electricity is back

the power is back! so I went home, with the cats.

water is still restricted to tank water, which should refill as it rains. hopefully the mains will come back at some point (since I really haven't the faintest idea what to do if they don't).

my house is a disaster. not from the storm, but from me moving lots of things around to make space for the furniture I dragged in from the balcony and garage, and from trying to get things away from windows in case of leaks. there was only a small damp spot by one window (the northeast-iest window), so no problem there. But it comes to my attention that I haven't swept or dusted in quite some time, and the house very much feels grubby.

If I could I would take a day off to try to get my life back together, but I've got a proposal for telescope time to finish writing, soooo I'm at work. trying to write, to fix things, to make my time requests seem reasonable.

it feels a bit like trying to hammer in a nail using only my skull.

Hurricane Irma Socks

Irma grazed us and we escaped mostly unscathed, though Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, and the various Virgin Islands and other islands and countries are all in some pretty terrible shape. I'm boxing up the mojo and love I was sent and sending it back their way; and on to Florida, now that Irma's heading that way.

I started socks when the power first went out on Wednesday. Managed to get fairly far despite the dark yarn. The challenge was that it got damn hot, and humid, and without even a fan to blow on me, I got so sweaty. SO. SWEATY. my hands were even sweaty, great beads of sweat just rolling down me all the time. Couldn't even dream of touching wool, so the socks are lingering.

Currently up at work in the AC (since there is no power or water yet at home), so perhaps I will be able to knit again tonight.

Late to the party

Did I mention that I cast on a Find Your Fade shawl? I know this was everyone's big thing for the past year but I was resisting its allure, mostly cuz... welll... stubbornness. But I threw together some skeins from stash and realized I had plenty for a fall-colored fade, if I didn't mind getting a bit creative with the yardage requirements. Fortunately it's a pattern that lends itself well to modifications. I'm on the second-to-last color now and it's becoming a bit of a slog but still very satisfying. Especially satisfying because I'm making it from stash and didn't fall down hard at the Madelinetosh entry on WEBS.
Not that I didn't spend several hours playing with color combinations in my cart.
But overall it's been a good year for me, purchase wise. I don't think I'll join the fiber club again; I like buying more specific things more than I enjoy being surprised, and I have too much fiber on my hands right now anyway. I bought a couple of skeins in january but have used them up already, and the other things coming into my stash have all been gifts. So yay for saving!
A hurricane may be coming upon us soon down here in Puerto Rico. It is the right season. I feel like I should pack some epic knitting in case I need something to distract me in the absence of electricity. Perhaps the poncho I was working on, or the tunic--something big. But those long rows work best with a distraction--maybe instead I should just pack three or four skeins of stripey sock yarn and see how many socks I can plow through. yeah, that might be the ticket.