I think my luck ran out . .

I've been sick as a dog these past few days. That dry hack, which I thought was an allergic reaction to the unfolding of the latest box of scrunched paper bits, turned out to be the beginning of a real kick-in-the-ass virus attack. I've coughed my lungs out, sneezed, wheezed, blown & croaked my way from bed to kitchen for juice & tea & back to bed. I think I slept most of the past three days! I got up this evening, felt like getting dressed & ordered Chow Mein from my favorite Chinese cafe. Needless to say, I haven't been knitting a whole bunch! But, I did finish a nice washcloth for the Christmas basket.

I have watched a couple hours of TV, so I've knit a little on the latest hoodie. This one's a kid's size 12. As I mentioned before, people tend to make things for little kids & big kids get left out, so I decided to make larger sizes since I have the yarn. The last hoodie in a size 4 took 3, 100 gm balls of yarn. I have 8 to 12 balls in several colors so I decided to knit size 12s for a change. On Saturday, I was finishing the pouch before fusing it to the main body of the hoodie. Last night, I actually got as far as the underarm in the main body & started the first sleeve while watching the Antiques Roadshow & History Detectives. Then I went back to bed.

The Wonderful Wallaby pattern I'm using is worked from the bottom up to the armholes in one piece with the pouch stitches picked up & knit into the body - NO SEWING!! The sleeves are knit to the underarm & joined to the body on one circular needle & knit in one piece to the neck. At that point you can cast off for a plain sweater or keep on knitting the hood. The hood is sewed down the centre & a few stitches under the arm are grafted on to the body. I love the almost NO SEWING part of this sweater. No seams to come undone. No buttons to lose. No zipper to break. Great sweater for kids. When this one is finished, I'll knit another in the greyish/tanish/cherry yarn that I used for the size 4. I didn't realize I had another 12 balls of it in the bin!

Hello World, it's me again . . .

I've sustained a major injury to my right thumb. Dunno what in hell you call it, maybe thumbitis - anything with major inflammation has 'itis' added onto it's end as in appendicitis, bursitis etc Maybe it's actually tendinitis, now that I think about it. It's the base of my thumb where it actually joins onto my hand that's killing me. I can't knit, sew, screw, swivel, press, write, use the mouse or do much that requires the cooperation of that opposible digit that separates Me from an Ape. I'm thinking the Ape is probably more intelligent since he wouldn't have done this to himself!
I bought a new gizmo to exercise my shoulders, arms, chest & upper back. I have a weakness in this area due to bursitis in my right shoulder. I saw this neat little gizmo advertised & thought I'd try it. Recognize it?? It's the old button on a string that we used to play with as kids. Well, a CERTAIN generation used to play with it as kids. It was all the rage when I was in Primary school back in the 50s. We would get the biggest, brightest, fanciest coat button we could find, thread nylon twine through it - fishnet mending twine was the best - wind that thing up & pull on it all day. THIS one comes in cast aluminum & gives you about a 20 pound resistance. THAT should've been the hint. TWENTY POUNDS. The thing proved to be light, easy to operate & fun! You should've felt my Triceps - those muscles under the flappers on the back & underside of your arms - burning!! I didn't use it too much. They recommend no more than FIVE minutes a couple of times a day. Well, after the first couple of weeks, I started using it SEVERAL times a day for a couple of minutes. I felt it in my forearms & shoulders. But I wanted to give an extra 'burn' to my triceps. So I hooked my thumbs through the rings & worked my triceps for FIVE FULL MINUTES four days ago. Oh they burned alright. My thumbs hurt the next day. My right thumb was swollen & hot the second day & excruciating by evening. Still sore as hell. Funny how the left thumb is just fine. Is this Nature's way of telling me that pulling on that button is just for kids???

