One Ugly Sock...

I've gotta say it: This is going to be one ugly sock. And I'm not really sure I care, because most of the time, my feet are in shoes. 

But I'll try my best to make the other one prettier. It doesn't help when you start the gusset the wrong-way 'round... There are rookie-style boo-boos in this sock, but again. I don't particularly care. I'm just happy to be knitting socks again. 

There are purl rows where there ought not to be, and there are some spots where I'm going to have to do some judicious weaving to close up some gaps. Not like me at all. And on top of it, the tension in this sock is SO TIGHT. I mean, it's like I know I've been under stress, and this sock is going to show it. I hope it fits on my leg and foot. It might not. This could be interesting. 

The yarn is Lorna's Laces, and I believe the colorway is St. Charles. I could be wrong, but this is deep-stash yarn, and the original ball band is...somewhere. Probably stuck in a notebook or in a project bag. 

The leg is my own design. I always do a plain foot, and a heel flap. Not sure which toe style I'll do this time. Crap - I may do something on the heel and toe entirely different on the second sock. Live large, right? As long as the legs match. 

I think I can say that I will never do an 8x8 rib again. What a pain in the rear end... Oh well. In the end, I will have another pair of socks, whether I'm in love with them or not. Just so they're wearable. 

The Heel Turn...

Turns out, a "heel turn" is a wrestling term, too!! Kid #2 wore a shirt that said something about "heel turns," and I asked where I could purchase "this knitting shirt." Well, after a few laughs, I Googled it. Apparently, it is a wrestling term as well as a knitting term. 

I find heel turns (the knitting term, I mean) to be magical. Here's a teeny-baby heel turn on this sock, and then a picture a few rows in, where you can definitely see the short rows at work. 

Which is also funny, because when I see a shawl or something that has short rows in it, I freak out. But I do them in socks all the time. 

And yet, there might be a sweater or something that uses short rows, and I just nope on outta that idea. I need to transfer sock knitting skills to other projects. I have a couple sweaters - or more like t-shirt things, not full-blown sweaters. They're in my to-do list, and I need to be courageous and just do them. It's only yarn. 

As you can see here, my technique is a bit rough. That's what I get for setting these aside for over a year. I have to share a pro-tip with you: Do your SSKs (slip slip knit) purlwise. Then you don't have that obnoxious little yarn carry-over. 

I've taken to writing myself notes to do that, because I don't remember, and then I'm half-way through a heel turn and I have a weird looking heel. Again, not that anyone notices, but I do. And it bugs me. 

Baby Knitting...

So the shower went ok. It was weird not having my sister there, since it was for her soon-to-be-born grandchild. They got some nice gifts. Mine, as usual, was the only one that was hand-made, and I'm not saying that to brag. It's just how it turns out. 

Of course, the afghan is to the left. It was with yarn held double. The afghan and the smallest hat were Bernat Baby Softee. The striped hat and the sweater are Cascade 220 Superwash. I biggened up the sweater, so I think it's going to fit by the time the kid will need it. The baby is due in early May, so while it's my "usual" pattern, it only goes up to 6 months and if the kids are bigger, the sweater will stretch a bit (garter stretches nicely) but it would be a one-time wear... 

The pompom maker worked out well. I did tassles on the smallest hat, and the pompoms on the bigger one. It's not my usual device, because, of course, that one is stuck somewhere in a project bag in the depths of the stash closet. I bought a new one, with two sizes, because maybe you might need a bigger pompom, right?

It took me a hot minute to figure out how to use this one, but once it was in process, it was pretty easy. I was probably more anxious about trimming the balls, because I wanted to make sure everything looked perfect. 

There was an aunt of my niece-in-law's who was inspecting VERY closely the stitching on the afghan. Go for it, sweetie. The kids loved the items, and I was glad to get them done. I hope they got the care instructions (everything's washable in cold water and warm dryer), because it's easy to forget when you're a sleep-deprived parent.

Funny story: My nephew said, "We were told that they may want to induce, so we've had this plan, and a date in our head." I looked him in the eye, and said, "You know that the word 'plan' is now irrelevant, right? I mean, you're gonna have no control over anything for the next 18 years, at least." My mom was snickering, he looked a little abashed, but he also laughed. I told him it was my duty as his aunt to tell him straight... 

