Home Improvement

 

Ouf...what a day we had yesterday. First we tackled my new TV. It replaced the relatively new Fire TV that I HATED.  Would this one work with the cable box? Nope. We spent hours on the phone with Comcast trying to get it to work with no luck. It didn't matter to me because I don't watch anything on cable, I stream but The Mister, who must be the last person in the country who pays for cable, wants his Sunday football and firmly believes that cable is the only way to watch it. Sigh.... 

Then it was on to the new door knob. None of that was easy either or cheap. The replacement cost me almost $200. As much as the darn TV.  In between all of this we had to unclog the washing machine drain that runs through the crawl space that decided to back up. What a day. 

At least it was a rainy day. I love rainy days. This is the view from my kitchen sink. The rain made everything so pretty and cozy in spite of having to put on the AC. Now that those big trees are gone we have color out back. 

All our little native trees are putting on quite a show now that they are not overshadowed by the big guys. It hurt to see them go down but I love my new view. 

Friday Fluff: Possibilities

 

The fiber I ordered to try and match the Pimpeliesse has started to arrive. I've been looking for pinks, oranges and purples to cannabilize. I'm still waiting for one more to show up before I make any decisions.

The darker fiber is Malabrigo and it's the rattiest braid I've ever seen. 

I've bought a lot of fiber in my time but have never seen anything like this. It's a good thing I wasn't planning on spinning it as is. It would take a lot of pre-drafting to straighten this mess out. 

Two weeks in and I think I'm heading towards the back end of this rash thing. I'm still not tempted to pick up the wool and finish these singles but I did work on some socks and my Stephen West MKAL yesterday morning. That's a good sign that things are finally clearing up. 

Peak

 

There's been a lot of drama out in the ghost garden. First the good news. We passed the town's test and our case is officially closed. The city dude who came out yesterday was rather impressed with our efforts to replant the required 24 trees. 

The reason we called them to come out now is the bad news. We hadn't covered up any of the pines and the deer have destroyed them. Only this one loblolly out of four will survive the brutal attack. Two of the Eastern Pines were munched to death also.  We covered them all up so the city wouldn't notice what bad shape they were in. I cried for days after I saw what happened. Those pines were beautiful. So strong and healthy. I'm heartbroken.

All the other trees that have been covered all year are doing fine. The red maples are particularly beautiful under their shrouds. 

All the native trees are finally beginning to show off their fall color. Here's the view up my driveway.

I've even got a rose. The deer have been so busy destroying my trees that they must have missed this one. 

The wetlands that surround us are in their golden glory phase. Unfortunately, it's been so warm that I haven't been out much to enjoy any of it. Sunlight and rash do not get along and neither does sweating so I'm missing the best of the season being inside and grumpy. The old rash is starting to fade but I still seem to be breaking out in other places. I wish I could figure out the cause. I'm so over it. 

Wednesday WIPs: Acrylic Edition

 

In my present state of rashiness, wool and I are not friends. All of my woolly projects are on hold until I get some relief which I hope is soon. That means all of my non woolly knits are getting a lot more attention than they usually do. I finished an entire row of the Hue Shift in just a few days.

This is a chunky hat in Brava that I started last Christmas. I've picked it up again.

Then there is this. The Holiday Doodle Cowl is going back in action today as soon as I figure out what comes next. This thing is so big that I've run out of winter options in the pattern book. 

TNT: Still Spotty

 

I'm still all itchy and scratchy with my spots but I did finish all the spots on Matter's House. I was only going to do a few around the house but ended up doing them all. This is now officially an FO. 

Not quite an FO yet is Patchwork Automne. I did stitch in the last border box and that green leaf on the left but plan on taking my time in November to get the rest done. Like most of the comments I got yesterday, it's too early to get out the Christmas projects. I don't usually get all holly jolly until mid December. All bets are off though if it snows before then like it did last year. 

This was December 5th.

This was December 14th. It was a very good year if, like me, you are a fan of the white stuff.

Sweet Stuff

 

Our family tradition is to make donuts on Halloween and this year I took a shortcut and used a King Arthur baking mix.

The Big Grand and I overfilled the pan so we had some strange looking donuts but they were good. 

After eating a tub full of candy on Halloween, I had to force myself to go into Ikea on the way home from Daughter's to get my Christmas cookies. They didn't have my usual small tin of holiday gingersnaps so I bought a big tin and two boxes of them along with a chocolate Advent calendar. 

It's a bit of whiplash to go from Halloween right into Swedish Jul but Daughter had already declared it the first day of Christmas that morning. After we left to head home she was packing up her boys to go to Home Goods for their Christmas decor before it was all gone. 

Betty's not exactly sweet but she's not sour either and in order to keep her that way she can't be put in the fridge. That means I have to pack her up and take her with me so I can feed her. I bought her this new heated travel case that she absolutely loved. She made beautiful bubbles all weekend in it. 

The night before we left I made another one of those easy peasy two loaf pan loaves and proved to myself it wasn't a fluke. Betty may not be sweet but she's a real sweetheart. Along with a couple of avocados, she kept me fed all weekend while everyone else was eating Goblin Franks (hot dogs).

Fright Night

 

We spent Halloween up at Daughter's house again this year so I could give out candy while they went trick or treating.

Trick or treating was from 5-8 and it was off to a slow start while it was still light. Pup and I manned the porch. I did some knitting. I ended up giving out 3 huge baskets of candy. I was worried I might run out. There were So. Many. Kids.

'

There was a lot of oohing and ahhhing over Daughter's immense pumpkin display. 

Of course, there was drama. The little rash I thought was a touch of contact dermatitis kept spreading. I spent 2 hours in Urgent Care the night before making sure it wasn't something worrisome. It's an allergic reaction, that's certain but to what, who knows. I'm suspecting it's to a new medication I just started and so did the doctor so I'm discontinuing that until I can find a new primary care physician. When I called his office to try to get an appointment, they said he'd left the practice. Jeesh. You'd think they'd have given me some warning.