I managed to finish the latest Hoodie before I damaged my thumb so at least all is not lost. When the thumb is back in shape, I'll start the next one since the yarn is already picked out & I have a couple of dozen more balls of this variegated yarn.
The next one will be a larger size since kids come in all sizes. People love to knit small sizes - yeah, I know it's faster - but big kids are cold too. AND I have 8 more balls of this color! This hoodie will fit a 3 to 5 year old & took just under 3, 100gm balls of worsted weight acrylic. Cheap & easy! I may make the next a size 12 so it can work for a small teen or large kid. The Wonderful Wallaby is really a simple, fun project that takes no time to knit. Although I hate sewing things up, this one only requires a few stitches under the arms & a three needles bind-off across the hood - even I can do it.

Had my second strawberry this afternoon from my very own strawberry plants!! Here's a pic of the spot. I know, you can't see the plants too well - the hen & chicks have taken over the pot - but if you look carefully at the top, right hand corner, you can see the strawberries poking up above the chicks. This was once a strawberry pot that a single chick was tucked into because the squirrel kicked it out of its basket while trying to bury a Hershey's bar. I tossed the Hershey's bar - gawd knows where the squirrel got the thing - and planted the chick in some fertile soil next to the strawberries. It grew to a gigantic size before it started populating the garden with offspring. I have several pots overflowing with them now & have sent a couple of pots off with new owners.

What to do, oh what to do

The hoodie is just about finished with some of the hood to knit & the underarms to sew up. I know I'll probably just cast-on another one right away but I feel the itch to start something else, for a change. While rooting through the bits & pieces for some inspiration, I came across two 100 gm balls of Scottish yarn in a DK weight. It's mostly acrylic with a little wool in the most marvelous dark lavender with orange bits in it. I'm sure it will knit up quickly & prove indestructible - it was originally $7 a ball & bought at Eatons - must be 20 years ago. That makes it old & a luxury at at the time, too. I almost think there's enough for a hoodie but what if there isn't?? I have nothing that would go with it if I ran out of yarn. A vest? Maybe. A child could wear a vest under a hoodie. I keep looking at it wondering if I could make something for me out of it. It's too bulky for socks, won't felt for slippers, too bulky for fingerless gloves - could make a cowl or neck warmer but they just don't suit me. I've hung on to it because of the color, I just know it. But maybe it's because of the feel too - it just feels luxurious. I'd like a sweater in that yarn.

I have another bag of wool in three colors. I tried to give it away but no one would take it. Someone suggested a felted bag but I read the labels & with 10% nylon, I think felting is out. I have 17, 50 gm balls of fuzzy DK weight yarn which would make a terrific bag or even nicer slippers - too bad I can't felt it!! Maybe a blanket on very large needles? Crocheted? Something soft & pouffy would be nice to cuddle under when it's cold outside, that's for sure. I'm just wondering if there's enough yarn in that bag to make something warm to wear in my drafty office this winter. Top down on very large needles?? Mmmmm

So, I'm finally at the toe shaping on the latest socks for the Ex. Size 13 takes a loooong time, especially in solids or dull colors. And he's looking forward to more of the same. I think the next pair will be grey - since I have 20 balls of it. I'd forgotten about the other balls of "manly" yarn I'd bought on sale last year! All my storage boxes should be clear so I know what I have but since his socks take 3 balls of yarn, I guess I'll use it all up eventually. I don't think I need to buy another ball of sock yarn this decade! Well . . . not until something brightly colored & seductive blows kisses in my direction, anyway . . .

A Mugshot

That damned mug sent me another photo!

Is that sun??

I opened the door this morning to the sun! Wow, it's been raining so long I'd forgotten what it looked like - it rained almost every day in May & continued into June. The flowers are happy with this warm wet weather but my hands sure aren't! Even the Strawberries & Clematis are happy - the strawberries are sharing pots with the Hen & Chicks & seem to be in love. I guess the slugs don't like strawberries enough to crawl over the Chicks to get them! And the Clematis! I haven't seen them put out as many shoots since the year I planted them! Must be that rotted steer manure I threw on them back in April . . . .

Before I start another project - and I have a couple already picked out - I decided to finish the hoodie I cast on in one of the Odd Ball yarns. This is another incarnation of the Wonderful Wallaby that I've been knitting for the Boomer project. Knitopia, now in White Rock, is still shipping hats, scarves & sweaters to the Canadian Forces base on the Island. They go to the Troops in Afghanistan to be given out to the kids to keep them warm in the winter. I started this one a couple of months ago & it got set aside for the tax season. I decided I better finish it before starting something else or it would get lost in the UFO bag. And a kid will need it this winter!

