Monday, November 27, 2006

I'm The Empress-heck yeah!

MidwifeKnits


You are The Empress


Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.


The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.


The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.


What Tarot Card are You?
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Saturday, November 25, 2006

mmmm Coffeebeans and B&B and Woodbison oh my!

MidwifeKnits

It's Highland Wool Chunky in "Coffeebean Brown"...and it's the back to another new sweater for the midwife.


Midwife reads everyone gloating about their new SUKY over at elann.com, and goes and has a little pity party of her own. But she remembers that she still has LOTS and LOTS of yarn. She goes stashdiving and her hands graze over the mohair and the silk and the laceweight and the sockyarns...what oh what can she do? Huh..what's this...wooly squishy goodness...soft...almost velvety...let's look in the weak winter sunlight...why...it's some old chunky hiland wool originally purchased for a cably cropped cardigan....not that that would be flattering or anything..cropped and all. And then....the clouds lift...inspiration! This is about the same gauge/weight as Zen...and there was huge success with a green Zen (also purchased from elann.com) cardi a few years ago. Do I STILL have that pattern...of course...it's the cover from Vogue spring/summer 03....and I have all the Vogues back to 1999...so it was just a bit of digging...

a few hours knitting and Voila'. I think it's turning out quite well so far..and will be a great wardrobe booster...(cuz i might just embroider some little adornment around the wrists and neck with some of that Devon steeping in the corner. This will be the project du week. And just as a teaser...here's a shot too of the 3yr old zen cardi in the very same pattern....(i cannot believe i am knitting this pattern again...i NEVER do that..but this is a great pattern,easy to follow...and tre's flattering...so whatever.)


The B&B is seamed except for one underarm and side...which i guess makes it only about half seamed...and then BENNE...thank you very much..says...what about 3 needlebindoff for the long seams...(she was looking at her B&B I bet) ....you couldn't have said it yesterday or the day before...you had to wait until AFTER I'd gotten one seam done...now..the choices...arrgggh...do i finish seaming in the tedious old fashioned invisible seam way that works for me time and time again...but is tedious...or do i rip out that one seam and attempt Benne's innovative 3 needle side seam bindoff? Stay tuned...there'll be an FO within the week.

Woodbison...Schoeller Esslinger Merino Soft....also purchased years ago from elann.com ( i really don't get out shopping very often....elann.com IS my LYS)...that started out as a Rowan pattern pullover for DH...got kicked under the bed...pattern mistakes....knitting mistakes.....that's what i love about yarn..it's really just string...you can pull it all out and start over!...so i did...and doubled it...and knitted up some handy dandy fingerless mitts for stocking stuffers for DH! So cute these are...and...my very own design...(she blushes modestly)..OK , they are just knockoffs of other really talented people's design...with their basic pattern...but no cables, just some knit/purl stuff for texture. But I think the man will like them.

Modeled just for today by the fabulous Grandma Clara...who just can't understand why i wouldn't go ahead and make a full mitten or glove....oh well.

Today we are having our family photos taken. The photog will be here in an hour or so. Guess,I'd better shower, and get some semblence of gussied up. I'd rather (if i had my rathers) just hang out in my clean house and knit and reorganize the yarn room. Thanks for all of your comments. I enjoy hearing from everyone. There's so much that connects so many of us. And connection is really what it boils down to!

Friday, November 24, 2006

A "Mama" Meme

MidwifeKnits

Several days ago, Bets posted a “mama” meme. Bri shared a confusing/frustrating conversation she recently had with her mom. Relationships with moms are so complex. I’ve thought about my mom more in the past 72 hours than I have over the past year. This is good for me. You see, my mom died 26 years ago, when I was 19 and just coming into adulthood. I never knew her as an adult. My thoughts of her are clouded by time and colored with emotion. Her name was Sandra, but everyone except HER mom called her Sandy.

