SP12 week 7 and a meme

What is(are) your favorite place(s) to knit?

No favorites. I knit at my desk and table if I need a complicated chart. I knit in my overstuffed chair with an ottoman if I am watching tv. I knit on the bus. I like knitting everywhere... no favorite place.

What supplies (besides yarn & needles) make the setting perfect for knitting?

Air conditioning! oh, and a cold Diet Pepsi! :)

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And now for something not so completely different...

Lifted from Margene:

1. Who was your first prom date? Prom? Michael Steele. It was my Senior Prom and my 18th Birthday. I had a free ticket and no boyfriend, so my friend Michael agreed to go with me. We arrived fashionably late because he had to sing in his school's Spring concert first! :)

2. Do you still talk to your first love? No. Darry moved away when we were 7. Hard to keep touch in 1966.

3. What was your first alcoholic drink? My first ever? A juice glass of beer at the tender age of 2. Over the years, a bit of wine and/or after dinner liqueur such as anisette, at holidays. Approaching legal age, two bottles of beer at a cast party two weeks before I turned the then-legal drinking age of 18. But I preferred pink squirrels and white russians and I was not old enough to drink them until I was 21. Since I looked 21, I totally got a away with the girly drinks instead of beer.

4. What was your first job? Basket attendant at the local pool. Made enough that summer to buy a bike! :)

5. What was your first car? A hand-me-down 1968 Chevy Belair. About the time I needed a car, my parents bought a new one and gave me there old one.

6. Who was the first person to text you today? No texting yet. and I didn't pay attention to my e-mails, but Cathy wrote on my wall sometime between 11 PM and this morning and that was the first thing I read this morning.

7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning? Me, and how I didn't want to get out of bed at 5:30 AM

8. Who was your first grade teacher? Sister Julia Marie. I have a lovely memory of her happy smiling face. Then the next year, Sister Andrew Marie, who I remember as quite stern.

9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? Ireland via New York, from Dulles International Airport. It was 1976 and my Granny Sullivan had read Roots. She wanted her granddaughters to find their roots, so she sent me and my sister on a trip to Ireland!

10. Who was your first best friend and are you still friends? Alice and, no, we sadly lost touch after grade school, though we occasionally ran into each other at odd times over the years, we never totally renewed the friendship.

11. What was your first sport played? Umm... sports and I, together? Not so much. I did the least amount of participation I could to still get a B in HS gym. I made the bases for kickball in the third grade, but I did not participate. I didn't like the rope skipping at recess either.

12. Where was your first sleepover? The first memory of a sleep-over I had was at my Mary Ann's house for her Birthday. Or maybe it was Mindie's house with the Girl Scouts. I can't remember which was first.

13. Who was the first person you talked to this morning? My mother so the noise of me working upstairs didn't confuse her!

14. Whose wedding were you first in? My Aunt Margie's. I was 14 and we wore blue velvet dresses and it poured rain! We also had blue suedish shoes and I wanted to dance in my Blue Suede shoes when that Elvis song was played, but I had to go get in the group picture!

15. What was the first thing you did this morning? Pee (I copied margene here, but it's true!)

16. What was the first concert you went to? David Cassidy, followed closely by Alice Cooper and Pat Boone. Boy, was I a weird 13 yo!

17. What was your first tattoo or piercing? No tats. Have pierced ears, I think I was 16 or 17. When my father died in 1985, I got the pierced again for two holes in each ear.

18. What was the first foreign country you went to? Mexico, for about 2 hours. I was 11.

19. What was your first run in with the law? Of my own? A traffic stop for a blown headlight. I actually think he pulled me over because there were 6 teenagers in the car. I was the ride home from play practice. He just gave me a warning... but I didn't stop shaking for an hour!

20. When was your first detention? I haven't had it yet. I may have outgrown it by now. I received 1 demerit my senior year for making noise in a media center. You needed to receive 3 demerits for a detention.

21. What was the first state you lived in? Pennsylvania, for the first 9 months of my life.

22. Who was the first person to break your heart? Darry (see #2). He didn't want to see me for at least a month before he moved away ... :(

23. Who was your first roommate? Jaeanna and René

24. Where did you go in your first limo ride? Sadly, my Granny Sullivan's funeral.

SP12 Week 6 (already??)

