Feelin' The Love

Monday...I haven't worked one in a while.  What with the snow days, holidays and full-on vacations, I've pretty much been living the life of Riley over here.  Sure, there have been some yucky work days.  But, there has been some sort of break in the near future most of the time so the little dramas have been rather easily put into perspective.

This week, however, I am faced with 5 full days.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I consider myself lucky to be employed and to have found the love for a field that offers me such plentiful vacation time.  I make no apologies for the vacations.  I'll never be a millionaire and I do work pretty hard.  I think it all balances out.  As a matter of fact, I have a vacation coming up in a few weeks.

But that doesn't help much when you are staring down the barrel of a fully loaded Monday.  It doesn't matter that you are being irrational.  It is Monday and it is stuffed with work related expectations and that is not fun.  

Plus, I never really did get the knitting mojo back on track yesterday.  I tried to make the needles work some magic during my hour on the little exercise bike today.  I knit a bit on the Even Widdler Baby Sock.  And I spent some time searing my retinas whilst working on the Blindingly Bright Brioche Blankie that I envision being the final installment in Project Swaddle The Great Nephew In Handknits '08.  But the progress wasn't what I'd hoped it would be.

It grumps me to no end that I can't stay home and knit.  And it grumps me even further to know that this is an ungrateful and irrational attitude.  Unreasonable even!

And, further, it seems that I am really a rather ungrateful wretch on top of it all.  Several of you have been so kind as to let me know that I make your days and I've yet to get around to making with the appropriate responses and linkage.  It's no excuse, but I've been so caught up in the exciting world of FOs, parking problems and discount store revels that I just let it get past me.  Bad, bad Sheepie!!!  And there has been so much of the love!  I hope to heck I've gotten everyone here.  Please let me know if I missed you.  The following generous souls saw fit to include me in the latest and greatest meme to hit the blogging circuit and state for all the world to hear that I make their day:

Kat (who is knitting so many preemie hats for charity right now that I am fighting the urge to call her Kat In The Hats with every fiber of my being...)

Needle Dancer (are you also Shadow Dancer?  I had a hard time linking back to you.  If I got this one wrong, please let me know so I can correct the link here!)

Susan (who is so talented with the designing and the writing that I just want to write an epic poem in her honor and work it into a knitted scarf of some sort)

Anne (A Sox fan.  My family doesn't even know her and they love her.  They might adopt her.  I want to adopt her for the lovely care package she sent me last week.)

The Knitting Linguist (She writes, she teaches, she knits and she does it all so well...this is who I want to be when I grow up, people!)

Yarnhog (I make her day?  Please!  A talented knitter and a gift for blogging...I should just go study her site and see how it's done!  She is also probably going to be responsible for me breaking down and buying some of those KnitPicks Harmony needles...)

See what I'm saying here?  I have all the lovin' a Sheep could want going on out there and I just sit around and complain!  I should hang my head in shame then knit an afghan in dollar store acrylic on size 17 needles.  The ones with the big splinter in them that catch the yarn all the time and weigh twenty pounds apiece.  

Thank you all for the kind words and for letting me know that I make your days.  You certainly made mine!

Now, the rules say that I should name ten more people who make my day and it is here that I run into a little roadblock.  I can't name ten.  I tried.  But, I can't think of ten.  I can think of ten thousand.  But not ten.  Because, if you held a gun to my head and forced me to name the one who makes my day, my answer would still be the same:

 All of you.

  Each and every one of you who takes time out of your day to share a story, post a picture or let us learn from your knitting journey make my day.  I can't imagine just how I functioned in this world without you all in it.  You have laughed with me when things were going comically awry, you have howled to the heavens with me when things were going awry in a less comical sense and you have maybe even shed a tear or two with me when I was down.  It's all of you.  

I shall try to do better with letting you all know that on a more regular type basis.  Honest.  

Because all that lovin' makes even a Grumpy Monday feel nice.

SA