Just another neighborly Sunday

Yesterday, early, I blogged idly about what I might do all day, and in fact did all the things I listed.  Walked, made yogurt, knitted, read Pym.  I'm still following a poem a day from my Book of Pomes, but lately nothing very exciting to share with you, a lot of Victorian rhyming couplets, but I live in hope.

What I didn't have on my bingo card today was Gary dashing in, mid morning, to say his daughter was coming over to help him rewire something something Manchester meat balls, which entailed fishing many cables through something something fishcakes, and the ends were incompatible, wrong caps something, did I have anything in a range of up to 20 colors to color code something something.

Oh.  Trying to think what I had that covered a wide color range and could be taped or something to cables or something. I suggested beads, tiny ones. No? Oh wait, yarn!

So I ended up sorting a lot of yarn, more than I realized I had, in search of a big color range. He needed two pieces of each. Which I found, cut, and loosely tied so he could find the pairs.

 

Is this what people do on Sunday mornings, or what? Anyway he was very happy when I showed up with them and I hope they work.

I have bags of dedicated yarn, one lot  donated by and for the knitting ministry, one bag for knitting comfort dolls, one bag of hand wash only, two bags of cotton for my lingerie department with some eventually going to the knitting ministry. 

This project caused me to assemble it all in one place, to search, what a concept, then put it all together upstairs in actual drawers easier to search through than bags. So that was a Good Thing tm.

Speaking of the lingerie department

Pair two, for actual use is under way. Pair one was a test run to act as a pattern. Here I've enlarged the depth of the ribbing for a good fit.

I was thinking about social craft and art groups after our recent comments and observations. Groups take a long time to develop, and  depend on a person or two showing up faithfully to create a core. I've started a couple of artist groups and three knitting groups, all of which are still functioning. But it took years! 

The latest knitting group, of which I'm a starter member, at my local library I'm planning to stick with, even if it comes and goes. 

The other,  established Friday group, different library, I was a founder member, about eight years ago, when for many weeks it was just the library lady and me! 

If at least one member of the public hadn't shown up, the library would probably have stopped supporting it with staff time and space.  

The second one I helped get going, at yet another library, then it floundered during covid, when they ran it online for a while, which I kept up with, then it moved out to sit in the parking lot in all weathers, which I couldn't manage. 

The second group library lady stopped in to the Friday, first group, last week and told me it was still going! She and I  founded the Friday group before she transferred to a different library, and I helped her found the second group there. 

Which all means if you want a group you might have to start it and keep it going!  It also means it can be fun and if it's important, you won't mind helping build and establish it. 

This recital has more in common with all the cables needing color coding than I realized at first.. all the groups and libraries.. you need a spreadsheet to figure it out, color coded by library and chronology.

I think the secret to the friendliness of all these groups is that they're library based. They're a tax supported community service, meant to foster social connections.  I hear less happy reports about local yarn store groups,  who are more about wanting members to shop there for yarns and patterns, not to bring their own, well, it's a business, cliques developing, and generally more about promoting lessons than friendly groups. Different needs and motivation.

Happy day everyone, just shows when you're lying in bed wondering about your day, you might be surprised at how it develops.

Neighbors, a two way street

I often note the help Gary gives me, and it occurs to me that you may not realize how much this is a two way activity, involving my being roped in to assist with projects, and my stuff traveling next door for various reasons.

Currently at Gary's house:

My outdoor path sweeping brush

My box  cheese grater

My stepladder

My glass container

Another container

All will return eventually.  

Meanwhile, for him I'm Freecycling these

Back in the kitchen, a fast food lunch One can good diced tomatoes, no use using fresh in winter, they're like red plastic, one can cannellini beans, rinsed, egg broken over, baked together 20minutes at 385°f.

Mini naan, soft Indian bread, to make sure all the sauce is accounted for.

Then these cookies, using chickpea flour instead of ap which is why they look golden when baked

caraway seeds on top. This is a Home on the Range old recipe brought up to date. 

I took a few over next door and found myself taking pictures of the free cycle items to organize for him, then pruning the big fig plant that was taking over the living room. Then giving an opinion of possibly framing a painting on canvas.

I brought home a couple of prunings to start in water

and you see them in front of the wash stand, on which is the coleus I brought in in October. I've pruned the top, and I'll propagate for more coleus outdoors this summer.

 Meanwhile, among this headlong rush, The Pant is done, here seen front, tilted to show how it works

and back. A bit of finishing and it's done. It fits a treat, though I'm resisting my local knitting group's pressure to model it -- in a meeting room with glass walls, open to the main library floor, yesh!

Happy day everyone! Raining today, but the bag of freecycled fabric is being picked up anyway this afternoon, probably colliding with the Misfits delivery.

NADM!