Life as a Spectator Sport

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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

What you can do when you stay home for a while . . .

I've had an amazing whole week at home. Tomorrow I'll be back on the road, but for a whole seven days, I've been home. I feel like a stranger in my own house. I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I had hoped for in that time, but I did...

...make noodles for the first time in a couple of years. Pasta-making is tedious, whether you use a pasta machine (I have an Imperia) or roll them out with a rolling pin. But the pasta machine does at least give you a uniform thickness. I tend to make a lot of pasta at one time, to avoid having to make it more often, but this time I was in a hurry and made just half my usual recipe. It still filled up the rack, and then some (we ate the "then some" for dinner in Alfredo sauce). My machine has a cutter for spaghetti and linguine-width noodles, but I cut these in wider strips with a knife to make a more traditional egg-noodle size.

...finish this 5-Hour Baby Sweater, in Plymouth Jelli Beanz. I bought the yarn to make a Feather 'n Fan baby blanket, but after about ten inches of it, I decided the yarn was too busy for the pattern. So I unraveled the blanket as I knit the sweater. I ended up using just a few yards more than one skein. If I had made the sleeves a few rows shorter, I could have made the sweater with just that one skein. I'm not crazy about the yarn, though. I found one knot in the first skein, and two knots in that ten yards or so of the second skein. The second knot was right near the planned end of the i-cord tie. Considering how difficult it is to secure and work in loose ends when you only have three stitches on the needle, I just ended the i-cord at that point. It's about half an inch shorter than the other one, but I doubt that will ever be noticed.

... finish a purple sockie in Lorna's Laces "Purple Club" colorway. I don't normally post pictures of half a pair of socks, but I was so pleased with it that I'm showing it off even though the second sock is just barely started. It's too big for the three-month-old grandbaby it's intended for, but that's one of the great advantages of making baby things--they'll grow into them.


... and I finally finished this hot water bottle cover in Paton Soy Wool Stripes. All it has needed for months now is to have the bottom sewn up and the loose ends woven in. I just didn't have sufficient motivation to do that when the weather was warm, but it SNOWED here the other day! I could hardly believe it. Only a few flakes, nothing resembling an actual snow fall. But it was still unexpected. So last night I bundled up in bed with my cozy hot water bottle, and it was very nice indeed.

Now I just need to finish the other sock, the restarted Feather 'n Fan blanket (in a more traditional cream color), and a soaker or two, and I'll have a nice package to send off to little Vera. I'll also have almost nothing on the needles, which is a strange feeling.
posted by Liz @ 8:21 AM     |


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I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me

WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'

"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings."


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