The wild socks with the fraternal pattern are also finished. Amazing how the wild yarns still knit up faster - even with a weird lace pattern! One of my Motorcycle School cohorts oohed & awwed so much when she saw them that I gifted them to her. She's a character & will enjoy wearing them with her riding leathers!
And both heels are turned on the new blue socks for the Ex. I may just add a narrow red stripe before shaping the toe to jazz them up a tad. Hey, it worked with the BT's socks. And I'm thinking the next ones will be grey - I just bought 20 balls of grey on sale! LOL

I need more socks like a hole in the head! I think I counted 22 pairs last time I looked in the sock basket. But - I have this wonderful purple patterned yarn that would go with most of my favorite tops! I can't wear sneakers without socks & could get two pairs of short socks out of two 50 gm balls quite easily. This colorway would go very nicely with the three purple & two fuchsia tops I love to wear! Ahhh . . so much yarn & so little time

Hiding the Evidence

I tore apart my living room yesterday to move furniture out. A large microwave cabinet has been parked next to the small freezer, slowly accumulating a mountain of STUFF for almost 4 years. It was supposed to go to the BT when he moved to his new place & got his boxes unpacked. But, he never unpacked. He's been banished for a year & a half now & the cabinet was still there, full of yarn & covered with crap. The Family sized Slow Cooker, still in the box, that the BT's son gave US for Christmas several years ago, ended up in MY living room next to the cabinet, covered with - you guessed it - crap.

One of my friends left her husband & started a new life recently. I donated a blender, a kettle, the slow cooker, the cabinet & the rocking chair - which I bought for myself & couldn't even use because I had no space in my damn living room!!! She borrowed the company van & we loaded up the furniture & it went away last nite!!! She also got a whole mess of spider plant babies sitting in a jug of water!! We decided the Family sized Slow Cooker will go to the Women's Centre just down the road from me where they offer meals along with other services. Its way too big for either of us alone.

I have a hellova mess in there but I now have empty space! And, since I have empty space, I can now move other things around - like that 800lb couch I don't use that the BT left me because he had nowhere to put it in his little bachelor next door. Oh, I nap on it a couple times a year but would rather have a recliner & storage. I can use that space to hide a couple of big bins of yarn under a nice afghan or lay a top on the bin & use it as a coffee table . . . . And since I'm moving the couch out, I think I'll move out the halogen lamp that just died, two printers that don't work, the office chair that needs replacing & three boxes of documents from clients that have died, moved or abandoned them. Holy crap!! It's a revolution!

And on the needles


I add a row every time I get a chance to sit in front of the boob tube! I can't wait to wear these ones even with the mistake because I just love the colors. And I sure do love wild socks . . . . And then I'm back to the three pairs of size 13WWW socks I promised to make for the Ex's big clod hoppers. I did start a pair in blue but the yarn is much finer than most of the other sock yarn so the socks-in-progress seem too small. I may just wind up with another pair of blue socks in the gift basket.

I'm down to the last few 'lumps' in the Brown Sheep mill end bag. I started spinning the lumps on my Indian Spinner & decided to finish spinning all of them on the same machine so all the skeins are the same. I may need all of them for the same project so I don't want any changes in the spinning style. When the weather really warms up later in the summer, I'll dye them all together too. Not sure what color they'll be yet - I may just experiment.

I still have a couple of pounds of the wool/mohair blend that came in the mill end bag. The wool/mohair is so smooth & silky it almost spins itself . . . I spun some of it on the Indian Spinner but just for a sample. I intentionally left it to spin on the new Majacraft & use it as a two strand yarn. Yeah, I know, I could ply it but I like spinning yarn to the thickness I need & knitting it as a thicker singles yarn. I don't tend to put a lot of spin into my yarn with the Indian Spinner, so I have no biasing when I knit - why spin everything three times to get the yarn you want when you can just spin it to the thickness you need??? Some people have told me I may have to change my ways with the new wheel though, since it spins so much faster than my old one. After all, I've spent over 30 years with an old farm truck & now have a zippy little race car to play with.

