Harper Collins Discovers Misprint stevebrodner.substack.com

SO picked up the CSA box while I dealt with fuel oil and propane planning for winter, and with some of his medical stuff. Picked up my Saab after having the heater/ac blower motor replaced so now it's ready to drive for the summer. Watching so much baseball.

Cast on a 2nd sock (to make a pair) and knit the ribbing and about 2" of leg. Then I knit 15 rows on an in-progress shawl from the wrong chart; I'm tinking that back to where I messed up. Glad I didn't attempt the 403 stitch setup row on Bees! Ordered salads for dinner - not interested in cooking.

Finally finished casting on 403 stitches using a cable cast on to start the lower edge of Go Tell The Bees shawl, larger size. I'm using a gradient pack from Greenwood Fiberworks that I'd almost forgotten I bought at Stitches West in 2018 or 2019. Starting with the darkest teal. 🧶

Much of NH and Maine is under a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warning until 7 pm. It's been raining much of the day, but heavy rains and wind started and 15 minutes ago. Pick up of our CSA box is postponed until tomorrow afternoon since it's a 60 miles round trip and it's worse there now.

Since I did do my PhD in cyanobacteria growth and treatment optimization modeling AND work in the water treatment industry, I’m gonna share my theory as to what’s happening here and how to fix it. People are focusing on the painted bottom of the pool increasing residual heat, and while that 1/19

🧶 During our happy hours call on Friday the quilting queen showed me a shawl pattern on Ravelry by Dee O'Keefe. I wandered over and looked at all her designs and there are several that practically had me drooling on my keyboard! They are gorgeous, functional, and look complex. Check them out!

Yesterday I finished much of my to-do list for the week, including scheduling referral medical appts for DH. Today he informed me he's not going to any of them because he can't remember why his PCP thought they were important. So tired of dealing with a stubborn, willfully helpless man-child.

Fun interaction with a wrong number text today. (Unknown person): I'm making lasagna and garlic bread today. Interested in dinner? (Me): Sure! What time? Also, who is this? (UP): 6:30,at my house. This is Judy. (Me): Hi Judy. Sadly, I think you texted me by mistake. (UP): Isn't this Sara's...

Adulted again today- it's a miracle! Last laundry load is drying, 2 folded but none put away yet. Chicken "roasted" in the crockpot for dinner. Reorganized my TV knitting corner while watching Nascar, Yankees, and Giants. Watching Red Sox and casting on 2nd socks- someday I'll have 6 new pairs!

Busy day adulting w/3 hours sleep (and yes, it was totally worth it). Mid-month bills paid, to-do and phone call list for Monday, 2 loads of laundry washed and dried, 1 put away, dinner planned and cooked, moved 1 bag of yarn from bedroom to sewing room, loaded and ran dishwasher. Time for baseball!

Wonderful monthly "happy hours" with my CA former co-worker, quilting, and knitting buddy. We looked at shawl patterns, yarn, and fabric, and shared recipes, pet peeves, decided retirement is the best thing ever. I need this connection even if talking until 4:15 am leaves me dragging on Saturday!

Just a few more days of this hot and humid foolishness and NH (my part of it, anyway) will be back on the mid to high 70s for a few days. Transplanting can wait until then; today is all about staying cool, organizing, and moving stuff to its permanent home. Hoping to make a dent in some of it.

Blue lobsters are very rare: 1 in 2 million by some estimates. But SPLIT COLOR LOBSTERS are 1 in *50* million. This lobster is a chimera of two fertilized eggs that fused together, with two distinct genomes: male on one side, female on the other. (📷: Woods Hole Science Aquarium/NOAA Fisheries)

Busy couple of days with knitting groups, household chores, neighbors helping with our granite property markers (more on that in coming days). Shawl I've been working on is to the lace, so I started a new one, and I hope the 3rd iteration works! First yarn was too variegated, 2nd was too heavy. 🧶

Happy Wednesday.

Band stuff, sewing my school wardrobe, baby sitting, working in an art museum. That was a long time ago!

Tonight we had leftovers - pot roast and veggies with egg noodles and sour cream - kind of a quick and dirty stroganoff. When he thanked me for dinner, as he does every night, SO said " I don't know what you call this weird concoction, but we should have it again." Now he's suggesting variations.

Fabric for a log cabin quilt - Quilt In A Day pattern, since I've never made one before. I'm sure this is *not* final!🪡🧵

I seem to have misplaced 4 skeins of yarn and I am annoyed. Yes, I have other yarn, but I woke up at 2:13 am knowing exactly what 2 projects I wanted to make with this yarn and I can't cast on because the yarn is missing. I can't even order more because it was a limited run. So freaking annoyed.

GingerSnap has lost his braincell! I found a brand new bottle of Method liquid Sea Minerals hand soap, started using it. He *loves* it! He's holding my hand in his 2 paws, rubbing his face all over my hands, biting my nails, and generally being completely obnoxious. Does it have catnip in it?

DH bought a lovely roast at our tiny local market, and I'm going to cook it in the crock pot with red wine, onions, tomatoes, and garlic. Dinner will be ready when I'm done winding yarn, and watching baseball and Nascar or Monaco Grand Prix with him. Good way to enjoy a rainy Sunday.

Thunder and lightning along with rain. I love it!

Proof that I do actually knit, although not necessarily in a productive way. These ate 6 first socks waiting for mates - there's one more on the needles, and then I'll start the 2nd socks. Some toes aren't closed just in case I run out of yarn and need to rip back a few rows to make them match. 🧶

Checked the little cedar box garden during a break in the rain. Everything looks good and is growing; there are blossoms on the bell pepper plant! And both tomatoes have blossoms as well. It's not warm enough at night to set fruit yet but it's getting close.

