gaysknits

sometimes i am tempted...

to get another dog. usually i am not because finally...and if my mother heard me say this she would agree...i have come to my senses.  usually sense has little to do with it  though.  it is an emotional response to a really cute puppy.  the last time i was tempted to buy a dog from the local pet store it was this beautiful white lab and something mix. i left the pet store without the puppy and when i got home i immediately got on the phone and called to see if the dog was still there. fortunately for me it was not...that would have made three dogs.  i had two at the time.  when the guy and i blended our family of his one and my two we found three canines to be a problem especially since two of them were females and one of those was a bossy little husky girl and the other was a stubborn female husky mix.  we had battles on a regular basis.  this weekend we stopped at that store again after dinner and played with the cutest little husky puppy.  ok she wasn't so much cute in a cutie pie way as she was cute in a  little devil dog way if the truth be told...see what i mean?

we thought she was cute. she was really crazy and really lively and the guy who loves huskies and none other was smitten and didn't think many would be inclined to take on such a crazy little thing.  i was smitten too but i have sense remember?  also i just say this like a mantra you can only take two dogs to a rented beach house you can only take two dogs on vacation!!! that usually does the trick. another thing that does the trick is being woken at 4:00 am by the husky that already lives in your home.  4:00 am on sunday is just downright obscene especially when the power is out and you can't even make a pot of coffee.  one of these days the guyis not going to resist the temptation to bring another husky puppy home. i am considering a pre emptive strike. if i bring home a lhasa apso then it may prevent or at least postpone the inevitable temptation the guy will succumb to.  i am smitten with lhasa's but the german would be broken hearted if we let a puppy come home with us...he is a very sensitive soul.  miss husky  would prepare for battle.

she looks innocent enough but underneath all that snow white fur and those blue eyes is the heart of a warrior.  as usual...no knitting was done. some gardening, some digging, a reed fence was attached to the fence around my patio, some kayaking but no knitting.  soon i think!  later...love   g

everyone i know is asking me...

everyone is saying "gay???"  "are you knitting anymore?"  "are you knitting anything?" "are you gonna knit anymore...ever?"  "why aren't you knitting?"  not really...nope...of course i will one day and when i do look out for the bitching.  when enough people start asking me these questions i start questioning my own reasons for doing things, mostly i have no reasons that i can come up with so to answer the question why is...i do not know. that's why.  i refuse to buy any yarn. i have tons of it and i see no reason to when i have tons of it.  what i lack is not yarn but motivation.  i also have pledged to stop wasting my time with designs and sweaters that i will not wear but what i have discovered...and this is the rub...is that i love to knit things that are challenging. not challenging in the way that you will be awestruck by my genius but challenging in the way that i have not tried to do this and such before and i would like to.  so there you have it.   the answer to the age old question "gay...why do you not wear anything you knit...ever?"  i do not knit to wear things. i wear things that i buy at the store that are cute and functional and easy and basic and are often on the clearance rack...for cheap.  i  knit what i want to knit for the sake of knitting it...only.  i feel like i've said this a million times and i'm repeating myself so i won't say it anymore. promise.  i will add that i am sometimes envious of people who wear their hand knit sweaters and i think i am stupid because i don't but i only think that for a second and then i put on a tee shirt and a hoody and go for a motorcycle ride or for a kayak trip.  did you ever try to do either of those things in a pretty wool cabled shrug?  how about a lovely mohair lacey scarf or shawl?  there you have it.  not gonna happen.  that being said my mojo is on it's way back with a vengence. i can see it galloping towards me on the horizon. it is picking up speed and threatening to run me over if i don't jump out of it's way.  i wonder what would happen if one's own knitting mojo ran them over...if one got hit by one's own mojo.  would it hurt?  would you recover from such a collision?  would it require stitches or a bandage or some pain relievers?  we are about to find out.  i have decided on not one but four knitting projects. yep four...maybe five!  one of them is a project that has frustrated and challenged the best of them and has turned out badly in many cases and i'm going to knit it anyway despite all warnings.  i have the yarn for some if not many and will have to buy yarn for the problem project which makes sense because it is the project that i will end up pulling my hair out over.  in order of inspiration...veronik avery's spiral boot socks...interweave knits summer 07.  laura bryants drop stitch scarf...vogue knitting spring summer 09.  nora gaughan's capecho...vogue knitting winter 06-07 and finally valdimir teriokhins cabled shrug...vogue knitting winter 07-08.   as a last idea i happened upon lisa daehlin's ruffled edge wrap...vogue knitting winter 06-07.

the boot socks will break me in gently and i have yarn for them and am ready to cast on...as soon as i find the time to do so.  drop stitch scarf will be a stash busting project as well and i have a few choices of yarn all in stash but no decision has been made yet about  which yarn i will use.  i have no suitable yarn for the capecho so that will have to be purchased and i will have to downsize the pattern significanlty and i will make it in a neutral color most likely.  my mom will wear it if i don't.  finally for the cabled shrug i have some noro in stash that i will use but it is mohairy and fuzzy and i have it in two different colorways so it will be more stripey and i also plan to down size the sleeves a little or to make them shorter and more kimonoish as i do no have enough yarn to complete it otherwise but who cares huh?  i won't wear it anyway!!! i happened upon the ruffled edge wrap and will hopefully use stash yarn for that too but that was just a last minute add on so maybe maybe not.  sorry i am too lazy to provide links i'm off to dig in the dirt again.  later...love   g

i must be insane...

