On the Needles

 

I never think I have much time to knit anymore until I look at what I've actually got on the needles. Socks. I finished another pair of man socks and have almost finished my Arne and Carlos Pairfect Pair. They were supposed to be man socks too but I think they are too small. Same number of stitches as the other pair. Different needle. Size matters.

Pimpeliesse is on the decrease side. It's prettier than it is in this photo. My camera doesn't do orange very well. 

I found a sweater that I had started for Pup last year but never finished. I'm finishing it now.

 

Altheda finally looks like a sweater but it's all plain knitting from here on and since that's no fun......

... I started Festive Doodle. It has four colors. To keep them tangle free I've got them in a box instead of a bag and it's working very well.

What I am strangely excited about is my folding knitting stand. It's not new. I've had it forever and ever. I have no idea where I got it but it's been living in a closet for years. It was covered with cat hair and terribly filthy. It got a good clean up and I love using it again. I feel so vintage carrying it from room to room to sit and knit where ever I land. If this thing could talk I'm sure it would have some tales to tell. I'm pretty sure a lot of baby sweaters came out of it-which means I have had it for over 40 years. Wow. 

Seeing Spots

 

Daughter has been sending me material she wants me to make her masks out of. She's been keeping me busy.

I was feeling pretty good about them. I've been getting better at making them. I thought......

...until she sent me a photo of her face covered in spots. Black spots. After wearing her new mask all day in the cold ice rink it seems the spotted backing material I had used rubbed off on her. She thought it was hilarious. I thought it was terrible. I was so anxious to get them made and sent off to her I had forgotten to wash the material first. What a rookie mistake. 

I won't make the same mistake with the masks she's asked me to make for her ice skating team as holiday gifts. It's already washed and ready to go. 

Twilight

 

We have had a run of spectacular weather that is more like October than November. At sunset I've been picking up my spindle basket and a box of matches and heading out. 

I've been sitting on the deck after dinner with a fire. The paper bags that come with my grocery pick up have been great for getting my little blazes started. I fill them with twigs and set them on some split logs and up they go in no time. I add a few more of our split popular logs on top and I'm all set. 

I get about a half hour of spinning time before the sun goes completely down. It's been the best half hour of the day. 

Alice's Restaurant

 

It was just going to be The Mister and I this year so I was down in the dumps on Thanksgiving morning until I saw this trending on Twitter. I hadn't thought about it in years. It really lifted my spirits and took me back to a time before I had pandemics to worry about and children to miss. I must have had Alexa play it for five hours straight while I cooked one of everything in the house.

That's no easy task in a kitchen that still looks like this. The Mister and I get all fired up about finishing the remodel from time to time and then we think about it for a while and change our minds. 

I have always started our Thanksgiving cook-a-thon with chocolate chip cookies for breakfast while we watch the parade. You can see that didn't turn out very well this year. That's what I get for being distracted making soup stock. I did get a batch to turn out later and then froze the rest of the dough.

This sad little collection is what I thought dinner was going to be last week but then I relented and did a last minute pick up of fresh things on Wednesday.

As usual my pick up order was a big surprise. I got the biggest ham I have ever cooked and two rotten sweet potatoes. Everything else was fine. I even got a chicken to roast for the kitties. 

After a family Zoom I climbed into bed with a piece of pumpkin pie and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It wasn't really a Thanksgiving to remember but it certainly was one I'll never forget. 

Grateful

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving!

Kitties in Cars Getting Coffee

 

I know, I know.....I'm supposed to be taking a blog break but I just had to share this photo Daughter sent me last night. They are trying to sell their townhouse and every time someone comes to look at it they have to load their four cats in the car and drive them around until the people leave. Yesterday they took them all through the Starbucks Drive Thru. I hate the idea that they have strangers walking through their house during a pandemic but I have to admit...this made me laugh.

PSA

 

I'm taking a break from my break to come here to say that Son in Law's grandmother lost her battle with Covid last night. She died alone, after almost a month on a vent, down the hall from where her husband of 60 plus years died just two weeks ago today. The only thing they did wrong was go to the doctor's for a flu shot. 

I know I'm preaching to the choir but I have to say it anyway. STAY SAFE. STAY HOME. If not for yourself, for the people who have to sit by the phone waiting for updates. If you think not being able to be with your kitty at the end of their life is bad...you don't want to know what it's like when it's your mom or your grandma. 

Hoover: ?-2020

 

It seems 2020 is not done with me yet. Yesterday I had to say goodbye to Hoover.

The day started like any other.  He had his customary second breakfast and seemed fine.

He had been going downhill rapidly lately but I was very happy to see he was up on the kitty table waiting for me when I got up. By afternoon things took a terrible turn. I could tell he was agitated. His breathing was off. By late afternoon he was in full pant and coughing up fluid. What followed was a desperate ride to the emergency vet clinic all the way in Annapolis. It didn't look good. He was in heart failure. It was time to let go. 

Earning your kitty wings in the time of Covid is hard. You can't be with them. They bring them outside to a little tent for you to say goodbye and they are wide awake and begging to go home. Those kitty paws digging at me pleading to take him in my arms and leave with him will haunt me forever. Walking away from him was terrible. Terrible. I'm broken. So broken.

