Ribbed, For My Pleasure

Amused is starting to look like a sweater. I am now on the k2p2 bottom. Row after row of k2p2. 8 inches to be exact. The pattern calls for 6 inches of ribbing, but I've decided to add a few inches. This much ribbing seems endless. But I love the end result. What girl wouldn't want 8 inches of ribbed pleasure. For those of you who weren't sure...I'm talking knitting.

I'm Crazy Comfortable Right Now!

I made a purchase recently of lounge pants (sweat pants without the elastic). These are hands down "the most comfortable pants in the world" (to be sung to the tune of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" in true Bing Crosby fashion). Now, I don't know if y'all are like me, but when I make a discovery like this, it makes a huge impact. On my comfort level. On my happiness. On my particular brand of crazy. So, thinking that these pants would eventually have to go into the washing machine and then I'd be without the most comfortable pants in the world for at least a few hours, I decided to purchase another pair. Off to Target I ran. While at Target, however, I realized that these pants would, over time, wear out. It's not that I'm hard on pants; I'm really not. But it will happen over time. And I think it's safe to say that we all know that when they do wear out, Target will no longer be carrying them. So, we can all guess what I did. That's right, I bought several (I will not write the actual number out of fear that one of you will turn me in for a full psychiatric evaluation and quite frankly with my schedule right now, I don't have the time). Two are now in wearing rotation. The others are waiting patiently in the closet for their day.

My Cat Has a Drinking Problem (but I'm going to heaven)

People, I am living in a house with special needs cats. Seriously. I've already shared with all of you tales of my youngest kitty who has applied for Poster Cat of Cat Allergies, and I'm pretty sure he's going to win that one. Well, he is not alone in either 1) quirky cat behavior; 2) health issues; or 3) some combination of the two.

I have a beautiful tabby boy named Toivo. He is a rez kitty. I found him on the Navajo Reservation walking home for lunch one day. I picked him up, put him in my bathroom so he wouldn't give any weird cat illnesses caught on the rez to my Jacob, and decided I would return home at the end of the day and find him a home. Guess I didn't realize at that moment that I'd already found him a home. Toivo is my big boy and he's a big baby. His health issues, you ask? Well, he has inflammatory bowel disease (that's right). This could be due to the fact that he eats plastic and lately CARPET! He likes to pull up single plies from the carpet and EAT THEM. Little tasty treats, apparently. A friend mentioned that I should pull a bunch up, keep them in a baggie and toss individual pieces to him as rewards for good behavior. Nice.

His latest health issue began around a year ago. I have a ground floor, an upstairs and a basement. The bedroom is upstairs. Because I have no children and my cats are my life and I get weird notions in my head occasionally (largely because I have too much time on my hands), I decided to put a water dish upstairs in the bedroom for the kitties. May I say, in my defense, that the other special need kitty, Estelle, has weight issues, and I thought it might be a relief to her to not have to navigate the stairs to get to the water dish. I know, I know, I wasn't thinking that the stair climbing would be good exercise for her. Hindsight is 20/20, people. Well, Toivo thought that having a water dish in the bedroom was TERRIFIC! He started getting all his water from that dish. Then, he started protecting that water dish. Now, he has to have some level of activity, so there were occasions that the other cats would drink from that dish. He was having none of that. So, apparently, his resolution to this was to drink all the water himself. Here's a little anatomy lesson: Cats are supposed to have highly concentrated urine. Their bodies are set up to drink little water. So now, Toivo, in his territorial madness, has created his own health problem. His system flushes from all the water, the urine can't concentrate, his body realizes that, so he craves more water in an attempt to produce urine, he flushes his system, the urine can't concentrate, his body realizes that...you get the crazy cycle that's going on here. Yup! That's my boy. I'm not going to tell you how much I spent at the vet's office with tests and whatnot to figure this out. All that lab work. To learn he's basically neurotic. Lovely.

Here's the deal. Kindergarten teachers are going to heaven. That's just gotta be a fact. Have you seen a kindergarten classroom? I tried; I tried, because I, too, want to get to heaven. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not cut from that cloth. Those little guys, cute as they are, would drive me to all sorts of hysteria if they were my full-time job. But, I'm thinking that these cats are definitely my way in.

Everybody Needs to Feel Important

Life has been very stressful for me of late. I should actually knit more under stress, but I don't. Knitting can be such a zen experience and calming, but when I'm mega stressed, I just don't seem to grab the knitting bag. My lovely kitties have been all over me today. My little shadow Heimo is such a dear. He sat in my lap and gazed at me while tears ran down my cheeks over the stressors in my life. I rewarded him with hugs, or maybe I rewarded myself with those hugs. We all need to feel important in life, and my cats always make me feel important. Always. They remind me that when I'm feeling unimportant and insignificant, that I am indeed important and significant to them. And that counts. And that reminds me that I am significant to myself as well. I have been working on Amused. There were a few snags I had to work out mathematically to get the fit I want. We'll see if I do indeed get the fit I want. I have no pictures to update, but hope to get a few more inches knit over the next few days and then I'll try it on and snap a few to post. It's a top down sweater, which allows me to try it on as I knit. (need to lengthen my cable so that it doesn't pop off the needles when I do.) Oh, and Heimo and I will need to ball a hank this week. Oh joy.

