FO Post: The Only Knit Gift This Year

You may or may not remember that The Tim told me last year that he didn't need any more knit socks at the moment, so not to make any for him.

During the course of doing laundry, I noticed that a pair of socks I made for him years ago, that he wears as slippers around the house, had several big holes in them. He usually wears another pair of socks under them, so either he didn't notice, or figured it didn't matter (or - I'll take both for $100, Alex). 

Well, that just seems ridiculous to me, so I decided that I would knit him a new pair, and if I got them finished in time for Christmas, fine, but I wasn't gonna hurry. Of course, since they are knit from worsted weight yarn, they knit up really quickly. and I finished the second sock this past Monday, even after taking a long break in between the two so that I could wrap and mail gifts to people out of town. 

So here they are! I am not known for my color management, so you really can't see some of the one-row colors in here, other than the black which shows up. But I really like the way they turned out, and it was fun to have a knit gift for him. 😀

Project: Replacement Social Security Number Socks

Pattern: Vanilla sock pattern using worsted weight yarns

Needles: US size 5/3.75 mm

Yarns: All are scraps of Plymouth Encore worsted yarns from several other projects. I'm a big fan of Encore, because it has a little bit of wool in it, but the acrylic means that it can go in the washer and the dryer with no issues. 

Notes: The pattern is one I came across a long time ago - does anyone remember the Knitlist? I mean, that's waaaaayyy back! Anyway, someone posted it there, and since it's not, as far as I know, the specific property of any designer, I can share it here.

Basically, the way it works is that you take your Social Security number, and assign a yarn to each number - you can either say that there are 9 different colors, or assign yarns to a number and use only that color throughout, which is what I did. For zeroes, you can either do a purl row, or eyelets, or assign a color. 

Now, before you get all worked up about identity theft, someone would have to be very very close to your foot and sock, and would need to know how to count knitted rows, in order to figure out your SS#. It seems to me, that if someone seems that interested in your foot for that long, and you either don't notice or don't think it's the weirdest behavior this side of the Mississippi, then that's on you.

His previous pair (with all the holes) was made up of brighter colors, whereas this one is more subdued. But I like the way this one looks. And except where I didn't realize that colors were not distinctive enough to show up unless you were *very* close, I like the way they all complement each other. The heel and the toe are in black yarn, because that is what I had the most of as a leftover. 

So there you go - now you even know how to make your own if you like. I think they are really fun, but of course, the options are limited, since if you say to someone "Could you tell me your Social Security number for a knitting project," there is a good chance it won't end well. 

I do have to say that after knitting the first pair, it was a huge help to me whenever I would need to know The Tim's SS# for some form or another and he wasn't around. 😄

The only other knitting project I would like to finish before the end of the year is my cardigan. All it needs is the second sleeve, and the buttons, so I think I can get it done. I put it aside at the beginning of December for the aforementioned wrapping and sending of gifts (which have all been received now, yay!). It took me about two weeks to do the first sleeve, which was in fits and starts, so I think I can get it all done. I'm not gonna drive myself nuts about it, but it would be fun to have such a great finish to my knitting year.

What about you? Have you knit any gifts? Anything you hope to finish before 2025 heads out?

Monday Is Here Again

Did I know yesterday was Sunday? Yes, I did. So why was it shocking to me when I woke up this morning to realize that today is Monday? I mean, it shows up every week, right on time, so Why The Face? 

We had actual snow this past weekend, which was surprising only in that for once, the weather predictions played out. According to the predictions from a couple of weeks ago, we should be on our third fourth "major storm." Sometimes we've gotten rain, but mostly we have had no type of precipitation, meaning they added extra hours to their newscasts for no reason.

Anyway, the snow hasn't really melted because it's too cold to do so. So you have to be careful walking around, but since I am the queen of falls, I am always careful walking around, and frankly there's only so much you can do, you know?

Our weekend was lovely, full of busy things related to Christmastime. The Tim baked some cookies, we decorated our tree, and we received notifications that all of the boxes I mailed last week had been delivered, which is so nice, I can't believe I had it together this year. Probably because I didn't spent a lot of time thinking about it like I usually do. Also the Eagles finally won a game, and yes it was against a crap team, but they actually looked like the Eagles used to look before they started forgetting that you also have to play football in the second half of the game ...

We did get some upsetting news over the weekend. You have all heard me blather on about my niece Amanda who lives in Baltimore, and her husband Patrick. We do a lot with them, and they are our usual partners in crime for Inappropriate Easter Eggs, and trips to Rehoboth Beach. Well, I guess for the past few weeks, Pat hasn't felt good, kind of like he had a low-key version of the flu. He went to see his Dr finally, who did some blood testing and sent him to Johns Hopkins immediately! They have diagnosed a form of acute leukemia, but they have also assured them that it is a very treatable form. But wow, what a kick in the butt for the whole family. I would ask you if you are a praying person, to please keep Pat in your prayers, and if you are not a praying person, please send some good thoughts his way. 

