Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I've been knitting. Honest.

"Inspired by" the felted baskets in Mason-Dixon Knitting, I took a skein of Kureyon and a skein of Cascade 220, both from the stash, and made a basket of my own. I concede that the crocheted corners of M-D are superior to my slipped stitch effort, though I do like the way this turned out. It's a little large, the next one will be smaller. This would make a very cute ferret bed, wouldn't it?





Then I returned to the stash and pulled out the Baby Cashmerino purchased in Asheville last year, and started the Falling Water Scarf.. Apologies for the mediocrity of the photography. I love this pattern. It is my kind of knitting, so much easier than it looks, goes very quickly, (I started this just the night before last, and have not put too much time into it) and is so pretty.



So far, I have successfully fought my urge to break my yarn diet. This is not to say that I will not surrender tomorrow, or next week, but nothing has really called to me, other than the 40% off book sale at KnitPicks. I think I may have to surrender to the urge for a couple of books. Maybe.

My financial state is on my mind lately. My job stability is unstable, and over two months on FMLA hurt, the Girlchild too is feeling the loss. She had to take off about six weeks to take care of me post-surgery, and now her car is falling apart - literally, every day a new piece comes off in her hand. Today the motor in the passenger side window broke. It would be funny, but it's not so funny when she has a long commute to her job, and of course she's not getting rich working with autistic kids, so a new car and a move and grad school are all looming in her future at the same time.

The Money Pit is getting too expensive to keep. My "raise" was a joke, the house needs constant upkeep, and the market is comatose. I've set November 1 as list the house day, in the hope that the other two houses in my immediate neighborhood will be sold by then. In the meantime, I'm getting the sprinkler system repaired and upgraded, and I've started a daily regimen of Throwing Something Out, and Putting Something Aside for Goodwill, every day. Just one thing, or two or three if the urge strikes me. But I do have to spruce up the landscaping, replace the bedroom carpet and get the exterior painted (I'll do the interior - who needs to have fun and relax on weekends?) before I put it on the market. That's a few thousand dollars I don't have at the moment.

I was doing okay and recovering pretty well from the financial blow of losing my husband, but the lack of a raise for two years followed by a pittance, and the lack of profit-sharing (when there is no profit, there is no profit sharing) and then the brain aneurysm (surprise!) left me barely breaking even. I'm still breaking even and damn glad I am, but boy, I can't wait to move to an apartment and regroup. I'm tired. The fatigue and brain fog post-aneurysm is no joke, and I feel it every day since I went back to work. Working is hard, not that it was ever a breeze, but it's more challenging now. Mostly I fight through it and joke about the brain fog and then go to the gym, which really does help, even when I'm really tired exercise makes me feel better. But this house is a burden now and I can't wait to be out from under it.

So I try not to think about it too much, and I knit, and take pictures of visiting frogs.



Oh, and happy 24th birthday Girlchild! Despite the difficulties we have faced, and when I stop to think of them, hell, she could do a Lifetime miniseries too, she's always smart, funny, capable and un-self-pitying. I am so proud of her. I'm so glad to be here to celebrate it with her. Tonight she's going out with her friends, and tomorrow night we will live it up and go out to dinner. I'm thinking hot wings and beer. (The wings are grilled, and the beer is light. Everything in moderation....)

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday to the Girl! I think you two make quite a good team.

I'm so glad you asked about that scarf pattern over at KR -- I bookmarked it right away! Your red one is very pretty.

Bess said...

OOoo Birthdays! Happy BDay to Girlchild. May all your dreams come true.

And congratulations on the yarn diet. at the 6 month point you've probably kicked the habit. After that it's just a matter of if you want to stick it out not if you need to. Lovely scarf.

Gigi said...

love, love the basket. I am prone to bastardizing patterns and tried to make up my own basket pattern. It didn't work at all. I am glad to see yours did.

Amy in StL said...

*Sigh* I miss the visiting frogs. We don't have that here in the midwest. At least not on every vertical surface like we do in The South!

Catherine said...

The yarn buying habit is broken, Bess. I will buy yarn when I have a purpose for it, then use it. And I'm probably going to go visit boy in Asheville in Sept or Oct., and I will visit Yarn Paradise in Biltmore Village and go nuts in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino again.

Catherine said...

Jane - I forgot to mention the KR thing in my post, but I was dyin' - for those who don't read Knitters Review, I posted a very vague and inaccurate description of a scarf pattern I'd seen online before aneurysm and forgot to bookmark, and I think the SECOND person who responded had the link I was thinking of. The minute I saw the words "Falling Water" I remembered it. KR is like this vast knitting overmind, you just plug in and someone knows what you want to know. I love this pattern, normally I don't like anything with a 15 row repeat because I have a 4 row attention span, but this is easy and after blocking, it's going to be lovely.

zippiknits...sometimes said...

Hope that you and Girlchild had a very nice Birthday dinner, out and about.

Cute little frog on the screen. We used to have them here in our yard because there was a lot of weeds and iceplant when we moved here. I loved them,too. They were tree frogs, very tiny. Falling Waters is a lovely scarf and the bowl should be big enough for a pet ferret. :o)