Oh no

My local VW shop closed. The one that was near my house, had an awesome service writer, and never lied to me or dodged my calls closed last Thursday. I learned this today when I called to inquire about a maintenance manual for Mellow Yellow. I know that I wasn't keeping them in business, since I only bought parts there, but I planned to have a long relationship with their shop. I might even have bought a car there if they'd had one I wanted when I needed one. The salesman also made an unfortunate Hitler remark and called me a girl... Still, I'm sad that they've closed. I don't want to go back to the dealership where I bought my car, as they turned out to be tools, and I don't know the other VW shops in the area. Keep your fingers crossed that my independent mechanic can fix my bumper this time around, because I don't want to shop around for another one.

I'm knitting a secret project, so not much to say on the fiber front. My mom let me borrow her swift, so I wound two sweaters' worth of yarn into balls over at my grandparents' house. It was pretty amusing, the way they all sat there looking at the swift spin around. About as interesting as watching paint dry, I'd say, but my grandfather especially liked the swift. Apparently, the ball winder would be excellent for loading fishing line onto a reel. Or the swift, I couldn't quite follow. It's been at least a decade since I went fishing and I've never loaded a reel. The yarn had been in my stash for ages, but the weather suggests a cardigan as the next project. So, I wound eight skeins of Peace Fleece for an adaptation of the 28thirty jacket. I also wound some Malabrigo worsted the stash, that I'd bought on spec. It's definitely going to be a cardigan, because I have buttons to match.

This is the time of year that I start thinking about Christmas presents. Honestly, I'm not sure that I want to knit any this year. They're not appreciated* and I always end up giving people scarves and hats. You can only have so many scarves and hats. I have tons of them, but tend only to wear them for a single winter. Maybe I'll pull some from the collection to use as gifts....

*The not appreciated part sadly includes other knitters and former knitters. Example: the lace socks I made my mom for her birthday still sit sadly on her coffee table. Also, I made a cardigan for my grandmother last Christmas and she complained that it got saggy. She lost 40+ pounds, of course it looks saggy! It's too big!

I know that I sound really grumpy. I've been out of sorts for the past week or so, acting like a hermit. I've had to deal with two cat caused disasters. Which do you think is easier to clean up: a full bottle of laundry detergent knocked onto the floor by a rambunctious feline, or a full bottle of red nail polish patted off of a desk where the cat did not belong in the first place? I can actually answer that question, since these events happened within days of each other in my house. The detergent required floor swabbing and involuntary cat washing. The nail polish looked like a crime scene and caused permanent damage to the tile, involving the use of acetone polish remover in an enclosed space on acetate tile. It was a shame spiral. I've come to realize that the question, "why does it smell like ____ in here?" does not predict happy times.