Sad story: They made a speech at the end about "people who should have been here, but who are no longer with us." That caught all of us. 

I think that's why my sock is so messed up (aside from just all the other crap going on in life right now...) -- going from size 8 needles to 1.5? Yowza. 

Art or Porn...

Oh dear, the State of Flori-DUH is once again in the news. Apparently, art is now porn. Just as books are "woke," Michelangelo's "David" has cost a school prinicipal their job, because one parent (yeah, one parent) complained that their child was "damaged" by viewing a picture of this statue. 

Yeah. It's not 1540, though since this statue was so well-received in the era in which it was created, that's pretty progressive. But wait. In 2023, some poor little flower saw a naked guy carved out of stone and was shocked. Or something. 

Yes. It's a naked man. No, it's not pornography. It's art. It's a magnificent sculpture that was supposed to be in a cathedral (remember David & Goliath? This is THAT David... who was said to be "...ruddy, handsome, and strong." In the bible. 1 Samuel 16:12, if you care to look. It's in a museum. Nuns, children, old people -- tourists of all stripes -- visit and take selfies. 

It's bad enough that Flori-DUH wants to ban books such as the history of Rosa Parks because white kids might be "upset" that racism is an ugly, ugly thing  -- that still exists "loud and proud," if you will, right here and now -- and parents don't want their kids exposed to certain subject matter. 

Well, that's cool. But what YOU want for YOUR kid doesn't mean that it has to apply to MY kids unilaterally. If YOU get to make decisions about YOUR kids, then -- logically (and I know this may come as a shock, so take a deep breath) --- I get to make decisions about MY kid. 

If parents don't like the education system, there's a quick solution to that: homeschool your kid. There is a small (yet noisy) minority which loves to complain that teachers are indoctrinating or grooming our kids. That same minority thinks that, because they went to school, they can teach at school. Um. No. 

So if they're so dissatisfied, they can take their kids out of school and home school them. Oh, that's inconvenient to you because you work? Well. Then you have a decision to make. Get your head out of your keister and realize that teachers give a large part of their lives, and generally suffer economically compared to other professions so that your kids learn things. Learn to think. Learn to communicate. Learn to work together -- you know, all those "adulting" things that one has to do when one works in the grown-up world. 

Don't like the books in the local library? Here's another easy-peasy pro-tip: DON'T CHECK THEM OUT. Nobody is forcing you to read the entire freakin' library. Though I do agree with Stephen King when he says that when folks want to ban books, kids should run to the library to read them ASAP so they know what they're going to be missing... 

The Hip...

Well, PT is going ok. I'm working on loosening up my hip flexor. I'm finally able to go all the way 'round on the recumbent bike, after a few minutes of loosening things up. I can only do 1-2 minutes all the way, but that's ok. It's a work in progress. 

I'm able to have further PRP shots, and I'm hoping that I can rehab this hip back toward normal. It'll never be "back to where it was," just because of age, arthritis, etc. But I would like to ditch the cane, ride a bike, do my yoga practice, and muck out stalls again. Oh, and walk without pain. That would be nice. 

One of my favorite "exercises," if you want to call it that, is lying on the massage table with my feet hanging off (like just toes and tops of feet off the table so they're not extended so far (even though I can do that comfortably), on my stomach. Eventually, I'm supposed to get onto my elbows, which is a classic "Sphinx" pose. I'm not there yet. But I'm getting there. 

Flo...

So the students at the yoga studio named our new (well, inherited) ficus, and her name is Flo. We repotted her, and while you can't tell in this picture, she has blue Christmas lights on. I was going to remove them, but the students want her to keep them. 

I need to rearrange her lights, because as you can see, she's topping up toward my one pendant light. I might have to add another string of lights to her, as her canopy grows. 

She must like it there; she hasn't dropped leaves like she did at first, and she seems to have lots of new growth at the top. 

