FiberTribe

Warm Fuzzies

Thank you all for the virtual hugs, commiseration and also the yeah-it-sucks-but-better-things-are-coming reminders.  All ya'll are the best.  I'll be responding individually, too, but am rushing to get my act together to get on the plane for NYC in 3 or so hours.  Mindy (Gidget Casts On) kindly told me of the Knit-Out in Union Square on Sunday, so I'll be there with her and the Martian.  If you're heading down that way, look for the slightly befuddled long-haired blonde NOT wearing anything hand-knitted (too bulky for the wheel-aboard). She will, however, be shouldering a bagful of yarn, no doubt. Heh. And wielding a camera to document the Fall in NYC with Knitters goodness.   Dude, I soooo need this. It's sometimes wonderful how the universe provides, yes?   More from NYC soon...

Neena Says to Tell You...

That I'm still here, peeps. Hurricane Rita was a relatively mild hurricane for Miami and much less of an event than Katrina here. I didn't even lose power though some did. However for a change, the city, county, and the company I work for took it seriously and on Tuesday last week, this city was shut down. It was a windy, rainy day and by late afternoon, many of us were venturing out due to a severe attack of cabin fever. Sitting in a boarded up house in the dark grows tedious.    Things began to reopen and by nightfall, many businesses were back to normal.

On the more personal news front, I have been told that I will be losing my job sometime between now and Dec. 31 as the company is exiting a particular line of business and my dept. will be closed.  So.  I have a LOT to do.  BIG understatement.   Some of my  staff will be staying on so there's a transition to prepare for, customers haven't yet been told and there will be transitions there to manage, yadda, yadda. And then there's the matter of what do I do next. 

Believe me, I'm mindful that this happens every day. But it's the first time it has happened to me and is hitting me doubly hard because this is a dept. that I built from scratch, people I hired, etc. I feel a sense of responsibility to all concerned. There will be a reasonable parachute for all but mostly I am sad.  Not that I love this work tremendously, but the people involved are flat out wonderful.  They are a joy and a delight to work with every day. The customers are by and large the same. Oh well, right? 

I realize people are coping with much worse right now and that this is not the end of the world, but it has fer shure rocked my world.  I don't really want to continue in this industry but the alternatives are just not clear to me.  But I am still going forward with all the travelling plans.

Am headed to NYC on Friday. Is anyone interested in meeting up on Sunday, late morning?  Send a shout.. Oh. Knitting will return eventually. Including display of the nice haul of books and patterns from Nancy's Knitting over in Naples, FL (from a weekend trip two weeks ago). Mwah.

Baaaad Blogger...

Eh. So sue me. Got the blog blahs or maybe the life blahs, not too sure.  Haven't been knitting either, though I have been ogling my stash and flipping through pattern books.  I want to finish something already but lack to ooomph to do so, evidently. 

Tonight I will take many UFO pictures and post them here. How many? you'll have to wait and see. This from a person who seriously has UFOs going back 20 years... But we'll limit ourselves to the past year or so.  Maybe in the process some wonderfully seductive yarn or colorway will reach out and grab me.

So what have I been doing if I haven't been knitting? Besides raging at the assbeagles (thank you, Rabbitch) we have as a government, you mean?  I have been going to the gym and firming up the large, white, dimpled part I'm so fond of telling people to bite.   And downloading wonderful patterns like Knit n Tonic's Not So Shrunken Marilyn Cardi and Jenna's Hopeful, and Marnie's notes on Hopeful, and all the wonderful new Knitty patterns, and Kepler that didn't make it into Knitty on account of similarity to another pattern.  You get the idea.

And peeps?  Best of all, this morning dawned sunny and COOL with a lovely cool breeze in the mid-70s. Can you say Fall?   Of course I have NOTHING newly knitted and ready to wear to Finland in exactly one month's time.  Nor to NYC in 2 weeks or so. Btw, will anyone be around NYC on Sunday, October 2nd? If so, would you like to meet at a cafe or at one of the LYSs of your choice? Let me know, 'K? 

For Want of AKC

That's Actual Knitting Content, (no, we haven't gone to the dogs here quite yet) I offer you a meme-ette from Birdsong over at The View from Sierra County, because she was sweet enough to tag me:

The 23rd post 5th sentence reads

1. Go into your archive.

2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).

3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).

4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

5. Tag five people to do the same.

5th sentence in my 23rd post: And I was rear-ended on I-95 on Monday and knocked into the car in front of me.

That's from June 2004, about 30 days after my car was totalled in a really bad accident.  All ya'll go ahead and tag yerselves, ' K? 

Blind Rage

So the richest, most powerful country in the world CANNOT FUCKING MOBILIZE HELP FOR OVER ONE WEEK??!!?   Was nothing learned from Hurricane Andrew? How can it be "just like Somalia down here" with armed gangs ruling the streets?

After we get help and permanent solutions going, we need to move to impeach for complete lack of leadership.  And yes, we goddamned well DO NEED TO POINT THE FINGER OF BLAME.  I just cannot say any more.   

Oh, yes, I can. That when I can set aside feelings of helplessness and rage and still my heart and mind, I am sending love and light to all those waiting and all those helping.  And there will be a yarn diet here with every yarn $$ going to the Red Cross for the forseeable future.   O my country...