COMFORT ZONE

Happy Swap

2012-01-27T14:42:00.001-07:00

Sarah of Enjoying Daily Life(Formerly Life & Knitting) was my swap buddy in Kathyb's recent swap. Wow did I receive a wonderful swap package! I missed pictures of the patterns (wonderful shawl and socks) because I was fighting with a new camera, but succeeded in getting photos of the alpaca sock yarn and goodies such as Avon lotion in a yummy cucumber scent and bright, colorful stitch markers. Thanks Sarah for a the swap goodies and thank you Kathy for another great swap--quick and easy and oh so much fun!!

Speaking of missed pictures, I would take a picture of the new camera if I had the old camera. Nurse/photographer son is in charge of family cameras and we all frequently get our camera swapped out for a new model, either for review for a local camera shop or to keep. It has been a while since I had a new one passed to me so I think it was my turn. It is a 12mp Kodak with more bells and whistles than I will ever need. I have to admit that the cute little beep, beep, beep that told me to take the picture certainly knew what it was talking about. As I learn to use it maybe you can all tell me if you think the photos are any better.

Powerful good thoughts and prayers are needed for granddaughter #3 who is going back to surgery tomorrow. I'm told that surgical intervention for endometriosis and ovarian cysts is only done if all other methods have failed, especially for one so young! I will be happy when this is over and done and she is back home resting comfortably. Please send out your good thoughts and prayers for her. She is a strong girl but is wearing down after all she has been through!

Macy and Max are at loose ends and acting as if they know something is up.

Our fur friends always react to our stress levels. They will not be happy to be left tomorrow, and Max is going to be wondering why he doesn't go home during the next week. Must take extra special good care of them too! And us!!

Life is good whatever comes our way.

Hot Diggity, Dog Ziggity, Boom...

2012-01-23T11:13:00.002-07:00

Finally I have started the contrast lace section of Ziggity shawl. It seemed to take for-evah and since I neglected lace shawl knitting for many months last year while knitting sweaters, I appear to have forgotten how to knit lace and/or read a lace pattern. I really, truly messed up the first three rows of the lace pattern. I tried to fix it and after doing the best I could, I continued with the chart and the promise to myself that, "No one will ever notice."

Sorry, I can't go back now. It has taken me too long to get back to my old knitting rhythm. Even if it's a hot mess for the first few rows I will not rip and start over or give up. I will wear this puppy to the office or anywhere with pride. I may even hang a tag on it that says, "Don't laugh! This shawl gave me back my knitting passion."

I have also finished the heel on the first Sourball sock. I love contrast heels and toes on my socks so I used orange reinforcement thread to contrast with the lime green. Sourball socks are destined to be among my favorites, especially because I am mad for lime green right now. I have been dragging out all of my lime accessories and pairing them with black, brown, dark green, navy--if this was summertime I would be putting them together with pink, yellow, and turquoise!

WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?

Nurse and photographer son #3 took this picture of an F-18 Super Hornet flying more than 760 mph at a recent air show and I have used it as my computer wallpaper for some time. It never occurred to me that there would be anyone who would not know what is happening in this picture until a client asked me where I got the picture of the plane flying through that strange little cloud. Okay move along people. No sound barriers being broken here....

(Picture taken with Nikon D300 with 500 mm lens at 7 shots/sec.)

Life is good!

This and That

2012-01-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Guess who came to breakfast this morning. The Downy woodpecker is a small sparrow sized woodpecker that is a rare sight in Texas. He stayed for a long time, eating from the suet cake and occasionally switching to the larger feeder then back to the suet. It has been a sparse year for birds. We have started seeing Cardinals and Jays in the last week or two and last week a few Slate Juncos showed up on the patio. Don't know why there are so few birds this year unless it is because the weather has been warmer everywhere and the little feather babies can't decide whether to stay or go.

Knitting is going slowly and I don't know why. I am just approaching the first lace section of Ziggity and feel like I should have been there days ago. Sourball socks are also slow going but using size #1 needles may have something to do with that. What was I thinking?

