Post-Easter Crap...

Well, that's technically true. Like clockwork, I have a post-Holy Week cold. It's a doozy. I have a solo this Sunday. As in TOMORROW. Will I be able to sing? Will I be a baritone? Will I get through the service and still have a voice?

Hmmmmm. All good questions. All unable to be answered until tomorrow, to see where my voice ends up. 

It is snowing outside. Yes, I'm not crazy. Yes, it's April 27, 2019. Yes, this actually happened a long, long time ago -- 1967, to be exact. And I don't think we've recovered from THAT. 

I've spent the past 4 days (Yeah. Started Monday night, to be exact.) drinking tea and water, and eating soup. Tonight was the first time I've had something solid to eat. No worries; I like soup, but I figured I needed to get rid of the leftover meatloaf. 


Oh, and because I have great timing - today was my "Spring Pedicure." Lucky me, I may have acquired a yoga student. But I was in flip-flops in the wet, cold rain. Not a brilliant move. But I have lovely blue toes. 

I wasn't planning on this color; but when I saw it, I was in love. It's one of the shades of blue in my yoga studio's logo, so I bought it, too. It's OPI, called "Dreams Need Clara-fication." It's technically from their Nutcracker series, but I thought of Dr. Who, of course! 

Originally, I was going with "My Dogsled is a Hybrid" which is an older color. Check it out on their website; it's a nice "1960's looking" green-blue.

Now, though, that pedicure is stuffed into fuzzy "house socks" because my feet are freezing. 

Did I tell you that I'm kinda over this weather? 

On the bright side, here's a shot of my neighbor's "fish flags." He hasn't been able to fly them for a few years; the top flag had a line break and he said it took him a while to find the replacement part. 

They're lovely, large koi fish, representing his family. They were very striking against the recent grey skies. 

Let's catch up a bit on stuff...

Easter...

Well, I could make a million baking lamb cakes. At least mine wouldn't have plastic faces. And they wouldn't taste like cardboard. 

I didn't do one this year. We have done them before, and the kids love them, but nobody in the family is eating many sweets lately, so it's just easier to make the potica and keep it simple. 


There's the requisite "Peep Art." This is a great one, actually... Yes, in case you're asking, I really don't have any idea how to share that stuff with my phone so I do it really old-school and take a picture of my laptop screen.

It gives my kids something to roll their eyes over. 

Don't judge. 

It was nice to have Easter Sunday "off." But speaking of "off" -- Hubby and I went on a bike ride that day. It was a glorious day, my first on the bike in over a year because of all the tummy troubles. 


Ten miles. I felt so good. But I fell on my bike. 

You read that right. 

I got off my bike to take a picture of a "carpet" of violets. And as I was getting back on, the bike slipped out from under me and my right knee hit the sprocket. It's a lovely greenish color; the gal doing my pedicure was quite stunned at the coloration. 

And it hurts like crazy. The trail was that crushed limestone stuff. It's easy to lose control; funny thing was, I was trying to get ON the bike and the whole thing just went over sideways. 

Could've been worse. 

But then, I haven't fallen off my bike since my age was in the single digits. 

I don't bounce the way I did then...

Mother Nature...

At first I thought that this cold might be allergies. Since my car was literally covered in pollen the other day. Seriously had a "golden" tone to the green paint. 

I went to the car wash on Thursday at lunch, just to scrape a layer of it off. 

One of my students insists that that's all my trouble is: "It's sinuses related to allergies."

Respectfully, no it's not. I know the difference. 

I did take a walk, even though I felt kind of crappy. It was nice to be out in nature, even with the coughing and sneezing. Watched this guy try to catch his lunch. He was remarkably calm for how close I was. 

I also found another little friend. Luckily, I wasn't getting dive-bombed. This one is roosting outside of the front door on our church hall. 

ON the door. 

This is a shot from inside. 

Robins are not the cheerful harbingers of spring when it's nesting season. 

They're mean. And they'll dive bomb you without a second of hesitation. One of them used to roost on our front porch light. Then it moved to a bird feeder. 

