Too @#$% Hot

I've got FO's to show off, as well as presents. But it is just too freaking hot to go outside and take photos. How I wish my fridge had an icemaker. How I wish my house didn't have a west-facing living-room window.

But, I am grateful that I have a lovely house, with a fridge. (Just in case Someone thinks I'm not grateful.)

Short of showering with my clothes on (which I have done, BTW) how can I keep cool?

~ETA~
I found this short movie about Crown Fountain. I'm going to think cool thoughts.

My SCA Name

I will be registering the following as my official SCA name shortly:

Duchess Tola the Charitable of Wimblish upon Frognaze.

The VIP has been named: Emperor VIP the Idle of New Invention.

Find your Peculiar Aristocratic Title here.

Blasphemy

I do not like Jaywalkers. There, I said it. I love the yarn I used for them, which was Austermann Step, and it was a minor miracle that they match exactly. But I did not enjoy knitting them nor do I like how they fit. To be fair, I will probably try them one more time, but not decrease quite so much during the gusset because I cannot for the life of me figure out why she has you decrease to fewer stitches than what you started with. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate some enlightenment. So fighting with the Jaywalkers is why it took me so long to post. Mleah!
However, I do have a few projects that I finished and enjoyed and here they are. I tried a short-row stockinette heel for the very first time. It was excruciating to work through the pattern instructions, but I made it and here is the proof. The yarn is Online Supersocke and I like it very much. My LYS doesn't have very interesting colourways of it, but I know they exist. The hat is for the DD. She chose the yarn from my stash (yay!) and designed it, and I knit it to her specifications. It is Plymouth Encore in black and off-white, basic stockinette cap. At the end, instead of drawing the yarn through the remaining loops to finish it off, I did a few inches of i-cord. DD made a pompom to go on the end, and she proudly wore it all day every day for the rest of the week. It looks incredibly cute on her and I am proud to say that I made it and she actually wears it! The short socks are made from the Regia that I bought while on my trip in Chicago. I really really love this yarn. And my new KnitPicks size true 2 needles had arrived in time for me to use them and I have found my favourite needles. I did the short-row heel again and I think it looks a bit better. I know it was easier.

And now for something completely different! Look at this wonderful yarn. My friend Val dyed and spun it and was showing it off at Fibre Night last week. Of course since it has so much pink in it, I was admiring it muchly. And she gave it to me! She is not in love with pink as much as I am, and knew that I would give it a good home. I love this yarn! Here is her post about it, you'll need to scroll down a bit because it happens to be a biggish one. She doesn't think it's spun tightly enough for socks, but I think I will try it anyway. I will get some reinforcing nylon for the heels and toes and just see what happens.

And see my ticker? It is slowly but surely counting down the days until the VIP arrives. We are both extremely excited about this event. He went looking for a LYS the other day, and found Woolbearers. He says he is bringing me a bag of squishy goodness so that's another reason to be excited!












And in case you were thinking that I was going to completely ignore the Huge Event of the week, rest assured that I am not. I pre-ordered my copy and showed up at my local Borders store about 1:15pm yesterday to get my purchase wristband. I was #123 in the silver (second) group so I only had to actually wait about 45 minutes after midnight to get my copy. I came home and read the last 2 chapters and went to bed. Now I can rest, and actually enjoy reading the whole thing. And I won't watch a movie unless I am with someone who has seen it and will tell me how it ends. Yes I am very well aware of my extreme weirdness.

More Tomorrow, Let This Tide You Over

Go read this.

So sweet, it made me cry!

Inspirational

Knitting Iris's most recent post has inspired this.

When DD was born, I was newly-divorced and living with my parents in a house that they rented. We were happy there for almost two years, and then an old college friend invited me to move to Tulsa and tend her daughter for the summer and possibly think about staying. We went, but we didn't stay. When we came back, the people who owned the house my parents were in, sold it. And the house that they found wasn't big enough for us to re-join them. So we found a basement apartment in the same neighbourhood and moved in. I loved that house. It had the Most Hideous carpeting and paneling, but it was warm in the winter and not too hot in the summer. The basement portion was actually older than the upstairs portion as it had originally been a basement house. The upstairs had been added about 20 years later. Of course, when the Teton Dam burst in 1976, it was filled to the top with water and mud. Some of the original beautiful oak paneling was damaged and unsalvageable, and it was replaced with far inferior stuff. It was fairly dark, what with the chocolate-brown carpet and all, but I still loved that house. We were there for six years and would probably still be there, except . . . . .

We were asked to vacate because the landlords had a grandson who had just gotten married and he wanted to live in my house. So we moved. I was (and still am) so sad about that. I have to pass that house every time I go to my folks' place and I still cry, even though it was five years ago that we left. Eventually the landlords bought a house a couple of blocks away, and have turned the whole property over to the grandson. It has gone very far downhill and it is so sad.

But about the photo: I worked at the fabric counter at WalMart and I got that lace there. I had enough to make curtains for both sets of windows in my bedroom. Being a basement house, the windows were quite short so I was able to make the most of the small amount of fabric I had. I liked the fact that it was quite a thick pattern, and although it let light in, you really couldn't see into the house. I would lay on my bed and read, with the curtains wafting in the breeze and watching the light play across the fabric. And one day, I just grabbed the camera and popped off two shots. This is the better of the two, although they are both nice. I took it on real film, not digital, and when I first got my scanner, this is one of the first images I scanned.

Happy 4th!

