Down With The Sickness

My father has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. He also has irregular cells in his stomach that might be lymphoma, a common side-effect of Celiac Disease that has gone untreated for years. He must remove gluten from his diet, which effectively means my sister, who lives with him and cooks for him, must remove gluten from her diet, as well. They'll check the irregular cells in two months (after he's been gluten-free for a while) to see if they're lymphoma or not.

This disease is genetic. There is an inaccurate blood test, and symptoms can be so mild as to go unnoticed. If you remember how to do a Punnett square, parent 1 is nn (Celiac Disease is recessive), parent 2 could be anything (nn, NN, Nn), and my chance of having this is all over the map. I'm calling the doctor tomorrow to schedule the blood test, and I may be altering my diet just in case... I probably won't go comepletely gluten-free, but I'll limit my intake.

Just when I think life is calming down a little, I get slapped with something like this. I need a hug.

The Sting

So there I was, yesterday morning, getting dressed. I pulled a folded pair of jeans off the shelf, shook them out, and stuck my leg in. I felt a familiar pinch at the back of my knee, threw the jeans on the floor, and watched a stunned-looking wasp stumble out of them.

Anyone know of a natural wasp repellant? I don't want to bug bomb all of my stuff, but I'm really getting sick of getting stung. This is the third time in a year. Grr.

The other day, one of the ladies in one of my knitting groups brought a few cones of yarn she'd found at the local recycling center. Two black cones didn't interest me, but the peacock-blue laceweight did, especially when I checked the label inside the cone -- Jaggerspun Heather! It's their 2/20 in Cobalt, and it will make a beautiful, lacy something... someday.

Before I find a project for that, though, I need to make a gift for my best friend, who's getting married in July. I've settled on a ring pillow, covered in light purple satin with a white knitted lace overlay. I just need to settle on a lace pattern.

Now if I can just find motivation to do anything on this dreary, rainy Saturday. Tomorrow I'll be at NH Sheep & Wool, and I'm really looking forward to it, making today even harder to get through. Maybe I'll knit a little before I go to work.

Come Sail Away

There is a lightswitch at work with a label below it that reads, "FORCE OF GRAVITY -- DO NOT TURN OFF."

I love my job.

Exhausting Weekend

One of the perks of working at Green Mountain Spinnery is occasionally bringing home free fiber. Today Laurie, the fellow who runs the carder, brought over a pound of "waste" wool and told us it was up for grabs. One of my coworkers and I decided to split it -- I took about 3 ounces, and she got the rest. It's white and fluffy, fresh from the carder, but it isn't the same blend as any of our stock yarns and wasn't part of any of our custom orders, so if we didn't take it, it would be used to clean dark fibers out of the carder before the next run of white, and would be ruined. It was too nice for that. I'm not sure what I'll do with it... maybe play with some food coloring or other dyes and then make a little hat or something.

On Saturday I went to CT Sheep & Wool, hung out with more friends than I expected to see, and allowed myself some very modest fiber acquisition. Sunday I moved the last of my things out of Erik's house. While both days went relatively well, the one-two punch has left me exhausted, bruised, and blistered. I really didn't want to go to work this morning, but I'm glad I did. I think I need to stay off my feet for a few hours, though... owwie.

I'll take pictures of the new fiber as soon as I dig out my camera and find an uncluttered spot to take a picture.

Getting Better

My first day at the Spinnery was good. I came home smelling of lanolin, wondering how a cooperative can possibly make timely decisions, and eager to go back tomorrow. I spent most of the day twisting and labeling skeins, with brief interruptions to ball three skeins for a customer and pose for an impromptu photo shoot ("You look about the right size. Here, put on this sweater and come outside."). The people are great, the work appeals to me, and I get to inhale wool fumes all day. This job is a good fit for me. I hope it lasts.

Well, that sucked.

I broke up with Erik last month. He didn't take it well, and things were getting a little dicey as I was scrambling to find a new place to live, going to job interviews, and dealing with daily harassment about the living situation, financial issues, and random other crap.

On Sunday the 4th, I came back from a weekend with my family, and the harassment began anew the moment I walked in the door. After 20 minutes of begging him to leave me alone with no positive result, I called 911. The Troopers who responded suggested that I pack a bag and go somewhere else for the night, and as soon as they left, that's exactly what I did. The next day, I went back with the intention of talking about the financial issues and even handing him a check, but he stopped me before I even got in the house and told me I had to leave because he'd filed a restraining order. He said it was because I "escalated" the situation by calling 911 the day before.

I dealt as best I could for a day or two, relying on family and friends for clothing and a place to stay. I made arrangements with the State Police to go get some of my things (more clothes, some food, the crock pot, one of the spinning wheels, etc.) and prepared for the hearing, scheduled for this morning.

Turns out that courts overbook dockets the way airlines overbook flights, counting on a certain number of people not showing up. They didn't count on so many showing up this morning, so they had to prioritize the cases they heard and continue (postpone) the rest... including mine. The new date is May 5th. As soon as that was decided, I made arrangements to pick up a few more things (computer, cookware, etc.) this afternoon, and I am now set up with the bare essentials (plus some knitting) in my cozy new place.

