The end of 2012

I had great intentions for the last few weeks of December, 2012 but a cold/virus got the best of me.  The week before Christmas was spent mostly comatose while liquids spewed from my ear, nose & throat.  Eeww!  Thank goodness I woke up on Christmas Eve feeling much better, but that didn't leave much time for all the shopping & baking that I'd planned.   The week since Christmas has been spent frantically cleaning up the messes made during the week before Christmas and knitting a custom ordered afghan.  Anyway, let's just say I haven't accomplished a tenth of what I'd hoped to.

One of the things I'd planned was a big novella blog post about a couple of my favorite purchases of 2012.  Rather than writing a novel about them, I'm blogging Twitter style.  The first purchase was a set of knives.

That's one of the set of eight.  I got them at BJ's, our local wholesale club & the set of eight cost less than $20.  Each knife is a different color and there's six different sizes.  I absolutely LOVE these knives.  I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought them.  I think I was simply attracted to the pretty colors.  I didn't need any new knives, although I had been wanting to try out a ceramic blade to see if it really did make a difference cutting lettuce.   I still haven't paid any attention to whether they keep the lettuce from turning brown or not, but who cares!  They cut like a dream.  They are comfortable in my hand.  They are dishwasher safe.  And even if the dishwasher does dull them, who cares.  They cost less than $3 a piece!

That's a close-up of the manufacturer in case you are wondering.  If you ever come across a set of these knives at your local warehouse club, buy them!  I actually prefer them to my expensive Cutco knives!

Did you notice the scratched up cutting board the knife is resting on in the first picture?  My dad made that cutting board for my mom as a wedding gift in 1942.  Mom used it every day for over 65 years.  It's one of my favorite inheritances.

My next favorite purchase of 2012 was another BJ's find.  An enamel lined cast iron pot.  I've been wanting one forever but could not justify spending over $100 for one.  After all, microwaved popcorn tends to be about all I cook these days.  But, there it was, sitting on the shelf at BJ's for a grand price of $39.95.   It was mine!

Of course, I practically needed help lifting it into the shopping cart.  It is heavy.  But it's also a beautiful sunny yellow color, it cooks as well on top of the stove as in the oven, and clean up is a breeze.

See all that splattered stuff on the sides?  You'd have to scrub a normal metal pot pretty hard to get that burnt on potato & corn splatter off, but this pot washes right up with a normal dish cloth & normal pressure.  No actual scrubbing required.  It even came clean with just a regular pot scrubber that time I forgot I was cooking (on high heat of course) and the spaghetti sauce burnt so bad it was crunchy on the bottom.   So again, if you see one of these at your local BJ's, snag it.  You won't be sorry!

Because I'm running so late with this post, I won't bother with a ton of Christmas photos.  If you are really interested, you'll be able to find a few more on Facebook but, we did have snow on Christmas Eve.

Okay, so we only got about 30 minutes of snow & it didn't accumulate.  That snow must have fallen off a tractor & trailer when it stopped at the truck-stop for fuel.  But still - a pile of snow on Christmas Eve!  In Virginia!

Minnie & Max would publicly like to thank Zack for helping them hang their stocking.

The dogs love their Christmas stocking and got super excited when I brought them out of storage.  I swear they remembered them from last year.

Okay, that's all for now.  It's time for me to go get ready for the New Year festivities.

Have a safe & happy New Year!

The Tin Foil Christmas Wreath

So, everyone is making fun of my new, tacky, Dollar Store Christmas wreath.

I love my new wreath.  The moment I saw it in the store, I instantly fell in love with it.  I have no idea why.  It's totally not me.  My Christmas decorating style is much more Williamsburgy.  You know, natural wreaths with natural fruit & nuts on them.  Maybe a small red, tasteful bow.  Natural garland, real candles, bowls with fruit or nuts with a few sprigs of holly tucked in, and a single electric candle in each window.

The new wreath is not traditional nor Williamsburgy.  There is absolutely nothing natural about it.  It looks like it's made out of shiny green tin foil.  It is SO not me, yet I LOVE it!  It also doesn't hurt that it cost $1.00.

But the best thing about my shiny wreath is that the birds hate it even more than my friends & family.  In years past, we'd spend the entire Christmas season listening to the dogs bark at the birds on the wreath.  Birds apparently have Williamsburgy tastes too.  They do not like shiny green tin foil wreaths.  They don't nest in the new wreath.  They don't try to eat the shiny red tin foil berries off of it. They don't even land on it.  And since the birds aren't landing on the wreath, they also are not scratching or pecking at our door.  Even the spider that constantly hangs out on our front door no matter how many times we swat  him away is keeping his distance from this wreath.

I really love my new wreath!

In knitting news, the Infinity Shawl, uh, I mean Starry Night shawl, is now 30 inches long.  I managed to get a whole inch knit yesterday!  I'm on fire!

Starry, Starry Night

Hey, look at this - two blog posts in one month!  I'm on fire!

For the past two weeks, I've been knitting on Starry Night, a lacy scarf or shawl.  It will be shawl size, but it will probably end up being worn as a scarf.   I'm thinking of changing its name to The Infinity Shawl though because it seems to be never ending.  It may be the year infinity before I finish it.

Two weeks of knitting and I'm only at the 29 inch mark.  I have no idea why it's taking so long.  It's an easy pattern and nice yarn to work with.  The yarn is not at all splitty, or so slippery that it falls off the needles accidently, nor does it hug the needle & refuse to move from one to the other.   It feels great in my hand.  It has just, for unknown reasons, become a lifetime project.  Probably because it knows I have other things to finish before Christmas.

Here's a close up in bad lighting.

I love the slight color fluctuations.  And I really love the glitz it gets from the tiny bit of silver thats been spun into the yarn.   The yarn is Night Sky from Swift Fiber Studio which is a great shop on Etsy.  The owner is very friendly so if you are in the need of yarn, stop by.

Here's another close up:

For once, those little fuzzy things that look like dog hair stuck all over the yarn, aren't dog hair.  They are tiny bits of silver that have been spun into the  yarn.  The little bits of silver give the finished product the appearance that you were probably working with silver glitter some time over the last few days.  It's simply gorgeous!

And as a space filler,

Minnie says she's been a good girl.  It wasn't her that got into the trash can.  Really, Santa, it wasn't.

