Random Saturday

1. I can't find my 'go to' sweater from last year, or the several pairs of socks I made over the summer. I really need to clean and organize this house.

2. Have you ever tried to keep food in the larder while living with a swarm of locusts? It's damn near impossible. Thank goodness for Sam's Club. When we are out of consumables, there is always the eleventy billion packs of microwave popcorn I picked up on the last trip. The house perpetually smells like a movie theater.

3. It's really fun to hold a little kitten to your ear and listen to her purr.

4. There are dog/cat hair tumbleweeds the size of a full grown Chihuahua blowing about in the front hall. I really need to clean and organize this house.

5. Taking my turn sitting at hospice with Mother (granny-in-law) these last two weeks gives me much time to knit and contemplate in the quiet room. I have been able to observe the different grieving processes of family members. Some openly weep, some deny, others put on a brave face. All forms of expressing one's anguish are sincere, and none of these forms are "wrong". We all deal with death in our own way, and we can not look disdainfully on those that express their emotion differently. I went through this with my own mom years ago, and was a little too close to the situation and self-engrossed to really observe the process in others. It has been my privilege to tend to Mother in her final days and spend a little one on one time with a woman that is strong, feisty, and has a killer sense of humor.

6. I'm almost done with the socks I've been working on while "grannysitting". I'd show you a picture, but I can't find the camera. I've really got to clean and organize this house.

Think Pink

For anyone living under a rock, (that must be some rock if you're able to get internet!) I'd like to remind you that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This month is always a bittersweet month for me. It is yet another opportunity for me to be reminded of the people in my life that I have lost to cancer. Upper most in my heart is my mother. She lost her battle to breast cancer 12 years ago on June 8th.

Not only do I think of her on that day, but I also think of her on her birthday in August. But October is bittersweet to me, because my husband and I were married in October on my birthday. One of my favorite pictures of my mother is one that my mother-in-law snapped from across the church aisle. It's my mother with tears unashamedly running down her face as I walked down the aisle on my father's arm.

While any form of cancer is flat out one of the worst things ever placed on this earth, I feel it's important to maintain one's sense of humor. What a dark miserable world this would be if we couldn't laugh about something so wretched.

With that in mind, please Save the Ta-Tas! Ladies, you might consider buying this for your husbands.

Autumn

My daily footwear has changed. The anklet has come off. It usually goes on in the spring once it becomes too warm to wear socks and doesn't come off until it becomes too brisk to go without socks.

The footwear is now handknit socks and Birkies.

By the way, does anyone know what kind of cocoon this is? It's hanging on the back door frame. I did a quick search of cocoons, and this might be a Monarch butterfly cocoon. If it is, we'll know in about 10-14 days.

Wow, just, wow. I have no words. I love Cate Blanchett. I love her quirky fashion sense, but this...wow. I'm flummoxed.

O.k. I did have a few words.

What in the Sam Hill was I thinking?

Meet the newest member of the Clan. She's about 3 months old, and I swore on many occasions that she would not come to live with us since we already have two dogs and a mean cat, one that would rather bite you than look at you.

The PD (that's the sister in law) let her cat get out of the house before she had her baby making parts removed. She was able to find homes for the other three, but no one wanted this one. The others were generally thought to be "cuter". There was a grey one, a black one, and a white and black one. Personally, I thought that mug up there was the cutest. It has more character.

She ended up at our house on Labor Day. When will I learn not to have cook outs and invite the in laws? She was supposed to go home with the Gaggs (the mother in law). But when faced with the pleading faces of 3 of my children (the Boy didn't give a hoot), I caved even though I'm allergic to cats. Because that's the kind of mom I am.

I was given the naming rights. Her name is Allegra, which is also the name of my allergy meds.

As a side note - Does anyone know if cats blink? It's a little disconcerting.

Now that the kidlets are back in school, there has been more knitting time. I'm working on these.

That's the first of the Pomatomus sock by the brilliant Cookie A. I'm a little late to the Cookie party, but I like to think of it as being fashionable. This normally is worked on while sitting at the dojo or in a doctor's office. I always try to keep a pair of socks on the needles so I have something portable to keep me busy while waiting.

I also have this wrinkled blob. It's Creideamh from the Embrace the Lace Club. You can't tell, but it's a beautiful shawl from a pattern by Renee Leverington using Miss Babs' Yearning.

