Change

It's been a while since I last posted. It started off with my hands being cranky from working the Pendleton wool, but it was other medical issues that have come up that I now have to deal with.

I'm glad I have choir this afternoon. I need hugs today. Physical hugs. The presence of friends. Knowing that I'm not alone. Sure there's the cyber community but the real physical presence of people who make a point of letting you know that they really care about you is so important to have. Most of the time I prefer to be left alone. I'm used to doing things without having to bring in another person into the picture. But when you're given news that changes how you handle your life's activities, it's very comforting to have the support of friends.

Fortunately, it's not the Big C. And it's not like I haven't been aware of this condition potentially arising. It's the fact that it has and that I have to be more aware of what I do and don't do. I have been diagnosed with diabetes. I don't require medication or insulin, but if I continue down the path I'm going I will. I have to monitor my glucose. I have to exercise. I have to change. And that's what is making me so angry and depressed. I don't want to change. But if I don't change, I will die sooner than I would if I reduced my weight and maintained my blood alcohol levels.

I am blessed with great friends. One is diabetic and was very encouraging when I talked with him Friday. I have a sister who is diabetic. She is very encouraging and supportive (I'm visiting her for Thanksgiving). I work at a health based company with many resources available. So I have support. It's getting past the depression that I've fallen in and preparing for making changes. I've started evaluating what I eat during the day and when. I'm working on my mindset on what food is. And I'm talking. I'm hoping that when I start taking my diabetic classes that there will be information on a support group to get me through this initial stage. They say that for habits to be formed you have to work at it for 3 to 4 months minimum. I have my work cut out for me.

Knitting

This weekend I returned to the Rogue sweater and knit up a felted hat for my friend Ruth. It took me three washings to felt it down (I have a 30-year old washer) but it finally got down to normal human head size. For a while I thought I had made a hat for a troll.

Last weekend I got to ride in NeedleGirl's London taxi. I promise there will be pictures. Not enough time to post them now. It was great fun running around Portland though a little disconcerting to have the driver on the right hand side of the car. I'm glad I wasn't riding up front.

It's time for healing

The Democrats have regained control of the House where much of the rancor in politics has been occurring since 1994. The partisan politics and downright nastiness started with Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America. After being branded as tax-and-spend, terrorist-loving, illegal immigrant housing liberals, the Democrats are now back in power in one of the houses of Congress. We have a woman as Speaker of the House, a first, which will be interesting to see how she handles the more contentious of the representatives. The Senate is usually more reasonable in working out compromises so I'm hoping that the business that comes out of Congress will help offset some of the crap that's been coming out since Dubya was elected.

It's a time where the politicians have an opportunity to undo some of the damage they've done with their shrill bickering. The American voters have said their piece. They're tired of it. Make reasonable decisions and move on.

Soggy election day

The Pineapple Express, a flow of tropical moist air that brings heavy rains to the west coast of the US, paid an early visit to us. We usually don't see it until later in the year, but this one is particularly heavy. With all the leaves down, the gutters and grates are clogged and ponds of water are everywhere on the city streets. I have water in my basement due to a small leak in my old foundation. But I'm not on a flood plain like some folks. I imagine the folks along Johnson Creek are digging out the sandbags again and those along the rivers are watching.

This is Election Day in the US. I checked the Multnomah County Elections website to see the number of ballots turned in and we're already showing 45% turned in. For a non-presidential year, that's pretty good. Multnomah County's a strong Democratic county in a state that for the most part is pretty Republican (there's a high number of folks registered Independent) so it will be interesting to see how the numbers pan out. Ted Kulongoski, our current governor, is in a close race with Ron Saxton, the Republican contender. There are some nasty measures on the ballot, including a measure requiring parental notification if a teen girl has an abortion and a spending limits bill.

On the needles

I'm still plugging away at the Rogue Sweater and NeedleGirl's socks. The Pendleton wool is a little stiff to work with, making my hands protest. But I have the pocket ready to be attached and I'm done with the first chart of cable work along the sides and the bottom hem. I have class this week. It'll be interesting to see how the other knitters are faring.

