In which a terrible thing happens!

So remember a few days ago when I proudly reported finishing some knitting projects? One of them was a little peach-colored dress for Maddy that I started knitting ages ago, and finally got it sewn together and bought the ribbon to tie around the waist, and tonight I gave the dress to Rachel to take home. I also gave her the package of ribbon, because you know I didn't actually sew that on yet.

I saw Rachel carry the dress out to the car when she took Maddy home tonight, but half an hour later she called me on the phone to ask if she had left the dress here, because she couldn't find it!

I glanced around the living room, but I didn't see it and anyway, I know she took it with her, and I told her so. She said she had checked to see if she left it in the car, but it wasn't there, either, and I said, "I know you didn't put it on top of the car and drive away with it," and she kind of gulped and said that's what she was afraid might have happened!

So I put on my shoes and went out to check the driveway and the road in front of my house, but I didn't see a little pink dress. Rachel came over after she put the baby to bed, and she hadn't seen it in the street on the way here, but we both needed to go to the store, so I got in the car with her and we drove back toward her place, which is the way to the store, and then, in the middle of the road, there it was!

It was a soggy peach blob in the middle of the street that had been so mashed down into the sloppy snow that you could barely see it! We pulled over and Rachel jumped out and grabbed the dress! She gently laid it on the carseat and said she would wash it when she got home. She was sure she could save it.

She just called me and said she washed it carefully with shampoo, and again with dish soap, and got the tire track washed out (!) and she had rolled it up in a towel to soak up the excess water, and it was spread out to dry. Wouldn't you know a tragedy like this would happen to something that has to be handwashed? (The dress is made of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.)

She also said that she found a spot where I had dropped a stitch, so I'll need to go over to fix it when it's all dry. That poor dress. It took forever to finish, and it's still not quite done.

I need to knit something for Jenna's new baby, but I think I'll use Encore yarn - it's machine washable!

In which I am just catching up.

This weekend I finished four of my UFOs (Unfinished Objects)! That's right, four! Two of them needed buttons, and you know my hatred of button-sewing, but on Monday I went to the fabric store and actually bought buttons! Amazing!

Then I was going to start the Owl Cardigan that I want to knit for Maddy, but Rich showed me his dog-walking mittens and they are so shredded that I can't repair them anymore, so I spent two days knitting him a pair of plain grey wool mittens, when all I really want to do is start that Owl Cardi!

Now that the mittens are done, yay! I can start the cardi tonight at work!

In other news, Kim has been going to the accupuncturist and is being treated for her tendonitis (from texting!), acid reflux, and anxiety. She has six little tacks taped to her right arm, and one in front of her ear. They are so tiny you barely notice them. She says she thinks it is helping.

Kim is sitting on the couch right now, playing a video game with Sando over the Xbox. He is at school and she is here, but they are playing this game and talking to each other through the Xbox. Amazing. They were doing this on Monday, and Sando heard me laughing at a joke that a friend had emailed to me, so I forwarded it to Kim's email (from across the room) and she read it out loud to him. Ah, the wonder of technology!

I have read several books since the last time I posted, and right now I can only remember two that I liked enough to recall the titles. The Cart Before the Corpse was one, Diary of a Chav by Grace Dent, which I have read before and it is so funny that I needed to read it again, and I just remembered one more, Dead is the New Black. I can recommend all of them.

Okay, gotta go take a nap before I go to work.

Some books aren't that great.

Just wanted to comment on one of the books on my previous list. Nearly Departed in Deadwood? I couldn't finish it because I was so tired of the main characters digestive problems. Every damn thing that happened in that book made her stomach act up, and I got so tired of it, I had to stop reading it. It seemed to have potential, but no.

These are my lists. Lists!

I told Diana that she needs to start listing the books she reads in her journal, so I can read them, too. She said she would do it, and I hope she does. I like to know what people are reading so I don't miss anything!

I decided to start a list of the books I'm reading, too, just so I can look back at them later and remember what I read. So starting with today, I'm reading:

Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich. I'm re-reading it because I read One for the Money again after I saw the movie, and then I just wanted to read the next one, too.

The Afterlife Club by Jude Ryan. It was a freebie for the Kindle and I'm really liking it! I especially love how British it is.

Nearly Departed in Deadwood by Ann Charles. I think it's the first in a series, and I'm enoying it. I'm reading it while I knit tonight.

Speaking of knitting, I have to make a list of my projects, because I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed. If I list them it makes me feel more in control, even though I still have the same amount of projects!

1. The peach knit dress for Maddy. I started sewing it up on Tuesday, but it's back in the bag again. I would love to finish sewing the seams tomorrow so Maddy can wear it on Sunday. Is that going to happen? I don't know.

2. The Knit-a-long socks the the February Knitpurlhunter.com knitalong. They are very pretty, but because it's two-color knitting, it takes just a tiny bit more attention than I want to give to my knitting tonight.

3. The sage-colored Wallaby I'm making for a friends' grandbaby. Almost done but I ran out of yarn! I need to go to the yarn shop tomorrow for one more skein. I'll end up with most of the skein left, but I can make a hat for Kim with the leftovers.