but let me start at the beginning.  i didn't know that every year on or near memorial day old navy has a sale on flip flops...for one dollar.   i knew about it this year because i read  it somewhere on line and decided what the hell i'd go. every year at some point  the youngladygrandaughter and i go any way and buy flip flops. they have such cool colors and tons of choices and she always finds a hand full she likes. me...i generally  favor teva's for my flip flop needs. i discovered a few years back that rubber shoes make my feet break out into something ugly and flaky and disgusting that resembles athletes foot and the mush bottom on teva's has not been a culprit in the past plus they have arch support!  what's not to like???  my father always swore he had althletes foot and he could not would not wear anything but natural fibers...wool or cotton socks or his feet did the same thing...at any rate i usually don't wear cheap flip flops but who could resist?  especially in light of the recent development which is that my teva flip flops are doing the same thing to my feet so what the hell who cares might as well wear one dollar flip flops as spend twenty some dollars and get the same result.  any way i had some errands to run...i had to go buy fence posts and rails and a hose repair thingy so i figured i'd stop in at old navy first and pick up a few pair.  i was not expecting to face a mob the likes of which i have not witnessed since the alice cooper concert i attended in what year was that? i know i know...dead babies can't take care of themselves...i was such a rebel and a free thinker back then ha...not like now when i go to the same store as one thousand other people to buy exactly the same thing that they are buying.  any way there was a mob of people from age 5 through 85 that was five deep...elbows to assholes as they say...screaming and reaching for flip flops and doing some pushing and grabbing and shoving i might add. i may have been intimidated being in the middle of a mob at the alice cooper concert but that was then and this is now and i pushed my way to the front of the mob like a pro and stood on my tippy toes and got the last pair of size 7 red flip flops.  one woman was screaming in my ear to a young man right in front of me who looked a little intimidated and shell shocked to get her a pair of size 7 in yellow please and a size 8 for her sister too...and there went the last pair of size 7's.  i wanted navy and gray which i got right off the bat...those were at a separate wall containing the neutrals black brown and gray and i got the black pair requested by the youngladygrandaughter who also requested some funky colors as well.  she'll have to settle for navy and white...the only funky color left was pink which is not her fav and red which i wanted and of course the last yellow pair that the screaming woman got the young man in front of me to nab for her.  i should have grabbed them out of her hand but then that would have made me just as bad as the ladies who broke into a fist fight ...i only heard rumours of said altercation and i did see the police outside...i wasn't there for event. by 10:00 most of the supply of flip flops was exhausted and five lines of people wound to the back of the store. it took at least 30 minutes to go from the back of the line to the front of the line where you were told sorry ma'am you can only buy five then you have to go to the back of the line.  now i would never have stood in that line to buy 6 pair of flip flops except that the guy was next door at office max and until he surfaced i figured i could be bored in line at old navy or at office max watching the guy look at stuff.  he showed up looking quite dumbfounded at the spectacle of hundreds of people holding armfulls of flip flops just as i was two customers away from the register.  he was just in time to purchase my sixth pair of flip flops so i would not be forced to choose between the sixth pair or going to the back of the line and...we have flip flops ladies.

6 pair for 6 bucks.  ordinarily 6 pair would have cost me 15 bucks at the regular sale price of 2 for 5 bucks...a good deal even if you consider the long lines and the fact that i could've almost gotten a black eye or something. next year i'm going at 8:00 am and i'll bring the guy and the ylgd and the little guy and any one else i can find on the side of the road with nuttin to do!!!   the fact is we'll probably be back there in a few weeks after they have time to restock to buy some funky colors at the regular cheap price of 2 for 5 but next year on one dollar flip flop day at old navy you can plan on seeing me at the door waiting for it to be unlocked i swear...i must be insane!  today is memorial day so put on your bermudas and your flip flops and before you go to that picnic or party or or fire up that grill or pour yourself that beer or go work in that garden give a moment of thought to those who have worn the uniform or who wear it now because many of them are or were my relatives so wish them well and then have yourself a good time and be safe.  later...love   g

i hear you just have to find the right pill...

i have not tried any pills yet but sometimes even the guy tells me in a really nice kind  gentle concerned type of a way on our ride home from work those days when i am all sorts of crazy that maybe i should try taking some of those happy pills. i am used to myself this way though.  i have been this way for many years and eventually one mood passes into another and i am on to the next something different.

these days we are still in gardening mode chez gaysknits. i have narrowed my next knitting project down to two or maybe i'll even do both and both are for feets...just a small  hint for you  in case you think i've giving up the knitting entirely which i have no plans to do and as a matter of fact i still have a hankering for the addi turbo convertible needle set which would make my heart go flutter!  day five of the garden has produced little tiny cute sprays of green lettuce and other assorted greens popping up in not so neat rows in the soil.

