I'm Back

I decided I just didn't feel like knitting & went cold turkey. Didn't knit, crochet or spin a thing for a while. I read. I watched tv. I hung out at Starbucks. But I didn't do anything with fibre at all. And then, the other day, I decided to haul my old Indian Spinner outside into the sunshine in mid afternoon & spun till the sun went down. I listened to an audio book set in Alaska, in the small town of Naniltna, about 30 miles down a gravel road from Anchorage, till it got too cool to spin outside comfortably. Then I went inside & cast on a sock for the Ex. Today, I went outside in the sunshine & did the same thing again until the sun went down behind the trees. It got pretty nippy all of a sudden & I had to quit for the evening. I have more 'bumps' to finish but I'm more than halfway through the pile I used to have. And there's a nice bunch of skeins sitting in a basket on my couch to remind me to get off my butt & finish spinning them, get them dyed & make myself something. Hopefully, this winter!

I promised the Ex some socks a couple of years ago when he saved my butt by letting me take a small mortgage against our house. He asked for some socks in exchange & I've only knit a couple pairs since. So I figured I'd better get some of that ugly "manly" sock yarn out & put it to good use! I have enough "manly" yarn to keep two Ex's in socks for the remainder of their lives . . . Isn't this one special??? I knit this one & it's mate in the last couple of evenings. It's my usual plain jane sock with the Queen Kahuna knitted gusset heel. No picking up stitches along a damn flap!!!! The price of the yarn was great & I need two & a half balls to knit a pair of socks for the Ex's big clodhoppers! I think this is some of the ugliest yarn I've ever seen but he doesn't think it's bad at all. He's going to wear it so why should I care - I guess. At least he isn't fussy like some men, that's for sure.

I've been picking away at the hood on my latest hoodie. Since I decided to knit larger kid's sweaters for charity, I've been knitting size 10s & 12s. They do seem to go on forever in the larger sizes but I figure the end result is worth the effort. That bin of donated yarn just never seems to get any lower though - I think the yarn is reproducing in there!

And speaking of hoodies, I dug out the half finished - everything I make for myself seems to be half finished - purple Marble sweater. It's the Kyler's Kardigan pattern from Cottage Creations that's knit in one piece from the neck down. It looks like I'll have lots of yarn to finish it & I'm almost to the hip in the body with the arms to do yet. It's become Car Knitting so it will get finished sooner. I don't think I'll bother with a hood or the kangaroo pockets in front. I think I'd prefer a big roll collar instead since it will have a zipper front. I may put a small pocket inside to hold my MP3 player though. The garter stitch is loose enough to feed the earbud end through without building in a 'hole' but I want a narrow, deep pocket to hold the player. Kool, eh??

Well, whatinhell happened to Summer?? Yesterday I went to work in wool socks & long pants! I hadn't intended to do THAT till the end of October. Not that I'm complaining too much about the rain but I thought we got our summer rain last Tuesday when we got torrential, tropical monsoon-like rain that made most of us stay home if we could. It rained so much - I'd made a date with a co-worker to drive 30 miles away to an All-You-Can-Eat lunch of Indian Food - that I slowed down for a FROG who was crossing the highway!!!!

So, now, it's raining again. I suppose we really do need rain but can't it wait till mid week when the kids are in school & the rest of us can enjoy it?? Oh, no, it has to rain while we're running here & there picking up last minute stuff or waiting in line to get home or like me - wanting to spend the afternoon sitting in the sun listening to the lastest Murder on my MP3 player. Oh well, guess I'll stay home in my Jammies & listen to it while I make money pounding on the keyboard. The only good thing is this rain caused me to look for long pants again. I have two pairs of jeans I bought oh, 12 years ago or so. I hate stiff fabrics & never actually wore them. They hung around in my closet - one still has the tag on it - until yesterday when I tried them on again. Turns out they're stretch denim & while they're too long in the rise - every pair of pants I own is - they fit. So, guess I should shop in my own closet more often.

One of my clients went shopping at Cost Cutters just across the Border yesterday. He went at 6 in the morning & phoned to report an hour wait at the Border to come back at 9:00AM. He brought me 20 pounds of chicken thighs & a dozen eggs. It cost me $14.58. I have 6 packages all nicely frozen & well sealed. I got three Sockeye Salmon from a client for $10 a fish. I'll probably get another three or four fish & another 20 pounds of chicken when they're on sale again. The freezer is filling up! I just put on the Slow Cooker with a layer of spuds, a layer of baby carrots, a layer of chicken thighs - with skin & fat removed - topped by a can of creme of chicken soup! Supper tonite & lunch for two days while I work. Life is good folks!

Haven't done much knitting or spinning lately with all the work but I have to report the Rainbow socks are ready for toe shaping & should be on their new owner's feet by the weekend. And the nice size 13 Blue socks for the Ex, well, I'll graft those toes when I watch the Antiques Roadshow tonite at 7:30 on PBS. Yes, Monday is a good nite on the Boob Tube! I watch the British & the American Antiques Roadshow & then the History Detectives! When the socks are finished, I will be finishing my purple Marble Kyler's Kardigan for moi. From the looks of that weather out there, I'm going to NEED it.

I have to report that sometimes it's not very exciting around the old basement abode. In fact, yesterday, I didn't even get dressed. I spent the day pounding on my computer trying to get some of the backlog out of the Office. I listened to most of a Thriller - 61 Hours by Lee Child - on my headset while working. It was just THAT kind of day. Oh, I did some work on my "Nations" socks but mostly, I just worked like a fiend. I knew if I got dressed & went outside, I'd have to deal with the oil leak in my car & I just didn't want to. I decided to do that today.

It's sad but I have to find a new mechanic. After 30 years, I have to find a new mechanic. It's horrible. My faith in a new set of wrenches is not good. I've always had my Gerry Mechanic to tighten up the stuff that vibrates loose, patch the holes, find a good used part or buy a new one with his 30% discount. In most things I'm a liberated & independent person. In mechanics I'm an idiot! Well, I do understand some things but not enough to do any monkey wrenching, that's for sure!! And now I have an oil leak. It may just be something that needs to be tightened up or it may be something really important - who knows?? Is there a mechanic out there who needs winter socks???

I have a pattern in my head for a LOOPY Bonnet. It's your basic TEE shape with the front being on the long side. I folded the back to the front & sewed the two short seams & then picked up stitches around the neck & knit an inch or so to finish it & then crocheted two strings to tie it on with a big pompom on the end of each. Sometimes I left the sides open a little for pig tails. I knit it in acrylic while in college in the 70s for a small consignment store in Whalley. They took all the Loopy Bonnets I could produce at $3 each back then. The money helped pay my bus fare & groceries but the Profs were a little startled to see me knitting in class . . . When you figure, my budget was $85 a month for a 'housekeeping' room - bed/sitter with kitchen & share the bath down the hall & groceries - I was working pretty close to the bone!! I had a phone - they were still rotary phones - but no tv or car. I walked or took the bus everywhere, lived off soup & stew & was healthy as a horse! 10 hats every couple of weeks paid most of the grocery bill! And every once in a while, I made a few Adult Loopy Bonnets & sold them for $5!! LOL I'm thinking of reviving it with a modification or two because it made a very cute little girl's or infant's hat.