Questions #6
What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

Hmmm... I haven't taken many holidays/vacations since I started knitting. I have been crocheting for a very long time and that was my project take-alongs for years. As for knitting, on the vacations I have taken, I take too much (see the next story) :)

Favorite things to take along would be smaller projects and a variety of them at that. Baby yarn for quick crochets - baby hats and booties for donating. Wool for hats to be sent to far away places to keep others warm. Sock projects - either one of my current ones for me (now that I am doing those) and/or dk and worsted weight for Magic 28s or other kid socks to donate.

I also throw in a skein of Red Heart Supersaver (or similar yarn) in case I get the urge to crochet a square or rectangle -- or two or four :) -- for the various places that use these in blankets for others.

If I'm traveling, there is a minimum of three different things along for the ride. Now that I have to drive almost all the time, I don't get as much done. But I haven't cut back on three or more projects on a road trip.

I am NOT a monogamous knitter/crocheter!

If you’d like to share a story…Tell us about a time that you packed too much knitting or were stranded without knitting.

It was a planned knitting vacation so I'm not sure it qualifies as too much. And what is too much, after all? Anyway,

I took a suitcase of clothes and a suitcase of projects! I couldn't decide what I wanted to work on while I was gone. I knew I'd be swatching a sweater I wanted to make, but I also knew I would not be starting the sweater. Two needle sizes and a skein of the yarn I was going to use. I also brought new sock yarn, my sock in progress, my shawl in progress, and new laceweight to swatch for another shawl. In addition, I brought a book containing a variety of patterns and extra needles, yarn, stitch guides, markers, holders, etc., as well as my crochet hooks and some baby yarn as I mentioned above. I had my own mini-studio in my rolling bag!

THEN - I went to the local yarn store and bought some more! :)

I almost always have a bag with some project in it ready to grab as I go out the door... I've only ever been stranded once and it was just a few hours. I thought I was taking my son and dropping him off some place. The person who was to bring him home called on our way and said he wasn't going. Instead of going home and coming back, I hung around... with no knitting and no book. I went to the store and bought a book! :)

Now, I always have a tote bag with some project and, most of the time, reading material as well.

Well, it's Wednesday.

Some of you know that Monday was an important doctor's appointment for my mother and me. It was to talk with her doctor about the results of some tests conducted to rule out certain things that might have been causing her memory loss and lack of spark and confidence. The doctor suspected a particularly insidious condition that afflicts the elderly, mostly, and the results of these tests would rule out everything but this insidious condition... and they did. So, she's got it - Alzheimer's Disease. Early, early stages, but the path is set. Medications can slow the progression, but there is no cure.

It is hard to see right now. It's just the little things. Unfortunately, they add up to some mighty big things. She is still fully functional. She just forgets you had that conversation, two, three, four times already. She is beginning to put things where they used to belong - in her old house - and just sometimes. When asked a direct question, she sometimes comes up completely blank or looks puzzled, as if she doesn't understand the question. Small things, when gathered together, look like big things. Things that were enough to concern me, to concern her doctor and her sisters and my sons and her friends... so There You Have It.

I've been debating sharing this here. I'm not looking for sympathy. It will be a part of my landscape for some time to come, so I thought I should put it out there, and not try to hide the 1000 lb gorilla in the room.

I'm cranking up my research so I know where we might be heading. Both of us will be finding resources through our Office of Aging and the Senior Centers down here in the County. Her doctor suggested support groups for both of us. It's a very good idea. I'm thinking we'll need them more a little farther down the road than now, but getting established early is a good thing.

Phew - got that off my chest!

Now to share some GOODIES!

My SP12 Pal continues to spoil me. Do you think she knows I need to lose weight and keep my strength up? Look what she sent:



Nah, I'm just joking! She DID send me the box... but is was filled with these lovelies:



Yarn, needles and pattern for a Quickie Cowl and delicious nutty, salty, nougat-y candy! :)

Thank you, Secret Pal! It was a delight to get some fun mail today. Of note, my SP12 mailed this from the West Coast on Monday and it arrived at my door on the East Coast on Wednesday!!!! WooHooo for the West-to-East Postal Employees!