Raindrops beget humidity, beget sweat, and back to rain again. Thankful for the antiperspirant!
Category: Blogging
Per Linda:
Your prompt for JusJoJan, January 22nd, 2024, is “mood.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!
This was my prompt. Yay! I wanted a good word that offered lots of ways to go. But nothing came to mind. So I went to a word generator. I dismissed at least a dozen words because I wasn’t in the mood. Then suddenly, MOOD came up. What are the chances?
I’ve wanted to get over here and write this jot all day, but I was in the middle of tinking a sock project and then restarting, messing up then re-tinking the project again. As much as my mood was grumpily redoing the same thing over and over, I found my need to make it look good overcame the grump.
When we were talking about despair the other day, I talked about a game that proved a lazy streak in that the grump shows up when I have to click out of the scene and many scenes back. I decided to play the game and see if I could overcome that tendency. I made myself click in and out of scenes just out of curiosity. It worked. By the time I got to the big clicky one, I was ready to do it without even the slightest feeling of grump. So mind over mood this time.
I know that happens with my knitting. I can remember long ago nearly feeling the need for suicide if I had to tear out my work. Maybe it is because I am retired, and I have all the time in the world to get it right, but I don’t go dark. In fact, I kind of love that flutter sound of frogging, tearing the whole project up, and starting over. I tell myself now I start new, and I have all this yarn to play with that was in the project before. Tinking (knitting backward) isn’t quite as much fun, especially the finer sock yarns on the thin needles, my eyes get crossed and feel like they might stay that way. But when I overcome the grump, I am always happy I spent the day figuring out the problem.
This may not seem such a revelation to some. But for me, it has been a lifelong issue. How do I motivate myself on the bigger projects? I am still looking at a box of stuff to go through. I know that I will be happier when that ‘real estate’ of the house is open for something other than the box of stuff. But I need a better psychological mood fix to get the job done. My inner child is causing so much grump. How do I find the right mood?
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Thank you all for your many ways of using this word. There were several that were really fun. Did you see Ghostmmnc‘s take with the mood ring and the mood ears? I started my day reading that and laughing at the ears.
My friend, Yvensong, gave an idea of where the mood magic goes.
I would put more of them here but the clock tells me I need to post NOW!
Per Linda:
Your prompt for JusJoJan January 21st, 2024, is “plants.” Use it as a noun or a verb; use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
I have a love/can’t relationship with plants. Before Children (BC), I had a jungle of plants. After the first baby became mobile, I had to get them up and out of the way. Any time I have to put things out of sight, it is out of mind for me. Yeah, my poor organizing skills fall in this realm. My son laughed at me when he saw me going through a pile of papers. I found what I was looking for. But had it been in a nice neat file I would have lost the paper. That’s also what happened when kid number one didn’t learn the lesson of staying away from my sewing machine. He caught his finger under the needle. So I put it away and have rarely opened it in the 50 years since.
I should plant myself down and work on these issues now that there are no children or even crazy pets to hid plants from. Even still, I worry about our 20-year-old Rosey. What if she found that rosemary I bought as a Christmas bush? So it got put in a neglected place and I don’t think it will revive.
And this house was so cold the first few years we didn’t dare try plants or fish. We spent the winter in the bedrooms. We have since picked up a few radiant heaters so we use the whole house but now there isn’t the room there was way back five years ago.
So I am proud that I still have a lucky bamboo my son and his lady gave me a few years ago. And the cactus that came with the house is still alive. And we have a mixture of avocado seeds and mint in a pot just going crazy. These three are in my kitchen window. We see them all the time so they get watered a lot. I wish I had one of those garden windows that would hold a lot of plants. Cats wouldn’t be able to get at them and yet I could see them and keep them healthy.
Our outdoor plants seem to think it is Spring already but I hope they aren’t too expectant. I think we have a month of this cold and hopefully more snow.
Per Linda:
Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 20th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “in a nutshell.” Use it as an idiom, or use it literally. Enjoy!
In a nutshell is the best way to eat nuts, not salted, not cooked. And hard to eat a lot at a time, which can be my way if I don’t have to work at it! Maybe that is something to look at in life. I could go out and buy a lot of socks. But my body won’t be as happy as the ones I make myself. I thought it was just me, but my son and brother both told me they love the way the sock feels like it’s hugging their foot, like a little massage. I feel that way, too.
I do seem to be a paradox, though, as I look at this line of thinking. Though I love the process of learning music as opposed to buying and listening to it, and I love diamond painting instead of looking at magazine pictures, why do I find such laziness within? Shouldn’t I be happy with a process no matter what?
A friend and I were talking about how some things seem too much work. The first and silliest example is when I am playing a game, and I have to leave the scene and click five times to find myself in a totally different scene. I sigh like it is a lot of work. I find myself complaining: why do I have to go all the way out there? In this case, the game is Mystery Case Files®: Return to Ravenhearst™ Collector’s Edition. If you play it, you know there is a place where you need to leave the children’s town to go back to the well to get the knife. FIVE clicks. Yet it seems like so much work! It definitely says more about me than it does the game. I love the game, though I have played it so often. It is mostly boring and just something to do when I need to waste time. If you’re curious, here is what it looks like:
But I lost my stream. It is that often I feel something is too much work. Even though when I do the work of most tasks I am satisfied that I did it. I rarely am unhappy when I put in the time and effort.
Some things feel unproductive. Knitting, there’s an item when done. Riding the stationary bike? I go nowhere. But I have seen proof it is working just in my energy levels, and my abilities to do certain things have improved. But that box of things I need to go through… Seems like five clicks too many! I need to work on my brain! That’s it! In a nutshell!
