Hot And Cold

Lately Monday has been run, run, run - my schedule is subject to change - and it does constantly! But work hasn't been too bad overall despite a few little blips here and there. The weather as you can see warmed up on Monday to the low 50's, what a magnificent day to be out driving! The windows were down, Pacebel on the CD player playing Canon D, what more could you ask? Today, rain rain rain - gloomy and dank, windows up. Tomorrow it's supposed to be cold and snowy, but like my schedule that's  also  subject to change especially since we have to depend on the Crack Weather Team that changes the forecast constantly. In knitting news, I've taken a break from the sock and have been knitting a baby hat which might even fit the recipient, I am terrible at sizing and most of my projects don't have owners til they're done. After I'm finished I hold it up and squint at it, trying to figure out who I know that will fit into it - then Voila! - someone gets a present. That system has worked for years, so if it ain't broke I ain't fixin it.

It's Still Cold. Thank You For Asking.

I had one admission today and another possibly for tomorrow. I am Super Crabby as I'm coming down with something so anyone calling the house is grilled to pieces about what EXACTLY do they want. I am in no mood. In order to lift my spirits I am ordering a few tiny things from Knitpicks that I really really really need and cannot do without. As you can see from the pictures I was out and about tripping in the graveyard and have to say January in WV is not the ideal time to go skipping through the tombstones - although I was the only one complaining about the weather. It was 19 today, a regular heatwave given the past week. It's supposed to go up into the 40's so we'll keep our fingers crossed. I'm invited to a baby shower next week - I'm actually a little excited about it. The thing you do miss when you move away from everyone is you don't get invited to things like birthdays or showers - as we've lived here longer we get invited to more things but as you know when you become an adult and you're out of high school, it's really a lot harder to make friends or even acquaintances. I know a lot of it is me, between work and home it's hard to find time and let's face it, I'm not overly social anyhow. I'm happiest on the end of the couch with a cup of coffee and my knitting needles watching tv. Jackson was grousing because I was watching "13 Ghosts" AGAIN - I told him rather sweetly it was either 13 Ghosts or 16 Candles, you pick - he decided he preferred 13 shrieking bloody ghosts to a host of shrieking nonbloody and angsty teenagers. Little does he know what he'll be watching later......

Snow or No Snow

It's been staying down in the single digits again, this morning we are at eight degrees and holding, school has a two hour delay as the kids in the outlying areas can't stand out at the bus in this weather. Jackson will be going to school nine-ish which actually annoys him because in order to make up the time the don't have the fun subjects and just do the boring stuff. Jackson opened his own bank account last week with just his name on it, now that he's 18 he can be the captain of his own ship. I cashed in his CD which was fairly impressive - I've been skimming his christmas and birthday money for the past few years as he gets way too much to be blowing on videogames. When we moved back here I put it into a CD and just let it roll - so he had a thousand dollars - just from leftover birthday and christmas money, not bad! I gave him the cashier's check and David took him to the bank to open an account - he told David he had some more money in his room to deposit - the little weasel actually had an additional $600 squirreled away, we don't call him "Squeak Jr" for nothing! David sat in on the transaction and vetoed the checks since Jackson doesn't have any bills but Jackson did get a debit card which will take a couple of weeks to get here. He was actually looking through the mail the next day for it but has realized it will take awhile ("the elves are working as fast as they can Jackson!"). David cooked up some more of thier pheasant last night - we have over a dozen still, I found a recipe for Smothered Pheasant tht wasn't too hard and we had all the ingredients so they enjoyed that. They're predicting warmer temps this weekend, I think these intermittent warm days are making it worse - this winter for some reason just seems to be dragging on and on, I guess because we have so much hanging in the air.