A nice surprise was waiting for me this morning. I decided to search my closet for a white silk shirt I haven't worn for a while and found the wool and bamboo shawl that I designed and knitted last year. It was still draped around the shoulders where I put it when I took pictures for the blog. I wore both and felt very classy and warm. The shawl is perfect for the chillier weather we are having today. I swore not to knit with bamboo again but the finished fabric feels so silky and warm that maybe....

Macy and Max are hibernating today due to the colder weather and wind.

They each took toys outside to play and immediately wanted to come back in.

Except for the short time my little tree climber decided to get a look at the weather from higher up.

Life is good.

Whine!

2012-01-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

Most people would tell you that I'm a pretty even tempered individual. I wasn't once but after the head bleed and surgery five years ago I decided not to let things get under my skin anymore. Near death experiences tend to do that to you! Still, there are some things that bother me especially this time of the year. Tax season brings out the worst in me so I've decided that when something makes me fuss I will simply say one of three things: "Oh phoo!" Or "Drat!" Or "Holy Toledo!" This my effort to stay peaceful.

I had to define the three categories and these are the examples I came up with. "Oh phoo" things consist of moments like discovering an expensive yarn has broken ends about 100 yards into the skein. I've sent back a few like that and others I have either knitted the end into the project or felted the ends together. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, it is nevertheless infuriating! I understand that no one is perfect and yarn spinners have moments, the same as accountants, when they say to themselves, "What was I thinking about when I did that?"

Then there are "drat" experiences like when a knitting pattern says you cast on X number of stitches and increase every X number of rows until you have a certain number of stitches and are so many inches from the beginning row. Then it tells you that the gauge is 4 rows to an inch, or 40 rows = 4 inches. Nope! If I use the size 7 needles recommended, or even size six--oh "drat" let's use size 5 needles. Still nope!! It would be many more than the specified number of inches from the beginning so I have to increase every row to end up anywhere near where I should be. Oh drat!! Is it me or is it the pattern?

"Holy Toledo" comes with a whole list of irritations and I call them my "go away and leave me alone for at least 15 minutes or I'm going to blow" moments. Things like "These two skeins are from the same dye lots but don't look like the wool was dyed by people in the same county." Or my personal favorite, "As you requested, I have just finished your tax forms for the three years during which you filed no returns and what do you mean you had them done by 1,2,3 Accounting Blockheads to save time, and since you are not picking them up you don't think you should have to pay me for them?"

Anyway, there is nothing to whine about with the Sour Ball socks or the Ziggity shawl. Still not getting as much knitting time as I would like but that is a symptom of the time-of-year. Right now I'm spending my time on year-end financials and end-of-year tax reports. 'Tis the season.

Life is good!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, it's...

2012-01-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

A SHAWL!! I am actually, really, truly knitting a shawl. This is nothing new. I have lost count of the many shawls I have finished, but the "new" to this venture is a renewal of my knitting purpose. My excitement at the thought of knitting a certain object is growing with each row.

It all started when I had a few minutes to bop around a few knitting blogs that I haven't kept up with recently. I hit Kirsten Kapur's ThroughThe Loops and paged back through archived posts and there it was on November18th--Ziggity! I love this shawl!! I generally love Kristen Kapur's patterns but this one is simple enough to stir the knitting spirit in a new way and interesting enough to spark a search through stash for the right yarn. I found it in Lang Jawoll Magic that came to me in a 2011 swap. So, I downloaded an audio book (James Patterson's Private) to my Kindle, and cast on.

I never imagined I could be so excited about a knitting project. The other project that is doing a good job of holding my attention is the Lion Brand socks in the Sock Ease colorway Sour Ball. They are so outrageous in color and simple in design that I'm loving every minute of the size #1 needles. Yes, this is what it is all about!!

I visited one of my favorite online yarn shops yesterday with the intention of ordering the first sock yarn of the year. Something strange happened--I just couldn't do it! I couldn't order yarn. I had counted sock yarn in stash the night before and found 16 skeins. At the same time I reviewed the rest of stash in the cabinet and drawers and began to feel ashamed for not using all that beautiful yarn. I even considered knitting just from stash this year, but only for a moment. I know my resolve will fade by mid-year and I will be back to buying that perfect yarn for that specific project. For now, I'm working from stash. It's a tough economy!!

