Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Queue

How does it make you feel when you go into a bakery, ice cream parlor, butcher shop, whatever, and find you have to take a number and then wait for that number to be called? I kinda like it, makes me feel secure. You know, there is some method to this madness. And it keeps me from dancing the bump with the 80 year old walker using grandma standing with the mass trying to get to the front. I know what is in her heart, she wants to cut line in front of me. But with the number system I can once again function in a civilized world.

Of course there are the times you go into a bakery, ice cream parlor, butcher shop, whatever, and find that they have a number system. You happily take your little number and find a place to sit or take a step back to wait. It isn't too bad waiting. Gives you time to look over the goods or figure out the scoop on all those waiting with you. Well, actually, if you are who you say you are and apparently you are saying you are that, because why else would you be reading my blog, you shouldn't be standing there scoping out the people standing around. You should be knitting or spindle spinning. People, how are we supposed to transform the world into a world of peace and harmony if you aren't willing to do your part? Spread the word!!!!! Knit in public!!!!!! Spin in public!!!!! Low, go out into the highways and the byways and make ye addicts, I mean converts.

Anyways, back to the subject. Here you are in the bakery, ice cream parlor, butcher shop, whatever, and you look at the number in your hand. You are number 635, yeah, they have probably been using the same numbering system for the last 10 years. Then you look at the "Customer Being Served" sign and it has up in lights number 1043. What is up with that? There aren't even 6 more people in the shop. Then the thought occurs to you, "maybe this is on an appointment basis only. Am I supposed to leave a phone number? I didn't see a sign up sheet. Eh, it is probably just a faulty sign." Or, you are number 635 and the number in lights says 333. I hate it, it is worse than having no numbers!!!!! Cuz, there ain't nobody to bump out of the way. They are fooling us. It is a form of method but it is complete madness. You are completely at their mercy. I want to see some control people!!!!!

Okay, I said all that to say this. How do you think your unfinished projects feel? You know what I'm talking about. When you first started out knitting you started out with a lovely project. Then you found some more wonderful, gotta have yarn. But you weren't even going to cast it on until you finished the first project. Then you found some more can't live without yarn. Alright, no biggee. You started a queue. If not on paper at least in your mind. "I will finish this, then I will start AND finish that and then I will start and finish that. Good plan right? And maybe that works for you.

But then what really happens is this. You start a "lovely project" and then you find that "gotta have yarn" and you put the "lovely project" away to cast on the "gotta have yarn" project and then you find the "can't live without yarn" and begin work on it. You see what is happening? Before long your queue is no longer a queue. It is a........it is a...........ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh............., well, it looks like my stash of newly acquired yarn, some just started and some half finished projects. But there truly is a method to this madness.

Just remember, if you still have that sweater you began before the crust of the earth had fully cooled. Don't despair, take heart. Really!!!!! Styles and colors come back into vogue. Man, if I had those hip hugging elephant legged jeans and those baby doll shirts we wore in the 70's. Well, if I could get them up far enough to hug this baby doll of a grandma's hips.........................it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

Keep on knittin and keep on keepin on!!!!! Power to the Knitters!!!!!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Finally, Worthy of the Name!!!!

I am pleased to announce I finally have a *oc* worthy of the name - SOCK!!!! Some time ago, after much grief, I vowed never to mention the name sock again, but instead to only name those whose name must not be mentioned as *oc*. I have finally knitted an *oc* worthy of the name. These are from Interweave Press' "Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs," Embossed Leaves Socks found on page 31. (My husband, David, wanted me to acknowledge he was the one who took the picture of my sock. Whatever!!!!)

I cannot say my faith has been completely restored. I have had a season of experiencing the frustration, the demoralization, the utter disappointment and unprecedented all out deceit of misbehaving *oc*s. One success is not enough to heal my heart and soul of the rejection and abandonment I have received at the hand (foot) of *oc*s. However, there is a small glimmer of hope as I am also in the process of knitting Jaywalkers for a gift. Thus far they too are behaving, however, we all know how they can turn on you in an instant.

I have joined the Tour de Fleece. In honor of the Tour de France (you know how I feel about all things French). We vow to spin every day the Tour de France is taking place. Only resting on their rest days. Come on spinners, take the challenge. Think of all the wonderful yarns that can be produced during this time. It will be good for me. I need a goal to get me spinning on a regular basis. Spinning does a body good!!!

