October wrapup

Socktoberfest was a big non-event for me. I did hardly any sock knitting this month.

I'm about three-fourths of the way finished with wristwarmers for myself. I hope to have them done by November 1 for...

That's one of the new word-count widgets. As I update my progress, you can follow along and see how I am doing, if that is of interest to you.

We had our regional kick-off party Sunday. There had almost 40 people there, and took up almost half of the seats at Panera. There were all ages, teens to grandparents, and all levels of experience. I don't usually go to writer's groups or meetings, so this was easily the largest group of writers I have ever seen in one place. I wrote a poem for our goodie bags, which also appears this week in the Piker Press.

The weather was beautiful this weekend, but this afternoon and cold front blew in. "Cold" and "Blew" are the operative words, with the temperature plummeting and the wind picking up. Sure wish I had some new socks to wear.

Wildlife in the 'hood

There's still no knitting to report on. As I said before, I am a bad joiner.

However, this weekend, I managed to sneak up on Chuckie outside, and got some good pictures of him.

He ran for home when he heard me coming, but he stopped at the entrance to assess the danger.

When he heard more noises, he would scoot backwards into his hole.

The more noise he heard, the farther in he scooted.

Did you see the brownish markings on his chest in the second picture? Who does that remind you of?

Katie, of course! After I came in from taking pictures of Chuckie, she was on a tear. When that happens, it's time to get out the feather toy and run off some of that energy.

Today, she got a new "toy".

We've have merchandise at work that comes tied with satiny fabric selvedges. I saved a few of them once, curious to see what they would look like if I knitted them up on a couple of pencils. Then I started rolling them into a ball. The ball is one of Katie's favorite toys. It's soft and easy to bat around, and if she gets lucky, she finds the end and unravels it.

I accumulated a big bunch of ribbons today, and tied them all together in a big knot for transport. She was a little freaked by this at first. Apparently she thought it was a giant centipede or something. But after it had been lying still for awhile, she made her peace with it.

Socktoberfest Stash Flash

Over at the Lime & Violet message board, Stareil reports that she performed an inventory, and learned she has 17 miles of sock yarn.

Since I covet every new skein of sock yarn anyone writes about in any internet venue, I thought perhaps I should refamiliarize myself with my own sock stash.

There it is - 45 pairs of socks waiting to be knit. That, plus four pairs I have on the needles, comes out to about 12 miles of yarn.

This exercise really talked me off the edge. I actually don't need more sock yarn right now. I do need to get knitting, though.

The secret project has been delivered, and can now be revealed.

It's a hat (Ann Norling's London Beanie pattern) and wrist warmers (Fetching, from Knitty), both made from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. They are now in the possession of my friend and fellow Piker, Sand.

I read this somewhere

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Meanwhile, in real life: It is cold. 27 degrees this morning (a bit below 0 for my Celsius-speaking readers). I may have to bypass the light jacket and go straight to the wooly coat. I don't know if there were flurries during the night. It was beautifully clear this morning - "good astronomy", as I tell Terry while shuffling him out the door on his way to work.

It's official - I CAN see

I went to the retina specialist today for the six-week follow-up after my Visudyne treatment.

First stop: Nurse Linda has me read the eye chart.

Big letters first
then smaller
and smaller
and smaller

until she exclaimed, "Wow! You just read a letter at 20-15!"

The doctor was also pleased with how the eye looked. He said that histoplasmosis cases like mine often respond favorably after just one treatment, whereas macular degeneration often requires multiple treatments. It's possible that that this will be all they need to do. I go back in six weeks for another follow-up.

Thank you to everyone who offered prayers, good wishes, and kindnesses.

That Saint Lucy - she's a peach.

Katie in a box

It's cold and rainy. Tomorrow night is supposed to be below freezing. I turned the heat on about an hour ago.

KnightStar and I are still sifting through the photos from our weekend visit to the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

There may be knitting photos later, but not today.

All I have to offer is a kitty in a box.

NaNoWriMo signups begin

Why the button? Why here? Because this is the easiest way I know to get it into my links.

Waiting patiently

It's October 1, and I am waiting patiently for NaNoWriMo to open the doors for the 2006 novel writing season. This year, they did not specify a time when the forums would re-open, no doubt an attempt to avoid the annual Crashing of the Server.

My NaNo experience last year was horrible. My writing sucked like a Hoover, and life (and death) interupted a couple of times, causing me to lose momentum and fall far short of my goal. I swore to the Pikers that I had NaNoed my last.

My local group has continued to meet a couple of times a month, and I have continued to go to their meetings. A few weeks ago, the leader started talking about our kick-off party. Fun! Except I can't very well go to the kick-off if I am not participating. So maybe I will participate, just so I can keep hanging around the Cool Writers' Club.

I'm not the only only on the slippery slope. Over at the Piker Press forums, some other "I'm never doing this again" is giving way to, "I bought a new notebook and have some good ideas."