I have a lot of cats but Hoover was MY kitty because I was HIS. He loved me like a dog loves someone. He followed me around all day long. I didn't know him long. He showed up on the deck in 2015 and adopted me. He was an old cat then and only got so much older but of all the cats I've ever had he was the ONE and I will miss him terribly.

Rest in peace my sweet boy. It was so hard to let you go.

Death in the time of Covid stinks. 

I said I was broken and I am.

I am taking a blog break until December 1st.

No one needs to hear the things I feel like writing at the moment.

Stay safe.

Stay home. 

Say What?

 "baby boomers are going to get abused and treated like garbage in the retirement homes. Literally everyone hates baby boomers now. Maybe you boomers shouldn't have been so selfish and arrogant and greedy. Enjoy those retirement homes, and good luck, boomers!"

Someone left this comment on my blog the other day. I didn't publish it but I did think about it- a lot. 

It's funny how your idea of who you are and what other people think you are can collide so spectacularly.

Selfish? Greedy? We were all so poor by today's standards and always fighting for a better world. We ended the draft. Got rid of Nixon. Marched for Civil Rights. Started the Women's Lib's movement.  Greenpeace was founded in 1971 for crying out loud. I see us as the Woodstock Generation all peace and love but it seems that others see us as........

Really? It would never have occurred to me to blame my parent's generation-The Greatest Generation for my failures but it seems the Boomers are fair game.  We never agreed with our parents but respected their contributions and then mobilized to re-make the world the way we wanted it to be. 

Who said we "collected" wealth? I remember working my behind off for everything I have and what I have isn't much. I never had a new car until I was in my late 30's. I had student debt even though I went to a local community college and lived at home. Our adult lives were all about the kids. We gave them so much more than our parents were ever able to give us which was pretty much nothing but love and a full belly.

Sure, there are rotten Boomers just like their are rotten folks of every generation but painting us all with the same brush is just silly. It does make me mad to see how apathetic the younger generations are about the things we fought so hard to give them. For crying out loud, how hard is it to vote? Ever wonder why the folks in DC are so darn old? It's because us boomers keep voting the same old fools in. Don't like it? Vote them out. I for one would love to see it. I'm tired of them too.

I don't know who you are Anonymous but you it seems you've got some things you need to work out. And don't forget....you'll also be old one day and your kids won't think much of you either. It's not a lot of fun being constantly judged by standards that didn't even exist for most of your life. 

Rain, Rain

 

It's been really raining here. Really raining. My flood alerts keep going off but we're okay. It was so dark and dreary I had a hard time getting interested in doing anything. If I'd been here all alone I'd have spent the day in bed watching movies. Have you seen The Queen's Gambit on Netflix? I LOVED it. What I did do is try to put all my circulars back in their packages. It didn't work. I am either missing a whole lot of needles or a whole lot of packages. I am not sure which. 

After that failure I decided cleaning up the soap corner of the room was a better idea. I tossed an awful lot of expired or opened ingredients. If and when I go back to making soap I am starting fresh. Like everything else it's been hard to get supplies online. Everything is always sold out. I have a hard time thinking everyone is home making soap but I guess they are. 

And as if we don't have enough to worry about......

Stay safe.

Stay home. 

Mail Call

 

Altheda has been in time out because I couldn't find my large stitch holders. It was time to separate for the sleeves and I had no idea what I did with them after I finished Mosi.

Amazon came to the rescue once again with this nifty kit. Now I have plenty of everything. 

I also got another delivery from 123 stitch. I ran our of rust colored floss for the Tree of Life sampler and I couldn't just put it in the cart. This Quaker sampler came along for the ride. I like that it is almost all in one color with some touches of red and gold here and there. I would have liked to start this in December but I forgot to add the floss and the fabric to the cart. 

Someone asked me about the ear loops on the masks I've been making. Daughter sent these to me. They are infant headbands. You cut them to about 6" and sew them into your mask. 

I got a few more made today. Daughter wanted some fall colored ones. Now she is already talking about finding some ice skating themed material for winter. If anyone could turn masks into a fashion statement it would be Daughter. 

Days of Gold

 

I love the view up the driveway at this time of year. Finally we have some color. It doesn't last long but while it does I like to look at it. The world is practically glowing.

Notice I have no socks on. It's in the 70's. I have no sleeves on either. 

My feral impatiens are still going strong among the dying grass and the leaves. It feels like spring and looks like fall. It's so weird.

My last fire was a bust. It's too humid. It's been in the 70 percent range again and everything is too damp. It just smoked. Bummer.

We spent the day walking Pup in the town's deserted parking lots since the boardwalk was pretty crowded on Monday. The nice weather brings everyone out. Then I came home and tackled some binding. The little Awesome quilt will soon be a done deal if I can just force myself to sit still. It's just too nice to be inside. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

Woo hoo....I got one flower done on the lawn. It's really slow going right now. I've got too many other things I'd rather be doing.

I've been putting snowflakes on the Tree of Life Sampler. I think they are snowflakes. They are fun to stitch.

It's not exactly a tiny needle but rug hooking is more like stitching than anything else. Silvia Squirrel now has a tail. I've been looking forward to getting into those pumpkins she's sitting on. Now I need to see if I have enough orange.