And I Thought it was Hot Before

This time of year I have to think back to winter when it was too cold to do data entry in my home office. And I have to remember really, really often because my home office is now the hottest room in my basement. I have all the blinds down, the windows open as far as I can - they only open skinny cat size in order to keep the skunks & raccoons out - but, like most apartments, there's no cross breeze since all the windows are on the same side. And I face West. So, in the late afternoon, the sun bakes my patio & windows. I don't suffer at night because I have an oscillating 4' high fan in my bedroom blowing on the bed - sigh. It's where I also nap when it's the hottest time of day.

I'm not complaining much, I do my running around in the mornings before it gets too hot & I sit outside in the cool mornings & evenings with my door wide open. Lately, I've been hosing down the patio when I water the Jungle & sit outside & knit afterwards. I'm trying to enjoy being retired, well, semi-retired. I have a couple of little jobs & two more I'm considering. Enough to pay for the car, some extras & pay off the credit card. Hahahah Gotta pay for those late night shopping sprees!!

The latest Pink Frankensocks have been delivered to the cook. I tried out the spiral stripe method illustrated in a Cabin Fever newsletter on one of the toes to stretch the pink a little farther - I like it!!
He's probably wearing them as I type unless his girlfriend swiped them. I did make them a little bigger so she'd be less likely to but it depends on how well he hid them when he took them home.

Cherries!!!

And what did I do for my Canada Day weekend??? I stayed home, watered the plants, made a last minute run to Safeway & avoided driving, that's what I did!! The freeway east was a parking lot when the Ex & I went to lunch on Thursday - nice for us because there was plenty of parking. And the freeway west as well as the border both north & south were jammed when we went for a Chinese supper on Sunday!! Sitting in a hot car amid exhaust fumes on a Freeway or a Border crossing with no cold drinks, entertainment or bathrooms is not my idea of a 'holiday'.

I spent my money on CHERRIES the size of small chicken eggs. Crisp, tangy, ripe cherries almost like those found on the trees of Keremeos. The only thing missing was the taste of HOT cherries fresh off the tree!!! Cherries are my favorite fruit & I make a point of eating as many as I can every year when they come to town. Cherries in the Big Grocery stores are okay but do yourself a favor & buy yours in oriental grocery stores instead - they get the best ones. Cherries are also good for arthritis. Apparently they help reduce joint pain. A really, really good reason to spend more money on cherries!!!

I always need small project bags so I decided to use some of that Crafter Cotton in my Stash & knit a couple. I really like the LETS GO SHOPPING pattern from AvaAdore on Ravelry. I've knit the pattern several times as written with great results although I've never used the bags for 'shopping'. I've used them mostly for gift bags with handmade soap & knitted washcloths inside which one recipient used as her gym bag by adding towel & swimsuit. The mesh pattern is a bit 'open' for this project bag so I'm working three rows of mesh with 6 rows of stockinet to make it a little more substantial. I don't worry about losing anything since I use circular needles in traveling projects & a little tin to hold all the findings. There should be room for my wallet, change purse & Creative device when I want to go & knit in public.

On the Needles - more socks of course. I have to knit a pair of PINK Frankensocks for the

#2 cook at my favorite cafe. I'm thinking of ordering some NEON pink & orange sock yarn & knitting them in stripes but I'm not sure if my eyes could take it!!
On the Wheel - That dry, dry Romni roving - I have to spin it outside & it's too damp & cold out there today - my bones are aching with this change in the weather!!! Hopefully the sun will come out later this afternoon & all will be well. I am glad it rained very hard & turned cold in the night though, the Burns Bog fire needed all the help it could get!!

                         It's Canada Day