To celebrate the day, I present to you my first completed pairs of socks for Summer of Socks.









I am not officially enrolled in Summer of Socks, I am just playing along from the sidelines. At first I thought I wanted to see how many socks I could knit in the time period, but now I've decided to use the time to explore new sock techniques and patterns. Obviously I had to get my Stars and Stripes socks done first, so that I could wear them tonight at the barbecue and fireworks our SCA group is doing. But the second pair I learned how to do short-row heels (Cat Bordhi's version) and while I'm not sure if I'm in love with the technique, at least now I know how to do it. It's quite amazing how that pair happens to match nearly exactly, which was totally accidental. For my third pair, I am doing the ubiquitous Jaywalkers. I have never done a patterned sock yet, and this one is fairly easy. If you click on Cara's banner enough times, eventually you'll get to her photo of her pile of Jaywalkers. And I need to post two other pairs that I finished before my trip to Chicago. The short ones are for my doctor, they knit up super fast. The long ones are mine and I got the yarn from my LYS and it is totally bizarre how one pooled like crazy and the other striped up like it's supposed to. Weird.

~~ETA~~
Confidential to VIP:
Pooling happens of its own accord, you cannot really do much to encourage or discourage it. The next pair of socks I have on deck for you are plain green, with yarn I bought in Chicago. And why would I want to knit a sweatband? Are you going for the Mark Knopfler look?

They Walk (Ride) Among Us

Lookie, Logan made the news!

Letting Go

That was the hardest thing I think I have ever done. It feels as though a previously unknown knife has been removed from my heart. But now I can go on and do the things that I need to do, and not need to dwell on the pain.

I had a wonderful time though. I met his friends and they were so good to me. We spent a day in the city, and I took loads of photos and had a great time. Some of my trip is already becoming a blur, so I'll do my best to get it all right.

It all started with my harrowing drive to the Salt Lake airport. Traffic was heavy, and I had drunk too much diet Coke so I kept having to stop. I was afraid of not having enough time to get through security, so I left my house at 6am for a 10:45am flight. I made it, it was all fine. I got to Chicago, and was told to call a phone number to meet my ride. It was a white stretch limo! In the spirit of Stephanie, I took a picture of the sock enjoying the limo ride. It took about 45 minutes or so to reach the suburb of Aurora, where I stayed. His friend MMC (not to be confused with him, as he is MCM) and her sister PC were my lovely hostesses. PC has two very sweet children (LilBoy and LilGurl) and they pretty much accompanied us wherever we went. MMC is the BEST auntie I have ever met in my life. When she built her house, she included bedrooms for these two lil ones, and her garage was stuffed full of their outside toys. I hope I can be like her when I grow up.

We went out to a local Italian place for dinner. I had fried calamari for the first time in my life. I think if you didn't know the difference, you would think you were just eating onion rings. I'm not sure I'd like it prepared any other way though.

The next day was June 14, his birthday. MMC worked half the day, so PC took me with her to run her errands. She dropped me off at Fringe where I browsed for awhile. After the huge brouhaha over at Alison's blog a couple of weeks ago, I am going to be very careful about what I say. The staff was very nice, I didn't feel ignored or hovered over. They have a lovely selection of books and yarn and accessories. There is a huge table where you can sit and browse a book, or knit, or chat. If you buy yarn that is in a hank, they will wind it into a cake for you (I asked). However, there wasn't a very big selection of sock yarn, and all their other yarns were arranged by colour. It makes for a very beautiful and striking display, but it is very difficult to find what you want. I bought 100 gr of dark green sock yarn to make a second pair of socks for the VIP, as well as a house-brand needle gauge.

MMC met us for lunch at a soup/sandwich place in the mall, and then she and I went on to the cemetery. She stopped at a grocery store so I could get some flowers to bring. I chose some pink gerbera daisies, and some green fluffy things that are kind of like chrysanthemums. I liked them, and the colour went well with the salmon pink daisies. After I laid them out, I added my LiveStrong wristband. I know it all won't stay forever, but I feel better now.

To cheer us up, we went to Trader Joe's. I bought chocolate. Lots of it. It is very good, and if any of my readers have a Trader Joe's nearby and wish to supply me with chocolate, we can definitely work something out.

The next day was Friday, and our adventure in the city! We started out by walking to the shores of Lake Michigan, then we went to the Crown Fountain at Millennium Park. The kids splashed in the reflecting pool and I enjoyed watching the faces change on the glass towers. Then we walked over to the Cloud Gate sculpture, which is more affectionately known as "The Bean". I absolutely LOVE this thing. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. If I lived there, I would go all the time. I would play in the fountains, too. Then we caught a cab and went over to Navy Pier. I made sure I got my pressed penny and my caramel corn from the Popcorn Palace. I am not a huge popcorn fan, but I could eat loads of this stuff every day. I am going to have to see about mail-order because it is so yummy! There is a lot to see at Navy Pier, but as we had the two lil ones with us, we didn't want to drag it out too much. So we grabbed another cab and hopped over to the American Girl Place. MMC collects dolls, and LilGurl has a birthday in a couple of weeks. My DD has never expressed interest in American Girl stuff, so I didn't get her anything there. Of course, now I am sure she will tell me she just LOVES it all and why didn't I get her anything there??? Mleah. And across the way from there is a Hershey's store. I bought chocolate. And then we walked. It seems like we walked for miles and miles, but I'll bet it was actually less than one mile. By chance we decided to have dinner at a place right across the street from the AMA building, where he worked. That was hard for a couple of minutes, but I was able to put it aside and enjoy the company. A friend joined us for dinner, and it was good to get to know her. Then we walked a whole lot more, across the Chicago River, past the Chicago Theater, and back to the parking garage. It was a long day, but so much fun. I want to go back and do it all over again!

