Life in the Fast Lane


The cat is still mad at me. She was still leaving brown gifts in the corner of my office although I lost it the other day, picked her up, took her into the office, pointed her pink nose right at the latest "shitty offering" - no, I did not rub her face in it - eeeeoowwww!!!- shook her & gave her a whack or two before letting her fly out the door!! I ignored her sucking up for most of the evening afterwards. So far, so good . . . She's leaving the 'gift' in the littler box. I think she got the message! But, I have been home more lately too.

I finished my purple sweater! I ended up crocheting up the fronts & around the neck just to give it a finished look & have about 4 oz left in a ball. It's a little too small around the bust but no one's wearing them closed anymore so I'm sure it won't matter. I think it's only a little too small because it's garter stitch!!! But, it's warm & fuzzy & great to wear while watching tv or working in a cold office, that's for sure. After finishing it off, I started the pouch to the purple Marble hoodie I'm making! I've been cold lately & wishing I'd kept my ratty old pink sweater which I think I tossed into the garbage can so I'd be forced to finish something else to wear. But, I now have the recycled purple one to keep me warm!! I'll include pictures when I have a computer to publish them on . . . .

Oh yeah, the computer. Remember the big storm two storms back?? I turned it off so it wouldn't get damaged if there was a power surge or lightening strike. It decided to commit suicide on the way out. My techie buddy & I have been talking about doing something about the noisy fan for over a year. Apparently the fan was connected to the power supply. They both died. No juice. Absolutely. Dead. Time to do something about it, I guess. Steve asked about memory. Dunno, said I, you built it. Okay, says he, time for more memory. Want a bigger drive?? Sure, said I, a couple of terrabites would be nice for all the recorded books . . . . and you wanna get rid of the cache files while you're there?? Or just install a cleanup program & I'll do it. Just upgrade anything that looks like it needs it & bill me. There goes the Spring Retreat . . . .

If I won the Lotto


If I won the big Lotto, I'd spend my time with fibre.
I don't need a lot of money but I'd get a place with a glassed in workshop area for plants & fibre. I love vines, ferns & palms. You need a lot of light - not heat - to grow huge plants. I'd have a wall of storage with see-thru fronts so I could see what I have without digging thru a mountain of stacked plastic bins. I'd have a washtub & an old washer to soak & rinse my fibre & beat it into felt. If I had a glassed in workspace today, I'd install a really good computer/stereo/TV unit to play audio books, soft music & good movies while I worked with fibre. And I'd want space for some exercise equipment too & room for my ball chair too. Sighhhh . . . . Above is a pic of my ferns & lobelia in the cedar box against the house where I live. I took it yesterday!


I had a big south facing glassed in porch on my first house. I bought a shack by the rail yards that came with a chicken house, fruit trees, outdoor toilet & a lot of wild life. The first wind storm blew down the little back porch. The City said I didn't need a permit to rebuild the porch so, the man of the moment built one that covered the entire south side of the house! We built the floor & 3 foot sides out of recycled lumber & installed recycled windows from 3 foot off the floor to the ceiling. They didn't open but we installed old doors on either end of the porch to create ventilation. I filled one end with plants, macrame hangers in the windows & the other end had a clothesline & my spinning wheel. We stacked chopped wood in the clothesline end near the door - did I mention that I had a wood burning stove that heated the house & hot water? All winter long, I simmerd soup & onion skins on that stove. I learned to dye my wool with onion skins first. I listened to a lot of radio & read a lot of books in that house - we had no tv reception. We did have pheasants, foxes, skunks, cats, dogs, a wolf, ducks & frogs. The roof leaked but there was plenty of hot water. And I was happy enough there.

Since the weather turned cold, I've been trying to finish a hoodie for myself - yeah, I have a couple of other sweaters on the needles but one is too heavy for a car coat & one - well, I have to find the rest of the recycled yarn to finish it. I've looked & looked & can't find it. I know it's there somewhere!! I may have to use something else to trim it! I've been looking at all that luscious purple Marble yarn in the see-thru container for months & just couldn't help myself. I've knit about 6 kid's hoodies in the past few months & decided I wanted one too! The Marble is light & yummy - I don't need anything really heavy yet - & since I'm basically running from house to car to office to shop - I don't need a heavy jacket. I do want something washable which the Marble is, since I'll probably wear it all the time. If I was smart, I'd sew one out of fleece this afternoon & wear it tonite! But then, I wouldn't be a knitter, would I?? LOL

I can't believe it's November


How the time flies when you're busy! I'm still the official Office Slave for the small business I've done the books for for the past 20 years or so - looks like I'll be there till the end of the month. While I don't mind the work, I DO mind the lack of personal time!! The regular paycheck is nice but I have work piling up on my desk at home & the cat has decided to pee in the corner of my office instead of her litter box to get even. While she is around 13 years old & they get funny as they age, I know she's doing it because I'm not home enough. She lays on her fuzzy shelf on the window ledge while I'm at the computer & sits on the bathtub edge to get petted when I'm in the bathroom. She even has the catbed dragged into the kitchen so she can lay there when I'm washing dishes or cooking. She's so constantly underfoot when I AM at home that I know she's getting even with me for being gone every day.

So, for the moment, I'm commuting - I hate that too - & wishing I was back home in my office with the soup pot simmering on the back burner. I have an insurance exam to study for - while manning the office next week, I intend to study when it's quiet! I volunteered to work the week so the boss can go on a mini holiday with his family - their first this year ! I'm more useful at year end than he is because I can upgrade the software, pay the bills & do the business year end while manning the phones!!

I discovered I'm short of winter socks! I spent so much time these past few years knitting for everyone else that I forgot about MY needs. My socks are getting old. A couple of them have heels & toes reinforced with fuzzy nylon which have become hard over the years. I even put my toe through the end of my blue Invicta socks! But, I think they're about 10 years old!!! Time to retire some of them to house socks . . . I have several balls of yarn that were given to me as gifts - my sock knitting buddies are especially good at picking out colors they know I like. Ha ha ha . . I cast on some lovely wild Kaffe Fasset pink & purple Regia onto my 2.75mm Brittany Birch needles. It's been a while since I used my wooden sock needles. I've been working with 6mm plastic Denise needles with the Hoodies. The BBs felt really foreign for the first few rounds until I broke one! I paid a lot of money for the Brittany Birch needles but the vendor is out of business. I guess it's time to make another set of bamboo skewer needles instead. I like the bamboo because it bends without breaking & comes in 10" lengths. I bought a package of 100 for a couple of bucks a few years ago. They range in size from 2.5 to 2.75mm. I sort them according to size, sharpen one end & dull the other before rubbing them with fine sand paper & raw fleece to polish them. I've used waxed paper when I haven't had fleece around but I like the finish the fleece oils give them the best. Do they snag?? Nope. Never had a splinter or snag since I made them.

I think these socks will go with several of my summer tee shirts - they're all fuchsia, plum & hot pink! Oh, wait, they'll also go with my Fuchsia wool sweater!