Lucky Me!

DD, I forgot to tell you the coolest thing that happened today.  This morning I checked my emails and saw one with "Karmic Balancing" in the subject line.  For years I've donated ten bucks to the Yarn Harlot's bike rally ride and when you donate you send her an email with your name and address and with "I helped" in the subject line.  You don't have to say how much you donated or whether your form of help was putting up fliers asking for donations or talking it up at your knitting group.  People search their stashes for yarn or kits they aren't going to knit, designers donate patterns, and there's also roving for spinners that people offer as karmic balancing gifts that the Yarn Harlot hands out.  I always read those blog posts searching for my name and never find it.  But then today came.  A woman named Michele donated a kit for a Fair Isle scarf called Violets that she likes but isn't going to find time to knit, my name got drawn or selected somehow, and she's sending it to me.  Holy cats!  Remember how frustrated I got trying to learn Fair Isle on that Fake Isle hat?  Well, it's going back on the needles because if I'm going to attempt this scarf, I need a LOT of practice.

 
First thing this morning I whipped up another batch of WW granola, this one has raisins and dried apricots in it.  I like to make two batches so that I don't have to make it too often plus I like the variety with the different dried fruits.  The recipe calls for ground ginger which I thought was an odd ingredient the first time I made it, now I wouldn't make granola without it.  In fact, I put in a heaping half-teaspoon this time.  That little bite of ginger really tastes good.




It rained today.  It rained a lot.  A couple times the tornado sirens went off but the threat of tornadoes was twenty miles south of here.  I found out that they can't turn on only some of the sirens, in the world of tornado sirens it's all or nothing.  But there was a time when I did go into the basement with my knitting and my flashlight.  It had been raining with thunder and lightning grumbling and flashing all around then just around noon the wind picked up and the rain pounded down.  It reminded me of the monsoons in Singapore. (yes, we've been there and saw it in person)  I got smart and brought the patio umbrella in when the siren started the first time so it was safe in the garage when the wind slammed into the neighborhood.  We didn't lose power except for a few flickers and there aren't any trees or big branches down that I could see.  It was a good thing that the city came to cut down my dead maple tree last month; it would have fallen down for sure.

Instead of knitting when I was in the basement, I dug through the bin of swimsuit fabric and found a few lengths that I thought would be enough for version 2 of my attempt to make a suit with an over-skirt top thingy.  The trunks and under bra will be the black with white dots and the over-skirt will be the bright colored mod print.  If this one turns out the way I imagined, I'll make a pattern with some of the pattern making fabric that I use for the garment patterns that I trace off.  I also went online just now and found both of the patterns that I use for swimsuits--one on eBay and one on Amazon--that I ordered to have in reserve.  I've looked for them a few times but haven't ever found them, until tonight.  Hooray!  They're old enough that there is no chance that I'd ever find them in a store.  How old are they?  The price printed on them is $4.50; patterns today are nearly $20.



When I took a break from crawling around cutting out patterns I finished knitting the Welcome Baby Beanie for charity.  I really like the colors of this yarn.  This was an easy and pretty quick pattern to knit.  I think the pompom really makes it, don't you?





20 July--Barbara Malcolm, Horizon. 

May

It finally looked as if spring was on the way.  Weeks of cold, then warm; freezing rain,  then sun, then snow, had become a string of balmy days that promised more warmth in the future.  I had spent the last few days poring over seed catalogs and making lists.  I had enjoyed the long winter painting flowers, now I was ready to plant some.

            I’d carefully planned my trip to the garden center like a general planning a campaign.  Calling the store yesterday, I’d asked, “Will Mr. Baker be in tomorrow morning?”

“Sorry, tomorrow’s the day he works late, so he won’t be in until 1 p.m.  Would you like to leave a message?”

            “No, thank you.  I just wanted to ask him a question.  I’ll see him when I stop in.”  I felt like a fool calling ahead so I could avoid him, but decided that was better than creeping around plants and ducking behind racks of seed packets.

            I was up and out early so I would have time to shop and leave before he came in at 1 o’clock.  The garden center was just what I needed.  Walking through the greenhouses, I reveled in the earthy smells, gently touching the pale green leaves of the young plants.  I easily filled a wagon with bedding plants and seed packets, checked my watch, and was happy to see it wasn’t even noon and I was ready to check out.  A young man helped me load my car and I was ready to make my escape. 

            A sudden hard rain surprised me as I drove home, ending my gardening plans for the day.  I pulled into the garage, unloaded my plants onto the shelves I’d had Matt build along the wall, and dashed up the path into the house.  Guess Mother Nature is telling me to plant tomorrow.  Oh well.

Leaving my muddy shoes on the back porch, I spent a pleasant afternoon baking banana bread to mail to my children and grandchildren.  Living so far apart, I worked hard to stay close to my family by sending long letters every week, baking cookies for them, and reading bedtime stories for my grandchildren onto CDs.  When my sons were small, sitting on their beds reading a story had been my favorite time of day.  Those warm, clean little boy bodies crowded around me made up for all the hectic hours trying to keep them fed and from killing themselves around the farm.

           By sunset, I had three boxes filled, taped, and addressed ready for the mailman to pick up the next day.  I poured myself a glass of wine, put on a jacket to ward off the evening chill, and went out to enjoy my favorite time of day.  Out came the little can of black paint, a stripe was laid on the railing, and “Banana bread on the way!” graced the slat below.  Six months of stripes, the railing was about half black, and I was beginning to run out of slats.  Maybe I should transfer all this to a journal and repaint over everything.  Nah, it’s too much fun this way.

I saw what I thought was a weed blooming in one of the planters on the patio but after the rain I went out to see that it's a teeny tiny zinnia.  Aw, isn't it cute?  More will bloom, I'm sure of it, especially after the deluge and lightning the last couple days.  Plants like rain much more than hose water.  I don't have anything on my calendar until Thursday so I plan to walk every day now that the storm blew the humidity away and then sew up all the things I've cut out.  I'm looking forward to it.  If you need me I'll be in the basement covered in thread schnipples.
--Barbara