More Rain

It's raining.

It's still raining.

The rain is still going on!

Today is the day that I was supposed to finally get to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and here I sit at home, writing my blog.

I talked to Holly on Friday evening and she said that if it was going to be cold and rainy today that she wasn't going.

When I checked the weather station on TV last night, the first thing that hit my eye was a coastal flood warning! Then they said it was going to be cold and rainy.

The festival grounds are right down the road from an area where the road is frequently flooded, even when there doesn't seem to be much rain. In other words, it's very near sea level. Add rain and flood warnings to that equation, and it sounds pretty unappealing.

We could still go next weekend, but Holly has two knitting classes in Baltimore she's going to, so there won't be any transportation.

So that's it for this year. I've missed out!

So, I'm at home, and I'm planning to have some chunky soup (Chicken, broccoli, cheese) for dinner. The heat is on here, but if I don't open a window, it's overwhelming, so the window is open letting all the damp in, and making my apartment feel chilly and wet.

Actually, I enjoy the seasons, and the differences in weather around here. In a weird kind of way, I enjoy having weather like this from time to time. It's interesting and different, feels like Fall, and is a reason to wear a sweater. So, it's kind of good in it's own way. I just wish it would have done it next weekend, or sometime when I wasn't planning on walking around in the dirt all day.

So, I'm making the best of a bad situation by knitting my sweater and watching cool stuff from my DVR and cleaning it out because there's not much of anything I want to watch on TV.

I'm knitting the sweater from the top down and I've gotten to about two or three inches below the armhole, and I still haven't finished using up two whole balls of yarn! Since I ordered 15, I think I'm going to have some left over! Which is a good thing because I'm sure I'll be able to think of several things I'd love to knit once I see how much is left over.

I know. It's a slow news day, so here's something you might enjoy:

Have a great week!

Monsoon!

I give up. I've been denying it for a while, and we were lucky enough to get a break from it for the Fall Fiber Fest, but it looks like monsoon season is really here to stay in Northern Virginia (or NoVA, as the natives call it).

It's been raining almost nonstop (at least it seems that way) ever since FFF, and there was considerable rain before that. I'm sure I remember seeing some actual sun within the last two weeks, but I couldn't say I did with any degree of certainty.

Rain doesn't usually bother me too much, but it doesn't usually go on for so long. Not without a break every so often.

Another thing that's got me down is that I went to the library yesterday, continued by a trip to CVS, and then swung by Safeway for some groceries. That's a decent walk for me. I haven't gotten to the depressing part yet.

On the way, the very first time I stepped in a puddle (well, not really a puddle, just something about a quarter inch deep), my sock was instantly soaked with cold water! Well, the toes were instantly soaked. It took a little more walking before the top of the sock was soaking the bottom of my jeans.

It really shouldn't be doing that, and I examined the offending left shoe when I got home. These are fairly new shoes with beautiful leather tops that show no wear, mind you. Not a scuff. They look totally and completely brand new! But there is a crack across the sole all the way across, under the ball of my foot! It's completely invisible unless you bend the sole to expose it. But it does a great job of letting water in!

These are nearly new shoes! And I really can't afford new ones!

OK, OK, I know I have a batch of shoes that don't really fit me well anymore that I haven't thrown out, so I can probably find something to wear.

But why should I have to? I mean, these shoes are nearly new!

So, we have a monsoon and a decided lack of shoes!

I should be thankful that I had the foresight to buy some tall rubber boots. I don't want to wear the boots, though, I want to wear my shoes!

And then I think that if that's my biggest problem, I'm really lucky! I should quit whining, and buck up.

But we were planning to go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this weekend, and it's supposed to rain right through Sunday.

This is depressing!

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I broke down and started to knit my new sweater today. So far, I have about an inch of the back done. Photos when there's a bit more to show. At least this isn't a Christmas present, and I can take photos and show them.

As with all self-patterning yarn, I'm enjoying watching the patterns emerge as I knit. Yes, I know. Fun for the feeble minded!

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I've been meaning to mention this ever since I noticed this about a month ago.

Without fanfare or any notice whatsoever, a new needle size has turned up in the Knit Picks catalog for their Options interchangeable knitting needles, and it's an important size!

Local yarn stores (mostly) carry size 10-1/2 needles, but the chain craft stores like Michaels, AC Moore, and JoAnn Fabrics seem to have buyers who don't actually know anything about knitting needles, so there are never any size 10-1/2 needles!

There's a big leap in size from 10 to 11! Size 10-1/2 helps, but there's still a big size difference between 10-1/2 and 11!

Knit Picks has brought back the size 10-3/4 needle!

If you order a set of any of the Options needles (nickel plated, Zephyr, or Harmony), you won't get 10-3/4 tips, but they're suddenly available to order from their catalog in all those varieties!

I feel like dancing in the street! This calls for a celebration!

And here's something else to celebrate: Laurie Perry (Crazy Aunt Purl) has finished another book! She turned it in earlier this week, and it's already available on Amazon for advance order!

And I love the title! It's called Home is Where the Wine Is.

You can read more about it at the above links.

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Dollhouse is, sadly, not on tonight. In a way, that's a good thing because there are two other things I want to watch at the time it would normally be on. Three if you count Stargate Universe (which also comes on later, so I can catch it then). Universe, by the way, has moved on from it's initial, never-ending episode called Air, and is now into Darkness. It's been pretty elemental, so far. Oh, and there's the second episode of the new season on Sanctuary, while we're on the subject of SyFy.

Normally, I watch Ghost Whisperer at 8, followed by Medium and Dollhouse at 9.

What's throwing a monkey wrench into this schedule is Ugly Betty.

OK, I know it's not science fiction or even fantasy. I know it's really a prime-time soap, but I really like it. It was worth watching in the past just to see Christopher Gorham. It's probably good that they moved it from Thursday night, because I'm already missing Grey's Anatomy because of the pile-up of great shows, but why couldn't they have moved it to Tuesday, when there's nothing at all worth watching anywhere on TV!? Or, failing that, Wednesday at 9 or even 8 is a good time for me. The only thing really worth watching on Wednesday is Eastwick. With any luck, Betty will be on at 8 in the future, and won't mess up my schedule.

Oh, well. Tonight is jammed with great things to watch. I'm going to sit and knit in front of the tube this evening! Again! One of my favorite things to do!

Don't forget to keep your eyes open for Halloween programming! There are so many networks that are putting up lots of holiday shows! Too many to really list.

Oh, and here's something I was talking about with Holly, Everett and Jeff at the FFF almost two weeks ago. We all enjoyed it so much then, I thought I'd rerun it!

Have a great Friday evening!

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Addition:

Canada is issuing a silver $4 coin picturing a Tyrannosaurus Rex!