Indian Summer

This is the part of the year that I love the best - unless it includes broken teeth & mice!!! It's warm outside during the day - shorts weather -  but cold enough at night that you can burrow under a flannel covered quilt with the window open!!! There's a hundred different apples at the Farmer's Market next to all the salad greens & root veggies. It's time to blow the dust off the Slow Cooker & make soup. I have to confess that I bought FOUR packages of Pot Barley at Safeway yesterday when I dropped in for milk, my favorite chopped greens & any meat markdowns I could find. I got lucky & found several packages of chicken, a whole pork loin AND the big long package of unsliced Kraft Havarti cheese at half price!!! Not on the shopping list but the start of many meals to come since I love to stir fry everything.

This is the time of year when my house plants really grow like stink before setting buds. The cacti are covered with tiny new segments - sometimes it appears as if they do nothing all summer but get greener & greener then suddenly, when the nights get cool, they burst into growth & buds. My Snake plant has been producing a new leaf a week in the office lately. It just got too big & heavy to go outside this year but it seems to really like the spot in the west facing office window so I guess it's found it's permanent place. Now if we can only keep the shorts weather going for a while .   .   . 

My last pair of Goth Kitty short socks are just about finished. The heels are turned & I'm racing for the toes because it's just about time to bring out all the LONG winter socks  .   .   .   not quite yet, but it's coming. I intend to WEAR these not-quite-finished socks at least once before I put them away for the winter!!!

Dug out a top down simple sweater I was working on last winter - one of several in the UFO pile. Too many sweaters & not enough hands! I chose the one with the least left to do. This sweater is finished to the armholes so most of the work is already done - should get completed faster right???? Well, I'll just hook up the TV again I guess, that'll do it. I will knit while I watch those British Detective shows!!! And I really, really need something warm & new this year. I even bought some RED Briggs & Little to make myself a simple garter cardi for the office which I can't start without the needles stuck in the half done one. So, my work is chosen & I'm not even counting the wristers & the hat I'll need because I cut off all my hair - eeeek.

Unsociable Me

I've been a bit of an unsociable hermit lately. Other than going out for coffee - mostly on my own  with my ebook reader - I haven't felt like being nice to anyone. Is this what Old Age is really like??? Am I becoming a Curmudgeon?? Or is this just 'Seasonal' behavior???

Wednesday I broke a whole corner off one of my molars eating cheese on crackers & it left a hellova hole. I ended up knitting socks in the Dentist's office while waiting to get a temporary filling in place after the last patient was done for the day. I have to go back next week for something more permanent! This is also the week that I have to renew my Orange puffer. Between the two of them, they will just about clean out my emergency fund. That's unless the Dentist announces that a CROWN must replace that tooth  .   .   .   I shudder to think about it.

Of course, all of this happened AFTER I ordered more sock yarn at the Knit Picks Felici sale. I bought Goth Kitty & Hopscotch at the last clearance sale & knit 3 pairs of summer socks for myself. Goth Kitty has not been dropped - to my surprise - it's the pinks/purples/greys which I love but this time around, I bought BLUES/greys  -  happy blues!

I thought I got all my mice but there's one little shit left. When I'm in my office, he's there. When I go to bed, he follows me into the bedroom. When I cook, I see him run across the room out of the corner of my eye. Guess he's been here so long he thinks he's a pet. Time to re-arm the sticky traps. All of them. Here mousey  mousey  mousey   .   .   .   .   .

Sticky Traps Work

I got em all!! At least I think I did. No more mouse sounds & no more mouse sitings out of the corner of my eye. Got three mice in one week & one a couple of weeks ago. And I think I got them all. I hope I got  them all .   .   .   .

A couple of months ago, I got a bill with a credit from Telus for a Mike phone that I haven't owned in at least 10 years. I loved my Mike phone. It was the one with the walkie-talkie feature that was introduced at the PNE & only available to business customers. My buddy signed us up somehow at the PNE. So, even though we weren't a 'business' we got a half price 'deal' on two of them because of the PNE special. All our friends were jealous!! The Mike network was amazing! We could add people to our 'Group' & talk to them anywhere in North America with no roaming charges. But the company was bought by Telus & everything changed before the phone was discontinued.
I've been with Fido ever since. Today, I finally got someone at Telus who thinks he can get my old Mike business credit transferred to my home phone/fax account. Amazing .   .   .   .