Saturday dawned, and I slept in, resting my aching bones. The kids and MMC were up and playing in the water in the backyard. It was a really low-key day, which was very nice. That afternoon, PC came by and she took me into Downers Grove to Knitche. Now that is a way cute shop. Again, the staff were friendly and helpful, but not hovering. They had a nice selection of Lorna's Laces and Cherry Tree Hill, but as for the "regular" sock yarn, only Opal and Regia. I was a bit disappointed about that, and bought just 50 gr of Regia. But if I lived there, I would definitely shop there. Then we took the long way home, and I asked her to stop at Target so I could grab a couple of necessities. Like chocolate.

That evening, MCM's former long-time girlfriend RK came by. I would just like to say that I admire her so much. I didn't feel weird or anything, she made me feel so comfortable. The more we chatted, the more I liked her. I am so glad I had the opportunity to meet her. We ordered Chicago-style pizza, and while it was yummy, I find I prefer the thin crust rather than the deep-dish. But I am glad that I tried it.

Sunday was church. Being of Irish heritage, my hostesses are very definitely Catholic! I requested to attend church with them, and I had a lovely time. The church is HUGE! You could hold Stake Conference in there and not need any overflow rooms at all. There are beautiful stained-glass windows all around, which I was informed had been reclaimed from a church in the city that had been demolished. As I love to sing, I was hoping I would be able to follow along with the hymns. To my surprise, the opening hymn was "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" but with different words. I really miss that hymn, as it's not in our current hymnbook. And then there was a lovely sermon, and a darling little girl had her first communion. The closing hymn was set to that old familiar Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts". Afterwards, I asked MMC to take me to greet the pianist. He was amazing, and his playing really set the tone for the meeting.

I had a wonderful trip, and I am so glad that I went. My greatest thanks to MMC and PC, and RK. I don't know if I will ever get back to Chicago, but I enjoyed my time there. For some reason, MMC wound up with all of MCM's family photos. She allowed me to paw through the boxes (out of six boxes, I only had stamina to go through two) and I chose a few photos to keep. I'd love to have more, but just going through those two boxes took so much psychic energy.

Here are some photos. Clickety Biggety!

On My Way

Doing my last-minute packing and cleaning. I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights, so I've been coming home from work and crashing for an hour or three. I had a scary experience last night, and I know that's why I wasn't able to sleep. As for the other days, I'm not sure. I finished two more pairs of socks, including the ones for my doctor. Yesterday I cast on for another pair, and finished the first one this morning at work. These are just shortie socks, but I am feeling a great sense of accomplishment because I am using leftovers from other socks to make them. My KnitPicks 24" size 1 circulars broke yesterday. Right at the join. I called them today, and she was so incredibly apologetic about it. Is sending out a replacement posthaste. She said they are guaranteed "forever", and I said they are my favourite needles, because they truly are. I love everything about them except the fact that they aren't in stores.

My emotions are running all over the place tonight. Sadness, depression, despondency, despair, mixed with a bit of apathy. My flight leaves at 10:45 am, so I am leaving for the airport at 6am. I have this fear of missing my flight, and of course I can entertain myself by knitting. Maybe I should run up to Beto's and grab something to eat. I don't remember eating today, so it's probably safe to say that I haven't.

See you when I get back from Chi-town!

PS Go read KnittyOtter's post. She said basically how I feel.

FOs and Presents

1, 2 & 3 -- The VIP socks and the Time-Out socks. Note the tons of ends I had to weave in.
4 -- Socks made from the scraps of the two pair of wool/alpaca socks I made last year and loved to death. Note the short-row garter heels. Jury is still out on how I feel about those.
5 -- Above-mentioned socks.
6 -- The blue socks made from the leftovers of what I made MCM's socks from, along with the remainders of a pair my friend made, augmented by some stuff I had in stash. Kind of amazing how they all go together so well.
7 -- Another Moebius. Made from BFL, edged in mohair. I had 2 feet of yarn left over. I like when that happens!
8 -- A present from my friend BT when she accompanied her son to NYC for a concert at Carnegie Hall. She knows I love me the M&Ms!!
9 & 10 --The best birthday present I've gotten in a long time. I don't know its provenance exactly, but as far as I know, it's official and vintage. And if you still had any doubts that I am the YesGirl, all doubt has now been removed! (ETA ~~ The VIP informs me that he got it at Wembley Stadium during the YesSongs tour, right?)

I went down to Ogden last night to fetch the DD so that she could come home and finish cleaning her room. I was invited to swim, and since the water temperature is only up to 77*, the best thing to do is just jump in all at once! We had a lovely supper outside on the deck, and Aggie attached the license plate onto the front of my car. Now maybe I'll quit getting pulled over!

