gaysknits

today i have lived...

 
fifty seven years. today i start my fifty eighth year of life. today i am one year older and maybe one year wiser. today i have the day off work because i don't like to work on my birthday. when i go back to work i will have a birthday cake from my favorite bakery. today i bought myself a new pair of boots...what a surprise eh? today the guy and i have an adventure and a day of celebrating planned. today is my birthday.  the moms birthday was a few days back and i made her  peanut brittle, four different kinds and i have eaten at least a third of pecan kind.  today i gained a pound or two! today i have no knitting projects on the needles all my knitting projects are finished and today i  may start something for myself.  i may even buy some yarn for a sweater coat today.  if not i will plan the sweater coat project and maybe pick out yarn...oh boy here we go again!  i have a pile of birthday cards here and some flowers and a new pandora charm and some candy and lotions and a few gift cards and i have a dinner out planned at my favorite restaurant and i plan to cook a thanksgiving turkey dinner in my new oven. today i am one year closer to retirement age and  i am so happy about that. today i celebrate my birthday. later...love   g

huh i guess i'm much more modern than i thought i was...

i seem to have been given a new typepad to play with and here i am with out a clue.   what i do have is the flu. not the swine as the youngladygrandaughter calls it at least god knows i hope it isn't the swine but it is most definitely the flu. you know the one. sneezing, coughing, head aches, body aches, fever, chills,  head filled with something resembling cement and whatever that is it is working it's way down and into my lungs. god as if i don't have enough lung problems. they are none too happy with me at work either because i have been absent for going on two days.  like i'm having some kind of fun or something here at home in my sweats and sheepskin slippers and a heated electric blanket and snot or other bodily fluids coming out of every crevice i have. please give me a break. you want me to come to work and cough, sneeze and breathe all over all of you?  i thought not.  i have a scheduled flu shot for oct 21 but i think it's a little late. the ylgd got herself a shot of tami flu last week when she had this mess and i wonder if i should but i just may be to tired and lazy to go to the dr's today...and i'm freezing...did somebody turn out the sun?  what the hell happened to summer and warm sunny days. one of those would feel soooo good about now.  any way fall is here and with it some pretty cold days.  we had a frost and whatever i didn't already neglect in the garden is most likely dead now.  i am uninspired to knit either mostly because i feel like so much crap. i did however get my sick self on ebay yesterday and bid on some debbie bliss cashmerino...i won it too because apparently no one else who knits was home with the flu yesterday. nice!  i have 4 skeins of green, wine and lavender coming my way and 5 skeins of navy. i wish i had five of the red cause i'd love to have enough of one color to whip up a little cropped cardi...i know sweater there i said it...the dirty word i swore i wouldn't mutter this year. then again i said i wouldn't buy any shoes last year and we all know how that worked out!  anyway back to the sweater...come on it's cashmere!  my plans are to make another chemo cap for the kahuna out of the navy cashmere, then the cowl that the guy has requested because he thinks he invented them and probably a second cap for the number one son.  the green i have no clue what it will become but the lavender will be come a lacey picot edge cowl for bob's wife and maybe a second of those as well for someone else who fancies purple and has never gotten to have anything of gaysknits for herself. the red which is really a deeep deep red more towards wine or maroon is going to be a cropped cardi even if i   have to design it myself, it will most likely be edged in another color since i think even for me 400 yards will be a bit short. i will most likley stripe the cuffs and hem and it will definately be short sleeved like to the elbow. so there you have it. oh and i want some malabrigo lace to make the cute little whisper cardigan that i have suddenly fallen for. i may wear it to the beach in november but i won't be wearing it with an apron...not my style really! going shopping this weekend to the lys for a pre inventory sale! yay! i will get off the glove bandwagon soon and off the smalls altogether but i still have some hats and cowls to finish and a pair of gloves and a christmas stocking before i can move past go and collect 200 dollars...and then there is the flu. going to bed now maybe a cup of tea first then bed. later...love   g

let me preface this by saying...

i hate richard gere movies. i would be inclined to say i hate him but since i have not met him i can't make that statement and if i did maybe i would like the guy...but i doubt it.  anyway i was watching a richard gere movie on the big screen last night mostly because when i sat down with my chinese food and my miller draught it was on and so i watched it.  i should say i watched what was left of it. what was left of dr t and the women...if you wonder why i hate richard gere movies the title alone should give you a hint...was a childbirth scene.  i swear the woman in this scene actually gave birth to a slimey crud covered baby boy.  i was horrified. i myself have given birth to a slimey crudd covered baby boy but i didn't have to watch myself do it. i was on the end that sees nothing and experiences everything. i can honestly say now i don't know which is worse.  i think watching it is worse. eventually you forget the pain...i said eventually...but that image whoa...is burned into my brain or what is left of it and i may never forget it. oh my god no wonder men faint...i'd faint too if i was watching it in real time but seriously this was so real and was soooo closeup that i almost fainted while choking down a mouth full of steamed dumpling. you could practically choke on one of those things without watching childbirth. it was gross and unbelievable and if you have never watched a birdseye view of a baby's head coming out of a womans...wellllll make sure you are seated when you do.  that's all i have to say on the matter.  huh and i thought richard gere was too stupid to shock me!   talk about your portals! spc this month is portals maybe i'll play!  in the meantime i am quickly coming to the end of my pashmina cowl from last minute knitted gifts. this took me from friday afternoon til whenever i finish it and the yarn is ellen cooper sonnets handspun and is luscious. i hate to take this thing off my neck  even with  the needles sticking out! yummmmm.

