by Kat | Jan 28, 2022 | General, In This Moment
It’s been a wintry week here in Pittsburgh… bitterly cold temperatures – which meant we had some sunshine! A knitter does not cry over cold… we have sweaters, hats, mittens, cowls, scarves… cold weather is every knitters dream! You know… the days you can wear.all.the.knits! And those slices of sunshine? Who all doesn’t need a bit of a Vitamin D boost as January draws to a close! The snow from our last snowstorm is still on the ground and this morning a fresh blanket of snow covered it. I love it when it is all fresh and white… it is visible reminder that each day we have a fresh start! Right?
Let’s see what’s in the mailbag this wintry Friday, shall we?
Dear Tinnitus,
I know you thought that you were winning the battle in my head. I am usually adept at ignoring the ever-present noise during the day, but night time is a different matter. You have been winning the Battle of Darkness making me a casualty of far too many sleepless nights. But! No longer! I have some new armor that is splendidly effective at silencing you! Bose Sleep Buds have banished you to the Halls of Brown Noise! It is a wonder what uninterrupted sleep does for a body! And even more wonderful what weeks of uninterrupted sleep can do! So take that, Tinnitus. You are down for the count… at least at night!
Sorry not sorry,
A well-rested Kat
My most beloved Imagined Landscapes!
As I draw to a close on my January Gnome… I just had to take a moment to stop and thank you for so many things… perhaps too many to list in one short letter! But I wanted to thank you for your Insane Creativity… my goodness, you are a wonder! After knitting Gnutmeg I can now knit jog-less stripes, I have a better understanding of planned increases, and you have watered the joy that had withered inside me! I have one wee little leg to go… but the Gnome Boot! Oh my goodness!
Anxiously awaiting my February Gnome and I can’t wait to see what you can teach me about cabling!
Your most adoring fan!
Gnon-stop Gnitting Kat
And with that… I say Let the Weekending Begin! (if only, right?)
See you all back here on Monday! Have a great weekend everyone!
by Kat | Jan 21, 2022 | General, In This Moment
Today I have a bunch of random things to share and I am making them fit TGIF. I think it works.
And so let’s get started!
Teaching (myself?):
Last year, I mentioned that I had some socks in need of some mending… well, the number has grown since then. How is it possible that all.the.socks. are wearing out all at once? It is boggling my mind to be sure! And, ironically, this arrived in my email the same week the latest sock become “holy” … a darning “class”? Okay. I am in! And the same day a darning mushroom was on sale on Amazon and it seemed inevitable. It is being delivered to my house today (along with some darning needles). I have 4 pairs of socks in need of heel repair and I am determined that I will learn how to do this and have the end result be four *comfortably* wearable pairs of socks! (and then I can fix the uncomfortably repaired pair!)
A Healing of the Heels is in order!
Getting (uncomfortable):
Speaking of uncomfortable…it needs to get real, Gentle Readers. Very real. Uncomfortably real… this is our year to be uncomfortable. I lowered my reading goal this year… for a reason. I wanted to spend more time reading things that made me uncomfortable. Things that will help me see beyond my white privilege. Things that will help me better understand what the BiPOC community experiences on a daily basis. Things that will make me uncomfortable…
This thread by Nikole Hannah-Jones. It opened my eyes. It shocked me. And yes, it now has me wanting to find all of MLK’s writings that I have never, ever read and get uncomfortable! (and to have some wearable reinforcement…I have asked Steve to get me this for V-day instead of flowers)
In (my worry corner):
The past 3 weeks have been rough. My son’s girlfriend started the COVID Train… she was exposed and then, sadly, came down with it. Which meant, of course, that my son got it. (She was quite sick, he had a slightly milder case) and yesterday another family member let me know they now have COVID. (It’s my sister who is not boosted… who is living in group housing… and is now in isolation… which I don’t think is good for her at anytime, but right now, I think it’s especially bad.) I realize it is but a matter of time… so to speak… until we all have it with numbers skyrocketing. But my worry level is off the charts… (add to all this there was a tragic accident on Monday at my son-in-law’s place of employment … a boat … and I am really needing for my people to be close enough that I can see them, hold them, and feed them…)
Finding (diversions):
This week it was all about occupying my mind… so I wound the Base 12 yarn and cast on that Hitchhiker. I also wound so many skeins of yarn… enough to fill a HUGE knitting bag… and started Gnome One in the Year of Gnomes. It is a pattern I purchased but never knit! Welcome to the start of ADVENTure Gnome! I have started on the hat and I am loving how this looks… now to figure out the ball at the top of the hat! LOL
A Worry Hitchhiker seems so appropriate but coupled with the silliness of Gnome Knitting… there is a bit of balance.
