Friday Mishmash

On Wednesday's post, I showed a picture of a man who'd rescued an armadillo from rising flood waters and said only in Texas - well, I have another Texasism to show you:

I spied this as we were leaving Sam's Club - it's a bike with a SADDLE on the back.  Now, I'm guessing that the trailer is for groceries and the saddle is for another person, while there's a child carrier on the handlebars...but a saddle - now that is making good use of what you have, I guess!

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I've been needing to clean out my closet for a while now; along with needing to move my winter running gear to the back, there was a bunch of clothes that I haven't worn and were just taking up space.  I couldn't get motivated to do that until I heard about a free clothing closet that will be opening soon in our local school district, which will be available to students and their family members.  Keeping this in mind, it was easy to take some clothes that were still in very good condition but I never seemed to choose to wear, off the hangers and into a donation bag.  I cleared out some dresses, nice tops, pants, and running gear that just never made the cut after the first time or two of wearing.  It felt much more satisfying to do this, knowing that the clothing was going somewhere specific - we usually donate to Goodwill, but this feels more personal.  Now my closet looks like this:

I can breathe in there again - ahhhh!

I also moved my make up into the closet - the light is actually very bright in there because several years ago my Dad installed a huge daylight fluorescent light - and I have an antique mirror hanging above the necklaces that I can get really close to when putting on my eye make up, so this feels like a good set up.  Amazing how new this feels to me, when it's the same closet I've been using for nearly 16 years!

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I have really surprised myself at how much progress I've made on my sweater - I guess because the last time I attempted a sweater, I gave up midway through the body.  Looking back, I can see that the stitch was a pain (seed stitch, which is knit one, purl one, repeat forever) and I wasn't thrilled with the yarn color.  But I'm really loving how this sweater is turning out.  I was knitting on it a few days ago, watching something on TV, Paco under my footstool and Kippers on my legs, and all was right with the world:

Good kitty, not trying to mess with my yarn.

And then, DUN DUN DUUUNNNNN:

I looked down and the dang cable had broken off the needle!!!  !@#$%

This picture was taken AFTER I'd carefully put the stitches onto a couple of dpns that were handy; I think I had about 30 loose stitches, which was enough to put me in a bit of a controlled panic mode until I had them back on a needle.

So I have to say, I love the needles I use; they are the Chiaogoo brand, and I love how the yarn slides off the needles, I love how the cables are relaxed when you take them out of the package (some brands are super curly and you end up "fighting" the cable), and I love how smooth the join is where the cable meets the needle - I have other brands where you can feel a bump and the yarn tends to catch at the join.  BUT.  This not the first time I've had a cable break on me during a project.  They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results; I must be crazy because I keep using these needles.  They are guaranteed, so next time I'm near my not-so local yarn store (a mere 21 miles away), I can switch out the broken pair for a new one.   And luckily, I had another pair in the same size but a different length on hand, so I could continue with my knitting once I got my stitches situated (and picked up the one dropped stitch).  Still, the frustration and trepidation that comes with using this brand of knitting needles gives me pause; I'm not alone in dealing with this breakage, as I've read other knitters lamenting the very same thing on the Ravelry forums.  I've tried a couple of other brands and just don't like them nearly as much...I sure wish Chiaogoo could fix this issue.

OK, complaining time is over.  I started on one of the sleeves, and after a perfectionist moment where I discovered that I'd made the blue stripe one row too wide (of course I ripped it out and made the correction, luckily I only had four rows to undo), I'm carefully making progress, keeping track of each round so the other sleeve will match in length.  Soon I'll be onto the neckband - I still have a way to go but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

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It's not supposed to be raining tomorrow morning, so we are ON for a run!  And I will go visit my co-volunteer, Rosalie, at a car show - she and her husband are really into cars and have both new and classics, and their car club is having a two-day show.  She tried to get me to enter my Mini into it, but I couldn't envision myself having to hang around for two days at a car show.  Maybe next year, after I check it out this weekend.  Any case, it'll be interesting.

Have a great weekend!