It's not fair that it's rainy today. All the little trick or treaters will be dressed up as the Gorton's Fisherman or Mary Poppins in their raincoats or umbrellas. Or they'll stay home in droves and Durwood and I will have to eat the bag of assorted Tootsie treats sitting ready in the rocker by the front door. (I'd better go check to make sure there are no mice or bad pieces in there... be right back. Seems okay but there should probably be regular forays to maintain the security of the candy. Yeah, that' it, security.) (Hmm, maybe I should sort the candy in the order of appeal, putting the lime ones [my favorites] in a completely different receptacle, maybe even in a different room for, uh, safety. Yeah, safety, that's a good excuse, uh, I mean, reason.)
Last night at knitting I started work on a crocheted hat for LC. Mrs. Boss had linked a picture for an owl hat to my Facebook page so I searched out the pattern, printed it out in a legible format, and looked up how to start a crochet project with a Magic Loop, which I thought was a knitting thing. Turns out it's both, with a different meaning in each craft. I dug out some stash yarn and the right size hook before going to knitting and got the hat part done there. I started on the first earflap and got one row in before I came to a stitch I didn't know how to do. Good thing it was close to 9 o'clock, which is quitting time since that's when the store closes, so I packed up and came home to google half-double crochet decrease. Turned out to be very simple so I stayed up to make both earflaps.
The view outside this morning didn't inspire me to hurry into my clothes to race to the cafe to write this week's chapter so I stayed in my jammies (which double as my yoga togs) and finished the hat. I think LC will like it. She's a big fan of owls.
I promise to go to write tomorrow. Cross my heart. There's a lot of football on; I can miss all of it, no sweat.
October 31--John Dittli, North Cascades Reflection. The colors were so crisply defined that it looked like a really well-executed paint-by-numbers but Louise knew it was a photograph. Her ex-husband had taken it. Despite that fact she loved it. Their week in the Cascades had been one of the few happy weeks in the six years of the marriage. She had often regretted not shoving him off a mountain that week. By now she'd probably be out on parole.
I didn't have a clue where that was going but was pleasantly surprised at the last two sentences. Happy Halloween! Hand over all your lime Tootsie Rolls and no one gets hurt.
--Barbara
Well, it was time to face the facts and uproot the scraggly, dead plants and take out the posts. *sigh* Our garden didn't grow very well this year but at least it was green and we got a couple tomatoes out of it. I am definitely going to have to get me a truckload of compost and work it in. There's no way around it.
I knitted almost all of Sudoku Berry #4 yesterday. It and my audiobook were the only reasons I stayed awake at work. It was one of those gray, rainy days, the phone didn't ring that often, and I'm getting over a cold; it would have been very easy to doze off but very embarrassing when a customer came in. I'm glad I managed to resist.
Last night's sunset was pretty and I managed to sort of capture it. It wouldn't have shown up on the picture but all the clouds across the sky were the palest of pink.
October 30--Skip Brown, West Virginia Morning Biking. Sarah's lungs burned as she pedaled up the switchback trail. Damn that Ken for dragging her out of her warm bed before the crack of dawn to torture herself on this bicycle. Ken was far ahead. He wasn't the kind of man to ride at a slower pace just to stay with her. Once an hour or so he would stop and wait for her, usually at the top of a long slow climb. That meant he would have a long time to decide how she could "attack the hill" better. She was thinking of a smart response to his next gem of advice when she became aware of rasping breaths right behind her. Thinking another rider was coming up she moved over to give him room to pass. A black bear came loping up alongside her, its tongue lolling, grunting with every stride. It looked at her but kept running. She wobbled to a stop trying to figure out if anyone would believe her story. She had barely begun pedaling again when she heard Ken's yell. Yes, he would believe her story.
No cafe writing today. Durwood's got a couple appointments so I'm planning to go tomorrow--or maybe Sunday when there's all those football games. I'll figure it out. Knitting tonight.
--Barbara
I fell prey to a TV ad last week. We were watching something on the Smithsonian Channel and there was an ad for a Great Courses Night Sky class at the low, low price of only $19.95. I turned to Durwood and said, "I'd like to get that. I want to learn about the constellations." And he said, "Go ahead." So I did. Of course I didn't hear the promo code so when I looked on their website it said the course was $169.95, way out of our price range, so I called the "contact us" number and a nice lady helped me. See, she had the promo code so she could put it in for me, and the DVD, book, and star chart came yesterday. Now all these clouds need to vamoose so I can see the night sky and I'll be in business. It's about 42 degrees, spitting rain, and blowing up a gale. Nice. The crap weather's supposed to stick around for Halloween too. Isn't that nice?
