It’s Thursday night. Here she floats, soaking out all the spinning oils or whatever are in there that make the yarn so crunchy while you are knitting it and leave it so soft when you are done. Soaking in a mix of hot water and good ole Dr. Bronners in Lavender, to maybe keep the moths away, if they should find their way here.
I left her to soak overnight, and changed the water in the morning, pouring off the bluey soapy water and replacing with cold water this time, since I don’t want to end up with a bunch of felt when I am done! Came home after work and changed the water one more time, it’s starting to run clear finally, although with a bit of a blue tint still, which surprises me since neither the soap nor much of the wool is blue, but whatever!
After dinner, I pour off the water one more time, and place the pieces in a colander sitting over the dishpan to let the water drain off. Just before bed Friday night, I start spreading it all out to block. I end up needing three of my foam blocking boards to get everything spread out. I don’t have enough floor to leave the stuff blocking on the floor, so stick some extra pins in one of the foam boards and double deck.
I check on Saturday morning, and every thing’s still damp. Of course, it’s only been 8 hours, and the weather has turned quite humid in the past few days, not like it’s August or something. I pack up some stuff to work on and head out to a local park for World Wide Knit In Public Day, and meet a few of my Long Beach SnB buddies for a few hours of picnic, knit and basking in the sun for some of us. I managed to only sunburn a small patch on one ear, and my back in the places around my armholes that I missed hitting with sunscreen. I got one of the promised slipper/clogs done for my huz, so he can have his own and not wear mine. I’ll try and knock out the other this Wednesday at our regular Stitch n’ Bitch.
Now it’s Sunday, and every thing’s dry except the stuff that was on the bottom of the double decker. I’ve flipped them so the damp one is on top and wait so I can join the fronts to the back and pickup for the button bands. Perhaps I’ll start the finishing Monday night. My huz has asked me to hem three pairs of pants for him, and I said yes. Two will be easy, but the third? They are cuffed, so I will have to do the “cut off the cuff and reattach it” thing, which I have needed to do for a while with 2 pair of my own slacks, but have been curiously avoiding. I told him same, and he volunteered his pants for the trial, since he isn’t able to wear them as is, so he won’t be missing anything if I royally fuck them up. So, I guess I’ll try it. If I can find a free bobbin for the black thread on the sewing machine… I think I’ll stick with the hand sewing easy shortening.

Oooh, I am hearing a good oldie – No Promises from Icehouse. Not on iTunes, darn. I hate that I have all this great vinyl in my office, and no turntable, or way to get it onto my iPod. So much stuff that was never even released on CD and probably never will be. I wonder if I have the song on a compilation CD somewhere? Thank goodness for XM on DirecTV, I can at least hear some of my faves from the past. I especially enjoy Fred and Lucy channels. Oooh, now it’s This Corrosion from the Sisters of Mercy. One I like, but not enough to buy it. Wanna see my current CD collection? See those holes? There’s stuff that belongs in those holes, except for the ones on the far right. They are in a pile, ready to be loaded onto my iPod. I’m am starting to get selective on the syncing now, since not everything will fit. I’ve discovered that not everyone has as much of an attachment to music as I do. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s so closely tied to my memories, I know exactly what I was doing when I heard a song for the first time, or when I listened to it a lot, in the case of songs that I bought.
Smells do that too. Last night, as the huz was rubbing some lotion into my sunburn, I was totally brought back to 1998, when we were dating. He had bought me some lotion from the L’Occitane store in San Diego. Being a dorky tourist, I bought more when we were in Paris because I loved it. Of course, when we got home, I looked online and found out there are about a dozen L’Occitane stores in Southern California. Since I don’t go to the mall, I never thought about it. At least when this batch runs out, I’ll have an easier way to replace it.
Now I’m hearing Under the Milky Way by the Church. That’s the first summer I visited San Diego while I was a freshman in college. No car, summer job at Target, laundromat laundry, burritos from Fins, 1989. Oh, and it’s Shrimp
Sunday, I could totally go for a La Jolla, or a Del Mar, I wonder if they still do that?
OK, that was quite a topic drift, and now I’ve got those pants to hem.