Sandy was born in Oklahoma in 1945 to a “good time girl”…my grandma Delores. Delores was an entertainer who had traveled with USO shows all around the world. Married and divorced 7 times, she left my mom to be raised by her grandparents (Dee & Winter) . Her father, Kenneth, was reportedly in Washington . Delores flitted in and out of Sandy’s life, bringing gifts and new boyfriends home every few months. Later on, as Sandy began her teen years, Delores moved her in with an abusive new stepfather who belittled and humiliated the plump teen. See, Sandy liked to smell things. Everything. No matter what it was, she would pick it up and give it a quick sniff. It was her way of “knowing” and identifying things. And she chewed on her bottom lip a lot, leaving a red, rashy area underneath. There are rumors that the abuse was more than verbal and physical. This is what I heard from her aunt anyway. Sandy was “shy, bookish, and excels academically.” This is a direct quote from a 10th grade report card urging my grandmother to have Sandy sign up for Honors English and providing information about college scholarship availability.

There is evidence that Sandy looked for her father. In the wooden box where the report card was, was another envelope addressed to Sandra. Inside was a handwritten letter from a woman who was Kenneths’ current wife. The letter stated “I don’t know what your mother told you, but you need to stop writing to Kenneth. He is not your father. Your mother was a whore that followed all the soldiers around. Kenneth is not your father and wants nothing to do with you.” This was sent by a grown woman to a 12 year old girl. How insanely cruel.

Sandy’s best girlfriends were Carol and her sister Judy. When they were about 15-16, they met “the boys”. “The boys”, were John, JC, and Paul….brothers ranging from 22-16…enlisted in the navy. Carol and John soon married and produced my cousin Paul. Sandy soon became pregnant too…..and married JC about 8 months after I was born. Paul returned to California where he met and married my aunt Gloria. (Uncle Paul and Aunt Gloria are my two FAVORITE people in the ENTIRE world). I was often left with my grandma Delores and great-grandma (Dee). In the wooden box of memorabilia with the report cards and letter, is a yellowed newspaper clipping from 1964 reporting the arrest of my mom and dad, aunt Carol and Uncle John, at the National Finals Rodeo. It appears from the report that the boys were drinking and trying to bring in a flask or bottle of whisky, and got into an altercation with security at the rodeo. My mom and Aunt Carol were arrested after they jumped onto the police officers’ backs to pull them off of “their men”. Their men getting in trouble with the law was a pattern that would repeat over and over for the rest of their lives. As a matter of fact, John died while incarcerated just a few years ago. JC was a little luckier…he didn't get caught as often.
Raised as a Catholic, and believing in love and commitment, Sandy was a devoted and loving wife to JC, through years of infidelity and verbal and physical abuse. She did the bookkeeping for JC s gas station. She had dinner on the table every night at 6pm. She kept an immaculate home. She went to the bars to make sure he’d have a ride home (and to keep him from going home with other women). This while working full time and caring for 2 kids. He was a very very mean drunk. Sandy would hide in her children’s bedrooms some nights when he would come home, not leaving until after he’d passed out. Once, he set our home on fire , once he drove his car through our front picture window. This, after she’d locked him out of the house in fear. I implored her time and time again to divorce this horror. But, she was Catholic, she was committed, and she had two kids. The violence escalated. To my mind at that time, she was spineless, weak, a doormat. The one and only time she “put her foot down” with me was to insist I take typing in high school. I was a teenager by then, and thought I had all the answers,.

Sandy had completed her GED and settled into a job as a secretary for an insurance agency. She remained there for 18 years, eventually promoted to assistant to the President. I didn’t see this professional, efficient, friendly, popular side of her until I was 16. I’d had a few jobs previously, lifeguard at the local pool, lots of babysitting, sales clerk at a nearby clothing boutique. I was saving for college and to get the hell outta dodge. My mom got me a part-time secretarial position in the company where she worked. (A little nepotism never hurt anyone). I saw her in a totally different light after that. Instead of the beaten down, mousy woman I knew, here was an energetic, smiling, friendly, compassionate person that everyone…everyone…went to for assistance, problem solving…getting things done. She was amazing. When she walked…she had her head up, walked briskly, and the top part of her body always got there before her bottom half…she was a forward thinker there. People liked her. They were always trying to get her attention, inviting her places. She was always gracious and kind to everyone. Even people who were mean, people who were idiots, or who were peripheral…the mailman, the delivery guy, the file clerk. She was always KIND. I started to get to know who she really was there…in that environment. We went shopping together or ate together once in a while, but her conversations about meal plans, coupons, etc…were of little interest to me. Her taste in clothing was vastly different from mine….and I unconsciously echoed JCs abuse when describing her lack of style. The only thing we had in common was our love of reading. We both devoured every book we could get our hands on. Every genre. Two video clip memories of us…one at the library when I was about 10…she is insistent that I read Pearl Buck’s “The Good Earth” (and I thought it was the best book I’d ever read at that time)…and again at Terry’s Used Bookstore…in the musty basement bookshelves, she turned me on to gothic romance…when I was about 12…I can picture her sitting at nighttime on the gold crushed velvet sofa, curled up in the corner with her feet under her, she is illuminated by circle of lamplight, nibbling at an index fingernail….reading….as she waited for the monster to come home.