Vote! Vote!! Vote!!!

Only 4 days left to vote, kids. Have you voted?

"My vote doesn't count." Barf. You may not make much of an impact on the national scene, but you do on the local, which in turn affects the national. Even if you hate everyone on the ballot, you should still file a ballot.

"I'm not registered." So you're not registered to be able to vote in this election. Register to vote in the next election.

"I don't like either party." That's what voting Independent is for. And just because you're registered Democrat or Republican doesn't mean you have to vote for the doofus the party people put in to run.

"I don't have time." Gawd this makes my teeth grind. You make time to do things you want to do. Make this a priority in your life. Especially if you're female. Women have had the right to vote for less than 100 years. And those 18 to 12 got it since just the 1970's. It's your right dammit. Exercise it.

"I don't know where to vote." Call up your friendly county elections office. They'll be happy to tell you what precinct you're in. Or if you have vote-by-mail (which we do in Oregon), where you can drop off your ballot.

If you're mad as hell about the shenanigans going on in Washington and you didn't vote in the last election, I don't have ANY sympathy for you. Not voting won't make them go away. Voting will. So do it!

A blustery day

Today was one of those days where I dream of cuddling up in a blanket on the couch with a hot drink and a good book. A full view of the wind casting the year's leaves about on the street and rain streaking the window is necessary to give that feeling of coziness. This is my favorite time of year where the colors are vibrant and ever changing each day. It's a time of change. The weather changes. The sky changes. The trees and shrubs change. People are changing as they absorb new knowledge in school and donning warm clothes. They speak of experiences ahead that will never be repeated. This tree will not be the same orange next year. This child will know more about her world. The rain will stop for an hour before the next squall line comes through.

Halloween with a black cat

One thing that I've done each year around Halloween is keep a close eye on my cats. Since Buster graced us with his presence 4 years ago, I've been extra vigilant in keeping him indoors for several days until Halloween is past. Nothing says temptation to an animal abuser than a friendly black cat on Halloween. Buster was not at all happy about spending the day and night in the house but we got through it and today he was able to go out. But he was one testy cat that nearly spent the night in the cold basement last night, the monster.

Retreat

Twice a year the chorus goes on a weekend retreat to work on the upcoming concert's music and bond with each other. Past years we've gone to Beverly Beach State Park and the 4-H Center outside Salem. The Center was nice and close, but we didn't have the bonding time we would have at the beach, so this year we went to Beverly Beach.

Oregon weather in October is always tricky. October starts off with warm days and cool nights, then the weather patterns shift and the rains start coming in. Beach weather is especially tricky. You never know if you're going to have a glorious sunny day, clouds and fog, or constant rain. We had a little of everything this weekend. The drive to the beach was dry and beautiful with all the fall foliage starting to fade from its glory. Saturday was foggy but cleared up a little. Sunday started with rain but ended with sunshine, making the drive back a pleasure. But it was guaranteed to have damp cold nights.

The yurts at Beverly Beach have heaters, so if you had a yurt you had warmth. However, there were more people than yurt accommodations and some of us, including myself, needed housing. I was willing to tent it but not looking forward to those cold nights in a tent, even with an air mattress between me and the ground. And don't forget the frozen trek in the middle of the night to the restroom. At the last minute, a friend of a friend came through with accommodations for me and my carpool buddy. They turned out warmer and drier than the park accommodations, so in thanks for the hosting at the last minute I made up a Tychus hat for our host. The retreat coordinator saw the hat and liked it so much that I have another hat on the back burner for him. Retreats are hard to organize well, so for having done his first one Don is getting one himself.

The Rogue is coming along well. I'm on the pocket now, working my way up gradually. The cables on the sides gave me a bit of a headache but I got past the crankiness.

Halloween is tomorrow. I won't be giving out candy, taking refuge in my house with the cats. We'll dress up at the office though and make all sorts of mischief.

Rogue

Another use for a crutch.

Remember the Pendleton wool? This is one of the spools of yarn unwound and drying after being washed to remove the coating for weaving. It's destined for being worked into a Rogue sweater. I'm taking a Rogue Knit-a-along class starting this week. This will be for me, a reward for whipping out a shawl in a month.