Max says, "Yum, that was tasty.  When's the next meal?"

In Remembrance

Today is Pearl Harbor Day & it always reminds me of my dad.  Dad always got weird on Pearl Harbor Day.  He wasn't there, but he had many friends & family members who were.  Dad's WWII experience was in Europe.  He hit the beaches of Normandy on Day 2.  After surviving that, but made his way across the land & survived The Bulge as well.  At the Bulge, he picked up a bit of German shrapnel which he carried in his leg until his death many, many years later.   Dad was always respectful of D-Day and celebrated in his own way, but on Pearl Harbor Day....

Every year, on Pearl Harbor Day, I'd wake up & come down stairs to find my big, strong, strapping, full of life father sitting in the rocking chair, lost in thought & frequently with a tear running down his face.  He'd remain in that spot all day.   As a small child, it was a bit scary.  A quiet, silent, lost looking father was not normal.  And by the time I was 7 or 8 years old, I knew that it was not a day for loud noises, lots of laughter or for having friends over to play.  It was a day to be respectful.

And so, Pearl Harbor Day has become the day that I'm reminded of my dad, even more than I do on his death day.  So, on this day, I take a moment of silence to honor both my father and all those men & women who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor.

And now, because it's been months since I've posted here (yes, I'm hanging my head in deep shame) let's talk knitting.  A friend asked me to knit a shawl for her.  The pattern was for a cape, but I lengthened it and now it's a collared shawl.

The yarn is Chrystal Palace Mochi Plus in the Blueberry Pancake colorway.   If I'm ever lost on a deserted island, I'm taking a big pile of Mochi with me.  I don't care what weight, it's all heavenly, but as long as I have some Mochi, I can survive.  I absolutely LOVE this yarn!  I may not take Blueberry Pancake though.  Not sure that would be a good thing considering the entire time I was knitting this shawl, I was craving blueberry pancakes.

The lace border detail looks like this:

That's all I'm going to talk about for now.  I'm hoping that by not telling you what I'm currently working on, I won't wait another two months to tell you about it.

While you wait for that next post, I hope you'll check out my Facebook page.  I'm counting down the days until Christmas with gift ideas for your favorite crafter.

See you soon, I hope.

Sandy Update

It's looking like Hurricane Sandy will come ashore a little north of us so we'll miss the brunt of it.  We will be having lots of rain (I'm hearing 3 - 9 inches) and some wind.  Basically, the wind will be that of an average thunder storm (30 - 60 mph.)  The problem is, instead of having your average thunderstorm wind for the 10 or 15 minutes it takes for the storm to blow past, we'll be experiencing it for 24 - 48 hours.

At the moment, all is calm here.  Mostly.  We've had a few rain bands hit, it's much cooler today and a pretty stiff breeze is blowing.  But our windows are still open.   And the so-called sun-rise this morning was beautiful.  The sun didn't really rise - it was too cloudy to see the sun, but the light sure was interesting.  Between the angry dark skies and the yellow & orange fall foliage, the little bit of sun light that did make it through turned everything a beautiful golden color for 20 - 30 minutes.   Of course, my camera refused to see the pretty light.

I'm feeling fairly confident about power outages.  Our electric co-op is pretty good about responding quickly.  They've also spent the summer cutting back trees from the power lines.  They've done all they can to prepare.  Except, have they?  Take a look at part of their Facebook status this morning:



"We are prepared for prolonged outages and urge our members to do the same."

Sort of sounds like they are planning to take a few days off.  I'm sure it's just a wording thing on their part & possibly a lack of enough coffee thing on my part, but.....

Meanwhile, I'm wishing the storm would hurry up and get here.  I promised myself I would save the special Hurricane Junk Food for the storm, but the Doritos are calling.  Personally, I think they'd make a pretty decent breakfast.

Sandy

Hurricane Sandy preparedness check list:

• cars are full of gas - check!
• extra gas & charcoal for the grills - check!
• extra gas for the stove & fireplace - check!
• a week's supply of water - check!  In fact, we have 3 weeks worth!
• groceries - check!
• soda, chips & chocolate (these don't count as groceries) - check!
• booze - check!
• Candles, matches & a hand operated can opener - check!
• chainsaw tested & fuel available - check!
• generator tested & fuel available - check!
• chargeable electronics have been charged - check!
• an over abundance of reading material - check!
• an over abundance of yarn - check!
• announcement on the Etsy shop warning folks I may be forced off line - check!
• outdoor furniture, yard "art" & trash cans secured - check!

I think we are ready.  Oh, no, wait.  I still have to charge my phone.  Then we'll be ready.

Now for the big question.  Will Sandy hit us or go further north?  And an even bigger question - will it really snow on Tuesday?

And one more question.  Am I going to continue to have that song from Grease running through my head the entire 3+ days it takes Sandy to blow through here?  You know the song I'm talking about, .... "Oh Sandy...."

Stay safe & I'll catch you on the flip side.

Silly dog

I'd forgotten how much our silly dog, Max, hates men in hats.

I've been working on a new hat design & finished it this morning.  I stuck the hat on Mr. Poser and proceeded to set Mr. Poser on the craft table.  Now, each time Max walks into the room, he starts growling & snarling.

The hat does need a name.  Maybe I should call it the "Max."  No, probably not.  But it deserves a better name than "kooky hat" which is what my husband keeps calling it.  He's not overly risky when it comes to fashion.  Anything beyond kaki pants or jeans with either a blue, white or flannel shirt (in tones of blue or brown) is "kooky" in his book.   A bright red hat with ear flaps definitely falls into his idea of kooky attire.  If you've got any suggestions, feel free to send them my way.

Last night, I finished a pair of cabled fingerless gloves that I made for myself.

I am going to LOVE these this winter!  The yarn is pure Alpaca & comes from a local farm.   Actually, the yarn comes from Sampson, one of Alpaca Pastures of VA's herdsires.  I'm pretty excited because I'll be meeting Sampson in a few weeks when our homeschool group takes a tour of the farm.   I bought this yarn when I met Sherry at a fall festival we were both participating in.  It's incredibly soft and I sure hope she has more available.  I've been kicking myself ever since for not also buying a few skeins of gray.  Frankly, I think I should own it all!

Don't forget - if you've got a hat name idea, let me know!

In the cold light of day

My crafter's ADD has been rearing it's ugly head lately & last night I pulled an all nighter.

