For example, I have sock samples to knit so I can write up and finesse sock directions. There is one in particular that didn't work out right, I never finished, and it keeps waving at me from my project bag. I need to either start it over, unknit it to restart the pattern, rework the pattern, or just do a totally different pattern. Sigh.

Another project is a sweater for me, except it's just a cone of white wool. I need to swatch, sample, measure, and design it. Not to mention actually get to the knitting part of it!

However, I have moved a couple items from "to do" to the "done" category of my knitting. A scarf for my mother in sock yarn, scarves for me from a kit that I received for Christmas, and a small sample/shoulder shawlette that I have knit up. Now I need to guesstimate the yardage of yarn and write up my ideas into a set of directions.

Current projects I'm working on, not including the waiting-room projects from earlier? Well, still have to restart that hat, the shawl is a little further along, and I have second sock started on the pair of socks. I'm working on a shawl that was just a set of directions (Christmas gift) and a ball of yarn (repurposed from a prior project), and I'm almost throught the first chart. I love it, it's fun, and since I pulled most of the stitch markers, I'm zooming along! The pattern is easy enough to follow that I only have the center stitches marked. Lyrical Lace from Fiddlesticks. I love their patterns, and I'm finally knitting one! Envision cartoon happy bubbles over the knitting...if you dare!

I still have a pair of boot socks that need the first sock off the needles and second sock started (I have no problems with second socks!), another pair that I'm playing with 2 colors and stitch patterns that is still in first sock and needs to be taken off needles and start second sock...I just realized I have at least 3 pairs of socks in mind for when the needles are naked of stitches, yikes!

There's quite a bit of knitting I haven't listed here yet that's on my list for 2012. Yes, a list, but sadly, no pictures. I have to work that part of my life into a new habit, adding pictures to my words. But, hey, listen to the yarn and needles clamoring for my attention, saying Knit ME! KnitME! 

And this is only February? Gotta get knitting!

I'm a little torn, if I want to cart my laptop with me. For charting up a design I have rough notes on, writing up cohesive information from those notes, searching for a little inspiration, reading email? Not sure. Maybe just a little knitting and reading. And a little more design playing with a shawl/scarf that I started the last time I was waiting.

I think I'll restart a hat I was working on, because I'm just not happy with the way the start of it looks. Ever have one of those projects where you look at it, try to make yourself accept the way the project looks, and decide it just "won't work that way" or that it needs restarting? Well, it will be restarted.

I might carry some extra yarn and knitting needles for playing with an idea that's been floating around in the back of my mind. Not sure how it will work out yet, so it can't hurt to play with it.

Ah, the bliss of playing with yarn. Wonder why it is so hard for people to understand how satisfying knitting can be. I'll let someone else write that book.

Yep. Looks like the sit and knit as I wait worked again. I did get some done on the sock, and started the shawl/scarf/stole. Not sure if it's really going to be a shawl, a scarf, or a stole, it's still growing.

Only one person asked me what I was knitting and watched me for a bit. She was waiting for the shuttle, so she could go to work, and admitted that she was working on a scarf. I hope I encouraged her, telling her that if you can knit a scarf, you can knit anything.

It's true. If you can knit a scarf, you really can knit anything. Once you have the basic mechanics of knitting down, making the loop, pulling the yarn through, making stitches, the world of knitting can be your oyster. Really.

And knitting as you wait makes the time go faster, at least for me it does.

Really, I'm ready to go? Thank you!

So, I packed up my knitting for now, drove off into the rest of my day, helped make a double batch of kruschiki (I probably spelled it wrong) and did my usual daily things on my off day.

I have my laundry list of things the car needs done next (according to their nice inspection checksheet), so now, all I need is another job so I can pay for them. At least I can knit while I wait. Or write down my shawl/scarf/stole and figure out if it needs to be shared with the world for knitting? Hmm, the possibilities are endless!

Why? Repair recall notice on Subaru Forrester, I live in the "salt belt" and in the state of Maryland. I have no idea how long this will take, inspection, possible repair or replacement, coating of corrosion preventative material.

First estimate of how long it takes? 3 hours. Maybe. Maybe longer.

So, first thing, Monday morning, hi, here's my Subaru. I'll wait.

