Am I This Kind of Knitter

Believe it or not, there are things going on in my life that do not revolve around a certain orange cat!

I mean, he is the highlight of my week. But far be it from me not to use this space for my regular chatter, venting, and complaining!

After a cat photo.

In knitting, it's good to know yourself, and what kind of knitter you are. (This may extrapolate to other crafts--I wouldn't be surprised if it did--but I will stick to what I know.) Do you prefer making lacy shawls? Then ignore that sale on bulky yarn. Do you make a lot of sweaters? Then don't buy that single skein of yarn, no matter how lovely. That kind of thing.

One thing that's true for me is that generally, I prefer to know what I'm getting (into). I don't want to do a mystery knit-a-long, because I may not like the project. I don't want to get a mystery grab bag of yarn, because how do I know I would like the colors? Like that.

So it is perhaps inexplicable for me to have ordered a yarn advent set. 

If you're not familiar, some yarn dyers will create a themed set that one opens from December first as a countdown to Christmas. (I believe that some people will plan to knit a bit every day, so that they have a finished object by Christmas, though goodness, that seems ambitious to me, with everything else going on in December.)

The reason I ordered it anyway is that I was beguiled by the inspiration photo that Purple Lamb put up. Are these my colors, or what?

(The image is fuzzy, but you get the idea.)

I couldn't resist. Well, I didn't resist, anyway. And the order was delivered this week. I was eager to see what the colors actually are, because I had kind of forgotten the whole point of it being an advent. I opened the box, and:

Ah, yes. Little daily boxes. Of course.

So what it comes down to is this; I have a few options.

1. Open them all now. So far I have managed not to do this, even though I want to know.
2. Wait until December 1 and do it the way you're supposed to.
   2a. Possibly give the box to a friend to hide for me until December 1.
3. Start opening them on November 1, instead.

I'm leaning toward 3, as you may have guessed. Because waiting until December?

What would you do?

More Newman

Newman is settling in well. Even the medication I have to give him for a week isn't causing him to hate me, though he isn't at all fond of the process. He's eating well, drinking water, using the litter box, sleeping a lot. Which makes sense, as they estimate he's ten, a grand age for a cat but hopefully with many happy years ahead of him.

Here he is when I first met him at the shelter, ready to accept scritches.

Riding home. He didn't love the carrier, but he was good, and far quieter than both Maggie, and Carlos before her. We even went into Petsmart to buy food, and the cashier was delighted with him.

Home and investigating.

He has a huge purr and is almost violently in love with being petted and scritched. His head-butt is a thing to be cautious of.

His claws really need to be trimmed, ouch.

How many pictures do I have of Maggie like this?

Passing behind me on the couch.

Hanging out in the office.

Here he is attempting to look innocent after he made strong and endless passes at my dinner Monday night.

"What? I've been here over 24 hours, we should be sharing."

So far, so very good!

Say Hello

Meet Newman!

It's Time to Go Cat Shopping

I am finally ready for another cat, not replacing Maggie of course, but following in her footsteps. Paw prints? Anyway, the county's adopt-a-pet org has a form to fill out, and while much of it is simply factual, contact info and the like, I was delighted by two of the questions:

Yes, I am looking for a couch potato for my library, thank you!

I don't know if it will happen this weekend, but of course you will be among the first to know. Prepare yourselves for a return to the cat-photo-heavy blog this used to be.

Trip Recap: Saturday and Sunday

Continuing from last time:

Saturday, it was time to go to the Apple Festival! For new readers, this started when I was a kid and has grown tremendously. There are rides and games, but it's mostly a craft fair, and local organizations have food tents and fundraise from it. We used to visit my grandparents that weekend most every year, and since it's near my birthday, I always connect the two in my mind. I haven't been since 2019, though, what with covid and Mom's health and the hurricane last year (eff you, Milton), so I was very excited to get to go this year.

A few things have changed since I was young, not just the overall size of the fair:

A QR code? Heavens, welcome to the 21st century. 

A sign for my potting friends:

Fun spooky mug! Off the Hill Pottery is the maker.

Are bell bottoms coming back in style? If so, why?

This picture gives the impression that there were no crowds, which ha ha no, was not the case. The calm between the tents is scenic but misleading.

There are a few permanent buildings, but mostly it's tents on grass, and the ground is uneven enough for it to be a leg workout. My aunt did go through some tents, but she also rested on benches part of the time. I don't blame her! Between the people who step in front of you, stop in front of you, and have carts and strollers and big backpacks and totes, it's an obstacle course. At least this year there hadn't been rain recently enough to make the ground soggy. It can get hazardous!

The line at the fire department's booth is always worth it. You get to watch them put potatoes into the thing and turn them into French fries.

Yum!

My mother asked me to bring home some maple syrup. I was surprised that they had three colors of Grade A; I picked the one in the middle.

Not pictured: maple hard candy and maple cotton candy!

The foliage was not at peak, sadly, but it was a beautiful day for the festival anyway.

We rode the wagon back to the parking area, and it goes past apple trees. 

Yes, some years back the organizers bought this land, which used to be an apple orchard, to be the permanent home of the festival. I remember when I was a kid, it was held "up the hill" at St Joe's, the local Catholic church. I believe it started out on the school grounds, but that's farther back than my memory goes.

