gauge issues

The lack of posts is directly correlated to the lack of knitting I've been doing lately. I've had lots on my mind, the kind of stuff where you wonder if life is fair. For example, my dad has one cousin, who is the mom to two (adult) kids. The cousin lost her husband to leukemia about 20 years ago, and now her son, who is 32, just had an operation to remove a malignant tumor from his stomach this week. He's in ICU and is having kidney troubles and can't move his legs much, if at all. How is all that fair for any family to go through? I'm saying lots of prayers and hoping I don't have to think about the unfairness anymore, that it will end up OK and we can rejoice in his full recovery.

I was beside myself this weekend, too, when Gracie pup threw up and it looked bloody. I was beside myself at work that night, but my boyfriend stayed with her (and I left directions and a credit card for the emergency vet if she got sick again). She seems like herself again; I think she just ate something she shouldn't have. But I was crying and tense and contemplating her mortality and ugh. For the past week, I've just kind of stuck with the basics of getting through my day - going to work, phone calls with family, asking Josh for lots of hugs, that kind of thing.

Despite all this stuff, I've managed to keep running - it's been a nice time just for me. I had a great 4.6 mile run yesterday in the cold and today was a fast 3.2 mile run today with Bethany, my friend and intern at the newspaper. She has returned for a few days of working (and is staying at our place) before she up and moves to Australia (sniff ... but trying not to think about it). We are going to go to my favorite park on Thursday and I'm aiming for eight miles.

In knitting land ... I'm finding it hard to get my gauge in check on a fingering-weight sock - after working on the aran-weight sock for my dad (which fits, by the way!), I feel like I'm knitting too loosely, with stitches laddering and stitches are gapping. There's probably some kind of metaphor to be made about finding my gauge in life, but I'm too tired to come up with it and instead I'll squeeze in a little nap before work.