The foot is much better. The week spent in a wheelchair at work gave it the time it needed to heal. Last week I tested it and it's doing well. I'm taking care not to overdo it and ice it down when it gets too swollen. But I don't see surgery in the near future. Whee!!!

Thanks!

Thanks everyone who posted on my rant. Fortunately I work amidst fellow crafters who appreciate the work I've done and believe it worth every cent. The Bunny expressed interest in getting a ticket. The raffle is tomorrow at Providence Office Park at 1 pm, but I'm not in charge of tickets. I couldn't find your email link so email me directly at fiberqat@gmail.com before 7:30 am tomorrow and I'll send you the contact info of the ticket seller privately.

Murmurs

The raffle to raise money for the West Women's and Children's Shelter has been going on since Monday. Like many raffles, the start was slow but is picking up. Payday is tomorrow so we should sell more tickets then. I've been talking it up with fellow employees all over the building since half the battle is making people aware of the raffle in the first place.

One of the disheartening things I've been hearing (and confirms my reasons for refusing to sell things at bazaars, farmers' markets, and the like) is that people are dismayed at the value placed on the shawl. It's priced at $400 value which for some folks seemed horribly overpriced. One person commented she wouldn't have paid $30 for it. It's very insulting to me. I spent on average 20 hours a week for four weeks knitting it. Deducting $30 for the yarn and the time spent designing it, it works out to my knitting it for under $5 an hour. That's less than minimum wage. If you use the method of 18 cents a yard, it's $360. So bite me, cheap asses.

Sunday At Mabel's

Portland's Indian summer finally came to an end yesterday with a steady rain and a distinct chill in the air that only a rainy fall day can provide. A good day to sit and knit and sip hot drinks. It was in that atmosphere that I met up with fellow listers Leigh, Gary, and Melissa at Mabel's Cafe. Leigh was in Portland on one of his many jaunts across the country, so we three got a chance to meet him. I would post the picture of him and Gary but it's an awful shot. I won't torture them; Melissa's pictures are much better. *wink* But I did get a nice picture of Melissa working on one of the afghan squares she's doing out of handdyed alpaca. We had a marvelous time chatting, showing and sharing projects, and getting glances from other knitters.

Since the shawl was done, I needed a project to work on while at Mabel's so I took along the Araucania I was going to use for Sock Wars and started working on the socks for NeedleGirl. By the end of work today I had the foot and heel turn done. The yarn next to the sock is the handspun NeedleGirl sent me (the chocolate's long gone).

FO!

The Shelter Shawl is done and is drying from being spritzed and dressed. It's not quite 5 feet in diameter, so it's not quite as big as I would have liked it, but it's going up for raffle Monday. There is nothing quite so satisfying as finishing up a piece of lace and seeing it all spread out after working one's fingers to the bone and cursing on occasion when you do a pattern wrong. It's addictive. I'm basking in the post-FO high now mmmmmmmmm...

Where's that Rose Trellis Shawl I was working on earlier?

Coming up on the next FiberQat...

Sharon Rose aka NeedleGirl sent me some of her handspun and some nummy chocolate in return for my making her socks out of the Araucania yarn. I'll have to find a fun pattern to do the tops. She's promised me a ride in one of her Austin taxis when she comes in to visit Portland as well, so this will be well worth making her sockies. The yarn originally was going to go to Sock Wars but now that I've read some of the posts I'm glad I opted to drop out. So tonight I'll start searching for a pattern and take them with me tomorrow when I go out for choir practice and knitting with list buddies.

The end is coming!

I'm down to 4 rounds on the shawl. This weekend was a very productive one as I overdid it during the week and my foot is telling me I must slow down. It was while I was at work that I pushed the foot too far, fetching reports for month end. I now have a wheelchair at work (a benefit of working next to a medical equipment department) which is giving me the experience of what it's like being wheelchair bound in a walking world. It's been an eye opener. I've had to deal with my knees not letting me be as mobile as I would like to be, but this puts it in a different dimension. Try it some time for a day and see what it's like to be living below the usual level of eye contact and restricted in movement. My power knitting has given me the strength however to push myself down the long corridors. Cowabunga!!

