Now Norma Knits

Wow. It's October 23, 2015.

I hate to start this post with a bunch of clichés, so I'm just going to jump right into it.

Hi! I see you. Can you see me? Knock-knock. Anybody out there?

I look over at the sidebar of this poor underfed, anemic blog and I see something like 300 readers, down from 5,000 or more back in the day. That is just.....sad. Isn't it?

Annnnd, I did it. That was fairly blogger-cliché, eh? Sorry.

I was prompted to write because last weekend... well, last weekend was the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, aka RHINEBECK! And our fearless foursome -- Leigh, Sandy, Jenn, and I -- met up and roomed together for the 12th year in a row, and had the most wonderful, recreational and restorative time together.

And we selfied....

We walked....

 We talked....

Oh hey, I'm not kidding about OVER the Hudson. This is where those oh-so-tame-looking photos above were taken. I've got some vertigo just looking at this right now:

 We shopped....

(Blimey, the festival is RIDONKULOUSLY crowded now. I believe the figure is something like 54 MILLION PEOPLE PER SQUARE FOOT, or something close to that. We can only stand it for about 30 minutes before we have to leave and get some air. And booze. So we spend a lot of our time and money in the nice little village, just pretending that we are actually at the Sheep & Wool. But I did buy that amazing granny square scarf at the actual festival before we fled to safer ground.)

We ate......

And drank......

 

(That is an apple cider mimosa in the glass.)

(You're welcome.)

 But here's the interesting bit:

We (or at least I) knitted!

For the first time in maybe forever, I was the first one to arrive at our hotel, so I had some time on my hands while I waited for my compatriots to arrive. And just before I left home, I had done a frantic -- and I do mean frantic -- search for some knitting to bring with me. Much to my surprise, I found an already completed Red Scarf:

 

...and another one that was started who-knows-when. So there I was, doing this VERY WEIRD ACTIVITY when Sandy arrived. Upon seeing me, she loudly exclaimed, "WHO ARE you?!"

Fair comment.

(Coincidentally, David just walked in while I was writing this and I said, "I'm blogging," to which he replied, "WHO ARE you?!")

It's been quite a long time since I've engaged in this either of these activityies. But it truly is like riding a bicycle! I remember how! And I even remembered how to execute this pattern, the ever-loved, ever-popular unisex pattern, the Corrugator, by our friend Paula Smith.

I've been knitting a few rows a day since then, and look:

Before I know it, if I'm not careful, I'll be finished.

So now I've been thinking about The Red Scarf Project and learned that they now have a wonderful thing called The Book Club, which is sort of an outcropping of our own Red Scarf Fund with a little bit of a broader mission. I've just signed up. The way I thought of it is this:  I drive a Prius now, and I'm not spending as much on gas for my car as I used to. I figure I can send $20 a month without it hurting a bit, so that's what I just signed up for. Maybe you wouldn't mind spending a couple of cups of coffees' worth per month to help out some students in need, even if you are not a knitter, but just my friend.

One thing I'd like to mention is that Foster Care to Success ranks very high on Charity Navigator. They spend almost ALL of their money on their mission, very little on administrative costs, and have excellent transparency. Plus, I know the people who run it very well, and they are darn good people.

Either way, I'm just wondering how you're doing and how many of you Red Scarf soldiers are carrying on.

Do tell.

 

Randomly Random

Yes, that is the only way to describe my blogging (ir)regularity nowadays.

But here I am... I'm baaaaaaaack!

I got the urge to knit, so I figured I should honor that with a blog post, since it, too, is randomly random nowadays.

So I went searching for my work in progress, and I found it. But my randomly random memory was mistaken. No, I am not in fact almost finished. 

I remember now what happened. I was about 75% finished this sweater, but last fall while in Rhinebeck I was feeling very uneasy about the gauge. It was much too loose, I didn't like the fabric I was creating, and the sweater was turning out much too big and sloppy-looking. 

So I ripped it out, the whole 75% of it, and started knitting it again at a tighter gauge. So I guess I'm going to do some knitting tonight, but I am nowhere close to where I thought I was (I thought I was maybe ready to seam and start finishing - HA!). 

