Misfits mis-hits, emergency pizza and sock knitting therapy

So, long story short, after many messages from FedEx first claiming they'd delivered last Friday, then saying one more day, one more day, and increasingly irritated emails and tweets from me to Misfits, and increasingly harassed and unhappy responses, Misfits threw in the towel. 

The order which FedEx logged as delivered last Friday afternoon, never arrived. So Misfits has issued a complete refund including shipping.

I even walked around the neighborhood this morning in case it had been left at a wrong number. My neighbors travel a lot and might not know. Nope.

I did place a new order which should (!) arrive Friday. Is so, all is forgiven. and I'll do an unboxing. If not, I'll walk.

Meanwhile I've been hanging in, not wanting to shop locally then get a delivery.

Today emergency half pizza for lunch

Mozzarella, blue cheese crumbles, capers, pepper flakes. Glass of milk. Pretty good.

I made the salmon, too, yesterday. No pix, too frazzled what with one thing and another. I baked it in the oven for about ten minutes, then, reversing the usual order,  finished it on top of the stove in a cast iron pan, with mashed potatoes, both gently browned. 

Made a simple sauce of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. It was very good. The Brussels sprouts not having appeared,  I went greenless. 

This evening the rest of the salmon with the last of the pasta, Alfredo style.  I will survive. I haven't had to defend myself with a Kalashnikov, so proportion is everything.

The other exciting thing is that the 24 hour  cable outage I mentioned yesterday was the result of an official looking guy, on Saturday, in a hiviz jacket, cutting and taking away the section of cable serving this block. 

I saw him, figured it was a cable guy who had replaced cable, it happens and it had been red flagged, and was taking the old coax back to hq. 

Then we all realized we'd lost the connection. Not evidently done by the cable company, who sent out a technician late yesterday to reconnect the cable. The fence company denied any part in it, landscapers likewise.  So evidently a freelance saboteur or something! I'm guessing a massive failure to communicate, covered by stout denial.

Back online now, and full of complaints!

And so grateful for the therapy of the Sock Ministry.

Go Ukraine. Heavy bombardment this morning. Prayers going out

Spiral sock in progress, Kharkiv stands

 WiFi is out since yesterday, so this is brief, burning minutes on my phone.

The spiral is underway. I do like this stitch pattern.

And Kharkiv seems to have repelled the Russian military overnight.

Still waiting for Misfits box, oh well.

Meanwhile back in the studio

As of this morning, Kyev has not fallen.

Tragic casualties, they pray they can last another night and slow Putin's momentum. I won't say Russia's momentum, because the Russian people are marching against the invasion.

Meanwhile on the home front.

Alert blogistas will have noted no Misfits box report yet. They rescheduled it suddenly from yesterday to today, so we live in expectation that the Brussels sprouts (Becki!) will arrive for tonight's dinner, to join the salmon I have thawing in the fridge.  And the pita bread and salad makings and other such urgent needs.

However the latest issue of Tatter did arrive, all about handspun yarn and knitting, with a shout-out to Barbara Walker, whose book of patterns I have, and have learned from, making many samples of stitch patterns just for the pleasure of it. 

And as a spindle spinner, I'm always up for a report on handspun yarn, especially the high end yarns currently on sale via Tatter, complete with the history of the regions and the renewable sources of the fiber. 

Also the fair trade prices, high and they should be, very labor intensive, involving breeding the animals, plucking, collecting and cleaning fiber before spinning it. If your budget runs to it, do go there.

So here, on a much humbler plane, is the current State of the Sock Ministry.

Pair Two, knitted, finished, pressed.

And on to the next adventure

The picture is a scan of a pair I made for myself long ago as a test run. Then I knitted a couple more pairs to give to friends, who approved 

These are tube socks, which mold to your foot as you wear them, and since the heel is not limited to the one position, they tend to last longer, and fit more sizes. 

And they have a raised spiral, a purl ridge, which is interesting to knit, decorative, and gives a bit of traction. It's comfortable underfoot, the reason I tested it on myself, because I wondered.

So I had a playtime last evening with colors and contrasts, and design. I'm adding a cuff to these, and have figured out a stretchy cast on.  

I was unable, despite many attempts,  to follow any of the stretchy cast on tutorials on YouTube. They always whip right past the bit l really need to see, and can't, even after slowing playback. But I think I've figured out my way. Np, to quote Handsome Son.

After this third pair, I think I'll start  sending them off, no reason to make people wait. Then I'll continue knitting happily.

Meanwhile, taking care of my own little corner, praying for better days for Ukraine, messaging encouragement, as best I can, to Ukrainian friends and acquaintances.

Art will survive

 

So let's look at the art of the women of Morocco, presented by

First in Morocco as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 80s, she returned as a scholar and researcher, with her photographer, credited in an early slide, to assist the artists in securing fair pay for their work. They were selling already, but the middlemen took a big share of the income, leaving the artisans with only a marginal return.

They're now selling on the internet, you see a slide where women are uploading their images to the sales site. They're hugely capable of everything from raising multiple children, to milking cows, to creating all kinds of textile arts, and supporting themselves and a family.

She's in search of a successor, a woman from the region with the technical and art background, so that she can give up the role of foreigner directing them, which she doesn't approve.  

You can see their range, rugs -- see the crazy quilt style rugs --  to clothing, to buttons and braids, beautiful embroidery -- that work in progress makes me want to stitch -- and best of all, it's not just the older generations. 

Young women are very much involved, and developing their own market for their work, embracing the technology as needed.

It's all in good hands.