Feeling Uninspired

I haven't photographed any FO's, I'm just going to tell you that straight off. But the pink time-out socks are done, the blue scrappy socks are done (no I never did talk about those, I will when I photograph/post them) and of course the VIP socks are done. I also finished a Moebius, and bought another skein of yarn to start another one. It's not cast-on yet. I'm working on the second sock for my doctor, but there's no hurry because I can't get into see her before my trip to Chicago anyway. I'm halfway done with the foot of the second wool/alpaca sock that I am making with leftovers from the first two pair that I literally loved to death. That stuff is much harder to work with, and so I tend to put it down after five rows or so. My LYSO dyed some sock yarn in preparation for Snake River, and I bought one of those skeins. It's not pink, it's shades of blue and purple. She had one that had pink in it, and I may get it after I finish these socks.

School is out for my DD, so she is spending lots of time with Nana down in Ogden. I took her down on Friday. She will be going to Uprising with them, while I go to Chicago. I miss her, but it's good she wasn't here this weekend. I didn't do a thing. Okay well Saturday I did do a load of laundry, and I picked up a few things. But today I have done nothing but sleep on the couch, watch TV and knit. And eat. I didn't even go to church. I got up and I got ready, but I didn't actually go. I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself I guess. I didn't have anyone yesterday to ring up and say "Let's go do something". If I had been in Idaho, I have half a dozen girlfriends to go do stuff with. And it's obvious nobody in my ward here is the least bit concerned about me. I guess I should be bigger than this, but it's hurtful.

And I'd once again like to express my hatred for Utah law enforcement. I got pulled over twice in 72 hours for not having the front license plate attached to my car. It's not on there because the holes don't match! One was a USU campus cop, and the other was USP. Both out of their jurisdiction, I might add. And yet, there is STILL a meth lab operating next door to me.

Training at work is excruciating. Our trainer is doing her best, and she only learned this stuff a week before she had to teach it. I didn't used to like her at all, in fact I quite hated her. But this week hasn't been so bad. I hope I still like her after this is all over. But the training is too much info trying to be stuffed into our heads far too quickly. I think we get 6 days of training and then we are on the phones. It's an entirely new product, with different packages and prices, depending on what market you're in. And the computer systems are foreign and while they aren't necessarily more difficult, they ARE new and will take time to learn. The Powers That Be seem to think we will be able to hack it, and I want to show them that I can, but this is adding exponentially to my freak-out factor.

I leave for Chicago in 10 days. I've got the addresses of 2 yarn shops I've heard nice things about, and I bought a travel book at Borders last night with my 25% off coupon. I have all kinds of socks to knit on the plane, and I found a suitcase in the storage unit last weekend. I've been looking forward to this trip for months, and now that it's upon me, I'm scared.

So since I slept basically all day, of course I'm not sleepy now. I'm blog-surfing, and knitting, and listening to Stevie Nicks on my desktop iTunes. I've got all the windows open, trying to cool off the house, as it's still 80* upstairs at nearly 11pm.

After getting the storage shed all mucked out, now I need to do my house. First up is to weed through the books I'll never read again, and ship them off to Granny Mindy. I used to date her son, but that was a long time ago. She and Grampy Bob live in the middle of an Ozarks forest (talk about a magical place) and they have very very little. Whenever I weed out my books, I always send them to her. She reads them, she shares them with her friends, then she donates them to her local library so others can enjoy them. If you'd ever like to make someone's day for not much money, let me know and I'll send you her address. I wish I lived closer to her, I love her very much. I should ring her up; she stays up late.

Whoosh!

Has it been nearly two weeks already? Wow how time flies. A quick catch-up is in order then:

My dad got back from Oregon. The funeral was lovely, he brought back a program and I was able to read it. My poor uncle is still devastated, understandably. I've spent the past two weekends up here in Idaho. Last weekend was the Snake River Fiber Fair.
I didn't buy a whole lot of stuff, but I think I'll have fun with what did come home with me. I got 4 oz of a hand-painted roving from Woolly Wonka, two 50 gm balls of Regia sock yarn in a very discontinued colour, and 4 oz of prize-winning alpaca fluffy stuff. Haven't touched any of it yet, but I will! Had a lovely weekend, full of fun and good times. Got back to work Monday morning with the bombshell news that our call center has dropped DirecTV as their client, and is picking up Comcast. So we are all in the middle of a huge shuffle there, and it will take some time to get everything sorted out. Since that went down, we all had a 3 or 4 day weekend, so I came back up here to Idaho to spend some quality time in the storage shed. I went through every single box. Some stuff got consolidated, some got donated, some got tossed, it ALL got re-organized so now it is easy to find and remove when the time comes.

It's my dad's birthday tomorrow, on Memorial Day. We are planning on a barbecue and then I'll head out about 6pm to go back to Logan. I spent some time Friday out at the cemetary, tending my nephews' grave. I don't think my brother goes out there much, if at all. I took away all the trash and the broken decorations and toys, swept it all clean, and brought new decorations and toys. In case any of the family wants to go out and visit this weekend, it is all ready for them. I think tomorrow I'll go back over and take some photos.
In knitting news: The first pink stripy sock has come out of time-out and is finished. The second one is getting its heel flap knitted right now. The Very Special Socks for the VIP are all done. The slog-along continues with various and sundry items each getting a row or two.

In health news: I've been switched to Prozac, and I like it. I'm not napping as much, and I'm sleeping well at night. I seem to have mental energy to get things done (like cleaning out the storage shed) and things don't seem to be weighing down my mind as much. Yay for modern medicine!

Have a lovely Memorial Day and Happy Summer!

In Time-Out

Oh I remember time-out. Actually, in my case it was "The Happy Chair". When I was a wee one, if I needed an attitude adjustment, I got to go sit in the Happy Chair. It was the captain's chair of our dining set. It was placed in the kitchen, next to the sink. My mom says sometimes I'd get a smile on my face before my bottom even touched the chair, other times I stayed there for quite awhile.

