On the other hand, during my flight out to Florida and back for my sister's wedding...
I was able to laugh at turbulence that was busy keeping time to my music.
I was able to roll my eyes and laugh at people who were freaking out because their laptop/phone/tablet/whatever other electronic they had was running out of battery power.
I was able to glare and think death thoughts at all the people who do not think that "Turn off all electronic devices now" means them too. (Seriously, if I am ever on a plane, and I KNOW that you didn't turn off your toy, and we go down? I'm going to make sure that you pay for it because it will all be your fault. At least in my head.)
I was also able to nearly complete a full sock on the way out. I had about an inch of ribbing left to go and then an afterthought heel. Finished that in Florida. I also finished the second cable pattern on my handspun sock and I am still debating on whether or not to do a third, or if the sock will even fit me. (I hate size 0 needles, just so it is out there.)
I nearly completed a second sock on the way home, except for an inch of ribbing and an afterthought heel. In less than 10 days, even when not knitting much for many of those days... I finished a full pair of socks. I felt wonderfully accomplished. The socks have now been washed and are drying at home. Once they are dry, they will get rolled up and put in the sock drawer to wait for winter. Because they are most definitely winter socks.
I even have another pair of socks in the same yarn being worked on now. Because I really like having heavy winter socks. These won't last super long because the yarn isn't designed to be heavy duty socks. But they will still be warm. And if worst comes to worst, they can join my super soft socks as bed socks. So there.
Florida was hot and horribly muggy. But I was better able to deal with the heat this time (probably because I hid in my hotel room a large portion of the time, staring wistfully outside in the blistering heat and the killing sun.) I did work quite a bit while I was out there, and that was good. It means that while my paychecks were definitely smaller than normal, they were still there.
We had thunderstorms at some point every day while I was there. And next time I go out, I am taking my SLR camera, not the Nikon. Or at least not the Nikon as my main camera. The shutter lag is just too bad. Add to that the fact that when I finally tried for pictures of lightning with the continuous shots setting, the camera decided to be "processing" when the lightning struck. I was so mad the camera nearly ended up in the pool. I didn't actually throw it in the pool, but that may have had more to do with the fact that I hadn't yet gotten the pictures from the wedding off it.
The wedding was nice as weddings go. My sister is not a bridezilla, and that's good because we would have had (more) words. My sister's (now) husband is a very nice guy. I like his family very much. I felt awful that I could not remember any of my tiny amount of French. Because his family is French and mostly do not speak much English. (A thumb in the eye of people who say Americans don't need to learn other languages because everyone speaks English. A) No, they don't. B) Americans are just proving that they are egotistical and dumb.)
When put on the spot, ALL of my languages reverted to German. ALL OF THEM. I couldn't even remember Thank You in French. And I've known how to say that since I was 4 years old.
I could remember it in German. And when not on the spot, I could remember it in Spanish (Gracias), Latin (Gratias tibi ago/Gratias tibi vobis), German (Danke), Japanese (Arigato) and even Ancient Egyptian (Dua Netjer en ek/Dua Netjer en etj). But when put on the spot, everything reverted to German. I despair for my brain.
Since getting back, I have sent my mother a backpack like the one I took with me because that thing is amazing. And I have done the laundry more times than I can count. I have gotten a new loaf of bread made (FINALLY) and I even finally got to go grocery shopping.
My being gone was super hard on the cat. He's an abused rescue (which I think I've mentioned in the past) and even though I scouted out a VERY nice place for him to stay (and expensive to boot) he was absolutely convinced that I was getting rid of him. And he wasn't reassured when I came back to get him. He was still rather sure that I wasn't there to pick him up.
I finally get to do something to help my sister, though. She is getting ready to go to France for a second wedding for all the family and friends of her husband to be able to attend. (We did Florida for the American wedding because that way our 97 1/2 year old grandmother could attend.) My sister wore a beautiful Juliet Cap instead of a veil or other headpiece. The cap is from our maternal grandmother, and is nearly 100 years old. And it shows. So I brought the cap home with me and starting this week I will be photographing it in great detail, and then I shall start work on both restringing it (if possible) and duplicating it. It's not a difficult pattern to do, but because of the age, the beads are super delicate. I am hoping to have them NOT shatter. I am NOT using a needle for this. I will be trying out a few other options that do not involve metal being anywhere near these beads. And I need to buy more silk stringing thread. Because I am out of mine.
Since I don't have a picture of the cap yet, have a picture of the view from my hotel room balcony. It's very very pretty.
No comments:
Post a Comment