Monday is always a total carnage situation of domestic sloppiness at our house. I usually plan cleaning, not paperwork because of the Monday mess. But for some reason I imagined that today I could ignore it and at least work on the taxes.

Not so. I’ve run off to a cafe with wi-fi. I came actually for a croissant. But then arrived and wanted asiago bread. I’ve been known to drive 50 miles for croissants.

I no longer feel sick. But I’m tired. And this does not make for a lot of productive housework. Friday I hung shelves in the laundry room. They’re nice and level, though way too high for anything but storage. Then Saturday I felt exhausted and sat on the couch doing taxes.

I pulled DD out of ballet. She’s annoyed. So am I. She wants to go, and just goof off. I think if she’s going to go and we’re going to pay tuition her teacher should teach, not babysit the toddler they allowed to enroll. Anyway, too late to join a new program this season. And it’s time for swim lessons.

DD has developed a sudden aversion to water. She screams in the bathtub and says she does not want swim lessons – which is exactly why she needs them. I taught swim lessons when I was a teen. So in theory I could teach her. But it has been my experience that things go much more smoothly if the instructor is a stranger. Kids are weird like that.

I am going to continue to ignore the charcoal colored, elastic/cotton hat knitting attempt. I’m now on the lookout for organic cotton for a pattern that may or may not be more simple.

I started a hood/cowl thing in bamboo silk blend for me, mainly because I had the yarn and sort of a pattern. The Silk Fountain Hood pattern confused me. So I’m just knitting a very simple lace pattern, which is working out fine. Though by the time I finish I may have to throw the cowl in with the winter clothes and down into the basement until next year.

DH is impatient for me to become a better knitter. He wants a new hat.

I pruned the cherry tree and have been gathering the sucker branches to make a compost bed. It is far from a work of beautiful manicured gardening. But in my opinion, preparing compost for future caprice salad ingredients is more important.

Off to the census.

In my absence:

• DD broke her collar bone, which has mostly healed.  We made a build a bear to cheer her up.


Stuffing the Build A Bear

• I am now reasonably healthy. I won’t be turning cartwheels. But at least I feel up to poking a little fun at myself.
• I watched a few movies, since that was the level of my energy.  And some television.  I usually feel bad when I act like a couch potato.  But I actually felt bad enough already to escape guilt.


Alpaca Silk Scarf (prior to completion)

• I continued my amazingly slow, moderately successful knitting.  Which is to say that I started DH’s hat project attempt three times and have since tossed it to the bottom of the bag.  Finished a scarf that needs blocking, because my first attempt at blocking it seems not to have affected it at all.  And started my own version of the Silk Fountain Hood pattern.  My own version because I have bamboo/silk, not pure silk, and the original pattern is lacy beyond my skills.

I watched Coming Home, with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight.  Mainly I watched it because it occurred to me that it was recent at film time, Americans having pulled out of Vietnam for good in 1974, and the movie being released in 1978.  And I remember my father ranting that Hanoi Jane had no business making a movie about the plight of any veteran.  And that was years later, when the movie came out on video.  He was still totally indignant.

hanoi jane by pineapple palace

It was interesting.  I found it most interesting that Fonda’s character wished most for, if trapped on a desert island, a husband.  And this was considered unremarkable.  I think that would be appalling now.  Her relationship with husband was interesting too, not very intimate and seemingly unsatisfying.

Voight’s character, confined to a wheel chair, begins bitter and develops from there.  It was interesting to see him looking so young.  And also interesting to see Fonda looking relatively the same as she does now, which I find suspicious.

I had thought that the way coming home from Vietnam would be portrayed differently in 1978 than it is now.  But I didn’t find Coming Home to be tremendously different in concept than any other post war film.  So it must be universal, at least on film.

