Blue Christmas

I have been feeling a little blue lately...not really sad but not really happy either. My husband and I have been working opposite schedules for almost a month now and I am really hoping this is the last week of this. I am also missing my kids and grandkids a great deal. I really , really, really wish they could all be here for Christmas. I will get to see my son, so that is good but I want the rest of them here as well.

Knitting news...I was working on the Gossamer Shell Scarf and I RAN OUT OF YARN!!!! Now I am on the hunt to find something similar enough that I can finish the scarf. ARGHHH!

I continue to work on Hannah's blanket but find it very boring, I will keep plugging at it though cause she really wants it.

I have loads of projects I want to begin but I can't make up my mind what to make...ah well. I think that is the blues talking.

And so it begins....

Today I put up a small, pathetic Christmas Tree at work. It is actually quite pretty, even though it is small and pathetic. However, it is better than no tree at all.

I work in an historical building that has been converted to offices and the first floor still looks like it did when this was a home. So....it needs some Christmas! I can envision it festooned (I love that word...festooned!) with greenery and deep red velvet bows. Candles in profusion and a lovely tall Christmas tree. This house was built in 1877 and is quite beautiful. I am so glad to have an office/home here.

Merry Christmas to all...and so it begins.

Pictures and Stuff

My blog is so boring without pictures! I need to figure this picture thing out. Also I need to get my own camera since my husband always has the camera with him.

Any advice about uploading pics?

I can see the end on my pullover! Two or so more rounds on the neck and sew up the underarms and we are done! I can't believe I actually finished a sweater, granted it took me a couple of months but I have done other things during that time as well. Finished, a couple pair of socks, scarf for my son, started a blanket for my daughter, working on another blanket for my grandson...you get the idea. I think I like doing sweaters though and plan to start another one as soon as I can get the yarn. Up next is this sweater from Interweave Knits. I plan to knit it in KnitPicks Palette in the Nutmeg colorway. I hope it turns out.

Our little knitting group that meets on Sundays is going well. We are planning a road trip to WEBS on Sunday, Dec. 16 for a book launch. It should be lots of fun. If you live in the South Shore area of Boston you should come join us. We meet at Borders in Braintree from 2-4 on Sundays.

Next weekend is tree weekend so this week I have to go through all the decorations and make sure we don't need anything. Wish me luck!

All is quiet....for now.

Whew! the holiday is over... all was quiet at my house. Just me and my husband for dinner this year. I had a lot of time to knit over the long weekend. I finished my basket weave socks and am almost done with my zimmerman pullover. When it's done I'll post a picture. I'm quite proud of it. It is my first attempt at a Fair Isle type sweater. Not real Fair Isle just the yoke area. You'll see.

So the shopping starts in full swing now since we have to get all the stuff mailed off in just two weeks time. Such fun. I love buying things for the grandkids.

I hope that all of you out in cyber/blogland had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Turkey Day Tomorrow :-(

Well, Thanksgiving will be here tomorrow and again this year it will be just my husband and me and an eleven pound turkey. I miss my family and the huge Thanksgivings we used to have. All the kids running around and the adults playing cards after dinner. I miss it so very much. I wish with all my heart that I could have all my children and grandchildren with me for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yet, I am thankful. Thankful that my children, step-children, grandchildren are all well and happy. I will try to be just grateful and not unhappy.

It comes and goes...

Money, that is. It seems like the day I get paid it all goes back out again. I know I'm not alone in this. Other people feel the pinch just like me, but it doesn't lessen the pain of it. I really don't like being dependent on money. I wish I could live without it.

If wishes were horses then beggars would ride.

Knitting Meet Up In Braintree

Well, I went to my first knitting meet up yesterday. We met at the Border's by my house in Braintree. What a great time! I met three very nice women and we had a great time knitting and chatting. We are going to continue meeting every Sunday.

It was very nice meeting some other people who share my passion for knitting and all things fibery. So thank you to Sarah, Madelyn and Evie. See you Sunday.

Projects and Stuff

Well, my project for my daughter, Hannah was just frogged and is being rethought. I realize that I just don't enjoy crochet like I used to. I would rather be knitting....soooo....I frogged the thing and am working on a knitted blanket of my own design. I just hope it turns out ok. I'll let you know.

Still working on my Basekt Weave socks and my Yoked Sweater. But there are so many things I want to make!

It's a very quiet Friday and I am enjoying the rather cloudy day very much. It got very cold and windy today, more like it should be in November. Though I hear tell it will be 60 degrees on Turkey Day! Yuck, I want it to snow!

Weather and Mom

What to write about today. It's a gray and gloomy day outside. We are expecting rain here in Boston. I'm not complaining, I actually love a good rainstorm. When I was little we were very poor. Divorced mom and all. A big form of entertainment for us was to sit on the porch in the summer and watch thunderstorms. I grew up loving them.