Yesterday I knitted the last solid color ornament cover and this morning I found its name. It's Magenta Rocky Horror. It's going to need special decorations so it lives up to its namesake. I need to study on this, and I'm open to suggestions. Once I had the cover on the ornament I took random-ish lengths of each color yarn, tied them together with Magic Knots to make a Magic Ball for knitting more multi-colored balls. I need more balls.
October 29--Blackburn Productions, Outrigger Canoe Rowers. Lin heard their chant before she saw them. The rhythmic sound carried over the water to her shady spot on the small deck of her beach house. She shaded her eyes with her hand to see the five shirtless men paddling in sync out beyond the lagoon. She felt like she was looking back in time to when men in boats exactly like that one sailed from island to island trading and hunting. Their black hair blew in the strong tradewinds and their muscles rippled and gleamed as they rowed.
This morning I have a haircut all the way on the east side almost to DePere (about 6 miles away) so I'd better get dressed and get a move on. I'd better bundle up too, the weather guy said the S-word this morning. Gah.
--Barbara
Not the same effect as "'twas a dark and stormy night" but it'll do. It was almost full dark out but around 6:30 I heard loud trucks on the street. Now, it is garbage day so I expect to hear a truck go by a couple times but they usually wait until it's light outside. This was different. I opened the front door to see a couple of guys driving what looked like bulldozers but with leaf-gathering things on the front instead of blades, scraping all the wet leaf piles away from the curbs, and then about an hour later when there was a little more light to work by they came by again but this time it was the dump truck and a real bulldozer loading them up. And I'm still not sure if the garbage guys came or not.
I'm including this flash photo of the birdbath and backyard I took before it was light enough because I think it looks like a Van Gogh, especially the background.
My cold has bloomed into a nice, chest-wrenching cough. It didn't keep me up last night but I feel a bit like I was pummeled in the night. I'll be having a Delsym cocktail before bed tonight. I did get a bit of a snooze yesterday afternoon which I think might be the sole reason I'm alive today.
As soon as I went inside after filling the feeders yesterday this squirrel started clambering up the Slinky-clad shepherd's crook and perching up there nibbling a nut. Then he'd throw a few on the ground, jump down to collect them, and then take off. No wonder the feeder's empty every day.
Last night I finished Sudoku Snow #4 but didn't have the oomph to start Berry #4. I'll see about that at work today. Or maybe I'll cast on the last one-color ornament cover. Maybe I'll lay my head down on the desk and nap all day.
October 28--David Mechlin, Margates with Diver. Gina swam around the coral head and came face to face with a quartet of the most serious looking fish. They were shaped like a semi-circle, flat across the bottom with a pretty even curve from their mouths to their tails. They weren't serious like sharks or barracudas that could do serious damage to a diver. No, these fish looked like they had a lot on their minds and acted like she had interrupted an important meeting. They swam away in formation but not before giving her dirty looks for her bad manners.
Oh, man, this heavy day combined with my head cold makes me feel like I could just sleep the day away. Do me a favor, don't come to the dive shop today. Let a sick woman rest.
--Barbara
Yeah, yeah, I know that colds are viruses but I like "germs" and I'm the boss of this blog so "germs" it is. The further into the cold I get the dimmer my thoughts and the more cross-eyed I feel. It's a beautiful sunny day, blue skies and light breezes, and all I want to do is nap. But I have to wait for the small engine guy to come pick up the snowblower and both lawn mowers for their annual service. I put the patio table and chairs away when I dragged the snowblower out of the shed, so the patio looks barren and lonely. Last week's cold withered the basil, the parsley's slowly fading to yellow, but the thyme's holding its own.
I got this far on Sudoku Snow #4 yesterday. I might have enough wits about me to finish it later. Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe I'll lie on the couch once the fixit guy leaves, dozing and listening to an audiobook. Aunt B recommended Station Eleven which was recommended by her granddaughter. It's a dystopian first novel, a little disjointed since time jumps back and forth over about 20 years, but it's well written and I'm enjoying it.
