It's a design element

I finished the Optimum Sock (singular) last night, and wove in the ends. The orange and purple striping on the toe is cute. I did that on purpose. I planned it from the very beginning. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it).

Then I washed the sock. I'd heard that the yarn really "relaxes" when it's washed.

Well, that's one word for it. It stretched WAAAY out, and lay there limp. On the other hand, I didn't need to block the lace in the sock. Every bit of texture just melted out. The lace is gorgeous! The sock is HUGE. It's lying there, limp as a used condom.

And, the yarn bled color like a son-of-a-gun. I never did get it to stop bleeding.

I like the texture of wool. This doesn't feel like wool.

Updates: Sheryl's hip surgery went well. The doc pinned the hip, instead of replacing it. Darn. The recovery on a replacement is a lot faster, and new hips are lasting 20 years now.

Last time I talked with the physical therapist, he still hadn't heard back from the doctor, so we don't know the status on the break in Joan's pelvis.

JtX's cold is getting better. (You know he's sick when I feel sorry for him). Dave's cold is still in full force. Beth's is getting better. I spent the night coughing.

I'm going to need to go to Joan's on Xmas morning. JtX isn't picking her up for Christmas till late afternoon. Sometimes JtX surprises me with what a good son he is. Other times, I just want to smack him.

JsT (my son's brother T, by JtX and Wife 2) is in Juvie. He failed his cocaine test. (This is a long story).

Holiday shopping is done, except for underwear for NephT (My nephew, T, who loves getting underwear for gifts. Strange child.) I'll get that after Christmas, hopefully on sale.

Two more days of work, then a long weekend.

Weather

It snowed here last night! It just doesn't snow in Las Vegas! Alright, it actually does snow here, usually every year. What it doesn't do is stick. There was snow on both cars when I took the trash out this morning!

Sheryl was supposed to have her hip surgery yesterday afternoon. I haven't heard results yet. Joan had XRays taken on Friday, and was asking the PT folks if she could go home yesterday. (I'm talking to the head of PT, to see if she's allowed to walk yet. She walks on the broken pelvis anyway, which is really slowing the healing). I'll know more on both fronts this afternoon. Joan's not going home any time soon.

(Gritting my teeth - I was going to talk about knitting in this blog) I've been knitting a terribly cool (complicated) lace sock for Joyce at Wooly Wonders. It's out of Optimum - that new Optimum Merino that is supposed to be so soft. I'm not enthralled with the wool. It's very soft. The ply is very loose, so it was really easy to grab only one strand of the ply, instead of both. Especially with the darned dull Addi needles.

And, for a yarn that's as expensive as it is, there were a LOT of knots in that very small skein. The odd thing was there would be a knot in only one of the two plies. Grrr.

And, of course, I ran out of wool, about 6 rows from the end of the toe of the sock. I LOVE toe up socks. This purple sock is getting an orange and purple striped toe. But the pattern is lovely!

Pictures soon.

Memories 2

Alright, usually Joan is aware that her memory is going. Yesterday, she wasn't. It was a bad day.

She didn't remember that she'd asked me to wash the sweater she'd knit for her mother 35 years ago, and made the aide check the sheet eight times, and accused the poor aide of stealing the sweater.

She insisted her roommate had been asleep all day. Dorothy kept saying "I haven't been asleep." Joan looked at me and said "She's really been asleep." Dorothy, who is the most laid back person in the world finally shouted "I haven't been asleep!"

Joan told me that (a) J the Ex was taking her out for dinner (JTX is taking her out on Monday evening, not last night) (b) and he was going to take her to a restaurant she likes near her old house (the restaurant is immediately adjacent to her new apartment) and he was going to take her by the old house up on the mountain (he had pictures of the house where they lived for years, in Virginia. He shared them with everyone last week, on his birthday).

Nothing anyone said could convince her of anything different. (She insisted the aide had only put one sheet on the bed. There were two, but I put another one on).

Yesterday was not a good day. After leaving my (very confused) MIL, I went over to my LYS for an hour or so of peace and knitting. Shortly after I got there, Cheryl started gathering her stuff up to leave, and took her MIL's partially consumed soda into the bathroom to empty it. We heard a huge crash and a scream. Cheryl had fallen, and... it's her hip.

