Uncle Leona's Day Camp

Ahhh, family...

I know there is no family out there that is perfect. I mean, who out there goes to any family gathering without a little bit of dread that someone will say something or do something completely ridiculous? That would never be me, by the way. I am perfect.

Please excuse me right now while I clear that fur ball out of my throat.

Anyhow, the past 24 hours have proven to me that my family will never let me down when it comes to...how should I say...moments. Last night, Mom and I attended my cousin's daughter's wedding reception. Never mind that they got married last week. In Niagara Falls. With their 18 month old as a ring bearer. It was an interesting crowd. Some examples (you'll thank me for not having photos):

1. My cousin, who is divorced, put herself at a table with all of her ex-boyfriends and their dates. Mom found this particularly amusing.

2. The bride's brother spent the better part of the evening getting stoned. With his father.

3. The groom's mother decided to wear a dress that probably looked lovely on her in 1978. I was reminded of a great line from Steel Magnolias: "Looks like two pigs fightin' under a blanket. "

4. I think I saw a tattoo on every member of the bridal party. There were some nice ones on the bridesmaids.

To top off the family fun, I got a call from my Mom this morning. My sister-in-law got an email from a cousin on the other side of the family. Ostensibly, it was to ask about Christmas gatherings, but she closed by announcing that she was pregnant.

She's 43, divorced, with three kids. She's nuts.

No, my family isn't perfect. But they are quite entertaining.

Speaking of family, I got a text from my nephew yesterday. He's in his freshman year at the University of Findlay, where he got money to play baseball. Right now, I think that's his major. Anyhow, he decided that he needed a knitted hat for Christmas, because he wasn't about to shell out $30 for one at the bookstore.

The kid is smart, I tell ya. That baseball major is good for something.

So, I scrounged up a pattern on the internet that will use up yarn I used on his afghan:

Nice, inexpensive, superwash wool. Perfect. He'll be the envy of his buds. It'll also keep his little head warm as he trudges off to class in January.

The blue sweater is at the armhole decrease stage:

It's moving along quite nicely. Of course, with a pattern that's this repetitive, that isn't hard. We'll see how fast the front moves.

I'm beginning to have second thoughts on that shrug, though. I tried it on, and I don't know if it's the best clothing item for my boobage. I put it aside for now to concentrate on the pullover. I then have another project to do to get more space in Ikealand opened up for the Stitches Market haul. I'm sure I'll get back to it...maybe in another form; I really like those colors.

As for Stitches, I have myself all set up for classes. I'm taking a sleeve class on Thursday (that will be contingent on not getting delayed getting my flight out of town...it will be February) from Judy Pascale, a twined fingerless glove class from Beth Brown-Reinsel on Friday, and a beaded crocheted rope class by Karen Whooley on Saturday. Should be interesting, of course. Anyone out there going? I'll buy the first round!

Do we have a quarterback???

As expected, my beloved Browns were beaten down by the Steelers this afternoon. What was unexpected is that Colt McCoy, the rookie, the guy who wasn't supposed to be exposed to any injury possibility this season except perhaps a splinter from his clipboard, was forced into starting and actually looked halfway decent! Everyone in this town was expecting to have McCoy return on the Turnpike in an ambulance, but he managed to survive and give this town a little hope.

270 yards passing. One touchdown. Two interceptions (one wasn't his fault). Not bad.

Next week: the Super Bowl champion Saints. Good luck, kid.

Thanks to getting back to blogging, I have managed to finish a couple of things of late. First of all, the Weekend Cardigan is done:

I wore this to the office last week. We have been invaded by computer support members as we've been getting accustomed to the new electronic medical record system. When they found out I made the sweater (and my staff informed them that this one was nothing compared to some of the other creations), they were floored. Lots of gaping mouths.

Good for my ego.

Also, I'm hopeful that I managed to convince a couple of them to pick up needles. I did manage to recommend Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch as a good starting point. Who knows? Maybe I'll help create another monster.

