Now streaming.

I was looking for a particular photo the other day and so ended up looking through my blog. Wow! I used to post a lot, didn't I, back in those days before Facebook? Not that I post much on Facebook but I do waste time there scrolling past the rants and cartoons and advertisements. I took a lot of pictures of my animals, too.

So, to partly make up for that lack, may I present:

Corky, next to the filthy couch that he often rubs up against.
I am so glad that he came into our lives.

This is Corky the day we got him 4 years ago.

Princess, who had 32 teeth removed last week and whose breath now is
sweet as flowers. She is still recovering.

Reeses', who is at least 12 now, I reckon, and going strong. Must be all the naps.

Snoopy, also getting older. He is 9 this year.

Number 9

Reading Jean's Knitting today and saw this link to a Franklin Habit post. It's funny and true.

Nerd culture brings everyone together.

I am a member of the St. Louis Weavers' Guild, mainly to partake of their felting group. So I went to my second meeting with said felters on Sunday afternoon.

I do not know why, but about 10 minutes in, a deep gloom descended upon me. I could have just sat there and cried and I was ready to pack up and come home, but I stayed. We were studying Moy MacKay, a Scottish felter, who creates landscapes, etc.

I am not a realist or a realistic artist. Ha ha! Get it? I prefer a more abstract approach. This is what I made.

8" X 17"

And I like it, but then I flipped it vertically and liked it even more. Looking at it this way, the horizontal looks better actually. So be it. I plan to stitch upon it to add a bit of detail and that will be interesting to do. 

And I have been knitting. This is a little shawl I made up with handspun. It's just a simple washcloth pattern, (slip one, yarn over) at the beginning of every row. Then I added (knit 2 tog, YO twice) which gave the edges a nice look. Wary of running out of yarn, I used short rows at each side to add more width. The bind off is (knit 2 tog, place stitch back on left needle, knit one and place stitch back on left needle, then do that one time.) Delightfully stretchy and I love how it conforms to the neck.

So that didn't take too long to knit, and I cast on immediately with Bamboo Bloom to make this cowl. 

I have cast on another cowl in bamboo, cotton, and linen but I put that aside in favor of socks.

I finished 3 Twiddle Muffs and took them to the dementia ward at the Wellsville nursing home. I had a warm reception - literally. The thermostat must have been set to 80º. The TMs were well received as well.

Oh, one good thing! My sandals from Zappo's came yesterday and they are a beautiful dark pink/fuchsia clog! Next, I need a pedicure to tame these wound-giving stabby-bits at the end of my toes and to get color to match. 

My new shoes.

Let's Change the Future

I have been dreaming of opera costumes. I have had dreams of elevators, hotels, and airports. Last night, I dreamt I had to rescue bunnies, the last few of my Indiana bunnies, but I couldn’t help all six. 

My anxiety is back, even though I am outwardly coping well and doing fine. 

Contains humectants.

So.

It’s snowing today. Not a lot - maybe an inch is what we will get. Five years ago, there was over a foot on the ground, and that was the day we closed on our house. 

I can’t get my head around the fact that it has been 5 years. (Of course, I was in a drunken stupor for two of those years, so maybe that’s where the time disappeared to.) 

Who knew that I would today be a president of an arts council and a member of the chamber of commerce? I am dumbfounded but reasonably happy with where I am these days. Who knew I would be speaking in front of civic groups and the annual dinner for our extension office? What I say to myself is that they are in desperate need of warm bodies. Actually, I feel confident and competent doing these things. I do not have uncontrollable anxiety anymore. Well, most of the time I don't.

I haven’t been too terribly creative this year; spinning and knitting hats has been about it. However, I feel ready to do something else. I dyed roving yesterday. I am imagining things I want to make.

I had a woman ask me a couple of weeks ago if I enjoyed cooking. I had to think about it for a minute before I answered that I don’t particularly enjoy cooking, but I do like to experiment. Cooking is not a thing I consider fun, but it is something I do because I have to. Even so, I turn out tasty and edible meals on a regular basis. I don’t mind making bread or biscuits now and then.