Mark Wahlberg (in black and white) by Lessio

I also saw Fear with Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon.  The thing that I wonder about most with that film is why the producer or writer, or whomever makes such decisions, felt it necessary to make it over-the-top obvious that Wahlberg’s character is a criminal.  I wonder why, because I don’t think having a criminal record is a requirement for being a frightening, abusive person.

I’m looking forward to the new episode of Southland coming out this week.  Though I hope I will get my energy back and be too busy doing things other than watching tv to care much.  I told DH I might do some gardening today.  And he gave me that look that said if I tried it he might have to intervene.  So maybe a couple days before any attempted gardening.

I want to prune some plants that need it badly, and use the prunings to make a bed for tomatoes.  My attempts at organic gardening annoy DH and the neighbors, who prefer to purchase expensive commercial items.  Whereas, my idea of good gardening is to use kitchen refuse for compost and cover it up with pine straw, and use yard refuse like prunings to build beds rather than expensive plastic stuff.

IMG_5924 by Pip_Wilson

Yeah, it looks sort of like a birds nest at first.  But then the twigs settle, and plants grow and just the plants are noticeable.  I do always have to buy topsoil.  Because we just have hard red clay.  And no amount of household compost alone could keep a new plant alive in my yard.

DH made fun.  But we had fresh tomatoes and basil until October last year.  And enough dried lavender to make lavender oil, sachets, and still have some left over.

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On the up side, I have recently resumed the purge of unnecessary household objects. And have delivered several carloads of stuff that was cluttering up the garage and house to Goodwill and The Place. This makes me feel much better, in spite of the fact that the stuff had piled up so high in the first place. At least now we’re going in the right direction.

Cleaning out my grandmother’s apartment really put me behind in my own cleaning. And then… I brought many of her belongings to my house. Trumpet please, announcing way too much stuff. I had given so many of her possessions to charity and friends that I felt that I should keep more things out of respect than I actually needed.

However, I have just given the wool sweaters to Aunt D. I had tried to line them so that I could wear them myself. But it looked ugly. So I gave up on the lining and then just held onto the sweaters waiting to find somebody who could wear them. When I realized Aunt D is the same size and wears wool, I brought the sweaters over. I’m glad they have a new home. I just couldn’t bear to throw them in the donation bin. My grandmother loved those sweaters. I needed be sure to give them to somebody who would really enjoy them.

I have felt so lousy the past several weeks that I have done very little writing. So much so that when I finally tried to log in to my sewing blog, I found the account locked. Fortunately, this was easily fixed with a note to support.

In my absence, the today.com network has changed their revenue policies. I think this will be for the better. But I haven’t fully check it out. Another thing I must see about.

I managed to make money on another venue on royalties from past work, in spite of my current lag monster status. That was nice and cheered me up for a minute.

The knitting is going pretty well, generally. I received my orders from Knitpicks and Elan. And I’ve been experimenting and working on a simple scarf. It seems that I can tolerate alpaca. I’m working with an alpaca/silk/nylon blend yarn. It took a while to get used to it. But now I seem to be able to keep the tension pretty even. Hopefully, when the scarf is finished, I’ll be able to wear it around my neck and not have to give it away.

I got a very brief note from grandmas attorney. As soon as I saw the envelope I had terrible anxiety. Of course they want to know if I’ve closed everything out. And I have not. Every time I do something related to my grandmothers estate it just spirals out into a drama. I feel ill just thinking about it. Still the end is in sight. After months and months, less items that need to be addressed by me are rolling in. The only things really problematic left are family related. Which is where I see doom.

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Leather Handbag

Nice work, mom.

I managed to dry out the registration without tearing it. It was all folded up and in an envelope. And I really thought I’d be paying the county a fee to get them to issue me another copy. But I managed to extract it from the envelope, and spread it out to dry. It is still legible. Though I won’t win any awards for tidiness if I need to present it.

