Obamacare: Why Healthcare Reform is Important to me

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, and this is quite a post to come back with. I've been focusing my writing on this open letter to the President of the United States thanking him for the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a Obamacare. It's been several months in the making. 

I know I'm getting into too long; didn't read territory, but I've already cut out 1,500 words, and I don't think I can paint the picture of a life lived according to health insurance without telling the whole story. Telling my story is important to me. 

I've added subheadings to this version of the letter to help guide you.

So as we approach the election, I'd like to share with you why Obamacare is important to me, why I volunteer to make calls for the campaign and why I tend to get carried away with this issue on Facebook.

Introduction

November 4, 2012

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I’m writing you today to thank you for the Affordable Care Act and share my health insurance story, in the hope that it could help you and your administration defend the law and your presidency.

This is an open letter that I plan to share. It is written as much for the entire country as it is to you.

I am not better off than I was four years ago, but not because of the economy or anything the government could have prevented. In November 2010, I pinched nerve in my cervical spine that triggered fibromyalgia and changed my life.

I had just gotten a new job, and four days into training I resigned to stay in good standing with my new employer. My plan was to return for the January training class when I was better. I was never able to return.

Now that I can’t work, Obamacare is more important to me than ever. As a person with a pre-existing condition, Obamacare has eased my concerns about getting health insurance if I am unable to work full time again. If I am able to work full time, I know I can pursue something meaningful without giving up coverage.

To truly understand why Obamacare is so important to me, you have to hear my story. It’s a long story, but it illustrates many different points. I think the sum total of my experiences paints a picture of how health insurance has affected every major decision that I have made in my adult life.

You’ve probably heard lots of stories about people with pre-existing conditions who don’t have coverage. My story is about the sacrifices and work it has taken for me to maintain coverage without gaps.

My Story

My story actually begins five years before I was born in 1974. That year my mother graduated from college and my parents got married. After she graduated, Mom worked for the Graduate School of Library Sciences at the University of Texas while Dad finished up his teacher certification and tutored. It was also the year my Dad began to suffer from what turned out to be a kidney stone.

Around Christmas of that year, my Dad’s pain became unbearable. My parents went to the hospital, where they were shocked by the large upfront payment they had to make.

They didn’t have health insurance.

My father’s job didn’t offer health insurance. My mother started her job in August, and the enrollment period for insurance was in September. The deadline came up so quickly that she missed it, a mistake she blames on her youth. At the time, they didn’t think it would be such a big deal. She planned to enroll the next time around.

My Dad’s kidney stone wiped out all the money my mother had saved from her part-time jobs in her senior year of college.

After this incident, my parents never went without health insurance again, and over time my mother became the family health insurance expert. Mom told me this story over and over again to illustrate the importance of maintaining health insurance, something that would prove to be a challenge for me.

When I started college, I still had problems with moderate asthma that started as a teenager. I was also taking an antidepressant that was making a world of difference.

I was already well aware that I had a pre-existing condition, and that maintaining health insurance coverage would be extra important for me.

In 1998 I started going to college out of state at the University of Oklahoma, away from my home in Austin, Texas for the first time. In October 2000, I dropped out due to the first of several major depressive episodes. The mild antidepressant wasn’t cutting it anymore. My grades had plummeted. I missed class because my sleep was erratic. I was constantly worried.

Back then I could stay on their parents’ insurance as long as I was a student. Now that I was not a student, how much longer could I stay on my parent’s insurance? I was only 20.

The months that followed are a blur of anger, sadness and calls to the insurance company about extensions and grace periods. If I didn’t go back to school soon enough, I would be kicked off my parents insurance, and I needed a plan.

At one point I considered putting off college, getting a job and moving out on my own. I got a part time job at a clothing store, and I looked into a full time position that would have provided health insurance. However, I would have been stuck with lifetime limits on mental health visits that were more stringent for people with “severe mental illness.”

