A brief Thanksgiving note

This Thanksgiving, just want to say that I am grateful for my blogreaders, perhaps even more so in the last few months as my postings have become sparse. You have stuck by me, always cheer me up in rough times, and share your wisdom, humor and experience generously. You guys are great and I can't wait to get back to blogging more frequently -- reading your blogs and commenting more often, too.

Hugs to you all.

For your entertainment, since I haven't been knitting (I have started acupuncture for the arthritis and nerve damage problems, though), here is a picture of me in 2nd grade. (I had glasses starting at age 4 1/2.) I was 7.

I know, I know. CRAZY quiet.

I haven't posted in ages. The reason is twofold: One, my job has jumped from your standard 40-45 hours/week sort of thing to well over 50. And as you know, I'm still trying to do a bunch of other things in my 'spare' time: mediation training, singing in a band, publishing a literary magazine, and doing Cog Sci research. Oh yeah, and knitting..

Amidst all this, we had a house guest (my aunt) for a few days, and then another (my brother) for a few days, and we helped my mom throw a 70th birthday party for my dad. And we have more house guests arriving for Thanksgiving. Great fun, but not conducive to blogging :-)

Then there's the other bit. Either my arthritis or the nerve damage in my arm (hard to tell) has been acting up this month, so I haven't been doing all that much knitting. The funny thing is that often knitting per se isn't painful, but everyday things like holding the handle of a teacup, or carrying a book, are, making me feel this weird reluctance to do any other 'hand' activities — even if those activities wouldn't hurt.

But the hand/wrist is easing, and I have done SOME knitting. And I'm still trying to finish Madeleine! Most difficult is the choosing of buttons. Here are the four options I was considering.

At first, I really thought I was going to choose the top coral ones here on the right, with the bottom purple ones as my second choice. I didn't like those little cut-lines in the top buttons, but I kept thinking they were the best color match. Of course, that was when I was holding up the buttons to the garment while they were still on their little white cards.

But when I took them off the cards and took these pictures, I realized the first ones weren't the best. I ended up picking the light pink ones on top here on the left. I sewed two on, realized button two was in the wrong position, cut it off again, and put the whole thing in a pile on the kitchen table — oops. I'm not terrifically fond of sewing on buttons. Must take it up again soon, before that baby outgrows the sweater!

I'm also back to working on this pink cardi for a friend of mine. It's made from this lovely, soft Jaeger Roma, which I have to really recommend for the pure heaven of the knitting experience. Plus I think it's going to make a really nice garment.