In the cold light of day, it's not so pretty.  There's an awful lot of clean up to be done.  And a lampshade to be replaced. 

I did get lots of projects finished and even more started.  There were fingerless gloves, lacy knitted bookmarks, a variety of beaded Christmas ornaments, a few framed Christmas pictures/sayings, and a few wine bottle decorations.

When I uploaded that photo this morning, I discovered a few other pictures.  I think the kids have been playing with my camera again. 

My favorite wind chimes.  They are so tinkly!  They are also loud enough that I can hear them from my office area, but they aren't so loud that they wake you up.  They must also be pretty dang strong because they've survived several hurricanes.

My failed attempt at growing basil in a coffee can on the porch.  The plant was doing great for a few weeks then the summer heat got to it.  Or perhaps it was my black thumb.

And this lovely photo of me falling off the steps while trying to model/photograph a pair of fingerless gloves.

As you can see, the basil was not the only failed attempt at growing things in pots.  I can't even get mint to grow!

The Missing Month

Wow.  I have missed a whole month of blogging.  Good grief!  I had to get a post in today though, if for no other reason than to have it show up as 10-11-12.  Yes, I'm easily amused.

A lot has happened over the last month.  First, I became a Great Aunt.

Allison Danielle.  She's perfectly adorable & seems to sleep & eat when she's supposed to.  Can't ask more of a newborn than that!

As for the knitting, I've finished numerous projects and branched out to non-knitting.

It's a Scattered Leaves table runner.  I absolutely love it!  I looks like a pile of leaves scattered down the table.  I'm keeping this one for myself but I've also listed it as a Made to Order item in the Etsy shop.

And remember this shawl?  I loved it so much I decided to make another in shades of green, blue & purple.

Wow.  Is that showing up as being very washed out on your screen?  It's not looking anything like the actual colors on mine.

Have you ever wondered if a Lands End canvas tote bag is really worth the money?  I'm here to tell you, Yes!  I have two of them in different sizes and I absolutely LOVE them!  The handles on one have started to fray a bit but I've been carrying it around with me since I was 14 years old.  I'm 50 now!    That's 36 years of use and the bag itself is still going strong.  My other one is only 5 or 6 years old and it still looks great.  Well, it's a bit dirty - I don't think I've ever washed it, but other than dirt, it's showing no signs of wear at all.  But, my local craft store had bags that looked exactly like Lands End bags for about a fourth of the cost.  I bought one.  I washed it.  And look what happened -

The color ran.  Now, the white part has green splotches all over it and the green part has faded, almost white splotches all over it.  And if you look in the photo up above, you can also see that the cheap bag's seams are not finished.  You definitely get what you pay for with these bags.

Now, I must go knit some more on the cocoon baby sack for Allison.  She likes to be bundled, but she also likes to kick & keeps kicking off her blanket.

Merlin's Magic

Every time I block something, specially something lacy, I feel like Merlin performing magic.  The magic of blocking never ever ceases to amaze me.  It's the magic of turning a lumpy pile of what looks like bad knitting into something beautiful, often times extremely intricate, and frequently twice it's original size.  Like I said, the magic of blocking always amaze me.

Take this shawl for example.  It went from a lumpy mess of nothing special

to show stopping beautiful.

It didn't double in size, but almost.  Pre-blocking it measured 12 inches up & down at the center back and 31 inches across.  Post-blocking, it's 19.5 inches top to bottom at the center back & 44 inches across.

Don't you just love it?  The pattern is WendyKnits' Summer Solstice KAL.  Seeing as though the KAL started in June and I'm just getting around to finishing it, I don't think I have to worry about issuing a spoiler alert.   I used KnitPicks Palette yarn in the Calypso Heather colorway and a #5 needle.  Once again, I have to say how much I love WendyKnits' patterns.  I'm not sure how many of her patterns I've knit, but I know I've knit more of hers than any other designer and I've never found an error.  And on those occasions when I've suffered an Alzheimer moment and couldn't figure something out, I emailed her & she responded right away.  Wendy's patterns also just seem to make more sense to me.  I have no idea why that is.  They are all written in the same basic knitter's language and use the same basic chart symbols, but for some reason, Wendy's patterns just work better for me.

Meanwhile, while I anxiously await 1 p.m. and the start of the Redskins season.  The pork is on the smoker, the baked beans are in the oven and I'm busy knitting pink things to list in my Etsy shop in honor of breast cancer awareness next month.

Football!

The official football season kicks off this Wednesday with the Cowboys playing the Giants.  My Redskins don't play until Sunday, and to celebrate I've decided to offer 10% off in my Etsy shop the week following a win.  The offer will stand all season and will run the day after a win through Friday.  Just use the coupon code, "Redskins" to get your discount.

Another exciting Etsy announcement is that Etsy is now offering gift certificates.  You'll need to pay with a credit card rather than Paypal, but you can purchase the gift certificate & either print it to give away or email it to the recipient.  The gift certificates will be good for any Etsy shop.

In knitting news, I've been busy finishing up (as in the dreaded weaving in the ends and/or blocking) all the projects I completed while I was laid up with the leg injury.  I haven't photographed everything yet, but a few of my favorites are:

I absolutely LOVE this one!  It's a rectangular shawl or oversized scarf knit with over 30 different multicolored yarns, some in shades you'd never in a million years think would work together.  The end result, however, is a blur of subdued color.

This scarf is incredibly soft and the colors remind me of stained glass.  This is another one that I had a hard time listing in the shop instead of keeping for myself.

The photo is not doing this shawl justice.  It's knit with a hand painted sock yarn in shades of plum, wine, burgundy and a light purple that looks more gray than purple.  This is another project that I was tempted to keep for myself.

If you are interested, all of the above can be purchased here, as well as a several other new items that have been recently added.

Now, I'm off to go make my football grocery list.  What will you be eating during the game?

Marvelous Monday - Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

It's Marvelous Monday & today we are celebrating my daughter's Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookies.  Chocolate chips mixed with peanut butter.  Need I say more?  My husband calls them heroine cookies because they are so highly addictive.

