Laughing With, not At

I’ve talked before about how much I’ve enjoyed my Etsy  experience.  Today, I’m going to tell a funny Etsy story.  I really hope I don’t offend anyone, but the fact that I’m worrying about it probably means that I will.  I’m sorry.  I remember back when I was 11 or 12, I went to Ithaca, New York to visit a friend who lived there.  I remember how embarrassed I was when all her friends would say, “say something” to me then crack up laughing when I did.  Remember, I’m from Virginia.  My southern accent was hilarious to them.  Luckily, I couldn’t understand 90% of what they said so I have no idea how badly they were poking fun of me and my accent.  That story reminds me a little bit of the story I’m about to tell.  Except, I’m not telling it in meanness.  I promise I’m not.  As my father used to say, I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you.

I highly admire the folks on Etsy that are from foreign, non-English speaking countries and yet are communicating in English.  I took two years of French in school and the only two words I learned were one I can't use in front of my children and bonjour.   Thus, I think anyone trying to run a business in a foreign language deserves high, high praise.  But having said that, I love to read the descriptions of items that foreigners have written.  Sometimes the spellings are wrong, because after all, the American way is the right way.  Right?  (Said with sarcasm.)  Sometimes the adjectives come after the nouns.  Sometimes even the English speaking British word things in a manner that sounds odd to my American ears.  And then sometimes, you just gotta stop and wonder what the heck the people are talking about.  Take, for example, these washing instructions:  “You can wash dry.”  What?  I can wash dry?  I read it and reread it and reread it once again.  And suddenly it dawned on me.  You could dry clean the item.  I giggled for hours.

And that dear friends, just goes to show you how desperate I’ve become for daily blog fodder.  Exactly how many days are left in this month?

As penance for poking fun of those struggling with American grammar, I decided to offer a discount to anyone that can find an error in any of my own descriptions.  Unfortunately, I'm sure there are a few.  Click  here  to find out what I'm offering.  The details are at the bottom of my profile.

On the knitting front, I finished the cabled hat that I'd started yesterday.  Photos will follow soon, but first, I have to find my camera charger.    In the mean time, I'll leave you with this, just because I think it's pretty.

Vote!

Did you?

It was a pretty exciting time at the polls today.  There were three local people running for office that I simply refused to vote for.  For the first time in 32 years of voting, I wrote someone in.  Three someone's actually.  I didn't care if I was technically wasting my vote, I was not voting for the incumbents.

As for knitting news, I'd planned to finish the purple yoga socks today, but you know how my plans usually go.  I had an idea for a hat design this morning and worked on that instead.  I'm sure there'll be photos in the next couple of days.

Aack!  My son just announced he'll be voting in 1.5 years.  Boy, I feel old!

Daylight Savings Woes

Wow.  The end of Daylight Savings is seriously messing with me.  Yesterday, because it was Sunday and I could sleep in, I woke up at 6:00 a.m.  Except it was now 5:00 a.m.  Well, that wasn't too bad.  I was able to drink the entire pot of coffee without having to share a single drop, (yes, I'm stingy when it comes to coffee) and I listened to my Kindle while I knit on the purple yoga sock.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning.

The Daylight Savings problems started around 10:00 a.m.  I was ready for lunch.  By noon, I was ready for supper.  Around 4:30 p.m., I started thinking about how, since I had an extra hour, I still had plenty of time to go for a walk.  Except by 4:35, it was starting to get dark.  Drat!  I had that extra hour thing wrong, didn't I?  By 6:00 p.m., I was eating my second supper of the day and by 7:15, I was asleep on the couch.  Between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m., I woke up, as in Woke Up!  Like, as in, being ready for a new day.  I got a few loads of laundry done, washed the dinner dishes that were still sitting on the counter because apparently, I'm the only one in the house who knows how to open the dishwasher, then I plopped myself back in front of the TV & played Solitaire on the Kindle until the battery gave out.

This morning, I was wide awake at 5:30 once again.  It's now 8:39 a.m. and I've finished my morning routine.  The routine that I don't normally finish until 11:00 or 12:00.  So now what do I do with myself?  I'm certainly not going to spend this found free time doing the backlog of housework that's been on my to-do list for longer than I care to admit to.  Guess all I can do is knit.  Poor me!

Yoga Socks

Finally!  I finally finished the Lorna's Lace yoga socks in the Icehouse colorway.  They were started, well, I don't know how long ago.  Before I started this blog.  They've been on the UFO list since day one.  Why, I have no idea.  They were originally going to be regular socks but I got lazy & didn't feel like looking up the number of stitches needed to turn the heel.  I can never remember how many stitches I'm supposed to purl back after doing the first knitted decrease.  Anyway....  I got lazy and decided to avoid the heel altogether, thus, yoga socks.

Wow.  I can not believe how much trouble I'm having typing "yoga."  It keeps showing up on the screen as "youga."  Definitely says something about muscle memory.

So...  I finished the Icehouse yoga socks and started another pair using Paton's Kroy Socks FX in the Camelot colorway.  Camelot apparently means purple.

Both of pair are knit with a simple ribbed pattern.  Can't wait to knit a few more with cables &/or a bit of lace.  And since today is Daylight Savings day here in the USA, or more appropriately, the end of Daylight Savings, I was given an extra hour in my day.  Perhaps I'll get these finished tonight & start another pair tomorrow.  What are you doing with your extra hour?

Hats for Sailors

It's that time of year again.  Wendy Knits is showing everything you need to know to knit hats for sailors.

Trying not to knit

It's our family's first day back to school, homeschool that is, and I am jonesing to be knitting.  Frankly, I'm not sure why I'm not knitting because we sure aren't doing school.  We haven't received half our text books yet so while today was clearly marked "School!" in bright red ink on my calendar, it's kinda hard to accomplish much without the books.  But I'm also afraid I'll end up blowing off school for the entire year if I start knitting during school time.  So I jones.

As much as I want to knit though, I have to admit that I'm secretly happy to have an excuse not to.  I finished the bulk of my Wendy Knits Stacy Shawl and now have only the edging to complete.  There's nothing "only" about it though.  Ugh.  I hate edgings.  Zillions upon zillions of rows are fine.  I can knit a row and know I have a zillion more to go and be okay with it.  But knit-on edgings.... Good grief!  They seem to go on forever.  I knit for an extremely long time yesterday, long enough for Hubby to make a few snide comments on my lack of anything else, and I'm still not even half way across the top edge.  Good grief.  The edging is pretty though and I know I'll be pleased once I finish it.  If I finish it.  I was hoping to be able to wear this shawl next week, but at the rate I'm going, I'll be lucky to have it finished by Christmas.

It doesn't look like much at the moment, but spread out it's beautiful and once blocked, it will be gorgeous. It's also purple, not blue.  It always amazes me how colors change in photos. Everything else in that picture is the correct color, but not the shawl.

Hmm, maybe I could sneak a few rows of border stitches in while the kids are reading their government books.  You won't tell, will you?