PolarGrrlPurls

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I realize that this blog has been woefully neglected for months and I have been having serious discussions with myself as to whether I should continue on, or take it down. Having at Typepad means that I pay a modest fee for it, but since the fee includes my cooking blog (which I have no intention of taking down any time soon), it seems like the fee for this one is pretty much a non-issue. I also was thinking that this blog is a handy way of referencing where/when I obtain new yarns and what I end up knitting with them, as well as the end results and who winds up with the finished objects, and so I guess it would not be such a terrible thing to keep on blogging. And who knows? There may still be the 1 or 2 straggling devoted readers who are aware of my tenuous foothold in the knit-blog world...and they may find my ramblings and commentary useful, entertaining, or enlightening. Maybe. Maybe not. *shrug*

By way of a very brief recap of the past several months:

In early July I graduated from nursing school and passed my licensing exam and am now a Licensed Practical Nurse. An unemployed one, at that. Needless to say, I'm job hunting, which is in and of itself a job - a job I hate, come to think of it.

Marikal and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in June and the 6th anniversary of our first date this past weekend.

I still don't have my driving license, but I've been practicing and Marikal agrees with me that I am much improved and not away from taking my road test.

I have spent thhe last half of the summer (in addition to job hunting) knitting socks for myself (I'm up to 3 complete pairs and 3 singles awaiting mates) and contemplating the possibility of a few quick gifts for the winter holidays and baby stuff as one of my colsest and longest friends has been trying to concieve and may have been recently successful...shhhh! No one is supposed to know yet! ;)

Tomorrow I will upload a bunch of pictures and you can see the progress of the most recent knit blanket and the socks and the summer's additions to the stash.

In Remembrance of Mary

My grandmother, Mary, passed early the morning of March 16th at the age of 89. She taught me to write thank you notes, wash behind my ears, stand up straight, look people in the eye (I was horribly shy as a child), and was always happy to hear from me when I called or visited. I feel blessed to have had her in my life.

Mini Update

Life has been crazy monkey banana pants lately. Marikal had a lobe-ectomy on Friday to remove the mass in her lung that was found in a chest x-ray back in early October. She came through the surgery well and will be in the hospital for 5-10 days and then at home for another 2-4 weeks as she recovers. We are still waiting on the test results but first blush looks like it may not be cancer after all. (Now we just all cross our fingers and toes that the test results support this.)

In the world of knitting, I have completed 16.75 (soon to be 17) squares for the Paintbox afghan. Marikal contributed to the project by suprising me with 4 skeins of Kureyon that she picked out for Valentine's Day.  :) The scarf for my brother is coming along nicely, through somewhat more slowly than the afghan. I've got about 16 inches knit and I'm most of the way through the first skeins of Silk Garden. I started a pair of socks in the Trekking #100 that Marikal gave me last Christmas. They are just a plain knit and because of this, I am already up to the gusset. I'm using the "Strong Heel" by Gerdine Crawford-Strong as described in the Knitter's Magazine Fall 2003. The hot water bottle cover is on hold while I knit more interesting things.

The Ankle Bone's Connected to the Leg Bone

I have a stress fracture of the 5th metatarsal in my left foot. They think. I apparently did it walking around Northampton a few weeks ago wearing cheap flip-flops. After Xrays and podiatrist visits and things, I'm told that a cast is not necessary for the moment, but may become necessary if it does not heal in a timely manner (read: if I cannot manage to stay off the foot enough without a cast, they will put one on to force me to stay off of it). I was given a single crutch (as I cannot use two) and essentially told "have at it!" Well, it was doctor-speak, but ammounted to the same message. So, after a little experimentation and a bit lot of cursing I managed to figure out how to use the damn thing and then quickly realized that I would have to switch to a backback, as a shoulder bag really gets in the way. I am now keenly aware of every bump in the side walk as well as where - precisely - my triceps are located in my upper arm. I've read some distressing articles about how this type of fracture is notoriously hard to heal and takes a long time. Distressing because hobbling around with a crutch will lose it's cache quickly and also because my foot is too swollen at the moment to wear my regular fall/winter shoes. Sigh. Well, I guess I must just stay off it as much as possible and see where things go.

