Miscellany

Monday afternoon, the pastor and another man brought my loom home. They brought a little sort of bad news, too. When the pastor opened the door to the fellowship hall earlier, dirty water gushed out at him. There was a leak somewhere, and an inch or so of water covered the floor. The loom had stood in it for a few hours. After they left, I mixed up some Spic'n'Span water, got down on the floor, and performed a foot-washing on the loom. Later I sprayed it with some disinfectant. It's  fine now.

I wove off the rest of that warp, and cut the six rugs off today. I remembered to tie off the warp strings in front of the reed so I can just tie on a new warp rather than going through the whole warping process.

Later Monday evening, there was a knock on my door. It was Lexi's grandfather bearing this fruit basket and some candy. While he was here, I told him about the utility closet door falling out on me last week. He fixed that side of it, but then a piece broke on the other side. He'll come back sometime, probably with a helper, to fix that. Although I think Mary may have a good idea - take off the doors and put up a curtain.

Tuesday, when we met at the Art Guild, Mary was knitting mittens for her granddaughters. We both have the same favorite glove and mitten pattern booklet. I looked today to see how old it is. It says MCMLIII - I was only 12 then, and I think Mary wasn't born yet. It must have stayed in print for a very long time! I probably got mine in the early 1970's; the price printed on it is 65 cents.

Yesterday afternoon, when I read the church newsletter for December, there was an article about one of the girls in the congregation who is working on her community service (or whatever they call it) badge in Girl Scouts. She has chosen as her project filling 'family stockings' for a group of families served by a local agency. She is asking for donations of items from the church parishioners. One of the items on the suggestion list is mittens. So last night I pulled out that pattern booklet and some yarn and cast on for a child's mitten. Such small projects don't take long. Except for the thumb, I finished the first mitten last night. I finished the thumb this morning, and have started the mate. I'll probably make a couple more pairs before I take them to the church next Wednesday.

After doing several other errands yesterday, the last one before going to the coffee shop to knit, was taking watchcaps and scarves to the Seaman's Church Institute. When I opened the door, I forgot/didn't notice that there is a step up right there. I fell into the building. The last time I was there, the little lunchroom to the left of the door was full of men. I am glad there was only one man there yesterday. He immediately came over and helped me get up. After I assured him that I was OK, he gave me a hug. I find that, as I get older, I can accept such hugs graciously, without embarrassment. A couple of hours later, I noticed soreness in the base of my right thumb - I guess I reached out to catch myself.