kmkat and her kneedles

Alternate uses for yarn.

We all use the tools we are familiar with. Smokey uses a screwdriver to tighten a screw, I will sometimes use a knife. Real gardeners use a wooden or bamboo stake to keep a houseplant upright, I use a knitting needle. Others might have used string or twine to hang the political signs on their car in parades last summer, I used yarn.

Yarn is very handy.

The zipper tab broke off one of my fleece vests several years ago. Eventually I figured out that a coilless safety pin worked perfectly as a substitute tab.

But the appearance was makeshift and non-pleasing, although I did appreciate being able to zip up the vest again. I dug in my sock yarn stash and came up with some yarn that [almost] matched the vest.

Yarn to the rescue!

Nothing like a couple fuzzy photos to liven up a blog.

The other alternative use for yarn actually involved knitting. I have an oversized denim workshirt that I love because it is perfect for layering when a t-shirt isn't enough but a sweater is too much. Over the years, however, it had acquired a couple of rips.

This is the larger hole. The smaller one is smaller and unphotographed.

 

Those rips have been there for a l-o-n-g time and never really bothered me. But suddenly inspiration struck. I grabbed my needles and a crochet hook and...

...voila!

 

Related: I once did something kinda similar for a favorite fleecy top. Fleece with new cuffs.

Random Monday.

More ice sounds.

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Crocheted Tetris blanket.

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Felted stone mat, $500.

All the above found via BoingBoing.

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From author/musician/stand-up artist Michael Perry's blog:

Talked to a retired sheriff’s deputy last night.  He says the key to successfully breaking up a bar brawl is to turn the siren on about a mile out and slow down so everyone has plenty of time to clear out…

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Test your powers of observation. Link from CursingMama's blog.

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I sent this to #2 son. He sent back the following; he said it is as old as the internet, but I had never read it before. Enjoy!

Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels.

Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them breaks and splinters. That is the "loser," and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round.

I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world.

Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment.

When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 07840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3x5 card reading, "Please use this M&M for breeding purposes."

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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Tomorrow: actual knitting content. And dog hair. (But not knitting WITH dog hair, at least on purpose.)

Sunday bullets.

I need to catch y'all up on stuff; hence, bullets.

* MRI last Thursday. Loud, but since they were looking at my knee rather than my head, not particularly claustrophobic.

* Will get results Monday.

* Earlier on Thursday felt the floating thing in knee occasionally wedge itself into the joint when walking, thus making it impossible to straighten leg.

* Thinking this means arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chip.

* No biggie.

* Tried to get new lens for glasses to replace one that cracked when face plant occurred. Called place where originally got glasses.

* LensCrafters is scam place.

* Told me I couldn't get just one lens, had to get both, new one would be made by different technician, might not match, visual irregularities, blah blah blah... $500.

* Two words for them: Quality.Control.

* Me, aghast: "Five hundred bucks? Sorry, I will go somewhere else and get new glasses."

* Them: [snippy snippy uppity uppity] "...[blah blah]..."

* Went to Sam's Club.

* Eye exam + new glasses =  $321.

* Take that, LensCrafters!

* Screws, plate, and long bolt securing ankle broken last year will come out, day surgery, August 28.

* Ortho surgeon still a cutie and bit of a hunk.

* :-)

* Technicolor knee & leg fading to more or less normal colors. Boring.

* Even normal-colored knee & leg still painful. Annoying.

* Other leg, both arms, back, head all intact and relatively normal. Reassuring.

* Trying to find comfort in above.

* Glass half full, etc.

* Worked at county library/Friends of Libraries booth at county fair Saturday.

* First time in seven years working there that temperature and humidity below 90 (32℃).

* :-)

* Knitting sock in public attracted another knitter.

* Pleasant knitterly chat ensued.

* Was told I should enter my socks at the fair.

* Subsequently checked out knitting and crochet entries.

* Very sad.

* Couple sweaters† knit from nice yarn, one pair of socks in Tofutsie, a lot of items knit or crocheted in acrylic.

* Anything I have knit in the past five years, including dishcloths, is at least as good as what I saw (except for the sweaters -- see † below).

* Already planning what to enter next year.

* Not that I am competitive or anything.

* Chatted with UW-Extension guy who is 4H coordinator for county.

* (On his governing committee; that's how I know him.)

* Remote possibility that I may be judging 4H knitting sometime in future.

* Went out for dinner last night with three other couples from lake.

* Most excellent new-ish Vietnamese restaurant in Grantsburg, small town 37.5 miles north of here.

* Long way to drive for a meal.

* Meal worth it.

* Group chatted with owner after dinner.

* She and boyfriend worked in restaurants in Twin Cities for years, wanted their own.

* Thought this location in Grantsburg would be good because there were no other Asian restaurants nearby.

* Nearby = 40+ miles.

* Perhaps that should have been indication of local interest in Asian food?

* Business very slow at first, picking up now.

* As previously mentioned, food = excellent (aspargus basil shiitake mushrooms with grilled shrimp).

* Must re-visit restaurant; many other items of interest on menu.

 

That's enough for today. Go now and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

† The winning item was a sweater knit by a woman whom I know slightly through the local fiber guild. I didn't read the entry card beyond her name, but I expect that she spun the yarn (wool/llama blend, I think, and from her own animals). It was an Icelandic-style, fair isle circular yoked pullover, thick and warm enough to substitute for a winter coat. The other sweater -- knit by the woman with whom I chatted -- was a deep red lacy pullover  with a shawl collar in wool/mohair/alpaca blend. Both sweaters were lovely and definitely worthy of the winning ribbons. It was the rest of the entries that failed to impress me.

Can you say"crochet"?

Glory days, Pt. 1

Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

Glory Days
©Bruce Springsteen

I've been knitting for a long time, although you'd never guess it from the knitted things in my blog. So I thought I'd show some past achievements.

Knitted shawls, though lovely, haven't made their way onto my to-do list because I crocheted a couple 20+ years ago.

This one is made from J.P. Coats Knit-Cro-Sheen in ecru. It's a summer-weight thing, although it does provide a bit of warmth. I haven't worn it in public for years and years; it was only this past year that I rescued it from the back of the closet and draped it over my desk chair.

Once we get out of the dead of winter I may start wearing this as a scarf with my coat. It's a shame to let all those hours of *hooking* go to waste.

The second one is crocheted from some long-forgotten acrylic in a pale purpley-maroon heathery color that was called "Raisin." The color in the first photo is fairly true.

I started making it when I was pregnant with our older son; I wanted a nursing shawl to be used for camouflage when he got hungry or fussy in public. It wasn't finished by the time he was born, and with a newborn in the house I suddenly found myself with barely enough time to feed myself and take a shower, let alone sit quietly and crochet. It didn't get finished for several years. That baby is now 22 and this shawl also hung in the closet for many years. It joined the cotton one on the back of my desk chair this year -- the two of them have kept me warm many times when my office was a little chilly. These days I wear it as a scarf with my jean jacket -- proudly, I might add. As an actual shawl, I don't know. My style, if you could call it that, doesn't really allow for shawls; I'm too utilitarian and stripped down. Maybe I'll start small, wearing it at home, then out on the deck or maybe when we go for a pontoon boat ride on a coolish evening in spring. In public? who knows.

With all the scrumptious yarns that are available now, a new shawl starts to seem like a possibility. Maybe crocheted, maybe knitted. Food for thought, anyway...