I found a really neat program for my Palm. It enables me to keep track of what row I am on and where I am in the pattern for any knitted or crocheted item. And I can have a file for each project in process. I just name it and there it is in my list. Cool huh? No more stickies, note pads or writing on patterns for me. It is called CountAble and can be found here.

Oh yeah, please pray that the mate to my beloved sock will follow suit and wish to be joined in happy matrimony with the aforementioned sock. I so want a pair of socks and not an *oc* and a sock.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Simpler Times?

Those Born 1930-1979---VERY WELL STATED TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, some of us survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would rode in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes! , no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them¦CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Schedules, Blackberries & Unwanted Visitors

Do you ever feel like you are on a merry-go-round? Daily passing by all the things you need to get done and want to get done but never seem to stop long enough to get anything done? I've decided maybe I need to develop a schedule that takes in everything I need and want to get completed. Below is an example:

Monday - David's day off so primarily doing whatever. Yard work, pool lounging, knitting, spinning, whatever.

Tuesday - 1/2 day of cleaning (maybe 1/4th day or 1/8th day, who knows), cooking dinner or supper depending on where you are from, pool lounging and then knitting plus the Barnes & Noble knitting group.

Wednesday - Laundry, a little more cleaning, maybe cooking dinner/supper, pool lounging, knitting plus my knitting group at church.

Thursday - maybe cleaning (depends on how successful I've been following the schedule), pool lounging, probably cooking and spinning.

Friday - Pool lounging, possibly cooking, fiber preparation and spinning.

Saturday - Pool lounging, cooking (?), knitting & spinning.

Sunday - Church, maybe pool lounging and possibly a little knitting.

Actually, I just do the cleaning, laundry and cooking to try and ward off any guilt for all the knitting and spinning I want to do. Lately I've not gotten any spinning time in but I have gotten a decent amount of knitting time. However, if I am ever going to get all these projects completed something is going to have to give, thus the schedule. So, what do you think? (No condemning or guilt causing statements please!!!) If you have a schedule that works for you please share it, the rest of us might be able to use it.

The reason there is no mowing on the schedule is that we haven't had any measurable rain for over a month. The grass hasn't grown at all. In fact, when you walk across it, it crunches. Along our fences and in the fields we have loads of blackberry brambles that are loaded with berries. The trouble is with the lack of rain the berries are extremely small. I'm afraid if we don't get some rain soon they will just dry up. Emma Belle and I walked out to look at them today to find a few ripe ones (ripe season really isn't until about the middle of July). The few ripe ones we found besides being very small aren't very sweet. It is extremely bad, the farmers are losing crops, we have lost 80% of the wheat crop and 100% of the fruit. Plus we have been declared a natural disaster.

Have you ever had someone just drop in? Someone you don't really like or the visit didn't fit into your plans? Tuesday I was helping Sara out at the store and Jordan was keeping Emma Belle busy for a couple hours. They had gone into town and upon returning and walking into the house through the foyer and into the living room they discovered a visitor had decided to drop in. Now this individual was completely trespassing and they had the gall to come right in and make their self at home!!!! Well, they didn't really "drop" in, I suppose they actually slithered in. When they walked into the living room, low and behold they found a 3 1/2 foot snake. Jordan quickly had Emma go into my bedroom and shut the door while he assessed the situation. I will spare you the details. Long story short, the snake is no more. We don't believe it was a poisonous snake. I "think" is was a King Snake. Here in KY we actually only have about 5 types of poisonous snakes and a couple of those are water snakes. I've had people make comments like, "why is it the first thing people think about is to kill a snake when seen?" Hey, you come into my house uninvited, you never know what fate you may face. Particularly if you slither!!!! Emma Belle asked if snakes went to heaven. :) Absolutely not!!!!

Hopefully my next post will have lots of knitting and spinning to show. And finally, Emma Belle. She just left to go back home. As soon as she leaves and I walk back into my messy (I do very little while she is visiting) and quiet house I tear up. When she is gone I miss her so much, but I know her mommy does too. She is definitely one very, very loved little girl.

Friday, June 15, 2007

I Don't Know How It Happened & Stuff

I'm serious now, I mean really serious. I do not know how this happened. I went into my LYS only to get a gift card for a friend's daughter that just graduated from high school. She is an avid knitter and I guess I kinda thought I would feed her addiction. Yeah, I'm bad, whatever. The first thing I did was ask if the newest Limited Edition Tofutsie *oc* yarn was in, it was. So maybe that is where it started going awry. Like I need more sock yarn.

