SIDEWALK SALE ACROSS AMERICA

     My debut novel, Sidewalk Sale Across America, is about knitting, amateur radio, boosting a struggling economy and surviving the Pandemic.

    Sabrina Harkins owns a knit shop that she fears is going bankrupt since the first year of the Pandemic (we had no idea it was going to last so long) has forced "non-essential" businesses to stay closed, but she is counting on her husband's regular paycheck to keep the family afloat.

    Harold Harkins, an amateur radio operator, is worried that his day job with a vending machine company is going to be lost because with everyone working at home no one is buying vending machine goodies, but he knows the family will survive with the income from his wife's yarn shop.

    Sidewalk Sale Across America is available from Amazon (read the reviews).

RED SCARVES

    One of the big skeins of Mainstay yarn will produce three scarves. Red. For the St Luke's Hospital Women's Cardiac program.

    I use Stephanie Pearl McPhee's one row pattern, which amazingly creates a lovely patterned scarf. It's also a pattern my fingers have memorized. I can mindlessly knit a scarf while my thoughts are on other things.

    When finished I will write ACRYLIC on a tag, plus the measurement of the length, and add a few hearts. A garment made of acrylic can be more easily washed.

    These scarves will eventually be left at The Studio on 95th Street, to be picked up by the charity knits chairperson of the Sunflower Knitters Guild/Association. Sooner or later there will be some caps to be added for SKA, but I want my family to have first dibs. Winter is coming.

MISSTITCH

     Had some leftover yarn from the Baby Surprise Jacket, and am now knitting a matching hat.

    Bought nine-inch No. 5 circular needles which are not so easy to work with. Will not know until I finish and take off the needles how close it will come to fitting a baby's head. But if the needles are nine-inch, and a baby's head around 13 inches it ought to work. Knitting in such close dimensions is somewhat cramped. I'm trying to watch as I go, so I don't create a misstitch that will be harder to correct later.

BABY SURPRISE JACKET

     A new baby in the family. First time in a long time. A baby girl.

    Decided to make a Baby Surprise Jacket, as designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman. Two shades of pink. A BSJ requires a lot of counting. I have made BSJs before, but have forgotten, had to learn all over again.

    EZ designed sweaters to have buttonholes on both sides of the front (back before sonagrams which tell you the sex of the child before arrival). When you know which, boy or girl, you close up the buttonhole you do not need with sewing on the button. EZ knit sweaters for a daughter, and when the son came along, she undid the buttons and switched them to the other side.

    I had the body of the sweater completed. I stalled (for weeks) on the collar. EZ's instructions always leave a lot to the knitter. A full collar involves several rows, some with strategically placed increases. After six rows of garter stitch, I decided 'enough'. Just  little stand-up collar around the neck.

    Still unresolved the button issue. The buttonholes are not very big, will accommodate only a small button. Maybe I will experiment with popcorn buttons. Need to get hopping. Baby is growing every minute.

DOZENS OF POT HOLDERS

     And they all need pressing. I no longer have a full-size iron. When the last iron quit working I did not replace it. What do I need an iron for?

    I do have a 'travel' iron, a small iron only about five inches in length. Why anyone would weigh their luggage down with even a small 'travel' iron is beyond me. I bought it for pressing small things, like pressing the seams on a quilting project. Not that I am into quilting, but I do think about it from time to time

    I exaggerate. I only have a dozen and a half pot holders, but I have a lot less stash. I will have to seek permission, but I hope to 'sell' them at the next public gathering in promotion of Leavenworth Attainable Housing. For a donation for LAH, the donor can choose from the pot holders.

    From what I hear LAH housed 16 people, whether as families or as individuals I do not know, but I also heard there was no recidivism. Instead of passing laws that make homelessness illegal, cities should be encouraging programs like attainable housing.

    

I HATE TO ADMIT

     I'm crocheting.

    I hate to admit it, but I'm crocheting. Yes, I am. Not knitting.

    But I am trying use up part of my stash.

    I like to crochet what I call origami pot holders.

    You start with a row of chain stitches, crochet back on the starting row, and just keep crocheting. After a while you artfully fold the piece and you have a double-thick potholder. The yarn should sort of be the same weight -- well, fairly close -- and the colors can be anything you like, the wilder the better.

    Add new colors by knotting the end to a new color. Be sure the knotting occurs on the same side so the ends can be tucked inside. You don't have to weave them together with the finished product and they add more thickness to the pot holder. The size will depend on the length of the original chain.

    They are fun to make even if I have to admit I am crocheting.

THE SURPRISE IS ON ME

     I've knit this pattern before. Why is it causing me so many problems this time?

    Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. I've knit two of these jackets before, one for the daughter of a Japanese woman who married the son of a friend of mine. The couple were living in the United States at the time and I wanted the mother to have something that was typically American.

    On one of the jackets I even devised a way to create a garment with longer sleeves. The BSJ is a pattern that requires a lot of counting, but the result is spectacular.

    Well, excuse me, I have something I need to do . . . one . two . .  three . . . four . . . .