Both knitting projects are excellent diversions because they require me to keep track of something physical… in other words, they are not mindless knits!
I also was shocked to find that Stacy Abrams book, While Justice Sleeps, was available on Overdrive so I downloaded it. And yes… it is lovely to have breathing space between reads to be able to read something totally unexpected!
And that is all I have for this week! Have a great weekend and stay warm if you are in the path of this bitter cold!
See you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Dec 10, 2021 | General, In This Moment
It’s been a week, hasn’t it? Is it just me and does it feel like we are racing on to mid-December, except that December just began?! Fortunately, the mailbag has a letter or two to share!
Dear December Weather:
Mild is nice… in January, but I really like wintry Decembers…kthxbai
Dear PowerPoint Insurrectionists,
I am not sure if you all missed the zillions of company trainings that included a PowerPoint presentation from back in the ’90’s… but they were entire snorefests. Really… I think the response is clinically known as “Insta-tune out” but your feeble attempt did provide some hilarious fodder for the Twitterverse this week. I mean… I think we all have experienced Death by PowerPoint at least once in our lives. I am just insanely grateful you have not discovered the more engaging PowerPoint Alternatives! Back in the day, the most engaging Prezi was my go to training device… just sayin’.
Sincerely,
American’s Who Don’t Insurrection
And finally…
Dear Easily Entertained Self:
This week you found such joy in the simple things like turning a heel and neatly picked up gusset stitches. But the greatest joy ever might have been found in a wee little Gnome Hat complete with a pocket! I love your thoughts on adding a bit of whimsical stitching to embellish that pocket with a tiny snow flake! You go girl!
Signed,
One Whimsically Happy Knitter
And with that… I will leave you all to enjoy your weekend! See you all back here on Monday!
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels
by Kat | Dec 3, 2021 | General, In This Moment
Oh Friday… I am so glad you are here and bringing this week to a close. I tried to write letters this week, but gave up and decided a bit of TGIF was more in order.
Thinking about —
Roe vs Wade and Sonia Sotomayor… specifically these words: “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it is possible.”
And I am thinking lots about the lies that Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett glibly told in their hearings… their “assurances” in their belief in stare decisis – precedent – was how the court would decide. I wonder how that twat from Maine is feeling about her vote to confirm them this week. Coney Barrett set my hair on fire even more than all the others with her thoughts that women are all handmaidens and we can just give birth and give the baby away… thanks to The Land of Safe Haven in all 50 States.
I am sorry, Justice Sotomayor… but the stench is already there. There are 21 states with Trigger Laws all ready to go… The court is overloaded with political hacks and until the court is expanded (which should be happening NOW) I am expecting more of the same on things that will impact all of the citizens that the “moral-less minority” does not like.
Grateful for —
November was a hard month for me… emotionally and physically because when your emotions are in the wringer, your body feels those effects too. But I had one incredible saving grace this month… poetry! From the poems in my in-box to the poems on podcasts… each day brought a poem (or two) that helped me get through that moment… that hour… that day. So many have been printed out and are tucked in the pages of my journal, but the month ended with a poem that I think will stick with me for a very long time. I have it printed out and it is next to Derek Walcott’s Love After Love… I think they are the perfect poems to be read one after the other and I thought I’d share it with you all:
When your son abandons the lawnmower for the second time in as many days
Peter Grandbois
We all want to leave this widening night,
this barking at the thing we can’t see.