Eventually, I went back to school before I got kicked off of my parents’ insurance. I majored in print journalism at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and I spent my entire last semester applying for reporting jobs all over the country. I wanted to move away from home and have more adventures, and I was determined not to move back home after graduation in May 2003.

I don’t know what would have happened if I had not been able to move. Would I have found newspaper work that offered insurance? Would I have had to put off my career to get insurance? Would I have been able to get any job that offered insurance?

I took a job at a newspaper in a Florida retirement community. My health insurance kicked in after just 60 days, which was better than some employers, but it was still a challenge. We weren’t sure if I’d be kicked off of my parents’ insurance right away, so we decided to act like I didn’t have insurance. Then we hoped that nothing would go wrong in that 60-day period. If something did happen, maybe I’d still have coverage.

I didn’t fill any prescriptions during those 60 days. Fortunately, my doctors back home understood my situation. I had appointments with all of them before I left home, and they sent me home with paper bags filled with samples.

Luckily, those first 60 days went smoothly. I didn’t have to file any claims.

I stayed at that job until February 2005. I left because of a complicated combination of local politics and office politics. The paper I was at was not practicing good journalism.

However, I wanted to leave the paper on December 20, 2004. It was my 25^th birthday, and it was the day my editor decided that she couldn’t take it anymore. She tendered her resignation.

We’d both been planning to leave. I admired my editor and I wanted to be loyal to her. I consider her to be a friend. I had written my letter of resignation a long time ago. I’d been applying for reporting jobs all over the country for a couple of months by then. Just like my last semester of college, I was ready to move anywhere in the country.

For a while, I convinced myself that I could get coverage without a job lined up. If my editor could live without insurance, so could I.

I called my mother to tell her I was about to quit. My income was mentioned, but our conversation revolved around health insurance. Mom succeeded in talking me out of quitting that day.

After I accepted a job at a different paper a few hours away I finally submitted my resignation. My former editor drove the moving truck.

At first I was excited about my new job. I thought I was moving up in the world. But I grew to hate working at that paper. It wasn’t until years later that I admitted to myself that I was bullied, and I wasn’t the only one.

I felt trapped because of my insurance. I didn’t take my complaints to human resources or report the bullying and discrimination my coworkers endured because I couldn’t afford not to have health insurance. Aside from the usual worries about coverage gaps, I worried about being accused of “gross misconduct” if I were fired in such a volatile work environment. “Gross misconduct” would have made me ineligible for COBRA altogether.

I got more and more depressed. The more depressed I got, the more my worked suffered. The more my work suffered, the more I was bullied. The more I was bullied, the more depressed I got.

Eventually, something snapped and I experienced the worst bout of anxiety and depression I’ve ever experienced.

One day I left work early and checked into the hospital. I took several weeks off after that. My Mom flew in several times to care for me. Finally, after an unsuccessful attempt to return to work, I was terminated under the Family Medical Leave Act in August 2006. After being absent 12 weeks, the company was no longer obligated to hold my job. This wasn’t “gross misconduct,” and that was all I cared about. I moved back to Austin.

In January 2007 I got a job (with insurance) as a telemarketer focusing on lead generation.

I didn’t have any major incidents until a Sunday night in December 2008. My parents took me to the emergency room because I thought I had food poisoning. It turned out I had pancreatitis. We still don’t know what caused it. I was discharged three days later, and I recovered without any complications.

A few weeks later I got the main hospital bill. The couple of thousand dollars I had to pay out of pocket was enough of a burden, but if I had not had insurance, the hospital stay would have cost well over $20,000.  That number doesn’t include subsequent bills for things like the emergency room, lab tests, ultrasounds and doctor visits.

In 2009, my old problems came back, including the scary anxiety. I took several weeks off work.

I went into the hospital at the beginning of my time off. A couple of days in, my doctor came in and told me that my insurance wanted to send me home even though she thought I needed to stay in a safe place to make faster medication changes. The hospital could monitor me physically and mentally as I made the transition. The insurance company said I wasn’t a danger to myself or others, so I didn’t need to be in the hospital. My doctor was unable to convince my insurance company that I needed to be in the hospital, and I left early.