The Good Old Days

I've gotten a population of older patients lately - that's way the home care is, you'll have a wave of children, then teens, etc - that will end and you'll end up with another group. The older people mostly come from generations that have lived here since the turn of the century or even before. When I wander the graveyards I've been here long enough I've started recognizing families, some dating from the late 1700's. I was sitting with a patient and she asked how many children I had - I replied two and she told me she'd had nine. I was impressed I told her, I couldn't imagine having more than two. She patted my knee and sat foward and said "I didn't have any choice, they wouldn't give you anything in those days to keep you from having babies, you just had to have them". I've had patients tell me of horrific injuries that were treated in the kitchen because there either was no doctor or if there was, there was no money. The Company Store we sang about in chorus is the real deal here - I've had patients or patients whose parents were born in mining camps and they would rather die than sing about that. Ever. They have documentaries on the local PBS about the mining and did you know when the miners rose up against the bosses they were turned out - remember the company provided everything including the houses. They lived in tents over the winter and a large number died - and it really wasn't that long ago. The mining houses still stand over in Cassville, they're mean little cracker boxes that lean out over the road in some places. It's funny how you always think of 'years ago"as so romantic and happy and it really wasn't all that. It wasn't all bad of course, very few things are, but it was much harder than you think it was. That patient really made me start looking at things from another point of view, she wasn't complaining and she certainly loved all of her children, but I guess I never thought that people had large families just because they had no choice, not because they intended to.

Broken Needles

I emailed Lantern Moon yesterday (they're the ones that make the sock needles that broke on me in under a week) looking to see if I could just buy a couple to complete the set. I figure I can keep them as a back up in case something happens to Harmony wood set I got from Knitpicks. I have backup sets of all my knitting needles, I even have backups to the backups. In the event of Nuclear Winter believe me - I'm well covered. Anyhoo, they got back to me right away and have promised me to send a new set free of charge. We'll see - one of the things I've noticed lately is for a company to promise to replace, etc and then simply not follow up on it. I'm not overly concerned in any case as I have plenty of sock needles in a size 0 to keep me covered until I finish. In other news at work  - the other nurse might possibly have a blood clot in her shoulder and was going for a doppler scan yesterday. I'm waiting to see how things fall out, it could get ugly staffing wise. But I like to wait until something actually happens before I go getting all bent out of shape about it - it saves you alot of time not getting upset about things that haven't happened. The weather continues to be cold, but I was thinking about it the other day and it's already the 22nd - that's about what, only 5 or 6 weeks until March? Pearl is enjoying all this cold stuff, it seems to agree with her and she'd stay out all day if she could.

The Artic Zone

We're being reminded that it's still winter - the temp dipped to the single digits last night and have stubbornly refused to budge all day. As you can see from the pictures that doesn't stop Pearl The Eskimo from harassing all avian lifeforms. She actually tries to get up in the tree and when she does that you can see them flying like mad out the other side. This morning was fun, we met Roger and Susan at Crackerbarrel for breakfast at 8:30 - I think due to cold not too many people seemed to be interested in having breakfast out. We took Jackson with us and everyone had a good time - I'm glad they built this one near us so we don't have to drive to Fairmont anymore.  After breakfast we went to the bookstore for a bit and then did the week's shopping. I've been playing with my diet as I'm bored and have been gaining weight - not a lot but enough to be annoying. As I've mentioned previously I'm completely addicted   to You Are What You Eat  -

 http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/Y/yawye/  

 so I've been (loosely!) following along with Gillian's diet. It's a ton of chopping as she's big on vegetables and fruit but I've found there's a lot of things I like but never would have tried  such as kiwi, mangos and parsnips. I re-lost 3 pounds and having to hunt down the ingredients (quinoa anyone?) and make up the recipes has kept me occupied. I don't do the salmon - I did take a gander at it at Sam's Club today but for some reason the phrases "fresh fish" and "West Virginia" just don't seem compatible - not to mention unless it's tuna with mayo or heavily breaded, fried and slathered with tartar sauce the idea of eating fish makes me a bit pukey.(is that a word - pukey? puky? pukie? - doesn't the one with the "ie' one the end look sort of like something you would name a bunny? Pukie the bunny - hmm, maybe not. Am I digressing??) David has a fire going at the moment as we might as well use up some of that deadwood we have lying about. The sock is going well, I'm getting to the foot part of the program - I'm using my new needles from Knitpicks entirely - they work much better and I don't think they'll break as easily as the ones from Lantern Moon - they didn't even last two weeks!

Eek! Who Turned Off The Heat?