In other news, I got my haircut at the local cosmetology school on Wednesday. Had my eyebrows waxed, too. (I have mentioned my overblown sense of adventure, haven't I?) The student who did it was very nice and pretty good. It's certainly not a $50 Newbury Street quality cut, but for $5, I'm quite happy. And as my hair grows so quickly, in a month, the minor things I don't love about it will not matter.

I'm still waiting for a shipment of yarn to complete Nina. I'm a little frustrated that Knitpicks is taking so damn long, but I guess that's what I get for choosing the cheapest shipping option. I finished the Monkey socks and like a doofus, totally forgot to photograph them before they got wrapped and put in a gift bag. So, trust me, they are pretty, soft, fuzzy, bright red, and awesome. :) I've started some plain socks with one of new balls of Trekking XXL in color #76 that I got from WEBS in Northampton while I wait for green yarn.

Back and Rested, With News

I am back from my mini-vacation. Actually, I've been back for a few days, but I've been savoring the moment. Even with the arrival of an impressive downpour on the second day, I had a great time. We did a little shopping and I picked up some very cool postcards that we may use as the RSVP cards when we get hitched next year. (Oh yeah, did I mention I'm getting hitched to Marikal next year?) I also found a t-shirt that I just had to special order in my size (they were low on stock when we were there). In Northampton, there is a very cool store called Cornucopia selling organic foods and natural products. We stopped in to browse and I picked up a couple bags of Baji's Papadum Chips. I'd never had them before, but they are delicious! I will definitely be hunting them down locally. There was another store there that sells discounted name brand stuff...a little like a Big Lots, but a local business. I found a very cute pair of black Birkenstock sandals with rhinestone buckles and Marikal got a pair of Dr. Marten slides, both for a steal. In fact, the next time we heaad out that way (hopefully in the next month or so) I plan to bring extra $$ for shoe shopping, as they had really great brands there (Ecco, Naturalizer, Dr. Marten, Earth Shoes, Dansko, Birkenstock, etc.) and a reasonable selection of sizes. Lastly, I paid a visit to WEBS, where Marikal sat in a comfy arm chair and read her trashy tabloid magazines and I wandered around petting yarn to my heart's content. I spent a gift certificate that I've been saving for three years and bought enough superwash wool for a sweater for my friend Fall, and two yummy skeins of Trekking XXL for socks for me.

And now onto the news of the land.

I had a nice luncheon yesterday with my friend SongBird who was up from Atlanta to visit her mom and I had the opportunity to meet her charming and wonderful partner. I also spoke to my dad in the afternoon, who had some upsetting news....my grandmother who is 88 and a very tough bird had a heart valve replaced about 10 years ago. Long story short, the valve is starting to wear out and my grandmother has decided not to get it replaced again. This means that she has a weak heart and it will only get weaker as time passes. The docs have given her about two years, but as with anything health-related, that's only the grossest of estimates. I respect her decision, but the news still makes me sad. We are planning a full family visit around Labor Day weekend...a bit of a reunion, if you will.

In biz news, I have picked up another client (Yay!!). This means even less free time (*sigh*) and more money for expansion and marketing (yay!). Scool is also going well for this second session of the summer, though it has been even tougher to find time to stufy this month than it was last month. Urgh.

I've also decided that I should stockpile some prepped meals in our large freezer for when school starts and work picks up so that we are not eating take-away every day, like we did a few months ago when life got ridiculous. To that end, Marikal and I made three meatloaves and a huge batch of meatballs and red sauce for the freezer yesterday afternoon. I also plan on shopping the sales on TV dinners to have easy work lunches. After all, we have a ton of freezer space, may as well use it, no?

Happy Birthday Marikal!!!

Suprise for Dad

Yesterday was my dad's birthday and I, of course, called him to say happy birthday. We chatted and caught up on the news and he mentioned that he was going to a particular restaurant that he's never been to for dinner with his wife. I delicately pumped him for information about the name and location of the restaurant and then I used the "sway" of the concierge job I work for to talk the maitre d' into presenting my dad and his wife with a special desert at the end of their meal and charging it to my credit card. The restaurant told me that their signature dish is a mixed berry cobbler (my dad loves cobbler) and that they would have the chef make a special two-person sized version and send it out from me. My dad was so suprised! He wasn't expecting it at all and he had to ask the restaurant which Jennifer they were referring to (he thought maybe the chef's name was Jennifer). :-D Heehee. He called me when he got home from dinner and he sounded really really happy.