About a week later, I had to be hospitalized all over again.

After my second hospitalization I participated in a very helpful Intensive Outpatient Program. At one point my therapist talked about starting her own practice. Things were going well, but as her COBRA ran out, she realized she that no independent insurance company would take her. The reason?  She had taken an antidepressant in the past.

She ended up taking time away from her private practice to work part-time at the hospital, where I was participating in group therapy with her. Her story broke my heart and made me worry about my own future.

I realized that unless I married the right person with the right job, I’d only be able to work at jobs that offered insurance until I was eligible for Medicare. Any of the other career moves I had dreamed about, like starting a small business, freelance writing, using my knitting experience to sell yarn, publishing a book or going to graduate school would have to happen around a full time job, no matter how successful I was. Up until then, I hadn’t realized absolutely no insurance company would give me an individual policy.

After a while, I stopped dreaming altogether. Insurance blocked me at every turn.

Then, on February 12, 2010 I was laid off from my job at the call center.

At that point I wasn’t too worried. This was my chance to move on to something bigger better. I knew I had at least 18 months of COBRA, and I was sure I’d have a new job by then.

And thanks to your policies, COBRA subsidies saved me quite a bit of money.

In November 2010, I got the job I mentioned earlier that only lasted four painful days.  I would have been eligible for a great insurance policy had I been able to return.

I should have healed in a couple of weeks, but as time passed my recovery stalled. Physical therapy helped some. I’m definitely stronger than I was in 2011. For now, the pain and the fatigue prevent me from working. I’m waiting for the results of my disability hearing.

The Texas Health Insurance Pool: My Only Option Until 2014 

In March of 2012, I exhausted my COBRA, including a six-month extension. After much back and forth and contradictory information, I discovered that I was wrong before. I was eligible for one health plan even if I didn’t have a job.

The Texas Health Insurance Pool is a high-risk pool only for Texas residents with health problems. When I started my premium was $517 a month.

On top of sky-high premiums, my most effective pain medicine was not covered by the new insurance. It’s about $140 for 40 days of pills. I save money by getting a higher dosage and cutting the pills into quarters. The price is a burden, but until 2014 I don’t have the option of shopping for a plan that covers this medication.

However, I got good news about my premium recently. It was lowered to $486 a month. It was lowered because my premium is based on twice the average premium that major insurers around the state are charging for individual plans. This is a sign that premiums aren’t skyrocketing the way my Republicans friends have said.

There are still problems with the plan that won’t be rectified until 2014. Currently, a man in my same age group, on the same insurance plan, living in the same area of the state, who also does not use tobacco, pays $365 a month. Yet my insurance doesn’t cover maternity care. I had to reread the paperwork several times before I believed it. What am I paying extra for if I don’t have maternity coverage?

Also, you must have proof of continuous coverage, or the insurance won’t cover any pre-existing conditions for the first year. People with coverage gaps are paying a lot of money for insurance that won’t cover treatment that they need the most.

The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is a much better deal. I don’t qualify for it because I do not have a six-month gap in coverage.  I understand that this plan is an emergency measure to cover more people until before 2014. I’m glad you created this program so more people could be covered while we wait for the law to go into full effect.

The Moral of The Story 

I know my story is long and complicated, but I tell it to make multiple points.

First, only the richest of the rich can afford to pay for their health care needs out of pocket. Everyone hits the wall at some point. My primary care doctor charges a patient without insurance about $100 for an office visit. A lot of people can’t afford this. In 1974, a kidney stone was enough to wipe out the savings of a young newly wed couple. My hospitalization for pancreatitis, including all the charges from different departments, would have cost me close to a year’s income if I had not had insurance. A coma or serious brain injury requiring months or years of inpatient care could bankrupt a family with a six-digit income.

