Chickenlips Knitting

Some of my friends on Facebook, and at least one of the blogs I follow, are expressing relief that the year 2009 is about to be over. I'll admit to feeling that way myself, and looking to the new year with more than the usual amount of hope. I try to refrain from getting all South Park potty mouth on the blog, but a lot of things about this past year did in fact suck ass! The worst things were that loved ones died, and we got sued. Although obviously we could do nothing to change the first thing, we were able to make the second thing go away but not without it costing us a hell of a lot of money. At a time when it's most important for all of us to hold onto what we have, our retirement savings are about gone. So, bleah.

I certainly don't intend to write a bitchy post, though. Nor is this about New Year's resolutions. I don't make them, because to me they seem about as empty and meaningless as politician's campaign promises. In this reflective post, I just want to be honest, and that means gratefully acknowledging the things that were good or went right.

1. Neither Jason nor I suffered any major illnesses this past year. Over the past 6 years I've had my share of tumors, both malignant and benign, that needed surgery and also some close calls and scares. But none of that happened over the last 12 months.

2. Our daughter successfully navigated adolescence without any serious trauma. At 13 she was having such a tough time relating to peers and authority figures that I took her out of school for a year. She is now 19 and just completed her first quarter of community college with a 4.0 GPA, and she has a plan for her education and career. I consider us fortunate parents indeed.

3. My parents are still alive. While they are becoming more frail, they still have their house and seem nowhere near changing their living arrangements. Both are so very generous and good to us, and I'm thankful to have them around.

4. Over the past year I have felt closer to my brother than I have for many years. His personality can sometimes be irritating, but I now have a sense of comfort by his presence in my life.

5. I have the best husband a gal could ask for, and we were married 20 years last August.

6. We are still young enough to earn and save for retirement, replacing some of the funds we lost, while helping our daughter pursue her education.

7. Even with all the money mess, I have built a successful business that continues to grow. Amid the constraints and concerns, I am thankful to have something that gives me the creative expression I need to thrive, and is all mine. As scared as I was to step off the precipice, I understand and accept that that was what I needed to do to find peace within.

8. For the first 35 years of my life, I never felt connected to anything, or that I was part of a larger community, but now I have many friends who share my passion for wool. My connection with others has strengthened over the past year, and the fiber community keeps growing. Case in point--the bunch of new yarn shops that recently opened in our area! Are we in PDX the luckiest yarn ho's in America? Hell yeah!

9. At this moment, I am ready to let go of a grudge I have held for much of the past year. This may not seem like a big deal but I assure you that for me, it is. I'm a Scorpio and we are the biggest grudge holders in the zodiac! We never forget hurts or slights. The one that's bugged me the most is the anger I've felt towards my brother-in-law Mark, the operative words being "bugged ME the most". He isn't affected at all by my anger! So, being tired of what it's doing to me, I release it.

Whew. Glad I did this; it's gratifying to see what's piled up in the "Assets" column instead of focusing on the "Liabilities". Since I don't smoke or drink, I think I'll go into the kitchen for a piece of chocolate and watch the last hour of 2009 wind down. Love and good things in 2010 to you all!

Today for the first time, I felt some holiday joy instead of pressure to spend more than I have and do more than I'm able to. I'm unable to explain exactly what changed--but that's ok; I'm enjoying a good mood and don't need to examine it too closely!

I won't be giving handmade gifts this year. It's too late to start anything now; I have a lot of things on the needles but very little knitting time. I just delivered a sock yarn order today and have many skeins to get finished, shipped and/or delivered by the end of next week. It's good to be busy though; maybe that holiday spirit is the possibility of enough "jingle" to buy a couple of special things for my dearest loves! Mr. Stitchjones would love an iPod, and I would love to buy it for him and also a digital camera for Michelle. She hasn't asked for one, but I know it's something she'd like.