This photo I snapped of Mr. Jefferies this morning seems somehow appropriate:

Gale Zucker and Rhinebeck Style!

Gale just gave me a scare.  She posted a video on my Facebook timeline, with the following words:

So, here are 320 or so folks posing for me but only one, ONE, revealed her belly button. Guess whoooooooo? oh Norrrrmaaaaaa.

I was afraid to look. But Gale did her usual makin'-me-look-so-good thang. Nothing to worry about at all. I was posing with the wonderful upcycled blanket I bought from the amazing Crispina ffrench at New York Sheep & Wool Festival 2012, and isn't it amazing how nicely color-coordinated my whole getup is with the blankie?  I'd say it was coincidence, but maybe not, since I always tend to buy Autumn. And I'm also wearing my one-and-only lace knit (the one-and-only that I've done myself, that is -- so many wonderful people have knitted me beautiful lace -- Cookie, Marianne, Cassandra, to name a few), the Flower Basket Shawl that I made from the natural-dyed sock yarn I bought at my very first visit to Rhinebeck.

So many memories, so much meaning here. 

So, I will let the video speak for itself. Said belly button reveal, not at all like Miley Cyrus even one teeny bit, is at about 2:31 in the video. 

 

Don't you love the way it's put together? It makes me wanna dance!

I recognize SO.MANY of the people in the photos, and I can't wait to be there again this weekend to see all the wonderful folks that have been such an important part of my life. 

See ya there!

Terrier Tuesday: The "Hello, Is This Thing On?" Edition

 

Dear Readers: 

Well, folks, as Hurricane Sandy is breathing down our necks, and already causing major havoc all up the East Coast (we're especially worried about New York City, because that's where our Abigail lives), Alpha and I thought it would be a good time to pop in and say hello. Alpha has been receiving increasingly more emails from folks who are worried about us, so we both figured this would be as good a time as any to break our unintended long silence.

Seriously, where DID all that time go? It's quite amazing that we could even remember how to sign in to Typepad. But of course, now we are finally writing, and many people are without power and won't even be able to read this. We hope everyone stays safe and gets through this with a minimum of trauma. Vermont's wounds from Irene are not yet fully healed, and even we tough Vermonters can't take much more. We feel for the folks in New Jersey who are bearing the brunt of the landfall tonight, and then Pennsylvanians .... Well, we are thinking about you and hoping you're all safe. 

You may remember, I don't particularly like wind. And when I say I don't particularly like it, I mean that I would rather eat a bucket of nails. I like it even less than I like a grooming appointment. A LOT LESS.

Speaking of grooming appointments, though, this is a picture Alpha took of me on Sunday just after I got out of one. I was giving her the cold shoulder and letting her know just how HURT I was about that appointment, even WITH the candy corn bandana they gave me.

Don't EVEN bother to say I look cute, though we all know that goes without saying, because it will NOT make me feel better about that appointment, NOR about the hurricane wind. But these are the crosses I bear. Life is not always easy for a Yorkie like me.

So.... what have we been doing? Well, my life hasn't changed much. I still get my breakfast and my lunch and my dinner, and my Teeny Greenies, and I get my walks and new toys, and treats and bones to bury from time to time. And this summer it seems like we have had a ton of people come over to do stuff like build porches and replace doors and do yard work, and everybody loves to play tug-of-war with me, which is nice.

Alpha has just been busy, busy, busy, BUSY with her work! She keeps saying this phrase: "It's a little bit of be careful what you wish for, but I'm not complaining!" And she's been going to a new gym that she loves. And in her spare time she has painted many of the rooms in the house and cleaned out rooms and closets and corners, and sent lots and lots of boxes of crap stuff to Goodwill and places like that. But we are still tripping over MORE stuff (will it NEVER end?!), not to mention paint cans and other painting paraphernalia, because she keeps on thinking that maybe soon she will paint the dining room, or whatever.

