Radio Silence

Don't you hate it when real life interferes? The past couple of weeks have been a little insane.

Firstly, one of our cats needed to have surgery. It took the vet about a week and a half to figure out that Fionna ate some string, which explained why she stopped eating and drinking, and would hork up anything she did try to ingest. This seemed to be a case of getting caught up in the details of a diagnosis - we were given every possibility from diabetes to stomach cancer. We kept bringing up the possibility, "Uh, is it possible she just swallowed something?" So yeah, the hubby and I are slightly annoyed. 3K later, we have a much happier, healthier cat. It's a good thing we love her. She gets her staples out today, which means we can set her free from her bedroom prison, which will thrill her to no end.

On top of that, J's parents came to visit this past weekend, so we set the goal of finishing the front stairs and preparing for their visit. They were our first guests in the new house, and I think things went swimmingly. They seemed to have a really good time (despite getting snowed on, WTF spring?), and they were comfy in the guest bedroom. We do need to get some additional pieces of furniture (vanity/dresser and nightstands), and slap a coat of paint on everything, but it is all workable for right now. Hopefully we can meet those goals before our next visitor arrives for Memorial Day weekend!

I've still made time to work on Mariah. I finished one sleeve, and am about 2/3 of the way through the other one. It's getting so close I can taste it. I think I will keep things simple and do a 1X1 rib for the button bands and the collar, so they will lay flat and blend in with the rest of the design. I may get a week of wear before the weather starts warming up too much.

I also made it to the Yarn Harlot/Blue Moon event at the World Forestry Center. What fun! It's always such a joy to see these events so well attended and full of "my people". I wore my Clapotis (because it was really chilly), and got tons of compliments. I also got to meet more people from the Abundant group, and I'm looking forward to spending a little more time knitting over there in the future. I got tired early, so I bowed out of the actual book signing portion of the evening, but it was all a good time.

It was only later that I started hearing stories about at least one of the moms at the event getting dumped on because their kids were being unruly. Honestly, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary going on, so I was pretty shocked. I don't know - I think I hold knitters to a different standard than other people and expect them to react to situations with common sense and aplomb, so to hear of people being so unreasonable and nasty took me aback. It's not the type of event you bring children to - really? Was that posted somewhere and I missed it? I'm pretty sure Steph isn't anti-child, being a doula and all. Sigh - it makes me sad.

I'll admit, I've had a lack of patience with children in the past, but I always chalked it up as my problem, not theirs. As a result, I've never confronted anybody about their child misbehaving. I like children, but do not have any of my own, and therefore I could not imagine what it is like being a mom, or what I would do if my child suddenly went nuclear and threw a tantrum in a public place. I have several friends who are very anti-child, one of whom confronts people regularly or throws a fit themselves if a child starts making noise in a restaurant or a movie theater. This makes me embarrassed more often than not. Maybe I'm getting more calm about these things in my old age, but if a baby is just making happy noises, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to.

Anyway, rant over. Some people are naturally unhappy and feel the need to spread that unhappiness far and wide. I don't want to be one of them.

Next post - some pictures of the Yarn Harlot event, and maybe some yarn while I'm at it.