Our little dog visitor Max is home for the weekend and Macy is recovering. She is 9 and he is 2 but you would never know it when they start playing. Macy is usually the instigator of their boisterous play--racing, wrestling with each other for a toy, and chasing rabbits. For now, she is tired.

Life is good!

Fresh Start

2012-01-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Thirteen years--I said 12 to a friend recently. When I counted I was amazed that I could lose track of even one year. The number doesn't matter, I still can't live through New Year's Eve without thinking about how we were all oblivious to what was approaching that day.

I don't want this post to be a downer, rather a reminder of all we have, the joys and love and laughter, and how important it is for all of us to embrace each and every second, so it is important for me to say that she was happy that New Year's Eve. She was sledding in the beautiful snow with her son and came in to bake cookies for a school program. If there was a hint of a problem it was so small it went unnoticed. And then her heart stopped. It just stopped!! There were heroic efforts to restart it, but that wasn't meant to be. After 3 hours I pleaded with ER doctors to try longer. They did, but nothing worked. Our beautiful daughter Carolyn was gone.

This post is about fresh starts for that is truly what heartbreak presents to us! After the grieving (and grieving touches us for many reasons) we begin to live a little differently, a little slower, in a bit more thoughtful manner. No one was ever loved more and she is still very solidly with us, just in a different way. Our relationship with Carrie has certainly changed but still exists! There is loss but also gain, a pure kind of love that is without recrimination and all about happy memories. A fresh start!

A good thing that has come from this is that Nurse DD#1 has led our family in becoming a driving force behind public defibrillators. We have achieved grants and have pushed for defibrillators to be placed in public and private schools, football fields, basketball courts and arenas. We continue to put emphasis, as a family, on good heart health as well as being aware and being prepared. I ask that all of you, my friends, do the same. Check with your health clubs, fitness facilities, local airports, arenas and make sure they have defibrillators available. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SAC) happens to approximately 250,000 people a year, most over the age of 40 but Carrie was only 29. Most of those lives could be saved by quick use of a defibrillator.

Carrie is never far away and there are days when I want nothing more than to touch her beautiful face. She would always grab me in a bear hug and say, "Huggy, huggy, huggy." I miss her!

And so starts another year....

A peek into the 2012 knitting basket: bulky cowl, lace edged sweater and socks.

Most Wonderful Time

2011-12-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

I love the glow that comes after the whole family arrives, the gifts are opened and the wrappings cleared away. I sit with a cup of coffee and my feet propped up and listen to the chatter of my children while Christmas music plays in the background. On this particular Christmas day we watched Jim Carrey dressed in green fur create havoc on the poor people of Whoville, for the umpteenth time. It's really hard on me because through the whole movie I wish that once in my life I'd had a figure like Christine Baranski's. I can say for certain that it is just as wonderful when it all takes place on Christmas Eve to accommodate work schedules.

On Christmas day around noon we packed all non-working family members off to SIL's parents home to continue the gift giving, eating, singing, and regular old fashioned cheer spreading! By late afternoon I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open so we headed home for a light supper and yet another Christmas movie on TV, while I did some knitting. It doesn't get any better.

The knitting is coming along but I gave up on the Pi shawl and went back to the last sleeve on the white cotton sweater with lace edging. The Pi shawl is sleeping in the basket until further motivation. I decided that I am so close to finishing the sweater that I can realistically expect to wear it this winter so what I really need is a cowl to go with it.

This is a strange week because none of the things that I need to do ever get done during this "almost over/almost in progress" time. So, I ask you, why bother? Limbo describes my state right now. There will be plenty of fresh new time for accomplishments in a few days! Until then I am knitting and reading this...

sipping this...

watching this...

Life is good.

