Stress Reaction

My poor son is cowering in the corner right now. Terrified that his mom will go off on another rampage about why my tax dollars haven't resulted in his knowing how to do long division. Four hours in two nights have convinced me that they spend all day playing charades or something, because I sure as hell seem to be the one teaching (or attempting to teach) my fourth grader long division. And I am not a teacher. NOT A TEACHER. Not only not a teacher, but never had even the vaguest desire to be a teacher. Not long on patience in the teaching of the long division department*.

Anyway, that rant over with, I wanted to share with you the fun word cloud I first found over on Lolly's blog, but popping up all over the blog-o-shere in a matter of hours. Code writers are so HOT!!

*It's not that I don't know how to do long division, it's that I don't know how to teach long division. The examples he was provided with look nothing like what I learned. How does that work? My attempts to teach him the way I know to do it just result in frustration for both of us! (Whoops, guess I wasn't quite done with that rant after all)!

There's some serious Olympic Training going on in my neck of the woods. I've hooked up with some fellow Ene athletes, and we have compared fiber choices (I'm still going with the Helen's Lace, but I think I'm probably going to have to double up to get the gauge right). To keep my lace-knitting freak on, I have been practicing training on Ella. You remember Ella? In that luscious sport weight Black Purl? And the banana boobs? (Juvenile I know, but that still cracks me up)! She's kind of morphed on me.

And while not an Olympic contender in the sock-knitting category, my joining gene has me committed to several swaps and KAL's as a non-competitive athlete. (Do you think three pairs of socks, Ene and Ella, and Grace qualifies me as a tri-athlete? You know, the socks, lace, and sweater triathlon)? So I picked up some socks I started awhile back for a little warm up.

Another shot with a little different lighting? OK, here you go!

That's one looooooong (47 inch) Addi Turbo you see there. I thought I'd give the magic loop a whirl, and I have to tell you, it's like a little S*M party going on here with the whips flying around and all. Got to say, so far? Not a fan! I think I'll stick with the two circ method, thank you very much!

And I have a whole new obsession. I knit nary a stitch, but the 10th and the whole lighting of the torch is just around the corner (link here if there is some vague possibility that you don't know what I am talking about), and I figured I would be doing nothing but knitting for sixteen days. This prompted me to put in a little time with some fiber of the unspun variety. I purchased some seasonal color kits from Pro-Chem, mixed up the eighteen or so colors that appealed to me most (I don't do things by halves), grabbed come Corrindale and took a stab at cold pouring. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun I had. I have always been a very crafty person, and there are very few crafts I haven't at least tried, but I don't paint. Or draw. And this felt, to me, what I would imagine that creative process must feel like for those fortunate enough to have some talent in drawing and painting. For your viewing pleasure, I give you the results.

Clockwise from top center: Bird of Paradise, Bearded Iris,
Chocolate Covered Cherries, and Tornado Alley.

Towards the end, I had three colors I hadn't tried yet. So I grabbed my energized singles (I so much prefer that term to overspun, don't you? It sounds like something you did intentionally, instead of the results of amateur technique), splashed the last three colors on there, and serendipity ensued.

I'm knitting Ene's Scarf in sixteen days!

It's a space saver, OK? Update on Ene's Scarf soon, I promise!

Check out what was waiting for me at work this morning!

Now, before you all go and get all excited thinking there is a place you can order yarn bouquets (which there probably is, because you can find anything on the internets), my husband put this together and snuck up here after I left work yesterday to leave it on my desk.

When I asked him where he got the roving, he told me "you don't know all my secrets!", and then he said he's had it since before I had my little dying weekend. But you know what? He said my dyed roving was "much prettier"!

AAAAAAWWWWWW!

Big, BIG, bonus points for my hubby!

... is for Catlyn. My beautiful fifteen (going on thirty) year old daughter. She is intelligent and talented and destined for great things in life.

Like her mother she has strong opinions. I pray for her prudence and wisdom. I also pray that she will never feel like she is less than capable because of her gender.