I was a little horrified to get two emails today - telling me it was 100 days to Christmas!!!  One included links to all the "most asked for" toys for kids. I've hardly ever seen any of them. Who's asking for them ???? I guess not watching TV for a year is a bonus. Since there's less than 100 days until Christmas, I guess it's time I got back to the needles since I'll be soon needing a hat - I cut all my hair off, wristers - who knows where they go in the summer, Lara's vest & a sweater for myself before it gets too cold out there!

One More Mouse

Had enough, bought sticky pads to get my mice. Got the cheeky mouse that kept running behind my desk & burrowing into my big plant pot! I didn't want to do it, I tried to avoid the sticky trap but I saw no other way to get rid of them. One down & one to go .   .   .   .

Now that Fall is almost here - don't mind it  but have realized I have no winter clothes other than two thick hoodies & three pairs of sweat pants - I really have to get the new-to-me sewing machine set up & working.  I love my hoodies but I really need a zip or button front hoodie to wear over tee shirts because it's too warm to wear the hoodies over a shirt & too cold to wear the shirt alone. Last year's fleece - is actually 6 years old - is looking very tatty! I have been thinking seriously of slashing the fronts of my hoodies & putting in a big coat zip that opens at the bottom. Should be fairly easy but I think my only option is a white zip for the screaming melt-your-eyeballs PINK one. The other one is dark Purple so a black zip would work but I prefer to wear the Pink one. Or sew a jacket in thick fleece. I know I have an old 'ET' type rain jacket pattern from 30 years ago that's very cozy. I spent a lot of hours sitting outside Starbucks drinking coffee in one! Or pull out all the top down sweaters I've started & pick one to finish!!! Fast.

Renewal

It's so much fun when old pals show up out of the blue on the doorstep!! One I thought was gone forever, happily married & renovating a house with a new family, turned up a couple of weeks ago. He's single once more, broke & up to his eyeballs in debt but working on an idea for his next million. He's the smartest man I've ever met & we laughed & laughed when I asked for his autograph before he becomes famous. We used to have such fun in a gang working on ideas over coffee on Sunday afternoons .  .  .  .

My buddy Steve worked over my office several months ago - I've tried to keep it uncluttered - & he stuffed a lot of things into the closet. Well, I haven't used one single thing he stuffed in there so I think it's time to dump most of it. I will keep the tapestry loom & the good fleece in the vacuum bag but all the stacking file trays, plastic bins & other crap will go. I have an old scanner in a box that's never been opened, a really old Mita photocopier & a box full of cables, cords & hardware that I've collected over the years that will follow. It's time. It's amazing how you collect small electronics like keyboards, mice, cassette players, fans, clocks & small radios simply because it's a pain in the butt to drive across town to get rid of them. I think Steve stuffed it all into my closet & left the door off because he knew I'd get tired of looking at it & haul it away on my own instead of fighting about it. So I guess that's my job this coming week. At least two boxes of old electronics to the recycle joint & one of old office accessories to the Hospital Thrift Store.

The Second Goth Kitty Short Sock is ON the needles. Turning a heel while trying to yak over coffee in a cafe is tough so I cast on the second sock instead. It's so much easier to make ribbing or straight knit instead of working colored elastic markers & short rows in public. People like to stand around & ask silly questions while you're trying not to drop a stitch or elastic. I suppose I should learn to knit two socks at the same time on the same needles to simplify the process but I had a hard enough time learning THIS heel on the first two pairs of socks! I have the sort of brain that stays scrambled until the lemons line up & BING, it all drops into place. Sometimes my brain sorts the mess right away & sometimes it takes several lessons until the light comes on. I drove a couple of math teachers crazy because I have to understand what I'm doing before I can do it.

Pabaigh - The yarn has been wound into cakes & has been set out as my new TV project. Yes, I now have a new TV box. The knitting itself is all plain with nothing fancy at all. The body is almost straight with cap sleeves so it shouldn't take much work once it's on the needles. I suspect the worst part has been getting gauge & casting on since it's worked in one piece. Just give me a weekend of good dramas on Public TV or Knowledge & I'll be well on the way!