Sleeping in is a GOOD thing!

That is, as long as you don't make yourself late for work or school. I didn't, but woke up at 4:30AM, went back to bed, lay there thinking I may as well get up; I wasn't going back to sleep. I obviously did. Somewhere, it registered that someone else was up, moving around, and since Steve was gone, it must've been Ben. Then I woke up at 7:40. Good thing Ben was already gone, since his first class is at 7:45!

I've needed to sleep in like that for months. I've been running myself ragged with all the moving and building that's done and still needs to be done. My body's exhausted and my brain won't shut down. There are a million or so things to do over the next 6-8 weeks between packing and building and getting out of our current domicile. Then there are my plans for what I need and want to do to make the new one livable.

A couple years ago, I slept until noon. I've done that only once before in my entire life. About the time Steve was going to come see if I was still alive, I stumbled out of the bedroom. One of the cats checked for him. She put her nose on mine, in my mouth, in my ears... she really was checking for signs of life. She did wake me up!

Finished the load of laundry I started yesterday morning, left soaking. Paint didn't come out of the clothes. Oh, well, that's why I was wearing old junk I don't care about. Did another load because I thought I had work shirts (uniforms), and they were all in the hamper. So I put one in the dryer for a few minutes and put it on still damp. It's not cold enough yet for damp to be a problem. Supposed to get warm again over the next couple days.

According to the calendar, yesterday was Tuesday. But it acted like Monday. Sales were slow, one problem after another, and just to make life more interesting, corporate was working on our computer and things got changed that shouldn't have been. There were 4 guys hustling to build 60 trusses yesterday. So they were beat before they got home. Dinner was microwaved frozen 'meals'. Nobody could have mustered the will or energy to cook.

This morning, there are 11 fewer parking spaces than usual at work. First I parked around the corner at the bank, but they only have 4 parking spaces, needed to move the van asap. My van's parked in front of the store. I don't do that, but there's nowhere else to park. There were boulders on the sidewalk the size of garbage cans. The slope where the Colorado blue spruce were is now denuded. It looks better without the grass and straggly brush than it did without trees. But what does that do about erosion over the winter and next spring?

OK, OK, there are times I indulge in sarcasm. I have a sign on my van "Before you make yet another derogatory comment about how ugly I am, consider YOUR willingness to buy my replacement". There's a little Central American bistro a few doors down. Nice people run it, food's fantastic, but I'm fed up with the women who "do lunch" there. One of them asked me how I could stand driving such an ugly thing. Easy - it's a lot faster and more convenient than walking. It's paid for, too. My co-worker's comment, when I told her about it was 'Trade ya!' I liked that. Don't think I really want a Lexus, though. Last week's comment, in Ben's hearing, was "No wonder the old thing's so ugly; look at the brute driving it". It's a 26 year old Dodge cargo van - it was ugly when it was brand new. Age has not been kind to it. But my gentle 17 year old is a brute? C'mon, that's adding unnecessary insults! Where are these people coming from that they've never heard of the little courtesy of keeping thoughts to themselves? California? Or are they just disgustingly affluent?

I've been painting in between all this. I have 3/4 of the 31 foot trailer painted. The lovely '70's paneling was horrible dark. When you know your're going to have to spend a lot of time in an 8' x 31' space, it makes sense to have it be as light and livable as you can make it. It's possible to paint paneling, but whoever came up with the grooved stuff should have to paint it. That would be a fitting punishment. At least one coat MUST be brushed on. A roller won't cover well enough. The only part I haven't touched yet is the bathroom.

