Two Stories That Tie In Together

I mostly knit things for myself, but once in a while I get the impulse to make something for another person, and recently I was thinking about Alison, who knits so much for other people, and that maybe it would be nice for her to get something for a change.

So I pulled out my copy of her book of shawl patterns, and chose yarn:

This is a skein of Emma's Yarn, which is a Florida dyer that I figured might not be seen too much in California. Isn't it pretty? The colorway is Hot Tamale.

The Hella Hank is 80/10/10 of superwash merino, cashmere, and nylon, and it feels so nice. (It gave me a slight pang to give it up, but I wanted to share it--this is happy foreshadowing.)

So I cast on the Julia's Shawl (Ravelry link), using many stitch markers to keep me on track.

The pattern suited me well! I enjoyed the knitting of it. At first, I could take spread-out photos.

But as it grew, that got harder.

Still so pretty!

Finally finished and off the needles, so I could see what I had. Well, pre-blocking, anyway:

I chose to do the alternate edging the pattern suggested, but you can hardly see it here.

A bit more so once pinned out!

There it is!

Check out the size of it before pinning:

Versus after:

I'm really pleased with how it came out.

So, about that second story? Well, I boxed this up last Wednesday, and that afternoon, my mother came home with a lot of yarn that had come in to the thrift store where she has volunteered for years: she isn't actually working there since her hip surgery, but they still keep an eye out for certain things for her or for me. The answer to "we got in a lot of yarn, it seems nice, do you think ccr would like it?" is always yes. A year ago, that 'yes' brought me a huge bag that was mostly mohair, not a favorite, but I certainly appreciated the sentiment. This year, it brought this:

Look at all that yarn! And it's lovely stuff, including skein after skein of Emma's Yarn. And very much including a skein that is the exact yarn I used for Alison's shawl. 

How's that for karma? Do good, get good. I couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled that one out of the box.

I had an absolute blast going through all the yarn (and frequently repeating, holy crap! holy crap!), which is mostly brands I know but a few I didn't. I decided to keep this much for me:

So much, so gorgeous! Then I sent off a few skeins each to my three close knitting friends up north, the ones I went to Rhinebeck with two years ago. And I still have two big bags to share with my knitting group down here. 

Happy yarny knitting stories.

Maybe My Best Photo of 2021

I take a ton of photos, and plenty of them are good, some are fine, while some are more for reminders and don't have to be good photos to do what I want from them.

I haven't scrolled through all the ones I've taken this year, but this one might just top them all.

Isn't that pretty? I came around a corner just before sunset, and lined up behind the tree at the perfect time.

Season Is Picking Up

I moved to Florida three and a half years ago, and yet there are some things I am still getting used to. One of these is living in a tourist destination.

My mother mentioned recently, while we were watching a hockey game, that the summer population here wouldn't fill an NHL arena. The population more than doubles (maybe triples) during "season" and there are definitely effects on our everyday life. Traffic picks up, so it can take almost twice as long to get from point A to point B as it would in July. You can't get into some restaurants at anything like a regular mealtime unless you want to wait an hour or two. Parking lots are full, and don't even try to go to the grocery store or (heaven forbid) Costco on the first day or two of the month, when people who come down to rent for a month have arrived and are stocking up big-time on supplies.

This really isn't to complain. I pretty much knew what I was coming to: my parents moved here 25 years ago, so I have been visiting for a long time. But there are times when, for instance, I'm trying to get to a doctor's appointment and the driver in front of me clearly has no idea where they want to turn, so they're doing 22 in a 35 zone and slowing and speeding up, again and again, when I just want to yell, Get out of my way, I know where I'm going. I went up into the nearby city twice this week (once for the doctor's appointment, once to CarMax for them to put in a new battery, no charge, thank you very much), and the traffic! Appalling! And it will only get more so for the next few months.

On the other hand, of course, no snow, and no bitter cold--we laugh at ourselves for how much we complain when it goes below 80, and if it gets under 70? The horrors!

And also on that other hand, I'm looking forward to snowbird friends getting down here again. Zoom has been a great deal better than nothing for the last 18 months, but I miss seeing people in 3D.

