Wow - So MUCH Has Happened Since Last We Spoke!

But then you know that. We're all dealing with COVID and doing it in the best ways that work for each of us. I worked remotely for almost 3 months, and can still do so if need be, but am now coming into the office most days. All sorts of new requirements so that we do that, too. But we're handling it.

I'm surviving all of this craziness by immersing myself in opera. Don't faint. The Metropolitan Opera opened its archives and is presenting a free opera every night. I worked for our local opera company and for the national opera association for several years and fell in love with the genre then. But really only listened to the Met's Saturday programs and attended our local company's performances a couple of times a year. Now, I've fallen head over teacups for a well-known German tenor (!) I first saw in a Met production. I admit I don't care for the tenor voice, but this one is no ordinary tenor! His name is Jonas Kaufmann and his voice is considered "baritonal." Which works for my ear - I prefer baritones and basses.

So I've been buying up every CD and DVD I can find (he has actually had quite a long career, but since my activity with opera companies ended in the early 2000s and his began to take off internationally around 2004, it's no surprise I didn't know him). My office mates think I'm nuts, but I keep my headphones on when the door is open, or I play a little speaker on my desk when the door is closed.

Oh, and I'm handknitting again!! I've finished a pair of socks I had on the needles for two years and made another pair. And I've started a third.

I'll leave you with a photo of the little shrimp in my life - my Himalayan mix Moji. He's had his second lion cut of the summer season and looks so darn cute!

Stay well, stay safe, wear a mask (oh yeah, I've made over 100 masks - and stopped when my hands started arguing about whether they wanted to sew any longer or not! I think it's not...)

New Year New Planner(s)

Over the past several years, I've gone through several types of planners, trying to find one that spoke to me and handled pretty much everything. In 2018, I tried Hobonichi Weeks beginning in April, and finally felt I'd found what they call "planner peace!" So much so that I purchased the 2019 version. And used it ALL YEAR! In September, as soon as the 2020 editions were out, I ordered my planner for this year.

I have two covers, both from Chic Sparrow. One is a scrumptious black (Poseiden) Outlander leather, the other my beloved Aubergine Pemberley. They are pricey, but if you adore lovely leather, Chic Sparrow is the way to go.

Then this year, actually just before the close of 2019, I stopped short in front of the Happy Planner display in Michaels. I was smitten. I am ashamed to admit how many of these planners I've bought for 2020 (I have a small one from a couple of years ago that is undated). But these things can have multiple purposes, and I have to admit, I didn't want my budget/finance planner information in my Weeks that I carry to work. I'd rather not have that visible in a staff meeting.

I love the fact that you can pick up notes in these neat planners, that with the punch you can make your own notebooks. So yes, I bought the punch. What I love the most about the Happy Planner idea is the disc system. I'm no true fan of any "notebook" - be it ringed, spiral, or bound. But I love that the pages in the HP easily pop out and slip back in!

Let's face it, the Hobonichi Weeks will ALWAYS be my work planner (are we supposed to let ourselves use "always," when we're not supposed to say "never?") but I'm hoping the disc system will organize the part of my life I always let slide. And I'll tell you if the past couple of weeks are anything to go by? The answer just might be yes. I remember days in high school, sitting at the kitchen table doing homework, bent over my work. Well, this has been exactly what HP has brought back to me. Evenings of research, tracking things in my notebook.

And something new: playing with stickers! Oh my, what is it about those things? I think I'm sunk.

So now the Happy Planner Notes comes to work with me along with my Weeks. They both sit on my desk, though the Notes stays off to one side. I mainly use it at lunch, writing down conversations I've had (trying to decide whether to drop cable internet and go with a hotspot or leave well enough alone), taking notes on articles I read online. Yes, the Weeks has a notes section that is quite large since I order a Mega every time. But these aren't work notes, they're personal.

What has brought you planner peace? Do you keep track of your life digitally? (I still do this, too) Or are you analog all the way?

Don't Leave Your Pets (Or Kids) in a Locked Car

I've always wondered whether I'd be as strong in action as I am in my convictions, but today I found out. I can. A colleague noticed a car in our parking lot with the alarm going, and a pup inside. It wasn't a terribly hot day and it was cloudy, but I felt terrible for the pup who was setting off the motion detector inside the very expensive car every few minutes. I googled and learned that when the temperature is 70 it can be as high as 100 in the car. The pup didn't appear in distress, but it WAS concerned. As was I. I called our non-emergency police number and was immediately transferred to the emergency department. The Animal Control officer came out soon after, about as the car owner was walking up. They spoke, temperatures were taken, the pup was assessed. Apparently there are apps that will start the air conditioning from afar? (Well, you can tell I know little about expensive cars.)

