I hiked today for the first time in a long while. It may have been overcast and threatening to rain on us but it was still wonderful to be out.
My dog appreciated the chance to be out and to stick his head in many many ground squirrel holes. Sadly, I did not get a picture of that. You’ll have to take my word for it that it was adorable.
Leading with actual knitting content: I am making good progress on the second sleeve.
That is nine of the 15 sets of decreases done. I would like to get the sleeve done and then start on the hats I mentioned. After the sleeves, I will have to do a lot of picking up of stitches to knit the front bands and the collars, and that is no fun at all.
I also moved my garden today.
Last year in the early spring I got a spot in the community garden in our city which happens to be very close to my house. When you first get a spot, you get one back against the fence which might not get great sun so at renewal time I asked if I could move up, and I got a spot! I know this photo isn’t exciting but I am quite excited about moving up. I’m less excited that there are only two of my tomato cages in this photo, because the other two I had went missing somehow. (“Somehow.”) I sent an email to the gardener email list asking for them back so I am hoping someone returns them.
I’m not holding my breath, though.
I didn’t manage to post yesterday, which I think is a testament to the fun-filled day we had. My friend Linda hosted us and did a wonderful job, as usual. She even made adorable little place settings with a place for us to note what we were thankful for. What I wrote will probably not surprise anyone.
Today I took my son to the foot doctor. He was highly entertained that there is a doctor just for feet. He is still wearing the “boot” the urgent care doctor gave him and now I have learned the proper way to buddy tape his toes.
The doctor opted not to reset his toe, which sounds less painful all around. We still have to tape it for about 6 weeks. I suspect that will get old fast! Wish me luck.
I have decided to start a charity knitting project and I would like to invite local knitters to join me! A woman who taught at my sons’ elementary school has family in Paradise (both her parents, I believe, and siblings with small children) and she organized a collection through our school community to collect stuff for her to drive up to Chico and distribute to people she knows who have been displaced by the fire. Somewhere in the midst of all of that I saw that someone had knit hats for people in Paradise and I thought I should make some for the next time she drives up from our area.
If you would also like to knit some hats and get them to me then I will get them to her to transport up there. It has gotten cold and rainy, which is helpful in clearing the air and controlling the fire but not helpful in that a lot of people are living in tents in the Walmart parking lot currently.
Here are some hat resources if you would like to participate:
Local knitters, let me know if you can make some! Scarves and cowls might also be welcome!
We have been working on rearranging the whole house since June or so and today was the beginning of the final step: switching my younger son back into the small bedroom and my husband and I back into the larger one.
His loft bed went away first, it is the end of an era.
This photo is a bit dark, but his bed is now in the small room! (It just needs a new frame.)
Unfortunately, in all the hubbub of cleaning up today, my younger son stubbed his toe on one of the many air filters we currently have going, which resulted a trip to urgent care and probably podiatry tomorrow.
In between all of that excitement, I made ginger ice cream for Thanksgiving. It doesn’t look like much, but it smells amazing and I hope it tastes as good as it smelled!
I finished the first sleeve! I didn’t get a photo but here’s the second sleeve on the needles.
I will try to get a better photo tomorrow but I am not promising anything.
I have made a lot of progress on my sweater sleeve!
I think I have about two inches left before it is done and then I can pick up the stitches for the second sleeve and get to work on that side After that I think the biggest hurdle will be picking up the stitches for the collar. In any case, the end is in sight!
I know I am a bit of a broken record but today the Bay Area had the worst rated air quality in the world. A dubious honor. Stores are out of masks and air filters. People are driving out of the area to escape the smoke. Luckily for some people, they were already leaving for the holiday but we don’t have plans to go anywhere so we are staying home huddled by our air filters, hoping that the rain will come sooner rather than later and that we will be able to leave the house with a mask!
I spent a bunch of time today making mini corn muffins and The WORST Chocolate Chip Cookies for my sons’ pot lucks at school tomorrow.
As you can guess, they’re actually very delicious. That is fortunate, because school has been canceled tomorrow due to the impending apocalypse.
To escape from thinking about the apocalypse, I went to see Neil Gaiman speak at Stanford.
Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. I have been to many of his readings, signings, and speaking engagements since 2001 when I saw him read from American Gods. He never fails to delight and entertain. He read us a story about wildfires, read a section of Good Omens, answered some audience questions, and let us all know that what he believes in is empathy and leaving the world a better place than when you turned up.
Also, he compared writing Norse Mythology to knitting. He said writing it was his knitting, like how knitters knit between things and in the end they have a sweater.
Funny he should mention knitting, because that was what I was doing while I listened. I got a couple inches of sleeve done. I am making good progress.
Maybe that can be my project for our “smoke day” tomorrow: finishing this sleeve!
In case anyone is curious, this is my new air filter. It kind of looks like a giant version of the old iPod nano.
I bought it on Amazon, of course. For comparison, this is my old air filter, which doesn’t have fancy cycling modes or an air quality indicator (that blue light on the right goes red when the air is bad) and it is super loud but if the light on the new one is to be believed, it has been doing a pretty good job!
I need to figure out what model it is, actually, and buy a new filter. It has been running constantly for several days and I last replaced the filter last year during a bad fire week. I’m not sure how much of the smoke they can handle and I’d rather be safe than sorry!
In less boring, more cute news, my dog had a playdate today. They spent some time wrestling under the couch as usual, but then they had a rest, adorably.
I have been knitting on the sleeve since I last posted about the sweater problem but it’s too late to get a new picture. I’ll aim for that tomorrow!
the sheep free knitter 