These cookies very rarely make it into the cookie jar.  Normally, we eat the entire batch straight off the cooling racks.  Here's what you need to know to make your own:

Sarah's Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter Cookies:

1 cup of peanut butter 

1 cup sugar + a tiny bit more for sprinkling over baked cookies

1 egg

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a large baking sheet or use parchment paper.  Combine peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar, egg & Vanilla and mix well with spoon.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll rounded tablespoons of dough into balls & place on pan.  Flatten slightly with a fork.  Bake 12 minutes.  Remove from oven & sprinkle slightly with more sugar.  Cool slightly before removing from pan.

Yields 15 - 20 cookies.

In knitting news, after reading E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey series, I was inspired to knit a 50 Shades of Grey & Red shawl.

Here's a close up of the colors:

I listed the shawl in the shop and I may have to knit another one for myself.  I hope the yarn is still available.   The colors are a bit masculine, but I absolutely love the shawl.  I think it would look great with jeans & a white shirt.  Of course, I think everything looks great with jeans & a white shirt.

Now, I'm working on another shawl of the same style but in shades of purple & gray.

Doesn't look like much yet and the color is not showing up well there.  The yarn is Pagewood Farm's Yukon in the JF's Folly colorway.  This is another one that I love and may have to keep for myself rather than putting it in the Etsy shop.  Because the yarn is hand dyed in small batches, I probably won't be able to get more of this exact color.  Plus, I think it would look great with the jeans and white shirt.  I even have gray boots to match.  Yeah, I'll probably be keeping this one!

Marvelous Monday - Bacitracin

Bacitracin - it's better than Neo or Polysporin.  At least I think it is.

I first discovered Bacitracin last year when I had to have a little out-patient surgery.  The doctor told me not to use Neo or Polysporin on the incision site because many people are actually allergic to their ingredients & any reaction would slow the healing process.  Instead, I was instructed to use Bacitracin.  When I stopped at the drug store to buy it, I was pleasantly surprised that it cost less than half as much as the Neosporin.  It was even cheaper than the store-brand!  I used the Bacitracin as instructed and the incision healed quickly and barely left a scar.

Several months ago, I had a bad Rosacea flare-up.  The prescribed $158.00 topical ointment did absolutely nothing for it.  On a whim, I smeared a little Bacitracin on the affected area and within five or six hours, there was a visible difference.  I used a little more and my face cleared right up.  Since then, I've used Bacitracin on every little skin imperfection and each has cleared right up, and freakishly fast.  I love this stuff!

In knitting news, I've been working on a shawl with Lang Jawoll Magic yarn.  I love the yarn, the color and it's texture, and I love the pattern, but I'm not enjoying the knitting process.  I'm not sure if the yarn is just not right for the pattern or if I'm just knitted out.  I have been doing an awful lot of knitting lately.   Still no pictures, though.  One of these days....

On a comical note, my husband just came stomping into the house cussing.  Apparently, he spent the last 30 minutes stuck in his truck.  The truck has been having some engine problems & had been parked out in the driveway.  He was pulling it into the garage to work on it but the truck cut off as he was pulling in.  Apparently, it rolled to a stop just as he was pulling through the garage doors.  And because the truck has an oversized cab, it's wide.  There's only a 4 or 5 inch clearance on each side between the truck and the garage door.  Anyway, he couldn't open the truck door, he couldn't climb out the window because the door frame was right in the middle of the window, and he didn't have his phone in the truck with him.  Why he didn't start blowing the horn or something to get our attention, I don't know, but he didn't think to do that.  Instead, he sat in the truck cussing until one of the neighbors came over to see about borrowing something.  A little push and the truck moved enough to clear the doorway and he was able to get out.  Anyway, I thought it was kind of funny.  Specially since he didn't have enough sense to blow the horn.  Which is weird, actually.  He's normally very resourceful at problem solving.  Maybe his favorite talk radio show was on.

Marvelous Monday - Yarn Dispenser

It's Marvelous Monday and today I'm talking about, well, I'll call it a yarn dispenser.  Knit & Crochet Now! posted the picture on their Facebook wall, probably as a joke, but it's actually a pretty decent idea.  I haven't asked for permission to use the photo so I'm not posting it, but you can go take a look here.  It's actually pretty brilliant if you like to use a yarn bowl but don't have table space.  If you are one of those people who don't trust links and never click on them, the dispenser is one of those stand alone toilet paper dispensers.  But instead of holding toilet paper, it's holding a skein of yarn that's been wound around an empty toilet paper cardboard tube.  And you know, a toilet paper tube would probably fit just perfectly over the center of my ball winder.  I might actually have to give this a try.

Enjoy your  Monday!

Progress

My health is finally making some progress and I'm pretty excited.  It may not sound like much to you, but I was able to sleep laying down last night.  I'm in the third week of this leg/back ordeal and last night was the first time I've been able to sleep laying down.  Up until yesterday, laying prone caused severe pain in my thigh.  And while I haven't been able to lay down, I also can not sit up in a normal chair.    That right angle position between my leg & back also causes severe pain in my thigh.  The only comfortable position I've been able to find is sitting in the lounge chair with the chair clicked back one notch and with three pillows under my legs.  I hate to be such a whiner, but three weeks spent in one position is rather tortuous.  If you don't believe me, try it some time.

But I'm making progress.  Two nights ago, I was able to go to three clicks back in the lounge chair.  And as I said, last night, I slept in a prone position on the couch.  Granted, there was only one prone position I could find that was comfortable, but one prone position is WAY better than none!   I'm also walking much better.  I can go much further and I'm standing up-right.  I was also able to shower yesterday without hyperventilating from pain.  Like I said, HUGE progress!

There's been a bit of progress with the knitting as well as with my health.  I finished the multicolored garter stitch shawl, and it's definitely long enough.  I think my previous approximate measurement of 100 inches was rather conservative.  I haven't accurately measured it yet, but let's just say it's oversized.
Once the shawl was done, I cast on, knit and finished a lacy cowl made with some stashed sock yarn.  And now, I'm back to working on the autumn mitered square table runner.  I should be in good enough shape to take a few photos in the next couple of days.