So I've learned that I will take action when I think it's warranted. I waited 15 minutes before making that call, and waited longer for the Animal Control officer. All told, that pup was alone in that car a minimum of 45 minutes - and possibly longer. It was lucky it was an overcast day in the 70s. Or maybe I'm all wet? I don't know.

But I do know, I'll call again, if need be.

Venturing Into New Craft Territory

I have discovered circular knitting in a way I never imagined: using machines! After several evenings of watching Margaret Olander and researching elsewhere on the internet, I finally broke down and purchased the Michaels' version, the Knit Quick Machine. I was quickly in love, and purchased the Addi Professional Knitting Machine. (see below, the Addi is in front).

I purchased, on Margaret's advice, an adjustable, folding workbench from Harbor Freight (which the two machines are attached to up there in that photo). I watched more videos, and made a few more hats and scarves. I searched on Facebook Marketplace and discovered an affordable used Innovations Knitting Machine (now only available second-hand) and purchased it. Once it made it's way to me, I realized I really was hooked.

There is an issue with any knitting machine (circular, at least): the number of needles. In the order presented above they are: 40 needles, 22 needles, 44 needles. So I had the machines to knit for small adult's, children's, and premie's heads. There were two more sizes so I purchased the next largest: the Addi Express with 46 needles. As of this writing, it's still in its box, as I have no where to position it, without another workbench, but...okay, then...

Finally I put an order in for the largest, the Sentro with 48 needles.

Why so many? Well, when I knit, and likewise, with crochet, I cast on a different number of stitches based on the size of what I'm making. Why should the machine knitting be any different, I theorized. It turns out, I'm correct. So I now have 5 machines and the opportunity to make up multiple sizes of hats and scarves and finish off my huge acrylic stash. These machines will also knit flat, but I haven't ventured into that, yet.

And why do I have such a large stash of acrylic yarn? I mostly inherited it from my best friend who had to stop knitting a few years ago. She gave that yarn to me when she learned I had a friend whose husband was interested in getting hats for a group of homeless veterans he was serving. About the time I got the yarn, my hands began causing me troubles: the so-called eczema that was actually psoriasis and got exacerbated with the eczema treatments everyone insisted I needed that just made things worse than they needed to be. I'm beginning, two years later, to have some results in treatments, and I think there might be light at the end of the tunnel and healing to come. But there's no way I'll be able to knit up (by hand) all that yarn in my lifetime. So the machines have come to the rescue!

My friend died this summer. It's now something of a mission of mine to make up that stash for the purpose (or a similar one) that she handed all that goodness over for me to use. I think she might be intrigued with this new craft I'm learning. I hope so, anyway.

And then my local knitter friends discovered I had these fancy machines and wondered if I might bring them to our annual charity knitting event and demonstrate the use of them. Would I? Of course, I would! So another folding workbench WILL be added to my mix of machines. I am so excited!

Would you like to see some examples of my machine knits? Oh, of course, you would!

This first is a wine hat on my Knit Quick from Michaels. The yarn is Vanna's Choice.

The finished hat.

A child's rose scarf made with Vanna's Choice on the Addi Professional

A gray hat knit on the Innovations machine with Vanna's Choice tweed. I added some Vanna's Choice black to the gray tweed to make the pompom. Oh, and YES! I have ALL of the pompom makers from Clover!! They are so much fun!

So I have jumped back into knitting in a big new way. Will I get the old "Ultimate Sweater Machine?" A friend has one she's willing to barter with me for, so I might, I just might. I can see myself knitting small kids sweaters for charity. I've really moved to the mindset of knitting for charity, as I've made most everyone in the family all the sorts of things I would make that they would be willing to wear. The grandsons (and daughter's) will be happy with machine knit hats. And I'm thinking of sewing doll clothing (for 18" American Girl type dolls)...but that's another blog post...

So What's Up?

Not a lot, and a whole lot, depending on what you're asking about.

Does anyone else feel like there's no end to the things that keep us up at night? Or wake us from a sleep that's fitful at best? And then add on the CPAP, and I'm having a rough adjustment period, here.

But Nana Sadie's Attic is having so much fun adding new items and restocking some favorites! Like these:

Stop by the shop soon, won't you?

As We Age...

That's likely my least favorite phrase when I'm at the doctor's office! I started hearing it at age 30 when I got my first floaters and visited my eye doc in a panic. I'm extremely nearsighted, you see, and I learned my "vitreous gel inside the eye was collapsing" hence the floaters. It sounded awful, and the fear that I might end up with a retinal tear didn't help. But as I've gotten older and lived with it a bit, I've gotten over the awfulness of it!

And that's what I've learned over the years, they might hit me with that phrase, and I might panic for a bit, but then, I sit with it awhile. It becomes a part of who I am, and I move on...till the next time.

