A quiz from the author of Chicks with Sticks


You are BELLA. Floating around in a cloud of

patchouli, you're all about peace, love, and

floaty shawls. You're quirky, generous and

you don't give an organic fig about fitting

in. Which is not to say you're not open to a

little adventure. You've been known to stray

from your vegetarian, new-age ways. Hey, as

they say in yoga class, happiness is all

about balance. Happiness is also your

favorite yarn, the softest alpaca in the

world.


Which Chick Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Illustration Friday - Tea

I did this a while back. Will post a new image here if I get to it... I must say, the Knitting Olympics wore me out.

Knitting Olympics - Closing Ceremonies and Extinguishment of Flaming Torch.
Your erstwhile competitor has been sidelined for the past few days. Though not as dramatic as death or taxes, it turned out that professional development, work and family obligations took precedence over showing up for all of the events. Bus schedules were NOT a problem, regardless of what Johnny Weir said.

Finally medal tally:
0 Gold
0 Silver
0 Bronze

Injury tally:
slight carpal tunnel/cramps in left thumb.
FO's 1 pair socks for DH. These are prime wabi-sabi examples, so the marks were not high enough for an individual medal.
WIP sock 1- pr 2 for yours truly. So far, the quality and accuracy of this 4th lifetime sock is high. Keep your fingers crossed. This could earn the highest marks yet. Especially with MUCH simpler step by step kitchener instructions forwarded by DD.

Stay tuned for follow up entry:
Everything I needed to know I learned from the Knitting Olympics.

TINK TINK TORINO
or
Wabi Sabi Wabi Sabi Sis Boom Bah!!


"Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things
imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.
It is a beauty of things modest and humble.
It is a beauty of things unconventional."
Leonard Koren


So I am working on Sock 1 Pair 2. FINALLY.
The yarn is lovely. The needles are microscopically larger than the previous ones... not so much because of gauge considerations as that I didn't have 5 matching dpns that were the same size as previously... and I wanted fewer stitches and a looser tension...

I never like doing the same thing twice, so I decided the main pattern stitch of this pair would be garter rib:

Round 1: Knit
Round 2: K2P2.

Well, I must be related to Pavlov's dogs because every time I go from one DPN to another, I seem to think it is time to start a new Round... which means, I was tinking. A lot.
And this is even WITH the advantage of my handy dandy row counter... which I either set at "00" as in, nothing fancy or "02" as in K2P2.

But-- my hands and brains seem to be disconnected. At least sometimes.... And then there was ALSO a row where I apparently just PURLED... which was an obvious error... and not in Wabi Sabi mode at all... Praise the Flying Spaghetti Monster for crochet hooks and the ability to pick up stitches. If I'd had to tink back the 5 rows that happened before I noticed that blunder... Well, I'd be drinking rather than blogging.

First Heat Complete
But, good grief.
This was more of a dissapointment than all those skaters crashing to the ice on their last turns and spins.

WHO KNEW THAT "kitchenering" (can that BE a verb?) a mere 12 (twelve) stitches would take almost 2 hours? Yeah, I hadn't done it very well on Sock 1, and was determined to "do it right this time" with the aide of 3 books. I still don't think these would pass the judges at the county fair. (I'm not going to SHOW you the toe.... heh heh heh)

Fortunately, DD says she has a verbal set of instructions that make all things clear and knowable. She's heading overseas soon... I hope she can find time to photocopy them and put them in the mail.

(Aren't the colors amazing though? They're a bit browner than in the photo but I wanted all the different shades to come through.

Illustration Friday - Song
For my friends

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart
and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Author unknown.

Do you think any of our leaders have read this?
I don't.
And it's too bad.

The 33 Strategies of War, compiled by the same Robert Green that did The Laws of Power and Rules of Seduction is (so far) an entertaining, philosophical, thought-provoking and USEFUL introduction/review to why people battle and how they win. Not to mention why some people choose to win by NOT fighting... Whether you prefer Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Lausewitz or Casanova, they all won more battles than both Bushes combined.

The first chapter is about knowing yourself and facing reality.
Q. Who do you think would benefit from THAT?
D'oh.
A. EVERYBODY!!

The last long chapter is about dirty wars....
Read. Digest. Think. Win.

