H is for Heart

Please, take care of yours!

G is for Gauge

Take time to save time; check gauge.

F is for Futurama

I love this silly cartoon. I own the first season and will one day have the other three. I have yet to see Bender's Big Score, but hope to soon. I call it one of the most quotable cartoons ever, but when asked for an example, I say things like, "Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor." Ah, that is just another way I am weird.

I crocheted this Brain Slug the other day. It is a semi-recurring alien from Futurama. It was quick to make. I can attach it to my head and wear it about, but I have not been brave enough to actually do it. I did try to place it on the head of a stray cat and take a picture. I am sure you can imagine my level of success.

E is for

Several years ago, I participated in a research study. It took about two hours to drive to the facility, and then two more hours to drive home. It was a tiring process. I recall returning from one visit and sitting at a stoplight. I was probably fifteen minutes from home, and I was ready to be out of my car. I do not know whether the exhaustion was more mental or physical, but I certainly was done for the day. Brief bits of the medical appointment flitted through my brain. Anyway, as I waited for the light to turn green, I saw a large truck drive past. This is what was written on the side: EGG PRODUCTS. I tried to comprehend it. Among the things I had just been through were an EEG, and an EKG. I kept thinking, and remembered that an EKG is sometimes called an ECG. Then my mind finally cleared, and I had to laugh. Yep, I had been puzzled by the word egg.

This brings me to my E entry in the ABC-Along. E is for Eggs. I look forward to filling these plastic eggs with candy, hiding them, and watching the kids find them. One day this week, my nephew and I will probably dye hard boiled eggs. I hope we have better success with the endeavor this year.

D is for

C is for Cookie

That's good enough for me. Each time I have worked on this post, that song popped into my head. I tried to fight it, but finally gave up and gave in. Cookies are good, and they have been a good part of my life. My mom used to bake us chocolate chip cookies every year for Valentine's Day. She had an old shoebox that she covered in heart wrapping paper that she filled with the cookies. Christmas cookie baking is one tradition I have taken with me. I have so many good memories of baking.

Then there are the Girl Scout Cookies. I was painfully shy as a child. I still struggle with it now, but I am much improved. Anyway, by the time I became brave enough to join the scouting world, the local troop was full and not accepting new members. My mom, along with two other moms, started another, smaller troop. We were much older than the typical new scouts, and something of a different troop. We earned few badges, but had fun. If any boxes of cookies were sold, it was because we went door-to-door, not because a parent took the form to work. It was a positive experience for a group of girls who were left out and left behind.

B is for Beads

I love beads. Their tiny, sparkly, shiny beauty captured me long ago. They are tiny treasures. Magpie tendencies, much? I loved to buy the huge value packs of beads from craft stores when I was little. I liked to sort the different colors. I got in trouble more than once when my beads got loose. I remember vacuuming my room and hearing the rattle of seed beads that had hidden themselves in the carpet. I spend more time just looking at my beads than creating with them. This is the only little beaded bag that I have knit and not given away. I may make a different one that could be sturdy enough to live in my purse. I know that it would only end in disaster, but I would like to carry such a treasure with me every day.

A is for Aunt

Being an Aunt is Awesome. I get to experience much of the joy of children I would otherwise miss, while avoiding many of the less pleasant aspects of parenthood. I get to spend time with bright, inquisitive, energetic, entertaining young people, and return them to their parents when I am tired. I can take the silly that will not stop. I can be enthusiastic about an evening of Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Bingo, and checkers from the Shrek treasure chest of games without losing my mind because it will not be my after dinner plans for the next seventeen nights. I can share knitting. I can make a Darth Vader birthday cake without the extra hands and constant questions impeding my progress. I get to be the fun one. I can say yes to ice cream and crap from vending machines. I can put on Easter egg hunts. I do not have to battle over food, shoes, and clothes, and I get love in return.

Sew Little Time

I need only increase one more time and knit some plain rows before setting the body of the TYC aside and none too soon. Knit Picks informs me that my order has shipped. Maybe it is time to grab the tape measure to see if my plan is working before I get too far ahead of myself. Let us also not forget, there is the matter of putting the body on waste yarn to check that other issue of fit. Anyway, I am ready to begin the sleeves. The rounds on those sleeves will seem so short compared to the long rows I have been knitting on the main part of the cardigan.

Prepare yourself for the excitement that is my contribution to ABC-Along 2008. All it took was a little encouragement, and I decided to go for it. I hope to have fun with this, and maybe give a jumpstart to the positive, creative part of my brain.

Before I get going on any other knitting, I have to attach buttons to a baby sweater. The shower is tomorrow. Ack!