Movin' down the highway

I never did figure out what the missing part of my blog (below) was lost, so I will start again.

The therapists did an evaluation on Wednesday, but I guess I won't know anything they deduced until next week.  The evaluator took me through the exercises I do with them twice a week, and most of the ones I do at home.  My knee was so sore the next day from being bent and twisted that I had to skip the exercises that day.  I think I am making progress, slowly.  I told the evaluator that my biggest problem is the fear that I will fall again.  Then while we were doing step-ups my knee buckled, and I was glad (weird) that she would know what I am dealing with, and why I need the walker still.  I hate when I see people coming into the waiting room, with the prominent scar of knee replacement, and they are just trotting along, doing fine (although they aren't completely OK or they wouldn't be there).  I don't take anything for granted, my ears aren't making me dizzy, my eyesight is good enough for cross stitching, I can smell the coffee perking, I can make it to the bathroom and do what is necessary.  I will never face surgery again to do anything elective, and I won't have my left knee changed unless I am dragging it down the hall behind me.

C is cleaning the stove and oven now, I don't think I can ever repay him for all he has done in the last year.  I know N bugged him about getting a job, but for now, I am his job, thank the gods.  He does get to surf the internet more than if he was working, but he is on call if I need something important.  I try not to get him down here to do trivial stuff.  And I don't care if the lawn isn't mowed as often, or trimmed, or the horse stall isn't pristine, none of that matters much.  All the critters get cared for, including vet visits, and if the neighbors think the lawn looks poor, tough. 

I have been having fun with my Echo, checking in on "Alexa" for all sorts of things.  I have to ask for info in a specific way, or I will get her confused.  For instance, I take Cozaar, and when I started it, I couldn't remember what it was for; there are so many of them.  So I asked Alexa what it was, and the answer was a place in Africa(?) i forget now.  But when I asked for "drug information"  she came back with the answer, blood pressure medicine.  If I need it, I can specify Wikipedia, a powerful ability right there.  I haven't been able to use it for simple things like turning a light off and on, but I think the 2nd generation Echos can do that with a simple bluetooth (?) connection.  I got a smile when the home therapist said it was "creepy", after all, he voted for trump, so he must be a little off, don't you think?  Now I need to figure out what to do with hundreds of CDs, since I only have to specify the title and artist to listen to whatever I want.  Or for ambient noise of an ocean, waterfall, and so on.  I don't even have a CD player, outside of the computer (but not the MacBook Air, who doesn't have a drive).  It's all fun.

I have been reading on my Kindle, mainly the Dean Koontz Jane (?) hero books, of which there are currently 4.  She is an FBI agent who has stumbled onto a vast conspiracy to rework the minds of citizens that will make them automatons.  It is pretty different from his previous books, I just wish he could continue with the Christopher Snow books, at least one more to tie up loose ends.  Still, he did finish the Odd Thomas series, so maybe there is still a possibility.

OK, I've tidied up my own loose end so I will quit for now.  Thanks for reading this, I appreciate all of you. 

Loose ends.

translation, please

OK, I can understand a fair amount of the cross stitch lingo, but some of it may as well be greek.  For example, FQ is fat quarter, but what is it a Q of?  I can't find what FQ, or HQ, or full quarter means either.  I bought a fat quarter and it came Friday, and it isn't big enough for a Mirabilia that is 20" by 36".  And it is lovely too.  My project would fit with very short edges, but I don't know if I would still be able to frame it with so little of a margin.

On to the translation:

"Floss" and not "thread".  It comes (usually) in skeins, either a solid color, variegated, overdyed, hand dyed and so forth.  8 or 9 yards per skein and each length of floss is made up of 6 single strands.  To use, cut the length needed (maybe 30 inches or so ) and separate the strands and use the number of strands called for in the pattern instructions to thread your needle.

TIA means thanks in advance, when one is asking for a favor, information, and so forth.

ISO means In Search Of

2 over 2 means two threads of floss stitched over 2 holes, making 32 into 16 stitches per inch.  The same follows for the other stitch parameters.

Lugana, Jobelan, Aida, linen etc. is the type of fabric, and usually, they follow the stitches per inch for that type.  For example Aida typically comes in 14 or 18 count where linen is usually in 28, or 32 count.  This latter type is for young stitchers without vision problems, and not for all of we old nearsighted stitchers.

