Twitching Termite

Truly, I can’t recall have such a difficult time just sitting on the meditation cushion as I had this weekend; hence the title of this post. I still find the Lotus position challenging but I usually can settle after the first hour of sitting in a position that allows me to keep my head and shoulders with minimum leg discomfort. Now I have been experiencing occasional pain in my thigh just above my left knee. I’m seeing the doctor in a week about it. However, this weekend, it was my left knee, both feet and ankles which seem to have painful flares up that kept me changing my position, or pulling my knees up or any variation that would achieve relief. Finally, in the last two hours of sitting, I found straddling a gomden with zafu on top comfortable. Yes, I have the option of sitting in a chair; but from experience, I am more likely to doze off in a chair than sitting on a cushion.

This weekend marked the end of the foundational series of Shambhala teachings. It’s an achievement, but what is more important to me is that I followed my heart and mind and stepped away two years ago to focus and practice what I’d learned in the previous year and half accompanied by study to really understand the view, philosophy and implementation of the teachings.

What those two years gave me is a real aspiration to take the Bodhisattva Vow.

I haven’t knit as much as I aspired to. I just finished the first of the Diagonal Rib Socks and will cast on the second sock today. But I am still knitting from stash, which is a good thing.

I listened to a marvelous audio book, The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It is the Mahabharata narrated from the point of view of Panchaali, the wife of the five Pandava brothers. The Mahabharata is a marvelous Indian epic, comparable to the Iliad and the Odyssey in Western literature that his part myth part history with underlying moral and ethical lessons. I’ve actually seen two productions done for television. One a truncated Western retelling of the story as a play and the 89-episode Indian television production. Most Westerners have heard of the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita is a part of the Mahabharata.

Toupie was slightly traumatized by the installation of the new HVAC unit and system. I think it was the drilling and banging that got to him. He still stares at the unit when it comes on, but it was about two weeks before he would jump up on to go to the windowsill. I was amused by the Internet video sensation of the cat who defended the little boy being attacked by a dog. Cats are territorial not just of their space but of the people they live with. In the days when I would order a Chinese food delivery. Toupie would chase the deliveryman down the hall, return to the apartment and attack the bag of food. I’m sure the local Chinese eateries are happy that woman with the mad cat doesn’t call anymore.

Make the Bed, Mum

Proof that a long session of brushy tames the tiger in the kitty.

Started the Contemporary Brewster Socks to Knit sometime in 2011 in Knit Picks Essential Eggplant Hand Dyed Yarn. Perfect example of second sock syndrome. Finished the first sock shortly after casting on. It languished on the computer table for at least a year. Can't remember when I started the second sock. I found it during a stash organizing session and moved it to the to be finished bag. Finally finished it on Monday.

Currently on the needles is a pair of socks using Plymouth Yarn Sockin' Sock.

Spring?

I finally proved something I suspected this week. I have been puzzled why on some days when the temperature outside is cold (or very cold) the first floor of the office is comfortable and on other days when the outside temperature is more seasonable, there is a definite chill on the first floor. I’d noticed that the days when it feels chilly are days when it is raining or rain is expected. A print out of data from the National Weather Service for the most recent three days, supported that the higher the dew point the more we feel a chill in the office. I suspect that the cause is in the way the building was constructed.

Stash busting continues alongside finishing wips. I am finishing a pair of fingerless convertible mittens in Artful Yarns Old Western; I’ve completed the matching beret. I just need to knit the thumbs on the BonBons2 fingerless mitts. Lastly, I have a pair of Brewster socks in Knit Picks Essential sock yarn in the Eggplant Kettle Hand Dyed colorway. Then it is on to the grey socks. I am behind on my goal of knitting 1k yards per month.

 

 

Toupie went down for his afternoon nap about an hour ago.

Random Thoughts and Poor Customer Service

Late last week the weather turned miraculously and unseasonably warm. As the snow finally began to melt from pavements and curbs--where it was heaped in frozen hillocks making crossing the road a challenge—I discovered the joy of wearing shoes again. Since mid-January boots were the order of the day either to negotiate the frozen precipitation or for warmth.

Shopping for light bulbs isn’t simple any more. There’s halogen, LED, spotlights, CFL bulbs that last for 9 years providing x wattage but using x amount of electricity…good grief. TMI, I just needed x wattage in a plain old light bulb that doesn’t cost the bleeding earth. So off to Amazon I went.

On my to-do list since last year has been the task to set up a corporate account with Southwest Airlines. Southwest doesn’t list its flight inventory in the usual airline databases. Booking a flight means entering traveler information for each flight and fiddling either with paper or .pdf files if flights need to be cancelled or changed. Naturally, I had a few questions about how their corporate program operated.