Thank you for tackling this issue and making real reforms. Thank you for removing lifetime maximums on insurance coverage.

My story shows how complex insurance is. It takes a lot of work to even understand what it takes to be covered. I wish more people understood that the Affordable Care Act is long and complex because the health insurance industry has made its policies and rules complex. To fix all the issues I’ve faced, not to mention problems like rescission that I’ve never dealt with, it takes a long bill.

Thank you for seeing the hoops people have to jump through to maintain coverage, and thank you for not brushing it off as a matter of personal responsibility when so many people miss those hoops.

My story shows how young people were forced off their parents’ insurance during one of the most transitory times in their lives. I’m lucky my parents’ insurance included a grace period, but I would have been in trouble if I had not been well enough to return to school on time.

At one of the Organizing for America phone banks I attended, I spoke with a woman who worked at Texas State University. Part of her job is talking to students after their grades had dropped. She said some of the students said their grades had suddenly plummeted because they were forced off their parents’ insurance and couldn’t afford their antidepressants anymore.

Thank you for helping young people maintain their coverage while their lives are in flux by allowing them to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. My 23 year-old sister just got married in August. This provision allowed them to marry without worrying about insurance or sacrificing their fledgling careers.

My story demonstrates the power insurance companies have over our healthcare choices, like my shortened hospital stay in 2009. Decisions about what is covered, what is medically necessary, what is experimental and when to rescind a policy are made by people who get big bonuses based on how much care they deny. I wish more people would realize that they need to be worried about the decisions private insurance companies make as much, if not more, than government oversight.

Sarah Palin did a great disservice to the nation when she perpetuated the myth of government death panels. She imagined horrible scenarios of disabled children and seniors being denied care that have no basis in reality. Now the concept of death panels won’t die, and so many people have an unreasonable fear of the government making health decisions for them.

I know Obamacare doesn’t give the government the power to make healthcare decisions for individuals, but I would trust the government to make that decision before I’d trust someone motivated by profit and bonuses.

Thank you for making it harder for insurance companies to deny coverage.

Most of all, my story shows the sacrifices it has taken for someone with a pre-existing condition to maintain coverage before Obamacare. In my case, I had to carefully time a break from college, stick with employers who were unethical, keep quiet about workplace bullying, pay sky-high premiums for COBRA and high risk pool insurance and ignore opportunities and dreams.

I thank you most of all from freeing me from the prison that was created by my pre-existing condition. I don’t know what the future holds now that I have fibromyalgia, but I’m optimistic. In 2014, if everything goes as planned, I’ll get to shop around for a good insurance plan through insurance exchanges. I won’t have an excuse not to dream. Obamacare is my hope and change. Obamacare helps me move forward.

I wish more people would take the time to understand Obamacare, and I wish less people would fall for the ridiculous rumors and lies.

I wish more people understood that Obamacare will not lead to the fall of capitalism in America. Healthcare is a basic human need. We can’t let the boogeyman of socialism scare us into stopping reform.

Before Obamacare health insurance companies were increasing their profits by creating cheaper, inferior products. They stayed in lockstep with their policies so their customers would have no other choice. Rather than catering to their customer base, insurance companies refused to sell their product to the people who needed it most.

We also forget that Obamacare was a true compromise. Both sides sacrificed. Thank you for truly reaching across the aisle to make it happen.

And thank you for reading my letter, Mr. President.

Sincerely,
Sally Villarreal

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

FOs: Craft Show Scarf Quartet

My shoulder and back have been bothering me more than usual recently, and it's interfering with my knitting and my blogging. I started an awesome cowl, but something about the way I have to hold my arms makes it hard for me to work on it for any extended length of time.

To make up for this, I've knit several simple scarves in the last couple of weeks. I've been using yarns that I've run into while dealing with the moths in my stash.

One of these days there will be another craft show, and I'm putting these in my inventory so I will be prepared. That is why I'm calling these the Craft Show Scarf Quartet.