The bedroom and kitchen are primered, in pale yellow and white. The paint was the right price, so it doesn't matter what light color I use as an undercoat. Lowe's has mistint paints for $5 per gallon. These are paints that are usually $25/gallon. As long as the finish colors are compatible, we can live with other's 'mistakes'. There are 3 coats on the floor, but I'm holding off on any more until the bathroom floor has plywood on it. That's a 2 person job, can be done after the shed's farther along. The living room has one coat of green suede. I have yet to primer the cabinet doors for the living room or bedroom. The living room doors have insets of 70's cliche' gold veined mirrors. But they will reflect light, so I'm going to leave that alone. The other doors have yuchy dark amber textured plastic. The bedroom ones, I'll paint over. The kitchen ones, I took the plastic out. Steve says I can easily have a glass place cut glass for them. I'm not too sure when I'll afford that, but I can paint the doors in the meantime.

I left a ziplock of hinges and another of door handles on the table Aug 29, and they disappeared. They re-appeared this weekend in the far back of the farthest bedroom cabinet. Ben and I are pretty sure what happened, but since they're back, I'm going to leave it alone. $30 worth of hinges is pretty important to me. The door handles are a take it or leave it thing. I want to replace them. But what I want is $60+, so that will have to happen little by little.

I'm supposed to go to Sandpoint this weekend, while the other grandma's gone to California. Carter is saying some words and phrases. "I do it", "You do it", and "yes" to almost anything unless he's fussing about something. The other night Erin asked me what I said to him, since he was saying 'yes' a lot. I told him that if he wants to talk with me on the phone, he has to say something, not just breathe in my ear, and he mustn't fuss. He's getting the point that I won't talk to him if he fusses.

Timber Beasts

I was out at D's this morning with Ben, playing at being a timber beast. He was cutting down small trees; I was only cutting branches. He did a GOOD job falling. The trees are still laying where they fell; we'll have to move them out of there tomorrow. Chainsaw ran out of gas, we ran out of time. He didn't much like it that I was pushing him, but he's a teenager, he'd take all day if I'd let him.

Of course, I got twigs and lichen and bark in my hair, down my low-cut shirt, in my flip-flops..... OK, that pretty well spells out that I wasn't planning to work with him this morning. We had to work quickly because I had to be at work by noon, and he has a class this afternoon. Tomorrow, I will wear proper timber beast gear: jeans, boots, shirt with a collar; change for work. The only way the 2 of us can figure out to have enough time to accomplish what needs to be done is to get up at 5:30 AM, go up and get started. He can stay there while I go to work. This area has to be cleared out so his little trailer can go in.

The last thing I want to do at work is work. What I really, truly, want to do is sit down, put my feet up, and rest. Maybe even put my head down on the desk and nap? Fat chance. Even without customers, there's too much to do.

Do you need more creativity?

Somehow I got on Quilting Daily's e-mail list. I think I wanted to look at a pattern, had to join to see it. So that was the subject line on one of their e-mails. I don't think I need any more creativity. I already have so much I can't keep up with it.

The desire to take your head off while in the throes of a nasty migraine is far too common a feeling to count as creative. The stage of being able to fall asleep if only I weren't at work is a relief - can't I sleep? I have more in the van that I pulled out of the trailer this morning. It's hot, I don't feel good, I don't wanna go outside to get anything. Seriously, can't I nap? I'd feel ever so much better. OK, maybe chocolate would help?

My son can be intriguingly creative, too. He and Steve put a piece of particleboard in the van way back when Steve was driving the thing. The thought was that the back seat would lay down, there would be room for us to put a mattress in, take off for a weekend. The seat didn't lay down as thought, so it never did work that way. Somewhere between the last 2 yrs and everything I've been hauling back there over the last 6 weeks, it finally developed a jagged hole - right in the middle. Steve said it had gone in at a slant, it should come out that way. Wasn't working, no matter which way we tipped it. Ben realized that the seat was installed AFTER the particleboard..... uh-oh! So I asked if we could cut it, and his response was to pull the chainsaw out from behind the front seat and proceed to do just that, as D and I stood and laughed. Hey, it worked!

