Nope, we’re not talking about actual plum jam you put on a pb&j (one of my favorite sandwiches ever). Read on…

We’ve been doing a lot of little at-home projects during the pandemic. And when I say “we” I mostly mean Paul. I help a little. The most recent project has been adding a railing to the “new” deck that we’ve had for two years. Because we love the view of our yard and our pond from the deck, we wanted a railing that would not obstruct it too much but still be safe. So, we settled on the kind with wire “rails” instead of spindles. Paul started the project this week with getting the posts up:

Who knew it would be such a task? (hint: he did) I was surprised at what needed to be done. Cut out a spot to put the post. Attach the post to the rafter-thing-that’s-not-a-rafter under the deck. Put in supports because the post is not sturdy when it is just attached with bolts.

That’s where he is now. Putting in those supports. He spent MANY hours like this:

Laying on rocks, using drills and yanking on wrenches. The way I helped with this part was to bring him water and suggest he lay on a blanket. He accepted the first, rejected the second. That’s all the help I could give. Laying on rocks is not my jam. Stay tuned for the finished product.

Speaking of products…..

A Product Review:

I’ve been wanting to try the wireless ear buds for a long time. I have an iPhone and the AirPods are pretty expensive ($160-$250, depending on the style), so I’ve held off. But then I found these Tzumi Sound Mates and they were much less expensive (approx $40). So I tried them and I really like them!

I was hesitant at first because I don’t like the wired earbuds that come with the iPhone. They are hard; they don’t have the squishy thing that goes in your ear; they don’t fit in my ears very well. But these come with little silicone covers with a little hook-y thing to help them stay in my ears.

The downside is the microphone is not great. But I don’t use them to talk on my phone. I use them walking on the treamill while watching Netflix and now I don’t have any wires to get in the way while I’m swinging my arms. There is no worse feeling than having a suctioned ear bud ripped out of your ear unexpectedly when you swing your arm the “wrong” way. By the way Shameless is my walking-on-the-treadmill jam these days.

At the very least this was an inexpensive way for me to try them out and it panned out well for me.

The Knitting

I’m taking a little break from The Blanket since my elbows were feeling the strain of turning the now-heavy monstrosity around with each new row. I did measure the width recently (with Smudge’s help):

It’s still not wide enough. Two and a half more balls of yarn should do it.

I’m going to pick up a couple of other WIPs (Works In Progress) that I started during the pandemic.

The Derecho Tee is something I started after taking advantage of my LYSs participation in Berocco’s drop-ship program. I purchased this pattern & kit through The Spinning Room, they ordered it from Berocco and Berocco sent it directly to me.

The yarn is called Remix Light and it’s very nice to work with. So soft once it is knitted up and it will be a nice lightweight tee when I’m done.

Then there is the Together, Apart shawl KAL that I’m doing with my knitting peeps.

Pretty easy so far with just garter stitch (knitting every row) and some increases and then some lace, which should not be terribly hard either. That light green color will just be a couple of skinny stripes within the main color: plum. If you know me, you know plum (or pretty much any purple) is my jam. love, Love, LOVE it.

By the way, do you get the name of the pattern? Together Apart: We are doing a knit-a-long TOGETHER while we are APART from one another and can’t knit together in person. Sigh…. can’t wait.

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