Counting

How far am I on the Shelter Shawl? I'd put up a picture except that it's at the point where it's impossible to get a decent picture of it due to the number of stitches on the needle. Besides, the picture wouldn't have told you much compared to this.

The stockinette spiral section started out at 288 stitches per round. To complete it, I'm planning on doing 80 rounds. I hear you experienced knitters going tsk tsk, why doesn't she have a pattern in there instead of row upon row of dull boring stockinette? Because this is a speed knitting project and a pattern would mean I would have to devote more attention to what I am doing instead of doing the knitting while I'm doing something else. I can knit stockinette without looking at my hands. The points where the spiral increases are going in are marked with markers so I don't miss those points.

So 80 rounds of stockinette. What does that mean stitchwise? It means that the final round will end up being 768 stitches. I'm at 606 stitches now. If I do a little over 1500 stitches a day, I'll have that section done in time to do the edging, which is a 12 row repeat (I'm doing it sidewise). I have 12 days of knitting left (not including the day of blocking).

What about tendonitis?

If you're a regular reader, you probably recall that I have problems at times with tendonitis in my hands. A speed knitting endeavor like this could do some major damage if not done right. But proper care and maintenance helps keep my tendons from being damaged. It's like an athlete taking care of his/her body, only in this case I'm working with just my shoulders, arms and hands. I've done enough knitting to have developed my muscles in my arms to the point where I have pretty good tone for someone who overall is in poor athletic shape. Muscular enough to scare my boss *BEG*. So far I'm doing well.

Edge

I did a swatch of the edging I want to do for the Shelter Shawl. It is Shark Tooth's Edging (Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns) and two points took me 40 minutes to knit up. I figure it will take me several weekdays to knit them up and the pattern is easy to memorize. It's a nice capping to a pattern that has a theme of light and radiance and energy to move from the darkness of abuse to a new life of possibilities.

OFFF

Sorry, no pictures. I forgot the camera in the flurry of getting out the door (I also forgot my music for choir practice; good thing I'm the librarian and had the library with me).

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival takes place in late September at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby. It's not as big as the Black Sheep Gathering but it does offer a good selection of fibery items for freaks enthusiasts like me. Most are local people selling the year's production but there are also outside folks who come in. I recognized one vendor who came from Utah to sell spindles and wheels. My goal this year was to find Romney roving I could use to practice spinning on a drop spindle. While there were many kinds of fiber available from merino top to guanaco wool, most fiber was either washed but unprocessed or processed into top. One outfit had a veritable palette of dyed Romney locks that you could bury your hands into. Very tempting but not what I was looking for. I did find some tucked in a corner of a vendor's booth: creamy white Romney roving that was nummy to touch that whispered "Learn with me!" At the same booth was a tiny spinning wheel that looked like a child's wheel but turned out to be an antique wheel from the Balkans. The vendor told me that all the wheels found there were small because they took up much less room than the wheels we're familiar with. With its small ratio it spun very quickly, which is ideal for making very fine thread and yarn. The wheel itself was less than a foot in diameter; the distaff above the flyer was three feet tall.

My thrill was finding the booth for Interlacements Yarns and meeting Judy and Clay Ditmore. I initially pulled myself away from the booth but later returned heeding the call of Toasty Toes yarn. It was rewarding as I will tell you later. For now, let's just say I've been floating like I'm in love for the past 24 hours and making plans. And no it's not a girl.

Tee hee....

Gimme shelter

I'm a quarter of the way through the Shelter Shawl. I'm in the easy section (knit like the wind, adding a yarnover to create a spiral of increases). The edging will be more detailed. I have a couple of edgings in mind that will be harmonious with the design. One is the Beech Leaf edging; the other is Godmother's edging. I haven't decided which I'll put on, but it will be challenging to get it done.

