I've surfaced from under the mountain of paper on my desk, in my office, under my keyboard & in front of my monitor. This is my favorite time of the year but also my worst time of the year. I eat take-out. I long for salads & anything green until I find the next bag of Sour Gummies under the paper .  .  .  .  I drink incessant cups of milky overheated tea & wonder what day it is. Tis the time of year when I stumble to my bed for a nap because I'm falling asleep at the keyboard & can't remember if it's still today or tomorrow morning when I wake up. Sometimes I just go down for a teeny tiny nap - just for an hour - & wake up tomorrow. It's sad but true, I'm just another Tax Mole. We're like Programmers in a way, we get our Mojo all fired up & we just can't stop until someone unplugs the computer or we're forced to take a bathroom break. I walked 681 steps yesterday - all between my keyboard, the tea machine & the bathroom!!! We eat anything that falls on our keyboards. And my 64 oz Big Bubba mug is always full of tea. Never mind, there's May & June to relax & plant the garden .  .  . 

But, I digress, I DO come up for air to watch my favorite British tv shows on Knowledge or PBS. At 8:00 every evening my alarm rings & I migrate to the tube to watch the Midwives, Heartbeat or New Tricks which I love. I stay for A Touch of Frost, the Bletchley Circle, Midsommer Murders & several other series. And while I'm catching up with my favorites, I've been knitting. Yeah, still working on that Odd Ball sweater. I almost frogged a large portion of it - should've carried on with the darker balls & gradually introduced the lighter ones - but, I knew if I did, I wouldn't finish it. It's only to keep warm in my office after all so I guess it won't matter much. I just think it might've looked better without the big light space in the middle of the front.
As you can see, I think it would've looked nicer with the darker yarns slowly lightening up or the sleeves being lighter with small stripes of color but, hey, it's done now & I don't really want to tear it out. The colors are browner in real life - I'm not much of a picture taker, that's for sure, but you get the gist of the problem. The yarn is soooo soft & nice. My only wish is that it was in colors that really suit me but, this is what I had in the bag so this is what I used to knit the sweater. It's going to be an office sweater to keep me warm on those cool days when the landlord tries to save a buck by turning down the furnace during the day when everyone but me is out. I got a heater for my office but it blows the fuse in the box which is not in my suite so sweaters are the way to go.

It appears that I've now recovered from the shock of my 63rd birthday and have become normal - for me - once again. I was quite annoyed by the whole event since it meant another year had passed without anything significant happening in my life. Well, except for interesting injuries and the loss of the job I had hoped would slide me into retirement .  .  .  .  I guess we can't have everything.

It was also knitting night with the girls on my birthday so I got to spend my cranky evening with the girls who cheered my up totally. And my pal Gail - has a mind like a steel trap for important dates & things we love - presented me with a bag full of hand-painted roving to go with last month's Roving of the Month. I got both of last month's rovings because they suited me - she's a Fall sort who loves blues, greens, brown & rust & got both October rovings in fall colors. So I've ended up with three related rovings in Easter Egg colors!!! The middle fat one is the birthday roving. So, now I get to figure out what they want to become. I like to spin singles yarns. Most of my singles are loosely spun as well so they don't bias as you knit.  People tell me I spin backwards - so when I knit, I tighten up those loose singles just a little more. So I know it will be spun in soft singles but what weight?? I'm not the shawl type - I could NOT see myself in an Easter Egg colored shawl anyway!!! LOL  L-o-n-g fingerless lace mitts would be terrific, something above the elbow, oh yes, yes, yes! But would they be practical?? No, no, no! The roving is too soft for socks & I have enough socks. That's what Lincoln & Coopworth are for. I wonder if there's enough for a light lacy bed jacket???  Or one of those cowls that fit over the shoulders like my pattern for Reds, Rounds & Ridges????? Decisions, decisions .  .  .  .

