Pause for Reflection

2001. What a year. It was the year that Everything went down. My brother broke his arm. My dad had gall bladder surgery for gall stones like a bag of marbles. Mom...I forget what happened with her, but my sister got married. And I? I got a new kidney to take over for the other one that was beat down by immune suppressant medication. Double edged sword, no?

And I was still in school, though in September, I was still recovering so my plate wasn't as loaded as usual. I had afternoon classes. I was checking my email in a groggy fog that accompanied just waking up rather than the consistent one I had before my transplant. That's when it all went down.

And just like WWII stories/movies/books can tear me to pieces, any thought of what happened in New York still makes me tear up. A lot of Wrong happened that day...so glad this isn't a vlog because I'd turn off the camera right now. Anyways, it took a while to sink in what was happening. Mom and I had every television on, tuned into the news. Dad was shooed home in case They decided to bomb the federal building where he worked in Kansas City. Class was cancelled. It didn't matter. There was nothing but death and dying happening.

But someone once said that experience is an arrow. You have to be drawn back, put under extreme duress and pressure, but then you are released into freedom and joy. I saw heroes that day. I saw heroes for weeks, for months, for years. Even now, there are people still rescuing others from that devastating day and the events after.

And my heart goes out to those who lost. And my love goes out to those who helped.

But I never thought I was Crazy

You know you have a yarn problem when Dad sees all of the bits and bobs strewn about in a massive carpeting of his office/spare room for photographing and accuses you of being a hoarder when you had to shove out of the way HIS electronics he's been saving since the 70's and 80's.
I tried organizing it a little...by color, weight, what box it was living in, handspun vs. not, that sort of thing.
 Fiber on the bed, yarn on the floor...
 

 The hardest part after photographing each skein to organize (not done there by half) was to pack it all away. But then I go onto Ravelry. I see other people's stashes. I think about how much I've learned from my own projects, how much I've connected with others, how much empty time I have filled in doctors' offices, grocery stores, work when everyone is in bed and all the pills are put away, the reports are all written and there's nothing to do but wait for the shift change (it's a rare thing to happen in a nursing career but prominent enough when working in a nursing home)--I think of all of that while looking at my stash and I realize that this is not hoarding. This is a hobby. The yarn does eventually get rotated. I am never in need of handknit socks. I always have something to drape around my shoulders if I'm cold.

And so, am I hoarding? I'm going to protest and say, "No, I'm *preparing*."

~*~

As for WHAT I'm knitting, well, socks. It's still good sock weather and then Sock Madness started up as well and for those who have read back on this blog know that though I passed last year, the siren call was too much to ignore this time. Now, my goal has been to use UP some of the stash, but how can I possibly say 'no' to people like Laura Harmon, owner of the newest LYS on the block - Harmony. She has luscious yarns that are mostly picked by other knitters as she has seriously surveyed us all on what she ought to stock and she's not gone too far wrong!  Like these Jane Bennet socks that I made of Malabrigo sock Arco Iris on the left. How can you say 'no' to such gorgeous yarn?




But I did say there was Sock Madness, no? And when the first specs came out, I was a bit dismayed as it asked for wildly variegated yarn. I had nothing of the sort so after grabbing some KnitPics Stroll in Bare (undyed), I went to create a bit of a disaster of the microwave with water streaming onto the stove below (don't worry, what I didn't catch in used drinking glasses got sopped up by dishrags). But in the end, I created a colorway I have finally decided a name for: Leprechaun In A Blender. The name is appropriate because that green is really kind of unnaturally bright and then those deep berry reds and the dark purple that looks more like brown or black...okay, a touch morbid but it does make me giggle just a bit. Next time I'll be a little more selective of my Kool-Aid dyes. And now I'm tempted to use the green on my hair, y'know, for St. Patrick's. Not that it would be considered all that professional in my line of work. Pity.

I have a few more things on the needles at the moment including Janalee's Traveling Socks. I promised to knit 2" of lace on each sock since her hands do not appreciate being put to work on such teensy needles (Size #00s, which is about as big as the needles are for drawing up blood). But the LiaB socks are top priority for now.

~*~
Some of you may wonder, why does Kit knit so very much (and others wonder how I knit so very much which is a secret). Well, it's a little like why I prefer to knit in theaters. At a movie there is always a degree of stress related to the movie on the screen. It's how movies like that are and there is always something there to relieve that stress, primarily food. I've been to movies without knitting and when THAT happens, I eat popcorn a lot. It's a bit pathetic, but hey, it's there for my enjoyment, right? But if I do bring knitting with me, the stress is relieved through the stitches, I can enjoy the movie without making an utter pig of myself. Now, consider the stress of the movies and halve that but make it constant. Mom has been ill and on her good days, I'm relaxed, we go out, we do things together, my knitting production takes a dive. On her bad days, she's on the couch most of the time and I'm making sure she doesn't get lonely or go without anything and that's when I either eat or I knit. Of course, I'm not comfortable knitting upstairs what with the beagles running rampant but I hope you understand the point I'm getting to; I'm managing stress.

Which is also why my clothes are getting tighter every day...oh dear.

~*~
And that's about it. For those of you curious, I've got a few recommendations.

What I'm listening to:
Warning: These robots really move like robots and it can be a little spooky. But the music is magic and CLEAN. :)

What I'm reading:
Mrs. Brooke recommended Emperor Of All Maladies and I got it for $5 on Kindle and it's been utterly fascinated. As the subtitle proclaims, it is a biography of cancer and it involves so very much. I'm still repeatedly surprised at how ignorant we as a medical community are about cancer. And it makes me so grateful that mom survived her bout of breast cancer and it's been over 5 years since she finished treatment. That's termed a great success in the field of oncology.

I'm also reading Doctrine & Covenants Made Easier since I'm teaching that to my wee Primary kiddles.

And Sheri Dew's No Doubt About It that my sister got me for Christmas.

It's a lot of reading but it's all worth it.

And finally; What I'm watching

I'm catching up on Season 2 of Grimm since Season 3 is about to come out.
I'm still hooked on The Walking Dead but I can't recommend that to anyone who isn't a total weenie bit sensitive to graphic violence.
And I've been introduced to the Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube since Janalee was talking about it. It's hilarious but I can only take in small doses (which is good since each 'episode' is under 5 minutes).

So what's up wichoo?