Happy Saturday

In Texas, one weekend a year is designated as a "sales tax holiday," so people can go do back-to-school shopping, and this is the weekend.  We took Steven to the mall, since he needed some new clothes to take back to college. 

I am not an enthusiastic shopper.  We had fun today, though, especially since Steven is always so appreciative when we take him to buy clothes, and we enjoyed getting good deals.  Steven is just as thrifty as we are; he often picks things up at vintage and resale shops.  Steven likes jazzy cowboy boots, croc, and snakeskin and ostrich, and he has gorgeous vintage ones he's found in his shopping adventures for only the tiniest slice of what you'd pay for a new pair.  He has also found a wonderful little custom boot shop where bootmakers do excellent repairs and make 20-year-old boots look great.

All the stores have end-of-season sales and tax-free weekend specials, and all three of us shopped.  I bought several tops, to look a little more polished for work.  In addition to jeans, Steven bought shorts, slacks and polos for less than half price. 

It felt a little odd to cruise the mall with a dark bruise on my face from my dental surgery.  Nobody asked me about it, but I saw people looking, probably wondering if someone struck me in the face, or I wrecked my car, or perhaps I got something black on my cheek.  Thanks, all who wrote; I'm doing better. 

I have a great weakness for quality handbags, and I saw a beauty on sale in a brand they seldom mark down.  I really struggled over whether to buy it, with both of the guys teasing me about it, but John suggested I get it for my birthday present.  I'd be happy, he said, and he'd be "off the hook" for trying to find me a good gift.  It's all wrapped up!  I have one of those big birthdays next week; not to go into the shocking details, but I wouldn't care to buy that many packages of birthday candles, let alone ruin a cake and set off the smoke detector with that many!

Kiddie sizes

My birthday wish is to finish up the Footnotes project, getting the video shot and edited.  I am currently working on the English Rib slippers, only charted down to the standard gauge.  Most of the projects in the new book are in 12 sizes and 3 gauges (standard, mid-gauge, and bulky), which requires 36 different sets of numbers for each style.  No problem, it's only arithmetic and I have a calculator.  I did my usual color-coded charts, which I guess are becoming a personal trademark, and am getting slightly better (I have gone from awful to tolerable but not comfortable) at getting the colored charts into Word.  I like to make the charts a sort of ready-made "cheat sheet" so you say to yourself, "I'm knitting the yellow size," and your eye goes quickly to the yellow column.  The charts are so wide with all those sizes that I am simply laying out the whole book in landscape, that is, the wide way, with the binding at the top, and I like it, so far.

I was fascinated at the slipper knit-in to see how my friends do "cheat sheets" for the lined slippers.  Several people routinely make some kind of summary map to help keep track.  Rose has a very clever system, with the numbers for the size she was making marked on the schematic diagram PLUS stickers on the needle bed to show how far to decrease the toe and how far to increase the side of the foot. 

I like these English Rib slippers on the standard machine best if I use really good sock yarn.  It comes in all sorts of nice self-striping color schemes and is a joy to use on the standard machine.  You don't need much; these adult ladies' slippers only took 50 grams.  You'll waste a little yarn, though, if you're having to match broad stripes like the ones in the photo.  I'll probably make some of these with scraps of two colors, and stripe them deliberately.  Good sock yarn is expensive, and I try to use it all.

Finally, a request:  does anybody have a manual for a Brother CK-35?  I have a reader who is thinking seriously of buying one of these, and she needs a manual in English.  Wow.  I've never seen this industrial machine and don't know a thing about it, so if you're able to help, please email me!