A Word of Advice for Monday...

It turns out that according to many experts and all sorts of insurance people, one of the most dangerous times of the year for people in cars is the MONDAY after DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME begins.

Studying accidents over the last ten years, the Fatal Accident Reporting System shows a 17% spike in accidents on that day.  Most of the accidents involved trucks and happened in the early morning hours.

 

Turns out that our body clocks don't like being deprived of an hour's rest.  We don't make it up by going to be an hour earlier.  Even if we do, it takes a week before our bodies catch up.  We end up going to work feeling sleep deprived, we make errors in judgment, and those of us who don't drive well under normal circumstances (you know who you are) are even -- well, you know, dumber than usual.

So this coming Monday, if you have to go out in the morning, use

• Watch out for trucks
• Drive carefully and defensively
• Go in late on purpose -- or better yet, take a 'mental health day'

Drive on...

Color of the Year. Wait, What?

Saw this jotted down somewhere and thought it appropriate on so many levels...

The color of the year -- huh, who knew?

According to Pantone, the color authority for everything from paint to fabric to plastic spoon handles and beyond, the color of the year is marsala.

 

 

Seriously?  Who decides this stuff?  They must know something I don't.  Or they're trying to sell someone something.  You can decide.

 

The color of the year for the past 14 years has been all over the map. 

I LOVED the color of the year in 2013.  I decided it was going to be MY color of the decade.

So what is up with marsala?  What does it go with?  Who looks good in it?

I don't much care for muddy or muted or 'shades of' color.  I think I'll take mine straight up, thanks.  So give me red, teal, even last year's color, Radiant Orchid.

I guess 2015 is a non-starter for me colorwise.  I'm going to live in the color of 2013.

Sew on...

Sick Days and UFOs

I normally go visit my doctor every six months for checking up on my blood pressure, my prescriptions and all that good stuff.  Lately I've been getting letters from my insurance company saying "flu shot due" or "mammogram due".  That's a nice service.

Monday I went to discuss the high cost of a certain prescription and the possibility of getting a generic brand, and since I had a congested head, I got a 'two-fer', that is two consultations for the price of one!  Well, it turned into almost a dozen because I got an exam, changed the prescription, got an antibiotic for a sinus infection, left blood for a bunch of tests AND got a tetanus booster!

I can't remember when I had a tetanus shot last.  Probably over 10 years, maybe more.

Monday night I had a tough time sleeping.  It's hard to sleep when you can't breathe out of your nose.  So Tuesday was a sick day.  I just could NOT make myself get up, get dressed, and drive to work in snow.  I guess the roads were bad, but I can't say for sure.

So after 24 hours on the antibiotic, I started feeling better, so I hauled out a basket full of UFOs.

About a year ago I started a sweater for myself, called February Lady's Sweater.  You can find the pattern free on Ravelry.com.  If you're not signed up for Ravelry, you should be!  It's free and fun and there is a ton of fun stuff available there.

Left front... this is top down knitting and I'm into the pattern rows.

Right front, close up of the pattern.

Pattern

Center back

I think my left front is off as far as the pattern goes.  There are supposed to be holes where the yarn overs are, but I have some thick branches instead.  It's a really simple pattern, done over seven stitches on four rows, and the wrong side rows are just pearl stitches.

So I've done about 15 rows, and I think I'm going to have to rip back.  I can't decide if I should try to rip back just the section that's off, or if I have to pull out the whole 15 rows.  Or if I can live with the out of pattern stitches.

I'm thinking ripping a section. 

Speaking of ripping, if you love funny stories about knitting, may I suggest that you check out Stephanie Pearl-McPhee at the Yarn Harlot Blog ?  She's too too funny, and I swear I have lived some of her stories verbatim!  She's turned some of her stories into books, which I've recently picked up on Amazon.com.  Love her!

Knit on...