PJ Trader

It’s been a month almost and my finger hasn’t felt any better by not knitting and crocheting.  So tonight I said, to HECK with it and grabbed up some yarn and a hook.  I want to play.

See, at Barnes and Noble the other day, I looked through the knitting and crocheting magazines.  Bought a knitting one to glance through.  Found the new issue of one I’m subscribed to on the stands.   There it is on the left with a picture of a crocheted dress on the cover.

The dress caught my eye, I opened the issue and glanced at it.  Then reminded myself I didn’t need to buy it, my issue would come in the mail aaaannnnnyyyyy day now.  Of course, I say this remembering that the last issue showed up a good month after it had hit the newstands and a day after I emailed customer service inquiring the normal mail dates.

 Two days later, that dress came to mind again.   I wonder how it would look on me?  I wonder if they sized it for me?  I wonder what yarn could be used?  I wonder…

So I went out last night and bought the issue.  So what if I have two copies of the last three issues.  Spares are always good.  (Now, of course, mine will come any day now.)

I’m still mulling over the possibility of making the dress for Nationals.  The swatching instructions are a bit unclear to me, as there’s no clear definition of the patterns to match up with the gauge instructions unless you just dive in, create the bodice fronts and backs and then start the main pattern.  That’s a lot of time investment to find out the gauge is off, if you know what I mean.  So I gotta study on that pattern some more.

But there was a cute felted tote bag pattern in the same issue that I studied on the pattern a bit last night and even shopped on line for the brand of wool it used.  Then today, when a coworker was using a plastic garbage bag for a briefcase, I thought maybe it would be fun and useful if I made the bag for her.

Never having felted before, I dutifully made up a LARGE swatch tonight (11″ x 11″) and checked gauge (spot on!).  The pattern calls for two strands of wool to be held together.  As I was half double crocheting and watching the yarn colors meld, I thought of a certain knitter who shall remain nameless, but will recognize the label The Fussy Knitter. 

The Fussy Knitter, I thought, would probably insist on matching up the colorways of these two balls of wool as she worked with them.  I wondered if that would change the pattern of the variegated wool.  Decided it probably would, but wasn’t worth frogging the swatch back for.  Even, sigh, made a mental note to match the colorways when I start the tote.  Sigh.  The Fussy Knitter’s influence is felt even though she’s miles and miles away.

 Tomorrow I’ll run the swatch through the washing machine and check to see how much it shrinks and whether I like the look of the wool after felting. 

And to think, if The Fussy Knitter hadn’t posted and taught us all about adventures in felting, I might never have gotten the courage to throw $5 of wool in the washer and dryer on purpose to shrink it.  Amazing.

When I was stationed in New Jersey, in the lovely <koff> metropolis of Pemberton, just outside Fort Dix/McGuire AFB, I found a wine in the base Class 6 store (that’s milspeak for the liquor store). 

Tomasello Winery is a New Jersey winery, located in Hammonton, sort of on the way to Atlantic City.  That’s mid-southern New Jersey for the geographically challenged, who consider all of New Jersy to be Soprano like.  That part of New Jersey is green and sprawling and very beautiful.

Anywho, the wine I found at the Class 6 store was called a Mulled Spice Wine.  I don’t remember the time of year I bought it, but I like to fantasize that it was turning nippy, which is a nice time to drink mulled red wine.

It’s not for connoisseurs, I don’t think.  It’s unexceptional, and far too sweet for most people’s taste.  Here’s the description from Tomasello’s website:

Tomasello Mulled Spice Wine is made from a moderately sweet Native American grape flavored with cinnamon and clove. Often served warm with a slice of orange and a cinnamon stick, this wine has been called the perfect “après-ski” wine. Mulled Spice is very popular around the Holidays but available year-round.

But on a frosty cold day, this wine will warm you up.   

I found out the very hard way that, due to some laws that were enacted in the post-Prohibition era, several states will not ship alcohol out of their state.  New Jersey, of course, is one of them.  (So are most of the surrounding states.)  So I can’t have the wine shipped here.  Even if someone who lives in the state goes and buys the wine, they can’t haul it to their local UPS store and send it to me.  (Believe me, we tried.)

So I resorted to trying to make my own tonight.  A cheap-ish country red wine made my a local Missouri vineyard, some mulling spices, a wee bit of sugar and warmed over my trusty ceramic stovetop.