The temp plummeted last night and the high for tomorrow is 4. That's right, 4. They're talking snow showers which is better on the weekend as I dont' have to leave early for work. Speaking of which I managed to commit a rather intriguing faux pas. I went to admit a patient and the family wanted to know where the monitor was - we're starting them next month - turns out someone in the office assured the family I would hook it up. I didn't know what to say so I told them I had to call my director from the car as her number was on my phone. I went out to my car and called the director's cell phone, she answered and then the call got dropped. I hit redial - and said her name and she said yes? I then told her I hadn't wanted to call from in the patients house because I had no idea what to do, that someone in the office had promised them a monitor and we didn't have them yet and the patient's family said the doctor wanted the patient hooked up today and then the director said "hold on honey". Hmm. She never calls me honey. Turned out my phone glitched when I hit redial AND I HAD CALLED THE PATIENT'S HOUSE BY ACCIDENT. The reason the family had said yes when I said the director's name is because that is the family member's real given name. The family thank goodness understood and I called the agency from inside the house during which I maintained an excellent Cherry Red Complexion. Some days I don't love my job as much as others. I guess I'd better get Pearl-ine outside for her morning Hysterical Romping and Jumping About session that she enjoys so much. I swear, she's a reincarnated Husky sometimes as much as she loves the cold.

Pull Up a Chair, Relax!

So far we've had 60 degrees, 20 degrees, snow, rain, sunshine - all in under a week! Pearl the Girl doesn't care, she wants OUT 24/7. She and David are still warring over the picture window in the livingroom, David removes the nose smudges every evening and Pearl replaces them every afternoon. Everytime he starts wiping down the window you can almost hear her sigh since even Pearl knows it's a lost cause. I'm still awaiting the second package from Knitpicks but am glad I ordered the sock needles. The ones I bought in Bridgeport that were supposed to so super sturdy - two of them have snapped so far! Grrh! David asked me how much I paid for them and  I told them $21 - he and Jackson were hooting about that - $21 for THOSE they said. Considering these are the same people that spent over a thousand dollars for a dog that won't even do dishes, vacuum or stay off the furniture that's sort of the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it? So I figure I can use my knitpick needles and use the expensive ones as spares. Not much going on this weekend, Jackson is planning on seeing Sweeny Todd and we're still sorting through our stuff, weeding out what we don't need or use. The temps are supposed to drop down into the single digits and they're calling for snow AGAIN. This time of the year is so d-r-a-g-g-y, it's so cold and dreary out you don't feel like doing anything but hiding in the house.

Here We Go Again.

Yep. It warmed up AGAIN - I started out in the morning wearing my down coat and was sweating it out by noon. The temps went back up into the 40's and as you can see, everything melted. The temp is supposed to be going back down this weekend. I only had a couple of visits yesterday and took full advantage of the situation. I did some shopping about and found nothing, I suppose I should stop for awhile. David and I have had an ongoing thing about the dishwasher and if it uses more water - or less - than handwashing. My take on it is that you only run it once every two or three days but handwashing you have to do it about 3 times daily, if not more. David came to the conclusion that the dishwasher uses more water and announced we would be going back to handwashing. I told him to knock himself out and have noticed in the past few days the dishwasher remains in service. I'm still working on the sock and will be starting the hard part tonight which is the heel. I think the hardest part will be making two socks the same size which is why it's made out of such ugly but cheap yarn. I have really nice grey wool that I'm saving for the Real Socks. The other yarn I've taken pictures of is what I got from Knitpicks and I'll be making a starfish shawl out of it - I think it's quite nautical looking, don't you? I have one more order from Knitpicks coming which was shipped out on Tuesday so hopefully I won't have to pull too much Mailbox Duty.

Here We Go Again

This wouldn't be so hard if we had a slight drop in tempetures, or we had a bit of snow followed by rain occasionally. This is just insane. 3 days ago we were in the 60's and I was running around in a light jacket, yesterday I was back in the full length down coat complete with scarf and gloves. It didn't snow too badly where we are but out in Preston county they got a few inches. I did something to my right shoulder and upper back, I'm sure it's just a pulled muscle but boy does it hurt when I move! Good thing it's not interfering with my knitting abilities. I'm still working on the sock, I have half an inch before I can start on the heel which should make it a bit more interesting - of course there is the second sock I have to do AND I'm obligated to make a least a few pairs as I've bought additional sock yarn and sock needles from Knitpicks which came yesterday. I saw Susan at work yesterday and she was indeed ill over the weekend so we've made plans to go to Crackerbarrel for breakfast this coming Sunday. The new nurse will be picking up on call this weekend so we're back up to call every 3 weeks, not great but WAY better than call every other week.

