i can not take it any more

The kids got into a huge fight last weekend… over something stupid, because all of their fights are… and The Boyfriend left to go to his mom’s. The Baby has been over there as well for most of the week and The Girl has been out doing God knows what with God know who ever since. I can not take this stress. I had actually begun to believe her when she said she had changed. But now, I see no future for her or The Baby. And this is more than I can bear. Honestly, I do not know what to do any more. I am worried that when we go down to NM that she will spend the whole week getting wasted and not take care of the baby at all.
Sorry, I should not burden you all will these issues; it just makes me feel better to write it down.

On a happier note, I did knit a bag. It is the Medium Carpet bag by Noni. It is a dead simple pattern and used 734 yds of wool. I need to felt it and make a liner, but I do not think it will be too big of a deal. We will see.
Here is a picture of it in process.


I have started a scarf for The Hub. I just bought Norah Gaughan’s Men collection pattern book and it is in there. It is called the Cuvier scarf. There is a matching sweater, that is very spiffy, but I am not going to have time to make him a sweater any time soon, so he will have to settle for a scarf.

There is not much else going on. Work sucks… Home sucks…

I Can’t Think of a Pithy Title

I have finished The Baby’s Christmas stocking! I finished knitting it on Saturday and blocked it on Sunday.
Here is a photo of it being blocked.

I found that the heel seemed to be too wide and sort of bunchy, although it blocked out okay. I also think that the toe was not long enough in the pattern. I added an inch of straight knitting and actually would not think it would be a bad idea to add even more so there would be more contrast in the end.
I put on jingle bells as well, but I did not get a photo of it before I brought it over to the Fair. I dropped it off on Monday.

I also knit up a blanket buddy for The Baby.

The yarn I used was awful and so I am going to get rid of any that is left, so I am counting the whole ball as being used in this project.

Therefore, I have 1.32 km to go until I reach my 5K goal. I have knit 2013.5 fathoms. It sounds like I have done a lot of knitting when I say it that way!

I have not yet cast on for my next project. I am thinking of doing a felted bag. On the plus side, it would use a lot of yarn; on the down side, I would have to felt it when I was done and I would need to make a lining. So do I consider complete when the knitting is done or when the bag is actually usable? I am not really very good at finish up things like linings. I think it is because it is outside of the knitting realm.

I am finding it very hard to stay on the yarn wagon. It is not that I need more yarn as much as I would like to knit something big, but do not have enough of anything in one color way. Plus, of course, I see some yarn I have wanted to try and it is on sale and I can not buy it. I love a good bargain you know!


Movie Review – “District 9”On Monday, The Hub and I went to see “District 9”. It is about aliens in South Africa. Basically, an alien spaceship showed up over Johannesburg 20 years ago and it was full of starving aliens and now they are living in a slum in Johannesburg and the government wants them to move.
This is a fantastic movie. It is very thought provoking. It speaks to apartheid, to colonization, to how people treat anyone who is unlike themselves. It does not have any “stars” in it and the main human character, Wikus, is played by someone who has never acted before and apparently ad- libbed most of the movie. He is fabulous and quite honestly it was the best performance I have seen this year. I strongly encourage you to go see this movie, with a small caveat, it is violent and there is a lot of cussing. So if you can not handle the f word or people being evaporated (for lack of a better word), this movie may not be for you. There are a few nice knits. The special effects are just outstanding, it really does seem like these aliens are real and the humans are interacting with them. This is not always the case with science fiction movies.
I am giving it 4 out of 4 knitting needles. It is a great film.

Breaking Radio Silence

Greetings and Salutations. Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. I have no good reason since I actually had started writing a posting last week, I just have not been up to actually doing it.

I have not been feeling great. It has been hot and humid (really for the 1st time this summer) and I have not been sleeping well. And I have been sort of stressed out. I think I need a couple of extra days off. I am trying to decide what days to take. The Hub and I are thinking we will spend 2 days at the State Fair this year (we never seem to be able to see everything we want to in one). So I would have 8/31 off anyway, so we will go that day. Then it comes down to opening day or a day the 1st week of September. We will have to see how it goes.

Speaking of the State Fair, I intend to enter The Baby’s Christmas stocking.

All I have left is the heel and the weaving in ends and blocking. It needs to be in by 8/18, so I have less than a week to do all of this. I do not think it should be a problem. I will probably need to steam block it.
I would have been done sooner, but I had to rip back the toe 2 times, or was it 3. Doesn’t matter, it was rework and therefore a waste of time. The directions for the afterthought heel were confusing and the length of the toe was not quite right. I think it looks okay now, but I will see when the heel is in.

No matter how he tried,
He could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain
-- Pink Floyd
Work has been particularly stressful. Morale is low because of the layoffs (past and upcoming) and people are becoming cranky. I am on the project that will not end and I have had enough of it. I am to the point of just saying “we’re done”, and moving on. I am sick of fighting with people, I am sick of the backstabbing and the politics of the whole situation. It is not helping with my overall mental health. Again, I probably need a couple of days off…

Of course, I am taking vacation the last week of September / beginning of October. I am going to visit the in-laws in NM. I hate NM. It is sooooo depressing, brown and dry. I do not know why they can’t live somewhere fun, like NYC or London or Honolulu. On the plus side, I will be going to the Taos Wool festival, at the end of the trip and that should be fun. I am taking a class on dyeing fiber with plants.

Movie Review – “The Hurt Locker”
So on Monday I hung out with my friend. We went to lunch and then decided to go to the movies. We were going to “Public Enemies”, but it was not showing until late in the day. So I suggested we see “The Hurt Locker” because I had heard good things about it and I knew The Hub would not want to see it. It is about an Army bomb squad in Iraq. It is shot in a documentary style, not with interviews, but in that “someone is following the characters around with a camera” style. I liked it, but it was very intense, because well they are a bomb squad in Iraq. There were scenes that I thought could have been shortened, but I think the filmmaker had them longer intentionally to show the “waiting for something to happen” aspect of war. The film really is not taking any political stance, rather, it was trying to show these people doing their job and how the job affected them. It has some very graphic scenes as well. It is a sad, brutal, realistic movie. It upset my friend (Sorry TJ, next time you get to pick the movie) and I felt bad about that. Apparently I have a very high tolerance for pain and suffering. I am giving the movie 3 ¼ out of 4 knitting needles. It will make you think and it might upset you, but I think it is worth seeing.