The pieces are up at D's, since that's where we'll be using such stuff. I had her laughing when I said it's forbidden to go up there empty handed. "What about when you're living here?" No, that's a different question. Oh, goody, I can stuff more stuff in. Ben told Steve last night that the trailer's down to about 30% full, and it never was more than 80% cuz I'd been keeping a messy stack right in front of the door to put off the local vandals. Then I topped that by telling him that I have a goal of emptying it enuf to move bfore next rent's due.

There was a thunderstorm last night, and even though there were a couple of guys shining flashlights into our yard again, for once nobody got into the trailer or shed. There have been law enforcement people in Kevlar vests showing up where those guys live, license plates for agencies we don't recognize.... we don't know, we don't want to know, just leave us alone and out of that! I did go out and let them know I was aware of their flashlights while getting the laundry, at 11:30pm, knowing that between lightning, thunder & migraine, Tuesday was already not looking good. It was a good thing I got the laundry, because we got a gully washer that lasted about 4hrs, left nice big puddles.

We're using so much that's 'found' or re-purposed it gets funny. Fencing, lumber, insulation, stock tank that's already up at D's, other things we've had....Saturday, we decided that the feeders we were using for the chicks were really too small, needed to be replaced. But the bigger, suspended, galvanized ones at the feed stores are $25 each. So what else can we do? As we were brainstorming, I realized that I had a bunch of empty coffee cans saved for an idea of mine that the guys didn't fall in with. Du-uh!

Monday morning, D, Ben, and I made new feeders. Triangular holes punched in the bottoms of the cans with a bottle opener, some $store pie pans, a scrap of wood, a screw, - et Voila! D said we got 3 for the price of one from the feed store. Huh? Oh, she was counting the original cost of the coffee. She has a point, although Ben and I weren't counting that as 'cost'.

I'd already gotten tired of storing them and punched holes with a big church key to use some as planters. I have 2 tiny avocado trees in one, and some ginger. I'd been practising benign neglect on those, just watering and ignoring, in hopes I'd be pleasantly surprised. Now that I know what ginger looks like, I can pull the thing in that pot that's a weed. What I'm going to do with these delicate warm climate plants over the winter, I don't know yet. I'll figure that out as we go. I still have more of the coffee cans.

I keep taking stuff out of the trailer; I'm even throwing things away. There is, of course the inevitable "Oh, is that where I put that?" There must have been some good reason I kept empty boxes that are in sad shape now. And the HRB stuff - well, I'd have to start all over again if I went back to HRB, so why should I keep coursework? The extra kitchen stuff, I think I'll just leave in there until after we get it moved. We bought it to use when we could have animals, garden, etc; that's why it's been stored.

New baby goats

"D" just called; the goat that we thought was going to kid Sunday afternoon finally did. I thought she'd twin; she did. I have yet to see them, but there's a grey one that looks like her, and the other's a tan like the other nanny and her kid who came from the same herd. That herd sire's also tan. From the looks of it, the kids will be bigger than their mothers. We didn't like the management methods of the woman where we got these goats, nutrition was lacking, too frequent breeding, etc. It looks like the kids are getting better nutrition than their mothers already, and they're only getting the tall grass that was there already and a salt block.

Road construction

Change may be inevitable, but that doesn't mean I have to like all of it. Some, I have a hard time seeing as good, or necessary, etc. The office/retail complex where I work is being remodeled outside. There are 2 huge planter boxes at the bottom of the stairs I climb every day to get the mail. They were dug up early spring with a backhoe, have been nothing but bare dirt and weeds for months. Don't know why they couldn't have left the plants to bloom, since that's all that was done. Now the Colorado Blue Spruce, all 5 of them, have been cut down. There's a backhoe pulling out the boulders that have formed a water feature on a hillside just outside.

