It snowed today… again…
We woke up to a thin blanket of snow covering everything. Yesterday the ground was bare of snow — today a couple of inches so far. It’s also cold. Bone chilling cold. I’ve stayed in all day. But one thing snow means is that all the little birds in the area flock to your deck to peck at the window to let us know it’s time to fill the feeder. I didn’t know birds were so clever.
Yesterday we had an incident with the kerosene heater. It smoked. Turned out you need to occasionally jiggle it to make the chimney seat right. Who knew? We’d had the same model for years and never jiggled it. We’d used this heater for the last three months and never jiggled it until yesterday. When it smoked I turned the heat back and it stopped and thought that was it. Then I checked on it a few minutes later and it was smoking a bit. I shut it off. Then I spent the rest of the day rewashing the clothes that were in the basket waiting to go upstairs as they were covered with soot. And washing off just about every surface in the living room where the heater is. When Hyperion got home and got down to check it out (I’ve got arthritis in my knees so I don’t get down that low unless I absolutely positively have to), he found that it had a label with tiny print that said to open the tiny door and jiggle the thingy if it smoked. He did and its been working since.
Today we cleaned the living room floor and most of the flat surfaces. I’ve still got to wash windows, walls, floor, and dust all the books and things throughout the upstairs and the level with the heater. This is due to the fact that we occasionally touch things and find our fingers sooty. Less this evening than this morning since we’ve been picking at this problem all day.
I really don’t need these types of crises at the end of the month since we’re working on getting the zines up and live on February 1st. So, far I’m semi-keeping up. All I’ve got left to do right now is finish and polish my own reviews and do my editorial overviews of the issues. I can see the home stretch just down that long, long, tunnel — the one with the light at the end. At least I think it’s a light, but it could be a train. Is that a whistle I hear?…
The good news of today is that my first package for the Rockin’ Sock Club came from Blue Moon Fibers. I’d looked at the blog and on the Ravelry forum and so many people were reporting that they’d received their yarn and patterns. But, when I picked up the mail — nothing, nada, zip, zero — no fibery goodness at all.
Today, it was delivered. So, it’s sitting out so I can admire the yarn. It comes with two patterns and I’m going to dither for a while on which one to make because they’re both so wonderful looking. Hyperion says that if necessary we can buy a second skein so I can make them both — Isn’t he the best? Yeah, of course he is.
Anyway, now I have something to look forward to putting on the needles. Each year I’ve read about the Rockin’ Sock Club and wanted to join but just didn’t seem to get my act together enough to make the sign-up period willing to spend the money. Yeah, the world’s going to crap in the economy/financial area but the past year has been very stressful for me with my health and there’s some very inescapable commitments coming up that are inherently stress squared. So, after talking with Hyperion and going over the budget we decided that I could join this year. [Hyperion here: There’s money and then there’s life, and I know which is more important. Gayle really loves knitting and fiber. So if the Rockin’ Sock Club can bring her some much needed joy, I say it’s worth it at twice the price … or an extra skein of yarn so she can make the second pattern.]
Knitting after all, as every knitter knows, is way cheaper than paying a psychologist by the hour to listen to a litany of stressors that can’t be fixed and can’t be changed because they’re a part of your life that is going to be there until…well, forever. It’s nice that some people can change their lives, but when a good part of the stress is pain because you have a body that doesn’t function like it should — well, knitting is a way of keeping yourself centered so you can just keep on keeping on.
Once club members are allowed to post photos of their socks publicly, I’ll be sure to post the one I chose to do so you can be as excited as I am about it. Meanwhile, I’ll touch the fiber and dream of really nice socks until finish this month’s commitments and can cast on.
It’s still cold. It’s still snowy out there. But I’m smiling.