It rained all afternoon, it was a good day to wind off some future projects yarn. So frustrating! Malabrigo is almost always a mess to wind, and the blue one was. Thd lime KnitPicks yarn had a cut across 3 strands, and the gold jumped off the swift. Those took 2 hours! Orange Malabrigo was fine.

Finally remembered to add kombu to a grocery order (for making beans less gassy). SO unpacked the order and was quite pleased to see it, said he likes kombu. I've known him for 35+ yrs, been married for 26 yrs, and he's never mentioned it. He eats it in hot and sour soup as one does, but seriously?

10 am and I'm up and facing the day, doing things. New gardener has already finished mowing our 1+ acre yard and planted 6 🌹 roses. I sat on the deck, drinking tea, knitting, and watching the world go by. Smelled the freshly cut grass, smelling the promise of rain later today, listening to birds 🐦.

Just realized why today has felt all out of balance: I got engrossed in something while making breakfast and totally forgot to make a cup of coffee or tea! Now it's 9 pm and way to late to fix that mistake.

New project planning 7: the end (I hope) of current stash diving. Orange with speckles is Meilenweit Merino Limited Edition, multicolor Zen Yarn Garden, Red was a gift on 2000, Bad Sheep Yarn in Incandescently Happy, and Laines du Nord Poema Cashmere.

Today at knitting group an 85 year old member told us she's been diagnosed with dementia. She's handling it amazingly well - says she's had a good run, doesn't want to prolong the inevitable - which is admirable. I'm concerned about her 87 year old sister and just trying to process this info.

Salad with sautéed shrimp for dinner. Mixed lettuce from our CSA box, red/yellow/orange peppers, radishes, salad turnips, celery, carrots, broccoli, black beans, onions all topped with shrimp and picante sauce. #BlueskySupperClub

New project planning 6: went stash diving in my fiber room today and found these lovelies that I'd kinda forgotten. Green Mongolian cashmere could be a shawl. Peach merino. Lime / chartreuse Madeline Tosh). Malabrigo. Lost City Knits silk / wool. Multicolor CamelSpin.

New project planning 5: not all shawls! The off white and lovely pastel multicolor may become a Pressed Flowers cowl. Acid green is being auditioned for a cardigan. Malabrigo Indonesia is destined to be a shawl.

Love is Love. Pass it on. 💞

Not my night for baseball. 6 of 7 teams I watch lost. Oh well. More baseball tomorrow.

New project planning 4: left side is teal yarn from A Hundred Ravens, red baby alpaca from Helen Hamann, purple hand dyed from an internet exchange 15 years ago, green mohair and silk from Brooks Fiber. More shawls or scarves. 🧶

New project planning 3: I wear shawls daily during autumn, winter, and spring. They're quick to knit, fun to wear, and add a bit of elan to jeans and a sweater. These yarns surfaced in stash in shawl amounts, except the orange lower left, which was just purchased for a specific pattern. 🧶

New project planning 2: SO got me the Quilt In A Day Log Cabin book, and I found the special ruler. I need to practice cutting and sewing straight lines (I'm an experienced sewist, but am out of practice) so I'm gonna make one. Started pulling fabrics and don't have enough blues - more coming.

New project planning 1: I've long admired temperature blankets, afghans, and scarves but I know I'd never finish one in a timely manner. Enter the embroidered temperature piece, which I'm already behind on, but which should be doable as a pillow or framed piece.

Did a lot today! Got up early and changed the sheets on my bed to my favorite flowered set. Dealt with housekeepers. Laundry, OMG, laundry - 2 loads washed and dried, 1 put away. Moved a couple of bins into my sewing room, read a few chapters, knitted, played with yarn for future projects.

So...I started taking Celebrex about 3 weeks ago as a last ditch effort to relieve some of the osteoarthritis pain in my knees. Cortisone and hyaluronic gel shots provided temporary relief but never enough for long enough. Today I realized that, while I will probably never bee 100% pain free...

Brugmansia (angel's trumpet) is one of my favorite woody flowering plants (also perfect for a poison garden) but it isn't hardy enough for NH winters. I'm considering growing some "inappropriate" plants in large pots and wheeling them into the heated garage to overwinter in 40 to 50° comfort. (1/2)

Rain is slowing, still a chilly 45°F. Laundry is drying, dishwasher is going, I'm drinking tea. Next up: a tiny bit of organizing in my sewing room. Only a tiny bit because it gets overwhelming. Button boxes were out for a friend to look at, now all 7 boxes need to be put away. More later.

First task for the day is tiny and complete! SO helped move my bed 18" toward the doors - finally. Took 2 minutes and I've been fiddling with it for 2 months at least. Not heavy, just bulky. Next up: breakfast (lunch), laundry, emptying the cedar chest and moving it up by the headboard. Progress!

39°F and pouring rain this morning. Heat is back on, I'm wearing sweats and making a hot breakfast. I guess it's a good day for indoor projects!

Today is Friday, but as we have no appts or meetings it has been named "1st Saturday" in our house. It's not special in any way - laundry, light housekeeping, cooking are on the agenda along with reading, pulling fabrics for a quilt or 2, knitting, and watching baseball. Just a good end to the week.

Dentist visit was fine. Said I broke the tooth very nicely, will need extraction, bone graft, post placement, and crown - no other viable options. 3 to 9 months, $8 - 9k. Of course. Insurance coverage is minimal, maybe $2k. Gotta schedule the first appt; it's not painful, except to my pocket.

Did things today, watching baseball tonight. Knitwits this morning and knit 4 rows on a sock heel flap. Drove home, picked up DH for his Dr appt. All good, A1C much better, no med changes. Lunch out - the best French fries ever! Then drove to Concord and picked up our 1st CSA box of the year.