I finished all but the kitchener bit on Sock 2 of Pair 1. I am going to wait until morning to do it. The light will be better as will my patience! I've gotten out 3 references: Vogue Knitting Guide, Knitter's Handbook, and N. Wiseman's guide to finishing. Looks like Vogue Knitting guide is most comprehensive (again). I hope not to do a Jacobellis at the end of this sock.
Oh, and I'm going to use a stray Christmas ornament as a darning egg... suddenly darning eggs make sense. Who knew?

Knitting Olympic Update
Renewed hope, but major deductions anticipated by (Inner) judges.
Team member WAY farther back in the pack than anticipated.



The Inner Judge could hardly believe her eyes at the errors made in Sock 2, Pair 1.
1. A wonky place in the bottom of the heel. A mystifying intersection of a yo, and K2tog created what would seem to be a fork in the road, where it should have been a straight away.
2. A dropped stitch in the vicinity of the gusset. How did that little bugger get away from her?
3. Is a better recovery than expected. The plain brown yarn which we hope will remain inside DH's shoe, is a remarkably close match to the brown of the Cherry tree Hill Farm yarn. The gauge is slightly smaller, but extra rounds can easily be added so that both socks are the same size.

Yesterday, when the CTH yarn gave out, Intrepid knitter kept herself busy by casting on Sock 1, Pair 2. This is also a Cherry Tree Hill Yarn, but since IK's feet are somewhat smaller than DH, she hopes there will be enough yarn. She is going to use K2P2 ribbing at the very top, and then switch to a garter rib. She is optimistic that this, combined with fewer stitches cast on, will speed up the knitting somewhat.





Just in case it didn't, she stocked up on supplies for Team Chocolate.










Warning: Political Content
This knitter, self-professed champion of free speech and challenger of censorship since her "old librarian days" has been concerned and confused by the flaps and counter flaps about the political cartoons drawn in Denmark (the country of at least some of her foremothers). She had rather thought that political cartoons were intended to point out problems, hypocracy, stupidity and were thus predictably offensive to somebody most of the time. It had never occured to her that there were places where not only was it taboo to point out problems, but that in some of those places they would be glad to, um, kill the messenger. (Actually, when you put it like that it sounds too familiar.)

Well, if you want to see the second wave of political cartoons which illuminate even more of the free speech, victimized perpetrators and perpetrating victims, you can go here. The Economist Magazine (which I thought was a reliable source for the European View) has an article about the issues. Pick it up on the newsstand, or subscribe here. But at least one commentator thinks that The Economist has been hoodwinked by Bush administration stringers. And another, definitely a rabble rousing left-of-center gadfly bunch, points out the self-serving twists in the administrations remarks.
If only SOME people get to say what they think is true, where is there hope for Democracy? for progress? for Truth?

On a much lighter note, I stayed up til the wee hours finishing C. Ahern's first book, PS, I Love You. How this woman (who was merely 21 years old at the time) can write so tenderly of love, loss, grief and starting over is amazing to me. Who knew that traveling with a young widow and her wild friends and eccentric family could have so much charm.
Ms. Ahern. may not stay on reading lists as long as Dickens or Dostoyevsky, but she comes much closer than either of them to describing what it is like for a young woman to adjust to loss in the 21st century.
I enjoyed her following novel about Rosie just as much (even though I read it first), and am completely confident in my anticipation of reading her latest hardcover: If You Could See Me Now.
Skip these if you only read Joan Didion or Sontag... but race to the store or library if you like Maeve Binchy, Debbie Macomber and any other contemporary British/Irish story tellers. Oh, and if you know any other authors in that vein, let me know, OK?

Texas Member of Team Boston Runs Out Of Steam...and Yarn #$%$^&@!!!

This participant's worst fears were confirmed during the women's skeleton, when she realized she was only half way through the foot of sock two, AND THERE WAS NO MORE YARN. As planned, she is going to go to LYS first thing tomorrow and purchase plain dark sock yarn for future heels, toes, and ends-of-feet. Nevertheless, the judges are likely to be unsympathetic. She should have known that DH's feet were only slightly smaller than Bigfoot... and would require $40 worth of yarn rather than $20. (Why didn't she start out with KnitPicks? As a first time particpant, it's unlikely she'd have been faulted for caution.

