May 2020 – Susan is Knitting….

Stonecrop Cardi

Some of you stopping by to visit might be familiar with the Stonecrop Cardi. Andrea Mowry is the designer and is easily found by looking for DreaReneeKnits. She used to live here in Michigan then they moved. I still love her and her designs anyway. Sometimes opportunities arise and relocation is necessary.

The bobbles drove me nuts, caused pain in my left hand, but, I persevered. The yarn was an eBay purchase and came in two giant skeins which added up to over 1000 yards. What I didn’t know was that it needed to be washed before I started knitting. There was a dirty feeling to it but since I had started already to keep the gauge going I kept knitting. The yarn purchase was for a charity organization and the price was unbelievable. You’ll be seeing more green knitting. All of it has been wound into balls and ready to be used.

Are you all staying safe and practicing your social distancing? I am. But then, any of you who know me, know that’s nothing unusual. This summer is the anniversary of four years of not working for me. After 15 years of working in management in the auto plants and other automotive-related places, not seeing people works just fine for me. It’s a tough life when you’re a member of the maintenance management team and the buildings are all old and falling apart. Everyone wants something from you and they want it right this minute, or better yet, before you even knew they wanted it. They call you before you get to work in the morning, they call you when you’re home at night, they call you on your weekends, and they even call you when you’ve told them all that you’re using some of your precious vacation time.

The quiet is wonderful.

If you call me, I’ll look at my phone and say “If they leave a voicemail I’ll check it.” If you’re my mom and you’re calling me, I’ll answer or call back ASAP. She’s almost as bad as me when it comes to phones. There are other pastimes we’d rather be doing than talking on our phones. With the invention of cordless and cell phones it’s easier, though. Now, if we could just teach Mom how to use speaker phone. I knit while having conversations with my Mom – or anyone else as far as that goes.

Politics. Nope.

Reading.

I’m currently reading a book about the history of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. I’m telling you, that was horrendous. Pregnant women were at an extremely high risk and one line in the book mentioned that it was a wonder that any children were born at all during those years as the moms-to-be died during pregnancy at very high rates. One military man was on his way home and people on the train just fell over dead right in front of him. Could you imagine?

Science and medicine have come a long way.

Knitting.

Right now I’m working on two projects and itching to start more. There are so many yarns in this house and just so little life left. Yes, I might live another forty years, but, can I knit during all those years? Will I buy more yarn during those years? Pffffft. If a knitter is alive, a knitter will buy yarn.

My current projects are Dawe by Amy Miller and Color Affection by Veera Valimaki. Dawe is a pullover and Color Affection is a shawl. I’ll try to share photos. Right now, if I did you would wonder what the heck I’m working on.

I finished a Vogue Knitting cardigan. It’s #1 from the Winter issue of 1992/93. There was some yarn hanging around here that screamed at me one freezing cold winter morning. At first, I was thinking hat then when I realized there was enough here to knit two sweaters, one sweater is this cardigan. I’m thinking a pullover is next.

#1 Vogue Knitting, Winter ’92/’93
Yarn: Bon Bon by Lana Gatto

I’ll leave you with this for now. Gardening has begun so I will try really hard to come here more often as you’re probably sitting on the edge of your chair holding your breath just waiting for my next post.

Righto…………..

Take care!

Learn to knit. I calms the soul.

Did I come here to write more than once in April? I don’t know. I could look to see but it’s not really that important. I have been around and here and there on the Internet of the World.

Are you staying safe? Are you avoiding the virus or did you become victim to it and live to tell? I was sick but not sure what it was since I am not brave enough to go to the Urgent Care center like my doctor’s office told me to. They told me to do that because I’m never sick and hadn’t been there in so long that they have me categorized as inactive. So, all I can do is go to Urgent Care or make an appointment then they’ll add me back in.

The nerve of some places, right? Punish the healthy.

I had a nasty sore throat that evolved from a week of a scratchy throat. It was awful and got worse even after my virtual visit online with a nurse practitioner which was provided through a portal connected to our health insurance company. Do you know how hard it is to take photos of your own tonsils? When I did it was rather hilarious to look at them on my phone. The photos came back around the other day. They need to be deleted.

I got a prescription for a week of penicillin that slowly did the job. The ugly tonsils were still there two weeks later but the pain was gone. My diagnosis is that I will be here for a while yet.

My family has had a loss due to the evil Covid-19. A cousin on my mom’s side who is a few years older than myself. He was a healthy athletic kind of guy who was diagnosed as having bronchitis. I think a lot of the Covid-19 victims start out that way. Who knew what all the symptoms are? He ended up on a ventilator and didn’t win. When someone you know loses the battle it becomes real.

I’m appalled at the behavior of a whole lot of people here in the US. General population and politicians who speak up and make it appear as if their own personal lives and monetary needs are more important than others’ families’. When did we become so mean and ornery? As they say, we’re all pretty much in the same predicament here and I certainly wouldn’t want to force your sister back to work at a hair salon so that people can get their hair cut or colored. Is it that bad to just be yourself as you are meant to be for a short time?

A Short Time.

That’s all this is unless we keep perpetuation going on and on.

Don’t make your time shorter.