Bock Bock Birthday

After two weeks of no Chickenheads (for me), it felt good to get back to the group last night. Although Rugby was missing - still on her vacation in Ireland, poor thing -- it was a festive evening as we celebrated Miss Sunshine's birthday. She is turning a full 26 years old, so needless to say the rest of us felt terribly sad for her elderly status.

During the first year of the Chickenhead's existence, birthdays were a big deal. I think we were all so excited to be a part of this group and wanted to show appreciation to everyone when their special day came. This involved a huge balloon, a cake and a present from the group, usually knitting related. It was a fun year and we all got the royal treatment. But once the last birthday was celebrated we all quietly agreed that we can tone it down for the future. I mean, this economy is hurting everyone and we can celebrate each other without forking over $20/each every few weeks.

So we celebrated Miss Sunshine with a nice big balloon and tasty grocery store cupcakes and even found a lone candle for her to blow out, while wearing a birthday tiara of course.

The rest of the night was nice and mellow, with Bubbles doing her normal rounds of helping the lesser skilled knitters. She helped get me back on track with my ear flap hat and taught CertainT how to increase.

The girls also made plans to get together at Obamette's house Sunday night to watch the Tony Awards. I opted to pass on that extravaganza as there is only so much hysteria over Broadway shows and performers I've never heard of that I can take (as I wrote about here). But I wish them all a wonderful evening of Big Apple entertainment.

Til next week, Bock Bock.

It's a Group Effort

I think I better prepare for some Chickenhead withdrawals.

I had to miss last week because of an appointment and I'll miss this week too since I am out of town visiting a friend and her beautiful baby girl. I've only got a few more weeks of medical leave left and, since I'm feeling pretty mobile these days (I had major orthopedic surgery in March if you didn't know), I thought I'd get a visit in before life gets hectic again.

One of the best things about knowing how to knit is how much more enjoyable airplane trips become. I mean, I spend most of my days trying to find a few hours of uninterrupted time to focus on my project and nothing else. What better place than a few thousand feet up in the air? No phones, no email and, if you act unapproachable enough (I can), nobody trying to talk to you.

However, there is one kind of person that will almost always talk to you when you are knitting in public. And those I don't mind because they remind me to be proud of my new skill and grateful for my group of Chickenheads who made sure I stuck around to learn it. I'm sure you have encountered these people hundreds of times yourself. They are the ones who come up to you and say, "Ohhhh, wow, you're knitting. I wish I could do that. I tried to do it but I just couldn't figure it out and gave up after a few tries."

To which I always respond, "You know, it's not as hard as you think. But the main reason I stuck with it is because I have a knitting group that meets every week, with plenty of talent to help me through the rough spots. If I tried to learn on my own I would have given up pretty quickly too."

And I did. My very crafty friend tried to teach me many years ago. I got the hang of it after awhile, but the second she got on a plane and went home, I forgot everything and shoved the needles and yarn she gave me into a basket where they stayed untouched for years. And guess who I am visiting right now? That's right...that very same crafty friend. Which is why I proudly packed two of my knitting projects in my suitcase.

Today it was the flight attendant who approached with that familiar tone of longing for the hobby that passed her by. She was clearly tired from a long day and making her way down the aisle collecting trash before our final decent. When she saw the soft mohair yarn wrapped around my needles (this is the recovery blanket I've blogged about before), she stopped and stared for a few seconds before she shared her story of knitting failure.

We only had a few seconds before she had to keep moving but I made sure to tell her why I stuck with it - my Chickenheads. I'd like to think she walked down that aisle toward the back of the plane making a mental list of the women she would ask to be the founding members of her knitting group.

Bock, bock.

Borrow or Buy?

Knitting night got off to a wonderful start this week when Obamette presented me with a yellow rose of friendship. I was a little confused at first. She approached me with such a grateful countenance that I thought, "Wow, she really must have liked the pizza I brought last week."

But no, she was thanking me for some advice I gave her the week before when she presented the group with a personal problem in need of an immediate solution. Apparently the advice I offered was the winning strategy and she was so relieved and happy that she felt the need to thank me.

Of course, she's the one that made it all fall into place. But still, it's nice to have a little confirmation that maybe I've learned a thing or two over the years that can help someone else.

This pleasant exchange was also further confirmation that our weekly knitting night has become a lot more than just a bunch of chicks gabbing. We all help each other through our various life events. I think they call that "friendship."

Let's see....what else happened this week?

Babies, babies, babies.

Yet another friend of mine is knocked up -- a bit of a shocker to everyone, including her -- so I need to pick another baby pattern and have it completed before the shower in August.

