The Face, The Hair, The Clothes!

Because I don't have enough projects on the needles, I cast the centre piece on today. Nothing like vintage fashion doll wear for that quick and easy feeling of success.  I've made this before and it's extremely satisfying.  My own clothes may be a fright but, darn it!, the Barbies will look smashing.

In Which I Go North

OK.  Enough navel gazing.  Let's get back to what's really important - yarn!.
I travelled up to Mary Maxim on Monday.  All the way north to Eglington!  I had heard they were hiring so I brought my resume and tried to talk with the manager.  She was underwhelmed.  Oh well.  May as well take the opportunity to yarn browse.


I've been knitting socks pretty much non-stop lately and a quick mental stash count resulted in the decision to buy one more sock's worth of yarn.  You know, just to stay ahead.  I couldn't choose between the MM house brand (gorgeous colour but slightly rough texture) and the Scheepjes Invicta (proven track record, smooth texture and unusual red tone).  They were priced so low that naturally, I bought them both.
Later at home, tucking them into the stash, I discovered several projects worth of sock yarn that I had forgotten I owned.  Oops.  I'll just have to knit faster.

Knit Night

Poor Koko was not able to knit last night.  A cone gets in a girl's way!

Everything In Its Place

So, the other day I had to staple some papers.  I reached into the desk drawer and the stapler was not there!  The stapler is always there because that is where the stapler lives.  The few and far between times when a stapler is required are never stressful because I know I can reach into that drawer, without looking and put my hand on a stapler.  Not this time.  Those that know me know that this is the kind of occurrence that makes me lose my shit.  After rummaging around a while I actually had to call The Daughter on her cell and ask if she had used it recently and not put it back.  Negative.
I am a person who lives alone part time.  There are many problems with this lifestyle, bouts of loneliness being the largest of these.  However, one distinct advantage is that I know where everything is.  Things have their place.  They get used and then put back where they belong.  This strikes me as being not only logical, but as the only proper way  to go about things.You can see how deviation from this plan would drive a person like me batty, can't you?  Note that I lived for twenty years with a man who every time he had to polish his good shoes, (maybe twice a year) he would go buy shoe polish because he couldn't remember where he put the tin the last time he used it.  This makes steam come out of my ears!  The waste!  The inefficiency!  Here in my single lady apartment, I have had the same tin of shoe polish for nearly three years.  And I know exactly where it is.


So, the other day, being Sunday, I slept in a bit.  I was vaguely miffed upon waking to find the apartment dim because The Daughter, who had woken first, had not opened the blinds.  The first thing I do every morning (well second after putting on the kettle) is to open all the blinds.  Every evening as the light begins to fade, I close them again.  Any sane person does this.  Who are these people who live all day in low light with drawn blinds?


Hmm...  It has recently dawned on me that I may have become set in my ways.


It's kind of funny to list and write about my quirks. Joking aside, I do wonder sometimes if I've become too rigid.  I'm not saying that I want someone else in my life right now but if ever I do, will there be room?  Will I ever be able to give up any of the control I've gained by creating this uber tidy and organized living space?  I lived for so long in chaos, in constant crisis mode.  There is so much peace derived from my routines and organization now.  I wonder if there is a half way point somewhere and if I'll ever be able, or even desire to find it.

Couldn't Sleep

So I knit.
Finished the Waving Lace Socks at 1:30 AM today.  They're very pretty.  I do wonder about the strength of the fabric with all that openwork. Time will tell.

I've made a lot of small things lately.  It's time for a bigger challenge.  I cast on a cardigan this afternoon.

We Went For A Walk, Just Me and My Sock

It was a cold one out there today and the park was very gray.  Today's extreme cold froze all that standing water of the earlier warm weather and created ice rinks where paths used to be. I actually had to cling to the fence posts on my awkward climb up my usual hill or risk falling, ungracefully, on my ample middle-aged butt.  It was kind of fun once I got over worrying who might see me.  Anybody else hardy enough to brave today's climate deserves a good laugh.

At the end of the adventure was coffee and knitting time.  I got about thirty rows done on my Waving Lace Sock #2.  That felt pretty good after so little progress on any recent knitting front.  
While I knit and snacked and had a refill on my coffee, I listened to a chapter of Little Women on CraftLit.  I've been going back and listening to older episodes of this podcast.  Recently I finished A Tale of Two Cities which I had read years ago.  Now I'm enjoying having Little Women read aloud to me because I never could get through the darn book reading it the old-fashioned way.  No.  Having seen three different movie versions of the novel doesn't count.  (Does anyone else remember the TV version with Susan Dey as Jo and Meredith Baxter as Meg?)
I admit to skipping over all the personal chatter of the podcast and going straight to the book talk.  While I enjoy Heather's book commentary as well as that sent in by her listeners, I often find her personal stories a little annoying. Not sure why.  However, I still appreciate the amazing effort and ingenuity of her unique "podcast for crafters who love books."