One of the reasons why I keep my home phone land line is because the voice mail offers a wake-up call. I’m a sound sleeper. While the alarm clock rarely wakes me up, the phone always will. Every morning voice mail calls me. My radio comes on right afterwards.

Last night #1 Son was not home when I went to bed, but he was expected shortly. I left the kitchen hall light on for him and went to sleep.

This morning the radio came on. There had been a terrible accident. A car traveling at a high speed had hit a curb, a lamp post and a fence, then went off an overpass, rolled several times and landed upside down in a stream. The driver and passenger were both killed. Names were being withheld pending family notification.

This was a block from my house.

This was the exact place where two weeks ago #1 Son hit the curb hard enough to split his tire sidewall and dent the rim.

Instantly very wide awake, I looked down the hall towards the kitchen. The light was off. #1 Son was home. I got up and looked out front. His car was there. It was in one piece. I opened his door and peeked in. He was peacefully asleep.

I sat down on my bed, feeling shaken.

In the 10 years or so that I’ve lived in this neighborhood, I don’t ever remember another fatal accident on that road. But the road used to be a lot scarier: narrow, windy, dark, with a sharp drop-off on the north side down to the stream. People drove carefully. Then the road was moved north away from the stream, flattened out, made wider, lighted. It seems safer — safe enough, apparently, to drive very, very fast.

A couple of weeks ago, when asked what happened, #1 Son said that it was late at night, dark, rainy, and he just wasn’t paying close enough attention. This on a road he’s driven on since they built it.

He said, “you know, Mom, they told me in driver’s ed that after I’d been driving for awhile you tend to become complacent. Guess they were right. I could have been killed.

It was a good wake-up call.”

I never wear my watch when I’m at home. But there are a couple of audible clues as to the time. My computer speaks the time at the hour and ½ hour: The time is now two thirty p m. It speaks only from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

And I have a mantel clock. It used to be in my mother’s house, but since she passed away it has lived with me, faithfully chiming the hour and ½ hour in a sonorous voice that makes it sound much bigger than it really is. Visible from the living room, kitchen and family room, it’s always the clock I look at when I need to know the time. If I was in a different part of the house, I listened for its ringing. Day or night, it could be counted on to, well… count.

Last week the mantel clock did not chime. Its hands are stopped at 8:35. At first I thought we might have had a power outage that made it lag behind (it’s an electric clock). But, no, it’s really stopped and chimes no more.

And this is the excuse I use for why I was up at 2:00 AM this morning, turning the heels on socks.

Yes, I realize that the fact that I was watching TV, and even changed channels several times, should have been a cue that it was getting late.

8:35 the clock said, as The Apprentice ended. 8:35, the clock said, when I glanced at it as the 11:00 news came on. 8:35 the clock said, when I finished turning the first heel and started on the second. 8:35 the clock said, when I realized I’d seen this Conan before, and switched over to American Hot Rod. 8:35 the clock said as I finished up the second heel flap.

8:35… Oh, my, it’s after 2:00 AM! Oops!

Yes, yes, I do tend to watch some inane TV when focused on knitting. I admit it. But there was nobody home but me and the cats and nothing else that needed doing. And I wanted those heels turned!

And turned they are!

To all of you who think that I’m completely daft because this is a perfectly “normal” heel: It’s not a new heel, but it’s new to me.

I do like the way that it looks, too. All of the increases are hidden along the first heel stitch row, so there’s no short-row line. And you can see that it fits well, too. It’s just slightly long on my foot, so I think it should fit my sock pal well. The cables pull the fabric in, but not too tightly. So, again, it should fit well.

You might notice that the Addi Natura I was using after breaking one of my ebonies has been replaced by an Addi Turbo. It appears that Addi and Suzanne are the only ones that make 3mm needles. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the Addi’s are only about 3¼” long. The Suzanne’s are more than 5″. That’s just a little too long to be effective for sock knitting. As much as I love these needles, I will be knitting other things with them from now on.

Here us my heel recipe, if another toe-up person other than me has not tried this heel and wants to:
64 stitches total around sock, 32 stitches on sole needle, 30 of those involved in the heel.
9 st increased on each side for the gussets.
The heel was worked over the center 16 stitches. On each row, I slipped the first stitch, worked one less stitch than the prior row, and did an M 1 increase at the end. The last row I worked had 3 stitches plus the slipped stitch. This increased the heel flap stitches from 16 to 31. From the last M1, I knit across to the first gusset stitch and did a SSK to meld heel flap to the gusset on the knit side. Then I turned and purled across the heel flap row and did a P2Tog to meld the heel flap to the gusset on the purl side. I switched to Heel Stitch and worked back and forth until I had picked up 16 gusset stitches (the 9 increases plus 7 sole stitches) on each side. That left 33 stitches on the sole needle. So the next time around, I decreased by doing a P2Tog right in the middle, hidden in the purls between the cables.

I like the way this looks and fits, and I will definitely use this heel again.

I will try not to turn it at 2:00 AM. But no promises. I need to get my mantel clock fixed!

This squirrel was lounging in the tree outside my work window. She (he?) looks like a lady of leisure, doesn’t she? She (he?) wasn’t much in evidence all winter, but now that spring has nominally arrived, she has been rooting around in her old nest and stirring things up. I’m fairly certain this is the squirrel that nearly attacked me the other day when I came between it and an old acorn lying on the ground.

I think she looks a little plump. I’m wondering if there will be little squirrels in the nest soon? That will be fun to watch. Last spring I sat in a different location, so I haven’t gotten to spy much on the squirrels. I have watched birds nest, though.

