Diane at Britknits has given me an award. I know these things don't come with any monetary award but there's something nice about coming into work, logging onto your computer and finding out that someone likes reading what you write. When I started writing this about 18 months ago, I didn't know if anyone but my family would read and I had no idea of the friends I would make. It has brought so much joy into my life. I hate having to nominate people because I love all the blogs I read (or else I wouldn't read them!).

1.Please put the award on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. You must nominate 4 fellow bloggers for this award.

4. Add links to the recipients.

5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Random Meanderings written by bezzie. She is a fellow Jerseyite, for the time being. But not born and bred so her take on things here in the Garden State are always interesting. She is also the originator of the K.A.Y.E. award. Curious? Check her out.

Samurai Knitter written by Julie. She is the most widely read and curious person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I always learn something new when I read her blog, even if it's that I should stay away from the Vogue Knitting magazine.

Sheepish Annie. Anne is a teacher of children who are less than well behaved and the mother of two cats and a spinner and knitter. She writes with humor and is working hard to educate the generation of people who will be taking care of us when we get old.

A few stitches short written by Susan. Susan is an unbelievably creative designer and an inspirational writer. In a little over a year, she has started a design business (as well as published a book and maintained a household and knitted a lace wedding shawl) that has some lovely designs.

There are four of my favorites. Thanks, Diane. I was so tired this morning and you made me smile.

One of the really good things about having a husband who likes to play with woodworking tools is that when you mention that you would like to have some more bobbins for your spinning wheel, he goes out and makes two of these. Isn't it pretty? It's one piece and very light. It amazes me that it started out as two boards glued together and fastened to the lathe. There are two more in the works. I'll have enough bobbins to indulge my spinning habit.

I thought I'd share some of the colors of fall as I see them around. Here are two of the chrysanthemums in the front of the house. They have come back every year for the past 3 years and we add more as we feel like it. I haven't filled in the spots yet this year but the ones from last year are blooming beautifully. This was Sunday around 1:00 in the afternoon. You can see the sunshine reflected off the blooms.

I spun two bobbins of the camel/silk before my hands started to protest. I still have a rather large bump to spin. It spins so fine that it takes some time to fill a bobbin (and my bobbins are rather small). It's nice to finally feel like what I'm spinning is yarn.

I was rather organized this morning and managed to get some dinner into the crock pot before I left the house. Mondays are the best days for remembering I have a crock pot. It's my busiest day and I like to come home to a house that smells all savory.

Well, here we go. Have a good Monday!

The lace and I aren't talking at the moment. I gave it all day yesterday, in between loads of laundry, to play nice. It refused. It is sulking in the bag and I am going to soothe myself with a holiday gift project. I'm not sure what the problem is but after trying for 2 days to get past the 6th row, I'm putting it aside for now. I actually started row 7 once but there is a quirky part where you p1 and k1 through a double yarn over down in row 2 and then drop the next stitch on the needle and when I did it, the whole thing unravelled in a most unattractive way. I must be doing something wrong.

Here is a photo of the yarn I bought myself for being a good dental patient. It's 1200 yds of merino and soft. I didn't have anything in mind when I bought it, I just liked it. I think that is a sign of a serious addiction. Usually, I buy yarn for a purpose, not just because it's beautiful.



The weather today is windy and sunny. I have been listening to the wind chimes outside my bedroom window for the last two hours. I love wind chimes and have two sets outside the house. I would love more but I like my neighbors and don't want to drive them crazy.


I'm off to shower and fix some breakfast and resume the washing of the winter clothes. I stopped at 8 last night and have 3 loads left for today. It takes so long because everything is heavy and bulky and takes up a lot of space in the washer.

Have a restful Sunday.

I'm waiting for a mystery book to download so I have something to listen to today as I do my chores. I find I don't mind them quite so much if I have something interesting to listen to. Our library's new audiobook service only allows 4 books to be "checked out" at a time for a two week period. This is tough for me because I listen frequently (it's what I do instead of watch television) and I can easily go through the books before my two weeks are up. Pk to the rescue! He allowed me to use his library card and check out books so I have 4 books a week, an embarassment of riches. I am waiting for a Dean Koontz novel to download. I like his stuff because there is always an element of hope in the story and the good guys always win in the end.

Here is my first foray into A Long Lacey Summer. It's my newest nemesis. I have learned that I have a rather steep learning curve when it comes to true lace patterns. I always have to try them several times before we make friends and I can move along. And this one has a p2togtbl (purl two together through the back loop). Thank goodness for online knitting guides. It took a while of playing with it before I figured out that one. It's a strange stitch and not easily performed. I really like the pattern chose and I love the yarn and I now have the right size needles. I have cast on several times and gotten as far as row 6 before I had to rip it and start again. I know that one of these times I will get it right and be able to keep on going. I think part of the problem might have been the pain medicine. Codeine is not conducive to clear thought and perhaps I'll have better luck today.

I noticed that the leaves are turning rapidly here and I need to remember to take my camera with me when I go out. I love the colors of fall as much as I love the first little buds of spring. All it will take is one good rain storm and they'll all be gone.

This weekend we are getting out the winter clothes. Because of a lack of closet space, our off season clothing is stored in the attic in totes. It's always a chore to take all of them out, sort and wash them and then sort through the current season clothes and put them away. I am trying to be ruthless in the sorting. If I didn't wear it this summer, it goes to Goodwill. There is no reason to hang onto clothes that I don't wear. I hate putting away the summer clothes. It means that summer is really, really over. Like the cold temps at night haven't been hint enough.