Winding Down to Year End

2011-12-22T13:46:00.003-07:00

The slipper sock in doubled Lorna's Laces is moving along. I was gutsy enough to leave an opening for an afterthought heel--the first I've ever made. I am something of a stick-in-the-mud knitter when it comes to socks. I always knit them the same way every time because I knit socks for myself and I know what is going to fit my foot. The regular old flap heel fits well and lends itself nicely to decreasing around the instep for my slender feet. (The only thing that IS slender about me, don't you know)! I'm finding that knitting with doubled yarn is slowing me down a bit but not enough to be discouraging. So, on to the toe...
.

I started a pi shawl in a Lang Jawoll Magic Superwash. I'm using the forest colorway that subtly changes from brown to green to beige back to brown. Beautiful! The pattern is my own and simply K1, YO around every 20 rows. It is mindless knitting and will either be a shawl or lap afghan depending on how my patience runs. Let's face it, I am just getting my knitting legs back and don't want to put any stress on my determination to continue.

The doggies are resting because Christmas shopping and wrapping is done at Chez Comfort Zone. Ours will be on the 24th due to nurses and the firefighter being on duty Christmas Day, so I plan to veggie on Sunday. There will be a whole lot of reading, movie watching, and knitting going on. Can you think of a better way to spend a holiday? Then I'm taking Monday off so the accounting world will have to do without me. I'm turning off the internal calculator and tax database and doing...well, pretty much what I did on Sunday.

I hope Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be super fantastic for all of you and your hearts will soar with family love, good food and fun times! Know that you are all in my thoughts, and you have my best wishes for a New Year that surpasses all others.

Life is good.

It Is What It Is

2011-12-14T10:34:00.001-07:00

Macy says, "Mom is still having problems with the knitting mojo. She says I help a lot!" It's true, sometimes the dogs are all that is standing between me and depression. I've been wishing I felt like knitting or anything that would take my mind off of the events of the last few weeks: seriously ill granddaughter, close family member having cancer surgery in a few days, another family member out of work... it goes on and on. I get up each morning wondering what is going to happen today but also remembering that nothing will happen that God and I can't handle together. That is so true!! Okay, I feel better now!

I am excited about the fact that I picked up some Lorna's Laces sock yarn and started a pair of slipper socks. I haven't done much yet but it looks like the beginning of a sock. I am doubling the yarn, using a brown/green variegated and a plain mink brown. It has been amazing to see the variegated colors materialize as a Fair Isle looking pattern--at least on the ankle. I hope it continues through the foot. I hope I continue through the foot!!

My original thought was to make tube socks but as I near the heel I am considering leaving an opening for an afterthought heel. I've never done one, although I know it is as simple as knitting a toe. Usually, when I arrive at the heel, I cave and knit my old tried and true flap heel. Maybe this decision will hold my interest through two socks.

Macy and Max are doing their usual Christmas shtick by singing Christmas songs along with the TV music channels. ( They never sing with regular music). Their little voices blend in "Whoo, whoo, whooooo," "Muff, muff, muff, choo." It is hilarious. Last Christmas I was able to get a picture of Max singing because he is a ham and loves to have his picture taken. Yesterday I got this one of Macy. She dislikes the camera and either runs or pretends to be sleeping when she hears me turn it on. She may not like the camera, but she loves to sing!!

Life is good.

Shaggy Dog Stories

2011-12-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

You have all heard shaggy dog stories--those that go on and on and end in...well, they just end. Well here is one that DH and I will be talking about for some time to come. If I had a video of the whole thing, it would go viral in an instant!

Max our little doggy visitor, our granddog if you will, is always doing crazy things that make us laugh. We call him "liquid dog" because he can get into amazing positions and spring out of them at the sound of the refrigerator door opening or the doorbell ringing. Last night he was in a recliner with Macy, across the room and to the left of where I was sitting in another recliner. DH said, "It is past 11:00 and I'm tired. Let's go to bed." I answered, "Okay but let's take the pups out one more time to make sure they are set for the night." Both dog's lifted their heads in anticipation as I pushed the knob on the side of the chair and moved forward to get up. At that moment Max jumped from the dog chair across the room toward my chair meaning to land on the footrest (a feat he accomplishes several times a day) just as the foot rest on the chair went down. All I saw was a dog flying through the air--then he hit the floor on all four feet and kept running toward the back door. Swoop!! DH and I looked at each other in amazement and then collapsed in laughter. Where are the video recorders when you need them?