I also finished up an Earthfaire bracelet:

I really like how this turned out. It works just like a bangle--actually, with the natural stretch of the knitting, it's more like a Silly Band.

A very fancy, metallic, not shaped like a hippopotamus Silly Band.

I'm storing this pattern in the memory banks for Christmas. It's a good gift exchange item. Of course, this now guarantees I get my cousins' husbands in the gift exchange. Maybe I can help them find their feminine side.

The box o'yarn is now on its way to becoming a very holidayish shrug:

The cuff is done in a corrugated rib:

This pattern is a bit wonky, I must say. Lots of general guidelines, but the specifics are a bit off. For example, it asks you to increase from the cuff to the shoulder every other row. After that, it's supposed to be 18 inches long. It's not even close. I decided to go every 4th row, and I like the result a lot more. The issue now is that the back doesn't measure 30 inches wide, as the pattern states. I think I'm OK with where it's at right now. There's a lot of give in that knitting.

Stay tuned. This could get ugly.

I also got started on a mindless cabled pullover to rid myself of the blue yarn in Ikealand. It's a Vermont Fiber Designs pattern, the Zig Zag Cable Pullover, that I downloaded from Patternfish.

A few words about Patternfish, for anyone out there that isn't familiar. Patternfish is an online pattern store--all the patterns are from $3 on up. Once you pay for your pattern, you can download it immediately. Each pattern has all the pertinent information (sizing, gauge,needles, etc.) available for you before you buy. I have used it a few times and have been extremely satisfied.

For the record, I am not employed, nor is anyone in my family employed, by Patternfish. This endorsement has been made freely, and without any compensation. Of course, if you're with Patternfish and wish to compensate me, I will not turn it down. I mean, Christmas is coming.

Anyhow, to the sweater.

This is what got accomplished during the Browns game. I'm using that blue yarn in the stash, which is wonderful wool from Beaverslide Dry Goods in Montana. I love their wool...it's so lush. I had to do a little adjusting for gauge, though. The pattern wanted 5 stitches to the inch, and I only got 4.75. Adjusting needle size messed up the row gauge, and I didn't want to mess that up given the diamond pattern that will wind up on the front--I don't want half diamonds if I can help it.

This may be the first time I ever worried about the row gauge. Alert the media.

OK, I lied.

Take another look at that photo of Ikealand. I pointed out the yarn that was next on the needles. Turns out you need to look down a couple of rows. I was thinking about Christmas presents this week, and found this nice pattern for a shrug for my niece:

Really cute, and the 14 stitches per inch worked for that wonderful hot pink cone yarn that was collecting dust on the shelf. The yarn, by the way, is from ArtFibers in San Francisco. It was on sale. So, I have the back complete:

We'll see how this goes. When I asked my sister-in-law what my niece's bust measurement was nowadays, she told me that they just bought her new bras.

36D new bras. Makes my DDD heart proud. Poor kid.

Although I seemed to make a very intelligent decision to work on a Christmas gift AND dispose of stash, I made the mistake of browsing the shrug patterns on Ravelry. I came upon Jane Thornley's stuff.

I think I love her.

She actually has a shrug pattern that I think I can pull off without it looking too shawlish.

I only bought three extra skeins and a couple of sale fibers today to do this thing.

That's using up stash, right?

I also managed to satisfy my inner Iron Chef this afternoon. I whipped up a Reuben Pizza:

And if that wasn't enough, I chopped down the last of my rhubarb and whipped up a pie:

If I didn't have a uterus, I'd say I was nesting.

Back in the Saddle Again

As I was dozing off to sleep last night, I decided it was time to get back into the blog mode. What was the impetus after the long hiatus? I think it was deciding on my classes for Stitches West.

And, of course, the impending attack on my credit cards from the Market.

Whatever the reason, I needed to get back to writing. I'll never get that publishing contract if I disappear from view. That, and I'm starting to have a project backlog that never happened when the blog was in full blog mode. You see, my friends, showing project progress on the internet keeps me honest. It also tends to keep my living room a tad neater.

