It was a small fire, really.

Howdy all....

Well, I had some excitement last night while I was cooking supper. I had heated a pan and added some olive oil. When I added the garlic, I discovered that the pan was too hot, so I pushed it back off the burner. I must have sloshed some of the oil into the flame of the burner, because all of the sudden there was a dramatic column of flame rising out of my pan.

My reaction, of course, was panic. (Less than helpful, I know.) All I could think of was a cousin who had a grease fire and turned on his vent fan, then smothered the flames. However, his vent fan opened into the attic instead of outside, and it took a while for them to discover that the attic was on fire, so the house was destroyed. All I could think was "No vent fan, no vent fan...."

For some reason, I leaned in a bit and blew, like it was a birthday cake, and the fire went out. I do not recommend this method, but I'm thankful that it worked! I'll have a bowl with baking soda on the counter before I light up the stove again.

The bottom and front of my microwave and a corner of my cabinet (all of these things are white) had black on them that a regular cleaner didn't remove. Then I thought of my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, which did a fabulous job. I think my microwave is cleaner than it was before!

In other news.....

The first round of "Stash Control!" is going to be a "Make Me An Offer" sale! I'm gathering all of my yarn (yes, all of it!) from the four corners of the house. It will be on display this Sunday afternoon. There are some yarns that I know I want to keep, some that I know I don't want, and as for the rest - make me an offer, then I'll know whether I'd rather have the yarn or the money! I will also be thinning my collection of books and back issues of some magazines.

Once I've gone through this initial process, I'd like to catalog and organize the remainder. So any yarn fans who are going to be in the Fort Wayne area this weekend are welcome to come to my house on Sunday afternoon from 1:00 until whenever and see if there's something you like. Email me for directions!

There are a couple of provisions:

1. No photographs of the stash. Cell phones and cameras must be checked at the door! (Good heavens, my family would croak if they ever saw ALL the stash in one place....)

2. Cash, checks and PayPal are accepted.

3. Other times for enhancement to your stash may be arranged. Contact me.

Here is another picture of the yarn that started the whole "stash issue."

I got my hands on the camera with flash over the weekend, so the colors in this are better. Someone had asked if I had a Halloween project in mind, but as this picture shows ( a little better,) the variegated yarn is orange and purple, not orange and black. And I'm simply unable to get good color reproduction on red, orange and pink. The baby alpaca is really a burnt orange color, and not nearly as bright as it appears in the photo.

I'm leaning toward keeping this batch.....

And finally, the pattern that has kicked my butt the hardest is now the "Mason-Dixon Washcloth" from the Mason-Dixon book. Not the ballband washcloth - that I could do. Here's a quote from the pattern:

"This charming washcloth is knit in the round from the oustide in. The most
challenging bits are in the first few rows, when you will experience the thrill
of making bobbles and eyelets while keeping your decreases even. If you can do
this bit and watch TV at the same time, be sure to shout out, "Day-um, I'm
good!"

Right.

I cast this puppy on about 8 times before I gave up knitting the pattern as written. Not happening. I decided to try to conquer it from the inside out....another 4-6 times and I gave that up. I switched to different pattern and tried 5 times for a circular from the inside out with a swirl.....nope. I never have the right number of stitches on the needle! (I also could have quit earlier, but I tend to dig in my heels a bit...)

This yarn is practically worn out, and it's still (again) wound into a ball! So, I'm saying "uncle" and casting on to make a Flower Power washcloth. I've made several of those - I know I can do that! Mason-Dixon, you can keep your charming washcloth!

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter!)