Well, as one of the non-medaling Skateboard Cross competitors from team USA said,

"Go for a wreck, or Go for a win... it's all the same."

Coincidentally, there is no longer any chocolate, cake, or snack worth it's calories in the house. How I would LOVE to switch to Team Chocolate. Maybe tomorrow. It is suppose to be tres cold here over the weekend. Who could stand to be "iced in" without chocolate?

Since I didn't want to completely waste a day of competition, I did cast on for Sock 1 of Pair 2. This pair is for yours truly and slightly smaller than Yeti Sized socks for DH. I'm still in the "EASY" pages of Sensational Knitted Socks, but will go for the garter rib pattern rather than baby cable. If I am still friends with DPN's after Pair 2, I may try a toe up sock with a 5 stitch pattern. At least I didn't hagve to swatch, because I'm using the same brand of yarn and same size needles.
If all else fails, I will ask for mercy from Team Overwhelm and just lie idly on the couch for the rest of the month.

Torino Torino Torino
Knitting Olympics Update:
Team Boston knitter from Texas gets points deducted.
We regret to report that:

• Somewhere in the knitting of the gusset, a stitch was added/dropped/or imagined, making a strange decrease-y looking thing on the bottom of the sock
• Intended recipient's heels are so hard, it is not expected that this will be noticed by him..
• Knitter was more interested in finishing than frogging.
• The judges are unsure how much to deduct for this faux pas
• The judges may or may not also note irregularities in the gusset decreases, especially in contrast to sock #1
• The batteries in my cameras are dead so there are no photos tonight.

When interviewed, the knitter reported that she hoped to be able to improve on pair of socks 2, but that she would at least finish this pair. "There won't be another pair of socks like these anywhere, so from that angle, they are very special. They will surely fit the intended recipient, so they are at least functional. I hope Pair 2 are closer to the flawless performances the audiences expect from Olypians and Team Boston.

In unrelated news, DH surprised the knitter with not one, not two, but THREE charming Valentines, hidden throughout their home... one of which included a leather book mark which quotes Victor Borge saying:

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

The knitter was charmed.

Happy Valentine's Day, Y'All

Torino Torino Torino!

Knitting Olympics Update
The heel flap is complete, the heel is turned, and now we're speeding through the gusset.
I have NO idea how many stitches I've done. but I haven't knit much today. Too much time at the computer and staring off into space. Weren't the Chinese skaters gutsy to get up and go again?

Avoiding Speed Knitting Injuries

Illustration Friday - Simple

No medals yet, but good progress.

I watched most of the Saturday Prime Time skating, skiing and mogul'ing. Boy, I felt like a couch potato before, and now I think i feel like Scalloped Couch Potatoes.

Good think I'm in the KNITTING olympics, because bad knees and a big tush aren't a problem. Rather than start with a new pair of socks, I am finishing sock 2 of an old project, and still hope to finish the three pairs as committed to. Although Mr. Speedy Boy (from my adopted home state of TEXAS) was cool about planning to try for one medal at a time. Out of respect for him, my plan is to finish heel flap, and turn heel (at least by tomorrow) and perhaps wind up kitchener with Monday daylight. At 3 days per sock it would take 18 days to finish my challenge... but I'm hoping that pairs 2 and 3 are a bit smaller, AND that I get faster with practice.

This afternoon Emory Texas had it's annual Eagle Fest. Who knew that there were so many avid raptor watchers in East Texas. I have never been within a finger's length of a Sparrow Hawk, or a Bald Eagle, or Red Tailed Hawk or Barred Owl. Even the black Vulture was amazing. Their handlers took them off to SUV's on higher ground, and the birds came swooping in over us to their meaty treats. Swift, silent and majestic.












All of the raptors looked bigger in flight than when resting on the handler's leather clad hand.

There was a crested vulture that was so smart it waited by the side of the road, and looked both ways before venturing into the road after road-kill.




Some folks had long lenses. I wish I'd used a higher density photo card. These animals were magnificent. Most of them eat bugs or vermin. Many of them are adapting to urban living as their more pastoral habitats are jostled. American Kestrels (Sparrow Hawks) are happy sitting in trees waiting for unsuspecting creatures. Small Owls will sit near light fixtures waiting for moths. And another predator follows the grasshopper life cycle from Canada to Argentina and back.