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Meanwhile, funny blog-to-the-rescue story: I was trying to find a recipe I knew I had made, but not for a long time, and couldn't find it with my recipes anywhere, physical or virtual. But I searched here in Ye Old Blog, and there it was, spaghetti bake. Thank you, past me!

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Sneak peek at the knitting project I started today:

More to come!

Mercedes Is Confused

Following up on my post about Google's calendar being confused, I can report that as of today's mail, someone at Mercedes is also confused:

Unless we think that they really are interested in buying my Kia? It seems unlikely to me. But I haven't had the car two months, I'm not interested in selling it anyway.

 

Google Calendar Is Confused

I have used Google's calendar for a long time, and am pretty reliant on it at this point (which of course may bite me in the butt one day, but let's not think about that). Lately I have been laughing about one thing it's doing.

I have downloaded a Bruins calendar that puts the games in there for me. So here's today's view, on the computer:

If, however, I look at it on my (android) phone, it's confused. Are the Bruins playing at 7pm, or are they maybe playing at noon? Who knows! Maybe both!

(Narrator voice: It is not both.)

If, however, I open the calendar on my iPad, it says, "Bruins game? What Bruins game?"

(Narrator voice: They are, in fact, playing tonight.)

Isn't that odd? 

P.S. I'm getting the depo shot on Monday; eff this nonsense. 

Breaking It In

With a gift certificate to the Boston Pro Shop, I got a plush Bruins blanket:

Here it is, on the couch. 

You can kind of see the couch under it, right? It’s a big blanket!

Tonight, Maggie came to check it out on my lap. She was initially skeptical.

But she settled down.

And after a while, she granted it conditional approval. Thank goodness.

This Again

I got my period again this weekend, ugh, so I fired off a message to the gynecologist that was all gimme-shot-now-please. This weekend was a complete dud in terms of getting anything done, other than lying around feeling like crap (which hardly counts as getting anything done), and enough already.

Today didn't start out much better (feeling any better than yesterday is a low bar to clear, let me just say), and a bit of a headache to boot, but in the end I got through the work day okay (majorly flagging by the end, though), despite the report I'm working on being a rush job and showing plenty of signs that it was rushed. Ah well. The job pays the bills. And now I can relax.

For Want of a Nail

Wikipedia tells me there are many variations of this, so I'll just pick one:

For want of a nail a horseshoe was lost,
for want of a horseshoe a horse went lame,
for want of a horse a rider never got through,
for want of a rider a message never arrived,
for want of a message an army was never sent,
for want of an army a battle was lost,
for want of a battle a war was lost,
for want of a war a kingdom fell,
and all for want of a nail.

Why I am thinking of this today? Well, let me tell you.

For the last umpteen years, NHL games have been televised on "the networks of NBC," meaning mostly NBCSN, sometimes on NBC itself. I get both of those in my cable package, and also subscribe to NHL Network ($), and then during the season I also get Center Ice ($), which covers all the remaining games (for the whole league, not just the Bruins). It gives way more games than I actually need, but means I can watch every Bruins game (if not always from the Bruins/NESN broadcast).

That NBC contract ran out last season, and the league signed a primary deal with ESPN, and a side deal with TNT. So some games will be on those networks, no big deal, right?

Well. Except that some few games are only on ESPN+/Hulu, which are streaming services. So while I have cable to give me ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, NHL Network, even NESN ($) (though it's blacked out for games), and I subscribe to Center Ice ... I still can't get those games.

Well. ESPN+ actually has exclusive written content, too, and I've seen links to hockey stories before that were behind the paywall, so I decide I'll subscribe to that, and this way I'll get those as well as the few games. (I already subscribe to The Athletic for hockey news, but what's one more source of in-depth hockey stories?) 

I subscribe ($). It works on the computer*, but of course I don't want to watch games on the computer, I want to watch on the TV. I go to the TV to get ESPN+ on that, and hit a wall.

*At least, the streaming does, although when I try to read an article, it tells me I need to subscribe to keep reading, even though the drop-down menu shows that I'm logged in. I have to go to the app to read the articles.

There's just no way that I can find to get it there. I google the TV I have and everything says I should go to the app store on the TV and then ... but there is no app store anywhere.

I put out a cry for help on Facebook, and my most tech-savvy friend tells me that if I get a Roku, that will let me get it. Sigh. So I order the Roku ($).

