pop-a-lock

Blog land is filled with beautiful pictures of flowers, shouting the arrival of spring. This is how I know it is spring.

Finished Fire On the Mountain socks last night. I had thought they would be done this weekend. Fate - otherwise known as my stupidity- stepped in. About 6:30 last night I headed over to pick up Oldest Son from baseball practice. Practice runs late. It is OK by me. I turn on NPR and knit. About 7:30, as the sun dips below the tree line, I realize that not only have I been listening to the radio, but my lights have been on. &^*% I switch everything off, turn the key, nothing. *&%$*&(^(*! OK, I did swear in the car, but am better this morning.

45 minutes later the Pop-A-Lock guy arrives. It takes longer to fill out the paperwork than to jump the battery. As he begins, he points out the battery terminal. It looks there is some kind of alien life form growing right before my eyes. The PAL guy tells me that because of the corrosion the battery will probably not take a charge. I can expect to have to be jumped again. ****remember this for next time and insert dirty joke****

So my morning will be filled with wire brushes, chemicals and a battery charger. WAHOO!

Good news. Kitty is home. Hungry and happy. He must have been locked in someone's garage.

Bad news. No mousie update.

what's that smell?

I think the mousie may have expired in the kitchen. Last night Husband and I pulled things from against walls. Shined flashlights everywhere. The smell is not too strong yet. Kinda a cross between urine and plastic that has gotten too warm. Nice huh? As soon as the sun is up I will check inside all of the cupboards. Our fear is that it crawled down a heating register and we will need to get the ducts sucked.

The bad news is that kitty is missing. Monday morning he brought us another present. This time left outside the kitty door. He was given treats and catnip. As the kids and I left for the zoo and the yarn shop he was on the deck, in the sunshine, happy as can be. That was the last time we saw him. I guess today we will need to make up posters and get them around the neighborhood. We are all very worried.

And because looking for kitty and the strange smell is not enough I have made good progress on the script for Passover. I probably will not get it done today, but tomorrow seems reasonable. Have it printed on Friday and then move on to the rest of the preparations.

I have just about finished the gusset decreases on the second Fire On The Mountain sock. Such a joy to work with.




A simple cable down the side.



My next pair of socks will be for Husband. I managed to run one of his socks through the dryer. OOPS! I will run the other one through then they will fit my oldest daughter. She is very happy, he gets a new pair, I get to knit them. All is well.

wee tiny sock arrives

Such a treat to open the mail and find this.





A big giant thank you to Jane. The little sock on the left is made from STR Fire on the Mountain. Which you all know is my absolute favorite colorway of all time. The one on the right is called Love Stinks (yeah yeah). Sing it with me.



I have been up for hours. Have tons of work to get done. Yet here I am reading blogs and goofing off.


Maybe the next Wee Tiny Swap could be mittens. I wonder if Emily is planning to do it again?


Passover is fast approaching and in a moment of cough syrup induced hazy reality, I said that I would host the Seder. I undulate between thoughts of "it will be just fine" and "how can I get out of this?". There are many obstacles to overcome. First, I have not been to a Seder since I was in high school. Second, we only have 6 chairs. Third, there is a construction project currently happening in the living room/dining room. Fourth, I do not have a clue what I am doing. Fifth, the house will need to be scrubbed because company is coming. Sixth, this does not really count because there is no way in hell I will get the front flower bed weeded and presentable before next weekend. Things on my side...really great people, no real Seder experience, LOTS of wine.



Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

mousie and zen knitting

When no dead mousie was found I figured it was mortally wounded and we would find it dead behind a shelf. No such luck. It is quite alive and setting up housekeeping.

Remember the speakers your husband had before you got married? The ones that were the size of say, a Smart Car? Well Husband managed to hang on to one of them. It makes a functional corner table in the computer room. This is where the mousie is hanging out. INSIDE the thing, where no human or cat can reach.

So the computer room remains blocked up and I will trudge to Home Depot this morning to find a trap. I hope they make something that works on the catch and release idea. As much sleep as I have lost over this rodent I really do not want to hear the snap of the old fashioned trap.

No knitting pictures. I have been working on a new sock design and every stitch I have knit the past few days has been frogged. More than once. It is definitely time to set that aside and pick up some zen knitting. Maybe something out of the Favorite Socks book.

Lucky for me there is no yarn in the computer room for the mousie to get into. That would truly send me over the top.

wee tiny sock finished

Here is the Wee Tiny Sock I sent off a few days ago for the sock swap.





I did not want to post the picture until I was sure the recipient received her sock. The color is a little off, it is actually a nice bold red. Which is the favorite color of my swapper. With a little cable up the side. Its so cute I may have to make one for myself.

I have not yet received my sock. Maybe tomorrow?

dead rat or else

3 mornings in a row the cat brings in and then kills a mousie/rat thing. I've had enough. I thought the best thing to do was to put a cat door into the garage. That way the cat could get out of the rain but not be able to bring a critter into the house. Husband said that would make the cat bring things into the garage where they were more likely to get lost. I did not care. Lost in the garage is WAY preferable to lost in the house. Husband was not moved.

This weekend was busy. Dance performances, baseball, umpiring, the ballet and a dinner party. The cat was out of site, out of mind.

Earlier this evening everyone is in bed, I am putting away things in the kitchen. The cat bolts through the kitty door. Bad sign. I peek around the corner and he is sitting in front of the coat closet, staring. Bad sign. I open the closet door a bit. He begins to paw at the umbrella. REALLY bad sign.

I let Husband know about my feelings of doom and he begins to pull things out of the closet. Sure enough, there is a rat. The cat has removed himself from the whole situation. Husband and youngest son are trying to catch the thing when it slips away. It heads to the computer room. Husband and youngest son look, but can not find it. Cat is found and locked into the room with the thing. I blocked up the crack under the door.

Right now I am really fucking mad at the cat. His freedom is gone! I will learn to sleep through the meowing. Come morning, there had netter be a dead rat in the middle of that floor.

dear NPR

Dear NPR's Marketplace,

Imagine how excited I was yesterday afternoon when I heard a teaser for your upcoming segment on knitting. I thought to myself, alright they are finally getting it. I mean after all your show is about money and economics. Now imagine how disappointed I was to hear your little fluff piece. Mocking us as quaint. Your "reporter" missed the whole story.

While he was in Edith Eig's shop why did he not bother to ask her what her sales were last year? How about the value of her current inventory? Why did he not ask the people in the shop about their spending habits. Why did he not do some research on the number of yarn stores open today vs 10 years ago? How about online stores? How about artists making accessories and tools for knitters? What about the ad revenue from TV shows? Why did he not bother to follow up on the story of an online knitting blog raising over $120,000 for Doctors Without Borders in a matter of hours? What about Blue Moon Fiber Arts who had their bank reject 2000 credit card transactions for $210 each because they could not believe that so many people would join a club to knit socks. I expected him to run the numbers.

Knitters are not composed of the 68 people in Edith's shop. There are millions of us. We have disposable income and we spend it on knitting. We are business people and artists that would like to be taken seriously and given some respect for our economic might. There is a story here and you missed your chance.