On Purpose

Do you remember way back when, in the olden days, before Christmas when I started these fingerless mitts?

Well, since I've really truly completed the infinity scarf for my daughter, and closed the toe on the second Pebble Beach sock, there was only one thing left to do - grab the UFO basket and get busy!

This yarn may be acrylic, but it is super soft and cushy and springy; so much so that I found myself holding the mitt in my hand every time I evaluated the progress.
I knitted over twenty rows tonight while watching a documentary about the Kindertransport. It was very good to watch but out of nowhere, at the very end, a quote by a survivor made me break down and cry. He said he knew he survived because there was a purpose for his life.
I guess I'll just have to name these mitts the Kinder-Mitts.  I'm sure it's a perfect name.

The holiday season is almost over, as New Year's Eve is tomorrow night.  That means it's time for my resolutions list to be finalized.   I have a few that I'll go ahead and mention.  One I mentioned before, is that I'd like to go to more 'real' movies in the future.  Another is the subject of my photography.  I think I'll be focusing on trees this year.  Two years ago were sunsets and last year was clouds.  This year's topic should be a breeze.

I have begun to receive those glorious and welcome seed catalogs, and they are beautiful.

Cooks Garden has the lettuce I'm looking for, and Burpee has lots of good veggies.  I feel so wanted when they all send me their catalogs at once!!!!

Merry Christmas!

 I love the holidays when everything falls into place, even if it takes a bit of finagling to get it there.  All good things in life require a little extra effort, don't you think?  Some things are just worth the effort, and them some, I'll say. This year has required a good bit of effort to pull off a decent holiday, but it paid off.  I was able to see my parents & brother down in Mobile; my brother in law and his family came to see us.  My daughter and her husband came to see us twice and my son and his wife drove to NC to bring back my father in law for the week of Christmas.  My husband and I will be taking him to Birmingham tomorrow then my brother in law will take "Papa" back to NC on Tuesday.  Everybody had to carry a little weight while still maintaining their respective jobs, budgets, and commitments to their local charitable organizations.  Our schedules have been brutal of late, but like I said, some things are just worth the effort.  Family is important and worth working at maintaining.

Well, like a little kid on Christmas morning, I get to say, "Guess what I got!"  My DS and DDiL gave me a digital picture frame so that I can scan all my odd framed photos and keep them in one place.  (I asked for this gift excessively!)  And my DD and DSiL gave me a three month subscription to the Yarn of the Month Club.  This is like crack for knitters.  Crack delivered to your door in a variety pack like those General Mills mini-boxes of cereal we all wanted as kids.

YOTM is not a new idea.  There are lots of clubs like sock of the month and fiber of the month clubs.  (I've heard Martha Stewart has a shoe of the month club!)  I am excited because the YOTM club will be sending me not one skein but 4 samples of yarn each month, a new pattern each month as well.  Ho Ho!

The big gift that my husband will be getting me is a large order of wool processing to Ohio Valley.  I have several fleeces but I'm not spinning much lately 'cause they're not carded.  I have limited spare time and I really don't want to be spending that time carding.  I hope to make some cool things this year with all that carded wool I'm about to get.

I'm working on my New Year's resolution list.  I've been mulling it over for a while now.  I have several things in mind and I'm getting better and better at this each year.  I've kept several from last year and probably will not 'renew' the ones I didn't keep.  Life is always different from year to year so that makes my resolutions list need to change as well.  The first one my hubby and I discussed last night.  I Love to go to the movies but we never do it.  I told him last night at the theater how happy I was to be there and he said we should do it more often.  So I'm hoping to spend our 'date night' at the theater at least once or twice a month in the coming year, depending on whether or not there are any good movies to see at any given time.  Maybe Thursday nights since he's usually off Thursday nights.  I'll reveal the rest of my resolution list in my next post.  We are taking a little trip this week in honor of our 25th anniversary and I'm sure I'll be inspired when I get back!

When days really do count!

Sometimes we're told not to worry with quantity but quality.  That's true with leather shoes and good makeup.  In other words, one pair of good shoes are better than a dozen cheap pairs of shoes.  One good blush that costs a lot will last ten times longer than drug store blush.  Agreed?  But, on the other hand, a marriage that lasts for 25 years is considered a to be a very valuable thing, if for no other reason than that you've beaten the odds, by the sheer number of years that the marriage has lasted.

