Blink and you'll miss it

Wednesday sky, 6:25 AM.

I caught it just as it was fading into blue. I seem to be all about just catching things this week. Pause for a minute, and the hour is gone. Look away from the knitting, and mis-knit a stitch. I have a long list of things to do and remember scrolling through my head. I have written most of it down, but it insists on scrolling, still. I may as well try to catch bits as they pass, and let the rest go.

I'm working every day till I leave on Friday afternoon, so I need lists to keep on track. Packing, cleaning up, working, knitting, laundry, a special project -- all have their own kind of urgency, and I just have to sort. Today is Returns Day at the store. We're closed (which is why I am taking pictures at this hour instead of getting ready to go out the door), but the day will be a long one and pretty tiring. Good tiring, though, and cleansing, because old books will go back home to be replaced by newer, fresher titles.

This is the seasonal shift at the bookstore that I love the most. What cover will catch my eye? What have I been waiting to read? What will I be delighted to pack up and send away? Pulling books to return is immensely satisfying, and necessary, and gives me a chance to tweak and rearrange and reassess. The slow season is short; the Holidays are just around the corner. Look away for just a bit, and it's Christmas.

I have the same urge at home, to rearrange and sort and remove, but there isn't time for that this week. I'll get to do a little, because I want to take a big bag of fiber to V in Maryland. She is spinning lots of white yarn, with bits of color and contrast, for a series of hats. I can help with that, and my closet will be able to relax a little.

I don't have all the time in the world, but that doesn't matter, it never does. I have to go to work. I have to prepare for a road trip (I love to prepare for a road trip). I have to be away from work for five days in a row, and the preparation for that will consume me. There is the seaming of a baby kimono, the finishing of a hand towel, of a sock toe, of this or that little knitting thing...

All in good time. Whenever. On Friday afternoon I'll be on the road, on my way to Maryland, to K's and the new spinning wheel, to a weekend with my family and my mom, to a visit with dear V. I don't want to miss any of it.

Free day, with red stuff

Summer is over, though the Autumnal Equinox won't happen for another couple of weeks. It's just not summer any more. Today was a perfect Long Island day: there was a bit of early rain, and some clouds, then sun, and passing clouds, and a nice breeze moving it all around.

~ The last of the red salvia ~

I feel like planting some mums (if I ever get around to it, it will be a miracle, but I like to pretend), making a pot of soup, and cleaning up the yarn and fiber stash. I want to make all my drawers neat and tidy, so that I won't have to dig for socks on that first wooly-sock morning. I want to be ready for the crisp and chilly air and the first night that the down comforter will be needed.

I'm still on a linen hand towel kick, so I went to North Fork Stitches to get a couple of skeins of Euroflax. I chose Mustard and French Blue, which go well with the Goldenrod and Willow towels I've already finished. I'm working on one in Ginger now. While I was there I found two skeins of red yarn that will be perfect for Red Scarf Project scarves. The bottom one is Elspeth Lavold Silky Wool in Wine (50g, 192yds). Above it is Cascade Pastaza in Red (100g, 132yds), a yarn I've never used before. It's 50% llama and 50% wool, and looks like it will knit nicely on 5.5-6mm needles. Look closely at the picture, and you'll see the black sheepy tape measure that "fell" into my bag. Now to decide on the patterns...


I had a great day off, like I used to have in the olden days, before the summer. I had to do the stuff of real life, like get an oil change (an opportunity for forty-five minutes of uninterrupted sock knitting) and go to Target. It was so nice to be out there in the regular world again. I'd kept close to home all summer, and I found myself smiling as I tooled out Route 25 to the yarn store. Yes, Local Reader(s), I know I missed a golden opportunity by not stopping at a farm stand for mums. Where do you think I got the idea? The light bulb went off after I'd passed them by.

