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Monday, January 14, 2019

I know, why don't I just whip out a pair of thrummed mittens!

This is why not:
Half of the thrums
Will I ever learn to read directions before I start something?  Will I be destined to suffer disappointment in each new endeavor?  Will Marty marry Betty, or will Betty run off with her hair stylist?  I am afraid I am prone to lack of focus, so will be frustrated at every turn for the rest of my natural life.  I just need to look at it through new glasses - you know, the glasses that turn everything rosy.


Some of the promises I made to myself for this year include yarn-related things.  Okay, most of them include yarn-related things.  I am not allowed to buy a single skein/ball/cake/piece of yarn this year.  I need to start and finish at least half of the multitude of kits and projects that I have squirreled away in the dreaded craft room.  I need to un-dread the craft room.


It had occurred to me that I had a kit for thrummed mittens.  Just the ticket!
Going...going...

Gone.  (This morning's temp dropped
below 0.)
I ferretted around in the yarn bins and found my kit.  I bounced back to the relative warmth of the living room, settled into my chair, opened the package and, finally, read the directions.  Twice.  Then I went on YouTube to just confirm my suspicions.  Yes, these mittens will be done in the summer.  I have been making thrums, every evening, for four nights in a row, and have almost finished enough for the first mitten.  It's not that they are difficult to make - you just have to learn how to draft the roving, you have to get each fluffy bit pretty much the same length and dimension, and you have to do it many, many times.  Let's just say that the state of my thrums is directly related to how I was feeling about the entire project at the time.  Mercy.


My very own Needle Keeper!


The thrum project, on top of the endless green sock project, is starting to make me twitchy.  It's all I can do to keep myself focused on finishing them, so that I do not go off on another tangent and have six projects in varying states of completedness - except for complete.  I just realized that I have four pairs of socks on the needles.  And the thrums, of course. 


Cooking was at a minimum this weekend because it was too cold to even think about emerging from my knitting cocoon - nothing like being wrapped in the Geezer sweater with a pile of furry bodies snugged in around you.  I watched a couple of DVDs - Incredibles 2 (LOVED it!) and Game of Thrones (Season 1 - I know, I am the only adult in the country that has not seen this.  And I may be the only adult in the country to go no further with it.)


Just to notch up the frustration a bit further, I had decided to bite the bullet and try a new gluten free bread recipe.  (Insert a small rant here)  There should be a full disclosure on all gluten free cookbooks (hell, ALL cookbooks) that are sold online.  This one would have included, as a subtitle, "You, too, can bake a $16 loaf of pseudo-bread!"
$16 of meh.
Someone had raved about this book, so I ordered it.  Once I read the first recipe - Easy, Everyday Bread - and it required a cup and a quarter of raw cashew butter - I knew I was going to hate it.  However, I am weak.  As much as I declare I don't miss bread, I lie.  I miss it a lot.  Every day and every meal.  And twice on weekends.  So, I ordered my $16 jar of raw cashew butter - I did look locally, but every equally-expensive jar contained other ingredients - and baked the bread.  Which also required FIVE eggs (two whole eggs and three egg whites).  Honestly?  The resulting loaf was light and well-flavored, but NOT BREAD.  Now I have this cookbook that I will never use again and cannot, with clear conscience, foist on anyone else.  Unless they are gluten intolerant and have very deep pockets.  Pfft.


Before you think that my weekend was bereft of happiness - it was not.  It started out on a high, with a birthday package in my mailbox.  A small box full of treasures from a friend who is a treasure, herself.
Excuse the poor quality - I'll
get a better one and post it again.
She knit me a hat!  A darling owl hat in the most luscious turquois color!  OMG, how I love it!  And I got darling little knitted acorns and some of her beautiful photographs, that have been pinned to my workspace wall.  Also, I finally remembered to pick up my Christmas present from my youngest sister, which has been languishing at my parents' house:
ACK!  Cuteness alert!
I think this mug also represents the state that my very own wiener dog puts me in - he has been on a naughty streak that is driving me to distraction - and it's a very short road, my friends.  Lucky for him, he's an adorable little imp.

















14 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Nice hat and love the pretzel dog mug!

Theresa said...

I read the whole GOT series before they even became an HBO show. I don't like the TV series either. My imagination of the world was so much richer and I could skip the bloody bits if I wanted. Try Deadwood, they really knew how to swear in the old west. Lots of fun in that one, pity it was cancelled. Myself, I like the How to Train Your Dragon movies! ;-)
What a silly coffee mug! Happy Thrumming.

Susan said...

Debra, I can now look totally posh whilst I drink my coffee.

Theresa, I totally agree. I would much rather imagine a story than have it force-fed via Hollywood. I'll have to look into Deadwood. I've never heard of the How to Train Your Dragon movies, so that's another to add to the list! Isn't it? I have a certain sheepie mug in my office to brighten up my days... :)

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Love the hat. Cute mug too. Brr. I declare your weather is much colder than ours. Stay warm.

ellen abbott said...

I had to look up thrum, not being a knitter. OK fuzzy mittens with the fuzzy on the inside. I had all kinds of half finished craft projects and when I turned 50 I admitted that I was NEVER going to finish any of them and threw them out. So freeing! the cookbook sounds like it needs to be donated to a library or thrift shop.

Nancy In Boise said...

Not to sound stupid but what's a thrum mitten? And love they mug! It was 18 this morning at least 2 digits!!!

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

Recipes that require ingredients that are hard to find bother me. I laugh when they say something like, "this can be found at your local Asian grocery store". That would be three hours away, I suppose. Was it more like a cake, than bread? -Jenn

Michelle said...

Well, you've watched more GOT than I have (0), so don't feel alone. Sure wish I could solve the gluten-free bread puzzle for you. I see Udi's gluten-free bread in the freezer section of the local Grocery Outlet sometimes; is it any good? If so, I could probably Priority-mail it to you cheaper than that $16 loaf!

Susan said...

I have no idea what thrumming is or how it applies to mittens. Hat is wonderful. It gives you a certain perkiness.

ellen abbott said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Goatldi said...

Ok I have come to a conclusion. For the sake of both of us and humanity we can never become fast friends.

We share far too many commonalities that would put the world in a state of danger of disarray and insanity.what ? It already is ?

Carry on.

Theresa Y said...

Never see GOT either. I know, let's form a club of folks who have NEVER seen GOT. I bet we will be surprised at how many there are.

Rain said...

The hat is really nice, that's a great gift! And the mug is cute! :) Our pets, all of them, are on naughty streaks too. It's driving me bananas. I think it's cabin fever or something.

Retired Knitter said...

Needless to say, I am thrilled to find your blog! I was just poking around in the reading list of another blogger I follow and, as I began to read your current post, I said ... oh yes, this lady understand the absurdities of life. I, too, have a dreaded craft room that I need to "un-dread" - it functions as a guest room but as a guest in my house, you have to be ok with sharing the space with ALLLLLL my yarn! It was there first and it is not going anywhere - literally - which is part of the problem. I can buy faster than I can knit. I can very much relate to your desire to buy no more yarn. And that story about the $16 loaf of bread made me laugh right out loud. I have been on a blogging break myself since mid-December but am ramping up to start posting again. Reading your post was just the impulse I needed to get going. Thanks. I will be stopping by again for sure.