If it takes 5 hours, it takes 5 hours. I'll have plenty of knitting with me as I wait. Socks, a shawl or stole, maybe a hat or two. Plenty of knitting to keep me busy.

I know I'll get the hairy eyeball looks, and the usual (extremely original) questions of: is that a baby hat? (sock) What are you crocheting? (it's knitting) How do you knit on all those sticks? (double point knitting needles in the round)

It'll be interesting to see how many people either avoid me, ask questions (ice breaker for creating conversations), or just "ignore" what I'm doing. The usual pay-no-attention-to-the-crazy-woman-knitting-in-that-chair routine.

Maybe my car will be fixed faster?

Nah!

Now, which yarn will work for that shawl/stole idea growing in the back of my mind, will that pattern stitch work in a sock, and what size needle works best for that hat and yarn? Hmmm! The possibilities, the possibilities! I'll have one fat knitting backpack!

Is there room for my fish crackers?

At least now I know why the Dragons Sang last week.

Anne MacCaffrey, RIP (11/21/2011)

One of the most influential writers I ever met in her books. Between will seem so much colder now.

Nope. Not me.

It's her first baby, and we're all excited!

It also gives some of us an excuse to pull out the knitting needles, books of wee knits, and soft, baby-friendly yarns. As for myself, of course I pull out the needles, baby-soft yarn, and peruse the books of wee-knits, and then think...I'll design something myself.

Yep. Designing a baby blanket. So, for about the last few days, I've been looking at other designs, thinking, noticing how big each blanket is, thinking, the yarns used, thinking, how much time I have until it needs to be done, thinking...

But today, I finally, actually, cast on stitches and started knitting.

The details thus far: size 8 (US) needle, Lion Brand (TM) Pound of Love baby yarn in white, knitting corner-to-corner, and totaly my design. The rest of my details will be posted on Ravelry, and I'm contemplating selling it there too. We'll see how it turns out.

Oh, yeah, another detail: I have to have it finished BEFORE August 28. Why? The Dormouse is having a tea party, and I have to have my sun hat then too. That only give me, hmm, less than 18 days. No problem. Right?

Nope.

Haven't found the word yet. Anyhow, I recently looked up my great-grandmother's immigration listing in the online Ellis Island records again, just to see which year she arrived in the U.S. 1896 according to the website. And I missed the date on record, July 20. Hmm, a few days ago.

However, I'm still working on my sock samples and trying to figure out how on earth I made the original socks, and what works best for putting them into sock-book-pattern world. I have four singles socks done, all in the base yarn and base color of exciting natural white. I don't block socks, or at least I haven't done blocking for them before in my life. I'm still pondering whether to make my own forms from wire coat hangers or not yet. No sample pictures, because my camera died (whimper) and I don't have the funds for purchasing a new one yet. And I'm not hinting to anyone that I need one either. I'll have to play with the cellphone camera, and see how well I can fake pictures from there until I find a replacement for the details I want to capture.

I'd love to take hummingbird pictures. So far, the little buzzers don't sit still long enough for me to even point the cellphone at them. It's two birds so far, and sometimes they take turns visiting the feeder. Buzz in, eat, buzz out. Buzz in, eat, buzz to another port, eat, buzz around to another port, eat, buzz about a little, buzz off. I had one scold me today when I went outside (in the muggy muggy heat) this morning to put some water outside for the cats. Message received, I'm going inside where's its cooler.

The cats agree that today was too hot to do anything. I only saw some activity out of the younglings late this afternoon when I spotted one of them playing with a fresh-caught field mouse. Nice sized one too, good thing it was a cat-snack!

A few weeks ago, they had a crackerjack surprise in their kitten-chow. I scooped it out of the bag, not even looked in the bag, using a small plastic cup that used to hold diced fruit. I shook the kibble down to make it even across the top, took it outside, and started dividing it between the two cups in the food bowl. Surprise! Eety bitty field mouse drops out of the bottom o the cup into the food bowl. One young orange male kitten blinks, sniffs, and snatches the mouse out of the bowl. He was delighted! I had no idea the mouse was in the food bag, nor do I have any idea how long it sat in the bag before it was scooped up. No holes in the bag, and it was sitting inside a bucket. But the best part of all, the mouse disappeared shortly afterwards. One happy kitteh.