In knitting news, the baby has her sweater and looks adorable in it. I also made her a turquoise beret, which is probably too big yet. I finished a secret project, and started another secret project. There has been no sock progress today. See why I don't do knitalongs?

Don't tell Mom yet

Back in the spring, I mentioned that I was working on a secret knitting project. The knitting has been done for ages, but tonight I finally finished all of the detail work. I won't be delivering it until tomorrow, but I don't think the recepient reads my blog as a rule, so - Ta da!

It's a fuchsia sweater for a friend's baby girl. Look at those buttons. Aren't they the cutest?

The pattern is the Baby Garter Trim Sweater (aka Baby Yoke Sweater) from City Sheep at Creative Fibers in Minneapolis. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight. (Warning: The pattern says it takes two skeins. The pattern lied. I went well into the third skein.)

I have long missed the "new baby" deadline, but the little miss cooperated with me by being early and tiny. I think she may be able to wear this now, or on into autumn.

Now, back to socks.

Ready for Socktoberfest

As a rule, I don't do knitalongs, those things where a bunch of bloggers all agree to knit in something in some specified period of time. I knit to unwind, and to make the things I want, and I don't feel the need to go along with the crowd or threaten myself with a deadline.

But when I heard about Socktoberfest, I knew I had to join in.

There are no restrictions about what you make, or how long it takes you. It is simply a time to celebrate handknitted socks.

Do we celebrate them? Why, yes we do. Observe, from my bag o' active knitting:

Three, count 'em, three socks in progress. They are all second socks, mates to these three:

I need to get these babies off the needles so I can a) wear the socks, and b) free up the needles to make some different stuff. So that is my Socktoberfest goal - finish some second socks, kitchener those toes, and start wearing them.

Progress continues on the Stashbuster Sweater. I finished the back:


And started on the front:

I sort of regret that I decided to make it with The Yarn That Dare Not Speak Its Name, because I would like to see it in nice yarn, but I am not turning back at this point.

At least the pattern is easy. It makes perfect TV knitting. And what am I watching on TV? KnightStar and I used some discounts to procure seasons 1 and 2 of Star Trek, The Original Series. (The store did not have season 3 in stock, so for the moment, we are spared from having to watch "Spock's Brain".)

Back home from Winfield

I got back from Winfield, Kansas and the Walnut Valley Festival yesterday.

It was touch and go whether I would even be able to attend. My brother had to bail out, and with my eye all wonky, there was no guarantee I would be able to drive. Eventually, I talked Terry into going with me.

Terry has been there once before, and doesn't really like it - too loud and too crowded for his taste. I assured him that our current campsite was relatively quiet and off the beaten path. He spent most of his time hanging out at camp, and by Saturday afternoon confessed that he had achieved stresslessness.

My brother always says, "When I go to Winfield, it's summer, and when I come home, it's autumn." That was true this year, and I even know the exact moment the change happened.

It had been in the 90s all weekend, but on Saturday we heard rumors that a cold front was on the way. Sunday morning at 3:00 AM, a huge gust of wind roared in from the north. Within 10 minutes, I heard the first drops of rain. Once we had secured the windows, I went back to sleep to the sound of rain on the tent.

We awoke on Sunday to cool breezes and mud. Our mates are prepared for any situation, though, and we were able to get out of the muck with no trouble.

Back home, it is still cool, and in the last 23 hours, I have already seen signs of the leaves turning.

I can see?

I won't have official confirmation for a few more weeks, but anecdotal evidence says that my eyesight has been improving since I had the space-age laser treatment last week. I would rate it as "about where it was when I first started complaining that it was getting worse" - not back to normal yet, but considerably improved.

Vampire no more

As of this morning, I am free to move about in the daylight. To celebrate, I went to Sunday afternoon knitting at The Village Knit Wit. I worked on the Zebra sock, and am almost to the toe decrease. For being a boring pattern in a boring yarn, I am enjoying the knitting immensely, and I think they will be cute socks to wear.

In the brochure they gave me at the doctor's office, it said to avoid sunlight for five days, but different people on different days told me three days. I sincerely hope they are right and I didn't just cook all of my blood vessels.

I rather enjoyed my forced leisure these past few days. The weather has been temperate enough that I could keep the air off most of the time. I've watched DVDs people have lent me, read books that I was dragging my feet about finishing, and knit. It's the perfect vacation.

Stashbuster

I haven’t told anyone, but I’m knitting a sweater.

A few weeks ago, I aired out the yarn stash, and I decided to gather up the pre-yarn-snob yarns and put them in one place. I saw that I had a sweater’s worth of one of the yarns, purchased when it was on sale at Hobby Lobby.

This yarn is much maligned by serious knitters, and with good reason. It is hard to work with, splitting and unraveling at every turn. It has the illusion of softness, but if you have ever touched baby alpaca, this feels like fiberglass. But I have it, and at 100% acrylic, it is never going to go away. I can’t even throw it to the moths as a sacrifice. The moths would throw it back.