1. Drop Stitch Scarf

Ribbon yarn is ideal for drop stitch scarves. I didn't use a pattern, but there are lots of designs that utilize the same concept. On the drop stitch row, you wrap the yarn around the needle several times (I think I did it four times) and then drop all the wraps on the next row.

I think drop stitch scarves need fringe. I made a point of cutting the fringe ahead of time. I also put a little Fray Check on the ends to keep them from unraveling.


I used US Size 9 needles and one skein of a discontinued Online yarn called Linie 118 Vision that I got in a swap.

2. Light and Lofty Garter Stitch Scarf


This one is a pretty straight forward garter stitch scarf with fringe. I actually worked on this a couple of times while I was lying in bed trying to sleep.

I used about one and two-thirds skeins of Red Heart Light and Lofty in "Cape Cod Multi." I think it came from a yarn swap somewhere along the way. I also used US Size 13 needles.

3. Drop Stitch Chenille Scarf


For this scarf, I used a different type of drop stitch than I did on the first scarf. I knit the whole thing lengthwise, then dropped every third stitch so it created a ladder all the way down.


I had some issues after dropping the stitches. The bind off (the top row in this picture) made one edge of the scarf nice and neat. However, every third stitch of the cast on row came undone, which made the other edge loose and messy. And for some reason the second rung of each ladder was looser than the first. So I crocheted along the cast on edge to neaten it up.

It's hard to explain what what I did on the cast on edge, but I'm going to try.

First, I slip stitched over the two intact stitches, leaving one loop on the hook when I was done.

Then I took the hook and twisted the first rung of the ladder around it to created another loop, so there was two on the hook.

After that I pulled the second rung of the ladder through the loop I made (the first one on the hook), leaving two loops on the hook.

At this point I think I pulled the yarn through both loops on the hook. (I might have pulled the first loop on the hook through the second, but I doubt it.)

Then I'd start over from the slip stitches.

If anyone really wants to to try to recreate what I did, e-mail me or comment, and I'll see if I can explain it better. This is one of those things that most people don't care about, but I want documented for myself.*

I have mixed feelings about the end result. If I do something like this again, I need to plan ahead more. And I need a yarn that's thinner and easier to deal with.

I used one skein of Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick in Royal Blue and US Size 11 needles. Once again, I used Fray Check on the fringe. Then I twisted the ends to keep the yarn from coming undone.

4. Color Waves Scarf

Finally, I made one more garter stitch scarf. This was made with one skein of Lion Brand Color Waves that was leftover from this ancient project, and US Size 8 needles. Like the Drop Stitch Chenille Scarf, I used a little Fray Check on the fringe and twisted the ends to keep the yarn from coming apart.

* - You could say that about my entire blog, but that would be mean.

FO: Diagonal Magic Ball Scarf

Last week while I was sorting my yarn for freezing and microwaving, I stumbled upon the Bluebonnet Magic Ball that I got a yarn swap way back in 2008. Since the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket has been in the finishing phase, I've been craving a quick and easy knit. So I decided it was time to use the Magic Ball.


The label on the magic ball came with two patterns. The first one was for a "Basic Garter Stitch Scarf." I chose the second pattern, which was for a "Diagonal Garter Stitch Scarf." I considered just making a lengthwise scarf. But that would have required calculating the gauge to make sure it wasn't too short, and I just wanted to start knitting.

The pattern says to cast on 13 stitches, but I decided to only cast on 12 stitches because I wanted the scarf to be nice and long.

Both patterns call for US Size 13 needles. Because my gauge is so loose, I used US Size 9 needles.


In knitting and crochet, the term "magic ball" can mean two different things. It can be a ball of yarn that is wound with little gifts and toys in it. These are usually given away in swaps. There's a Flickr pool with pictures of Magic Balls here.