Sock Wars yarn

And the winner is NeedleGirl! I'm going to take up her offer of making a pair of socks for her for handspun and a ride in one of the taxis. Squeal!

Coming up: my experiences of the Oregon Flock & Fiber Fest. I dare you to get drunk and say that five times without making it sound dirty.

Lunch note

A quick posting while I'm at lunch here at the office. The foot is doing okay. I've been struggling with the herringbone faggot stitch I'm working on the Shelter Shawl that's going to be raffled off. Mostly mucking up a stitch then ripping back then dropping a stitch and ripping back again to fix the previous rip. I have to have it done by October 16th. WILL SHE DO IT? Who will give out first? The shawl or the knitter? Stay tuned, fans!

Yeah, it's nuts. But I'm using stash yarn, kids!

Casualty

After having gone out and picked up sock yarn for Sock Wars, I found myself having second thoughts about doing it. It was further confirmed today as I was using a crutch to help take the weight off my left foot. The tendons in my right hand were making little protesting noises warning me of impending carpal tunnel from all the data entry, the knitting, and the pressure of the crutch handle or cane against my palm. It told me that speed knitting socks was not a thing I could participate in without risking severe damage or crippling from overuse. So I have sent in my withdrawal from Sock Wars. Sorry, Don and Mel. You can't torment me with your size 12 feet.

However, if someone is nice to me and doesn't mind waiting a little while, I could knit up a pair of lovely purple socks....

Fundraising

I can't resist putting my skills to work when it comes to fundraising. If I can make something beautiful that will bring money to a good cause, I don't mind putting in the effort. So instead of Sock Wars I'm focusing my knitting time on the shawl for raising money for the West Women's and Children's Shelter, which is one of the shelters available for victims of domestic violence. There will be another Sock Wars according to YarnMonkey if there is enough demand for one, but you can never raise enough money for protecting the helpless.

Getting the boot

One doesn't realize just how complex the structure of the foot and the ankle are until an anatomical picture is viewed. I think if I had done better in chemistry in high school I would have been pursuing a medical career because I find the human body just so darn interesting. Researching the medical issues that have surfaced over time in my body has been so fun to do. But I'm not a hypochondriac. Case in point: my ankle and foot aching several days and my being reluctant to go once more to the doctor after having seen him just two weeks before for my cholesterol.

But it turns out that I was wise in seeking medical advice. In the last couple of days I had been thinking twice about going to see a podiatrist because my foot and ankle were feeling better after treating them conservatively like a sprained ankle. You know the routine. The R.I.C.E. method: Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate (if you don't know it, you know it now). But after seeing the ultrasound pictures of my foot and how the affected area appears compared to healthy tissue, I was glad that I didn't listen to my head and opt to not go. Turns out I have a torn ligament (the peroneus longus). Everything is still attached, but the tissue is very inflamed within my foot and making it and my ankle immobile for 6 weeks is the treatment required. After that will be a follow up visit to see how it's doing and whether it is ready for physical therapy or if I need to have surgery. So now I have a lovely walking cast boot to wear for 6 weeks. The price of going shopping for new clothes.

On the needles

I've put projects on hold because of my tendonitis flaring up in my hands (a lot of data entry and mousework at the office) but it hasn't stopped me from doing stuff. I took a cone of the Pendleton wool and my niddynoddy and started skeining up the wool for washing later, finishing up two skeins today. My partner in crime at the office looked at me funny while I was doing it at lunch. The look didn't change when I explained what I was doing. It is a big cone of yarn. Futile? Not after it's washed.

One of the women who is active in the company's Mission activities came to me with a proposal of selling craft items for one of the women's shelters here in town. I suggested a silent auction and said I would think of what I could do. The event will happen the third week in October, so I had to think of what I could do that would be quick and portable and attractive. I have a skein of Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in a lovely colorway they call cedar which is a nice heathered olive green. Last night's insomniac reading took me through EZ's Knitter's Almanac and I read her story of the Pi Shawl. My first shawl was a Pi Shawl and I finished it in a month. I could do another. So all afternoon my mind was whirling with possibilities. Now I find I have a nice stash of Cherry Tree Hill laceweight in blues and purples and more yardage and already wound into balls to work! Ai!! Which yarn? What size needle? Plain or eyelets? Or work a single line of spiralling eyelets and do a backwards e loop instead of a yarnover for the increase row?