Rugby, who has knit an entire Babies R Us full of items, suggested an adorable hooded baby carrying bag that is in a new book of baby patterns she just bought. She passed the book around and, although I fell in love with the baby bag, I opted instead to take on the bathrobe. It just felt more like something my friend would like (and didn't involve a zipper or buttons). I think I'm going for a pastel purple or blue with a lime green edging. Cute for a baby boy!

When the book got to CertainT's lap she exclaimed, "You bought this!?" When Rugby answered in the affirmative, CertainT delivered a little lecture on borrowing knitting books from the library rather than wasting money buying them. Rugby countered saying that so many of her friends are having babies, it just made sense to buy it. Plus, it is an absolutely beautiful book (and Rugby hopes to be knitting for her own spawn at some point down the line).

Just like her nickname implies, CertainT was unconvinced and remained certain that borrowing pattern books from the library is the only way to go.

For me, I don't do either. I can barely handle the flood of free patterns on sites like Ravelry, Knitty and KnitPicks (feel free to share any other resources you know of!). Plus, I can always borrow the books from my generous Chickenheads. The only books I've invested in so far are Stitch & Bitch (of course) and the wonderful Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders, which I've already used enough times to make it worth what I spent. Throw in a few stitch bibles and I consider myself loaded up with projects until perhaps 2012.

What side are you guys on?

Bock, bock.

Hormones, Knitting and "Unmentionables"

I swear I need to bring a tape recorder to knitting night if I want to capture the range of topics we cover in three hours. Since last week was our first meeting as a "full henhouse" in our normal roost (CertainT's house), we were bursting at the seams with blogworthy content. But when I got home, my mind a little buzzed and in overdrive from seeing my girls again, it was all a jumble. So I attempted to brainstorm a list of the topics that stood out the most.

Honestly, the list stands alone. So here it is - with relevant links added.

1. The difficulty of casting on with double pointed needles (related to the ear flap hat I decided to start that night, which was passed around to three different chickenheads until someone - Bubbles - was successful in getting it started for me).

2. Anal bleaching - Yes, there is such a thing. One of the 'heads saw a show with Margaret Cho who has apparently had this inane cosmetic procedure. I refused to believe this actually exists until CertainT brought out the laptop (note: CertainT is notoriously anti-computer so the fact that this was the topic that motivated her to break out the computer in the middle of knitting night is humorous enough:-) and pulled up an online video of the actual procedure. I didn't get up and walk around the room to watch it. But not because I wasn't curious - it's just these damn crutches make it too much of a pain in the, ugh, ass. I am all little too creeped out to link to the video here (I opted for the sanitized Wikipedia link above) for fear of attracting fetishists to this site. So if you you really want to know, I'm sure you can figure it out yourself.

3. Hormones - I don't think this subject has ever NOT come up during knitting night. Probably has something to do with the number of hot flash sufferers in the group.

4. Strawberry beer - Bubbles brought some kind of strawberry infused beer. I tried it (in fact, I took my percoset with it!) but wasn't a fan. But hey, worth a taste.

5. Testosterone - Apparently, injections of it can make some women extremely horny. Others, not so much.

6. Increase in shoe size after having a baby - Each of the three 'heads who have given birth all went up at least 1 shoe size during - and forever after - their pregancy. One more reason to hit the 'snooze' button on my maternal alarm clock? I'm already a size 9 for goodness sake!

Let's see what my pain pill-riddled brain chooses to remember from this week's group!

Bock, bock.

Sock It To Me

As much as I'd like to think the Chickenheads couldn't possibly exist without me, they can - though I like to think it's not quite as much fun.

For the past three weeks I've been down and out, having had some major orthopedic surgery at the end of March. For the first week I was in the hospital, then 30 miles away at my mom's while I recovered. After two weeks I had a clear enough head to cast on my recovery blanket project, but quickly got stuck. Normally, getting stuck is no biggie since you can always wait til the following Tuesday night when one of the Chicks will help you. But my isolated situation made it more like a concrete-walled dead end. So I put the knitting aside and focused on my Barack Obama audio book instead (a worthy substitute I must say).

I finally came home last week and last night the Chickenheads were kind enough to relocate knitting night from CertainT's house to mine, relegating my poor boyfriend to the office downstairs in a failed attempt to drown out the bock, bocking.It was wonderful to have the group back together, though I will say I haven't been used to that much chitchat having been in near isolation during most of my recovery. But I suspect I will ease back in to the high energy level of the group as my own energy begins to return.

Clearly, some sort of sock fever has taken over the Chickenheads - a virus I have yet to catch. Rugby is insane about socks. When she is not knitting baby blankets for her pregnant friends, you can guarantee you will find her knitting up another adorable pair of socks. And Bubbles is now equally obsessed - dying her own sock yarn and acquiring sock books like they're going out of style. This is the book they are all obsessed with at the moment, and there are some tempting patterns in it for sure.