Then there are magic balls like the Bluebonnet Magic Ball I used for this scarf. They are made by tying together lengths of different yarns into one ball. Be Sweet sells its own Magic Ball. Jimmy Bean's Wool has a tutorial showing how to make your own magic ball. There are other magic ball tutorials here and here.

Since I received this yarn in a swap, I don't know much about its origins. I know it came from Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe, which closed more than a year ago, but I don't remember them actually being sold at Bluebonnet.

According to her blog, Amy made her own magic ball scarf back in 2006. She won the yarn from Bluebonnet. However, her scarf looks much different than mine. The stripes are longer, the yarns in the ball are very different and the whole thing is bigger. Her scarf is the only evidence I've seen that another Bluebonnet Magic Ball ever existed.


Aaron was nice enough to model the scarf for me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I don't think the color scheme suits me. I may donate it or give it as a gift.

The gauge stayed somewhat steady between the different yarns. The overall width of the scarf varies somewhat. One yarn in particular doesn't want to line up with the other stripes. It's almost like the diagonal line is at a different angle than the rest, and it makes it hard to get the scarf to lie flat.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this quick knit. It makes me want to make my own Magic Ball. And it makes me miss Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe.

It Doesn't Even Look Like a Fish

This past week I finally quit procrastinating and started dealing with my moth problem. That means there's been a lot of a yarn everywhere. It's on the living room floor in organized piles, double bagged and stuffed in the freezer, and, of course, in the microwave. It's nice to have it out of storage, but I think Mom and Dad are getting tired of it, but I think they understand.

While inspecting the yarn, I saw at least one ball with frays like I found before. I see specks on some of the yarn, but given the state of my apartment at one point, it's very likely that they're just pieces of lint.

I've come up with my own method for dealing with the infestation based on the information I found online. I've been focusing on animal based fibers, since they attract moths.

I choose yarns to freeze based on how much I care about them (all my handspun is being frozen), how expensive they are and how likely they are to have pests.

With the freezing, I'm going with three days in, three days out and three days back in. Everything I've read said it's waste of time to freeze if you only do it once. The second freeze gets the larvae.

The rest of the protein-based fibers are microwaved for 10 to 30 seconds. I'm taking out staples, and I'm being careful not to out in the acrylic blends for too long.

I'm cleaning the tubs themselves with vinegar and water. Then I'm making sure everything is in plastic bags before it goes back in the tub, along with some cedar chips.


I found what I assume are cobwebs on the outside of one of the tubs. I don't know if this helps identify the problem, but I thought I'd share.


I'm not sure what this is. I've been taking the tubs outside to clean them with the water hose. This was still stuck to the inside of one of the tubs after the first rinse. I saw something like it stuck to the outside of the wrapper of my Magic Ball from the late Bluebonnet Yarn Shoppe.

It could be a piece of a moth, but I think it might be a baby silverfish. Mainly because I saw a grown-up silverfish crawling around the same tub while I was sorting through it. I didn't have my camera on hand, but it looked like this. I'm very confident of my identification.

Everything I've read says it's unlikely that silverfish would eat yarn. However, I've seen silverfish in other boxes that had been in storage at the same storage place.* But now that I've actually seen them in the yarn, I'm considering the possibility that they are causing the problem. The good news is that what kills and repels moths also kills and repels silverfish.

The problem is that silverfish tend to be attracted to cotton and linen. Like the cotton and linen I didn't bother to microwave. Crap.

However, moths are still a possibility. All the frays I found were in wool yarn,and the owner of the storage place advised us to put moth balls in the storage unit. I can thank Dad for actually taking the initiative to do this. Perhaps we waited too long to change them out.

I still refuse to put moth balls inside the tubs with my yarn.


Who wants some piping hot yarn?

* - We've moved units a couple of time depending on how much space we need.

Aw, Crap

Last week I bound off the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket, and Katie decided to "try it on" like I did a couple of weeks ago. However, I've been stuck since then. Because...



I messed up.

It doesn't look "messed up" here, but I managed to miss an important detail when I was reading the pattern.