2 weeks ago, several planted dividers in the upstairs parking lot were pulled out, the area was paved. That added some badly needed parking spaces. I'm aware that some of the empty bays in this complex have sat empty for months due to lack of parking. And it's summer now; it's very much worse when college students need parking. But I think this is going to end up a stark, sterile complex with structural issues and/or more ugly pipes, since that water feature was draining the upstairs parking lot. Nobody asked me if this meets my approval. Since all I do is work here, why would I have any vote?

At least our customers are still able to get to us. One of the main streets higher up the hill is blocked for most of the summer. And the highway that's about a block from where we live is being re-paved, but that work's farther up the road by now so we don't have the brighter than daylight lights and compactors all night. But the road to where we're moving has been closed for a week and a half, supposed to open tomorrow. Meantime, we have to go way up in the hills, make a big loop just to get there. I guess I could look on the bright side; we're learning more roads around the area, since there's no such thing as a direct route except through the road construction. I don't much mind that part of the alternate routes are gravel roads. But that doesn't make those roads good alternatives in winter.

Here in North Idaho, there are 4 seasons; mud,winter, mud, and road construction. At least this winter, as heavy as it was, didn't go on until "June-uary". It snowed June 14th, last year.

The best that can be said of our first winter in Idaho is that we survived and learned. That was 6+ years ago, so we're pretty well used to that rhythm by now. k D's kids aren't too crazy about this pattern of summers being spent preparing for next winter, but it's necessary. This summer, our preparations for the coming winter are different than we've done before. We hope to move early fall. We have many more mouths to feed than we have before. We have, in cooperation with "D", 2 dozen Rhode Island Red pullets, 3 breeding rabbits, and currently, 5 goats. We thought one of the goats was going to kid Sunday afternoon, but she didn't. From the looks of it, she should have twins.

Not only do the animals have to be provided for, we have to provide different living spaces for ourselves. Last weekend, Ben and I both got stung out by the 31 ft trailer Steve nad I will be sleeping in this coming winter. It has wasp nests in it, so those had to be sprayed before we can work on it. There's some structural stuff that has to be done on both of our travel trailers.

Ben will get the little one. I have been working most mornings, taking things out of it, putting them in my van, going to work, packing empty boxes with that stuff between customers. My goal is to empty the little trailer enough to have it moved before the 7th of August, to eliminate the small storage fees we've been paying on it. But I've got it stuffed with materials for a business I want to go back to, so it's not quite as easy/fast as I'd like. And it's an oven when it's hot, so even if I had the energy, evenings after work is not the time to be in it. Tried it last night for about 3 minutes. We live in such a wonderful place that it's been broken into several times; there's evidence that there have been cats in it; and 3 of the windows have been broken. One has a piece missing, so I'm sure there's stuff that's been wet, is trash. I'm getting to it, little by little.

If this week were a horse.....

If this week were a horse, we should shoot it and start over. Monday was Monday all day long. Had a conversation with a young woman who is lacking in life experience and approaches clients at a gym in a manner that is confrontational and humiliating. I think every difficult customer we have came into the store. Tuesday, husband's truck broke down almost 5 miles from our friend's, so he and our son had to hike... Truck came home on his buddy's trailer. Did a parts run after I got home from work, but there just wasn't time & energy to get the truck going last night. So the 17 yr old got to get up at 4:45AM to take his dad to work. But at least they HAVE work today, the rest of the week, maybe next week, after months of being laid off. And when I went to the gym, I talked with a couple of people who are supervisors. Sweatpants in July, even in North Idaho, are too hot. I need to find some knit shorts at a thrift store. I HATE knit shorts, but.... I am trying to follow the rules, which aren't posted well at all, and she WAS out of bounds. That helps.

Didn't realize I hadn't written anything in here since March. I've been busy.
The social atmosphere in the junky old trailer park where we've lived for 5 1/2 years continues to deteriorate by leaps and bounds. The trailer's falling apart around us, and not worth doing anything about. It's old enough that the it can't be moved, has to be demolished where it stands. It's a liability, not an asset. And we have an opportunity to do some things we've been wanting to do forever, so we're making progress toward moving out.