                                                     
When I married my husband twenty five years ago, I had high hopes that it would last, but I knew the statistics were not necessarily in my favor. I've known lots of good people who tried very, very hard to make their marriage work and they did not find success.  I feel extremely blessed and out of the ordinary to  be a part of a marriage that has lasted  this many years.  It is something I'm asked about over and over again, and  I can only say that I have a wonderful husband.
He is truly a kind, loving and forgiving person.  He is selfless and generous. He is a wonderful father to my children and he makes me laugh every single day.  We get along so well, it's hard to imagine anyone else making me so happy and content.  He is the love of my life; my friend.

I have never knitted him "The Love Sweater" and yes, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  I'm not superstitious, I'm just smart.  The curse of the love sweater is real, not because there's a real curse, but because making a sweater for your man is just a bad idea.  Like cutting his hair.  Some things are best done by someone else.  Comprende?

Now it is perfectly legitimate to knit gloves, scarves and hats, with the understanding that they 1)picked the yarn and 2) they were aware of the pattern you were going to use.  Making a hat is one thing, but making a Where's Waldo hat is woefully wrong.   A great hiking scarf or plain rib scarf is almost always acceptable, but making a Harry Potter scarf for a grown man is foolish.

So, I've made exactly one scarf and one pair of socks for my man.  I think that's enough.

My daughter requested this beautiful moebius scarf (infinity) and I believe I've completed it tonight.  I will let her look at it tomorrow and see if it's long enough for her, then I'll join the ends.  There's enough yarn to add several more rows if necessary, but I don't want to knit and then rip.  I rejoice that I've gotten all my Christmas knitting projects done before the deadline.  I am grateful!

Auld Lang Syne

I'm sitting here listening to Al Green, once again, and rehearsing the sad notes of the week.  My DH lost two good friends this week, both good men who loved their kids and contributed much to the world.  One friend, Danny, goes way back to when my daughter was born (she's 22). He was our pastor then, and our friend. Our kids spent countless hours before, during and after church running up and down the pews and around the church parking lot, waiting for their parents to quit talking and take them home!
The other fellow, David,  is a new friend whom my husband often shared lunch with on weekdays when the two would get together with another fellow and talk 'real guy' talk. They shared popsicles, hamburgers and inside jokes.  David was full of wisdom and candor, and always left my husband encouraged after their visits.
Both of these departed men will be sorely missed.  
A friend can't really be replaced, once lost.  There's no price tag, and no value for insurance purposes.  They are one of a kind and should be appreciated when they're around, since you never know when they'll be gone. 
The holidays are a terrible time to lose a loved one.

When you're hot, you're hot!

I crossed a threshold the other night, and felt an awful lot of pride when I did it.  I finished the second Pebble Beach sock and picked up the circular scarf.

Yes, folks, I'm in the home stretch.  And to boost my pride even more, I'm tying on the second skein of yarn for the scarf, which wins me double imaginary points in my little brain!!!   Yahoo!

(photo above of the classic plastic-umbrella swift and plastic skein-winder - so low tech!)

The president called me the other day, to ask me how I can accomplish so much and I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled.  "It's a gift," I told him. 

If ever life was spinning by uncontrollably, it's now.  I am usually a very organized, together kind of person, but with the change of everything to digital, I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up with things.  Life doesn't slow down just because you can't keep up, and I am having to dig deeper in my bag of tricks to find ways to manage.
I used to keep a small 'day-timer' with me at all times -it had notes, phone numbers, addresses, dates, passwords, directions etc. in it.  If I needed something, it was there, all things in one place.  But now our music, books, phone numbers (contacts),  and everything else is digital and stored in another world altogether, so I'm working on learning a new program called OneNote to help me keep track of all that kind of stuff.  ( I still have a little paper calendar, which I don't think will ever be totally replaced, but don't tell anyone.  That's our secret~!)

I'm syncing the program with its twin on my new laptop, a Christmas present gotten early, in order to gain some momentum with our taxes.  I really hope this will solve all my problems.  If not, I'm just gonna have to get out the old yellow pad and pencil!

Curvature of the Heel

The long, snowy, weekend has lent itself to me catching up with my knitting.  Also being too nauseus to do much of anything else gave me a chance to turn the heel of Pebble Beach sock # 2. The rounds are all straight ahead to the toe, with all decreases done!! Hallelujah!

I have put a little time into the circular scarf but am saving it for after the socks are done.  Don't want any of that nasty Second Sock Syndrome that's going around. 