But there is good news too - not in the same level as Pat being sick, but - 

***DRUM ROLL***

Saturday afternoon, the people interested in the remaining giveaway chair picked it up, meaning that Chair-palooza is OVER!

They seemed especially excited once they actually saw the chair, and the husband said, "That would be *perfect* for video games," which earned him a dirty look from his wife. 😊

My stress level dropped about 75 percent! (It would have dropped more, but see previous paragraphs.) That was what actually made it possible for us to decorate the tree, because we finally had room to move around. Other than cleaning, which I'm planning to do on Wednesday, and a few final touches, we are now finished decorating the house and the tree, and can just enjoy the rest of Christmastime without anything waiting for us to finish it. 

This morning, I worked on a few things, odds and ends type stuff, and then unpacked and put this together for the cats. Stuff like that always takes me longer than it does for most people, but it was really not a big deal to put together. 

Alfie immediately had to check it out.

He does love cardboard scratchers, and seemed to think this one was pretty great. Of course, he's the only cat with no claws ... I'm hoping the others will want to try it, because none of them want to think one of the others is getting/doing/eating something special. I'll report back.

And that's it for today. I hope your weekend was a good one, and that you are keeping warm and cozy. Unless kitties are adopted tonight, I have my volunteer shift tomorrow, so it may be another day or two before you hear from me again. Take care!

For Me, It's Really Not What You Think

Friday has arrived, and I just came back inside after an appointment, and whoa is it windy out there! I knew it was cold, but guess I missed where they said it was also windy. Not like I can do anything about it, but it's nice to be prepared.

Anyway.

In my last post, I used the abbreviation:

Later, I realized that for some people, they would just say it. I mean, nearly every person I know regularly uses the f-word as part of their daily conversation. A LOT.

Me? Not a big fan in general. It's not like I get all upset when I hear it - because like I said, it's everywhere all of the time. But I just never actually say it. Personally, I think it's rude. But it's not like I say anything to those who use it, I've really just figured that's life these days.

Which reminded me of a funny story. Probably about 10 years ago, my niece Amanda threw a surprise anniversary party for her parents' 40th wedding anniversary. It was really lovely, and also funny in lots of ways. 

Before it started, Amanda asked if I would go to the venue with her to make sure it was set up properly, and also put some party favors on the tables. We got there, and things were not set up the way she had asked. So while she was speaking to the people at the catering place, I was moving some tables and putting the party favors out. No big deal, and I would rather be doing stuff than sitting waiting for things to start.

Amanda got pleasantly drunk at the party, and at the after party at her house, where there was just family and family friends, she was telling everyone about the tables being set up incorrectly. She said, "And Bridget walked into the room, and said, OH MY GOD, WHAT THE F*** DID YOU DO?" And I said, "Actually, Amanda - you said that." And my niece Liz's husband Greg said, "I was wondering about that. I've actually never heard Aunt Bridget use that word at all." Everyone cracked up, including Amanda. 😂

Did any of you ever used to watch the show "Modern Family?" One of the characters was the dad of three young kids, two who were teens. In one of the first episodes, he is speaking to the camera, and saying how he likes to be sure to use and understand the lingo that the kids use, because then they think he's really cool. He says, "You know, like LOL for laugh out loud. Or BTW for by the way. My favorite though is WTF - why the face?" 

Well, as you can well imagine, that became viral in our family. We still will say to each other "Why The Face?" and of course, laugh really hard. To the point where now when I see the abbreviation WTF, my first thought is "Why the Face?" and I'm amused.

Feel free to join me - it's a whole lot more fun that way!

Current Situation

Hello all, I hope you are doing well, and if you are in the throes of cold weather, that you are managing to keep warm! When I went to my volunteer gig yesterday, one of the employees of the Petsmart who unlocked the door for me said, "You don't look like you are very cold at all." And I pointed out that I was very bundled up. He said, "Yeah, I don't like to do that." I didn't pursue it, but I do hope he at least realizes that is the reason he was cold ...

Anyhoo, I have already sent two packages of gifts on their way, and will have the last, larger box (for more people) on the way by tomorrow. It is apparently within my abilities to remember to buy birthday gifts for my nieces who all have December birthdays, and wrap them in other-than-Christmas-paper, but not within my abilities to remember to get cards to accompany the gifts. So today I will venture out to buy the cards, and then come home and finish the rest of the wrapping for things being mailed. 

Apropos of that, I saw this yesterday and thought it was worth sharing. Especially since it is 100% accurate and worth heeding.

Furniture Update: all of the new furniture we purchased has now been delivered and already enthusiastically used. Chair-palooza is forutnately winding down. The spare chair was moved to our bedroom by the two of us on this past Sunday, and we were both pleasantly surprised to note that it looked nicer there than we had even thought it would.