My sock is currently in the Happy Chair. And not because I'm happy with it! It is behaving very badly, indeed. First of all, I tried a short-row heel. But I forgot that since there were no gusset rounds, I would have to knit the foot longer to compensate for that. Rip-rip-rip, re-knit longer. Both socks. I was so proud, but then I put them on, and one had 40 rows of ribbing, and the other had 30 rows. And I hated how the short-row heel fitted. Rip-rip-rip some more, re-knit with heel-flap heel. One sock. Tried on again, I had knit too tight, trying to compensate for ramen yarn. Rip-rip-rip, wind on niddy-noddy, wash, hang, dry, re-wind. It's waiting to be knit. And then I will still have to rip the second sock back to the ribbing because 10 rows' difference of ribbing is going to bug me. *sigh*

In the meantime, I am to the heel flap of the second of Very Special Socks for my VIP. Huge socks for huge feet. The heel flap is 39 rows! On Friday I went to Knitters/Spinners Night down at the LYS, and one of the ladies there is a very accomplished knitter. I voiced my frustration with the short-row heel, and my boredom with the heel-flap heel. And since I almost always use stripey sock yarn, I want my heels to look good. Heel-flaps are okay for solid or variegated yarn, but not so good for stripey yarn. She told me to get a sock going, and to put half the stitches on waste yarn at the point of the heel, then continue. Next time we meet, she will show me her method. So of course I was Motivated, and got the remnants of two balls of Opal yarn that should just about be enough to make a pair of shortie socks. They are both ready for heels! And since I am at a standstill on that, I started my doctor's socks today at work. What's that voice I hear in the back? "Slog-Along" it says?
I've been slogging. I finished the cursed green wristwarmers. I finished the Moebius. The two Moebii shown are destined to be gifts this weekend, when I go back up to Rexburg. One is for my dear friend BT, who is a math teacher. I think she will be quite intrigued by the design, if not the colour. I know she prefers earth tones, but I had the purple mohair and I wanted to use it! I should have waited an hour longer to take the photos, the colours would have been more true. And why am I going up to Rexburg? Because it's time for the Snake River Fiber Fair! It will also be my one-year blog-iversary so of course I'll need to add to the stash a tiny bit. I still haven't knit up the sock yarn I bought last year. It is ugly in the extreme, so I haven't been too inspired. But I ought to add it to my slog-along and Just Do It. The DD is begging for socks again so maybe that is where it will go.

Aunt Sylvia

These aren't wonderful photos, as my uncle took them, but it's what I can find on short notice. My mom called me at 10:30 pm tonight. Not a good sign when that happens. I had missed the call, but I rang her back immediately. I knew it wasn't going to be good, and it wasn't. My aunt and uncle are world travellers, and my aunt has died suddenly while on a cruise. My dad got a one-line email from my uncle today, with very little information. My dad will be flying out to Oregon this week to be with my uncle. Sylvia was his third wife. He had nursed his first two wives through lingering illnesses, and she had also lost her husband. I've been trying to think, and I believe they got married a bit less than ten years ago. She was a retired surgical nurse, and she always had to be home in the month of October so she could volunteer giving flu shots. But the rest of the time they were out travelling the country in their motorhome, on cruises, or sightseeing the rest of the world. I've received a few postcards from different places, most notably China and Tahiti. Sylvia was so good for my uncle, he has been so happy with her. I've been grateful that they found each other. My uncle told my dad once that he wanted to be sealed to Sylvia. Interesting comment, since my uncle isn't LDS! But as my folks are Family History Missionaries, you can count on the fact that it will be taken care of.

I'll ETA when I know more details. I'll miss you Sylvia. I'm glad you were part of our family.

~~ETA~~ May 9
My father spoke with Sylvia's daughter last night. Sylvia had started the cruise with pneumonia, which progressed. She also had a blood clot. She was put in the ship's hospital, into ICU. The doctors suggested life support, my uncle declined that. She died soon after that. My dad is flying to Oregon tomorrow, and staying with Sylvia's daughter while he helps out my uncle. All other family plans have been put on standby.

Whether the Weather . . .

. . . . can make up its mind or not, I don't think I'll ever know. Did I just say summer was here? I repent. It is snowing and I am freezing. I am doing my best to coax warmer weather back by playing nothing but Jimmy Buffett songs on the ol' iPod. I'll let you know if it works. I am a third-generation Parrot-head, although I happen to be the one who introduced the prior two generations to him. Whenever we go on family road-trips, I pack every CD of his that I own, and we all agree that we prefer the live ones to the studio ones. So much more energy! If you need a mental pick-me-up, play some Jimmy Buffet. You won't be blue for long, I'll guarantee you!

So . . . . . I'd just like to thank all of those who have accepted my invitations to be readers of this here blog. I don't expect that this place will be exclusive forever, but I had the need to implement just a bit of security. Most likely what I'll do is shift the whole blog to another name and make it public again. I am SO not a confrontational person, so I tend to just disappear out of the view of whoever it is that wants to be abusive. I'm still alive, so it must be working!

Some progress on my Slog-Along: I have finished the wristwarmers, and the Moebius. No photos, because of the snow outside. I think I'll wait until I have a few more items slogged out before I post them all anyway. It will make for a more impactful scene!