We've been working with a friend, "D", on her 20 acres, cooperatively doing all sorts of stuff. We've built a greenhouse and stocked it with tomatoes, squash, peppers, carrots, cabbage, herbs... We have a garden, not big enough for the needs of 8 people, but it's a start. She pounded in T-posts, I wove a windbreak fence of about 120 Ponderosa pine saplings. Her place is timbered, hasn't been managed in who knows how long, needs lots and lots of thinning. I walked around with a forester, made sure I have the right idea about what needs to be done. Found a book on tree identification at the library used book store. I didn't grow up here; some trees are the same, others I have to learn.

Being a goat farmer has never been one of my goals, but D bought 5: a wether, and a 2 month old doe kid from one herd; 2 does and a tiny doe kid from another. One of the does in increasingly pregnant. Her name is Trouble, due to her behavior on the way home. As big as she's getting, she'd better twin, and I hope she has twin does. Steve built a shed, and a milking/grooming stand. Need to buy hay for these critters for winter.

We also have 3 rabbits, 2 does, 1 buck. Steve says we need one more doe and another buck. We should be able to start breeding them in August. Guess who gets to do the butchering? Actually, I think that's the easy part; I don't have to kill them.

We have 2 dozen Rhode Island Red pullets. Right now, they're in a big stock tank in the basement, growing exponentially. When they're big enough, they'll share the rabbits' shed. I think they should start laying late September/early October.

The fact that I'm the only one of the 3 adults and a teenager involved in this enterprise who has a permanent job, gets stressful at times. I've gone back to food banks. The good part of that is that we have 7-8 gallon bags of apples cut up in a freezer that will become apple butter later, when we have time. I have about 12 cups of pitted Bing cherries frozen, and 8 quart bags of sliced plums. The aim of the garden, greenhouse, and animals is self-sufficiency. But we're nowhere near that yet. We may achieve parts of it this winter, but other parts will take 3-15 years. But we've started.

We've also found and moved an 8' X 31' park model travel trailer up to D's for us to live in. Price was right, which means there are some issues with plumbing, electricity. The last person who lived in it was apparently not quite all there, ripped out things. So we have to work on it before we can so much as spend the night in it. It does have a sliding glass door, so there's a good big light source. I get tired of living in the dark. The floor's down to carpet padding. Steve's just going to put 3/8" plywood on top of that, use the pad as insulation. Somewhere between living out in the woods, animals, snow... carpet becomes a liability, not a comfort.
The oh-so-fashionable when this trailer was new dark woodwork is going to become MUCH lighter. Where I'm going to carve out the time to paint is a whole 'nother question. It's better than one RV we looked at that had been painted battleship grey, including the ceiling, grey patterned carpet.... except for the horrendous fuschia walls in the shower!

Steve likes the rag rugs I knit last year. Only problem is that they've been walked on and washed so much that any weak spots in the rags have given way, and 2 of them are just falling apart. I have become used to the little luxuries, too, so I will have to make more. I'm sitting here blogging and tearing apart the first rag rug I made, between customers. Polyester stands up to wear better than cotton flannel sheets. What d'you expect of something that's basically plastic? I think I will try knitting rags strips on a knitting loom, see how that goes. With needles, I only knit garter stitch; the looms knit stockinette. If it's not too thick to work with, it will at least be a different texture. Now I need to get out the little Fuller Brush carpet sweeper and clean the lint off the carpet at work.

I have 2 loom knitted strips in seafoam (more blue than green) that was part of D's mom's stash. I'm putting them together into an empire waist sweater or something. I'm making this up as I go. I was working on this between midnight and 2AM this morning, since I was in too much pain to sleep. I made a triangle shaped 'block' to insert between the strips in back, but I'm not entirely pleased with placement. I think it's too wide, too close to the waist. I intend to put the width at the neckline. Right now, the middle of the night or during a slow day at work is almost the only time I have for crocheting or knitting.

