The Secret Life of Walter Knitty

This one right here

I like scary movies.  Not so much into gory.  Gore for gore’s sake just doesnt work for me.  Scary/suspenseful does.  One of the things I liked about “Blair Witch” was that you didnt see the monster.  And, like “Blair Witch”, it cost little money to make.  About $15,000, I think.

Even though gore is not my thing, I loved “Shaun of the Dead”  Dont think that one really counts as gore though.

As some of you know I work  in a law firm.  Even though there is a hiring freeze, a pay freeze, the partners and associates took a pay cut, the attorney’s have cut back on travel expenses, and the firm has cut back on expenses in general, that did not prevent 9 people from getting laid off yesterday.

It’s a fairly close knit group of people here.  Yesterday, when my boss told me what was going on, she looked like she was going to cry.  It was a decision that came after several weeks of deliberation.

Last week my LYS closed.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday they had their closing sale.  The owner is still going to have an online store out of Spokane, WA with the same name: Abundant Yarn.  Their physical space, 4 blocks from my apartment with the cafe and free wi-fi is gone.  I went down to the sale on Friday and talked to the owner a bit.  One of the factors that contributed to their decision to close?  Health Care.  When she took over the shop this past winter, it was important to her to offer health care to the employees.  When she looked over their first quarter earnings it looked do-able.  With the economy being the way it is (in Oregon unemployment is 12%.  If you count people working part time because they cannot find full time work, people who have exhausted their unemployment benefits, and those who have stopped looking the figure goes above 20%) and summer being a very slow time anyway, they couldnt make it.  They couldnt afford the space, the cafe, the dyeworks, and health care.

This is a crappy thing that happened to some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.  That health care should even be a mitigating factor in why they had to close their doors is ridiculous.  The US is the richest country in the world and we cant even provide health care to our citizens even when the lack of care contributes to rising unemployment is asinine.  Death Panels and Death Books my ass!

Thank God for small favours, like keys and paper towels. 

I checked my bag after getting to work and found out I forgot my badge.  We have key cards that allow access to certain floors and in certain doors.  The door I have to go through to get to my desk is one of those.  Thankfully, I had my keys.  Those are needed to unlock the bike so I can pedal to work.

Unfortunately, without my key card I cant get to the womens shower.  But, there is a bathroom with outlets on my floor.  The kitchen has lots of paper towels.  Fully equipped, I managed to make coffee and fix my hair.  No, there was no coffee in the bathroom although it might be a good experiment.

And, it’s official.  I’m going to the great state of Iowa in October.  Dad’s 60th birthday is the 24th.  Five days of crazy making.  My parents bicker a lot on their own.  When my brother gets involved he ramps the two of them up and between the 3 of them it’s a bit like “Itchy and Scratchy”.  Hawkeye is going to loan me his french press and electric kettle.  Yea! Real coffee.  And, if I need it, I can call and he’ll come, in his Ford Bronco with skull details, and rescue me.  Yea for that too.  Dad’s getting two pairs of socks and Great-Grandma’s German Chocolate cake.  For all their bickering (last Thanksgiving they were bickering over the phone about gravy) they’re looking forward to the visit.  Dad really wants to take me for a trip on his motorcycle.

I’ve been trying to think of something clever to say about the Sock Summit, but cleverness fails me.  It was a lot to take in.  Lots of people everywhere, lots of classes, the Marketplace was the Ikea of Yarn.  I’ll expand on that later.

Overall, the Sock Summit was a very positive experience.  Positive for the knitters, teachers, and for the City of Portland.  Each of the 3 classes I took had between 20-25 students.  For a 3 hour class, this was a good size.  It meant that questions could get answered and there was time and space for one on one attention.  The teachers I had were all nice and seemed excited and happy to be there.  The knitters seemed grateful all this had been put on and were polite.  People from around the US, Canada, and even a few from the UK (I dont know if there were any knitters from the Continent.) 

The Recession has hit towns and cities across the US.  Portland gets kind of touristy, especially in the summer.  With all the people who came in, stayed in hotels, went out to eat, and saw the city, it had a positive economic impact on the city too.

One of the most amazing things I learned?  That you can use a long tail cast on to cast on purl stitches.  It’s true.  See for yourself:

What can I say, I’m amazed by small things.

All the classes I took were useful, but the one I took away the most from was the ergonomics class.  Sitting properly, taking breaks, stretching, being properly supported while knitting, etc.