i plan to make a pair of fingerless glove to go with out of cascade 220 wool...in a dusty rose shade. i am smitten with a pattern i found on ravelry with an eyelet row and a picot edge. i was thinking a single cable but the eyelet row won my heart and so it shall be.  these will be a gift for a new mom who just went through the horrifying experience i was describing  above and after that i think she deserves it...and much more if you ask me but that is another tale.

i also found a pattern on ravelry for a lovley pair i plan to make for myself that are pretty simple but lovely in design so i have to pick a nice color of yarn that i already have in stash and  move onto that one of these days. i am on fire here with ideas  for knitted "smalls" so look for a gift in your christmas stocking this year...or not...i could be all talk!!! later...love   g

there is something magical...

about nature.  i have always had an appreciation for the beauty of it but the function is the truly amazing part.  in nature things are simple. they are what they are. i had a dog once who had been living her life as a stray and she had reverted back to her wild self and stayed that way for most of her life. she had difficulty fitting in with the rest of the civilized world but had  bonded with me so fiercely that she became unwillingly to see any other life for herself. i have seen that more than once in a stray or in an abused animal. civilation complicates things. take the dragon lady as another example. she is sick and is prone to the most disgusting of intestinal problems and winters are a very trying time for her and for me and usually involve meds and vet bills and a lot of nose pinching.   bearded dragons eat insects and they eat veggies.  in summer months she eats fresh food right out of the yard.  mulberries from my tree, wild strawberries from the yard, raspberries from the garden. moths off the side of the garage wall.  she eats sorrel which grows out of the cracks of sidewalks everywhere and nasturtium & squash blossoms which i plant for her. this year i planted kale and mustard greens and collards and i hate to admit it but i am a lazy gardener and most of what i plant gets overgrown and weedy and well it's not a pretty sight but i had a bumper crop of greens this year and i kept her in fresh food all summer. she thrives on fresh food and loves to eat fresh food. in winter she will turn her nose up at most anything i offer. it's a pretty funny sight to see actually but that simply should tell us all something.  if a bearded dragon knows when vegetables from the grocery are spoiled or old or laden with chemicals why don't we know.  i daresay we do. we just don't care. i think i would have no stomach issues and digestive problems if i were eating  better food.  not that i'm going to eat better food mind you but i'm  just saying! if it were easier i suppose i would but things are just not simple anymore. we have jobs that are stressful  and houses that need repair at the very least or decorated/remodeled if you give two shits which i do not.  we grow gardens to look beautiful and do not grow gardens that feed us.  not that there's anything wrong with feeding your soul but what is important is survival and keeping fed and warm and dry.

birds build amazing homes out of pieces of grass and sticks and string and i have even found husky hair in some of the nests around my house. in other words recycling and keeping it simple and what is more beautiful than a birds nest and the process by which it is made. i have sat for hours in my yard and watched birds building nests and always am thrilled when i stumble upon one that has been left in the branches of my trees or tucked away in the bushes outside my window.  i found this nest while trimming my bushes to make way for a ladder that will reach the roof to do some shingle repair.  simply beautiful. later...love   g

i saw a small puddle of water...

in the basement last week and couldn't imagine where it came from and never gave it a second thought after i shrugged my shoulders and went upstairs with my clean laundry. i found another one a few days later and figured something was amiss but couldn't imagine what but when i saw  it for the third time and having ruled out some sort of a miracle i had a sinking feeling it was water rising up from the drain and indeed it was. in a weeks time a small puddle turned into a big one and by this morning when i was on my way out the door to a dr appt and the guy was on his way out the door to pick up some parts he had ordered at the boat store the puddle turned into a geyser before our eyes and we knew the  plan to call the sewer man on monday had to be changed and pronto. it was...the sewer guy came and rooted out my roots and advised me not to flush those flushable wipes down the commode anymore which when i pulled up the driveway the guy was vehemently denying that i ever did but i confessed that i had indeed become accustomed to giving the sink top and the commode a wipe with one of them and then flushing.  uh oh!  anyway we are unclogged and running freely now and roots and dog hair have been removed from the pipe and it may or may not be cracked but they will be happy to tell me if it is or it is not as soon as the little camera on a wire goes down there to take a look but it is unlikely that they will even bother to send the camera guy here because of the look on my face when he told me how much it costs to dig up the driveway and take advantage of their financing plans. phew...i will start to collect my extra pennies in a jar for the day when the roots can no longer be removed or the pipe has crumbled and i do indeed have to dig up the driveway. tonite i am stress free. i am off work until next wednesday. i have had my truck inspected and brakes checked and all is ok and my sewer is back in action so that i can sit here typing this post and sipping a strawberry margarita and washing  loads of laundry mostly towels from the youngladygrandaughters hair dying session last weekend

 

 and the rags used for mopping up the constantly wet floor.  i'm taking a little break from work because i have decided to minimize the numbers of days i spend there and have changed my schedule to work 4 out of 5 days so monday is now a regular day off for me and i took tuesday off to celebrate and do some work around the house.  brakes...check, sewer...check, dr appointment...check, grocery shopping...check.

i started this cowl at the dr office today. the yarn is some of my ellyn cooper handspun and  this 50% wool 50% silk blend is a winner and oooh la la so soft to touch and the deep rich colors are about as lovely as the bright and beautiful bowls on the cover of the crate and barrel catalog i got in the mail today.  i plan to do some knitting on it tonite and do some relaxing and unwinding. ah clean towels and clean rags and gyro's for dinner and a margarita and not a care in the world. isn't life grand??? later...love   g