Erik is making noise like he wants to drop the restraining order, which would make everybody's life a whole lot easier, but I'm not counting on him following through. I'd love for him to prove me wrong, though. He seems to think I was "kind" today when I came to get my computer, and while I'm not sure what he's smoking, I'm not going to argue. I just want to collect the rest of my things (which will require a large U-Haul and several helpers), get on with my life, and see where things stand in, I dunno, six months or something. There is no way I'd date him again, since we seem to bring out the absolute worst in each other, but I'd consider being on speaking terms if he can show me the respect I deserve.

For now, though, I just want to get on with my life. I've been hired by Green Mountain Spinnery to work in production, and I start tomorrow at 9:30! The wage isn't much more than minimum, but the fiber discount is 50%, so I may have trouble not spending my paycheck on yarn.

My fortune cookie tells me, "soon you will be sitting on top of the world." The one before this told me, "you look pretty," and I'm beginning to think that Chinese food should be mandatory when I'm depressed. Those little slips of paper wrapped in sweet cookie are wonderfully uplifting.

Back to knitblogging any day now, I swear.

Oh, I'm planning on being at CT S&W on the 24th. Who wants to meet me there or ride along from anywhere along 91?

Low Point

We were out of power for about two days, took a few years off the life of the fridge by running it off the truck's inverter, and were surprisingly productive. Now the snow is melting, mud season is starting, and I should be feeling better. Sadly, I'm not.

Depression has been weighing me down a lot lately, nudging me to sleep more, knit less, and spend way too much time reading threads on Ravelry. The causes and triggers are numerous; things like my birthday, my one-year anniversary on unemployment, and ongoing relationship issues all fuel this feeling of hopelessness that's so difficult to conquer. I keep trying to do things to break out of the cage, but they never quite work the way I hope they will.

For example, I started looking at colleges, because I regret not having the discipline to get my degree years ago, and I found a place that I fell in love with as soon as I set foot on campus. It's beautiful, it's small, it's relatively inexpensive (for a private school), but I still can't afford it, because student loans don't pay my car insurance or storage unit fees, and I'm not confident that I can do full-time school plus a part-time job and survive with my sanity intact. I did full-time job and part-time school for a few months back in '07, but that was trade school, which meant no homework or studying.

So, once again, I've fallen in love with an idea that probably isn't feasable. But how could I not fall in love with a place like this?





In an effort to give myself some confidence, I've started an ambitious project: Marianne Kinzel's Rose of England Design.



I know it doesn't look like much yet (that's part A... for those unfamiliar with the design, the large version ends with part M and is supposed to be 72" in diameter), but I only started yesterday. Maybe I'll have it done for Rhinebeck!

In the meantime, I'm going to write a cover letter for a job that intimidates me, re-write a college entrance essay, and do some sewing. Happy thoughts appreciated.

Buried

We're buried under more than two feet of snow and have been without power since 7 this morning. The nice lady at the power company told us that we might get power back tomorrow, but since most of southern Vermont is out, it may be into the weekend before we're hooked up again.

Wish us luck.

New Year, New FOs!

Hi there, 2010. I'm still unemployed, still broke, still trying to figure out what to do with my life, still living in Vermont (which is the first good thing on this list), and still knitting. I've been mightily stressed lately, and rather than make things for myself that will be forever associated with that stress, I've made a gift for my friend Allison's impending little one (ETA: about six weeks from now).



I've also made a wee feather-and-fan hat to go with it, but I haven't taken a picture yet. The yarn is one skein of Fiesta La Luz (100% silk) that I got on clearance at Webs a few years ago, the buttons are vintage mother of pearl from my late grandmother's stash, and the pattern is Victoria Jane. The hat pattern is Lacy Baby Hat.

I also finished a long-awaited project, for which I must now write the long-awaited pattern: version 2 of my Greenery Hat!



The most common complaints I heard about the first Greenery Hat were that it was too tight and too tall. Version 2 addresses both of those problems. See?



Writing the pattern is taking some time, since I lost my notes somewhere between Connecticut and Vermont, so I'm having to reverse-engineer my own pattern. I'm not even going to hazard a guess at when it'll be finished... like the late, great Douglas Adams, I'm all too familiar with that whooshing sound deadlines make as they zoom past. That said, I know some of you have been waiting for this pattern since 2007, so I'm going to put it as high on my priority list as I can without sacrificing food and rent.

Time for me to head off to the diner for SnB. Happy knitting in the new year!

Done Like Turkey

I'm happy to say that, after years of suffering from a terrible case of startitis, I have finally begun a trend of actually finishing my knitting projects. As a result, I have lots of pics. As always, click to embiggen.

Remember the LemonEgg shawl that I started something like two and a half years ago? Well, it's finally finished!





It's warm and cozy and... yellow. What else can I say?

I also made two Christmas stockings, both decorated with needle felting. One was for Erik:



...and one was for Sassafrass, my greyhound:



Sassy is usually seen with her tongue hanging out these days, so, at Erik's suggestion, I added a tongue to her stocking.



The Open Knotwork Lace scarf I started in April of last year is finished!



The pooling is wonky, but it's KnitPicks, so I'm not surprised.

I made a Malabrigo hat...



...with a hole for my ponytail!



And I crocheted a snowflake that I then starched and used as a tree topper.



I'm trying to pull out something from the UFO box every time I finish a project and work at least a few rows on whatever it is, so maybe you'll see some other long-neglected projects pop up here as FOs.

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas, Solstice, Festivus, or other holiday of your choice, and have a fantastic new year!