The sound of the rain on the roof of my attic bedroom was one of the most soothing sounds I remember from my childhood. It still sounds good to me all these years later. And the smell after a storm! That clean raw smell, especially when it's cold outside. Mmmm.

I don't have a lot of really happy good memories from my childhood, but watching thunderstorms with my Mom is one of them.

You know, I am 51 years old and my mother passed away in 1976 when I was just 19 years old. It seems like yesterday and I still miss her so much. I can't wait to see her again just to be able to talk to her and tell her all about her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Though I'm sure she sees them just fine.

Boy, this has been a ramble, sorry. I was talking about the weather and ended up talking about my Mom. I guess I am missing her lately quite a lot.

No one reads this.

I know that no one reads this blog, which begs the question, why do I continue to write in it? Well, blog, I'll tell you. Sometimes you just need to get the words out there even if no one hears (reads) them. I blog for the same reason that I sometimes talk to myself in the car or have imaginary conversations with people, to see how it sounds. To see if that's what I really mean.

I blog to check in with myself and make sure that I stay on the right track. So if no one reads my blog I'm ok with it. Blog and I can still be friends.

Pandora is the Bomb!

My favorite site on the internet, aside from Ravelry of course, is Pandora. This is a great internet radio station where you get to chose what kinds of music you want to listen too. Isn't the internet great! I have it on while I work and I love it.

In other news, I am going to my first SNB on Sunday and I can't wait. It will be so wonderful to talk to other slightly obsessed knitters like myself. I'll let you know how it goes.

Later...

Keeping the focus...

I cast on for some socks this weekend. I love them, but I don't need them right now and I have three other projects that need to get finished for Christmas! I must stay focused on the jobs at hand. No casting on of other projects, see my huge list at Ravelry, I must be faithful to Hannah's Blanket, Dillon's Blanket and Kylee's Baby Surprise Jacket.

Christmas is just a few weeks away, I need to get knitting!

Crispy Fall Weather

You know that expression. The weather was crisp and cold, is how it's often said. It's actually my very favorite time of the year. But how exactly does the weather get "crisp". Crisp, to me, is like a potato chip when you bite into it. How does weather become crisp?

Well, I think that it's when the cold bites into whatever skin is exposed to it. When you are warm and toasty in your down jacket but your cheeks are on fire from the cold. Isn't it great!

We moved to Boston about three years ago from Phoenix AZ and I am so happy that we did. I grew up in Michigan and really was missing the fall...winter, spring, summer. You know the change of the seasons. You will never hear me complain when it snows or rains or anything. Try years and years of hot, hot, hot and then more hot. No thank you, not ever again. No offense to any of the southwesterners but AZ sucks!

Yes, my family still lives there and I have to go back to visit, but I hate it.

It is such a lovely crispy day today that I think I will go for a walk outside at lunchtime. See you on the Esplanade!

Pretty Pathetic

I am definitely pretty pathetic at this blogging thing. I am not consistent, no matter how much I want to be. I am however persistent and I will keep on blogging.

My life has been filled with ups and downs, knitting and crocheting, reading, baking etc. The children continue to have their dramas. Alex lost and found a job. Grandbabies are sick. The usual family stuff that goes on in everyone's family. Really, everyone's family, even if they won't admit it publicly.

My WIP's are fewer. I finished a scarf for my son. You can see it here on Ravelry. I started a blanket for my daughter Hannah in her favorite color, purple. She wants it for her birthday, January 6th. I'm not sure I can finish it by then but I will give it the old college try. I frogged a pair of socks that I was making out of some Green Mountain Spinnery yarn. They were so stiff and scratchy and weren't coming out at all right, so to the frog pile they went. I will find something else to do with this yarn. In between I have been working on my Zimmerman pullover. I am almost done with the body. Then the fun part will begin!

The other night I made a pair of fingerless mitts. The basic pattern came from Knitting at Knoon but I changed the thumbs twice! I just didn't like them so I made up my own. I guess that's when you become a Knitter versus a knitter. Just like cooking, when you start making it up you are really making progress!

Onward....

Whew!!! What a fall!

Sorry for the long time between posts. I just got back from a trip to see my family in Arizona. Got to see all my little munchkins as well as children, brothers, sisters and such.

It was an eventful trip and started with my almost meeting my Maker in Logan Airport! I choked on a piece of beef and was starting to faint from lack of air when a stranger came to my rescue and dislodged the meat from my windpipe. I am so grateful, words can't tell you what I was feeling at the time.

I did some knitting on the trip but not as much as I wanted to. Too much time holding my precious grandchildren or the camera taking their pictures. I will post a few after I get them downloaded.

