Self-Portrait Sunday & Coming Out of the Woodwork

Self-Portrait Sunday

1. I am a hoarder. I keep things forever. The less delicate among you might even call me a pack rat. I don’t throw stuff out because I am certain that there will come a time that I will need said stuff. (I have been developing my need for a yarn stash long before I became a knitter.)
2. I am a terrible housekeeper.
3. I love grocery shopping.
4. I hate doing laundry.
5. I love to cook but I hate to clean up – especially, I hate washing dishes.
5b. My husband claims that I am not content with a meal I have cooked until I have dirtied every pot and pan in the kitchen. I tell him that every girl has to have something that she is the best at and I guess that's mine.
6. My favorite color is red.
7. I am a Christian. I was raised Southern Baptist and continue to attend a Southern Baptist church. I am proud of my religious upbringing.
8. I spent time in the Ukraine after my senior year of high school with a church group.
9. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Given the opportunity, I would go back in a minute. Without hesitation.
10. As household chores go, I like ironing the best.
11. I like vanilla and vanilla-based ice creams the most. Baskin-Robbins’s Pralines & Cream is my all time favorite.


Why Call It Self-Portrait Sunday If It Seldom Includes a Picture?

Once I can walk around again on any consistent basis, I have vowed to myself that I am going to take more interesting pictures - both of me and my knitting and of other people. For now though, I took this picture on Tuesday after I came home from my visit to the doctor. It was the first time I'd put make-up on since having surgery so I decided it was a photo-worthy occasion.



So What's Been Going on Around Here?

It seems I haven't had much to say lately. I have been knitting socks. See?

That is sock number 1, just past the gusset. Actually, it is the second sock. I knit the first one through the heel turn and then cast on for the second. So, while it was the first sock to make it this far along, it is actually the second sock. Not that that matters to anyone but me....

That sock is now to the toe decreases stage and is resting on a piece of scrap yarn while I knit the second sock to the same spot. (The second sock is currently about 1 inch beyond the gusset decreases so there has been significant progress made as a pair.)

A thousand wooly thank you's to RC for holding my hand - all the way from PA! - through this new and scary and fabulous sock knitting business. I am thrilled and mesmerized by the wonderful miraculous world of sock knitting. I am well and truly hooked. I have, in fact, already placed an order for some new and delicious sock yarn. Does anyone have any experience with Lisa Souza yarns? I've read lots of rave reviews throughtout blogland and decided to take the leap when I discovered what may just be the perfect red. (St. Valentine)

As for the ankle, the staples came out Tuesday and it's feeling pretty good, considering. I was spared the cast (hurray) and as soon as I can get it on without crying, I will be in the boot. I had it on yesterday for nearly 5 minutes. (Yes, it does occur to me that the fact that I am celebrating 5 minutes with the boot on is a sure sign that a) I don't have much to celebrate and b) I may surely be heading squarely off the deep end.)

So that's it from this end. I am going back to work later this week. I've been working at home the last few days and will until I go back to work Wednesday. I am half thrilled about it and half horrified.

Further, in the spirit of updating, thanks again to all of you for your kind words and warm wishes to the SIL, Lori. She is well on her way to mending and is heading back to work tomorrow. I will be waiting for a full report from her on what we've missed in the last two weeks.

Frankenankle

Just a quick post before I eat something and then go back to sleep. The surgery went fine. He had to do two separate incisions because there was repair work to be done in two separate areas. Because we relish the gruesome details, Lori took pictures of my incisions. They are at the bottom of this post, in case there is someone who would rather not see, consider yourself forewarned.

Saturday and Sunday are pretty much a pain/pain medicine induced blur. Yesterday was the first day that I did anything much more than sleep. And while I was awake, I did this:

and started this:

The yarn for both is Cherry Tree Hill's Supersock in the Peacock colorway and I'm using metal Susan Bates dpns in size 0. I have heard it said that getting started when knitting a sock on double pointed needles is a bit like lassoing an octopus. I would say that is a pretty accurate description. The size 0's are SO TINY. They feel almost fragile. It took a little getting used to but now I think I have the hang of it. It feels like it is going to take forever to knit a pair of socks but I am optimistic.

The Gory Details

My ankle is still really swollen and, of course, still hurting ridiculously bad. Here is the little incision on the top of my ankle where he repaired the cartilage (and took note that the graft he did in August is doing "exceptionally well").
Then here is the big incision, where he fixed the tendons.Next Tuesday, he will take out the staples (8 and 16, respectively) and then he will put on a hard cast, which I will be in for 4 weeks.

Today's Quote

“If the work of God could be comprehended by reason, it would be no longer wonderful, and faith would have no merit if reason provided proof.” Pope Gregory I, c. 600

I Told You I'd Have Pictures

Let's get right down to business.

