Elegy for Roofers; Indeterminate Startitis; Yarn

Last week saw (finally, finally) a most important milestone here at our building.

The roofers' truck is gone.

Gone? Gone!

Why is this such a milestone, you ask? Well, the truck hasn't been parked here the entire time since they first came, back in September (yes, September) (the one that's 10 months ago, yes, that September), but it was starting to feel like it. Especially as the demo upstairs started last month, bringing its own trucks every day, as well as their builders skip that takes up multiple parking spots, that roofers' truck took on a meaning larger than its footprint. On Monday, when the tree-trimmers swept onsite with their trucks and wood chipper, it started to feel like we were never going to have a normal lot again.

The roofers themselves were here on Monday, working between rain showers, but I didn't notice them after that, and then on Thursday, my mother saw the truck, finally, finally, pull out and go away.

Is the roofing actually for real done this time? I have no confirmation. But at least the truck is gone for now.

~~~~~~~~~~

Startitis, as I have mentioned before, is when a knitter wants to start a new project even though they have other projects to work on. Last time I had it was when I started the Trianglegram shawl, which is still coming along nicely, thank you. This time, I'm feeling a more vague pull, going this way and that, this pattern or that, this yarn or that... I can't decide. I'm definitely feeling the desire to do something new, but what? Working on that little detail...

Yesterday I pulled (most of the) fingering weight yearn out of the bins where it lives to sort through it (there are some pockets of it elsewhere, but this is certainly most of it):

I will admit that my first thought upon seeing it there was, I have a problem. But I corrected myself at once: I do not have a problem. I'm not spending money I don't have, it makes me very happy, and I'm not apologizing for anything.

So am I going to stop buying yarn now? I most certainly am not. But am I comfortable that when the budget no longer allows, I  will have plenty of lovely yarn yet to worth with? I certainly am.

Including the yarn that came last week. Yup, more.

First up, and I apologize if this also leads you into yarn-buying that you may not have wanted to, but are you aware of Jimmy Beans Wool? It's a yarn store in Nevada, and seems to be a great one. I probably blogged about it earlier this year when I got a wee tiny pair of scissors, and that's where I got them. 

I learned recently that they have a feature called Wool Watcher, where they put something (might be yarn, notions, pattern, anything) up for a good sale price, just for an hour, or until the set quantity sells out.

And you can sign up for the alerts on Twitter.

So:

This lovely skein of Urth Monokrom Fingering was 42% off, and they're also offering free shipping in July, so, boom, done.

Then, someone in my local knitting group was telling us about an order she'd placed with an etsy shop for a vendor called A Chick That Knitz, who was having a tremendous sale, 50% off some of her yarn, including MCN. And since the C in MCN is cashmere, I hopped right over, and snagged a skein of that. It came super-fast, and look at the cute packaging, too. The envelope:

And the bag inside:

And the yarn!

It's fabulous, soft and pretty.

That's it for today, but yes, there's more in the mail. Yarn shopping seems to be my therapy during this time of much stress. One of my friends is buying more books these days, another is working on home improvement projects, a third is doing a ton of baking: what are you doing? Any one thing more than others?

Maggie Tails

To Be Clear: Rights and Consequences

Pretty clear, right?

(Although, speaking of clear, I saw a version of this sign that was much more clear--but it had 'customers' spelled as 'costumers' and you know I can't do that!)

To Be Clear: What You Say, and Sports/Schools

A few things I've seen and shared on Facebook recently.

First, I hope no one who's reading this blog would ever say or even think any of these things, but maybe you know someone who does, so here's a counterpoint:

And as the NHL prepares to start things up, despite all the cases that are being reported, and how unlikely it is to be getting better any time soon, and as schools are being told to reopen or else, without any realistic plans for how to make it safe:

Funny, but sad, and all too true:

This Ridiculous Cat

On Sunday, I was at Petsmart, stocking up on cat food to use an expiring reward/coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. I also decided to replace the scratcher box I previously got for Maggie, since she's gotten into the habit of chewing on the edges and then spitting out bits of cardboard onto the floor, which is as much fun to clean up as you'd think it would be. I know she'll probably do the same thing to the new one, but maybe not right away.

I unpacked it and put it next to the old one, and within about a minute, she was sitting in it, assessing.

"Hmm, yes, I can wash in this."

"Yes, this will do, thank you."