When I was 13, I was taken away and placed in foster care for a couple of years. When I was able to come back home, after so-called “ family therapy” (you hafta remember, this was Oklahoma in the 60s and 70s), my mom said…”that chapter of our life is over, closed. We will never discuss it again.” And we didn’t. She would never allow it. Even as the abusive cycle slowly started up again….I remember crying and asking her to please let us leave….and her saying no..we can’t ….and me screaming…”I hate you, I hate you” at her. She slapped me hard across the face. And…I slapped her back…..just as hard. I was 16. Something intrinsic to our relationship changed in that moment. I think she began to see me no longer as a child….and I …well…I scared myself with my gumption and impulsiveness. But I also felt a sense of power and a sense of …maybe..self..for the first time. I moved out within a week. I continued to work with my mom in the afternoons, complete high school during the mornings. We still shared books, had friendly conversations, talked about my college plans. After graduation, she helped me make lists of things I’d need for my dorm room, helped me work out a budget.

In late August, I packed everything up , mailed boxes to my new dorm in Michigan, hopped on a Grayhound Bus and left. The weekend before, I’d had a bout of cold feet and started talking about “maybe just going to OU instead….like most of my friends”…but my mom said “NO…if you don’t get out of here now…you won’t ever leave…and if you don’t ever leave…you’ll never amount to anything”. ..
My freshman year, she mailed me letters and care packages every few months. We talked on the phone every week or so. I missed her horribly. She would send me books she’d read and then we’d talk about them on the phone. Sometimes, she’d send money. She bought me a warm winter coat and all I had to do was go to my local Sears to pick it up. I stayed in Michigan and worked over the summer. I had new friends, a new life. But in the fall, she told me..she was finally getting divorced. The abuse was too frequent..or too bad…or she’d just gotten tired of it…or her kids were finally raised…I don’t know what finally prompted her. I had my own problems at the time. Boyfriend trouble…nothing serious. But I decided to take the next semester off from school. After finals, I put my things in storage and flew to Oklahoma. I took a taxi to my mom’s building and walked into her office. She looked up and said “may I help you”…it took her a few seconds to realize it was me….it had been 15 months and she wasn’t expecting me home. She looked back at me and said “oh my gosh, what are you doing here, you’re so fat” all in one breath…I knew it wasn’t mean spiritied, I’d just surprised her. (I’d gained the freshman 40). She’d always been plump herself, but now was so tiny…a size 6…and dressed very chicly ( it had been polyester doubleknit pantsuits before)…and with painted manicured nails….her nails had always been bitten to the quick…a habit I inherited and have only broken in the last 10 years. Divorce was agreeing with her. We had a really nice holiday together. We fought a few times because she wouldn’t let me borrow her car and wanted to impose a curfew on my going out . But she let me have my old job back…”just until you go back to school, you are going to summer school to make this semester up aren't you?".