To do the edging and button band on the Adult Surprise Jacket (and the Baby Surprise Jacket), you have to pick up stitches around most of the rectangle, including several nooks and crannies. This requires negotiating several corners and trying to fit a lot of stitches on one needle.

I thought the pattern said to purl the wrong side rows. While I was working on this blog entry, I checked the Adult Surprise Jacket pattern in The Opinionated Knitter again, and I realized it said to only purl the stitches at the corners on the wrong side. If I'd followed the directions correctly, I would have had a garter stitch button band that would lie flat. I ended up with a stockinette button band that wants to curl.



At first I liked the idea of a stockinette button band. I assumed if Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen recommended it, it must work. But now that I've finished it, seen how it curls and learned that this is not what Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swansen had in mind, I don't like it. And seeing all the neat, flat button bands on other people's sweaters on Ravelry makes me like it less.

So I decided to unravel the button band and do it again in garter stitch. Or maybe seed stitch.* I think it will be worth it.



I know I read the instructions for the bind off correctly. The pattern says to bind off in purl. I liked the look of the knit bind off on my Baby Surprise Jacket, so I tried that first.

Before I realized my mistake, I thought that the knit bind off may have been causing the curling. I undid part of the bind off and redid it in a purl bind off. They both curled anyway. You can see both bind offs in the picture above. It's hard to tell the difference.

I was glad I didn't break the yarn the first time I bound off. That left me with more options. Of course, I haven't let breaking yarn get in my way so far.



Before I finished the button band, I had to decide which buttonhole to use and how to place them. I went with the one row buttonhole.

It took some algebra to place the buttonholes. I had to account for the number of stitches I wanted at the top and bottom of the button band, the number of stitches between the buttons and the stitches used for the buttonhole itself.



I managed to avoid picking up stitches on the wrong side when I did the button band by breaking the yarn and starting to pick up stitches on the end of the row, rather than starting in the middle. It's hard to explain without pictures.

I found the trick here. It took some thinking to translate it to the Adult Surprise Jacket, since I don't have the same number of stitches

I'm going to try not to stall on the button band. It's a pain to redo the entire thing, but I've put a lot of work into this project. I don't want to see a curly button band every time I look at it. I also don't want to see it stuffed in a bag, still untouched, when it's finally cold enough to wear it.

That being said, I'm in pain. More pain. Different pain. With the bonus of more injections coming up and COBRA running out pretty soon.

And I still haven't dealt with the moths.

I need something to lift my spirits. So I'm giving myself permission to start a new project. I'll probably look for something to knit in that sweet spot of not too easy or too hard, not too long or too short and using some really nice yarn.


Parting Shot



A couple of weeks ago I had another weekend with Shiloh and her friends. I have pictures of everyone here, but I like this one of the family's new cat, Bunny, meeting Spiny. (Don't worry, the standoff ended peacefully.)


* - If you are new to this knitting thing, and want to know the difference between stockinette, garter and seed stitch, There's a good explanation here.

No Lesson Today

It's Saturday night (technically Sunday morning), and it's time for me to blog. I was going to blog about knitting, but right now my shoulder and back hurt too much to do that much typing. So in the tradition of my middle school with its Channel One televisions, I'll be showing you a video instead. Enjoy.

Frayed Knot

A piece of yarn walks into a bar and orders a beer, but the bartender snarls, "We don't serve your kind here!". The yarn is forced to leave.

While sitting on the curb feeling sorry for himself, the yarn is suddenly hit with a brilliant idea. Working quickly, he ties himself into a knot and unravels his ends. Taking a deep breath, the yarn marches back into the bar and orders a beer.

"Hey!" says the bartender. "Ain't you that piece of yarn I just threw outta here?"

"Nope," replies the yarn, "I'm a frayed knot."

I've heard this one before, but I found this version on the Socknitters Forum. (It was post by someone named "silfert.")

