Made For Walkin'

In case you were wondering (I know I have been), yes, I do still knit things from time to time, in between automotive and plumbing emergencies.  Although I didn't think I'd pull it off, I managed to finish my first knee socks, while the Knitting Gods weren't looking:
 

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorway "Wild Purls".  Get some for yourself here, and tell them Mary sent you.

Did I intend for the little blue tide pools to end up in exactly the same spot on each shin and ankle?  Yes. Yes I did.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

I've been car shopping this week.  Kill Me.  I think this is how lifelong pedestrians are made:

Slimeball Used Car Dealer:    "I think you will find that your offer is just plain unrealistic."
Me:                "So the price is not negotiable?"
SUCD:           "I have no idea why you would think that!"
Me:                "Because I just offered you three dollars less than the price on the dayglo sticker."
SUCD:            "Well, you know, times are hard.  We have to do all we can to keep the lights on, here at Slimeball Motors."
Me:                "Yes, I'm sure the loss of my three dollars will cause the Slimeball family irreparable hardship.  Have I mentioned how long it takes a knitter to earn three dollars?"
SUCD:            "Knitter, huh?  So is that a union job, or what?"

Good thing my boots have tough soles.  Walk on, dear knitter.  Walk On.

What I Know About Plumbing

...would scarcely fill a drain trap.  So it was with no small panic that I called a plumber last week after returning home to discover my kitchen floor half an inch deep in water.

And I may have twitched a bit when she arrived, and gently let me know that my kitchen faucet had passed on to that great U-Bend in the Sky.  Then it occurred to me that I never liked that faucet.  It came with the house, and reminded me of the previous owners:  Cheap and Cheerful.

My Plumber (I have a Plumber now.  It makes me feel powerful.) is the lovely and talented Andrea, who loves Scottish Terriers (has one of her very own), and so was immediately approved of by Paisley, who supervised the job.

Andrea not only replaced my kitchen faucet with a sassy new pretty one, she installed a new kitchen sink and garbage disposal.  And with Andrea at my side to support the decision, I elected to disarm the Plumbing Gods by replacing the other three, equally crappy, sink/faucet combos in our house.

And now all things washy at Huff House are not only good as new, they ARE new.  Check out my sparkly new sink!  So much easier to appreciate than my new Catalytic Converter.  I especially like that I got to pick out the sprayer.  You should have seen the plumbing supply guy's face when I asked:  "Will this nozzle spray with enough pressure to rinse the detergent out of sheep fleece?"  I do love Muggles. 

So now, I won't panic when the toilets go (obviously that will be next), because I know I can call Andrea.  And hopefully she will turn directly to me for her next Knitting Emergency, should she ever have one.  One good rescue deserves another, after all.

Three Days, Three Things

Thing One:  Last Thursday, I had the great good fortune to meet the members of the Tigard Knitting Guild.  Of the 100 or so who turned out, here are the half that would fit in my camera.  We talked about knitting, and colorwork, and math, and the fact that I sometimes don't know what day it is.  They liked me in spite of my calendar-challenged nature, which tells me that they are not only a delightful gang of knitters; they may have experienced the occasional Time Pleat, themselves.

Thing Two:  On Friday, my mom (who's visiting us) and I set out to visit a yarn store I had never been to.  At the beginning of our journey, my car's tire looked like this:

See how it's nice and round, even at the bottom?  This is the desired state of things,  But that's not what it looked like when we arrived at the yarn store.  Instead, thanks to an ill-placed nail, my poor tire looked exactly like this, but much, much flatter on one side.  So think about it:  I was actually stranded at the yarn store:

I had plenty of time, while I waited for the tire rescue gentleman, to ponder the ramifications of being trapped at the yarn store.  And while the scenario was certainly a dangerous one, financially speaking, it was also, I'm guessing, every knitter's fantasy.  That's right: indefinite time, in a place filled with nice people, and more yarn than I could knit in several days.  Too bad my cell phone worked when I called the tire guy.  He did, eventually show up, and fixed my tire.  Which was the only bleak moment in the whole situation.  Once my tire was round again, Mom and I were able to move on to

Thing Three:  My mom really loves the handspun hat I made her last year.  And by loves, I mean she all but sleeps in it.  Which is fine, in my opinion.  I hope that when I reach the sassy age of 77, I can wear my favorite hat all the time without anybody bugging me about it.  Even if it has feathers on it, which I'm guessing it will.  However, Mom's hat has a decidedly wintry feel about it, which might be less well-suited to spring wearing than she would like.  Frankly, she doesn't care about this at all, but my sisters and I worry that people might think we aren't taking good care of her if her wardrobe crossed over from "Adorable Grammy" to "Hobo Chic".  So I took it upon myself to make her a spring hat that she will like as well as the winter one:

It's made of Sublime Soya Cotton DK, which is super soft, drapey, and decidedly non-wintry.  But a stand-in for the favorite is a tall order, even for me.  Stay tuned...