement to assess the water level. After the sump pump failed a couple of times, I now say a grateful prayer of thanksgiving whenever that sucker kicks in. Woohoo, it's working! Obviously, though, when the power goes out, it is back to the chop wood, carry water lifestyle. Where I grew up, the power used to go out for weeks at a time every winter, due to the instability of what my Daddy called Youcalipitas trees. I can whip up a pretty good meal with sterno candles if need be. I know my way around a compass and how to efficiently bail water.
Batteries. Check. Bottled water. check.
Some good chocolate, strong coffee, and a nice robust red. Check.
(None of that bread and milk for me, thanks anyway ;)
Case of cat food, extra puppy meals. Yep.
Chain saw is filled up and ready for action.
Knitting. YES! Swatching for pumpkins and trying to finish the ribby shell that I swear is being unknit at night as some sort of mythic quest test. I shall perservere to endure.....
Blessings to all those who bore the brunt of the storm.
I pray that you are safe and warm and dry, with food in your belly and clean water to drink.
Namaste.

Cowabunga

Dude. We have ordered ourselves a Ninja Turtles cake and the boy is thrilled. I'm not hip to why the green guys have made a comeback, but my kiddos dearly love them and can recite long sections of dialogue...and don't get me started on the Theme Song. Really. I already have a headache. It is an autistic thing. (the dialogue, not the headache.) We were somewhere a couple of weeks ago and I patiently explained to the young clerk who didn't want to wait on us because of boybird's strange noises (he was imitating the central heating and cooling system of the shoe store) that he was autistic. *Oh* she said *okay, so he doesn't, like, TALK?* I refrained from remarking that technically, his sentence structure was like, WAY, better than hers, dude. Just at that moment, he started reciting a long monologue from one of his favorite Looney Tunes episodes. *HEY* says young gum chewing clerk *I thought he didn't TALK. 'sup with that?* Like I had tried to get over with pretending he was something he wasn't.....sigh.
Echolalia is the technical term for repeating back what you have *heard*, but not an appropriate answer to a question. When the daughter bird was young, one of the *proclamations* was that she'd never ask or answer a question. Teehee. How I would love to find that nuerologists office now and say hey dude, we got your answers to QUESTIONS right here. When I asked her what the fascination was with the Ninja Turtles, she very patiently explained that they fight evil, eat pizza and sound like they are from California. What's not to like, Mom?
Turtle POWER!

Labor Day

In an hour, folks with a truck will pull up to my studio and haul off a huge pile of *somedays* to the Habitat for Humanity reuse store. I have been collecting stuff all of my life, and it is time to let a lot of it go to people who will truly use and benefit from it. I still have plenty of inventory for my found object projects, but it feels great to EDIT. I've dragged a tarp, too, because it is just starting to rain here.
After lunch I have a date with the Boybird. We're going to visit the sweet lady who makes his birthday cake every year, and pick a theme.
Short post today, as I am battling a wicked migraine and can't really see this screen...
Hope y'all are safe and dry!
Mwah!

Morning, Glory

I know, I know. I get the lecture all the time...they are *invasive* and a perfect place for SNAKES to lie in wait...I don't care. I aint afraid of no snakes, and I just LOVE Morning Glories. Did you know they are a VERY realiable weather predictor? Rather than watching the weather or not channel, I can just go outside and see if they are all curled up and hiding (rain, fer shure) or blooming their glorious little brains out.
This morning? I still have blooms.

Frances is moving awfully slowly. I am knitting prayers for all in the path....

Knit Your Vegetables

I have made a number of felted pumpkin pincushions and knitted carrots for the Easter Bunny over the years, but sadly, they were all gifted before I documented the *designs* in writing or photographically.
Now that I know better, I'll keep track of the process.
Sculptural knitting is one of my favorite brain exercises. Trying to acheive a three dimensional shape that I can picture in my mind and then translate from string to volumetric shape, really makes me feel like I've accomplished something akin to alchemy. At the very least, I'm using MATH in real life.

I spent the afternoon with Boy bird yesterday and was reminded once again of the Progress he has made. Something on his *list* turned out to be unatainable. Instead of pitching a fit and obsessing about it for an endless loop, he redirected HIMSELF after just a little bit of gnashing of teeth.

We waited in line rather patiently. He actually fidgeted less than I did when the person in front of us disputed the price of EVERY item in her basket. Sigh.

Next week is his 20th birthday. It seems like just yesterday that he was born, for heaven's sake. We will, of course, be having his party at the local Chuck E. Cheese. Daughter bird called me from college to let me know what time her classes are over that day, as she wants me to come pick her up. There is no way she is going to miss her brother's Birthday.

Blessings abound, as always.

Extra prayers for all in the path of Frances, please.