In knitting news, I've completed the back and front two pieces of the Accordion cardigan and I'm still knitting the second sock for my sock swap pal. It shouldn't take me very long to finish.

Back From the Wars

The wedding was very nice. It was good to see A & T so happy and to catch up with a few people I haven't seen in ages at the wedding. The weather was overcast and somewhat drizzly, but that beats blistering, sticky heat any day. The ceremony was one of the shortest I've been to, lasting only 30 minutes. After that we headed over to the reception, which was at a restaurant about 7 minutes drive away from the church. It was a fun evening with good food and some very interesting people that we shared our table with.

Yesterday morning Dad, Painter, bro, bro's gf, Marikal and me all went to brunch at a cute little place in Coolidge Corner called Lineage. The coffee was excellent (which is a high compliment coming from me, as most restaurants I find use swill in place of coffee), the food was very good and served in just the right oprtion sizes to be filling but not staggering. The service was prompt but unobtrusive and they didn't seem to mind at all that we sat and chatted for a good hour after the meal. It was great to see everybody and have us all at the same table. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday/Father's Day celebration with the family. :)

Yesterday evening, I spent a quiet night with the roomie poring over cable charts and sweater designs in an effort to pin down what she wants for the sweater I promised her 10 years ago. I think we've finally settled on the yarn, overall shape, and cable patterns to be used. Now all that's left is the swatching, blocking, measuring, and math. (!)

Today I'm back to the regular grind, as much as it can be called that, anyway. Tomorrow I have tax paperwork to get through (not to mention cleaning the pig sty of a house I live in) and then an appointment in the afternoon and knitting group tomorrow night. Wednesday I'm helping Stariel get packed and ready for her move in a few weeks.

Local Artists Rock!

Today, Lee (roomie), me, and my dad went to breakfast at  a little local diner and then headed out to get lost in Somerville a suprise my brother at the Somerville Open Studios where he was showing some of his custom furnitue and millwork. In the same building, there was a very cool studio called BeAdventurous. Dad and Lee and I had some fun looking through all her neat shiny beaded earrings and bracelets while we waited for my bother to appear (it seems that we managed to completely jump the gun and got there about 11:00, when the studio show didn't start until 12:00 - oops!). When he arrived, we got see his studio and also poke around a few others before Dad had to get on the road to the airport for his flight home. Audrey Folan's work was really beautiful and I wish I had more money to spend.

Pictures! (clickable)

So Where Have I Been?

It's been a weird and random and sad and....yeah, weird, week. Here are a few items.

I aw a wild turkey hanging out on the street corner near my house. Weird, isn't it? It (or should I say 'she'?) was huge! And fluffy. And hanging out on the street corner, watching the traffic and just chillin'. And this wasn't just any old side street. This was the corner of a four lane parkway at the junction of a major interstate highway. I93S, to be exact. I've been carrying my camera with me in the hopes that I can grab a picture of it.

Madonna is going on tour again, which means that the concierge job has been hectic with people wanting tickets.

Roomie got on the road this morning for the 2k mile drive back home. Last I spoke to her, she was between Omaha, NE and Chicago, IL, hoping to reach the windy city this evening. I'll be really happy to see her in a day or so. :)

On a sad note, roomie's SIL passed away yesterday from Hepatitis C. I didn't know Jeanette very well, but I liked what I knew. She was a good person with a good heart. As sad as her death is though, I think she's in a happier place now than when she was living. I'm more concerned about roomie's brother. He's a good guy and is having a very hard time. They're 1st wedding anniversary is this coming Monday. :-( I guess all I can do is pray and be supportive.

I've been knitting, too. I've completed 1 Jaywalker sock and started the second. I got 1" into the pattern rows on the second sock before realizing that I was using the wrong needle and have left it to sit in the WIP backet until I'm in the mood to frog the damn thing and start over. The Shine arrived, though! I'm about midway through the IK baby kimono pattern. It knits slower than you'd think, what with all the #%&(! garter stitch. Ergh. I'm gonna really be in the mood for lace or something that requires thinking by the time this thing's complete. Thank goodness it's small. Here's a progress pic.