All I can say is thank God for my ability to knit.  If I didn't have a hobby I could do while I lay one click back in the lounge chair, I'm not sure I'd have survived the last three weeks.  The TV has been on for entertainment most of the time and all I can say is my God!  Based on daytime TV, I'm surprised there aren't a lot more suicides.  Daytime TV is AWFUL!   Our internet service comes with something like 400 TV channels.  At least 100 of those channels are in spanish.  I don't speak spanish.  Fifty or so of the channels are "music" which consist of either mostly naked girls grinding, bare chested guys grabbing themselves, or whiney country singers.  Another 100 or so channels are all showing the same three movies.  There are 50 or so channels where the guide says it's some sort of news, but in reality, it's a bunch of adults arguing with each other like cranky toddlers.  Ninety nine channels are shopping related and the one remaining channel shows NCIS reruns nonstop.  Guess which channel I've been watching.  Don't get me wrong - I like NCIS.  But I think I've now seen every episode from all nine seasons at least six times.

Okay, that's enough whining for one day.  Besides, I have celebrating to do.  I can walk to the bathroom without pain now!  I have knitting to do.  And NCIS is coming on...

Chillin'

I'm still chilling out on the couch and living on pain pills & Flexeril.  I've been like this for almost two weeks now & it's starting to get very old.  Believe it or not, I am sick to death of knitting.  The weight of my laptop on my lap bothers my leg, for that matter, the nerves are so sensitized that a sheet laying over my leg bothers me.  But what ever.  The laptop's weight is irritating, plus our wireless internet service only seems to reach me for 20 second intervals, mostly in the very early morning or late at night.  The point is, I'm not doing much with the computer and I can't focus my eyes enough to read.  That leaves knitting.

I've been doing some serious knitting!  All garter stitch because I can't concentrate or see well enough to follow a chart/pattern.  I didn't have a specific length in mind when I cast the shawl on.  I just cast on stitches until I couldn't stand it anymore, took a nap, then cast on a whole bunch more.  I have no idea how many stitches I have on the needles and I have absolutely no intention of counting them.  I did measure the fabric yesterday and came up with a little over 100 inches.  I'm not sure how accurate that is.  It doesn't look like it will be that long when laid out flat, but.....  maybe.  I did measure twice and both times, I measured out 50 inches twice and still had a few inches more to measure.  What ever.  Let's say it's 100 inches long and so far, the fabric is about 10 inches wide.  That is a LOT of stitches considering I'm using a US #2 needle and fingering weight yarn.  I'm using a huge mixture of stashed & partial skeins.  Basically, if it was fingering weight and I didn't have enough of it to make a pair of socks, it went into the box.  There are also a few colorways that I did have enough for socks but knew for some reason or another, that I would never use the yarn for socks.  Anyway, I started with a large box full of yarns that don't match or even blend with each other.  I reach into the box, grab a skein, knit a row or two, then cut that yarn, put it in the "done" box, and grab a new yarn out of the first box.  When the first box is empty, I switch them.  It's absolutely amazing how two skeins of yarn that look so horrendously awful next to each other, can blend together so nicely when added in with all the other yarns.

So, now I'm left praying that my body will make a sudden recovery and I can get up off this couch and never knit on this garter stitch shawl ever again while I also pray that I can finish the shawl before I heal because I know once I'm off the Flexeril, I will never want to look at it ever again.  The question is, when will I be able to walk again?  I'm starting to wonder.  I was supposed to call yesterday to schedule an xray for today, but yesterday morning, I was feeling much better.  No where near healed, but better. I could walk to the bathroom and back to the couch without crying or stopping to rest.   I could hobble into the kitchen and get my own drink.  Doesn't sound like much, but believe me - it's a huge improvement.  So of course, I got cocky.  I insisted on unloading the dishwasher last night.  I even tried to put a few dirty dishes into the empty washer.  Big mistake apparently.  A few minutes later, I was back to day one, moaning & groaning and unable to get comfortable.  Today, I've tried to behave and have taken it extremely easy.  Today, I've only gotten up to go to the bathroom.  Haven't even gotten my own drink.  And I think I'm starting to get bed sores.

So, exactly how long does a torn quad muscle take to heal?  Do I have a chance of finishing the shawl or not?  Frankly, I'm sort of scared to find out.

The Holding Pattern Continues

The knitting continues it's holding pattern.

I finally broke down and went to the doctor about my back/leg on Friday.  Doc claimed it to be a pinched sciatic nerve (which I already knew) and a sprained back, which I believe is a much easier way of saying, "I have a weakened back due to an old windsurfing accident, I'm getting old, and I should have known better than to lift a chair over my head & carry it around the house."  I left the doctor's office with a huge dent in my wallet, prescriptions for pain pills, muscle relaxers and some prednisone and an itchy butt due to the Bandaid they gave me after I got a shot for the pain.  I always forget to mention that my trunk seems to be allergic to adhesive.

So here I am on Sunday evening, not much better, but no worse.  The pain pills definitely help me sleep and I'm much more comfortable when resting, but I still can't walk properly.  I'm bent way over so that my head is almost at crotch level, and I have "toe drop" which means that sometimes I can't put my heel down on the floor and some times, I can't lift my toes so that my foot just drags when I walk.  It's quite attractive!  Oh, and my entire leg has gone numb to the touch.  It's very strange because today, it keeps itching, but I can't feel it when I scratch.  It's a VERY strange feeling.  Or lack of feeling.

Between the pain pills and the muscle relaxers, I look like a Heroin addict.  My eyes are a bit glazed & unfocused and I nod off constantly.  I've had to put aside all the knitting projects I had going and have been knitting a simple garter stitch scarf with scrap yarn.  It's been interesting because although I can not, for the life of me, knit in a movie theater, I can apparently knit in my sleep.  I'll start a row, feel myself nodding off and wake up at the end of the row.  And 49 out of every 50 stitches are good ones! I'd like to show you a photo, but the camera is upstairs at the end of the hall and I'm down stairs at the opposite end of the house.  Oddly, walking up the stairs is easy (as long as my toes aren't dragging) but the effort to get to the stairs is rather painful.  Every time I stand up, my thigh & butt get massive muscle spasms and just above my knee feels like it's being squeezed to death while at the same time feeling like it's going to explode from the inside out, plus the sensation of being hit by a lightening bolt and a hot iron, all at the same time.  It's definitely not worth the effort of going in search of the camera.

I am excited to say that our recent heat wave has broken.  We've been hitting temperatures of 103 & 104 almost daily for the last several weeks.  I can not tell you how much fun it is to lay on a heating pad when it's 104F.  I'm also excited that, so far, the horrendous storms that brought the cold front to us have not hit our house.  We've heard some thunder and our temperature has dropped into the mid 80's but that's it.  No wind, no floods, no hail, no tornados.  I thank the Heavens for that.  I was NOT looking forward to dealing with muscle spasms while hiding out in the "tornado room" which is actually a 2 foot by 2 foot bathroom.

