Happy Mother's Day

Just some random thoughts and quotes on Motherhood:

Job Description (what man would apply for this???):
WANTED: housekeeper -- 140 hour week, no retirement benefits, no sick leave, no private room, no Sundays off. Must be good with kids, animals, and hamburgers. Must share bath.

No man could stand being pregnant. The first time a man lost his breakfast three solid months in a row, he would make plans to have a nocturnal headache for the rest of his married life.
--Erma Bombeck

I've also been called a mother.
-- My DH

Catching Up

Dear Friends

I did not drop off the edge of the earth. Actually, there has been a bunch of things happening in Deep South Land. Not that they are all that exciting, but I haven't been hiding under a rock, either.

Here is the short version, in no particular chronological order:

1. DH was hospitalized with his 3rd case of pneumonia, along with some rather alarming mistakes in medication
2. DS#3 now has his learner's permit to drive
3. DH finally bit the bullit and decided to accept my offer of a kidney
4. Deep South Knitter has been having a lovely time being evaluated as a kidney donor; next step is COLONOSCOPY (I can hardly wait)
5. DD#1 gave me Mason Dixon Knitting #2 for my birthday (love it)
6. DD#2 gave me Lace Knitting in Estonia for Christmas (love it)
7. DH gifted us with a 42" television just before Christmas, and this baby is now located in the livingroom, which has been very handy since DH is still getting me up in the middle of the night most nights, and this gives me something to do while I knit at 3 AM.
8. Knitting keeps me sane. Whiskey is also useful.
9. DH wanted to give me a new watch for my birthday. Instead I drove him to the yarn store and asked him to buy me some lace-weight alpaca, and he did (lovely, lovely, lovely).
10. I found a copy of Nursery Rhyme Knits at the local Dollar Store -- yes, it was $1.00. And yes, I bought it.
11. We had to upgrade our cell phones just before Christmas. Santa got me a Blackberry. Very, very cool.
12. I am doing a lot of knitting. List and pictures will follow in a later post.

I Would Say That I'M BAAAAACK

But I never left. Just hanging around doing the same old things. You know, driving DH to dialysis, worring about money, driving DH to doctors, worrying abut money, driving DH to the emergency room, worrying about money.

There must be other things in life, but I do not remember what they are.

Looking at my blog postings, I see that the last one was sometime back in April. I think about posting more frequently, but I find myself whining about the unfairness of life. I would rather reserve this for private times in the shower.

Not a whole lot of knitting going on because I went off on a crochet frenzy. Doilies, mostly, but I did find an old window curtain that I had started years ago. Time this puppy was finished, so as of last Friday I had the following:

Presidential Election Politics also has its moments of personal interest. My oldest DS works at Ole Miss, and he and family attended the first debate on Sep 26. You can see just how interesting it was for them from this photo posted at some political website:

Some Things are not Meant to Be

The Must Have Cardigan. I was going great guns on this. Absolutely love the pattern, enjoyed the knitting. Finished the back and was half-way through the right front.



DD#1 came for the weekend, and I showed (off). Looks great, right?

Fabulous detail, too. She was impressed. I was smug.

Then I took a closer look and found this, right at the beginning of the cable pattern:

The first and third rows of the center cable are twisted the wrong way. Nothing for it but to rip out the entire back. No one will notice, you say? Yeah, right, in the same way no one noticed the "little boo boo" on that cabled sweater on the cover of Vogue Knitting a few years back.

I have been thinking that this yarn is not really right, either. A little too thin. The back will be a little too small. I will save up and buy a different yarn for this. (Oooh, new yarn!)

In the meantime, I ripped out the jacket and started the Urban Aran from the same Paton's pattern book. I am up to the armholes on the back and really love the cables. Goooorgeous! Classy. A keeper.

A little detail to show the cables off:

On the non-knitting side of life, one of my oldest friends passed away two weeks ago. So sad. We had known each other for more than 30 years, had our babies at the same time, raised them together. Her son and my oldest daughter have been best friends since birth. Her husband died 2 years ago, and she was confined to a care facility because of severe MS. She was once a great knitter, and when her illness became too severe, she brought me a partially-knit Norwegian sweater and asked me to finish it. Which I did, with pleasure. And I had the pleasure of seeing her wear it many times.

