What Up?

Even though it feels like it, I haven't actually been on another planet. February has been a blur of a month for me, and tomorrow it's over. What's up with that?

I went to Amish country in Pennsylvania with my girlfriends, which we do three times a year. It's a weekend of shopping, eating, and pretty much laughing our butts off. No, they don't knit. But they do bring the car to a screeching halt when I say "Look! A yarn shop!" They patiently wait in the car while I enter the new shrine and do my worship. This time out I bought (FINALLY) a yarn winder. Man oh man, it is SO worth it! I also bought Cascade 220 in a really wonderful pink color to make another perfect sweater when I finish this one.

Where are the pictures of said yarn and ball winder? Um, yeah. Dont' hold your breath. I'm tired of this camera and I'm trying to justify buying another one. I really can't just say "Hi, honey, your camera stinks and I want one to take really good close-ups of yarn." Don't even.

Then I went away the following weekend for a music teacher's conference. I had a really good time and the bonus was I got to see ROCKAPELLA. I love these guys, and they even did the Folger's commercial. Brought back tons of stuff (freebies, music, LOTS of good ideas) and I can't wait to plan all this new stuff out.

Now I'm off again tomorrow for a doctor's appointment. Loads of knitting time, both sock and sweater. Then I promise, blurry or not, there WILL be pictures.

Catching Up

MOFO! (Monday Finished Objects)

So here's the red socks finished in time for Valentine's Day. I've learned something.









I really don't like 2x2 ribbing, especially for the whole sock.


Happy BIrthday Mr. Lincoln!

Looky Looky!

Birthdays are wonderful, I don't care how old I get. Knowing my family was making me feel special just made me feel even more special! Even though I'm fighting the bronchitis and sipping the codeine (which really makes me feel weird, but I know it's working) it was a wonderful day.

First, there was French toast made by HH (Handsome Hubby, also known as Handy Hubby - you'll see why in a minute) with hot tea while the teenagers slept. Gotta love the quality time.

Then, there is this which only needs the staining and sanding before it's done. He made it when I wasn't looking! (Well, that's not hard. I am knitting, after all!)

A lovely dinner, followed by presents. They were VERY excited to give me my card, which featured Captain Jack Sparrow (arrr) and music to "Pirates" which is the music I am currently rehearsing with my school band. That card is priceless.

There was also a lovely set of silver necklace, earrings, and bracelets. In our house, we are big believers in looking for a bargain, so part of the fun was hearing that they found an amazing sale of 65% off all silver jewelry. Gotta love their bragging rights.

And the one I was hoping for, the one I delayed starting The Perfect Sweater for:



Already labeled and ready to go. Gotta love the options.

Gotta love family.

Super Stash

So I did the Super Bowl thing with the yarn and the sale and the freezing my a$$ off walking from the car to the shop. It was a thing I'd heard of for many years, and was curious to visit this particular yarn shop. It's taken me til today to say "OHMYGAWDWHATTHEHELLWASITHINKING!?"

So, because the shop was so tiny (2nd floor of a very old building), we had to wait out in the hallway in a snake line. This would have been okay if a) there was room for more than two people abreast in the hall, and b) I didn't feel like I wanted to know where all the fire escapes were. Am I stupid for waiting for an hour? Yeah, pretty much.

I guess it's a cute store. But there was one group of women (a group of three) who just rubbed me the wrong way. They were obviously looking for specific things, but they insisted on spreading out their coats, bags, and potential purchases all over the floor. Completely oblivious to anyone else needing floor space to, oh, I don't know, maybe WALK??? Then it was the whole Junior High routine - talk VERY loudly so not only does the whole store hear your conversation, but you've made conversation impossible for anyone else; then get in line behind one of them (the line also took 1/2 hour, even though I was the third one on line, because they HAND WROTE EVERY DAMN ORDER) and think "okay, I should be out pretty soon" when the other two members of this three-headed monster show up and chirp "thanks for holding our spot in line, babe!" and you know darn well they're not buying just a skein of Kid Silk Haze.