4. Kim asked me to knit a hat that has a pocket inside for her earphones so she can listen to music with her hat on. I've got a plan for that, and I'll get to it soon.

5. Baby sweater for my cousin Wendy's baby - what I'm making tonight! It's an easy top-down kimono I'm knitting in Hempwol. I made one for Maddy and it's so cute when it's done.

6. Another kimono for Jeanette's new baby! Haven't started it yet, but I've got the yarn!

7. Owl cardigan for Maddy. I've got the pattern and the yarn, but I'm not going to start it until her dress is finished!

Okay, I feel better. I'm going to go knit now.

And now it is February.

Remember last time I said I was working on the Little Arrowhead Socks? Well, I finished one sock and started the second one, but in the middle of it I made a mistake in the lace pattern, and I couldn't fix it so I was going to have to pick it back about 3 rows and knit that section again, and suddenly I was just so tired of knitting lace while trying to read a book that I ripped out the whole sock and started over. They are going to be plain socks in my usual 3X1 rib, and they will be easy to work on while I read or watch movies, and that is really what I want from my sock knitting.

Paula had come down to my office on her lunch break and was happily knitting a mitten, and she almost had a heart attack when I ripped that sock out. The first sock was still in my purse, so I picked out the toe stitching and ripped that whole sock back, too, and she was gasping in horror. She hasn't been knitting long enough to know that if your knitting is not making you happy, you just need to cut your losses and tear it out.*

Scott called me tonight and said that Soren wanted to talk to Nan on the computer, so we got on Google+ to have a webcam chat, but there were a few snags in the process. First, they didn't have the chat program installed on the computer they were using, so they had to install it. No problem, I just talked to Scott while I waited.

While Scott was installing the program, Carl was watching him, and I heard Carl ask Scott to tell him a story about when Carl touched the computer. Carl is not allowed to touch the computer, so the story went like this, "One day Carl touched the computer and he got a spanking and had to go to his room without supper." Then Scott started laughing, and I asked what happened, and he said Carl was smiling when the story started, but when it got to the part about the spanking, his smile faded, and he was looking horrified at the end, the part where he had to go to his room. Poor Carl. Now he is traumatized.

So then the program was installed and we were trying to connect to each other, but in Google+ you connect by going to a Hangout, and you invite the person or people you want to talk with to come to the Hangout. Okay, so I tried to invite Carolyn's computer to my hangout, but I couldn't figure out how to invite a single person, and I clicked on the circle of my Google+ friends, which apparently sent an invitation to everyone in my circle of friends, including my friend Wendy, who was home relaxing after a long, rough week at work.

Wendy saw the invite to my hangout, but she was tired and watching a DVD of Mad Men so she sensibly ignored me until the *second* invite came through, because I was still unable to figure out how to invite just one person. She must have thought I was pathetically lonely all by myself in my Google hangout, so she connected to me with her iPhone, but by then I had made a precarious connection with Scott and the kids, so when Wendy came on, too, I said hello, but since I was messing around trying to get a better connection to Scott, I heartlessly blew her off!

I finally was able to chat a little with Scott and the kids, and Carolyn, who brought their cat, Nom Chomsky, to be included in the chatting, too, but then my stupid laptop decided we had had enough fun for one night and it shut me down. Geez.

So I went upstairs to get a nap before work, and I called Wendy to apologize, and now I'm writing this post just for her! So there, Wendy, get a good night's sleep and when you wake up there will be something for you to read.

*Except for that Nagano sweater I started 10 years ago. It is the beast that haunts my dreams. Every time I start to rip it out, I stop because of all the work and emotional anguish that have gone into it. It's half ripped out, resting in a box in the closet.

I'm at work now.

What I am reading tonight:

A Discovery of Witches: A Novel

This is a recommendation from Diana, and it's pretty good. It's the same old thing, i.e. witches, vampires, demons, but it's well written and I'm enjoying it. I'm also reading yet another diet book, and re-reading the second Stephanie Plum book.

What I'm knitting today:

I was going to bring the sweater I'm knitting for Maddy, but oops, I forgot, so all I have is my purse knitting, which is a sock in the Little Arrowhead pattern by Nancy Bush. I don't think I have enough yarn left on this skein to get me through the whole night at work, so I might have to use something from the Emergency Knitting Stash I keep in a drawer at work.

Tonight we all went to yoga class, and by 'all' I mean Rachel, Kim, and I, aas well as Laura and Shelley. The Monday night class is always big, and the whole Y must have been busy because the parking lot was full! Ash reported that he had a hard time getting a machine to work on because so many people were working out downstairs. It will be nice when all those people who made New Years resolutions give up on exersizing!

Who wants to be haunted?

So Rachel called me just now as she was walking over to the grocery store across the field from her backyard in the middle of the night. (Probably about 100 yards away.)

I told her it was dangerous, but if anything happened to her I would be comforted knowing that I was the last person who talked to her. Then I suggested that she should come back from beyond to contact me.

Rachel said if she was going to contact anyone from beyond it would be Kim, because it would be fun to freak her out. I had to agree that it would be funny if she contacted Kim, because Kim is the one who watches those stupid ghost hunting shows on TV, and she is so interested in the paranormal.

Fortunately Rachel got home safely, so it doesn't matter now.