Sitting Pretty, or at least prettier

The chair I was using at my desk has been getting less and less comfortable recently, which could be due to a number of factors:

• Age (its: an old chair that was breaking down)
• Age (mine: an older body getting creakier and more arthritic)
• Pandemic pounds; enough said
• More hours sitting in it, with a few Zoom meetups a week adding to the butt-in-chair hours

Whatever the reason or reasons, it was time and past time to get a new one. Last weekend, I went to Staples and sat in All The Chairs, but while I got down to one I liked more than the others, I didn't love it enough to pay for it. 

This Saturday, I went to Office Depot and went through the same routine, getting it down to this one chair. I sat in it, thinking about how I liked it better than the rest, but wasn't sure I loved it, and boy, these things aren't cheap, are they, but then I considered my tendency toward decision paralysis*, and I threw my metaphorical hands up in the air, reminded myself how much my hips had hurt after work the day before, and bought it. 

*The delusion that there is One Right and Perfect Solution to a search, if only I keep looking, instead of any number of possible items that would work just fine

I also paid them extra to put it together for me, which is a service I highly recommend, particularly if you too have bad hands (or back, coordination, upper body strength, or any number of other reasons). They need to be advertising this all over the chair section, if you ask me; I didn't see any signs at all, but since I had seen signs for something similar at Staples the previous trip, I asked ("Can I pay you to put it together for me?"), and oh sure, they do that too ("Twelve dollars, it will be ready tomorrow."). 

So I went back yesterday to pick it up, rolled it right out of the store (instead of carrying the ~50-pound box), and here it is.

And with the chair it's replacing. Buh-bye!

My mother was concerned about it fitting in my car, but the Kia Soul is surprisingly roomy for things like that. I had folded the back seats down, and though lifting it up and in was awkward, there was no trouble with the fit.

It didn't even block the rear window.

I can't tell you how much more comfortable it is. Ahh. Though Maggie does not approve; it makes different noises, which startle her. Cats are even less fond of change than I tend to be. And happy though I am, as I fidget with the height and settings, I am ready for that to be set.

To segue neatly into the next topic, here is the old chair displaying the bag'o'yarn that recently came into the thrift shop where my mother volunteers.

Pretty impressive amount, yes? We have to assume that the knitter either died, or at least is unable to knit anymore. Here it is all spread out.

That's a lot of yarn! Unfortunately, it's mostly mohair, which isn't a favorite of mine to work with (or wear). But one hates to turn down an offer of yarn, since you never know what treasures might be in that bag. And look at it all!

Lots of pretty blues and greens.

Labeled and not labeled, small amounts and large; it's a mix.

I'll be rehoming most of it, so if you see anything you like, let me know; I can provide details, more pictures, etc.

We Recommend

It had been a while for us.

If it's been a while since you watched The Muppet Movie, may I suggest you do so soon? It really is wonderful.

 

A Little Old New York

I came across this today: A site where you can look at photos of every building in the five boroughs on New York in the 1940s. The buildings, the people, the cars! It's very interesting to poke around in. (Be sure to click on Outtakes! Most of them are pictures that didn't come out, but some of them are clear as day, just vehicles in the way or something similar.)

There's also a version from the 1980s, which I expected to look more familiar to me, but which had (to me) more of a gritty 70s vibe. What do you think?

Note that they don't navigate the same way, which caught me off guard. But poke around, it's cool!

Moods of Maggie

 

Sock It To Me

The other night, being close to finishing the sock, I knit some decreases and then tried it on to see if it was a good length.

Yup! No toes showing.

So that was 8 stitches left on the needle, making a nice square toe that seems to fit the shape of my own toes better than the typical.

Maggie was bemused. "That's inside-out!"

I know, kitty, I was weaving in the ends. Here it is, right-side out, and on the sock blocker (though not yet washed, which will smooth it out a little more).

I really love how the colors worked around the heel.

Although, full disclosure, the purple-to-purple on the other side has a little grey in between.

But still very much fun socks.

I cast on the second one Sunday night, and like the first, it has two stitches of red at the start.

So they should be real, identical twins; we'll see.

I have quite a lot of yarn left over, 17 grams of a 50-gram ball. I think I might make some matching wrist warmers (like these [blog link there, Ravelry link here], that I made years ago), unless something else comes to mind. It's a shame to waste such perfect stripes!

Early to Bed

 I am not made for late nights.

Of the Weekend

Tonight's Bruins game doesn't start until 8, which gives me time to expand on my teaser post of yesterday. I know you're dying of curiosity, right?

Mom and I were going into town to have lunch and run a few errands after my haircut. If it weren't for masks everywhere, and hand sanitizer, and one-way aisles in the stores, what a perfectly normal Saturday, right? Sigh.

As I was driving up, farther from home than I generally go these days/months, it occurred to me that we would be passing the yarn store where I used to go for knitting group on Thursday nights, and I decided I wanted to stop in and see how it was going. Had a nice chat* with the owner about how the store is doing, the new yarns she's getting and trying to get in, how she's trying to schedule trunk shows but no one is booking them yet, and so on, and while we talked, I wandered around picking up this yarn and that. Because of course I wanted to buy something while I was there. Once I picked up this skein of Shibui Lunar, I had my choice.

*I wish she had been wearing a mask ... but I kept mine on, anyway.

It has a lovely light springiness to it. As it should, I suppose, being merino and silk.

So that was fun. On to lunch; guess where?

PF Chang's, out on the patio. Delicious lunch and wonderful leftovers.

We went to Costco (my first step* in looking for an office chair; I really need a new one), stopped at Aldi, then came home to rest from our exertions. It was fun, but strange at the same time; I mean, that's conversations with two different people, face to face, in the same day! Three, kind of, as we ran into some people Mom knew in Aldi, and chatted briefly with them. In a time when everything is strange, it was good to add some fun to it.

*For the second step, I went up to Staples today and tried out their (much wider, naturally) selection. Figured out which one I liked best of the lot, but didn't like it enough to shell out what it cost. The search goes on, I suppose to Office Depot next.

Teaser

 

Toe Time!

I was going to throw a quick picture of the sock-in-progress up last night, but once again Google Photos was doing the thing of not showing the photos I had just taken, even though they were visible in the app on my phone. So frustrating. But this morning, they were right where they belonged, so here I go:

This shows the color as a bit more grey than it really is, but the one below shows it as more blue. Somewhere in between!

I do love this yarn.

More Startitis Thoughts

I haven't put away the yarn that came in last week from Sweater Sisters (I like to contemplate new yarn for a while before tucking it into the stash), and I came across a pattern that I think might work well for the three skeins together. The pattern calls for two colors, but it's also for heavier yarn (DK), so I think I could modify it to make it similar size (or larger) for fingering yarn, and thus use all three. See what I mean?

The pattern is a yarn-company freebie* called Tussah Kissed (based on the name of their yarn)--well, on Ravelry it's actually called F959 Shawl, but on Plymouth Yarn's website, they call it Tussah Kissed, and the PDF is named both, so pick your poison. 

*Note that is a written pattern, not charted, which I know is no problem to some knitters and a drawback to others; also, it's a new pattern, so if you want to see other people's versions of it, not yet. 

I haven't even wound the yarn, let alone committed to this pattern, but I'm pondering it. Thinking yarny thoughts.