This past week I got a lot of work done on the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket, but I had a problem. The yarn started breaking.




It started with my second ball of Queensland Collection Rustic Wool. I started pulling the ball from the middle. When I started to run out of yarn the ball started falling apart. (See the picture above.) I assumed the first couple of breaks were a fluke, but after the first couple of frays I realized something was wrong. I wondered if the yarn had been in contact with something with something sharp in my yarn bag.




After much spit splicing* I finished off the Rustic Wool and continued with the last little bit of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted leftover from Katie's Le Slouch. This time I started using the yarn from the outside of the ball, and the same thing started happening right away. (You can see some examples above.) The breaks stopped when I got farther into the ball.

Both balls had breaks and frays on the outside part of the ball and not the inside.  And most of the breaks weren't clean breaks. Individual plies had been broken. This leads me to one conclusion...




I HAVE MOTHS!


Here are the facts:

1. Both of these yarns have been in storage since November.

2. They were in plastic tubs, but not in plastic bags within the tubs.

3. They were stored in two different tubs.

4. They're both wool yarns.

5. I've seen silverfish in the unit before.

6. We've been having lots of triple digit days recently, and the unit is not climate controlled.

7. Dad put moth balls all over the unit when we moved my stuff in. This was recommended by the management at the storage unit.

8. Both yarns have been in my stash for at least a couple of years.

I'm seeking input on this issue. We haven't been back to the unit since this discovery. I guess I've been putting it off. I'm also wondering if it could be a different pest, like the silverfish I saw before, or if the yarn is so old that it's disintegrating.

In "The Secret Life of a Knitter", the Yarn Harlot's talks about her battle with moths in her stash. It was an ordeal. She had a complicated system of freezing, thawing, freezing again and inspecting. (I seem to remember a microwave being involved at some point. I could be wrong.)

Like the Yarn Harlot, I have a large amount of yarn. Unlike the Yarn Harlot, I live in a hot and dry climate that rarely has snow (especially in June.) I don't have the option of putting my yarn outside to freeze, as she did. Our freezer is packed, so I can only fit in a skein or two at a time.

I'm planning to start by taking the two tubs that the frayed yarns were stored in out of the storage unit. They will probably get some sort of Yarn Harlot-esque treatment.

Then I'm going to ask Dad to put in more moth balls, even though I hate them. (He puts them outside the tubs, so hopefully they don't stink too much.)

Mom got fresh lavendar for her birthday. I'm considering drying sprigs and putting them in the the tubs themselves.

I know moth balls and lavender won't do much if there's already moths in the yarn. I'm wondering what else I should do. Should take out every tub and "treat" all the yarn? (We're talking about approximately 10 tubs.) And exactly what type of freezing/microwaving type of treatment should I do? Should I bag all the yarns within the tubs?

Can I use your freezer?




Meanwhile, the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket is coming along nicely. I'm at the phases where you only knit the stitches in the middle of the rectangle for a while.




I've done even more since these pictures were taken, including using that Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted with all the breaks.




The problem with the Adult Surprise Jacket is that you can't really put on your work in progress to see how it's going to fit. Mom helped me "try on" the jacket while I was lying on the floor. It was great photo op, of course.

I was trying on the jacket because I'm not sure what my desired length is. I'm supposed to go to the next phase when I'm about one inch from my desired length.

The pattern recommends using the length of your favorite sweater, but I don't have a favorite sweater. I may go by the length of my favorite t-shirt. That's why I haven't worked on it for a few days. I need to decide both the length and what color to use next. I'll keep you updated.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:

A guy walks into a dentist’s office and flops right down on the couch.

“Doc”, he says, “Here’s the problem. I think I’m a moth”

“Well”, says the doctor, “That certainly is a problem, but why did you come into a dentist’s office?”

“The light was on.”

-From www.free-funny-jokes.com.



* - I know spit splicing isn't supposed to work with superwash wool yarns like Rustic Wool, but it worked well enough for me.