Hold My Beer...

As if doping in the Olympics wasn't enough? Vlad decides to take back Ukraine as if he actually owns it. And then has the blazing balls to say, "There will be trouble if they try to stop me." 

Looks like Vlad is getting the trouble... And also, my personal opinion is TFG needs to be OFF the airwaves. He needs to shut the pie hole and the press should be, I dunno -- over him? I know it's all clicks now. It's not even "if it bleeds, it leads," but "if the GQP says more outrageous crap, we get more clicks" rather than, perhaps noting that the jobs are up in January. And the pandemic, while not over, is getting to a point where the death counts aren't so high anymore. Though there's another variant, so we shall see if we get to have our masks off for a red hot minute before all the chickens come home to roost. 

I went to Ravelry (yeah, I know all the stuff about access and all that, and I should've done something different, but there you are). Sought out a Ukranian designer, picked 3 shawl patterns, and ordered them. I know it's not a ton of money; there are folks signing up for Air BnB in Ukraine, and donating that money to the owners of the houses. You have to pick houses owned by real people, not a real estate company or the like. And the owners of the homes are grateful -- and in many cases, can probably get the money to where it's needed quicker than my shawl pattern designer will get her money. Especially if the internet gets locked down. 

It's something. I've got an event coming at the studio which will raise funds for refugee organizations. 

I'm honestly glad to see that we're not using Russian oil and gas now. It was only a few percentages of our entire dependence on everyone else's oil, but it makes a point. 

Today, I gassed up my car and it was $4.29/gallon. I bet by tonight, it's closer to $5.00. But then again, we're not getting shelled, and we have intact homes and functioning hospitals. So. Complain about the gas prices at your peril. 

And no, Biden DIDN'T raise fuel prices. No president in the history of this country, no matter which party, can affect gas prices. It's a commodity. It rises and falls according to the market. And the market is susceptible to the whims of forces beyond a mere president. 

The Knitting...

Well, one down... I finished the blue striped socks. Last night. Wearing them today. I'm glad they're finished, even though for some reason, the toes don't quite match. But I'm fine with that, because the toes on my feet don't match...

They're on 64 stitches, and I should have done them larger. I have to find a sweet spot. 72 stitches is too large, even with my biker calves. And 64 is, let's say, a tad snug. 

At least now the toes mostly match, the foot length matches, and the heels not only MATCH, but are a decent length in the heel flap. I know most heel flaps are around 2.5" but I like mine a bit longer. I also pick up way too many stitches in the gusset, but that's ok. You can see how the edge of the heel is a bit longer, and the decreases are many. That also fits higher arches. So I just keep doing what I'm doing. 

That's the best thing about socks -- you can totally customize them. One of these pairs, I'm going to try an arch support at the underside. I'm going to go back to the Box in the Closet, and have Hubby pick another bag.

What's the "Box in the Closet?" you ask... Well. Many years ago (yeah, MANY), I set myself a challenge, which got sidetracked by baby knitting. The twins I was knitting for are now 8 years old. Ahem. 

Anyway. 

I put 12 brown paper bags into a tote. In those brown paper bags were 12 balls of sock yarn, one per bag. The idea was to knit a pair of socks a month. 

Normally, this is do-able if you buckle down a bit more than I was doing. Did you know that if you carry your socks around with you all the time, you generally get a lot more knitting done? Well, I wasn't doing that for a number of reasons, one of which was the knitting for said TWINS... 

I know I have several singletons, but I also have kind of a case of start-itis, brought on by a number of things, and I know that deadlines will be pressing upon me. But that being said, I'm looking forward to diving back in to the Box of Sox. 

Next up is my "secret project," which has had its deadline moved up a bit closer than I thought it would be! 

I am quite literally keeping this one hidden till it's done. It's a design I worked out myself, so I'm not sure how it's going to work. We shall see... But for now, I'm just going to beaver away at this and get it done, hopefully, by the deadline imposed upon me by circumstance. 

I'm also hoping to finish at least one more pair of socks, by making the mate, and maybe finish up the Copland shawl I started 2 years ago. Especially since the colorway is now, apparently, in fashion, being black and brown. The brown is hand-painted, and it's glorious. The black is also hand-painted so while it's black, there are layers of black, if you can imagine that. That shawl got set aside for Kid #2's afghan to finish. I'm not sure when I'll have more baby knitting to do. 

This will be my year to learn cables, too. I keep telling myself this. I keep procrastinating. This is the year. I'm going to do it. Honest. 

Gardening in General...

We're not quite sure what we're going to do for the veggie garden. I do want to plant sunflowers (not

solely because of Ukraine -- I've wanted sunflowers for a while now). At the local museum, they're selling native plant seeds, and I may pick some up to add to the wildflower garden in the front. 

I think our "old favorites" will return: radishes, romaine, carrots. Rosemary is a standard. I think I'd like to do celery this year. Last year, we got a taste of it, and -- much like carrots, it was good!

Inside, Hubby's orchids are going nuts. NUMBER SEVEN has bloomed. We seriously have SEVEN plants in bloom right now. We have nine total, and it looks like two will need re-potting, which means we have to figure out where to put two more plants. Our space is compact, to be kind. One more is budding, and ready to pop in a week or so. 

One of the cattleyas is blooming, the pink one with a scent. The one big phal is blooming and the other is the one ready to pop. And all the mini phals are in bloom. It's crazy. And beautiful. 

And we need that beauty right now. 

I have to remember what that little plant is behind this pink-and-white mini-phal. It's kind of like a succulent, and its purpose is to attract the little midgies which like to congregate around the orchids - like a Venus Fly Trap, it draws them in and ... eats them? Anyway, the flowers remind me somewhat of violets, and the greens are like hens-and-chicks but not as rigid. I had the paper that the orchid place gave me. I just don't know where I put it. 

Random Picture...

My studio is located in an old plaza and recently, we've had some pretty vile winds. The awnings over the suites were looking pretty care-worn, and two wind storms later? They were just trashed. Our landlord is very good at keeping the property up. He had all the awnings taken down and a week or two ago, they were returned, brand-new. 

He also put LED lights around the roof parapet, which is nice - the parking lot is well-lit anyway, but this adds more light. I teach night classes, and a little more brightness in the lot isn't going to be anything I'm going to complain about. 

Actually, we're talking about lighting at our house. A week ago, a neighbor's garage got tagged. We all realized that the area around 2 blocks was kind of dark. So we're all chatting, figuring out who has cameras, talking about whether we need to talk to the power company about the utility poles in the alleys, fixing lights atop them to light up where we park. 

I've lived here a long, long time. It feels weird to have this problem. 

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