I’m really glad I went back. Looking back I don’t know what made me make the decision to take time off…maybe a premonition…who knows. But on February 2nd, one of her co-workers came to my cubicle and said “Lisa hurry your mom’s really sick”…she had passed out and was having a seizure in her office. She came too and complained of a severe headache…said she’d been taking Sine-Off all morning…I thought it was an overdose of medication…so I put her in my car and drove towards the hospital…on the way there, she had another seizure….and in the ER….a final one…and slipped into a coma. She’d had a cerebral aneurysm that had ruptured…today we call them hemorrhagic strokes. Dozens of people came to the hospital over the next few days. Waiting in the ICU area, around the clock. Some of my friends in a band set up speakers and started jamming in the hospital cafeteria….To this day the Neil Young song “Helpless” evokes that vignette and makes me tear up. She died on February 5th without regaining conscioussness. My younger brother (14 at the time) was in the room with her when she died. JC was drunk the whole time. Delores (her mom) was wacked out on pills crying “no one should have to bury their child” …it was always about her and how she felt…she didn’t bury her….I did. I made all the arrangements for the funeral and burial. I went through probate. I sorted out, gave away, and packed up her things. In doing so, I found out things about her that I didn’t know…..things like…a pair of black crotchless underwear….made me smile….and a card from a man that she worked with alluding to a weekend they’d had together in Chicago where he stated “ I can’t wait to held your pretty face between my hands again”…that brought tears to my eyes…because at last she did have love….someone who treated her to romance and loving words. I went to see this man a few years later. I told him thank you for loving my mom. We never said anything specific. (He was married). But we both were tearful…and I am still grateful to him.

So, it is a little difficult to come up with a mama meme, because I feel like I just barely began to scrape the surface in knowing who my mother was. …….and it is even more complicated by finding out just a few years ago that JC in fact is not my father, but his brother…my Uncle Paul….really is. Jerry Springer here I come! Overall though, I can pull out many positive things about my mom. She loved animals, especially cats. She had large art pictures of lions and tigers in our living room. She loved to go to the lake. She liked to try water skiing. She liked going to the state fair and ride the Scrambler…and eating pineapple whip softserve. She took me and my little brother to Woolaroc to see bison and go through the museum. She was a total lady. She never swore.When she was really really mad, she said “hell’s bells”. She drank diet Pepsi ALL THE TIME, except in the evening...then she drank TJ Swan "Happy Days". She loved babies and toddlers and had a special fondness for my cousin “Duckie” (Angie). She was kind. She had a great sense of humor. She was really smart. She would have enjoyed traveling I think. She only got to go to Chicago and Dallas and Branson MO in her lifetime. In retrospect, think she did the best she could considering her upbringing and the place and the time. I have missed her a lot. The first time I really missed her was after moving back to Michigan, and upon finishing a new Steven King novel, I immediately picked up the phone and dialed her number…and realized she wasn’t going to answer…and had a major grief meltdown…..four months after she died. I missed her after I got to travel to Europe, and Asia…because I wanted to share with her the pictures and the impressions of the people and buildings and cultures. I missed her again when at 30 I decided to finally commit to marriage with DH, and I was picking out a dress and planning our wedding. I missed her again a few years later when I became pregnant with what would have been her first grandchild-DD. I missed her when I graduated from college, and from my midwifery program. I miss her now that DD is a teen…it would have been nice to commiserate…and see if my teen self was as melodramatic….i will always wonder what she was really like, and who she would have become. She was only 35 when she died….I know that I have a different perspective at 45 than I did a decade ago.…and I will always miss her. I did tear up a few times while writing this. But the pain is old and familiar…like an arthritic ache in my heart instead of my knee…and it’s very tolerable now. I like to think I would have made her proud. There aren’t very many people around anymore who remember her. But I am sure those that do remember her…do so with fondness. She was just that kind of lady.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Morning Cheer


MidwifeKnits

Fake Isle-Not Happening. Wasted an evening on it. With a different variagated yarn-maybe-but i don't think i like colorwork at this large of a gauge/this weight of yarn-maybe it's just me.

Fingerless Mitts-Whoo baby! Now you're talking! There was quite a commotion about Fingerless Mitts after Benne posted her beautiful HW rendition of the IK Holiday 2006 issue cable fingerless mitt pattern in the Elann.com chat room. Gorgeous job she did. Totally inspired me. Alas, that is the ONLY IK I don't have (seriously...going back almost 5 years! I have all of them!) And I DON"T have it because she and Bets panned it so much as a rerun of all the other neat little gift patterns. So, being the frugal midwife that I am..I said to myself..."I will not get it". And of course, now...that is the one pattern I want most of all...at this point in time. But fear not...CBM to the rescue with a link to a very similar pattern with one major difference...FREE!!!!... thank you CBM!

