the Village Knittiot

So on Monday, the Knittiot turned 30. Yes, I am an Aquarius. I’m sure this comes as no great surprise to you.

And aside from marking the event Saturday evening with a little get together at Casa del Knittiot, it was a quiet weekend. Oh, except for the part where my mother called me and left a voice message on my cell phone saying that she was in the hospital because she’d fallen on the ice and had broken her knee and elbow, but not to panic. Right mom, because those aren’t panic-inducing words at all. No, those are the kind of words that just calm you right the fuck down.

Of course she left the message on Friday night, but I didn’t get it until 4:30 the next morning when I woke in a panic wondering where my phone was. No lie. I woke up worrying that my phone wasn’t by me.

4:30 in the morning here means 3:30 in the morning where she is and I didn’t want to call and wake her up. Mr. K was off delivering papers (without his gauntlets since I have yet to finish them - bad, bad Knittiot). So, I quietly panicked to myself until 7:30 when I finally broke down and called her.

She assured me she was okay, and said she couldn’t really talk because she had a roommate and she didn’t want to wake her up. After our very brief conversation, in which I think I asked her 500 times if she was okay, I had to go lay down on the guest bed because I felt like I was going to pass out. You see, I’m a fainter. I used to think this was just something weird about me, but apparently (at least according to my Doctor) I have an overly sensitive Vaso-Vagal nerve and this causes me to faint easily. I guess that is still something weird about me, but at least there is an explanation of sorts.

It’s not something that happens all the time, but let’s just say I don’t deal well with pain or blood - especially when it belongs to other people. And after hearing that the little mushroom looking bone in my mother’s elbow had cracked in half when she fell, I felt a little bit nauseous and potentially close to fainting. The part where she told me about having the blood drained from her knee came later in the day, and then I had to take the phone with me into the guest bedroom and lay down so she could finish telling me all about her adventure, while I carefully kept my feet elevated.

Apparently they won’t cast the arm, because it is better that she move it around.

My first concern \ “But Mom, can you still knit?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m waiting for the Dr. to arrive so I can ask him. I don’t really care about anything, as long as I can knit.” Yep. That’s my mom. And this *points at self* this is me, beaming with pride. A family that obsesses together stays together, right?

On Monday I got two cards. One from my Aunt and one from my Mother. Both of them said — Happy Birthday, your present is on its way. Mr. Knittiot did a lot of grinning and buzzing and looking knowledgeable. I told him straight out that I knew he knew what it was and that since his loyalty was to me, he really ought to tell me what it was. “I don’t know what you mean,” he would say, grinning like the little devil he is.

Tuesday, nothing.

Wednesday - This.

Today I brought my new Fiddlesticks Triple Mohair Triangle Shawl Kit with me to work just so I could look at it and touch it whenever I feel like it. I keep picking it up and hugging it in its cute little packaging, much to the amusement of my co-office-habitant.

*sigh* I wish that I weren’t right in the middle of these

because I want to just go home and start on my shawl! But then what would poor Mr. Knittiot do? He needs his gauntlets. I have a sudden and renewed zeal to finish them.

Oh, and in case you have been wondering at all, the Fiddlesticks kits are truly as wonderful as you imagined they would be. Go. Now. Order yourself one. You WILL NOT regret it. If I could give you a money back guarantee, I would.

Sleep deprivation is a bad thing, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. After a couple of weeks of self-imposed martyrdom, I finally gave in and admitted that Mr. Knittiot was right about me not needing to do everything. And that since he is home now, it makes sense to let him handle the paper route on his own Monday through Saturday. And then on Sundays, when it’s really important, we can tackle it together. I am sure he would want me to point out here that this was his suggestion from the beginning and that his stubborn yet well-meaning wife insisted on joining him every morning even though she had to come home and go to a full time job shortly thereafter….

*sigh*

Yes, this is all true. But in my defense, I just really like hanging out with him. Even if it meant having to get up at 3:00 in the morning to do it. The unfortunate side effect of the lack of sleep, however, was a very cranky Knittiot who cried a lot out of sheer exhaustion. Which, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, wasn’t a lot of fun. For either of us.

So, here I am, the new and improved Knittiot (Now with sleep!). And guess what? I’ve actually been knitting! (Surely not!) I’ve also been playing World of Warcraft, but more on that later…

Yes, indeed, the Knittiot sometimes finds time to knit. And this time, it’s all Norma’s fault. She just had to go and point out this free pattern (magic words to knittiots everywhere), and with one look, I knew they had to be mine. Mr. Knittiot saw them and felt the same way. Thus a dilemma was born — knit fingerless gauntlets for the man who spends three hours every morning out in the freezing cold wrangling newspapers, or make them for myself just because. You could probably have guessed that I decide to make them for him. I tried to make them too small…I mean, despite my best efforts, I feared they would be too small, but today when he tried them on they fit him perfectly. Drat! This is how they look on my arms. I think it is a much better fit and that I should really keep these for myself and make a different pair for him. A pair that will fit him better than perfectly. Wait… there is a flaw somewhere in that logic… only, I can’t quite see it…

Also, I can’t let you leave without at least mentioning Purl, the adorable little Gnome that walked into my life sometime about a week ago, and completely stole my heart (and a good many hours — days maybe? — of my life). She is so sweet, you almost don’t mind that she’s crazy. And she’s so harmless and well intentioned that talking with her fails (mostly) to be purely maddening. Plus, she has a bunny. Yes, a bunny. It follows her around and looks, well, just plain cute. But don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.