The Fabric Store is a Dangerous Place (but I Still Miss Hancock)

Durwood and I met friends for brunch this morning and then went to Fresh Thyme market because they had fresh asparagus for $1.48/lb.  He'd never been there so I dropped him off to go up and down every aisle and read all the labels while I wandered next door to JoAnn Fabrics.  (now isn't that convenient?)  All I wanted was  a package of those little plastic earring backs that keep earring wires from being pulled out of your lobes by the weight of the earring.  I found them, a whole bock of them, for only $2.49.  The thing that puzzles me about them is there are 75 in the package and earrings come in pairs.  Shouldn't there be 74 or 76?

Naturally I couldn't go into JoAnn Fabrics without cruising the fabric aisles, especially the Red Tag sale racks.  I found this cotton & spandex paisley fabric that will make another Dress No. 1 for only $5/yard.  There was a mob at the cutting tables.  When I took number 86, they were just calling number 66.  *sigh*  That is a dangerous situation because there was a rack of cute flannel right by where I stood to try to stay out of the way until my number was called.  It was on sale for only $3.49/yard.  I almost managed not to buy any but then I glanced to make sure a lady could get her cart past me and saw the owl print, then another lady came looking at the bolts and pulled out the llama print.  That did it, I was a goner, but in my defense I only bought a yard of each of them to make doll clothes or doll blankets.  (neither fabric is suitable for children's sleepwear)  With the coupon for 25% off your total purchase I only spent $21.  Whew.

 

I spent Friday Night Knitting re-charting and then starting to duplicate stitch the words on LC's Rebel Girls hat--when I wasn't showing off my finished Sudoku afghan.  The worsted weight yarn is the right stuff to use, and I figured out how to make a stitch from one row of stitches to the next one (instead of side by side) for those pesky slanted letter parts.  See how good the N looks?  The next R will be better (I'm not going back).  In case you're wondering I make a stitch upside down using one leg from the left column and one from the center column.  (If this makes no sense and you want to try your hand it it, leave me a comment and I'll try 'splain better.)  Even using just three columns per letter you can see that the G wraps around so it's a good thing I planned to make each word in a different color yarn.  Ooh, I'm excited that I made it work.

November 4--Vincente Alban, The Indian Chief of Quito in Full Dress.  "If that's really the way the Chief of Quito dressed I'll eat my hat," Mack said. "In fact, I'll eat your hat too."  Frannie slapped his arm.  "Oh for god's sake, Mack, of course he didn't dress like that.  The painter probably never laid eyes on the Indian unless someone dragged the poor savage onto a ship."  She glanced at her guidebook and moved to the next painting.  "And keep your voice down," she said over her shoulder.  "Keep your voice down, keep your voice down," he said under his breath.  This was their second day in Madrid and he wanted to do something other than shuffle through museums and cathedrals.  He wanted to get something to eat on a plate that was bigger than the palm of his hand and to find a place to sit in the shade to have a beer and people watch, especially if every second or third person was a pretty girl.  That sounded like a real vacation to him.

Funny, as I was typing that I realized that Mack looks like the guy who drove the bookmobile I worked on when I got my first job out of college.  Conrad was an old Teamster who'd driven a Coke truck in Watts during the 1968 riots and his wife at the time was from here.  He was something.  He called all the women at the library "Baby" because he couldn't remember their names.  They were terribly offended until I asked him why and explained it to them.  He called me "Slippery" and I never asked why.  He was a great guy.  We had fly-swatting competitions when we parked the bookmobile near a stables in the summer.  Wow, talk about spiraling down memory lane.  Makes me smile.  Thanks for the memories, Mack.
--Barbara