October 27--Skip Gandy, Sailboats. The line of sailboats skidded into view. From the sand it was impossible to see who was in front. The masts all leaned at the same angle and it looked to Anita as if they would all run right up the beach. She knew that Gavin's sails had burgundy numbers on them but in the strong light they all looked the same. When she asked why the boats were all so alike he had laughed and put his arm around her. "Because anything but the minimum weighs more and would slow down the boat. You want us to win, don't you?" She had nodded. She hated the way he made her feel like a silly child.
That's all I've got. I'm going to go concentrate on getting the fixit guy to ring the doorbell so I can grab a snooze.
--Barbara
I followed through on my thought to use one size bigger needle (the one the pattern calls for) to knit the yellow ornament cover last night and 5s are better. I knitted the same number of stitches and the same number of rounds as the green one. I put them side by side and you can see that I was able to cinch the yellow cover up to the neck but not the green one. So, okay, I should have followed the pattern instructions from the beginning. *sigh* Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. Oh, I'm calling this one Yellow My Baby, Yellow My Honey, Yellow My Ragtime Gal in honor of the cartoon I loved as a kid. What am I saying? I still love it. You remember Michigan J. Frog, right?
I started Sudoku Snow #4 too but didn't get very far since I kind of wore myself out yesterday. See, I'm no good at laying around, even when I don't feel good... kind of especially when I don't feel good, so I changed the weatherstripping on the front door (necessitating a trip to Home Depot when I ran out a foot from being done--grrr), took Durwood to get his flu and shingles shots at Walgreens, did a load of wash, raked the front yard, grilled wienies for lunch and chicken for supper, and replaced three of the bird feeder Slinkys that had rusted and sagged. I just hate to give in to feeling sick. I know it's not very mature but *shrugs* that's just the way I am. I feel a bit better today and I'm sure my shower will help more so I have a precedent for keeping going. I feel like if I give in I'll just feel bad longer, let it get a toehold and run rampant. I want to sweat it out, scare it off so it leaves me sooner rather than later. Good plan, don't you think?
Last night when I went out to get the chicken off the rotisserie the moon was rising and it looked so pretty and, nestled just above the bare honeysuckle vines, kind of Halloween-y. I've discovered if I use the "dawn/dusk" setting on the camera the shutter doesn't stay open as long when I'm trying to take a picture of the moon. I'll have to try it next time it's full dark and I want a moon picture.
October 26--Harold Lee Miller, DS5-6-1-5B. Jean watched him in the mirror as she walked on the treadmill. He was creeping up on forty, she guessed, and he was balding. He hadn't shaved his head or gone for a comb-over. She kind of liked it that he wasn't hiding behind a toupee or plugs. She increased the incline on her machine and started to breathe harder. The shirtless guy next to her had speeded up his machine and he was drenched in sweat. Every time his foot hit the surface a spray of droplets spattered her right side. It was gross but she wasn't going to stop and let him know she'd noticed it. She looked back at the balding guy and saw he had shifted to lifting weights. Maybe she should lift. Maybe he'd be willing to give her some pointers.
Today I'd like you to ponder the vagaries of leaves turning colors and dropping. Our maple tree and a few others I can see from here are bare, others are still full green, and still others are somewhere in between. The light, temperature, and everything else is the same for all. What makes one tree turn and the next one stay green? Huh? Can you tell me? It makes me kind of nuts. Alright, that's enough. Time for showering and going off to keep the world safe from SCUBA diving.
--Barbara
I've had a taste for grilled hot dogs for over a month. I finally did something about it. Yesterday I splurged on a big package of Salmon's wieners, the best wieners, and today I lit up some charcoal and grilled some for lunch and some for later. I even popped for a bag of "we baked too much" buns from Walmart yesterday that I cut into thirds (so we could taste the meat instead of all bun). We had a lovely lunch. Now I'm thinking of whipping up a batch of Mom's Sloppy Joes so I can have Coney dogs next weekend. I am my own worst enemy.
After I filled all the feeders, attracting Bluejays, a male Downy Woodpecker, one scolding Chickadee, and too many sparrows and House Finches to count, I raked leaves. It's a gorgeous day, cool and sunny, and not windy so the damp leaves stay where you put them. Next the city needs to come collect them before a wind blows them all back onto our lawn. Also the neighbor's giant maple tree that looms over our side yard's leaves have barely started to turn. That tree always waits until all the other trees' leaves are fallen and collected before its leaves turn and fall, making leaf raking a seemingly endless task. One of the neighbors has a riding mower with a leaf bagger attachment so he just roars around his yard and dumps what he collects at the curb. I'm envious but our leaf quotient doesn't really warrant such a big machine. Guess I'll just keep raking and complaining.
