Petunia rambles on and on….

The first one is the price of gas, and my mind is ready to explode over it.

See where it looks like something is “splattered” there, under where it says “Safeway???”   Oooops.  maybe that was my brain.

Before it exploded.

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The next thing on my mind is lace.  LACE thoughts have taken over my brain, all 42 cells.  Bits of lace are dancing in my head, like sugarplums at Christmas.  I’m going to blame it on that new damn KnitPicks catalog and their stinking Lace Samplers.   “C’mon, try it, you’ll like it.  Just a little bit.”   Sounds like my mother still trying to get me to eat asparagus, from the grave.  But, in retail, their theory works, particularly on those of us with a small collection of still functional brain cells (42 ain’t a lot to work with, despite being the answer to the universe and everything) and little will-power.   I feel the pull.  Resistance is NOT futile, but I feel myself sliding.  It’s a way of getting people to try something new, new lines, and even new colors that they ordinarily wouldn’t chose.

And then I said, “WHOA! If you buy lace-weight, what in the hell are you going to do with it, you blind old bat?”  

Sadly, with my eyes and their chronic on-going sad tale, that clearly is an intelligent question.  My vision in the right eye is often blurry, due to debris floating inside.  Some days, I can’t see much out of it at all.  Some days, my distance vision is perfect out of it.  My close-up vision is gone, removed, incinerated, from both eyes.  What that leaves you needing is reading glasses.  OK, but I need a different RX for reading/writing than for, say, the computer screen, which is farther away, or knitting, which is in between.  I have had so many pairs of “blended lens” glasses – I know all about them and what they cost.  I’ve had 7 eye surgeries in the last 30 months.    When they get everything fine-tuned, I’ll buy another pair of expensive glasses. In the meantime, its those cheapies from the drug store.

I’ve also found that my concentration ain’t what it used to be.  So, in a moment of brilliance, i thought that maybe I ought to try and see if I can even do this.  If I can’t concentrate as well as I need to, and continually must frog and frog and frog, well, I don’t knit to get things done as much as I knit because I really enjoy the activity of it.  I am a “process” knitter.  I knit a stockinette in-the-round sweater while listening to my iPod and The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  (And then, the whole series)  Happy as can be, doing what would have driven others over the edge.  (Part is I like to just sit and knit.  Part of that was Jamie Frazier)  If I’m going to spend most of my time doing lace cussing and swearing and ripping it out, well, frankly, I’d just as soon not bother.  Don’t need the extra expense or the aggravation.

So I went digging in the stash, way down to the very bottom in the back, and found a big center-pull skein of white worsted acrylic.  I used to crochet baby blankets out of it and donate them to the hospital where I worked.  Eureka!  Perfect!  Get rid of this stuff, it’s just taking up valuable space.  Could be sock yarn there, or maybe, just maybe, lace weight?  Anyway, I got this old stuff out and started on the Adamas Shawl.  I’m told that this one is on the easy side and a good place for a beginner to start.   I did frog a row or two.  And then, I seemed to have less trouble remembering what I needed to do.  And then, I was really looking at the row below, to learn to “read the knitting” as I went along.  That made it easier.    I did the start-up part of the pattern, then 2 repeats of what becomes the main part of the shawl, and the ending.   It’s a wee thing, but it answered questions I had on whether I could do it, and whether I would enjoy the attempt.

Here it is, pinned to the back of the couch, out of the reach of the twins who are still awake, spread out as far as I could while it’s still on the needle.  It looks like, with enough time, I can do this!!!!   I did notice that the rows get ferociously long ferociously fast; ’tis to be expected.  Guess that’s my concern.  If you forget a YO, or put it in the wrong place, you don’t notice that when you purl the back.  You don’t notice it until the next row on top of it, so there’s 2 rows to tink out.  And they could be very long rows!

I think I’m going to bind this off, and then, with the rest of this acrylic, try the Forest Canopy Shawl, which I’m told is another that is pretty easy on the mind.  Again, just to see how my brain copes with thinking.

I’ll make a decision after they are done.  If I have enough sanity left to hold the two of them and know which is which.

After dinner the other night, Pop and I went to Cold Stone Creamery.  We had already had a wonderful dinner out, and when the waiter offered dessert, well, I just didn’t have the room for it.  As I said to Pop, “They never serve a small piece of cake or goodie.  It’s always a whopping size, and I’m just too full.”

So on the way home, we decided to try this place.  When we got in, we found that the menu covered the whole wall.  And me, who came in  thinking, “Small dish of ice cream, to minimize the weight gain” was staring at these choices.  I went for the “Cookie Doughn’t You Want Some”  The smallest size was enough ice cream to sink a battleship.

It was some of the best ice cream I’ve had in my life.  In penance, I should ride my bike to work for the next month.

is our wedding anniversary.  We went out to dinner this evening, and then someplace else for a nice fattening dessert.  Had a lovely time.

The heat is getting to us all, though.   It’s after 10pm and it’s still 92 F. outside with over 70% humidity.  The heat haze during the day obscures your vision, makes everything look foggy, blurry at the edges.  Tomorrow is supposed to be another scorcher.  

Going to spend tomorrow with the wee fellows, listening to music  – perhaps it’ll soothe the small savage beasties in them!