Each time I watch the bats after sunset, in that little twilit time before full dark, I smile. They swoop, they flutter around, and I know they are eating nasty mosquitoes. Yippee! Fewer blood suckers! I think I've counted at least five one night, and they are pretty sizable bats too. I hope their numbers increase, and they continue to swoop over our yard every night that we have mosquitoes.

Jumping around...I miss the smell of pinyon pine and juniper trees. This summer has been pretty darned humid and muggy. I miss the dry heat of the southwest, really. And the scent of junipers and pinyon pine...heaven. Nothing like that here so far, all I get is the scent of growing forest or garden lately. Not to be disparaging, but I miss the high desert trips, trying to see something new, find a place I haven't been yet. Until then, I'll settle for what's within a day's driving distance from home.

This past Sunday, I went on a short half-day trip with my brother and mother to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. First time I visited, and was I surprised. Lots and lots of lotus blooms, cattails, water lily ponds that weren't quite blooming much, and a nice boardwalk. I'd love to go there again, just to see how it changes. It's across the river from the US National Arboretum (also a nice day trip destination). We spent a few hours walking around, then drove to the USNA to see if we could find crepe myrtles blooming there. Yes, we found them, admired them, and came home in time for lunch and a nap. I had to work that night helping transition moves at Job1. Sigh. Life is good.

Originally, I was going to somehow sew the warp threads into the waste rows between first towel and second towel, but my little dilemma was how to keep it from unraveling, stretching, or forming knots where I sewed it? A little sleep, and quite a few weeks later, I think I have a slightly better solution. Unwrap the woven section a little, and carefully wrap under the left edge a little bit of rag or other fabric (maybe an old washcloth) until the warp threads are evenly tensioned when the woven part is tightened back up onto the front beam. Hmm. Need to try it out very soon!

We have hummingbirds visiting us. I just happened to be looking out the front door at the roses blooming in the garden, and noticed, hey! Hummingbird! Buzzing and sipping nectar from the pink roses! Look! I called my mother's attention, and now we have a hummingbird feeder set up between two rosebushes, with daily visits from two different hummingbirds. Sometimes I see them in the early morning vising the crepe myrtle bush in the back yard, but from dawn to dusk they buzz in, buzz out, perch on rose trellises, taste the roses, but there are definitely hummingbirds in our yard!

We also have a juvenile red tail hawk in our neighborhood. He's been scoping out our trees and yard off and on all summer. Sometimes we don't see him for days (assuming it is a male) and then we see him cruising overhead, and then hear his calls. I wonder if he'll have a mate next year?

Twilight and dusk are getting earlier and earlier. Sigh. What happened to our summer days? I'm now seeing my bat friends closer to 7:50 p.m. as they swoop and fly around, eating the early evening insects. It's still comforting to see them as the sky tinges and shades to indigo before full dark comes upon us.

One of our outside cats, one that was never properly named, has the monicker of Noname. Yes, pronounced “no name” for real. And every year, she has at least one litter of kittens. Sometimes they don't all make it beyond a certain age of a few weeks, sometimes at least one kitten makes it to maturity before disappearing. Disappearing as in I assume someone takes a liking to that kitten/grown into cat, since most of her kittens grow up into friendly, people-loving cats. The latest one to reach maturing was called Rosey, an orange tabby male. He really liked people, and I describe him as having pussycat OCD. He kept pulling his fur out until only the tan colored undercoat was left. Solution: put a flea collar on him. Honestly, it worked, his fur grew back out, and he was back to his pretty redish orange stripes. About the time it had all grown back in, poof! He disappeared, there one night, completely gone before breakfast the next morning. My only explanation is that he was picked up by someone who liked him.

Well, this spring, Noname had a litter of kittens, and for no known reason, only one black male survived to about a month old. She moved him from under a bucket (where he was born) to under the back porch steps where he would wobble and toddle about and explore. Then one morning, no kitten. We weren't sure if we'd heard a cat fight the night before he disappeared, but a few nights later I spied a possum drinking from the cat water station. Brash thing, it wasn't afraid of me, which I found unusual.