I found a free pattern for a Bow Knot scarf/neckwarmer and knit it up in just under 2 hours. The yarn is Cascade 220 Heathers in a color I liked when I bought it last February, but when I pulled it out of the stash it looked ghastly to me. I much prefer wearing this as a headband, even though it gives me a Miss Piggy look. What the hell, it was good for sh*ts-n-giggles last night with Michelle!

Jason is heading home from Cali tonight; thankfully his flight gets in early because it's supposed to snow overnight. Readers outside the Pacific NW--we've been in the deep freeze all week here in Portland, Oregon, and a storm is headed our way. I just pray it won't be as bad or prolonged as it was last year. Man, that was brutal. Then Monday morning, he and Michelle are going to L.A. for a couple of days. He has customers there to visit and now that finals are over, Michelle plans to amuse herself hanging out on Hollywood Blvd, hoping to get discovered I guess. During the first half of the year, she wrote sketches and plans for a TV comedy show with animated spots; now she's writing song lyrics for which her dad will compose the music. She and her friend Sara are very into "Electro" which is re-warmed 80's synthesizer rock/pop music, and neon colored makeup, clothes and jewelry. They've formed a band, and believe me I tried to talk the girls out of this, but they're calling themselves "Digital Twat".

I sense some of you pulling away from me. What can I say? She's 19. All I can do to ease the sting is to show you a photo of the adorable Toki catching up on a few Z's.


Hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations!

Things have been and continue to be somewhat chaotic in our household, and I'm not talking about just the arrival of a new puppy, although because he's so tiny it does keep us on our toes and walking carefully lest we step on him! The icky legal situation we have been in for most of this year isn't exactly over, but there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm pretty sure it isn't the oncoming train, because that already done run us over.

And of course, Christmas is almost here. Already? I can still taste Thanksgiving dinner! Alright, that was probably an overshare. With every year that goes by, I become more thankful for the Internet. I was able to get a start on my gift shopping without leaving the house. I like that, because I dread malls and heavy traffic!

Even with all this schmattah going on, I managed to bang out an FO. Above is my version of Cartman's hat from South Park, for a zany--yes, even madcap!--friend of Michelle's. I used a basic stockinette roll-brim hat pattern that I found free on Ravelry. Now that we're in the deep freeze here, I hope she'll be able to deliver this hat to her friend tomorrow because it's plenty warm. I have most of the skein of yellow Lamb's Pride left over, and I might use it to make Toki a new sweater. I made him one out of leftovers of my Dyepot Worsted--don't have a decent pic--but that's OK, because it's already snug on him.

The rest of this post is puppy stuff, so if that's not your cup of tea, I'll be back in a week or so with something I can't stop knitting out of the Malabrigo I recently bought.

On Friday Toki had his new puppy exam. He's 2 lbs. 8 oz. and very healthy, except for a bit of dry skin. There's no evidence of it other than scratching, so some supplement oil was prescribed. I'm adding small amounts to his food daily; hopefully that will do the trick. We also got prescription shampoo, but with it being so especially cold right now I'm suspending bathing him until it warms up. It's not like he gets too stinky anyway--he weighs about as much as a meat loaf.

Antics report: the vet proclaims that Toki has the appearance of a Pomeranian, but the bravery of a Chihuahua, and I can see the fearlessness even now. He loves to chase Jimmy, who is very sweet and tolerant of the new baby. It's been a week and when they play, there's no loud yipping. Toki was on the couch beside Jason, but he decided to see what Jimmy was up to so he leapt off the couch, and instead of landing on the coffee table he bonked into it and landed on the carpet. I tell ya, who needs HBO?!

Intelligence: A-plus. This from a veteran owner of Dachshunds, who are wonderful dogs but impossible to house train; they do their business wherever they damn well feel like it, thank yew. "Training pads? We don't need no stinking training pads," say the Dachshunds. Toki, however, trots over to the wee-wee pad now without having to be put there, and it's only been a week. So much for the so-called "expert" at Nature's Pet, who told me I wouldn't have success at housetraining until he was 10 weeks. He's only 8 and catching on, so neener neener neener.

Why yes, I am over the moon about this little mutt. Why do you ask?