I finished Sudoku Berry #4 last night and I think I'm going to rip out the few rows of the yellow ornament I did on Friday night and try doing in on one size bigger needles. Maybe then I won't need to add rows and the knitting will stretch over the ball easier. I'll let you know.
October 25--Mike Klemme, Green Shoreline. The waves spread over the shallows like thin blankets trimmed in lace. The soft shushing sound of rolling pebbled lulled Matty to sleep. Her tiny stone cottage nestled behind a grassy hill that lay like a protective arm between her and the sea. The thin autumn sunshine warmed the stone walls and her red geraniums bloomed weeks longer than her neighbors' up on the bluff. She sat in her small rustic chair on her doorstop shelling peas into a tin bowl on her lap and the aroma of roasting chicken drifted out the open door.
Oh. So that's why I went downstairs this morning to get some chicken to put on the rotisserie for supper. Somebody small sneezed on me a few times the other day and part of her cold decided to jump ship and stay with me. I hate how a cold makes my mouth taste bad. I think I might go buy some Listerine, anything's better than what I've got. Peace, out.
--Barbara
This morning I lucked out. It was sunny and 63 when I spread out my yoga mat so I opened the patio door and did my practice with the cool air washing over me and birdsong as my sound track. Ahh. Just about as soon as I rolled up my mat the clouds rushed in, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. Like I said, lucked out.
I haven't been very knitty lately. I cast on and knitted a few rounds on the yellow ornament cover. CB asked to see the pattern and wondered if I was planning to embellish my balls. I hadn't thought of that but it might be interesting. I should see what kind of geegaws I can dig up out of the cave, uh, basement, uh, studio.
Then I got the uphill part of Sudoku Violet #4 done and made some downhill progress before it was time to pack up our needles and vacate Goodwill for another week. But not before I plunked down all of $2 for two full skeins of cotton yarn in peach. I can always use solid color dishcloth yarn since my first instinct is to buy the pretty variegated ones. I found a nice $4 Croft & Somebody long-sleeved top on the clearance rack too but it's down the chute to be laundered. It'll be good for work.
I didn't get down to The Attic cafe until after noon yesterday but I still managed to get another chapter of the manuscript rewritten AND I made some minor adjustments to earlier parts. I remembered that I can email the manuscript to my Kindle so I can read it like it's a real book, then I put a bookmark on the pages where I want to make a change and note it on a big Post-it, so I can scroll through and make the tweaks. I have come to the decision that this is not the final rewrite. Yesterday I slotted in some more small irritation sorts of things--expanding the flat tire incident, having her go around the wrong way on a roundabout and nearly get flattened by a Mack truck--and I suspect there'll be more of that sort of thing as I reread this current rewrite. But I'm getting there and, even better, I'm working on it, maybe not every day, but I am working on it.
October 24--David Lessy, Wild Dunes, SC. The wind off the ocean was strong, strong enough to stop his golf ball dead and send it into the sand trap. Lloyd flung his club to the ground and was a split second from stomping on it when a voice said, "You don't want to do that." "Like hell I don't," he snarled as he turned to face the speaker. The old man was bent into a question mark and Lloyd could see the effort it took for him to hold his head up. Lloyd said, "Why not stomp the damned thing? Every ball I hit with it goes haywire." The old man grinned and stuck out his hand. "I'm Bud." They shook, Bud's fingers felt like brittle twigs in Lloyd's grip. "You want to stomp the club because you paid too much for it and you expect too much for the money. The wind's your enemy today but I'll bet your temper is your enemy every day." Bud hooked his thumb over his shoulder toward the cart behind him. "Get in. You and me need to talk."
I kept seeing George Burns in the movie Oh, God when I thought about Bud. I don't know if Bud's God or just some mentor-like gnome coming into Lloyd's life but I like the little scene. I'm off to get a flu shot, pick up some prescriptions and a pound of Italian sausage to try to save a batch of tomato soup I made that went off the rails last weekend. Wish me luck.
--Barbara
It's damp and overcast, a little breezy and cool, so it was the perfect day to cook up a bowl of old fashioned oats spiffed up with a few dried cherries and a little brown sugar.
I didn't have to set an alarm today so I slept until 7:30 which got me out of the sack just in time to take this picture of the gorgeous sky. I like sleeping but I hate missing the sunrise.
