Settling in for a Long Winter's Post
This morning brought me about one hour of extreme pain and wound debridement. With a clean wound and a handful of percocets (OK, just two) to show for it, I've opted to suffer privately at home with my laptop carefully perched so as to permit typing without touching my left leg. Tricky, but I'm up to the challenge. I have additional distractions by way of the first episode, first season of "Dead Like Me"---had never heard of it before Rob gave it to me for Christmas. The first five minutes tell me its deeply cynical. I'll probably love it.
January 4, 2006
One year ago today, I awoke with the modest agenda of mailing to my parents the XM radio boombox I gave them for Christmas, meet my recuperating friend Joe for a bit of chatting, have some lunch and stop by the drugstore to purchase a sling for Rob who was complaining of a very sore arm. This expedition was to be a test of my readiness to return to work following my post-Thanksgiving surgery. Things went well enough. I returned home to find Rob feeling quite poorly and asking if I might give him some of my painkillers as his arm really hurt. I told him that if his arm hurt that badly he should see his doctor and that I would indeed give him my medicine right after he made the appointment. Alas, we never got that far. Within the hour Rob had a crushing fever and was vomiting. The rest, my friends, was probably the worst thing that has ever happened to me and certainly that has ever happened to Rob.
Thanks for not dying, Rob. What a hell of a year it was and how happy am I to have you at home with me and the girls. I suppose you know its damn near killed me, right? I'm still overwhelmed by the powerful support of my family, best friends, colleagues, friends of friends, neighbors and other people who just bothered to care.
The knitting
Of course during the whole deal I knitted a lot. I worked on the Koigu Ballet Cashmere, a Noro adaptation of a pullover sweater and the girls' first cloches. Of course there was also Almond Roca.
A portion of the natural progression of things documented here...
We have some of the mystery hats; a few have taken up permanent residence, a few are awaiting delivery to their designated heads. Use a little imagination to picture the effect of roundness. Some enviable chapeaux here.
The magic of knitting, for me, is the growth of a project, from seven or twelve loops over a pair of sticks, marked and awkward, into a garment, a piece of lace, a baby blanket. Each little fraction touched and infused with affection for its recipient.
" in the days just around Christmas, I selfishly bought for me...
KnitPicks Options, a set of interchangeable needle tips and cables. There are probably four of these products on the market and they hadn't really had much appeal for me until I ran into some trouble putting my hands on precisely the right needles when I needed them. I don't intend to use these as my primary needles unless they really knock me out but rather to have on hand for projects I don't already have needles for or to hold me over until I can get what I really need. They arrived yesterday and I'm pretty impressed by their weight, the flexibility of the cables and the points. They feel very much like Addi Turbos in the hand. So long as there's not a problem with the cables coming unscrewed, these should be really nice to have. The starter set, complete with organizing case (much needed, I assure you), of 9 needle tips (US 4 - 11 including 10.5) and 4 cables (2 each 24 and 32 inches) costs 60 bucks. Addis cost about 13 dollars a pair at my LYS so the pricing is quite nice.
January 4, 2006
One year ago today, I awoke with the modest agenda of mailing to my parents the XM radio boombox I gave them for Christmas, meet my recuperating friend Joe for a bit of chatting, have some lunch and stop by the drugstore to purchase a sling for Rob who was complaining of a very sore arm. This expedition was to be a test of my readiness to return to work following my post-Thanksgiving surgery. Things went well enough. I returned home to find Rob feeling quite poorly and asking if I might give him some of my painkillers as his arm really hurt. I told him that if his arm hurt that badly he should see his doctor and that I would indeed give him my medicine right after he made the appointment. Alas, we never got that far. Within the hour Rob had a crushing fever and was vomiting. The rest, my friends, was probably the worst thing that has ever happened to me and certainly that has ever happened to Rob.
Thanks for not dying, Rob. What a hell of a year it was and how happy am I to have you at home with me and the girls. I suppose you know its damn near killed me, right? I'm still overwhelmed by the powerful support of my family, best friends, colleagues, friends of friends, neighbors and other people who just bothered to care.
The knitting
Of course during the whole deal I knitted a lot. I worked on the Koigu Ballet Cashmere, a Noro adaptation of a pullover sweater and the girls' first cloches. Of course there was also Almond Roca.
A portion of the natural progression of things documented here...
We have some of the mystery hats; a few have taken up permanent residence, a few are awaiting delivery to their designated heads. Use a little imagination to picture the effect of roundness. Some enviable chapeaux here.
Following below is the hat/scarf described yesterday. The lace edged hat is from Headhuggers and I like it but I wish the lace were more prominent. Still, its soft and beautiful and the alpaca will ensure it is quite warm despite its light weight.
I've decided to drag out some works in progress to interweave with the remaining scarf work and final hats, a little excitement for the knitter. To wit, we have the Koigu Charlotte's Web shawl. I took a project class on this one, the pattern was so poorly written. Its been challenging to get off the ground. After the first 74 rows, the needle broke and all the loopy stitches fell to morass. I worked again to about row 54 and decided I couldn't really abide one of the colorways I'd chosen so its back to the drawing board with an assortment of colors I really love.
The magic of knitting, for me, is the growth of a project, from seven or twelve loops over a pair of sticks, marked and awkward, into a garment, a piece of lace, a baby blanket. Each little fraction touched and infused with affection for its recipient.
" in the days just around Christmas, I selfishly bought for me...
KnitPicks Options, a set of interchangeable needle tips and cables. There are probably four of these products on the market and they hadn't really had much appeal for me until I ran into some trouble putting my hands on precisely the right needles when I needed them. I don't intend to use these as my primary needles unless they really knock me out but rather to have on hand for projects I don't already have needles for or to hold me over until I can get what I really need. They arrived yesterday and I'm pretty impressed by their weight, the flexibility of the cables and the points. They feel very much like Addi Turbos in the hand. So long as there's not a problem with the cables coming unscrewed, these should be really nice to have. The starter set, complete with organizing case (much needed, I assure you), of 9 needle tips (US 4 - 11 including 10.5) and 4 cables (2 each 24 and 32 inches) costs 60 bucks. Addis cost about 13 dollars a pair at my LYS so the pricing is quite nice.
Mandolin for slicing stuff! With this delightfully easy to use, great performer I prepared a marvelous potato gratin for dinner last night. I don't know why I waited so long to fork out the money for this. It is AMAZING. And what could be better than potatos gratin---essentially fine slices of potato roasted in cream with butter, garlic and nutmeg? Less messy and as satisfying as mashed potatoes, more sophisticated but certainly comforting.
While digging out the recipe, I found an intriguing sounding dish: Potatoes, german style, with Balsamic vinegar and bacon. I think that's going on the menu for this weekend's holiday dinner with Dave and T. That, some meat, a Key Lime pie. Mmmmm.
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