Have made some knitting progress. Allyson's BSJ has been done for a while, just need to mail.
So, ever have a set of days off where you have a couple fun errands to run that go horribly awry?
Well, not THAT horrible, but definitely mood-crushing potential. Saturday, Renata and I went cruising, and had a very late lunch at Aladdin’s in Squirrel Hill. Who knew it would take so long? I had a hunch and put 90 minutes in the meter just in case. First the dweeb waiter comes to take our beverage order, gets me, C (Renata’s daughter), and says, “Is there another person?” Renata says, “Uh, yeah, me, but I’m still thinking.” The waiter says, “Oh, I didn’t mean to be rude or anything. I don’t want you to think I’m a bad waiter.” Well…THAT should have been the first clue.
They bring my freshly brewed mint tea in a tiny tea cup that’s not even full to the brim. For a buck-fifty! And no refills! 3 sips later, it’s gone. Hmph. A while later, the dweeb returns to take our order. A MILENNIUM later, the food arrives. We dine, we’re sated in about 20 to 30 minutes, ready to get leftovers wrapped and get the check.
It takes FOREVER to get someone near us to inform them of the need for a takeout box. The waiter comes by, I tell him and ask for the check. 15 minutes later, seemingly, we’re still sitting there…WAITING. Finally, we’re sat with our coats on, obviously ready to leave. The hostess comes by, asks if we need anything. I say, “Just this wrapped and the check.” She takes my plate and wraps it up. The waiter whizzes by, dropping the check on the table. We give it to him right away. Then it’s another LONG wait until he returns, and when he does, he didn’t even bring the right receipt that gets SIGNED! AUGH! At this point I’m DYING!
As things get finalized, I say, “I WILL BE OUTSIDE.” SIGH.
So THEN, we finally get to Knit One around 4pm, and the usual sloooooooowwww employee is at the register. We find what we need swiftly. The place is SWELTERINGLY hot, we’re standing in line behind another customer, the employee is poking along. Then she gets to us and says, “Is it hot in here?” I say, “Yes, EXTREMELY.” She says, “I’m going to go open the door.” ANOTHER DELAY! She rings up Renata and then calls over the other employee to ring me up. Strange. The person starts scooting some ghastly ribbon yarn into my pile, and in my stupor I muster up the energy to say, “That’s not mine…NO RIBBON yarn for me.” Fortunately it had NOT been rung up. I think we got out of there at 4:45.
But to make an ARDUOUS journey come to a happy end, I got started on my boy baby sweater, and knitted from about 6-9:30pm. I bought Opal sock yarn in a wild blue/yellow/green/white/brown color way. Yes, it’s size 1 needles, but I like a small gauge on small humans. I’d also bought some Dale Baby Ull in a pale lilac solid and swatched, but it wasn’t speaking to me and I couldn’t get gauge. Pics coming soon, Blogger wasn't cooperating today.
So Sunday, after a leisurely morning of more tiny knitting, we went out to lunch to the Indian buffet at Taj Mahal, then went food shopping. Before stopping at Trader Joes, popped in to Natural Stitches to return a skein from Allyson’s BSJ and a skein of Cascade 220 from K hat. Scanned the aisles in search of something less plain than the lilac Baby Ull for my baby girl. Hit the sock yarn aisle and the heavens opened, highlighting the Aurucania on the bottom shelf. Mmmm, yummy, hipster psychedelic and machine washable! The night before, K had said, “How come the boy gets psychedelic stuff and the girl gets boring plain yarn?!?!” Grabbed two skeins in a purples/blues colorway and asked the proprietors, “Think this is too wild for a baby sweater with a bit of an eyelet pattern?” They gleefully sang in unison, “Nooooo wayyyy!” And I was on my way. I’m going to return the two skeins of lilac Baby Ull to Knit One and finish off my gift cards…once and for all, and inform the usual gifters to patronize Natural Stitches for me in future.
Again my luck was down because there were LONG lines at Trader Joes. It was less painful having The Mister with me, but I have NEVER seen it so crowded! Then again, I’m usually there at 10am, not 2pm. Then we went to Whole Foods, and I forgot a few things that were even on the list! But The Mister had the list while I traipsed around gathering things and then wearily tried to find him, the cart, and forgot about the list. Ah well, all was not lost. Swatched the new yarn, got gauge on size 1’s, had a sumptuous repast of broiled teriyaki salmon, garlicky bok choy and brown rice, and continued on boy sweater till 9:30. On the menu this week at Chez Amanda is more thai food: red coconut chicken curry with butternut squash, potatoes and peas, hot and sour soup, and who knows what other yummy goodness. Really could eat that EVERY day.