I am going to try to learn to spin this winter. That is my goal. When I know how I will get a wheel and go at it full tilt.

Well, I promise it won't be as long between posts next time. Til then hug all your loved ones!

It never ends....

Life in my family is not very good right now. Two daughters who can't seem to get along at all. They live together although I guess not for very long. They are both single moms so I thought the living together thing would be good for them. Helpful, a way to share the burden. I guess, not so much. I just don't understand.

On the knitting front I have two projects on the needles. My second pair of socks and an EZ sweater in the round. I also have a crochet blanket going for my grandson. Trouble is I keep wanting to start new things. There is a list a mile long of projects I want to do. I find myself thinking up new ways to do something. Like, I really like that sweater but I would change this or that, you know. Like I actually could. I'm still just a novice really, I just tend to get ahead of myself.

The worst of it is that I want to buy yarn. Any yarn. All yarn. It calls to me...what's a woman to do?

I am a Knitter, not a knitter

I have become obsessed with knitting. I have even stopped reading books, unless of course they have something to do with knitting. I have been knitting off and on since I was a child, crochet as well. But something has clicked in me in my late stage in life and I love it. The act of turning some string into a useful object is amazing to me. I love doing hats and socks and am going to try a yoked sweater with four different colors next. Wish me luck on that one!

So now, with knitting, guitar, and reading I really have no time for superficial and inane things like laundry, dishes and bathroom cleaning. Let's see how long it takes my husband to notice!

Knit on!

Personal Note

URL: Personal Note
A man I look up to and admire just recently lost his mother who was 90 years old. I am deeply saddened by this for many reasons. Sad for him that he no longer has his mother in his life. Sad still for myself who lost my mom 30 years ago. I am fifty now and still it hurts and still I miss her every day. Death is a part of life and I am not afraid to come to my time, however, my heart hurts even now for the people I will leave behind.

Blessings this day on all who lost a parent.

Peace.

Never Ever did I think...

That I would put down a book to pick up my knitting! It has finally happened. I prefer to knit than to read! This is not possible, no way, no how! I would never prefer anything to reading, but this weekend I found myself unable to concentrate on reading a book that I have looked forward to. I wanted to knit. What is happening to me?

The lure of the yarn...I blame her, Stephanie, the Yarn Harlot.

I'm sure no one is listening...

But, I talk anyway. Sorry for the brief pause, we (I) had a little medical excitement last week. Well, I guess excitement is not really the right word, perhaps terror would be better. I went in for a routine colonoscopy (that's what happens when you turn 50). All was well, colon clean, I went home to recover. Later that afternoon I get a call from the doctor's office to tell me when my CT Scan was scheduled? I, of course, said "what CT Scan?" The nurse said, "the one the doctor ordered." I was dumbfounded. I said to have the doctor call me as soon as possible. He did and told me he "felt" a "hard mass" near my cervix. So I waited through 5 terror filled days and finally got the results late on Friday, nothing there. All was well. Good news, except for those 5 terror filled days! I hate doctors.

Onward.

IT'S HERE! ITS HERE!

OK, I admit it...I am a Harry Potter fan...atic! Today is the day, tonight at midnight I get my hands on my long awaited book 7 in the Harry Potter Universe. I can hardly wait. I will be on an Internet, TV, radio boycott until I am done reading. See you on Sunday or maybe late Saturday.

Happy Harry Reading!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WALT!

Today is my beloved's 53rd Birthday. He is in extreme denial and says he is only 22! I said that was pretty strange that a 22 year old has a daughter who is 26? His response, she's adopted.

That's ok though, I want him to remain young at heart. Happy birthday Walt, I love you very much.

Happy 21st Birthday!

My baby, Alex, is 21 years old today. She is the mother of a one year old little boy named Dillon. I can hardly believe that she is 21. The time goes by so very fast. That's what I keep telling her about Dilly Bar. Before she knows it he will be grown and have children of his own. Here is a picture of Alex and Dillon.

Happy Birthday my baby. I love you.

Strike That, Reverse It

One of my favorite all time movies is Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. I have probably seen it at least a hundred times over the years. One of my favorite lines is: So little to do and so much time. Strike that, reverse it.

That so applies to my life right now. All of a sudden it seems that I have so many things to do. Mostly hobbies that I am interested in. Knitting, playing the guitar, singing, cooking and sitting at the beach. Such a rough life, I know. But I do also have to work and worry about my kids and grandkids, so it's not all a bowl of cherries.

But for today, life is good and I am happy.

It's always something...

Well it looks like we finally know what is going on with my daughter's health. One more round of tests should give us a firm diagnosis of SLE (Lupus). Then they can start figuring out how far it has gone. It is looking more and more like she may have had it for at least 10 years.

