Distractions

I have to admit that there hasn't been much knitting lately in my world. Although I've managed to finish 5 Christmas stockings (2 more to go and then I'm done done), not much else has happened. I did get a little more work done on my gansey, though and it's starting to take shape. I've got the gussets done and I'm well into the pattern. Somehow I must be in a diamond mood because I decided to do the first section as small diamonds. The second section, where I'm at now, is an argyle pattern. I think this is the first sweater I've done with knit/purl patterning. I don't believe I'm going to use any cables on this one but we'll see once I've got the back of the bodice done.

I still love the color and I do love knitting with Galway. I was going to do steeks, which would be perfect for this sort of yarn, but since I'm still not quite sure about the pattern, I decided to do the back and front separately. Less investment in case I decide to do something different. So far, so good.

Vintage Beaded Purse

I went over to one of the local auction houses a few weeks ago and found this lovely beaded crochet purse. Usually these things go for way more than I'm willing to pay but I must have been there on just the right night because there was nobody to bid against me and I got it for a steal. The lining is torn a bit but it's not obvious and the beaded section was complete and in good shape. There was some dirt in some of the beaded areas so I thought, instead of taking the chance of wetting it, I thought I would use a dry paint brush first. There's no telling what I breathed in but it worked a charm and cleaned things right up. A little wipe of the chain with a jeweler's cloth and I think it's cleaned up nicely. Certainly a pretty little thing. 1920's do you think?

A very full couple of days.

A couple of very exciting things have happened over the last couple of days. In fact they happened so quickly, I didn’t even have time for pictures.

The Car
The first is a follow up to the last post. Evidently it was going to cost me $500 for a new muffler. I almost had to giggle when the guy very solemnly assured me that it would have a lifetime warranty! Great, that makes all the difference. That’s a lot of money and with everything else, I just decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new (for me) car. I’ve been doing lots of research of what I wanted and what the costs would be so I was somewhat prepared. Here was my list of criteria:

• Not a PT Cr uiser. Apologies to those who like the PT Cruiser but it’s my taste.
• Not red. Don’t know why, just don’t want to drive a red car.
• Manual transmission. Learned on a manual, have driven manuals most my life except for my Tracer. Love to drive a manual.
• Less than 30,000 miles. You don’t save any money anymore getting a car with higher mileage – at least not in today’s market.
• I’d decided I quite liked the Ford Focus, both the looks, the feel and the reviews and safety ratings I’ve seen on them.

No one in town, or hereabouts, had a Focus with manual drive, except brand new models (out of my price band completely). There were several low mileage 2008 models that were automatic. One was a really pretty blue color. So I looked and then I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I suddenly thought, “Why am I giving up on my manual so easily?” I got on Edmunds.com and out of the blue, my car showed up. It had never shown up before in all my searching but here it was. A 2008 with just over 10,000 miles, 1 owner who’d returned it to the same dealership because they wanted something bigger, manual, kiwi green and right in the expected price range. The dealer gave me twice what I expected for my trade in which put it right in the price I’d decided I was willing to pay and Bob’s your uncle. I have a new car!

According to the reading on the dash, it’s averaging 30 miles to the gallon so far (mine was getting less than 20 at the end) and it has all the mod cons. So I’m happy, I’m blessed. I don’t like the idea of a car payment again after not having one for 6 years but, if I have to have one, this is the car to have one for. It was really inevitable, anyway.

And the piece de resistance is that the backseat area has enough headroom for me to transport my Kromski spinning wheel!! Ha!

The Kids
So all of that happened on Tuesday. I had, or thought I had, a session at a local elementary school demonstrating spinning on Wednesday. It was part of an art night open house at the school and it was packed. No time to go into details but suffice to say I got a phone call at 6:10 saying that the event was actually Tuesday night! Yikes. So I said I would run home (I was still at work) and grab my stuff and come out (in my brand new car). Karen was going to come with me but she was out so I headed on to the school. I was only about 20 minutes late but as soon as I hit the table with cd spindles and roving dyed with bright Kool-Aid colors, I was surrounded for 2 hours with kids spinning bracelets. It’s something I learned from Susan. Have them spin shortish strands of a couple of colors of roving with the cd spindle and then make it a bracelet for them. They loved it! I did have the wheel and demonstrated it a couple of times but mostly it was the drop spindle. They were absolutely fascinated. I also had some washed fleece for them to see it from the sheep to their bracelet. The little boys were the most fascinated, I think, which really surprised the teacher who’d organized it. I felt bad that I’d missed the date but it worked out really well and having an evening with the kids was very rejuvenating.

All in all, I would say it was an eventful day. Did I mention I also did a little bit of work, too?!