But for some reason I can't seem to get excited about knitting socks. I have had a half-knit pair on circulars sitting in my basket for months and I keep avoiding them. This, after an initial sock disaster that left me cursing socks for all eternity, which only inspired Bubbles to buy me some better sock yarn (she insists the yarn is why I had such a hard time) housed in a plastic contraption that keeps the balls of yarn from tangling up while you knit two socks at a time on double circulars.

As touched as I was (am) by Bubbles' fighting spirit, I still feel defeated by them. Perhaps I will change my mind - someday, when I run out of everything else. Or when I see Rugby's next cute pair and finally decide I have to have them for myself.

In the meantime, it's good to be back.
Bock, bock.

Musical Nuts and More

No Chickenheads group this week as most of them opted to go on a field trip to see the stage production of "Rent," which just came to town. Being the group grump, I opted out as I've seen it twice already and, frankly, have no desire to see it again. It's just feels a bit dated to me.

But for Miss Sunshine, Bubbles and Big Sis, there is no such thing as getting sick of a Broadway musical. You know how young girls shriek and get all breathless over Justin Timberlake or the Jonas brothers? That's how these grown women - ranging in age from 25 to 50 - get when they talk about "Raoul" or "Anthony" or whatever Broadway star they are obsessed with and know on a first name basis.

In a way, I envy their passion for something they so clearly love. But at the same time, I want to put earplugs in when they get on their conversation kicks about how great this song was, or when so-and-so did that number and they cried. It can go on for hours. But I usually put a stop to it after about 20 minutes with a cynical, "How much longer are you going to talk about this?" comment.

I think it's less the subject matter that bothers me (I like musical theater a lot actually) but more the high pitch squeals it seems to inspire in them. Ear piercing sometimes. I guess they get more like Baby Chicks than Chickenheads at that point.

So off they all went to "Rent" while Rugby and I opted out to do our own thing on a Tuesday night. I used the time to have dinner with my ex-fiance. Yeah, I know. Knitting probably would have been better for me. But still, he bought me sushi (as always) and he is kind of like family so it's good to catch up.

Next week is my last Chickenhead group for awhile, sadly. I am having some pretty major orthopedic surgery on March 23 and will be VERY out of commission for a few weeks/months. I feel blessed because the Chickenheads insist that they will come to me for our Tuesday night sessions until I'm back on my feet. I look forward to it already - even with the squealing.

In the meantime, I am stocking up on knitting projects to keep me busy during recovery. The biggest one is a beautiful blanket I am making just for myself. It will be one of those keep-for-a-lifetime blankets. It's actually from a shawl pattern that I saw knitted up at a yarn shop months ago and, after some poking around, found out that it is an older Vogue Knitting pattern.

I already ordered the pattern, which for some lame reason can only come by mail. Last weekend I went to my favorite yarn store in San Diego and found the perfect taupe-colored kid mohair, which is now on order and is going to cost me a pretty penny. Good thing I have $150 in gift certificates saved up for this very project. If ever there was a time to splurge on myself, the next three months is it.

Bock, bock.

Bald is Beautiful

Here's the Chickenheads' dream for the future:

We each invest a piece of our nest eggs in a new yarn shop to be owned and operated by Bubbles. I can't imagine anyone ever being more enthusiastic about all things knitting - and more willing to help others be the same.

Bubbles stores a tremendous amount of knitting information in that bubbly, 25 year old head of hers. And whatever she doesn't know, she's smart (and patient) enough to research and figure out herself. Talk about a perfect yarn shop owner.

How many times have you walked into a yarn shop and become instantly overwhelmed with options and information? Or you can't find something you thought you wanted and have no idea what your second choice should be?

Think of these moments and then think about your local yarn shop. Is the woman who works there, very likely the same person who owns it, friendly, helpful and rooting for you to do something amazing (and not break the bank)?

If you answered yes to this question, consider yourself lucky. I've yet to find that kind of shop owner in my town. And, judging from our weekly meetings, Bubbles could easily be her.

Alas, none of us have any extra cash, or a rich daddy waiting to give us money. So instead we dream. And ever since Bubbles started dying her own yard and bought her her own spinning wheel, the Chickenheads have been joking that the next logical step is for Bubbles to own her own alpaca. Yes, the actual animal. And, I must warn you, she lives far enough out in the boonies to make this not all that crazy of an idea.

This link is in honor of Bubbles and the Chickenheads's communal dream to make all of our communal knitting dreams come true.

Bock, bock.