I think I have it worked out. First dinner, then sit down with the needles and start knitting.

Five years

People say they knew what they were doing when certain events occurred in their lives: Kennedy's assassination; the Cuban missile crisis; John Lennon's assassination; the Challenger explosion. I was too young to remember the first two. I remember sitting in my friend's dorm room when we got the news and later looking at the Rolling Stone with Annie Leibowitz' photographs. I have no recollection of what I was doing when the Challenger exploded. But the day four hijacked planes crashed, killing over 4000 people, is very vivid in my mind.

I woke to NPR talking about the first plane's crash into the World Trade Center and heard the announcement of the second plane crashing there. I heard about the plane crashing into the Pentagon and later the plane dropping to crash in rural Pennsylvania. I watched briefly on TV the coverage while I dressed for work and fed my cats, not sure what to think. When I got to work, everyone was listening to the radio. Few spoke. Many were numb. Not much work got done to say the least but we were together. We could look to each other for some sort of comfort.

That solidarity really came into being when all of a sudden it was announced that there was the possibility of a bomb in the building and we had to leave it NOW. Don't stop to pick up your purse. Get. Out. Now. We piled out of the building and across the street to a neighboring parking lot in the sunny September noontime, frightened by this threat. It was a good hour before they gave us the go ahead to return to our offices to pick up our things. We were told to go home. It was just as well as we would have been next to useless for the rest of the day. The towers had collapsed by then and we were all shaken from the bomb threat.

Since then, I've had to really think about my own beliefs. I'm one for negotiation and diplomacy to ensure the peace. I was ambivalent about going to Afghanistan and definitely opposed to invading Iraq. It was a difficult thing to decide upon. I could not deny the families of those who had been killed their anger and desire for resolution. But I could also see that retaliation for the attacks would take us down a path of no return. The war we would be fighting wouldn't have a simple front line but many front lines with many innocents in the way. I got into an argument with a friend of mine over this because she was for full invasion. She had lived in the London area during the time of many IRA bombings. She understood what it meant to live in terror. But I also saw the results of the years after then. People grew tired of the militancy and the fear. They chose peace. In the meantime, both sides developed ways of dealing with terrorism. It led to the breakup of another attempt to hijack planes in London. Yes, I was afraid when the bomb threat was called in. But I also was thinking who was the stupid jerk who was preying on our fears? Was it a patient angry about his bill? Was it just a copycat who was getting his ya-yas from frightening an office building full of financial clerks and analysts? I was no longer afraid. I was pissed. But not pissed enough to demand that the army be called in and hunt down the idiot, then leave him for us to rip him to shreds.

I think what bothers me the most is the arrogance that some people have that because we are Americans and live in a country that has a large economic and military effect on world affairs. It's an arrogance born of not knowing poverty, of not experiencing government corruption, of feeling that the privilege is God-given and damn those who don't follow in the path of the righteous. I was aware of that arrogance prior to the attacks, but the behavior of the nation since the attacks has reinforced this in my eyes, and made me sick to think that these are my fellow countrymen.

I will not leave my country. This is but a phase that will pass. I will remain here doing what I can to make change happen and support those who also desire change. I will sing for the voiceless. I am an American.

Knitting content

Whew! If it weren't for knitting, I'd probably be curled up in my chair with my nose buried in a thick book trying to escape all the media circus. I started working on the second patch go-round for my sister's dog sweater on a set of Crystal Palace circular zeroes and ran into the problem of the join. I ended up ordering a set of Addi Turbos from Woodland Woolworks. I don't want to do too much fine work right now as I'm feeling twinges from the muscles in my right arm tightening up again and cutting off the nerve circulation to the thumb and forefinger. Must be ready for Sock Wars. I can't wait to start on the Araucania! In the meantime, I'll check out the latest Knitty and maybe even cruise MagKnits pattern archive for goodies, snicker!