One of the giveaway chairs was claimed on Monday evening, and the woman collecting it seemed quite pleased with it. I have a taker for the other chair, who originally said that she would pick it up today. Which would have been so great. But then she messaged me and said would I mind if they waited until Saturday? Turns out they are moving into a new apartment on this coming Friday, and rather than move one extra thing, they determined it would make more sense to just pick it up after the fact. Which I completely agree with and understand.

Please note that, as I suspected, The Tim still brought up the boxes of decorations over the weekend, and yes, as predicted, it did cause me more anxiety. 

Me: Why did you bring those up when there is already so much stuff here?

Him: We have to bring them up anyway.

🙄

I forgot to tell you another part of Chair-palooza. In order to get the new couch, we needed to get the old chairs out of the way. So we carefully took them apart, and them took them downstairs in pieces (the doorway to the third floor is even skinnier than most of the other doorways in the house). For part of a day, they were also in the living room. I went online to the Sanitation Dept site to arrange for Bulk Pickup so we could be rid of them (they were in no condition to be usable by anyone else, and the place we bought new furniture doesn't have takeaway-the-old-stuff service). The earliest time it could be scheduled was December 23, so I went ahead and took that appointment. We figured in the meantime, we would just put all of the pieces out in the garden so they'd be out of the way, and then easily moveable out front when the time came. Except they didn't fit through the garden door, because of course (repeat along with me) it's not a standard size. 

So now we have 4 pieces of decrepit furniture sitting in the outdoor entryway to our house. I told The Tim all we needed was a stripped down car on cinder blocks to complete the tabelau. He said "tableau" was too fancy a word for it.😂

Finally, another exchange I thought you might enjoy. Background: We have quite a few holiday-themed dishes, glasses, mugs, etc. The Tim unpacks them every year and puts them away, which is fine with me because I have plenty of other things that are my resposibility. So on Monday evening, he started unpacking those, while I was upstairs working on something else. During dinner, he said he had left some things on the table for me to put away, because he wasn't sure where they belonged. I figured I knew the things he meant, and didn't give it another thought.

When I went to leave for my volunteer shift yesterday, I saw that a lot of the things he'd unpacked were on the table. I figured, no big deal, he'd worked all day and ran out of steam, I'd put things away when I got home. Then when I got home, I noticed that a few things looked like they were unpacked but not very clean. So I texted to ask him if things were washed or not. The response: "I'm leaving that up to you." 

So last night, I told him I'd washed things on the table and put them away, and said I thought he'd given me a weird answer to my text. And he said, "Well, I wasn't sure if you wanted to wash them now, or when you went to use them." 

Never, ever, ever, in the history of myself have I unpacked items to be used for food and beverages and put them away, thinking I'd wash them when I went to use them. I just decided to file the whole experience away and blame it on phases of the moon or something.

But seriously, WTF???

Again, just to reassure you, we are both still alive. Puzzled, but alive.

Now We Should Be Done ...

Well, our new couch arrived yesterday - here's a bad photo of it for you:

The delivery truck arrived about 12:30 PM and of course, the things that took the longest were: 1) putting it on a little cart to bring it down our street to the house, because the truck was too big to come onto the street; and, 2) bringing it up to the third floor. But once it was in place, they popped on the backs and it was ready to go. Of course we had to fiddle with it, as far as the *exact* location in the room, but that was easily done as well.  

The cats are very suspicious. Tim wanted couch where part of it would recline, since we didn't see any reclining chairs that we both liked. (He told me he was in his "reclining era.") This particular item is called a "power sofa" because you push a button to recline it. Well, you can imagine how mystifying and also concerning that is! So far, Milo is the only one brave enough to jump up and sit with us, and even then, he can't really settle. 

Wimps. 😉

So we are done with new furniture and its delivery. I'm hoping that the person who wants two of the chairs in our bedroom can come sooner rather than later to pick them up, and then this weekend the spare chair can go up to the bedroom. Chair-palooza in the living room is giving me anxiety. Not just because it's so cramped, but I know that The Tim will want to bring up boxes of Christmas stuff soon, and get a tree. He is not in any way bothered about Chair-palooza, and doesn't understand why it makes me so anxious. 

Sometimes I wonder how we have not killed one another. 😂

I'm leaving in a bit to get and get my hair cut, and then I'll walk up to Barnes & Noble for a couple of gifts I've ordered for pickup. Then this weekend, I'll get the things that need to be mailed all wrapped up so they can be on the way early next week. 

Then (except for the chair situation), all I have to think about the rest of Christmastime is our own stuff we want to do, etc. I'm proud of myself for being more on the ball than usual.  No worries though, something will come along to show me I'm not as on it as I think ... 

I'm just glad I have no more reasons to have to stay home and wait for something to be delivered. Not that I'm out doing things all day, but I like to feel like if I want/need to just run out for something, it's not a problem for someone else. 

And that's the exciting news from here for now. I hope whatever your plans are for today and/or the weekend, you will enjoy at least a part of it. I'll check in again next week.