I'm having a much easier time with this shawl than I am the Swallowtail. It's just yarn overs and decreases on both, but for some reason the Swallowtail is the petulant child. So it's been put in time out.

I must go...I have to, again, chastise Allegra for trying to chew on my dpns.

AAHHH

The year is full of possibilities. With the kidlets in school, I can finally organize the photos, closets and drawers. I can finish my knitting projects currently on the needles, and start new ones. I can get the bedrooms painted. Maybe I'd better start with this...

or this...

So Where Was I?

Oh, yeah. Sorry, I got distracted for a moment. The Boy (who is 13) just asked a rhetorical (I hope) question. "Am I the only one in this family that uses his brain?" For once, I got to do the eye roll thing.

I finished the two pairs of socks that I had been working on since the spring, started the Pomatomus sock using Lorna's Laces in the old rose color, and have advanced to the nupps on the Swallowtail shawl.

Which brings me to nupps. I hates them, I does. Don't get me wrong, they are very pretty. I just don't like making them. If you don't know what a nupp is, the easiest way for me to describe it is that it is a little blob of yarn in your knitting sort of like a flat bobble. So I replaced the nupps with beads. I'm not sure I'm loving the beads, either.

I'd show you pictures, and ask for opinions, but the one camera has a rechargeable battery (which is dead), and I can't find the charger. The other camera uses AA batteries, and we are out. We have a herd of C, D, 9volt and AAA. The AA's have evidently been sent to the slaughterhouse.

I have a serious case of the summer blahs. I'm dealing with some stuff that is very disheartening that I'd rather not talk about in a public place, and I wish it would just go away.

But I've told myself things will get better in a mere 18 days. The kidlets will be back in school.

Today...

Today we are not Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. Today we are not black, white, yellow,brown or red. Today we are not Christian, Jew, or Muslim. Today we are not SUV drivers, hybrid drivers, or public transport riders. Please take a moment today to remember what makes this country beautiful. It's our differences and our freedom to express those differences and still some how manage to work together for the good of all. Today we are Americans.

Life with a Cop




Things the Wife of an accountant never has to say:




1. "Dang it, honey, you left shell casings in your pocket, again!" Usually said upon hearing the gawdawful clanging noise coming from the dryer.




2. "It's for you." Mumbled at 2:30am when the phone rings for the umpteenth time in the middle of the night during the past 15+ years of marriage.




3. "You might want to keep your voice down." Said to the Husband while he is speaking on his phone in a restaurant about a serious auto collision that just happened, and the department calls him because he is the accident reconstructionist. You say this because you realize everyone in the place is staring, because the Husband just said, "Is anyone dead?" quite loudly. You later suggest he may want to rephrase that question in the future to, "Are there any fatalities?" I don't know, it sounds a little less gruesome.




4. "Sorry, kids, change of plans." Said to the kids when a family whatever has been planned, and you and the kids are now doing it without the Husband, because he's just been called into work.



Things the Wife of an accountant never has to hear:




1. "Wash that uniform in really hot water. I had to wrestle with a guy with AIDS today, and he was bleeding." This is when you consider taking it out to the back yard and burning it.




2. "He's in the ER. He was in a car crash." You hear this from the dispatcher when you are unable to reach the Husband while he is at work. She thoughtfully patches you through so you can talk to the Husband and find out that he's fine. He was just hit head on by a drunk grandma while he was in his cruiser.




3. "We had something funny happen today. We had to deal with a guy who thought that because he was naked, he was also invisible."




4. "I'll be home late. We just had a stabbing."




5. "Oh, that's were I left it."

Found in the drawer while putting away clean laundry. (Please notice that it is unloaded before you try to call ''child welfare services".)

65th Anniversary of the Longest Day

Thanks to gentlemen like Hu Riley, we are able to enjoy the lives we lead today. This gentleman was the subject of Robert Capa's famous D-Day photo. If you know a WWII vet, give him hug and thank him. We soon won't have the opportunity.

'It was rougher than hell': A D-day veteran remembers

Life

going on, right outside our front door.

This Momma Bird (I think it's a mourning dove, but I'm no ornithologist) has been sitting there for about two weeks now. I think if she had opposable thumbs, she would be knitting booties while she waits. At least I'd like to think so.