Hopefully, the drugs and the bed rest will kick in soon and I'll be back on my feet soon.  Meanwhile, please pardon the typos.  I blame them on the drugs.

On Hold

The blog has been on hold recently due to a variety of things.  We had some massive storms blow through last week which knocked out the power for several days.  We've had lots of experience with surviving natural disasters and are pretty self sufficient, but the recent power outage kicked our family's butts!  Mainly because the storms weren't predicted.  Instead of the 3+ days warning we get for hurricanes, we had about 3 minutes warning.  Which means, we were low on groceries, low on gas for the grill, low on gas for the generator and for the cars.  It's not like us to be caught with our pants down like that.  But the worst part was the heat.  We were experiencing 103 degree days while we experienced the thrill of no air conditioning.

Anyway, there were several days when we didn't have power.  Once the power came back on, it was another day before our internet service was working properly.

Next up was July 1st & I spent the morning getting the car inspected.  The inspection that should have been done in June.  And of course, the car failed.  And boy, was that an experience!  Our normal mechanic couldn't do the inspection so I took the car somewhere else.  Somewhere I'll never go again.  Besides the weird, funky, very unpleasant smell in the place, the staff wasn't exactly friendly & at one point, the receptionist, who happened to be wearing fuzzy lime green bedroom slippers, put her head down on her desk and began to snore.

Anyway, the car failed the inspection and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself.  And then my back went out.  I'm still not sure what I did.  I did pick up a rocking chair and carry it through the house, but the back problems didn't start until three or four hours later.  Suddenly, I was getting that wonderful twinge in the lower back when ever I twisted or leaned backwards or forwards, then my favorite sciatic nerve started singing.  Except instead of the pain grabbing my butt muscles & running down the back of my leg like normal, it sent the pain more into my hip area and grabbed the entire front of my thigh.  It's like having a massive charlie horse that never goes away.  On top of the thigh muscle spasms, when I stand up, I can't stand up all the way.  I'm bent way over.

I didn't do the Marvelous Monday post because I was busy with my failed car inspection & back pain pity party.  If I'd have gotten around to writing the post, it probably would have been about how much I appreciate our electric co-op and all they did to get our power restored quickly.

Since Monday, I've pretty much spent my time laying on the couch and moaning.  It takes me an hour to find a comfortable position where the muscle spasms can start to relax then about 15 minutes later, I cough, or reach for my drink and shift slightly or worse, I have to get up for some reason.  Then the spasms come back full force, I try not to cry and go through the whole process of trying to get comfortable again.

Needless to say, I haven't gotten much knitting done.  I've tried, but muscle relaxers aren't very conducive to high speed knitting.  Or blogging apparently.

Drama

It's been a very dramatic day today.  After pouring coffee, I headed outside for my morning ritual of garden checking followed by porch knitting.  The garden is looking pretty good.

Okay, don't laugh.  For me, that's an Excellent garden!  For a southern girl, I can't grow diddly squat outdoors.   But this year.... I've got tomatoes, more tomatoes than I've ever grown in my entire life combined!  I've got green pepper plants and I've got squash plants.  They are all doing fantastic!  I'm super excited about the whole thing and feeling a bit like Martha Stewart.

Want to know my trick to my new found ability to garden?  Lay a bag of dirt down where you want to plant something.  Cut what's now the top of the bag off, leaving a few inches on all four sides.  Take a pitchfork (an ice pick will do in a pinch) and take your frustrations out on the bag.  Go psycho on it and just stab, stab, stab the bag.  This creates holes on the underside so that water can drain out and the plant roots can grow through the bag into the ground.  Then plant your plant in the dirt.  Presto-magic - you're farming!

But, the drama started when I discovered that the squash plants are covered in these bugs:

Honestly, I'm not sure how terrible those bugs are because I kind of forgot about them when I discovered

My morning coffee drinking chair has failed me.  It's been dying a slow death since late March.  Every morning, I notice that a few more .... what ever you call those plastic fake wicker tubes things  have broken.  I've known the end was coming, but I didn't think it would be so soon.  What you can't see in the picture is that the seat is no longer attached to the front of the chair at all.  It's come completely separated.  The seat still holds me, but it's sort of like sitting on the couch without a cushion.  You feel like your butt is going to hit ground at any moment.

Well, I guess if my chair had to die, it picked a good time to do it.  For the next four days, we are supposed to be hitting temperatures between 101 & 105F.  Doubt I'll be doing much porch sitting this weekend!  Hey - maybe I could knit a new seat.  I've got four days to try!

The next bit of drama was over dog food & laundry detergent.  We've got two dogs, Minnie and Max.  Max NEVER misses a meal and will in fact start barking at me if I'm as much as five minutes late feeding him.  Minnie on the other hand likes to savor her meals occasionally.  Sometimes she waits several hours before she eats her breakfast.  The problem is, on those days, she gets mad when Max goes into the kitchen.  She'll hear him on the move and will come Running from upstairs or even outside and cut him off at the pass then she starts growling and barking at him.  So, today, she happened to be laying in the kitchen guarding her bowl, but not eating from it.  I was pouring laundry detergent with my back to Minnie.   Max entered, Minnie went wild & it startled me and I dropped the open bottle of laundry detergent.  The brand new, first time it's been used, economy size bottle of liquid laundry detergent.  From now on, if Minnie doesn't eat before the coffee pot finishes filling, I'm taking away her bowl.

Next, it was shower time.  I reached in & turned on the shower, stripped naked, took off my glasses and stepped under the stream of water.  I looked down and Holy Moses!  A bug!  A big, gigantic bug! A bug big enough to look gigantic when I don't even have my eyeglasses on!  I immediately grabbed the shampoo bottle (Mike's of course.  I certainly wasn't going to get bug guts on mine!) & started smashing it.