Who knew?

Oh, and if a vulture is cornered and wants to attack... It vomits at the enemy. Since it eats rank carrion and can neutralize any even the rabies virus, one hates to imagine the odor or toxicity. Don't make a vulture angry.


This is a gratuitous cat photo, exemplifying what I want to do next.

Torino Torino Torino!
I am not ready for knitting Olympics. I hope that Team Boston isn't ashamed of me. At least I won't be thrown out for doping. Or Betting.
(I feel so bad for The Great One.)

But I know where my needles are, and my pre-wound skeins of sock yarn. One Twinkletoes and Two Cherry Tree Hill Farm. I decided that besides my age and my vision, I needed another handicap, so I am requiring myself to finish DSS Sock for DH first.... I'm not to the heel turn yet. But may get there by sometime tomorrow as I must take my car in for refreshed oil (I'm addicted to oil, and so is the Camry), and a new head light.


Then, things are gonna get hot. Flashing those needles. I have a life to live besides watching olympics of course... That's the deal, right, knit WHILE WATCHING THE OLYMPICS...


But we want to go look at the Eagles (bald or not) in Emory over the weekend. (You can be sure we WON'T be there by 6:30 am to ride the barge for the spotting tour. Especially since the weather is predicted to be in the 20's.)

Best wishes to all!

Sometimes Knitting Saves Me. Other times, it's dessert.

You know what's just around the corner, don't you? @#$%^ ing taxes.
Now there was a time when I was good at math. Notable even. Accellerated.
Organization, however, was never a strong point. Chaotic family environment = chaotic record-keeping. Yipes.

In spite of Quicken, my TI graphing calculator and a "cute" 4 function battery powered calculator with bejeweled keys that belonged to my DD when she was about 13, there is always a tremendous psychic storm when I have to do my taxes.

DH asked me if the task would be less onerous if I were making oodles of money. Probably so. At least I would have the money to be happy about.

As it is, there's precious little profit left over after expenses but multitudinous empty boxes on the tax forms, any one of which could apparently cause the IRS to come swooping down on my sweet little self like a condor on a dead rat.

So I was attempting to get my annual book-keeping records beaten into submission, transferred into report format, and ready for DH to work his compilation miracles with Turbo Tax. This would going to involve emailing files back and forth between the "his and hers" computers at our house.

Is Mercury in retrograde?
The transfer wouldn't go. Then my email refused to upload. Then DH's server held on to the file for at least an hour... when 60 minutes was all I had between my last appointment and a rendezvous with a retired MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL and knitter.

DH came home before my swivet (aka tantrum) had subsided and told me to Go. Eat. Relax. Return home cheerful.

On the way to meet with MHP + Knitter, I vented to DD by telephone, who sympathetically proclaimed, computer problems are "the worst." Bless her heart.

MHP+ Knitter listened to me vent. I'm sure she used MOST of her professional training and experience. She was a PSYCH nurse, after all! She noshed with me on killer Deli sandwiches AND dessert (Boston Cream Pie for me, Cannoli for her... yummy) and then we went to the Hand Knitters Guild.

I knit on DH's second sock. Teensy needles, teensy stitches. The tension in the knitting drained the tension between my eyebrows.

Fabulous Suzann Thompson gave a terrific talk on designing sweaters. NOT drafting patterns (a la M. Righetti) but putting color, pattern, and texture together for fun. I would never have thought of using knit fabric to quilt with. Nor would I have sewn on "about" 89 buttons on a vest for extra sass. Wall hangings, coats, pot holders, and "paintings" all emerged from pre-knit items (some by her, some from Good Will) after being sandwiched with fusible interfacing, batting and lining. Oh, and she makes Fimo buttons, too.

I was almost human by the time I arrived home.
If I get in a swivet tomorrow... I'll go knit for a while.

Death and Taxes

It's been said that the only inevitable things in life (perhaps aside from change) are death and taxes.
I spent longer than was comfortable wrestling with my inadequate record keeping, Quicken and Excel trying to get my business tax information organized so we can file earlier rather than later. If you are one of those people who file the short form and have only a single W2, I sure hope you are counting that as one of your blessings. It is amazing to me that everybody has to do can be so important and so challenging.

