Best Boyfriend Ever?

He's dependable, cuddly, warm, and will never leave you...

Handknit by the artist's mother and grandmother, he will keep you company all winter long.  Complete with awesome video, demonstrating all the benefits of My Knitted Boyfriend.

Courtesy Noortje de Keijzer

 

A Post

I want to post but don't have anything specific to base an entire post on.  Instead a quick update:

I'm continuing to spin and feel my fingers getting more proficient each time, that's very cool.  The last couple weeks have been migraine heavy so I've been struggling to stay caught up with eating, cleaning and other basics of life.

The cleaner who made life so much easier and nicer? She quit.  I can only clean part of a room at a time, and rarely two days in a row, so my place is not great.  I really need to vacuum again but that's the hardest job for me.  I'm looking for a new cleaner, but that's really slowed down by the migraines.

My hands are hurting less, the arthritis seems under better control, so I've been knitting more.  Hopefully I'll have a finished project to show soon.  I'm thinking about what I can knit with handspun yarn, too, which is fun :)

Spinning!

Because you can never have too many hobbies.  And the Zombiepocalypse might be cold.

It all started about 8 years ago, when my aunt gave me a spinning wheel.  She sent it with a how-to video and some wool.  I tried to spin, couldn't get the knack, and set the wheel aside.  Recently some online friends were talking about spinning and I tried again.  Lo and behold, I got the hang of it!  Much of the initial problem was with the fiber, it was too lumpy to spin easily.  I tried with another piece and it was so much easier.

So far I've spun several small balls of different yarns, just learning the motions.  I'm working on a full bobbin of thinner wool, as even as possible.  I enjoy the sensation of spinning, the coordinated movements and the feel of wool gliding through my fingers.

Chronic Illness and Friends

For those with a chronic illness it's common to wonder "What's wrong with me?"  Or, "Why don't people like me?"  When the reality is that grown adults can't deal with illness as a part of life.  The ill person is blamed and shunned, and the healthy normies go about their lives.  Probably none of this behavior even registers consciously.  And that makes it hurt even more.

I lost a friend today, someone whose friendship I greatly valued.  I don't know why, she just dumped me.  I'd hoped that being a pretty awesome person, and kind and thoughtful, would count for something.  It doesn't, though.  Sometimes it's a crying shame that humans are hard-wired to be social.

FO: Earring Holder

Last weekend I knit a neat project, a strip to hold my earrings.  It's made from scrap purple wool, knit in garter stitch to the required length.  A butterfly pin of my great-aunt's decorates the bottom edge.

Most of my earrings had been living in the base of a ring holder, which lead to a jumble of earrings in short order.  Now the earrings are on display, and I'm more likely to see and wear them.  This earring holder holds many more earrings than fit in the ring holder, as well, so they're no longer scattered between a couple other jewelry boxes.

The Ravelry project page has more details.  The lighting in my bathroom is pretty horrible, sorry about the poor photos.  I had a long weekend of migraine last week, and was very glad to have an easy project to distract me and add a sense of productivity.

Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Michelle, you have won the Shabby Apple gift certificate.  Thanks to everyone who entered.  Have a lovely weekend.  I'm planning to get together with a friend for knitting/crafty time later today, a great way to spend a cloudy afternoon.

April Fools

My favorite April Fool's joke was this line of kitten gear from REI:

courtesy REI

Their ad department had fun with this one!  

Microsoft tried to get in on the fun with Bing, but bitterness bogged them down.  Why so angry, Bing?  Is MS forcing you to use Internet Explorer? lol  /nerd joke

Bing: We decided to go back to basics, to the dawn of the Internet, to reimagine Bing with more of a 1997, dial-up sensibility...but the main goal here is just to learn more about how our world would look if we hadn’t evolved.

Yeah, cause Bing using Google's search results as their own makes them the search engine leader :p