Friday, November 26, 2010

I am shocked that so much time has slipped away from me without a blog post. Not that there is that much new to post about. My knee is healing slowly but still has some frightening symptoms. The swelling at the back of the knee is hard and resists bending. On the front, if I bend and push back, as in pushing a chair away from a table to stand up, that knee joint feels like it is coming unstuck and then pops back into place. Scarey and painful. My surgeon said that was just the plastic cartilage slipping into place but it just feels wrong and frightening. I have been sleeping a lot, too much I'm sure, but when my activities are so restricted, there is only so much reading and watching TV one can do.

On the fibre front, I have been spinning brown alpaca and I've almost gotten to the bottom of the bag of unwashed alpaca. I came in one day to find the Imp asleep in the bag of alpaca which was not appreciated. Very soft to be sure. I've plied the pale grey Shetland, and need to wind it off. I had promised it to BFLB to knit a lace shawl but it looks like I'll have to teach myself to knit lace. I am knitting myself a pair of socks out of Tofutsies yarn which has a soy and cotton component and is quite soft. Blues and purples. I have also started on the last piece of the vest, knitting from the armhole to the shoulder of the left front. This has taken far too long, but I got out of the habit of knitting and need to give myself a kick by finishing something.

I am now "officially" retired, having started receiving pension payouts. I finally hired someone to do a partial cleanup of the front and back yards. He is also mowing my lawn while I am laid up. I managed to get the bare minimum of plants in the ground: tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, and beans. The peas planted in Sept. are now yielding pods and there's lots of rhubarb. If I could stand in the kitchen long enough I might make a rhubarb pie.

Reading takes up a lot of time. I read Zero History by William Gibson on my Kindle and really liked it except it didn't seem to be "about" anything. I'm now reading Polity Agent by Neil Asher on the Kindle. My BBBB of Oracle Bones was finished and I recovered Good Wives from under the bed and finished that. The research done in court proceedings, wills, letters and other documents to describe women's live in the northern part of New England 1650-1750 was very pertinent since I have a number of ancestors in that window and I have yet to do research on their lives. Current BBBB is The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester about the OED. I am now reading High King of Montival by S.M. Sterling so I can send it to X2 for his reading.

My genealogy is back to a Johannes Quackenbush who lived in Albany NY around the last quarter of the 17th century. I know from my history reading that the Dutch had trading posts there to trade with the Iroquois for furs so the influx of Dutch names shouldn't be surprising.

1 comment:

Jan said...

You might find yourself becoming addicted to lace as I have. I started out withy Bellsknit's Summer of Lace two years ago. Really easy bits. Now I feel lost without some lace knitting going and I've even done some in proper laceweight. I enjoy doing lacy small shawls in sock wool too.

I can understand the frustration with your knee. I suffer from osteoarthritis and lately it's taken to affecting my feet causing much swelling and pain. For five days last week, feet were too swollen for shoes at all.