I knew exactly what I wanted. Ten skeins of Cascade 220. I have no idea if I got a good price or not. I don't know how much it is regularly, but I got 20% off. But I had to circumnavigate the "crew" who didn't respond to an "excuse me please" to try and even reach the spot on the wall where I could see it, but not touch it; I didn't really have a choice of color because the only thing they had 10 skeins of is what I took; and when I asked a shop worker for help she even had trouble finding where it was. I think it was a cute idea to have 20 - 50% and call them yard lines, and to have a room for the end zone. I might even have been persuaded to consider a knitting night there. But the clientelle I'm discussing (in a not-very-nice way) ARE PEOPLE WHO WORK THERE.

Sorry. Never again.

Perspective

It's amazing to me how perspective works.

Look at a window. It's a rectangle with glass and wood, and it opens and shuts. That doesn't change. (Well. Unless you decide to re-glaze or go for aluminum or what-all.) Depending on my mood or the time of day or where I sit, that window becomes a mirror, a heat source, a distraction, a picture.

My funk had me in deep grips. It affected everything I did and poorly, too. I couldn't summon a smile, couldn't care about my desk getting messy, couldn't care about a deadline creeping ever closer - just couldn't care. I thought for sure I could wait it out.

Have you ever had a medical pain or condition, and you held off calling the doctor because you thought, "surely it's going to start getting better tomorrow; I can wait." And you push yourself to wait and the pain is getting intense and it's reached it's peak but it's not going away and you cry "Whatever! Make me an appointment!" And sure enough, the day of your appointment arrives and the pain has lessened. In fact, you're starting to feel happy again.

Is it truly psychological? Or is it perspective? Subconciously are we thinking, "Now that I've handed it off to someone else, it's *their* problem and I can relax" so we metaphorically exhale and feel better for it? Is that a perspective of coming off the problem to the other side and feeling the burden lift from the soul?

I basically went to my principal on Friday and unloaded everything on him. He's a wonderful, warm, caring person, but I'm sure I had him flummoxed. (Cool word.) He's willing to do what I want, but he's convinced before he even begins that he won't get approval and that he'll look worse for asking for it. Had I not been in the grips, I might have said "I understand. I'll just have to suck it up." I might have said, "No, you have too much. Let me just see if I can get through this for another YEAR."

No, I held firm. I want this problem resolved because it's the best thing for the children I teach and for my mental health. I'm not going to suck up any more mess just because I don't want to make someone else uncomfortable. I want, I need, I asked.

Now that I'm on the other side of those feelings, it is positively amazing that I'm sleeping, I'm laughing, I have energy returned, and I'm happily writing lesson plans. I took my pain to the doctor and gave it into his hands, and now I can stop obsessing about "what should I do????"

If things don't work out, I have implied that I will look for a position elsewhere. It's not a threat, it's a realization that this is what I need to be healthy. And if I can't find another position, then I might go back to substitute teaching (although I think I'd rather slit my wrists). I don't know. I just don't feel the pressing need to obsess about that right now. It feels like I'll be okay.

And just so there's some knitting in here today, my LYS is having a Super Bowl Sale, and I'll be looking for Cascade 220 for THE PERFECT SWEATER . That's a later object, because my Fricknits wool has been earmarked for SERRANO . (Sorry for the shouting. Blogger doesn't like Mac, and won't let me bold, italicize, or underscore. That's the only way I can let you know there's a linky-dink.)

Avert Your (Reading) Eyes

Really. You'll only end up being sorry. There's nothing to see here, and all you can hear is a sort of whimper. I'm really in a deep funk, and I've even lost the usual jolliness I get with my adorable little students. It's just not there, no matter how far down I reach into my bag of tricks.

There will be no details. I can't point to anything on a map. Rather, I could give you shopping lists out the wazzoo and all those things added up mean one enormous shopping cart overflowing with last straws for this camel's back. (Mix metaphors much, me?)

Red socks are on the heel flap. Big deal.

It's only 4:30 in the afternoon and I want to go to bed.