"Well, if you're up that early and need something to do..."

I worked a little late today, trying to stave off leaving the office before Chuck returned from his monthly gaging station field trip. We car-pooled in on Monday, but it was getting to be 5:30, and he still hadn't arrived. I made plans to have dinner with Sue and Carolyn tonight, and to show Sue how to knit socks on circs, two at a time. Plus, I really wanted to run in to Blockbuster to return "Push" (a horrible waste -- review to follow) and to pick up a couple more movies before my free coupons expire.


So, Chuck agreed that I shouldn't wait; opting to take the bus home, since he was still in Paw Paw and it would be quite a while before he returned. My stop in the video store was somewhat disappointing. Blockbuster didn't have the 2 disks I was looking for: "Dead Like Me" season 1, disk 2, and the new "Grey Gardens" with Drew Barrymore. Instead, I ended up with "Knowing" and "An American Werewolf in London", but those won't be watched tonight because....


I'm officially the worst knitting instructor. My poor friend Sue didn't know what she was in for when she pulled out her bag of newly purchased sock yarn (Schoeller+Stahl), needles, and the Nancy Lindberg "Knit to Fit" pattern. Carolyn calmly watched us while she worked on a gorgeous cabled scarf. Sue measured her foot, then proceeded to cast on for her gage swatch. I then made myself too busy by picking up where I had left off on the sweater that I'm test knitting for Nancy. After a couple of rows on her swatch, Sue complained that she had dropped a stitch. "That's OK," both Carolyn and I reassured, "we'll be sure to measure away from that spot. Besides, you'll just tear out that swatch once we're done measuring." An hour or so later, Sue had up to 3 inches on her swatch, then proudly held it up to show us. Unfortunately, she had done the swatch in a different stitch pattern than what she'll be working the sock pattern in. If you're familiar with the Lindberg pattern, you'll know that the whole cast on is dependent on your foot dimensions and gage. Nuts! So, I sadly had to tell poor Sue that she needed to start her swatch over in order to get the correct gage. I completely failed her by not paying close enough attention. Some friend I am, right?


Since it was such a pleasant evening, I had decided that it was high time that my lazy butt received some exercise by riding my bike to Sue's. Feeling pretty dejected, I rode home shortly after 10 and parked my bike in the breezeway rather than our messy garage. (BTW -- my investment in bike lights was such a great idea!) Seeing my bike there at the ready, I considered getting up early to ride in to work tomorrow.....


Chuck made it home A-OK from his trip. While in the farm country of south-west Michigan, Chuck stopped by a road-side stand and bought 2 pints of fresh blueberries. They looked pretty good, but I didn't try any because we had a fairly large dinner at Sue's and I was stuffed. Chuck decided to try a small bowlfull and proceeded to tell me how good they were. Next, he nonchalantly asked me if I planned to get up at 4:30 tomorrow. Because..."Well, if you're up that early and need something to do...maybe you can make some muffins." What?!? Isn't HE supposed to be the cook extraordinaire around here?!? Man, and I was seriously thinking of biking....


Okay, I know I promised a review of "Push", but I'm now quickly running out of steam. I really should hit the sack soon, especially if I need to some baking and biking in the morning....