31 October 2010

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween, here's a question for you:

What is a ghost's favorite food? 

SPOOK-ETTI!

Which is what we will be having for dinner, because we are nothing if not festive ... plus, the tomato sauce looks like blooood ...

Also - something FO this way comes:


This was one of the projects I mentioned in a previous post, that was a secret, so I couldn't provide more details.  But the secret, which I call Pink Pirates, has been delivered to its recipient, who seems to be more than happy with it, so now I can show it to you.  Here are the details:

Pattern:   We Call Them Pirates, by Adrian Bizilla (a free pattern, btw)

Yarns:  Black yarn is Dale Baby Ull; pink yarn is Classic Elite Fresco

Needles:  US size 1 and US size 3 (and for me, US size 7 for binding off!)

Modifications:  First of all, the recipient is my friend Lisa, who loves pink - therefore, the white skulls were replaced by pink ones.  At the top decreases, the chart and my stitch count were not meshing, so I improvised and as far as I'm concerned, it turned out just fine.  Also, I made it longer on the bottom.  After taking out the provisional cast-on to make the inside flap, I just added about 8 more rows of the alternating pink and black to make the hat longer, as I wanted to be sure it would completely cover a person's ears.  And, I have no clue how to do a provisional cast-on, so I just knit a few rows in a contrasting yarn, and then took them out when I was ready to do the inside flap. 

Verdict:  I really like this hat and the pattern!  It was fun, not terribly hard to follow, and something good for a person who is relatively new to fairisle.  I could have even had it finished in time for her birthday, if not for a serious bout of laziness and depression.  But, as I said when I sent it to her, at least it's still October ...

Anyway, I would recommend this pattern, and can see myself giving it another go.  And who knows what color those skulls could be the next time???

28 October 2010

Ever Since October 28, 1978 ...

Who knows how long I've loved you?
You know I love you still.
Will I wait a lonely lifetime?
If you want me to, I will.

For if I ever saw you,
I didn't catch your name.
But it never really mattered,
I will always feel the same.

Love you forever, and forever, 
Love you with all my heart.
Love you whenever we're together,
Love you when we're apart.

And when at last I find you,
Your song will fill the air.
Sing it loud so Ican hear you -
Make it easy to be near you - 
For the things you do, endear you to me,
Ah, you know I will.

I will. 

-  I Will , by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

25 October 2010

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Or for that matter, me???  I just realized it's been longer than usual for me between posts.  Nothing drastic, just a couple of weeks that were particularly busy, occasionally uninspiring, and often tiring.  I thought about posts I could write, but couldn't get the thinking to match up with the doing.  Add my regular bouts of extremely excessive laziness, and not much happens ...

But, I was reading Lorraine's blog post a little bit ago, and decided that I wanted to respond to a meme she posted, because I was amused by her answers.  Like her, I'm not going to specifically tag anyone, but if you are so inclined, feel free to write your own post.  However, I do not have as many self-portraits to post as she did - HA!  (BTW, did you know that she is the same Lorraine who designed this?  Love it!  If only she had mentioned that I had given her the idea ... if only I had ... oh well.)

Enough hi-larity - time to tell you 10 Things That I Am Afraid Of:

1.  Being buried alive.  I can't hardly watch anything where part of the plot includes someone being buried alive. 

2.  Clowns. 

3.  Snakes.  Even when someone says, "Oh it's only a harmless garter snake."  Don't get me wrong - snakes have every right to exist and enjoy their snake-y lives.  As long as we are not anywhere near one another.

4.  Millipedes.  Or Centipedes.  Or anything with too many pedes.

5.  Slugs.  I just creeped myself out typing that.

6.  Haunted houses, even if they are incredibly cheesy and beyond fake.  Not a big fan of unexpected things jumping in front of me, onto me, etc. 

7.  Opening the closet when I come home by myself at night.  All because I once watched a movie, where a woman came home, and a friend came in with her to be sure the house was empty, etc.  The friend left, the woman went upstairs to get ready for bed, and as she left the closet door open while going into the bathroom to brush her teeth, the killer came out from behind her clothes. 

8.  Not being able to breathe.  Occasionally, I will wake up having an ashtma attack.  The fact that I can't breathe causes an anxiety attack, and then I get another anxiety attack thinking I won't be able to breathe ever again, and on and on. 

9.  The Tea Party movement.  'Nuff said.

10.  Great White Sharks.  Long stupid story about this one, but I am not going into it here and now because I'm kinda creeped out just thinking about everything I've written ...

And what about you, my pretties???? [insert maniacal laughter ...]

10 October 2010

10-10-10

You're not really surprised now, are you?  Like I would miss posting on such an auspicious date!

I don't have any knitting-related pictures to show you, but can assure you that I am moving right along on a few of my previously mentioned or alluded to projects.  I am also currently thinking that I should try knitting this for myself, as I think it is attractive, and something I would wear pretty regularly.  Having said that, I also think that I need to finish something else before even thinking about what yarn I would/could use.  But I'm enjoying having it in my brain in the meantime.

