Category: A little about knitting

Not mine, dumb-asses! It is the title of the book I just read. So your in the library, looking for a good read but without a particular title in mind. I am checking out the new releases but nothing catches my eye. A few years ago, I read “Living to tell the Tale”, the first volume of an autobiography written by one of my favorite authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Checking the computer to see if the next volume was published, I came upon this title instead. Regardless of the author, isn’t it just something you gotta read? Written by Garcia Marquez made it a no-brainer. True to form, this was an amazing story that was at times rude and raw but softened by the words of a man beginning his 9th decade of life. As always, when I read the last page-the last paragraph, I found myself close to-if not in-tears. The books are not sad by any means. He writes with such a passion that you can feel the warm breezes, smell the air after the rain and know the books in the libraries of his deteriorating home are rife with mold. I cannot help finding myself knowing the characters as if they were real and wishing I knew them in my own life. Colorful, sad, passionate and humorous. Whatever the journey, I mourn the moment when it comes to an end but the last few paragraphs of his novels somehow make it bearable with some of the greatest closings I have ever read. Do you know people who read the last page of a book before they begin? If you are like that-and I admit I was guilty when I was younger-you are doing yourself a disservice. Enjoy the journey and savor the endings; they are some of the best written…in my most humble opinion. Read him. I would love to know how others view his work.

My friend at work had a beautiful African Violet on her desk. It began a slow and steady decline due to lack of light and our boss pouring water on it to 'help it' along not realizing you cannot get water on their leaves. I have a problem. I cannot throw plants away no matter how sickly they are. I took that poor plant home, repotted it in a shot glass (a spare one of course!!) and it is now residing beautifully in its new home. No sign of flowers yet, but when it gets just a bit larger I will begin to feed it with violet food. The lesson from all this? Always have more than one shot glass in the house! HA!

If you email or text to your blog, at the end of your post add a hash (or number sign) followed by the word 'end' and it will eliminate the 'This message was sent via LG Dare if you want to blah, blah, blah….  so here I go…adding my little thingy to end my message…

From Random

My little fella turns 14 today! Right about this time, 14 years ago, I was seriously regretting the Nathan’s hot dog I had for lunch at the mall.

Here are a few photos from our recent vacation to Cape Ann, MA. It seemed as though the weather would be a bust, but in spite of the forecasts…beautiful sunshine! You can view a few more pics if you click HERE. Hopefully you will enjoy them. If you want some information on where we stayed, let me know! Hey, you can have our regular room since I plan on buying the beautiful house on the crest of these rocks!

From Vacation

From Vacation

I am at a complete standstill with two of my WIPs. For the longest time I have had the tendency to do this, especially with larger projects. Currently, it is my husband’s sweater, and the cabled throw. As I look at patterns, read blogs and drool over other knitters’ finished projects I wonder why this is so difficult for me. It is not for a lack of wanting to finish. I have done smaller projects here and there. Latest was a link for the ‘Friendship Chain of Yarn’ (thank you ‘Maven’ for getting me involved in the project). There are so many things I want to knit but I feel guilty for not finishing the others first. Then I got to thinking about the reason for this trend and I realized I am afraid to finish. I am convinced the end result will not please me, or in the case of my husband’s sweater, please him. I am not the kind of person who would be upset about the amount of work involved for a project that is never worn. It would be the lack of something nice for him to wear. Does that make sense? Probably not, but at least I was able to pin point the source of my hang-up. I am wondering if there are others who feel this way and would be curious as to how they resolved the problem. I know I either have to a.) avoid patterns that require a lot of attention to sizing and fit, or b.) just suck up and deal, enjoying the process of knitting. I admire the knitters on Ravelry that create beautiful projects and create their own patterns. What really amazes me is when I read about how long they have been knitting! Many have only been knitting for a few years. I have been knitting for about 17yrs. and still lack the skill – or maybe confidence – needed to take myself beyond what I see as a very stunted level. Ah, well…enough self-analyzing for now, I am going to finish that sweater! See? I feel more confident and motivated already. Maybe the ‘first step’ in overcoming all stumbling blocks is acknowledging why you are behaving a certain way to begin with. Cripes! I have never been this reflective about knitting before. Kinda weird. I gotta get outta here-it’s giving me the creeps!

I saw two robins on my walk yesterday. The end is near!

I am such a dork! I saw a cat in a tree this morning and decided to let the home owner know in case it needed help. As I stepped on their walk I hit a patch of ice and came down like a ton of bricks. I scraped my palm and it started to bleed. Seeing as how I just finished PT for a back injury this was the LAST thing I needed. So, here I stand, on a strangers porch in sweats, pink boots, wet hair and a bleeding hand only to find out the damn cat wasn’t even theirs; it is a feral cat that roams their yard. This confounded beast was so agile that as we stood on the porch talking it slithered down and ran off faster than a squirrel. I wanted to scream! Next time I see a cat in a tree I am going to pull over, get out and point and laugh…point and laugh…point and laugh. As if it wasn’t weird enough, the cold air froze the blood on my hand. I am such a loser!