scifiknitter

I'm 60 years old today. An epic age. A dividing line birthday. As my stepmom said, "wow, that's a big one". It's been a week that feels appropriate as a lead-up to a big birthday. My husband is battling a nasty staph infection in his arm, the kind of ailment that would lead to dire consequences if we didn't have powerful antibiotics. I got a big award at work, the Director's Award for being the employee who most exemplifies the spirit and ideals of the agency. A sense that I have accomplished some worthwhile work, a sense of the fragility of it all, and the shifting sands that lie ahead for R. and me. I was good to myself today and went for a walk. The world was beautiful today, chilly and austere in the slightly dimmed sunshine of a lowering sun. As I walked, I thought that perhaps New Year's Day isn't the best day to make resolutions. Maybe birthdays are better, especially an epic one that signals a new phase of my life. So I have made a ...

I'm sad to learn of Steve Jobs' untimely death. Thanks, Steve, for the unexpected beauties; I could always count on you to strive for the elegance that makes my heart sing. You made the computer truly personal - my favorite computer sits in the palm of my hand, and responds to my touch. My condolences from afar to his beloved family.

I seem to be addicted to social networks. Let’s list them all: Facebook Google+ Tumblr Ravelry Twitter The one I’m blogging on right here and now. Is the list long enough to make you worried about me? I will say that I am not very active on some of these. I spend time lurking, however, on all of them. As a wise person said, time is the only part of your life that is finite, so it is possible that this list represents a woeful leaking away of life energy. I just joined a new social network that might actually be GOOD for me: Fitocracy. It’s been closely guarded in beta, but they are starting to loosen up their invitations and are leting the riff-raff in. The purpose of the site is to keep track of your workouts. As you accumulate exercise time, you level up. As you level up - well, I’m a lowly level 3 right now, so future rewards are yet to be revealed. Gamers love the site. I’m very good at logging knitting projects on Ravelry, and I think I’ll be very good at logging exercise on Fitoc...

All at once some voices in my blogroll that have been silent are posting. Believe it or not, I’ve been working up a head of steam to start fitting words together again myself. It must be something in the air. It’s been a trying year so far. Projects and plans and spirits have unraveled. There’s less walking around money in the wallet, and there are possible unfavorable financial changes floating in the atmosphere just as I am coming close to retirement. I’m not going to talk about any of it in greater detail than that. My decision that I cannot, that I will not talk about these matters openly has pretty effectively zipped my mouth shut for months. My response has been to become a sponge. My Google Reader overfloweth with other people’s tasty tidbits. It’s getting a bit boring, though. I’ve also come to realize that the act of writing has had positive effects on my life in the past. My period of most active blogging came when I was working on my master’s degree and working full time. Ac...

Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day) aren’t big events for R. and me. It’s a good year when we manage to get out the cards on time so that they will arrive before the date. We do pick up the phone and call. There’s no tradition of gift giving, however, to teach our daughter that anything special is expected beyond the card and the call. Imagine my surprise that A. sometimes gives us something on those cultural high holy days. She gave R. a pair of gorgeous gold-edged hostas. She gave me bleeding hearts. This year, she gave me this: Dyed by her in complex shades of blue, brown and red on a base of luxurious baby alpaca, silk, and cashmere. She also gave me a pattern to go with the yarn: Trousseau by Carol Feller. This project was almost instant gratification for a knit object, especially since I am not the fastest knitter around. I did the gauge swatch on Mother’s Day, and cast on the shawl itself on May 29th. It was blocked and on my shoulders on July 8th, 5 weeks and 5 days in the making....

Right now I am putting Elizabeth Zimmerman ’s motto to good use: "Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises." There is even a finished object to show for it. Maia - a shawl designed by Rosemary Hill , and knitted by me in Moonlight and Laughter ’s yarn. The original shawl is designed to be a small shoulderette, but my version was to be a gift, and I wanted to make a longer, more versatile shawl. Easy to adapt the pattern - just add more yarn than specified. I used nearly all of two skeins of a fingering weight merino/bamboo blend. The yarn was handpainted and it was highly likely that small color differences would create a visual join if I knit all of one skein then added the other, so I knit first two rows from one skein then two rows from the other. The end result was perfect - no pooling of colors, and no noticeable change from one skein to the other. Pictures, please! In the knitting. I think this picture captures the lovely interplay of colors in the yarn pre...

It’s small. It’s benign. It can be seen on a 2002 MRI so I’ve been living with it for quite a while with no problems. It’s growing - slowly. It can be treated with radiosurgery. It’s my decision and there is no urgency. I plan on talking with my trusted family doctor before deciding anything. We also swung by Minuet on our way home, and it smells like we are going to win this year’s war against mildew. All in all, a day with more good news than bad. Whew.