I Want to Cry

 After hand washing the shawl I blogged about yesterday in Soak Wash. I went to block the shawl.  As I was laying it out to my absolute horror I found another deliberate cut in the lace work.  So all attempts at blocking were stopped. I found 4 more holes in my shawl. Two of the holes were side to side. As you can see by the double pointed knitting needles I did my best to stabilize the area’s. I will also have John look over the shawl to see if he can find any other areas.

Thankfully I did not have time to put the thread away yesterday. So it is ready to go when the shawl dries. It will be a little harder this time because the washing brought up a beautiful halo in the mohair. The halo will also hide the repairs very well.

It’s Finally Finished for the Second Time

 About 10 years ago I finished a one of a kind shawl with the mohair spun by Kathy Withers.  I did not have a chance ro wear it before one of Eric’s aides took a scissors to the beautiful lace. Less than 24 hours after completing the shawl. It was placed in a canvas shopping bag to wait the needed repairs.  In his opinion all I was allowed to knit in my own home was hand knit items for kids in need.  This was the first but not the last thing he cut up or outright stole.  

Well he is long gone. 

Fast forward a few years and I could not get anyone to mend it for me. No matter how much I was willing to pay. I did however get some pointers.  I was really scared that I would ruin it.  

Fast forward to today.  I finally got the nerve to do the repair on this hand spun mohair lace yarn spun by Kathy Withers’s and a pattern designed by me.  Really I just wanted to clear my backlog of repairs, UFO’s and long ago purchased projects.  I pick out the right shade of thread. I did not have any yarn leftover, let’s just say I won at yarn chicken. I secured the thread and trimmed the end. I started weaving everything together. I was so tense that my shoulders throbbed. I carefully did tiny French Knots to gather the tiny clipped yarn. I did the final thread tie off and clipped the excess thread.  

Tomorrow it will get washed in Soak. Then blocked. It should be ready to wear this weekend. 

Below is a picture of the repair work.  The picture below that is halfway through the repair work. I know it’s not perfect. I did my best.  You can also not see it from 5 feet away, which is my gold standard for knitting boo boo’s.  

To Much Salad Dressing

 I tried a new recipe for a farrow salad. I followed the directions including the dressing.  I came to 2 separate conclusions on the recipe.  

1. The recipe calls for too much salad dressing.  The recipe made a 1/2 cup and I used less than half.  John and I agreed that it was still too much salad dressing.  I personally think that Americans in general use too much salad dressing. I really want to enjoy the flavors of the salad and not some greasy concoction.  Most of the time I do not use salad dressing at all  

2. I need to go back to California Olive Oil and not the store brand which has a greasy texture and flavor.  My preferred brand was not available for a while for home shopping during COVID19.  I don’t use much oil on a low fat diet.  I need to pick up a bottle next time I am out shopping.  Along with red wine vinegar.  Don’t ask. 

By the way it was so bad hat I will not share the recipe. John will not eat anymore than the taste he took. I have it sitting over night in the fridge. I hope that this settles the flavors out a bit otherwise you do know where it is going, don’t you?

What Storm?

 On Thursday night the weather man warned of a huge multi day monsoon storm.  Well Friday morning I got up early and went to 3 different stores to stock up on a few things.  

We debated going out for lunch. We stayed home.  It did not rain.  They kept pushing the time line back.  Yes, it did rain in the usual places. Flooded in the usual places. Yes, there were stupid motorists who drove through flooded washes.  Even school bus drivers who were to green to know that they had to call dispatch if they had flood water on their routes to be give a different route to drop their riders off. The news had to look really hard for flood disasters.  We even had one news caster comment on how awful it must be for the plants and field to get water. Ah, this is a drought, the plants loved it along with the farmer on reduced water.  Free water that is not metered is always good in moderation.  

Today it mostly drizzled. We landed up with a 1/4 inch of water for 2 days of severe rain storms.  