Lupus is very hard to detect. There is no one specific test that says you have Lupus. There are many things that can go wrong and it is the combination of things that determines if it is Lupus.

I always say its easier to fight the enemy you know than to fight an enemy you don't know.

Onward....

My First Sock...

Well, here it is. My first attempt at knitting a sock. I was very intimidated to try this but the Yarn Harlot says that it is easy, so I tried. Not so bad. It actually isn't very complicated, it just looks like it. I'm sure I'll need at least 10 or 12 pair to get the hang of it but still, I am very proud of my first effort. I will be wearing these to bed in the winter for sure.

OK, I'm getting old...

I admit it. I read something on the Internet the other day. Something really good about the definitions for theist, athiest, agnostic, pantheist and panatheist. I have looked and looked in all the familiar places and I CAN"T FIND IT!!! I'm so mad at myself that I can't remember. I swear it's old age. The senility is setting in...

Sisters...

Why can't they get along? I have two sisters with whom I have wonderful relationships. We love each other and always have. Now I should say that my sisters are 10 and 11 years younger than I. So we didn't have the sibling rivalry thing at all. My daughters, on the other hand, are 20 and 24. I guess that four years is not enough space between sisters to make them want to like, love and help each other. They live together right now along with their respective sons but they can't seem to get along at all.

To top it all off they both call me with their complaints about one another. I spent 30 minutes last night on the phone with the oldest as she sobbed in my ear. What is a mother to do?

Hope Springs Again....

Can anyone look at this picture and doubt? I look at this picture and I feel filled with hope. I wish I could take credit for it but I can't. It's one of those that has made the email round and so I don't even know who took it. But for me it confirms the creation power that made everything and that I am a part of it all.

Introducing...Jakob

This is Jakob and he belongs to my oldest daughter Hannah. Jakob is 20 months old. Jakob and his mama lived with us for a year so we know him the best. He is dealing with some challenges. We just recently found out he is deaf in one hear and has partial hearing loss in the other. Not the end of the world but still something to cope with.

These children all have my heart and I wish that I could see them everyday.

Introducing...Dillon Ethan

This is Dillon. He is the son of my daughter Alex and is now one. We like to call him Monkey Boy because he is all arms and legs and clings to you when you hold him. He laughs and smiles all the time and is a joy to be around. Can't wait to see him again.

FYI, all the grandkids live in Arizona and we live in Massachusetts. Long distance grandparenting sucks!

Introducing...Kylee Lynn

Allow me to introduce my family one at a time...

I'll start with my beautiful and wonderful grandchildren. The youngest is Kylee Lynn born on March 31st this year. Her mommy is my step-daughter Heather. I have not had the pleasure of meeting Kylee yet. I hope to go and see them in October.

...

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda...

I've been having a severe case of the coulda, woulda, shouda's lately. So many "what if's". What if I have moved to New York instead of Arizona where it was safe? What if I had been more dogged in the pursuit of an acting career? What if I hadn't gotten married when I did? What if I had stayed in Detroit? What if? What if? What if?

The fact of the matter is that there is no use crying over spilt milk. I am here at the age of 50, in this place, today, now. It is up to me to make the very best use of my time here. To learn as much as I can and to pass it on to others if I can.

I spent a lot of my life dreaming about what could have been. I think now that I should just do it. Just go for what I want. What have I got to lose at this point. If I want to sing I should sing. If I want to act I should find a way to act. No more wondering.

My advice to anyone, young or old, is to follow your dream no matter what. Don't get to the end of your life, or even the middle, and wonder what happened. "Life is what you do (active), while you are waiting to die." I'm gonna start doing instead of waiting. So should you.

Opening Salvo

This theater is where I spent most of my teenage and young adult life as part of a wonderful family called the Greenfield Villages Players. I saw my first play there, Peter Pan, and completely fell in love. I knew right at that moment that there was nothing else I wanted to do but be on that stage. I was about 8 years old at the time and I didn't get on that stage till I was fifteen.

My first professional job, well I did get paid, was in Hansel and Gretel. I was a cookie child and a dog! I loved every minute of it. I kept on doing shows there off and on until the theater closed in 1996. I was very lucky to be a part of the final production which was Rumplestiltskin. A play I had done twice before at the Village Players. I had the distinction to play both the two daughters and the mother!

I made many friends over the years whom I have since lost contact with and one with whom I still remain best friends. As I look back over my life I find that some of the best times in my life happened with the confines of this group call the Village Players. Some have gone on to bigger and better things, some have passed over. I miss them all. To the ones who passed over, Jim, Bobby, Sam, you are missed. To the ones I lost track of, I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch. I wish I had been a better friend than that. Perhaps fate will bring me back together with some of them.

Well thats it for this post. More to follow.