I was a good wife after supper last night and whipped up a batch of breakfast burritos for Durwood. He loves them and is willing to buy boxes of them frozen from the grocery so I don't have to make them but I suspect that those store-bought ones are filled with chemicals and SALT, and that they're nowhere near as tasty as mine. It isn't really difficult to make them. Here's what I do: Brown a pound of pork sausage (or 2 packages of brown & serve sausages, cut up), add a cup of chopped onion and a cup of diced bell peppers to the sausage once the meat begins to brown. Stir until vegetables begin to soften. In a large bowl scramble 12 large eggs with a little water, salt & pepper; pour over sausage, onion & peppers. Stir slowly until eggs are set, remove from heat. Grate 1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese. Warm a 20-pack of 6" flour tortillas in the microwave. Place tortilla on plate, spoon egg mixture down center, sprinkle on cheese, fold sides over, wrap up in plastic wrap, line up on cookie sheet to freeze overnight. Makes 12. To prepare: unwrap plastic wrap (no need to thaw), wrap burrito in paper towel, place on plate in microwave, heat 2 minutes on High, let stand 1 minute. Garnish with your favorite taco or hot sauce. Eat. Of course you can eat them immediately after making them, but I'd hold them in a warm oven so that the first one isn't ice cold when you get the last one made. I usually figure about 1 egg per burrito, but you can stretch it or pile it on to taste.
When I got home from work yesterday there were orange flags and paint streaks along the retaining wall. Durwood said that guys came to say that they had to dig up the sewer line for the building behind us and the lateral runs through our yard. So this morning they came with a cool Bobcat digger and are making a big hole. They must have found and fixed the line because another Bobcat just showed up with a bucket of gravel and it looks like they're filling in the hole. It's supposed to rain later so they're in a hurry to get done before the rain comes. That digger sure looks like a fun toy. Maybe one day I'll take LC to Quarry Quest down in the valley and get to play with one of those big diggers.
October 23--Richard Pasley, Boat on Lake at Sunset. Claire leaned on the rowboat's oars and drifted. She had rowed out into the lake to get away from her family's bickering. It had been bad enough with Mom, Dad, two brothers, a couple of shaggy dogs, and a random cousin or two all crammed into the three-bedroom cottage and an old pop-up for a month in the summer when they were kids but add in in-laws and grandkids and it was a disaster. Claire made sure she got there early to claim the daybed on the back sleeping porch and she spent as much time out on the lake as she could.
I thought of a great next line just after I turned out the light last night but thought I'd remember it today. I don't. Oh well. Got my next chapter packed, I'll shove this laptop into my back and off I go to the cafe to rewrite. If I can't dig I guess I'll go write.
--Barbara
The kids' book by that name came yesterday and it amuses me no end. There are very few words but on every page you're told to press or tap dots to make more or rearrange them. On the page with the black background it tells you to blow the black away. Then you blow too hard and all the dots are stuck at the top edge of the pages, so it tells you to stand the book up, shake it a bit, and the dots come back. I hope LC likes it, otherwise it entertains the daylights out of me so I guess it'll be mine. I can't wait for the next title(s) I ordered to come so I can play with, uh, read those too.
I knitted another ornament cover yesterday, this time the green one. I named it Green is the Color of My True Love's Hair. It was either that or It's Not Sleazy Being Green. Silly, I know, but it amuses me no end to figure out a name for these ornaments. I'll knit the yellow one next and I've got a showstopper of a name for that one. No hints, you'll just have to be patient.
Once I had the cover bound off I cast on and knitted on Sudoku Violet #4. I'm about halfway. Suddenly knitting those squares is a slog. I keep wanting to push them aside and cast on a sweater for LC or even a vest for me which is why I keep knitting ornament covers, kind of like palate cleansers so I'll keep going on the endless Sudoku afghan. Who thought this was a good thing to make? Whose brilliant idea was this??? What was I thinking in 2008 when I started this? No wonder it's been in and out of the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) pile.
Last night I saw that the sunset light was tinting clouds in the eastern sky the palest pink. I took a picture (with the moon too, see?) and then went out front to photograph what I thought would be a blazing sky. It wasn't even colored, ugh, and then supper was ready so I put the camera away. Today's sunup didn't have many clouds to work with but I was interested in these parallel vapor trails... or maybe they're just a funny looking cloud.