A little history is in order. Southwest was the first budget/low-cost airline I’d flown. It was in 1986 or 87. I was used to full-service airlines, which in those days included meals, drinks and treats served by cabin staff. It was an early morning flight to Albuquerque. Breakfast consisted of a blueberry muffin and coffee, tea, and juice. I asked the cabin attendant for another blueberry muffin and was sharply informed that it was one muffin to a customer. I looked at the cart full of muffins and then at the cabin attendant and replied, “Well I won’t be flying this airline again.” And I didn’t until 2012.

After two days, one email, two dozen phone calls, and two voice mails, I finally got a returned call yesterday evening. Before the call, I had decided, that if I didn’t have a voice mail or return call this morning, I was going to complain on Twitter. The corporate accounts person was very nice, very apologetic—more than a little relieved that his call avoided my going to Twitter—and I finally got the information I need to proceed.

I subscribed to Vogue Knitting magazine in December or January and am supposed to receive a login to download an electronic copy of the mag to my tablet. Well it’s February and the spring issue is out and I don’t have a login and haven’t received a response to my email of Thursday last requesting one. So, now that Southwest is taken care of I’ll be chasing up Vogue and maybe this week they’ll be able to respond in the 48 hour time guarantee as stated on their website.

On the 14^th of February I ordered a mobile WiFi device. I was promised an email when the product shipped. Called last week. They were expecting a shipment of the devices by the end of the week and I should have an email with shipping details by Monday or Tuesday. Called yesterday, and the shipment is due next week and I’m on the priority list. Well a simple query to the database for all orders not filled, merged with an email apologizing for the inconvenience and a statement of when shipment is expected and I suspect I, along with countless others, would be happy campers.

I started the BonBons Mitts last Friday using Harrisville New England Shetland. I just need to knit the thumbs. 

Toupie sat out his food coma this morning on the dresser. He’s just never happy when he sees the camera:

 

But the prospect of a catnip marinated toy:

 

 

 

Last week a good friend died. She was a rare jewel in so many ways. Her smile was a beam of equanimity, warmth, and joy. She always spoke of her family and her husband with love and respect; not that there weren’t times of annoyance or disagreement but the love and respect always shone through. She was a very pious Christian but so human and humble with and about her faith. She would laugh with you about you but laughed best at herself. She wasn’t rich or powerful in position, but her absence over the months of her illness and now her death has left an empty space in the lives of her family and the hundreds all over the world who knew her that only memories can fill. And despite my sadness that she is no longer here, I am comforted by so many memories and touched by how often we laughed, even at the serious. What more can be said of a life well lived, than her husband’s words: If you want to remember Ernie, be like her.

Knitting from stash continues. I have a pair of legwarmers on the needles, though I fear it will be too warm to wear them when finished. The Gold Socks are done. I realized on the second sock that I neglected to put in the ribbing on the foot. I didn’t want to frog and reknit. I am seeing the need for a yarn scale to give me some idea of how much yarn I have remaining at the end of a project. I suspect I have about half the skein of this yarn.

 

Toupie wasn’t interested in this morning’s sock photo session.

He curled up on the crocheted rug awaiting a more exciting activity: like following me to the kitchen to watch as I made my second cup of coffee.

Snow, Knitting, and Toupie

Between the southerly dips of Arctic air and the march of Nor’easters, this winter is leaving us buffeted between waves of frigid temperatures and snow and freezing rain. Phil’s prediction was surplus to requirements: We didn’t need a extricated rodent to tell us that we were in for another six weeks of winter. 

Acclimatization comes surprisingly quickly. People were walking around in light jackets and sweaters the day after last week’s big snow. Temperatures were in the mid-thirties. Indeed, at the bus stop on Friday morning, I thought I could have worn my fingerless gloves and been quite comfortable.

It is perfect weather for knitted goods. My Nomads Hat keeps my head quite toasty. Scrolling through saved patterns, I found the Simpliworsted Gansey Mittens & Neck Warmer by Geoff Hunnicutt for Skacel. I used Cascade Eco+ in Lavendar Heather colorway on size 8 dpns to create a very tight fabric. This was a quick knit. Next time I knit this pattern, I will make the cuffs longer.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I managed to capture post breakfast photos of Toupie this morning. He demolished a can of food formulated for indoor cats overnight, so I expected he wouldn’t have been as hungry this morning. Wrong! He settled down to the bowl and finished half of the this morning’s can. After mounting the bookcase for a session of face washing, the food coma set in:

That is until he discovered he was being photographed:

I listened to Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thurbon. If I had unlimited resources and unlimited time, this is the journey I would take. It is rather dispiriting to think that war and political unrest makes such trip almost impossible these days, but on the other hand, hasn’t it always been so. What makes the Silk Road so intriguing is its endurance despite the constant transformations from migrations, ecological changes, war, the rise and fall of polities. Travelogues are not something I find enjoyable, but as always, it is the writing that draws one in. Here the Shadow of the Silk Road succeeds. 