Also I would like to officially announce that I am very tired of COVID19 and it’s variants.  People if you are sick stay home.  I am so sick of staying home most of the time to avoid getting COVID19.  I want my life back.  I want to eat indoors in a place that is not home.  I want to get a pedicure. Is that really too much to ask? I want to eat and talk indoors with my friends, instead of grabbing food and going outside to eat.   Is that too much to ask?  I want to stop calculating on how crowded a store is going to be before shopping and skipping shopping if it is too crowded.  Etc etc etc.    

Finishing UFO’s Creates Problems

 There is a downside to finishing a lot of UFO’s very quickly.  

The first problem is just how many knitting needles do I really have? Yes I need all of them.  I know I have several in every size. There are times when they are all in use in one size an I contemplated getting another pair.  Yes, the beginning of the UFO problem. 

The second problem is knitting bags. When I am finally finish a project, I then have an empty bag that either needs a new project or a new home.  The last 5 out of 6, went to new homes.  Bag six had yarn sneak into it saying knit me. Sometimes yarn is worse than chocolate when it speaks to me. 

The third problem is knitting accessories. Take the Fisherman’s Wife’s scarf that I finished earlier in the week.  I freed up some cable needles, scissors and stitch markers. Yes, I know I have some others in the house, but they are all in project bags of UFO’s. So now I need a system to keep track of them and other accessories so that I don’t go buy what I already have.  The craft store holders just don’t cut it.  Maybe a sportsman’s box or a small toolbox would work. 

The fourth of my problems, but not the least of my problems  is stitch markers.  Yes, I do know that are classified as accessories, but are they really accessories? In my humble opinion definitely not.  They are stitch markers.  They are knitting jewelry. An art form of their very own.  I must have enough to lose a stitch marker a day and still have too many at the end of the year.  I even give stitch markers away randomly and to large groups of friends.  This is what my stitch marker cups look like when I finish too many projects at once.  I normally like to keep about 20 out at a time  rotating them every so often. This is how it looked today when I finished knitting a new pattern. This is at least the second project this week.  It’s time to thin them out yet again.  Perhaps start some new UFO’s.  It’s just a random thought   

Passing Supplies On and More

 Today I filled the back of my car with quilting supplies, mostly fabric  to give to a friend. I even gave her a few storage containers to put the fabric in.  There was more in the back seat too. I did not realize that fabric  had gone up to $15 a yard. So I came home and started going through the rest of my quilting fiber to see what I really won’t use in the near future. It will give 3 church groups fabric to make blankets for those in need. It will make John happy and give me more space. We are going for less is more around here lately. 

At guild today I also gave away 4 more knitting bags each with a skein of yarn to make a scarf for Operation Gratitude.  Less is more.  For those counting that totals 6 less knitting bags.  4 less skeins of yarn and 2 unfinished blankets. 

Talking about less. I have 1 less UFO ( unfinished object ) Yesterday I finally finished a scarf in the Fisherman’s Wife pattern on Raverly after over 4 years. It was a cool 89f when I finally finished it last night.  It fits perfectly.  It is going into a drawer until the end of October when it gets cooler in Tucson.  Next time I make it I will use a solid color to show off the cables better. 

To Be Filed Under WTF

 Dear Lab,

A patient should not be able to knit over 2 inches on a hat while waiting for an appointment.  

I do admit that I don’t get out much. But I do not like what happened today.  I needed to be at a lab at 7:00 am for a 7:45am test or it would be rescheduled.  I saw most employees arrive at 7:30am including the gal who did my testing today.  Why do I have to be there  30 minutes before the employees? I can see 10 to 15 minutes early but 45 minutes is getting a little rude.   What is the justification for this? Do they literally call the employees to come in once we the patients show up and check in.  

They also did not pay me to sit around or give me a discount on the bill. They did not offer my ride a refreshment. But if I would have been late they would have canceled.  If I was a no show they would have billed me.  

Is this the new normal for lab testing?  When did some provider’s become so rude?   Yes, it is rude to make the customer show up before the employees and just wait.  

The gal who did the testing was nice snd polite. I know she did not set the policy.  

By the way I got the first stripe knit and the second started on my current hat.  Thank heavens for my knitting of I would have been more irate than I was.