It's SPRING BREAK!! (also known as one week of rain...)

In seriousness, it is closer to half a week of rain.  Today, for example, is very nice, and few clouds.  So, the kids will get some pleasant weather to go create havoc and chaos... Heh.  This is from someone who's idea of spring break was to go home, do laundry, and sleep for about 2 days... Then see what things I needed to get ready for, for the next school session. 

Not really a party animal, no. 

Meh...

Well.  Hmm.  Found out our doctor is retiring.  I am not pleased much about that, but, on the bright side, we don't have to hunt for a new doctor, there is one taking his patient load.  And, looking him up, he seems to be freshly minted from our doctor school nearby.  I think this might be a good thing.  I just hope I don't seem old, broken down, and decrepit.

Oh, wait...    (Hee hee!!!) 😃

Well, we need to trim another wing.  Mon Ami, that lovable stinker, has figured out how to get over the fence.  We have trimmed one wing, thinking this would stop him.

Ahem.

I watched, as he got waaaaaay back from the fence, took a fast run, then jumped and flapped right near the gate, managed to get his feet on to the gate, then jumped down, into the wide world of  Not In The Henyard.  This is not going swimmingly for Husband, as there are little land mines about.  And Mon Ami, he just wants to follow me about like a puppy, can't understand why I put him back in the pen.  Someone must have spoiled him.  Can't imagine who. Cough...

I have been working on knitting a vest for myself.  I think it will be quite nice, especially in cold weather, as it is a good, thick wool.  It's red, (Think Cola Can red), and the pattern is really nice...

Except.

I have a problem with one little part.  It's called a fleck stitch (it looks something like this...)  This should NOT be a problem.  But it is.  And it's about 1/3 of the patterns, alternating, on the vest.  I have the back finished, and so far, haven't found any major boo-boos, so I really need to make it match on the front.  I started, and found I was continually making a mistake of putting two rows of knit and purl in, when you only need one.  I think this was because the pattern calls for this fleck stitch, and then moss stitch, which is ALL knit and purl.  So I frog*.  And knit. And frog.  THEN there was my bright idea to knit both of the front panels at the same time.  Until I realized I had managed to knit both fronts, as both LEFT fronts.  And, I had made the same blasted mistake on them, so they had a couple nasty squares that were screwed up.  So, frog again...

So, I started knitting alllllllll over again on the LEFT one.  SLOWLY knitting on that one.  Husband noticed that I had started another project...  I told him I needed to put that away for a day or two, and do some mindless knitting, so I don't go seeing if anyone wants it for target shooting.  So, I will get it out, and with severe trepidation, measure to see if it is coming out equal with the back, and then finish, and start on the Right half. 

And do I want to do this vest again? Yes.  Do I want to do fleck stitch, oh, **** no!  In fact, I was thinking of doing no pattern at all, just using blocks of color, or textured yarn for the accent.  But I do need to finish this one first.  Dang.

As far as the blanket, I am doing something with a stitch that I just came up with, and have later found out it is an actual stitch that has a name.  (Yep, right here, if you want to see...)  I just made it up, when I found out a stitch I used didn't show up well on my sock, so I did this instead. 

The funny thing, most knitters see it, and comment on how odd the stitch is, the way I use it.  One or two even said that it doesn't look good.  But, I have come to the opinion, it's my socks, I will knit little bumps, or not, or colors that are different on each sock, or whatever, as I am not doing for anyone but me.  So dere.  I guess I have been a bit irked by some of the folks telling me how "off" some of my knitting is, I know it's not everyone's cup of  Camellia sinensis.  I have things I could comment on other's knitting, but I figure, they enjoy it, and you know, life is too darn short to worry about a funky color, or oddball combination of stitches.  If they like, go forth and knit, dang it!  Considering I have even been told I was a witch one time, because of what I was knitting**, I tend to be a bit shy of showing off my stuff anymore... 

Woo!! So, off the soap box.  Anyway, the blanket is another co-creation with Ding kitty and my knitting.  She keeps pulling yarn balls out at night, and then wants attention.  I give it to her, and the cycle repeats.  So, I had to do something with it.  I have made a simple garter stitch blanket for the trailer. Also, a lap warmer, my Mom likes to have something in my car, as an electric car tends to use up electrons very quickly when the heat is on... 

So, this will be the Linen Stitch Flow blanket.  Flow, because when you change colors, the first color alternates with the second, then goes to the second, so it isn't quite as jarring.  (Especially since she picks out some color combinations that are... unique, to say the least.  But it's fun to see what she comes up with.)  I was worried when she first started doing that, but she has never eaten the yarn, or done anything but pull it out, carry it into the hall or front room, then sing for me to come see.  Kinda wish she'd do that at times other than 2 am, but hey, it's a cat thing...

* frog, based on the sound a frog makes, you rip-it, rip-it... Also known as throwing something in the frog pond.

** I was knitting with yarn I'd spun, and she'd noticed that I'd spun it counterclockwise.  In front of a large circle of ladies, she pipes up, LOUDLY, "Oh, you're a witch, then?!??"  You could have heard a pin drop.  She then continues, "Only witches spin backwards!"  Um.  Oh.  I had no response, and she finally left.  I don't think the red left my face for a half hour.  None of the other women said a thing.  I don't know if they did think me a witch, didn't know what to say, or just were as dumbfounded as I was.  It still didn't do too much for me...