It wasn’t the same, but it’ll do in a pinch.  Sigh.

Forgive me, as I have not blogged regularly and thus driven my few visitors away for long periods of time.

I admire Claire Delacroix/Cross/Deborah Cooke over at her Alive & Knitting blog.  She posts nearly every day (although I suspect she writes a bunch all at once and just sets the blog to post one a day).  Her posts are insightful, original, and tend to inspire at least three second of deep, emotional insight in me.  I’m amazed at her ability to associate things (such as ball winders, today’s topic) with the emotional (such as how to turn failures into successes).  Color me shallow, because I can only make those connections after a ”I should have had a V-8″ moment.

Which is why my blog consists of odd observations out of moments of my life that are neither startling nor particularly unusual.   But I attempt to entertain, nonetheless.

So, first off today, I’d like to say thanks to Claire/Deb for sending me prezzies in the mail today.  See, she’s my dealer.  First, she got me hooked on knitting and crocheting again.  About three years ago I’d sold my yarn stash in a garage sale and never looked back.  Then last year she poked and prodded and got me into it again.  Since then, I’ve accumlated over 8 bins of yarn, much of which was enabled by her.  “I’m going to the Spin-Rite outlet store today,” she’d email me on a drizzly morning.  “Shall I pick you up anything?”

Next think I know, twenty-three balls of yarn show up on my doorstep.  Or huge cones of soy wool in sunset colors. 

Today she sent me some additional Bernat Satin to match up some she sent earlier.  I have enough now to knit up a couple of emergency shelters for the next blizzard.  At least we’ll be spotted in the white-out with the bright pinks that yarn has. 

But, here’s the kicker, she included her next book in the package.
Kiss of Fire is due out on February 5th and is already getting rave reviews.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the two already posted on Barnes and Noble, go ahead, I’ll wait:    http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780451223272&itm=2

I’m pretty sure Ms. Cooke didn’t send those reviewers balls of yarn to influence their reviews.

Books and yarn.  What a nice way to spend a cold winter’s evening. 

(Oh, wait.  I think I’m supposed to be writing too…)

This month, Claire over at her Alive & Knitting blog challenged her fellow yarn addicts to do some good for charity during the post-holiday letdown.  I felt obliged to jump at the challenge, as I have several dozen afghan squares that members of RWA Online have sent to me that needed to be joined for Warm Up America afghans.

Instead, I find myself on the injured reserved list this month.  According to a highly reliable diagnostician (my sister – the woman with enough medical initials behind her name to start her own alphabet) and validated with a few internet searches, I DO NOT have arthritis in my right hand ring finger.

I have a trigger finger.  Which, based on the name, you’d think should only be applicable to fingers that are used to pull a trigger like, say, for a weapon.  But alas, this is not so and trigger finger can occur in any finger. 

 For the similarly uneducated (as I was) the esteemed Mayo Clinic website writes:

Trigger finger is a condition in which one of your fingers or your thumb catches in a bent position. Your finger or thumb may straighten with a snap — like a trigger being pulled and released. If trigger finger is severe, your finger may become locked in a bent position.

Often painful, trigger finger is caused by a narrowing of the sheath that surrounds the tendon in the affected finger. People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are more susceptible. Trigger finger is also more common in women than in men, and in anyone with diabetes.

Let’s take a look at those last sentences again.  ”People whose work or hobbies require repetitve gripping actions are more suseptible.  Trigger finger is more common in women than men, and in anyone with diabetes.”

Gee, I suppose gripping a crochet hook or knitting needle would count.  Another website mentioned keyboarding as a further irritant, and since I sit in front of a computer all day and half the night, I can see why.  And yes, last time I checked, I’m a woman and sigh, also diabetic. 

The good news is that it can be fixed.  I don’t think I’ll give up my yarns and hooks and needles permanently, but rest a little and see if the inflammation goes down.  It’s possible that the misdiagnosis of arthritis means I’ve permanently damaged the tendon, which can cause scarring and require surgery to fix.  But, from the number of people who’ve piped up since I’ve figured this out and said either they or someone they know have had it, I’m thinking it’s not going to be forever before I pick up my yarns again.

“Put me in, coach…I’m ready to play today…”
Dan Fogerty, Centerfield