Here we have a completed Hedgehog, again from the Fiber Trends pattern I used for Christmas.
Pre-felting:

Post-felting:

After first wash

After second washThe only modification was that I wanted a smaller hedgehog this time so I used Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca (100% Peruvian Alpaca) for the white and black and Plymouth's Whisper for the fur. To accomodate the smaller yarn, I went down to a 16" Size 8 circular. I was a bit concerned about how this white would felt because it is very white and we all know how that can go...but the white felted fine in the end. It took two full runs through the washer but that was ok. He is drying now with the temporary stuffing.

Next Up

Resting peacefully on the towel warmer (which has only occasionally been used to warm towels but is great for drying towels as well has sweaters) we find the beautiful Briar Rose Abundance.
Isn't she loverly? And so soft! (You will have to take my word for it on the soft but really, very soft.) Before this fabulous package arrived to me, I had made up my mind to make myself a wrap using the Cozy pattern from Knitty. I love this wrap and came within a snap of making it for the ISE last fall but was afraid I would want to keep it for myself. I knew I want this wrap for myself so I decided not to take the chance (sorry, Kim). The color of this Abundance is luscious and gorgeous and rich and wonderful and just exactly what I wanted for me - I am a sucker for the reds (Thank You Chris!! It really is just perfect) - and I thought it would translate well to the Cozy pattern (which calls for a silk yarn of appoximately the same gauge as the Abundance) but now I am wavering. Any opinions?

Simple Knitting

RC, you are a sock pusher, too, just like Kim! Are ya'll in a gang or something? Seriously, I will start the sock soon. Before I go back to work in a couple weeks. OK?

For now, though, I have made a decision about the hospital knitting. Ya'll should have known...I chose the option that included a visit to the yarn store, of course! I picked out this ChaChain the Salsa colorway. Last night, I cast on and knit a few rounds just so that the fiddly part of getting the ChaCha going in the round was behind me. It has been so long since I have knit with fun fur (other than when carried along with the hedgehogs) and it is amazing how slimy and weird the ChaCha feels in my hand. I plan to do this one and probably another one before the February 28 deadline. I have several balls and parts of balls of the black Patons Allure (I have a quickie little baby bootie pattern that I've done several times from this yarn and they are precious) that need a home and this seems perfect. This is a really wonderful cause and I am thrilled to be knitting for it.

A Side Note

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and just couldn't make myself go back to sleep. Eventually I figured reading would tire my eyes and I got up and got a book from the shelf. It is one I have been wanting to read but just haven't gotten around to it. A Cure for Dreams by Kaye Gibbons. These are the first two lines of the first chapter:

"When my mother was a young girl, she spent the pinks of summer evenings sitting on the banks of the Brownies Creek, where it flows into the Cumberland River. She always sat with a ball of worsted in her lap, knitting and dreaming of love coming to her."

Somehow it just made my heart happy. I went to sleep about 20 minutes later. Incidentally, Kaye Gibbons is one of my favorite authors. I highly recommend Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman and Charms for the Easy Life and anything else you can find by her. Something of hers is quite likely to be my next Book on CD purchase. Probably this, in fact, when I find it on CD..

I Digress

When I went to the yarn store for the ChaCha, I was feeling a little fidgety and squirrely. It took me forever to make up my mind on the fun fur. I figured I needed some little something to settle my nerves.
Sakura by Noro seemed to do the trick.

I think that's it for now. I will probably be back around some time next week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Today's Quote:

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor to measure words but to pour them all out, just as it is, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keeping what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.” George Elliot

Tidbits

Between now and noon tomorrow, I will post pictures and probably more rambling but for now, a quick list.

1. Thank you for all of your prayers and kind words. Lori went home about 10:30 this morning and is doing well, all things considered. I have a sneaking suspicion she will spent the next 2 or 3 days sleeping.

2. I finished the alpaca hedgehog and plan to felt it this evening. We'll keep our fingers crossed that I remember to take pre-felting pictures. This guy is smaller now than the first two were after felting so I think he will be small and cute. Which is what I was going for so that's good. I've never felted with this particularly yarn before so I am a little nervous. (If my knitting ever gets documented in a television show - a very boring, very strange tv show - then this would be the time for some suspenseful music and a commercial break.)

3. The finished hedgehog means, of course, that I am now allowed to start the tiny sock in the Keychain Sock Blocker Sock that Kim sent me. I have cast on but that's as far as I got before I had to do something else. Hopefully tonight. (Baby steps, I guess.)

4. The Abundance arrived yesterday from Chris. HURRAY!!! It is waiting patiently next to my swift. This skein, true to its name, is quite abundant and I have no idea how I am going to wind it without making it into smaller balls, which, really, may be the best route. I have never had this much yarn in one glorious, continuous strand. So lovely. I'll post a picture of it tonight and I'll tell you then what I am contemplating doing with it for the knitalong. At least, what I think I am thinking about doing with it. Now that I have the yarn in hand, I'm not sure that what I have in mind is what it really wants to be...