Friday, there was class early in the morning again, then I hit the Marketplace before my volunteer gig.  It was the Ikea of yarn.  Seriously.  There were over 150 vendors with more yarn in more fibers and colours than you could shake a sheep at.  It was visually and tactilely overstimulating.  Lots of yarn, batting, roving, needles, shawl pins, patterns, of all types, prices, fibers and combinations of.  I was unprepared and after about an hour and a half, I was wiped.  I had the same feeling I had the first time I went to Ikea.  M. and I looked at each other and at the same time said “I need a drink!”

Saturday was my last class and thankfully it wasnt until later in the day.  Stranded colour knitting.  Did you know you can carry your floats for up to 10 stitches?  I was always told 5 was the max.  I made it to the Marketplace again, but this time, knew what to expect and had an idea of what I wanted, which made things a lot easier.  I bought this pattern, found some nice silver yarn in a merino/tussah silk blend, before going to visit the Yarn Doctor.

At the Summit they had a Lucy booth (Lucy from Peanuts) where for .05$, or something clever, you could get knitting help.  The shawl and I were not getting along again, there was a hole that I couldnt fix, so I went to see the Dr. 

Little did I know that the Dr. would be the same woman who wrote the pattern I had just bought.  Anne Hanson.  Who knew?  She gave a valiant effort to try to fix the problem but it had to be frogged.  Only about 10 rows with 590 stitches a piece, but I’d rather frog than have a glaring mistake.  I learned two lessons from this:

Never knit while having beer, especially if you’re really irritated and tink/rip back the rows you think are wrong instead of having someone try to fix it.  The woman I asked to help me fix the shawl made the problem worse. (imho) Anne Hanson was really nice and gave me a hard time when I admitted what initially went wrong.  She took some photos, so check her blog.  You may see me there with a lump of blue yarn.

I saw Stephanie Pearl-McPhee while at the Dr’s.  I told her that I was grateful that she and everyone involved took the time to make this happen even though it must have been very difficult (I wanted to say pain in the ass but didnt)  It was nice to be able to tell her in person.

That’s it for now on SS09.  There may be more to follow.

It’s finally starting to cool off here.  Yea!

Friday was my birthday.  It’s been a pretty good weekend.  I took the day off because my Dad says that you shouldnt have to work on your birthday.  I went to see The Stolen Sweets that night.  The band was fun and there was a burlesque show.  I’ve never seen a burlesque show before but I’d go again.  It was a lot of fun.  It wasnt sleazy, but fun naughty.  This isnt from Friday’s show, but it is the Stolen Sweets with a couple of the same performers from Friday.

Yes, I was hooting and hollering along with everyone else.  It was too much fun.  The Stolen Sweets have an upcoming free show next month.  They would be fun to see again.  Hawkeye asked if I ever thought I was born at the wrong time because old time jazz is one of my favourite styles of music.

He and I got together yesterday and hung out together.  We went to Oaks Park and rode bumper cars and go carts, then to Sweet pea Bakery.  He’s not supposed to have dairy so an all vegan bakery worked out for the two of us.  After that he took me out for a beer.  By that time, after all the walking and heat, I was worn out.  We parted ways and I relaxed at home.  He knows I like Jack Kerouac so when he found an audio play of “Dr. Sax and the Great World Snake” at Goodwill for  3$ he picked it up for me.

My folks paid for my classes at the Sock Summit next week.  When I told my Mom that was what I wanted from them for my birthday she sounded like she thought it was weird, but they did oblige.

Talking to her Thursday was fun.  I wondered if she had been miserable the last month of her pregnancy.  It’s July in Iowa which normally means (except this year) 98 degrees and 98% humidity.  She said it wasnt too bad.  The house they bought had A/C so she wasnt miserable.  I told her that I had wanted to ask her if there was any part of her that wanted to rip Dad’s penis off and beat him with it because she was so miserable.  She said “No, we had air conditioning.  It wasnt too bad.  Besides when it’s your first everything is new and you dont know what to expect.”

It’s Thursday and it’s still 100 degrees.  Four days in a row of 100+ degree weather.  I think I’ve had about all I can take. 

The green beans are fried.  I dont think they’ll come back, but,  the cucumber seems to be doing okay.  I picked two yesterday. 

Last night I came home from work, took a bath, changed my clothes and went to the yarn store.  Abundant Yarn has A/C and is only a few blocks from my place so last night I hung out there till close.  It’s so hot that one of the boys who works there came in at 6AM just so he could crash out on the sofa for 4 hours to get some sleep.  Even with the A/C running since Monday it was still about 80 in there last night.  80 may sound hot, but it was more than 20 degrees cooler than it was outside. 