On the Road Again, I'm on the Road Again . . .

What was I thinking???

Just total weirdness! While I've been struggling to adapt to those pretty little wooden needles, I screwed up the basic product I've been trying to produce. I'm very new at the art of a little lace.
I've got the basic sock design & pattern so firmly annealed to the "little grey cells" as Poirot would say, that I need some new action. Since the girls are into lace, I thought I'd insert a little bit of interest into the current socks. Just a little K2 tog, YO to keep it simple but give it a little somethin somethin . . . the K2 tog, YO, also biases so I knit one sock that way & did YO, K2 tog, for the other sock so it would bias in the other direction. Clever, eh??? Apparently NOT. I noticed THIS last nite as I was starting the heel shaping for the second sock . . . .

The pattern I wanted is on the left!! And the other sock is finished to the heel turning & I really don't want to tear it ALL back to the ribbing. BooooooooHooooooooo

Love em & Hate em at the same time

So, I've been using those little tiny short needles to try to knit a pair of socks. Mind you, I've also inserted a little bit of simple lace which wouldn't bother anyone normally but on short needles where things are always threatening to fall off & where they're just a little too short for sore hands, well, it gets to you. Normally, I'd cast those suckers on & barely look at the sock again until the heel turning where I use the Queen Kahuna heel - from Crazy Heels & Toes - with twenty little rubber bands & two stitch markers on each sock! You have no choice, you have to keep an eye on the sock at THAT point! And once the heel is turned, I barely look again until the toe shaping . . . If I have a book on a stand, I can read & knit at the same time. I have to concentrate on these socks. Good thing I love the wild color or I'd've lost interest some time back. I have to report the first sock is firmly on 2 circs & is approaching the heel shaping while the second is barely below the ribbing - about 3 rounds into the lace insert - in a week. I should've finished them & been on the yoke of the Hoodie by now! I think I hate using these short needles as much as I love the color & feel of them . . . .

I just had to try out those tiny little needles. It's a bit of a stretch & I find it much slower than with my longer needles, that's for sure. I do like the FEEL & WARMTH of them though so I think I'll persevere a little longer. I thought I'd try a little YO & K2together quickie lace but the sock became too wide for those tiny needles . . . I had to switch to two circs! Maybe this is why these shorties come in 6s - you need 5 of them to keep the stitches on the needles if you're working a pattern??? I'll probably end up tinking the sock back to the ribbing since the quickie lace is rapidly becoming waaaaay too wide. Maybe it will work out a little better with solid ribs between every couple of YOs. I might just give it another try with a couple of panels of YO, K2tog down the front of the sock.


Another hoodie is on the needles too. I haven't knit any in the last few months since I've been so busy with tax season & the spinning Retreat. And trying to finish the purple top-down Kyler's Kardigan in the car-knitting bag for myself! Who has time to knit??? But, I have all that yarn & the pattern is burned into my brain cells by now. So, I dug out several balls in the same colorway & cast-on another one. Some of the colors are really a little strange and this one is no exception! yeah, it looks fairly okay but the colors are a little "OFF" when held up to regular shades. Sometimes I get lucky & can find a solid that works with the variegated yarns but not always - this is one of those that just won't work with anything I have - the red is not really red or pink & the grey isn't really grey or blue or black. So, I guess it's going to be all in the one strange color . . . .

I'm also trying to spin a little every day! Spun up another 'bump' yesterday while waiting for a client. I sat out in the sun on my little patio & listened to a murder while I spun! I have James Patterson's latest, The Ninth Judgment, on the mp3 player! It's pretty shocking but totally in character for Patterson. This is also the latest in the Women's Murder Club series. I figure I have another big fat skein & a half on that bobbin & probably should wind it off right now but I'm too lazy. There's still room on there for another couple of 'bumps' since my Indian Spinner holds up to 2 pounds of wool!! No Gail, I'm not spinning on my NEW Majacraft wheel these days. I'm refusing to start any other project until all the 'bumps' are spun & finished! My biggest problem is starting too many projects & never finishing ANYTHING. I am determined to finish spinning the rest of the Black Sheep 'bumps' so I can dye them this summer when it's nice & warm on the patio. I can't wait to see the expressions on my neighbors' faces when those skeins are hanging out in the sun!

