Ms Fix-it

Yeah, I was squeezed in there trying to do some work. Not knitting of course. I haven't gotten to the stage of sitting in corners with my knitting pulled over my head yet. This summer I am trying to do some fix-it work on my house and I thought I would start small and cheap, $2 and a new phone jack. My phone has been crackling so much that I can't hear people talking. For a week it was sort of restful but then I started thinking I might be missing things so yesterday I hit the hardware store.

I had to move the washing machine (that's the appliance there with the blanket on it with a piece of countertop on top of that - our kitchen is pretty small, this is our major countertop where we work, no working when the laundry is being done but otherwise it works great) anyway I had to move it and YUCK what goes on under there. It's a magnet for bits and pieces and OK there were a couple of floods so I guess that's why it's all stuck to the floor. I bet if some guy came in to replace my phone jack they wouldn't clean the floor first. It's clean now and another thing, why do the diagrams on the hardware stuff never match reality. The diagram is really simple, it shows 4 wires connected to 4 screws, what could be easier, except that I only have 2 wires. So I connected the 2 wires I had and waited, nothing blew up. I think the phone works now too.

I have been knitting, but I must admit I have been fighting with this hemp ponchette. Lana (http://www.hempforknitting.com/) told me I might not like it - she knows I'm not a cotton knitter at all, but I really wanted to try it. The light went on the other evening - I'm fighting with my equipment. I have switched to a pointy needle with a longer taper and now it's wonderful and I'm happy to be working on it. I am a wool knitter by preference and knit loosely too so most of my needles are blunt. I have only recently started to knit lace and am struggling a little with that too. Maybe I need some new needles. Any suggestions?

- Deb