And meanwhile, she is providing CART to two medical students and one veterinary student, as well as CART and captioning for a growing list of other clients, and wishing that that cloning technology would come along soon, very soon. She has new people to help her with all this CART work, because of course until she gets cloned, she can't be in four or five places at once, and that means a whole lot of scheduling work and worries and people-managing headaches that sometimes keep her awake a little bit at night.

And then, you know, don't even get her started about this election season. At least David is not running for office this year, as his term is not up yet. Thank the LORD for that, she says! And she made sure to go in and vote for President Obama last week, just to make sure that some work thing, or, say, a HURRICANE, wouldn't keep her from voting, because, well, for at least 1,000 reasons, but this picture that was being passed around Facebook tells some of the story, right here: 

I know, I know, you don't come to Terrier Tuesday to hear a Yorkie talk about politics. But I'm just sayin': When Mama ain't happy, AIN'T NOBODY HAPPY. And I'm sure that, knowing Alpha as you do, none of this comes as any surprise to you. I've come to love her, even when she swears a lot.

Because even when she's really, really busy, she is the one who buys all my food and my treats and my toys, and she still manages to stay at home, or at least come home at night most of the time, to snuggle with me at bedtime. And that's all I really care about.

Love,

 

Mr. Jefferies

P.S. Alpha has been too busy using her hands for work (and working out) to be able to knit even a stitch. But she hopes you're all working on your red scarves. Just because she hasn't been blogging and haranguing y'all about the red scarves, doesn't mean she has forgotten her favorite cause, and doesn't mean that those foster kids who are going to college should be without their red scarf care package this year. So please send in your red scarves!

 

 

 

Terrier Tuesday

 

HEY. How did that get there?!

Dear Blog: This is just to say that we are still here, still alive and well, still happy, still so busy that we can't find the time to even say hello. 

We're sorry.

We miss you, too.

We'll be back soon.

Love,

Mr. Jefferies

 

I Didn't Expect So Much Drama From a Simple Stash Sale

Oh yea, I surely do attract the crazies.

There has been considerable back-and-forth in eBay this morning between me and a person from Santorum Country who believes that I have misstated the condition of the Koigu in my stash sale. (You can read the comments at the bottom of my listings for the orange and the rose Koigu here and here.)  She believes I should be listing it as "used" condition and not new, because it's been touched and ... oh, who knows what she is talking about, but she is morally offended. Which, of course if she knew me, she would know that does not hold any sway with me whatsoever, me being completely devoid of morals and all. Morels, as well, but we are not discussing mushrooms right now, are we? 

Her evidence in support of her accusations is that you can clearly see from the photos of my yarn that it lacks the original factory twist. Yeah, well, OK. Please to note that my yarn doesn't have the original factory twist.

She has gotten to the point now of accusing that I've probably snipped a few yards off the skein to do some intarsia. Intarsia? The woman clearly has never met me and clearly has no idea what sort of knitter I am, or more accurately am NOT. She seems to be a few yards short of a skein herself, as someone very smart so aptly put it. 

I put the kibosh on it (for now) by telling her I'm done responding to her and I consider her comments to be harassment. She told me "YOU'VE BEEN TWICE WARNED" (all caps hers)

She's been quiet since I told her to bugger off, but for all I know, she's reported me to eBay for being a dishonest lister. I refused to change the condition to "used," the yarn having not ever been knit, washed, used, or even wound up into balls, and the labels still intact. That doesn't sway her at all. 

Wait till she gets to the dog saliva on the ball of Rowan Calmer that I also listed as "new." Sorry, there was no place to check for "new, but for the label having been chewed on by my errant Yorkshire Terrier."  

BUYER BEWARE!

P.S. I think I need to make a new category in the blog entitled, "Interactions With _________" You fill in the blank.

School Is In (Or A Series of Edifying Links)

I've been linking a lot of these things in Facebook, but for readers who are not there, I bring to you A Series of Edifying and Thought-Provoking Links for your reading (and hopefully mind-opening) pleasure:

1. Our Founding Fathers Were NOT Christian

2. The Clitoris Is Much More Than Previously Thought (I knew THAT would get your attention. Please come back here when you're... ahem... finished reading.)