The question I have every day is: How did the pioneer’s do it?  How did they, especially the pioneer women, handle it.  Back then women wore long, heavy, dresses.  In the summer they may not have worn all the petticoats that were usually required but wearing a long dress had to be freaking hot.  Modesty of the day said you couldnt shorten your dress over your knees or run around in your bloomers and undershirt.  There was no electricity, so, no fans during the day or at night, no refrigeration or freezers (no popsicles!).  Women on homesteads often did the same work as men as well as the household chores.  High heat makes me short tempered and very cranky.  I’d be wanted for murder on the High Plains.  Being from Iowa it might be, murder on the prairie, or murder on the flood plain.  

It’s 100 degrees here.  I couldnt imagine baking bread or standing over a wood burning stove on a day like today.  Even if that wood burning stove was outside.  I couldnt imagine plowing a field with horses or if I was too poor to own a horse either me or my husband would have to have been attached to the plow to pull it.  Living in a sod house built into a hillside, might have had it’s advantages.  Dirt is a natural insulator after all.

Even so, farmers and homesteaders were much more dependant on the mercy of the weather than we are today.  If your well dried up or there wasnt enough rain you were just screwed.  It could mean moving or starvation.  Could you imagine digging a well in 100+ heat?  Or digging a well, building a house, weeding and hoeing crops, or harvesting crops when it’s that hot?  There was no “it’s too hot to move”.  There was only “this has to be done so we can eat.  This has to be done so we can survive”.  People probably died of heat stroke/heat exhaustion more often than now.  On a homestead your nearest neighbour could be 5 or more miles away.  The nearest town with a doctor could be a day’s ride away.  You really were on your own.

What did the pioneers on the Oregon Trail do in the summer.  Traveling, walking, plodding along day after day in the summer heat and, depending on the area, humidity.  How many people said “I cant take it anymore.  I’m getting off at the next town”

We’re pretty spoiled by comparison.  I can go home and have a popsicle or have ice water with cucumber and lemon.  I can take a cold bath and run away to the ac at the yarn store.  I can have a cold beer at the yarn store.  I can wear a mini skirt and tank top or a thin silk shift or my undershirt and underwear and I dont have to wear socks and tall boots.  I can say “it’s too hot to do anything”, watch documentaries on my laptop, drink lots of cold water, go up to the store and get something from the deli.  I have a fan, a freezer, and a fridge.  If my plants die I’m not going to starve.  I can get my ice pack out at night and lay on it or put it on the back of my neck.  I’m unlikely to get heat exhaustion. 

I guess, the pioneers wouldnt have known any different.  They grew up that way.  Still, though, I wonder how they would have dealt with this.

I should be used to hot weather.  Growing up in Iowa means long summers of 98/98 (98 degrees and 98% humidity) nearly every day from June through the beginning of September.

Moving to Oregon has turned me into a complete wuss.  It’s going to be 100 through Wednesday and I, like a lot of people who live here, do not have A/C.  Usually it’s not necessary.  Usually it’s 80-85 with no humidity.  Not this week.  It was almost 100 yesterday and still hot at night.  I ended up falling asleep with an ice pack on my lower back.  If this happened right after I had moved here I wouldnt think anything of it.  100 degrees with no humidity is a lot different than 100 degrees with 98% humidity.  I’ve lived here for 10 years and have become a complete and total wuss.

Something tells me there will be lots of cold baths, cold dry white wine, salad, and gaspacho in my future. 

It’s too hot to knit.  My hands start to sweat and my needles start to get slippery.  I might have a lot of grumpy co-workers since a lot of people here dont have A/C.

This morning the plants all got a good soaking and will probably need more by the time I get home from work.  The tomatoes that were most ripe got picked.  I wasnt sure they’d make it if they didnt.  Maybe, by the end of the week, there will be more ripe tomatoes and some ripe cucumbers.  Who knows, maybe my peppers will finally start to turn red.

If any of you are having cool weather, please send some this way.

I was sick Monday, the shawl and I arent getting along too well, I got nothing else, Hawkeye has psoriasis (he was diagnosed when he was eight) and we lived together for 7 years, so here we go:

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes your skin cells to divide faster than normal.  Skin is the largest organ (dont get any naughty ideas) which is why psoriasis can be found all over your body.  Usually your skin cells take about month or so to divide and come to the surface.  With psoriasis, it takes 3-5 days.  Because the skin cells divide and come to the surface so quickly it causes plaques to form on the body.  Plaques can form around joints or all over the body.  Psoriasis can cause pitting of finger and toenails.

