All Caught Up!

I've joined another Mystery Sweater Knit-along for Warm Woolies, and as of yesterday morning, I was all caught up!


Of course, the Week 1 section was 2 non-swatches -- so-named because most knitters (including me!) hate to swatch, but swatches are/can be important. So this pattern has you make 2 swatches that later become integral parts of the sweater. In some mysterious fashion. Well, it is a mystery sweater knit-along.

This week's section is 12.5 inches of the body, which is 144 stitches around. I think I might be running behind again.

I'm just sayin...

The first minute-and-a-half is the really pertinent part, although it's hard to go wrong with Eddie Izzard.

Knitting

Overview:
I've been thinking for the past couple of weeks, trying to come up with something to blog about, and it seems like the only safe subject for me is really knitting.

A couple of months ago, I was talking with my sister, and realized that there were a certain number of things I wanted to do before I die. And most of those are knitting.

One of the very few things that is consistently able to make my mind stop racing in circles, trying to run itself to pieces, is knitting.

Does this mean that I'm hanging by a yarn? I mean, I don't do such fine lace knitting that you could really call it thread.

Details:
I work for a car dealership -- one associated with an American car manufacturer. I won't say which brand, but I will tell you that I strongly recommend that you don't buy their cars -- after all, I process a portion (just 25% or so, really) of the recall paperwork on the vehicles. Layoffs have been happening, and we're starting to get the feeling that this particular location may not be open much longer. Par for the course, really, I suppose, with this economy.

My mom is 65 this year. She has arthritis in one knee and has been having a lot of trouble with it this winter. She'd been planning to work until she was 66-and-however-many-months, for Social Security payment reasons. Now she can't decide if she should retire sooner because of her knee, hold on another year-and-a-bit because that's what she's been planning, or shift her mindset to working indefinitely. And the hospital has started laying people off. Not excess management, of course. They got bonuses in December. It's the regular employees who's jobs are in jeopardy. Again, par for the course, although I'd have thought that hospitals would be safe a little longer.

Part of the floor in our only full bath is getting "squishy." In the course of getting estimates for that, we discovered that there's water in the crawlspace -- but not consistently. Currently, the estimates to fix everything range from about $3,000 to over $35,000.

School is currently a lot of deadlines (pressure) interspersed with such incredibly boring curriculum (curricula?) that my brain is in danger of leaking out of my ears. And the application deadline for the program I'm currently pursuing is (a) rapidly approaching (June 1), and (b) about as far as I can lower that bar.

I'm still not in terribly good shape -- my lungs and the neuropathy being the two biggest (physical) problems. I doubt I'm capable of working full-time.

I have actually become accustomed to being suicidally depressed. This is either a good thing (because it's been going on for quite a while and isn't likely to change) or really, really bad. Either way, it's very risky to say, since saying it means that I'll be legally judged to be mentally incompetent as soon as someone decides to start persecuting me for my own good.

I'm not Mooting this year, and I'm not even that upset about it. Even though the person I most don't want to see isn't going anyway. I have become (relatively) resigned to not traveling anymore. (Relatively meaning that I know travel is not possible, but it still makes me cry sometimes.)

On a brighter note, I've learned how to drive (and more difficultly -- turn on) those riding carts at Target, so I can actually get a bit of shopping done again.

Conclusion:
So that's my life in a nutshell. I'm going to go play with two sticks and some string now.

I'm doing you a favor, really!

I have a cold. There are few things on this earth that make me more whiny than having a cold. Seriously. I've been trying to think of something to write about, and every idea I've had has been so full of whining and self-pity that I can't make myself finish typing it out, much less summon the will to ask you to read it. Therefore, I will post again when I'm well. Or at least better. Or less whiny.

Besides, you should all be busy reading this.



The latest book by Lois McMaster Bujold. The fourth (and final *sniff*) book in her Sharing Knife series. Fawn and Dag take on... Well, I'm not going to actually post spoilers. But you should read it. And the rest of the series. And her Vorkosigan books. And the Chalion books. Seriously good book(s).

Yuck

I spent most of the weekend (Friday through Monday morning) battling with my ISP/phone company, so no entry this week. I'll try to think of something really good for ... ugh, the day after tomorrow? Already?!?