Well, in the past few months, I've had quite a few of those things hit, and the other day, I realized that getting older tends to require another device dependent on electricity! Things like the heating pads I use every night, my TENS unit that helps with a fibro flare, the apps on my iPhone and iPad that I rely on to wake up, eat right, etc...And last week, I got a new one: a CPAP.

When I picked it up on a Thursday, I held off trying it out till the weekend. It was a good thing I did as that Friday night wasn't a good one. But Saturday? Oh my goodness! I woke on Sunday feeling the best I had in years! Energy plus ability (I probably over-did, as well). Today, it told me I had a silver star! (Yes, I do relate to those silly milestone things these apps offer)

And then in my continuing battle with eczema, this woman's YouTube channel popped up in my recommended list. Well, I'm obsessed with her tips and tricks, her down-to-earth style.

But what nailed it for me? She talks about "As we get wiser." NOT "older" or "aged" - WISER! Oh that positive note is exactly the one I want to croon...We are wiser not older! (okay we ARE older, but we're focusing on the positive aspect - we are WISER!)

So okay, now it's "As we get wiser..." and I'm going to begin to correct every person who states the alternative to me - because that's what the medical community needs to adopt. Is so much nicer to hear!

Making Changes to My Space

Nana Sadie's Place has been, mostly, here, and to a small amount of space, in my home. It was primarily the sewing studio, which remains pretty much intact and one day, I'll get it straightened up enough to take more recent photos of it.

But more recently, I've been working on shifting things to the upstairs of my home, into my bedroom. Since the shoulder replacement, the bed and I have parted company. That left a huge open space that could be better used as craft room space. So that's what I've been doing. How about a little taste of it? Via video?

Crochet? Really?

So who knew that someone who goes by the moniker of "Knitnana" would succumb to the crochet bug? Heh.

But that I did. And have made two "giant" granny squares (18" square or thereabouts) for two of my three furry feline friends. I have one more planned. These are "Blankets of Jo" in honor of Jo McLaughlin mother of Ming, Tao, Fu, Wilbey, and Morpheus. She passed away a few weeks ago, suddenly. We all were torn apart with the shock of it, and some of us decided to try to emulate her "Blankets of Fu" magical bits of yarn and Fu fur that every kitty who received one instantly adored.

As I've always known, working yarn into some creation is helpful in dealing with grief, and so, out came yarn and a crochet hook. And these are the results:

Once Upon A Time...

Most of us were caught in the so-called "Sandwich Generation" and some of us still are. That meant we were taking care of, usually, teenage kids and also aging parents at the same time. The squeeze in the middle was us. And it usually meant that we short-changed ourselves on our own care, especially if we were also working adults. What was left to cut but our own time? And yet, being called on to aid everyone else and forgetting or putting ourselves last usually took it's toll.

Somehow, I thought I'd left that behind. My mom died 22 years ago this month. My daughter is just beginning her 40s (and her own turn in the Sandwich Generation, I suppose). But there was a surprise for me, and one I'm really very honored to have sprung on me. When my brother-in-law died last fall after a long battle with cancer, it suddenly fell to me to be the one to help my older sister with her own health issues through the struggles of widowhood and all that entails. She lives several hours away from me, so that means a weekend every month or so on her home turf. She will be moving here, but in the interim must divest herself of 40-ish years of lifelong accumulations as well as the home they loved. She has picked out her new place here, which is exciting, too!

Last night, as she wrangled with yet another pitfall of widowhood (it's always about the paperwork, doncha know?), I said, "Well, this is a learning experience." And she replied, "Like I'll ever need it again."

I agreed that I hoped she wouldn't. But reminded her that it's entirely possible that I might - not the widowhood part, I'd have to marry first and that's not in the cards (no matter what my tarot says!) - but knowing what the differing agencies/retirement plans/IRS rules say will help this elder accountant in the future as I come in contact with folks in need. I work for a disability organization after all, and who knows who might need some kernel of information I gather along my own life path?

She worried last night that she was keeping me up and I was tired having fought a bad tummy bug over the weekend. I was tired. But as I reminded myself and her there's nothing I'd rather do than help her, so I made the effort to take a few minutes with the tarot, incense, and candles, lighting my own path of meditation and introspection before heading off to dreamland. After all, slowing down like that helps me drift off to sleep that much easier!

So I'll close up here with a photo of the sweet traveler's notebook I'm using to track everything she and I are doing for her. She loves her flowers, so this was the perfect book to use for my beloved "Big Sis."