And I went back to the doctor today. She was *quite* interested to hear about the night terrors I'd experienced on the Lexapro, particularly since that and Celexa are very very similar. But I told her that the 3-4 hour naps just aren't going to work in my life right now, and so I am trying Prozac for a month. I'd just like to say here that I really like my doctor, and I think she is sock-worthy. She always wants to see what socks I am wearing, and she was very intrigued by the Moebius scarf I was wearing today. I think she deserves a pair of shortie summer socks, so I'm going to knit some for her. I have a 50 g skein of Ditto that will be perfect.

Still loving my beautiful spinning wheel. I haven't yet decided on a name for her, although Kim calls it Pinkie. It's cute, but somewhat uninspired. I tend to take a long time to think about such things, but in the end I'm always pleased with my decision. I'm sure the name thing will be the same. I am still spinning up all that lambswool, but I think I've decided on what I'll knit with it. My LYS recently had a trunk show that was mostly baby items, and there was a hoody that was so cute! The bonus is that the pattern goes from teeny-tiny to extra-huge. I'm quite excited to do this project, because I know I'll have such a feeling of accomplishment. But first I have to finish more of my Slog-Along UFOs.

Oh, before I forget: does anyone have an unwanted copy of Kwik-Sew's Sewing for Babies and Toddlers with the master pattern still intact? I lent mine to a friend and although she mentions it from time to time, I'm not sure if it will find its way home.

Here's hoping spring returns soon, and more readers join in the fun!

Slog-Along, My Way

Having too many projects on the needles is driving me crazy (short trip, I know) so I have declared this to be the week -- or maybe two weeks -- of finishing up languishing projects. I have started with a pair of wristwarmers that have been hanging around since about Thanksgiving. I am just picking up thumbhole stitches on the second one, so that will be finished tomorrow at work. And then I'll move on to another KnittyGritty Moebius that is about a third finished. Although with that, I may need to buy more yarn to complete it, which I'd really rather not do, as the whole point of that particular exercise was to use up yarn. *sigh* After that, I'll be making the very last pair of felted slippers, in two shades of green. These were supposed to be a gift for my ol' buddy Ford, but as he lives in Phoenix, I'm not sure he really needs them. May have to re-think that. And then I have a Booga Bag that I'm supposed to be knitting for a girl at work. I'm just done with the whole felted bag thing for awhile, so it's been a pain to try to get through. Also needing attention is a Paris Loop Poncho, with only about six inches to go. Purling in the round is not my idea of a good time, though. I've got a Mason-Dixon warshrag going, but I tend to keep one of those on hand, as they are like socks. And of course, there are socks going.

So how about that wonderful Feast of St. Pyre we attended last Saturday? Well it was a blast! The weather was perfect; you could not have ordered a better day out of the Sears Catalog. The venue was perfect, the fencing and fighting was a ton of fun, morning court was mercifully short, the children were well-behaved, the dogs did not get into any fights, lunch and feast were delicious, and a good time was seriously had by all. Unfortunately, I got a slight sunburn. My beautiful pink Italian Renaissance gown has long sleeves, a long hem, but deep decollete. I was lifted and squished into a very tight corset and now I have quite the interesting sunburn! No photos, sorry.


And to top it off, my lovely DD was presented with her very first SCA award! It was such a surprise to us, I barely had the presence of mind to get the camera out. But luckily, Their Majesties King Ralph (pronounced Rafe) and Queen Kassandra took their time and that gave me the opportunity to scramble up and into position. The award she got is called Gryphon's Pride, and it is the children's award. It is a large gold-coloured medallion with a gryphon on the front, and "Artemisia's Pride" on the back. From that, I'd assume it is a kingdom award, not necessarily an SCA award. But I shall ask at fighter practice this week.

Except for school still being in session, I think it's safe to say that summer has arrived. The temps have not cooled down at night at all this week, and my house is far too hot to bear. The swamp cooler hasn't been hooked up for the season yet, so I'm trying to cope by having all the windows open all night. But of course, we live in a desert. I hate dusting!

I missed it, but Tiffany posted a really wonderful review of the PBS documentary that aired this week about my religion.

Searching . . . .

Anybody have a copy of Meg Swanson's A Gathering of Lace? My local library doesn't have it, nor does my mother's local library. I do see that the Amazon price is pretty reasonable though. And I have a gift-giving occasion coming up.

Is the opposite of ennui off-wee?

I'm wanting to broaden my chocolate horizons. As an American, I've grown up on Hershey's, which I happen to love. I few years ago I heard this book reviewed on NPR. I remember something about Milton Hershey developing a chocolate recipe that was definitely American, different from anything that was being produced in Europe. And he succeeded, because Hershey's chocolate is unique. But I want to know more.

In my quest so far, I've tried Sam's Choice Belgian Chocolate with chopped almonds. 7 oz/200 g bar, for under $1.50. Great price, but the almonds are indeed chopped, and chopped very small. I like large almond pieces. I didn't like the chocolate at all either. Too smooth, no bite to it. One of the reasons I love Hershey's is that it has a bite to it, and it lets me know when I've had enough. It's hard to explain, but I know what I'm talking about!

I've also acquired Cadbury's Roasted Almond. 4 oz/113 g, about the same price as the other. Much better flavour though. The almonds are bigger, the score lines on the large bar are smaller, and it is smooth, but still has bite.

