Thankful Thursday

I know this is going to sound very shallow and materialistic, but I am thankful for

1) money. My hubby and I are both employed, can pay the bills, and can buy extras without stress. I see a lot of people who are struggling to pay the bills, getting laid off, or having their work hours reduced. I am literally grateful every day that we are not in that situation. (yet).

2) not being materialistic. One of the reasons we can pay our bills is that we don't tend to buy a lot of stuff. Even close members of my family consider me cheap, but I don't like shopping, and I don't buy things unless I really want them. I live in a town where there's a lot of pressure to have the right accessories. People will fall behind on their bills, but buy a new car so no one suspects. I am doing billing today at work and I am staggered by the number of overdue notices I have to send out. It's at an all-time high. One of those customers just bought a new car. Another just bought a boat. I am very grateful that I just don't care what people think.

3) That said, I am thankful for the few things I have bought this year--like a sailboat--that have brought me hours of joy. And I'm thankful to the people who twisted my arm into making the purchase.

And now, I'm off to buy sock yarn. And I'm thankful for that, too.

Thankful Thursdays--the Experimental Spinning Edition

This past summer, the Knitigator VERY generously awarded me a great big honking ball of Crown Mountain pencil roving, colorway Autumn. Isn't it gorgeous?

I immediately decided that such a fine autumnal colorway had to become mittens, to make me feel a little better about the end of summer.

I was spinning this at Spinning Group last week when Carole --after guessing the roving's creator correctly--asked me if I was going to leave it as singles. I had been giving the plying issue some thought--the color changes so quickly that Navajo plying would not accomplish much, and I was concerned that if I double-plied it, the resulting yarn would be muddy. Sharon suggested plying it with another yarn, a solid. Carole suggested white, and I thought maybe brown.

But then the next day I remembered I had two skeins of Lamb Pride in Navy Sailor just sitting around my house gathering dust! Lamb's Pride is a worsted-weight singles yarn that I decided would be perfect for plying, and blue is a complement to orange, so I thought it was worth a try.

Only the first skein I made, the blue bled the orange (not, Paul Simon, "the orange bled the blue") and dulled down all the brights. So for the next skein I pre-soaked the navy. Here are the two skeins next to each other:

The first skein is on the left, the second on the right. When I see them next to each other like that, I'm not sure the presoak is worth the bother.

Swatch? I don't need no stinking swatch. I went straight to mitten:


I am very pleased with the yarn, but I have run out of navy blue Lamb's Pride. So I think the next bobbin will be plied with something lighter, like white or tan, to see how that comes out. Or I might try plying it against itself. So many choices, I just don't know what to do next!

So, thankfulness:
1) Thanks, Kathy! for the fabulous roving.
2) Thanks, Carole and Sharon, for helping me decide how to ply it.

And since I am actually writing this on Veteran's Day, for posting on Thursday,
3) Most importantly, thank to all our Veterans, past and present.

Thankful Thursdays

So Carole convinced me to join in her “Thankful Thursdays.” Unfortunately, however, I am very cranky today and frankly, not feeling that thankful. I feel more like Godzilla; I would like to roar and stomp on a village. Only if I were Godzilla, I wouldn’t trample indiscriminately. I would spread my toes r e a l l y w i d e and selectively stomp on the homes of people who annoy me. I’m making a list in my head right now. Two of the houses are right next door to each other. Two birds, one toe!

So, here’s my cranky list of things I am thankful for, not in any particular order:

1. Horror movies. Horror movies put everything into perspective. Sure, you had a bad day, no one’s disputing that. But zombies didn’t chase you into an abandoned farmhouse. Birds didn’t peck out your eyes. And some freaky creep with foot-long razor sharp fingernails didn’t kill your friends for real in your dreams. See? Things could be so much worse.

2. Beer. When you’ve had a bad day, nothing tastes as good as a nice cold beer. Or wine, if you’re so inclined. As far as I’m concerned, any song about a blue moon is an Ode to a Great Beer. I’m already dreaming about my end-of-the-day Blue Moon, and it’s only 9:30 am.

3. My dog. Because how can you stay mad when this face looks up at you?

P.S. I promise to be sincere and gracious and thankful next week. But you just can't be in a good mood all the time. Know what I mean?