Eventually, possum did move onto a new neighborhood, and I haven't seen it in months. But poor Noname was looking for the ghost of her kitten for most of the summer, until about a month ago, when she had a new litter of kittens. Three pretty babies, two black and tabby marbled females, and one pink male. They were born under the same bucket, and last week moved under the steps again. I watched them wobble and explore and start to get their sea legs until Friday morning. Horror of horrors, I found the lifeless remains of two marbled kittens, and no sign of the pink kitten at all. Worst case, a dog or pair of dogs came around early that morning, found the kittens, dragged out and killed the two females, left their little corpses for me to find, and I thought had dragged off the pink male to oblivion.

To my complete surprise, the next morning, my brother found the pink male kitten. He had crawled into a tight little spot, and hid there all day the previous day, terrified by whatever nasty creature that had invaded his “home” and only hunger drove him out. Thankfully, he likes people, and comes readily to my voice to explore and get people-attention. I encouraged his mother to re-bond with him, and he currently resides in what I've dubbed the kitten kondo; it's a small plastic animal carrier with a metal door, sitting on the back porch just behind the back door, with a soft rag for him to sleep on, and the metal door braced open so he can toddle in and out as he pleases. This makes his momma Noname happy, it's near her people, near her, and not back under the porch where it apparently still smells like kitten-death to her.

My wedding gift for my cousin is not as complete as I really want it to be. I need to hustle and practice production knitting to get it done soon! Her wedding is October 10, here it is mid September, and barely past halfway knitted. I need 21 points on the lace edge on the sides and the top lace edge knitted on; right now I have 12 points on the sides, which means in the very near future I have to push to knit 9 more points plus the top edge. Yikes! Which also means I can't justify picking up and knitting something else. Like socks. Or designing anything new to knit. Bleh. Phooey.

However, I am still planning what I now call the quest for the perfect black sweater. My work dress code shifts in early October to white or black tops, which means I can't wear the gray sweater I loved to wear the last two winters when I would get cold. White gets very dirty on me very quickly as I work at Job1, so what I really need is a black sweater that will wash often, wash well, wear well, and be comfortable. And not cost an arm and a leg. I could probably and still might check out the men's sweaters in the stores for a cheap quick fix, but I really would prefer something I knit myself. I'd be guaranteed that it's the exact style of neckline, sleeves not too long/short, and that it would fit me. I'm still dithering over yarn type, leaning towards either sock, heavy sock, sport, or double knitting weight.

I'm dithering over the type of yarn, whether to use synthetic yarn, synthetic and cotton blend, synthetic and wool blend, wool blend, or superwash wool. Anything that keeps the black, won't bleed, won't pill heavily, and wears well as I wash it over and over. A new favorite winter work sweater. So, my hunting for a perfect yarn for a perfect sweater continues.

The loom's been sitting in its storage bag for quite a while, and now that my mother's on the mend from her neck surgery, we're keeping our promise to ourselves, to finally make a warp and weave something on the loom.

Right.

Well, we're slightly warped. And also not ready to weave.

One of the lessons learned? If you're warping something that's 20 ends to the inch (epi in weaver-speak) and the heddle you have is 10 dents to the inch, you have to, um, double warp.

Come again?

Yep. Double the thread ends through the openings in the heddle. Except, for a rigid heddle, that actually means using 2 heedles instead of one to make that work. Fine. We double checked against a book in our fiber library that has a nice diagram for threading 2 rigid heddles to get double the density (that's 200% if you want the technical numbers).

Funny progression. We've been watching, and re-watching, and re-watching again a DVD we bought from The Mannings about how to warp a loom. Good thing we can re-watch as often as we like. Clears up a lot of possible confusion (mine mostly) about what to do when and how to do it.

Steps completed? Wound the warp. Check. Warp chained and ready. Check. Threaded through both heddles. Check. Tied on the back apron rod. Check. Tied on the front apron rod. Check.

And now the fun part, starting to weave. Not.

Turns out we have to untie and re-tie the front apron rod. And possibly replace the paper that the back beam where the warp is wound onto the loom. Not very even, a few crossed threads, and we're learning what NOT to do! Le sigh.

One of these days, we'll get four handwoven kitchen towels from that warp. One day.