Confusion, witchery, reverb 28

Okay, I seem to have created a complete round of confusion.  Oregon now mandates that all people who control (i.e. drive) a boat over 10 hp, (think bigger than a trolling motor), has to have what amounts to a boating version of a Driver's license.  I have heard it called a Boater's Card several times, and used it without realizing that might not be familiar to most... Oops.  And yes, it varies by state.  Some states you can hop in and go, some you have to have proof of training of some sort (like what I just did).  Hope that clears things up.  (And possibly inspires more poetry!)  ;)

As for confusion, last week, my Monday "class" was held on Tuesday, and my 'work' day here at the substation was switched to Friday, from Wednesday.  Let Chaos reign! 

Oh, and I am beginning to wonder if I need a new cat. 

Not for the reason you think, though Buzz keeps looking all over for Tux, and has been surprisingly friendly, for her.  Cuddles are out, but she will accept a lot more petting than usual. 

But anyway, I need a new cat, because I have been for about the 4th or 5th time in the last year and some, been called a witch.  I am beginning to think that I am real glad I am not in the Middle Ages.

This latest call out was at my spinning class. 

There was a new gal there, and somehow we got on the topic of how the plys were spun, and she noticed I was spinning counterclockwise, (just how I did this ply, not set out to do intentionally), and not one, but two gals said, Oh, you are a witch!  (There is a superstition that yarn spun "backwards" is witch work.)  We then started talking about superstitions, and I knew all of them. (Which was saying something, the new gal was a Society of Creative Anachronism member, they usually research things like that to absolute death.  But I have an inside straight, I had a grandmother that was Irish, and superstitious as all get out.) 

Then one of them mentioned the superstition about putting your needle into your work when you set it aside as bad luck, she knew, but didn't know why.  I told her that it was sort of like voodoo, that you are 'stabbing' the receiver of your work with the needle.  She looked at me, and then smiled. "I didn't even know that one, maybe you are a witch."

Perhaps I should grow parsley, as was recommended...  Hey, I have several hats already.  We have frogs for toes, and newts for eyes nearby.  But I should get a more cooperative cat, first.

Just call me Minerva McGonagall!  (I wish!)

***

Prompt: Achieve. What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.

Getting somewhere on my book would be a plus.  I have dinked around on it enough, I really need to get writing.  How will I feel?  Like I accomplished it, I guess.  Happy?  Happy works.  I will feel like I have gotten all the mental post-it notes I have in my head on real paper. 

10 things I can do.  Write chapter 1 though 10.  Heh.

Ok, for real...
1. Set aside time to write.
2. Don't put it off, or find something else to do when I have a set time.
3. Less innernets, more writing. (Much easier said than done. Innernets are wunnerful time suckers...)
4. Don't keep so much in my head, write it down.
5. Talk to the deputies, and my 'bosses', they are the people that would be able to answer my questions!
6. Keep talking about it, so people know if I am doing anything.
7.  Uh.  Is it to early to look at getting an agent?
8. Er.  Write?  More?
9. Now this is becoming unfair.  Lose more weight, so I can go on my ride along, so I can have a more realistic experience on what goes on with "my" folks.
10. Gah... One more thing?  Oh, I don't know, park my butt and write something!  Isn't that the most important thing? 


Ta da!  Ok, that was yesterday's, here is the prompt for today...
Prompt: Defining moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

Working on making my life better.  It certainly hasn't been a "moment", though it might be a series of them, like sand through an hourglass.  One dot of sand isn't much, but you get enough of those little dots, and you have... Well, you have a pile of sand, duh.

I am not entirely sure where I was going with that, but you get the idea.


I don't even really know when I made the decision, but I decided to start walking.  That lead to making a (somewhat better) effort to eat more wisely.  I started trying to DO things I wanted to do, not just pine away about them.  I worked on using no as a complete sentence.  Dropping (some) things that bug me, and learning what puts a "fire in my belly", as one of Husband's friends says.

So, how has it been?  Has it worked?  Yes, I would say so.  My walking is making me a bit thinner.  (Other people have said so, and I am finally starting to see it myself, in the mirror.  Took long enough...) 

The eating, good days and not so good.  But I am learning what my 'triggers' are, (don't buy chocolate chips.  They do not stay in the house. Period.), and whatever I want, take about HALF that amount.  It's little stuff, should be obvious, but I am learning, or more accurately, re-learning it. 

Finding out that I can plan something, and make it work, is highly satisfying.  Especially when I wasn't entirely sure I knew what the (ahem) I was doing, in a few cases.  That can be as simple as finding an address in an unfamiliar town, to setting up a new group for a 'guild' I run at faire, to planning and executing a trip to a certain concert...  

And learning that just because I'd been in a group for x years, doesn't mean I have to still be in the group.  (In a few cases, they still haven't figured it out yet.  I have, however!)  Others, it was more of, can we do this differently? MUST it be the way it has been?  These changes are making my time less others, and more mine again.  And now I can use it to find my writing voice, or to help with things I find more "me", or heck, sit on my tush and eat bon-bons! (That last is a family joke, no, I won't go and get bon-bons.)

So, there ya go.  Navel gazing in a nutshell.  (Which seems like it would be really uncomfortable, don't you think?)