Life's a Stitch

Who's that gift for?

Just wound up year 11 of running our charity gift wrap fund raiser for work. When I was 15 my first job was as a gift wrapper at a Lord and Taylor in NY and here I am, 40 years later, still gift wrapping as part of my job.

Wrapping about a thousand gifts each season, you can imagine there are stories. Trends in gifts and habits of customers. On Christmas Eve 90% of them are guys. A diamond ring or two, tea pots and giant stuffed animals. My favourite gift to wrap? Triagular Toblerone boxes. Largest? A pair of five foot tall wooden giraffes.

This year two tied for strangest gift. A customer wanted five fancily wrapped empty boxes to put under the tree in advance so the others in his house would think he bought them really good gifts and reciprocate accordingly.

The other one? I saw my daughter check in two crystal glasses. A few seconds later I heard a crash and the tinkle of broken glass. Then I saw her wrapping the mess in a box. "Did you break that?" I asked. "Yup." Then I heard the customers cracking up. They had asked her to break them, a set up for a christmas prank.

One guy brought in five thongs, as in underwear not the flippy floppy kind, one leopard print and the rest some combination of lacy red and black. It was all I could do to keep from asking "Is that a gift for her or for you?."

It's all over now. We depend upon dozens of volunteers to get the job done, all kinds of people at the busiest time of year, generously donating their time. Coming from ten different countries, the youngest was 13, the eldest 80, several had special needs and three were recruited at knit night. A big thank you to all of them.

At home this year, out of necessity, we simplified our Christmas. The ceramic tree and our nativity is all we need and it might just become our new tradition. Surprisingly there wasn't a word of protest from anyone, including  the decision to scale back gifts. Nobody felt like they missed a thing.

As for gift wrapping, you know how they say the shoemaker's kids have the worst footware? Don't look too carefully at the wrapping. By the time we get home on Christmas Eve night, we're too tired to do much in the wrapping department.

Do you hear what I hear?

In this season of Jingle Bells and O Holy Night, what song is stuck in my head? Don't Cross the Street.

If you recognize it, you are probably a New Yorker of a certain age. It was an anti jaywalking campaign sponsored in the 60's by the City's traffic safety department. The version in the video is a more recent recording by They Might Be Giants, but it sounds just like the original.

Catchy, isn't it? Almost uncomfortably obnoxiously so. Like this one:

Mired

My creativity quotient is near zero. You bloggers know what I mean? AKA writer's block.

I function well under stress, hence my long satisfying career in social services. Family life is good, work life is steady. What suffers is my creativity and that's a huge hunk of life for me. 

Riding the waves of crisis, one after the other, tired and teetering, bringing the last one in with finesse, finding myself stuck in the sand with no creative energy. The water retreats around my ankles. comes back in, recedes again and I'm mid calf. Mired. And it's Christmas time to boot.

It's not all bad. Being held still lets me take stock and prioritize. Family. Work. My top two. What will I let go? Christmas cards yet again. I am known for clever holiday greetings but the years find them fewer and farther between. I appreciate that my daughter has taken over the tradition. The tree may be solely ceramic instead of fir. Blogging will go to once or twice per week. I will stash my watercolours to wait for calmer seas. When I knit I'll reach for comfort yarns and rhythmic patterns.

That's another Lacey Kerchief in cashmere, the pattern recently having gotten me through the ER, ICU, CCU and other upsetting acronyms.

In the meantime I'll let those creative energies simmer. The more I rest the more they bubble, and after awhile I know what happens, they'll boil over. You'll see me at every knit night and my Mastercard bill will bulge with painting workshop tuition fees.

Chaos

There's a vanity in my bedroom, a sink in my living room, and loud fans everywhere:

 


In an unrelated event we have no water and they are digging up our yard:

I am not looking for any more sympathy, but if you happen to meet Calgon today, send him to my house to take me away.

Warped marriage

I've always thought couples need exceptional communication and coping skills to engage in activities such as playing bridge and wallpapering. We don't do either. I've recently discovered that warping a loom ranks right up there. I'm happy to report that we're not only thriving through serious illness recovery, but loom warping times three, which has brought the cost per scarf down to around $86 each. Could be worse, someone I know has a machine knit sweater otherwise known as the $3000 sweater.

Regarding rigid heddle looms, I've been asked Kromski or Ashford? My original rigid heddle review was in this post. Here are my updated thoughts after purchasing both the 24" Kromski and the 12" Ashford Knitters Loom:

• I like the fact that both are finished wood.
• The 12" Knitter's Loom is so maneuverable and portable, but is limited to scarves.
• The 24" Kromski is a little more cumbersome in size but can be used to make generous sized shawls.
• If I had it to do over again, I'd probably buy the newer 20" Ashford Knitters loom - the best of both worlds for shawls and scarves.

My warping helper (that's how his role is described in the Kromski loom instructions) was doing really well until two days ago when he twisted slightly in the wrong direction. It's discouraging since he described himself as feeling 100% recovered until that moment, which has left him in constant pain. We're awaiting x-ray results to determine if he separated a rib that might have been cracked in surgery. Owie.