Rainy Day Ramblings

I talked to the vet yesterday. He talked to some specialists who believe that Elly's recurring bladder stones are caused by one of two things, a persistent bladder infection or Cushing's Disease. Fortunately, she displays none of the symptoms of Cushing's so we are going to keep a close eye on bladder infections. She's never shown symptoms until stones are formed so we're doing to do monthly urinalysis. She'll keep eating her regular prescription diet for stones and drink distilled water. I'm just glad to have some other options. She'll go in tomorrow or Friday to get her stitches out.

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom was talking to my aunt about my knitting and she exclaimed that I start several projects before finishing. Apparently she thinks that a knitter should complete one project before beginning a second. I'm sure that's funny to the rest of you! Right now, I have on the needles the Lucky Clover Wrap from Stitch and Bitch Nation, the Honeymoon Cami (couldn't sleep last night so got cast on and a few rows done), and the Yoga Mat Bag for my Mom. I have a Minisweater on the needles but I'm not so sure I'll wear it. So that may get ripped out in favor of doing a cute tank with the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece yarn.

I was searching for a pattern for a friend the other day and came across a knitting blog that left me unsure whether to laugh or cry. In the end, laughter was the choice! I guess I never realized that there was dissension between younger knitters and um, more seasoned knitters. In this blog and the ensuing comments, they started by trashing Fun Fur which led to trashing Knitty and its "crap" projects, throwing in a few insults at HYUK's (hip young urban knitters. I'm glad it was explained, I'd never heard that). They really went off on the steering wheel cover and Cleaves. There was a snarky comment about Ipod Cozies (that serve a very practical purpose, to protect an expensive piece of equipment). Now I'm not a Fun Fur fan (hate the scarves made of it!) and I just don't get Cleaves but basically the implication is that these "HYUK projects" are ruining the craft and that they wished these "hip" Knitty-type patterns would go away. I don't really care what some random grandmothers online think about what I choose to knit but it made me giggle at how these commenters sounded like a combination of the "Old School Knitter" and "Holier than Thou Knitter" that Debbie Stoller writes about in SNB.

I checked out the blog owner's personal projects, and don't get me wrong, they were exquisitely done and I hope to have skills like that someday. But geesh, there wasn't a thing I would even think about wearing. Boxy sweaters and lace shawls aren't my thing? Which is a better advertisement for the craft? Spending months and months on an intricate lace shawl that will be worn outside the house once or wearing a big boxy Aran sweater that overwhelms my small frame OR spending that same amount of time doing a tanktop, a bulky weight sweater, a purse, a furry scarf, a steering wheel cover, and an Ipod cozy, things that I will wear/use often and enjoy? To each her own, when it comes to personal style, right?

This whole thing just struck me as very funny!