Moving always takes more time than I want it to. There's always stuff that you wonder why you have THAT - except that sometimes you get rid of something only to realize 3-6 months later why you had it. But I know there are things that can go to the dump. My current big push is to get a 7' X 15' travel trailer cleaned out so it can be moved, too. We've owned it for 7 years, and it's become a storage unit since we aren't living in it. We did, all 4 of us and 3 cats, the first 6 months in Idaho. Now it's slated to be somewhat remodeled into Ben's 'room'. For the last 12 years, moving has inevitably meant downsizing our space. But since we're finally moving back out to the country, able to participate in a 'farm', some of the things in that trailer will finally be of use.

And work has changed some, too. I trained a new person. She's still not capable of doing what I do, but I've been at this for 2 years. She may not ever want or need to do what I do, for a lot of reasons. It does get kind of funny that I expect to walk in and have to mop up what she didn't understand. We also got a new industrial printer. It's kind of like saying we have a new, small elephant. As such printers go, it's not one of the big ones. But the printer and its attendant, dedicated, computer take up 4' X 8' at the front of the store. I've been learning how to use a program that makes business cards. I like the design part of it, but it's become obvious that we need a higher priced program. I'm still working on learning how to use the printer to its full capabilities.

Potholders

OK, potholders are not my favorite thing to crochet. I remember promising myself years ago that I wouldn't do this very often. But they aren't something I promised myself I would never do again. Once upon a time, I made a hat out of yellow rug yarn for my mother to put over toilet paper. THAT one IS a never, not ever, no, never, ever, again project. The reason I'm making potholders is that I need to step up production if I am to get an Etsy store off the ground at all.

The purple and gold sweater is almost done, except that I need to find a book that has an edging I want to put on it. I haven't attached the cowl because it's a lot easier to put the edging on a smaller piece before it's sewn on.

I really should explain this sweater. First, a friend gave me boxes of purple yarn she'd inherited from her mother. Friend doesn't crochet or knit, didn't know what to do with this stuff. She has since found MORE purple yarn peeking out of a drawer she hadn't yet investigated. We think her kids probably opened the drawer. I asked her if she shut the door quick, before the yarn could get out and breed. "YUP - although it may be breeding in there out of sight!" That purple yarn has become somewhat of a joke. Beats crying at the sight of more of it!

Then there was the '70's bulky gold yarn I got at a thrift store, thinking to incorporate it into a baby afghan for our grandson. Might've fit if he'd been anywhere near blond, but this little guy has black hair. And I picked up some novelty chenille/eyelash twist yarn at Dollar Tree that just happened to have gold and purple among its color blend. If I combine the purple and gold, colors I really don't like, with the novelty? Maybe I will at least come up with a combo that tones down the purple?

Found a free pattern for a side-to-side ribbed construction cowl neck sweater. I like "free". But the picture was inelegant, which is a sorta polite way of saying I thought it looked just plain unflattering. Another influence was a couple of Victoria's Secret cowl neck sweaters. I am not delusional enough to imagine I would ever even want to look like those models. I just liked the way the cowls were low enough to flatter, not choke like a bulky turtleneck. I HATE turtlenecks. And there were two 1950's patterns for dolman sleeve sweaters tapered below the bust. All the muscles that have been redefined and bulked up with physical therapy mean that I have to have even bigger plus size clothes to fit over my shoulders, but the ribs and waist area are now comparitively slimmer, which makes the tops loose enough to fit over my bust look like sacks, and I'm not that shapeless. I've been doing all this work for nearly 2 years, may as well flatter myself. And it's been the 2nd hard winter here; a bulky sweater seemed like a very nice thing. So what I'm working on is a blend of all those influences.

I started out following the 'inelegant' pattern for the side to side cowl. Mistake! My yarn was much bulkier and I was using a much bigger hook. As many years as I've been crocheting, I really should have known better. So I took that out and started all over again, designing an entirely different, much more fitted style, with set in sleeves and a separate, shaped, cowl.