The tooth is better today although there will be no chewing on that side for a while. There is no throbbing and the swelling seems to have gone down. I think it helped that I was asleep all night and not talking.

Have a good Saturday!

Well, it's done. The dentist told me he originally didn't think that the prognosis was good but it turned out way better than he hoped. Yay!

And then the numbness wore off......Ouch. I visited my regular dentist and she put a temporary crown on to protect the area until it heals and then she will put the permanent crown in, probably about a week. In the meantime, I have some tylenol with codeine which I just took so in a little while I should be asleep.

Before the numbness wore off, I called Kate and we took a ride to Woolbearers, our favorite lys. It's not really local but it's a good store. I needed a lace needle to start the Triad scarf and I treated myself to a skein of hand dyed laceweight yarn in deep blues and purples and little bits of green. Beautiful. I figured it was better than treating myself to a dozen donuts. I deserved a treat for being such a good patient this morning and they don't give out decoder rings anymore.

Kate and I stopped at the Asian Food Market on the way back. I love this store. There is not much in English and the variety of foodstuffs that are new and different is fascinating. I got a ham and egg bun to eat for lunch (very soft food) and some water chestnuts for the stir fry for dinner and some buns to steam for dinner. Kate got some odd drinks and of course, Pocky. I figured I'd get home before the anaesthetic wore off and we just made it.

Now I can feel my tongue and lips again (lidocaine makes your mouth feel so weird!).

Here is a bump of the baby camel/silk roving I bought. Doesn't it look soft? It is. Very. It feels just like hair (well, duh) and when you try to draft it, you get piles of stuff that looks like this. Kinda of a mess. It sticks to everything and is hard to get off the furniture and your clothes and out of your nose and off the cats and well, it's everywhere.

But if you persevere, you get a lovely ball of soft yarn that you can then knit into a soft, warm garment to keep a loved one warm. It's not hard to spin, once you get over the fact that you end up wearing as much of the roving as you spin. It slips right through my fingers and lets me spin nice thin yarn that will be a joy to knit.

Well, I think I'd like to sit outside in the rather warm October sunshine for a little while until I fall asleep. I hope you are all having a lovely Friday.

Regarding our "sick time policy". It is sucky. They are fairly generous with the time. I think 11 days a year is a goodly amount and they can accrue to a fairly high number. I had something like 400 hours of sick time before I dislocated my ankle and used 6 weeks. The problem is that when we are evaluated each year, there is a section of the evaluation that is all about the "occurrences". Each time you call out sick (or for a personal emergency), that is an occurence. If you hit 5 occurrences in one rolling year, you get a good talking to. If you then have another one, you get a written warning and then you have to go an entire year without an "unscheduled absence" or you move onto the next stage of the disciplinary process. Actually, once you're officially in the disciplinary process, it's darn near impossible to get out.

I'm not sure which HR genius thought of the policy but we are a healthcare organization. They are encouraging people to come to work sick and spread the germs around. If I come in and then go home early, I can use sick time but it's not an occurrence. So, people drag their sick selves into the door and then wait an hour and go home. And that is not to mention all the individuals who are suffering from major mental illness and neglect to take care of their physical health and bring loads of germs into our lives each day. It's a no win situation.

Earlier this year, I took some days off, pre-approved so they should not count as occurrences. I got called on the carpet and had to fight to keep myself out of the disciplinary process. And that is why I am taking a vacation day tomorrow to have my tooth worked on.

I frogged the Opal sock and started it again using size 2.0 needles and what a difference. The pattern looks better and the fabric is more acceptable. What a difference size makes.

I ordered a pattern from Sunflower designs . The "Triad scarf". One of Susan's new "aperitif" line. I'm waiting for the yarn I ordered to come and then I'm ready to start my first "summer lace" project.

I ordered some alpaca/silk blend from Knitpicks in the spice color. The patern looks interesting and it's supposed to be a "quick little knit". Those words and "lace" don't belong in the same sentence where I'm concerned! I'm looking forward to it.

Well, I've dallied too long. Today is a "hit the ground running" kind of day. I have charts to prepare, a meeting on the psych ward and a crisis mgmt class to teach this afternoon.

Have a good day!

If you've never visited this site, you're in for a laugh. It is funny and never fails to make me smile.

Today it's standing in for me as I struggle to stay awake. I went to the endodontist and he took an x-ray and said he wouldn't touch the tooth until I had been on an antibiotic for a few days. So, he prescribed clindamycin (which makes me very drowsy) and rescheduled the procedure for Friday morning at 8 am. I started the medicine (thus the drowsiness) and will take Friday off from work and have the procedure. It means getting my courage up to return to the office a second time. They are all nice folks in there but they have sharp, pointy instruments and they want to work inside my mouth.

I am given 11 sick days each year but pay a penalty at evaluation time for using them so I dragged my sorry self into work today. I think I am getting a cold and along with the medicine, I feel like something the cat dragged in. I'm going to finish up and leave early and go home and sleep. I am such a cotton head today.

Even though one of my girls likes the Opal sock, I am frogging it today. I think I might like it if it were done on smaller needles. The pattern calls for 2.75's and I think they are too large for the thin yarn. I'm going to give it a try on smaller needles and if that doesn't work, we'll let the yarn marinate for a while. I ordered some silk/alpace laceweight yarn yesterday to make a shawl to participate in the southern hemisphere's lacey summer sort of knit along. It's all very loose and has no deadlines so I'm in. I ordered a color called "spice" so we'll see. It looks like it's browns and reds and manogany.

Have a good Wednesday. Someone around here is cooking bacon and it's killing me it smells so good! Bacon is something I indulge in only infrequently and just the smell makes me hungry.