October 22--David Brooks, Road Hockey. The light was fading fast but Jem and his friends kept playing. Jem's new puck was lighted so they didn't notice right away how dark it was getting. The four of them had been playing road hockey since school let out and chores were done. The wheels of their Rollerblades got chewed up by the bits of gravel from the road's shoulders and the puck would carom off seams and tarred patches. Three of them wore helmets and pads. Buddy didn't. His dad's job had disappeared when the railroad did so there wasn't any cash to spare for buying new gear. Most days it didn't matter but when the headlights came around the curve and the sound of the speeding engine washed over them they knew they were in trouble.
Four years ago today Mom died. Some days it seems like 14 or 44 years ago and other days it seems like yesterday. I miss her most when I'm sewing since I use a lot of her old stuff and when LC is here. She'd have loved that kid. Love you, Mom.
--Barbara Sue
(Can you hear the camel? I can.)
Not a lot got done yesterday other than dithering around so there are no crafty pictures to share. I didn't even yoga--and that's bad. I can't skip that or I'll start skipping it willy-nilly and pretty soon my yoga mat will be slumped between the treadmill and the chair collecting dust. I can't forget how good this tiny bit of stretching and moving makes me feel and let it fall by the wayside. It's only 20 minutes, for Pete's sake, anyone can devote 20 minutes a day to their physical and mental well-being. Sheesh.
We have an excess of clouds this morning but the sun managed to peek through when I went out to harvest the spaghetti squash. There are three, which I think is a good turnout. I've got to enrich that garden soil next spring or save the money I spend on plants. It's so depleted that I'll bet zucchini would have a hard time growing. The gourds are still bright green and hanging onto their (brown and dead) vines so I'm going to let them stay out there until we've had a frost and their stems are all brown. I don't want the big one to rot before it dries out and I can make it into a birdhouse. This little chipmunk froze when I opened the patio door so I got a picture of it before it darted under that bucket it's next to. I'm ashamed to say that I then went over and lifted the bucket, scaring the crap out of it, and sending it scampering across the lawn to hide under the shed.
October 21--David Stone, Cyclists. Her bike wheels hummed on the asphalt path. Mae wasn't brave enough to ride her bike on the streets so she bought a generic carrier at Walmart and drove to the River Trail. The trail was an old railroad bed that had been reclaimed and paved for about a dozen miles. It ran from the downtown where it was clogged with clerks and office drones on their lunch breaks, through neighborhoods where pony-tailed young women jogged their way back to their pre-pregnancy bodies while pushing space-age strollers. Further upriver retirees took over, walking their arthritic dogs and discussing their various surgeries. Mae always parked behind the old supper club and rode the four miles south to the first set of locks on the river. She rode in that direction because it was ever-so-slightly uphill which meant that her return ride was downhill just enough to make a difference. Her bike was silver with a nice wicker basket for her sunscreen and water bottle and she had a red helmet that she thought made her look like she was going fast even when she stood still.
All scenery and no action. Oh well. Hey, it looks like the sun's trying to peek out. I like that. Time for breakfasting, dressing and going off to keep the world safe from SCUBA diving. Later.
--Barbara
It's not fair that it's rainy today. All the little trick or treaters will be dressed up as the Gorton's Fisherman or Mary Poppins in their raincoats or umbrellas. Or they'll stay home in droves and Durwood and I will have to eat the bag of assorted Tootsie treats sitting ready in the rocker by the front door. (I'd better go check to make sure there are no mice or bad pieces in there... be right back. Seems okay but there should probably be regular forays to maintain the security of the candy. Yeah, that' it, security.) (Hmm, maybe I should sort the candy in the order of appeal, putting the lime ones [my favorites] in a completely different receptacle, maybe even in a different room for, uh, safety. Yeah, safety, that's a good excuse, uh, I mean, reason.)
Last night at knitting I started work on a crocheted hat for LC. Mrs. Boss had linked a picture for an owl hat to my Facebook page so I searched out the pattern, printed it out in a legible format, and looked up how to start a crochet project with a Magic Loop, which I thought was a knitting thing. Turns out it's both, with a different meaning in each craft. I dug out some stash yarn and the right size hook before going to knitting and got the hat part done there. I started on the first earflap and got one row in before I came to a stitch I didn't know how to do. Good thing it was close to 9 o'clock, which is quitting time since that's when the store closes, so I packed up and came home to google half-double crochet decrease. Turned out to be very simple so I stayed up to make both earflaps.
The view outside this morning didn't inspire me to hurry into my clothes to race to the cafe to write this week's chapter so I stayed in my jammies (which double as my yoga togs) and finished the hat. I think LC will like it. She's a big fan of owls.