The holidays are happening as we speak and we've had more than our share already.  My cup overflows with love - many, many people around me that I love and care about.  It truly makes all the 'stuff' pale in comparison.  Some of us have lost loved ones and have to make do with the memories of past Christmases with them.  I have very good memories of my grandmother who always knitted us slippers for Christmas.  They were a very basic pattern knit on straight needles with worsted weight acrylic.  I still love them; I only have one left of the last pair she made and it has a hole in it.  But they are a sweet memory of a dear lady.

She had arthritis in the later years and her bony fingers held on to crochet hooks and yarn to the very end.  She always made chicken & dumplings for our annual Christmas Eve get together, with homemade pies and cornbread.  The tea was super cold and sweet, and often there was fudge made with real sugar, not marshmallow cream.  My favorite was her home made divinity; nothing I've had since comes close. 

Sick Days

Today is the first time I've been sick since going to Guatemala last spring. The way I know I'm sick is by the fact that I don't want coffee.  I have had some juice and saltines and did my best with a bowl of grits this morning, but the thought of anything else is gag-worthy. I know why I'm sick.

My immune system is shot;  I've been going full speed ahead for a while now and my little 5'2" body said, 'enough!'.  So I'm sitting here in bed with my laptop wishing I had a coffee because I'm craving it, but the smell is awful; maybe later I think. I hope. (Check this out to make you feel better!)

I went to see my folks and my brother and his family earlier this week.  It was so good to see everybody and the time was just too, too short.

My nephew is taller than his mom, but is only eleven years old. And my niece is quite the little lady bug, letting me know, FYI that George Washington is dead and he died when her brother was born!  Good to know.  LOL!

I brought back this lovely plant, a gift from my mom. We put up their Christmas tree, had a fun dinner with the kiddos, who decorated the tree and caught up on the latest.

On Wednesday I went with my boss and another lady to Paris Landing in Buchanan, TN where we saw this nifty Santa RV. We worked all day at a private home belonging to a couple who live in Florida; a beautiful home with a gorgeous view of the lake.  It was a long day, and I had to go right back to work yesterday, which explains why I succumbed to the bug.

I hope to be back on my feet soon, since my husband's brother and his family are coming tonight for a quick visit.  The house is ready (I was cleaning my own house last night at 11 o'clock last night!) but I need to do some last minute things before they arrive.  Tomorrow we celebrate my son in law's 25th birthday with the family; 12-14 people for lunch at his favorite restaurant!  Woo Hoo! And congrats to him for making 108 on his MPRE!

So you can guess that I've hardly knit a stitch in a week.  Last night I watched a tv show and got in a few rows.  Enough to make me wish and dream that I could knit all day, everyday. But I did do some spinning the other day (a week ago?) and made some samples of fleeces I've dyed this year.

Merry Christmas (its only two weeks away)!!

Creature Comforts

It takes me a long while to make up my mind about a thing, but when I've decided, I've decided.  I'm not wishy washy and I typically stay with something for a long time after making a choice.  I think it has to do with not liking change, and feeling a certain comfort with things staying the same.  I love my 'things' just the way they are, thank you very much!

I went with my husband today to look at phones; mine is up for an upgrade and I had an unfortunate experience the other night.  I got lost after the police had redirected traffic in a part of town I was unfamiliar with. It was dark and I wasn't comfortable with my surroundings, even though I was in a very safe part of town.  I did find my way home eventually,  with my trusty road map, but DH insisted when I got home that I get some kind of GPS and for the price, I should go ahead an upgrade my phone with a built in GPS.

That night I realized that there are two things at play when you lose your way.  One is the way things look.  I saw all the cars following a certain path when we got detoured from the main road.  I wasn't sure, but thought, "how can I go wrong? they must know where they're going, since they probably live around here. I'll just follow them!" 
The other way to think is to follow the map that you know is right.  I pulled over, checked the nearby intersections and eventually found my way home.  What a valuable lesson; one that I learned in high school about peer pressure.  DON'T follow the crowd. When you have a map, use it.  When you have information that you know to be true and reliable, follow it, not the whims of your circumstances!  Say no to peer pressure, kids!

So how does this fit in with my knitting blog, you ask.  Well, I'll tell you.  Sometimes, when everyone is switching to knitting socks toe-up, you can stay with top-down.  And when everyone is switching to magic loop, you can stay with your trusty DPNs.  I'm not against progress, but I am for making decisions on purpose and not just because it's the popular thing to do.

I love knitting with these DPNs!
I went to my LYS to find some more.  (These INOX are teflon coated, you know.) But the store didn't carry them. So I guess I can find another LYS that does carry them, using my new GPS!!  Ha!  How's that?