knit picker and the psychological itch

The first and only time I have had head lice was after visiting my great- grandma Griffin.  The canned tuna fish that my grandpa had caught and canned in their pantry frightened me more having small bugs crawling around my head.  Both Jodi and I came down with a raging case of lice after spending the night at her house...the canned tuna, hearing my great grandma calling her dog over and over (Tulee), and that her bathroom floor had a slant to it are the memories I still remember to this day.  I also remember that her house smelled like Ovaltine (I can still see her standing at her stove warming the water so I could drink Ovaltine with her) and coastal moldy air (she lived in a small coastal town just across the California boarder).
The one and only time I remember staying at her house overnight built an arsenal of memories Jodi and I would use against each other well into our high school years.  For years, we would say the word 'Tulee' in a high pitch slight yell and then bust up laughing- Jod and I would also try to gross each other out at the dinner table (again, this is years after our nights stay) and say things like 'There is grandma Griffin hawk in your milk'.  The fact that someone would can fish meat (all that tuna in the pantry) was beyond anything I could comprehend- It was bad enough that our pet cow Bandit had recently been butchered and I was dealing with trying to will myself to eat that meat....then you throw in the new knowledge that fish meat could be canned and wa-la....let the food phobias begin.
I really think the cure-all for our head lice was that my mom brought us to the local beauty school and had the economy perm done.  Whatever the lice treatment didn't take care of, that perm solution did.

Fast forward 14 years and add into the factor that I had just graduated from Beauty School.

I remember the first case of head lice I ever encountered.  As I was parting off this poor woman's hair to start coloring, I noticed a patch of off white small like dandruff clump of knits.  It's something you don't even really need to be educated on....you just know when you see it.

I didn't have the heart to send her out knit ridden so I ushered her off to the store to buy 'treatment' and we sat in the salon I worked at....hour after hour....and I picked her knits out (knits are the eggs before they hatch into lice- the lice are the actual bugs).  We hugged when it was all over and she vowed to come back in for a knit check.
It was then I knew I would forever be a knit picker
and since then I have picked the knits out of more people's hair than I can count

I would much rather pick knits than go pick up brown eggs (which come from chicken's 'vents' not butts is what Russ from my church informed me...bleh)
I would much rather pick knits than stare at home canned fish meat (sorry grandma griffin)
I would definitely much rather pick knits than....well, than a lot of things that people would consider normal

now that we've talked about lice....
let the fact that we've talked about it sink in.....
now go ahead....
reach up to your head and give it a scratch....

That there is called the psychological itch :)

p.s. Just an FYI-
It's knit/lice season.  Over the past several months I have seen many cases (and done my fair share of knit picking).  I learned about a product from a sweet friend who battled a significant case of lice called Vamousse.  Over the past 20 years I have used most every product over the counter and this by far exceeds them all.  It is a bit spendier ($19.99 instead of $6-10) but worth every penny.  You can find it at Wal Mart.  I have yet to see a case of head lice cured if the person saves their pillow (some try to put it in the dryer) and I have yet to see a case cured without multiple treatments. While Tea Tree and other natural remedy's are great for maintenance- they are not great for the initial treatment- knits and lice are hearty and can withstand a lot....it's usually takes the strong stuff and unfortunately it's not 'all natural'.

Hope this helps....happy knit picking!!