Whole Lotta....

Lotta flu. Nasty bug brought home by DS#3. He missed a whole week of school with high fever, vomiting, cough, sinus clogs, muscle and joint pain, the whole package. Then, in a misplaced spirit of generousity, he gave it to DS#2, his dad, and me.

Naturally, DH got it worse than anyone (starting last Friday evening), and by Monday afternoon he was in the ER with pneumonia. Last week was not a lot of fun, I tell ya. Not just pneumonia, but heart, kidneys, and liver were affected, too. He is home now but still feels really crappy, depressed, lethargic. Still sleeps a lot.

Spending 12 hours/day sitting in a hospital room gives you a lot of knitting time, so I started a pair of socks

Finished DH's dicky

Made some headway on the Must Have Cardigan

This is a lovely and fun pattern, by the way, from Patons Street Smart pattern book. Thanks to Yarn Harlot, finding a copy of this baby was really hard. Patons does not sell their stuff direct to public from their website. They do have a store finder. There are several stores in my area that carry Patons products, but did anyone have it? Nooooooo. I ordered it on line from Yarn and Thread by Lisa . Of course, Lisa had had a run on it, too, and was totally out of stock, but she emailed me a copy of the pattern (since I had already paid for it) so that I could get started, and she kept me updated by email and made sure that I knew that she mailed it when her shipment came in. FYI -- shipping cost almost as much as the booklet itself, but when I think of how much it costs to run my car to hunt for things, paying $9.40 with shipping and handling is a bargain. I highly recommend Lisa and her company for the excellent service.

This booklet has some nice, nice patterns. I am sick unto death of the Devonshire jacket (monochrome looks elegant but has become mind-numbingly boring, and I don't think that the yarn is the right weight, either) and am thinking of frogging and using the yarn to make the Urban Aran. Brooklyn Tweed made this as a jacket, so I will probably do the same, as his looks just totally cool.

Also finished are two Ball Band Washcloths

My yoga mat bag (free pattern from Lily Sugar & Cream)

A Pawprint Washcloth from Knitting Nonsense (I highly recommend these free patterns, such imagination!)

GAWD -- What A Bore

I refer to myself.

The Annual Passing of Another Year came and went. I am now 58 years old. Emphasis on old. This is the first time I have felt this way. No enthusiasm, no energy, vim & vigor are in hibernation. Little to say and less desire to make the effort. I feel like an old, old woman.
This, too, shall pass. At least I hope so.

Part of this, I am sure, is a result of inactivity due to a cracked rib (how this happened is too embarrassing to relate). Not much one can do about this besides just letting it heal on its own. And try not to sneeze.

On the other hand, I have a little knitting to report.

-- 2 Ball Band Dishcloths in Lily Sugar N Cream
-- Carrying bag for my yoga mat in Moda Dea Tweedle Dee Cinnamon Twist (this stuff stretches like crazy, so the bag now also holds the yoga strap and the yoga block).

In process are the following

-- "Devonshire" from Jean Frost's Jackets, using Ramwool aran in a lovely brown heather from stash. This design was originally done in three colors, but I think it will be lovely in the one. Very elegant.
-- Man's Dickey from Paton's "Men" in Woolease from stash.

Plans to start the Paton's Must Have cardigan as soon as I check for possible candidates in the stash area. Like thousands of other people, I was very taken by Yarn Harlot's posts on this sweater, and now I Must Have It.

I really admire knitters who have their stash organized, boxed, and available. I have seriously thought of doing this, it would make a lot of sense and would save me much pain and suffering. But it just isn't me. For me, it's the thrill of the hunt.

And If We're Good... Part 2

You may remember that ceramic plate that wonderful woman in Texas sent to me just before Christmas.







Well, I was talking on the phone to my Aunt Dinah not long ago and asked whether she remembered such a thing. There was a long silence, and then she asked if I knew who gave it to my grandparents.


Of course not.


It seems that my dad's cousin June (aka Claud, Junior) and his wife had a small pottery business in Dallas or Plano or someplace like that in the late 1940's, and they made decorative wall plates. This was one design that they produced.


The plate now in my possession may have been made by them ... or not.


Weird.