The quick division of skin cells is what causes scaley plaques  to form on the skin.

Plaques can form on the scalp.  This is particularly annoying if you have dark hair because it looks like you have really bad dandruff and it makes wearing dark clothes nearly impossible.  Plaques on the palms or feet can inhibit everyday functions and can be very painful.

A little Q&A

Q.Is psoriasis contagious? A. Nope.  Psoriasis is thought to be passed along genetically.  If there is a family history of psoriasis there is a chance you could develop psoriasis.  Most cases develop in childhood through the early teen years.

Q. Is psoriasis related to leprosy?  Um . . . not just no, but hell no.  Even though this was once common thinking a hundred or more years ago, this is no longer the case.  Psoriasis is not going to make your nose or feet fall off.

Q. Do you develop psoriasis from being unclean?  Again, no.  It’s an autoimmune disorder.  An autoimmune disorder is where your own body’s immune system goes a bit haywire and starts attacking you.  In the case of psoriasis, the immune system starts attacking the skin.

Q. Is there a cure?  A.  Frustratingly, no.  There are several treatments, everything from lotions and creams for the most mild cases all the way to injections for the most severe.  There is a new laser treatment coming to market that can treat large plaques.  No idea exactly how effective it is yet. (treatments will be followed up on later)

Severity of psoriasis varies dramatically although, according to Wikipedia at least, over half of people diagnosed with psoriasis have a mild to moderate case.   If more than 10% of your body is covered in psoriasis plaques, then it’s considered severe. 

Psoriasis can be life threatening in one instance: if you have severe psoriasis, are not treating it, and it gets out of control you can develop a condition called  Erythrodermic psoriasis.  When this happens, the immune reaction goes completely ape shit and makes it nearly impossible for your body to regulate it’s temperature.  The skin, instead of coming off in small flakes, comes off in sheets, and it opens the body for secondary infection.  Hawkeye developed this condition (he wasnt taking care of himself) and spent 2 weeks in the hospital once he got back to Iowa.

 Generally though, psoriasis is not life threatening but is a complete pain in the ass.  It affects not just the body, but the psyche as well.  Think about it for a minute.  You have silvery, scaley patches on your arms, knees, hands, and maybe face, of course you’re going to feel extremely self-conscious.  It’s not a well known condition, and we all know how some people can be when they’re confronted with something they dont understand.  You can face a lot of judgement.  It effects your self esteem, the kinds of clothes you wear, the colours you wear, and your dating/sex life.  Psoriasis may go into remission, but it will never go away.  There is no cure.  Cuts and scrapes can take longer to heal and can cause your psoriasis to flare up.  It effects what kinds of activities you participate in (you may not go swimming because you feel self conscious about your skin) it effects how attractive you feel.  The psychological effects of the disease is worse than the disease itself, at least imho.

Treatment: There are several treatments of varying effectiveness for psoriasis and treatment depends on how severe your case is.  If you case is mild, you might only have to use over the counter lotions and creams on your plaques.  Lubrederm, A&D Ointment, Vitamin E oil, Nutrogena Coal Tar Shampoo, (this is good for scalp psoriasis although it’s not clearly understood why coal tar has a positive effect on psoriasis), Dead Sea Salts, etc.  Exposure to sunlight is good too because the UV rays shrink psoriasis spots. 

If your case is more severe there are other more dramatic treatments you can pursue:

Photo therapy:  This usually involves some type of light box.  I’ve only ever seen Hawkeye’s and can tell you it’s about 5 feet tall with lights that look like big fluorescent bulbs.  There are two types of light that can be used: UVA and UVB.  Sometimes creams and coal tar are used in combination to achieve greater effectiveness.  Hawkeye even had little goggles (the kind you get in a tanning salon) to wear.  This is how it works: you turn the light on (make sure to wear your little goggles.  Safety first!)  and stand in front of it for a couple of minutes.  Over time you stand in front of the light for longer periods.  Because it’s UVA or UVB you can get burned which is why you have to build up a tolerance.

There are systemic treatments too involving drugs and/or injections.  Methotrexate is commonly prescribed because it slows cellular growth.  It’s also prescribed if you have an ectopic pregnancy.  Methotrexate can effect liver functions so it’s important to have monthly blood tests.  Liver biopsies are recommended, but having your liver bored into is not the most pleasant experience.