We got home midafternoon and I was wiped out, and happy to read on the couch with my soon-to-be-a-memory maple cotton candy (so good). My aunt, bless her, made dinner, and when I went into the kitchen, she had the TV on, and the weather segment talked about weather at the fest!

My legs were still sore the next day, but I did go outside briefly to see what foliage I could find.

The ivy going up the barn was fairly picturesque.

There were a few red leaves on the grass.

Not to diss Florida's home styles, but I do love NY (and Massachusetts) styles more. Give me an old Victorian any day.

We went out to dinner to officially celebrate my birthday, and there as a glimpse of pretty skies where we parked.

And this nicely turning tree!

The Brae Loch Inn has a ton of character.

And on the walls, among the photos of famous people, was one I knew without having to look closer. Bobby Orr!

I don't know why he was there, but I'll take a Bruins sighting anywhere.

The food was good, the pub-style seating area scenic, although it could have used some sound dampening; the woman 10 feet away from us was talking louder than I would have needed her to talk to me, and as my aunt pointed out, she wasn't even telling good stories! The perils of going out in the world, I guess.

I have one more day of the trip to write up, the endless return travel day, as well as the what-I-bought post and I'll get to those ... sometime.

Nope, nuh-uh, no thanks

I had my knitting group meet-up after work today, but I had thought I might go for a walk when I got home. The humidity had other ideas.

See that 94%? Nope. Not happening. The walking I did around Walmart will have to count for today.

Not So Random Number

I’ve been drinking an extra lot of water since my trip, because I always feel dehydrated after flying, so I wake up a few times every night to go to the bathroom.

Last night I woke up at 11:11, and then again at 1:11.

That’s weird, right? That’s a lot of ones!

Start of the Trip Recap: Thursday and Friday

Let's be honest, I don't know how many posts it will take me to sum up! But let's time-travel back to last Thursday and set off for the airport.

I had to pull over to get a photo of the near-full moon.

Still visible at the airport:

Parked the car, shuttle to the terminal, go through security. Check out the lack of lines!

Because it was my birthday, I got my free drink from Starbucks, and they kindly gave me a cup of ice as well.

I got out my knitting and settled in to wait.

I was very amused by the coincidence of these two comics running on a day I was flying! Pearls Before Swine and Frazz are two favorites.

(Amusingly, another one ran today:

Everyone does that!)

Anyway, back to the trip. I was flying Delta, and didn't realize at first that the flight map would let me zoom in. This is quite an overview!

The seats on the plane were so damned narrow (and I do know that I am a large person, but whew) that knitting was off the table, and even reading turned out to be uncomfortable as I had to hold the book up and keep my elbows tucked in the whole time. So I went with a movie instead.

Somehow this movie came out 41 years ago; I felt very old. I wanted to watch something I was familiar with, so the inevitable interruptions wouldn't be as annoying, which worked out fine. I was able to laugh at the timing of this:

It's an enjoyable movie even now, and it passed the flight time to NY nicely. Soon enough, we were going in for landing.

I had a long layover (by design) (not 5 hours, but not 45 minutes either), with enough time for a non-rushed lunch a decent walk away (still within the terminal, of course), and even a delicious cookie in a laid-back seat in the sun.

They look like dentist chairs, but were decently comfortable for putting the feet up and relaxing.

While I was eating, my gate was changed to be even nearer to where I was, which was a pleasant surprise. The plane to Syracuse was smaller, the seats just as narrow but with more legroom, and the flight shorter. Finally got there, and picked up my rental car, which turned out to be a Chevy Equinox. A bit bigger than what I'm used to, but not impossibly so. Even though I was eager to get on the road, I spent a little time in the garage, figuring out where all the most important controls were. And then more time trying to figure out how to get out of the garage! That thing was a maze of poor signage. 

Finally I got on the road: the delays had taken me past the worst of rush hour, which is good because unfamiliar car on unfamiliar roads with roadwork in the dark was challenging enough. Made it to my aunt's safely, which is what counts.

We didn't have to rush anywhere on Friday: I had told my aunt that I was at her disposal for whatever shopping she wanted to do. After a stop at the bank for her, the next stop was for me, at a yarn store! She always buys me some yarn for my birthday, and we went to the Yarn Cupboard in Jamesville, where I had a fine time looking at things (they're not huge but had a really nice selection) and settled on this:

We had lunch at a little looks-like-nothing place nearby, called Robbie T's Pizza*, which was really good! I had a chicken bacon ranch wrap, and it was delicious. 
*I'm not surprised it doesn't have a website, they didn't even take credit cards! Bring cash, it's worth it.

Thus fortified, we were off to the big stop for the day: Wegmans! If you're not familiar with the chain, they are a grocery store that is so much more. It was a madhouse, but we took our time (we were probably there an hour and a half) and got everything she wanted. 

There was SU orange everywhere:

Would you try this? I'm slightly intrigued but maybe more repulsed.

Beautiful flowers to pass by.

And I chose a cheesecake for my "birthday cake"! Topped with cherry pie filling. Yum.

That was served after dinner of course, which my aunt made and was delicious as well!

That's enough for one day: next up is the Apple Festival, aka the reason why I went when I did. Ahhhh.