What you see now is one of an almost completed pair of "Cabled Fingerless" by Kimberly Gintar over at http://www.thegivingflower.de
Go take a look at her easy peasy well-written pattern for knitting these cuties up in the round!
The gauge--err--whatever it says in the pattern--(i didn't check). The needles, a set of 4 sz 6 Brittany double points. The yarn....good as sunshine on a blustery day Kureyon....my modifications-used 44 stitches instead of 48 due to increased yarn weight....note...had to work to push Kureyon around on size 6s at times..but the resulting dense warm fabric is so worth it.

These will be a Christmas gift for DD. Have a great rest of the weekend...Will be finishing that B&B this week Benne!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

B&B Update & Fake Isle



MidwifeKnits

Finished up the Red Scarf Project scarf that will wing its way to Michigan this weekend for Trish to forward on...what next..Kiri is still pouting in the corner and I'm not feeling the love quite yet to get back in touch with her....however...languishing on my desk for the past several months is...B&B. Was doing a lil B&B along with some other elannites last spring. And I finished it. All except the seaming. So I started seaming...lets just say...a few months ago. I seamed the shoulders. Then the directions said..pick up neckline blahblahblah...so i did. And that was all. And there she sat. So patient. Getting buried again and again by other patterns, other yarn...some beads. This, that, some of the other stuff. So I have now gathered back up all needed notions to get this most patient of pullovers completed. And had every intention of working on it tonight until that naughty Jayne asked " Has anyone seen November Mag Knits?". Well obviously I had to check it out. The pattern "Fake Isle" was so nifty, I just had to bump B&B once again (but just for a little bit...I promise this time...really...honest). Stash diving revealed just the right Kureyon & Lamb's Pride combo. Pointy sticks, markers, yarn and pattern are waiting for me...and there's an all new "ER" tonight. Guess what I'm gonna be doing.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

La Vest


MidwifeKnits

The pattern: Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton, Volume 2
The yarn: "SAGE", 70% alpaca/30% wool-Artfibers-color number ?
a gorgeous dark green/black/ melange. Sz large took less than 600m at
gauge on sz 10s.
The model: one tired-ass midwife, who was very pleased that the vest actually fit well and was flattering, and not in the least "matronly". AND NO--the bottom is not ASS-SYMETRICAL-it's just the way I was standing or had tugged one side down--ok--I admit it, if it's not green scrubs, someone should probably dress me!
My modifications: This is a very simple P6K2 rib tank with shaping at the waist. I made the pattern a little longer and omitted the first K2 at each side in order to reduce bulk and ribbing weirdness. This would work very well knitted in the round to the armholes and then dividided. This was such a quick and easy knit (took less than 8 hours including seaming) that it will be knit again, perhaps as a summer top, or even 'gasp" another vest.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

We Interrupt Tonight's Knitting


MidwifeKnits

To introduce you to DEK! Born at 9:51pm, 8#3oz sparky little girl! I had the privilege of catching her older sister last year (who wieghed in at 9#8oz..thank you very much!) Mama J you are an incredibly strong and graceful woman who made my job so easy tonight. Your quiet power, your gentle laughter, your determination...slipped this bright eyed wonder that came right out crying..into my waiting hands. Thank you for another beautiful birth.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Churro Basix

MidwifeKnits


This hat is knit "top down" beginning with a 3 stitch I-cord, then increasing (in the round..on DPNs...K1M1= 6 stitches, K2M1=9 stitches, then K1M1=18st, K2M1=27 st, K3M1 = 36 st, etc...increasing until you have x number of stitches (I used 90) (basic pi formula) but it will depend totally on your gauge and what size yarn you use. then you just knit in the round (you can switch to circs) adding garter for accent here and there, until you get to the length you like. Another thing I like about the Churro is that you can try it on for length before you bind off. You can also center your ear flaps or make them more towards the back of the head, depending on how you like them to fit. These are fun and addictive and truly are my "default" gift hat. Takes about an evening to do...another evening/hour and a half or so to sew in the lining. So...take a gander at the photos and I bet you can come up with your very own interpretation. The original pattern is from Amy Singer (of Knitty fame) and is called "Churro", and found in "knitwit" which is very difficult to locate these days.