25 Things About Me

I got tagged with the 25 Things meme. What the hell, at least this week will be ontime. :)



1. I don't tag people with memes. Feel free to snatch the meme from me or my blog, but don't expect me to tag you.

2. If I'm going more than 10 yards, I walk with a cane. The only exceptions to this are (a) in my house and (b) when I'm with my family -- because they don't like to think of me needing a cane, and will argue with me until I give up and hobble without it.

3. It is easier to walk with a cane, and safer, and I can walk farther that way.

4. If I did not HAVE to see any people at all on a daily basis, I'd be fine with that. In fact, I'd be thrilled.

5. #4 does not mean that I don't like to see people sometimes.

6. Online doesn't count as "seeing" in the context of #4 & 5.

7. I live with 2 cats and hate 1 of them.

8. We just got a new shower surround and faucet/drain/showerhead. The new showerhead does not adjust directionally, and I can't use my shower caddy with it. This literally made me cry.

9. I am a liberal.

10. I am not Christian. I believe there are gods, but I've never taken the time to figure out who they are or decide which, if any, to worship.

11. If you have a problem with #9 & 10, that's fine. If you want to tell me that you have a problem with them, that's fine. If you are derogatory or insulting to me because you have a problem with them, I will cut you out of my life.

12. I love Lois McMaster Bujold and all her books. Every time I think I've picked my favorite, I think of another one and get all distracted by how shiny it is.

13. I have won NaNoWriMo twice.

14. You will never see those books. The first year, I figured it just needed a LOT of editing. I have come to realize that much of what I enjoy about NaNo is knowing that I don't ever have to show it to anyone. If there are plot holes (and there are!), it doesn't matter, because it's the process of writing it that I enjoy.

15. I knit. A lot.

16. I believe that I will not live a long life.

17. #16 does not trouble me. I do not fear death.

18. I am insanely fat.

19. Luckily I am also insane, so it doesn't bother me much. (mentally)

20. I have been dealing with depression and dysthymia since I was about 10. It's difficult to pinpoint the exact start. Could have been 9, or 11.

21. I am very jealous of people who receive long-term benefits from antidepressants. I see an initial improvement, and then it fades away.

22. Yes, I have tried more than one antidepressant.

23. I really dislike knitting with acrylic yarn. Even the nicer acrylics, which I don't mind using for crochet.

24. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to come up with 25 things. It was much harder to come up with non-gloomy things.

25. These ARE the non-gloomy things.

The Coward's Way Out

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NOTE: I am not posting this on my blog because I'm trying to "start" anything. A number of my more liberal friends were ahead of me in this decision, so if I posted this in the Garden, they would not see it. Also, since this is my blog, I can say what I want here. If people don't want to read what I think, they can close the window.
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I think I'm leaving the Garden.

Knitting and Gardening don't mesh well anyway -- just imagine trying to keep the yarn clean while weeding.

For a long time, I've gotten the distinct impression that liberals aren't welcome in the Garden. I am a liberal. Ergo I am not welcome. The back-breaking straw was probably a joke that was posted there last week. Now the person who posted the joke wasn't part of the Garden during some of the more memorable and spectacular liberal-bashing that I've seen; she's relatively new there. And I'm sure that she thought that the beer parts of the joke were funny, and that's why she shared it. Almost everyone who replied thought it was hysterically funny. 1 person (our resident diplomat) declined to join in the laughter. Another stated that she was offended and hasn't posted since.

Me? I kept my mouth shut. Told you I'm a coward.


According to the joke, as a liberal, I
- am weak
- am less skilled
- live off conservatives
- am a jackass
- produce little or nothing
- like to govern the producers (conservatives) and decide what to do with the production
- believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans
- crept in (to America) after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing

The joke ends with "It should be noted that a liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it." I suppose I'm guilty of that, since I am reposting portions of the joke. I would strike "momentary" from that sentence, however, since this joke and its effects have been much on my mind in the past week, even if it's taken me 6 days to decide how to respond.

Even before this, I'd started opening the Garden in a separate browser session, so as not to "contaminate" my knitting, writing, and other fun websites with its negative aura. This begs the question: Why am I still there? Why didn't I leave ages ago?

Because I kept thinking that the good would outweigh the bad. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Junk like that. So I'm taking a break. I won't log in for 2 weeks, and we'll see if I miss it. I think I won't.