Three birthdays today!  My niece Lauren, who is getting married next month (family road trip!); Tim's brother Bob, who is LOTS older than both of us (but strangely has no grey hair ... that shows through the hair dye); and, one of my very best friends in the universe, Lisa!  Plus, yesterday, I met a very sweet Pembroke Corgi who was celebrating his 10th birthday today, which I think must make him an extremely special pup!

Even better, I have a day off tomorrow, so this is only the middle day of my weekend. 

At the moment, life is good.  I hope you can say the same.  :-)

"Puh-leeze!  Let's see that "special" Corgi do this!"

03 October 2010

October

We are now in the third day of October, which is one of my very favorite months for several reasons:  it is a month that makes me feel that fall has really arrived;  it is the start of the so-called Birthday Marathon in my family (22 birthdays between October 1 and December 20!); for the past few years - and this one as well - the Phillies have been in the playoffs and/or the World Series (!!!!); it is the month of my anniversary; and of course, October ends with Halloween, which means that the fall/winter season of holidays has begun, and I can put out my various [cheesy] decorations pretty much non-stop through the end of the year.

This year in particular, I am happy to see October, because it places me that much further from the Summer of 2010, or as it is known to me, The Summer of  Enormous Sucktitude That I Hope Will Never Be Repeated

Of course, October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which means that PINK is everywhere!  The color pink and I have always had a rather difficult relationship.  I do love certain shades of pink, but during this month, the pink that is generally used is the Pepto-Bismol shade of pink which makes me nauseous (ironic, no?).  Also, pink makes me a little bit uneasy, since when I was growing up, pink always meant girls and blue always meant boys.  This made me want to scream even as a child, since I was apparently a feminist from the get-go, and the whole gender-color thing was more than just annoying.  There are also not many shades of pink that I can wear on my person, since it tends to make me look like a big pink blob o' flesh, as there is a lot of pink in my complexion (oh who am I kidding, I have rosacea, so it's really more red.  But you get my point).   During October, though, pink is also used for marketing purposes on nearly every type of product you can imagine.  (Seriously.  Purina Cat Chow.  Really?)

I have a very close friend whose birthday is in October, and she rails against Breast Cancer Awareness Month ruining her birthday and Halloween.  I have tried to tell her to just ignore it and move on the way she usually does, but I know that something that you really can't stand can often be hard to ignore no matter how hard you try.  (I'm looking at you, Michael Vick.)

So yeah.  Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Pink is everywhere.  Get a mammogram.  Join the sisterhood of survivors and women (and men) who care and want to stamp out this terrible disease.  Wear pink, buy pink, empower yourself with pink.  I have to admit, it kinda makes me want to throw up.

Except that I really can't be against all of the things in the above paragraph.  As you may or may not know, all of the pink-ness of October and the surrounding clamor about curing breast cancer has only been beneficial to me personally.  Many years ago, before anyone would even mention cancer out loud - particularly breast cancer - my mother was diagnosed, and eventually ended up dying from bone cancer after her initial cancer metastized there.  She was part of a clinical trial for a new drug called Nolvadex, which was hopefully going to revolutionize the treatment of breast cancer.  It didn't help her, as her cancer was too advanced by the time she entered the trial, but that drug eventually became Tamoxifen, which is one of the regular tools these days in the treatment of breast cancer. 

This past August, I officially ended my five-year relationship with tamoxifen.  To the world, I am one of the thousands of lucky ones, a breast cancer survivor.  And I do consider myself to be done with breast cancer, though I hesitate to call myself a survivor out loud, since that just seems like tempting fate to me.  Cancer of any type is insidious, and often just when you have started to feel comfortable that you will never make its acquaintance again, it returns with a vengeance.  And, as many of my friends and relatives know, I have a personal theory that there are certain things you just don't say out loud, or they will get out into the universe and get you.  (Work with me here, it's just one of my own weird beliefs, based on enough personal experience to make it true a lot of the time ...)

So, here we are again, ready to enjoy October, and all of the good things about it, while also being bombarded with PINK and Breast Cancer Awareness.  Yeah, it kinda bugs me, as I do not identify myself solely based on any diseases I may have or may have had; and I'm not much for "sisterhood" stuff in any aspect of my life.  (It makes me feel like bugs are crawling on me to be honest.)

But that is just too damn bad.  Because I am grateful for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I am grateful for Pink, and the symbolism that reminds people that all is not well in our universe, be it because breast cancer is still around, or because any disease or situation still exists that takes people away from their families and friends.  I am a direct recipient of the power of Pink, and what incredible progress has been made since my mother was a breast cancer patient.  I am grateful in ways that words cannot express, even if I'm also cynical about it all.  (This is consistent behavior as I am cynical about everything else as well.) 

And as a result, I am still here to tell you why October is a good month.  So to anyone reading this who has ever. done. anything. to contribute to the study of how best to treat breast cancer, I would like to say a huge and heartfelt Thank You!  I am more than aware that I am here both as a result of the grace of God and the generosity of strangers. 

I am lucky and I know it.  Now you do too.