Her husband had just had his second kidney removed (he's on dialysis till they can get him a new kidney), so he was at home sleeping. Cheryl had the car. I went and got Paul. Joyce (the LYS owner) called the ambulance. Cheryl still hadn't had xrays when I stopped by the hospital.

Today is our potluck at Wooly Wonders. It's got to be a better day.

Memories

My MIL is only 79 years old, and her memory is shot. J the Ex is having her tested to see if it's Alzheimers or some other form of dementia. But this really bites.

The worst part of this is she's aware that her memory is going. We'll be talking, and she'll get a frustrated look on her face and say "I can't remember" or "I have no idea." Yesterday, we talked about it a little. I reassured her again that her memory problems were caused by a disease, and weren't her fault. She said "I hope it gets better. When I go home, I can't keep forgetting things." It would almost be easier if her memory loss were more advanced, so she wouldn't be aware of what she's lost. Everything I've read says this is not a reversible condition. The best they can do right now is slow the progress of the disease.

Wendy had the best idea yesterday. "Knit from your Stash 2007" Golly, I need that. I just got another shipment from Trash and Treasure. My stash is out of hand, and I need to do somthing. Maybe this is it...

Knitting for War

Having a "new" blog is great! I can talk about anything, with the absolute certainty that no one will read about it till it's too late.

Sunday is the holiday party at Wooly Wonders, my LYS. We're having a gift exchange, that's not quite one of the funky "auctions" that folks either love or hate.

Someone mentioned a little book that the Red Cross has for sale, that is vintage patterns for knitting for War.

I ordered two, and they finally arrived yesterday. I have to say, this little booklet totally rocks! One is going to the gift exchange.

Now I need to decide what to put with it. I'm thinking about some "camo" yarn, needles, and a couple of the current patterns for knitting for "our boys (and girls)". There are hat, hood and sock projects going on out there.

I have some real problems with the "knit for the troops" projects. It really seems like they're the "baby" of one person, who has definite opinions about what is "right", and won't brook any other opinions. THIS one says "The hats must be wool. I put in instructions on how to hand wash them, so they won't shrink or felt." (Right - a 19 year old in Iraq is going (a) even look at the instructions and (b) follow them"). THAT one says "The socks must be acrylic, so they can be machine washed". Then I read a letter from a service man saying "I picked this up from a box that says "free - take one." Oh, that really makes me think that some soldier appreciates my work. We could as easily buy a case of acrylic crap from Wally World, and send it over, for all the appreciation we'd be getting.

But, I want to do something. The war is stupid, but the folks on the front lines aren't.

Definition of Family

J the Ex and I have been divorced for 22 (wonderful) years. Now, his mom is in a rehab center, and I've seen J more in the last two months than I have in the last 10 years. He's fairly recently remarried (again - I'm one of the early ex-wives) to Steppie, a really nice woman. I'm happy for them both.

J the Ex has "poor, poor, pitiful me" down to an art. I can't believe this. Today is his birthday, and I'm throwing him a party in his mom's room.

Joan is trapped in a wheelchair right now, and has major memory issues. She's feeling scared and helpless and is grumpy about the whole situation.

I'm not doing the party for J, I'm doing this for Joan.

So J is getting a cheesecake with a candle, a silly hat, and a book from Joan. (Joan keeps forgetting that I'm buying a book for her to give J, but that's OK.)

Possible silly hat choices:

or

or












I'll see what I can find at the party store.

One of the perks of being long divorced is I get to make J look silly, without being accused of being mean.

I love being divorced! But I am looking forward to not thinking about J the Ex again, for months on end.

Doing for myself

I only have a minute to post - I'm teaching a class in an hour, and need a shower.

Apparently, I needed "me" time yesterday, more than I thought. And, I didn't get it.

Chaos, my son, told me how DESPERATELY he needed a hamburger last night. He wanted Burger King. We settled on Chili's. He doesn't enjoy Chili's, but I love their Bottomless Basket of Chips and Salsa. And I think their burgers are pretty good.

Half-way through dinner, I finally got a refill on my coffee and water. I calmly picked up a tub of creamer, and poured it thoughtfully into my water. And then stared at the black coffee. And the white water.

Chaos laughed. I drank the evidence. It was delicious.