February: major neck surgery. Not for me, for my mother. There was major pressure at 4 or 5 points on the spinal nerve, not good. The surgeon did excellent surgery, cervical lamenectomy with instrumentation and fusion I believe the exact phrasing was. My spelling might be off, but the neck bones were opened up in the back by having the bony knobs removed, little screws and rods put in along the back on both sides to stabilize and strengthen her neck, and pieces of the bone that was removed was used to fuse the neck bones in place.

The result? A momma who can walk, talk, and fold laundry. The past 3 months have been recovery months, where we concentrated on getting her healthy and strong again. As of the 19th, 4 months!

Wow! I still look at the before and after x-rays, and marvel at the beauty of the after views. No pressure on the nerve, nice open spaces on either side, and best of all, she's able to drive the car, walk as much as she wants, and starting to add more activities back and get her life back to normal.

When we had the major snow storms (I'm still debating calling them blizzards yet) that left about 3 feet of snow each, with a couple days of each other, I was soooo sick of shoveling snow! If anyone else was able to just sit and knit, I envy you. I shoveled to get out of the house safely. I shoveled the next day to get out of the driveway. And shoveled some more the next day to make room for the second snowfall, not expecting the same amount to fall on top. I know we had drifts and shoveled piles taller than 6 feet along the driveway. I lost my Subaru twice in those snows until I could shovel it out.

March: sock designing. Cherry Tree Hill Yarn advertised that they were looking for designs for a new sock line, Fingerpaints. I quick ordered a skein, and before it arrived, started plotting and planning what I would knit up. A week after ordering, the skein arrived, I pulled it out, wound it up, and started with a swatch to see what my stitch gauge would be. After I figured that magical number, I ripped out my swatch, cast on, and started the sock itself.

Planned design 1, rejected. Planned design 2, rejected. Planned design 3, rejected. Hmm, what if...? Rejected. By rejected, I mean I rejected the stitch pattern. The yarn just swallowed up and spit out the stitches as bleh, uck, yuck, and not so good. You have to be careful with stripes that they don't get lost themselves, or your stitches get lost in the stripes or muddy the colors.

Finally, a design came out, and I finished the first sock, a toe-up knit design.

Okay, challenge part two, can I make the same sock, but from the cuff to the toe? And before a week was up? No real time deadline, but I wanted to send my sock pattern and samples off as soon as possible. I ended up leaving myself only about 2 days to finish my second sock, yikes!

I did not make my original self-imposed deadline by a day, knitting feverishly until past midnight, but leaving the final yarn-end weaving until I had tucked a decent amount of sleep into me first. I've learned (the hard way) that my finished socks or knit garments look best if I don't weave in my yarn-ends while I'm tired or sleepy. Nope.

However, I was the first designer to submit a matching pair of socks, with written instructions and design. I'll write more about the after submission stuff in another posting later.

April: finished a gray monster sweater. I started this sweater the same day that Mom had her neck surgery, and did most of the knitting while she was either in the hospital or the rehabilitation section. Hmm, that's about 2 weeks worth? I kept knitting on it just about every day, with a couple times breaking away for one of my ongoing pairs of socks for something a little different. I finished the actual knitting the day before the Fingerpaints yarn arrived, so the final yarn-end weaving didn't happen until, um, a month or so later... At least I can honestly say it took a month to knit the sweater. It's sitting, folded, washed, clean, waiting for the moment it gets presented to someone...

May: Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, nephew high school graduation. If you were at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May, those red-and-black socks on display, in the Black Cherry colorway of Fingerpaints yarn? Yep. My design. Whichaway Socks are available for purchase at yarn shops that sell CTH patterns or from here.

My nephew graduated from high school. Yes, the cute little guy who dumped goldfish crackers on the floor when he was a toddler? Still good looking, but lots taller, and no longer dumps the crackers by accident when he wants to eat them. Future videographer, director, and all around artistic guy. I have a feeling he'll be the next Spielberg of animation and video. I'm not that biased, now am I?

June: summer evening ritual. Yes, I have developed an evening ritual. My brother kind of started us on the first part of it. When it starts getting dark, I tend to want to pull all the curtains closed on all the windows. My brother stopped me from closing the kitchen window curtains and the back door, so we can watch the sun setting and the lovely colors through the trees and watch any clouds overhead change from gray to gold to red to indigo.

