Checks and Balances

Problem? Fury over the McCain "Health Care Plan." When Cindy McCain goes to a walk-in clinic, increased use of which is one of McCain's "solution" to the problem, for her pelvic exam, I'll be more inclined to listen. Not that I would agree, but I might listen a little bit. Or not.

Solution? Soothing sock knitting. Here's another Christmas recipient pair, from the Bloody Mary pattern (free!) and made in the discontinued KnitPicks Sock Garden, color Pansy.

When I left my State job a few years ago, I had to take COBRA benefits for a few months, and paid $450 a month for them. That's the monthly payment cost for a single person on a reasonable HMO, not one of the "Cadillac" health plans McCain says are the ones that cost more than $5,000 a year PER FAMILY. I worked in health care (first for the State, then as a hospital administrator) and have never, in my life, heard of a health plan that cost $5,000 per year per family. Triple that and I might listen. For a minute.

Solution? Spinning! Some of the brown fleece that was such a wonderful gift from my parents' neighbor, Ann. My spinning is getting more and more even and becoming a more and more calming experience. I see more of it in the near future, despite knitting deadlines. Besides, my right hand is cramping up from all my working for The Man.

Then I would think of my Dud and wonder what would happen if he lost his job. He's a paraplegic. His medical costs are through the roof. I absolutley could not imagine health plans "competing" to cover him, or even covering him at all. So I guess I wouldn't listen, unless the McCain's started getting their check-ups at walk-in clinics (probably wouldn't have caught that melanoma so quickly), raise the tax credit they suggest to three times the amount, and demostrate how someone in a wheelchair can get insurance for $5,000 a year. Or any insurance at all.

Solution:

I splurged. Meet my new yarn for the next few months. Color group 1, extra small. I had to consult one of my friends with exceptional taste to reassure me about my choice... I don't tend toward pastels, but these are rich, multi-faced colors, even though they are lighter than my usual choices. I think it will make for more adventurous knitting.

Hope all of you are coping, too.

Road Trip

WEBS. It was my first time, and nothing my friend Hannah said could have prepared me for the wonder of it. I purchased this:That's enough Reynolds Whiskey to make the Enid cardigan, a design I've always loved... when I saw the richly layered colors and felt the softness of the Whiskey, it was over. It's also enough Silky Wool to make the Not-So-Shrunken Cardigan in just about any size, since I may make it for myself or as a gift, a skein of Fibre Company Terra for a Christmas present hat, four skeins of Jaeger baby wool for a tomten, some lovely balls of Jaeger Siena cotton for another present, a cone of green warp yarn, and two very large cones of Harrisville 2/8 Shetland for weaving that were $10 each.

The total? $162. I was yelling "oh my GOD! HANNAH! OH MY GOD!!!" and jumping up and down when the nice lady at the register told me.

This should keep me occupied for a while.

In the meantime, here are Chris' feet in his new short socks and cycling shoes. I'm so proud that he likes handknit socks the best for riding. These are the first in the "series" he requested. It's lovely to be appreciated.

And thanks to everyone for all the nice comments about my 30th birthday! My motto for my 30s is "no deterioration!" There's no reason we can't just get better and better with age.

Where have I been? TURNING 30!!!

So I'm not really 30 until Wednesday the 22nd. My big surprise party was this past weekend; Spinal Optimization drove in, my sister flew to Boston from Chicago, my friends Amy and Aaron drove up from New York, Hannah made her way over after retrieving her samples from Windsor Button (including the Kaffe Fassett design Brocade, yeesh), and Mom and Dad Bergh came and represented Nana Bergh (I call her "The Nan," and we bond over the fact that she used to knit, crochet, and sew at an exceptionally high level, even owning a yarn store for a while), who is a little frail and would be a bit overwhelmed at such an event.

In sum, 10 of my favorite people around one table. A few couldn't make it, but it was fantastic. Chris managed to keep the secret, only letting me in on the date. By the way, note the handknit he wore that night!

Have I been knitting? Yes, yes... the Mermaid body is done. I have nearly completed a pair of short socks for Chris to wear while biking and working out, made from Claudia Handpainted (available at Windor Button, albeit a Hannah-less Windsor Button... she's moving to Chicago), which is AWESOME. If I didn't have enough sock yarn for the next few years, I would buy some in every color. It's strong and a little nubbly, and the colors are so, so deep and rich. No pooling, either!

In reaction to all this small-needle knitting, I started a BAS (big-ass scarf) for a Christmas present. It's made of some Lopi that I got in Iceland a few years ago, some Rowan Big Wool, some Cascade Magnum, and some handspun. It's going to have Ozark Handspun fringe. Who will be the recipient??? No one knows. It's on size 15 needles, and I did all that in one day.

