Retail Therapy

My daughter has a passionate dislike of needles. At four, she screamed down the emergency ward in an attempt to avoid one stitch in her chin following a school bus accident. Apparently the mother wasn't much help. After a while of me trying to talk her into being reasonable - what was I thinking - they asked me to please stand over there. So...

... imagine my surprise when she - my daughter - decides to go for acupuncture treatments and then proceeds to tell me they are no big deal and don't hurt and are working wonderfully. Of course, I pay attention. After my disappointing...

... visit to the allergist, this seemed like a good next step. I phoned yesterday and they fit me in right away. Several other people seemed to think it would be a good next step as well. The woman before me and the man after me were also new clients.

It didn't hurt. I wore a t-shirt and yoga pants and we pushed up the sleeves and pant legs and that was it. No undressing. I lay on my back against some pillows with my feet propped up on some more and she inserted whatever she inserted wherever she inserted it - which I couldn't see lying on my back as I was - and then she set up a warm light on my feet and I had an hour nap and felt about the same when I left so we'll see what happens.

On my way out, there was a woman standing at the cash desk that I knew. She positively gushed all over me with great exuberance - more than I've seen from her in the past. She had energy. I got three hugs in about five minutes. This woman is both celiac and has extensive food allergies. I said please tell me this works for you and she said she's feeling fabulous and comes regularly. Nice testimonial. Great timing.

I didn't sew. I took my son to work, wrote in my journal, and went for lunch with a friend. I didn't research the cost of booklet either although I had what is most likely the most cost effective thought last night - a PDF e-booklet mailed on a disk. After the acupuncture appointment...

... I knit on the grey sweater finishing the shoulder of the right front and joining the back and fronts together with a three needle cast-off. LOVE that - it's so neat. Then I used a crochet hook to pick up stitches around one of the armholes with a single crochet and knit short rows to create the sleeve cap. I'm knitting down the sleeve now. Because this is wool, and will block nicely, it's working out okay. I'm not sure how it would look in a cotton or linen.

I was talking to my son last night about being under challenged and about how dangerous that can be for some personalities - like mine - and his. When I'm under challenged, I get depressed and resentful and angry and nit picky and just plain not nice to be around which is why I typically have some sort of goal that I'm working toward such as learning to improve the workmanship of my knitting - which is my current long-term goal with a short-term focus on button bands and sleeve tops. I have goals for sewing and goals for knitting and goals in other areas of my life. It's how I function best. How about you? What kind of challenges do you like/need?

You might be wondering about all those pictures of yarn. Yes... well... apparently I need a stash for this knitting challenge. Webs has a HUGE discount section of the "good stuff". I searched by machine washable and then by gauge and then checked Ravelry for the reaction to that particular yarn and ordered fifty-nine balls. Yes... fifty-nine. Four of most and five of one smaller one which is enough for size small sweaters for my exploration. It was a moment - LOL - and I'm not totally sure what I was thinking but I do have plans for it so I guess that's good and thankfully the prices were significantly reduced. Can anyone say retail therapy?

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - awareness of personality quirks