The mailman was afraid to deliver our mail. 

Small but fierce. 

So far, this one has stayed in his nest and has only given us a stink-eye. The Vicar hasn't disturbed him; she's a live-and-let-live kind of person. Nesting season will be over soon.

The Knitting Dilemma...

Well. I have a dilemma. The Multnomah Shawl is giving me some problems. There's some weird crap about the stitch markers, and it's just strange. I thought it was straightforward, but her directions are kind of not cool. 

My problem is 10 rows of Feather and Fan. I love Feather and Fan and I've been dying to make a shawl with it. 

This is gorgeous; MadTosh HT (high twist) merino, for a very special, knit-worthy person. And the way this is constructed, the drape over the shoulders will be phenomenal. 

But the Feather & Fan is driving me nuts. 

It doesn't appear to line up in successive rows. So I fudged it and now I'm frustrated. 

I've temporarily set it aside, till my snot-addled brain can think. It's only April; I have time for this. 

I even added a second set of markers, to delineate the K5 middle section. I wish she'd have just done that YO, K5, YO thing without a zillion remarks about stitch markers. 

It sounds like it would be easier. 

Maybe not. And maybe I'm misinterpreting the whole thing. 

I'll go back to Ravelry and see what others have said. I love the Spectrum colorway. And I love the heft and drape of this. It'll keep the eventual wearer nice and toasty. 

I just have to get my head together to figure out how to keep each part in line. 


So I pulled out The Book. When I'm bored at work (shhhhhhhh, don't tell), I'll troll blogs and pick up notes on items I may want to knit. 

I've found a hat for both of the kids; I try to make a hat every other year. I know last year I made hats, but this is a nice double-layer one that I think they'd like. 

I also have several pages of shawls. So I could check those out. Lord knows I have stash. 

And in the meantime, I pulled out the Traveling Scarf -- a/k/a The Before-and-After Scarf. I will be getting something to replace that lime green for the second half. And I briefly thought about doing another one for the recipient of the shawl above; but this is honestly MILES of garter stitch; and I don't know if I could do TWO of them (it's a 2-part item) by December. 

If I can get to my LYS to see if she even carries this lace alpaca, I might give it a shot. If nothing else, it's totally mindless and easy enough. Just kinda boring. 

Even with the prospect of beads along each end to hold it down. Blocking might actually be a nightmare -- it's going to take an entire floor, which I don't have empty at this point. The finished length is about 5-6 feet. 

But it's alpaca and laceweight, so it'll be warm but light. A totally different feel than the Multnomah, which kind of reminds me of those British dramas I watch where the mom of the family wraps herself in a shawl and braves the British winter weather...

Anyway; I started another pair of traveling socks, because the green ones are close to the heel. That makes 3 pairs in progress; I just need to buckle down and deal with finishing them. It's another Opal yarn. Self-patterning, so it's vanilla and great lunchtime/outside knitting. 

What's on your needles? Are you starting to think about Christmas yet?

Anyone got wisdom for me on Multnomah?

Random Picture...

I was going to take a picture of the snow on our neighbor's roof, but I decided against it. 

I was running late for the pedicure, but it turned out ok, because the person doing it was running behind. This was one of the things that held me up. The annual Walk A Mile in Her Shoes Walk that was done by our local domestic violence shelter group. 

Men walk a mile in high heels. The high heels are donated. And these guys did it. 

In the pouring rain/snow mix, down one of our main streets. 

It was inspiring and sad at the same time. 

Domestic violence is a scourge. People still victim-shame, and perpetrators still get off fairly easily in many jurisdictions. And often, the victim isn't believed -- till she's dead. 

I know - domestic violence can happen to anyone. Male or female. 

Either way, it's a crime, it's a shame, and we're better than this. We need to crack down on the availability of guns, legal and illegal. And the illegal ones are the hardest nuts to crack. 

I don't have answers. But I know we have the brains in this country to do it. We just have to have the will.