It's spring, right?

We are having an unusual type of weather, warm and sunny.  All the snow has melted, slowly enough to not overrun the drains.  Cold weather is supposed to return next week, but meanwhile I am grateful for this reprieve.  We actually went shopping for an hour or so, not just to the grocery store for need-it-now food.  The horses' stalls are clean and they are outside for the first time in 2 months, poor babies.  That also means C can clean the stalls without the horses in them, a big benefit.  And we have enough dog food, cat food, horse food, bird food and people food for a while.

I even went through Walmart without buying any yarn, yeah me.  I am still trying to store the yarn I already have in some way where I can see most of it.  Someone suggested a shoe storage container with a zip-up clear window, if I can just figure out where to put it.  Right now the bathroom is the one with the most floor space, but it is too humid in there for yarn.  I try to actually discard and re-purpose things, and not just "churn" the contents.  I am trying to decide what to do with the jeans that are too small, should I keep them while I am dieting (sigh), or get rid of them?  My entire closet needs a major overhaul, but I am short on enthusiasm for such a project.  Maybe a little at a time.

I have my Color Wheel swap package for the Knitting forum I follow, nearly ready to ship, I just need a longer box.  This month's swap color is gold, and I lucked out finding some nice stuff at the local discount store (in addition to yarn), similar to TJ Maxx.  I hope it pleases, I always overspend the limit and have to prevent myself from buying every neat thing I see.  For one thing, the box needs to have only unbreakable stuff, and things that are not too heavy, as shipping costs are really pricey.  I know the USPS is constantly raising their cost, on stamps and on parcels, and yet maintaining that they need to raise them even more to keep running.  If they stopped giving mass mailers such discounts, maybe we would save trees from being cut down to make the paper which we throw away as soon as they arrive.  Grumble grumble.

The weather has prevented me from getting my hair cut, it is the longest I have had it in years.  Well,  the shortest was  the bald look I sported during the chemo.  It is still thinner than it used to be, I guess some of it just didn't recover after the chemo ended.  When it is long-ish the way it is now, the thinness especially shows.  Maybe this week I'll get it cut, now that the roads are clear.  Have a little me-time.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "If your car could travel at the speed of light, would the headlights still work? "

(Cut to the chase -- yes they would.  Really.  But what would you see?)

Computers and other gadgets

This little  MacBook laptop is getting a little temperamental as it ages.  I shouldn't be surprised, as it is around 8 years old, but I am quite fond of it.  Not, however fond enough to put money into it.  2 years ago I replaced the hard drive with a 500GB one, which is ridiculously large.  At one point I had the drive partitioned into mac and windows, so I could run windows programs (mainly Family Tree Maker) on it.  But the latest versions of that program now run on the Mac (I am told) so if I want to I can install it again.  It seemed so weird to have the familiar windows opening screens on here.

I hear that it is now possible to buy a new computer (HP) for $150 less, with Windows 7 installed instead of Win8.  Because win 8 is such a dog.  My desktop is running win7 and I quite like it, once I got used to it, replacing a win xp that went haywire.  We at least have found a place that recycles old computers, cellphones, printers, etc. so they don't end up in a landfill somewhere.  And for free, no less.  Now if I can only find someone who will take 500 books or so; maybe if we take them to the library, a box or two at a time.  There are even  more in the attic, but I don't want to think about them.

I got my latest swap box from a fellow knitting knut, aqua this time.  It was great, and included more YARN! of course.  I have revamped my secondary stockpile of yarn to hold more, separated by boxes so that I can remove skeins without having the entire pile fall down on me, probably smothering me, how embarrassing.  Of course it is 2/3 full already, and I am still open to more acquisitions.  A lifetime supply already.  It is hard to explain to non-knitters (or crocheters, etc.) the lure of a warm fuzzy hank of lovely colored yarn, but the truth is I had collected a fair amount of yarn even before I learn to (poorly) knit.  Now I machine knit, which zooms through yarn at an amazing clip, once the fiddly pattern making is selected for the row.  I still try to knit by hand, I made a pair of mittens, but the quality of my knitting is really poor, dropped stitches, twisted ones, uneven tension so there are big and little stitches, you name it.  And of course it is really slow going.  I am currently experimenting with looming, it looks like a kids' toy, but can produce some lovely things once I get the hang of it.  It is faster than handknittting (for me) and best of all it uses bulky and super bulky yarn, which won't fit on the machine and which works up in much fewer rows.

Anyway, enough of that.

The menfolk are outside trying to clear the driveway and parking area of the latest snowfall, 4 inches last night.  Our driveway is a mess, it is a continuous surprise that we don't slide into each other while parking.  I hate this and want it to be spring.  Not as badly as the shovelers do, I am certain.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Lead me not into temptation.  I know the way."

The weather is still freezing

And that's all I'm going to say.  Cabin fever.  Boredom.

Knitting, when my hands will co-operate.

This is a pattern for this knitted cardigan that I got from a helpful person on the Knitting Paradise forum.  I'm actually hoping to find someone to make it for me, as it is way too complex for me currently, but meanwhile I can admire the photo.  Isn't it neat?  It was from a knitting brochure from Sirdar yarn back around 15 years ago, but they are OK (copy rite way) with passing this along as long as it isn't sold.

My hands are too cold to type, I'm going to have to stop for now and bring in a little heater.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism."