More Snow Days

 Wow, more snow on top of the old snow! My car is a big marshmallow in the drive. Since this is not the weather for an unsteady gimp to go wandering, I am staying inside until it's gone. Lucky for me, Mike is still shopping for me & his mom, so I have nothing to go out for. I really, really miss Mcdonald's coffee & Egg McMuffins but he does remember them sometimes too . . . .  My semi tame cat meows at the door morning & evening so I'm not totally alone. She's looking magnificent in her long fur coat but then, she should be since she's scarfing down a can & a half of soft food with her crunchies every day. But she does pay for her keep - every couple of days she likes to stay inside at night, in the back of the kitchen, on the big mat next to the sliding door. She gets to look outside from the top of the stairs into the snowy wilderness. While there, she does away with the wildlife coming in for the winter. I think she probably sneers at the big, black, wild cat that likes to steal her food all summer when the door is open, too. 

I gave myself a subscription to PLY magazine for my birthday last spring. And then I ordered a whole lot of back issues that arrived in early December. I really prefer to have physical books & magazines in my hands although I will read them online if I have to. Did I mention that I love textbooks & wrote in the columns when I was in college?? It's so hard to highlight, underline & make notes in downloads .  .  .  

I really like PLY. I have years & years of back issues to others, although I gave up subscribing since they seemed to recycle all the old stuff over & over. Today I was reading the Worsted issue. I learned that I spin mostly Woolen but change to semi Worsted when I spin prepared, dyed fibre. Interesting. I like woolen method the best, overall, except for socks. I love to spin right from the fleece or tease the wool into a big cloud & spin from that. I love the smell of clean fleece as I spin & I also love knitting it into soft, warm hats, mitts & scarves. 

I haven't knit a woolen spun sweater in years although I do like to crochet afghans with it.
They're warmer, even a small one for the knees, but stretch too much for a sweater in my size. I've not been a fan of shawls but maybe I should try a simple one now that I'm confined to home & the big chair in the cold. A simple, garter stitch, triangular shawl in grey Romney might be nice to have. And there's that big bag of Coopworth & the bag of Pink Merino badly processed into blobs, knots & semi carded batts. I love the color of the Merino but it will never be anything but blobby art yarn so, might as well go with the flow & make it so. Now, where the heck is the box where it's packed away??

A White Christmas

A White Christmas this year! My memory may be faulty but I think most of the Christmases of my childhood were white. We built snow forts & had snowball fights across residential side streets when I was a kid. One year, with a dad's help, we all built an igloo in the neighbor's front yard. We weren't allowed to go into it until it was sprayed inside & out & allowed to freeze solid overnight. But we played in it all through the holidays .  .  .  My parents bought the house at the top of the hill & the school yard was at the bottom. When it got really cold & snowy, my dad would flood the road with water & the neighborhood would sled down the hill & into the back of the school football field at the bottom. Everyone was off from Christmas Eve till after Boxing Day anyway so the whole neighborhood sledded. No one spent the time shopping.

I have to say, the 'Shopping Mall' didn't yet exist when I was a kid .  .  .  we shopped at strip malls with Butcher shops, Bakeries, Drug Stores, even a Bulk Buy store, all next to the Buy Low or Safeway or SuperValu. London Drugs did NOT sell milk in those days. Milk was still delivered to the door in my suburb. I do miss all the little shops .  .  . 

Today I had two Turkey dinners, one for brunch & one for dinner. They both had lots of brown turkey meat, mashed potatoes with gravy, diced carrots & turnips & even a wedge of stuffing. The owner of my favorite cafe showed up at the door yesterday with them. He had a huge catering job for today & made a few extras for selected customers. I was very surprised & thankful. I don't have a big oven & raw turkey doesn't microwave very well so I don't get much of it. I think this was the best present of the year!!

Knitting - still finishing up my wash cloths. All my friends have theirs so I can spend time making mine. Hoping to start a top-down cardigan for myself from Deb Gemmel of the Cabin Fever gang. Dug into a couple of baskets full of zip lock bags of yarn to find a dozen skeins of Purple Mule Skinner wool from Custom Woolen Mills in Alberta. It's softer than my favorite B&G wool but similar in weight - about an Aran weight - so it will knit fast. Something warm for getting in & out of my house & car would be nice this time of year. My big cotton sweatshirts are cosy but wool is warmer.

It's almost Christmas

Here we are, another year end, another Christmas with the pandemic surging out of control. I and my little bubble are doing okay, we're all warm, well fed & solitary mostly. None of us is cooking turkey for anyone, including ourselves, but that's okay because it's no different than last year. I have enough canned goods to feed me & the cat for months!!

Got my third Covid shot on Tuesday! Holy crap, was that place busy!! It didn't help that our Covid centre is on the side of a main shopping mall & it's a few days before Christmas . . . . . trying to get a handicapped parking spot or any spot at the door meant waiting for a half hour! I didn't think when I booked my appointment, that's for sure. And this time around, I've had a hot, sore arm for two days too. Guess my anti-bodies are armed & ready for bear! But it's done & I don't have to go anywhere until the middle of January.