*…cake and cookies. Because they make me happy.

Despite my commitment to The D Word, you can see the temptations that surround me. Not that I am complaining. That would be less than gracious! I realize that I am blessed with abundance!!

It's feast or famine at Casa Del Stress Reaction, all day all the time. Feeling the pressure of the nightmare that is Ene (the crazy ass commitment I made, not the scarf itself which is really pretty awesome and quite a fun knit) and at the apex of the worst cold I have had in about a decade (at least I hope it's a cold. Since I see about six people a day with the flu, and another six with strep throat, I'm just praying that my immune system is up to snuff), a pressie was waiting for me when I got home from work today. A 'just because' gift from Terrisa, who is an equal treasure. From Adagio Teas, two luminous cups and two kinds of blooming teas (red and jasmine). She knows me so well!

Another good friend tagged me with a music meme, and in juggling the options of blogging about Ene, my as yet nonexistent Bloomin' Feet socks, or the music meme, I went with the path of least resistance. I have my current obsessions together in an ‘A-List Playlist' on my iPod, so this was quick and easy*.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Breathe Me by Sia
I am all about the gut wrenching, soul searching woman artist. This song reached way down inside me the first time I heard it and has stuck with me every since.

Mary and the Soldier by Lucy Kaplansky
This is the sweetest song. It's a ballad. Reminds me of being read to as a kid. I still like that and I am a big fan of audio books as well.

24 by Jem
This is a top down on the car, wind in your hair, singing at the top of you lungs song. LOVE IT! The last two times I test drove the cars I eventually bought, this was the song I put in the CD player to test drive the sound system. On any given day, either the violins or the percussion becomes my favorite part.

I Hope I Don't Fall In Love with You by Tom Waits
Oh, oh, oh, don't hurt me again! This just makes you ache to give love another chance. Hootie and the Blowfish do an awesome rendition of this song as well.

There You Are by Martina McBride
As I type this, I realize how much it reveals about the person I am. Such an idealist. Such a romantic. This makes me think of perfect love.

Looking for a Soft Place to Fall by Allison Moorer
OH MY GOD! When Robert Redford dances with Kristen Scott Thomas to this song in The Horse Whisperer, I just melt. Seriously, better than sex! (It's a saying people, don't take it literally)!

Forever Love by Anna Nalick
Hooked the first time I heard this song. I could listen to it over and over again. In fact, I do. The whole CD is worth a look and a listen. I notice that as I write this, Amazon doesn't even offer it. I bought it at iTunes, and I have seen it on the rack at Wally World.

*(she said in total ignorance). This was hard! Seven is obviously just the tip of my iceberg. In the spirit of the game, anyone who wants this can have it. We all are a little richer for getting to know each other better. Just let me know if you do, so I can check out your favorites.

According to the ticker that Steph has posted on her site, 56% of the Winter Olympics have elapsed. Fifty-six percent of the time I have allotted myself to knit Ene. Here is my progress so far:

I haven't posted the timer on my own site for fear panic would ensue. Now that I have been sidelined for 48 hours of the 16 short days allotted to me, I am well past the point of panic. I am resigned. My less than efficient immune system allowed one bad cold to become one full blown flu, and as the old folks tell me all the time, I would have had to die to get better. Today is the first time I have even turned on the computer (or picked up the knitting) since Friday. I notice that Amanda has made true on her promise to become my official cheerleader. What a great friend I have made though this ephemeral thing we call the internets. I plan on catching up with all the knitters, and cheerleaders, shortly. But ya'll, I have some serious knitting to do. And only 44% if 16 days to do it in.

Wish me luck!

I have had two conversations about knitting this past week. Conversations outside of those I have on a daily basis with the little people that live in the flat box on my desk. We all know how exciting those conversations can be. You know. Someone gets this obsession of mine! Another knitter! Yeah! Instant camaraderie!

These conversations were remarkably similar. On observing me maniacally knitting away on Ene, with the needles flying around and the glazed look in my eye, they went something like this:

Them: "Oh, are you knitting?"