Still Hanging

David is currently upstairs watching "The Bodyguard" with Whitney Houston (pre-crack) and Kevin Costner. I told him it was a chick-flick but he informed me that he's secure enough in his masculinity for it not to have any long term effects on him. Since he's not weeping uncontrollably I suppose I'll just have to trust him. As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of those sort of movies and have to leave the room as I'll make all sorts of comments. I did watch The Heartwarming Childhood Story part that everyone laughed about(totally stupid)  and left halfway through the Friend Telling The Heartrending Story in which the main character's wife (brother, bestfriend, parents, dog,etc) is Tragically Killed leaving the main character an Empty Shell with No Meaning In Thier Life until The Love Interest showed up As you can guess. I cannot watch The Lifetime Channel for women as that makes me squirm in my seat, unless of course there's a Tori Spelling movie on - those I LOVE. My favorite one is Mother May I Sleep With Danger in which the actor playing her insane boyfriend portrays psychopathological behavior by simutaneously staring and not blinking through out the entire movie. Tori's character tends to be oblivous to the whole thing until he goes full loony on her and her mother, who incidently just knew something was wrong from the get go. In other news I didn't hear from Susan (she hadn't been feeling well on Friday so we left everything hanging in the air) so David and I will go to Crackerbarrel on our own and we can always do it again next weekend. Jackson slept over Craig's house so we're picking him up at one and I'm keeping an eye on Vicent the cat - he didn't want to go out this morning and is currently sleeping in the linen closet so I hope he's not sick and just misses Jackson.

Hanging Loose

I wasn't able to sleep in due to Vincent deciding that perching on the side of my ribcage at 3 am was a good place to sit - but I did stay in bed for quite awhile. We watched "Mystery" (the pianist did it) and then went and played in the yard with Pearl and the Yucky Rubber Frog which she can fetch until your arm falls off. We went shopping for food later on and hit the bookstore, etc but I've pretty much bought what I wanted or needed so I'm saving my Christmas money until something better comes along. The weather is a bit cold but it's Spring-y cold making everyone including the birds think that easter eggs are just around the corner which is not good as it's only not quite the middle of January and we still have a ways to go. We're getting to the part of the year where everyone is at loose ends and chomping at the bit to make some extrodinary changes in their life. I'm trying to find something other than food to occupy my time, I've actually kept within a 2 lb range of my ideal weight - 10 stone(don't be a baby, do the math!) - but would like to lose a few pounds to keep under so if something good comes along I can eat it without worrying. We might be going to Cracker Barrel tomorrow to meet friends - home of the "diet food"!, I see a treadmill in my future.....

Crawling Towards Friday

In 3 hours I'll officially be off call - I'll probably be slinging the beeper into the office on my way through. It's been a long and stressful week which has been winding down gradually. It's not been all bad - I've been able to shop between patients (the deals here in January are spectacular) and I am making slow, but sure progress on The Sock. The crap with my father's family is done (again) so that's off the boards and I've heard from friends abroad which is always fun. Pam in NZ sent pictures this week of the view from her house - it makes you just want to pack up and move! The weather remains fairly warm, but now it's raining which is delaying the repair to the leach field. We had someone look at it and it's not a big deal, we just need to add another line to it but it involves digging and when it rains, that means mud as far as the eye  can see. This weekend we need to go food shopping and house cleaning and mortal activities like that, I do plan on sleeping in tomorrow - as much as Pearl the Girl will allow. I'm FINALLY getting used to the dentures I got about a month or so ago, my dentist here decided it would be a fun for thing for me to have back teeth on the bottom. I've been losing my molars since I was in my early 20's so it wasn't a big deal to me, but I went along with it and as I've gotten more used to it I do have to admit it does have it's advantages. It was hard at first - I felt like an alligator with all those teeth! and was a bit self conscious but now that I'm more used to them I do enjoy it.  I do still forget them once in awhile (I told Susan once they're my "dress teeth") but I'm old so what do you want out of me? I finally have enough sock done to take a picture of it, I'm still on the fence about it though. It's a bit boring and the double point needles are hard to negotiate, but I suppose I should make an actual pair before making any judgements. According to Jackson the sock making is going so slow he might be a proud owner of a "unisock"

You Do The Crime, You Pay The Fine

David took Jackson to pay his speeding ticket yesterday - and he had to pay it himself. David could see him through the window and said he took out his wallet and handed over a few bills. Then handed over a few more, a couple more. It cost him $175 and that was with the cop knocking it down a bit - otherwise he might have lost his brand new adult license. David said the whole thing didn't sit well with Mr. Miser at all and he'll probably be hoarding his money now for the next month. I think he'll be more careful in the future, especially since it involved his cash. He's busy counting down the days til the end of school,very eager to get on with his life and be an adult. David and I are still discussing where we'll be next year - he asked me where I wanted to be and I of course answered Missouri - and no, I don't know why I like it so much, I just do. The weather is turning cold again, we had a few days in the 50 and 60's, it was wonderful. Yesterday everyone was driving with thier windows open, I even saw a few people in shorts!