In Which I Get Creative, Sort Of

It had occurred to me that, well, I was really stretching of late to come up with something to post. The only way to remedy that was to create something about which to post.

Suddenly, it came to me...I am a knitter! I can take some sharpish, pointy sticks with some yarn, and...wait for it...make something about which to post. (Smacks head, v8 style)


I had finished the Sitcom Chic, which, no offense Bonne Marie, is a rather boring knit until you get to the eyelets, and it quickly becomes boring to talk about. Hence, not much posting other than the "still working on the Sitcom Chic" kind. But this kind of project is perfect for "24" watching. You can pay attention to what's going on with Jack Bauer, and not pay attention to your project at the same time without fear of a horrible tragedy occurring (in your knitting, not on "24"). At the end of the season, Jack has saved the world, again, and you have a lovely little cardigan.

I just really like the Scottish thistle button, that's why.

I also have these going on.

This is the Slipped Stitch Rib pattern from Charlene Schurch's book Sensational Socks using Plymouth Sockotta yarn.

I started these, because I'm not real crazy about that Sockotta yarn up there. The twist of cotton they add to the wool will make them good socks for warmer fall weather, but it doesn't feel real nice while you're working with it. It feels like knitting with twine. So I have these in the same bag as the Sockotta socks, for when I'm sitting for 3 frakken hours at the karate dojo and I get tired of the twine feel. That's not the best lighting there, is it? These are plain Jane stocking stitch with Paton's Kroy that I scored at Michael's for $.99 per ball, baybee! Uhthankyouverymuch. They only had 4, I bought them all. I'm worth it.

I would also like to present to you...cat vomit on a stick. Because that's what it looks like.

It may look like vomitus, but it feels like a whisper. It's the Swallowtail Shawl (originally from Interweave Knits Fall 06) using Misti Alpaca 2-ply. You see that lovely model mocking me? She tasks me.



This is my first foray into lace. I did do a pair of socks with yarn overs, but I don't count that as lace. Those were just eyelets, like in Sitcom Chic. I started this thing over four times. I'd get so far, get cocky and make a mistake that I couldn't fix without ripping back. Then I couldn't figure out how many stitches were supposed to be on the needles. I'd look up, see that mocking, all-knowing smirk on the model, and rip the whole thing out. Finally, after the fourth time, I had an aha moment. Life lines!



For those of you that don't know what a life line is, you simply run a different thread or yarn through your stitches on the needles after a pattern repeat or where ever it suits you. You let extra hang out from both ends of the row, being careful not to catch it in the stitches of the next row. If you need to rip back, the ripping will stop at the row with the lifeline. You simply put those stitches back on your needle and off you go. I'm using dental floss, it works really well.



So, ppffftt on you, you smug model.

Things I like about Canada (in no particular order)












1. Good beer (Moose Head, Labatts, Molson)

2. They drink the beer in pubs, not bars. It sounds so much more civilised.

3. Using 's' instead of 'zed' in some words, and throwing in the random 'u'.

4. Great Big Sea


5. Great yarns - Patons, Koigu, Shelridge Farms, Fleece Artist for example


6. Hockey

7. Colder weather, therefore more opportunities to wear wool.

8. Feel the need for a little French fix? Montreal and Quebec


9. They have kilt wearing bagpipers too!


10. Mounties look darn good in the red jacket, campaign hat and boots.

11. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland

12. Back bacon, maple syrup, and poutine (not all together!)


13. Want cowboys and huge mountains? Go west, young man, to Calgary and Banff.


14. Puffins, moose, and elk


15. Rush


16. William Shatner, Dan Aykroyd, and Kiefer Sutherland


17. They sit on a chesterfield drinking Timmies.


Happy Victoria Day to our neighbours in the Great White North! Please, don't get so pissed on the 24 that you yak.

Who doesn't like a little Christopher Walken?

Mommmmm, I'm boooored

Those of us that have kids all know that sound. Those of us that were kids know that sound.

When I signed up for this gig, I don't recall "social director" being on the form. Cook, laundress, scullery maid, and orifice wiper were definitely on the list of duties. Social director, not so much.

So when I heard that keening cry coming from the Girl two weeks ago during spring break, I promptly suggested she knit something. The idea stuck like a lip locked pair of teenage prom dates.

With every ball of yarn she pulled out of my stash, I quickly dashed her hopes. 420m ball of Kauni? Nope, need that for a sweater. Purple ball of Galway? Future sweater.