Soon, it will be warm enough to get two pots of plants replaced: I'm working on a snake plant, which will be in a lovely pot near the corner where its vertical lines will look really nice. And then a spider plant, on top of the cubbies, because even though it's not going to be a hanging plant, it will still look nice on top there. All of the plants in the studio are there for their ability to clean the air. We do have top-of-the-line air filters in our HVAC system, but it's always nice to have some green in the studio.

Random Picture...

Quinnie seems to like cheek skritchies... I caught this photo quickly, because when she sees the camera, she looks away. Stinker. 

I can tell she's slowing down a bit. She still barks like crazy, but at times, we can have someone walk past the house and she doesn't hear them. She sleeps that "old lady sleep" where it's pretty deep. She loves her pets till she's done with you and then she's done. 

Her face was once fully black. She had a classic Elkhound dark face, with "eyeliner" around her eyes. There's a lot of grey on that muzzle now. Her eyes are still that beautiful liquid brown and can be quite expressive. Especially when she's begging for food...which is always an Elkhound trait. 

She has a hot spot on her tail, thus the Cone of Shame. I can only take it off her when I'm in the same room and have my eyes on her. 

I Really Should be Knitting...

Calendars... Ugh!

For some reason, I had it in my head that the shower was March 19. It's the 12th. Yikes...

So far, I've got the afghan done, the sweater, and a baby-sized hat. Working now on the Toddler hat, just because the sweater is big enough for perhaps a 12-month old. I figured I'd do a 2-row pattern on that - a little more sophisticated, and maybe just do the tan pompoms. 

I biggened the pattern, and I'm mostly ok with how it turned out. It needs refinement, which I will do at another time, with no deadline! I'm doing a "Dagwood." One big button. Funny enough, I don't have a picture of the sweater - yet. I think I'll do the picture of the whole layette soon. As soon as I get my fingers flying to finish the last hat!

I did tassles on the baby hat, and they were cute, but tiny (as befits a baby hat). I have enough yarn and a decent pompom maker device to do bigger ones on the bigger hat, which makes sense. I love this pattern, "Easiest Baby Hat" available on Ravelry. Sorry, there's no link, it's in my library as a download. It's basically a rectangle. You can do two colors, with the contrasting color at the crown. I did that on the baby hat, and it was a bit of a miscalculation, but as I think of it: now it can be worn 2-sided with a larger stripe in front, or a smaller one. The one above is stripes, and I've calculated how long the 2-row repeats need to be before I can finish with the same 4-row swaths and the back cuff. Then, just knit it up the sides. 

The baby hat is in the Baby Softee. The toddler hat is in the Cascade 220 Superwash. The sweater is in the Cascade, so I figure that was a good choice.  

Then there's the packaging. I haven't even gotten the stuff I need to put together the gift, but I can get that next week. I don't have to go "baby," especially if what I find is all gendered. My mom said that at Party City it was all either boy or girl - which is kind of silly, because there are those rare birds like my nephew and his wife. They didn't want to find out the gender "unless it was blatantly obvious on the ultrasound," and even if THEY know, we don't. Which is kind of cool. 

There aren't enough good surprises in this life, right? 

The Saga of the Hip...

Well. I went for my 3rd PRP shot. I'm now scheduled for PT, which I'm taking at a place a few doors down from my studio. It's a unique set-up: instead of a batch of patients assigned to the PT, this person spends the hour on you alone. For those of us who are hyper-mobile, we need supervision! I'm really glad to be able to not only have a place close-by, but also -- let's be honest -- not be exposed to a batch of strangers. I have a mom to be aware of. 

I took a picture of the device that spins the blood down. For some reason, it reminded me of something out of Star Trek: one of those "I'm growing nanobytes" kind of pods. 

The doc was very happy, because I once again was able to produce a large amount of plasma. 

I have to say that while I notice some improvements, this treatment is not for the impatient folks. The changes are incremental, some are pretty subtle, and it's going to take a long time to get to a plateau where I'll be more stable. 

I have some goals: Get back to a yoga practice that's not in a chair; ditch the cane; get back to the stable to muck out stalls; ride my bike. Not feel pain when I get up off a chair, or try to sit in one. Just the basic stuff. Oh, put my own socks on. That would be nice. 