TGIM

Thank Goodness It's Monday was the theme yesterday - who would've ever thought I would be happy for the weekend to end?? On Monday I did my early morning labs and was at the office by 9:45  - I found one of my patients had a doctor's appointment and the other had been evacuated to the hospital for a water main break. Susan and I did some paperwork and then I vamoosed for the day at 11:30! What a relief that was. I had to return some things to the mall so I did that first, Victoria's Secret has lost it's allure mainly due to the fact I can get most of what I want off the internet for a 1/3 less most of the time. And the other problem of course is Gabe's, convieniently located right next door. 7 pairs of socks, 5 pair of underpants, 2 bras, and 2 shirts - $19.18 - and all name brands. Thier clearance sales could make you weep with shopper happiness. Then I went home and got some stuff done, including working on the sock which there isn't enough of yet to take a picture of(actually, working on the sock is pretty much all I got done). Jackson got me Sixteen Candles, a movie I've been watching repeatedly since it was released and he refuses to watch it with me anymore even though the ending is the way life should be. Speaking of Jackson, he got his first speeding ticket today so he's a bit upset. He was up at the Unversity Plaza where the Granville Police dept make thier money and was doing 40 in a 25 zone. Please keep in mind that David was pulled over when we first moved here for going 27 in a 25 mile an hour zone so they're a bit zealous. Jackson will have to pay for it himself and it doesn't go on our insurance so we just told him to be more careful. He's upset, but it's the best way to learn, isn't it? Heck, I only got a few before I learned my lesson! Speaking of upset I got an email from Knitpicks, since they've been moving into thier new warehouse my order will be delayed. They might as well stick a knife in my heart (or a double pointed handturned bamboo needle) - I suppose I'll get over it.  Someday.

The Long and Winding Road

Well, I broke my record in milage - this weekend I drove 168 miles for ONE VISIT. When I was getting directions I could've puked, I couldn't believe I would have to drive so far for one patient. But I did - and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I got to see alot of West Virginia that I haven't seen before and I hit both The Nest and A.C. Moore's on the way back. At The Nest I got the coolest sock needles - they're made by Lantern Moon, hand made and cost 3 times as much as Brittney needles. But I do have Christmas money and I DID do a lot of driving so they are mine now. Finding sock needles is impossible I've found but I knew they would have them at that shop. I actually have some on order from KnitPicks but I cannot wait. Sunday turned out to be just as bad - I got a call that a patient needed to be seen in Clarksburg and halfway there I got another call for a patient out in Preston county which is 50 miles away. However, while I was out there I called another patient I was supposed to see today that lives down the road by patient #2 and saw him so he's off my census for today. I FINALLY started knitting a sock last night after all this time of collecting sock related items, I think my main problem will be keeping it from sliding off the needles. I'm doing on double points and since they're sock needles they are tiny, but I've never knitted socks and need a challenge right now. January and February are b-o-r-i-n-g  and work is a bit stressful, but not as bad. The storm broke in the office so I think it's safe to go in, I think. Adam went back to LI to see friends this weekend, one of his navy friends is in town on leave so he wanted to see him before he left. He sounds good and I'm glad he got to go, he's still waiting to hear from the navy after the stand down in January (that's when they all take vacation).

