Meanwhile, back at the Ranch...

Happy New Year!

Over the weekend, I climbed out of the Knitters' Black Hole, disheveled and clutching the Second Ombre Hombre sock in one scuffed fist. The ribbed cuff is now finished, and I've begun the heel flap, so it's all downhill from here. On the spinning front, I filled a bobbin with that slick merino top, and even though I over-spun the single it drifted apart when I tried to Navajo-ply it. I then wound the single into a center-pull ball and am currently plying it from both ends. So far the yarn looks okay.

Holly indirectly tagged me with this meme because I enjoy ironing, so here goes.

Six Weird Things About Me

1. I can listen to a piece of music over and over again, constantly. When I was writing my dissertation, I had one side of a single cassette tape that I concocted out of a bunch of albums and I would turn it on every single day and play it non-stop, over and over, until I had finished writing for the evening. I'm surprised the tape lasted until I graduated! If the music is familiar enough, I can tune it out and the noise helps me concentrate. Ask my husband about my "knitting music."

2. Pieces of paper in my vicinity must be stacked according to size, largest piece on the bottom, smallest on the top, and they must be lined up square with the side or edge of whatever they're stacked on. If they're near a corner, they have to line up with both edge and corner.

3. I'm going grey but I can't stand the thought of dyeing my hair, even though looking older than my age drives me crazy. My friends say that my grey hair is becoming (snort: it's becoming greyer, all right) and that I have a youthful complexion... but it still makes me crazy and I still can't bring myself to do anything about it.

4. I used to be afraid of the post office, of my post office box, of the mailbox on my house, and of mailmen. Anybody who ever got behind on their student loans knows how this can happen. I'm now on friendly terms with everybody at our local post office, and I'm also current on the loans. But for a while there, I actually started having mini-panic attacks whenever I saw a mail truck or passed the street where my post office was.

5. When I talk about science and the principle of vacuum, I pronounce it "vaa-cume" like everyone else. When I clean house and I say I'm going to vacuum the rug, I pronounce it "fah-cume." My mother was German, and I never noticed that I made this distinction until some friends had to break it to me gently.

6. I shake uncontrollably in the dentist's chair. You can hop me up on Valium, play soothing music, whatever you like, but after about three or four minutes of that drill, no matter how soundless it is, no matter how small and sneaky it is, no matter how nice the dentist is, I start to shake. It starts as a tremble in the backs of my knees and spreads to every inch of me and turns into full-on shaking. Once it starts, I can't stop it. Having my best friend hold my legs down doesn't help, nothing but exit of the dentist's office helps. This tends to make dentists a little defensive, and I can't blame them.

Now you know more than you ever wanted to know!