Can you really be happy with 6.5" when you're used to 9.5???

You know it's going to be an interesting day when you have to put Bailey's in your tea because you ran out of milk.

The burning question of the day is - can you really be happy with 6.5 inches when you're used to 9.5??? I splurged on another little goodie for myself - it seems I do this a LOT these days!! I drooled & drooled over those wooden Knitpicks needles!! I never bought any because I'd bought a set of Denise needles. I like the Denise needles because they're so light! And I like linking the cables to make the size I like. And I don't want any more little pieces to lose. But, I look at those damned wooden needles every time I see the catalogue. I finally invested in a set of DPs for socks. And I got them last night. They're soooooo short! My favorite bamboo sock needles - I made them from skewers - are 9.5" long. I knit a lot of men's socks on these! And I have two sets of them so I can knit both socks at the same time - makes adjustments so easy as you go. Even my Brittany Birch needles are 8 inches long! Am I going to be able to knit with these???
But I have to admit, they sure are pretty.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch
Another pair of socks are on the L_O_N_G needles. I suspect these will end up on MY feet though. I'm using the Regia Jet Set line of yarn in a variegated blue. I cast on 72 stitches as usual for mens socks but these feel thin & small! Oh, they have a ton of stretch but feel very small for a sock that should cover a size 13WWW foot!! I've only got the ribbing & a couple of inches of stockinette done but I think these are only going to fit me. My pal Gail is using the same yarn in a different colorway & mentioned the same thing. She suggested there may be TWO weights in this yarn or is this a factory flaw???? Had I realized this in the beginning, I would've knit a slightly lacy sock pattern for a change. Who knows?? I may just do it yet . . . .

A red mug has been spotted somewhere in B.C.!

And here I thought only teen-aged kids did this sort of thing . . . .

I've lost my car cup!! My beautiful, red, - with Christmas motifs & a snowman inside - Starbucks cup that I leave in my car & take everywhere!!! Boooo hooooo - I think I left it at the Desert Mesa Retreat! I thought it was packed up somewhere & knew it was missing on Wednesday but hadn't had the time - tax season - to go through every single basket, bag & reach under the seats in the car until this morning. I had looked in the back seat but had not pulled all the 'stuff' out & really checked under seats & down wheel wells. Sigh. If anyone knows where my little cup is - puuuuuulllease send it home.

I've continued to spin a little each day - today, I spun a whole 'bump' while watching a David Suzuki special on China's forests. And, I didn't get dressed till mid afternoon today - I'm taking it easy for a day or two's rest after Tax Season & before jumping in to the "self employed" boxes!
And the Ex's feet are so much happier & warmer in the socks I gave him, they're all he's using right now. I rooted out some Regia "Jet Set" sock yarn in another grey pattern & a lovely dark blue to cast-on another couple of pairs. I figure I'd better get another couple knit up for him before he wears holes in the 4 pair he's got!!! I was going to knit a pair of Monkey socks but I'm not ready for size 13wwwws, so they'll just have to wait a while longer!

Someday


Since I decided to spin a little every day, I've been poking about in the clutter to see exactly what I have to spin. I have a lot of clutter. I'm not exactly a hoarder - I've seen pictures & I'm not that hardcore - yet. But I have a lot of 'stuff'. It has been collected so I can use it "someday". We all have this stuff - someday I'll make a sweater out of that, someday I'll bake that, I can make that waaaaay cheaper, someday. Okay, I admit it - I'm a someday collector.