Churro Family part II


MidwifeKnits

Lining photo just so's you know what I'm talking about!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Churro Family






MidwifeKnits

Here is a little album of the Amy Singer KnitWit pattern Churro. I've made at least one for every family member...several friends...and just recently modified it for an infant. The most recent ones for the family I've lined with polarfleece to 1) provide an extra layer of warmth-especially on windy days and 2) decrease itch potential. Using a 1/4 yard (actually less) of the polar fleece, I just cut a circle a little larger than the top of the hat, then a folded piece that follows the length and ear flap of the part from crown to brim. Sew this around the circle, then handstitch the lining into the brim/edging of the knitted hat. Anyway...these are quite popular in my neighborhood and I'll be making at least 2 more for holiday gifts for DH's best guyfriend and his sound technician.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

doggie love


MidwifeKnits

I started a MEME yesterday. It's one of those "100 things about me". Well..it's also one of the assignments I give my patients in the groups I facilitate. I haven't done one of these lists in a VERY long time so I thought I'd give it a go. My objectives for my patients are to develop and flesh out a sense of who they are and what is important for them in their lives...and I ask them to be honest with themselves. Their are limits and borders to different individual's comfort levels with sharing aobut themselves..the good and the not so good and the downright ugly. And you really have to dig for 100 different things. I'm still somewhere in the 70s.

Besides, as an exercise for myself, it's very therapeutic and a little eye-opening when I read it over. It must be done thoughtfully to have any value. That being said, I'm not sure as to whether I'm comfortable putting it up on the blog. It's not anything I wouldn't care if people I work with, work for, or my patients ever know. I think I'm a pretty open person, but my best girlfriend shakes her head and says..."er...not so ", which I find REALLY interesting. On the other hand, I've a history of journaling..nothing regular...and not of anything to note..just a way to make sense of my place in the world around me. To organize my thoughts about life. Anyway...

Besides knitting, birthin,and the family...the critters hold a huge place in my life. You've already met Pearl the Purrfect Persian...so now..you can meet Tallulah!
Lulu for short...She's an Irish Wolfhound (Wheaten)..about 6 years old now which is getting very mature for the giant breeds. She weighs just a snudge (about 3#) more than me right now. Put into perspective, I'm 5'9". She's the 3rd IW I've been heartfasted to. I know that sounds medieval and melodramatic, but honestly these are the most amazing animals. The are called hearthounds for a reason. Their intelligence and gentleness are their legacy. They are truly the gentle giants. You can see a fine example of the role of IWs in the movie "The Thirteenth Warrior" with that oh-so-yummy Antonio Banderas. Two reasons this is one of the very short list of movies I will watch more than once. But, I digress. Here in all our doggie love glory is my Lulu girl! She was born in Arizona and has a lovely pedigree. We previewed video after video of her until she was old enough to leave her mom and come to live with us! She is soooo sweet and goofy, but dreadfully lazy! She was spayed as soon as possible (ANOTHER OF MY SOAPBOXES!!!) and is an ideal family member...except for eating the odd shoe..dining room chair..antique linen chest.. as a pup. She's my walking buddy, lounging buddy, big love girl. When I'm on the computer, she's lying on the floor behind my chair. When I'm knitting, she's lying across the threshold like a barrier to the intrusions of the outside world. She looooves doggie treats...and people treats...and ear scratches.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

TIME OUT




MidwifeKnits
Hooray...I get a few days off...a full 3 day weekend with someone else covering for me. I'm kicking back, having a beer, reading blogs, pattern/yarn surfing...DH is cooking dinner...DD has finished her homework and is working on my Ipod, Gramma Clara...well, I don't know, I didn't even stop in to say hi tonight yet...(bad Lisa) dogs are sleeping, cats are sleeping....yeah...life is good tonight!