No one walks through their story un-stung.
This yard, this life, like a book of changes,
the moment buzzing by like a prophecy,
your body a constellation of pain.
We spend our time stumbling through the white fog,
searching the doctrine of our own breath
when all we need do is crawl deep inside
the silence that comes after and face
the teeming hole in the ground, the wasp’s nest,
that cousin of the eyelessness of space.
Do not fear the ache and swell my sweet boy.
It’s easy to hate what we’re given.
Copyright © 2021 by Peter Grandbois. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 30th, 2021 by the Academy of American Poets.
In search of any common sense, at all —
Another school shooting this week followed by a flurry of school closings/lockdown’s across the nation (even in Pittsburgh today) and I am just so angry and frustrated. But Garrison Keillor had some snarky wisdom this morning… and I will take the snark every.single.day.
…I worry about how the Supreme Court might rule if asked to defend the right of high school students to carry a loaded weapon to class. And what is the constitutional basis for compulsory school attendance? Why shouldn’t six-year-olds be free to take factory jobs? Their little hands would be perfect for assembling small parts.
I am sure this snark will be lost on that moral-less minority who might actually think that compulsory school attendance is not something for all children… because after all, what could be better than to give those kids an early start in those factory jobs at greatly reduced pay, because they are so small!
Finally —
The tree is up and almost all decorated (I have a few finishing touches to get to this morning) and the lights are out on our bushes! Christmas can officially begin! LOL (and so can the weekend! Steve has today off!)
See you all back here on Monday!
by Kat | Nov 19, 2021 | General, In This Moment
A couple of weeks ago, Bonny wrote some letters… they were so good! (And so inspiring!) I thought it might be fun to write a letter or two this week! Thank you Bonny for inspiring me! (I see that she wrote some more letters this week as well!)
Dear Neighbor’s With the Holiday Lights:
I really enjoyed seeing your Halloween lights in October during Sherman’s Evening Constitutional! They were just so fun but I was slightly confused to see that you went from Halloween to Christmas overnight and I thought I’d take a moment to introduce you to the joys that are November (you know, that month between October and December…) November is full of really lovely days! We celebrate Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving Day. For the rest of the month it is all about savoring Autumn… leaves changing color as well as cooler days and nights. It just seems, well, commercial to be putting up and turning on your holiday lights on November 1st. I completely understand wanting to put holiday lights out while the weather is mild, but you know that you don’t have to actually turn them on immediately don’t you? Just a suggestion for next year!
Signed,
Your Neighbor who loves November
My Dearest Big Foot,
News Flash! Sock One is DONE! I hope to begin Sock Two later today. I think it will go a bit faster than the first sock because I seem to have more knitting bandwidth these days… which is a very good thing!
Love,
Your Knitting Half
And finally this week I really need to pen this letter (or ten) in reality… not just here in the blogosphere!
Dear Mental Health Crisis Centers of Michigan:
Yes, I realize that Crisis is a singular term… but really? Do you honestly think that a person having a mental health crisis has just one single problem? I did look after talking with all of you for any Mental Health Crises Centers of Michigan and found them to be a non-existent entity. You gave me a Mental Health Crisis after spending days calling and talking to therapists at your facilities only to be told that my loved one had “too many crises” and that they could not help. It made me understand in a profound way why we have so many homeless people… they too are probably in the crises category and deemed “incapable of help.” I knew that our mental health system was woefully lacking, but I did not truly understand how broken it is until this week. Despite your lack of help in even giving me other alternative places to call… by some miracle we stumbled into a place that would take my sister, no thanks to you at all. In fact, you all told me there was no place in Michigan that would take her. You really missed the mark on that one, unless you think Holland is really The Netherlands.
Signed,
The Woman who called you all this week
That is all I have for this week! Have a good weekend and perhaps write a letter or two! See you all back here on Monday.
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels
