Just Wait For It

You may remember my mentioning the other day my concern that the satellite dish replacement overnight Wednesday would cause problems watching the Bruins exhibition game Thursday night. I am happy (and somewhat surprised) to report that it seems to be working. Skeptical me thought there may have been a delay to the project, but they claim on Twitter that it's done and only a few channels aren't working yet; since the NHL Network seems to be fine, I'm good with that.

However. If you thought that meant that today would be a good day, let me correct you. Any day that includes 4 spots of cat-puke cleanup before 9 AM isn't great. And then there's this.

Isn't that a nice big hole in our ceiling? That's where the water leak was.

It was almost funny that after my mother let the workers upstairs know about it, one of them came down to look at the dripping spot and said basically that, well, it wasn't them, they hadn't done anything. Um, want to bet? I acquit them of meaning to do it, but yeah, someone did (or didn't) do something.

So now we have the hole. The plumbers have come and hopefully fixed the cause of the drip, and we'll see what happens tomorrow. But overall, this is NG, Not Good.

And so tiresome. What a day, week, month, year this has been.

It does look, as of now, like the big storm (not yet a hurricane), Isaias, might not hit us* directly this weekend. Please, please, please. Leave our roof intact.

*Not that I want it to hit hard anywhere people are. But, you know, self-interest and all.

A Smile

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

After all my complaints (which I still stand by), it's my order from Vegan Yarn: Albireo, which is fingering weight, half cotton and half bamboo (okay, 51-49). Nicely soft! And yeah, very blue. What can I say? I like the blues.

Every smile helps!

Trying to Breathe Through It

Before I moved to Florida, when I was very stressed out by the whole process of preparation, I came across this photo:

I found this kitten very soothing to look at. For a while, I had it as the background on my computer, so that if I felt stressed, I could look at it and breathe deeply and do the "this too shall pass" mantra. It was helpful.

When I saw this photo yesterday, it hit me the same way.

Aww, look at the cute cat photo, instead of thinking about the way life feels right now!

I am someone who gets a lot of pleasure from anticipation*. This can be in part because I like to be ready, so for example before a trip (remember those?), I would make detailed packing lists and plans and think it all through in advance. I know I've written about this before, how I don't do spontaneous, but I sure do anticipation well. I even love tracking packages and knowing when things are expected to come, whether the item in question is exciting or just necessary.

*The good kind, anyway. There's also a bad kind of anticipation, like when it's momentarily quiet from upstairs but one knows the quiet won't last...

But these days? There isn't a lot of concrete anticipation in my life right now. I don't know when I'll be able to travel again. Other things are less distant but still far off, like the end of the demo noise from upstairs (months and months away, and the finish isn't set in stone). Even the two yarn orders I'm waiting for right now are coming from Canada, and thus not as trackable. I'm sure they'll get here sometime, but no saying when.

Even hockey, which I am looking forward to, is full of lots of worries and uncertainties right now. Running through all the good things in my life that I am lucky to have, well, it's all true and it's not making a dent in my mood. 

I could just use something that is both unambiguously positive and time-specific to look forward to. I miss that. Sigh. Vent, vent, vent.

Still Kind of Blah

Nothing (new) is wrong here*, but my ability to cope, to be even slightly cheerful, seems to be at a low ebb. It happens. Things will look brighter again.

*Well, except that we learned today that the cable company is replacing their satellite dish overnight Wednesday, and I am highly dubious that the TV will be working right by Thursday night, for the first live Bruins game in over four months, but maybe they will prove me wrong. 

Meanwhile, at least Cats of Instagram gave me this cheering photo today.

The bunny feet, the toe floof, the tongue! Adorable and soothing on a day when I needed it.

The Cat Is Cute

I haven't done much this weekend, in terms of physical effort anyway, so I'm not sure why I'm so physically tired this afternoon. I am, for sure, though, and summoning coherent thought seems to be beyond me right now. Still, I can share some pretty cute cat photos, so your visit here is not for nothing.

Very Much TGIF

I worked on my sock during the Zoom SnB last night, so I have more fun progress to show!

I started the heel flap just as the purple went to grey.

And it was grey for the whole flap, and into the turn, before the colors started back up.

Which meant that as I picked up the stitches and worked in the round again, the color went from the color, so to speak:

So much fun!

A Noisy Week

Between the demo upstairs, and the nearly-all-day-Tuesday process of getting the new air conditioner put in, and the roofers who showed up yesterday and today to wash the roof (yes, really*), and even more tree trimming next door, it has been a noisy week around here. One evening I said to my mother that I felt like I had spent the day in a metal barrel, rolling down a rocky hillside. Battered.

*No, I couldn't tell you why.

But! There's almost always something somewhere to make you smile, when I'm in the mood to try (which isn't always), and I have a couple today. One is knitting, as I have been going on with the sock I started on Saturday. In fact, I've made a lot of progress, since I just love watching the colors come along.

Isn't that fun? I am having the best time watching it. Striped Turtle Toes from Turtlepurl Yarns.

The other thing that makes me smile is, of course, Maggie. Enjoy.

Sunset

My head's pretty bad (demo noise and roofer noise today), so I'll just give you these photos I took last night, of sunset as we drove over a bridge (don't worry, Mom was driving). They're pretty similar, but do you have a favorite?

To Be Clear: That Is How It Seems

I am so dismayed and discouraged by the stories of people aggressively refusing to wear masks, and reacting with aggression and fury when they are asked to. This really sums it up for me:

And this one:

Waiting and Waiting, For This and That

I guess all the little things that I seem to be waiting for right now wouldn't feel quite so weighty if at the same time one wasn't waiting for the pandemic to end, or seem under control, or for anything about it to be definite (other than wear a mask, please wear a mask, you are wearing a mask, aren't you?). But it does seem as though I'm currently waiting for a lot of smaller things.

• A new air handler; our air conditioner has been sounding, shall we say, cranky lately, and we determined it was time to replace it--you know, before it decided to die on us in the middle of summer. Knock wood that doesn't happen before Tuesday, because that's when they're coming! So this one is a wait with an end in sight.
• New mattresses; we had been talking for a while about replacing our mattresses, which are old and not super comfortable, but that got (of course) delayed by the pandemic. A few weeks ago, we went into a local shop (masked, of course) and tested some out and I am in love with the one I'm getting. But they didn't have two in stock (Mom and I are getting the same kind), so we had to wait for the order. They're coming tomorrow, and I can't wait; knowing the old one is being replaced has somehow made it seem worse than it was. So this too is a wait with an end in sight.
• Unlike, say, the roofers. You may remember when I said that the truck was finally gone, but "Is the roofing actually for real done this time? I have no confirmation." As I mentioned a few days later, we were told that they did in fact have "a few more days" of work to do. They showed up, oh, Thursday or Friday. And came again Saturday. And may finish someday, theoretically, but I am calling this a wait with no concrete end in sight.
• COVID test results: there was a local testing event a week ago Saturday, so Mom and I went and got swabs stuck in our noses. Not that we're having symptoms, but it seemed like a good opportunity. But we waited all week and the results haven't come yet. In theory this is a wait with an end, but I don't feel like it's in sight yet. Oh, wait! Sunday afternoon, while this post was in draft, I got my results: SARS-CoV-2 not detected. Well, there's one thing.
• The mail has been less reliable lately, have you noticed? As the administration tries to kill off the postal service before the election? I am definitely noticing more packages that "will be delivered" on a certain day being delayed, and while none of it is urgent, it can get frustrating (especially when one is shopping therapeutically, so to speak). I ordered a book with knitting patterns in it (there's a shrug I want to make, for those cold-arms-at-the-desk days), and it was going to be delivered Friday except it was not, and it hasn't been scanned since Wednesday in Mississippi. They're not even guessing yet when it will arrive. Sigh.
• Yarn orders from Canada are even more so, which makes sense when you're dealing with two mail systems, plus a border crossing, and the pandemic, but it's a bummer when you just want your yarn to come.

In conclusion

One good thing that happened (so I'm not only mentioning complaints): recently they came and tested all the fire alarms in the building, a process that is by definition and by necessity godawful loud. And they actually did it when I was at water aerobics on Tuesday morning. I missed all the noise. Wonderful!

Meanwhile, Sock Knitting

My sock knitting has slowed down since the pandemic started, because socks are my carry-around knitting and I'm doing so much less going out, but today I finally finished the pair that I cast on in October and (re)started in January.

Pattern, as (almost) always, is the Simple Skyp Socks. Yarn is String Theory Colorworks Continuum Self Striping in colorway Dilution. Love this yarn! That touch of cashmere, mmm.

Also, of course, I cast on the next pair of socks this morning. I may not go out much, but I want to have the option.

Same pattern, and this yarn is Turtlepurl Yarns Striped Turtle Toes, in colorway What Does it Mean.

This one is going to be fun to watch.

Maybe It's Time, Sweater Knitting Edition

At my local-knitter-zoom-SnB last night, we were talking sweaters and swatching* and someone asked me if I swatch. I said that I often don't, since making smaller or less fit-demanding objects, like shawls, means I can just start the project and see if I like how it's looking. I don't make a lot of sweaters or other items where fit is much more imperative.

*Not a knitter? You make a swatch before starting a project, to see if the yarn and needles are going to lead to the right size/fabric.

But, I mentioned, I started a sweater years ago (and put it aside to work on a wedding-present blanket) that, though I thought I had measured it, the first try ended up waaaayyyy too big (as shown here; blogs are so handy). And because I may be a clutter-bug, but I'm not completely disorganized, I knew where the project was, and could pull it out to show them.

It's the Hitch Pullover, using Ella Rae Amity in colorway 131, a nice blue.

It's roughly 75% done, but will take some figuring to decide where I had got to in the pattern, how I like the fit with the size I am now, etcetera. But maybe, now that I finally finished up the 2-in-1 socks, I'll take a stab at it.

Non-Yarn Mail Day; Sock Progress

Look what came!

At a quick glance, I can't see that I blogged last month about ordering this bag from Neighborhood Fiber's Black Lives Matter collection; I ordered this and the pin, which will be coming separately. The bag is very well made, I love the design, and I'm going to be glad to carry it, you know, when I go places. Which isn't often, but anyway.

And today was That C-Level Meeting at work, so I set the camera to show me only from the head up, and knitted my way through it. Here was when the meeting started:

And here's where I got to by the end (it ran under an hour this time, in the grateful for small mercies department).

And I worked on during my Zoom-knitting group meeting tonight, and got close to done.

So which sock yarn will be up next? We'll see; I have plenty to choose from!

One of THOSE Days

Remember Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? I had one of those today. Nothing major, but just so much minor.

Tomorrow will be better.

Yarny Yarny Yarn

As a small update to the "the roofers are gone!" post, we have been told that they still have a few days' work to do. But the truck is still gone, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Further updates, etcetera.

On to yarn. I have an interesting example of why you're supposed to buy enough yarn for your project all at once. See these two?

In the same family, but not the same color, right?

Well, but yeah. 

I bought them different times, and fortunately wasn't planning to use them together.

Now, I'm not going to count how often I have said this recently, but: hey, guess what, I got more yarn!

This pin really is all that for me this year.

First off is thanks to a July 4th sale at Purple Lamb (I got some of her yarn back in April, too):

These are both on her So Silky Sock base, half merino and half silk, so very soft; this one is Rosy-Fingered Dawn.

And this is Midsummer Night's Dream

They'll make a lovely silky shawl, don't you think? I haven't picked a pattern yet, but I'm sure I can find something.

The other yarn that came was actually an old one, via a destash; the yarn is the sadly unavailable periwinkle sheep sock dream, with which I've made about my favorite socks ever, and I found someone on Ravelry willing to sell a beautiful blue skein.

Is that my color, or what?

That's all ... for now...