At almost the same time, I was bouncing around the internet and rediscovered Bonne Marie Burns’s 3timesChic sweater pattern on Knitty. I always liked that pattern and could imagine myself making and wearing it.

And what do you know? It can be made with The Yarn That Dare Not Speak Its Name.

I made a swatch, and got the gauge the first time. At least I think I did – stitch definition is not one of the selling points of this yarn. So I cast on. I put it on the Denise needles, so I have had to make no additional investment in the project other than time. It’s all stuff I already had.

So my dirty little secret is out. When I’m not making wool socks on itty bitty birch needles, I’m knitting an acrylic sweater on plastic.

Even Katie, who is a bit of a yarn snob herself, seems to understand.


I’ve survived my first day of daylight restrictions, in the company of my faithful cohorts.


KnightStar took me out for dinner after dark, and then we went bookstoring. He thought I was a little bit down, so he surprised me with a Godiva Dark Chocolate with Raspberry bar. You know what? It totally worked.

It cooled down nicely last night. I turned off the AC and opened the windows, and had the best night’s sleep I have had in weeks. I’m now refreshed and ready to face another day as a recluse.

Garbo stays home

My eye troubles, which have been dormant for a dozen years or so, flared up recently. Essentially, I have macular degeneration, but I got it from a cause other than old age. If you really care about the details, follow the links.

What I have - CNMV
What caused it - POH

Anyway, I had a treatment today that I have not had before. In a nutshell, they shot me up with drugs and then shined a soft laser (cold laser, they call it sometimes) in the eye to activate the drug. Again if you want to know more, click through.

What Visudyne does
How Visudyne works

The main side effect of the drug is photosensitivity. I must avoid the sun for three days. They were very specific about making sure I had long sleeves, long pants ,and a wide-brimmed hat. They gave me the stylish shades and the cloth to cover my face and hands while I was in the car. I felt like a reclusive movie star.

I'm ready for my close up, Mr DeMille.

Until Sunday, I am restricted to indoors during daylight hours. Long days of naps and knitting and DVDs - the sacrifices I make for my health.

Still here

I'm still around. No, I haven't posted for awhile. Without getting into details, let's just say that going to the dentist to have a filling replaced is NOT the worst part of my week.

TTYL.

KnitWits Gone Wild!!!

It's possible that ours was the only group of knitters to commemorate their trip to Stitches Midwest in this way:


Yes, those are real, permanent tattoos, procured during our Thursday visit to Wisconsin. No, none of those legs are mine. Not getting a tattoo was one of my birthday presents to my dearly beloved.

Stash flash

I went to Stitches and only bought enough yarn to fill a small bag. (Foot included for scale.)


Here is the bag unpacked.


Seven skeins of sock yarn, two skeins of silk-ish stuff, and a scarf's worth of cashmere. This isn't even all from Stitches. The first three skeins on the top row came from a yarn shop in Wisconsin that we visited a couple of days ago.

Of course, I had to bring projects to work on as well. First, the Fish Scale socks.


I finished the first sock last week, but still need to graft the toe. I have not yet had a period of quiet contemplation suitable for that project, so I just slid the stitches onto spare needles and cast on the second sock.

I've turned the heel on the Zebra sock. For me, one of the great thrills in knitting is turning the heel on a sock. I always think I have performed magic.


The colors are pooling rather dramatically in the decrease area, but c'est la vie.

KnightStar arrived in town yesterday, and we took him to a Greek restaurant for his birthday dinner. Today, he is playing in the blitz tournament at the US Open Chess Tournament.

Meanwhile, the KnitWits are headed downtown today to see the sights.

News flash from Stitches Midwest

The foofy garter stitch scarf is over.

And there was much rejoicing.

The new trend, unfortunately, is wearing a ginormous backpack while you are shopping. Someone smacked one of my companions in the face with her backpack, and then had the b***s to say, "You're in my way."

I don't think rudeness is a trend though. For the most part, people were pleasant. When I got separated from my enablers, total strangers stepped in to fill the gap, as I did for others. Belisa Cashmere should give me a kickback.

I bought some sock yarn, a small ball of cashmere, and a set of needles. Everything I've bought so far, including yesterday's foray into Wisconsin, fits into a 9 inch bag.

But we're going back this afternoon.

On the road

Amy pointed out to me that I have not updated my blog for awhile. Oh, yeah. Guess not.

Several KnitWits and Amy's friend Dianne are in Chicago, waiting for Friday so we can go to Stitches Midwest. We came early so we could sightsee. Today we are going to Milwaukee, where Amy has been working recently.

I'm knitting on the zebra sock (just turned the heel) and the fish scale sock (a couple of inches into the second sock) while we travel.

Stay tuned. In the next day or two, I should have yarn porn photos, and possibly a tattoo crawl to report on.