Garters and Gargoyles by Nancy Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sarah Zimmerman’s narration is a bit off-putting. But after a while, you get used to her cadence and the smirk in her voice.
Once again, the yarn shop is where a batch of late-night knitters gather. These knitters just happen to be of the vampire variety.
My biggest problem with this book is that by now, Lucy, the store owner, who inherited, sort of, from her grandmother, who is now a part of the night shift yarning club. Lucy is still just knitting scarves and having a hard time. With all that help, she should be much farther along in her abilities. I wish I had that many teachers helping me figure out how to deal with the dropped stitches or tangled mess a distracted mind can create.
That’s not much of a problem in the long run. Lucy is learning to be a proper witch and trying to be a good person. So I shouldn’t complain. The rest of the story is fun. And the cozy mystery wrapped up in yarn pulls you in.
I love this series, and I already have the next book lined up for when I have a few moments to take a bite with my needles clicking.
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt for today, Craft, comes from Astrid. Check out her blog here!
I love being retired. After a lifetime of crafts that I never had the time to dive in whole, even though I had a lot more money, there was no energy at the end of the day, nor the time. Being able to deep dive until the muse is used up on a topic or drive.
Diamond Painting is calling me back, and now that the bigger knitting project is finished, the Dragon from last year needs the sealant so I can send it off.
Oh, that’s the thing about these crafts; it is delightful to indulge deeply, but it is so much better to have someone to gift the finished products to. I know some actually sell their works. But I just can’t get to that point. I don’t like a timeline, and I get too perfectionistic the minute I think someone else will see it or pay for it. The minute ‘time is money,’ it is called a job. I can’t. I just can’t.
But yummy yarn, loom knitting, crocheting, Tunisian crochet, diamond painting, drawing, Zentangles, playing with my wig or my own hair (a throwback to my first career of being a cosmetologist), all my musical instruments recorders, ukelele, piano, singing, coloring, rainbow looming, writing, reading. There are many I’m afraid I’m leaving out, and I feel like a bad parent for neglecting them to the point of forgetting their names! And are they all considered crafts? Then there’s macaroni. Oh, yeah, that’s spelled with a ‘K’!
I love writing. Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, blogging, even my memoir. But at least as much as the topic, I love writing cursive or playing with lettering, calligraphy. I don’t like the modern stuff but rather
I love to practice
Or
To me writing is artwork. My handwriting lately (or the fast note writing during lectures) is horrible. But I like to take my time and enjoy writing. Even grocery lists.
But having the best hand writing in the house means only I can write the lists. I’m not bragging. My guys here would write a list so fast that even they can’t read it, much less if there’s a note, like, not the one with salt, or the crispy kind not soggy, you know what I mean?
But that means I’m stopping whatever I’m doing to write the list. So I got upset having to drop my knitting or jumping off the stationary bike to write the list.
Instead, my husband set up a shared Keep app list we add to as we go along.
More organized, efficient.
But now I need to find other reasons to practice my ABCs.
Guilt trip jumps in here. I need to write more letters to friends and family. I’ll think about it. Again.
Time to get writing.
Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 13th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “close up/close-up.” Use the verbal phrase “close up” and/or the noun/adjective “close-up” somewhere in your post, or write a post in the spirit of the phrase. Have fun!
A face only a mother could love or one more wrinkle? The close-up may not bring in the bucks, but what about personality? What about love? Those who are as touchy as a cactus or close up their hearts and hide from emotions are even less appealing. It isn’t easy to be around the monkey, for the energy is tough to keep up with. Walking on eggshells for the touchier relationships is tough, too.
I’ve been lucky enough to live with the types I mentioned and have to admit that as hard as it was, there were good times, too. The monkey is more fun than the cactus, but when those anti-touchy-feely types feel safe and can find their center, they can reveal their hearts of gold. Long, honest talks can bring understanding. It’s not easy. Early traumas can trigger anyone. Even me. Making me a part of the problem while hoping to be part of the solution. Yeah, bring it up close, and those gray hairs and wrinkles have good reasons to be there.
It’s a lot of work, don’t you think? And worth it.
Just like the leg warmers. And speaking of close-ups, the areas that I had to do decreases, look like little hearts. I think I see a correlation. Maybe not.
The stream went cold. Just like when our electricity went off a while ago. We finally got our foot of snow. Not enough to cover the bushes but it’s looking better.
If you click on the photo, you can see the snow close up. But you still can’t feel the cold.
These leg warmers were tough. I’ve never made leg warmers and hadn’t a clue. I wanted to do them Two-At-A-Time so they would stay the same length as each other. But I mostly knit socks toe-up, Two-At-A-Time, but then I realized others do the cuff-down, so I looked that up, and a random single-leg warmer cast-on. I can’t remember whose tutorial I watched nor how many stitches I cast on. But the thing I can say is that I did one-by-one ribbing for the thigh cuff. Any time I added a new color, I pulled a bit. Then, the new color was just knit-stitch. As I worked down to the knee, I made sure there was room to bend. As I came to the calf, I started to decrease. By the ankle, I had decreased about 20 stitches. Then, I did the one-by-one ribbing for the ankle. I think they turned out okay. They might be nice early mornings with tea and toast, don’t you think? I hope so.
Oh, I forgot, I used size 8 ChiaoGoo cable needles. The cable is quite long, 40 inches, I think, And the yarn is just acrylic but soft. I wanted them to be comfortable in southern California. I think wool would have been too hot.
I may not do another pair of leg warmers for a while. But when I do, I think I will do bamboo and more lightweight yarn or just the superwash wool for up here where it’s cold. I might be fun to get good at these.
Thank you, Linda, for Just Jot It January.
Thank you, Barbara, for the prompt, Toast.
Darswords 
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