Cyclosporine (which I thought was an antibiotic but isnt) is an immunosuppressant  that is usually given to transplant patients but is also used to treat psoriasis. 

There are a few other drugs that can be used to treat psoriasis, but we’re going to talk about the big guns now.  IV and injections.

Remicade is given through IV injection in a Dr. office.  Imagine how much fun it is to sit in your Dr’s office with an IV drip for 4 hours.  What a way to spend an afternoon.

Humira and Enbrel are administered through self injection.  I dont know much about Humira, but Enbrel is an immunosuppressant.  It helps stop the body from attacking itself, but can leave the body open to other infection.  It’s also used to treat psoriatic arthritis.  It’s very expensive, but also very effective.

Psoriatic Arthritis is a specific form of arthritis associated with guess what? Psoriasis.  It’s similar to rhumetoid (yes, it’s a product of an over active immune system), can be very severe, and left to it’s own devices will destroy the joints.  It seems to effect the joints in the fingers the most but like any arthritis, can effect joints all over the body.

There are other treatments other than drugs.  Stress plays a big role in outbreaks and techniques to reduce stress are helpful in treatment (yoga, meditation, biofeedback, massage, etc)  Food allergies can play a role in flare ups.  Two common food allergies that play a role are wheat and dairy.  Weather can also play a role in flare ups of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. 

The most important thing to remember is that someone with this condition is the same as you are.  Their brains are just as big, their minds are just as clever, and they have the same feelings as you do.  Hawkeye doesnt mind questions, even if they seem dumb.  I lived with him for 7 years, talk to him a few times a week, and still have questions about his disease process.  Practice tact.  Dont be a dumb ass and say things like “Eww yuck! How do you live like that”  You can ask things like: How long have you had this disease?  How do you treat it?  How do you take care of yourself?  Do you have a hard time with people staring?  Yes, btw, people do stare, it’s not nice, but it happens.  Just like anyone with diabetes or arthritis, practice respect and kindness.

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I wish I could say I’ve been busy doing something exciting like taking an unexpected trip to Hawaii, winning a free, all expenses paid trip for a week to Paris, but no, nothing so exciting.  There has been some job anxiety this week which has been very distracting and the shawl and I are not exactly getting along.  For every two rows I knit it seems like one gets tinked out.

And, it’s been so hot the last few days I havent wanted to do anything.  I shouldnt complain.  I know what hot is.  I know what it’s like when it’s 98 degrees with 98% humidity.  For Oregon, it’s been hot.  The last 4 days it’s been 97 or so.  Yesterday was the worst.  It’d been so hot for so long it felt like it was 90 degrees at 10AM.  Good for the plants, (I swear the cucumber grew about a foot) not so much for me.  I was cranky, grouchy, and all around no fun.  Today, finally, the heat broke.  Yea!

Claire got a haircut on Wednesday.  She looks ridiculous!  She went from having enough hair for 3 cats to being almost completely bald.  The only kind of cut available for a cat is a lion cut.  Now she has hair around her face, on the tip of her tail, and from her mid-leg down to her paws.  There are before pictures.  Since it’s not so hot, there will soon be after pictures.  It might give you all a good laugh.  I laughed when I saw her.

I dont have a TV.  All the news I get is from the Internet (it’s a series of tubes you know).  Which, I guess is good because the regualr cable TV news hasnt done a lot of reporting on the Iranian Elections.  I spent a good amount of time yesterday reading about the Iranian elections.  Some are saying it’s a coup by the military or a coup by President Ahmadinejad his paramilitary backers, or a coup by some of the ruling clerics.  If you want a much more well informed opinion than mine, please check out the following

Andrew Sullivan, here’s an interview with Iran’s ex-foreign minister, Juan Cole (Juan Cole speaks Arabic and Persian.  He’s a professor at the University of Michigan.  From his wikipedia page: John “Juan” Ricardo I. Cole (born October 1952 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American scholar, public intellectual, and historian of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history.^[1][2][3] He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on television, and testified before the United States Senate. He has published several peer-reviewed books on the modern Middle East and is a translator of both Arabic and Persian. Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Comment.)  Juan Cole knows his shit.

You can also check out the NY Times, The Guardian, BBC, and Talking Points Memo

I’m off to Pride today.  It’s overcast but doesnt seem like it’s going to rain.  Maybe I’ll have some absolutely fabulous pictures later.