I also finished listening to The Jewel in the Crown, the first book of the Raj Quartet by Paul Scott. I had read the quartet in the 80’s and 90’s. It struck me on listening how such disparate characters are clearly drawn and through the narration of these characters; the plot is moved forward despite the fractured narration. What particularly impressed me was how well he captured how much of the Indian’s time, thought, and effort was spent in dissecting, analyzing and developing strategies to deal with the British. Not just in the political arena, but in negotiating the minutiae of everyday life. I understood the criticism of a younger Indian relayed by one of the narrators that too much time and effort was spent by Congresswallahs under the Raj on politics when that time and effort should have been spent on learning how things worked or on building the practical competencies to run the economic and social engines of the nation that emerged after independence. In short, those in the independence movement let the British determine how power would be negotiated when real power is self-sufficiency and that means having the local/indigenous competency to manage the social and economic infrastructure.  

This resonated with me because I see as a lesson to be learned for all peoples who lack access to institutional or political power. That the primary focus is on gaining access to political power is on that power—elections, policies, etc., not on developing competency that puts people in the position to be the locomotives of implementation. Once the political access is gained, the engines underlying infrastructure--that is the real bulwark of power—never changes or changes much more slowly because the focus on competency comes after the focus on political power.

The Clown, The Devil and the House Detective and Don’t Forget the Nun with Red Nail Polish

This is a random post about random things with some knitting thrown in.

I’ve decided that 2014 is the year of my stash. Reacquainting myself with what I have—not just by looking at what I’ve logged on Ravelry—and knitting or crocheting it. As well as finishing or frogging any wips. My goals for the year is to knit or crochet 10K yards; that works out to a minimum of 833 yards worked a month.

I am one of the 70+ million affected by the Target credit breach. It’s been an interesting experience not pulling out the card for every purchase. One is constrained to spend only what is in pocket at the moment and I have found that I purchase more of what I need than what I want. In that sense, it has been a sobering look at how I spend. The frustration is that the card-issuing industry and merchants, especially the big-box stores, haven’t been more proactive in instituting the more secure chip cards and in making their own systems more secure. This being the second year—last year it was the Knit Picks breach—that I’ve been at risk from a data breach, I will definitely be more of a cash-only shopper going forward. Here is an interesting article on the situation.

In reading yarn reviews on Ravelry, one often encounters complaints about knots in skeins—the more expensive the yarn the more strident the complaints. I suppose I’ve been lucky, but I haven’t encountered the problem until lately. There were about 5 knots (places where the yarn is joined by knotting) in the 1.5 skeins of the Harrisville yarn used for my latest cowl. It was surprised by not annoyed. The Harrisville Shetland Tweed is a lovely rustic yarn. A little hard on the hands when knitting but I was able to offset that with generous applications of Lavishea and Aloe Vesta. Yes, there was veggie matter; but what do expect in a rustic yarn. What I must enjoy about yarns like the Harrisville Shetland Tweed is that once soaked, blocked and dried, the stitches relax, the yarn blooms nicely and softens and the result is a wonderful fabric. This yarn was perfect for the Cowls pattern, which is one of my favorites.

 

Speaking of finishing wips, I finally finished the Nomad Hat and Scarf started in 2011. Why so long? Well the yarn got scattered (disorganized stashing) and as I was finishing it, I realized I hated the yarn. I also realized that I prefer scarves to cowls, so I didn’t knit the scarf to the full length called for in the pattern. The hat is wonderfully warm and matches my purple coat. I’m thinking of knitting this again, probably in Cascade Eco.

Currently on the needles is Harvest Moon by Florencemary. I’m using the Sirritogv 2ply, which I think is the wrong yarn because it doesn’t show the pattern very well. But it will be wonderfully warm when finished.

Toupie has become quite spoiled as the office was closed between Christmas and New Year’s and then I was home last week for the Kagyu Monlam. It has been bitterly cold most of the last two weeks and remains so. He spends most of his time nestled on the ottoman or lounging on the top of the bookcase…when he isn’t pestering me for treats or for a frantic game of rolling one of his toys across the floor.