Her response? Eye rolling and sass.

So we went to the LYS, after an hour and one half, she finally picked out a ball of Malabrigo in a pretty blue. She has 1 1/2 row of her swatch done. Did I mention this was two weeks ago?

Meanwhile, here's a picture of a huge pretzel with the ball of yarn and minuscule swatch thrown in for scale.

Thank a Cop

It's not often I feel the need to let my feelings be known concerning current affairs, and when I do, I try to do it with humor. But there is nothing funny about police officers being gunned down while doing their job.

In recent weeks, 7 police officers have lost their lives in the line of duty. The first four were Oakland police officers that lost their lives in an attempt to apprehend a man that was out on parole who was hell bent on not going back to jail. This all started with a "simple" traffic stop.

Just two days ago, three police officers lost their lives in Pittsburgh during a "simple" domestic dispute call. The first two officers were shot in the head at the front door of the house. The third lost his life trying to help his brothers in blue. He had just finished his shift and was on his way home when he heard the call for help.

Being the spouse of a police officer for the past 15 years has given me a different perspective on these shootings than the general public. My first thoughts are for the spouses and children these fallen heroes may have had. When I was pregnant 9 years ago (unexpectedly, and with twins), I had a bit of a panic attack.

As I was driving home from a doctor's appointment, I suddenly became worried that the Husband might die in the line of duty with me, a stay at home mother of two young children, with twins on the way, left alone. I quickly realized that this kind of thinking would take me no where except down the road to a nervous wreck. So I have learned not to dwell on what could happen, and just try not to pick a fight with him right before he leaves for work.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of gratitude towards America's service men and women. You've seen the yellow ribbons on cars, and I'm sure a few of you have knitted socks and balaclavas to be sent to the troops protecting us from overseas threats. Please, let's not forget about the men and women keeping us safe here at home.

If you want to show your appreciation there are little things you can do. The next time you get pulled over for speeding, don't curse the police officer under your breath. He's not stopping you because he has a quota. He's stopping you because your speed could pose a potential danger for other drivers.

The next time you see the local constable, wave and say hello. Don't be surprised if he gives you a suspicious look, because no one ever does that. Better yet, you could introduce yourself, shake his hand and say "thank you for your service". Or better still, if you're feeling generous, stop by the department with gift certificates to the local eatery, they'd even be happy with McDonald's.

If you do this, you might get to know your local police officers better, and you'll learn that they are just hardworking people trying to make a living like the rest of us.

MMM, Purdy

I'm not one for joining as I've mentioned here before, but I really wanted to join this knitting club. It's the Embrace the Lace club. Y'all know how these things work. They suck you in. Even though you pay good money for your monthly (bi-montly, or whatever the case may be) shipment, you con yourself into thinking you got something for free because it is a surprise when it shows up.

It's a surprise because you're not sure when it will get to you, and you don't know what's in the box. The good people at Woolgirl are just sending you this stuff out of the goodness of their hearts. At least that's what I tell myself since I paid for it oh so many months ago, it's like getting it for free!

It's my logic and it works for me. Now, if I can just get it to work on the Husband.

Is it just me?

Or does anyone else this time of year shout out and point while driving, "Look, kids, leaves! There are leaves on those bushes!"

No? All righty, then.

Maybe we'd be better off...

if all of our politicians had a sense of humor.

My Eyes!

What is that thing making my eyes want to squinch closed? The sun? You don't say...

Finally, we have a wee little bit of sun around here, and I'm not wearing a coat. Pfffftht, on you, Mr. Winter. I probably shouldn't have raspberried him. I don't want to tick him off so he comes back full force.

Due to the lack of sun, I've not taken any pictures of my current projects. But, now, here they are.

This is sock 1 and 1/4 of the Elongated Corded Rib pattern in Charlene Schurch's most excellent book Sensational Knitted Socks. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in knitting socks and want to learn.

I'm using Austermann Step for these socks, and I love this yarn. It has aloe and jojoba oil in the fiber making it really soft. I can't wait to wear them. I think they could become my favorites.

I started on the Girl's Sheldon. Except, she's Shelly. I just have to finish the I-cord around the shell and sew on the legs. Hopefully this will not sit for a year like the first Sheldon. I have 5 more Sheldon's to go!