What Else Is There To Do?

      How is everyone coping with the 'shelter in place' rigmarole?  It's confusing and a little scary but if we just keep calm we should make it okay.  Walmart in Herkimer has started to restock...with a limit on how many rolls of  TP or paper towels you can buy or cans of veggies.  They were out of most packaged bakery items (like Wonder Bread and English muffins last week but that isle is stocked again.  A friend from camp, our fathers were fishing and card-playing buddies, drives for Hannaford, and Jim says the warehouses are full so everyone just has to calm down and wait for the trucks to get loaded and the stuff delivered to the stores.  It won't happen immediately but they're doing the best they can.  We've got to remember,  truck drivers are only human...those 18-wheelers are the super machines...and it takes time to load them, drive them 1/4 to 1/2 way across the state, unload them and get the stuff put on the shelves.  Jeff and I stopped at Walmart this morning while our clothes were being washed at the laundromat (a long story there) and people were still grabbing the 36 roll packs of TP like it had a prize inside.  I personally don't know where I'd put that many rolls of TP in this house.  I've got 6 rolls of TP and 2 of them are in the food pantry because the shelf in the bathroom only holds 4.
   In the meantime, I'm still knitting.  Since the spring reopening for our shop in Cooperstown has been put on hold, I have plenty of time to fill my stock drawer.  I had requested (and got) from the library "Highland Knits", a pattern book put together by the editors of Interweave, inspired by the Outlander series.  Some of the patterns in there are also available in a slightly different form on Ravelry.com, a free site for knitters and crocheters, and some are only available for free in the pattern book. I've been comparing the patterns and 'pick and choosing' the ones I want to do.  (The important thing about using free or purchased patterns is to be sure to give the designers credit...which I'm!)   I started out following the colors the designers suggested with the patterns but as I watched the first season of Outlander on DVD...which I also got from the library) I decided to change some of the colors.  As a historian, I know all colors were not widely used in the early 18th century, the time of Outlander, but if the producers can use those colors so can I and I'm going to sprinkle some in my collection.  Granted some things...like gauntlets...will likely remain in neutrals...but some of the capes and shawls I will be offering in purple and turquoise.  To tell you the truth, I'm getting sick of brown and gray!  
   The 'powers-that-be' in the shop have decided to collect photos of new merchandise from members and offer them on the shop's Facebook page.  Kind of keeping our images fresh in the customers' minds.  As I take new photos I'll post them here.  Right now, I just have photos of the 'Healer's Hands' gauntlets and 'Rent Collecting' shawl(which I've posted on this blog many times.)  Last  

The Gathering Infinity scarf

night I finished the 'Gathering' Infinity scarf that can be worn as a cowl 
and started the 'Boar Hunt' Capelet.
    I keep finding more patterns that I'd like to try and I'm really trying to use up my stash but I did buy some yarn this week.  I didn't have enough bulky yarn to do the 'Gathering' Infinity scarf...it's 50" long...so I had to buy a skein at Walmart.  Now I've got 2 partial skeins but the dye lots don't match.  I might try something with them anyway.  I also ordered 2 skeins of Caron Simply Soft (in Woodland Heather, a light green) because I found a shawl pattern that I want to do and Walmart didn't have the yarn.  With Walmart as the only local store to carry yarn I'm stuck...either buy what they have or order it from somewhere else and pay postage.  I haven't been disappointed yet...between Walmart, Mary Maxim, Herrschners and JoAnn Fabrics I can usually find what I' want but I don't like having to pay postage if I can help it.  I guess I'm just cheap.
  Break is over...time to get back to knitting.  Stay calm and stop trying to corner the market on TP.