It arrives today. I hook it up to the TV. It powers up! I connect it to the wifi, no problem. And then it makes me set up a Roku account (whyyy). In order to do that, it required my birthday (whyyy) and my GENDER (whyyy) and a credit card (whyyy). I have to choose a password and a PIN. It wants me to tell it my interests and add channels and sign up for free trials and it needs to know what room the device will be in, and it makes me name it (I believe I named it "I fucking hate roku" but I was so mad that I may not be remembering that exactly right). And now I have another damned remote control to juggle (we're up to 4).

All this to get those few games a year ... but damn it, I want those games! It just makes me crazy that this is what's required to get them. The NHL really does think all fans have the money, don't they? I mean, clearly I do, but I know that not everyone does. And I'm mad on their behalf.

Also, I will report back on whether I see noticeably girlie commercials on the streaming games.

Maggie Time

Who needs to see some cute Maggie photos? I've got you covered. (Or, more often, she's got me covered.)

 

Pins!

Look what I got in the mail the other day!

And it was indeed happy! (Thanks, Mary Ellen!) Cute pin 1:

And cute pin 2:

Another pin that I got recently is this Murderbot error code one, which I adore:

I have a bunch on pins on sachets on my desk, which is good for looking at regularly, but sadly prone to tipping over from the weight of the pins. There was no way that adding more was going to work.

However, in World Market last weekend, I found this banner in the clearance section:

And its fabric is strong enough to hold the pins!

See how cute?

I have to decide where best to hang it, but I'm quite pleased with it. 

Remember October 9th

When I was a kid, I had a button that said Remember Oct. 9th. If I'm remembering right, my dad's sister gave it to me--but then, I thought I remembered that it was for the opening of a Broadway show, and according to google, it was an anti-Vietnam war message, so who knows. I just remember how much it pleased me to have my birthday on it.

I was thinking of it today when I realized how much it pleases me to see the date on everything today. Talking yesterday to the friend who has known me the longest (we were 5 when we met), she said that I'm one of her friends who most enjoys celebrating birthdays, and I guess that's true. I really enjoy my day. It's been a good one. Happy my birthday to you.

Startitis

I've been working on a knitting project for a while (it's a gift, which is why it hasn't shown up here), and it's going pretty well, but I'm at the point where I am, frankly, a little bored with it, and feeling the pangs of startitis. This yarn or that pattern will catch my eye and I find myself thinking about putting the gift aside, just for a little bit. I  haven't so far--I want to get it done, after all--but the sneaky thoughts took a different turn this week.

"You know, this is really good social knitting, and it's fairly portable...and you're going (COVID willing) on that trip at the end of February, when you should have some knitting time, but you won't want to be hauling around something big, or checking a pattern or counting rows all the time. Wouldn't this project be perfect for that? Wouldn't it be only sensible to save it for that trip, and cast on something else now?"

Insidious thoughts! There are so many things I want to make. It's a temptation.

Before Work, After Work

Maggie this morning:

Maggie tonight (when it was 90 degrees, just saying):

I had to boot her off both times, for work and for the Bruins game. 

Truly

I ran across this in my Facebook memories today, and it makes me laugh!

October: Let the Birth-Month Celebrations Begin

Welcome, month in which I was born! Let's celebrate all month long, shall we?

I've actually opened a birthday present already, because it came in the mail the other day and was perishable. Can't let that sit around! But I do like to spread out the celebrating. I'm not one of these people who gets their nose out of joint if I get a present 'late': no such thing! You gave me a present? Excellent! I love presents! Thank you! Oh, my birthday was six weeks ago? Who cares? Let's celebrate today!

(None of this is meant to be a hint, by the way: I am celebrating the joy I take in celebrating, not suggesting *you* should be sending me a present. I don't keep track of who does what; that sounds like a lot of work to no purpose.)

I love it when family and friends send cards or gifts; when restaurant reward programs give me a free something for my birthday; when anyone wishes me a happy birthday. Well, except that I do not, most emphatically NOT, want to have happy birthday sung to me by servers in a restaurant. No, no, no. Not my thing. But other than that, sure. Bring it on.

How do you feel about birthdays? Like, dislike, neutral?