Redefining normal........

Normalcy has not yet arrived at my door.  No matter how hard I try to work, rejoice in Little Buddy and do all the things I normally do I am still having a hard time regaining my footing.  I think my sense of normal has shifted greatly these past few weeks.  Instead of listening to fear and anger throughout the last year, I tried to listen to hope and a good future for all.  Now I find myself living in fear and that is becoming my new normal.  I am fighting that feeling, but it is ever present.  I find not watching the news and trying not to read it, is not helping.  When our highest level advisers, and those positioned to take our highest levels in the government have such hateful viewpoints on people of different religions, races and genders, well that is a thing to fear.  And the fact that these people are becoming, "normal.'  We are normalizing their viewpoints and beliefs, that is the scariest thing of all.  I find it hard to settle down and focus.  I find my heart racing and realize I have been thinking fearful thoughts.  What will happen to Little Buddy and all the other kids I work with that need special care, social security, Medicare, a potential Muslim Register.........the list goes on.  I know you come here for knitting, I have some of that too but I have to say I am being honest in my thoughts right now.  And this is who I am, if you are sick of me I wish you well as you move on from my blog.  Let me add that privatizing Medicare will be a disaster, I hope those of you who receive it will put up a big fight.  The privatization of Medicaid in my state has left so many very medically frail and challenged children with very little services.  Little Buddy for the moment is lucky, he is still young, but so many of the kids that come across my path, who desperately need therapy can't get it because they have been placed in a private Medicaid that does not pay for it.  These kids will suffer not only now but in the future as they get further and further behind their peers, many of whom will have permanent disabilities due to lack of intervention early on.  See the fear is ever present.

I started this scarf on Friday and finished it yesterday.  Super fast knit with super bulky yarn.  I used size 17 needles, let me say my wrists do not like working with this bulky yarn and big needles.   The yarn is Tahki Select Poppy from Tahki Stacy Charles.  This took two skeins of 43 yards each,  which has now has depleted my stash by a whopping 86 yards.  I did buy this yarn several months ago on sale at my local to me yarn store.  I bought it specifically for this purpose.  The fun thing about the yarn is you can move the flowers to where ever you want them.  You just keep pushing them down the yarn while knitting until you want to place one, sort of like knitting with beads.  I am not sure Mr 19's girlfriend will use it but I wanted to make her something anyway, she is lovely and has stuck with him through thick and thin.

Today I start on a cowl for Mr. 23's girlfriend for Christmas.  She is about to graduate this December along with Mr. 23.  I am hoping she will like a cowl to keep her warm on cold Ohio days.  She is a dear and I just adore her.  I will be using the Interrupted Cowl pattern by Heather Hill.  Wish me luck.

Because I am scattered and can't seem to settle down with my thoughts I also started a new sweater.  This is the yarn I frogged from my failed Flaum.  I love the yarn so wanted to get busy right away and make it into something else.  While emailing back an forth a while ago with Chris I mentioned a beautiful sweater I would like to make but could not find the pattern.  Chris is all knowledgeable about these things as she works in a yarn store and teaches knitting, dream job I know!  She found the pattern for me, the Easy 2 Way Wrap.  It is made from three different sized rectangles, sewn together.  You are supposed to be able to wear the sweater two different ways.  We will see if I can pull this one off.  Thank you again Chris for finding this pattern for me.  Simple garter stitch knitting, row after row, is exactly what I need right now.

Here is an action shot of Little Buddy and his brand new, "Chase Robot'" as he likes to call it.  My dear friend Georgette saw this in a thrift shop, in the original box that was beat up but had never been opened.  Apparently these are not being made anymore, Little Buddy was thrilled.  These two are  having quite an adventure this morning.  By the way soccer day number two was yesterday.  Little Buddy made it a whole 45 minutes before petering out.  Yes I did fix his breaks, so he was able to move backwards and did not have to pick up his walker to turn.  He did kick the ball a few times but mostly tried to pull the equipment cart and got a ride in the golf cart with the soccer organization manager and his helper Katie.  Katie who is a sophomore in high school, was so excited to be working with Little Buddy she brought her mom to meet him.  Now that is special.