She sat in it for a few minutes more, then came and sat on my footstool instead. I had noticed it had a sort of plasticky odor when I opened it, so I figured she might want it to air out.

Mom came along a little while later and asked if she should throw out the old one, or wait to make sure Maggie liked the new one, and I said that she seemed fine with the new one, so go ahead. Mom pulled the old one out of the spot under the coffee table and put the new one there, and Maggie shot off the footstool to leap into the old box.

The indignation! How dare we remove her cherished box! Mom and I laughed so hard we cried. First she stared at Mom in the most accusing way. Then she transferred that look to me when I told her that it was my fault, not Mom's.

She stayed there for a while, until distant thunder sent her off to hide under the bed. But before she went, she may have been giving me the finger.

What a goofball.

Yeah, Yarn

More and more, this pin speaks the truth to/for/of me.

About a month ago, I was perusing a list of Black-owned yarn companies/stores/dyers, and found a new-to-me one in the UK called Third Vault Yarns. I wandered around the website and fell in love with this one skein: the online equivalent of not being able to put it down at a yarn store or festival. Had to have it, ordered it, waited--understandably, it being far away and all; I was only impatient because I wanted to see it in person. 

Also, their website is the kind that only shows available yarns, which is totally fine--it can be frustrating to look through a website only to see lots of 'not available' and 'sold out' yarns (my ideal shopping experience shows everything, but also allow you to filter to only show what's currently available)--but it meant that I couldn't exactly remember what the one I ordered looked like! So I waited and hoped I could trust my own taste, basically.

Finally, the day arrived.

The base is called 4ply sock, and this is the colorway It's the Eyes (which is currently available again).

Yes, I can trust my taste. It's the loveliest pastel rainbow colors, 100% merino, very soft.

I'm super happy with it!

And, going back to that first photo ... yes, more yarn to come. More and more and more!

To Be Clear: Wear a Mask

Happy 4th: On the Beach

I haven't been going to the beach lately, but on Thursday* I decided to take a walk, before the weekend crowds got bigger. (The county put some restrictions on the beach access for the weekend, so that we hopefully wouldn't get hordes coming over from the east coast, which had closed its beaches, but even so.)
*I took a vacation day on Thursday; they gave us Friday off work for the holiday, so that makes a wonderful long weekend of unwinding.

It was beautiful, but HOT.

Not too crowded.

I turned back before very long, as it was so hot that I was dripping, and even walking in the water didn't help, because it was so warm. Coming back, I saw an egret.

Just pondering, thinking bird thoughts.

And I picked up a few shells.

I was out of the house for about 45 minutes, and it probably was two hours before I cooled down properly. Lesson learned: next time, earlier or later in the day, not in the mid-afternoon heat of summer. Still, it was beautiful!

PS What do you think of the new layout? Like, dislike?

Years Later: 2-in-1 Socks, Done!

Years ago, back in 2014, I took a class on knitting two socks in one (the War and Peace socks, or 2-in-1 socks, with Kate Atherley; I wrote all about the class experience here). It was an interesting enough idea for me to tackle doing it for real, though I don't seem to have blogged about it much--at least, not in a way that I can easily find the right entries! But photos I have, and judging by these, I stopped working on them sometime around November 2015.

Because that's pretty close to where they were when I pulled them out this week, on a whim.

Now, if you had asked me a week ago why they never got done, I would have said that, eh, finishing them felt anticlimactic, because knitting one sock within another is about the doing, not about the having a pair of finished socks after.

However.

Apparently, while there may have been some of that, it seems I put them aside because I had messed up a few times while doing the toe decreases, and couldn't face fixing it. Whoops!

So today I settled down to it, tinked back until they were separate-able, and separated them, then decreased a bit more, and finished each.

They actually fit better than I expected them to, though that isn't saying much, as I was actually expecting them not to fit at all.

Just need a few more rows.

I put them on blockers before washing them, and they sure look like they're not the same size, don't they? I guess that's what happens when one sock is scrunched inside and the other is stretched outside.

I soaked them for a good long while, then put them on the blockers still wet. That's better!

We'll see what happens when they're dry, but so far, so good.

More Cat Pictures

Speaking of the pretty, pretty princess, here she is from my lap this morning. Good thing she decided to get up, or I'd still be there!