I cleaned up the lake with napkins and the coffee cup cozy that I recently knitted. I was thinking that it was my first functional project. But the dishcloths have turned out to be very useful. So it is my first project that required sizing. It is a little loose. I used it like a towel. Very absorbent.

coffee cup cozy

I ordered ten different types of yarn from Knitpicks and Elann. Most of them are from Elann, which is killer on the shipping, since it’s Canadian. One yarn is either alpaca, or an alpaca blend. I don’t remember which. One skein of yarn seems a reasonable gamble to determine whether or not I can tolerate, and even enjoy alpaca. If not, I will pass it along, no harm done.

The rest of the yarns are cottons and blends with hemp, linen and silk. Some have touches of acrylic and elastic, which I’ve read are terrific to have blended with cotton and other non-stretchy fibers.

And I got a one-skein knitting book, so I’ll have something to do with all the random yarns – or try anyway. And I got two stitch holders, and some stitch markers, guessing about the sizes. I don’t know what kind I’ll like or will work well with the types of yarn I’ll have. But since it is all a big experiment, I’m willing to just try them out.

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We went to get away for the afternoon. MIL kept the kids. It is silly that DH and I hardly ever get an afternoon to ourselves, since there is a teenager completely capable of a few hours babysitting, and the in-laws not so far away. But that is the reality. We spend most of our weekends with family. It’s nice. But it’s equally nice to get some couple time.

Also, there is the granary. And since DH has been doing a lot of baking, fresh grain has become even more alluring. And going there is fun.

Nora Mill Granary

I went searching for locally made goods other than grain, and was really disappointed to find that most of the other items in the store had a home spun look, but were imported from all over. I did find some locally made honey lollipops. Then after I had purchased them found some soaps, ironically, made close to our house. So I went back through the line and got those too.

The coffee shop next door was badly overheated. I couldn’t stand it and went outside.

And of course, we went to the Habersham Winery and sampled the wine (not me so much). The bartender was trying to help out this young man by getting the woman with him very drunk. DH was astonished by how much wine she purchased. Possibly it was that she had had so much of it to drink.

Habersham by turbojoe (away)

I don’t usually buy more than one or two bottles. But I can see why you would want to have it around. Then you don’t have to think about buying it, just pull one out when you are going to a gathering. Also, it’s really fun to have lots of variety and a tale about buying it.

Before we left, both of us scoured the restaurant recommendations. Most all of them had mixed reviews, except for Safari Steakhouse, which was just all bad. Which left us without much for a recommendation. So we went to the Nacoochee Grill. I couldn’t remember why I knew it. But once we arrive, remembered that I ate lunch there with friends a few years ago. It’s a cute place. The food was good, but not fantastic. And we didn’t have to look at really bad uniforms.

Chattahoochee River Dam by jimmywayne

We ate lunch first, then enjoyed the touristy stuff. Then we went to Hofer’s Bakery for coffee. It has all the super tacky decor and tremendously unflattering clothing. The coffee was good. The croissant, mediocre. I saw baguettes when we arrived. But by the time we left they were gone. And all that was left was rye bread. Boo. I didn’t get a picture. But click the link to their site to see the spectacular tackiness.

As it turns out, the acrylic yarn feels gross, splits, and doesn’t show any kind of pattern. After I switched to cotton yarn; and made three small dishcloths in different patterns, I tried the acrylic yarn again. It is soft. And I like the color. I still think it feels yukky and is difficult to manipulate. I knitted about ten rows of a ribbed scarf pattern before I made the final decision to chuck the yarn. So, into the donate pile it goes.

I got the circular knitting needles that I ordered for my birthday, from Knitpicks. They are every bit as wonderful as Marne, and the ladies from the knitting group have said. Saturday, one of the other ladies in the knitting group had her set, also pretty new, so I got to preview them and oh and aw. Mine arrived Saturday evening – of course.

DD is completely interested in the knitting, in all things crafty really. But she’s just learning to write. So I don’t want to try to teach her to knit or crochet yet. As she will probably get frustrated and hate it. I am on the lookout for one of those knitting/weaving devices made specifically for children her age who are interested, but need a bit more growing up before they can move on to crochet hooks and knitting needles.