 ORT refers to any container used to dispose of scraps of floss, makes a nice colorful nest of floss, what would it be used for?  I dunno.  "Ort" is used for any leftovers, i.e. the rich would have a servant carry leftover bread, roast meat, and so on, out to the hungry folks waiting.   You would know this if you do crossword puzzles.

No one but the very young or beginning stitcher would hand-hold a project to stitch.  Most would use a hoop (two circles of wood holding the fabric between them) or Q-Snaps (4 pieces of PVC in a square or rectangle that the fabric is stretched over and fastened) or a roll-type that allows the fabric to be advanced as it is stitched.

Lowery, Landis, and other sorts of stands that are on the floor, or held by sitting on them, so that both hands are free to stitch.  There are quite a few of these stands, depending on what the project is on, hoop, roll frame, q snap and so on.  You can usually figure out the meaning even if you don't know exactly what the stand is.

LNS is Local Needlework Shop, a brick-and-mortar store.  Some of them sell online too.

Frog means to tear out stitches that are wrong (rip-it, rip-it)

SAL is a Stitch A Long, an organizer or designer will release part of a project monthly, for instance.  You don't know what the final result will be until the end segment is released.  Lots of stitchers working on the same design.

HAED is short for  Heaven and Earth Designs, this is usually a full-coverage design (no part of the fabric is visible).  Typical images are angels, pixies, and so forth.

Mirabilia and some other brands like Lavendar and Lace are also full-coverage designs (none of the fabric itself is visible), often women wearing elaborate costumes, mermaids, angels, pixies, etc.  There are a lot of patterns for seasonal themes, Christmas and Hallowe'en being the most popular themes.  As you might guess, they take a long time to stitch.

Samplers are patterns that usually include the alphabet, numbers 1 to 10, the name of the stitcher, the date, and a whole lot more of things.  They are very popular, and many are models that are inspired by vintage samplers found in museums.

FFO means a full-finished object, framed project or pillow, afghan, etc.

FO means it is finished but needs to be made into its final form.

If you are puzzled by seeing on a post on youtube the single word "bump" it refers to a method to move your post up in the roster of newer posts.  It is short for "bring my post up"

UFO is an unfinished object, but it designates a project that is stuffed into a drawer and not stitched upon now if ever again.

OOP is short for Out Of Print or Production for a pattern, usually used when a stitcher is trying to sell a pattern.  This could be used on virtually any design/pattern because there are so many patterns available, and designers continue to produce more,.  Once released for sale, buy it if you are willing to pay full price.  There are scads of unused old patterns and kits that sell for as little as $1, up to hundreds of dollars for ones that are scarce or desirable.  There again, you can join a facebook group where everything cross stitch is for sale.

Haul is a general term for cross stitch stuff you have bought.

WIP is Work in Progress, anywhere from one to dozens, depending on the stitcher.

BNNU is a fairly new description, and stands for brand new never used.  this strikes me as redundant.

Stash is all of your materials, kits, fabric, floss, patterns, etc.  Usually far too much on hand.

DMC is floss of that brand, made in France, in 450+ colors.  There are other brands of floss, including hand dyed flosses, but DMC is the most popular.

Needleminders are magnets in fanciful images that fasten to a WIP to hold a resting needle.

"Kitting" means pulling from your stash all the materials (floss, fabric, needles, pattern) needed to tackle a pattern.  A kit has all that is needed ready for the project and costs more than the pattern alone.

Flosstube is the term used to designate facebook (or how-tos on youTube) videos about cross stitching, there are several hundred stitchers who regularly contribute to these, although many of the groups require that you "join" to be able to read posts.  You can find them using Google.

One of the groups on Flosstube is "Cross stitch Maynia"  which refers to the month of May during which one project is started for each of the first 15 days, or for the whole month.  You'd need to be really compulsive to participate.

Just recently you may see patterns that say "diamond painted" or refer to "drills".  This is a new hobby that has vivid subjects, found along with usual cross stitch patterns.  They are NOT (ask me how I know) cross stitch, but a method similar to paint-by-number and mosaic melded together.  The tiny bits are called drills (don't know why)  and they take a pretty long time to put in place with wax.

There are oodles more terms, I will add them to this post as I think of them.

4:30 am

It is early now, and I am not even drowsy so it is useless to go back to bed right now.  I thought I would try to get something done here to try to keep it from going weeks and weeks without an update, for all my steadfast readers.

