Hot Cross Knitter

It's really hot here, I'm tired and grumpy, and my latest knitting project is giving me fits. Other than that, everything is going just fine.

My friend and I have been spending weekday mornings over at my mom's house, packing things up, throwing things away, and and sorting everything else. We've cleared out the bathrooms, the linen closet, the video tapes, and about half of the kitchen. I've also made some real inroads into the mass of financial material, most of which belongs to the volunteer organizations for which she was the treasurer.

On the way home yesterday my friend and I went by Costco to buy just one thing, an inflatable queen-sized bed (her daughter and son-in-law are coming from South Dakota in about two weeks). I'd seen the beds there Saturday, when my husband and I went by for more fans, and told her about them. She's not a member, so I had to go with her. We didn't have a written list, because who needs one for just one thing? However, we ended up buying twice as many things as we'd intended. She remembered that she needed compact fluorescent lightbulbs, so she picked up an eight-pack of the sixty-watt equivalents. I had fun teasing her about getting twice as much as she'd intended.

My lace shawl has me perplexed. There's a line in the chart that I can't reconcile at all. I've sent an e-mail message to the designer in the hope that she can straighten me out. Until I hear from her I'm working on my baby blanket. I enjoy knitting this so it's not a hardship.

Last weekend I got some of those big thick boneless pork chops at Costco. I brined them, using the usual salt and sugar, and adding black peppercorns, allspice, and chopped garlic, for about 48 hours. However, I think the standard brine is just a little too strong for chops, so next time I'll use about 75% of the salt and sugar. I think I'll use a little more garlic, too. All the same, they were really good. Very moist and tender. The brining really makes a difference.