Finally, a note on Spinal Optimization. My dad severed his spinal cord between T6 and T7 (above the navel) about two years ago. Since then, he has been back to work full time, weight training, hand cycling, traveling all over, pretty much living just like anyone else, aside from the fact that he uses his arms as his arms and his legs. So calling my parents Spinal Optimization, which is really their mission, allows me to send them the occasional letter or make the occasional phone call from work (I do work in Neurosurgery as Administrative Secretary II, you know). And something created out of necessity just stuck. Every day they are out there disproving notions of what people who are handicapped can do, optimizing the upper spine! Doing more than most people who have all the spine at their disposal!

So that's the story. Back to the knitting!

Back to the land of the living.

Ugh, this past week has been illness far beyond what that last post communicated. Coughing and coughing and losing about 90 percent of my voice for three days. Work was absurd; I had to answer the phone in a hoarse whisper. This weekend I've done nothing but sit on the couch, sleep when I can between bouts of coughing, and get better.

Oh, and I've almost finished the Best Friend Cardigan from Twinkle's Big City Knits. Right now it's actually blocking. I made the smallest size, let's call it "infant." In any case, I was worried, for perhaps the first time in my years and years of knitted garments, that it would be too small. Then I soaked it and gently laid it flat, and it really stretched out. I envision fabulousness. I'll give my final thoughts on the garment and book and yarn when it's all done.

In other illness knitting news, I learned linen stitch to work on my Rock and Weave socks from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, last year's sock club. This pattern has all sorts of bells and whistles, and reminds me why it's important to work from others' patterns to learn new tricks as well as do my own designs. The cuff is linen stitch, more weaving than knitting, and then stitches are picked up along the bottom and knitted around into the heel and instep. The colorway is "fairgrounds."

Oh, and I knit a Green Gable. All this progress that comes from being laid up. It's also blocking... photos outdoors soon!


Chris made something this weekend as well: a single-speed road bike from an old 10-speed frame, a lot of salvaged parts, and some cheap tires. It rides rather nicely (despite the illness I let myself take it up the hill behind our apartment and back) and is actually more effective on hills than my mid-weight hybrid. I'm sick of carrying that weight around, even though it's gotten me in great shape... we're saving money in an envelope for a road bike for me by the end of the summer!

Still coughing... let me give a shout-out to the products that have helped me get this far:

Sudafed Shower Soothers (these are awesome!)
Robitussin (day and night formulas! Cheaper when purchased together!)
Tylenol Cold (again, get the day/night multipack, it's cheap!)
Ricola!
Rolls of toilet paper and boxes of kleenex!
Tea!
Those really nice people at the JP Licks across the street from work who make me wonderful milk shakes every day for lunch so I can have nutrition!

Good job, everyone! It's been a team effort!

Mother's Day Reveal

Here they are, in all their glory: Above we have Grandma's socks, from RPM (free pattern at knitty), made on size 2 needles from 2 skeins of Spunky Eclectic Chubby Sock in the color "Joshua Tree." There's a little more green in the colorway, but it was difficult to photograph indoors. Get yourself some Spunky Eclectic; the colors range from the subdued (like this one) to the electric.

The socks on the right went to Mom Bergh, my mom-in-law. They are your basic 3 by 1 rib with 1 by 1 rib cuff on size 2 needles, made from one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK in an Earth potluck colorway (the fuschia you see in there broke up the other "earthy" colors and made these quite striking). I got the yarn at Yarns in the Farms, where they had a LOT of colors of this new sock yarn.

Finally, on the lower left are Mom Weaver's socks. Made from a now-defunct free pattern called "Yukon Leaves," these were done on size 1 needles from one skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in Emerald Isle, purchased from The Fold.

Everyone was happy. I am happy. So many lovely sock yarns and sock patterns out there... though this sock tour was a bit more deadline-focused than I would have liked, I loved all the patterns and yarns I used. So now I can go get some more.

The Mother of All Deadlines

Mother's Day approaches, holiest of all the high Hallmark holy days, at least in the Weaver family. Rest assured that the impending nature of this date has not slipped my mind, dear Weaver and Bergh mothers and grandmas, and that other knitting has been put on hold in order to produce presents in a timely manner. Since you all read this, there will be no photos until after the Day. Hints? Okay, here are hints. Things are really much further along than it appears, mothers, so fear not. I understand the importance of the ACTUAL DAY.