The Dawg Days

It's been a good week since I recovered from my bout of whatever that was. The heat wave has stopped, a little rain came & went & everything in my yard is green once again. If I'm here next year, I intend to get down to the lawn level & trim the bushes back. Maybe I can get some wildflower seeds scattered too. I love the little forget-me-nots peeping out from between the driveway stones.

Haven't accomplished much this week since I've been looking in all the bins & boxes that've been in storage for two years. I think I could stock a small shop easily with all the stuff I have! It's kind of amazing having it all in one room! All my sewing stuff is there in bins too. No closets to hide any of it either. And then there's all that Briggs & Little I ordered last year to add to it. I've hung all the skeins outside all spring & summer to blow all the dust & vm out of them. I hope to knit the B&G this winter - I have two patterns from Kate Davies to choose from - St Catherines or Carbeth. Both bought with my niece in mind. I have a couple of cardigans in mind for myself too - this house is too draughty NOT to wear one in the winter without the woodstove lit! My cardis are easy to knit since I use a simple top-down method from Cabin Fever. I just have to get toit. LOL

My shopper Mike came back from camping with freestone Peaches!! I confess to eating three of them for lunch on the day I got them. And then he showed up just before supper with two bags of Bing cherries!! Six bucks a pound!! BUT worth every bite!!! I think I ate two pounds before bed .  .  .  I suspect they were the last delightful nuggets of the season.

So, there's lots to do right now. I don't think I'll unpack all my bins right away. I think I'll find what I want/need for the kitchen ASAP & worry about the rest later. I really want my serger & sewing machine set up on a table but I think I'll mainly knit for the winter. I already have two pairs of socks promised & a cardi for myself. Washcloths on the needles for myself already & maybe a few extra for Mike for Christmas too. Yes, Virginia, it's on the horizon. Back to school, Hallowe'en, Turkey advertising & then the pre-season sales before the middle of October! Be warned.

On the Mend

 I'm not ready to go shopping but today I actually got up, got dressed in outside clothes & put my shoes on. It's been a miserable week & a bit but I think I'll live, bless the gods of Imodium. Still a little wobbly but the lights are on .  .  .   I believe I've even lost a little weight, the hard way. Something to be grateful for, I suppose. And I think I can even get a pot of soup going - I know it should be something creamy & light but I want something that tastes good like Italian soup. Can of diced tomatoes, two cans of water, one onion soup mix, one package of Tofurkey Italian sausages - no meat & let simmer all afternoon. The smell of the simmering soup will knock your socks off!! I usually add a handful of dried tortellini close to the end & then toss in a bag of spinach or a couple of cups of zucchini just before serving with the heat off & the lid on for 5 minutes or so. It's soooo good & so easy to make. 

I ended up driving to my favorite cafe for grilled cheese & soup to go for lunch because I wanted a coffee so badly - it's been a week since I had one. It was lovely - a large coffee with FOUR milks. I suspect there was more milk in it than coffee .  .  .  Tomorrow, I'll make Italian soup if there's no consequences from today's adventure, chicken soup if there is.

No knitting going on, been too miserable. Not one sock row! But my second lime washcloth is growing rapidly. And I've been checking out all the PLY magazines I bought but never got to read before they got packed into a box. It's like Christmas! The one about Woolen spinning made me long to spin once more. Who knows, maybe I'll do that while the soup simmers .  .  .  .

Bugs

Been on the sick list for the last few days in the latest heat wave. Someone said it was close to 40c on Friday but I spent all my time in my chair in front of the fan set on 'Hurricane'. I was coming down with some ugly intestinal bug - where do these things come from when you don't see anyone most of the time???? My buddy Little Ron, has it too & we haven't even had a coffee together in at least two weeks!! Craziness! Good thing Mike is away camping. 

Since the most ambitious thing I've done is put on my shoes this week, I have no new knitting to report other than a new washcloth on the needles & a second sock started, barely started .  .  .  I've had my nose mostly in the books that've been in storage for two years. I finally tossed my ratty old purple sweater - I know I bought the yarn on sale in the late 70s in three shades of purple & knit two sweaters, a scarf & touques in the beginning. I recycled the yarn at least twice to end up with the final sweater that I wore for years in my cold basement. Whenever I took it off, the cat would claim it so it had some pulls in it as well as thin elbows so I stuffed it in a box finally, for the cat. I loved that sweater. Knit top down with a round yoke & long sleeves. I should knit another in the same pattern!!

Out of Storage

I've been a little more ambitious since the dreadful heat wave stopped. It actually rained a little too - enough so I had to hurry down the ramp to close my car windows. I had them open a half inch or so to keep the heat from blowing out a window since I have a dark interior. You haven't lived till you've gone out in a hurry to get somewhere only to find your side windows or windshield laying on the ground in a million pieces. I even found my portable radio melted to my dash one time!

Anyway, as I said, I've been a little more ambitious with cooler weather. All my stuff has exited the storage unit. The best part is that it's all here in the big back bedroom!! I intend to go through it & get rid of what I won't ever use again.  Found my stash of silk hankies already!! And all my bins of spinning & knitting materials - my books, I have missed the books especially!! I really want to get back to knitting - I need a winter cardigan because the house gets draughty without the wood stove going. I love knitted facecloths so I've already finished one big washcloth for myself - I love to make them about a foot square - in variegated Lime. I bought a dozen cones of crafter cotton when it was on sale several years ago & it's been in a bin ever since. Another item I want to finish sometime this year is the greys & blues afghan I started many years ago for the old BoyToy.

It was always supposed to go on his couch in the new basement apartment but he became a bit of a shit so I put it away & never finished it. I fully intended to add a nice big red strip to it with a navy outer strip but I may just finish it off in the same colors I started with & give it away just to get it out of the bin. It's too dull for me!!

Now if I can get my head out of the bins, maybe I'll get some dishes washed & kitchen stuff sorted too. Although I brought my kitchen cleaver with me, I forgot so many other things like my box grater & wok lid.