The sun came out today for 10 minutes – a rare occurrence in springtime Portland – and I managed to get a decent picture of the sockapaloooza socks. This is still not quite the right color, but I think it’s probably as close as I’m going to come. Digital cameras do not seem to deal well with purple. At least the cables show.

I’m a little further along than this now, having just started the gusset increases. I had to stop and test swatch the heel. The 60-year-old Beehive instructions aren’t like any other heel I’ve ever worked. And, since I’m working everything upside down and backwards, I had to swatch it twice before I came up with something that’s a reasonable facsimile of what’s in the picture. Now that I’ve worked it once, though, I like it and I think I might work the same heel on Tangle’s birthday pattern.

I searched through Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush because that book has a ton of different heels and toes in it. But none of the heels that Nancy Bush shows resembles the heel in the Beehive instructions. So I am henceforth dubbing it the “Beehive Heel.” It’s really a cool technique that uses decreases (or, in my case, increases) instead of short rows. Strange, but very round and nice looking. I think it will be comfortable to wear. I can’t wait to get one finished on the Sockapaloooza socks so I can try it on.

Isn’t it hard to type when your keyboard has a big, fluffy kitty tail draped across it? Kidd is taking a nap on my desk and insists that is the place his tail must be. Although I’m trying to avoid it, I don’t have a lot of sympathy if I accidentally pull a few hairs that happen to be lying on my keys. I have encouraged a different tail placement, but Kidd disagrees vehemently.

Today I learned that teaching, even of knitting, requires at least some talking.

I arrived at Dr. Grinder’s (not his real name) office precisely at noon, all ready for my root canal.

And how are we today? asked Dr. Grinder’s assistant. We’re just splendid. I replied.

Ms. Assistant (who was really very nice) took my history and talked about my tooth and laughed at the comment my dentist had made on my referral: She said that cold hurt worse, so I took pity on her and tested with heat. (I’ve known my dentist for 25 years. He has quite a sense of humor.)

Dr. Grinder, another truly nice person, came in. And how are we today? he asked. We’re just splendid I replied.

He began the usual poking and prodding and peering with mirrors and such. In the end he agreed with my dentist that the tooth did need a root canal. We’ll just numb you up and get to work. he said. You might have a little pain afterwards, but we’ll send you home with some medication to help.

Ahhh… thought I. The good stuff.

He numbed me and waited awhile. Then numbed me some more for good measure. By the time he started, 1/2 my head was numb from the eyebrows down to my chin. Next came the… well… you know… the root canal.

But then Ms. Assistant took a digital x-ray, and that was one of the coolest things I’ve seen for a long time. The pictures popped up on their computer in about 10 seconds. She could change the color and enhance the image and all kinds of cool stuff. That was really neat to watch. I would have asked more questions about it except my mouth was full of stuff and my head was numb.

Dr. Grinder wrapped up the procedure and removed all the equipment from my mouth. All done! He said brightly. I don’t think you’ll have much pain. I gave you an extra-long-lasting numbing agent. The worst part of a root canal is usually over after the first three or four hours, and you’ll be numb for at least 6 or 8 hours. Just take a couple of Advil when it wears off and call me if it’s too bad.

Wait a minute… I’m thinking… what about the good stuff? No good stuff? I’m going to be numb for 6 or 8 hours? no, no, no… I have to teach a class tonight…

But I have to teach a class! I said. Or at least that’s what I meant to say. It actually came out something like bmt I hvmg t tsch a clshh!

Just call if you have too much pain. Dr. Grinder said, and sent me on my way. All the way home, I kept wondering what I was going to do if I couldn’t talk.

#1 Son laughed at me when I got home because I couldn’t move half my face. I tried to eat some dinner (soft food, only). When I looked in the mirror, I realized that quite a bit of it had ended up outside my mouth. This was going to be interesting.

By the time I got to Tangle (I hear a song there…), some of the numb had worn off, and I could talk. I had to slurp my wine, which was rather embarrassing.

But I could talk. So I have no excuse for totally losing control of the class. No excuse at all. I think most of the students got the techniques I was attempting (badly) to teach. But I didn’t get as far as I would have liked to. I need to figure out how to make this work better. Hopefully next week will be different because there’s not as much to cover.

The numb is just now finally completely wearing off. Now. 10 hours later. I could use some of the good stuff.

Poor #1 Son. He came home last night really sick, with chills and fever. I sent him right to bed. I know he has to go to class today (it’s the last one before finals). I woke him up briefly this morning before I left and gave him some Advil and a glass of water, then left him sleeping while I headed to work.

Captain Kidd, although he seems generally better, will not eat much and has gained no weight. Tomorrow he goes back to the vet where he will be kept a few days. Dr. Specialist believes that Kidd has developed a food aversion because eating made him sick before. The only way around this is to take the eating choice out of his hands (er… paws) for a couple of weeks and try to get him plumped up. Poor baby. He will be able to come home, probably Sunday or Monday.

I’m off to the ol’ root canal shortly.

At least my cold seems to be of short duration. It’s down to the mostly just annoying stage. I managed to work a few rows on the brim of cupcake #3. And I’ve turned the cables again on the Sockapaloooza socks. I now believe that they will fit.

And tonight things will be looking up because I will be amongst my people as I knit at Tangle. The first sock class is tonight. I hope I can talk. I can just see me trying to teach via gesture. Thankfully, knitting is something that can be taught by example.

I woke up this morning with the crud that’s been going around.

I get to have a root canal on Thursday.

I have done no knitting of any kind on any project.

It’s not one of my better weeks.