3. Women Should Be Pissed Off

4. No, I mean they should be REALLY PISSED OFF.

5. I'm not kidding, they should be REALLY REALLY PISSED OFF. 

I propose what someone in all my internet travels wrote: This November, we should make like their stereotypes of us and CLEAN HOUSE.  

Oh, and for those who don't like politics, here is a really great chocolate cake recipe. I sprinkle about a half cup of chocolate chips on the batter before baking. Delicious, super-easy, and no frosting needed.

But seriously YOU SHOULD BE REALLY PISSED OFF.

 

A Quick Catch-Up

1.  May we have a little applause for our wee fundraiser for the Red Scarf Fund/Craft Activism giveaway. Even in this rotten horrible no-good economy, $575 in donations were reported to me from a total of 15 donors/entrants in the contest for my extra copy of Craft Activism.

2.  And the winner is: Michelle P. from Missouri. Her book is in the mail! Thank you to all the donors to the fund!

3.  I had my stress test with echocardiogram yesterday, and according to the nurse, nothing seemed awry. Of course, this is subject to the official word of the cardiologist, but I felt good walking out of there. I was told I'm in GREAT SHAPE. But given that most of the people they have in there are probably over 70 (at least that's all I saw in the waiting room), and all the docs and nurses couldn't therefore stop STARING AT ME, I'm not sure how to take that.

The problem is, I'm still having the symptoms and my blood pressure is still high-ish. And I just plain know that something is not right. So I'm thinking there are more tests in my future. But I will admit that I felt like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders after that test yesterday. 

4.  Mr. Jefferies says hey. He forgot to blog yesterday. He was busy sleeping, since he had had a weekend visit with dogsitter extraordinaire Jessica, who apparently wears him out to no end. 

5.  I've been BUSY with work! I approve. 

6.  I'd be willing to bet that my weekend was wayyyyyy weirder than yours. In fact, I'd lay 1,000,000-to-1 odds. 

And that's all I'm going to say about that.  

It Was A Social Media Vacation

I took a couple days off and withdrew from the world, from social media, even from Mr. Jefferies. He was not amused. He was pretty damn glad when I got home, I'll tell you that. 

While I was gone, some carpenters were working on replacing and repairing and releveling parts of the deck. Ahhhhhh, it's all clean and straight and white and beautiful.

Mind you, they are not finished all the work yet. But at least this part is finally done. I've been waiting for this for a lonnnnnng time. I just can't stop gazing at it. 

I also came home to find that the beautiful Stella D'Oro daylilies are open and there are pints of blueberries to be picked and broccoli to be harvested, among other things.

(The netting keeps the birds away.)

A lot of beautiful things can happen in a couple of days.

All this helps me to find a little bit of zen and keeps my mind off the fact that I also came home to find that the Japanese beetles are having a convention an orgy on the asparagus ferns. 

Fuckers.

Meet McKenzie

This is my nephew Tanner -- you know, the one who was the driving force for my sister and her hubby to start their business Vermont Nut Free Chocolates -- and his girlfriend McKenzie.

I met and spent some time with McKenzie over the Christmas break this past year. She is a multi-talented, multi-dimensional, very impressive young woman. She has just finished her freshman year at University of Wisconsin - Madison. 

The other day I logged into Facebook, and McKenzie started chatting with me. She said she had been stalking my blog. "I like nice stalkers," I said to her. She said she wanted to start her own blog as a summer project and beyond, had an idea for it, and wanted to pick my brain about blog hosts and other tips I could give her, and wanted to run her ideas past me. We spent almost an hour and a half talking. 

Well, she didn't let any grass grow under her feet, I'll tell you that. When I got back from the commencement ceremonies for the graduate schools at UVM yesterday, I saw a message from McKenzie, alerting me that she had already started her blog. 

I think it is pretty fabulous on many levels, and I'd like to share it with you. Go read. Comment. Give her a nice big Now-Norma-Knits-reader-style welcome to the blogiverse.

Her blog is called: 

A Shot of Sobriety <------ click!