When You Are Sick...

You don't notice things. You don't notice the number of days passing until you start to get better, and then you count and think "What a total waste of time!!". You also don't notice things like this: Under normal circumstances things like that are dealt with in a reasonably prudent and timely fashion. I walked through the house this morning and thought "Where the heck did all this HAIR come from???" Today will be a day of reclaimation. My sinks, my toilets, my floors. Mr Wonderful already discovered a sad lack of underwear and took care of the laundry - thank the good Lord above, because I think I may have two weeks of housework to do today.
Mildly disturbing, and very interesting...somwhere out here in what looks like the Bavarian Forest is a moderately large animal who 1.)poops berries and who is 2.) after my berries and compost and 3.) a frequent visitor. I believe this to be a bear. We've had bear here before; attempting to get into the chicken house, climbing trees to avoid screaming knitters making vague threats about poultry protection at all costs, and dumping over the compost bin to root around and make a mess. I love being closer to the woods than at our previous home. However - no one warned me about spiders on my sun dried laundry that run into double digit numbers, bears in my front yard, or coyotes bold as brass wandering past my sliding glass doors. Then there was the rabid bat on the screen that hung for days, and the flying squirrels in the attic when we moved in that kept us up all night for days, and the fox that nearly got lucky with a chicken dinner, and the deer that routinely use our 10 acres for access to water and their bedding place. And there's the red tail that hangs across the street catching pigeons and mice, and the snake in the basement, and the myriad songbirds, and the biiiig snake by the mail box, and the snakes just generally scattered around here with a frequency not unlike pigeons in the city....It's like Wild Kingdom Live.
Knitting? Oh, yeah, that....about that....ok, I finished these socks which I totally love and am not giving to Schaefer. I am keeping them and they are added to the self-publish pile. I really adore them, from their tulip top to their kitchnered toes. They are called Sweet Pea Socks, and they are indeed. I want to keep them. Instead they will be photographed on the ankle of a svelte person and then given away for Christmas. Everyone should knit a pair. This is where the mercenary bit and the knitterly love clash. I want everyone to knit a pair, but I need to sell the pattern. Sad but true. Tragic, really. I am such a mismatch of ideals. "Pay me but I wish you could have them for free." "Recycle, reuse, don't waste, don't litter, hug trees, reduce oil dependence, don't poison my food or modify my organisms, but we're going to Disney World." This is where Mr Wonderful comes in. When I was working as a nurse, it was he who checked my paystub to see that I'd been correctly compensated. I could have cared less. I was just taking care of people. Someone has to keep me in line or I'd give it all away.
On Saturday Norah Gaughan was at Webs. I nearly missed her speaking because I was teaching a class. Andra, Rep Extrordinare, came in and suggested that my students might like to hear Norah. They agreed, and we set off to complete class while listening. She had many items with her from Berroco's new line, which - I am pleased to report, appear wearable and knittable both. It's still a tough world when you are wide of hip and bountiful of bosom and short and short waisted all together, but I could see that the new line would flatter myriad body types. Girl tried on an asymetrical pullover that really was adorable on her. Norah also had about half of the items from Knitting Nature (the other half are on the west coast), including but by no means limisted to the Basalt Tank, Branching Aran Gansey, Bubble Pullover, Roundabout Tank and Target Wave Mittens live and in person. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, Webs will continue a trunk show of Knitting Nature items for a few weeks before they have to move on to their next location. It's a great way to see, feel, touch and try on items from the book. Her talk was enlightening. Someday I want a staff of knitters and pattern drafters. I will just sit and draw pictures and swatch and write, and then hand it all over. Actually. I won't. I'd miss the process, and the hands on. Although time feels very short at times, I still enjoy the process too much to let it go. Every once in a while a garment comes along that I'd love to hand off. But overall, they're my babies and I want to rear them to adulthood!