And They're Off!....But Without Me

The new season of the Amazing Race started last night and I forgot all about it. Though I’ve been so off television lately that I might not have turned it on even if I remembered it. About the only show I really want to watch anymore is The Office. Even House has gotten a little tiresome. Oh well, more time to read.

Other than that, what a nice day yesterday. An extra hour of sleep, lots of knitting and reading (and okay, some grocery shopping, too – not my favorite thing to do but needed to be done), and then a lovely dinner with my family at my Dad’s house. My aunt and uncle were there, as well as my brother and his girlfriend, and the food was, as always, delicious. My step-mom made lasagna that was so light and scrumptious. Mine is always heavy as a brick. And ice cream cake for dessert. Yum.

And I was given lots of nice books (not that I needed books), including one on spinning from Mr. Pointy Sticks that has already, after just a brief skim, been useful, I think. He also got me some gorgeous amethyst and white topaz earrings. And Rachel drew me a sheep. And my aunt and uncle gave me some soup mixes and a soup cook-book that has some amazing sounding recipes in it. So many nice things.

The Haystack scarf is all finished up and I got all the ends woven in while sitting after dinner last night and chatting. So I have four scarves to take to Ms. Boto next Monday. (Federal holiday! Let’s all say “Hurray!”) I’ll be able to work on my Mystery Stole today at lunch, which will feel sort of odd, after not working on it for a month or thereabouts.

And I want to get the Schaefer Anne lace-weight yarn wound into a ball…perhaps I’ll try to do that this evening. And then I can start on the scarf idea that I have in my head. Not that it’s a terribly challenging design that I have in mind…just diagonal rows of eyelets zigzagging back and forth with beads at the eyelets. But I need to choose the right beads. And decide on the spacing of the eyelet lines. And whether I want them to be all regular (eyelet, ten stitches, eyelet) or perhaps stagger them somewhat and stop and start them (don’t worry…I know what I mean.) The latter will require more planning, but might be more interesting. Time to dig out some graph paper, I think.

Currently Reading

Isabella Moon is reminding me a bit of some of Sharyn McCrumb’s books. It’s set in a small Kentucky town, where the heroine, Katherine, who is escaping from a troubled past, finds herself contacted by the ghost of the titular young girl, who disappeared shortly before Katherine came to the town. If you can swallow the slight supernatural element, it’s not a bad read. Some of the characters are a little over the top (Katherine’s boss being a prime example), there’s an awful lot of sex and drugs, but the sheriff is a good guy.

I got so many appealing books for my birthday, who knows what I’ll pick up next.