After that, it was time to check the email.  My email won't open.  I have two addresses and neither will open.  They start to open.  The bar goes almost all the way across, then it just stops.  Uh-oh.  And it dawns on me.  Last night, after shutting the computer down, I accidently knocked it off the desk.  Did I break it?  It's had worse falls before and been fine.  Was last night's fall the proverbial straw?   I went over to Hubby's desktop and was able to get into my email just fine.  Back to my laptop.  Shut it back down, turn it back on, go to my email, and the bar starts going across, then stops just shy of being done.  For both email addresses.  I won't repeat here what I said then.

Finally, our IT guy wakes up (our teenaged son) and I holler for him to come help me.  He messes with the computer and decides there's something wrong with Safari.  For some reason, even after resetting it, Safari won't access my email.  I'm going to have to use Google Chrome.

I can not count the number of times I have accidently pushed the Safari button today.  And the worst thing is, the Safari screen & the Chrome screen look exactly alike, until that blue bar gets stuck & refuses to finish going across.

Oh, and we are out of chocolate and Cheetos.

It's been a very dramatic day.

Oh, I almost forgot.  One good thing - I finished the first baby sock.

Sorry - the picture was taken with my phone.  The phone I dropped and no longer has working sound 100% of the time.  Okay, so technically, it isn't finished.  I still need to Kitchener the toe but I always wait until I have knit the second sock before I Kitchener.  It's just easier to compare measurements, I think.  Actually, I generally wait until I have 50 or 60 socks to Kitchener.  Kitchenering (boy, that's hard to say!) ranks up their with weaving in ends.

Is it finished, or is it not?

So, I'm wondering.....  What do other knitting bloggers do when they finish the knitting part of a project but still have a looooong way to go before it's truly finished.   As in, say, they have about two weeks worth of ends to weave in.  Do you consider your project finished when the knitting is done, or not?

I finished the mitered square table runner last night.  Or a least I finished the knitting part.  I'm dying to move it from the OTN list to the Finished list, but I know I have hours and hours of weaving in ends to go.  Part of me is afraid that if I go ahead & move it, I'll never get around to weaving in those ends.  Specially since another clue came out today for the Summer Solstice KAL.

By the way, Wendy, I'm pretty excited about the short sections of shawl we are knitting.  So far, at least.  At first, I was frustrated.  I knit the first clue and was left with the feeling of "That's it?  That's all I get to knit?  I don't get to repeat the pattern 80 times?"  But when I stopped and thought about it, I'm liking the short clues.  It means I can do the knitting during afternoon coffee or while watching TV one night.  It means I don't end up stopping my life for days and days or starving my family night after night because I'm knitting the KAL instead of doing what I oughta.  So, thank you Wendy.  And my family thanks you too.  At least so far.

Marvelous Monday & Plastic Cups

I can't believe that my favorite thing to ramble on about this week is a plastic cup.  Obviously, I have simple tastes.  But my new plastic cup from Walmart is awesome!

For several years, I've been using my Run Like a Girl sports drink bottle for all things cold but sadly, it's been leaking for the last few months.  I love the bottle - it's cute & has a pretty blue flower on it, but I was getting pretty tired of wearing my drink every time I tipped it up to drink.  So the other day, while at Wallyworld with my daughter, she pointed out a display of plastic cups.  They came in several different colors & styles.  Sarah got a blue one that doesn't sweat - supposedly.  I'm not sure she's used hers yet.  Mine is obviously red & is freezable.  It has some kind of gel in between the layers of cup and you put it in the freezer, the gel freezes, then your drink stays cold without the need for ice.  It works great!  The cup itself does sweat a bit, but your hand stays dry due to the rubber ring thing around the cup.  Dry hands are important to me.  I have no idea why, but I HATE having wet hands.  I'm a little bit OCD about it.

Oh, & the other thing I like about my new cup - it makes me feel like Nancy Botwin from Weeds.  She was always walking around with a big cup in her hand.  I also have to say, I rather admire her.  Granted, her claim to fame is being a pot dealer, but she does it with entrepreneurial  style.  She discovers she has a talent for something and she goes for it.  She's willing to learn as she goes.  She makes mistakes & recovers.  She never quits.  She never gives up.  Frankly, I like her style.  Anyway, every time I pick up my cup, I think of Nancy Botwin.

In knitting news, I'm almost finished with the mitered square table runner.  I've just got one and a half sides of the border left to do.  I'll post photos in the next few days.  I'm really happy with the way it's turning out.

Remember the baby blanket I knit & promised to post pictures "tomorrow"?  "Tomorrow" being so long ago I couldn't even find the post?  Sheesh.  Anyway, I finally took a picture.

I used an old Mac & Me pattern and Schachenmayer Nomotta Grande yarn for the body and Cascade's Ultra Pima for the ruffle.  The Grande had been in my stash for quite a few years and needed to be used up.   I realize that tan is an odd color for a blanket for a baby girl, but when I started knitting it, we didn't know the baby's sex yet & I was convinced it would be a boy.  But, the peach ruffle girlies it up a bit and the parents of the baby are both outdoorsy so it should be okay.

And now, I'm cutting this short.  The TV is suddenly screaming at me that we are having a tornado.  Better go put my shoes on & take cover.

Apology Not Accepted

Sorry USOC, but I don't think I'll be accepting your apology.

Sorry Yarn Harlot.  Apparently, I'm not that classy.  You are welcome to send me yarn from your stash, however.  (Hey, if it works for the USOC...)

Obviously, I'm still pissed.  I'm not "batsh*t" insane about it anymore, but I'm still pissed.  Actually, I'm even more pissed now after reading the USOC's second apology letter.  I mean, come on.  You are going to insult knitters world wide and then have the balls to ask us to give you our time, energy and money?  Come on!

Ok, for those of you living under an even bigger rock than I, the USOC sent Ravelry a cease & desist letter regarding the Ravelympics.  The letter was supposedly a standard form letter but it had some pretty derogatory language geared towards the knitting community.  The knitting community instantly went "batsh*t insane" to use Yarn Harlot's term.  I completely understand the USOC's desire to protect their trademark name and their logo.  In fact, I've been surprised that people were aloud to use the Olympic Rings in their own creations and then post pictures of those items on Ravelry, or anywhere on the internet for that matter.  And yes, changing Ravelympics to The Raverly Games would not be all that difficult.  But it's the spirit of the thing that gets me.