I have a lot of really crappy someday stuff in with the really nice stuff. Today, being garbage day, I tossed a whole crappy fleece. A whole Fleece! Years ago, when I didn't know any better, I took in homeless fleeces rather than see them burned or composted or sent to the dump. Someone actually left 11 green garbage bags of fleece on my patio one day. All crap. I've learned that a lot of fleece should be composted, burned or turned into garage insulation. And I found one yesterday in my office closet. Digging deeper while in there, I found a 3 pound bag of beautiful grey Romney roving too. I'd forgotten about the Romney - you could tell by the amount of dust on the bag. I bought it from someone, sight unseen, many years ago on Canspin. It's so dry that it's like pill bottle cotton. Lucky for me, I still have a bottle of spinning oil from the 70s - I thought I'd use it - someday. I sprayed the roving down & put it into a bin. I should be able to spin it in a few days . . . If I remember correctly, this Romney spins into a beautiful, soft, bluey-grey yarn that you just want to fondle. I remember knitting kid's hats out of it about 10 years ago.

I continued, last evening, to spin my Brown Sheep mill ends. It was so pleasant, I took my old wheel outside & spent an hour or so listening to the tail end of Total Recall, a V I Warshawski mystery by Sara Paretski while I spun. I enjoyed it so much, I brought it inside & carried on while I watched the Antiques Roadshow too. My mill ends were bought from the Sheep Shed Studios in a 15lb Grab Bag - gee, must be 2 or 3 years ago now!! I split it with my pal Gail & we've spread a little here & there since. It spins up beautifully. I tend to prefer the slightly spongey egg shaped lumps to the lovely mohair/wool roving. Dunno why, maybe it's just the feel of the wool but I can spin it up into singles yarn with so little twist that it never biases when I knit. This is two evenings spinning on my Indian Spinner. I figure between the mill ends & the Romney, I have enough wool to keep me spinning till Christmas.

There's just not enough hours in a Day


And what have I been doing since the big spinning weekend??? Why, making up for lost time!!

But I took the time to sit outside a for a couple of evenings & just relax with the old Indian spinner even though I should've been working on tax stuff.

I still have a big basket of egg shaped, Brown Sheep mill ends that produce this wonderful, elastic, slightly spongy yarn. I want to spin it all up & then dye it in one batch. If I don't spend a half hour every day spinning, it will never get done. So I've pledged to spend at least a half hour every evening except for Wednesdays - Knit Night - spinning! I have Mother McKenzie's dye kit still in the original wrapper just waiting to be used. And I'm bouncing between the red kimono on the cover of the Knitted Kimono book & a neat graphic shrug in one of the Knitter's magazines. The Shrug is fairly long with three- quarter sleeves which would make a terrific work sweater - I want the warmth without the fronts getting in the way!! But that red kimono draws me . . . .

What a Weekend

It was my birthday last Friday & I stopped in the middle of tax season to go to the Desert Mesa Spring Retreat with my buddy Karen & our spinning wheels. My Ex paid for the Retreat for my birthday & I decided I would drive since my van is bigger than Karen's car. I should've known something was up this year when we found gas, just up the road from Karen's place, almost 15 cents a litre cheaper than at my place! I missed the turn-off for the Fraser Canyon going North & ended up on the Coquahala freeway heading East. We decided we were in no hurry so we just kept on going - we could go North at the next town & then turn left. We're just on the other side of the triangle, that's all!!! And I discovered my van really likes going 115 km per hour. We had a lovely lunch sitting on the curb at the old Toll Booth. There was snow on the left, trees on the right & birds singing their little hearts out as we snarfed salmon sandwiches & drank tea in the sunshine. It was a glorious day!

We got back in the van & headed out to Kamloops. Along the way, we saw the Logan Lake turnoff - now, since Logan Lake is at the top of the mountain between where we were & where we wanted to go, we thought, WHY NOT?? Neither of us had BEEN to Logan Lake - a lake with fish & a golf course supposedly in the middle of town, now a retirement village. The road was good, we weren't doing 115kms but 90 kms is still respectable - right??? So we headed West. Across the top of the mountain. And found a huge open pit copper mine. With terraced mountains - a definite Egyptian influence there. The Tailings pond horrified me but, they ARE reclaiming the area as they go & how else can we get the copper we need?? I suspect mining is always horrifying in some aspects . . . The road down the mountain was a little terrifying in one or two spots but we made it. And only a half hour later than expected - whew!