The next thing I knew I was walking out of the store with a large bag full of yarn and stuff. Of course the new Tofutsie. In addition to that there was eight skeins of Lamb's Pride bulky, a pattern for a huge felted bag, size 13 36" bamboo circular needles, a set of size 0 dpns and a set of size 2 dpns (can you really ever have enough dpns for knitting *oc*s?), I don't know. Here's a picture anyways.

I feel like that guy on the commercial except, I'm up to my eyeballs in yarn, somebody please help me!!!!

Sara and I went looking for a wedding dress and shoes. We found a lovely one pretty quick. We were both extremely happy about that. But, I did pray before we went that we would quickly find a dress with minimal stress. I am a prayer but I usually do not pray over such things. Maybe I should start, huh? Of course, you will have to wait until October to see how beautiful my only little girl is in her dress.

My step-sister, Lisa, and her step-daughter, Christina, came to spend a couple of days with me (no picture, they would probably kill me). We had such a lovely time. We didn't do much, primarily talked and laid around the pool. I hope they come back soon. To my great joy, Christina was totally enthralled by the whole knitting/spinning thing. You know seldom do you find people who actually give a flip. Made me feel good. I showed off my fiber stash, demonstrated spinning on a wheel and spindle and showed off ALL my knitting works in progress. Great fun!!!!

They are going to kill me when/if they find I posted this picture (I don't think any of them actually take the time to read my blog so I think I'm pretty safe). Here are my three kiddo's acting silly in the pool. Of course, the girl on the left is Sara (26), Aaron in the middle (28), and Jordan on the right (22).

Oh yeah, remember the $1300 cellular phone bill? The cellular company knocked it down to $300. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The Lion King, Nice People & Behaving Socks

There are so many nice people in this world. And I think we need to personally and publicly acknowledge them. With so much bad news out there it is nice to hear good, positive reports. The first nice person I want to acknowledge is my step-sister, Lisa. Lisa contacted me last week stating that she had two extra tickets to see The Lion King musical on Saturday and would I like to take Emma Belle and join her and her step-daughter, Hannah. How nice!!!!!










The musical was fabulous. Not as good as Wicked, but really awesome. When we went to see Wicked I made Emma Belle an Elphaba dress to wear to the musical. (see the Elphaba Lives!!! post) This time she asked her mother, "What am I going to dress up like this time? A lion?" :)

I picked Emma Belle up on Friday and we went to my visit my Aunt that raised me and my sister, Sheila. I was around 5 when I went to live with her so she has been very much my mother. Talking about nice people!!!! She is the oldest of eleven children. Having been the oldest and my grandmother pregnant much of her, my aunt's, childhood, she basically raised the majority of her brothers and sisters. When she was old enough to work she was constantly contributing to the family income, even after she married. Aunt Beo, short for Beatrice because one of her brothers couldn't say Beatrice, due to physical reasons was unable to have children of her own. She and her husband, Uncle Melvin, gave my sister and I a wonderful, caring home to grow up in. I could go on and on about their grace and care. My children know her a Nanny as, of course, does Emma Belle. This is a picture of her and Emma Belle. She recently turned 84.

Nice person #3 is Heidi from Norway. I met Heidi through a Yahoo Group. To tell you the truth I can't remember which one, I belong to so many!!! But it was one of the spinning groups. We struck up a friendship and began conversing via MSN Instant Messenger. I was able to pick up various items for her she is unable to purchase in Norway and she got me some *oc* yarn I cannot get here. How nice of her to go out of her way to the yarn store and pick it up for me. Aren't the colors pretty? I can't wait to dive into it. I am going to have to get me many, many more sets of dpn needles so I can get ALL my *oc*yarn on needles and going.

And finally, nice person #4. This person will remain anonymous. I recently took part in a fiber swap in which we were assigned the name, likes and dislikes of fiber, favorite colors and such of a person who had also signed up for the swap. You can see what my fiber swap partner sent me in one of my previous posts. Well, you will never guess who the person was that I was assigned to be their fiber swap partner. Heidi!!!!! How often would that happen? Anyways, I ordered some beautiful silk to send her in her swap package and the individual I ordered it from sent me this beautiful tussah silk in raspberry swirl with a lovely note stating they thought I would find it interesting to spin. She even gave me some pointers on spinning it!!!!

On another note. So far the new pair of *oc*s I am knitting are behaving extremely well. Of course they had been threatened within every inch, knit, purl and yarn over of their life. I am very pleased. The pattern is from Favorite Socks, Timeless Designs from Interweave, Embossed Leaves found on page 31.