Back to the prompts

It's February already!  Friday evening we went over to the folks from whom we bought our sofa, loveseat, & end tables (about 3 weeks ago!).  I'd had a change of heart about a) the dark wood of the end tables, and b) the funky fabric of the sofa & loveseat.  We found another seating set that is in stock, and some lighter pine tables (they have drawers! tiny ones, but big enough for the remotes).  All should be delivered within the week.  Then we went over to the Roomy place where we'd bought our bedroom, 'coz the Plaidman had found out that the order was actually written up wrong!  The salesman had ordered us the queen frame & headboard & footboard, but wrote up the mattress as a king.  That put an extra $353.00 on our account, for no good reason.  So we thought, heck -- we've got a credit, and need some lamps; why not apply the credit to a pair of table lamps and a floor lamp?  And that is what we did.  The table lamps were floor sample sales, two alike for the same price as one not on sale.  Plaidman was an electrician (in another life...), and is quite sure that he can resolve any issues with the sockets if there are any.  He's even offered to change both sockets to three-ways if that's what I'd like.  Hey, knitter here!  Of course I'd like both to be three way sockets!  (Is it me, or does that sound vaguely dirty?  Old ladies = potty minds, I guess.)
In knitting news, I kept looking at the edge of my Honey Color Affection -- it seemed awfully hard and inelastic.  I was about half-way into the second section, and looked at a reference about the M1 increase.  Sure enough, I was putting them on incorrectly -- I was putting M1r where I needed M1l, and vice versa.  The whole thing had to be frogged.  Now I have seven of the 4-row repeats of the first section done, with the correct M1's, and the edge is neat but not so hard as it was. 
On to the Year of Handmade prompts:

3. Favourite craft products that you often use. (I copied & pasted this from Rebecca's list, can you tell she's Canadian?)     The craft tools I use most often are my Knit Picks nickel interchangeable circular needles.  I knit mostly on circs, and this is a nice set.  A corollary to these is another favorite (American spelling!) product: Bass Pro Shops handy keeper for all your fishing flies & lures!  It has lots of zipped clear pockets that are held in place by a ring binder, it's divided in the center so I can put wooden & bamboo circs on one side, and metal circs on the other.  The Knit Picks envelope fits in very well.  Of course, I did get myself some acrylic interchangeables, but they have their own zippered case (very pink....not my favorite color) so they're fine. 

4. Dream craft products to use.   Good work requires good tools.  I would love to have a complete set of Signature Needle Arts Stiletto needles, both interchangeable circs and straights.  I used to think it would be lovely to have a spinning wheel, but I got over it.  Lace calls to me, and very pointy needles are super useful for lace.  I still want a small flock of Alpacas, but that's a dream I need to let go -- we're on a zero-lot line property here.  They'd have to be about cat-sized, and I doubt I'd get much fiber from animals that size.   

Hello stranger

Good grief; it's been almost a month since I posted. I'm sorry--I know how disappointed I get when my favorite bloggers go silent. There's been knitting, and knitting-related activity over here at Chez Plaid. I worked several more repeats on the EWW, a few more rows on Plaidman's slippers, and even another square on the 3rd Dolly Blankie. I took some vacation time, so wound up with five days in a row of goof-off time. I unraveled a thrift store sweater! I bought it for the wool, which is a terrific purpley-red tweed, and it looks like it's worsted too. I'm thinking "Vest" for this stuff. There are several more thrifted sweaters in the stash, just begging to be unraveled and reused--so I'll stay away from the yarn shops for a while. Not that I have a yarn buying moratorium per se--I'm going to a festival (well..two festivals, actually) next month, and will likely buy some goodies there. Pinching the pennies till then...
Chez Plaid is about to get a mini-makeover. A couple of my vacation days were spent (also some $ was spent!) in the hardware store (Ace on Charlotte Ave in [horrors!] West Nashville), getting the "stuff" we need to start a project. I bought two foundation vents to replace missing ones, two Tyvek-like coveralls, and a large humane trap. Yes, we're going into the crawlspace! So the feral cats have gotta go to the pound. Plaidman says there's lots of spiders under there...if you don't hear from me again before June, send the Orkin man.
We had the requisite corned beef & cabbage out of the crockpot, only I had a new recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking , for her Dijon corned beef. Yummy! Simple! I really need to use the crockpot more.