It's my goddam birthday

Got up this morning bright and early and decided if it was my goddam birthday, I was going out for a goddam breakfast! Boy, were they surprised in my favorite coffee shop when I trotted in. I'm more the 'last customer who  orders the same chicken sandwich, reads the paper till an hour after they close and rings in my own bill on the debit card machine' person they know and love. They make Broccoli Cheeze soup every Friday because they KNOW  I'll be there for it. But today's my goddam birthday and I'll make the goddam rules. What is it about birthdays anyway?? I mean, it's just another day in your life until wham, you can give consent and sign contracts today?? One day you can't drink legally but the next you can? It's like when you used to turn 65 and suddenly - after you eat the cake - you aren't part of the workforce anymore . Yesterday, you were just a grunt with a paycheck and now, BOOM, you're gone. I suppose I'll just be happy instead - Starbucks gave me a free Skinny Caramel Latte for my goddam birthday.


The Blue Frankensocks are riding in the car these days so there's not too much progress to announce. So far, no one's sat on any of the needles and I've turned one heel. They're gonna be mostly blue. That first sock was looking a little dull and I just couldn't help myself, I gave it just a very teeny, tiny, hot pink stripe. Pictures next time. 

The biggest accomplishment this week is my OddBall Sweater. I had this giant Zip-Lock bag of odd balls standing in the corner of my living room. They were all the stuff deemed un-useable for charity hats because they have to be hand washed. No one out there on the street or in single rooms in old hotels hand washes much laundry. IF you have a sink in your room with running water to wash things and a radiator to dry things, you're lucky. Most people go to the Drop-in centre for showers and laundry so acrylic is the yarn most desired. The Zip-Lock bag has passed some yarn on to other people but over half of it

sat there. Most of it wool with alpaca in it but sadly, none of it machine washable. There were a couple of skeins that I loved but not enough of anything to make much. But, while sorting through it once more last weekend, I had a flash of inspiration. How about a top-down, odd ball cardi??? Something to wear in my office to keep warm or to throw on for a Starbucks run??? And get that lovely expensive yarn USED for something. Got out my Denise needles and my Cabin Fever book 'Need an Ample Cardigan?' and waded in .  .  .  .

I believe it's just about Spring

While the rest of the country is just starting to thaw, we, on the Wet Coast were wearing shorts on Monday. Today isn't that bad neither. I know for sure about Monday because I was out in it in my heavy sweat pants & wooly socks. It was cold in the morning when I started out but boy, by noon, it was Summer. The kids from the high school were scootin' down the sidewalks everywhere in shorts & light sweaters. People had their tops down & windows open. I was cooking in the sweats but luckily wore a light tee shirt with them. Since my right knee was injured, it just doesn't like to be cold. It creaks & cracks - not only can I hear the noise but I can FEEL it too. Like fingernails on a blackboard, it drives me crazy! So I try to keep it warm so it's less likely to complain. Hence, the sweat pants. Bring on Summer, dammit.

Out on my poor patio - it's a mess. I can't quite bend down far enough to pick up all the trash left by the kids passing through or the dead stuff that needs to be tidied up. I suspect my ferns have mostly died since I couldn't get out to water them last fall.  All my grasses have spread seed into all my flower pots!!! I notice Blue Fescue mixed with Comfrey & Flamingo Grass in with the strawberries. I'll be home this summer so maybe I'll plant a new jungle & string it up in macrame so I can reach it. I'll want a nice cozy spot to spend my time spinning for a change this year since I'll be working from  home all the time.

I have a handmade wooden skein rack to mount on the wall somewhere so I can display all the lovely skeins of 'Art Yarn' I've created in the past. I want an outdoor rack where I can hang the skeins I have yet to dye. My giant, one pound, Indian Spinner bobbin is full of Brown Sheep mill ends spun up into sport weight singles yarn that waits to be wound off into fat skeins. I have a sweater box full of skeins spun on the same machine waiting for dyeing & only a few more egg shaped knots of fibre left to spin out of that 15 pound bag. I had my eye on a Kimono pattern from Knit Kimono that I was spinning it all up for. I wanted to dye all the skeins at the same time so they'll at least be related enough to work together. Now that I'm not working full time, I should have the time. I also fell in love with ZEN Squared which deserves to be knit in hand spun if I can get my butt in gear. I have a whole light grey fleece in a bag that would make a wonderful sweater .  .  .  . 
What is it about sunshine that makes you line up 10 years worth of work to do in one summer???