Retail Therapy

A successful shopping trip is like God's way of saying life will be good again. Last night the girlchild and I hit our favorite mall and the sales therein, and scored well at Ann Taylor, J Crew, Ann Taylor Loft and the shoe sale at Burdines. She made out like a bandit, as she usually does when she comes home, but it was all practical, much-needed stuff and on sale. I am still on the "I don't wanna buy clothes for this dumpy body," thing, but that does not apply to shoes - I actually found sandals with heels that fit like a dream. A pair I coveted was not available in my size, and now I just may have to stop at another Burdines and see if they have them there, before this shopping buzz wears off.


I strayed from the South Beach Diet path a bit for a couple of days, but it hasn't been that hard to get back onto it. Now I really have to work on working exercise into my day on a regular basis, and not sporadically. I'm sure I have abdominal muscles around here somewhere, I just don't know where I left them.


Knitting content: As of this week, I am officially all moused out. I'm out of most of the scrap yarn I was using to make them, and I think I've made enough for now. One of these days I will gather them and take a photo of the herd for posterity, before I start giving them away again. But I needed another mindless project, so I cast on a Cotton Fleece v-neck pullover in blue, knitted in the round, plain and simple, pattern courtesy of Sweater Wizard.


That is, of course, not the only thing I have on needles right now - I snapped together my nifty Denise needles and made a very long circular to do the button band on the rose cardigan, and did about a row of same - a row is, ummm, like 300-ish stitches, I think. That is not a portable project and it's very warm when I hold it on my lap, so I've only managed a little progress on it. I WILL sit down early one morning in the next few days and finish it off, and move on to finishing off the gray hoodie. I'm loving those Denise needles, they work just as promised. You know you want them.....


The silly little Boa throw pillow is also unfinished, because at this point I really need to check the fit against the pillow form as I go along, so it has been downgraded to an "at home only" project. Seems to be a trend with my WIPs lately.


And I'm fighting a strong urge to buy more Lion Brand Cotton-ease, while Joann's actually has it in stock, to make a Rambling Rows baby afghan. Don't ask me why - my world is baby-free at this point - but I see those vivid colors and the softness, and the weight is just right for summer, and I have the urge to make one for an as-yet-non-existent grandchild. Go figure. Actually, I'm thinking of making a Rambling Rows afghan for myself out of something lightweight and cottony, and that's what got me thinking. Unfortunately, the Cotton-ease colors aren't what I have in mind for an afghan for my own bedroom, but that's okay, since I haven't even decided on a color scheme for the bedroom, which desperately needs repainting, so I'm in no rush to start an afghan of my own. I just want to make a small one. Just a little bitty one....can't hurt, right?