Of course, they told me that about giving birth. "How hard can it be? Everybody does it!"

Dying is like that too.
I just finished reading Chasing Daylight by Eugene O'Kelly.
Last June, the very month I got my Stage I breast cancer diagnosis, he got a "late stage, inoperable, brain cancer" diagnosis.

Maybe it's the fact he spent his working life as an account. (My co-survivor friend Tamara is a trained CPA, too.) He identified the challenges, made a plan, and focused. And made for himself and his family, a good death.

It's a brief read. His only regret was having been less than committed to having balance between his family and career. He forgives himself and changes direction. He practices living in the NOW. He arranges closure with distant but significant friends and those closest and most important to him, including his 14 year old daughter. He leaves an improved corporate committment to balance in the lives of employees, a testimonial to his affection for his family, and recommendations to the rest of us. (The procedes of the book's sales are going to a foundation for cancer patients who don't have money to pay for good care.)

Be brave. Be kind to your loved ones and yourself. Think about your life and your leaving. Do it sooner than you think is "necessary." You'll be glad to have given yourself a head start.

The contrast between Mr.O'Kelly's example and that of the many CEO's and big-wigs currently in the news, including the ones under indictment in Houston and Washington, D.C. could not be greater. No less tragic, but so much more instructive..

Illustration Friday - CHAIR(S)

I still get tired easily.

Most of the time I easily forget (or deny) that I was treated last year for breast cancer. I saw the spot on the x-rays, and before that felt the lump. But mostly I forget. My hair is coming back (a funny texture and even funnier color, but I'm not complaining). But two things make me remember:

1. How fast I get tired.
2. How slow I get worried.

Yesterday I had 9 women over for dinner. Our group has nearly 40 members, but usually somewhere between 10 and 15 actually makes it to meet, and when it is "convenient" the hostess may prepare a "light supper" for the women who have come straight for work.
DH knew me better than I knew myself. He offered to help with cleaning and "anything else" and he did. (The last of the Christmas decorations got put away, and he made what seemed to me at the time like an essential second trip to the grocery store for Diet Coke.)
The menu was SIMPLE.













Meat, potatoes, steamed veggies and a tossed salad. And wine. Boy was everybody happy with their glass of wine!



And somebody else brought dessert.
You'd have thought I had cloned Julia Child or Escoffier. These women were SO delighted. (Maybe it was the wine.) Or, maybe, it is that many of us don't have calm, chatty meals over home-cooking any more.




Getting with the program.

We always have a program of some sort. Last night a dear friend talked about the value of cultivating GRATITUDE. She waxed enthusiastic about noticing beauty. About paying attention. About decreasing demands. About eradicating the egocentric attitude of entitlement.

I'm not sure she realized it, but I was tickled at how often she implied I'd helped HER expand her ability to discover gratitude. I didn't know I'd made a difference like that, there, with her.

You may have read here that I am impressed by my DD's courage. I felt gratitude when she said she learned it from me. (Through giving advice rather than example.) She wrote:

Thank you about the "brave" thing... I just really took to heart the advice YOU gave me about my hair while I was in jr. high and apply it to a lot of things...you told me if I acted like I wanted to look like however it was looking, no one would know any different. Turns out that works in A LOT of situations.

Indeed!

I am glad I went to the effort-- to cook, to comfort and to encourage.

Today, I had client meetings and then went to an ethics seminar. If you ever want a fun one call Dancing Moose Productions!! I learned a new word: SUPEREROGATION. So far as I can tell, it refers to doing more than is required (especially regarding ethical behavior). I may have to write letters to my local, state and national representatives. If they knew there was a word for it, maybe they would DO it. I am glad there is a word for "going the extra mile" for something of value. It reminds ME to do it.

And, especially since I am clear (more so than ever) about my mortality, I'd better start doing what I can, rather than fretting over what I can't. To the extent I CAN, I will teach courage, coach comforters, and exemplify fairness, rationality and compassion.

Even if you aren't tired, it helps you sleep better.

Illustration Friday - Glamour


Obviously, there were times when Glamour puss had to have a nightcap.