Another shaggy dog tale: I think I have discovered the reason I am not knitting much--it's called a Kindle Fire! I have been reading, watching TV shows, watching movies, reading some more and just generally enjoying this new bit of technology. I am almost finished with an older Michael Connelly book, Black Ice. It is a Harry Bosch book and I am a sucker for Harry! I have a mental image of him as a cross between Indiana Jones and Dirty Harry. I imagine him looking something like Matthew McConaughey, mostly because McConaughey played Mickey Haller, Harry's half-brother, in the movie The Lincoln Lawyer. (Told you this was a shaggy dog story).

A-n-y-w-a-y, that's what I've been doing so I decided last night, right after a Vicar of Dibley marathon, that I need to get back to my knitting. I pulled out a half-dozen skeins of Knit Picks Palette and a Fair Isle chart to start a pair of wrist warmers. I plan, by sheer force of will, to knit mitts and wrist warmers until Christmas Eve which will require keeping my hands off the Kindle!! Wish me luck.

Life is good!

Something Fishy

2011-12-03T10:58:00.001-07:00

Strange thing--when there are major life changing events in my life, I react by not being able to knit. I'm talking family passing, major surgery for DH, children, grandchildren--nights up sitting in the hospital or caring for an ill family member. Forget knitting.

I try! I really do try!! I pick up the knitting and put it down, pick it up again and leave it on a table or in the chair. This has been going on since our granddaughter's surgery and the most I can say is that I finished the fishy fins which took about 20 minutes. No other knitting has been done and I don't know when the urge to knit will come back--I never know. When my dear Mother passed away, for almost two months after I felt it was frivolous to knit. I was dealing with life and death and going on without her. Knitting was the last thing on my mind. It is again.

I guess the answer is, "Wait!" and I can do that, but until I start knitting again there isn't much to blog about. So, I will simply tell you what is going on at Chez Comfort Zone and leave it at that until the knitting juices start flowing and projects become FOs.

The dead fish hat is a gift for GS#3 who loves crazy hats. His other grandfather watched me finishing the fins and said, "So YOU are the person who makes those outrageous hats for our grandson!" I smiled and nodded. He said, " Did you make the sock monkey, the dragon and the panda?" Again I nodded. Then he said, "Well, stop it!!" Not everyone appreciates buffoonery as much as GS and I do.

Life is good.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-25T12:39:00.001-07:00

We had a super special Thanksgiving. The family gathered and shared and loved and didn't want to part again!! I love watching my family interact. I could wander around all day taking pictures and listening in on conversations.

Later, looking at the pictures I had to laugh at the fact that this room full of nurses and firefighters all have phones in their hands. Of course the grandchildren were born with an iPhone in their hands, but they have the phones ready because four of five are on call.

Their jobs lead to lively conversation--from heart surgery to facial transplants to five alarm fire calls to all of them standing in line at Best Buy later that evening. The young ones play Wii, text friends to tell them how bored they are, and roam from group to group reporting on the pumpkin vs. the French apple pie.

Sweet Granddaughter #3, who had two surgeries within 36 hours just over two weeks ago, was looking especially healthy and beautiful!

The food was pot luck and especially good this year!! Turkey Cordon Bleu, broccoli pierogies, cornbread casserole, Kow Pad Thai (Thai DIL makes the best ever!), three types of stuffing, sweet potatoes like nothing I have ever tasted and a pie table that by end of day looked like a Texas tornado hit. (The final vote was for the pumpkin cheesecake pie).

I prayed for all of you, my dear blogging friends! I hope your Thanksgiving was as comforting and blessed as mine. I want you all to know that I am thankful for the virtual friendships we have struck and the exchange of kindness and love that continues on the knitting blogs. You are a special group!! Happy Thanksgiving...

Life is good!