So, as many of you probably surmised, Dad lost his battle with pancreatic cancer back in May. He died peacefully in hospice care--no pain whatsoever, which was a big time blessing. We're all doing fine; I think the long illness with the inevitable end made what is never easy easier. Now it's a matter of Mom trying to organize the house and getting rid of things she'll never use. My brother and I have managed to take several things off her hands. I did wait until we came home from the cemetery to claim the snow blower. I thought that was the appropriate time.

My brother tried to get it about a week later.

She's now working on selling off all of the model train stuff he never got around to building. So far, she's made about $5000 on brand new model building kits and various extra things. When he died, he left over 300 engines--we can definitely find new homes for a few of those. Mom and I spent last weekend at the county fairgrounds at a train show selling a few extra things that Dad had priced out last year for sale. Mom had to take the money she made to the bank in a plastic bag (there were over 100 $1 bills alone). My brother said she looked like she just finished up a drug deal.

Yep. We're doing fine.

My job also was a bit of a pain in the ass this summer. Corporate tried to move me over to the practice of a dying doctor in April (about three weeks before Dad died). I was stuck in an office that hadn't been remodeled since the Reagan Administration with temporary help (the staff that was there was gone in about two weeks). My patients were never notified of the change, which didn't make them real happy. And when my patients aren't happy, I'm not happy. After a lot of stressful battles, I wound up back in the old office full time, and the organization that tried to move me there is dissolving. I am now officially on staff with the Cleveland Clinic, which is fine by me.

This week, we started charting patients electronically. I feel so in touch with my inner geek.

Finally, to finish the stress triumverate, Grady felt he needed to be part of the party. A couple weekends back, I noticed some brown drops all over my vinyl hallway.

First thought: what did that cat get into?

I cleaned them up and never thought anything of it. The next day, I came home from a Saturday morning in the office, and the drops were back.

Second thought: what did that cat get into?

I started cleaning again, but I was now noticing that Grady couldn't keep himself out of the litter box. He was sitting there straining, but nothing was happening. I'm sure he had veins sticking out on his forehead. When he did come off the litter, he couldn't stop licking himself in the ol' crotch.

Not normal. He's never that anal about hygiene. Yes, the pun was intended.

So, I call the vet, who, of course, was closed. Off to the vet ER I go. Turns out poor ol' Grady has feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD for short--although he doesn't look real fluted to me). In short, some male cats will accumulate crystals and stones that will dam up their scrawny little urethra. Eventually, within 48-72 hours, toxins can build up in the system, and the cat can die. Thankfully, Grady wasn't in bad shape. His blood tests were all OK, but he still had to spend the weekend in the hospital with an IV and urinary catheter in place. He also now has to eat special food to keep this from happening again. How is he now?

Other than the one-pawed tribute to the poodle, he's fine.

What's on the needles, you ask? At the moment, I'm about to finish up a necklace I made from a kit from EarthFaire.com. It's beautiful:

Simple construction--all garter stitch on size 0 needles. It curls naturally. Very nifty.

I'm also in sleeve purgatory for a simple cardigan made of Berroco Weekend:

This is great yarn for an acrylic/cotton blend. Knits like a dream. Good thing, too, because I need to get things done quickly and without too much fussiness. Stitches West is in February, and I need to get Ikealand ready. At the moment, here's what needs to be purged:

That top shelf should be empty by Christmas. I'd like to get some other stuff out of there, too, but I'm not going to make any promises. You see, I discovered Kumihimo braiding over the past month, and I think a few Christmas gifts may need to be made. Here's an example of a necklace I whipped up from stash yarn and a few cheapie beads:

It's missing a clasp, but you get the idea. I'll elaborate on the process in the near future when I get another cord going. It's a great way to get rid of stash yarn, and I think I may just use it for knitting project embellishment somewhere down the line.

You know me...always thinking.