I like making kimchi. I don’t mind making bread or biscuits now and then. Yesterday, I made yoghurt, and that was interesting. Today, I may find a recipe for bread, or something, that uses yoghurt. (I made more that I can easily eat anytime soon.) I’m thinking of making fermented rice. You see, Sweetie has bought a book called ‘The Good Gut,’ and has become interested, nay, obsessed with fermented food, and I am humoring him.

Ask your doctor if condition persists.

I am finally well! It took actually going to see my care provider and getting some kick ass meds. Even with that, it took 2 more weeks to get shet of the acute bronchitis. So now, I have some energy and oomph. Sweetie was much sicker that I was, and he has still not quite recovered, but at least I am not so worried about him.

The solstice-flavored holidays have passed, and the daylight is increasing a minute or so every day. We got a little snow and the temperature has dipped into the single digits. (Die, bugs! Die!)

I haven't been too awfully creative, but I have been spinning and knitting hats. These are all mostly handspun, but the black and grey is store bought wool. These will be for the Guild sale in November. And I have made even more on the knitting loom in acrylic, for the No Cold Ears Project. The goal for us it to make 100, and we have 40 so far.

Today I got out the Dremel and an antler and tried to make buttons. I heard that it would smell, and it did. It reeked of burning hair. So I got one disc cut and sanded, but then couldn't find a small enough drill bit. There is a garage full of tools, and I couldn't find a 3/16". Such is life.

Now that I feel better, my darkness seems to have eased.

I am seeking speaking engagements to tout the Arts Council, and also trying to rustle up some new board members. Next week is the Kiwanis lunch, and next month, it's the Extension Office's Annual Meeting. Who knew? Who fuckin' knew that I would 1) be able to and B, feel confident enough to do this? But I can and I am because it is something I feel strongly about. But the other thing about speaking in public is that so many people are so bad at it! I mean, not just bad but gawd awful bad. I have heard them and I have felt their agony and I have wished to be anywhere else than in the same room with them. I can do better than that, I know for a fact. (Although when I was in school, it terrified me to stand and read to the class. Literally, my knees would shake and my throat would seize up and I couldn't wait to be done and sit down.) My anxiety level about public speaking now is just barely above nil.

I was also asked to be a board member of the Chamber of Commerce. (If you want to know what the devil is doing, you have to go to where the devil plays. That's my motto.)

Who knew? Ya know, who knew this would be me and my life right now? Certainly not me.

Find your lost items!

So. Everything has turned out well. I had 5 students for my purse class and they all seemed happy with what they learned and made. The space was really fabulous. This was at the Ozark Fiber Fling. 

I was sick the week of the Guild sale, and so was only able to limp there on the Sunday to spin a little, but I made 3 times what I made last year. I sold some of everything, which was my lesson from the previous sale - to make several different things, with a variety of prices. 

I seem to be puttering along through November, dreading any day that I have to leave the house. I’m still a bit icky feeling, and so even in the house, I am not doing much.

I painted the frames of my kitchen cabinets; not the doors or  drawers. It liked to have killed me, I am still so weak. I have paint for the downstairs bathroom, too, but I don’t feel up to the task yet.

I bought a Kindle the other week, and I am liking it more than I ever thought I would. (I remember back when such a thing was only a bafflement. How to make such a thing? No one knew.) I have only downloaded free books - good old classic things like Jane Austen and Wodehouse - because I am a frugal midwesterner. I did subscribe to Scientific American, which we once got in print, but the price became too much. $3 a month on Kindle. 

The dogs and cats and rabbit are all well. The outside rabbits continue to flourish and spread. That makes Sweetie and me happier than it ought. We always remark to each other which ones we see and where.

Sweetie is with his mother and sister for Thanksgiving, and he has the Creeping Crud, too. I will have a pleasant Thursday, with no turkey to cook or pies to bake or relatives to make me unhappy. Holidays are always so fraught for me, and so I try to not notice them anymore.

I am more sad lately, a little more down. I know for a fact that it is the short days and long nights. (Also, because I have been ill, but mostly it’s the lack of daylight.) I hate that it is darkening at 4:30, but in another month the sun will start strengthening again and before you know it, crocuses will be blooming.

There are things I want to try, ideas that I want to explore, but I am just gonna rest awhile. Right now? I am making hats on the Knifty Knitter, that round loom. It requires absolutely no thought on my part and they will be donated to Project No Cold Ears.