So what else shall I try? Obviously I like almonds, but I also like hazelnuts. I'm not opposed to shopping at the dollar store, because I have found some very intersting confections there on occasion. I'm not so big on dark chocolate, I prefer milk chocolate. When I lived overseas, our chocolate was imported from Australia. It was quite different, but not bad. They had a bar called Club, made by Hershey's, that was much darker than the Special Dark that we get here. I brought some back for my dad because he likes Special Dark, but he said the Club was too dark for him.

I'm not necessarily a chocolate snob, I just want to experience as much chocolate as I can!

Fly-by Post

Big huge SCA event yesterday, a few photos, a very nice story. Not right this minute, though.

Remember this? I found the pattern for it here. I don't live in Great Britain, but I'm going to knit one anyway!

The general website seems to be www.lcgb.org.

Family Visit

So it's getting to be springtime in the mountains, which means it's time for my grandmother to spend the next few months in her own house. After my uncle died last February, it was decided that she should stay the autumn with my mother in Rexburg, and the winter with my other uncle in Salt Lake City. In the summer she goes home and does her own thing.

My parents went down to SLC this past weekend to fetch her. I met them in Riverside last Friday, for a little while. They brought me milk from my favourite dairy, and we had lunch and ice cream. My dad was in fine form and we proceeded to have a Clark Family Laughing Moment. You know those kind -- you laugh so hard over something so incredibly inane that your stomach hurts? Remind me to tell you sometime about the belt buckle that says "Maybe".

Monday they left SLC and stopped in Layton to visit their other daughter. Tuesday they came up to see us. I got off work a few minutes early and went home to make dessert. They had just barely hit town, and came over shortly thereafter. As soon as he walked in, my dad grabbed the remote and turned the TV to ch 529, which is the western channel. He watched Gene Autry and Bat Masterson and Big Valley. I showed off my spinning wheel, and some of the yarn I've already spun and plied. My dad likes to see how things work so he was hanging over my shoulder, poking this and yanking that. DD was an hour late getting home from school, which caused me some worry. I checked the bus schedules, and determined that if she wasn't on the 4:36 bus then I'd have to go out looking for her. Luckily for her, she turned up. So we all sat down and had supper. Then my grandmother decided she wanted to go and lay down, as she wasn't feeling well. But she wanted to watch American Idol, so I set up the DVR to record it so that she could watch it when she got up.

We sat around and watched other things I'd recorded that I thought they might like. They get three channels at home (when the wind blows the right way) and I really don't have much exciting going on around my house. Only one kid, and she's not a baby anymore. Boring job, although sometimes I do have a funny story to tell.

After awhile my grandmother got up and wanted to watch her program. She doesn't like the "screechy girls" so we were able to fast-forward through those parts. My grandmother is 94 years old, about 4 foot 11, and full of opinions! When it was all over, my dad took "the girls" back to the hotel, and he came back and slept on my couch. As my granny was going out the door, she gave me a hug and said, "Don't worry, it wasn't your cooking that made me sick. I was already sick from this morning!" She is so funny sometimes, but I can tell she just isn't herself since my uncle died.

On to a happier bit of news: I got a new washer tonight! I had mentioned to my old home-teacher's wife that mine had died. She mentioned it to him, he called me up last week. I confirmed I was still in need, so he went to work, trying to locate one. He called the High Priest Group Leader, who knew that a family had just moved out of their house into a new place that had a nicer washer/dryer and so their old one was available. He was about to go on vacation, but before he went, he fetched it over and left it in his driveway. So he called me tonight, and I rounded up my neighbour, and we got it installed! I also found three socks behind the old one, so that's a small mystery solved. I am really grateful for my Home Teacher. If anyone out there doubts the need to do your Home/Visiting Teaching, I just want to say that when you have few resources, having that contact is very important.

And I bought my plane tickets for Chicago. By very happy coincidence, I will be there the week of MCM's birthday. His headstone is up, and his condo is on the market. We have already planned lots of places to go and see, and things to do. Of course I have to hit at least one yarn shop. I don't think the socks I knit for him will ever be found, but at least I can buy some sock yarn from there. It's kinda the same. The Idaho state quarter *should* be out by then. He was buried with four quarters in his pocket, because he always carried them, but I want to leave an Idaho quarter with him too. I still miss him so much. Sometimes I dream that he is still here. I won't erase my answering machine because it's filled up with his messages. Some are from before I moved here, before he got sick, when his voice was still strong. I feel him watching over me. I'm still glad that the last thing he heard me say was "I love you".

I Need a Nap

I seriously need a nap, for like about six months. I've had my med switched to Lexapro, and it's been seven weeks now. I had it switched because I was taking three-hour naps every day with the Celexa. I don't know about you, but I just don't have three extra hours per day to spend unconscious. I also switched the time of day I take it to afternoon, instead of morning. But it's very helpful if I can have a one-hour nap soon after I take it. I don't have to have the nap, but I find I can finish the day in a much more human manner than if I don't have the nap. However . . . . . .

The constant nightmares I can live without. I am setting multiple alarm clocks, and asking friends in different time zones to ring me when they are just up in the morning, or about to go to bed. They don't have to sit and have a conversation with me, I just need to Wake Up And End The Dream. They are getting horrendous. I am sleeping just fine. I can fall asleep easily, and I can go back to sleep easily if wakened. That in itself is a huge accomplishment, but I would really like to not be having the nightmares.

