Halloweird

We normally get lots of neighbor-kids a'knockin' at our door on Halloween. We totally underestimated the first year so ran out of candy early - like 6:30 early. So we loaded up last year (and still ran out a little sooner than we had planned). This year, DH will still be in Philly, so I was facing an evening of tykes and not-so-tykes showing up at the door all by myself, and got 2 hugemungous bags of teeth-rot at Costco so I wouldn't run out.

It's those not-so-tykes that get me all worked up, though. We've had 'kids' coming by as late as 10:00, even after we'd turned out the light. (Shouldn't it be illegal or something for anyone over 12 to go trick-or-treating??) No one ever did anything, but I was always afraid we'd get TP'd or - worse - egged, or - worser - splatted with paint. (True story - used to happen all the time in my home town. For about a week before Halloween, the stores wouldn't sell eggs, toilet paper, or spray paint to anyone under 18, so they would raid their parents' garage, put the paint in little squirt bottles, and splatter paint on your garage door if they didn't get a treat. Punks.)

Good newts, though! Champer and Knitterliness will be coming over to keep me company (oh, and to hit Red Robin for dinner) (oh, yeah; there will be knitting).

Juuuuust Right...

Okay. So. Those bamboo needles? Owch. Made it to Anacapa Fine Yarns before they closed on Saturday (thank you, DH, for getting us there safely and in time! smoooooch!). They had an impressive array of Addi needles there, and I was so blinded by the selection, that I grabbed the 2 bags I thought I needed.

And went to the hotel room. And took the shorter needle of the two out of its bag.

And wondered when 16" had gotten so short. And started to knit. And wondered why my hands were cramping.

Ai caramba! I picked up 12" long size 7 circs!

Who can knit with needles this short? Good heavens. I tried, I really tried to use them. But seriously, my hands just didn't know how to deal with needles that short. So I loaded my sleeve up with the other needle - 47" long - and started Magic Looping.

When I went back to the store the next day to swap the 12" for a 16", the nice lady said they don't normally take returns or exchanges on needles. I hadn't noticed that on the receipt (it was there, I just didn't see it), but then she said, "I'll do it for you, though, because those needles are awful to work with." God bless an employee (or owner) who recognizes when a customer just makes an idiot mistake and is willing to bend the rules!

If we ever had to move to Ventura or nearby, Anacapa Fine Yarns would be a damn fine LYS to have.

FO news... finished DH's slippers! (Only took 10 months.) These are slippers from Frugal Knitting Haus and they're put together like origami. You knit 7 squares about 2.5" big, then sew them together and voila! A slipper! (Except that with my hatred for sewing seams, for the second slipper, I figured that I could actually knit 5 of the 7 squares one right after another, without having to detach the yarn, then just pick up for the last 2 squares. Lots less ends to sink, and I think it's a cleaner looking line between squares.)

A Snag

More things I've learned - needle choice is dependent upon yarn being used. In particular, sticky yarn + bamboo needles = sticky knitting.

TLC Cotton Plus + Clover Takumi #7 bamboo circs = ow ow ow ow ow

Doing a short-row sleeve (my first!), hard to push the yarn along the needle because the sticky yarn sticks to the sticky needles. Plus, the little plastic bump at the cord join? Bad. Sticky yarn gets stuck on the sticky needles AND has a hard time getting over the bump.

Solution? Use different, non-sticky needles. Where are my #7 Options? Um... I don't know. Maybe with Hibito, maybe with Picchu-Picchu, maybe... aw hell, could be anywhere I'm not looking. House is a mess, can't find any #7 project. Over to Madonna's because the 50%-off sale is still on. Uh-oh, no more #7 needles left. Swallowed bile and went to The Other Knitting Store In Town. Shock and amazement, they hardly have ANY needles at all, Addis or otherwise! Definitely no Addis in #7. Borrow from Thursday knitters? Forgot to ask. Asked one of the Wednesday knitters. She has them... at home... not with her, we're leaving for Southern California in the morning, can't do swap before we leave.

Oh well... just means I'm gonna have to stop at Anacapa Fine Yarns in Ventura tomorrow!

Other than the snag with the sleeve, Vanilla Spice is coming along nicely... see?

Lessons Slowly Learned

One project = faster finish.

Multiple projects = slower finish. (But maybe a little more fun.)

Here is progress on Vanilla Spice, the only thing I've been working on since the thumb surgery at the end of September. I took these photos earlier this evening, and about an hour or so after taking the pictures, I already had most of the left front done, up about 6 inches more than in these shots.

After finishing the left front, you do a 3-needle bind-off of fronts to backs, then get started on the sleeves. I do believe I'll have this one done for Christmas!

Still awkward to work with sock-sized needles, which is why I'm sticking with this (US#7) for now. Everyone will just have to wait a wee bit longer for their socks!

Every High Schooler's Dream

Colonoscopy done! Doc found 3 small polyps and used "Polyp-B-Gone" on 'em. No cancer - whoo hoo!

The prep day is pretty low on the "things I'd like to do again tomorrow" meter; luckily, this is a once-every-5 (or 3)-year event. (Every 5 years if they don't find anything, every 3 if they do).

But there's one really good thing about it once it's done - when you leave, the doctors and nurses tell you to fart! It's a medical order! (Yes, I know... I'd do it anyway, but it's great to have the full faith and credit of your surgical team ordering you to do it!)

Seriously - Over 50? GO GET ONE!

Coming of Age

"Today, I become a woman..."

Or rather, "Tomorrow, I become an old woman..."

Take a guess... The new coming of age ritual for 'seniors' (which used to be "anyone at least 15 years older than ME")... What do you think?

No, it's no longer joining AARP, it's getting your first colonoscopy. I get mine tomorrow. Oh, goodie.

Statue of Liberty No More

Yay! (mostly) On Thursday, the doctor removed the underlying gauze and stitches from my surgery. Yippee! He had me stretch and flex my thumb and said everything looked good.

But then he put another bandage over the incision and re-wrapped it in the ace bandage. Oh no! I was looking forward to not having that bandage! That bandage means I have to wear a rubber glove in the shower, wrapped with waterproof tape, and even with that, still have to hold up my hand like the Statue of Liberty (because water still leaks in, even with the waterproof tape). And it's hard washing the right side of your body when you can't get your left hand wet, let me tell you!

Not to worry. Doc said the bandage is just a reminder to me that my body is still in post-op recovery mode - and to lessen my chances that I'll whomp it on something hard - but not only can I take it off in the shower and get the incision wet, he encouraged it. Yippee!

Here's what it looks like now, under the outer swaddling.

We Fought the Law and the Law...

...DIDN'T win!!!

So we got this $700 supplemental tax bill about 6 weeks ago, and I thought, "Hm... We bought a new house in 2006, we paid supplemental taxes then... Why are we being billed for 2005 taxes on a house we didn't own in 2005?"

DH got on the phone with the tax assessor's office. First call - 45-minute wait. Had to hang up to go to meeting. Second call - 20-minute wait, but an actual human answered. Took it as far as he could with one person, then was transferred to another person - who immediately saw the problem and acknowledged they (yes, THEY) had made a mistake and billed us in error.

Turns out the bill was a legitimate supplemental bill, and covered a period when both the original owners and we owned the property. But we only owned it for 9 days of the tax period, so the original owners need to pay the bulk of it; our real portion is only around $30. Yay!

So, with DH on the phone for about an hour-and-a-half, at his current bill rate... well, we're still ahead on the deal!

And here's two exciting pictures of my hand after surgery. Taken 9/29, but could have been taken the day after surgery... same bandage, a little grubbier, perhaps.