Broken Resolutions and School Burritos

Well, that resolution went flying out the window! Amused is still on the needles and I have spent ridiculous little time knitting. After I get off this computer, I plan to work some rows. It's not that I've been amazingly busy or anything. I haven't. Did get the house scoured from top to bottom this weekend, went to the movies and shopping and dinner with a friend, but that's it. Not the "I can't believe I'm too busy to even knit a few rows" kind of lifestyle. Just hasn't happened. Also, February is a short month, so yeah, can't expect to finish a project in February, right? Maybe I'll get this off the needles by the end of March, when it will be too warm to wear it. Let's hope the end of March will be too warm to wear a sweater! I'm a bit tired of the cold winters. Last year when I was still newly transplanted from Arizona, the snow and cold was fun and a bit of a novelty. Yeah. The novelty has WORN OFF! I'm not hating it, but I'm definitely ready for warmer temps. In a completely unrelated story, I have a "from the mouths of babes" to share. I was teaching the after school program at our school the past two months (which is now finished!!! Yippee!). I would have the kids meet me by the restrooms, they would take their restroom/drink break, we'd head off for our snacks and then begin the computer lab programs leveled to their particular remediation needs. Anyway, one afternoon last week while on the computers, a young man (4th grader) came up to me holding his belly with grimace on his face and asked to use the restroom. He was gone for quite some time. When he returned I asked him if he was sick and he said "No, but that's the last school burrito I'm ever going to eat!". The fifth grader sitting next to him, without even looking up from his computer screen, concurred "they'll get you every time, dude."

A Month of Music

The boyfriend and I drove to the Quad Cities this weekend to see a Rod Stewart impersonator. His name is Steve Bobbitt. He was fabulous! He really worked the crowd; walking among the tables and posing for photos while performing. He had the mannerisms and movements down, the voice down, and of course the looks. My dad was most impressed with his sneakers, of which I never got a photo. Well, maybe I did, I'll have to peruse the pictures I took.

His performance was at the Rock Island Elks Lodge as a fundraiser for the Ladies of Elks dictionary project. The Dictionary Project, which my mom leads for the Ladies, donates dictionaries to every third grader in Moline.

Can you believe the lady here? The Rod Stewart impersonator man sat with me during his song so that I could have my picture taken with him, and the lady behind me, whom I DON'T EVEN KNOW, thought it would be funny to essentially vandalize someone else's picture. How rude. A friend is looking into how to edit the picture and get her bunny ears out of my picture. Can you imagine? !

This has been a month of music: The weekend before, we went to Rockford to see Motley Crue. Quite a difference in genre, eh? Felt like a couple of old timers at Motley Crue, as the kids in the crowd around us were all getting quite drunk. We ate popcorn and drank sodas. Yes, it's official, we're getting up there in age! Popcorn and soda at a heavy metal concert. I did not get to have my picture taken with any of the band members, nor did I get any good pictures. The camera police was out in force and I was asked to put mine away. They have no problem with people taking pictures with cell phones... I could've gotten my camera back out and tried again later, but I was asked nicely to put it away and I tend to follow directions. So, no Motley Crue pictures for the blog.

But here are a few parting photos of Steve as Rod:

Amusing Myself

I have made very little progress on the blog lately. I have made very little progress on Amused. Going to have to throw that resolution right out the window because this one is not going to get off the needles by the end of the month, unless I quit my day job and let the house fall to ruin around me. But, it's the thought that counts, and it was a darn good thought, that resolution!

I was at a training a few weeks back and during lunch break, I broke out Amused and amused myself with some knitting. The trainer came over and watched a bit. He asked if I was knitting a scarf (that's always the number one question). When I told him it was a sweater, he was very curious about the time involved. I told him it should take me about a month, but he wanted hours. Now, folks, I have absolutely no idea how many hours I put into a sweater. Don't even care to know, truth be told. He persisted in attempting to lock me down into an answer of hours, but I persisted in avoiding the math involved in answering the question. I am neither interested nor motivated to figure out the number of hours involved. He even threw out some estimates for me. Ladies and gentlemen, it was like a trial:

Prosecutor: How many hours would you say are involved in knitting a sweater?

Defendant: I have no idea.

Prosecutor: Would you say about 100 hours?

Defendant: I have no idea.

Prosecutor: More than 100 hours?

Defendant: I have no idea.

Prosecutor: Seriously, just a rough estimate.

Defendant: I have no idea.

So, finally, he gave up on me, watched the knitting process a tad longer and finally said "You know, you can buy sweaters already made."

I am pleased with the cable panels. There are approximately a gazillion stitches on the needle, as I continue to add stitches and add stitches with m1. I don't use cable needles, which adds to fun of this knit. I find cable needles cumbersome and clumsy and prefer to work without them.

Here are some new resolutions: Keep my blog updated. Try to knit more. Don't figure out how many hours are involved in knitting a sweater. So far, I have already met one of these! Also, need to figure out how to take a quality picture of knitting! I know the picture is horrible, but it's not the sweater, it's my picture taking abilities!

On Why I Need A Swift and A Ball Winder

The coast is clear:

Boys are sleeping soundly,

I head downstairs to drape a hank over a kitchen chair

and begin winding my lovely yarn into a ball.

Heimo can apparently smell yarn.

He especially enjoys the smell of yarn being wound into a ball.

Must lick yarn that smells this yummy.

"What light through yonder hank of yarn breaks?"

Looks like yarn. Smells like yarn. Yep! It's yarn!

Makes a quick get-away!

Fierce yarn hunter has secured his prey!

And would you believe, once I finished this post (following kidnapping and recovery of above ball of yarn), this is what I found in the bedroom:

I guess yarn-napping is tiring business! (or exciting enough to interrupt a nap for!)