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.