Run While You Can

I was advised to stay away from the office today when I came in - it was nothing I did but there was a massive thunderstorm brewing and it's best to seek shelter (elsewhere!) at times. So I quick finished up things with Susan and hit the road again. I say again because I was out at 7 am this morning doing labs as one of my patients had labs due a couple of days ago and it would have been nice if the facility had let SOMEONE know. The only ones who knew were the pharmacy who were looking for the results and made the person in my office anxious and that person wanted me to go RIGHT NOW yesterday afternoon and do the labs. I deferred that and called the pharmacist and figured out a situation that everyone was happy with. I find the wheeling and dealing of my job interesting, home care nurses have a lot more autonomy  - a lot of doctors let you do what you think and they'll sign the order. It's changed my practice a lot, in the hospital you wouldn't think of doing things and then calling the doctor - but when my patient's central line broke - I pulled it, reinserted a peripheral so she could continue with her treatment, then called the doctor's office and negotiated a new plan of care until they could get a new one put in and then called the pharmacy to update them. And it's expected I'll do that. Part of the reason I love my job is it really makes you think - I have to come up with an appropriate wound dressing for a dialysis/cardiac patient this weekend as I was told to decide and write the order. And you learn constantly from the patients the best way to do a wound dressing or how to use an apnea monitor - I've passed plenty of information on to other patients and even doctors when I see a good idea or a better way to do things.

Stay Away From The Office And No One Will Get Hurt

The office is all riled up again, someone said this, someone did that and the boss is on the warpath decimating all that cross her path. I love after the holidays, don't you? We had our weekly meeting, I don't let this nonsense bother me and I don't get involved, I don't even speak to the boss unless cornered. It'll all blow over eventually but until then I'm out of the office and in for VERY brief periods of time, just enough to make phone calls and finish up paperwork. I did my pediatric patient the other day and while I was taking her temp her little brother noticed the string on my scrubs and gave it a yank. And then tried to run off with it while I hung onto to my pants! I finished taking the temp (any patient under 10 you only get one shot at vitals before they run off to play with the cat) and regained control of my pants, it was hard as everyone was laughing pretty hard by then so I was on my own. I finally finished that afgan I've been working on and gave it to Susan who loves that sort of stuff. The scarf went to Grandma Hendrickson who's only comment was it "smelled funny" (typical Grandma)- my response was "well, wash it!" and the shawl went to Nancy across the sea in Kent, England. I might keep the green cotton sweater I made and I still have the purple one that I like but it doesn't really fit me. I did a bit of driving today and even got time to take a few pictures on my way home. I took the pike - everyone knows where that is and if you tell anyone you live on the Pike, they know exactly where you're from. It's a road that runs along the back between Kingwood and Morgantown and a lot of fun to drive. It's up and down and twisty, but not too much in the way of drop off sides and even has guard rails in some spots. If you drive it enough you can go pretty fast - and it's beautiful, especially when it snows. And the main attraction is no coal trucks which route 7 is lousy with lately. Pearl has been enjoying the snow a great deal and races all over the yard when we take her out, she finds it all very exciting. David continues to work on the house, we don't have too much time before the RE puts it up - it's funny how we though we had so much time and now it's a race to the finish! It's not a huge deal since we still haven't decided what we're doing next I'm in no hurry.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year we make these,don't we? They tend to be thing we SHOULD be doing anyhow - or things we feel we should do and have been unable to in the past due to circumstances or it's just annoying and no fun. So I have thought carefully and here are mine:

1) I resolve to lose weight. This is an easy one as I've been losing and gaining the same 5 pounds for quite awhile now. However I did put on a bit more than intended over the holidays (whoever didn't put on weight over the holidays raise your hand. Fine, now all of you with your hand raised please leave the room) so I have to work a bit harder.

2) I promise to buy as much as yarn as possible without having to go on welfare and to stash it in every available closet, drawer, basket, or any empty space.

3) I resolve to knit constantly.

4) I am going to sort of resolve to save money - this might be at odds with resolution #2 but if I buy the yarn on sale or from KnitPicks that will work out.

Ok, that's enough of that, I'm old now and can only remember so much at one time. And I did order from Knit picks - I'm getting the right size needles for my sock experiment and some VERY cool yarn that I'll be knitting a starfish shawl from the lastest Vogue Knitting. One thing I have done is cut down on buying knitting magazines, I was getting to the point I was just buying them to buy them. I was paging through one I'd bought - and they are expensive - and realized I would never knit anything out of it, it was all too wierd and trendy. Especially the "asymetrical" sweater which was some odd affair in which one side hung a lot lower than the other and there was some other odd part that you swung around your neck....and all fastened up with a stick.  After I sorted through all the old issues I discovered there's actually only 4 total that I really like and tend to save so yesterday at the book store I walked out with nothing. Actually I didn't buy anything yesterday, it's too soon after Christmas and really, if I wait a couple of weeks EVERYTHING will be on clearance.