I remember making all kinds of ugly potholders on one of those things when I was a preschooler. God bless my mother for telling me they were so wonderful. Though, she may have been just thankful that I was occupied for hours.

I got the No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights
book on Saturday too. It has all these fantastic patterns that are totally over my head, in addition to lots of non-wool fiber information. It has a whole section on hemp yarn, which I find terribly scratchy. But I don’t find cashmere scratchy. And I think alpaca feels nice. Though I haven’t tried to wear it yet.

What? by Jayegirl99

I am going with the long fiber and scale theory of itchiness – that it is the length of the fiber and occurrence of scales that makes something itchy or not, rather than that it came from a plant or animal. I’ll find out anyway. My plan is to buy several random cotton blend, linen, and alpaca blend yarns and see what itches or doesn’t, how it holds a pattern and then try to make something simple.

Aware of my novice knitting status, several people helpfully pointed out this weekend that cashmere comes from a goat. And that alpaca is a completely different sort of animal. Which is really funny, since I wore cashmere for years and thought it came from a special breed of sheep. And I insisted on DH driving a certain way home so he could identify the weird animals near our house – which turned out to be alpacas.

So that’s my plan, to purchase some random yarns this coming weekend. And then try them all out. And definitely, definitely chuck the acrylic yarn.

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I turned forty.  My aunt helpfully suggested this is better than the alternative.  I told my cousin, also recently forty, that if I had known we would survive this long, I might have made better decisions. He said, “I know! Me too.”

I paid all the bills, but forgot to write down the incredibly whopping medical bill, which is not getting the bookkeeping off to a good start.  I had a weird feeling that something was going to come up.  But I couldn’t think of anything, and decided to go ahead and get myself a present, then had to transfer some funds.  I hate when I do that.  I could have waited a week.  I can hardly keep track of what day it is anyway.

I have created a two knitted dishcloths and am exceedingly entertained by the accomplishment.  I used one for the first time today, and am surprised by how well it suits the purpose of cleaning dishes.  I did not know.  I hereby abandon sponges.

knitting stockinette stitch

The Ni Hao Kai-lan hat is missing in the house.  So I cannot photograph it or blog it, putting the sewing blog even more miserably behind.  Ugh.

It’s ridiculously cold.  Nights have been in the teens and days in the twenties.  Crazy cold for Georgia!  I went in search of coats at the thrift store since we’ll likely only wear them one or two weeks per year during a cold snap.  And DD might be able to get one more year out of hers before she outgrows it.  No joy for DH and SS.  But I got myself and DD jackets so warm that I could hardly keep it on long enough inside the store to zip it.  I got one for my nephew too, since it was perfect and only three dollars.

I’m sick of DDs ballet program, but conflicted about switching her to another one.  She likes it because her friends from school are there.  But there are several teachers kids in the class, very young.  And they disrupt the class and the learning of the kids who are actually old enough to participate.  The other options are to move her back to the county sponsored program, which is taught by the same ballet company, but somewhat better organized, and will include one of her other friends.  Or I can just enroll her in the more serious, more expensive program.  She has been doing this for three years already.

ESOL starts up again in a week.  I am going to switch days so that I can go to the Tuesday knitting group if I want to.  I met up with the ESOL instructor and other three volunteers today to get the new schedule.  The students gave all the volunteers and teacher – all female – earrings.  Mine are silver.  I am allergic, but will wear them once to class so I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.  Then I’m giving them to someone who won’t turn green.

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Someone smart at the knitting group, whose name eludes me, suggesting simply knitting until it became easier.  And I believe Liz also mentioned this learning method.

