Jumping on the bandwagon for what would otherwise be a rather lean post, I give you:
Six Weird Things
1. I can’t abide bell peppers. I like lots and lots of all kinds of food, from venison tenderloin to lemongrass/chili soup and all the calamari, brussels sprouts and rhubarb in between. There’s something about the bell pepper’s ability (regardless of color) to annoy the daylights out of my taste buds. Any dish of which it’s a part will taste to me solely and only of bell pepper. Bleah....
2. I cannot stand to have the toothpaste tube squeezed in the middle. I am a bottom-up squeezer of toothpaste tubes and believe that any other right-thinking person should be the same :) If the tube does get squeezed in the middle, I will carefully squeeze the stuff up from the bottom. Oh and the toothpaste itself has to be peppermint; spearmint makes me gag.
3. I am addicted to raspberry turnovers. Not the thing in general, but the specific turnover that is turned out by the bakery in one of our local supermarket chains. It’s a half-moon shape of thick pie-type crust filled with a fairly lavish amount of raspberry puree. There is nothing even remotely delicate or gourmet about this thing, no puff pastry, no lady-like dusting with powdered sugar. This is a crude confection that combines just the right amount of sweetness (filling) with the right amount of butteriness (crust) to suit whatever passes for my palate. For a number of reasons, I do not generally indulge in these things but last week they were one of the featured items in the market’s weekly sale. Ahhhhhhh…
4. I have lots of white cotton socks - to wear under white cotton (presumably) sneakers. Over the years, I have amassed quite a collection and they get tossed into a communal white sock drawer, unballed and unsorted - the grey-toed ones mixed in with the grey-soled ones lying cheek by jowl with the wide-ribbed ones. When I grab a pair, they have to match. They are all white socks. They will go in my sneakers and under my jeans and any part of them that shows to the casual observer isn’t going to give away anything at all. Doesn’t matter - I seem to be totally incapable of leaving the house wearing one grey-soled white sock and one wide-ribbed white sock.
5. Though you would probably never guess it, I can be painfully, almost clinically shy. If you and I meet, I can and will be cordial and pleasant but until we are past the “nodding acquaintance” stage, I probably won’t approach you to chat or have lunch and would find the prospect of doing so almost terrifying. Many years ago, my mother asked me to deliver a bunch of Christmas cards and small gifts to the place where she used to work. I took them and drove by that place a dozen, agonizing times over the next few days, trying to make myself go in and deliver them - but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t know any of these people and I couldn’t just walk in and announce myself. I finally had to bring them back to her and she had my father drop them off instead.
6. I am paranoid about inflicting my music on other people. It’s not that my musical tastes are that weird - classical mostly with some folk, rock and country thrown in to leaven things. It’s because I find having to listen to other people’s music distasteful in the extreme. Although sometimes it’s amusing :) Someone comes to pick up an individual in the building next door periodically. I don’t know anything about the people involved - not even the genders - but the person doing the picking up always parks such that whatever is playing on their car stereo is focused by the alleyway between the two buildings and clearly audible to us. Generally, they’re playing late 70s/early 80s rock. Last Saturday morning, we were treated to a mini concert, the contents of which were apparently based on the presence of a color in the song title. It started with “Blue Bayou”, moved on to “Raspberry Beret” and segued from there into “The Green Berets”. We were speculating on what would come next - Myria thought “Yellow Submarine”; my bet was on “Red Sails in the Sunset” - when the vehicle finally departed.
Chatters is on for tomorrow night - drop by if you have a few minutes!
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well you *know* me well, so i am sure you would agree that i would be more apt to have to work hard to think of 6 things about me that are *not* a bubble or two off of plumb- yours were both entertaining and endearing-
regarding the bell peppers: everyone here thinks that i must cook from a book that begins every recipe with ‘first chop up many cups of bell peppers’- one of my great big ‘grown up’ sons has a pathological loathing of the green peppers and has been known to regard every item on the menu with suspicion-
your hat recipe has just thrown me into a frenzy, and i cannot keep the things out of my mind- i have learned a few lessons from this so far though- 1) cabled kureyon is just ugly 2) when making one to felt it is essential to remember that row gauge shrinks more than stitch gauge, and 3) unless felting, smaller is better as the brims/bands stretch-
stay happy-
Barb - I would probably not be felting any of the hats I make, but your point about the brims stretching is well taken and thanks for mentioning it!
I made a baby version last night with garter stitch on the sides which, when turned sideways acts admirably as ribbing :) Whee!
Hi Robbyn:
You may remember my mentioning over the summer that my s’nb knits for the local battered women’s shelter. We just got the final numbers today --- 320 articles, from sweaters and blankets to dishloths. The shelter shares with other social service agencies. Lots of scarves and mittens. As it is -17C here today, those are important. One of our members, who was sidelined by surgery this fall, knit 21 scarves!
You know, I think knitters are the most caring and generous people there are. I have another scarf OTN for next year, and am working on socks and mittens for Dulaan.
The lady who keeps our e-mail list (she would never call herself the leader) was featured in the paper in early December, and we are looking forward to new members to increase next year’s total! I just wanted to share this joyful news with my friends at Yarnpath, and to wish everyone a Happy New Year!
PS: I hope it’s okay that I love bell peppers of all colours ....
PS forgot to say, I am so looking forward to developments of the hat .... well, one cannot call it a pattern, as it goes so many ways. Can I use the word “schema”? Sounds elegant to me! Keep it coming.
Amaryllis - Congratulations on your very successful charity endeavors - it all sounds just wonderful!
Don’t worry, I shall be continuing to develop the hat - I don’t seem to be able to stop!
And it’s fine with me if you love bell peppers - just don’t try to feed them to me :)