Was a really busy week at work...with all that birthin goin on....the midwife got a little ( ok a lot) behind on some major important paperwork...(important for billing) plus licensure renewal documentation of continuing education hours...blahblahblah! Aaaaaaannnnnddd...I have a huge project that I've been working on for about 2 years that looks like it will actually get off the ground by January! Hooray, met with our psychiatrist and the rest of the team today and he is now totally on board with the buprenorphine project. Buprenorphine is a fairly new drug approved for the treatment of opioid addiction (read addiction to heroin, oxycontin, vicodin, percocet, demoral...) instead of methodone. Most of my moms on methodone are sooo out of it because of the sedating effect of methodone...plus, they HATE going to the methodone clinic every damn day, jumping thru all the hoops to get it...and worst of all ...there are only 72 slots for methodone treatment in THE ENTIRE STATE OF ALASKA. enough said. The women I've seen on buprenorphine are doing well in treatment, not sedated, able to think clearly, able to parent, and don't have the daily hoop dance. We were able to get it on our formulary in July...the protocols are written...the players have done the buy-in...now we just have to do a couple of walk throughs and get our protocols finalized for the pilot project....I'm excited...can you tell.

In knitting news...i've been a little...ummm....fickle...
I'm "almost" like within an hour or so ...finished with the Red Scarf Project scarf. I like it...i don't love it...but that's ok i guess...
I've made a major commitment to BUY NO MORE YARN until after January 1....even Elann's wonderful new offerings...even for gifts....but I MUST put a new roof on the house next summer (this past extremely rainy summer demonstrated every single leak and then some)...and that has eaten voraciously into my yarn budget. Never fear...the midwife does have "stashicus extremicus" and I went stash shopping on Tuesday night. What did I find...well let me show you!

Lovely, soft, luscious 70% baby alpaca/30% wool ....I have 8 50g balls purchased from Artfibers in San Francisco ( a must visit for any self respecting knitter in the neighborhood!) about 4 years ago. Not quite enough for a sweater...but definately enough (and the right gauge..whoot!) for a darlin' lil vest. So...whaddaya think...It's knitting up marvelously...soft, silky, squishy, warm...sooooo beautiful...I hope you can see all the exquisite colors that show up in the light...it reminds me of raven's wings in the sunlight.

The pattern is from Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton's Volume II, very very simple P6K2 rib...but it has a really nice shape to it. Crossing my fingers that it won't look too matronly when finished.

Well, dinner is on the table and there are pork chops to be eating, beer to be drinking, and yarn to be knitted. So until later...I bid you all a fond adieu!

Monday, November 06, 2006

sensational shirttail & red scarf project



MidwifeKnits

The Sensational Shirttail from Arans & Celtics is finished. Signed, sealed, delivered...I'm yours! Schoeller Stahl Wonderwool Tweed-Avocado-12 balls-every bit of it (ok...maybe 30" left and the gauge swatch..that's it!) purchased from Elann.com back in Feb 06...great progress until bumped by the yet unfinished B&B..picked back up after the Kiri (still unfinished) fiasco! Ends woven over a few beers on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I'm liking it a lot...will wear it and see how it works for me.

Good progress on the Red Scarf Project--a simple Twin Rib pattern in Paton's Shetland Chunky Tweed. 75% acrylic, 25% wool. A nice warm cushy hand when knit up on size 10s, and the twin rib is unisex and reversible. Will be winging its way to Trish this week sometime.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Harlot Baby Sweater & Baby Churro


MidwifeKnits

Lots of baby knitting going on here! No, not for MY patients, but for my reproducing co-workers! Like rabbits they are, I tell you! It's good to have fast and easy knittables for baby gifts. The last few have been the MD Kimono...but this yarn (machine washable merino from Lorna's Laces) just didn't look right in that pattern...rippit rippit rippit...a quick search found Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's (aka Yarn Harlot) "Daisy" pattern. Sweet little raglan cardi with seed stitch borders/edging. And the matching hat...well..(the midwife pats herself on the back) that's just my math wizardry shrinking down the ubiquitous family Churro to baby size. What a cute combo eh...glad it's finished...the recipient is due on Sunday!