i have been religiously watering and we have had lots of warm sun to help the process so yay!  the guy on any ordinary day has little interest in any food that is green but even he is seaching for recipies for greens on the net as we sit and type and drink our morning coffee.  you're right...gardening is hopeful isn't it?  the only disaster we have suffered was  because i forgot to turn off the water

to the garden hose on thursday evening causing the water to push through the hose all day friday and the gyp cheap ass hose i added to the end of the good hose so that it could reach the garden exploded and has a huge hole that looks like schrapnel flew through it rather than water and where the water flies out when you try to use the hose.  it's gonna need a repair job!   my roses are blooming.

i would never in a million years have thought of planting roses but mine were here when i moved in so i let them stay. i am always amazed at their beauty and that they grow by their own sheer determination and will.  not like jackies roses. my aunt used to be seen quite regulary in summer dressed quite fashionably and neat as a pin with every hair in place squatting next to her flowers and roses and weeding and putzing and always had such beautiful plants.

not me i just walk by them and wisper to myself please please please don't die...please grow but not so much that i might have to trim or prune or something that requires squatting.  i'm a hole digger. i'm a fence builder. i am like a bull in a china shop in a flower bed  and i am usually dirty and filthy and sweaty and my hair looks like a bird has laid eggs in it.

any way back to the subject of the right pill. the dog doc gave me some magic pills for the german and we are going to try them out to see if he can get a long a little easier. so far so good. he likes the taste of them and with a little cheese he can be convinced to chew a glucosamine to boot so  he is now in trainng for his next beach vacation and hopefully he can do a little more than watch from the deck this time!  i am so happy to have a long weekend and i look forward to three days of fun and work and relaxing and maybe an alcoholic beverage will find it's way into the mix. have a lovley and safe holiday and enjoy your friends or your fam or your dogs i know i will and for now i am off to buy flip flops at old navy for one dollar!  later...love   g

the only similarity it has to knitting....

is that digging also passes ones free time and it de stresses. digging is a better de stressor if you ask me.  the other day i was at work and the closer to the end of the day i got the more anxious i was to get home and dig a hole.   i got four fence post holes dug that night. no wonder i  have no time to knit any more. i'll find the time soon enough but for now i  occupy myself with gardening and playing in the dirt.  the garden was planted on sunday. the youngladygrandaughter did battle with with and won the fight with the tiller. it always was a bit tempermental but it was downright ornery this year and after much coaxing she got it started and tilled the garden. we added some peat moss and planted our seeds and vegetables. we have only to wait now and to watch it grow.

much of the wood has been split and stacked and only a bit more remains to do then we tackle the tree trunk which may kill us...seriously or at least out live us all. i'm thinking of taking up wood carving and making it into a bench or some art or something!  i started the fence repair project and plan to replace all the fence posts on that damaged section, replace one cracked rail, then top the posts off with some new solar light post caps.  along the fence is some blooming rugosa roses, some grasses, ferns, daylilies and a young dogwood tree so i am working around all that plant life in an effort to leave it untouched,  undamaged and growing. wish me luck!  we had to sacrifice the old june apple tree. it's truck rotted long ago and what was left of the tree which still bloomed and had apples every year was a half rotted trunk  that left the tree very shakey and the branches hanging too low over the garden so she was pruned to within an inch of her life and finally cut down before she fell down and broke another section of the fence.  this of course gives us more wood to cut and split and more braches for me to lop and bundle but what else would i do with my free time...knit or something??? the saturday before we gardened i pruned some hedges by the deck and cut down some sumac, mulberry and locust seedlings that planted them selves in  inopportune spots on the neighboring property which is not inhabited by any one at the moment so those trees get no attention...so i cut them. who's gonna know and who needs them anyway. if allowed to grow they will become pesky problems for three houses so they are outta here. i am just dangerous with a pair of alligator clippers!  i leave myself with much bundling of sticks to do but it'll get done one or two bundles at a time.  my thumb is healed and has some of the feeling back and the thumb nail will have to grow back where it split, my poison ivy is clearing up and is less itchey and work is still hideous. i bought some reed fencing to attach to the chain link around my patio to cozy it up some and i am so happy to have a long weekend coming up because i'll need the extra day to do all my chores and projects!  we would like to get the kayaks out on the river this weekend and the daughter is having a memorial day pool party so we will be busy bees. tomorrow our canines go to the vets and i am hoping for a magic cure for the german who is having terrible hip  problems and is falling all over the place. i fear he is just old and we will have to live with it.  i plan to put the door back on at the top of the cellar stairs this weekend to keep him from going down stairs anymore because he will one day not be able to come back up and i am in no mood to carry a 95 pound dog up the stairs not that i could if i was in the mood! tonite the guy and i took a motorcycle ride after work to see a man at the fox chapel yacht club about a boat but he was gone for the day and i don't want a boat anyway but the ride was nice, the river was beautiful and we had a fabulous dinner at the mighty oak barrel which was fabulous food and wonderful wine mmmmm.  let me see...anything else???  later...love   g