Life has been a jumble lately.
Yesterday I came out to my car after work (late, of course) to find that my right front tire was flat. This didn’t really surprise me because I haven’t been able to keep air in the thing to save my life and kind of just gave up on filling it up the last few weeks. The kicker is that I get off work with just enough time to get across town and pick Athrun up from school. And it was raining, can’t forget that part. You’ll be proud to know that I only panicked a little bit
I managed to snag a ride, Brock was out of class, so we picked Athrun up, put the donut on the car and drove home, dreading having to pay someone for a new tire, because I pretty much dread paying anyone for anything–except yarn. I will happily pay for yarn in almost any circumstance. At least I knew I was going to have Tuesday off, so I had plenty of time to take care of getting the tire replaced.
Having Tuesday off is not a normal thing. Last week, my place of employment played host to Kansas Book Festival, which meant I had to be at work all day long on a Saturday, which is apparently so awful it earned me an extra day off during the week. I chose Tuesday (today, for the record) not just because it makes more sense for my job, but because it seemed more special than having Monday off, because you know, that happens sometimes. Let me tell you, having Tuesday off is awesome. I didn’t have to compete with anyone else for the washer and dryer in the basement, I didn’t have anyone to mess things up while I cleaned, and nobody stepped on the sweaters.
That’s right, I dedicated my day off to fall cleaning. (That doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as spring cleaning…but it’s the same basic principle, just preparing for winter instead of recovering from it.) I cleaned the house from top to bottom, did all of the laundry, tidied closets, and washed sweaters. I love cleaning the house when there is no one home. I don’t know why, but that’s just the best time to do it. And it has been a long time since I have been home by myself for an entire day. Call me crazy, but it was heaven. I have shining floors, clean carpets, and when the weather turns for good, the family will be prepared with freshly laundered woolens.
All of this, however, has not left me very much time for knitting.
After getting distracted by two pairs of socks and a sweater, I am making a good faith effort to get my brother his birthday socks before the weather turns, even though he could probably use them now. He rides a motorcycle, and I know from my Moped days that it’s always 10 degrees cooler on a bike. So I have put all other projects aside until I can finish these.
That means my other projects look like this:
Almondine is one sock plus one sock cuff, and the yarn for the French Market socks finally arrived. I bought a lot, because I plan on doing a lot of swatching. Besides, don’t you just love the colors? I will admit, I chose these colors partly because of their names. The cream is, strangely enough, called Cream, the dark brown is called Bison, and the fawn color is called Wheat. The French Market socks will henceforth be known as Kansas Socks, because I know of a farm where I could one of each of these products within twenty miles of where I live. (The other reason I chose them is because it reminds me of the three most common Alpaca colors I have seen, and I really wanted to do these in natural colors. This way I can just pretend.)
I also have a design in my head for a sweater. And it will probably stay there for the foreseeable future.
Then there is this.
Yes, I found a craftsy class on stranding and steeking. The class was on sale, so I bought it over the weekend. I have never wanted to use the same exact colors I have seen in the pattern before, but I want that vest exactly. I just have to wait until I can afford all that yarn…but it’s so gorgeous! I have been watching the classes, and I think I can handle the steeking when it comes along–I think.
What have you been up to?