Kninja Knitter

I’m feeling pretty raw this Monday, so please forgive me for getting a tad emotional. There was a lot of conflict in my house this week and we’re still not past all of it, but a tragedy yesterday at least provided a bridge to connect. I’ll get into that in a bit, but I’ll start off with some positives. I’m grateful for knitting as it provides this!

Stitched or Still-in-Progress

All right, I managed a couple FOs this past week, though one was a late cast-on. First of all, I have the dishie I’d started last week. I finished it up as planned early in the week, but I still haven’t managed to assemble the prize package to ship to last week’s winner (NFL Pool – Championship Weekend Edition).

I stayed well on track with the Advent wrap, and as of last night, I am 95% complete with only one remaining mini to add to the project. I should be able to finish the knitting today so I can block it this week. I don’t expect this will be a blitz project in the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party, since that requires 1,000 yards or more to qualify. But the yarn dyer is a sponsor, so I will get some bonus points for using her set. And I’m looking forward to seeing the whole set assembled. I’ve already got some thoughts about what to do with what’s left of the minis, as there’s plenty!

I also made it back to knitting on the vanilla sock I cast on at the beginning of the month. I’ve started the gusset increases, so I need to get moving if I’m going to finish them during the Super Bowl! #Goals

Cast-on Conversations

I’ll start with the quickie project I knocked out in two days! The Pigskin Party had a challenge for the month of January to knit a single item (no sets) using exactly four colors (or colorways) and a minimum of 100 yards. I picked a design by one of the event’s sponsors, and I perused other projects knit with this pattern to decide how I’d split up the colors in the stripes. The original pattern is intended for two colors and has just two stripes against the main color background. It didn’t take much to modify in a pleasing way. This hat should fit my grandson, though he hasn’t tried it on yet.

And lastly, I finally started thinking about the craft-along for this summer’s Zombie Knitpocalypse and I decided to cast on a project specifically for that. If I can finish it this week, I could earn bonus points as well. What’s nice is the design doesn’t require a lot of thought as it’s simple stockinette/reverse stockinette stripes with increases on the right side – followed by a straight section and then a complementary decrease section, and I can adjust to maximize yarn usage if I choose.

Grandson Glimpses

I’ve got a couple sweet photos of the munchkin to share. Now that River is feeling more acclimated to her home and surroundings, she’s become more tolerant of the toddler. Just before I started writing, she even let him pet her. This is a huge accomplishment since just a couple weeks ago she wouldn’t let him within two feet of her unless he was seated with an adult helping to control his movements!

Despite the relationship tensions of last week, my grandson is as sweet as always. This morning he came downstairs specifically to ask me for some grapes. Thankfully there were enough to fill his bowl, as the supply was dwindling! And even though he’s been preferring to spend time upstairs, he decided to stay downstairs to play with his Paw Patrol toys – though the Mayor Humdinger I bought for him has remained in “the penthouse suite” as it were.

Tail Talk

I’ll share a bit of the bigger drama at the end, but first is the tragic pet story of the week. Yesterday we were all stunned to find that Nala, the lab mix that Mama has had for around eight years, died upstairs. I didn’t see, but apparently it was an accident involving an empty (or nearly empty) bag of potato chips and a very determined dog. We’re all reeling from the aftermath, and Mama and Sissy are particularly despondent.

I shielded my grandson as best I could, as the emotions were running very high with the discovery. He was bawling in reaction to his mom and sister melting down in heart-wrenching agony.

It’s been quite a while since I last lost a pet, but my empathy remains strong. And Nala was a very sweet dog, even though River wanted nothing to do with her. My son carried the dog out to my car, and we brought her to a pet cremation provider in town. They have a nice inclusive package to memorialize a dear family pet, and they’ll even deliver it to us this coming weekend.

In other news, River caught a mouse last week. She managed to nab it in the kitchen, and then she proceeded to carry it around in her mouth while mewing. I was worried that she’d lose the thing (it lived for at least fifteen minutes as she paced between the bedroom and living room) under my bed. Thankfully, she did manage to kill it, and I got her to drop it on the rug in the hallway where I scooped it up and into the trash. Ew. Nice to know she’s up for helping with the pest control efforts!

Environment Evolution

Not a lot to share here, but someone did come out to measure each of the windows to be replaced. He was supposed to come on Monday, but because of the snowstorm and road conditions, the appointment was postponed. I’m nervous about how the living room picture window will turn out given what the company associate told me, but I’ll just have to sort it out when it’s done. Based on the estimated timing I was given the windows should be installed in March… 🤞🏻

Random Ramblings

Alright, time for me to get vulnerable with my readers… I’m currently conducting a search for a mental health professional through my company’s EAP provider. Three of my housemates moved in two months ago, and the fourth has been her for six weeks. And while I called for a household meeting in mid-January to express my concerns and ask for feedback from the other adults, I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated by the inaction of those of double-digit age.

A week after that meeting, my son decided to quit his job. While I wholly agree that was necessary, it would have been much better for everyone if he’d done that ages ago, and definitely before their phone service was disconnected. Both adults had agreed to pay rent, each responsible for a stated portion. But as of today, I’ve received nothing.

Meanwhile, I get weekly emails from my electricity provider that outlines the usage of the previous week, along with an estimate of the monthly bill (expected by the end of the week) – and with each passing week, the usage was increasing. The last estimate I received was about 150% higher than my January bill from last year.

Then, midweek, when the Window Nation guy was coming to measure, I walked around the house to assess how accessible each window was. Having a slow anger brewing already, I had pretty much lost all of my composure when I saw that one of the dormer windows upstairs was full of baskets and totes. I admit that I was disrespectful of their property, but I was short on time and temper. What followed just increased the tension levels in the house.

For whatever reason, my son’s response was for everyone to begin avoiding me. School was cancelled due to cold, and so the family would load up in Mama’s SUV and go away for twelve-hours stretches. I believe my son is driving for DoorDash for most of this time, but that’s all supposition. And from Wednesday evening until the discovery of Nala’s body, no one had spoken to me.

I am not generally an anxious person, and I tend toward an optimistic outlook. Sunday morning was almost unbearable. I didn’t sleep well, despite being exhausted, physically and emotionally. I waffled between anger and sadness, and it colored so much of my perception of my surroundings.

I’ve been very grateful for my knitting, and I also put in several hours to DoorDash on Saturday and Sunday myself. I learned last year that I need to limit myself to deliveries only during daylight hours. Fortunately, the days are getting longer now!

Nala’s death has given us common ground for conversation. And I’m doing what I can to recharge and somehow find the words to start a conversation about the household finances – I’m tired of feeling like they’re taking advantage of my generosity. And given the agreed-upon sums, they need to at least begin making good on their debt to me so it doesn’t accumulate! (For reference, I effectively wrote off the debt my son owed to me during grad school for the car insurance premiums that I paid on his behalf. But that was significantly smaller than what we’ve agreed to.)

This week I do have plans to make progress in decluttering. A work activity will require my online presence to monitor, but nothing more, so I should be able to gain ground in the office! Wish me luck…

Knit on. 🧶