Meet Hootie

Thankfully, I have no new crisis to report so I'll share a small accomplishment today.
See the little owl over there to the left? That's Hootie. He was born from a need for something challenging, because my knitting has gotten mindless and easy. He is my first piece knitted from a chart, and the first really successful two-colour piece I've made. I have been trying to cut down on my knitted UFO's (that's Un Finished Objects to you non-knitters) recently, and to that end, I try not to start something that I'm unsure might ever be finished. On my needles lately, as you know is

• an Irish Hiking Scarf for a friend's birthday, 
• the fuzzy baby blanket
• A Dr. Who scarf

A writer/geek friend and I were chatting online one day when she asked me how my knitting has been progressing. She lives out in Los Angeles, not where I would think one would need knitwear, but when she asked me for a Dr. Who Scarf, how could I say no? A few hours later, I researched the scarf, because all I knew at that point was that it was made of a variety of yarns and colours and that it was very long. I discovered to my horror that depending on the year represented, the scarf can be anywhere from 12' to 18' long! Out of concern for my friend's safety, I won't be knitting "to canon" as they say in Hollywood. I'll make hers as close to the colors of season 12 as I can, but likely not 12' long!

So why all this knitting on a blog that started out focused on sustainability and self reliance?

Knitting is not just a large part of what keeps me sane, it's also a handy skill to have. Think about it for a moment, when you can take sticks and string and make clothing from it, damn, you got skillz !(as they say) Serious skills that are not only for one gender or the other, either. Some of the most intense knitters I've heard of are guys! On a forum I follow, the question was raised about clothing manufacture and creation if the world as we knew ended. There was a lot of discussion about "making do" with clothes and putting up supplies of fabric, zippers and thread, hand-me-downs and so on, but of course, the conversation drifted back to knitting. Whether a zombie apocalypse or just a really cold morning at the bus stop, warm feet and hands will make the difference between happy, free-thinking folks or cold, miserable sheeple.
Or on the other hand, maybe it just all comes down to enjoying keeping people warm because I can.

Something to distract me from the always-green tomatoes out in the garden is good too. It keeps me from obsessing over the zucchini that flowered but never produced fruit, or the tomatillos that should not have lived, but did.

What about you? If you could pull off any fashion, any look, with any body type...no restrictions, what knitted clothing would you wear?

Knitting With The Future In Mind

This is just one version of an Irish Hiking Hat.
It turned out on the small side, but I'm pleased with it nonetheless.

Those of you who visit on a semi-regular basis know I enjoy knitting. I've shown off various projects here before. It helps me stay sane sometimes, and sometimes it makes me crazy. But usually there's something very comforting about  being about to create with pointy sticks and string/thread/yarn. There's so much room for individuality that how could one get bored? I've been trying to amass a pile of hats for my son's school This year.  Kids being kids, they always lose hats, mitts and scarves. So last year I thought I might knit kid-sized hats and mitts, keep them aside and then once the chilly weather comes, label them with approximate sizes and drop them off at the school. (Keeping in mind that my own boys will want new hats as well!)

I've also been knitting the occasional scarf.
Seen here is the Spicy Tomato Soup Scarf. So named because

• It has two different types of red in it to "spice things up"
• It was made to be donated to our local soup kitchen, who will then hand more scarves than just this one out to homeless and financially challenged folk

The goal here was to knit and amass scarves, donate them to the local soup kitchen, who would then hand them out to those who needed them.

Also on the needles as some of you know, have been baby blankets.

I enjoy knitting those, but to be truly useful, they need to be a good size.

There just aren't enough hours in the day!

*grin*

Do you knit? Crochet? Maybe you're crafty in some other way that doesn't require sticks?

Let me know what you like to do in the comments!

No Walking On Water

I'm embarrassed by how long I took between updates. Well, I can't honestly say it won't happen again, but I'll try to not let it. I owe you an update. There's been lots happening here, and not much, but not all at the same time, obviously.
My faithful readers might remember that about this time last year, we had water pump issues. This summer it was sump pump issues.
Our grey water goes into a cistern, and then gets pumped out by a sump pump.
In a perfect world, anyway.
Until the pump stops working, then the liquid levels in the cistern rise and rise. I learned a few things from this recent breakdown.
We have a sub basement floor, about two feet below this one. (I swear, there's a short story in that somewhere, about subterranean tunnels and hidden rooms). The sub-floor was flooded pretty bad in the spring and never completely drained.
I also learned a check valve is extremely important. Mind you, I pretty much knew this from last summer, but when I was asked to read instructions from the sump pump, and I stressed a check valve, I was dismissed. Whatever.
I also learned how bloody inconvenient it is to sprain an ankle. Not just painful, but inconvenient because shit doesn't get done the same way it has.  Of course, the sump pump died on the exact same day as the day I screwed up my ankle. So not only was I stuck on the couch or in bed, but I couldn't help bail water either. Betty tried to look after me, but she had her challenges. Not the least of which was falling down two stairs because they were wet.
Apparently she can't walk on water.

So what have I been doing in the two weeks since? Lots of knitting. Lots of writing. Specifically, an Irish Hiking Scarf and a big, soft baby blanket.

Besides, that, I've been working on a new novel! So far, I'm well over 80,000 words, and even if no one else enjoys it (which I'm told they do), I'm having a great time writing it. From time to time, I'll be posting excerpts. When I do, feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. Actually, here's one for today!

Excerpt From The Amethyst Teardrop

I shut the lights out, made sure the security camera was still running and headed for the washroom. No sooner had I sat down then I heard a voice through my earbud,
“Can you help me?”
It was the same voice as before, and let me tell you, it was a good thing I was already on the toilet!
My body doing what it needed to, I clawed the earbud out of my ear and tried not to hyperventilate. I broke speed records getting out of that bathroom, and slammed those lights back on. I watched the security monitor like a hawk and saw nothing. I toured the store carefully, even checking the interior of the milk cooler and found nothing. No one. I was alone.
Coming to the conclusion that I had imagined it,  I changed the music on the iPod to bagpipes and started counting my scratch tickets.
I was nearly done when I very clearly heard a voice over the bagpipes, “14, 15, 16, 17...”
Once again, I clawed the tiny earbud out of my ear.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” This time the radio spoke to me.
‘Ok, either I’m losing my marbles or the ghost stories are getting to me.” I said out loud. I took a few moments to calm my breathing and then took up my counting again once the earbud was back in my ear.
“You missed that one with the ripped corner.” I jumped at the voice in my ear. “Wait! Don’t be scared, just hear me out!”
I froze, very glad I’d already visited the bathroom.
“I don’t mean to scare you, really, but I guess you can only hear me over this or the radio, just hear me out please, I won’t hurt you.”
“Okay.” I croaked out, still partially wondering if I was losing my mind.
“You think you’re crazy, don’t you?” She said.
“Umm...yeah.”
“You aren’t. All those stories your co-worker told you about the store ghost....that shelf that fell last week when you were being robbed....that was me.”

Ok, enough teasing. Please feel free to leave a thought or two in the comments.

Hope all is well with you!