I caught myself in a variation of this ritual, my own evening ritual. I finally realized it a couple days ago. Around 8:30 p.m. or so, I'm scanning the treetops and the sky as I do something at the kitchen sink, or sit at the kitchen table, I'm looking out the windows. Watching. Waiting. Then, bat! Hey, there's batty! There's another bat! Yes, little bats, swooping around, going here and there, eating the evening bugs in the sky. All's well with my world, the bats are back, and our mosquito population is hopefully a little smaller.

And now: My current project is a shawl in fine lace weight yarn. Really fine, cob-webby lace that I'm knitting up. I started using an old pattern from a free-domain pdf document of Shawls by Beehive. I translated the directions from the terminology and abbreviations they used to slightly more “modern” abbreviations. I even re-charted the main body and edging stitches. The original yarn I started the shawl on came from Creatively Dyed yarns and was purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. However, I wasn't quite happy with the design, and discovered I was, um, running out of yarn. Okay, sit that hunk of knitting to one side for unraveling and re-purposing later on. Mail order 2 skeins of finer lace-weight, and re-work the pattern completely.

I'm working a (hopefully) square shaped shawl. The body of the shawl is using Print of the Wave, and the edging is being knit along with the body of the shawl in a slightly more traditional scalloped/pointed Shetland edging I modified from a Shetland lace book I have in my library. The look is extremely lacy, like cobwebs so far. I can't wait to see how the finished and blocked shawl looks, and hope I get it finished before the recipient's wedding in October.

My reaction: Hey, what about re-planeting Pluto, dummies? Sorry, I'm still loyal to the whole 9 planets around the Sun in the Milky Way thing. But I guess what they say is true, size is everything to some people. Not placement, not association, not orbital context. Phooey. Pluto will always be a planet to me, no matter what they label it with.

I wonder if any of those new planets were graded like cheese? Explorability comparable to edibility? Possibilities of atmosphere or cheese flavored core?

K. Nuff goofiness there.

I have a new Job2. But part of the dress code is “trouser socks” amongst a few other things. The few other things are fine, I use them already as my “uniform” for Job1. But trouser socks? Gasp. I have all these lovely, handknit, warm, soft socks. In a myriad of colors. Bright colors. Only a few in “dress” or dark colors. Very few.

So, now I have to rush to get a pair of socks finished enough for nakeding needles, and then dig through my stash for the yarns I was holding onto, as the, well, boring colors. Yeah. Boring, drab, not as interesting. Or rather, not as bright as the eye popping hand-dyed concoctions of sock joy that have been gracing my needles lately.

I get to experiment with making socks that are “trouser sock” enough and “dressy” enough to qualify for work dress code. Job1 doesn't care what color my socks are. And so far, I've been able to squeak through with my socks so far at Job2. The other girls at Job2 have pants legs long enough to cover the tops of their shoes. I was raised differently, my pants have a “perfect” length of inseam, and come above my shoes. I don't walk on my pants edges.

I also have to empty and naked a set of needles so I can pull out a sock kit from my stash of tsock kits. Why? Snow. That ugly four lettered word. I want something fun to work on as the ugly white stuff falls down and confounds my driving abilities.

Snow. I have the dubious joy of driving to and from work (Job1) in the middle of the latest snow event. Forecasters are dancing with glee, calling it the biggest snow storm in the DC metro area for the month of December, biggest in years. I call it annoying. As of rush hour traffic time, forecasters were gleefully proclaiming 14-20 inches, with more possible in drifts or accumulations in some areas.

Snow. I hope the idiots that were making rush hour traffic horrendous (as I drove home from Job2 today) bought all their milk, toilet paper, eggs, bread and other necessities today. And stay off the blooming roads tomorrow. And Sunday. Dudes. If it's snowing, and you absolutely don't need to drive, unless someone's dying or there's a fire or other emergency, stay the blankety-blank home!

Anyhow. I want something fun to knit on between periods of shoveling the junk. Bad enough I have the contemplations of driving through 6 or 12 inches or so. Maybe they'll close the store early? I'm packing a dry change of clothes with me tomorrow. Just in case. And my usual carry-along sock. Just in case. And a notebook for sock sketches. Who knows what sock inspiration I'll get?

