A Rainy Day

It's a drippy day, here.  First one we've had in a long while!  I'd almost forgotten the sound of raindrops on the roof.  Looking out through the screen, I see a somewhat murky horizon.  As usual, of late, what with the novelty of high speed internet, I've spent far too much time surfing.  Shame on me!  It's too much fun!  Mostly.  Except for the "not-fun" sites.  The ones that pull you in despite your trying to re-focus.

So, what to do with the rest of today... That's easy!  Back to burrowing in my toybox.  I've got a kettle of chicken soup burbling on the back of the Pioneer Maid wood cookstove, the house is warm and cozy, and I plan to spend the remainer of the afternoon digging my fingers into a pile of soft and lustrous Leicester Longwool roving.  I'm determined to spin enough for a sweater I've been planning to make since....you won't believe this:  1976!  Boy, did I ever get sidetracked!  The pattern was one of three that had complete directions (without having to send away and pay for them) and was featured in Family Circle magazine.  They used to be located at the checkout counter, and back then, I often "splurged" and bought one.

For the cost of Family Circle back then I had to fork over 39 cents.  And Virginia Slims took up a full page advertisement on page 33, showing a very sophisticated lady with a long cigarette slung between the first two fingers on her hand, which was parked on her hip. She didn't look at all like someone who belonged in a magazine called "Family Circle."  There are lots of ads for cleaning agents: BoraTeem, Grease Relief. There was also an ad for Singer Sewing machines!  There was a story about Kojak....remember Kojak?  Telly Savalas...oh, what a long time ago!  Lots of hair dye ads.  But also the usual articles--interior design, gardening, recipes, along with "New Ways to cut food bills by 10=15%;"  "Simple decorating made elegant;" "Look pretty instead of plain..."  "Hearty main-dish salads."  and, of course, "Fabulous fall fashions to knit & crochet."

Missing seemed to be the heavy-handed focus on obesity we now get in most women's magazines these days, along with gooey, fudgy, gucky desserts you make first, and then try to deal with obesity later.  (I've always thought that women's magazines did women a disservice by advocating --in the same magazine, practically the same breath as--cooking up a storm of calories while simultaneously admonishing women to watch their weight.  As in, Watch it do what?"  Inevitably rise, if you follow the advice.)

At any rate, today, I am working toward getting enough yarn spun finally to knit this long-overdue easy sweater.  It's a garter stitch, knitted on the bias, with random placements of colors ranging from cranberry to black, and including "natural" along with "umber, and tweed. Who knows?  Maybe I'll have it done by February of 2016! That would make the magazine 40 years old, sneaking up on being an antique publication!