Friday I took out most of the second sleeve of the purple/gold sweater. That's what I get for not writing down the pattern I'm imagining, row by row, as I do it. I already took out and re-did the first sleeve because I wasn't getting the shape I imagined. The only way I can duplicate the second sleeve now is by constantly comparing it to the first. The usual convention for making sleeves is to shape them in rows, either turning at the ends of the rows, which leaves a chain/air space I didn't want; or working them flat, then sewing together, I didn't want to make a seam under the arm. Working the sleeves in rounds, rather than rows, is not exactly conventional. But it's getting me the texture effect that I want. I just have to make a half round of sc (single crochet) at the ends of the sleeves. Most of the rest of the sweater is hdc (half double crochet), except for the shaping half rows of the front and back.

I have been reading Knitting Daily online, seeing the shaping methods, wondering why some of them wouldn't work in crochet. I don't remember symbols rather than or along with abbreviations. Nor do I remember seeing schematics for finished pieces as part of patterns when I started crocheting. Those are new to me.

I am SO happy with me! Went back to the physical therapy gym this morning for the first time this calendar year. Knew I couldn't possibly quit doing those exercises, but how to continue seemed rather problematic. Between the boss changing from one insurance company to another, tight finances with husband laid off..... had been trying to use friend's gym (didn't have right equipment for my needs), using weights/tubing/therabands/Swiss ball picked up on my own....hadn't been to gym in 4 months.

Good news! I kept the weights light, reps low, time short on purpose. I did get tired, but I am not any more sore than usual. Less so, in fact; muscles are looser rather than as tight as I've become used to. I did OK. WHEW! I was afraid that I hadn't been able to do enough, since I didn't have access to equipment I'd become used to. Evidently I have been doing enough so that I haven't lost the progress I'd already made. BIG relief!

This is one of the scrubbies I was working on the other day. I use nylon plastic canvas yarn from Michaels. H hook worked ok. Should have used G hook on the rectangular one I made to use at home; it turned out rather too loose.

ROUND SCRUBBY
Ch 4, sl st tog
Row 1: Ch 3, 11 dc in ring
Row 2: Ch 3, turn, *Fpstdc (Front post dc: work dc around front 'post' of stitch below it instead
of into top of st) in next dc, 2dc in back of next dc*, rep around, making last dc in
same st as starting ch, sl st to join
Row 3: Ch 2, sc in back of next dc, *popcorn (dc, going through first loop only, leaving 2nd lp on
hook, 3 times; yo, draw yarn through all loops on hook in back of next dc), sc in back of
next dc, 2 sc in back of next dc* rep around, sl st to join
Row 4: ch 2, sc in back of next 2 sts, *ch 3, sl st in first ch, sc in back of next 3 sts* rep around
sl st to join, end off, weave in yarn to finish

RECTANGLE SCRUBBY
Same yarn as above. G hook
Ch 22, dc in 5th ch from hook to end of ch.
Row 2: Ch 3, *Fpst dc around next st, dc in back of next st*, rep across.
Row 3: Ch 3, *dc in back of next st, Fpst dc in next* so that the fpst are going around the
opposite dc's of Row 2, rep across
R0ws 4-6 Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until you have the size you want.

I'm taking a break from the purple and gold sweater to make scrubbies. I've had the nylon yarn for probably 2 months, just haven't made the little things a priority, even though I know the one my son is using is the last of the ones I made last summer and needs to be replaced. But I came in to work this morning and found the sponge that I'd been using to wash dishes full of ink. I work in a place that sells refill cartridges for printers. If I want to wash a cup and fork, I don't want to use that sponge! So a couple of very textured scrubbies suddenly became a priority. They only take a few minutes to make, and last a lot longer than the Scotch Brite type that my husband calls greenies, and may even work better.