Me: "Yes. It relaxes me."

Them: "What are you working on?"

Me: "Well, it's a scarf. Well, more of a shawl really. See, I joined this Knitting Olympics, and I have to finish this scarf in…well, never mind, but really, it is relaxing (in the back of my mind thinking 'most of the time').

Them: "Well, I/my wife have/has been doing some knitting."

Me: "Really, that's great! (Real enthusiasm here). What do/does you/she knit?"

Them: "Well, scarves, and hats. See, I/she have/has this ring thing, and you loop the yarn around, and you have this stick thing and you pull the loops over the pegs, and it makes a long tube, and you cinch up the ends when you are done. Voilà , a hat!"

Me: "Oh. That's neat." (In my head: "Yeah, that's the same!")

And to be quite frank, I am amazed. This knitter's Olympic endeavor was beset with obstacles from the first. I had to cast on 375 stitches, not just once, but twice. The first weekend was lost to illness. I knew pretty early on that I was probably going to run out of yarn. But I was determined. I persevered. And I won the Gold!

I shared the concerns of many that decided not to compete in the Knitting Olympics. That such a concentrated push would taint the enjoyment of the process. And for some, this might be true. However I have long known that I work best under pressure, and for this reason, I enjoyed knitting this shawl immensely. Sure, there were times when I would have loved to work on a sock, or cast on another project. Normally knitting this lace project would have taken me much longer, and make no mistake, I would not want to always knit with such a deadline. But I really enjoyed learning what I was capable of, because, quite honestly, I didn't think it would happen.

I have to thank a number of people who supported me in my race to the podium. First of all my family, who sacrificed a clean house, clean clothes, hot meals, and a little bit of their own sanity during my brief flirtation with insanity. Amanda, the best blog buddy ever, who rallied the cheerleaders who cheered me on to the finish.*

Finally, a particularly loud shout out to Mary, of the knitting zone, who went to the post office on her day off to express ship me a second skein of Helen's Lace, without which I would not have been able to complete this Olympic project. Ya'll this woman is the best, so show her some love, and go love on some of her fibery goodness!

*(In special thanks, I am going to throw the name of everyone who cheered me on and wished me well in the comments of the Is It Time to Panic Yet entry into a bucket and draw out a name for a fiber prize).

The blocking board that is! And I love, love, love her!! I tried to capture the beauty of these colors with various lighting, but I really don't think any of these photos really do her justice. Probably because of the silk in the Helen's Lace, she has a depth of color that has to be seen to be truly appreciated.

I can see myself knitting this again, and I am not a big fan of knitting something more than once. Even under the pressure of the Olympic deadline, I really enjoyed the pattern, and watching the lace come together. Getting past that 375 stitch cast on (especially if you have to do it more than once) is the real kicker! The Helen's Lace worked up beautifully in this pattern, but I did double it, and went down one needle size. Even with that, she blocked out at 70 inches along the top and almost 36 inches in length. Since I've never worked with the Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Lace Weight called for in this pattern, I can't comment on it, but I will say that you need a fairly hefty lace weight yarn to make this work well. I would even venture to say that a sock weight would probably work*. I used about 1350 yards of Helen's Lace, but that was doubled, so you can get a guestimate on your needs from that.

I learned two new techniques while knitting Ene. First, the knitted cast on, which I really liked. I think I am going to use it for my Bloomin' Feet socks. The pattern I chose actually calls for a backwards loop cast on, which I really, really hate! Second was the three-needle bind off. More skills in the knitting repertoire!! Woo and Hoo!!

*Stunning evidence of how well the sock yarn works can be found here!

...drugs. Just one of the tools of my trade. The prescribing of, not the dispensing of.

In reality, my view of medicine is less about the medication, and more about the person. But to be sure, the drugs are often necessary to save a life. We owe a lot to drugs for the steady lengthening of the average life span. My own rather large derrière is a testament to how little it has to do with lifestyle.