The PT and the doctor assure me that those are indeed reasonable goals, and that I can expect to get near 100% of achieving them in some fashion. Of course, I'll never be "before arthritis." But that's to be expected. 

It seems also that they're more concerned with the arthritis than the torn labrum. I did ask about "blasting the bone spurs," and the doc said, "Yes, but no." In other words, yes, there's technology. And no, it won't fit my situation. Fair enough. I'd rather he be honest instead of just doing something that would mean I'd be back time and again to repeat the process. 

So today is my second PT treatment. I was sore after the evaluation, so this could be interesting!

It's Supposed to Snow...Or Not...

As per usual this winter, it's all weather hysteria all the time. Two school districts cancelled school today, because we were supposed to get "whalloped" with snow - up to 8" if you followed certain weather info. 

Mind you, yesterday, it was 50 degrees and sunny. Today is grey. And not a flake in sight. I'm really not sure what it's going to do today. Snow? Rain? Both? Neither? 

I mean, 10 years ago, we were sub-sub-zero and had 2 feet of snow on the ground. Today, I'm looking at my hyacinths starting to break through the ground, and whispering, "Go back! It's not time yet!!" 

And of course, we could be in California, suffering with feet and feet of snow, in areas where they never usually get snow. I have a friend in Tucson who was posting pictures of the 2" of snow on her car. I honestly have no idea if it has ever snowed in Tucson, but apparently, this was news. 

The weather is totally jacked up, but what's going on in DC? They're banning (or trying to) everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community because they can. They're also trying to ban free speech. They're also destroying legitimate safety nets as fast as they can. Because who needs them? Only the marginalized, and if the marginalized aren't rich donors? Pffffffffth.... be-gone!

And Then There's Flori-DUH...

Seriously. Wanna watch a slide into fascism, let's go to the Land of the Mouse. Dirtbag DeStoopid is hurtling down that road quickly and apparently, there's not much to stop him. Their latest is an attempt to ban the Democratic party. I'm not kidding and it's not on some erzatz "news" channel. 

Digging into the history they're wanting to ban (because we don't want to upset the feelings of little white kids...), they've realized that once upon a time, the Democratic party was the conservative party. The Whigs (a/k/a the present-day Republicans - though not quite as crazy as this bunch) were the liberals. 

So, they decided to ban "any political party which, at any time, had ties to slavery." Neat trick - use the history you deem to "offensive" to teach our kids, to virtually eliminate your biggest political rivalry. THAT is offensive, folks. DeStoopid is making a kingdom. He's paving the way to the biggest opportunity there is, and if he can finagle his way into the White House, we're in big trouble as a country. 

Where are the folks who can do something about this? I'm honestly asking, because if this is allowed to prevail, then our country as we know it will eventually cease to exist. 

And people wonder why I'm actually happy to have no grandkids...

Random Picture...

A student handed this to me. "I know you make your own, but..." -- it's Mexican Vanilla. Hubby says it smells really strong, in a good way. Can't wait to bake something with this. 

I feel humbled to have students who are friends. They've hung in there with me with this hip thing, and they're dedicated to their practice. 

We're hoping to increase our student population. We've got workshops scheduled for March, April, and May. Hoping to get more students to decide that a regular yoga practice is a good idea. 

Covid has been rough. Small businesses are still struggling. If you have a local shop, whether it's a book store, yarn store, coffee place, pub or restaurant -- do them and yourself a favor and patronize them. 

Small businesses are indeed the backbone of communities. We are invested in the area, we want to be able to serve you and your family. And we need your support. 

Often, I hear, "I can get yoga free at my gym." Yes. You can. But can you get personalized attention, do you know your teachers and their qualifications, and do you understand the time we spend making sure that the classes we have fit you and your fellow yogis? Do you know the money we've spent on training - because it's a lot, for sure. And we use that to ensure that our classes are safe, effective, and helpful to each student. Learning about modifications, adapting a sequence on the fly for students, holding specialized workshops for your benefit. 

It's a lot, and we do it for you. So please support us!