And we are currently living a waking nightmare as well. Friday there was no school. So the DD went to stay the weekend with some friends who are also in the SCA with us. She really likes hanging out with this particular family because they are a mixed-race family and she feels that since she looks like their children that she fits in. They all spent the day up on the campus of USU doing some SCA exhibition-type things. While I was out running errands and such, I got a phone call from the assistant principal at the school. Oh you're just going to love this: DD is being threatened with another day of suspension, because she handed in an assignment that is a "red-flag". I am going in tomorrow after work to sit down and have a talk with this woman and ask why exactly my child is to be punished for filling out a "What I Want To Be When I Grow Up" worksheet with a possible job of state executioner. My first response was to laugh, because I know my kid. She most likely was pressed for time and didn't have a fourth thing to put down. The first three things she chose were Coroner (she has talked about this one pretty much all school year, so no surprise), Movie Critic (my brother is an amateur director and has also done movie reviews for the local TV station), and Pediatrician. As far as I know at this time, this was a worksheet given at the beginning of class, to be turned in at the end of class. This was before the events at Virginia Tech.

I asked the assistant principal to read me the entire assignment. As she was reading, her voice disappeared and I could totally hear my daughter as if she were reading it. This child is wicked-smart, and gets bored very easily. I can totally see her trying to make such a boring assignment a bit more intersting for herself, by doing at least part of it totally tongue-in-cheek. She said she didn't want to be a Pediatrician, because she doesn't like small children. I know for a fact that isn't true, because ever since she was a 2-year-old in daycare she has loved helping out with the smaller children and babies. She just volunteered to babysit for Homemaking Meeting, and she is very compassionate towards all little ones. If she doesn't want to be a Pediatrician, it's not because she doesn't like small children.

And as for the State Executioner job, blame it on NPR. My car radio is never tuned to anything except the local public radio station. When we are on the road, I know exactly where one station drops out and where the next one comes in, and what time All Things Considered comes on. So a few weeks ago we were driving around town. A story came on, saying that a prisoner on death row in California has had his execution delayed indefinitely because authorities are having trouble finding a medical professional willing to do the lethal injection. Go listen, I'll wait. See you in 5. I thought it was an interesting story, but didn't think much about it after we got home. But obviously it was on her mind for much longer.

Well, this assistant principal was telling me that DD's assignment was unacceptable, and she was to be suspended for another day because of it. And that's where Mama Bear got a bit agitated. I asked the woman to cite the rule that was broken. She stated it was in the Student Handbook. "Oh, you mean one of those stacks of papers and things that students receive the first day of school and promptly file either in the trashcan or the bottom of their locker? THAT school handbook?" Can I tell you, I searched the district website for an hour before I even found anything that could possiblly be called a Student Handbook. And it's written in extremely vague language. From what I can gather, "Zero Tolerance" also means "Zero Common-Sense". I can see that if a student were to write about any war in human history, they could be disciplined. No, it doesn't come right out and SAY that, but you could certainly twist the words into whatever meaning you wanted. And Heaven protect the kindergarten child who draws a family portrait and includes Daddy over in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Now before someone freaks out at me, let me state that I think weapons at school are not a good idea. But this whole Zero Tolerance thing has gotten to the point where it's an exercise in ridiculousness. Ridiculosity, even. I know we are all on edge because of what happened last week in Virginia. And by unhappy coincidence (or maybe not, I haven't heard) it's also the anniversary of Columbine, and of Waco and Oklahoma City. But for Pete's sake, let's not forget what the real goal is here. Some people are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and I am afraid that a silly worksheet, filled out in a sarcastic manner is going to cause my extremely intelligent and very talented kid to hate school and decide she doesn't want to do what it takes to be a coroner. Or whatever she decides next week that she wants to be. It used to be Egyptologist, then it switched to NASA scientist.

So then I asked if the teacher had given any guidelines at all as to what would not be acceptable. Very long pause, then "Noooooooooooooooo . . . . . . " So if nobody was explicitly told what they could not write about, then it seems that perhaps this allegation is unfounded. And when I called up my Dear Daughter and told her what had happened, she began crying. She was mortified that her meaning had been taken so horribly the wrong way, she had totally not meant it to sound threatening or sociopathic in any way. In her mind, she was trying out what we know as sarcasm, and it was taken seriously. She is upset at herself, and at the teacher and assistant principal. Why is it that her rights seem to have been ignored in all this? Her words were not directed at anyone at all. It was definitely unwise to say "I'd like to be a State Executioner because I could legally kill somebody and not be punished for it." But be honest: haven't we all thought something along those lines once in our lives? It doesn't mean that we really meant it, or that we would ever take the steps to actually do it. And what twelve-year-old child knows as much as an adult?

*Sigh*
Sorry for venting at you all, but I had to say it before I go in tomorrow and see what we can do about this. If I have my say now, I'm much less likely to emote all over everyone at the school. My going in there and freaking out is not going to help my kid. Did I say I was tired? How about on-beyond-zebra exhausted!

~~ETA~~
I was informed this morning that my presence at the school today was not needed, and DD would not be suspended. I suppose I'll get more info in an hour when she comes home. I also called my doctor, but she is out for a week, so I spoke to one of the other doctors there, who wants me to go back on the Celexa, and then I have an appointment with my doctor on May 4. Since I have seizures, so many anti-depressants are contraindicated. Since I am kind of known for making things harder than they have to be, it may very well be decided that I'll do best on Prozac! I don't really care what it is that I'm taking, so long as it does what it needs to do, and doesn't do what it's not supposed to.