Knit My Dog

Julie tagged me with the "7 Random Things About You" meme, and since I'm not a very good memer (is that a word?) I decided to just do a random post and call it good. No tagging anyone else, maybe I won't come up with 7 things, and maybe it won't be so random.

1. My washing machine tragedy is solved. Look at this beauty:

All I have to say about the whole saga is this: Buy local. I tried to buy a washer on sale at a Big Box store and wouldn't you know, they don't stock that model in New England. Why have it on sale then?!!! I could have bought it on line, paid shipping (on a washer!) and had it delivered directly to my house. THAT is what I want, a large box in my driveway, with nobody to install it or remove the old one. Instead, I had the most pleasant experience at a local appliance store. I got a fair deal, delivery and removal included, along with removal of an old, unused freezer that's been living in our basement. Buying local just makes me feel good.

2. When I knit a sweater, I like to knit the two sleeves at the same time.
I know it's all in my head, but I think it goes faster. The thing that makes it all worthwhile for me though is that I know the two sleeves are exactly the same. I rarely use a row counter, so if I have to increase every 6 rows until I have the required number of stitches, I invariably mess up and increase after 8 rows once or twice. When the sleeves are knit at the same time, the errors are exactly the same too!

Two sleeves of the Perfect Sweater at the sleeve caps. Hopefully I'll be able to complete the sweater this weekend.

3. I started getting seasonal allergies as an adult. The last two years have been the worst and I've been taking an antihistamine to control the symptoms. This spring, not only did they come roaring back, but I've also developed an asthma response as well. A deep barking cough, gasping for breath when I run up one flight of stairs, taking a variety of medicines day and night, carrying an inhaler with me. This is all new to me and I must say that I'm not happy with this turn of events. I like breathing.

4. I try to knit gifts for my sister's boys for birthdays and holidays. They appreciate them, my sister dresses them in the handknits, and she has only felted one sweater in all these years. Now the confession:

I gave one of the vests slated for Dulaan to my nephew Peter for his sixth birthday. The day crept up on me, the vests were sitting there, my sister saw them and commented that they were so cute, and in a moment of weakness I wrapped one of them for him. Of course he loved it. And look how adorable it is on him! Because of the guilt I'm feeling (you can thank my Catholic upbringing for the guilt) I'm going to knit two more vests for Dulaan. I guess that's a win-win situation.

5. Pink is one of my least favorite colors. I think it stems from the fact that growing up my mother always dressed me in blue, telling me that blue looked so great on me because of my blue eyes. As a child, I don't think I had any pink in my wardrobe. I was also somewhat of a tomboy, preferring to play outside and get dirty. I don't think pink fit into that image. The house we moved into a couple of years ago had four pink rooms. FOUR! Our bedroom was the most hideous Pepto-Bismol-Pink you could imagine. We painted it before we moved in. Howie said he couldn't sleep in a room that color, even though his eyes would be closed. After more redecorating, we're down to two pink rooms, with one more slated to be painted over soon. I still don't have much pink in my wardrobe.

6. I'm going on a job interview this afternoon; wish me luck! It's a part time teaching job at a local university to augment my current job. I probably jinxed myself by blogging about it before it happened, but it's just about all I can think of right now. I'm off to get ready...