I guess a big part of why I'm so upset is because my Olympic knitting is geared towards charity.  My knitting group has always had the Knitting Olympics where everyone signs up for a "sport" (a sweater, a shawl, a hat, mittens, dish clothes, an afghan, something lacy, something with cables.....) then they knit as many of that item as they can while they watch the Olympics on TV.  Once the Olympics are over, our group gathers all the knitted items and donates them to various charities.  There are no prizes involved other than the satisfaction of knowing that you knit X number of items for a good cause in a relatively short amount of time.

I'm also upset about the USOC's wording... "a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."  Well, what about knitters' hard work?   Knitters have to train their fingers, hands & wrists to form the stitches.  We build our biceps by holding the needles.  We train ourselves to wield a variety of types and sizes of needles.  We train ourselves to read what is basically a foreign language. Many knitters train for a lifetime, not just for the first third of their life like most Olympic athletes do.  While we may not run for miles and miles in the hot sun, we tax our bodies in other ways.  For example, we've been known to stay awake for 36+ hours straight when we are under a knitting gift deadline, or simply when the project we are working on is just too much fun to put down.  We skip meals so that we can continue knitting.  We occasionally fail to feed our families and/or wear dirty underwear rather than pause our knitting to do laundry.   And hopefully, I'm not the only knitter who's been late picking up their kids because I had to get in just one more row.   I'm sure an Olympic athlete has special dietary concerns, but hey - I've been known to eat beans three meals a day for days on end so that I can afford that special skein of cashmere.  I bet I'm not the only knitter who's had to make the choice between food and yarn before!   We pay for our own "athletic equipment" and training classes/coaches.  Knitters are not government sponsored either.  And heck, a few of us even take steroids just like a few of those "real" athletes.  And then there's the accolades.  After the games, many of the athletes make a small fortune selling their name or image & promoting products.  They win medals.  They win fortune & fame.  Meanwhile, knitters, specifically charity knitters, end up with nothing to show for their efforts, not even a tax break.

This whole Ravelympics thing has gotten knitters in a panic.  The Knitting Games just doesn't have the same ring to it as The Knitting Olympics.  It just doesn't give you the same feeling of competition.  And frankly, the idea that we might have to change the name irritates me (and plenty of others) to the point that we won't be participating this year.  In fact, I plan to boycott the Olympics entirely.  To be honest, I only enjoy watching the swimming.  I really couldn't care less about the other sports, I only watch so that I can chat with my fellow knitters about how when X happened, I got so excited/horrified that I dropped a stitch.  But this  year, I won't be watching at all.  I think I may even boycott the Olympic sponsors.  Curious about who they are?

The VISA thing could be difficult.  It means I'll have to use cash instead of my debit card.  But that's doable.   I'll also have to find a new brand of deodorant, toothpaste, razor blades and soap - but I can and I will.  There's also a different gas station right across the street from the BP that I normally go to, so that won't be a problem.  Not using UPS just means I either won't be ordering yarn off the internet or checking out Amazon for a while.  Cool, since I won't be using my VISA card anyway.    No McDonalds or Cadbury products - no problem.  Think of the weight I won't be gaining!  GE, well, that one may take some research.  I may end up knitting in the dark while I boycott the Olympics, but if that's what it takes....

So yeah,  my feelings are hurt and I'm still a little pissed about it.

Marvelous Monday - Fructis Triple Nutrition

It's Marvelous Monday once again & today I'm blathering on about Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition shampoo & conditioner.  I LOVE this stuff!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

I used to use a different version of Garnier Fructis shampoo & conditioner and liked it okay.  And although I liked it & my hair dresser recommended the brand, I switched to something else because they didn't sell it at my warehouse club and/or I had a coupon for something else.  Plus, I'll admit - I get bored with the same product over & over again.

As I've mentioned before, I have the world's worst hair!  It's thick.  REALLY, REALLY thick.  As in, so thick that new hair dressers always call all the other hair dressers over to examine how thick it is.  On top of it being weirdly thick, the underside in the back grows in ringlets, while the sides are wavy and the front & outer layer of the back grows perfectly straight.  Oh, and it all grows towards my face.  I'm like a female version of  Cousin Itt.

Okay, honestly, my hair looked more like this:

Actually, it looked just like that.  Thick, frizzy, uncombed, and hanging in my face.  (Sorry, Bella, but that's really not a good look.)

Because of the curls & waves, my hair tends to be dry, except right at the scalp where it tends to be so oily, I could set up my own oil rig.  A friend lent me the book, Curly Girl, and I followed it's directions for quite a while.  The main direction was to not use shampoo.  Use conditioner, but no shampoo.  It worked fantastically, except every six weeks or so, I'd wake up and my scalp would feel funky and I'd need to shampoo.  Eventually, I ran out of what ever shampoo I'd been using and went to the store to get some more.  For some reason, the Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition jumped out at me and I bought it.  And instantly fell in love!  My hair is never, ever greasy.  Even when I was sick a few weeks ago and didn't bathe for more days than I care to admit, my hair never got greasy.  What my hair is, is soft and way less frizzy and much more manageable.  Instead of each individual hair going it's own separate frizzy way, the hair on the sides of my head form nice beachy waves.   Beachy waves like this:

And the ringlets in back look more like:

So granted, it still looks strange that the sides have beach waves and the back is in ringlets, but it's still WAY better than frizzy Cousin Itt hair.  And have I mentioned how much softer my hair feels?  I really do love this stuff!

As for knitting news, I finally wove all the little ends into the baby blanket this morning while I was waiting for a particularly slow email video to load but I still haven't taken any pictures.  Instead, I've been busy working on another mitered square project.

It's going to be a table runner or dresser scarf, depending on how the yarn holds out.  I'm hoping for a table runner.  I absolutely love the colors, except they are not showing up well here.  At least not on my screen, which is weird because the same photo viewed from my desktop looks fantastic, but loaded to the blog, it's washed out and rather icky.  Weird.  But anyway, I love it!  The color saturation in the yarn is fabulous and the yarn itself is Heaven to knit with.  I believe that if I could only knit with one yarn for the rest of my life, Mini Mochi would be it!

Okay, I'm going to end this post with a shout out to Snow White & the Huntsman.  My daughter and I went to see it a few days ago and I really enjoyed it.  I have to say though, the Huntsman turned a good movie into a GREAT movie!

Phew!  I'm having a hot flash!   Even Mini Mochi yarn can't beat a hot, scruffy guy wearing leather & toting an ax.