And what am I doing for Christmas?? I shall enjoy the blessed aloneness of the day. I may make a big pot of Italian soup. I downloaded a couple of  audiobooks & will listen while I knit, work a jigsaw puzzle or peruse the latest PLY magazines I also downloaded. I shall continue to work on several cones of crafter's cotton that I ordered a while back to make large washcloths for Christmas this year & have managed to churn out at least three for everyone except me. I try to make them at least a square foot so they hold a lot of soapy water. I hate trying to scrub feet with teensy little cloths! They make great dish cloths but I prefer to use them in the shower. The men in my life appear to love them. Gotta be nice to them since they take out my garbage cans & mow my lawns! I will now have the time to knit several for me. And maybe even a laundry bag as well. Oh, & maybe, just maybe, I might knit myself a hat. 

 

Out on the Town

Successfully signed on for the Covid booster shot this A.M. Thankfully, I was able to get an appointment before Christmas & at the Covid centre in the middle of town. It's flat with very convenient handicapped parking right at the door!! I can easily - well, easier than most other places - access the place all by myself, even with an O2 cart & cane. I expect it will be much easier to get in & out this time around since I won't have to juggle that damned cane & the O2 cart.

I just got Frank - my brand new walker with a seat - I can go more places!! Mike picked it up last week & assembled it for me. I've had a couple of sessions walking with it already. Walked two houses down & back the first day without problems & went to Hen Long - favorite Chinese grocery - two days after that. Had to sit down several times while shopping but got in & out with roast pork, Udon noodles, fried bananas, BBQ pork buns, fish balls & home again!! The hardest part was getting Frank in & out of the van by myself & hauling groceries up the ramp. I did have to dump the shopping bag on the table & lay down for a nap when I got the door open, but I made it! Saturday, I also went to my Doctor's office for my flu shot. That was a longer walk made easier with Frank. My only complaint was that the walker was a bit too low. I want to walk upright not hunched over . . . . other than that, I'm happy.

Mike added an attachment for the O2 bottle & a coffee holder with some help from the Home Depot plumbing department. Frank came with a basket/pouch in front & seat which will hold up to 500 pounds. That's me, O2 bottle, coffee & groceries included - I made sure I couldn't exceed the GVW. All the brake cabling is inside the structure so there's nothing to catch on things as I walk. It is a bit of a struggle to get it in & out of the van on my own but I think practice will fix that. A little upper body workout once in a while should help too. It's so much better than dragging the small O2 cart & trying to use a cane when my leg is painful & it's far more stable than not using a cane, that's for sure!! Now when I walk faster than my O2 can deliver, I can sit, relax & wait. Simple. I know, I know, this is the top of the scooter slope but I want to walk as long as I can. 

Knitting - I decided I need a simple cardigan to keep me warm while I watch tv in the evenings. I aired most of my Briggs & Little yarn this past spring & summer, a skein at a time, letting them blow in the wind until all the dust & bits were gone. I do love B&G for it's toughness, colorfastness & ease of use. It 'sticks' to itself so you don't have to worry about dropping a stitch. It's good for color work if that's your thing & it just gets softer with handling. I knit a hoodie for a friend a few years back & his mom pinched it when she came for a visit. She said she washed it on 'gentle' & even tossed it into the dryer for a short tumble before drying it flat. Apparently it just got softer & a little fuzzy. Just reporting! I've washed & tumbled a washcloth-sized sample with good results so I'm not surprised but I haven't had the guts to throw a whole sweater in . . . .

Years ago, I bought a whole basket of Blue B&L skeins on sale from my favorite yarn shop. Most of the skeins were different shades, some also thicker than others & I added a full Red skein as well as several balls of other colored leftovers. I know they're all in my bins & should make a terrific house cardi with a wild striped yoke on a plain blue body. What do you think???

A pair of socks also on the go but I have to work on them during the day before I get too tired to see the stitches! Also trying to finish a crocheted afghan.

All By Myself . . . .

The donut has solved my breathing problems for the moment. It's a little nastier to use - inhale white dust directly instead of in a mist - but it works much better. My blood oxygen is much higher resting & returns to higher numbers faster after exercise. Surprise, surprise. I have to learn to realize what a 'breathing emergency' is a lot sooner it seems. 

Still not that steady on my feet but I am standing & cooking more than I used to. And frankly, it is soup & stew season, don't you agree??? A couple of days ago I made Italian Soup - a favorite of mine with diced tomatoes, onion soup mix & Tofurky Italian sausage with a handful of tortellini in it & four cups of chopped zucchini at the end. Deeelicious! This morning, I tossed a package of chicken drumsticks into the pot with some baby carrots, small red potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, garlic, coarsely chopped onions & just a smidge of concentrated chicken broth. I let it simmer until the chicken fell off of the bones! I think there's enough for three meals. It's also very tasty. 

Haven't been able to go out that often lately since it's been so wet. By the time I get down the ramp with the O2 machine in tow, get the machine in the back seat & belted in & get myself in the front, I'm wet. Dumping the garbage as well ensures I'm really soaked! So, I haven't bothered going out much. And when I do, I'm running through the raindrops to the nearest drive-thru for a coffee & muffin. I live an exciting life.

So, since I'm stuck at home, I got Mike to find a box with my knitting books in it. It's crazy but I have years & years of Interweave Knits, Cast On & Knitters etc & I can't find much that I like. Ditto with the Knitting books. Maybe I'm just too old for them now. I really prefer to knit from the top down in the "Cabin Fever" style. One piece from the top, try on as you go to make sure it fits. Kimono style also suits me & is excellent to show off handspun. I did spin up several shades of Purple into multiple skeins & which all lived in a big basket in my old living room - just have to find it all .  .  .  .  . And I wonder where all my leftover sock yarns are. I had three shopping bags full for 'scrappy' socks. I soooooo wish I'd been able to pack my stuff myself!!