I'm enjoying the audio of When Madeline was Young, Jane Hamilton's new novel. It reminds me of her earlier novel Disobedience. I'm anxious to finish it, though, so that I can move on to the Book of My Dreams -- To Kill a Mockingbird has finally made it to CD, and it's read by Sissy Spacek. That's my favorite book in the world, folks, and it's read by a woman with the perfect voice. Somebody pinch me. If I didn't already have a road trip in the works, I'd plan one, just to listen to this book.

I washed and pressed the first two towels. Here they are in their lovely softness.

• Pattern: Moss Grid Hand Towel from Mason-Dixon Knitting, knitted with no modifications.
• Yarn: Louet Euroflax Originals, 100% Belgian linen, colors Willow and Goldenrod.
• Needles: 4mm/US6 Addis (though I switched to bamboo for a while because there was just something about this yarn and the weather). (My new Knit Picks needles, which I like, were too sharp for the linen, and I kept poking myself.)
• Time to knit: One towel = a long day of US Open Tennis.

I'm glad I managed to squeeze a regular day off into this week. It feels so good to be getting back to normal! Work is still busy, but at least it's a bit quieter. I won't have the old routine for long, though. At the end of next week I'll be leaving to spend a few days in Maryland, to visit the family and...

...to pick up my Real Rick Reeves wheel! I get to have a visit with my friend K, too, which is treat enough on a regular day. But the RRR will be coming home with me at last. Oh my. Pinch me again.

P and Q

Are for some of the places I have felt Peace and Quiet --

Painting above the vineyards at Villa Vignamaggio, Tuscany, September 2004.

~:~

Walking by the Atlantic Ocean in Southampton, Easter morning 2006

~:~

Being at home this afternoon.

Undertow

It's over, and I made it to shore. There was a strong undertow, though. I had a long week. A long, long week. And no day off in the middle. The rainy forecast meant it would be a busy weekend at the bookstore, so I planned for almost everything. But I couldn't plan for half the staff falling ill, struggling to come to work, or being unable to make it at all. Everybody gave all they had. On Saturday afternoon, as I was beginning the mental countdown to the hour when I could get in my car, go home, and not set foot in the store again till Tuesday, I realized that I was going to have to come back and work the closing hour and a half. Yes, it was a looonnnng week.

I found out something interesting about myself, too: allowing those moments -- of whining, of numbness, of confusion -- made it easier to stand up to the challenges of each day. I needed those five minutes in the back room to cry into the box of books, so I could move on. I was glad to have Judy to complain to, and glad that she let me. I needed to the reality checks from C, my amazing coworker/buyer/wise guy (His mantra by Friday: "Gonna do?"). I treasured those emails and cards from Rho. A little wallowing is not a terrible thing. And another thing I found out: I had a stash of stamina tucked away somewhere. Who knew?

I did get to the PO on Friday to pick up my Petals Collection package. Oh, wow. It's beautiful. I also received the second ball of Bamboo sock yarn from Carodan Farm, so Life is good.

The middle of the week contained a Big Lesson. Of course the last thing I wanted was another Big Lesson, but you can't control these things, and I suppose that's the point. I lost my phone and internet on Tuesday, when the landlords switched to the cable company's phone service. The cable guy, better known as The Doofus, removed all traces of my phone line. Dead and gone. It took two more technicians till Thursday night to restore it.

What did I learn? That I do, indeed, prefer the predictable. I do like to be in charge of certain things. And if I sit just right on my couch, lean toward the window and over to the right a little, I can get two bars on my cellphone that last for about ten minutes before the call is dropped.

This was a situation that I could do nothing about. I had to wait. I didn't need to be patient, because it was a total screw-up from the very beginning, but there weren't any irate calls for me to make, no threats to the cable company, no demands or ultimatums. That was someone else's job. I just had to wait. I was beside myself, so what did I do? I spent more time at work. The current had me by then.

Can you tell by my typing that I am soooo tired I can't think straight? Maybe not, thanks to Spell Check. I had quite the busy day today. I took a nap, and I worked on these:

Yep, brownies and a linen hand towel. That's it. Oh, and a load of towels made it all the way through the washer and the dryer, and they even got folded and put away.

And tomorrow I get to have another day just like this one!