I arrived to find I had a private room! It was wonderful. The bed killed my back as usual but I had no one to disturb when I got up all night & the rest of the weekend was fabulous. Instead of door prizes, the organizers decided to raffle off one huge basket of goodies! It had everything from soup to nuts, including TWO gift certificates, for the spinner. And guess who won the big Kahuna prize?? Me.

Just some of the goodies in the basket.

You CAN Take it With You

I know it's tax season but I've been knitting between jobs! I really like the look of the latest project - my knitted shopping bag. It's basically done except for the top edging & the handles. I figure it's about a three or four evening knit if there's good stuff on the tube. If not, plug in a good 15 hour audio book, sit in the sunshine & knit this one up in a couple of sunny days. I used a needle the size of my ring finger to knit the YO, K2tog part of the body so it has a lot of stretch sideways. This one will expand to hold a lot of apples, oranges, bulky veggies etc but won't drop around your knees when it gets full. I'll bet it can also hold a ton of spinning fibre too . . . .

Something Practical


So I decided to knit my own shopping bags.
But first, I had to find a good source of Crafter's Cotton. Not easy. After many disappointments, I bit the bullet & went to Walmart. For a change, there was a good selection of great colors in the Really Big Balls! I managed to score three good colors & then had to choose a good pattern. I found patterns everywhere but not necessarily what I wanted for a simple Shopping Bag. Knitty offers a couple of nice ones but they come with the long shoulder strap or a lace pattern. I found other nice ones in just about every knitting or crochet magazine. Even Lion Brand offers 'green' bags. But, I don't want to spend days & days knitting a lace patterned bag that will get sticky, dirty & even bloody carrying this & that home from Safeway. I wanted something simple, stretchy & useful. I downloaded several patterns before deciding on "Lets Go Shopping" by Linda Skinlo which I found on Ravelry for FREE!! I like the short handles - although she includes instructions for a shoulder strap - which should make it easier to handle with a load in it. I hate a bag that ends up hanging around your knees when you try to fill it up! It's a fast & easy knit in a simple yo, k2together on one row & knit on alternate rows. The solid bottom is started with 6 st on three needles with increases on every second row. In a couple of evenings, I've knit almost 18 inches up from the bottom!!

The Ex got his socks the other morning & I remembered to take their photo before he got them. The size & color made them a slow knit - oh how I hate dull yarn!!- especially when I have to knit it into size 13 socks . . . but he loved them & I could've got an order for more from two other men in the cafe!!

And speaking of socks - Karen gave me hell for giving away my 'Smoldering Hearts' socks last month. I said my sock basket was overflowing with socks. Here's the socks I just washed on Tuesday. This doesn't include all the short 'summer' socks that're still in the basket . . . .

I hate plastic grocery bags! I liked them when they were made of sterner stuff with solid bottoms & good handles, at least you could use them for garbage or weekly lunches or something. Now they're so thin the cans fall thru the bottom before you get them into the car, never mind the house! I've recycled. I've returned those bags & bought the new, improved, re-usable bags. They also fall apart and the seams split after a few uses - especially when washed. You can't bleach them when meat juices contaminate them & you never have enough of them when you need them. Some stores have banned plastic & gone back to paper. Didn't we go to plastic to save trees????

I bit the bullet & decided to make my own. I could sew them out of rip-stop nylon but I've collected several patterns for knitted cotton market bags. KNITTY has published several patterns, Lion Brand has the Green Tote & I've seen one or two in KNITTERS & INKnitting as well. I'd like to knit them out of hemp - I hear it lasts forever but with MY budget in mind, cheap Crafter's Cotton, is more likely. And I need another project like a hole in the head!!

The Ex's socks are done! Finished sewing the last toe last nite. I'll meet him for breakfast on Tuesday & give them to him. He's really been feeling this damp cold lately so the new socks are an experiment to see if warmer feet will help. If he's happy, I guess I'll be knitting socks for him for a change.