I bought a Swiffer Wet Jet today. I’ll be handing over my natural organic hippie granola membership card over to the authorities asap.
I had had a Clorox ready mop a bunch of years ago and liked it because I could use my homemade cleaner in it and use old washcloths instead of the disposable pads. When it broke and I couldn’t find another one, I decided not to do the Swiffer because you have to use their solution which is very synthetic and smelly. I had always vowed not to buy into their hype.
But our old swish-in-a-bucket-type mop is getting pretty shabby and the Swiffer sang to me at Target (such a pretty little ditty). So $19 and 4 AA batteries later, I toddled off with the purple monstrosity in my basket. Shortly thereafter I found myself with a hefty case of buyer’s remorse.
Got home, freed the thing from its 10 ounces of plastic wrap cardboard and magic tape. Found a new batch of buyer’s remorse (how could I be taken in by this thing? It takes only NONrechargeable batteries, for Pete’s sake).
Ten minutes after that I witnessed my 8-year-old happily mopping the kitchen floor. If she continues to mop willingly, I’ll consider it money well-spent, even if the cleaner’s scent gives me a headache. Tylenol is cheap, after all.
There’s a long-running argument in the online knit/crochet community about the relative benefits of natural fibers vs synthetics. Generally, the acrylic lovers remind us about affordability, durability and machine washability, while the most ardent wool fans believe that an acrylic afghan will kill your baby in his sleep. (I’m only partially kidding — these arguments get unbelievably heated on ye olde interwebs.)
Oftentimes, even among natural fiber fans, the sustainability question raises its ugly head: ought you buy mass-produced yarn, yarn that was produced through rampant pesticide use factory farming and probably even slave labor?
And, as if on cue, in walk the smartasses: people who can be relied upon to ask, “but what about organic acrylic?” Almost everyone laughs. It defuses the situation and allows people to take a step back and realize that all this arguing won’t get 8 pairs of mittens knit before Christmas morning. Continue reading →
I actually finished a knit project. As if that weren’t a big enough achievement, I actually love the result, too! I have a long history of not really loving the things I make. I have a few hats that turned out well, but even they have their flaws. I made one sweater but it is a tad too small and it’s a grayish green color that goes with nothing in my wardrobe. I have worn it only once.
Self-portraits are hard.
But this, my Summit shawl? Perfect. I didn’t get antsy and bind off before it was big enough, it’s made of an appropriate yarn for the type of project, and I love the color. And the cherry on top? It looks really difficult to make, even though it was easy peasy, semi-mindless knitting. You gotta love something that doesn’t go all pear-shaped when knitting whilst watching Wipeout.
Some day, it will cool down enough for me to be able to wear this out of the house. For right now, though it sits on the back of my desk chair, and I pick it up every few hours to remind it how loved it is. (Is that strange?)
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Posted in Knitting
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Tagged FOs, Knitty
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Why, go to the county 4-H fair, of course. I got to spend my day with my kids and a bunch of goats and chickens and cows and stuff. We started off with a fabulous lunch of hot dogs and cheese fries, then off to see the critters! (My kids didn’t really understand my excitement, either– it’s not just you.)
First up, the sheep . Most of the sheep were out being judged but a few were hanging out in their barns to say hi to us. By the time we got there, all the sheep were sheared. I’m betting they were really happy for that haircut. It was really muggy this week, and I’d hate to wear a bulky wool sweater in this weather.
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“Family” has been on my mind a lot lately. I’m not talking about the people we’re born to, but rather the families we adopt through our lives. When I was a kid, I had a church family. My parents’ church friends were like aunts and uncles to us, their kids our cousins. Even though I haven’t been a member of that church for 17 years, and the church itself closed shop, those people are still important to us. When my father got sick, they were some of the first people I wanted to tell. I still get excited when there’s a chance I’ll get to see someone from “back home” (even though that home is only in the next town over).
As I grew up and migrated away from that family in standard teen-rebellion, I found some friends who kinda acted like kin. Unfortunately, that turned out to be one of those horrible dysfunctional families. I still have a few friends left from that era, but it’s not the same.
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I’ve committed to stop keeping my different “sides” separated in different blogs and put ‘em all together. That’s a scary proposition, indeed.
In the last two days (since impulsively deciding to buy a year’s worth of hosting and start this new site), I’ve realized that there are really only 5 people in my real life who truly understand me. My parents, my husband, and my kids. Strike that– the kids are too young to understand half of it. A few of you I met on the internet know quite a bit about my personality, but since we’ve never met, I can’t count you.
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My mother was cleaning out a bookcase yesterday and came upon a few old crochet books. I’m proud to say that they now live in my bookcase. I know that they are old enough to be public domain, and I plan to scan them all in the near future. And I will not be charging $8.95 a piece to share them with the rest of the world.
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I have been dealing with allergies/a cold for a couple of days, so I decided not to push myself to really run today. Instead I threw on my VFFs, hung my camera across my body, left the Sansa at home and went out to just enjoy myself for an hour. It might not have done anything for my cardio fitness, but that’s okay with me.
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Posted in running
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Tagged photography
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I think we’re technically in week 5, but since I’ve fallen behind, I kinda stopped keeping track. So far, we’ve boxed up 475 (ish) items to be sent to other people and/or places. A few cookbooks are heading to the library, a few kid clothes and shoes are being handed down, a bunch of my vintage craft stuff is being sent to other lovers of oldish stuff. But the lions share of it is heading to the charity shop. We’ve dropped off three boxes and two bags there in recent weeks, and have about 5 more boxes on the porch ready to go.
Here’s where I disclose that I did buy some yarn last week, at the same charity shop that we’re taking all our leftovers. Seven balls of a pretty blue-gray wool blend, three skeins of Scheepjes cotton satin, and one skein of orange-pink Plymouth Encore (obviously some other local knitter has been decluttering too). I should probably subtract that from my total items, but I think I’ll instead find 11 balls of yarn from my stash that I don’t want anymore. I’m sure that someone somewhere wants all that fun fur that I bought before I knew better.
While the main living rooms of our house remain largely unchanged, the basement is beginning to look different. Where there were stacks of boxes obscuring two sets of shelves, the shelves are now accessible. They are still full, though, and will be gone through soon. The kids’ closets and dressers are less full. Mr Deplume and I have room to spare in our closet now, too. The floor is now free of shoes and trousers and shirts we don’t wear. There are miles to go, but I’m beginning to get excited about the very real possibility that this endeavor just might work.