My bedroom is a wreck now, but I can't do much about it until I can bid my walker goodbye, as it takes two hands to support myself, leaving me zero hands to carry my untidy bits to where they belong.  I will try to get C to help me, although he already does so much now, cooking, shopping, helping get things ready for washing and shampooing me, taking care of all the cats and the horse,  laundry, keeping me on-track with my meds, taking me every time to my therapy and doctor appointments, and on and on.  So I feel guilty asking for more.  My daughter does diddly, and will go for days without coming downstairs to see me, unless I phone her for a specific reason, like polishing my toenails.  She does work, but when she doesn't work she could give C a little assistance.


My macAir crashed and took the last half of this post.  Sorry!  I will try again later to re-do this, and Publish this incomplete version for now.

Catching Up

I saw my psych doctor today, visits to her always wear me out.  She changed some of my meds (as per usual) and gave me the name of a new therapist.  I haven't decided what I will do about that, but I know it will have to wait until I see my bone doctor and get his answers I need about my knee.  Only so much I can deal with at a time.

I can't believe what a traitorous total jerk Trump has turned out to be.  What is worse is that while his supporters are keeping silent right now (mostly) I know damn well they will re-elect him in 2020, I have to think they are impressed? envious? deceived? of Trump's wealth, as he doesn't have much else going for him.  And until we see his tax returns (if ever) I'm not so sure he really is wealthy.  That he carries a ton of debt I am sure.  I try not to read national news because it is so discouraging.

I have been submitting photos to Shutterstock for a few weeks now, but most of my favorite photos were taken before the digital age for cameras and thus are too small (Mpixels) to be of use.  I dug my Nikon D40 out and I will take on "documenting" this room, since it is all the access I have now.  Oh, and about documents that are model releases for any photo of a recognizable face, I did not realize it also pertained to private structures (homes) that are recognizable as well. Oh well, lots of other things to shoot.  I plan on using real close-ups in here, so no one can see what a total disaster the room really is now.

I will probably not continue adding terms about cross-stitch to my post below this one.  I will just bump it up from time to time so the stitchers can find it without trawling through dozens of posts.  Some of what I have thought of to add, really need videos to demonstrate rather than just definitions.  I'm not set up to do that, and others have done it many times already.

I'm ready to crash for the day, hope all of my readers find something in all of this to entertain themselves.  Bye!

My Bad

Well, I broke my long-standing rule, which is, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".  I downloaded a program called MacKeeper, supposedly to clean my MacAir and speed it up.  And of course, it was a Trojan Horse spyware,.  The only thing I did right is that I didn't "buy" the program, so I didn't give away my credit card info, dumb me.  It took C about 30 minutes to get the program erased and install Malwarebytes, which is what I was running before it expired.  All seems OK now, it hasn't put in an appearance since he did all that.  I am so dumb.  I bought two years of coverage.  One time I received a phone call from a scammer, and after I was told how my computer was hacked, they could fix it, etc., I asked if they had ever heard of Malwarebytes, and "click" they were gone.   I was reading a bunch of posts on Facebook, telling how they get rid of calls from scammers, and One lady said, she answered the phone with "Sheriff's Office, Fraud Division" and they hung up and deleted her number from the call-back list.  Worth a try...

I'm a little slow getting this done...

OK, so every time I update the translation page I will re-release on that day's date, and that will keep it on top until the next post.  I think.

We had a fierce thunderstorm last night and lost power for several hours.  I was in my stitchy-spot sorting floss, which you can't do by candlelight.  I am going to keep a candle burning anytime there is a prediction of t-storms at or near nightfall.  C came and helped me find my flashlight, so I could move around in the room,  and more importantly, in the bathroom.   I once had a flashlight that blinked a little red light all the time so it could be found in the dark, but all it ever did for me was burn up the batteries.  After the replacement of dozens of batteries, I pitched it.  I use candles on the mantelpiece very frequently, so it isn't unusual to keep one burning through the night.

I had a therapy appointment yesterday, and as I have come to expect, I am so stiff today I can't move around without pain.  I guess I am progressing, I did a single step up, a huge task, holding onto the half-wall and the therapist's hand to do it.  There are 13 steps here to get to the kitchen, LR, dining room,  and the other bedrooms and bathrooms.  I hope they are getting cleaned, and that my plants haven't all croaked in the dining room.  Not much I can do, I try not to be a nag for everything I want done.  It will all be OK in the long run.
My keyboard is consistently missing the letter "n" it is a real nuisance to correct.  And the auto-correct isn't working either, so I will end here.  Take care!