5. I need something simple to knit on during the hour and a half I will be sitting around at the hospital tomorrow before my surgery. There is always a fairly good chance that they will give me something "to help me relax" and I won't be capable of following a pattern. Waiting for the last surgery, I worked on a baby washcloth. I'm thinking I'd rather not repeat this ill-fated knitting. I have signed up to knit a hat or two for Kate's project for the Children's Hospital of Boston but I haven't gotten the fun fur yet. If I have time to stop at the yarn shop on the way home tonight, I might cast on for this tomorrow because really, a fun fur hat knit in the round ranks pretty low on the knitting-that-requires-thinking scale.

I think that is it. I've had a lot of coffee this morning and it is cold in my office. These two factors come together to make me blather on even more than usual. Ahh, well.

Pictures tonight. Oh, and an update on some simple knitting for tomorrow. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Today's Quote:

"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was." -Lillian Carter (mother of former President, Jimmy Carter)

Friendship

In my lifetime, I have had many friends. Friends that I have known so long, I can scarcely remember how we met. Friends that have come and gone, never to return. Those in my life that ebb and flow like the waves. Those who are constant, steady, enduring. Those who have been like comets in the night: beautiful, spectacular but fleeting. There are those who have bruised me and, sadly, those who I have bruised. There are friendships that I have clutched too loosely and lost and those I’ve clung to too tightly and crushed.

It is a rarity, indeed, to have a friendship that at once uplifts you and keeps you grounded. That warms you, heart and soul, while journeying with you through the cold, dark night.

In my sister-in-law, Lori, I have a friend like that. A friend who both sympathizes with my struggles and forces me to face reality. A friend who embraces me for what I am without letting me forget what I can become. It is a blessing to call her friend and an utter privilege to call her family. It is no understatement to say that marrying her is absolutely in the top 3 things my brother has ever done. She is a gift to all of us. If you have a moment, please pause in your day tomorrow and say a prayer for her – for both of them. At 31, Lori is having a hysterectomy tomorrow (Wednesday). While it isn’t her idea of the ideal route to take, it is the best thing for her and she is ready…but not ready, as I am sure you can imagine. She talks a little about it on her blog, so I won’t say any more about that. Please stop by over there and offer her a well wish or a kind word. If anyone deserves it, it is Lori.


Today's Quote:


“Sorrow comes in great waves…but it rolls over us. And though it may almost smother us, it leaves us. And we know that if it is strong, we are stronger, inasmuch as it passes and we remain.” Henry James

Knitting Philosophy and Self Portrait Sunday

I have a confession: I hate wooden knitting needles. Not only do I not like wooden needles, I love metal needles. There. I've said it. I have wooden needles and I do knit with them sometimes but I am happiest when I am knitting with metal needles. Why do I feel such knitting shame/guilt over this? I guess because when I first learned to knit, all the books and other things I read insisted that bamboo and birch needles were the best. It seemed that to really be a knitting aficionado, you had to love wooden needles. From what I could gather, metal needles seemed to be the loud, brash, white-trash cousins, living on the fringe of knitting society...the ones that the other needles tried to pretend didn't exist. I have recently come to terms with my love of the metal needles. If it really is true that the wooden needles are so much better, then I am resigned to being a fringe knitter. My 16" Size 7 Addi-Turbos are my favorite needles - I seek out reasons to knit projects using these needles. I have even bought yarn specifically because I knew I would use these needles to knit it up. Running a close second, my 16" Size 8 Boye needles that I think I got at Michael's.

Sheesh. I'm glad I've got that off my chest.


Self Portrait Sunday

1. I don’t have a particularly keen fashion sense. I wear things that Katy says will look nice on me (or things that she doesn’t wear anymore and passes along to me) and I do my make-up the way I do because either Katy or Lori has told me, “You should do this with your make-up.” I can acknowledge that I need help in these areas and most of the time their input doesn’t offend me. Most of the time.
2. I almost always wear lipstick when I go out of the house.
3. I love my family. We have our warts and our weirdness but somehow this makes me love them more. I sincerely enjoy family get togethers. Frequently this includes board games. We can be very competitive.
4. I miss my Daddo so much. And I wish I had had a chance to get to know my Nana (his wife) better before she passed away. (I was 3.)
5. I love my little dog Sally more than I consider reasonable.
6. I bite my nails – and I have as long as I can remember. I have tried to stop but have been unsuccessful. This is not a habit I expect to be able to kick.
7. I have issues about toilet paper. In my house, we only use the very best toilet paper. 2-ply. Very soft. We eat off brand cereal and use generic ibuprofen. There are things you can skimp on and things you can't. Also, when I put the toilet paper on the roll, it has to come over the top, NEVER from the bottom.
8. I am accident prone. It is sad, really. Once in a while, I think I’ve grown out of it, and then I do something clumsy again.
9. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping. Then I will have a night where I get like 12 hours of sleep and then still go to bed on time the next night. Is there such a thing as a binge sleeper?
10. For the longest time, I didn’t want to learn to knit because I had learned to crochet years ago and absolutely hated it with a burning passion. Now I knit voraciously.
11. I do modular origami. I do the regular kind, too, but modular is my favorite. I do a lot less origami since I learned to knit.