I was having weird connection problems, where pages weren't loading, email wasn't loading, and internet explorer was giving weird “timing out” error pages without even any time passing. Hellllooo!?? Anything out there??

So, I did my basic things of checking and making sure all was running correctly first.

Disk scan: check.

Registry and disk cleanup utility: check.

Good wifi signal: check.

Wifi security settings still good and signal strong and not being hijacked: check.

Reset to original settings on MS Internet Explorer: check.

Load and try using Firefox browser: check.

Load and try using Google Chrome browser: check.

End result: zip, nada, zero, still junky connection.

And this wasn't just on my computer, this was happening to another computer in the household that uses the wifi signal. If it was connected with a wire to the LAN, it was fine. Go figure. Why the crappy no-load no-man's land using wifi? Grrrr!!

Finally, last night, I did my favorite low-tech way of using internet pipe cleaner. I pulled some plugs.

Yessirree, pulled the power connection to the modem, then plugged it back in, and watched lights blink.

Ah, bliss!! No more weirdness! Well, until the next time I want to work or even THINK of working on blog backups, or posting to the blog...

I'm still using Moveable Type, haven't even moved to WordPress. I'm blaming the internet connection crazy weirdness. Why try moving files around if your connection hiccups and things disappear? It was bad enough I typed emails that disappeared into la-la-land.

At least knitting doesn't rely 100 percent on the internet. Just yarn and needles. I have one Christmas gift hat finished, started another, and still have to yarn-end-finish the D&K winter warmers so I can take some pictures. When I thought (ha!) that I could sit down and work yarn ends in, someone (nameless) had me doing something else with my time.

Hey! This is knitting work! (laughing to myself now) Ah well, that's part of the fun of designing at home. Home thinks if you are sitting still on a Saturday morning, you need to do something else.

I'm just happy I finally have a new Job2 lined up. If I get my paperwork in line on Wednesday, I start the same day, and will have another retail job, but slightly different from Job1. Job1 sells candles and dishes and furniture, oh my! Job2 sells shoes. I'm so glad I worked at (unnamed chain) retail business in 1990, it prepared me well for both jobs. And I'm so glad that the manager of Job2 believes more in fully training her employees, and from what I gathered from the interview, she'll let me bring good selling practices from Job1 to Job2. Completely different from old Job2, where I had to literally ignore customers to finish a task. Helluuuuu, um, customers ignored equals no sales equals no money equals missing budgets...what part of doh doesn't this meet? So, now for both jobs, I get to help customers over tasking, with tasking a low point on the list of priorities. Yippee!! I'm happy!

Okay, waiting for the lightening strikes.

Ka-blam! That's the sound, right?

The reasons I like snow:

• It's pretty on the tree branches.
• It's good for cross country skiing.
• It's a good reason to stay inside and knit.
• The cats look funny as they “swim” through the piles taller than their tummies or bunny hop to keep their feet from freezing.

The reasons I hate snow:

• It piles up, and then I have to shovel it.
• It melts and refreezes as icy patches that you can slip on when you walk around outside.
• I have to scrape it off the car before I drive it to or from work.
• I have to move it around and make empty clear places. And try to keep it from making icy spots.
• There are idiots on the roads when it snows. Idiots that don't realize that the gene pool is not for skating on when the roads are cruddy and the visibility is piffle and they have no headlights on. Pfft.

But, it sure can be pretty after the snow stops falling and the sun starts shining.

And when it gets heavy enough, it trims the tree branches for us.

Stupid tree, doesn't it know that the leaves are supposed to be gone by now?

There are a couple of phases that the snowy weather goes through with me.

• Oh, look, it's pretty. What a nice photo that would make (very fleeting).
• Wow, that's a lot of snow (only when it goes over 6 inches).
• Darn it, that's a lot of snow to shovel (when it's over 4 inches, too deep for the snow-blower and needs shoveling out of the whole blah blah blah driveway, around the house, halfway up the mountain...).
• When will this junk ever melt? (when it's been 6 weeks of the same snow level and I'm ready for spring thaw and temperatures in the 70's)

As long as it doesn't ice over, I can handle snow as a nuisance. But add ice, and I start to feel a little irritable.