Serendipity

Life can sometimes offer up surprises, sometimes not happy ones, but then others can be full of delight! Saturday provided a couple of the latter, with a routine trip across town to my client's to drop off the updated bookkeeping file. Suddenly, a portion of road I travel often was the site of a roadside "sale." I put quotes around this because once I'd turned around and pulled up in front, I learned it was a GIVE-AWAY!

Nana was able to pick up for free a bedside table with drawer and shelf beneath that was the perfect size to hold my new serger. The drawer became home to the bits and bobs of equipment that help to keep the serger in good running condition, and the shelf will hold cones of thread. It was in excellent condition with only surface blemishes that could be sanded out easily enough (tho' I'll probably leave it all alone).

But even better, because it wasn't anything I'd been looking for, was this:

I've always wanted a goddess for the front door, specifically Hecate, guardian of entrances...The little black long-haired kitty seems to approve.

And while the addition of things to my life doesn't quite meet with my "simplicity" for the year? They're filling a spot in my life. The serger needed it's own dedicated space, and I couldn't have paid for one better that had everything this one did. The statue is something I've often fantasized about having in my life, but could never afford, so it wasn't even on a wishlist. I truly believe that this might even have been hand-cast, and since I'm in an artist enclave of sorts where I live, I'm not totally surprised to find it on the side of the road. But I'm absolutely delighted that it entered my life on the basis in which it did.

I'm hoping I can dedicate a bit of myself out here once again and maybe let the blog come back to life. Knitnana, I fear, has posted her last, as I can't see myself posting without The Meezer to assist. The boys are rambunctious and definitely not the sort to grace that space, but here, freewheeling will abound. We'll be Tonk, and Moji (Sock kitty), Nana, and sewing, knitting, papercrafting, space making, thought-provoking...right here, periodically.

Do drop by now and again, won't you?

2017 One-Word: Simplify

So it is that I've finally gotten around to writing up the One-Word I'll be using to remind me of the changes I'd like to make this year. Since I started the One-Word journey, I've considered every year whether to choose "Simplify" or "Simple." I've always moved away from it to something else: Ahimsa (non-harming, specifically towards myself), Joy, Santosa (contentment or "enough"), and finally, Change & Sparkle.

But after the year that 2016 turned out to be, and the nasty political race that was completely pervasive to everything we did, I decided the only choice was "Simplify."

It's a huge component of voluntary simplicity, which, if you've known me long, you know is a philosophy (and movement) I've struggled with - one that is intrinsically part of my mindset, but clashes with how I live my daily life. Getting clear on that is really important, I think, now that I'm entering my 6th decade of life.

So I keep coming back to this quote from Marion Nestle (which used to be up in the header to this blog, but because of the changes I was forced to make, has been "disappeared" and I can't figure out how to put it up there any longer - ah, Blogger, you have always made me nuts).

"Get organized. Eat less. Eat better. Move more. Get political." Marion Nestle

(That last one, I've got down pat.*wink*)

A Busy Year for Knitting

The first thing I'd like to admit is that without anything other than work to compromise my available time, I managed to knit a lot this year. Then, I'll own up to the fact that, while there are a few LONG-on the needles pieces here, if it hadn't been for my Crafty Albatross group (pay $5 to get in, $5 every time you MISS a deadline for finishing a project) I probably would still have those long on the needles projects still ON the needles! I managed to complete all 5 projects by the deadline, but failed to win the kitty. That's okay, there's always 2017! Yes, we're doing it again...

I had some incentives other than money, too. In the summer our neighbor to the west, West Virginia experienced incredible flooding which caused many many people to lose everything they had. In conjunction with the Charity Knitting group on Ravelry, a good many hats were sent their way so they wouldn't be cold this winter. Also, a local Palliative Care Center was in need of shawls for their patients: I knit two, and have two more waiting for when Christmas knitting/gift knitting is finally finished. I also have a friend battling cancer, so there was another shawl...

Gifts were a big incentive this year, too. My Big Sis informed me in September that she had no more socks without holes. Why she waited till then, I've no idea, but that meant socks for her birthday in October (and that was a push!) - which meant that sis-in-law would have to have something handknit for Christmas, and on it goes...And of course, it was the biennial year for making the grandkids hats for Christmas. So there was a lot of knitting for gifting.

I went to Alexandria by train in February to take a class with Franklin Habit on color, and that meant I needed mitts and a cowl to match.

Anyway, there are other things down below, mostly socks and a couple of mitts.

I made six hats for the victims of West Virginia flooding:

Three shawls for the local palliative care center and a friend undergoing chemotherapy:

Two shawls for me!

Three pairs of mitts:

A cowl (which matches the first set of mitts above)

A project that's been on the needles since 2008!

A weaving project using the Zoom Loom:

All in all, it was a very busy year for knitting (weaving). Will I weave anymore? Stay tuned!!