After repeated attempts to learn the Continental method with a number of handholds,  I kept dropping the thread.  I finally managed to knit with the English method and an alternate handhold.  The stitches are fairly even.  They aren’t perfect.  But they’re good enough for a washcloth.

knitting garter stitch

I also mustered the energy to help DD make a Ni-Hao Kai-lan hat.  The instructions were for a scarf with a premade hat and felt.  But we didn’t have a plain hat, glue and felt.  Also, what small child wouldn’t ruin that in ten minutes?

Of course we have fabric scraps, applique backing and fleece laying around.  And puffy paint.  If you want to make a five year old girl really, really happy, let her have some puffy paint.

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unidentified atomizers by snigguly

I was never able to convince Grandma that it was Must, by Cartier not Musk, although I did resort to showing her the bottle. She shielded her face as though presented with a deadly toxin, or dirty diaper. Some time in the 1990s she decided she would not wear perfume. She didn’t tell Aunt Jeanine, either because she thought she’d change her mind and wear it again, or because it would be very un-French of her to reject perfume.

In any event, her disavowal of perfume was a boon to my perfume collection, already fabulously supplemented with the tropical and floral fragrances that she received as gifts and said smelled like stuff my father would pick out and give me. And she was right, he did in the early 90s, prior to his death, send me a bottle of Champs-Elysee, or something very similar.

Champs-Elysee is my second most favorite perfume, followed by l’Éte.  Both of these were in Grandmas perfume stash, now part of my collection, in small bottles.  They are the kind you dab on.  But yesterday I discovered two atomizers that Grandma must have refilled around the time she swore off perfume.  Because they had a strong smell of rubbing alcohol.  Dumping them down the sink produced the weirdest odor.

Refilling the atomizers should be interesting as well.  I washed them really well and have left them open to dry.  I’ll have to remember to refill them right before I shower, so I won’t stink myself up too much and smell like an old lady on an elevator.

I caved in my quest to find all natural, preservative and chemical free lipstick.  I do like the tinted balms.  But really, I need red lipstick.  I do.  So I’m going to try some from the Body Shop, since I really liked that brand before I discovered stuff even less irritating to the skin.  I hope it doesn’t taste nasty, like Bare Escentuals lipstick, and some other mineral lipstick I’ve tried.  I don’t know what that is about.  The balms that I have are made with minerals and aren’t nasty.

Right, so my totally fun, girly and frivolous Christmas gifts that I picked out should arrive sometime around my birthday.

DH is not a gift giver.  He likes to give things.  But as he says, get yourself something nice baby… no woman should have to get a gift picked out by me.  I have to give it to him for funny.

This, my friends, took hours.

I keep pulling it all out and starting again. The cast on seemed too tight to get a needle through. I kept trying to make it looser, but succeed in making it looser and uneven. I eventually settled for tight, though not as much, even loops. The knitted row was okay, just maddeningly slow.

Then I tried to actually knit and purl, which was a horrible disaster. I kept dropping stitches, adding stitches, and losing my place. I must have spent an hours on only a few stitches.

Then I met up with Aunt D and her knitting group. Everyone was really nice and helpful. I thought I was distracted by the entertaining conversation, because my knitting became even worse. When I got home, I realized everything the lady next to me did looked confusing and different because I had been following a Continental Knitting video at home. And she was doing the English style knitting.

And so, I begin again.

I will eventually figure it out or give up and donate the knitting needles to somebody who knows how to use them properly. Or maybe someone who is just more coordinated.

I bought a knitting book today. This seems mundane. But two weeks ago I tried to buy a knitting book, got sensory overload on the choices, and didn’t buy anything at all. So actually, this is an improvement.

Also, it’s a knitting an crocheting book, which makes me feel like slightly less a dumbass. I can do a bit of crocheting. Not enough to make a sweater. But I’ve made simple afghans before. And they came out fine. This encourages me to try the knitting, since crocheting does require the use of yarn.

Blah, blah, blah.

Christmas was lovely here. We had a nice family Christmas Eve and morning. And then we visited with family in the afternoon. I have more calls to family to make and more people to visit. But all is well.

Merry Late Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

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