Freezing rain in the forecast? Argh. It means the possibility of power lines down, not being able to go outside without the risk of slipping and falling (at least snow will crunch underfoot), and even more idiots on the roads that never learned that if it's black and wet looking, it's not just wet. Hey stupid, that's black ice, which is more dangerous than just wet spots. Think no traction. Think major sliding sideways.

They should be ashamed of themselves.

These are horrible recommendations. In fact, these really aren't recommendations or true findings, these are idiot opinions.

Why?

Ask any breast cancer survivor or their family members. Read the real facts about diagnosis and why doctors themselves are recommending yearly mammograms and monthly self-examinations. Read the real facts at the American Cancer Society website, the Susan G. Komen website, or any website you can find through Google, Yahoo, any search engine out there.

Idiots.

Jerks.

Cheapskates.

Bottom line, they are trying to protect pockets, not using real, true common sense, no true science.

I don't care what they are backtracking and trying to un-proclaim, they are serving only themselves, not true health, not true prevention.

My mother is a survivor. She was diagnosed and had surgery in 2001. She found her cancer as a lump in her own self-examination. And the placement of the cancer site was such that a traditional mammogram machine could not image it properly. But it was still in the breast wall. She even had a second doctor examine her, and she received a correct and proper diagnosis from him with confirming lab test results.

Would the exact same group of idiots make the same kind of recommendations for, say, a male cancer? I so don't think so!

The only time I've not had a mammogram is when I didn't have the funds to pay for it, and a horrific work schedule to deal with. I've been having annual mammograms since I turned 35. I religiously practice thorough self-examinations on a monthly basis. I just wish I could have started the mammograms at age 30; when I did bring the subject up with my gynecologist, he only asked if I had found a lump and said wait until 40. Well, Mom's cancer showed up when I was 34, and I had my baseline the following year. So there, doc!

I still have strong feelings on the earliest age any woman should get a mammogram, and that I feel should be age 30. Maybe every 2 years until age 40, but definitely her baseline at age 30.

And if they are so concerned about the great numbers of false positives, well, darn it, fix the reasons for them. Mostly they need better trained people who do the examinations and reading of the mammogram xrays and diagrams. More time for these people to do the examinations, so that they don't rush and just mark them as “positive” instead of the correct analysis. Better imaging and better methods of imaging.

And here's where I add more to the rant: use digital mammography, and more use of sonograms. Both methods are extremely more accurate than the current mammography methods. Why not use something that works so much better, more accurately, and gives better images?

To quote a certain cartoon character: Doh!

Okay, rant over.

I think I'll go sketch a breast cancer sock idea.

My D and K pattern is progressing quite nicely on the designing end, and now I have to make the next transition. The one where it goes from design note scribbles to typed, clean instructions. And then from first version instructions to final pdf instructions, and then maybe to a selling venue. If I'm lucky, Ravelry, otherwise I'll have to find out how to sell it in another way. Adventures, all around!

I'm still working on the transition of notes-to-book-segments-and-patterns for my sock designs. Wow. I had forgotten how weird my notes could read to someone else until I started the transcription from handwritten to typed. Good thing I understand myself, or I would have to start a few designs from scratch! As it is, I have, ahem, put a couple charts of a couple of designs in a, well, safe location. Well. So safe, they are totally safe from me. I'll be doing a little re-engineering on one chart, and maybe one total new re-design on another. Might be for the best, playing with charts, and re-working or re-designing that other sock.

I'm toying with an idea of making lots of small warm items to sell next year at a craft show. Still just an idea. Someone close to me keeps adding on trigger finger gloves or mittens, hats, and other items to the list. Me, I like to keep the list small for now, mittens or half-mittens with a few variations, to see how well they may or may not sell, and what kind of market I'll be looking at. So, lots of lists, planning, plotting, and guesswork until I make the final decision of to booth or not to booth at the craft show.

I've got so many ideas floating around in my head, I've been trying to limit myself to the sock book, the D and K pattern, and just a few items for a possible booth. If I go beyond, I'll be out-designing myself, or over-planning and overwhelming, yikes! Of course, I'll be happy to slow down a little in the ideas and designs if I find a new Job2 soon. Applications are in, I'm waiting, and hoping and praying and crossing fingers and crossing eyes...a new job can't come too soon for me! So, until then, lots of knitting to be done to get ready for winter and Christmas gifting.